Reincarnation Stream Player

"If I'm not mistaken, there's more than one monster."

"Hm? Why?"

"Because I made contact with one earlier and left it with a section of my right index finger." Yuki looked at the forearm still lying on the floor, its five claws twitching. "If it doesn't have some kind of super-speed regeneration skill, then this proves it isn't the one I encountered before."

As soon as he finished speaking, the dim corridor fell deathly silent. Hayasaka Ai's eye twitched slightly, and after a long while, she finally forced out a sentence. "Looks like this Reincarnation Game doesn't care whether Players live or die."

Yuki nodded faintly. He had already realized it from the beginner's guide, the lack of friendly fire, and the absence of any difficulty indicators. This game had no newbie protection system at all.

Those few hours of rest had been an illusion. Just as the third prompt said, time would continue to pass, just like their lives and hope.

"We wasted too much time in a false sense of security, while the difficulty kept rising without a sound. On top of that, perhaps our gains caused some kind of mutation."

"High risk, high reward—and high rewards bring high risks too?" Hayasaka Ai's eyes flickered.

"Maybe. But we don't have the right to regret it, and we need to hurry." Yuki raised his head, letting his grave expression show beneath the dim moonlight. "Miss Hayasaka, do you trust me?"

"I do. I've met experts from all sorts of fields, and you give me a similar feeling." Hayasaka Ai answered without hesitation. She had no choice.

"Then follow me."

Yuki nodded in satisfaction. At a time like this, wasting breath was suicide. He turned and headed toward the other side of the staircase, nearly running as he leaped down the steps.

This way led to the basement, with no door blocking the path. Yuki immediately caught a whiff of mildew and instinctively covered his mouth and nose.

The ceiling was five meters high. There were many rooms without doors on either side of the corridor, and without windows, the place felt extremely enclosed. All kinds of clutter were piled around, so it was hardly spacious.

They were clearly several meters underground, with no windows in sight, yet Crimson Moonlight still seeped through the ceiling, draping everything in a dim red veil.

It got everywhere. No, even without gaps, it would seep through anyway. But just as I thought, the light is much dimmer here.

Yuki finally showed a faint smile, only for Hayasaka Ai to jab him with her elbow.

"This isn't a good place to fight that kind of monster, is it?"

Professional. She had recognized at a glance that Lickers were agile monsters and loved complicated environments like this.

"The basement should have two levels. Let's keep going deeper."

"How do you kno—" Hayasaka Ai froze, then spotted a wooden sign on the wall. Her eyes shifted as she understood. "You want to avoid the moonlight?"

"Yeah. The Gift of the Crimson Moon should naturally act under moonlight. That makes perfect sense."

"You guessed?"

"No. I counted just now."

Yuki offered no further explanation. He and Hayasaka Ai moved deeper into the basement back to back, and the girl's confusion was soon answered.

Clang.

The sound of something falling was especially clear, followed by a dull tap, tap, tap. Their eyes slowly lifted as they identified it as the sound of geckos crawling.

"They're here."

Yuki's guess had been right. The earlier monster had no need to go through all this trouble—it could silently appear right above its prey's head, making people afraid to even blink.

Yuki still said nothing. He only quickened his pace, his ears twitching.

The tapping sounds were chaotic, and with the echoes, he had no way of determining their exact positions. He could only roughly tell that they were still some distance away.

Ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters.

By the dim wall lamps, he could already see the far end of the basement. There was an arched stone doorway there, with worn stone stairs leading even deeper underground.

Tap.

His footsteps stopped abruptly, causing Hayasaka Ai, who had been moving backward, to bump into his back. She did not know why he had stopped, but she understood that something was wrong.

That monster hasn't pounced this whole time. It can't be escorting us deeper underground, can it?

The same thought appeared in Yuki's mind. The moment he stopped, he jerked his head up and vaguely saw something hidden in the shadows.

It was motionless, as though hibernating. In the dim moonlight, it was easy to mistake it for a beam above the doorway. But the instant Yuki's gaze swept over it, it moved, extending an arm with only four claws from deep within the shadows.

Damn, I was actually right.

"Spread out!"

Bang!!

Broken stones exploded across the middle of the corridor. Fortunately, the warning came in time. The two of them jumped to opposite sides a step ahead of it. Yuki landed hard on his backside, and as a foul stench hit his face, he grabbed a rag from beside him.

Trace On. Reinforcement.

Entry-level Reinforcement Magecraft was hardly convenient. Not only did it have a cooldown, it also had considerable requirements for the size and material of whatever was reinforced. For example, hardening steel and hardening cloth were not remotely comparable.

Yet this supernatural power still saved Yuki's life. The hanging rag unfolded like a sheet of iron. With a crack, it was immediately pierced by claws, but the second it bought was enough for him to roll aside.

It took a second to punch through?

Thud—

Several bits of rubble struck his face painfully. He saw the Licker plant one foot where he had just fallen, turn its head, and stick out its saliva-covered tongue.

Swish.

A flash of silver cut it in half. Yuki sprang to his feet, gripping the sword in both hands as he twisted and swung horizontally.

He felt the blade slice through flesh. The Licker's reaction nerves were obviously faster than his, and it had already leaped onto the ceiling. A wound about an inch deep had been cut into its calf, but it did not fear pain. Amid a series of tap, tap, taps, it circled him like a crocodile patrolling a lake.

Its reaction speed is twenty percent slower than before.

Yuki did not look up, much less remain where he was waiting. He rushed out of the room in two strides, forced aside the other one-armed Licker from behind, and shoved Hayasaka Ai hard in the back.

"Run!"

Who would dare hesitate now? The two of them bolted, their legs feeling as though they were about to turn into wheels of fire. This time, there was no deliberate baiting. The tap, tap, tap behind them followed like the toll of death.

The two monsters chased after them down the corridor. One was slightly slower due to its missing arm, but that savage aura still kept them from daring to look back.

Passing through the arched doorway, Yuki saw stone stairs descending into the earth. They were about three or four meters wide, with thick walls on both sides. A small landing lay in the middle every twenty steps, and the first landing seemed to mark a boundary.

That was where the Crimson Moonlight reached its limit. Beyond it, only the dim glow of wall lamps remained.

There was no time to think further. The two Lickers rushed into the doorway as well, their muscular bodies nearly filling the whole space. One's severed tongue was only a few inches from Hayasaka Ai's back.

The hairs on the back of the girl's neck stood on end. She followed Yuki, leaping down two or three steps at a time. Then, the instant she stepped onto the landing, she heard another low roar.

"Turn around! Give it everything you've got!!"

Her mind had not even caught up, but her body had already turned instinctively. It had nothing to do with trust—it was simply survival instinct.

Her adrenaline surged. She saw the two Lickers push off the walls and cover nearly ten meters in an instant. Even without room for any fancy maneuvers, their speed far surpassed that of humans.

Thud.

The stone steps at the boundary cracked beneath their feet. Their tensed thighs stretched and compressed like springs, sure to unleash tremendous force.

I won't make it in time... Hm?

She watched the two monsters launch themselves at her, but this leap was far weaker than before. They only jumped less than five meters, landing right in front of her.

She did not know why, nor did she want to know. She swung her axe down with all her strength, activating her Chaos Item.

[Frontal Lobe Fragment]

Splurt!

The axe blade chopped into the Licker's raised arm, burying itself deep in the bone. It was not a fatal wound, but a swaying Petal grew from the wound, wildly flourishing as though nourished by blood.

It went from the size of a thumb to as thick as a forearm, then tore apart and split open, like a huge cluster of grotesque flowers cutting through flesh.

Hayasaka Ai felt a tearing pain in her head, as though it had split into countless pieces like those Petals. She no longer had the energy to deal with the one-armed Licker crawling along the wall. All she could see was its gaping maw biting toward her face.

"Duck!"

With a furious roar, Yuki leaned forward behind the girl and gripped the sword hilt tightly in his right hand. With a dragon-like ring of steel, the long blade left its sheath.

Trace On. Begin.

The blade's strength and sharpness far surpassed Damascus Steel. With a swing of Yuki's right hand, it lashed toward the Licker's open mouth like a whip.

It entered the maw, sliced through muscle, and plunged into the chest—

One strike, two halves, blood raining down!

Three-Way Alliance (Revised)

Drip, drip, drip...

Bright red blood flowed down the stone steps into the depths below, and the air was filled with a sickening stench of blood.

Yuki felt as though his chest were burning. The air he exhaled scraped across his throat with dry pain. Leaning against the wall, he found that once the adrenaline faded, he could not even move a finger. He could only slowly shift his eyes.

Other than the glaring blood, his field of vision held two enormous corpses. One had nearly been cut in two and had rolled some distance away in upper and lower halves. The other had been torn to pieces, as if shredded by a cutting machine.

Besides those, there was a girl clutching her head and groaning in pain. Her school uniform had been dyed crimson with blood, but she had no time to care about that.

No wonder she refused to use it. The side effects of this Chaos Item are way too severe. After using it, she has no ability to protect herself.

If Yuki wanted to do anything to Hayasaka Ai right now, she would be unable to resist. Of course, he would not. He merely nodded almost imperceptibly.

A powerful teammate, more trustworthy than those two veteran Players.

Hayasaka Ai's judgment, instincts, and physical abilities were all outstanding. This personality seemed made for the game itself. She truly was an exceptional talent cultivated by the Shinomiya Clan, a perfect product of talent and hard work.

[Player Yuki, you have eliminated a Licker and received a Gift of the Crimson Moon.]

Just as Yuki was sighing to himself, that strange voice sounded again. Unlike before, when it had been irritating, it now sounded almost like heavenly music.

A gift? Does that mean I completed a side quest?

His expression changed slightly. Having regained some strength, he straightened his back a little.

What is the gift?

The thought had barely crossed his mind when his eyes automatically shifted to the sword beside him. The beautifully designed katana lay soaking in a pool of blood, and several streaks of red had appeared on its elegantly patterned blade.

He opened his panel and saw its description in the equipment section:

[Katana (Alienated Grade), permanently infused with Entry-level Reinforcement Magecraft.]

Tsk, still so simple and brutal.

Yuki had thought that because the blade had been stained with Licker blood, it would gain something like the T-Virus. Instead, it was related to him. After a brief daze, he decided that this harrowing battle had been well worth it.

Entry-level Reinforcement Magecraft has too many restrictions: the material, size, and thickness of the reinforced item, not to mention the fairly long cooldown and the fact that reinforcement can only be applied to one thing at a time. This basically frees up my hands. Wait, what exactly does Alienated Grade mean?

Since entering the game, Yuki had focused on gathering all kinds of information. He quickly concentrated and found an explanation under the asterisk.

Common Grade (Level 1), Alienated Grade (Level 2), Chaos Grade (Level 3), Transcendental Grade (Level 4), Arcane Grade (Level 5), Chaos Item Grade (Level 6), Abyss Grade (Level 7)...

Like skills and physical strength, they were all graded. Starting from Chaos Grade (Level 3), side effects would appear. Just like the Petal in Hayasaka Ai's hand—it had grown wildly upon touching blood and shredded a Licker into pieces.

So it's a Level 2 weapon. With its reinforcement magecraft fixed in place, it's even harder than 3V Powder Steel.

Yuki examined the long blade, then turned his head to see that Hayasaka Ai seemed to have endured the worst of her pain. Gasping heavily, she forced herself upright.

"Quick, check what happened to my head!" She was still dazed and frightened, but when she saw Yuki swiftly retreat, her face instantly went pale.

No way...

After freezing for a moment, Hayasaka Ai raised a trembling hand and touched her smooth skin. Her pale face instantly turned bright red.

"You scared me on purpose!"

"Huh? I didn't say anything." Yuki secretly laughed, turning away with some disappointment. He had thought he might frighten Hayasaka Ai into revealing her crybaby nature.

Seeing Yuki's harmless expression, the girl's eye twitched. She desperately wanted to leap over and smash his head open, but he had saved her life after all. She could only remember this grudge for later.

"When did you figure it out?" Hayasaka Ai took a deep breath and nodded toward the two corpses slowly melting into the stone stairs. "And how did you know these monsters would weaken underground?"

"There's something called a controlled experiment. You judge changes in the subject based on changes in the environment. For example, under the strongest moonlight, it only needed one second to vanish. In the stairwell, it needed two seconds. In the basement, it chose to crawl instead. Mm, I made comparisons during our exchanges too. A monster like this shouldn't be smart enough to hold back, right?"

Yuki spoke confidently, and the girl's expression changed repeatedly.

It sounded simple. All it required was calmness and observation, but how many people could stay calm in that situation? Much less observe every detail. No, it was more than that.

"But there was still no conclusive evidence."

"Gambling—or rather, probability—is part of experimentation too. I can see it now: this Reincarnation Game can't be cleared through brute force alone. For example, those two veteran Players would suffer on the surface."

Against a hunt that was almost formless and invisible, with patience like that of a master hunter, Li Dan and Thomas would not find it easy to kill one.

Hayasaka Ai nodded unconsciously, her expression turning strange again. "Are you really not a veteran Player?"