Inside the Narrow Hole (1)

As my Synchronization Rate climbed, I became able to use Hex's skills.

Not every skill had unlocked, but the lower-tier ones and a few unique abilities were now available at a limited proficiency.

Whether that was a good thing, though, was another matter entirely.

On one hand, thug-specialized skills like that would activate and make everyone around me nervous. On the other—

—there were skills that belonged in an adult game, and those made my face burn.

Then again, this was an adult game, so of course skills like that existed.

Which was exactly why I was trembling with rage.

None of this crap showed up when I played as Kyle!

Poor Kyle. No wonder every woman around him kept getting conquered left and right.

The female characters had sensitivity, arousal values, moral sense—a whole suite of sexual parameters—while Kyle, the actual protagonist, had none of it. I'd written that off as the developers putting more effort into the heroines than the male lead. Fair enough. But to think they'd poured that much work into an NTR character who wasn't even the protagonist!

Right. This place was always designed like this.

Once again, I was forced to confront just how maliciously this world had been built.

"Hex, you ready?"

At Kyle's call, I closed the skill window and got to my feet.

We'd decided to take on more requests at the Adventurers' Guild. Our original goal—padding out the travel funds—had already been covered by Multu's reward and the rest, but whether in a game or in real life, having too much money was never a problem. Especially in the early-to-mid game, the more capital you had, the better.

Aiden was an early-story stage, which meant plenty of well-paying requests were still sitting around.

No way I'm walking past honey pots like these.

On top of that, a brand-new request had been posted—one I'd never seen before. It was because of the demon that had appeared at Multu's mansion. Magical energy leaking from a rift to Hell had spread through the area and started affecting the local wildlife.

This was a request I'd never seen before, and for something available this early, the payout was absurdly good. Five gold per rat, and a full thousand if you wiped out every swarm in the city. That was the expected return of clearing a goblin den twenty times over—a straight-up jackpot of a request.

The catch was that you couldn't just wander around stabbing rats one by one. It was a job suited to people with specialized skills. People like Mela the thief, or Layla the mage.

"N-No way!"

Layla shuddered and shook her head hard.

Come to think of it, was Layla afraid of rats? There was an event where a rat showed up during her bath and she bolted out naked, running straight into Kyle.

I got to see her chest, so that was a win.

Fond memories.

"Uh… so what do we do?"

Kyle looked around at the rest of the party, flustered.

The rat-catching request needed at least two people. Mela was so painfully shy that only Layla or Emily could reasonably pair with her—and Emily was already swamped healing the sick. That left Kyle or me to go with Mela, but Kyle had just accepted a different request. Which meant I was the only one left.

"…"

Mela was staring right at me. What was that look? Was she picking a fight?

I was about to say something when Kyle spoke up.

"Hex, can you go with her?"

"Absolutely not!"

That was Layla. She was extremely wary of leaving me alone with Mela, so the reaction was expected. But we couldn't just skip this request either. It directly concerned the safety of the townspeople. Knowing Kyle's personality, he would have taken it even if the pay had been garbage. Rat-catching was an unavoidable fate.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"If… if it really has to be done, th-then I'll go too."

For Layla, that took real courage—the courage of someone who refused to send Mela off alone with a guy like me. I almost wanted to applaud her for it. Unfortunately, I was the one who had to shut it down.

"You and Mela working the same request is inefficient."

Putting two versatile party members on the same job was a waste. We weren't the only adventurers at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠guild—while we were out on requests, other people would be taking jobs too. Proper personnel distribution was how you maximized results, which meant the two of them needed to operate separately.

Layla seemed to accept the logic, because she answered with the air of someone who had no other choice.

"Then I'll go with you."

This girl really did not want to leave me alone with Mela. A wise call, befitting a mage.

Kyle looked at me.

"What do you want to do?"

Somehow the choice had landed in my lap. I had to pick between Mela and Layla.

I chose Mela.

Creatures corrupted by magical energy mutated into magical beasts, and they could develop all kinds of bizarre traits—the difficulty was completely unpredictable. Taking Layla, who had a trauma about rats, into that situation was far too risky. Status effects like Confusion or Panic could create a disaster no matter how high your level was.

Mela ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠started by tracking from the places where the rat swarms had been sighted. Whether the reports of dogs and cats being eaten were true or not, following the trail backward meant we had no choice but to witness some thoroughly disgusting scenes.

"…"

Even so, Mela's expression never changed. She just did her job. Looking at her delicate features and timid personality, you'd never guess it—but she was someone who'd cut her teeth in the underworld. She'd seen every kind of filth imaginable. This much was nothing to her.

What we eventually found was a burrow just large enough for a person to crawl through.

"Is this really it?"

No matter how I looked at it, it was way too big for a rat. But Mela nodded at my question—no room for doubt. This was the place.

What kind of rat digs a tunnel like this?

I was scowling at it when I noticed Mela staring at me again. Was she telling me to go in first?

"Obviously you should take point on something like this."

She was the guide with the scouting skills, and she wanted me to lead? That was basic positioning completely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ignored, so of course I pushed back. Mela fidgeted, then mumbled:

"Layla said… not to let you stay behind me…"

"…"

Wow. Harsh. What did she take me for—except, well, this body was Hex's.

Even if I weren't Hex, sending a woman in first through something this tight would be pretty awkward.

In a passage this narrow, you'd be staring at the person ahead of you's rear the whole way. How uncomfortable would that be? And if the person behind you was Hex, I'd send him in first too.

"Fine. I'll go in."

I started forward with a reluctant look, and Mela stopped me.

"No. I'll take the lead."

Before I could even reply, she slipped into the tunnel. True to her thief roots, she was already crawling ahead in the blink of an eye. I was briefly puzzled—then I understood how she felt.

She was scared.

Worried I'd hold a grudge, probably. Fair enough. She used to look like she was about to cry just from me talking to her, so of course she'd be nervous.

I followed her into the hole, stuck my head in—and immediately gagged.

"Ugh."

A stench like a sewer punched me in the nose. It was so bad I was already regretting coming along—and then something appeared in front of me.

"…"

I watched Mela's small rear end moving ahead of me and followed in silence.

After crawling for a while, either she'd slowed down or I'd closed the gap, because I was getting closer. And that meant Mela's backside came into sharp focus. She was wearing something with almost no coverage, so her thighs were fully exposed, and her short pants had ridden up into the cleft of her rear, outlining every curve. Those constantly moving thighs and that twitching backside were right in front of my face.

My breath was getting short. I felt like I was about to lose all self-control—

Suddenly my head felt clear, like fog lifting. I checked the system window and only then realized I hadn't been normal.

I knew something felt off.

At some point the reek of filth had turned into a sweet scent. I'd even had the insane thought that it might be the smell of Mela's pussy—and only the martial artist's status-resistance skill had barely snapped me out of it.

But either the dispel hadn't been complete, or the effects were stacking right back on the moment they cleared, because a strange excitement still wouldn't settle. And more than anything—

Little buddy is still reacting!

My precious cargo had gone rock-hard. My thoughts jumped to Mela, still crawling ahead of me.

"Hey, Mela. Something's weird—"

I never finished the sentence.

Because Mela was looking back at me with eyes that glistened with raw lust.