Chapter 106: Fucking Clearing!

"Huff... Kough—!"

Kyle stumbled through the darkness, leaving a trail of blood behind him with every unsteady step.

"Where the hell am I even at, you fucking System?! I didn’t ask you to drop me into my grave!"

He cursed between ragged breaths, his weakening body barely cooperating with his desperate attempts to keep moving. It was pitch-black now, and the only thing allowing him to see was the beam of his Basic Headlamp. His previous one had broken during his earlier struggles, forcing him to retrieve the replacement from his inventory.

He had followed the System’s directions and walked straight ahead, just as instructed. Yet hours had passed, far longer than the time it had estimated he would need to reach civilization.

And he was still trapped in this godforsaken forest.

[Don’t worry. You’re going to die.]

The System’s response was cold, delivered in that strange, almost human voice it had recently developed.

It no longer sounded like the artificial voice Kyle had grown accustomed to. Instead, it possessed an unusual, androgynous quality, somewhere between masculine and feminine. Its tone shifted with its emotions, making it sound less like a machine and more like an actual person.

Normally, Kyle might have found the change interesting.

Right now, he wanted to strangle it.

"Fuck you, bastard! You could’ve warned me at the very fucking least! You told me the portal was safe!"

[The portal was safe.]

"OH, FUCK OFF!"

Kyle nearly lost his balance as he shouted. Pain tore through his ribs, forcing him to clutch his side while he struggled to catch his breath.

His condition was deteriorating rapidly. Every movement aggravated his injuries, and the blood loss was leaving him increasingly weak. His legs felt heavy, his hands were trembling, and his head had begun to spin.

He needed to get out of this forest and needed medical attention.

And, preferably, he needed to survive long enough to make the System regret every single thing it had put him through.

[Energy Drink consumed.]

Kyle looked at the notification that appeared before his eyes.

"Fuck! This isn’t working either!"

He had consumed the Basic Energy Drink hoping its temporary attribute enhancement would give him enough strength to reach the forest’s edge. Unfortunately, the difference was negligible.

The drink could enhance his physical capabilities, but it couldn’t replace the blood pouring out of his wounds. His body was already in a critical state, and a temporary boost to his stamina and vitality wasn’t going to solve that problem.

He was practically bleeding himself dry.

It was like trying to keep a leaking water tank running by installing a better pump without bothering to fix the hole.

"Why the hell did I even buy this thing?"

[Because you believed it might help.]

"Don’t get smart with me!"

Kyle reached into his inventory and retrieved another Low-Grade Healing Potion.

He knew what the System would say. It had already warned him that he had reached the effective healing limit for his current injuries. Another potion would provide little meaningful improvement, and none of them could restore the blood he had lost.

Still, he couldn’t bring himself to give up.

Even a tiny chance was better than nothing.

He pulled out the stopper and swallowed the bitter liquid.

For a few seconds, warmth spread through his body, and some of the bleeding seemed to slow. However, the deeper wounds remained, and the overwhelming weakness refused to disappear.

The potion had done almost nothing.

Kyle stared at the empty bottle.

"...Fuck."

[I told you to stop wasting your consumables! They’re not going to do anything meaningful at this point. You’re just burning money instead!]

"If I’m burning money, then give me some fucking reward or something to make me feel better than this!"

He broke into a fit of coughing, blood spilling from his mouth and staining his chin.

For a moment, the System said nothing.

Then its voice erupted with frustration.

[Fuck! If I could, I would! Just get the fuck out of here! You’re not too far now. Keep walking and hope someone finds you!]

"Yeah, motherfucker! If I die here, you’re going to regret it! I’m telling you!"

Kyle groaned as he forced himself onward.

[I told you that you’re not going to die here! You have a goddamn System, damn it! Have some faith in me!]

"Yeah, fucker... I have faith in you. That’s why I’m struggling and limping like a crack whore trying to find her way back to normality."

[...Argh! I get it! Your anger is reasonable, but it’s not like I know everything either! I’m a System, not some cheat that can solve every little problem for you!]

Kyle let out a weak, humorless laugh.

"Could’ve fooled me."

[And another thing! You still have two Skill Cards in your inventory. When the fuck are you planning to use them? There’s no point in saving them when you nearly died back there!]

Kyle leaned against a nearby tree, barely managing to keep himself upright.

He could see something ahead.

A faint opening between the colossal trees.

A clearing or perhaps another hallucination brought on by the blood loss.

Either way, it was the first promising sight he had encountered in what felt like an eternity.

[What the fuck do you mean by ’when I actually need them’?! Do you want to die while saving them for some imaginary future emergency? Don’t be such a fucking cheapskate! Use them already! You need them right now!]

The System sounded genuinely angry now, but beneath that anger was something else.

It was worry.

Kyle could hear it in the way its voice tightened whenever he stumbled, in the increasingly urgent demands that he keep moving.

It was almost touching.

Almost.

"Fuck... I’ll use them when I need them, alright?"

He kept his voice steady, hoping the System wouldn’t notice anything suspicious.

’Fuck... I’m not telling it that I actually forgot about the Skill Cards.’

He mentally cursed himself.

’I’m such a fucking idiot!’

He had been so preoccupied with the wolf, his injuries, and escaping the forest that the two unredeemed Skill Cards had completely slipped his mind.

Now that he remembered them, he could only imagine how useful they might have been during the fight but admitting that he had forgotten about them, however, was far too embarrassing.

He would rather let the System continue believing he was deliberately saving them.

’If I survive today, I’m redeeming those damn things immediately.’

That was a promise he made to himself if he survived.

Kyle pushed away from the tree and continued forward.

*Twitch.*

His eyelids fluttered.

The world before him began to darken, the edges of his vision turning black despite the bright beam of his headlamp. He blinked repeatedly, trying to force his eyes to focus.

The dizziness was getting worse.

His body was finally catching up with him.

"Fuck... there it is..."

He stared ahead, barely able to believe what he was seeing.

"I can see it... I’m finally close!"

Beyond the last stretch of trees lay an open expanse of plains. Under the clear night sky, the pale grass extended into the distance, illuminated faintly by the moonlight.

There were no more towering trunks blocking his view.

No more endless walls of darkness.

Just open land and it meant one thing which was freedom.

And somewhere beyond those plains, the civilization the System had promised him.

Only a few hundred meters remained.

After hours of wandering through this nightmare, he was finally reaching the end.

His lips trembled into a faint smile.

"I’m... I’m actually going to make it."

*Limp.*

*Stumble.*

His right leg suddenly buckled.

Kyle lurched forward, catching himself against a tree before his face could hit the ground.

"Fuck! Why now?!"

His body was failing him at the worst possible moment.

He was so close. The clearing was right there, and he could practically taste the relief of finally escaping the forest.

Yet his legs refused to cooperate.

His breathing grew increasingly ragged, and every heartbeat seemed weaker than the last. The world flickered between clarity and darkness, his consciousness slipping away for brief moments before he desperately dragged himself back.

[Don’t you fucking collapse now! You can do this last stretch!]

The System’s voice rang through his mind, louder and more urgent than before.

"Ye—yeah..."

Kyle swallowed, though his throat felt painfully dry.

He didn’t want to move anymore.

Every part of his body screamed at him to stop. His knees trembled uncontrollably, his shoulder throbbed with unbearable pain, and the wounds along his side burned with every breath.

He knew what would happen if he collapsed here. He might never get back up and if nobody found him before it was too late, all his efforts would have been for nothing.

His first dimensional journey. The wolf he had barely managed to kill.

He wasn’t going to die here. Not after surviving all that bullshit.

"Fuck... I ain’t collapsing here, you bitch!"

With a furious growl, Kyle forced his feet forward.

He grabbed a low branch, pulled himself upright, and stumbled onward. When the branch slipped from his grasp, he caught himself against the next tree. His progress was painfully slow, but he refused to stop.

One step.

Then another.

The clearing grew closer.

His headlamp shook violently in his hand, its beam dancing across the grass beyond the trees. He could see the open plains clearly now, and the sight gave him just enough hope to continue.

"Come on... come on..."

His legs dragged beneath him.

His vision flickered and thoughts became muddled but he kept moving.

Finally, his foot crossed the boundary between the forest floor and the open grassland.

He was out.

Kyle had escaped the forest.

For one brief moment, he stood beneath the open sky, staring at the endless plains before him then his knees gave out.

"Ah... fuck..."

He collapsed onto the grass, landing heavily on his knees before tipping sideways. His headlamp slipped from his fingers and rolled a short distance away, its beam illuminating the ground beside him.

Kyle tried to push himself up but his arms barely moved.

He tried to speak, but only a faint, broken breath escaped his lips.

"Fuh.."

And his vision completely darkened.