This Humble One, Reincarnation Stream Player

As the bolt clicked, the tension that had just been overflowing vanished. He remained expressionless and opened his mouth.

"Judgment of fate."

The answer was nonsensical. Before Mai could even ask, the sound of footsteps drew near. A pair of oversized leather boots abruptly appeared in her line of sight, followed by a heavy leather trench coat.

A giant nearly three meters tall seemed to be sketched out from the darkness. Mai slowly tilted her head back, her mouth widening inch by inch as she caught sight of a bald, blood-red head.

She had never seen this thing before, but as another gift from the Crimson Moon, its presence was far more imposing than the exposed-brain monster in the ancient castle.

A Tyrant. At the very least, it looked exactly like a Tyrant.

Yuki took a deep breath. He had obtained the final answer, and while he trembled, he also felt a trace of relief.

Although not absolute, there was a high probability that the instance would not reset with the rising and setting of the moon, because the Tyrant was undoubtedly an upgraded version of the Licker. Even without the foresight of a Prophet, even Mai Sakurajima could sense it.

As another gift sent by the Crimson Moon, this thing was stronger than the previous iteration, which meant—

"Yuki, does this mean..."

"Yes, it's the worst-case scenario I just told you about. Take a deep breath, recall every word I said, and then execute it strictly."

Yuki's voice was so steady it lacked any emotion. His eyes were locked onto the giant not far away as he slowly crouched down.

Click.

The safety was switched to full-auto mode. There was no preamble, not even a roar; the Tyrant bent its knees and charged head-on like a tank.

Thump, thump, thump... rat-tat-tat-tat.

Footsteps and gunfire intertwined. Seeing the monster charging straight at him, Yuki pulled the trigger to the end, sparks flying brightly as the bullets struck the Tyrant's crossed arms.

Its momentum was unstoppable!

The 5.56mm bullets couldn't even force a flinch, and within seconds, the Tyrant covered the nearly fifty-meter distance. Upon hearing the click of the empty chamber, it spread its arms, clenched its fists, and prepared to smash Yuki into a pulp.

But the next moment, two flashbangs flew before its eyes, detonating at near-zero range.

BOOM! BOOM!

A blinding light erupted, and the shockwave caused rubble to rain down from the ceiling. Even from over ten meters away, with his back turned, Yuki's ears were still ringing. He had no time to change magazines and simply tossed his rifle behind him.

"Follow me, don't shoot!"

With a low growl, he gripped the long blade at his waist with one hand and charged head-on toward the giant.

The massive body filled his vision, the pressure stinging his nerves. Despite taking two flashbangs, the Tyrant sensed the prey approaching purely by instinct.

Woooo—

A palm like a giant fan swiped over, seemingly capable of flattening a car. Yuki dared not clash with it head-on; as he charged, he leaned backward, his knees touching the ground as he slid forward.

Feeling a gust of wind brush his face and hearing a dull boom in the air, Yuki slid past its legs. At the moment they crossed, he drew his blade and twisted his body.

Clang.

The blade's edge left a silver thread in the crimson moonlight, grazing the back of the Tyrant's knee. A sensation like cutting into frozen meat traveled up his palm.

It was too hard. Even with an alienation-grade weapon, his current strength was nowhere near enough to sever a vital point.

After one strike, Yuki understood that this thing was completely different from a Licker; it was a warrior-type with high offense and high defense, and its combat style was far more direct!

He jammed the blade into the ground to slide another few meters away. Then, he heard a dull thud—the Tyrant, which had been kneeling, had already turned around, smashing a large crater into the floor.

Yuki didn't dare look back. While running toward the depths of the parking garage, he shouted to Mai, who had already circled around:

"Shoot it now."

Rat-tat-tat.

Gunfire erupted immediately, but aside from a few sparks flashing on the Tyrant's body at the start, the rest of the bullets seemed to vanish into thin air. Instead, Mai's wrists and shoulders were aching from the recoil.

She had learned her shooting stance from an action movie years ago, and she had only test-fired a few rounds earlier. Now, in her first real combat, she was facing such a monster.

"Real bullets can't kill it?" Mai saw the monster lift its bald head, a bullet embedded in its forehead. Stared down by those protruding eyes, her spine turned cold and her lips went dry.

Fortunately, the ligament in the Tyrant's right leg had been severed; it had just stood up before kneeling back down. Then, two round defensive grenades were tossed beneath it.

BOOM!

The explosion was even more violent, sending shrapnel flying everywhere. Yuki tackled Mai to the ground and glanced behind him.

Thick smoke shrouded a large area, and he could vaguely see a massive figure half-kneeling in the center. He didn't turn back to press the attack; he simply pulled the girl up and ran toward the depths of the parking garage.

"This thing needs a rocket launcher. Drop your backpack."

Mai hurriedly dropped her pack. Feeling much lighter, she shook off Yuki's hand: "Aren't you going to take the chance to kill it?"

"The Crimson Moon's gifts alienate. Remember that monster with the exposed brain?"

Of course she couldn't forget; that thing could merge into the moonlight, leaving even veteran players scrambling in chaos.

"Wait, this thing can do that too!?"

She turned her head and saw a thick, muscular leg stepping out of the dust. In less than half a minute, the Tyrant had restarted, reaching out to grab an I-beam placed nearby.

"This way!"

BOOM—

Yuki had just pulled Mai Sakurajima onto the ramp leading to the second basement level when the wall beside them exploded, and several meters of I-beam embedded themselves into the concrete like javelins.

Thump, thump, thump.

The sound of footsteps like drumbeats echoed, approaching with an aura that threatened to tear everything apart. Had this been last night, anyone else's legs would have turned to jelly, but having survived several brushes with death, Mai Sakurajima felt a strange sensation.

She was getting used to it—used to running, used to being hunted by monsters, used to the scent of approaching death. Just then, she saw the limit of the crimson moonlight at the bottom of the ramp.

It looked like a dividing line; beyond it lay absolute darkness. But as she clicked the night-vision goggles onto her head, the verdant view allowed her to barely make out the structure of the second basement.

So that was it!

Mai Sakurajima's eyes lit up. She finally understood why the man in front of her had run into a dead end. Beyond the supernatural powers granted by the game, survivors possessed something even more precious—

The experience accumulated between life and death!

Correct, Yuki intended to use the same trick again.

The previous Licker had not only provided a weapon, but more importantly, it had allowed Yuki to discover a pattern: the more brilliant the moonlight, the more powerful the Crimson Moon's gift. That was why he had chosen to stay in the parking garage to await his "judgment."

Regardless of the outcome, controlling the terrain was never a mistake.

If my guess is correct, the Tyrant's mutation should be hyper-regeneration.

The pale green vision of the night-vision goggles wasn't perfectly clear, but it was enough to run through the pitch-black area, and the drumbeat-like footsteps of the pursuer made his mind even sharper.

A long blade had severed its ligaments, and it had taken two defensive grenades; no normal Tyrant could recover this quickly.

He glanced at the silent walkie-talkie, knowing Li Dan would need some time. In the past, he might have been anxious, but now he was eager for the latter to reveal more of his hidden cards.

He tapped the back of Mai Sakurajima's hand, and the two immediately slowed down to hide behind a load-bearing pillar. This underground parking garage hadn't been put into use yet, so naturally, there wasn't a single car in sight, but the dense forest of pillars could still obstruct the Tyrant's line of sight.

The footsteps slowed immediately. In the darkness, red eyes swiveled like will-o'-the-wisps. The Tyrant searched the surroundings carefully, making the heavy footsteps even more terrifying; every impact felt like a stomp on one's heart.

Thump, thump, thump.

Mai Sakurajima pressed her back against the wall, her fingers tapping rhythmically against Yuki's palm. It was Morse code—not particularly proficient, but enough for Yuki to barely grasp the meaning.

"This is a dead end. Should we wait for Li Dan to help?"

"He'll have a hard time with this Tyrant too; it won't be that fast."

"Then you're planning to fight it one-on-one?"

"What one-on-one? Don't I have you here?"

Through the night-vision goggles, Yuki saw Mai's stiff expression and found it somewhat amusing. He poked half his head out to look at the Tyrant, which was scanning left and right a few dozen meters away.

This thing was far stronger than the Licker. Even without the Crimson Moon's enhancement here, an ordinary human without heavy firepower would just be serving themselves up as meat.

Of course, on this second night, the players—including Mai Sakurajima—were no longer ordinary people.

That Conceptual Relic was very suitable for the current situation, and by using Reinforcement Magecraft at full power, they had a fighting chance.

Yuki was not hesitant. Even if he returned the Chaos Item to Hayasaka Ai, he still had several trump cards in his hand. But how to put it?

"Now is not the time to go all out. Otherwise, once my skills are on cooldown, I'll have no power to resist."

He was clear-headed. Under this god-awful difficulty, he had to think further ahead. For a moment, he forgot the approaching footsteps and, like solving a fill-in-the-blank test, laid out all the cards at his disposal.

Firearms? No, he wasn't very good with them.

Because he hadn't had many opportunities to practice shooting, Yuki's firearm proficiency was only at an entry level, which was why he repeatedly chose to spray bullets at point-blank range. He couldn't hit vital points from a distance anyway, let alone snipe.

Conceptual Relic? That was his capital for a comeback in the next step; using it on a monster was too wasteful.

Reinforcement Magecraft definitely had to be used. As long as it wasn't at maximum power, the cooldown should be manageable. But without going all out, how could he possibly take down the Tyrant?

Yuki felt his hand wasn't strong enough and thought of Mai Sakurajima beside him.

Her Ego Trait was off cooldown, but like the Conceptual Relic, it was better not to use it if possible. Her own physical stats were poor; her spray-and-pray earlier had mostly hit the ceiling.

Wait, she had a new Chaos Item.

Yuki hesitated for a moment, and an idea struck him: "Use the Quiet Dew on the Tyrant. It never said this thing only works on players."

"Huh? How do I use it?" Mai was stunned at first, then realized Yuki wanted to exploit the item's side effects. But the bald giant didn't look like the type to obediently open its mouth to take medicine.

Talking to smart people was simple. Yuki didn't need to explain at length. He merely pulled a gleaming yellow bullet from the chest pocket of his tactical vest, held it between his fingertips, and shook it. Seeing this, Mai Sakurajima's eyes lit up, and she nodded heavily three times.

"Very good. You're really getting into the zone."

Yuki offered an encouraging smile. He and Hayasaka Ai had handled the first gift; it was Mai Sakurajima's turn for the second. For some reason, he felt she was just as reliable.

Prepare—attack!

He signaled, pulled out a new magazine, and charged out the moment Mai Sakurajima produced the Chaos Item.

Clatter.

The magazine hit the ground, and the bolt was pulled back. The sound was incredibly distinct in the deathly silent basement. The Tyrant whipped its head around, swung its arms, and charged.

It was truly a human-shaped tank. It smashed the construction tools in its path to pieces, reached out to grab several steel pipes, and hurled them from dozens of meters away.

Clang, clang, clang.

The 'javelins' pierced the concrete floor. Yuki rolled on the ground, dropped to one knee, and raised his gun to fire. A bright snake of fire instantly erupted in the pitch-black underground.

Thirty rounds were emptied in mere seconds, sparks flying wildly across the Tyrant's body, yet the monster lived up to its name, instantly appearing before him and slamming down a fist.

Reinforcement Magecraft!

BANG!!

A shallow crater was smashed into the concrete floor. The creature turned its bald head, locked onto its prey who had leaped several meters away, and decisively placed its other hand atop its head.

Rat-tat-tat-tat...

Another magazine was emptied at near point-blank range, leaving the monster's left hand a bloody mess, but the Tyrant felt no pain; it took a stride forward, opened its arms, and lunged for a warm embrace.

Yuki dared not let himself be caught. Reinforcement Magecraft had qualitatively improved his reaction speed; while he was far from as swift as he had been during the slaughter in the building, it was enough to respond.

He leaned back, tossed the empty rifle behind him, and as the giant hand swept past his face, he ripped another weapon from his harness, pulling the trigger with the barrel pressed almost against the monster's chest.

BANG—

The shotgun fired point-blank into the Tyrant's chest, the buckshot forcing the massive giant to lean back and stagger half a step, while Yuki pressed his left hand to the ground and rolled half a circle.

Clack.

The bolt was pulled, chambering the next round. Simultaneously, as the Tyrant steadied itself, a fist the size of a sandbag flew toward his face. Yuki did not dodge, pulling the trigger with an expressionless face.

BANG!

The second shot was buckshot; amidst the exploding serpent of fire, he watched the mangled flesh of the fist fly apart and saw the Tyrant step forward as if nothing had happened, raising its leg to kick. As he rolled, he felt a gale brush past him.

BANG!!

The kick surpassed the sound of the gunshot, slamming into a load-bearing pillar and gouging out a massive chunk of reinforced concrete. Before the Tyrant's leg could touch the ground, Yuki, kneeling on one knee, worked the bolt once more.

Clack— BANG!

The second, the third, the fourth...

The 12-gauge M870 shotgun fired incessantly, its powerful impact forcing the Tyrant back step by step. Like a machine, Yuki emptied all eight shells, then drew the pistol from his waist, gifting the rest of his 9mm peanuts to the opponent.