LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 5 - The Day Rust Rain Fell… 4
Chapter 5: The Day Rust Rain Fell… 4
Ark is a massive city-state.
Its size was so vast that even the upper echelons governing Ark couldn’t fully grasp its entirety, but it could easily be said to be larger than most continents.
It might seem puzzling for a mere city to possess such immense scale, but at this point in history, humanity regarded the colossal city-state of Ark as its last bastion.
External calamities and monsters continued to invade Ark persistently, seeking to erode it.
Conversely, Ark launched offensives to explore and reclaim the outside world, with Awakened individuals at its core.
If the entrance to this last bastion, as it was called, were breached, humanity would truly face extinction.
Yet, thus far, this final stronghold remained intact, and there existed individuals referred to as Hunters, who wielded the power to oppose monsters and calamities.
Hunters.
They could be classified into various roles—Overseers, Collectors, Executors, Patrol Officers, and Sentinels—but collectively, they were generally called either the Awakened or Hunters.
Naturally, in such an environment, most Hunters belonged to the elite.
Particularly, the weaker or less capable individuals descended into lower-class service roles, and the lower down the hierarchy, the fewer choices were available.
The economic ecosystem of this last bastion of humanity was utterly extreme.
The one sphere in which Ark’s residents could manage to reap some benefits was by engaging in direct or indirect work related to Hunters.
In reality, all institutions and economic circulation in the city revolved around Hunters, so this was a natural consequence.
First-Class Overseer Oriana.
She held a high-ranking position with far greater rights and authority than she realized.
Overseers could traverse all boundaries of Ark without restriction, and wherever the city’s administrative offices or Ark’s leadership extended their influence, Overseers were present.
The primary duty of an Overseer was to monitor and safeguard both the interior and exterior of the city.
The purpose of surveillance was, of course, to maintain the safety of Ark and the city.
This also involved monitoring and repelling intruding calamities or dissenters within the city.
Overseers, being powerful Awakened individuals themselves, resolved most issues on their own.
However, in emergencies, they were authorized to mobilize supplies, administrative resources, or combat personnel as they deemed necessary.
“Everyone, wake up.”
-Clink!
-Clink!
At the command of First-Class Overseer Oriana, the hibernation devices were deactivated.
The cryogenic states of the devices, aligned like coffins in a row, began to dissipate, releasing white mist.
One by one, individuals wearing gas masks and full-body restraining suits emerged from the devices.
These were the Contact Unit assigned to the patrol team.
Most members of the Contact Unit were criminals.
During peacetime, they remained in hibernation, awaiting activation by Overseers or patrol teams for duties such as patrol support and monster suppression.
While the patrol team and Overseers were vital personnel to Ark and the city, the Contact Unit served as a punitive force—essentially “disposable lives.”
“The current weather is Rust Rain, and abnormal movements have been detected in the forest where the Rust Rain is falling.”
[…]
“Search for foreign entities in the forest. If they are hostile, annihilate them. If they are human, escort them back safely.”
The only response to Oriana’s briefing came from the muted breathing of those bound by their gas masks.
Contact Unit members were fundamentally unable to speak.
Their sole purpose was to obey the commander’s orders. Rebellion, questioning, or doubt was not permitted to them.
No matter how reckless or suicidal the command might be, the Contact Unit existed solely to follow orders.
‘What crimes must they have committed to end up in the Contact Unit…?’
Even as a high-ranking Overseer, Oriana had no right to access the personal details or crimes of Contact Unit members.
Strictly speaking, she could uncover the information if she wanted to, but delving too deep could land her not in the leisurely patrol corps, but in a Contact Unit reformation facility.
She could only accept that they must have committed crimes severe enough to warrant such punishment.
Though it felt unsettling to treat humans like machines or objects, Oriana steeled herself and snapped her fingers.
-Snap!
As the Overseer’s emblem engraved on her hand was revealed, the binding spell restraining the Contact Unit dissolved.
“Well then, commence contact.”
[[[[Commence]]]]
At Oriana’s declaration, the restraints on the Contact Unit’s suits were released, and they swiftly exited the building in perfect coordination.
The suits, which had once bound them, now served as both armor to protect the Contact Unit and as Oriana’s eyes.
“Every time I see them, it feels like they’re not humans but robots.”
“What can we do? They ended up like that because they committed crimes. Even if we pity them, there’s nothing we can do.”
“Still, I’m thankful they’re going out in the Rust Rain instead of us.”
Oriana, about to drink her now-cold instant coffee, ultimately discarded it into a planter.
Though she had merely exercised her rightful authority, encountering the Contact Unit left her feeling uneasy and dispirited.
“Let’s at least find out what’s going on.”
Thus, the patrol team’s surveillance network shared its vision with the Contact Unit, revealing the drizzling forest under the falling Rust Rain.
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-Whiiiiiiiing!
-Screeeeech!!!
Pain surged through me.
As that delicate scream reverberated, the mana in the atmosphere and the mana the creature possessed were imbued with emotion and willpower.
Mana charged with intent became a sufficient source of energy.
Alice recharged herself in this manner.
The battery, which had been nearly empty, now brimmed slightly, drawing a considerable amount of pain from the Scrap Orc and Goblin.
The idea that pain could become a battery seemed absurd, but in this world, mana imbued with willpower was both a resource and energy.
“……”
The Scrap Goblin, who managed to die within about five minutes, was fortunate. However, the Scrap Orc, unable to even scream, was in a far more pitiful state.
In a condition where pain sensitivity had been magnified several times over, every part of its body except for its vital points had been severed or pierced by something.
Its flesh had been flayed away like peeling off skin, leaving raw muscles exposed. Quivering internal organs were pulled out and hung around its neck like a grotesque necklace.
Such acts of cruelty weren’t to Alice’s or Auxiliary Personality Theresa’s taste, but the more intense and sorrowful the pain extracted, the more Alice could replenish her depleted battery.
However, due to its stubborn durability and vitality, the Scrap Orc wouldn’t die unless its heart or head were destroyed.
It likely cursed its own regenerative abilities and robust body more than ever before.
‘Please, let me die. Stop this pain. Just kill me already.’
But the Scrap Orc, its mouth paralyzed, had no way of conveying its wishes to Alice.
As a result, it continued to offer unrelenting pain sufficient to maintain Alice’s Emergency System without triggering an alarm.
【Battery Level: 8.35%】
【Emergency System confirms reinforcement by Auxiliary Personality Theresa.】
【All authority is reassigned to the Main Personality as of this moment.】
【Parameter Output Initiated】
【Constructing Personality Fragments】
【Executing Personality】
【Blending Personality Nutrients】
【Excluding Hazardous Variables】
【Executing】
【Executing】
【Main Frame awakens the Main Personality.】
“Puhah!”
Ugh, what an utterly revolting feeling.
Waking up to face such pain and blood was far from pleasant.
Even in my second life as a Demon King, I didn’t live as some aimless murderer or butcher.
Although my memories weren’t entirely clear, I was confident that I hadn’t lived like that.
“Haa…”
A low sigh escaped me.
They called it the Auxiliary Personality?
The time when it controlled my body felt like a dream, though that didn’t mean I couldn’t remember it.
No, the problem was that I remembered it too vividly, as if I had done those things myself, even though it wasn’t me.
Of course, I understood why the Auxiliary Personality acted as it did.
“Its purpose is to keep me alive, isn’t it?”
I didn’t intend to blame it.
The Auxiliary Personality inflicted pain to imbue the ambient mana with willpower.
Mana, which was otherwise as useless as air, transformed into energy upon encountering pain.
In other words, I could recharge the battery of this wretched metal body by feeding off the suffering of others.
“…I really need to find another method soon.”
I looked down at my hand, where sticky blood was being washed away by the rusty rain.
It was a pretty gruesome sight.
At least this time, the victims weren’t human but hostile entities: an Orc and a Goblin covered in scrap.
I had merely tortured monsters and abominations that had attacked me first. Yet, I wasn’t sure I’d feel the same way if I had done this to humans.
Surely, humans must exist somewhere in this world.
They must have gathered together.
If I tortured humans for their pain to charge my battery, I’d instantly become a heinous criminal akin to a Demon King.
-Clink!
At that moment, I sensed someone approaching.
The sensory organs of this metallic body were surprisingly sharp.
The vibrations from the rustling bushes were not caused by the wind or raindrops but by the movements of a bipedal creature.
[Huff-]
[Huff-]
Before I knew it, I was surrounded by figures wearing gas masks and restraining suits.
I couldn’t discern their expressions, but the weapons in their hands—whether swords or spears—suggested they might attack at any moment if things went awry.
“…Ah, of all times, why now?”
Facing them, I became fully aware of my current appearance.
For the sake of battery charging, I was drenched in blood, flesh, and entrails.
The fact that the targets had been Goblins and Orcs?
Their bodies no longer resembled Goblins or Orcs.
What remained were unrecognizable chunks of blood and shredded flesh.
【Huff-!】
Drenched in that crimson mess, I was a sight more than sufficient to provoke hostility from the humans in gas masks.