MTLNOVEL Chapter 9 - This is the extraordinary!
Reinforcement Magic?
As he plummeted, an overwhelming flood of information surged into Yuuki’s mind, momentarily eclipsing even the pain of his fall.
【Ancient magicians infused their mana into the physical world, establishing rules…】
Skill explanations, historical context, usage methods, practical applications—all of it poured in at once.
Yuuki couldn’t fully describe what he experienced in those fleeting two seconds. It was as if he had lived an entirely new life, apprenticing under a magician to master Reinforcement Magic—completely bypassing the limitations of innate talent.
Wait a minute—this is just like Emiya Shirou’s signature move from the Fate Universe.
His understanding of the skill was clearly different from that of an average player. It wasn’t just an information download—his mind also recalled countless visual references from things he had seen before.
A red-haired boy, holding a piece of paper, casting magic to harden it to the strength of steel.
[Hold on, I don’t even have magic circuits! This game really lets you skip the prerequisites?!]
Thud.
Pain flared in his shoulder, snapping him back to reality. His muscles tensed, and he instinctively rolled to disperse the impact. With one hand pressed against the floor, his face was a mix of astonishment and exhilaration.
Even if the skill had a cooldown restriction, the very thing he had been pursuing in this world for so long had just fallen into his lap in an instant. The boundary between mundane reality and the supernatural was as thin as a sheet of paper?
What defined the extraordinary? This was the extraordinary—granting players a rule-defying ability, completely disregarding the need for lineage or a magician’s identity.
As splintered wood and dust settled into the first-floor corridor, Yuuki blinked rapidly, his mind racing. He had no time to marvel at the game’s ingenuity or to consider himself lucky—if anything, his luck was merely average.
After all, Reinforcement Magic wasn’t exactly a high-tier skill in the Fate Universe. The addition of the ‘Novice’ prefix only made it more lackluster.
“But it’s still a supernatural power.” Gritting his teeth, he turned and sprinted toward the far end of the corridor, gripping his longsword tightly. As he ran, he glanced over his shoulder, mentally processing his newly acquired knowledge.
He still hadn’t seen what the enemy was, but he had barely covered seven or eight meters when his steps abruptly halted. Without hesitation, he hurled himself against a nearby door.
Bang—whoosh—
The wooden door burst open, and under the crimson moonlight, a massive claw suddenly shot out, slicing through the air. Yuuki barely registered the five blade-like talons as they grazed his sleeve.
It’s here!
As a forensic science student, Yuuki instantly recognized the claw marks as identical to the wounds on the white college student’s chest. His hand slammed against the wooden floor as he rolled into the room, back against the wall. He lashed out with his foot, kicking a wooden crate toward the doorway.
Evading while blocking the entrance—he had no time to hesitate. But as the crate collided with the doorframe, his pupils constricted in shock.
The attacker didn’t burst through the door. Instead, like a droplet of liquid, it coalesced against the crimson-lit wall. Its full, nearly four-meter-long form finally emerged before Yuuki’s eyes.
It clung to the wall like a massive gecko, its skinless, dark-red muscles exposed to the air. But its head—that was the true nightmare.
A grotesquely swollen human-like head, as if a titan had compressed its features beyond recognition. The skull had completely vanished, leaving only an exposed mass of red-and-white brain matter. A long, whip-like tongue flicked back and forth, like a lizard scenting its prey.
Yuuki’s breath hitched. A cold chill raced down his spine as his mind reeled—not just from fear, but from a jarring sense of familiarity.
A Licker? From Resident Evil?
He knew this creature well. And yet, he wasn’t surprised. Based on the game’s descriptions of “ghoul,” Resident Evil had clearly been an inspiration.
But something was off. Resident Evil had at least wrapped its horrors in the veneer of T-virus science. Since when could a Licker phase through walls under the moonlight? Wasn’t this thing supposed to be the “best friend of knives”?
Yuuki tossed all logic aside. As Li Dan has said, “Common sense is useless in this game.” Apparently, that applied even to him—a transmigrator.
His mind scrambled for a solution, but all he could muster was a frustrated outburst:
This is Blood Moon’s idea of a gift?! Is this game out of its damn mind?!
Whoosh—bang!
A sharp sound tore through the air as the monster struck. Yuuki dove to the side just in time to see deep gashes carved into the wall behind him. Even the bricks beneath the plaster had been gouged out.
He had never fought a Licker in real life, nor did he know whether this one had been enhanced. But just like his earlier outburst:
Even slow-moving zombies were terrifying enough. This thing? It could massacre all but the veteran players. The elimination rate was way too high!
But no matter how much he protested, the stench of rotting flesh assaulted his senses. The creature shredded a wooden chair mid-air as if it were paper, its blood-drenched claws streaking toward him once more.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
There was nothing in this room sturdy enough to withstand it. The bed, the wardrobe, the wall lamp—all were reduced to splinters. Yuuki retreated into a corner, his left hand pressing against a nearby round table.
Suppressing his fear with sheer willpower, time seemed to slow in his perception. No need for complex theories—just like pressing a skill activation button in a game.
Structure, Synchronization, Reinforcement.
Boom—
He kicked the round table forward. The Licker swiped at it mid-air, just like before—but this time, there were no splinters. Instead, a burst of sparks erupted as if it had struck solid steel.
Like slamming a fist into a concrete wall, its massive body lurched downward. Thick forearm muscles tensed, veins bulging as fresh wounds split open.
A momentary stagger. Three flashes of silver followed in rapid succession, aimed straight at its exposed brain.
Yuuki wasn’t about to waste this attack window. He hurled three scalpels, his body coiled like a predator ready to strike. The glow of Reinforcement Magic arced like electricity across his blade.
But just as he was about to lunge—he froze.
The three scalpels quivered, embedded in the ceiling. The massive creature had vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a severed fingertip on the floor.
Huff. Huff. Huff.
Aside from his ragged breathing and the settling debris, the room was eerily silent. Yuuki remained in a poised stance, blade half-drawn.
He had seen it clearly—right before his scalpels could hit, the Licker had deflected them with a swift claw strike before seamlessly melting into the crimson moonlight on the floor.
Just like the girl whose head had exploded earlier.
It was still here.
Waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
His eyes darted around, scanning the half-severed chandelier, the precariously hanging wall paintings. The entire exchange had lasted no more than ten seconds, yet the twenty-square-meter bedroom was already in shambles.
One second, two seconds, three seconds…
Yuuki silently counted, and when he reached “five,” he finally rose onto his toes, maintaining a combat stance as he slowly retreated into the hallway.
Engaging in a standoff with a Licker in such a cramped space was sheer stupidity. Humans couldn’t maintain their concentration indefinitely, and he hadn’t forgotten—he was now ‘alone’.
The hallway was open and spacious. This was already the first floor, meaning there was no risk of an attack from below. He had counted earlier—it took at least a full second for the Licker to blend into the moonlight.
As soon as he withdrew, the suffocating sensation of being watched lessened significantly. Even so, Yuuki didn’t let his guard down for a second—just as, in an instant, he whipped his head around.
Bang——!
A gunshot rang out into the night, echoing like a cannon blast.
Li Dan?
Yuuki’s mind immediately conjured up the image of the veteran player’s massive revolver strapped to his waist. His eye twitched involuntarily as the static-laced voice of his radio crackled to life.
“Everyone, heads up! The gift from Clue Four has arrived!”
So there really was more than one of these things.
The worst-case scenario had come true.
Yuuki forced himself to stay calm, fighting off the exhaustion creeping in now that his adrenaline was wearing thin. He had no idea if the veteran could handle these creatures easily, but one thing was clear—waiting for reinforcements was out of the question.
What now? What now?!
Sweat beaded on his forehead as his brain raced to analyze the situation.
He was now ‘alone’, still under the watchful gaze of a monster. Sakurajima Mai had likely fled—and she’d better stay gone. In the face of the Licker’s overwhelming presence, just managing to move would already be a victory for her.
Yuuki licked his dry lips, glancing up at the hole in the ceiling, then at the radio in his shirt pocket.
“Staying put is a death sentence. No matter what, I need to contact the others first.”
His right hand hovered over his sword hilt as he suddenly bolted for the stairwell. Window after window blurred past him, and in his peripheral vision, the crimson moon still burned bright in the sky.
There was no sign of it waning—just hanging there, flooding the world with its ominous glow.
As if, in this entire universe, only this castle and the blood-red moon existed.
Damn it, why hasn’t that thing budged? Where’s the solution?!
A surge of frustration flared in his chest, the urge to turn back and fight the Licker head-on growing stronger by the second.
What’s with this hide-and-seek nonsense? Come out and fight me, one-on-one! Either you kill me, or I cut you down!
The impulse was overwhelming. Yuuki could feel himself slipping into a bizarre state—his rational mind screaming at him to keep running, while a deeper, primal instinct goaded him to stop, to be a man, to grab his sword and clash with the Licker in a glorious melee.
He knew something was off. Knew he should correct his mindset.
But he couldn’t.
All he could do was grit his teeth and suppress his fury, charging into the stairwell. Here, the moonlight was slightly dimmer due to the ceiling overhead.
And that’s when something even stranger happened.
His rage vanished instantly, rationality snapping back into place.
At the same time, his peripheral vision caught a shadow on the stairs. His battle-honed reflexes kicked in.
Schwing——!
His longsword flashed from its sheath, crossing paths with a crescent-like silver gleam on the other end—but the blade, unleashed in a full-force strike, came to an abrupt halt.
A sharp pain pricked his neck.
Yuuki’s red eyes trembled slightly, and in his pupils, the scene before him reflected crystal clear.
A perfectly steady blade.
A snow-white neck.
Smoothly severed golden locks.
And a pair of confused, sapphire-blue eyes.
A girl stood on the stairs, framed by the massive window behind her, the blood moon looming high above.
In her hands, a battle axe rested with unnerving stability.
An extension of its edge—a razor-sharp, petal-like blade—pressed lightly against Yuuki’s throat.
Hayasaka Ai.