I Am a Reincarnation Stream Player

The recoil numbed his wrist. Yuki entered a kind of selfless state, and even heard a strange voice.

[Player Yuki: Firearm Proficiency increased to Mastery.]

The voice vanished in a flash. Yuki thought he might have imagined it, but he had no way to check. The Glock in his hand had locked back on an empty chamber.

He had fired every bullet. The Tyrant was riddled with bloody holes, and its somewhat bullet-resistant leather coat was in tatters, but it had clearly suffered no critical injuries.

Almost as soon as the gunfire stopped, the monster rose from its crouch, where it had been shielding its head. Its massive body nearly swallowed Yuki whole.

Rat-tat-tat.

Short bursts rang out in the distance. A few blooms of blood appeared on its vest, but the monster didn't flinch. It considered Yuki the greatest threat.

Here it comes.

Yuki tilted his head back, tossed away the pistol, and swallowed. Without wasting a word, he turned and ran.

Thud, thud...

At the same time, heavy footsteps rumbled behind him. The monster caught up in just a few strides. Gunfire still echoed behind him, but most of the bullets seemed to be flying off somewhere else.

'Her aim is terrible. She's no threat. This man is the one to deal with; she won't last a minute.'

The monster, which had been acting on instinct alone, suddenly became rational. Its attacks grew methodical, too. This time, it didn't strike blindly. It strode past Yuki first, then turned and swung a sweeping kick back at him.

Whoosh—

The kick stirred the air and scraped a mark into the concrete. Yuki jumped ahead of it, but when he looked up, his pupils shrank.

Bang!

A fist the size of a sandbag slammed into the rifle he had raised, bending it out of shape. Yuki felt as though a car had hit him. He flew several meters and hit the ground, rolling over and over.

Shit.

Yuki struggled to prop himself up. His mouth tasted of rust, but he had no time to check his injuries. He looked up at what lay ahead.

In his green-tinted vision, the tower-like monster strode toward him. It didn't seem berserk; it even had time to glance at its unsteady right arm.

'The ligament tore just now. It can't generate enough force to kill the man.'

As it walked, it raised its left hand and ripped off its already-ragged leather coat, exposing its decayed, mutated body. It casually picked up a length of I-beam nearby, dragging it across the ground and scattering sparks.

Rat-tat-tat.

The Tyrant's body jolted. Seeing the blood burst from its abdomen, it said nothing and hurled the I-beam.

Bang!

Chunks of stone burst from the pillar behind her. Mai Sakurajima ducked and covered her head, nearly screaming.

That was terrifying. She couldn't understand why her shots seemed to have no effect, and she had no idea what Conceptual Craft Essence Yuki had that made him dare to take such a risk.

'She won't dare show herself for a while. I'll use this chance to kill the man.'

After throwing the I-beam, the Tyrant suddenly accelerated. Yuki had just loaded two shells into the shotgun when the footsteps reached him. A soccer-style kick came straight at him.

Boom—

The load-bearing pillar, several meters thick, cracked all over. The Tyrant turned its head, having already worked out what Yuki would do as he rolled.

'He'll use his injured right hand to shield his head, take the second shot on his shoulder, then close in and crush him into meat paste with a knee.'

A combo appeared in its mind. And when it turned, just as expected, its prey had raised his gun with one hand.

Bang!

A bright tongue of flame flashed and vanished. The Tyrant's head snapped back, and its vision disappeared in an instant.

'Why?'

In Yuki's eyes, the Tyrant had done nothing. It had merely turned toward him like an idiot, then taken a shotgun blast that tore its head to pieces.

Its muscles were blasted away, its bones shattered, and its eyes burst. Its neck split open, exposing the ghastly white spine, and its body lost its balance. Even so, it bent forward and rammed him with its shoulder. Under the circumstances, though, it looked more like it was charging straight into the gun.

Bang!

Yuki pulled the trigger without hesitation. The Tyrant's ruined right arm flew into the air. It had already been off balance, and now it toppled backward. Then something deeply unnatural happened.

Its upper body was falling, but its lower body was still trying to drive a knee into him. Yuki sidestepped the bizarre attack, tossed aside the shotgun, and drew the long knife at his waist.

Clang.

"You thought way too much. Your network latency got ridiculous!"

Yuki charged forward, leaned back, and gripped the knife with both hands, aiming at the Tyrant's mangled neck—

One clean stroke, and its head was off!

Mai hid behind the pillar, her face still aching faintly. A length of I-beam stuck up over her head, and her heart was still pounding.

That was close. So close.

If that thing had hit me directly, it would have skewered me clean through. That monster was terrifying—nowhere near the same level as the one in the Ancient Castle. And that idiot had taken it on alone.

I must've helped, right? The bullets had all been soaked in Quiet Dew, and I'd hit the stationary target several times. But wouldn't the friction with the air evaporate the dew? If that monster could think, wouldn't it be even harder to deal with?

Mai's mind was a mess. She was full of hope, yet hesitant to act. Just then, she heard a series of dull thuds.

"Huh? What's that sound?"

After a moment's hesitation, she took a deep breath and peeked out. A round object rolled across the ground toward her. She looked closer and realized it was a huge, horribly mangled head.

Its muscles had been blasted away, exposing its gums, and disgusting mucus was still spurting out. Fortunately, she'd seen plenty of gross things. She quickly batted it aside with the butt of her gun and stood up.

Shallow craters and shattered load-bearing pillars littered the Parking Lot. A headless corpse lay in the open space. Standing over its chest was a figure who kept raising his knife and bringing it down, again and again, like a focused butcher chopping up a carcass.

He was drenched in dark red. Mai blinked, ignored her disgust, and walked over through the slick blood.

"What... are you doing?"

"Making sure it's dead. The Crimson Moon may be powerful, but it can't bring this thing back to life now." Yuki leaned on his knife and panted heavily. Mai's face was calm, and he didn't know what to say.

She'd inevitably grown more mature. The feel of her everyday youth was quietly fading. At least in essence, she wasn't so different from him anymore.

"You fought well just now. Keeping your hands steady and hitting a stationary target in that situation was impressive." Yuki glanced at the girl's expressionless face and spread his hands. "But next time, use short bursts. A few times, you nearly hit me."

"Don't be ridiculous. I waited until you were out of the way every time before I fired!"

"Oh? Were you that worried about hitting me, senpai? I'll remember your concern until the day I die."

"Who's worried about you? If you're going to die, do it somewhere far away." Mai scolded him fiercely. At last, her calm face became more animated.

She really wasn't one to let things go.

Yuki grinned, then looked down at the corpse hacked into pieces. There was no doubt he'd been in danger just now. The Chaos Item had effectively given the Tyrant a buff, making its straightforward attacks predictive.

If I'd dragged things out any longer, I would've had to use my Conceptual Craft Essence.

Yuki took a breath. And Mai Sakurajima was no longer some helpless beauty; she had repeatedly played a crucial role.

Then he could confirm something was wrong with this instance.

His expression turned completely cold. He'd killed a mini-boss, yet received no reward. It made no sense.

'I don't know what the normal difficulty of the Reincarnation Game is like, but it can never violate its own principles. Killing a powerful enemy should earn a reward.'

'The choices when I unlocked a trait, then the sigh and the gaze afterward—was it like opening a door for me, then closing a window?'

Yuki finally had his answer, though he didn't even feel like guessing what it meant. It was all pointless.

The Reincarnation Game wanted me dead. It's doing everything it can to cut off my chances to grow. But as long as it doesn't erase me instantly, that chance will always exist.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Mai poked him in the stomach.

"Something about the game's design." Yuki smiled instead, then asked, "Senpai, did another skill appear in your panel?"

"How do you know?" Mai looked at her player panel. There was indeed another skill in the skill list, called Firearm Proficiency.

"As expected, upgrade points are just a shortcut. Players can improve their skill levels through their own efforts, too. Hmm, it probably has something to do with the environment."

Yuki thought it over. He'd practiced shooting at a range before, but firing at a silhouette target was nothing like unloading a gun into a Tyrant. By the game's logic, the latter would build experience many times faster.

In that case, my swordsmanship must be close to leveling up, too. Good thing I didn't waste upgrade points on ordinary skills before. Only something like Reinforcement Magecraft, with no real-world counterpart, was worth spending them on.

Yuki let out a long breath. He'd actually stumbled into the right choice. As he thought about it, she poked him in the stomach again.

"Hey, should we meet up with Li Dan and the others?" Mai hesitated. The Tyrant's appearance meant too many things.

"Of course."

"But didn't you say there was something wrong with him?"

"If there's a problem, we deal with it. We can't just hide from it. And if we do, what happens to Hayasaka?" Yuki bent down and picked up the shotgun, loading it one shell at a time. "It's becoming more likely, but I still need Li Dan's help to survive this instance."

Mai's lips moved, but in the end she only sighed softly. She couldn't bring herself to say they should abandon Hayasaka. Besides, it was all still speculation. Maybe things weren't as bad as he thought.

Ding-a-ling.

In the dead silence, a notification chime sounded, startling them. Mai turned and saw the man pull out a phone. It looked like he'd scavenged it from an enemy.

"Wait, there's a signal?"

"Not on our phones. But the instance's natives still have one."

"Can Living Corpses send messages? There shouldn't be any normal people left in the instance, should there?"

"Who says?" Yuki opened the messaging app and found a video. He tapped it, and a grin spread across his face.

"Aren't we players normal people?"

The ground was burning. The wreckage of several crushed cars lay scattered about, and a few streetlights were embedded in the wall in the distance.

Huff, huff, huff.

Li Dan braced both hands on his knees and panted. His revolver hung at his side, blood trickling from its cylinder.

He raised his head. A trace of viciousness crossed his broad face. The wide main road had been cut into a V-shaped track, which widened farther out. At the far end, a small building had been blasted in half.

Two thick legs remained in front of him. The upper body was gone.

What a loss. I hadn't expected this monster to be so tough. It just wouldn't stop chasing me.

Here in the bright moonlight, the Tyrant recovered far too quickly. Even with half its head blown off, it had kept attacking—either tearing out streetlights to throw or lifting cars and charging at him. His revolver didn't pack enough punch, and even with unlimited bullets, he couldn't get through its muscles.

So Li Dan had decided to use Death Knell, the Chaos Item's true power. But once the monster had him on the run, he hadn't had a chance to build up a charge.

'She ran way too fast. Useless—she didn't even have the courage to cover me.'

Li Dan cursed her under his breath and quietly put away an item shaped like a Kaleidoscope. He'd just used it to slow the Tyrant down, then blasted it apart with a single shot.

Something was definitely wrong with this instance. How could a monster this strong give me no reward at all?

It definitely wasn't my fault. Damn it, if I can't grow quickly, does that mean I have to solve the problem at its source?

Could it really be him? But he's still useful.

Li Dan couldn't make up his mind. A round of applause interrupted his thoughts.

Clap, clap, clap.

"Brother Li, you were so cool just now! I was completely stunned. That was even more exciting than a movie!"

Amid the enthusiastic applause, the blonde girl ran out of the alley where she'd been hiding. Her face was full of admiration as she marveled at the damage on the ground.

Useless. What had she been doing all this time?

The corner of Li Dan's mouth twitched, but he couldn't exactly complain too much. He turned around, stepped into a shallow crater, and stumbled several steps, nearly falling flat on his face.

"Brother Li, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a little tired." Li Dan waved her off, his manner rather cold. He knew it was a side effect of the Chaos Item, so he kept himself tense and suddenly stepped half a pace to the side.

Thud.

A bent streetlight slammed down beside him, missing his head by a hair. Hayasaka Ai blinked with innocent, unknowing eyes, while her mind kept analyzing the situation.

He seems really unlucky. His whole body's tensed up.

Li Dan glanced at Hayasaka Ai again, then simply stopped where he was. From the corner of his eye, he watched the fat man. Almost immediately, the latter screamed in terror.

"We're done for! We're done for! This monster's far stronger than the one in the Ancient Castle, Brother Li! That means the progress won't reset!"