Magical Girls and Chtulutech Ch.5 (Patreon)

Chapter 5: Swarm Eradication

A trio of frozen arrows took the first three monsters that jumped down from the walls. Ten more landed in the same breath, and more were dropping.

Iroha uppercutted one, and followed with a sweeping kick that went through a shadowy beast and continued through three more.

She weaved under a claw strike, but took another from a different Dark Spawn. Where a normal human would have been disemboweled, her Outfit’s protection meant she only felt the same impact as a jab.

She retaliated with a jab of her own filled with Force Magic that spread with a shotgun-like blast, taking her attacker, and two more behind it. She felt the dull pain fade as her Outfit's health draining took effect.

The other Luminary played it safer than iroha’s brute force approach. She had jumped above the horde of shadowy beasts and levitated, raining arrows upon them.

Any that tried to jump at her were repelled by barriers of ice that sent them back down to earth before being pinned down by her arrows.

Iroha almost felt like in a VR video game, scything through a horde of nameless enemies. However, she knew the stakes were real, and there was one issue.

No matter how many she and the blue-haired archer took down, there were still more coming from cracks in the walls, and other dark areas.

Iroha took a step back, the beasts following her as she focused on gathering more magic to her hands.

She extended her arms towards the pack of monsters. The heels of her hands were stuck together with her palms facing the Dark Spawns. Flame licked at her limbs and gathered between her hands. She gave it shape and named it to empower it further.

“Flare Breath!” Luminary Last Cinder roared.

The flames grew to the size of a basketball before she let it loose in a wave of fire that illuminated the alley, scorching the street and slaying many of the Dark Spawns.

Iroha breathed hard. She had used a lot of power for that one. A moment later, she felt some of that energy coming back from the multiple kills.

On the other side of the alley, the archer seemed to take Iroha’s escalation in stride with a special attack of her own.

Panels of ice surrounded a group of Dark Spawns. The archer fired an arrow on one of her constructs. The projectile sinked into it like the ice mirror was liquid.

“Mirage Arrow.” A cool voice echoed through the alley.

Copies of the arrow appeared in each mirror before they were shot out, piercing through the Dark Spawn like swiss cheese. Most of the arrows landed in the mirrors again, to create more copies that were then shot, creating a kill zone of frozen projectiles.

After such a display of magic, one would have expected the Dark Spawn to have been dealt with. Yet, they kept crawling in. More and more shadows forming a wave of fangs and claws.

Most newly-born Luminaries would have been overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. However, Iroha had the advantage of her Physicality aura giving her greater physical abilities than a regular magical girl, including the defenses of her Outfit. Added to that was the ability to regain magic and heal by dealing damage while also recovering magic from damage dealt to her.

The horde crashed on her and met a wall that kept growing tougher.

For each claw that struck her, a fist took a beast apart. For every bite, an explosion of flame or a burst of crushing force slew multiple Dark Spawns.

In such a scenario against weak enemies whose only advantage was their numbers, Iroha could keep her magic topped off, scratches healing almost as soon as they were dealt.

And that wasn’t counting on the assistance of the blue-haired Luminary who kept raining down her arrows, untouched by the swarm of monsters below.

Finally, after what felt like hours, but merely lasted minutes, the alley was completely clean, and miraculously, the homeless man was still asleep, uncaught by any stray hits or opportunistic monsters.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh…” Iroha groaned as adrenaline left her. While her body was left majorly uninjured and her magic energy was still close to full thanks to her means of recovery, it didn’t take away from the fact that the fight had been a slog.

“Not bad.” She turned towards the azure Luminary as she heard those words.

“Hey, thanks for the help.” iroha decided to be polite and gave her gratitude for the assistance.

“Hmm. You’re new, but you didn’t flinch. Good.” The cloaked girl kept the same taciturn tone as she brushed Iroha’s thanks aside.

“Is it that obvious? I only got turned this morning.” Iroha replied. And it hit her just now that it had only been a day.

“Oh? The Spirits generally aim for people younger than you.” The blue-haired stranger seemed curious. “But where are my manners? I’m Frost Mirage. Nice to meet such a fiery beauty.” She winked.

Iroha blinked at the sudden flirt, but decided to just roll with it.

“Last Cinder. And you’re not bad-looking yourself.” Iroha fired back with a smirk, before her thoughts went back to a more serious topic.

“What were those? Is it normal to have so many in the streets? I know the Delirium keeps those kinds of things hidden, but I think I would have heard about a sudden outbreak of animal attacks.”

Frost Mirage pursed her lips.

“Yeah, Dark Spawns are dregs of the Dark Spirits. You may consider them the lesser of our enemies. They are scavengers that hunt the weak in packs. They should have fled at the sight of two Luminaries, and their number was unusual.”

“Scavengers getting aggressive and more numerous than usual.” Iroha mused out loud before groaning. “If I didn’t know any better, that seems like a RPG quest where the local wild life gets stronger because a boss appeared in an area.”

Frost Mirage stayed silent, but raised a hand to her chin and assumed a thinking pose.

“It isn’t a bad guess. A stronger monster could take control of those weaklings and make them swarm people.” Frost Mirage admitted.

“I was hoping you would tell me the opposite.” Iroha sighed. “Any other ideas? Maybe where they come from?”

The icy archer’s lips curled up, and then she pointed down.

“Like their masters: hiding in a dirty hole.”

“The fucking sewers.” Iroha cursed. One of the urban legends of the City was about its deep sewer system which was also linked to a maze-like series of natural tunnels that spread through the whole town, and was composed of multiple layers.

Now knowing that there were literal Eldritch beings buried beneath the City, Iroha could only guess at what kind of monsters were hiding beneath it.

“Yes, the sewers.” Frost Mirage nodded. “Between the two of us, it may stink, but it’s also one of the best proving grounds in the City. Between the monsters spawned from the mere presence of the buried Dark Spirits, the corporations digging deeper, the cults beholden to their sleeping masters, and the various cabbals of mages making this place their home, the sewers are the place where some Luminaries go to sharpen their fangs.”

Iroha heard the slightest bit of excitement in the taciturn girl’s voice at those words.

“You’re a part of the Luminous Knights, aren’t you?” The redhead guessed.

“We got a winner. Pick your prize: a sparring match with a senior Luminary who wants to teach you, or a night in a monster-infected hellhole where we may not survive.”

“I’ll pick option two.” Iroha answered straight away. “I feel like the monster labyrinth is less likely to end up with me being filled full of holes.”

“I knew you were going to make the right choice.”

And so, Last Cinder and Frost Mirage set forth on an impromptu search and destroy mission.