Pain.
A sharp, electric pain snapped through Yuto's chest as he gasped for breath. His body jerked upright like someone pulled a cord inside him.
He wasn't in the city anymore. The rooftop. The rain. The blood. All gone.
His back lay against soft, cool grass. Tall trees stretched up around him, their bark pale like bone, their leaves glowing faint blue in the shadows. Two moons—one large and silver, the other small and red—hung in the purple sky above. The air was fresh, clean, and strange. It smelled like mint, rain, and something wild.
Yuto blinked slowly. His chest still hurt, but he wasn't bleeding. He touched his body—shirt intact, no bullet hole. No scars. His skin felt smooth, younger. Even his hands looked smaller. Lighter.
"What the hell…"
Then he heard it.
A voice—not outside, but inside his head.
> [ SYSTEM ONLINE. ]
[ USER: KUROGANE, YUTO ]
[ CLASS: GUNNER – RANK: UNRATED ]
[ STATUS: REBIRTH COMPLETE. ]
[ WELCOME TO ARDIA. SURVIVE. ADAPT. FIRE. ]
A soft hum buzzed around him. Something floated above the grass nearby. Slowly, Yuto pushed himself up and walked toward it.
It was a pistol.
Not military-issued. Not even human-made. The gun had a sleek black frame, but it shimmered with strange, moving symbols—like glowing letters that shifted when he tried to read them. Runes, maybe. Or code.
He reached out.
As soon as his fingers touched the grip, blue energy sparked across his palm. The runes flared, and the gun melted into his hand like smoke, vanishing beneath his skin.
Yuto jumped back. "What the—!"
> [ GUN SYNC INITIATED. PRIMARY WEAPON: ARC PISTOL – LEVEL 1. ]
A soft glow appeared over his left forearm. Floating screens blinked into view—transparent, blue, hovering in the air.
[ STATUS WINDOW ]
Name: Yuto Kurogane
Level: 1
Class: Gunner
Title: None
Health: 100
Stamina: 100
Mana: 50
System Energy: 5%
Weapon Equipped: Arc Pistol (Lv. 1)
More windows opened. [ Skills ], [ Inventory ], [ Upgrades ], and something called [ Ammo Crafting ].
He stared at them. "What the hell is this? Some kind of… game? Dream?"
Yuto was a soldier. He didn't believe in magic, or fantasy, or games. But the air was real. The grass under his hands was real. His heart was racing in his chest.
He turned in a slow circle. Trees. Mist. No buildings. No signs of people.
Then he heard it.
A branch snapped. Low breathing. Heavy footsteps.
He crouched low behind a rock just as something stepped through the trees.
It looked like a man at first. But its skin was gray, stretched tight over thick bones. Its arms were too long. Its mouth hung open, teeth jagged like broken glass. Its eyes glowed yellow. It wore torn armor and dragged a rusted axe behind it.
A monster.
No. Something worse.
> [ THREAT IDENTIFIED: CORRUPTED KNIGHT – LEVEL 6. ]
[ WARNING: ENEMY LEVEL IS HIGHER THAN YOURS. ENGAGEMENT NOT RECOMMENDED. ]
Yuto gritted his teeth. "Great. Drop me into a new world, give me a gun, and throw a monster at me."
The corrupted knight stopped and sniffed the air.
Yuto's instincts kicked in. He reached out, trying to will the gun back into his hand.
The air shimmered—snap!—and the Arc Pistol appeared again, solid in his grip. It hummed with energy. A glowing line of blue light ran down its barrel.
He crouched behind the rock, breathing slow, calculating.
One shot. Head level. Center of mass. Wind low.
The monster turned toward him. It growled.
Yuto raised the gun and fired.
CRACK!
A burst of light exploded from the barrel. The recoil jolted his arm.
The shot hit the knight square in the face—but instead of falling, it staggered, then shrieked. Smoke rose from its head, skin burned but not destroyed.
> [ DAMAGE DEALT: 32 ]
[ TARGET: CORRUPTED KNIGHT – REMAINING HEALTH: 168/200 ]
Yuto's eyes narrowed. "One shot's not enough."
The knight charged.
Yuto dove to the side just as the axe smashed down where he'd stood. Dirt and stone flew into the air. He rolled and fired again—once, twice, three times.
Blue flashes lit up the trees. The knight's shoulder exploded. Its side burned. But it didn't stop.
> [ SYSTEM ENERGY: 2% ]
[ WARNING: AMMO LOW. RECHARGE REQUIRED. ]
Yuto's gun clicked—empty.
"No," he breathed. "No no no—"
The knight was fast, far faster than its size suggested. It slammed into him, throwing him against a tree. The wind rushed out of his lungs.
The axe raised over its head.
Yuto's vision blurred. He could barely move.
Not like this. Not again.
Suddenly—another window appeared.
> [ EMERGENCY UNLOCK: SKILL ACQUIRED – "RECOIL BLAST" ]
[ TAP TRIGGER TWICE TO ACTIVATE. COST: 50% SYSTEM ENERGY ]
Yuto didn't hesitate.
He tapped the trigger—twice.
The gun lit up like lightning.
BOOM!
A shockwave burst from the barrel, hurling the corrupted knight backward like a rag doll. It slammed into a tree with a sickening crack and didn't move again.
Smoke curled from the ground. The leaves above glowed faintly, shaking from the blast.
Yuto collapsed to his knees, heart pounding.
"...I'm alive."
> [ BATTLE COMPLETE. XP GAINED: 150. ]
[ LEVEL UP: 1 → 2 ]
[ SYSTEM ENERGY: RECHARGING... ]
[ NEW SKILL AVAILABLE: "SCAN" ]
Yuto looked at the pistol in his hand.
Not a dream. Not a joke.
He was really here.
And he had a gun.
Yuto sat with his back against the tree, watching the corrupted knight's twisted body smoke in the grass. His breathing was heavy, but steady now. The pain in his ribs throbbed with every breath.
He checked the floating screens in front of him again. The system had updated.
> [ LEVEL: 2 ]
[ SYSTEM ENERGY: 6% — RECHARGING... ]
[ SKILLS: ARC SHOT, RECOIL BLAST, SCAN ]
[ STATUS: MINOR INJURIES ]
[ AVAILABLE POINTS: 3 ]
Points?
He tapped the screen with his finger. A new window appeared.
[ Attribute Distribution ]
Strength: 4
Agility: 5
Endurance: 4
Perception: 6
Luck: 3
Underneath, a message blinked:
> [ Distribute points carefully. Choices are permanent. ]
Yuto didn't rush. He had played enough war games in the past to know what happened when you wasted points early. But this wasn't a game.
This was survival.
He added two points to Perception—sniper's instinct—and one to Endurance. He confirmed, and the window closed.
Still no sign of help. No map. No voice to explain anything. Just the system.
And the forest.
Wind whispered through the glowing leaves above him. The forest was beautiful, but too quiet. No birds. No insects. Just silence and distant echoes. That monster hadn't been a wild beast—it wore armor. It used a weapon. Something intelligent had twisted it.
He looked again at his gun. Still faintly glowing. He tapped the new skill: Scan.
> [ SCAN ACTIVATED: NEARBY SIGNATURES DETECTED... ]
[ ENTITY: UNDEAD WOLF (x3) — DISTANCE: 80 meters, closing. ]
[ ENTITY: HUMAN LIFEFORM DETECTED — DISTANCE: 74 meters. STATUS: WOUNDED. ]
A human?
Yuto stood instantly, gun raised.
He ran, moving carefully but fast. Whatever this world was, if there was someone out here—someone human—it could be the key to answers.
He broke through the brush and followed the scan direction. The forest opened into a small clearing.
There—leaned against a fallen log—was a girl.
She looked no older than seventeen, maybe eighteen. Light silver hair clung to her face, soaked with sweat and blood. A deep wound across her leg leaked onto the moss. Her robes were torn, stained with dirt. She clutched a wooden staff, its tip broken. Magical glyphs on her sleeve flickered weakly.
She turned her head toward him slowly, eyes dazed.
"Please… help…"
Yuto lowered the gun slightly. "Don't move."
He looked around. Trees. Shadows. Nothing yet.
But the scan had warned him: three undead wolves, close.
"Can you walk?" he asked.
She shook her head weakly.
Damn it.
He glanced at the system. Still low on energy. Only one shot left before recharge.
Then he heard the growl.
Low. Hungry. Close.
Three shapes emerged from the brush—black-furred wolves with glowing green eyes, ribs visible through rotting skin, fangs like ice. They moved together, slow and patient, circling.
The girl let out a whimper. "They're cursed… I—I tried to fight—"
Yuto stepped in front of her, gun raised.
"I'll handle it," he said.
But inside, his thoughts raced. One bullet. Three targets. System nearly dry. The staff she held was broken. No backup. No time.
> [ EMERGENCY OPTION UNLOCKED: "SECONDARY MODE" ]
[ Activate? COST: 100% remaining energy. WARNING: DANGER TO USER ]
Yuto hesitated.
Another growl. The wolves spread out. One moved left. One crept low. The biggest one stepped forward.
They were waiting for him to move.
He had seconds.
Yuto's finger hovered over the trigger.
> [ ACTIVATE SECONDARY MODE? ]
> YES
NO
He tapped YES.
The gun shifted in his hand.
The frame split, reshaping. The barrel extended. Energy flared through the runes.
> [ SECONDARY MODE: CHARGED SHOT ENABLED ]
[ Warning: Strong recoil. Brace for impact. ]
The moment he raised the weapon, the wolves lunged.
Yuto took aim at the center wolf—right between the eyes.
"Burn."
He pulled the trigger.
A deafening blast lit up the clearing like lightning.
The girl screamed.
The shockwave threw dust, ash, and broken leaves into the air.
Yuto fell to one knee, smoke rising from his arm.
> [ System Energy: 0% ]
[ Recharge Required: 2 minutes. ]
[ Target(s) status... ]
[ SCANNING... ]
[ ERROR. NEW ENTITY DETECTED. THREAT LEVEL: UNKNOWN. ]
Yuto looked up—eyes wide.
Where the wolves had stood, there was now something else.
Twisted. Towering. Cloaked in shadow and bones. Glowing veins ran through its limbs like molten gold. Its head turned slowly toward him—eyes bright as fire.
The girl whispered, voice shaking:
"...That's not a wolf anymore."