The Ultimate Regressor System

"Ughh..."

The place was filled with darkness. Disorienting darkness flooded his world as he tried to make out where he was. He looked to his left, to his right, and to his left again but he could see anything.

He blinked multiple times but it didn’t feel like his vision was cleaning even though he could certainly feel his eyelids opening and closing.

His ears rang. His breathing was uneven... For several moments, he felt nauseous.

’Am I dead?’

Although he thought that, it didn’t quite feel like it.

Where death had a certain cold sensation to it, the type of cold he felt was something that spread across on his skin rather than within his body.

Slowly, his vision began to clear up— the grey sky above and jagged rocks lining the ground and walls of the ravine he had fallen into.

The darkness receeded completely, leaving only the ringing in his ears as he sat up slowly with a groan.

Lucas pulled himself upright and felt a throbbing ache of pain spread through his entire body.

He blinked. "I’m alive."

He looked up at the sky again. He saw the remnants of the bridge he wanted to cross earlier. Then his gaze trailed to the wood and stone that lay scattered across the floor around him.

The memory flooded his brain immediately. The fight, the run across the bridge, the beast’s final attempt of killing him—

He deadpanned. "Right."

If it wasn’t for his skill malfunctioning, he wouldn’t be in this mess.

"You just had to glitch out right at that moment didn’t you."

He exhaled shakily. "I’m not dead..."

The realization settled slow and a strange sense of relief and confusion coursed through him.

In all honesty, he had expected the fall to kill him , he had expected to wake up in the battle field to meet the Hestia charging towards them, or whatever moment the system branded "last stable".

He had expected the familiar vertigo that told him that he would be given another chance to follow...

But instead there was only this, pain, stone and the distant, occasional rumble somewhere in the sky.

He shifted, and a fresh spike of agony shot through his right shoulder.

"Ah—" He forced himself upright despite the pain and turned. When he did, he found what caused the pain— a jagged shard of stone embedded in his shoulder, blood soaking dark through his shirt.

"Tch..."

He gritted his teeth and pulled it free, biting back a scream as fresh blood welled from the wound, and he pressed his hand hard against it, forcing the bleeding to slow.

He flexed his shoulder a bit, enduring the rush of pain that flooded his arm. ’Arm’s a mess. Not sure if anything’s broken, but it’s basically useless...’

He tested it carefully, wincing at the deep ache that answered to even the slightest motion, and quickly understood that that was the least of his problems.

There was no one here, nothing to help with it either. No supplies, nothing but himself and a ravine that he had somehow survived.

"Ahhh I’m fucked."

His gaze swept around the ravine again and landed on something behind him.

When he saw it, horror flooded his senses as he jolted backwards.

"Jesus!"

It was the Hestia...

The beast lay there, eyes open in fury as blood pooled from its mouth and other wounds on its body.

The tongue rolled out, painted in brown as it was smeared in dirt and the side of its face that was on the ground was battered— one eye coming out of the socket.

Lucas stepped closer careful and upon confirming it was dead, he sighed clutching his chest.

"Fuck, you scared the shit outta me."

He picked a jagged piece of stone and moved to the beast. He began meticulously tearing its flesh open.

It was a messy job. The jagged stone too blunt to precisely tear its skin, leaving Lucas no choice but to use his hand and open it wide enough to rip out a piece of meet.

The skin made wet sounds as he tore, its insides warm, slick and squishy, the last bit of flame flickering dead on the beast’s body.

He tore out another piece of meat and tucked it into his trenchcoat’s pocket.

’That should be enough for about... three days I think. Give or take.’

He tore out another piece and roasted it with [Ignition], the meat sizzling for a few seconds before turning brown.

’I’ve never had Hestia meat before... wonder if it’s as good as the other beasts I’ve eaten.’

He sank down in front of a rock and began eating, mostly using his good hand—though in a messy manner— to eat the meat.

It was crunchy on the outside and soft and a bit gummy once he sank deeper.

As expected, the meat tasted rather good. Like grilled barbecue that was made by a seasoned chef.

Lucas marveled at how beast meat in this nightmare could taste so good. It was so good in fact that one could easily get addicted to it, effectively forgetting how food from the real world tasted like.

He finished eating and simply leaned there, trying to think of something when the system pinged.

[Ding!]

[Warning: Player has failed to cross the Gateway.]

Lucas stared at the window and fought back the urge to scream.

"Failed to cross the Gateway? Who’s fault do you think that is? I’m trapped in this hell because you couldn’t be useful when I needed you the most. Now I’m injured, exhausted, and lost. Happy now?"

The system didn’t answer. It just floated there in silence, stuttered, closed, and flashed again with another set of glitched texts.

[New Objective unlocked.]

[Find the next Gateway (Optional.)]

Lucas stared at the screen, thinking it was probably another glitch. But when nothing changed, he wondered:

’Optional, does that mean I get to decide whether or not I want to leave?’

He thought of it for a long moment before dismissing the thought. Hpushed himself back to his feet, swaying as the world tilted before settling.

Finding the Gateway wasn’t his priority right now. He needed to leave this ravine as soon as possible before something else found him he could decide whether he wanted to go on another perilous journey to the next Gateway later...

He started walking, favoring his injured side. His boots moved unsteady against loose ground and jagged stone, the ravine’s silence broken only by the sound of his footsteps echoing across it.

’Okay. Find a way out. Find a way to get my shoulder looked at. One problem at a time...’

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