"What the fuck is this place?" Kazuto shouted, not for the first time.
Predictably, there was no answer.
Maybe if I try jumping over it? He found himself staring once more at an open doorway with a plaque next to it that had the number "3" on it. Beyond the doorway, however, was the entrance tunnel. "FUCK!"
Kazuto turned around and marched back into the second room, squished himself against the doorway and passed into the third room, and then came to a stop. I wish Neko-chan was with me. He sighed, then steeled himself. No. I can't let all of Ise-chan's training go to waste, I need to get her back no matter what. I always wanted a hot blonde girlfriend with big tits, and her being a tsundere makes it even better. And…if Lucia's really cheating on me…
The thought hurt, but less than it had after going over it so many times and rationalizing that even if she was a goddess and his first, he still had an entire harem of really hot girls to choose from. So, too, did his hand hurt much less than it had thanks to the regeneration passive skill he'd chosen upon reaching level one hundred. It could rapidly heal him from nearly any injury so long as he possessed sufficient mana. That he was unable to use magic and unwilling to put stat points into the attributes which would have given him more mana wasn't an issue: as a reward for hunting down a bunch of especially crafty devil-worshiping elves, Lucia had gifted him with a bracelet which granted him an unlimited mana supply, rendering him practically unkillable.
He grimaced as he stared at the sign with the "3" on it at the other end of the room. It's like he's fucking taunting me with it. By now, he knew that the sign he was seeing was actually the one next to the entrance of the very first room, visible through whatever fucking portal was blocking his way. This is so fucking stupid. Who makes shit with indestructible walls like this? Just let me break in and get on with my life already!
Kazuto hated games which gated content arbitrarily behind unnecessarily difficult encounters. He'd already paid for the game! Why couldn't the game developer people just let him finish the side quest to get the secret catgirl party member who only wore bikinis and had great plot and backstory? Why did he have to beat her in some stupid fucking rhythm game first? How was he even supposed to be able to complete it? The rest of the game's mechanics had nothing to do with that kind of thing, and the way she teased and distracted with her body and innuendo while he was trying to concentrate made it fucking impossible! And then even after he'd gotten his friend Rob to beat it for him, he had to then beat an even harder rhythm game later to finish the loyalty mission so he could see that scene?
It wasn't fair!
Infinite Fantasy Revolution had been his favorite VR RPG, and that had been the only thing he couldn't finish. He'd downloaded the video of that scene to watch, feeling like he was owed that much for how much time he spent trying to beat it, but he hadn't even been able to get excited when he watched and she finally took off her bikini, because deep down he felt like he hadn't really earned Nekoneko's loyalty, and that had ruined the whole game for him. He'd posted angrily on social media about it, and he'd still played the sequels, sure, but…
"THIS IS FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE!" he screamed, clenching his hands into fists as his latest idea—diving through the second room's exit really fast—also failed to prevent him from being sent back to the start. His frustration and anger continued to grow. He'd tried getting past this third room a fucking billion times by now. How could there not be any other way to get through this and get his waifus back? This is like Nekoneko from Infinite Fantasy Revolution all over again.
He felt once more the anxiety that had begun to creep up on him after however much time he'd spent trying to break into Carl's castle. I can't message Rob and ask him to help me out with this… He carelessly moved too close to the edge of the second room's portal while running back and got warped back to the first room again, eliciting another shout of anger. He ran forward, shuffling his way into the third room, and tried to come up with something that he hadn't tried.
The only thing Kazuto hated more than games which gated content behind impossibly hard mini-games were puzzle games. Puzzle games didn't even have story. What the fuck was the point of that? Okay, sure, they had some hot waifus in the background that he'd used as wallpapers in his VR game room, but there was no story, no progression or feeling like he was accomplishing something. They were always annoyingly hard as well. It wasn't like he was an idiot—he'd done perfectly well in school, managing to make honor roll most of the time—but people who made and played puzzle games always seemed to think differently in a way that made no sense to him.
Kazuto, greatest hero of humanity on the planet he'd been isekai'd to, took a deep breath. He wasn't going to give up this time. Getting Neko-chan and Ise-chan back would finally put to rest the annoying nagging in the back of his head that he'd had ever since he'd been unable to see Nekoneko's sex scene as the result of his own efforts at the end of Infinite Fantasy Revolution.
He put one foot forward. Fine. This thing obviously is just supposed to keep me out. The first one he probably fucked up and accidentally didn't cover the doorway with the portal, but this one he didn't. It can't have an infinite amount of power, so I'll just exhaust it.
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"This can't be happening!" Kazuto whined, standing just inside the third room. It… It won't run out of power? His anxiety had grown as he'd rushed full speed at the portal over and over, and he now felt a deep sense of worry that maybe his girls weren't his anymore because he'd been too slow to get them back. He extended his right arm and hit the wall to his side in frustration. Fuck, fuck, fuck! I've tried everything! If only I had my sword…
He stomped on the ground, then turned and leaned his forehead against the wall. "FUCK!" he shouted, kicking the wall with his metal-toed boot and hurting his foot. This isn't fucking fair! I've spent over a whole fucking year here! I trained Ise-chan so thoroughly! Now she's finally to the point where she clenches up and starts cumming her brains out practically the second I touch her! I worked so hard getting Neko-chan, too! I haven't even heard of catgirls being anywhere else here, so she can't be replaced!
He punched the wall, wishing it wasn't so fucking sturdy, but he knew by now that he couldn't actually damage it. He'd punched the wall until his hand had dripped blood through his gauntlet earlier to test it, believing that he could break through if he continued hitting the same spot over and over, but it had been to no avail, and the only thing he'd broken—temporarily—had been his hand.
Norman let out a deep sigh. What am I supposed to do? I can't get past this… Maybe if I had my sword? "Fuck," he muttered. "The queen's going to be pissed." He turned grudgingly towards the exit and started walking with his shoulders slumped, knowing that he'd tried everything at this point. After a few steps, he stopped.
The door with the number "3" on the plaque lay in front of him, and it was slowly opening.
Kazuto's eyes widened. "Holy fuck," he whispered, staring into the room past the door. Then he threw his head back and groaned. It's a fucking puzzle fortress? Are you fucking serious?
He stepped forward cautiously, wary of any portals that might warp him back to the entrance even though he knew he couldn't do anything about them. When he'd entered the room fully, the door closed quickly behind him as he was accustomed to the doors doing, and he scanned his new surroundings with competing feelings of hope and frustration. Making it to the fourth room meant that he still had a chance to get his waifus back, but the amount of time it had probably taken meant that he was almost positive they were also used by now. He grimaced at the thought and brought his armored hands up to clutch at his head. Am I just supposed to take them back and act like they haven't been getting banged out by this Carl guy for however long?
The thought started making him feel queasy, so he tried to focus himself on figuring out the next room with limited results. Daydreams of his two favorite waifus took up most of his capacity for thought.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The fourth room was nothing like the other rooms. It was wider, it was longer, and it was taller. There were narrow, dark gray stone ramps all over the room, reaching up to various heights with differing amounts of incline. On the wall to the left, maybe twenty feet up, was the door to the next room. A ramp led towards it, ending a person-length or so before and below the door.
Kazuto frowned, still shifting uncomfortably in place when his mind yet again shifted to a possible scene he expected to find when he finally reached his girls. What if they tell me they don't want to go back with me? That they like Carl better, and they have hearts in their eyes…
He shivered, fighting to force his thoughts back to solving this next puzzle. It looks like I can just jump up to the door? He walked over to the ramp, expecting to be warped again at any moment.
There were no portals in evidence, however, and he successfully reached the base of the ramp. Maybe this is a normal difficulty one? The others were way too fucking hard. This is everything I hate about puzzles. Either you think exactly like the person who made the puzzle, or it's way too fucking hard.
Kazuto started running up the steep ramp, still expecting to be warped at any second. Amazingly, there seemed to be no portals. He reached the top of the ramp and jumped off, a grin spreading across his face as he realized that this was a normal difficulty room.
Then he realized the door wasn't opening.
He slammed into a smooth, invisible wall where the door should have been before dropping to the floor between the ramp and the wall. "No, no, no, no, NO!" he said with increasing volume, punching the unbreakable stone floor. "FUCK YOU, CARL!" he screamed.
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Kazuto leapt off the top of the most distant ramp, soaring across the room towards the door up on the wall. If there were this many ramps, he'd reasoned, they must be the key. He just needed to jump off the right one and then some fucking stupid game-like mechanic would open the door for him. He was already in a game world with a system, so it made perfect sense to him that there would be other game-like elements in the puzzles he hated so much.
He smacked into the wall again and fell down again. He felt a stinging pain from his nose again and wiped away the blood again, waiting for his passive skill to regenerate his face again.
Fuck. At least it's not a rhythm game though. He kicked the wall lightly, not wanting to have to wait for a broken foot to mend itself again, and set off to see if one of the other ramps towards the far end of the room would yield results.
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Kazuto stared up at the ramps on the ceiling. How the fuck am I supposed to even get up there? He'd resolved himself that he wouldn't give up again on rescuing his girls until he'd exhausted every possible way to solve the puzzle. He'd even tried walking back out the door again in case the solution was the same as the third room, but it hadn't been.
He didn't give up because he didn't want to have any regrets in this new world like he did in his old world. At least, he didn't want to have any that were the result of his own actions. He did have one regret already, and it was a significant one, but he'd rationalized that it wasn't his fault.
His one regret was Lily-chan.
After being isekai'd—which he'd realized had happened instantly after he'd logged into his VR game room one day, because obviously he'd just know even if everything seemed exactly the same since he wasn't a fucking idiot—he'd traveled to heaven, where Lucia lived, and he and the goddess had spent a long time together. She'd been so attentive, listening to his every worry and concern, his dreams, and even his fears eventually when they grew close enough. After a while, however, she'd started asking him for small favors. She'd given him so much already, so it wasn't like he'd say no!
Plus she always gave him the best rewards.
Lily-chan was one of those favors Lucia had asked of him. He'd been transported into a small room with a desk and an unbelievably hot succubus girl. Lily-chan—who'd had another name that was harder to say so he'd given her a cuter nickname right away after deciding she'd be the first girl to join the harem that he'd obviously have to start building since he was a hero in an isekai story now—was from a race that actively worshiped a god who hated Lucia and wanted to kill her. Or something like that; he hadn't been able to pay much attention to the explanation because of how fucking hot she was. Lucia wanted to turn the succubus hottie into a spy, but she was being too stubborn. His mission was to get Lily-chan to fall in love with him, which he'd be able to clearly see when her eyes turned pink, because then she'd naturally agree to anything he asked, including whatever Lucia wanted.
It was almost too good to be true for Kazuto. This was exactly like one of his favorite hentai manga. He read exclusively vanilla hentai manga, but he was still totally into the ones which started out seeming like they might maybe be "rape" as long as the girl ended up falling in love with the guy at the end. Sometimes girls didn't know what they wanted, as he knew from his experiences with girls in his previous world. In those types of stories, the fact that the girl ended up liking the guy in the end just meant they needed the time to realize it and they'd liked him all along, which meant it hadn't really been "rape".
That was such a harsh, stigmatized word anyway considering how lovey-dovey the girl always ended up being. It was more like aggressively pursuing a girl until she realized no other guy would care about her that much. With that in mind, it wasn't like he didn't understand that no meant no, obviously. But he'd taken one look at Lily-chan after giving her that cute nickname, and he'd seen how wet she was just from seeing him. If that wasn't enough of a hint…
Kazuto tried jumping and grabbing onto the ramp above him, but the edge was too smooth and his fingers slipped off. He landed on the ground and frowned. How the fuck… He went back to considering, taking a more thoughtful approach now that he knew he was up against a puzzle freak.
His mind wandered back to Lily-chan again, as it tended to do when he spent too much time thinking. She was the best he'd ever had. She did everything he wanted without question, and she even did it with that sexy look of disdain on her face. He hadn't known he had a fetish for that, but he definitely did.
He'd wanted nothing more in life at that time than to make her fall for him. She was perfect. He'd tried everything, too, just like he'd seen in all his favorite not-really-rape hentai manga. He'd tried long make-out sessions while telling her how much he wanted her, banging her until she was unconscious from pleasure, making her masturbate while telling him she loved him for hours on end to try hypnotizing her, making her beg him to bang her to try hypnotizing her in a different way, and, at the end when he ran out of ideas, even punishing her in the hopes that she would finally realize how much she should love him after all the attention he was showering her with.
She hadn't though. Her eyes had never turned pink, not even for a second. They'd started out red, gradually changing to orange over time with occasional returns to red. Red was the color of passion, wasn't it? But red still wasn't pink like Lucia had said, and he'd eventually had to give up after a week-long bang-fest that left Lily-chan completely insensate but still with red eyes when he'd checked.
Never pink.
Kazuto let out a mournful sigh. He tried really hard not to think about Lily-chan. It made him depressed when he did. She should have been his first companion, joining him on all his adventures. She seemed weak, but she was a demon queen, wasn't she? She should have her four demon generals, at least a couple of which should be hot demon babes for him to conquer with her help, and she should be unable to resist his dick.
He was a hero now, for fuck's sake, and she seemed like a totally run-of-the-mill villainess who should've known she was being evil and fallen for him right away once he pierced her with his holy sword!
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Kazuto was getting really fucking pissed off. He'd tried jumping off every ramp towards the door, he'd managed to cling to the ramps on the ceiling long enough to use his strength—which was over two hundred fucking thousand—to send himself hurtling towards the door, and he'd even tried leaping directly from various places on the floor itself, but nothing worked. He hit the fucking wall each time, and the door showed no signs of opening. If he hadn't already been through three rooms with exactly one entrance and one exit door, he might have started to think that there could be more than one door in a room. But he remembered how the other puzzles had gone, and this one had to be the same because puzzle games were always the same like that.
He was good at remembering things. That was part of why he'd done so well in school. School was nothing more than memorizing the right answers. Read the books, pay attention a little in class, then write down whatever he'd read and heard on all the standardized tests. It was simple, and it made perfect sense. You remembered what you learned, and you got a good grade for it.
This was part of why he hated puzzles. Puzzles didn't involve learning. There was no growth, no progression. It was either you got it somehow, or you didn't.
He decided to take a seat and try to cool off for a couple minutes as he stared up at the door. I'm not giving up. Already made it to the fourth room, and there can't be more than five rooms. In isekai stories, things always happen in groups of three or five. It wasn't three this time, so it has to be five. That means I only have to beat this room and the next room, and then I can kill this fucking Carl idiot and get Ise-chan and Neko-chan back.
Thoughts of his girls—especially Ise-chan this time, who had the softest tits—sent his thoughts spiraling back into a familiar pink haze. I wonder what she tastes like. I've never tried eating her out before. Damn, that's really selfish of me. No wonder she only goes deredere mode in bed. I—