Note: The chapter was revised on 10.02.2024.
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In everyone's life, there comes a moment when the road to the future breaks before your eyes, making you lose hope in what lies ahead. But is it really so? Is everything truly lost?
"What a dreadful taste," uttered a rough male voice from the balcony of a high-rise building.
In the darkness, his facial features were indistinguishable – no hair color, no eye color. Only deep wrinkles and stubble were visible. The man was dressed in a worn-out, well-traveled pajama.
In his hand, he held a 0.5-liter can of beer – if one could call this cheap swill that tasted more like horse urine. However, it seemed the man didn't mind and continued to drink.
"How irritating... my life is complete crap," he thought, sighing.
Immediately, endless memories of his sufferings flooded his mind. It seemed that year after year, Fate, the villain, tormented him.
"My parents are dead, my younger brother and sister look at me like a stranger... sigh," the man sighed, holding the beer can by its neck with five fingers, leaning against the balcony railing without paying attention to potential danger.
After a heavy sigh, he lifted his head to the heavens, gazing at the starry sky shining brightly that day.
"All that's left for me is the starry sky, and that's it. How pitiful..."
In moments of solitude, the man could only gaze at the starry sky for hours to alleviate his lonely days. He was no longer as young as he wished, and establishing relationships with women was challenging.
"In my youth, I was a handsome guy, charismatic, surrounded by girls... and now, what... a pathetic semblance of a human being."
It all started the day his father died – that's when the man's life took a downturn. Joining a bad crowd, forbidden substances, and alcohol led to his emaciation, deteriorating health, and a disfigured face.
"Ha-ah..." the man sighed heavily and started to move back to return to his room. Tomorrow, he had to go to work again, but...
Crack.
"Huh?"
Perplexed, the man discovered that he was already falling. The last thing he saw before the overwhelming pain was the starry sky shining brighter than usual. It seemed the stars had formed the image of a beautiful mature woman, smiling at him maternally.
Boom!
"Ah-ah-ah! Call an ambulance, a person fell here!"
"Oh my god..."
"What a nightmare..."
"Hey, isn't that [email protected]'s son... Adam?!"
Stars are smiling at you, Adam.
***
"Miss Mary, should we kill him? We cannot allow this demon to survive..."
"Wait a little. Lily, wake him up."
"Y-yes, Miss!"
A horrible headache was the first thing Adam felt when he opened his eyes. The next thing he saw was the starry sky, which was slightly different from what he had seen before losing consciousness.
"Did I drink too much? What a horror... I don't know what's worse, getting drunk on cheap beer or living the crappy life I've lived," thought the man.
The first thing he did was try to get up to go to the kitchen and take headache pills, but he suddenly felt resistance in his arms and legs.
"What?"
Puzzled, he raised his head and began to look around, and when his eyes met five people, he lost his ability to speak.
"Did someone slip hallucinogens into my beer? Why do I see five beauties in front of me?" Adam thought, feeling something odd.
In front of him stood five beautiful women in light armor. They had one distinctive feature – long and pointed ears, nothing like human ears, which Adam mistook for cosplay.
They were all beauties whom Adam never expected to see in person in his previous life. However, there was something strange – these beauties looked at him as if he were a dung beetle.
"Who are you? Why am I here?" Adam asked, puzzled, trying to break free.
"Hold! Demon, if you try to escape again, I will execute you immediately!" suddenly growled one of the beauties, and the next moment, the man felt a strange warmth on his cheek, followed by pain.
"This..."
Adam widened his eyes, smelling the scent of iron and feeling intense pain!
"This woman is a crazy b****! Who gave her this spear?!," Adam angrily thought but dared not voice his thoughts.
"Diana, stop doing what you were not asked to do, understood?" said one of the women with irritation.
"Y-yes, Captain Mary..."
Diana – that was the name of the woman who controlled the spear and skillfully injured Adam with a swift motion on his cheek. She had shoulder-length brown hair and dark blue eyes, appearing youthful, no older than twenty.
The one who told Diana to step away from Adam was the most outstanding among them. It wasn't just about her appearance, but what could be called a "warrior's aura."
The beauty, presumably the leader, had wheat-colored hair braided into plaited strands. Her eyes were like emeralds – beautifully green, resembling a precious gem. Under her left eye, she had a beauty mark.
Her body was well-developed... in the right places. She was the kind of person that internet users might call "Mommy."
"This... why is the tip of this crazy woman's spear black?" he thought puzzled.
"And now, I think you shouldn't expect me to apologize for my subordinate's behavior. You're alive only because we cannot kill you without permission," Mary suddenly interrupted his thoughts. Her face was irritated and unfriendly.
"Ugh..." Adam squinted his eyes, leaning slightly backward to avoid the sword's edge, which was dangerously close to his forehead.
"Now, explain yourself. Why, as a child of chaos, a demon from the Chaos Empire, are you trespassing on sacred elven lands?" Mary asked reproachfully, holding the sword, almost pressing its point to Adam's forehead. Her tone was full of threats – it was clear she wasn't in the mood for a friendly conversation.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Adam said, and his voice sounded genuinely sincere, but...
"I don't believe you. How can a demon not know the rules? I'm sure you just wanted to satisfy your lust, so you sneaked into our territory," Mary said with irritation and continued, "I give you a chance to state your goal and tell us who informed you about this passage. You have five minutes!"
Then the woman fell silent but did not lower the sword. It was evident she was serious about her intentions, which, once again, brought Adam a lot of headaches.
He couldn't do anything, being tied up, and his body was still aching from pain. The only thing he could do was surrender and accept death.
"What the hell is happening, anyway? Why does she call me a demon?!" Annoyed thoughts swirled in Adam's mind. As his consciousness delved into what was happening, only a feeling of anger remained: "I was just sitting and lamenting my damn miserable life, and I got dragged into some dubious BDSM game!"
It seemed his anger emanated from the depths of his heart – he felt a sudden surge of adrenaline as if he had suddenly become stronger.
"Time has passed. How foolishly you wasted your last chance for survival," Mary said disappointingly, with a cold expression on her face, and then swung her sword.
The moonlight illuminated the remarkably clean blade, making Adam see his reflection. It seemed that in the last moments of his life, his mind started working faster, and time slowed down for him.
"My face... is that me?!" he thought stunned, but before he could ponder on this question for too long, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck. "Aaaaaah!"
"What?!" Ignoring Mary's bewildered cry, Adam was only occupied with trying not to go insane from the pain in his head. He screamed, attempting to somehow get rid of those sensations.
It was the first time he felt so bad!
Boom! Suddenly, the ground shook, and a dark dome emerged from Adam's body. It instantly pushed all the women aside, and those directly affected by the dome received minor injuries and were knocked down.
As if sensing Adam's desperation, his body became stronger, allowing him to break the ropes easily. He immediately stood up, ignoring the blood flowing from his neck.
Adam ran forward, leaping through the trees and trying to find an exit. However, after five minutes of running, he noticed something strange.
"The place is not changing! It's like I'm running in one spot!" he thought stunned, and then jerked: "What?!"
His heightened senses, filled with the fear of death, suddenly sent danger signals, prompting him to turn back. There he saw a beautiful woman with long golden hair and green eyes.
Her beauty was outstanding, birds were flying around her, and even a lion bowed to her. The man was stunned by her aura.
"This..."
"Have you run enough, demon?" the woman suddenly addressed him, smiling tenderly. She waved her hand, and Adam felt a strong blow to the back of his head. Before losing consciousness, he heard her words, "You need some rest. You've been running for a very long time."
Then Adam's consciousness dimmed, and everything turned dark before his eyes.
***
"Ugh... I feel terrible..."
The man opened his eyes and was suddenly stunned by the scene around him. He was drifting in the air, as if in zero gravity!
"What happened? I remember crazy women tying me up, and then I met the beauty with golden hair, and I blacked out..." thought Adam, then gritted his teeth, recalling how he was almost killed: "What the hell?! I didn't do anything, and they wanted to kill me already! I could practically hear the funeral march!"
After stabilizing his mind, he finally took the time to study what was happening.
"Ouch... I feel pain, so I'm not dreaming," Adam said with a cry.
Once he made sure he was not dreaming and all this was happening in reality, he began to think about what had happened. The last minutes of his life flashed through his head, and he frowned.
"So... I, a dumb person, pressed on a beam that was already in poor condition and fell? Damn..."
Although all this seemed like a dream, Adam couldn't come up with another explanation for what was happening. Everything was too real for him to consider it a hallucination or something like that.
"To die so stupidly... I'd rather die during sex," he thought, cringing at the thought, and slapping his face.
However, the truth was the truth – he died a pathetic death and now found himself in some strange place. It didn't look like heaven, and it didn't look like hell either.
Ding!
"Huh? I don't remember having my phone with me," Adam puzzled.
The ringing sound sounded as if he had received a message on his phone. However, in the next second, the man encountered an unexpected thing.
[All requirements met. The user has gained access to the 'LR' System].
Ding!
[Uh? Teleporting the user to the Gates... success!]
"Eh?!"
To be continued...