REAPER SCANS

Mr. Magical Girl

[Translator –  Kuro]

[Proofreader – ilafy]

Chapter 39: Light in the Sky

The stars shine endlessly in the universe through a noted scientific reaction—a process that makes them emit heat, radiation, and visible light.

What would happen if we were to recreate that reaction on Earth?

I don’t mean nuclear fusion—a research that was abandoned in the 20th century.

I mean the small hammer in my hand—the red light that symbolized my hero name.

It might as well have been an uncontrolled, small star in the sky.

The Librarian once told me not to use the attack too much or else it would destroy me.

The power was the extreme physical force that could create stars. Using my immense power, I exerted absolute pressure with mana as the spark and the Pseudo-Otherworld to control the energy.

Sure, you could argue it was simply nuclear fusion, but there was a fatal problem in the process.

At some point, it would pass my ability to control.

The infinitely heavy hammer could become a gargantuan force on itself, exerting absolute pressure. In the meantime, the extreme heat that couldn’t escape from the hammer could become a new spark, continuously causing the process to repeat itself within.

The consequences of such a thing would be catastrophic.

The fusion reactor in my hand created a singular point of convergence, resulting in the ultimate physical force, and then… well, enough about the boring theories behind the attack.

That wasn’t even my area of expertise in the first place.

Sihyeon Baek or Librarian could explain the process better, but the explanation didn’t matter at the moment.

Basically, it was all about recreating the reaction process occurring in those distant stars in the sky on Earth.

I hadn’t reached the final stage due to my lack of power, but stopping the process halfway was still sufficient. The tremendous force was proof of my strength as a hero.

I grasped the hammer that had become so heavy I could barely swing it.

Adjusting its position, I made sure the neutrons were being released behind the hammer.

The particles became the thrust that pushed the hammer forward, and…

Fwooom—

I swung it, but it wasn’t time to release the energy yet.

I spun around.

Once more…

Again, another round—the buildup of centrifugal force centered around myself.

The force pulled away from me, but I changed its direction according to my will, accelerating the hammer.

“—Half a second left!” Unho’s telepathy reached me.

The unending energy and the weight of a star strained my arms.

I sensed that the moment had come… It was time to let go.

Just when I was about to release the overwhelming power gathered in my hands, I heard an unwelcome sound.

Snap—

The stitches in my left shoulder had gone past their limits.

‘Damn it.’ I had no choice but to change my plan. “Unho! Left arm damaged! Assist!”

My left hand released the handle as I entered the final rotation, and a massive amount of energy concentrated in my right arm.

Dozens of magic circles appeared on the hammer handle and head in an attempt to ease the burden.

Still, at that rate, the power was going to be weaker than I expected.

It was a disappointing outcome, but I had to leave the rest to the others.

My right arm swung around one last time, and the seal on the crimson hammer was finally released.

BOOM—!

A blinding light swept over the battlefield as a star’s remnant particles burst from the hammer.

It all culminated in a hammer of light so massive it could cover the Pacific Ocean—a symbol of my strength and my will.

It swung widely… and nothing happened. The wide sea beneath the massive hammer of light fell silent.

Clink— Clank— Pfffffffft—

The burning hammerhead quickly cooled down and regained its original shape and color. Meanwhile, the handle’s metal casing reformed, hiding the air holes and restoring its previous form.

Clatter—

Strength drained from my body, and I let go of my weapon on the battlefield. It hit the ground with a soft metallic echo.

‘I’m exhausted.’ 

The hammer’s scorching heat dissipated, causing the evaporating seawater to fill up the empty space beneath my feet.

I jumped onto the wall before my boots sank into the water.

At the same time, a bright light shone behind me.

It wasn’t the light of my hammer—it was the endless bombardment unleashed from magic, superpowers, and even modern weapons.

The heroes and soldiers on the fortification had begun their assault. Their synchronized offensive heralded the start of the war.

Countless flowers of explosion bloomed across the ocean.

I sat on the wall and watched the scene. I had no intention of stepping in to swing my hammer around.

“Unho, telepathy magic,” I said.

“Yes.”

—Good work, Haram Lee.

I was expecting to connect with HQ but heard Librarian’s calm, robotic voice instead. He must’ve taken the telepathic call, knowing it was me. How reliable. I didn’t have to go out of my way and ask for him.

“Did you observe the area of effect?” I asked.

—You veered more to the right than expected. I thought you would burn about half of them, but alas…

‘As I thought.’ I had planned to wipe out half their forces, but my left arm just happened to falter at the worst possible moment.

“Did the forces heading toward the Oceania sector at least get wiped out?”

—According to our satellites, the enemy’s advance halted. It’s unclear if they were completely annihilated, but… personally speaking, I don’t think we need to worry about them anymore.

Our strategy to clear out the southern hemisphere with the first strike and focus our troops on the northern hemisphere had succeeded.

The attack appeared weak without any reaction beyond the brief flash when I swung the hammer, but it was more than powerful enough. The crimson hammer was the symbol of my strength, after all.

Radiation infused with overwhelming energy spread out, tearing apart the enemies within the hammer of light—an absolute force.

* * *

Reaper Scans

Translator - Kuro

Proofreader - ilafy

Join our discord for updates on releases!!

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* * *

“I could’ve wiped out the vanguard too.”

Perhaps the issue with my left arm and the prioritization of the southern hemisphere caused the attack to shift a bit too much to the right overall.

The result of that minor mistake was before my eyes—the crustacean monsters kept advancing to the wall despite bleeding gray blood from all their orifices and their gray shells breaking off, showing their cooked flesh inside.

Boom—

The leading monster was hit by someone's attack, and the gray crustacean’s body and flesh disintegrated, vanishing into the sea.

They managed to survive my attack, but that was it. They were in complete tatters, on the verge of death.

“Take a shot at the one running in the back over there.”

“Alright.” Unho waved his paws, and a small piece of stone tore away from the fortification, shooting off at high speeds.

It wasn’t a particularly powerful attack. Even if Unho was a top-class mage, the material being used limited the strength of the attack. It was slightly stronger than a rifle’s bullet at best.

The small piece of stone embedded itself in the body of the gray crustacean, causing it to bleed profusely.

Eventually, its claws fell off; then its shell and flesh broke to pieces, and it sank to the bottom of the ocean.

“Are they completely cooked to the core?”

“It looks like they’re barely alive.”

Even if my main attack had missed them, they couldn't escape the aftereffects, but for some reason, the enemies didn’t minimize their losses and instead took my attack head-on.

“Why didn’t they try to deflect it?”

“What do you mean?” Of course Unho didn’t remember. He was still the same old Unho.

"If you attack these guys and try to wipe out a large number, they can transfer all the energy and damage to a small portion of them to minimize their losses and keep the collective alive."

Rather than having 90 injured soldiers out of 100, they preferred killing 15 of them and having 85 intact soldiers, so why hadn’t they done so that time?

Why did the entire horde suffer damage from my attack instead of having a few be killed?

“Isn’t it simple?” I muttered.

“What do you mean?”

Boom—!

The explosions beyond the wall continued. I quickly surveyed the situation and saw the gray crustaceans being dominated.

I anticipated the situation to be much tougher and for the heroes to struggle more, but thanks to an unexpected turn of events, things were going great.

Originally, the plan was for me to showcase my overwhelming power to boost everyone’s morale, but that wasn’t so bad either. We could take out the half-dead monsters by attacking from safety.

The morale would also increase since they’d think the enemies were weaklings.

Is this what they meant by ‘All roads lead to Rome’?

Thanks to the outcome, I had some time to ponder. I grabbed Unho from my head and pulled him down to eye level.

“Tell me. What is it?”

“Behind you! The crab behind you!”

‘What does the crab have to do with anything? I won’t die, even if it attacks me.’

I casually swung my hammer backward, hitting the gray crustacean that had climbed up the wall and smashing it into fragments, all the while maintaining eye contact with Unho.

“Answer me quickly. This is important.”

“Even if they transferred the damage to others, the total energy wouldn’t decrease!”

“Simpler.”

“There’s a limit to how much force a single creature can endure! If that limit is exceeded, no matter how much they transfer the force through Otherworld Corrosion, they will still…”

Flap flap—

I shook him, and he rapidly explained it to me while his arms and legs flopped around. “Even if they redirected your attack to minimize the casualties, most of the collective would have died. Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to keep the damage spread out to maintain their numerical advantage…?”

I finally got it…

If I applied 1,500 energy to 100 creatures that could each withstand 100 energy, every creature would normally take 15 energy, but instead, they would focus 100 energy on 15 creatures to mitigate the damage and have 85 creatures intact.

That time around, with an attack nearing 8,000 energy, they chose to have each individual tank 80 energy rather than sacrifice 80 out of 100 creatures—which would’ve been a massive loss.

“Wait a second. That’s weird…” Even my dumb brain thought of something “If they can manually transfer damage so well, then why didn’t they distribute the damage among all the invading monsters across the globe?”

If the invading crustaceans numbered in the millions, then distributing all the energy among them would’ve barely even left a scratch on each individual.

“You know what it’s like to experience an Otherworld Corrosion! The effects of it—”

“Depends on the will and interpretation of those affected.” The crustaceans continued to gather atop the wall, and I swung my hammer at them while keeping my gaze fixed on Unho.

“Do those unappetizing crabs look like they have the brains for that kind of will or knowledge? I’m going to guess that, aside from the commander-class, the weak mobs can only transfer energy within a limited area!”

‘I wonder…’ If I was right, it also meant that the commander-class creature could pass on all of its damage to the others.

‘Wait a second… That means…’

“Unho, deal with them for a bit.” I flung the ferret at the gray army climbing the wall.

“Poyoooooo!” The flying ferret turned its attention to the crustaceans as I raised a hand to the white magic circle next to my ear.

“Contacting Commander Macbeth.”

—What is it? Keep it short, we’re still busy here.

Crack! Smash! Snap!

I heard the sounds of the monsters dying beyond the telepathic call. The other sectors had also entered combat.

“Requesting a change of plans. I’ve gathered additional information about the enemy.”

—Go on.

“Requesting our forces battle the enemy not on the backup Tsushima defense line, but on the Japanese mainland.”

—Denied. There isn’t enough time to build a new defense line.

I ignored Commander Macbeth's words and continued. “Additionally, I request the use of thermonuclear weapons.”

—…

He hadn’t anticipated those words from me. Commander Macbeth’s mouth shut in surprise.

“Poyooooo! Save me! I’m just a poor old ferret!” Though I could hear my partner behind me making sounds of distress, the magic spells flying through the air indicated that I didn’t need to help just yet.

—What’s your reasoning?

“It’ll take too long to explain. I will let my consciousness go in five seconds.”

—Confirmed.

‘Three, two, one…’

Throb—

I detonated the mental algorithm implanted in my mind, causing my consciousness to dissipate.

The only thing left was the information to transfer. A throbbing headache set in as mental manipulation magic invaded my brain.

It was a dangerous spell that could steal information from one’s mind, but I had no way to block it with my consciousness already gone. Very shortly thereafter, the mental manipulation magic invading my brain took all the information it needed and left me.

“Argh, cough.” As my consciousness returned, I was hit by a terrible headache and a wave of nausea.

It was a method of data transmission that could only work by temporarily shutting down the brain. I thought I had gotten used to the side effects since I frequently used it in the past, but the nausea was far more sickening than I remembered.

—Information received. I approve of the plan. I’ll inform you of the proper time for the operation later, so reduce their numbers as much as possible until then.

“Confirmed.” I cut off the telepathy magic and gripped my hammer again. With the new operation approved, I needed to reduce the enemies’ numbers as much as possible.

“Save me! Ferret dying!”

I turned to Unho, who was desperately pushing down the invaders with wind wrapped around his paw. I jumped into the fray, and my hammer finally saw blood again.

The satisfying crunch of their solid shells shattering traveled up my arms through the weapon. I caught my partner—who was floating in mid-air—and placed him back on top of my head.

“I thought I was a goner!” Unho furiously smacked my head with his short arms, unhappy about my actions.

“Change of plans.”

“Poyo?”

“We’re going to reduce their numbers as much as possible… Even if it means pushing ourselves to the limit.”

I leaped over the railing and dropped down to the base of the wall, heading straight for the monsters that had made it through the ranged barrages from our forces.

“You’ll be the end of meeee!!” Unho desperately tugged at my hair, trying yet failing to change my mind about our course of action. Unfortunately for him, I continued falling straight into the sea of gray crustaceans.

My partner’s feelings weren’t that important in the grand scheme of things, after all.

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