Hacking the Game Didn't Go as Intended

CHAPTER 25: Man's Best Friend(?)

"Aghhh," Daisuke groaned, his eyes flickering open as awareness dawned within him. He hesitantly touched the spot where his head met the rock, frowning at the tender bump that dwelled there.

As the fog in his mind cleared, like the morning mist exposed to the light of the rising sun, a flurry of memories came crashing forth, particularly the one where the chimera's fangs narrowly missed his face.

Jarred awake by the harrowing visual, he attempted to push to his feet, but a throbbing pain echoed through him. He noted that his ankle was sprained, rendering him a wounded animal for opportunistic predators.

Crawling on his stomach, he made his way to the sheltering arms of a nearby tree. With his back pressed against its solid trunk, he sat upright, gazing out into the unforgiving forest.

Daisuke tousled his hair, careful to avoid the bump. Damn. Was I really lying unconscious here until morning? And I didn't get gobbled up by a monster? What about the chimera? Did it die from its wounds?

He took a moment to look around.

The croon of birds and other wildlife could be heard all around. The landscapes were tinted with a saffron glow from the recently risen sun. From where he sat, Daisuke could see where the dense forest gradually transitioned into an open plain. And the humid air hinted at a nearby water source.

Did April and the others get away safely? he thought with a tinge of worry. I think I distracted the chimera long enough for that to be the case, and Feng should be capable of handling the low-level mobs in this region. But for a noob like me, it's a completely different playing field.

Daisuke looked down at his incapacitated leg and felt like he had stepped in a towering pile of dog poop. If a monster turned up right there and then, he would definitely be easy prey.

GRUMBLE~

The best-case scenario seemed to be starving to death rather than enduring the gruesome fate of being eaten alive, an experience he shuddered to contemplate. However, the reality was far harsher than mere resolve.

Minutes stretched into hours, days, and then two excruciating days, each passing moment worsening his hunger. He wasn't sure about the game's mechanics, but in the real world, a human could survive at least two weeks without food, but only three days without water.

He contemplated crawling around in search of the nearby water source he sensed, but abandoning what he now perceived as a safe refuge to do so was basically looking for trouble.

Withered and on the brink of dehydration, Daisuke's thoughts turned bleak. What did I do to deserve this? Did I truly enslave and slaughter an entire race of people in my past life? I've sacrificed so much, only to be abandoned and left for dead in the end. How is any of this fair to me?

His eyes grew dark, the once empathetic gleam slowly replaced by anger and resentment. Just as his heart threatened to freeze over entirely, a tiny canine cautiously approached. It was injured and limping, its matted coat as tattered as the rags that clung to Daisuke's own body.

"Get lost," Daisuke muttered coldly as the small pup, no larger than a baby Shih Tzu, gazed up at him with hopeful eyes. "I said scram! I can hardly manage myself, let alone take on another mouth to feed."

When the animal... monster—whatever, stubbornly refused to leave, Daisuke reluctantly hurled a rock in its direction, an act he instantly regretted as it drained the last of his energy reserves.

The pup whimpered softly before turning tail and darting away into the shadows. With the creature finally gone, Daisuke was left with the bleak choice of either resigning himself to wither away in peace or summoning the strength to seek out water and likely get eaten alive in the process.