Chapter 88: Traffic Control 1
Cracked and broken hands began to regenerate.
It wasn’t just the reconstructed gears and screws.
It was flesh.
Warm flesh that radiated its own heat, filling the gaps between my fingers—not artificial skin merely imitating the real thing, but soft, natural skin.
Before I knew it, feet had also formed on my previously twisted and misshapen legs.
There were no metal toes or greasy skeletal structures.
My shoes had likely torn during the battle, leaving me barefoot on the freezing obsidian surface.
“…Cold.”
For some reason, I felt cold.
The warmth and chill, which I never experienced in my metallic android body, now felt vivid and real.
“Haaah…”
I inhaled deeply.
It felt alive.
So vivid.
Most of my body was still comprised of machinery, metal, gears, and screws, but now human flesh and warmth had joined the stage where these danced together.
My bones were metal, my muscles mechanical fibers, and my neural network was formed by electronic synapses and magic-engineered gears.
Even so, flesh had started to grow on me.
‘The heart is still missing…’
But it didn’t matter.
The vivid sensations, the feeling of blood coursing through veins, the ability to perceive warmth and cold—these alone felt like blessings.
At this moment, I felt incredibly good.
“We won.”
It wasn’t just that we won.
After merging with Gaia and undergoing unity with her, something had changed.
It wasn’t merely a matter of increased strength; it felt as if the fundamental essence of my being had shifted.
The human flesh growing on my mechanical body was likely proof of that transformation.
“Ugh, but it’s so cold…”
“Teacher! Are you cold!?”
A single immortal girl clung tightly to my arm, perhaps responding to my words.
The soft and warm sensation felt more vivid than ever before.
I could distinctly feel the tender texture of her delicate skin and the slightly warmer-than-average body temperature characteristic of her kind.
It didn’t take long for her warmth to transfer from my arm into my body.
‘Could it be… am I becoming human?’
Of course, that wasn’t the case.
While my skin had become much closer to that of a human, its basic durability was still nearly identical to that of my android body. My internal skeleton and neural network remained constructed of metal and machinery.
“Outside…”
At some point, Sabrina, supported by the dolls, emerged above ground, tears shimmering in her eyes.
“Finally, finally… Hah, sniff…”
“Eh? Why is this big sister crying?”
“Crying?”
“I thought you wouldn’t get Christmas presents if you cried…”
“In that case, I’ll take her present for myself, nyetch.”
Regardless of the immortal girls’ bewilderment, Sabrina laughed and cried freely.
Imprisoned by Earnest Rail for months, perhaps even years, she must have endured unspeakable torment and experimentation, leaving her with despair so profound it displaced her anger and grief.
I didn’t pry further.
Even demons prefer to bury their horrific memories.
“Aheheheh!”
“We won!”
“That was fun!”
“I want to play like this again!”
“It would’ve been great if the Guild Master came with us…”
“Squishy.”
“It was a glamorous time, nyetch.”
Looking around, I saw the immortal girls who had fought fiercely, chatting among themselves with wide smiles on their faces.
A girl who was laughing.
Another who vowed with burning determination that she would definitely win against Gaia on her own next time.
There was even one poking her fingers curiously into the holes of her torn clothing.
All of them were equally carefree, despite wearing clothes reduced to rags or shreds, yet their bodies bore not a single scar.
Strictly speaking, the immortal girls had been slashed, stabbed, severed, ground down, and torn apart by Gaia countless times, but now all those wounds had completely regenerated.
Gaia, with regenerative powers on par with or exceeding theirs, had ravaged the land and life with countless branches.
Even from their perspective, it was unlikely they had fought someone as strong and monstrous as Gaia.
To be honest, I couldn’t say I had enjoyed the experience, even in the most flattering terms.
Enjoyed?
What nonsense.
The idea of enjoying a fight is usually the delusion of someone narrowly defeating a weaker opponent, claiming it was a life-or-death struggle to comfort their ego.
The immortal girls might have the innocent mindset of children and infinite regeneration, but it was pointless to think of them by human standards.
First, I decided to contact Sohi as a top priority.
Initially, my goal was to disrupt the supply chain and relocate resources to prevent the northern front from falling into Mega Corp’s hands, but the situation had rapidly changed in a matter of days.
Unfortunately, Earnest Rail had deployed an extensive signal jamming network across the northern front, leaving no opportunity to report properly to Sohi.
If Earnest Rail’s northern front had been entirely annihilated by Gaia, then the signal jamming should have been lifted by now.
-Beep-beep!
I immediately connected to the direct line with Sohi through my smartwatch.
[Oh, Alice?]
“Gasp! It’s Guild Leader Sohi!”
“Guild Leader!”
“Ahhh!”
“We, you know, we fought a really scary and powerful monster!”
“We won!”
“It was a glowing tree branch!”
“And also a pretty lady!”
“Hehe, we defeated her!”
Hearing Sohi’s voice, the immortal girls, who had been riding on the dolls, swarmed toward me all at once.
[Hush.]
“Eek!”
“Gasp!”
“Shh.”
“Shhh…”
The boisterous children quieted down instantly at Sohi’s single word, which was rather fascinating.
They listened to me reasonably well, but Sohi, with her longer history of caring for the immortal girls, seemed to have a distinctly different level of influence.
“Guild Leader Sohi, mission success report.”
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■
“Oh my, is that so? Such things happened…”
Sohi listened to Alice’s report, a deep smile forming as she realized things had gone smoother than expected.
The native forces.
Sohi had recognized that the situation had shifted from the moment the Baron, the demon leader, was captured.
However, the sudden betrayal of Dawn by Earnest Rail, who had previously shared the front line, turned the battlefield into an unpredictable chaos.
As soon as Alice and twenty immortal girls were deployed, the situation rapidly spiraled.
Earnest Rail, who had claimed the battlefield solo, suffered supply raids so severe that conducting normal combat operations became impossible, to the point that hired Hunters were breaking contracts.
Mega Corp, Hunters, or whatever else—humans are still humans, and humans need food and proper nutrition to sustain war efforts.
While Alice might have conducted the raids playfully, it was undeniable that she inflicted a fatal blow to their war capabilities.
Additionally, the seizure of the dolls was likely something Earnest Rail never anticipated.
‘The dolls are Earnest Rail’s masterpiece and key force. At the same time, they’re a shameful taboo and a forbidden aspect for Ark.’
In truth, Sohi had only heard rumors about the dolls but had never confirmed their existence herself.
Yet Alice not only seized fifty of these dolls but also used them at her discretion, which was no small accomplishment.
[So now, from the demon side, there’s a noble named Sabrina…]
“Ah, Alice. Shall we discuss the details once you return? It seems like a topic too complex for a phone call. Please make sure to bring that person named Sabrina with you.”
[Got it.]
With those words, Sohi ended the communication.
Sohi’s lips curled into a faint smile.
-Thud!!!
“Everyone?”
“Yes!”
“Yes, Guild Master!”
“Yeeees!”
“Kyaahahahaha!!”
At Sohi’s call, 167 immortal girls responded.
Each immortal girl held a weapon in her hands.
Spears, swords, scythes, pickaxes, guns, hammers.
Every weapon, though different in type, was forged from the blood, flesh, and bones of the immortal girls themselves. From each weapon, someone’s crimson blood dripped.
Sohi and the girls gazed at the burning city.
Not every city burns.
This was Satellite City Jain, Dawn Branch.
While Alice and 20 girls had left Jain, Sohi launched an attack on Dawn, which had been betrayed by Earnest Rail.
“Now, girls?”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
“You called, Guild Master!”
The girls were all smiles, their faces glowing brightly.
Sohi loved these smiles.
The children’s time.
The children’s smiles.
The children’s desires.
The purest things.
But purity itself could also be cruel.
Because it was pure, it was cruel, and Sohi loved that cruelty as well.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have relinquished her position as a First-Class Overseer just to care for the immortal girls, whose very existence was taboo to Ark.
“To our home.”
Mana gleamed in Sohi’s eyes.
The children too.
The eyes of the 167 immortal girls shone with the same light of mana as Sohi’s.
“The Mega Corps have no place here.”
“That’s right!”
“Stay back!”
“Deppuwt! This is the glamorous watachi’s house, nyetch!”
“Tonight, all of Dawn will be uprooted!”
“As the Guild Master wishes!”
Even the most naive of the girls knew that Sohi cherished them deeply.
The immortal girls vaguely understood that Sohi had sacrificed something precious to take care of them.
Except for Sohi and Alice, all adults had tried to kill the immortal girls.
Having faced the murderous intent, black malice, and cruelty of humanity since childhood, the girls adored Sohi, who treated them kindly.
Thus, if Sohi told them to kill, they would kill, and if she told them to die, they would die.
Well, they couldn’t actually die… but they could at least pretend to be dead, right?
“Now then…”
It was playtime.
“The hunting game~ begins!”