Let's Rob It!

A girl nervously looking around as if stranded alone in a strange world.

Though she looked obviously suspicious to any observer, Black Citadel was overflowing with demons that drew far more attention than a mere girl.

Thanks to this, Alice could safely wander around Black Citadel without arousing anyone’s suspicion.

“Looking for people to go to World 891! Mainly recruiting flame ability users and mages!”

“Need people to mine holy stones! Holy power resistance ability required!”

“Recruiting for House Baal’s World 2154 exploration mission! It’s a civilization just starting to use steam engines, so looking more for mental abilities than combat abilities!”

The central plaza of Black Citadel.

Arriving at the plaza with gates connecting to other dimensions, Alice was dumbstruck by the sight that exceeded her expectations.

Though she had seen videos of the plaza through the demon realm network, there was a huge difference between watching through holograms and seeing it in person with her own eyes.

“It’s like a game.”

Countless massive gates in a space so vast its end couldn’t be seen.

Unique appearances and distinctive attire.

People recruiting parties for various purposes like hunting, exploration, and gathering.

Black Citadel’s plaza strongly resembled the games she had seen on NewTube.

Alice, who had been absentmindedly admiring the amazing scene, soon came to her senses.

‘I can’t be fooled by appearances.’

This wasn’t a game but reality, and these weren’t ordinary people but invaders who pillaged countless worlds.

Though they had built an advanced civilization, demons were enemies to fight against, no different from monsters.

After steeling her resolve, Alice began looking around the plaza examining the gates.

And shortly after, Alice was able to find one gate.

[No.1711. Tirium.]

The gate connected to Marcus and the humans’ world.

After confirming both the number and name matched what she had heard from Yuseong, Alice memorized the gate’s location and left the plaza.

After exiting, Alice pulled up a map and wandered around various parts of Black Citadel.

After thoroughly examining the special criminal detention facility where Yuseong was imprisoned, the terrain features, and areas where demons congregated, Alice sat on a nearby bench and closed her eyes.

[Data update complete. Optimal escape route calculation complete. Running escape simulation.]

The body Alice inhabited wasn’t an ordinary combat android.

Intrigued by the outlandish idea of using a dragon heart as a power source and having an otherworld witch possess it for movement, Sophia had focused on the software as well as hardware.

As a result, the android’s artificial brain was loaded with Sophia’s vast combat data and various programs she had personally developed to handle different situations.

[Simulation complete. Escape success probability 2.1%.]

“Hmm.”

Alice let out a low groan.

Too low a probability.

Moreover, this was the simulation result without including variables like demons’ exact combat power or sudden appearances of powerful demons.

The already low probability would surely drop even lower when put into actual practice.

‘What should I do? Mr. Yuseong said it was fine to fail but…’

Yuseong didn’t expect a plan that was practically gambling to succeed on the first try.

Even if she was lucky enough to be safely captured and transported to Black Citadel, the bigger problem remained of Alice alone having to rescue dozens of people imprisoned in a maximum security facility and escape to the gate.

Yuseong was naturally prepared to try again and told Alice it was fine to fail this time, just focus on gathering as much data as possible while exploring Black Citadel.

But Alice couldn’t be satisfied with that.

‘I want to surprise Mr. Yuseong.’

She wanted to show she wasn’t just a tool that moved as ordered but a companion he could trust and rely on.

For that, she needed to achieve results exceeding Yuseong’s expectations.

Alice thought so hard the artificial brain’s logic circuits nearly overheated.

She searched, analyzed, and reassembled information stored in the artificial brain and stories about the demon realm that Yuseong had told her.

And after countless simulations, Alice was finally able to obtain a satisfactory result.

[Simulation complete. Escape success probability 91.5%.]

A probability incomparably higher than before.

However, the content was ominous.

A plan so horrific it made her artificial protein skin crawl.

Alice made her decision immediately.

“Let’s do it.”

There would be massive damage, but considering what the demons were doing, that much was nothing.

No, what happened to demons wasn’t her concern to begin with.

Rising from the bench, Alice moved to a military base located slightly away from the center.

Normal cities don’t have military bases, but Black Citadel was special.

Military bases and weapon warehouses were installed near the central plaza with gates to enable rapid and swift deployment of armies to other worlds.

Alice’s target was a certain item in the weapon warehouse.

“Sneaking in doesn’t seem possible.”

After looking around the military base area, Alice wore a troubled expression.

She had thought it would be easy since she could enter the city simply and without suspicion, but the base’s security level was far stricter than expected.

Unmanned gun turrets were positioned throughout, robots patrolled inside the base, and drones flew around in the sky.

While observing the base from a distance, Alice’s eyes lit up upon discovering something.

A demon wearing a fancy uniform with several medals on their chest.

Judging by how demons and robots they encountered all saluted without exception, they were clearly in a high position.

Swoosh!

The nano-clothing covering Alice’s body changed from an ordinary female demon’s form to the form of the demon she had just seen.

After confirming the demon in the fancy uniform had entered a building and hadn’t come out, Alice emerged from the alley and approached the base.

“Hey, stop right there. This is… Eek! G-General Wolfman?!”

“Dozing off again? Why suddenly saying that person’s na… Gak!”

The demons standing guard froze in place the moment they saw Alice.

“G-General? Weren’t you inside the base?”

A demon who belatedly came to their senses asked in a trembling voice.

However, Alice said nothing.

No, she couldn’t say anything.

Unlike Yuseong who had the Babel skill enabling free conversation with any being, Alice didn’t know much about demon language.

Thanks to the learning system installed in the artificial brain she could manage basic communication, but complex conversations were impossible.

Alice, who had paused momentarily, made a gesture with an annoyed expression.

The demons then opened the door without asking anything further.

“……”

Though she occasionally encountered demons, no one approached Alice who wore an expression full of irritation.

Arriving at the weapon warehouse without anyone’s interference, Alice stopped in front of a massive door.

After hesitating briefly, Alice approached the panel beside the door and placed her hand on it.

Woong.

The android’s eyes turned golden.

Eye of Truth that could visualize and interfere with energy.

Combined with the computing power of the artificial brain that Sophia had poured her heart into creating, the building’s security system was easily bypassed.

Beep!

With a beep, the firmly closed iron door smoothly opened.

Alice slipped through the slightly opened gap, closed the door, and moved into the warehouse.

On the left were piles of personal weapons like swords, knives, spears, guns, and bows, while on the right were war machines like tanks, planes, artillery, and missiles.

However, Alice gave no attention to any of them and moved forward, opening doors to enter the next sections.

The deeper she went, the higher the level of weapons became, and robot weapons that seemed like they belonged in SF movies occasionally appeared.

And after passing through five doors to reach the warehouse’s deepest part, Alice was able to find what she was looking for.

<Small Nuclear Fusion Bomb>

-Rank: A+

-Type: Bomb

-An eco-friendly bomb that doesn’t cause radioactive contamination. The amount of reactants used for nuclear fusion can be adjusted according to how long the button is pressed.

-Minimum range 100m.

-Maximum range 1km.

“Found it.”

The timing of Yuseong’s surrender was when demons began considering humans as genuine threats and trying to deal with them.

At the time, various methods to eliminate humans were posted on the network, including content about tactical weapons that could wipe out entire regions.

After putting the small nuclear fusion bomb in her pocket, Alice began collecting other bombs next to it as well.

Though their forms were different, being stored on the same display shelf suggested they likely had power equivalent to the small nuclear fusion bomb.

Just before collecting all the bombs on the display shelf, a growling voice was heard from behind.

“Stop right there.”

“……”

“Strange reports came in asking when I had gone out, so we quickly conducted a search, but who would have thought a rat had snuck in. Slowly turn around with your hands raised.”

Turning around, Alice bit her lip upon seeing the demon general who looked exactly like her current form.

While someone else might have tried to somehow resolve the situation using their identity, there was nothing that could be done against the actual person.

“Looking at how you entered a top security facility alone and bypassed security systems five times, this probably wasn’t done alone… Who sent you? Representative Zarkonic? General Serpia? Agaroth Heavy Industries?”

Alice was lost in thought while letting the demon general’s words go in one ear and out the other.

Buying time would put her at a disadvantage.

She needed to deal with the demon general in front of her and quickly escape before reinforcements arrived.

The moment Alice who had made her decision moved her hand, the demon general’s form blurred.

In an instant, before Alice could even register that the demon before her had disappeared, the artificial brain completed analyzing the situation in milliseconds and issued optimal commands to the body for the current situation.

Crunch!

“Oh? You blocked that?”

A gleam entered the demon general’s eyes.

He possessed skills that ranked among the top even among demons.

He hadn’t expected a mere intruder to perfectly receive his attack that made even high-ranking demons struggle.

The demon general grinned and launched an attack twice as fast as before toward Alice.

[Installing Flash Thunder Hand Style 2: Flash Thunder Summoning]

A message displayed before Alice’s eyes and then her body began moving on its own to deflect the demon general’s attacks.