I Am Not a Robot. Beep-bop

Chapter 80: Punishment 2

In Ark, Overseers possess an ability called [Code Liberation], independent of their personal powers or awakening status.

Awakened individuals each have powerful abilities, and it was their powers that saved humanity when it was defeated by calamities and monsters.

The same holds true even today, with Ark remaining humanity’s last bastion.

However, Awakened individuals are, after all, still human.

Regardless of lifespan, they can weaken due to aging, succumb to illness, or die in accidents, much like a starlight that brightened the darkened human world eventually fading away.

Ark’s leadership considered the loss of such starlight deeply regrettable.

Thus, Awakened individuals with significant abilities would have their corpses recovered by any means after death and undergo “processing.”

The culmination of this processing resulted in the creation of what is called “Code.”

Code does not replicate the abilities of the deceased Awakened individuals as they were during their lifetimes.

Instead, it acts as equipment or a ritual formula, containing the immense mana, energy, life force, and aura the Awakened possessed, and adapts to the user’s body.

This Code is held by Administrators and bestowed upon their subordinate Overseers.

Naturally, the higher the rank, the stronger the Overseer; a First-Class Overseer, for example, could be likened to an S-class Hunter with additional S-class stats layered on top.

Because of this, Overseers are universally regarded with awe.

Even the lowest Fifth-Class Overseer cannot be compared to Awakened individuals of the same tier, and the role of Overseer itself embodies the authority of Administrators and the guardianship of Ark’s order.

Today, they serve as Ark’s eyes and hands, untouchable even by Mega Corps.

Predictably, Third-Class Overseer Rosa Vintz also possessed a Code.

It was a Code liberated to subdue and capture Alice in Ark, but Administrator Rilstia Frostia thwarted her.

Even now, Rosa grinds her teeth at the memory of that time.

From Rosa’s perspective, Alice was nothing more than someone who relied on cozying up to the Administrator, acting smug as if she were something significant.

“Hohoho, what a pleasant day. I didn’t expect to run into you here.”

“I didn’t either. We’ve met before, haven’t we? What was your name again?”

“Oh dear, it seems hanging around that monkey at your side has dulled your memory. Well, it doesn’t matter. I am Rosa Vintz, a Third-Class Overseer. No need to remember me. After all, today will be your last.”

“Is that so? What a coincidence; I was thinking the same.”

Alice also smiled, responding to Rosa’s words.

Normally, Alice would quickly forget other humans since there was no need to remember them, but Rosa Vintz storming up to her and causing a ruckus left quite an impression.

“Before we go further, let me ask just in case—did you defy Earnest Rail?”

On her way down here, Rosa had personally seen the state of the supply base.

From her perspective, the personnel inside had vanished without a trace, and Alice, standing beside a demon as if they were close allies, gave away the general situation.

“And if I did?”

“Haha, I see. It’s obvious you took on some suicidal request from an unknown client. Hunters blinded by money are all the same, and you’re no different.”

Rosa laughed.

“Well, your circumstances don’t concern me.”

It was merely conjecture, but in Rosa’s eyes, the foolish Alice still believed she was under the Administrator’s protection.

Good.

That works well.

How splendid.

“I thought you had tucked your tail and fled, but to think you’d bare your teeth and growl at me again.”

“Me? Why would I fear someone like you?”

“Hahaha, everyone I meet truly doesn’t know their place. Especially you, a Returnee, with an absurdly empty head!”

Rosa covered her mouth with her hand, her shoulders shaking as if she couldn’t suppress her laughter.

‘She really doesn’t know. That clueless woman has no idea which Mega Corp she’s crossed, nor does she realize Earnest Rail has Administrator Baden and his Overseer division behind him.’

This is delightful.

Absolutely delightful.

Looking at Alice glaring arrogantly with those impertinent eyes, Rosa couldn’t stop her lips from curling upward.

“Earnest Rail works closely with Administrator Baden’s Overseer division, including me. If you carried out a terrorist request against someone like him, don’t even think of sleeping peacefully in Ark again.”

“Oh dear, I think differently.”

“Whether you think differently or not doesn’t matter. You’ve messed with forces beyond your reach, and I intend to deliver judgment on a colt that’s run wild.”

“Oh, you will? Then may I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

Rosa made eye contact with the monkey beside Alice, who glared at her with hostility.

Rosa recognized that demon.

It was the leader of a native faction who had the audacity to apply for assimilation into humanity, undergoing an entry assessment.

“Does this creature remind you of anything?”

“It’s a mere primate that hasn’t even become human, brazenly taking over human land.”

At Rosa’s words, Alice chuckled lightly.

“Really? I heard that Sabrina applied for the humanity assimilation test. Were you the Overseer who came then?”

“Hm? Ah, are you talking about that? Earnest Rail was entrusted with the duty of developing satellite cities under our division’s authorization. Naturally, the monkey-like native faction members who polluted the land and occupied human territory had to be eliminated.”

“You… you…”

Sabrina gritted her teeth and glared at Rosa.

Sabrina had believed that the reason the Overseer from Ark rejected the demon race’s assimilation test was due to unavoidable circumstances or because her fellow demons, including Hamar, had launched a preemptive attack.

However, the truth was that the Overseers, from the very beginning, had no intention of conducting an assimilation test, as they were colluding with the Mega Corps.

She had hoped otherwise, but it became evident that they never intended to view demons, including herself, as equals to humans.

“You… you miserable… cough!”

Sabrina, who had been erupting with anger, suddenly collapsed, coughing up blood.

Having undergone countless experiments that were closer to torture at Earnest Rail’s hands, Sabrina’s body was now in an extremely weakened state.

She couldn’t even handle a single doll, let alone an Overseer.

“Cough! Cough!”

“Sabrina, calm down.”

Alice placed a hand on Sabrina’s trembling shoulder.

Sabrina felt relieved that, even after hearing the whole story and confronting the Overseer, Alice still seemed to be on her side.

What Sabrina initially thought was an empty offer of solidarity had turned out to be sincere.

“So, you conducted a humanity assimilation test and outright ignored it? Are you really an Overseer? Isn’t it an Overseer’s duty to protect the human rights of humanity and its subspecies?”

“For long-term collaboration with the Mega Corps, minor sacrifices are sometimes necessary. Besides, demons have long been enemies of humanity. Do you think we can suddenly shake hands and laugh together now?”

“You need to separate personal, political, and historical issues. Not everyone thinks like you.”

“Tsk tsk, how childish.”

“Well, don’t you know that childish thoughts are often the purest and most just?”

“Whatever. In any case, wouldn’t a conversation through combat be far clearer than words?”

[Code Liberation]

Boom!

At that moment, an enormous surge of mana and life force erupted from Rosa’s body.

Code Liberation.

It was the true unleashing of the authority and power bestowed upon her as an Overseer.

“Ugh!?”

The moment the Code was liberated, Sabrina broke into a cold sweat.

She had heard the infamous tales of Overseers, but directly confronting one’s overwhelming presence left her gritting her teeth.

‘Even at my full strength… this would be impossible.’

She was only a Third-Class Overseer.

Even so, among the many Third-Class Overseers scattered across Ark, her power and presence were too much for even a baron like Sabrina to confidently face.

“Alice, this… it’s impossible.”

“Hm?”

Sabrina, weakened as she was, could only sense an ordinary presence from Alice.

Although Alice had managed to invade Earnest Rail’s underground base, Sabrina doubted she had the extraordinary strength needed to face a Third-Class Overseer head-on.

“I was regretful that I couldn’t properly show you my Code Liberation before, but today is a splendid day for that!”

Anyone with power feels a natural impulse to wield it, but Overseers often faced numerous restrictions despite their immense strength.

Rosa’s extreme discrimination and oppression of Returnees stemmed partly from having no other outlet for her stress.

And Alice was the one who first humiliated her and caused her irreparable disgrace.

Just imagining forcing that insolent brat, her nemesis, to crawl on the ground filled Rosa with spine-tingling excitement.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Since you seem unaware of the gravity of the situation, let me simplify it for you.”

Feeling omnipotent from the waves of immense power and mana coursing through her, Rosa shouted while hovering slightly above the ground.

“Even if you flee this place, Administrator Baden’s Overseer division won’t let you go unscathed. If you think you can harm Earnest Rail and me and still live peacefully in Ark, abandon that thought immediately.”

Her power was genuine.

The strength granted to Rosa by Code Liberation manifested as tangible teal-colored mana, radiating both fiery heat and icy chill simultaneously.

“But don’t worry.”

【Physical Combat Synchronization】

【Main System Combat Mode Activated】

【Initiating Transcendental Body Maneuvering.】

Ice was burning.

The blazing ice slowly spread across the hallway and ceiling, advancing toward Alice with Rosa at its center.

“You will die here. No, you will beg for death, groveling at my feet!”

【Combat Synapse Connection】

【Loading the Memories of Unity.】

The flaming ice clung to Rosa again, forming massive hands, armor, and wings.

In appearance alone, she looked like an angel of burning ice hovering in the air.

“There are no eyes of Rilstia Frostia here! Without the protection of an Administrator, you are nothing but a lowly Returnee. You’ll crawl on the ground where you belong!”

“Oh, sure.”

【Combat Mode, Ready.】

Alice, no longer interested in listening, raised her hand toward Rosa.

At the tip of her finger, a small droplet of molten metal formed.

[Liquefied Breath]

【Casting Liquefied Breath】

Boom!!!!!!
The massive molten metal shot forth, and the dolls along its path shifted slightly to avoid it.

The overwhelming mass, intertwined with a storm of mana, crushed the long hallway as it surged toward Rosa.

As the destructive force erupted in an instant, Sabrina’s eyes widened.

‘She has no mana at all. How can she launch an attack like that…?’

To the eyes of other Awakened individuals, Alice’s existence was entirely irrational and impossible.

Despite lacking mana, she wielded powers comparable to magic, exhibited lifelike reactions and vitality as a fully mechanical android, and radiated an inexplicable feeling of camaraderie with demons, though she wasn’t one of them.

Up close, Sabrina couldn’t understand why Alice gave off this peculiar sense of familiarity.

‘Even a worm can crawl… so she has some skill, huh?’

Rosa smirked.

The Liquefied Breath, a fusion of molten metal and colossal mana, was indeed challenging to counter if unprepared.

While its destructive mana was significant, its sheer mass, when unaccounted for, could obliterate even a First-Class Overseer with a direct hit.

“You wretched fool! Did you think so little of me?”

But Rosa had already completed her Code Liberation and prepared for battle.

She wasn’t weak enough to fall victim to rusty breath attacks from something like a Scrap Dragon.

Thud!

With a snap of her fingers, a barrier of burning ice formed in front of Rosa.

The barrier’s temperature dropped rapidly, and as soon as Alice’s molten metal hit the ice, it lost its physical force and froze in place.

“Oh?”

【Interesting.】

The Liquefied Breath’s overwhelming mass should have posed a threat even after countering its mana.

Rosa, however, froze the molten metal itself, nullifying its mass and rendering it useless.

Despite her erratic demeanor, it seemed Rosa was living up to the reputation of a Third-Class Overseer.

【Human, I recommend another method.】

“What is it?”

Hearing Theresa’s suggestion, a smile curled on Alice’s lips.

“Sabrina.”

“…Alice, this is dangerous. His strength is beyond what we expected…”

“It’s fine. Trust me.”

“I just met you today. What exactly am I supposed to trust? He’s a Third-Class Overseer who’s even unleashed his Code!”

“Oh, come on. Trust, and you’ll be rewarded.”

Alice smiled.

Reasons for Sabrina to trust Alice?

There weren’t any.

Truthfully, Sabrina was contemplating whether she should surrender to the Overseer now and beg for mercy for her kin.

The Overseer wasn’t even alone.

He had the Administrator Baden and the entire Overseer division backing him.

Even if they somehow escaped Rosa, Sabrina couldn’t imagine surviving against the Administrator and his division.

“Just trust me.”

Alice’s mischievous smile was full of confidence.

Sabrina couldn’t tell if that confidence was baseless bravado or genuinely founded, but she had to make a quick decision.

“I’ll trust you.”

“Then let me borrow your hand.”

“What?”

【Authority – Analyzing Combination (Imitiation).】

Suddenly, Alice took Sabrina’s hand and began to lead her, leaving Sabrina with a puzzled expression.

The touch of their clasped hands was somehow ticklish.

Cold, yet soft.

The time they held hands was brief.

Alice held onto Sabrina’s hand until the moment her molten metal was entirely frozen, and Rosa’s smug face came into view across the barrier of burning ice.

“Alice, I’ll have to reevaluate my assessment of you.”

“Well then, Sabrina. Be right back.”

“What… what did you do?”

Beyond the burning ice, fiery ice crystals began spreading like a plague over Rosa’s hand.

“You’re not even a despicable Returnee. You’re just a useless and harmful pest!”

The ice reached Rosa’s face, causing the glasses she wore to fall off.

“Consider yourself honored! I am the very will of Ark…!”

Boom!

At that moment, numerous tendrils burst forth from Alice’s spine and launched her toward Rosa like a slingshot.

Molten metal and burning ice obstructed her path, but damage to her face or limbs meant little to Alice.

“Foolish girl!”

Rosa couldn’t suppress her laughter as Alice recklessly charged at her.

Did she think rushing in would solve anything?

Code Liberation was Ark’s divine gift and authority!

There was no way someone like her could surpass that power!

As Rosa clenched her fist, the burning ice surged like a wave, crashing over Alice.

Its destructive power was undeniable.

It wasn’t called Code Liberation for nothing, and she wasn’t an Overseer for no reason.

But there was one thing Rosa didn’t know.

“Haha…!”

Whether burning or frozen,

Whether her organic skin froze and shattered or her legs melted away,

Crack!

“Hello!”

None of it mattered to Alice, an android.

“What the—!?”

Rosa’s face contorted in shock as Alice plowed straight through the wave of burning ice without even attempting to evade it.

Rosa hastily conjured more ice around herself, but Alice ignored her own damaged body and charged forward, extending her intact hand—the same hand that had clasped Sabrina’s earlier—toward Rosa.

“Ugh!”

Bang!

However, Rosa’s Overseer reflexes allowed her to deflect the hand just in time.

It didn’t feel like hitting a human hand but rather a metallic rod, leaving Rosa momentarily bewildered.

Alice was knocked back, landing on the frozen molten metal.

Her condition looked dire.

Her arms and legs were heavily damaged by the burning ice, and her organic skin was either melted or shattered.

“Haha, was that your grand attack? It didn’t work, so I won’t fall for it a second time!”

“Of course, falling for it twice would make me an idiot.”

Alice laughed in response.

She couldn’t help but laugh.

“Are you a fool? You’re the one at a disadvantage. I am…”

“Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?”

“How insolent. Very well. If you’re so eager to end your pathetic life, I shall…”

Rosa snapped her fingers, intending to summon more burning ice.

“Now, this truly ends…”

“Hey, this is pretty cool.”

However, the burning ice did not manifest in front of Rosa.

No, even the icy wings that had been keeping him aloft disappeared.

The flames on the ice surrounding him were extinguished, and the ice armor that had encased his body slowly crumbled to dust.

“What?”

Rosa’s eyes widened as he noticed the strange phenomenon.

No, what is happening right now…?

“Ah, so this is how you use it?”

As Alice raised her hand, burning ice formed on her body.

The shattered parts of her legs and arms were replaced by burning ice, and wings identical to the icy ones that had surrounded Rosa began to spread from her spine.

“You, you…? No, what did you do!!!”

It was only then that Rosa realized his authority—the authority of Code Liberation—had been stolen by Alice.

Could such a thing even be possible?

No, it was inconceivable!

What could have possibly happened in just that brief moment of contact?

“Oh, it’s nothing much.”

【Authority of Combination】

【Authority of Seizure】

【Integration Complete.】

She simply…

Took it.

“Your Code is amazing.”

Burning ice flared at the corners of Alice’s smiling lips.