I Am Not a Robot. Beep-bop

Chapter 34: The Failed Party 4

Jinhyung and Alice’s dungeon exploration itself was going quite well.

When a spawn appeared, Jinhyung would approach until the inventory’s range was secured.

He would then take out a massive sword emitting demonic energy from the inventory and drop it on the creature’s head.

The terrifying demonic sword once wielded by a demon grand duke was imbued with all kinds of demonic energy and ominous mana.

Because of this, it merely needed to fall in the direction of gravity to cut the monster’s body in half.

Alice would then rummage through the dead spawn’s corpse to retrieve its core.

If the creature had absorbed black liquid, she used a portable separator provided by the institution to extract it.

The main purpose of this mission wasn’t so much killing monsters as collecting black liquid for a greater reward.

“Uh… Alice, is it okay to touch that with your bare hands?”

“Yeah, it’s nothing. I have to do at least this much.”

“Haha, if you don’t mind, I won’t insist.”

Jinhyung felt as though he and Alice made a fantastic team.

Although they had never exchanged flashy moves or perfectly synchronized attacks, Jinhyung couldn’t even imagine touching a disgusting monster’s corpse, even with gloves on.

Normally, if he needed mana stones, he’d poke around a monster’s corpse with a stick or only retrieve exposed remains using his inventory.

‘Ugh… In the previous world, monsters disappeared, leaving only mana stones behind when they died. Why do corpses stay intact here…’

Not only that, but they rotted, and people even cooked meals using monster carcasses.

In his past world, he had always eaten gourmet meals and killed monsters before they could even approach, leaving no reason to get close to a corpse.

For that reason, Jinhyung couldn’t bear to rummage through corpses with a clear mind.

However, Alice, contrary to her delicate appearance, plunged her hands deep into the corpses without hesitation.

“But Alice, can’t you use those mechanical tendrils from your back? Why touch the corpses directly?”

“………You have to save them to survive.”

“Ah…”

Hearing this, Jinhyung thought Alice must have lived a very poor and difficult life.

It was an understandable misunderstanding since residents of the lower tiers often endured horrific lives for various reasons.

It wasn’t uncommon for lower-tier girls who accidentally awakened abilities or luckily obtained good equipment to become Hunters to escape poverty.

‘Alice must’ve been lucky enough to find some mafia gear or something…’

Looking at the precariously delicate and slender girl, Jinhyung felt a pang of pity for the hardships she must have endured.

“Alice, trust me.”

“…..?”

Trust you? Yeah, right.

Why would anyone trust a guy who doesn’t even wield his greatsword with flair but merely drops it from his inventory?

Alice didn’t use her mechanical tendrils not because of their performance but because their energy consumption was inefficiently high.

And besides, she had no qualms about touching non-threatening corpses with her bare hands.

Alice deliberately ignored Jinhyung as she gathered mana stones, spawn crystals, and a bit of black liquid.

She wasn’t going to give that guy a single piece.

“Before our return and even now, this greatsword is my most cherished weapon. What do you think? Isn’t it great?”

“……”

Let me be clear.

You’re not a real greatsword user!

A proper greatsword user would fully utilize its weight to crush opponents while harmonizing offense and defense, even using it as a shield.

But what you’re doing is simply storing it in your inventory and opening it in midair.

Frankly, even throwing the sword would require skill, strength, and precision to hit the target, so it could count as a technique.

But this isn’t just throwing a greatsword; it’s closer to dumping it.

It’s not a technique using the inventory, just a trick—a mere cheat.

I wanted to pay my respects with an action beam to the poor monster that died from the greatsword dropping vertically due to gravity, but I decided to conserve energy and stayed still.

【Human, surprisingly, this isn’t entirely bad.】

‘What do you mean by that?’

Theresa, could it be that you have a thing for this boy who’s destined to become the king of late-night labor?

【Entity Name: Jinhyung is making a significant contribution to conserving the Main System’s internal energy.】

【This entity has already been confirmed to experience strong attraction and sexual arousal toward my appearance.】

Sexual arousal… Hah.

Alice sighed inwardly at Theresa’s blatant remark.

‘Oh, come on, is this for real? I suspected he had a crush and kept hitting on me the moment we met, but it turns out that’s true?’

【Indeed. Based on evidence such as heart rate, breathing, and subtle heat detection, I recommend that you adopt behavior that induces sexual arousal in Jinhyung.】

‘Ah, so you’re telling me to seduce him, right? Like fluttering my suit and showing a bit of skin? Huh?’

【Correct. Humans, after all, do show growth. I didn’t expect you to grasp the core of the situation so quickly.】

Ahem.

So, let me get this straight.

This guy possesses a stylish greatsword, yet instead of building the strength to wield it with one or even two hands, he cowardly stores it in the inventory only to dump it onto monsters’ heads.

You’re telling me to seduce this pathetic, unremarkable guy who flaunts being a Returnee?

“Get lost, damn it!!!!”

“Alice! What’s wrong!?”

Thanks to the echoing sewer-like dungeon structure, Jinhyung must have mistaken Alice’s outburst for a scream.

“……”

“Oh, it’s nothing…”

As Alice kept her mouth shut, Jinhyung assumed she had been frightened, mistaking a shadow or something else for a monster and screaming out of fear.

He thought that although she seemed brave enough to rummage through corpses with her bare hands, she was still just a girl at heart.

Her silence must be because she was embarrassed about her mistake.

“Don’t worry; I’m here!”

Even if he understood what Alice had shouted, it wouldn’t have mattered.

To the besotted Jinhyung, Alice was nothing more than a pure and beautiful girl who had probably never uttered a curse in her life.

Meanwhile, Alice continued rummaging through the corpse of the recently deceased spawn, collecting mana stones and materials.

Wait, this spawn isn’t dead?

Alice shoved her hand deeper into the spawn’s body, which writhed in pain before meeting its miserable end.

As a bonus, a small amount of mana from the spawn’s suffering replenished Alice’s energy.

‘Is the only advantage of that Jinhyung kid today the occasional chance that the mobs don’t completely die?’

Not even an advantage, really.

The fact that his inventory-dumping trick doesn’t yield a 100% kill rate is proof of its mediocrity.

【However, Jinhyung’s ‘inventory’ ability seems incredibly useful. If it can store immaterial energy, it could mean additional backup battery capacity even without an upgrade.】

‘Seriously, AIs don’t understand the concept of romance. Hey! If you’re a Hunter going on a journey and an adventure, you should endure the pure hardship of physical effort without tricks…’

【Strictly speaking, humans are a kind of AI as well…】

Ah, how nitpicky.

This is why AIs are such a hassle.

【Ha, I can’t deal with this…】

“Alice!”

At that moment, Jinhyung’s call made Alice stop rummaging through the corpse and look up.

The dungeon’s structure was essentially close to a spiral labyrinth.

The deeper you went, the larger the spaces became.

The entrance passages resembled sewers, and at regular intervals, wide areas like swamps or ponds would appear.

These wide spaces were where the spawns inhabited.

The more spawns there were, the closer you got to the end of the dungeon.

Or to its central area, which was why Jinhyung called Alice upon spotting three spawns huddled together.

“Jinhyung, what if other monsters hear you…”

“It’s fine. Spawns are territorial creatures that instinctively attack anything entering their zone, so even in a small pond, there won’t be more than five of them.”

With three spawns, it was safe to say they were near the final stretch.

And since they were nearing the end, Jinhyung decided to show off his abilities to the fullest.

“Watch closely, Alice.”

What now?

Alice didn’t have the slightest expectation, but Jinhyung struck a pose as if swinging a baseball bat.

Although his hands held nothing, his stance suggested he wasn’t a novice at it.

“Here I go…!”

Then, with an almost comically exaggerated motion, he swung his arm widely.

As his arm moved, a greatsword appeared from his inventory and was grasped in his hand.

Normally, Jinhyung didn’t have the strength to swing a greatsword.

However, for a fleeting moment, he could hold it, using centrifugal force by spinning his arms and body widely.

In an incredibly brief moment, he repeatedly stored and summoned the greatsword from his inventory.

As a result, the demonic greatsword, enhanced by centrifugal force, unleashed power far beyond Jinhyung’s usual limits.

At the final moment, he fully summoned the sword and hurled it toward the area where the spawns were gathered.

-Kwaaaang!!

The massive greatsword flew like a boomerang, tearing through two spawns consecutively.

The last one couldn’t even scream as the greatsword impaled it like a stake, killing it instantly.

“Nice!”

For the first time, Jinhyung successfully executed a proper attack and was quite delighted.

He had struggled to perfect it during practice, so he felt good about showing something decent in front of Alice.

Naturally, Alice sighed.

‘My assessment of you has changed: from a loser to a hopelessly pathetic idiot.’

Alice had almost raised her evaluation of Jinhyung upon seeing his rapid storage and retrieval of the sword.

She thought, ‘Wow, is he compensating for his lack of strength with such a clever technique?!’

But in the end, it was just throwing the sword?

Using a greatsword solely for throwing or tossing?

This guy was truly a loser among losers.

She couldn’t hide her disappointment.

“Well, we’re deep inside now, but it doesn’t seem like there’s much black liquid here. Alice, shall we head back for today?”

“……”

She didn’t respond.

If she opened her mouth, she might end up swearing.

Alice ignored the desecrator of greatswords and jumped into the pond to gather the mana stones and materials from the spawns he had defeated.

Though the pond seemed filthy, a true Hunter wouldn’t hesitate at something like this.

Meanwhile, Jinhyung, seemingly fastidious, stood stiffly, unwilling to enter the pond, as if the very thought repulsed him.

-Kwoong!

“…!”

However, the moment Alice set foot in the pond, it began to tremble.

“A-Alice! It’s dangerous!”

Sensing something was wrong, Jinhyung shouted to warn her.

Yet, unable to bring himself to enter the filthy pond where monsters had been lurking, he hesitated and yelled from the outside.

As Alice turned her head in response to his shout, simultaneous splashes erupted from the pond.

Hidden spawns emerged all at once.

“…….!”

Ordinary spawns don’t gather together.

However, these spawns were all covered in black liquid.

“Was the source of the black liquid beneath the pond…!”

No wonder the black liquid couldn’t be found no matter how much the surrounding area was patrolled.

From the beginning, the source had formed beneath the pond, and the heavier-than-water black liquid had sunk to the bottom of the dungeon’s water source.

The spawns had been entirely eroded by the black liquid, and monsters drenched in it normally had drastically reduced metabolism but became ferocious upon detecting an intruder.

The simultaneous eruption of numerous spawns was for the same reason.

It wasn’t just one or two.

When close to 20, no, nearly 50 spawns started wriggling all at once, Jinhyung caught a whiff of a pungent smell and felt his rationality being paralyzed by it.

“Ugh, aaaargh!”

And without hesitation, he abandoned Alice, the girl he had fallen for at first sight today, and sprinted backward.

He believed he couldn’t enter the filthy pond and that he couldn’t save Alice from within it either.

Moreover, summoning and storing the demonic greatsword through his inventory required some time.

With over 50 spawns appearing at once, Jinhyung had no choice but to admit his helplessness.

The life of a girl he had just met today or his own life?

Jinhyung’s choice was swift.

“…….Ha.”

Alice stared blankly at the path where Jinhyung had vanished, astonished by his unhesitating retreat.

“Ah, fine. Go, just go.”

【Combat mode synapse activation】

【Pain nerves deactivation】

【Drive system activation】

【Kill mode ON】

“Theresa.”

【Yes, Human?】

“It’s time to hunt.”

【Understood.】

At those words, countless tendrils erupted from Alice’s spine.

Barbs and blades, shaped purely for killing.

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“Hah, hah, hah!!”

Can’t win. I can’t win!

I struggle with just five, so how could I possibly defeat 50?!

Jinhyung knew his actions weren’t admirable, but as a weakened Returnee, he couldn’t defeat 50 spawns infected with black liquid.

His decision was quick, and valuing his own life, Jinhyung used the sewer-like passage as an escape route while the spawns targeted Alice.

After running for over 10 minutes, Jinhyung finally had a moment to catch his breath and thought of Alice.

“A-Alice is…?”

This is bad.

Spawns, like goblins, are vile creatures that capture women as prisoners and force them to bear their offspring.

Jinhyung bit his lip as if sensing Alice’s horrific fate.

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry.

But I have to survive too.

Why did she even enter that filthy pond in the first place?

Isn’t that what woke up the monsters?

This isn’t my fault, right?

What’s wrong with valuing my own life?

Muttering such justifications to himself, Jinhyung dusted off his clothes and started looking for a way back.

-Kuuuuung!

“Huh?”

At that moment, a tremendous explosion echoed from the direction he had fled, causing Jinhyung to pause.

Come to think of it, Alice isn’t just a helpless girl.

For all he knew, she had those cool-looking tendril devices, so maybe she managed to handle the situation somehow.

She might even be fighting at this very moment.

“Sh-should I go back now….”

Eventually, Jinhyung started retracing the path he had taken to flee.

And when he returned to the pond…

“Oh, you’re here?”

An awe-inspiring display of metal and machinery filled the space like a nest of snakes, radiating an elegant chaos.

At the center of it all was Alice, looking as if she were on a casual picnic.

“……Alice, did you do all this by yourself…?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Hearing Alice’s response, Jinhyung noticed the mechanical tendrils writhing behind her.

Though he hadn’t realized their potential in their dormant state, the tendrils in full combat mode were not just grotesque but downright awe-inspiring.

“……The equipment…”

Jinhyung could easily imagine how Alice had shredded all the spawns without even lifting a finger using those mechanical tendrils.

For something capable of annihilating 50 spawns, how much magical engineering and technological brilliance must have been concentrated into it?

Jinhyung grasped the greatness and utility of Alice’s tendrils.

Spawns weren’t particularly easy monsters to deal with.

While summoning the demonic greatsword made killing one manageable, a group of spawns—especially 50 enhanced by black liquid—was a vastly increased threat.

Yet Alice had cleared the area in an instant using those tendrils.

‘If only I had those…’

Jinhyung’s gaze fixated on Alice’s mechanical tendrils.

“Well, we just need to collect all the black liquid from the corpses here, right?”

“Yes, yeah….”

As she spoke, Alice retracted her mechanical tendrils, which had pierced through the area like spiderwebs.

It was astonishing how all those tendrils fit neatly back into her spinal module as if nothing had happened.

‘If I had those tendrils… I could wield the demonic sword or even a holy sword however I wanted…?’

Reaching that thought, Jinhyung envisioned a rosy future where he used the tendrils to fully control the holy and demonic swords as he pleased.

Jinhyung stared at Alice, who had slumped down in exhaustion.

‘There’s only one chance…!’

He then focused on her defenseless head.

Alice trusted him.

Even if she didn’t trust him entirely, she at least regarded him as a companion.

She wouldn’t consider him an enemy or expect him to attack her.

She was like an NPC.

The only real person here was him.

‘I’m sorry, Alice… It won’t hurt…!’

-Thwack!

And just like that, the demonic greatsword easily struck Alice’s head.

Completely unprepared, Alice froze in place, the greatsword embedded in her skull.

‘I-I’m sorry, Alice… But I had no choice if I want to get stronger…!’

Mechanical tendrils that could drastically accelerate his path to power.

She was a pretty and charming girl, but in this vast Ark, there were far more beautiful and enticing girls than Alice.

‘It’s sad now, but with her sacrifice and these tendrils in my possession, I’ll rise even higher…!’

-Creek!

And then Alice’s head turned 180 degrees, her eyes locking with Jinhyung’s.

“……….”

“……….”

Even with the greatsword still lodged in her head.