MTLNOVEL Chapter 11 - Three-Way Alliance
Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock…
Scarlet blood trickled down the stone steps, flowing deeper into the underground, filling the air with a nauseating stench of iron.
Yuuki felt as though his chest was on fire. Every breath scraped against his throat, leaving behind a dry, burning pain. He pressed his back against the wall, utterly drained as the adrenaline faded. Even lifting a single finger felt impossible. All he could do was slowly shift his gaze.
His vision was filled with nothing but fresh blood and two massive corpses. One had been cleaved in half, its upper and lower body rolling separately into the distance. The other was a mangled mess, as if it had been fed into an industrial shredder.
Beyond that, there was a girl clutching her head, groaning in pain. Her school uniform was dyed crimson with blood, but she had more pressing concerns than appearances.
No wonder she was so reluctant to use it. The side effects of this chaos artifact are too severe—completely leaving her defenseless after use.
Right now, Yuuki could do whatever he wanted to Hayasaka Ai, and she wouldn’t be able to resist. Not that he would, of course. Instead, he gave an almost imperceptible nod.
A strong teammate was more reliable than those two veteran players.
Hayasaka Ai’s judgment, instincts, and physical abilities were outstanding. It was as if she were made for this game. As expected of the Shinomiya family’s elite training—an exquisite blend of talent and hard work.
【Player Yuuki, you have received a gift from the Blood Moon.】
As Yuuki was reflecting on this, that eerie voice echoed once more. But unlike before, it didn’t irritate him—it was practically music to his ears.
A gift? I can get gifts too?
His first reaction was suspicion. There had been no prior hints about this. Another lesson learned about the Reincarnation Game—it didn’t provide instructions or warnings. It simply waited for players to make the most interesting choices in the face of life and death, whether through fear or courage.
“What a nasty personality. Just enjoys watching people struggle, huh?”
Yuuki gritted his teeth in annoyance before exhaling. Complaining was pointless at this stage. He had recovered enough strength to straighten his back slightly.
So, what’s the gift?
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, his gaze instinctively landed on the katana beside him. The beautifully crafted blade was submerged in the pool of blood, its intricate patterns now laced with crimson streaks.
Opening his status panel, he checked the equipment section and found the description:
Katana (Mutated): Permanently imbued with novice-level Reinforcement Magic
Damn, that’s straightforward.
Yuuki had assumed that since the blade had been soaked in the Licker’s blood, it might have absorbed some T-Virus-like properties. But the change was directly tied to him instead. After a brief moment of daze, he realized this battle had actually been an incredible gain.
[Novice-level Reinforcement Magic comes with too many restrictions—material, size, thickness, cooldown time, and its single-use limitation. But this basically frees up my hands for something else. Wait, what does ‘mutated’ mean?]
Ever since joining the game, Yuuki had been focused on gathering intel. Concentrating on the ‘*’ icon, he pulled up an explanation.
Grades: Ordinary, Mutated, Chaotic, Transcendent, Esoteric, Abyssal…
Just like skills and physical attributes, items also had tiers. Anything above ‘Chaotic’ came with side effects—just like Hayasaka Ai’s ‘Petal,’ which had frenziedly expanded upon drawing blood, shredding a Licker into pieces.
Oh well, at least mine doesn’t come with such severe drawbacks.
Yuuki was great at self-consolation. Just as he had that thought, he noticed Hayasaka Ai recovering from her pain. Gasping for breath, she struggled to sit up.
“Check my head! Did something happened to it?!” She was still dazed and slightly fearful. The moment she saw Yuuki instinctively back away, her face turned ghostly pale.
No way…
Frozen in place, she hesitantly reached up with a trembling hand—only to touch her smooth skin. Her deathly pale face instantly flushed red.
“You—you scared me on purpose!”
“Huh? I didn’t say anything.” Yuuki laughed inwardly, slightly disappointed. He had hoped to draw out Hayasaka Ai’s ‘crybaby’ side.
Looking at Yuuki’s innocent expression, her eye twitched. She wanted to smash his head in, but considering he had just saved her life, she had to hold back. For now.
“When did you figure it out?” Hayasaka Ai gestured toward the two corpses, which were slowly dissolving into the stone steps. “And how did you know these monsters would be weaker underground?”
“Ever heard of a control group experiment? You observe changes in a subject under different conditions. When the moonlight was at its peak, it took only one second for them to vanish. In the stairwell, it took two seconds. But in the basement, they resorted to crawling. After a few encounters, I compared the results. These things don’t seem intelligent enough to fake weaknesses.”
Yuuki spoke casually, watching as Hayasaka Ai’s expression shifted.
It sounded simple—just staying calm and observant. But how many people could truly remain rational in a life-or-death situation, let alone analyze every detail? No, it wasn’t just that…
“But there wasn’t definitive proof.”
“Gambling—or probability—is part of the experimental process. One thing’s clear: brute force alone won’t cut it in this game. For instance, if we had fought them on the surface, even those two veteran players would have suffered.”
A hunt that was both invisible and relentless, carried out with the patience of a seasoned predator. Taking them down wouldn’t have been easy for Li Dan and Thomas.
Hayasaka Ai instinctively nodded, then gave him a peculiar look. “Are you sure you’re not a veteran player?”
“If I were, I wouldn’t be struggling this much. A top scorer in mock exams is still just a student.” Yuuki shrugged and extended a hand. “Pleasure working with you, Hasaka-san.”
She glanced at his outstretched palm, hesitated momentarily, then finally shook it.
“Pleasure working with you. Looks like I found myself a strong ally.”
For a moment, her tone carried an unexpected playfulness, leaving Yuuki slightly stunned—unable to tell which side of her was the real one.
“Let’s just call it mutual support.”
As the monster corpses sank into the ground, the two leaned against the wall, catching their breath while engaging in idle conversation.
Yuuki soon learned that Hayasaka Ai had taken an unorthodox approach—she had literally shoved the ‘begginer’s guide’ headfirst through a door, exploiting the game’s rules to slice off a petal and obtain a chaos artifact called ‘Frontal Lobe Fragment.’
Blood Moon’s gift to her was simple—one of her existing skills leveled up at random. By sheer luck, her Mastered-level ‘hacking decryption’ skill had been boosted.
“That’s pretty useless right now. If only it had strengthened my body instead.”
“Keep dreaming. I bet specialized points are even harder to obtain than enhancement Point. Besides, this might come in handy later.” Yuuki stroked his chin, feeling a tinge of gloom.
When it came to skill sets, Hayasaka Ai definitely had more than he did, but that wasn’t a matter of talent. When he first arrived in this world, he had to make a living—there was no way he could compete with the sheer resources of the Shinomiya family.
Just as he was about to complain, the sound of rapid footsteps echoed through the air once more. The brief moment of relief vanished, and both of them tensed up again. Hayasaka Ai instantly switched back into player mode, arching her back like a panther ready to pounce.
Another gift from the Blood Moon? Can we even catch a break?
Neither of them blinked as they stared at the archway, tightening their grips on their weapons. A few seconds later, a short blade entered our field of vision.
Hayasaka Ai immediately leaned forward, ready to dash in for the first strike, but Yuuki pressed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She turned her head toward him, confused.
“It’s one of us.”
Yuuki looked up, slightly surprised. Following the short blade came a long, slender leg wrapped in black stockings, and then the rest of a perfectly contoured figure dressed in a bunny girl outfit.
Sakurajima Mai? She didn’t follow the gunfire to find Li Dan? Was she too scared, or was she braver than expected?
That answer remained unclear. The bunny girl stood frozen at the entrance, staring at them in stunned silence.
The massive, bloodied corpse of the Licker had yet to fully fade, and fresh blood was still trickling down the stone steps. And as for the girl she had spoken to not long ago—now drenched head to toe in red, she barely looked human anymore.
It had been nearly five hours since the game started, but for the first time, Sakurajima Mai felt an overwhelming sense of alienation. She looked at them, then at herself, as if they weren’t even living in the same world.
Fortunately, she wasn’t the type to break down easily. Swallowing hard, she asked, “You… what exactly did you…?”
“Hehe, just handled a little something.” Hayasaka Ai slipped effortlessly back into her gyaru persona, her tone playful yet laced with an edge. “Gotta say, though, Mai-san, you’ve got guts coming all this way alone. You do know what happens to solo players, right? If you hadn’t found us, how long do you think you’d have lasted? Five minutes, maybe?”
A blood-soaked girl holding an axe was terrifying, but her teasing tone made Sakurajima Mai frown. She could hear the condescension in her voice.
“I made my judgment call, the chances of surviving by looking for Li Dan were even lower. If I ran into danger, he wouldn’t go out of his way to protect me.”
“Oh? And you think he would?”
Sakurajima Mai turned her gaze to Yuuki and gave a slight nod.
The moment he pushed her away had said enough. She wasn’t stupid—she knew that in a situation like that, the Licker’s first target would’ve been her. Most people would’ve been too paralyzed with fear to think about saving someone else.
“This isn’t just about survival rates, he saved me earlier. The least I can do is return the favor—even if it’s just making sure he’s not alone.”
Hayasaka Ai parted her lips, then shut them again, holding back the snide remark on the tip of her tongue. Given the nature of this dungeon, deadweight wasn’t really an issue. If Yuuki were alone, he wouldn’t even need the Licker to finish him off—he’d already be dead.
Whether she was telling the truth or not was irrelevant. There was no need for sentimentality, but her rationality was at least worth acknowledging.
“Yuuki-san, I didn’t think you were such a gentleman,” Hayasaka Ai quipped. But her gaze was analytical, sharp and cold—asking him what their next move should be.
Their cards had to remain hidden. And this big-shot celebrity? She was useless in a game like this. Her intelligence and reasoning were still far from enough. The brutal fight they had just endured was exhausting, and they didn’t have the luxury of babysitting dead weight.
[No matter what, I have to make it out of here alive. There’s still so much I need to do.]
Getting caught between two women was always dangerous. Yuuki had been keeping quiet, but when he noticed Hayasaka Ai’s stare, he simply shrugged.
“I’ve always been a gentleman.”
“Funny, I don’t remember seeing that when you were messing with me earlier.”
“That was just to help you relax. Stay tense for too long, and it’s bad for your heart. I am a doctor, after all.”
“A med student. A first year one at at that.”
Yuuki’s lips twitched slightly but didn’t bother arguing. Instead, he turned his attention to Sakurajima Mai. The bunny girl was biting her lip, tilting her chin up, but her grip on the short blade trembled ever so slightly.
She was waiting for judgment.
Neither of them had to say a word—if they turned their backs on her, she’d be as good as dead. And she had already learned firsthand just how terrifying it was to be alone.
Yet despite that, she refused to beg. She knew it wouldn’t work. Worse, it would strip away what little dignity she had left.
Yuuki wasn’t a saint, nor did he care much for decorative vases. But her “innate trait” piqued his curiosity. His gaze softened slightly before he turned back to Hayasaka Ai.
“Hasaka-san, we’re in a three-way alliance.”