Nymphsaga/Paradise

Road to Paradise, Part One

Excerpt from the Bioengineer's Logbook; "a Study on the History, Biology, and Behavior of Nymphs", entry number three, "Introduction of the Demon and Miasma."

While there are predators and carnivores who feast on lesser creatures for survival, the closest thing that Phantasm to an apex predator is Nymph, and let's be honest, to call them apex predators is a grave insult to all the great beasts that roam various parts of the Milky Way. Nymphs are an herbivorous race that only eats plants, fruits, and berries, and their digestive system can barely even process meat. Besides, they are cripplingly weak physically. Sure, they are cunningly smart, have a wicked sense of combat, and are not really fit for consumption - technically making them "the top of the food chain" - but those traits alone should not make species an apex predator. They required some serious competition to knock them off the pedestal and remind them of their place in the hierarchy. That's why we introduced more animals to the world, mostly in the form of animals from the blue planet we found Nymph's "originals" from. But, we didn't end there because we also introduced a truly terrifying being to balance out Nymph's dominance on the Phantasm.

For yin, there is yang. For alpha, there is omega. For Nymph, that is Venus, there is the demon, that is Mars.

Demons are theorized to be related to ancient aliens known as Deliria, who several billion years ago, in the early days of the universe, dominated the galaxy as its sole superpower until their unexplainable disappearance from the Milky Way. This theory is even supported by demons being native to the planet Tartarus, a super-Earth located deep near the center of the galaxy, where Deliria once held a strong presence.

In terms of reproduction, demons kind of like the anti-Nymph. While Nymphs can help other species reproduce and cultivate offspring of almost any sentient being in Phantasm, demons can do the same thing to females of any other species in Tartarus and beyond. Their highly invasive seed always grows up to be a Demon regardless of the egg it fertilizes. In addition, Demon's offsprings borrow heavily from the genetic codes of their mothers, making them a race of fastly-evolving mutants of all sorts.

There are other similarities as well. Demons, like Nymphs, are invasive species capable of transforming worlds around them with their powers that many call supernatural. Nymphs produce source, while Demons produce miasma. As powers, they are directly comparable to each other, and while they have some major differences, they are equally dangerous. If I had to compare them to common drugs, I'd say that source is like nicotine, while miasma is like alcohol. It's easy to get addicted to source after being merely exposed to it, getting a fix feels satisfying and relaxing, and trying to stop consuming it will result in withdrawal symptoms.

On the other hand, miasma is something that gets its user intoxicated quickly and easily, but only momentarily. Once the drunkenness wears off, the user will feel fine, bar a feeling of hung-overness after heavy consumption. It isn't an addictive substance by itself, but the high that results from its consumption is incredible, and it's very easy for users of miasma to crave that high over and over and over again. The more you use it, the harder it is to escape its oppressive clutches. As far as Nymphs go, the taste of miasma will never truly leave them. Once tasted, a small fraction of miasma will forever linger in their brains, corrupting their minds and bodies until the day they die.

While demons are an ancient species that has dominated Tartarus for a much longer time than we Altarians have even existed, they have never left their home. That's not to say they are dumb, because it's quite the opposite. Demons are extremely intelligent beings. In some ways, they even challenge our own understanding of what it means to be intelligent as a species, as they should be capable of creating interplanetary civilizations for all intents and purposes. Yet, they can barely hold their civilization together in their home world. It is because of this extreme intelligence that we found the idea of them sharing the world with Nymphs so very, very captivating.

Despite their overwhelming physical capabilities, we Altarians could easily subdue them using our technology and resettle some of them to Phantasm. Before we planted our demon subjects down into this world, we made them dependent on source. Then we let the hell break loose. We had a feeling that this miasma would dramatically change Phantasm once again, and we were not wrong.

It didn't take long for them to realize that the only efficient way to extract source was through Nymphs, and because they're naturally so much more powerful than these little creatures and just as smart, many fell victim. Unlike most other species on this planet - both endemic and planted - Demons can actually track down source from great distances, following the trail of their prey. They are not perfect at doing this, but they sure are better at this than any other creature on Phantasm.

During the very first weeks of observing demons victimize Nymphs, we also got the first glimpse into what kind of effect miasma has on Nymphs, and we were not surprised to find out that the effects were devastating. Nymphs have always been hypersexual, sex-crazed beings that can only be described as somewhat "slutty", and miasma intensifies this even more. Many Nymphs who fell victim to demons did not meet freedom ever again, and those who did only did so because of outside help. As far as recovery goes, no Nymph could recover completely. It doesn't matter if the change is big or small; miasma truly changes Nymphs forever.

Even though Nymphs knew of the demons and what kind of things they could do to them, it's not in their nature to go down without a fight. Not even Demons could change this. Nymphs would actually continue to defend themselves against Demons - even coming up with even more innovative ways and tactics to defend against them - and much to our surprise, they did so to great success.

In the end, based on our short-term observations, not even Demons could disrupt the balance of this world, which turned out to be dangerous even for them. Is source having a negative effect on Demons and weakening them? Or do they simply find it difficult to accommodate their bodies to the weaker gravity of this world? We still, to this very day, do not know for sure, but it's unquestionable that Demons have become yet another cogwheel that rotates in harmony in the perfect clockwork that is the ecosystem of Phantasm.

---

Seven Nymphs start their adventure and depart from Grove with Paradise as their goal. They know they can complete the journey. Others have made the trip there and back by now, so why wouldn't they be able to do the same?

The two towns are by no means close to each other yet, not by a long shot. Even with everything going according to plan, the trip can take up to six hours on foot, and the valley between is dangerous. It could even be that it will never be possible to plan a safe route between the towns, but that's not something our heroines have to worry about short-term. They just want to get there and worry about the future after that.

They use known checkpoints and head first towards the abandoned Fort Hammercliff, as they suspect this area to be the safest route. Surely enough, nothing goes wrong on the first leg of the journey. They haven't had to rely on potions yet, and they still have all their clothes intact. Their next checkpoint lies beyond the mountain range that separates the Hammercliff Valley from the Sparkling Forest, bringing them to less-charted territories.

Speaking of clothing, they've had some minor - or in some cases major - upgrades to their equipment.

Rain looks pretty much the same as she's always looked. She still has the same skirt, the same glasses, and the very same braids. She had Pink alter her hoodie slightly by changing its print, but that's about it. She couldn't resist the temptation when she discovered she could model it after the "Superflat" clothing brand. That's not to say there haven't been recent changes to her other equipment though, because her weapon is actually a brand new one, and it's one she personally crafted from the Soul Lodestone she found. It could be transformed into a melee weapon when filled with souls and then combined with some rare ingredients. Naturally, she made it into a sword. White in color and transparent like glass, it has a straight, broad blade. Despite its length and reach, it's also light. While it has four effects, its stats are unremarkable compared to other swords sharing its rarity, mostly because of how two of the effects are. The other one automatically casts Soul Trap on enemies she hits, so she can steal their souls the moment they die, providing no combat purposes beyond that, and the other one doubles the effect of any enchant put on it. Still, it's miles above weapons she has found so far because of its damage alone, so it's going to be a trusty companion for her for a long time, perhaps for life. After all, it's suitable for collecting souls if for nothing else.

As far as style goes, Wendy hasn't changed much either; she has simply taken her punk-rock-look a little bit further. Her jeans shorts made are about as short as pants can be and are now complemented by a studded belt, and her black sleeveless shirt comes with a logo of one of her favorite punk rock bands, Ramones. She also made a switch from nylon and wears over-knee fishnet socks. She's also got a pair of new pistols, which deal more damage, hold more ammo, and are even capable of rapid-fire, a feature that she's come to love. Still only using arcane stone to power up her damage, she adds a unique element to the group and provides a reliable counter against enemy casters, especially healers. She's also got a new "Scouter's Lens" for herself, which looks like an ordinary contact lens from the outside, but has a microscopic camera, a scanner, and a holographic projector attached to it. It automatically scans for traps and reduces the cooldown of the inspection spell with some extra functionality and double the information. While invisible on the first glace, it does change her right eye's color to red.

What about Angel? No changes as far as her clothing is considered. For starters, she likes her current style. Secondly, she's been unlucky. She still can only cast holy spells, but at least her stone is good, giving her access to more potent magic effects. She's a little jealous of all the good upgrades her friends have gotten, but she hasn't expressed it in any way.

Lemon and Pink haven't gotten any upgrades either but considering that they were lucky to get good gear early in the game, it's okay with them. Lemon still has the same clothes - at least as far as appearance is considered - but Pink has changed her style slightly. She admitted to liking baggy clothes, so to see her rocking a pale-yellow colored, skin-hugging t-shirt was a surprise for her friends. Her blue skirt is just as short as ever, her socks are multicolored, and her shoes are pink. None of the colors match, but hey, for one reason or another, that's what she was going for. Her transformation still makes her look like a magical girl with its frilly pink-and-white dress.

Snow and Crystal haven't had any changes to their weaponry either, and they still got the same clothes at first glance. Crystal actually has a pair of extra rare panties, which are nothing but thongs, but that's not important as far as her appearance goes. It's not like anyone's going to see them through her shorts.

---

Having reached the mountains between the two zones, they can choose from two options next, which both have their advantages and disadvantages. They can take a shortcut through a valley running between the mountains, leading them directly to the Sparkling Forest, but this valley is a hazardous place full of rapey traps. Their second option goes around the mountain, which is a long detour. Still, it should be a safe detour.

As the final barrier between them and the decision they have to make, they find a camp set by goblins displaced after the fall of Fort Hammercliff and fortunately have no trouble killing them all. As the last goblin falls to Rain's blade, she absorbs the soul for her personal use, only to be confronted by her friend.

"I just realized something", Wendy says. "You're a vegan, right?"

Rain doesn't know how to reply to one of her best friends, who should know her inside out, so she simply says, "Duh."

"How can you be fine with using the souls of your dead enemies then?"

Rain stops to think. Like, she really, really stops to think. She looks at Wendy with an empty stare in her eyes, and she realizes that there indeed is a little conflict of interest between her personal views and her actions. It causes her grave embarrassment. "I haven't even thought about it…"

"Hold on", Crystal says, intervening in the conversation. "Are souls even animal products?"

"More importantly", Snow continues, "are goblins animals?"

"MOST importantly", Pink says, trying to end the conversation. "Those goblins aren't actually real."

"By that logic, Rain should be able to wear leather as well", Wendy points out. "And souls are totally animal products."

"Bitch, are you trying to paint me as some kind of hypocrite?" Rain asks. "I mean, you're not wrong, but…"

Laughing, Wendy extends her hand to Rain's opposite shoulder, clinging up to her close friend. "Come on, it's just jokes!"

"Maybe I'm going to stop being vegan", Rain says, with a hand on her jawline. "Playing and experimenting with demons and souls is too fun a hobby to abandon just because of my real-world lifestyle…"

"The sky worries me", Angel says, gazing up at the grey skies, filled with a thick cover of clouds. Precipitation is rare in most regions of Phantasm, so it catches the group by surprise. "It might not be a good idea to go there if it's going to rain."

"Oh, I see what you mean", Lemon says, taking a look at one giant flower that bears a resemblance to Rafflesia, and not just visually. It also emits a strong smell, a scent laced with the same drug as Demon's Whistle. "I heard their smell carries with water, which increases their reach during these kinds of conditions."

"Exactly", Angel says, nodding. "We can't go there if it's going to pour."

"Well, this is a good time to rest anyway", Wendy says. "There should be a cavern nearby. Let's go there."

---

The cavern Wendy talked about is a really shallow one, and you can constantly see outside from there. It offers reliable shelter from the rain though, so at least they can stay dry. As is typical for the local climate, the sky clears up quickly, allowing the group to continue their adventure. They return to the valley, but getting close to it makes them feel dizzy and strange. Lemon uses her abilities as an Alchemist to confirm the whole place to be contaminated with a thick cloud of demonic miasma that will drive anyone mad beyond reason.

"It's a good thing we didn't enter the valley anytime sooner…" Lemon says, starting to back out, along with her friends. "We would've been wiped out…"

"It's so crazy to think that even nature can be against us", Wendy says. Only thinking about what could've happened to them causes her cheeks to blush and her heart beat madly.

"Are we gonna be fine though?" Pink wonders. "I can smell dick pretty strongly."

"Yeah, we'll be fine at this distance", Lemon assures. Then, she actually stops to think. "Wait a minute, dick…?"

"Oh, come on, it totally smells like dick in here."

"Well, that explains why Wendy is blushing", Rain says.

"W-what the fuck are you on about!? I'm not blushing because it smells like dick in here!"

"Whatever", Lemon says, sighing. "Let's get out of here already."

Wendy is very quick to let out a sigh herself. "Yeah, let's spare the dick talk for later and pick a different route."

"Are you sure?" Lemon asks. "I don't think it's a good idea to go to uncharted territories."

Arms crossed, Wendy replies: "Well, let's chart it then. This route is clearly too dangerous if bad weather can wipe Nymphs out. Besides, the mountain path should be safe, according to others I've talked to."

"Well, let's get moving then", Angel remarks, urging her team to follow her. "If we're taking a detour, the least we can do is hurry up."

With that, they push forward.

---

The route they pick is a rocky one and follows the mountainside very closely. Wendy has a good idea of where the next checkpoint is and has already pictured a route in her mind. Here, they come across yet another valley, a bit wider than the last one. What makes this once different are the ruins of an ancient city built on the foot of the mountain. The ruins can be avoided completely, but they should be as easy to travel through with a scout in the party, so they decide to bravely go through them.

These ruins look just like the ones that Rain and Lemon got very familiar with, but there are different kinds of vegetation scattered around. For starters, there aren't the same kinds of trees and branches anywhere, suggesting that this place hasn't been corrupted by giant tentacle demons. They find a lot of web scattered around though, which is weaved in a different manner than spiders weave their webs. It suggests that the place is populated by different kinds of horrible monsters called "Webworms".

Despite what you might think, Webworms are not actually bugs but rather direct descendants of demons. They're tentacle-like worms and larva that dig through underground in the dark, where they create their hellish nests. They only come out from their nests to hunt. They're not really good at it, and they're kinda slow, but they're really good at communicating with each other, which makes them a terrifying foe to be surrounded by. Besides, they're physically strong and can weave webs like spiders, as evident by their name. They can grow to be about the size of a wild boar, and even a single strand of web can be strong enough to support the weight of larger webworms.

What's the most effective tactic against them? To stay as silent as possible. They're sensitive to noise, especially to girly noises made by Nymphs. That's why the group of Nymphs make their best effort to not say anything as they walk through the ruins. If they must, they communicate by whispering. Lucky for them, they have a straight path through the ruins to the other side, and there are no traps on the road either.

Something appears far out in front of them, and this something should reasonably make anyone scream or piss their pants. First, they see only tentacles, but then, the body of the colossal monster appears. It's clearly a Webworm, or is it? It looks the part, but it's way beyond the scale of a normal Webworm. The tentacles coming out from its gaping mouth alone are twice as long as your typical Webworm's entire body, and the mouth itself could probably swallow a giant one whole. It's thick like a whale, but the girls don't stay to look what it's like any further. Instead, they hide behind a corner leading deeper into the ruins.

"Did you manage to inspect it…?" Pink whispers.

"I-it's a freaking raid boss…!" Wendy replies, visibly shaking. "It's over ten meters long…! That shit's way beyond our capabilities…!"

"It's slow, right…?" Pink continues.

Wendy nods. "We should just run…! We should be able to get away… Just wait for my signal…"

They all clearly understand that it's probably a good idea, but is it the best one? They don't know which way the boss turned towards after coming from behind the corner. Away from them, or towards them? There's a fifty-fifty chance it's going to see them if they run away, and if it sees them, it's sure to alert every single worm in the immediate vicinity, and every second they waste standing still, they risk it getting closer to them. Besides, even though they have tactics for dealing with these monsters effectively, they don't know how to deal with a horde of them, and they sure as hell don't know how to deal with a raid boss. They all have different ideas about what they should do, and some of them are even hesitating to follow up with Wendy's plan, Wendy included.

"On the count of three", Wendy finally says, trying to collect her thoughts, "we run back the same road we came from…"

In the end, that's the plan they go by. They trust their strategist's judgment. And so, Wendy whispers the count, and with that, they all rush towards the exit. They have a fairly long sprint in front of them. Rain, who's keeping the tail at the moment, glances towards the boss, which luckily has turned the other way. Still, her heart jumps almost as if kickstarted, as she can hear a screech coming from where they were just hiding. The tiny worms hiding nearby must've woken up from all the whispering, or was it from their running? Either way, now screeching can be heard all over, with the message traveling across the ruins, alerting every single enemy in the area. The narrow path in front of them fills up with large webworms. They might be slow, but if there are so many of them blocking the path, they can't go through them. The paved road has many side paths, and there's one directly to the left of them.

"Plan B!" Wendy shouts, clearly not caring about the enemy hearing anymore. Damage has already been done. Instead, she summons her weapons. "Run for your lives! That way!"

They run towards the only way open for them, but it's leading deeper into the ruins. As bad as it is, it's still the best bet they have because every other one is leading towards certain doom. Where else could they go?

Left, left, right, straight, right, left again; they're constantly faced with choices in these maze-like ruins that draw them deeper with every choice made. Enemies are all over them, but luckily their movements are predictable, as they pretty much only go forward. Most of them are weak enough to run through and kill quick, as long as they don't come in groups. Like sperm-filled spider eggs and smiles, they leave behind a lot of goo on death, which may lead to some trouble as far as their equipment goes.

Suddenly, they realize they've made a bad choice because they're led straight to a dead end, with the enemy on their heels. Blocked by about a dozen of small worms together with three larger ones, everyone is forced to draw their weapons, which worries them because they know they can't waste time. They're all still coming for them, except for two large ones, which seem to be staying behind, shielded by their allies so they can shoot goo at them from a distance.

"Rush through!" Wendy commands. "Kill them all! It's the only way!"

Rain and Crystal are the first to attack but quickly find themselves having difficulties fighting against these tiny crawlers due to not being able to attack them fast enough. For Crystal, each slam against an enemy is overkill, and she has to be able to lift the weapon back up again, while Rain simply isn't very good at fighting against an enemy that is literally crawling on the floor. Angel still manages to keep them topped up as far as stamina goes, so they won't run dry, but with the worms ganging up on them, they simply can't keep up with the numbers. Moreover, the sperm-like white goo explodes out of the enemies, leaving both melee fighters naked rather quickly.

Suddenly, as if they weren't overwhelmed already, jumping down from the trees and the walls overhead, from both left and right, a dozen tiny worms rush the melee in an attempt to immobilize them. Their skins are sticky enough for them to be effective at this, and they have small appendages coming from their mouths to help grab onto their limbs. A couple of worms aren't heavy enough to force the girls to fall down completely, but both drop to their knees, unable to continue combat for the time being.

Magic and ranged attacks seem to work best on them, which means that Wendy and Pink have shined throughout the combat, and they have no trouble getting their friends free from the Webworm's grasp either. Pink has to rely on transforming into her melee form to punch quickly through the worms rapidly - to avoid friendly fire, of course - but this comes at the cost of her losing her clothes as well. She suspected she might only lose her clothes from the magical girl form, but as soon as the transformation dies down, she finds herself naked in this form as well.

"G-gee, what's up with this!?" Pink complains.

"Don't mind it", Wendy says and takes aim at the rest of the enemies. "Fall back, you three. We're almost done, so we don't need melee anymore."

As is the case with melee, Lemon's attacks are too slow to work properly, at least as far as the small ones are considered, so she takes aim at one of the enemies further back and attacks them. The larger Webworms don't die in a single hit, but she manages to take them out by the time her friends kill the small ones. She is, however, unable to bring the large enemies down before they wreak havoc with their ranged goo projectiles, hitting both her and Snow, leaving only Angel and Wendy with clothes on, for now. Even they're not sure if they will get out of the situation with their clothes on in the end.

Regardless of their short-term difficulties, they manage to push the enemy back and escape the dead-end before the horde catches up to them. Now, they seem to have a straight, empty road ahead of them, leading out from the ruins towards the mountainside.

They run towards a bridge which, even after laying in ruin for a thousand years, manages to stand, and they slow down. There are no more small worms between them and their exit on the road above, but waiting for them at the other end of the bridge, the giant boss awaits. It wasn't on their heels from the start; instead, it was heading towards the exit, and its gamble may have blocked their way. The rest of the enemies are behind them, still following them, slowly but surely.

"It's either the boss or a sea of worms!" Rain yells, raising her sword. She has the most effective weapon against the tentacles coming out from the boss's gaping mouth, but she's still scared beyond reason, especially since she's started naked now. "Call me crazy, but I think this is more manageable than countless worms!"

"What's its exact rank?" Angel asks, trying to remain calm.

"It's a double X, so equal to ten Nymphs", Wendy replies. "Killing it is not out of the question, but with limited time… I don't think we can make it fast enough…"

"I have an idea", Snow says as she begins a complex spell. She pushes her palms together, crossing two of her outer fingers, and presses the tips of her index fingers hard against each other. A summoning circle appears underneath her feet, and she begins to channel mana. "Angel, give me your spare mana. I'll summon a strong ally to distract it so we can escape, but I need some help to do it."

"It has better work then", Angel says, walking behind Snow, grabbing onto her from behind. Physical contact is needed for the spell she's about the cast: Spirit Link. It links the mana pools of two Nymphs together, allowing the recipient of the spell to access the caster's mana. Not only will it make Angel unable to cast anything else for the duration of channeling, but it also drains stamina from Angel.

"Alright, Rain", Crystal says. "Since our healer is occupied, we must swap a lot. Are you up for the challenge?"

"Don't think we have much of a choice", Rain replies.

Rain attacks the enemy in front of her. With her sword, she poses an immediate threat to her enemy, who pulls back its tentacles, spreading them out. They sway in the air, almost as if trying to confuse Rain about which one is about to attack first. Rain can't rush in either because she knows that going too close will probably result in her getting caught. Besides, the sight of its wide, gaping mouth is a terrifying one.

Finally, tentacles attack, one by one. It's impossible to predict which direction they're coming from, but they are fairly easy to dodge. Trying to attack them in retaliation is a little too hard for Rain though, because she has to know where they're coming from to even hope to cut them. She's not sure, but she thinks there could be a pattern she recognizes. Out of pure luck, she manages to strike one of the tentacles down. The enemy is stunned momentarily, but the tentacle grows right back in this moment's pause. Even though she's not particularly tired yet, she allows Crystal to take over to mentally regroup.

Crystal has way more trouble with the boss than Rain does. The most important thing when fighting tentacles is speed and agility, both of which are something that the powerhouse Crystal doesn't specialize in. She can dodge to an extent, but she can't even think about striking a retaliatory attack. Her mission simply is to keep the enemy's attention while Rain recovers.

This time Rain takes over by striking one of the tentacles clean in half from the side. Crystal immediately retreats and turns towards Snow. "How much more? I can maybe handle two more rounds."

"I'm halfway done…" Snow answers, trying not to lose her focus.

"That should be enough", Crystal replies, with a relieved smile on the corners of her otherwise worried lips.

Meanwhile Pink, Lemon, and Wendy have the equally unenviable task of holding the enemy on the opposite side back. There are at least ten times as many worms as there were when they were cornered the last time around, but they know, at the very least, they don't have to worry about rushing through them. Lemon finds herself at an even greater disadvantage in this situation because there are way more large Webworms for her to handle. Having never been a fighter capable of taking on a horde of enemies, she can still take them out effectively one by one, but she cannot defend her allies from being shot.

Neither Wendy nor Angel care, not that they could waste any stamina dodging the enemy attacks anyway. 'It's just fucking clothes', Wendy swears in her mind, 'and even though its smell is distracting, being naked won't stop me from shooting these motherfuckers dead.' Sure enough, her pistol's rapid-fire drains her arcane magazines out of bullet real quick, forcing her to reload immediately. The same can be said about Pink, who shoots recklessly at her enemy, not caring about how much longer she can keep up. There are still way more enemies than they can kill though, and because they both feel their mana supplies running dry, they have to take a few steps back while drinking a couple of potions.

"We can keep them out", Wendy realizes, "but not for long. The battlefield will keep on shrinking."

"I just hope you girls have enough time", Lemon says. "I feel so useless in this situation."

'I hope Snow knows what she's doing', Wendy thinks, hoping for the best and fearing for the worst. 'If her plan fails, the worms will catch us, and then we're all fucked.'

Rain, faced with the boss once again, knows that's more than enough time for whatever Snow's planning. Still, she tries to conserve her energy as much as possible while retaliating as often as possible. It's not often, as she's left once again guessing where the enemy is coming from, but luckily, she gets one more hit in. That's when the boss manages to surprise her by changing its positioning. It raises its head into the air, looking almost as if trying to use all its tentacles simultaneously. In a state of panic, as her enemy tries to catch her, Rain performs a quick side roll out of harm's way, allowing Crystal to attack their momentarily stunned enemy. A powerful overhead axe smash crashes against and straight through the enemy's flesh, causing more damage against it than Rain ever could've hoped to deal. The attack causes the enemy to rise back up, but it does not appear to be stunned this time. It only stops to regenerate its tentacles when one gets cut, but Crystal's hit didn't cut any. The enemy is not stunned, so Crystal, who finds herself too close to her enemy, gets restrained in a matter of one quick second. There's no way for her to fight out of its grasp anymore. Instead, the tentacles now move and try to pull the helpless little girl towards its mouth, planning on swallowing her whole.

Rain is the only one who can save her now, so she rushes back in front of her enemy, or at least tries to. The enemy seems to be clever, and it's constantly trying to block Rain's advances with its body. It knows that it can't defend itself well with a pray in its grasp, and it knows that it can't really restrain an additional Nymph either, at least not before it has swallowed Crystal. The ground they're fighting on doesn't really allow Rain to run to the other side either because the giant worm manages to hover Crystal above the ground. Rain genuinely does not know what to do, and the situation starts to look hopeless.

"Ten more seconds!" Snow announces, visibly sweating.

'That's not enough', Rain realizes, and finally comes up with one final risqué plan. She summons up her wings and plans to consume all of her available source to jump straight over the enemy and strike the tentacles down in one fell swoop before it swallows its prey whole. She has never really tried anything like that in actual live combat, so she's sweating bullets just thinking about it. Failure would prove devastating not only to Crystal but also to every single member of the team.

Tentacles are constantly twisting and turning the struggling child, who is absolutely helpless to stop the monster. It still doesn't have Crystal in an advantageous position, but it's already opening up its mouth as wide as it can and pulling the tentacles in to eat her alive. She asks herself, what awaits her in the belly of the beast? She knows she won't die or be digested there, but what awaits there could be even worse; large tentacles suggest that there could be more inside just waiting for a victim to prey upon. From inside the mouth, she can see more tentacles squirming, suggesting that there really is some kind of inescapable tentacle prison inside this boss, which just makes her more scared.

That's when Rain finally strikes from above, cutting some of the tentacles in half, causing Crystal to fall from the tentacle's grasp. This causes a new, immediate problem, as instead of being able to regroup instantly, they both are forced to fall down from the bridge, opening up a route from the boss to the rest of the girls, and since there's a long way down from the bridge to the dried-up canal underneath it, there's no easy way up either. With not a second to lose, they both inspect their new surroundings and calculate their next more. At the bottom of the ancient waterway, the other way leads back into the ruins, while the other leads out, but where? They can't make sense of what's ahead of them, and they can't really see what's above the treetops either. The way towards the ruins is out of the question because more worms are coming from there. They run the other way, and they gaze up.

Roughly when two of the Nymphs fell down from the bridge, Snow completed her spell. Her summon is truly a giant one, an elite minotaur wielding two swords. It left Snow dry and out of commission, and Angel also feels the cost in her body. This minotaur is more than capable of holding the enemy's attention while the rest escape. They can't escape through the bridge, so they jump down where Rain and Crystal are, and the group starts to run again.

Their escape is cut short when they realize what their only escape route is. In front of them is a huge drop down from the top of the waterway to a lake below. From its shores, there are two more routes they can go; one leads underground beneath the mountain and one that continues directly northward. Based on what they see, it looks like Hammercliff Valley is ending, which means that the rest of the journey will go through the Sparkling Forest.

"The drop's at least twenty meters", Wendy says, looking down.

"I can't really fly anymore…" Rain says, trying to power up her wings. "I'm all dried up."

"I guess getting wet beats getting raped", Crystal says and bravely jumps down, summoning her wings to help her glide down safely. She manages to soften the blow a little bit, but she doesn't manage to fly to the shore. Others jump as well, one by one. Minotaur, which is not really good at tactics such as switching or defending, seems to have lost quickly, so the boss is already on their backs. Luckily, it really did buy them a lot of time to escape, and not content on jumping off the cliff with the Nymphs, the boss, along with the other worms, has to abandon its hunt.

Rain aims for the water, while the rest at least try to glide to the shore. Out of all the Nymphs, only Pink and Angel manage; they're both very good at handling wings. The rest are forced to get wet. On the shore, together with Crystal, who just got out, two Nymphs quickly realize that water might've been a better option after all.

The three Nymphs on the shore only catch a quick glance of a poison bottle thrown to their feet, courtesy of an enemy hiding in the woods: Beastmen. These mischievous, monkey-like hunter-gatherers are native to this forest, and while they're relatively easy targets, especially when compared to demons and goblins, they make up for their weakness with numbers, intelligence, and dirty tactics. They especially like to set up traps and ambushes.

Crystal, realizing her friends might not know how to react, tries to warn them. "Don't breathe in!" However, it's already too late. Angel and Pink are already contaminated by the poison spores they inhaled.

Four Nymphs in the water, realizing something's going on, try to swim as fast as they can. Too bad they have trouble as well, thanks to tentacles hiding in the water. These traps, while relatively harmless, hold them down. As their first course of action, they strip their opponents of the little remaining clothing they have, but that's about as far as they can go. Easy zones don't have as rapey traps as harder zones do, so they don't really have to worry about getting raped as long as they struggle, but the tentacles make it impossible for them to help their three friends.

There are about half a dozen enemies in total within the line of sight, but there could be more. All of the opponents are melee and wield light weaponry. These Beastmen are about as tall as Nymphs are and kind of resemble tall, tailless chimpanzees. Angel - who doesn't know anything about these enemies - instantly resorts to her holy magic but quickly realizes that her spells are useless, meaning that she can't defend herself. It sends her into a fit of panic as she desperately tries to escape. She doesn't get far at all, and she feels fatigued already. She can feel her hastened heartbeat, and her vision blurs slightly for one split second. It quickly becomes very apparent to her that the poison had more than just one effect on her. Before she can properly regain her composure and collect herself, she feels her body pinned face down to the ground, and her hands are forcefully tied up.

Crystal tries to defend herself at first using her weapon, but she suddenly realizes that it may have been a mistake. The enemies are piling on her, trying to encircle her. Since she can't defend herself from all the directions at once, she gets surprised very quickly. She can mount some resistance and struggle, but it forces her to inhale the poison, sealing her fate. All she can do is try to delay the inevitable while hoping that the rest of the group can help her out.

Pink transforms as soon as she figures out she is in grave danger. Even though she has been slowed down considerably, she can at least defend herself with her magic and opts to fire randomly. The weakness of her enemies becomes apparent as she manages to take one of them down, but she can't fire in multiple directions at once. It allows her to get surprised and pinned down alongside her friends, who were just as unlucky as her.

All this time, girls in the water have been forced to watch. Lemon is in relatively good condition and practically free of her enemy's grasp, but she can't help her friends without having two hands free, and she can't save the rest of her friends from the tentacles either. On the other hand, Snow is so badly tangled up in tentacles that she can't even mount resistance. Basically, she's just moments away from being raped, which is really unfortunate considering how weak these tentacles are.

Out of all the girls, Wendy is the one who has the best chance of striking the enemy since she only needs one hand to fire, but she can't get her hands free at all. "Please Rain, just cut the tentacles already!" she begs.

"They have my fucking hands!" Rain complains, trying to wiggle herself free. She's almost done with it and knows that she will surely manage, but she can't do it in time. Like the rest of the girls, she is forced to watch as the Beastmen take their catches but ends up having more success than others. She manages to wiggle her hands free from the tentacle's tight grasp, and now, with a weapon in her hand, she proceeds to help her friends free while they slowly get away from the water to the shore. They were way too late, and now they're too exhausted to chase after the enemy.

"Well, at least they're fucking Beastmen…" Snow says, sighing deeply, fortunate to have herself spared from insertion after all. "We can beat them, but how humiliating is this? We escaped a fucking raid boss only to let those weak shits get the better of us…"

"We've never heard of those things", Wendy says, getting up and summoning a stamina bottle for herself.

"Don't waste it… I can do some emergency healing…" Snow says.

"If you say so…" Wendy says, shrugging. "So, what are they like?"

"Really, really annoying", Snow replies, standing up. "They set up traps everywhere and try to ambush their victims just like that. They love hit-and-run tactics, and if they feel outnumbered, they flee like cowards. They live in small communities, and their camps usually have around twenty to thirty residents…"

"…That's too many…" Lemon comments, worried for their friends.

"Trust me, it's not", Snow says, trying to sound confident. "They're as weak as humanoids can be. As long as we're careful and manage to outsmart and surprise them, I'm confident we can save our friends."

"If they're weak, will our friends even get pregnant?" Rain wonders.

Snow doesn't reply with words. Instead, she just hangs her head and gives a slight nod.

"R-right… Let's formulate a strategy while we recover", Wendy says. "I'll assume you know everything about our enemy."

"Absolutely", Snow says, nodding.

Road to Paradise, Part Two

Meanwhile, beneath the mountain, inside its vast caverns, Beastmen take their prey to their hidden little camp. They haven't had any females in a long time, so they're extremely happy to get three Nymphs to breed with at once.

The beasts struggled to keep hold of the three at first, especially because there were only a limited amount of hunters, but once the poison started to kick in, Nymphs were done. Crystal couldn't explain its effects in time, but she knows exactly what kind of cocktail she's dealing with. Basically, it's a cloud made of three different types of spores, all of which have a unique effect, all of which work together to a devastating effect. Its most immediate effect is the numbing spores, which drain out Nymph's strength and stamina, slowing them down in the process considerably. It takes only a few seconds for these spores to kick in and then a few more seconds for them to go into full effect. The next spore to take effect causes confusion and dizziness, limiting its victim's ability to perceive what's going around her. Needless to say, it also takes away from their ability to stand up and walk straight, screwing up their sense of balance. And last, the third spore intensifies the perceived sexual pleasure, forcing Nymphs into insatiable horniness that not even a good dicking will cure. It has the longest effect of them all and acts in a very similar manner that miasma does.

One thing the drug cocktail cannot do to its victims is alter their minds. In other words, it's a combination of drugs that will leave its victims sane, at least relatively speaking. With all the three spores having effect at once, none of the girls can struggle anymore. All they can feel is the disconnect from their minds to their bodies, which are very much ready to be fucked.

In a central location, there's a large cage used to imprison, subdue and rape the victims. All three victims - Angel, Pink, and Crystal - are thrown inside, and Beastmen follow inside, leaving few to guard the entrance. These poor little girls are horrified by the numbers because they know their friends will have to handle all twenty alone, and who knows how much they will have to suffer before they even get a chance to get saved. Can they even be saved? They can only hope so.

Pink, still hands tied, gets her face pressed against the rough blanket beneath her while she braces for the cock that's already rubbing her quim from a completely blind angle. She has had the fortune of avoiding these situations almost completely, having only been raped once. She knew it would eventually happen again, and to be honest, she's been prepared for this to happen every time she goes out into the wilderness. She's still a little upset about being in this situation, but her body can't really signal it. With her butt sticking out, her wet hole is open for abuse.

'What the hell is this poison?' she asks herself, completely incapacitated by its magic. 'My pussy has never felt anything like this! I think I may go crazy if he sticks his dick into me!' Her heart beats fast, and she whimpers in protest. Although the Beastmen don't even hold her down properly, she can't move at all with her hands tied. Then, the beasts take hold of her hips, and she can't shake them free. With a penis constantly teasing her opening, every single shlick from its tip is causing her to twitch and throb. She can't believe how unbearable it feels to be teased like this. 'I mean, I will be saved soon, right?' she wonders. 'Is it okay for me to actually want his cock a little?'

Beastman's adult-sized cock finally penetrates her, pushing deep against her cervix, causing her to let out a loud moan. It lacks in length compared to many other species, but it's still more than enough to overwhelm a Nymph and has plenty of girth for maximum pleasure. The Beastman thrusts his hips back and forth fast from the get-go, slapping and clapping against Pink's bare bottom. Her body gives in as her resistance dies down in an instant, and all she can think about is how good it feels to be manhandled.

'Ah, fuck! It's raping me! I know I shouldn't enjoy this, but I can't help myself! It's so fucking good!' She even feels the ties in her hands loosen up from all the shaking, proving that they weren't probably tied up that tight to begin with. Even though she manages to wiggle her hands free, she doesn't dare to do anything but grip the blanket she's lying on. The Beastman doesn't care to re-tie her up either and instead just confidently watches as his dick grinds the little girl in front of him. There's no need for him to try and oppress Pink any further because she's already acting as obedient as a girl being fucked can act.

Meanwhile, Angel feels scared and a little anxious as her rapist throws her back-first onto a blanket. What's worse is that the position of her hands is an uncomfortable one. There might be a soft blanket underneath her back, but with her hands tied, she can't support her body in any way. It's also worth noting that her hands are tied way tighter than Pink's little arms ever were, so the bindings aren't coming off accidentally either.

Even after all those weeks of being stuck as a Nymph, Angel still doesn't completely identify as one, and aspects of her new nature quite frankly terrify her. She finds it unbelievably unfair that she's too weak to even stop enemies from raping her and using her as they please, and this weakness is not limited to just her strength but also her sexuality. The dick pushing against her pussy just intensifies this feeling of weakness, draining out the little resistance she has away from her body.

'But how can that be?' she asks herself as she lays on her back, watching the Beastman rub his shaft against her vulva. 'I know this is rape. I know I shouldn't want this, so why? Why does it make me feel like this!? I never asked to feel like this!'

Playful as her rapist may be, it's not content with just teasing the opening. It takes hold of Angel's waist and adjusts the tip against the entrance. "Aaah, no…!" Angel actually manages to voice a verbal complaint, but her plea falls on deaf ears as the cock penetrates her wet hole. She immediately feels it to be way bigger than the tiny spider that raped her once. It almost feels like a completely new sensation to her, and although tears well up in her eyes, she is forced to smile as she moans.

'Wait, no! I don't want this at all! Why won't my body move! For Christ's sake, it will make me pregnant at this rate!' It's the only thing she can think of while being fucked. The last time around, she could let out a sigh of relief because she was spared from the pregnancy, but now it's guaranteed to happen, and she knows it. Yet, her body and her mind continue to act disconnected. She might be terrified of becoming a mother, but just thinking about being impregnated makes her hornier, confusing, and terrifying her even further.

This brings us to Crystal, sexually the most experienced one of the bunch. After all, she lived a life of sexual servitude as a slave to the goblins for a relatively long time, so being forced to submit is nothing new. Because of this, all she can really comment on her fate is, 'Oh boy, here we go again'. She doesn't even consider resisting because she knows it's all pointless, and more importantly, her body remembers this sensation and yearns for it, even though her mind may not. 'Fuck it', she decides. 'At least this time around, I know for sure that help is coming, so go on and rape me all you want for all I care. Make me feel good. It's not going to matter.'

Sitting upwards on top of a Beastman with her athletic tummy and flat chest facing her rapist and hands tied behind her back, she's forced to take the cock from below. It does allow her to observe the situation around her more closely, but to be honest, all her attention is on herself. Despite being the cowgirl in this situation, she's not putting any effort into pleasing her rapist, nor is she even allowed to. Her rapist is one strong, hairy boy to whom Crystal's measly body weight is not even an inconvenience. He can pretty much lift his girl with arm muscles alone, and so, with ease, he buries himself balls deep into his mate. Crystal can't help but push back with some counter-force, but in the end, it's just as meaningless as struggling would be on her part. All she can do is sit tight and maintain her body erect, moaning hard.

It's very easy for all three girls to see; the lust is building up inside all the surrounding Beastmen, and they all want to get in with the action. Their current positions don't allow for much more room, but the girls' mouths are free at the very least. Pink gets a cock into her mouth and is made to look like a pig being spit-roasted while she's being fucked from two opposing directions. Beastman that turns to abuse Angel is a little gentler, as he's not trying to facefuck her as much as he's just trying to force her to suck the tip and kiss the shaft, but it's all overwhelming to Angel regardless.

Things are a little bit different for Crystal because there's plenty of room to play with her. From behind, a Beastman surprises her by pushing a cock into her anus, doubling the load between her legs. Both beasts thrust their cocks at a different speed, each with a pace of his own. It brings her to the brink of orgasm almost instantaneously, but she's not allowed to shout out her pleasure because a third Beastman fills her mouth, shutting her up. 'Not even those goblins bothered to do all my holes at once.' It's true; despite all the depraved things they forced her to endure, this is something entirely new. She can't deny that being gangbanged like this has been a lifelong sexual fantasy of hers, one that she has always kind of wanted to experience. It just makes her hornier as a result. 'Oh, I love it! I'm so glad they're giving me some good memories!'

Despite being lustful beyond reason, the Beastmen last really long in bed, as is evident by the fact that not a single one of them has cummed yet. Instead, all they've done is made their girls cum over and over again. Pink, for example, is caught in a loop she couldn't even anticipate earlier. She's so wet that the lewd liquid is dripping down her thigs, and she's begging for her rapists to show restraint. She mumbles like crazy as her childish moans are muffled out of existence.

'I can't take this', Pink complains in her head. 'He's too fucking rough! My pussy is burning up!' She doesn't want to admit it, but what she really wants more than anything right now is for her rapist to just cum. 'Please, just cum! Fill my pussy up already! I don't even care if I get pregnant anymore, just cum already!' Yet, her wish remains unfulfilled for a while longer. The Beastman fucks her like a madman through another orgasm, but Pink suspects it won't last much longer.

Finally, the Beastman reaches his climax and begins to deploy semen into Pink's child-sized spermtank. To her, it's hardly a breather because her body is still all tense. Yet, she manages to relax for a little bit, especially with the Beastman in front of her pulling his cock out of her mouth. Now, the only sensation she can focus on is the violently throbbing cock inside her. It causes her eyes to roll back out of pleasure and sigh heavily out of pleasure. She wonders, 'Did it feel this good the last time around as well? Being cummed inside feels so incredibly satisfying…' She closes her eyes and really stops to think about what it means for her. Well, it doesn't require her to be a genius to know that it will make her a mother. The only question seems to be which Beastman's sperm will be the one to fertilize her eggs after it's all said and done.

There's commotion around her as more Beastmen want their turn. The first Beastman to cream into her is practically shoved out of the way. The others are lustful and tired of waiting. The cock that was just moments ago in her very own mouth is going to be entering her once-used cunny, and she's not offered any time to catch her breath.

'I should've known this!' she tells herself as the cock pushes deep into her hole. Fast and powerful insertion moves her forward, but the hands that support her stop her from losing her footing. Then, it becomes apparent that this one will rough her up even more badly than the last one. Before he starts thrusting, he leans forward to find her hands and grabs onto her wrists. Supported by her rapist, her entire upper body hovers above the ground. Then, he finally begins to slam his hips into her. This simple change in her position makes it all so much more extreme for her. Her body tosses and shakes around with every deep thrust as her body is forcefully being pushed forward and pulled backward harder than before. Moreover, she can't even do anything to ease her situation. Even the illusion of control she previously had has been stolen from her. As expected, she is forced once again to climax. 'Oh no, please don't tell me he's going to last as long as the last one! I'll go crazy! I will seriously go mad from his dick!'

Angel's getting more she can handle as well. The Beastman between her legs wants her all for himself, so the one making her lick his shaft gives room. He moves his hands away from her hips to take hold of her slender thighs instead and continues to push them open, pushing them down as he roughs her pussy up. She continues to struggle against the restraints on her hands and her rapist's grip, not because she's scared but because she just can't help but move her body. All she wants is a little space.

'My pussy is so hungry for his cum!', she states, relishing in the amount of pure womanly pleasure she's feeling, eyes staring straight forward at the caged roof, mouth wide open and moaning. 'I had no idea I would ever enjoy rape so much!'

She's not kidding; it's getting unbearable, but to say she's not enjoying being toyed with would be a lie. She's cummed so many times, and the pleasure she feels is unrivaled by anything she's ever experienced. Most of all, the tension within her heart is getting higher with every passing second. She doesn't know when it will happen, but she knows it's getting closer and closer. Her heart throbs at the prospect of being cummed inside. She was scared a while ago, but no more. 'He's gonna knock me up…! He's actually gonna do it…! I can't believe I actually want it to happen now!'

Beastman finally stops, and his final clap pushes hard against Angel, who actually feels her butt lift into the air a little. Dick erupts into her with force, and her extreme relief is accompanied by a gentle orgasm that takes her breath away and draws a happy smile across her face. Although a lot is going on, the only thing she can really focus on is the idea of being cummed inside and what it means for her. And, well… Now that it has happened and her pregnancy is inevitable, she's not even going to care about the consequences anymore.

The next Beastman is quick to come for her. He forces himself between Angel's legs, which do not close for the short moment she's free, and the next cock finds its way deep into her. Except, he doesn't start thrusting her right away. Instead, he leans forward, almost as if trying to hug her with the intention of undoing the ties. It comes to the delight of Angel, who couldn't be happier to put some life into her upper body, and it's only after this that the Beastman begins to fuck his mate.

He looks to start from the exact point the last one left at. With his hands on her hip and waist, he uses his force to lift Angel's butt away from the ground. Supported by only her back which is left rubbing the blanket beneath her, she - like Pink - is receiving arguably even rougher sex. She may already be exhausted and overwhelmed to the point of wanting a little breather, but she's somewhat okay with being handled the way she is. Even though her eyes roll towards the back of his head and leave her an upside-down view of what's happening behind her, she doesn't mind. It reminds her of how roughly she's getting fucked, making her want to cum even harder than before.

Things are almost exactly the same for Crystal, as there's no way she wouldn't love what she's getting. Three dicks continue to ravage and invade her from all directions with hastened pace, all eager to cum. She can't retreat or lean anywhere as they just continue to push. She can't believe none of them have cummed yet, especially since they have her on edge at all times. Then, they start jizzing into her, one by one, all very close to each other. She can feel all of them pulsating simultaneously, and she couldn't be happier. One Beastman's worth of cum alone is enough to drive any Nymph mad, so to get a triple load is just heavenly for her. 'I wanna continue to explore my fantasies…! Give me even more dicks, I beg you…!'

A still rock-hard penis escapes her mouth, which is the first one to leave her alone. There's still enough pep in the beastly rod to give her a generous slap of cum right across her face, and she takes it with eyes and mouth wide open in a clean line from her forehead all the way to her jawline. She would love to communicate her desire to continue being handled the way she's been already, but her pleasure won't allow her to form any kind of intelligible words. Beastman behind her back releases her from her shackles, leaving her "free" just like her two friends. It really is the same story all over again; there's absolutely no need to restrain any Nymph who has been fucked this silly because they won't go anywhere.

New Beastman surprises Crystal from behind, and she's being pulled away from the last dick inside her. This Beastman tucks her closer to his belly, guiding her hip to sit on top of his dick. She's gonna play cowgirl once again, but this time with her facing away from the mate below her. It doesn't allow for any room to fuck her ass, which feels like a bummer to her. Her disappointment is short-lived though. Two new Beastman standing both to the left and right don't care about sticking anything into her. Instead, they begin to jerk off excitedly.

Despite the language barrier, Crystal has a hunch about what they want her to do, and since her hands are free, she's happy to do it. She grabs onto both dicks hovering close to her face, and she jerks them as the Beastman below starts to hammer her. Bouncing her hip up and down, she kickstarts her own hip movement to accompany her lover. That's right, she's the one doing the work. That's not to say that the Beastmen aren't assertive, but Crystal finds it refreshing nonetheless.

'You wanna make the girl do all the work?' She presents the question to the Beastmen but doesn't say it out loud. 'Fine, I'll humor you boys.'

She kind of forgot about it, or rather, she chose to forget; she's pregnant now. At no point was she afraid of it happening, as she has experienced it both in-game and outside. She's secretly kind of glad that it happened. She has to reluctantly admit that she might actually have some kind of impregnation fetish, if you can even count it as a fetish. She never used to think about it in that way, but now that it did happen, it got her thinking: does she really? 'Well, whatever', she tells herself and decides to focus on what's more important right now. 'Fetish or not, I don't mind getting pregnant.'

And that's basically how things continue to escalate. Eventually, Angel and Pink go back to servicing multiple dicks at once as well, and even they are forced to do some of the work themselves. Similarly, Crystal goes back to being manhandled by some Beastmen. They're all pretty sure that they have collectively already served one full round of Beastmen, but whenever they all get to serve all of them individually still remains to be seen. It's going to take a while to get to that point, and they know their friends can't be too far away.

---

Meanwhile, the rescue party enters the vast cavers. For the first few minutes or so, the grey tunnel offers no sights for the four Nymphs to marvel at, but as they move inward, they enter a place that can only be described as an underground forest. It seems very strange to them that a cavern this large could be hidden inside a mountain which from the outside looks rock solid, but they have to believe what they see.

The ecosystem underground is similar to the place which can be found between the mountains. In other words, it's a dangerous place full of traps. It's undoubtedly a place that would be foolish to brave without a reliable scout. In addition to the flora, some trees, and moss covering the rocks, many mushrooms thrive in this wet and dark environment. As for light sources, there's light shining through the crack in the mountain walls and a lot of radiating crystals and even glowing concentrations of magic particles floating around.

"I'm so glad you weren't captured", Rain comments, glancing at Wendy. "Otherwise, this rescue mission would be a suicide mission."

"Yeah, there are just so many traps lying around", Wendy comments, sighing deeply, turning towards Snow. "Wasn't this place accessible through Sparkling forest?"

Snow replies with a simple nod and a "Yes".

"Is it a hard zone?"

Snow shakes her head. "It's comparable to the forest around Grove. Paradise is actually located in this very zone, so it's not very dangerous here overall."

"I guess it's safe to assume that this place can't be much more difficult then", Wendy speculates. "We'll probably manage just fine, as long as we're careful."

"By the way", Snow says as she recalls something. "A piece of lore from the Beastman's logbook warned about a monster flytrap, which was translated to Venus Nymphtrap. That's probably the boss here, as there sure ain't no such monsters outside."

"…They even have written lore books?" Lemon asks, surprised.

"Oh yeah, totally", Snow says, nodding deeply. "They're mostly incoherent ramblings full of typos and written in all caps."

"Well, let's take upon their warning and stay the hell away from that giant flytrap", Wendy suggests. "Anyway, the size of this cavern is a bit of a problem, and if there's some kind of boss here, this might actually be some kind of entry-level raid zone. Where should we even head from here?"

"My guess would be to look for traps set up by Beastmen", Snow suggests. "Based on what I know, their hunts follow familiar trails, and their traps are always found on their trails. If you find one, you know you're on the right track. If you find another one, you can basically use that information to track down their base."

"That's convenient", Wendy comments and takes a look around. "What kind of traps should we expect? More poison?"

"Think more primitively. They rely a lot on ropes, snares, pits, and even cages. No need to worry about being raped if you get caught."

"Okay, that's super primitive", Wendy says, letting out a loud laugh. "Like seriously, you don't even need me to alert them."

And so, they begin their search. They pick a random direction and stick to it, heading towards the middle. They don't have to worry too much about enemies attacking them because most of them are just stationary monsters such as tentacle demons and carnivorous plants. Most insects they come across seem completely harmless as well… at least until they encounter a giant slug.

Big like a tank, it's like a mini version of the giant webworm they saw outside. It's not the same species, and it's slow and clumsy, but it's not an enemy one would want to go near it. With all its weapons located inside its mouth, it's safe to assume that this beast probably likes to eat its prey alive, after which it will either transport them elsewhere or rape them inside a tight, contained space. Lucky for them, the enemy has not noticed their presence yet.

Wendy is on the spot to inspect it, and she doesn't really know what to think. "It's a boss monster. it has a fuckton of health, but it's designed only for a team of five…"

"Well, to be fair, it IS a slug, which makes it slow…" Lemon comments.

"Well, let's continue", Wendy says and takes a step in another direction. After all, there's no way they're going to challenge a boss they can avoid. However, before she can realize what's going on, she finds herself hanging upside down in the air, with both her feet bound together. This causes her to let out a surprised yelp.

"For real, Wendy?" Rain says, sighing. "You fell for a trap made for dumbarse critters."

"N-no need to rub it in, asshole!" Wendy replies, beet red from embarrassment caused by her blunder, especially after the comments she made.

"I reckon I could play the role of an enemy here", Rain continues, as his eyes are locked on Wendy's chest. "Mind if I molest you a little?"

"Shut up, you pervert! Help me get the fuck down from here!" Wendy commands, with distress drawn on her face. "The enemy has noticed us!"

It's true; the yelp Wendy let out involuntarily alerted the slow-moving enemy, now trying to turn and target the quartet. Snow and Lemon catch and support Wendy to help her to her feet while Rain cuts the rope down. They all look towards their enemy, who is looking to launch some kind of projectiles at them. They manage to dodge them quite easily, suggesting that this enemy - despite being technically a boss - might actually be a surprisingly easy foe, provided it doesn't catch any unfortunate Nymph by surprise. The slimy goo hits a rock between the four, and from the way it looks, they can tell that it's super thick and probably heavy as well.

"It must use that to immobilize its targets", Lemon says. "Let's try to get out of its line of sight quickly."

"Not so quickly that Wendy triggers another primitive trap", Rain says, still making fun of her friend.

"I swear to god…" Wendy whispers, still angry.

After avoiding two more fat loads of goo, they finally feel like they're safe from their enemy. Despite their haste, they did a good job avoiding possible traps. Then again, there luckily wasn't anything between them and safety. They can let out a sigh of relief knowing that the slug won't watch up to them.

To continue their lucky streak, they actually manage to find another primitive snare lying on the ground, ready to be activated. The heavy concentration of traps set up by Beastmen suggests that they indeed are on the right trail and perhaps even close to their settlement. Snow, who has an elementary understanding of how to use the positioning of these traps to figure out where Beastman's hunt trail goes, uses her knowledge to guess where the third one is. From there, they can all understand how to work from here. Although their hunt progresses slowly, they know it's only a matter of time before they find the Beastmen's encampment.

---

The trail of traps leads them away from the path they initially took towards the edges of the cavern, and there they find it; a small village of treehouses and huts amid trees and bushes. Surely enough, there are lookouts on guard as well. In fact, there are five of them.

"If they can afford to have five lookouts, they must have quite a team raping our friends as well", Lemon speculates, turning towards Snow. "Or what do you think?"

"I think you're right. They absolutely love ganging up on us Nymphs and overwhelm us with numbers." Then, she stays silent for a moment as she tries to make a couple of more observations. "My gut tells me that there are anywhere from twenty to thirty of them in this village."

"Are you sure that's not too many…?" Rain asks, a little scared.

"As long as WE make the first move, no."

"I'm not even sure that the first move is enough", Wendy says. "We must execute our attack perfectly."

"So, what's the plan?" Rain asks. "Lure them out?"

"Exactly", Wendy says. "If we rush in, we're fucked." She turns her head towards a hilltop a little more towards the edge of the cavern. "That might be a good place", she suggests. "It gives us the high ground and offers a couple of nice spots for an ambush."

"Let's go scout the area", Lemon suggests.

As much as it pains them to keep their friends waiting, they must plan their attack down to the tiniest details. Just like they suspected, the place Wendy spotted really is a perfect place for the attack. In addition to the reasons mentioned by Wendy, it also lacks traps and monsters that could hinder them. They debate and discuss the contents of their plan for a couple more minutes before they all go to their designated positions. Lemon is all the way to the back with Snow, both of whom have a full view of the battlefield, while Rain and Wendy lay in ambush, ready to execute anyone who takes the bait and rushes towards the two Nymphs standing in wait. From here on out, until they all have been spotted, they will only communicate through hand gestures.

Lemon has climbed into a tree and has the unenviable task of luring the enemy out. What makes her task so hard is the fact that she has to kill as many enemies as possible without actually being seen herself. In the best-case scenario, she can kill all the lookouts, but that's extremely unlikely, so she puts her goal into two or maybe even three. The tree she sits on is not the best for the job either, but depending on her first target and luck, she can hide away from the enemy's sight well regardless.

So, she draws her bow to the limit and takes aim. Benefiting from her stealthy surprise attack and a height bonus for increased damage, she's sure she will kill any lookout in one shot, provided she hits her target. Sure enough, a targeted shot to the head takes out one.

While Lemon takes cover to hide from the prying eyes, Snow observes the commotion inside the village. As expected, the enemy is immediately on high alert, with a lot of Beastmen actively scrambling to find their weapons. They can't figure out where the attack came from, so Snow gives Lemon the signal to enter the enemy's line of sight again to shoot again. Once again, Lemon assassinates one lookout successfully. This time though, the enemy figures out where the attack is coming from. Snow signals this to her allies, telling everyone to prepare for melee, taking the opportunity to summon some minions to help with the fighting. She has to save strengthening her minions and allies to the very last seconds; otherwise, the spells would run out too soon.

There's more than just the lookouts coming their way. From the looks of it, more than half the village rushes at them, way more than the Nymphs anticipated. They all seem to be melee fighters with additional ranged weaponry as a backup, as is typical for Beastmen. They still don't know the exact location of the Nymphs, but their hunch seems to be good since they're heading straight towards the team. What's more, they scatter in the hopes of encircling the group, a move which might prove problematic for Rain and Wendy, who can't hide from all directions.

Lemon's intuition tells her that she must make one final shot, one that will hopefully agitate the enemy and disrupt their plans. This one does not manage to take out the enemy instantly, but it does have the desired effect, at least partially. Having been spotted properly, most enemies head straight towards her. Some are still cautious and keeping their distance, perhaps even trying to set up an ambush of their own, but overall, everything is still going according to the Nymphs' plan.

As soon as the first couple of enemies enter the battlefield, Rain and Wendy reveal their positions. Wendy, along with Snow's summoned minions, works to defend Snow and Lemon, who in turn put all their efforts into helping out their only melee, and the person who arguably has the most challenging task tanking a swarm of enemies.

Rain successfully catches the first enemy she targets off guard and executes it brilliantly. The next four enemies all target the closest enemy to them, to which Rain responds with imprudence and reckless abandon. Following a successful dodge, she charges into the swarm of enemies, taking one shot at the enemy. It fails to take him out and leaves her surrounded. She's still fast enough to dodge and keep herself safe, and Lemon's cover from above manages to catch an enemy off guard. Despite having the advantage in numbers, the enemy cannot do anything. Their morale shatters as they realize they made a wrong move trying to take out the Nymphs on the battlefield they choose.

Every enemy that charged in to attack Lemon is defeated, and all that is left are the ones trying to catch Rain and the ones who are still waiting in the back, ready to attack or trying to encircle the team. As soon as Rain gets some welcome assistance in her difficult battle, the enemy begins to retreat toward the village.

"After them!" Wendy commands. "Take out as many as you can before they force the battle to the village!"

They all know that it can't happen. If too many enemies are on the defensive inside their own village, the fight instantly becomes harder. At this point, Snow's minions are useless, so she calls them back to restore a portion of the mana used to summon them, and focuses the rest of her efforts on strengthening her allies. On the other hand, the three others go on offense to attack the retreating enemy. Four of them make it back, while three Beastmen still try to take down the Nymphs. They all fail.

And so begins the next stage of the battle. Half of the enemy forces were just wiped out, and the four Nymphs barely broke a sweat. The enemy will not make the same mistake again, so the battle is forced into the village.

It might sound strange of the four Nymphs to do the very thing Beastmen failed in doing and rush the village, but they think it's a risk worth taking for them. The enemy is still caught off guard, and the longer they wait to attack, the more time the enemy has to prepare. Lemon uses her wings to quickly maneuver herself on another tree branch from where she can see inside the village very well. As expected, some of them are barely armed. She takes quick aim and gives a signal to her allies. "It's safe to charge, but be careful!"

Rain charges in, and to say she's careful is a dirty lie. She takes the fight straight to her enemy's face, not even caring about being outnumbered. She takes out one quickly, and in a flank between two huts, she faces a wall of three Beastmen stopping her from advancing. They successfully push her back and manage to block her attacks as well, but the concentrated defense on one spot allows Wendy to approach from another angle. Once again, enemies start to fall, and the picture begins to clear up as they do. The Nymphs can count the remaining enemies with their fingers, and victory is guaranteed.

Beastmen start to fight dirty in desperation. They take their poison bottles and ditch their melee weapons in favor of ranged and thrown weapons. They try to gain distance, using a cloud of poisonous spores as a shield against Rain. She closes her mouth and picks her nose as soon as she sees the fumes scatter from the broken bottle and retreats quickly. There's no way she's going to try to actually fight in the middle of that cloud. In the end, it doesn't seem to matter anyway because the team has two ranged attackers, and Rain can just attack other enemies anyway. Soon, none are left.

"Forget about perfect execution", Wendy says, grinning from ear to ear. "That went better than planned!"

"Dude, this loot is going to be wicked!" Rain says with a sparkle in her eyes. "We should do this more often!"

"I don't want to underplay our skill or anything, but we were lucky as well", Wendy says, trying to reel Rain back a little.

"Yeah, I'd rather not risk becoming a sex slave for the sake of loot when there are easier ways to acquire it", Snow adds, walking towards the cage in the middle of town. Inside, she sees three familiar figures. "Speaking of sex slaves, we successfully liberated three of them."

Lemon, who was the farthest away just a moment ago, is late to the party but the first one inside the cage, and the look on her face mirrors nothing but worry for her brethren. "Jesus, those Beastmen didn't pull any punches…"

"I reckon those lads didn't pull out much at all", Rain says jokingly, walking up to Pink, who lies still with her butt still sticking in the air. Rain finds herself taken aback by the silly smile drawn on Pinks's face and a trail of drool that has rolled down her jaw. "You okay?"

"No… No more dicks… Please…"

"Come on, babe", Rain says. "You're safe now."

"What took you so long…?" Angel asks, still laying on her back, borderline motionless.

"Yeah, sorry about that", Wendy says, scratching her cheek. "We knew you were being brutally raped, but uh… We couldn't just rush in, you know…"

Snow's attention is almost entirely occupied by Crystal. "Do you think you can walk?" Crystal responds by shaking her head slowly. "Can you even stand?"

"Not for a while…" Crystal responds and cracks a shy smile. She looks a little exhausted, so that smile - while kind and full of gratitude - does not seem convincing. "Thanks…"

Snow blushes a little and whispers, "You seem okay…"

"O-oh…" Crystal herself is still blushing like crazy. "I… I guess I am okay… Goblins made me do worse stuff for days, so this much is nothing…"

Snow tilts her head and tries to smile herself. "I think I can actually empathize with that…"

Lemon immediately reaches into her inventory full of relief and medicine. "Snow already told me that Beastmen only use kinds of poison that can be dispelled with remedies. It will help you regain your strength faster."

"Thanks a bunch…" Angel responds, sitting up.

"Rain and Wendy, you do the looting", Lemon suggests. "I'll stay here with Snow to take care of them."

"I'll go check the enemies outside the village", Wendy decides, leaving Rain to loot the enemies in the village. "Don't forget to check all the containers. You always miss a lot of loot."

"I'll do my best, but let's save the treasure chests for later", Rain says. "They aren't going to run away."

And so, the team, bruised and battered as they may be, is reunited after the setback they suffered. Despite being apart for less than an hour, they talk almost as if they haven't met each other in weeks. All of them got really worried because the last time something like this happened to them, the results were much more devastating. Was it due to luck, their increase in strength, the lack of difficulty in these zones, or simply the fact that they stayed calm for the duration of the mission and never panicked? They're not sure, but they couldn't be happier to be united again.

Arrival

Excerpt from the Gamer's Logbook; "Exploring the Mechanics of Nymphsaga", entry number ???, "On physical attributes."

Physical attacks are the primary method of dealing damage for most Soldiers, Rangers, and enemies, and are even accessible to some Casters both directly and indirectly through Summoning. Needless to say, it's the most commonly encountered form of damage in Nymphsaga, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all physical damage is equal. Different types of physical damage can be divided into three different attributes, depending on what kind of weapons or abilities the attacker is using. These attributes are "Slash", "Smash", and "Pierce". Each comes with different advantages and disadvantages.

Slashing damage is mainly linked with blades and claws but can be used with almost any edged weaponry. These sweeping strikes cause additional damage over time through bleeding and rend the opponent's flesh, working effectively against plant-based organisms, tentacles, and softer flesh tissue in general. Against Nymphs slashing attacks are primarily used as means of stripping them, but as a tradeoff, Nymphs are resistant to pain caused by such attacks and straight-up immune to bleeding. Generally speaking, slashing attacks are fairly easy to use and don't require a lot of strength, making them very accessible for physically weak Nymphs like sneaky rogues.

Smashing damage is linked with blunt weapons and unarmed abilities. The amount of damage is directly linked with the strength and weight of the weapon used, which means that slower and heavier weapons deal more damage. Out of all the weapons, the blunt weapons work the best against larger humanoids and beasts, as well as armored foes, making them ideal for tankier Nymphs. They are also the go-to method for enemies to tire out Nymphs, who are fairly vulnerable against such attacks and feel the most pain from them. Blunt physical damage is also highly accessible for both summoners and those specializing in earth magic.

And finally, piercing damage is typically linked with projectiles and short blades such as daggers, which are used for stabbing. Piercing attacks rely greatly on speed and the element of surprise to strike the enemy's weak point. They do not have an obvious advantage as far as types of enemies go, and instead have the benefit of often being able to attack from a distance. They are rarely used by enemies due to their ineffectiveness against Nymphs - pretty much only advanced humanoids use them regularly - but they typically deal a lot of damage against Nymphs, making such attacks dangerous. Amongst Nymphs, piercing damage is very popular; they even have a whole class dedicated to this type of damage. Piercing damage is very accessible and easy to use overall.

More often than not, weapons can also deal two different damage-attributes simultaneously, like axes and spears. They both deal slashing damage but also have both blunt and piercing attributes respectively. While deadly and effective, these examples are generally harder to use though, and sometimes may not even have the advantages of both attributes. To use axes as an example again, they're used almost exclusively as blunt weapons, making the slashing attribute often obsolete even against some of the enemies weak to it.

Understanding what kind of physical attribute works best against each enemy is critical for Nymphs to avoid getting into trouble and to decide which kinds of tactics, weapons, and abilities to use. It is not recommended for a purely physical Nymph to simply rely on one attribute; they should all be able to use at least two. Either that, or rely on magical damage for extra benefits.

---

Even though none of the enemies were high ranking, the seven Nymphs got a respectable haul of loot. Sure, most of the items were low-ranking reagents, and sure, clothes were low-tier as well, but where they failed in terms of rarity and stats, they succeeded in terms of usefulness and cuteness. Angel, for example, was thrilled to receive a piece of equipment she's been meaning to purchase for a while but never had an opportunity to; a cute little pruning knife to assist her in the garden. Besides, all of the Beastmen and the two chests found in the village dropped money. In fact, one of the chests had nothing but gold in there, meaning that all of them found themselves a little richer at the end of the day.

Having taken the village for themselves, they decided to stay a while and rest. They could've probably stayed a night there because wild beasts and monsters don't tend to go close to villages unless they're clearly deserted, but decided against it due to the relatively short journey ahead of them. It takes them about an hour to collect themselves, after which they begin the last remaining stretch of their journey.

They are lucky to escape the caverns without attracting any attention from potential enemies, and even with half of the team basically out of commission, they still have no trouble rushing through the area relatively safely. Goes to show that their "a group of four" training sessions were helpful after all! Then, after walking through two checkpoints, Snow and Crystal recognize the part of the forest they are in and promise that the rest of the journey will be safe and uneventful. Surely enough, they are correct. Still, the last few miles they have to walk feel the longest. Not only are they all spent, but Paradise is located in the absolute farthest corner of the Sparkling Forest.

Walking through the forest, they have to say that the area is quite different from Misty Forest, which surrounds Grove. Three of the most noticeable distinctions are, without a doubt, the color scheme, differences in elevation, and the abundance of water. While the color palette of the Misty Forest is dark to the point of being a little gloomy, even unnatural, Sparkling Forest is bright and full of color. In addition to the typical green leaves, there are some blue, purple, and pink ones around as well, so it certainly feels like a fantasy forest you'd find fairies living in. Hills and little cliffs make the area a little hard to navigate, but there are very few natural barriers beyond that. Most of the water flowing through the forest comes from the north around where Paradise is, and streams are plentiful. As is the case with cliffs and hills, none are too wide or deep to be crossed. Not even the wildest rapids are too strong to hinder the little travelers.

Like Misty Forest, Sparkling Forest is neighbored by four zones, one in each direction. As we know, Hammercliff Valley is located to the south, and I will not explain this fact further. To the east lies what local Nymphs have nicknamed the "Mushroom Kingdom". This forest is abundant with many kinds of mushrooms, some of which grow to be as tall as the trees. Of all the zones close to Paradise, this is the safest, thanks to its relatively easy accessibility and difficulty level. Amongst the local residents, it's considered a favorite for raids and training.

To the west is a highly dangerous zone, the "Forest of Insects". Not only is this zone a pain to navigate, but it's also a zone that Nymphs have to worry about even in Paradise, all because of Coneflies. Like goblins, Coneflies have their own base of operations, and they tend to hunt even in the neighboring zones. Since Paradise doesn't have a barrier, sometimes Coneflies can even raid the village. As rare as these events may be, they are a huge problem and an annoyance for Nymphs, especially since sweeping hordes of Coneflies can be dangerous. Anyway, this zone is where their nest lies, smack bang in the center of the zone. This cone-shaped tall brown pyramid can be seen from far away, so everyone knows its exact location. Nobody really knows precisely how difficult it would be to exterminate the Coneflies living there, and honestly, it's not something they plan on finding out because the residents of Paradise have known for a long time about the fact that Nymphs just reincarnate after a while. The forest itself is pretty dark and dangerous to travel, and Coneflies are not the only insects found there by a long shot. All manners of bugs and worms roam the zone.

Finally, to the north lies what locals call the "Corrupted Forest", a forest almost entirely overtaken by tentacle demons that grow from the ground. What makes this place unique relative to every zone that Nymphs from Grove or Paradise have discovered is its close proximity to Paradise. It can even be said that Paradise lies between the Sparkling Forest and the Corrupted Forest rather than just existing in the former. They're separated by a long and steep mountain chain which makes accessibility currently possible only through the Forest of Insects and the Mushroom Kingdom, which is an overwhelmingly positive thing due to this zone's difficulty level. Luckily, this forest doesn't bleed into the neighboring zones, which means those living in Paradise are always safe from its tendrils. Still, knowledge about the hell that exists only a mile away from their city center keeps many of them awake at night.

This brings us to Paradise itself, which has already been described once. Surrounded by a natural barrier of cliffs few beasts even dare to cross, the town has only three entrances, one of which is rarely used because of its secluded location. Another one serves as a shortcut to the Mushroom Kingdom. The most commonly used one lies hidden between two mountain cliffs, which locals call "the Dandelion Pass" because… Well, there are a lot of dandelions growing there. Shocking, I know. From there, visitors and locals alike are greeted by greenery similar to that you might find in Grove. There are no giant trees, and the forest is more tightly packed, but the place is just as green and lush with flowers. These are the Paradise outskirts, which take about three-fourths of Paradise's overall surface area while only housing less than ten percent of its population.

"I'm so glad to be here…" Crystal says and exhales deeply, with a smile on her face. "It's been so long…"

"So, it's true, huh…?" Angel comments, looking around. "No barriers, no nothing…"

"Yeah, it's a pity", Snow admits. "As much as I like this place, I envy you girls for having a safer home."

"Alright, I think you two can take the lead from here", Wendy suggests. "Where should we go first?"

Crystal thinks for a moment. "I was thinking that I should REALLY go home and get some rest, but… I think there's something more important for us to do."

Snow nods deeply, almost as if she read exactly what Snow was thinking. "We've got some doors to knock on."

Lemon injects herself into the conversation. "Do you want us to come with you, or…?"

"Yeah", Snow says. "You girls should definitely get to know each other. Besides, we should get some rest."

"No sightseeing?" Rain asks, tilting her head.

"Come on, it's almost nighttime", Wendy says.

Rain sighs and reluctantly accepts. "Alright then. Let's save sightseeing and studying for tomorrow."

And then, after walking merely a few steps in the forest, they come across a duo of Nymphs discussing something under a large oak. As soon as their eyes meet, the eyes of these two Nymphs open up in surprise and worry. One of them walks up to the team, ready to talk.

"Oh my, what happened to your clothes?"

"Trouble with Webworms and Beastmen", Wendy calmly explains.

"Did you all make it back?"

"Well, not back per se…" Wendy begins. "Most of us are from Grove."

"Oh, right! Of course!" the Nymph responds, with a happy smile on her face. She's a brown-skinned little girl with middle-eastern facial complexion, and her long purple hair is straightened out, except for curly little twists at the ends of her hair. Her captivating eyes are colored with a bright shade of gold. She's very human-like and relatively tall for a Nymph, and her chest and hips are also exceptionally mature, for a Nymph anyway. She doesn't have a whole lot of clothes since a skimpy yet slightly baggy sundress is all she needs. "That explains why I haven't seen any of you girls around!"

"She and I are actually locals", Snow says, pointing at herself and Crystal, "but I guess we haven't met yet."

"So good to see you. I'm Ana." She would offer a handshake, but there are too many hands to shake, so she settles for a wink and a cute peace sign. "My friend's a little shy, but her name is Panda."

"I'm not shy", Panda replies. "I'm just embarrassed to look because they're naked…"

Panda's a pale-skinned girl with long, jet-black hair and a pair of oversized, perfectly round glasses, and a facial complexion belonging to an east-Asian girl. Like is the case with Rain, her cheeks are mottled with freckles. Overall, she's very tiny, and her clothing is surprisingly modest. She's got overalls made from jeans cloth, but instead of having one with legs, she's got one with a skirt instead. Underneath, she's got a white T-shirt, and her stockings and white shoes cover up her skin perfectly, making her just about the most modestly-dressed girl the Nymphs have seen in a long while.

"Now that you mention it, we should probably cover up a little…" Lemon says and takes a look at her own naked body. "We might be safe with allies here, but I'm not too comfortable with walking around the town like this…"

"Is it really that big of a deal?" Rain asks. "We never really got into trouble walking around naked in Grove."

"It's a little bit different here", Crystal explains. "You'll be running to way more people once you get closer to the city."

"Oh, I've got an idea!" Ana suddenly says. "You girls probably need a roof over your head! I've got plenty of room if you want!"

Pink is the first one whose eyes meet with Ana's. "I-I really appreciate the offer, but…"

Ana interrupts Pink by suddenly taking her by her hands, shaking them both simultaneously. "It's fine, it's fine! It's absolutely not a bother!" Pink kind of looks like she's ready to reject Ana, but talkative and hyper as she appears to be, she just won't stay quiet. "I actually specialize in restorative services! I've got a lot of cuddly little pets who offer carnal remedies for Nymphs who have gotten into pinch in the wild!" Pink starts to stutter and blushes at what she's hearing, but she still can't get a word in. "I can tell from the look on your face, you got yourself into a bit of trouble, didn't you? So, how does it sound?"

"I don't think I'm ready for that…" Pink replies meekly.

"I… I really appreciate the offer, but we already have roofs over our heads", Crystal explains.

"Awww, really? I can still tell you where I live so you can come visit if you want to! I'm awake through the night and ready to lend my services for free anytime! My pets are also helpful and happy to share their company."

Panda suddenly gives a little playful knock on Ana's head, interrupting her lewd talks. "Knock it out already, you big pervert. They clearly don't want to be fucked by your tentacles."

"Oww… Don't say that… You never know…"

"I'm so sorry for my creep of a partner", Panda says, bowing her head. "She lacks common sense and thinks everyone here shares her tentacle fetish."

"Don't be sorry", Lemon says, giggling and laughing. "We don't mind at all."

"Nah, but seriously", Crystal says, arms crossed. "We've already got ourselves covered."

"I mean, getting to know some locals doesn't hurt", Rain says and walks up to Ana, opening up her map. "Since you can control demons, you're an enchanter, right?"

"Yes, that's absolutely right!"

"Cool, me too. Mark your home for me so we can be pals. Maybe we can learn some tricks of the trade from each other."

"Oh, do you wanna get fucked by my - "

"No", Rain replies very strictly.

"O-okay, that's fine", Ana says, letting out a laugh. She happily marks the map for Rain. "Well, now you know where to find me."

"Let's move", Snow suggests. "Let's go check on Polly first."

And so, the seven Nymphs continue walking up towards the city.

---

Polly is a girl who lives on the outskirts of "Paradise proper". It's relatively close to the central, but there aren't many houses where she lives. As soon as the Nymphs get there, they are disappointed to find out that there's no reply from the house. Polly's neighbor, who happens to be tending to her garden, only makes matters worse by saying that she hasn't seen Polly in over a week and that she's super worried that something might've happened to her. She's relieved to see Snow and Crystal though, both of whom she recognizes instantly. After a brief chat and an explanation about what happened to Snow's and Crystal's team and what they think has happened to Polly, her neighbor lets out a deep sigh.

"I kind of knew that already", she says. "I just didn't want to accept it. Thanks for telling me."

She also decides to loan all seven Nymphs her wardrobe so they can fix their clothes. Then, they continue their search, this time deciding to knock on the door of the girl who lives basically next door, Trisha. She lives in a tiny thatched cottage surrounded by a cute and colorful garden. They feel incredibly hopeful from the very beginning because they can see the lights on. Snow and Crystal basically run to the door and knock on it together. To much of their delight, the door is opened by Trisha, who cannot believe her eyes.

"It's you two!" she yells with eyes wide-open. "Wait, what about Polly!? What about Hina!?"

The question instantly confirms two things for the team: Hina is still missing as well, but at least Bell is safe with Trisha. "I'm sorry, but we have no idea about those two…" Snow replies.

"What about you?" Crystal asks, leaning in for a hug, which Trisha gladly accepts. "Are you and Bell safe?"

Trisha nods her head happily, with tears welling up in her eyes. "We got back here safely, but… We were so worried because you never came back…"

"Yeah, I thought I was going in the right direction, but I guess I got lost…" Snow says. "And then I got caught by tentacles. Had it not been for our friends here, I would probably still be in those ruins…"

"Meanwhile, I got caught by goblins", Crystal says.

"Oh, that's right", Trisha says, realizing something. "I've heard talk and rumors about that Grove place. Were you there as well? All your saviors are from there, right?"

"Yeah, they basically saved a whole lot of us Paradise Nymphs from the goblins' castle", Crystal says. "I've been living there for a while together with Snow."

Trisha glances over her friend's shoulder to see a group of five Nymphs curiously watching the happy reuniting from a distance. "I see you even brought your new friends along."

"Yeah", Snow says. "They were kind enough to help us get here. No way we would've made it back alone."

"I guess a friend of my friend is my friend as well", Trisha says and walks up to the five Nymphs. "Thank you so much for all you have done."

"Oh, don't sweat it", Wendy says, smiling. "We all benefit from this."

"That's right", Rain continues. "We may only be individuals, but residents from both Grove and Paradise could really benefit from befriending each other."

"You've got that right", Trisha says, giggling. "The world beyond the mountains is dangerous for girls like us…"

"Let's go meet Bell next", Crystal says.

"Yeah, let's. She misses you two a lot."

---

Bell lives practically next door as well. Her house, which is very similar to the one Trisha has, is located in a more secluded area a little bit farther away from the central, just the way she likes it. Instead of a garden, she has a small blacksmithing workshop outside paired with a well surrounded by wild vegetation. She's a craftsman and supposedly works with metal in the real world, so it's basically a perfect profession for her. She's just as happy to see her old friends as Trisha and expresses her joy by embracing her friends while crying a whole lot, but those tears don't last for very long.

Both Trisha and Bell are human-like, both of them are of average size, and both of them have pale skin. That's where their similarities end, for the most part anyway.

Trisha is the little more ravishing one of these two. She's a blue-eyed little princess with long hair colored in some shade of silver or blonde, tied together with a simple elastic band. She prefers to keep it high and as tidy as possible. Out of all the Nymphs introduced in the story so far, she has the most jewelry and "bling", if I may use that word. She's got diamonds on her ears, gold on her neck, a fabulous set of rings, and even shiny rocks studded on her belt. As for her clothes, she's gone all out on white and pink. Her frilly sleeveless dress has a lot of lace, and her striped over-knee socks leave only a tiny skin gap visible. If you manage to catch a glimpse of her silky white panties, you will find out that they're lacy as well.

She's a caster who utilizes the elements to her advantage. Her favorite is Earth - which she has a tier four Spell Crystal of - but she has no preference regarding what she pairs it with. Yes, she has picked Dual Slots as her first talent of choice. She has two runes she's swapping depending on the needs, out of which one is pure Nature, and the other is a Water/Fire split. She usually uses the latter because their team never really needed a backup healer, with Snow able to do just that. Being extremely good at aiming, she's a reliable fighter on the battlefield, provided she herself doesn't attract attention and likes to use runes to her advantage. Her greatest weakness is getting flustered and panicking when enemies target her because she can't really focus on offense and defense simultaneously. Her profession of choice is Cooking, as evident by her well-maintained vegetable and fruit gardens. As far as her real-life personality goes, she doesn't like talking too much about it. She has admitted to being a female university student from Staten Island in New York, but other than that, she hasn't shared much.

There's not much to say about Bell as far as her appearance goes because she's purposefully very plain. She's a brunette with long, straight hair and big, curious chocolate-brown eyes. She prefers to cover her legs with dark jeans, and even her white shirt, black hoodie combo is plain. Overall, she wouldn't look out of place in an elementary school classroom.

She's a fighter who specializes in stealth combat and assassination. Basically, she's to melee what Lemon is to rangers, a heavy hitter who prefers to strike from shadows and eliminate her opponents in one or two quick hits. Her weapons of choice are a pair of daggers. It's also worth noting that she rarely wears her jeans when going on an adventure and prefers to use camouflage shorts that are easier to move in. Sure, she could always wear these clothes, but she doesn't like to. It's simply her personal preference, as wearing "normal" clothes is much more comfortable for her. Inside her head, she hides a personality you wouldn't expect just by looking at her. At first glance, she's a shy, introverted girl who communicates primarily with giggles, smiles, and occasional soft-spoken words, but once she gets going and she's comfortable with her company, she gets very bold and talkative. In real life, he's a man in his late twenties, born and raised in Toledo, Spain.

Bell's house isn't really spacious, and it's only good for sleeping, but since she is a blacksmith, she operates her own store to display her skills and sell her craft. Embarrassed at having everyone look at her completed products, she just stands still quietly with eyes firmly facing her feet.

"Wow, you've gotten better!" Crystal loudly states.

"Y-yeah, I mean… The way they come out is partially randomized and depends on my skill level, but it's not like I can't pimp them out with my own hands…"

"Oh, yeah, I can do that with clothes too!" Pink says. "I can even manipulate stats to some extent."

"Y-yes, it's so great!" Bell says and giggles. "Oh, what was your name again…?"

"Oh, come on, I have the most obvious name of us all!" Pink says and laughs out loud.

"S-sorry, Pink… I'm not good with names…" Bell admits. Even though all the introductions are already past them, it's still a little difficult for her.

"Still, I must say that this day has been really fucking exhausting…" Snow says, yawning. "I'm just dying to get home and catch some sleep."

"Yeah, I really want to just talk to you girls about everything, but if you're too tired, it has to wait", Trisha says. "But where will you all sleep?"

"Well, the least we can do is house some of them…" Bell says, blushing a little again. "My bed is small, but I'm sure one of you can sleep with me…"

"Okay, so the question is about how we divide ourselves…" Trisha says and eyes all the Nymphs. She especially takes a long, hard look at Crystal, who she recognizes to be in bad shape. "Honestly, I saw it in you when I first saw you, but you don't really look okay."

"Well, I got fucked hard on the way here", Crystal says, shrugging.

Trisha leans in closer and whispers something to Crystal, ensuring that others don't hear. "So, you're pregnant, right…?" As soon as Crystal nods, Trisha continues: "Let me take care of you…"

"You know", Rain says, arms crossed. "We can't hear you, but we can totally tell what's going on."

"Shush, you pervert", Crystal says and glares daggers through Rain, but the smirk on the corner of her rosy lips proves that she's not taking it too seriously. "Yeah, okay. I'll sleep with Trisha. Some of you girls from Grove can loan my house. Oh, and Snow. Your house is the largest one, right?"

"Yeah, I can probably house two. It doesn't matter who."

"Well, I don't think it matters much to any of us, to be honest", Wendy says and shrugs. She summons up a box of colored drawing straws, a piece of common collectibles she happened to find randomly on one adventure. "Let's do a fair roll then. We'll have one red straw, two yellow straws, and two blue straws. Bell houses the red straw, Snow houses the yellow straws, and the blue straws go sleep in Crystal's apartment. How does that sound?"

"Yeah, why not", Lemon says and observes Wendy bunch up the straws into her fist. Of course, the odd end of the straw is not colorized, so you can't see what color each one is. As soon as the game is set, she picks hers, and the remaining unhoused Nymphs follow suit. It immediately becomes apparent who will house whom; Bell will house Angel, Snow will house Wendy and Rain, and Lemon and Pink will stay in Crystal's house.

"Well, that was easy", Wendy says. "Should we split up immediately?"

Trisha nods, although begrudgingly. "I'm sure we would all love to chat, but if you're too tired, it can't be helped."

"We have more than enough time for that tomorrow", Lemon says.

"Don't forget sightseeing", Rain adds.

With that, the group splits up into three, but not before they all share some goodbyes, wishes for a good night, hugs, and even some playful teasing. They make no plans for the next day, but that's alright. They can always worry about it later.

Angel and Bell are left behind, but to be honest, they don't really know each other at all yet. All they've really done is introduce themselves to each other very briefly, but they haven't even talked past that. Now they're alone, and their shyness won't let either talk. They just look at each other, almost like a pair of unfortunate youngsters forced to go on a blind date. The fact that Angel is a little horny is not helping the situation at all.

They both start to talk simultaneously, starting with different kinds of lines, and both of them immediately stop to wait for the other one to talk. Once again, they talk on top of each other, making them giggle and smile a little. After the third awkward moment, neither can't help laughing out loud.

"Angel, was it? Let's get inside, okay? Make yourself feel at home."

"Thank you, and sorry for the bother…"

"Oh no, it's not a bother at all."

As Angel takes her first steps into the cozy little house, she takes a long look at Bell. "I would feel bad about just mooching off without doing anything, so… Is there something I can do for you in return, like cook?"

"Maybe for breakfast", Bell says and makes slight physical contact by touching Angel's shoulder. "You're clearly tired and weary. It's all over your face and your body, so just lay down and get some rest."

'Well, I wasn't feeling hungry, so I guess that's fine.' Angel sits down, and as soon as her butt meets the edge of the bed, she can't resist leaning back and relaxing her head on the sheets. The bed is messy - in a very comfortable way - and more than ready for sleeping. Since she's not used to sleeping in someone else's bed, the first thing she notices is that it smells different in a pleasant way.

Then it hits her suddenly like a comet; she sleeps naked all the time. She's so used to sleeping naked that she doesn't even own a pair of clothing that is comfortable to sleep in. Her dress and all of her spare clothes are bad for that. She was blushing already, but now the embarrassment and distress are written all over her face as a nervous smirk. Bell, who was in a bathroom doing something for a moment, sees Angel's condition and face for what they are, and to say that she looks confused and surprised is an understatement.

"So… What's up with that look?" Bell asks, slowly and softly.

"This is very embarrassing, but I just realized that I don't really have pajamas or anything of sorts…"

"Well, I don't think I have any either…" Bell whispers, with her hand rubbing her jawline. Based on the look on her face, it seems to hit her as well. "I mean…" she begins, stuttering slightly. "I guess we'll manage…"

"The bed kind of is on a smaller scale though…" Angel says, scratching her cheek. "I mean, I really, really don't want to sound like complaining or anything, especially with you taking care of me and all…"

"No, no, I totally understand", Bell says, trying to smile and laugh it off. "It's not comfortable sleeping naked with a stranger. But hey, there's a good fix for that!"

Angel tilts her head in confusion.

"We just have to befriend each other and make sure we won't be embarrassed by such minor details like nudity!"

Angel bursts out laughing. "Alright, alright… Let's try our best to be as good friends as possible."

"I also want to address one other thing", Bell says, sitting next to Angel, and closes in on her face. "Did something happen to you on the trip?"

"O-oh, you noticed…?"

"Well, I already knew that you had complications on your trip and kind of assumed you got the short end of the stick in that regard…"

"Spot on", Angel remarks. "It wasn't like my first time or anything, but… It lasted longer, and…" She can't bring herself to say it out loud.

"Are you alright then?"

Angel doesn't want to say it outright. How could she? She was already embarrassed about the prospect of having to sleep naked with someone she just met, and now she's expected to say that she's obviously not feeling alright? 'Fat fucking chance', she tells herself, but only briefly. She quickly realizes that she can't really deny it, with words probably being written all over her face. For Bell to be worried for her, her horniness must be blatantly obvious.

It brings her thoughts to exactly how horny she is. She's been quietly thinking about it for a while, but part of her yearns for some sexy action. She doesn't even care with who. Anyone would be fine. The way she aches down there especially makes her yearn for dick, and she can't believe it. It's not a craving she's ever really felt before, at least not very strongly, but she just can't forget how it felt. 'Could Bell even work as a substitute for a penis? No, no, wait a minute, could I even dare to ask her of it? I suppose it might be easier to do it with a stranger rather than a close friend of mine, but even then…'

"I'm guessing your silence means that you're not alright…" Bell whispers. "Do you want to do something about it…?"

"Are you coming onto me…?" Angel asks, throwing the ball back into Bell's court.

Bell smirks and blushes. "I suppose it really comes down to what you wanna do… Or if you care to have a little walk or not…"

"What do you mean by that…?"

"I'm asking you if you would prefer me or a little more exotic lover?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I think I might just need something rougher than a Nymph…" Angel says, finally admitting her true desires.

"Cool", Bell says and offers her hand to Angel, ready to pull her up to her legs. "I'll show you a nice place that can satisfy you. Don't worry. It's completely safe."

Angel is unsure what Bell means, but her gut tells her to follow her wherever she could take her.

---

I believe it was mentioned that the group split into three groups, out of which one was left behind. This is because Crystal and Trisha had to show Pink and Lemon where Crystal lives before they could enjoy themselves in Trisha's little shack. Before they leave, Crystal tells Pink and Lemon that they can use and eat anything they want and that she won't ask anything in return; bringing her home to her friends is already enough for her to offer a lifetime of favors in return. As Pink is looking to rush inside, she realizes that Lemon is still talking to Crystal about something, but she doesn't think much of it. Instead, she observes the ordinary apartment. It has all the bare necessities but no luxuries.

"This place looks comfy", Lemon comments as she walks in.

"Yeah, I already know I'm gonna sleep like a log", Pink says, "but what did you and Crystal talk about?"

"I just confirmed a couple of things with her", Lemon says, slowly undressing, starting with her shoes and socks.

"Mmmm, okay…" Pink says, as she too takes the opportunity to get rid of shoes. "Do you think those two are lovers or something?"

"Oh, Crystal and Trisha? Nah, I don't think so", Lemon guesses out loud. "Wasn't Crystal married in real life or something?"

"Oh, right… Maybe they just missed each other so much they can't help but get it on…"

"Or maybe it was just about helping Crystal feel better", Lemon says as she watches how Pink continues undressing, moving straight into her shirt. A mischievous thought crosses her mind as she closes in on Pink's exposed back. "Speaking of which…" she whispers as she assaults Pink's chest from behind. Her tiny palms press against Pink's flat chest and cop a firm squeeze.

"W-whoa, what are you doing!?"

"I wanna make you feel good too", Lemon whispers straight into Pink's ear. "Thinking about what those two might be doing to each other got me kind of jealous… I want action too…"

"W-wait, is this really happening…!?"

"Oh, you're not dreaming at all!" Lemon says. "I've been dying to have a taste of you for a while, you know… What better opportunity than right now?" Lemon then reaches her hand under Pink's skirt, finding a wet spot on her panties on top of her vagina. This makes Pink let out a soft squeal. "I knew it… You're so fucking horny…"

Only one thought crosses Pink's mind, which is, 'Hell yes!', but it makes her wonder why Lemon hasn't made a move if she truly wanted to do her so much. Was she shy? Or just waiting for a good excuse to do it? Either way, there really isn't any better opportunity, and Pink sure as hell knows she's down for some girl-on-girl action.

"I happen to know a little secret…" Lemon says as she presses her middle finger against the little clitty through the thin, wet cloth. Rubbing it around, having it tugged between two of her fingers as softly as she can, she continues to whisper and breathe straight against Pink's ear. "I know who you had your first lesbian experience with… And it makes me so jealous… I'm so jealous of you for daring to get ahead of me and jealous of you tasting her lips before I ever even had an opportunity to…"

For some reason, Pink doesn't doubt the sincerity in Lemon's words for a moment, but at the same time, she also senses a desire for some roleplay, which is something that she's more than okay with. She wonders, is she looking for an opportunity to dominate her and even dispense some mild punishment on the side? Just to make sure, she decides to test the waters with a little taunt: "I'm sorry for being bad…"

"Oh, so you DO get it…?" Lemon asks, still groping and breathing on Pink's skin. She runs her tongue across the back of Pink's cheek and ends with a light flicker on her earlobe. "I don't think "sorry" is gonna cut it, honey… Naughty little girls such as yourself need to be spanked…"

'It's not exactly what I had in mind', Pink tells herself but finds herself getting hornier regardless. She yearns for those fingers to slide into her panties and touch her directly instead, and her legs shake with excitement. 'Even still, I don't think I could ever say no to being spanked by her.'

Lemon has a straightforward task at hand as far as finishing Pink's undressing goes. Getting rid of her skirt requires her to only pull down one zipper, and even her panties are easy to take off even with just one hand. She decides to leave it at that though, focusing on getting rid of her own dress instead. Pink turns her head and body towards Lemon, and with hands behind her back, she lets Lemon see absolutely everything. She quickly realizes that Lemon is only looking at her with one eye only, as most of her attention is focused on a little drawer close to the bed. Lemon opens it, and her face sparks up with joy as she takes a look at what's inside. Truth is, she secretly interviewed Crystal about potential toys that she could've hidden in her home. Crystal admitted to owning a couple, including some surprising items, and promised they're also unused.

Lemon glares at Pink with a smug smile on her face. "Why aren't you on the bed already?"

"Ehhh…" Pink doesn't know what to say, but she ends up sitting down at the edge of the bed, kind of waiting for Lemon to give her more commands. That's when she sees a sex toy she wasn't expecting in Lemon's hands, along with additional fluffy gadgets. "Where did you get those from…?"

"Be quiet and put these on", Lemon commands and shows her a pair of mittens that look exactly like a cat's paws. Pink blinks with a surprised, confused smile and accepts these little paws, but that's only the start. "Now, bend over", Lemon commands, pushing her hand down on Pink's shoulder, with the next piece of sexy gear in her other one. Pink follows the order given to her and proceeds to get on her fours, sticking her butt out. With a blush and a lustful smile on her face, she braces for what's about to come.

What Lemon has is a cute and fluffy cat's tail attached to a chain of medium-sized anal beads, and lastly, she's also got a headband complete with cat ears. Giggling playfully, she first puts the ears on Pink, who still doesn't even know how to react to being dressed like the lewd cat girl. Then, she begins teasing Pink by giving her an open palm strike straight to her buttock, and as cute as Pink looks with cat ears, it doesn't even compare to the yelp she lets out. The slap is followed by a tight grab and a round caressing motion, which even allows one of Lemon's fingers to touch the little hole hidden between the cheeks. This also causes Lemon to giggle and comment on it. "What a naughty, unwilling little hole… How am I ever going to be able to stick anything inside it…? It's not even properly lubricated…"

"I… I'm so terribly sorry…" Pink knows she can't do anything about it, so she just ends up apologizing in the spirit of the play.

"Oh, you silly. Cats can't talk!" She laughs even more, clearly having the time of her life. "Cats go "meow". Get it?"

Although Pink's starting to get a little embarrassed, she lets a cute and erotic "Meow" roll out from between her lips.

"Good kitty", Lemon compliments and takes a bottle of lubricant out from her inventory. Yes, lubing up is extremely important when proceeding with anal play, especially when dealing with rubber. It's Lemon's own secret recipe too, and since some of the materials used to make it are actually aphrodisiacs, it also works as a stimulant. Pink doesn't know this, but she feels a trail of warm, squishy liquid roll down her crack and coat her anus. Having already lubed up the first couple of beads, Lemon spreads Pink up nicely, which allows her to push the first out of five beads inside. She does have to apply some serious force to stick it into the hole, which remains ridiculously tight no matter how hard Pink tries to relax her muscles. As soon as it "pops" in, Pink lets out an audible moan, only to breathe in deep as the next one pushes its way in. She's caught in a surprisingly intense loop of ecstasy that exceeds even her wildest imaginations. 'Oh wow, I had no idea that buttplay alone could feel so damn good…! The way it rubs me inside is amazing…! I think I could even cum with my ass if teased enough…!'

Having stuck every single one of the beads in, only the fluffy end is left exposed outside, and Lemon likes what she's seeing. Her heart lights up with joy as she hands out the next set of commands. "Alright, kitty, go ahead and make some noise for me!"

As ordered, Pink prepares to meow some more, but before she manages to even let one full meow out, Lemon's playful palm strike again connects with the cute little butt, morphing this lively little cat noise into something much sexier. It causes Pink to completely lose her footing, and she presses her chest and jaw closer to the bed. She also comes to find out just how hard it is to grab anything with the paws on, and she can't take control of the blanket, let alone sheets, and the slaps aren't even over yet. Lemon keeps slapping and spanking Pink's butt. She's already drenched, and with every slap, she can just feel her cunt twitch and her anus tighten around the plug. Pink's shrill moans fill the room, with occasional "Meows" mixed in between. She doesn't even know if she's doing it on purpose anymore, as sounding like a horny kitty seems to be coming just naturally.

"That's good…!" Lemon says, handing out yet another compliment. "I wanna eat you up…!" She changes her position slightly to get properly behind her little girl toy, and then she presses her thumbs against the puffy lips to pull them apart. From an utterly blind angle, a tongue and a mouth assault Pink's pussy, making her want to move her hips more. It's the first direct contact with her genitals, yet she already feels like cumming just because of everything else Lemon has already done to her, and it keeps getting better.

While eating Pink out, Lemon takes hold of the tail on one hand and jerks on it a little. Unable to resist for a second longer, Pink climaxes faster than she's ever cummed before. Granted, she's been teased a lot already, but no Nymph or a dick has ever even come as close as Lemon just did. Lemon, of course, continues to relentlessly push forward throughout the fireworks, wanting to make it just better, but alas, it's over quickly. Where her climax shone in intensity, it lacked in duration. It left Pink sensitive and twitching from head to toes, signaling a desire to experience more and more.

"Who gave you permission to cum…?" Lemon suddenly asks.

"I'm sho shorry, mrr-istress…"

"Oh no, you did it again…" Lemon says, sighing out loud and shrugging. "Looks like you need to be punished some more…" Lemon then reaches back into the little drawer, looking at two toys of different sizes. She can't decide between a pair of small, egg-shaped vibrators and a vibrating jelly dildo, but then she realizes something; why pick when you can have them all? She also finds a package of band-aids, and yet another mischievous plan crosses her mind. 'It's not quite as good as tape, but it'll surely do…'

Rubbing Pink's body with two of the beans in her hands, Lemon mounts herself on Pink. As little as she may be, her weight is not enough for the tiny Pink to support for too long, especially when she's so horny. It's actually perfect for Lemon, who wants to turn Pink to her back for a moment. She takes this opportunity to steal a couple of hot kisses from Pink's lips but then concentrates on her job of attaching the vibrating beans against Pink's nipples. The band-aids are large enough to stick perfectly to her chest and shouldn't even come off while vibrating. Pink looks at what's going on as Lemon gives her a good rub on her cheek. "The best is still to come…" Lemon promises and shows the giant, bright green dildo to her. "I know you like to expose your belly, but cats take it from behind…"

And so, Pink assumes battle position once more and gets ready to take as much of the jelly as her pussy can eat up; too bad Lemon isn't so quick to rush forward. She starts by turning the breast vibrators on and then goes forward to test the waters by sticking a finger into Pink's pussy, as deep as she can. She's already wet from inside out, twitching with excitement as her folds envelop the little finger. Pink is already making enough noise to make anyone think she's already being fucked, and she tears up a little as she anxiously awaits something bigger. She wants to beg, but she has a feeling Lemon would just prolong the play if she did. So, instead, she continues to pretend to be a cat.

Lemon observes a trail of clear, transparent goodness oozing from inside and determines that she's ready to make Pink cum again. She positions the toy against the lips, dragging it up and down against her quim, only to stop it when it presses firmly against the hole. Pink is already looking to take all of it in by pressing her hip backward, and Lemon can't resist it either. Looking closely, she watches half of the shaft disappear into the tight hole. It's about as much as Pink can take, but that's not a problem for Lemon at all. There's more than enough room for her to jerk it in and out with long, pleasurable strokes. Positioning herself comfortably, Lemon wants to get her face even closer.

Meanwhile, Pink really starts getting into the mood, as evident by the squishy noise and her own voice. She's in love, and she can't get enough. She's surprised by a touch of a finger against her clit, and her eyes and mouth open up in pleasure as she feels herself coming closer to cumming again. It's like every little thing that happens to her is causing a chain reaction intensifying every other sensation. Even her nipples feel like they're on fire. That's when the vibration finally kicks in and fills Pink up with a whole new sensation. She explodes into wild moaning as she reaches her climax, to which Lemon answers by slowing down a little and pushing it harder against Pink's deepest reaches with every push. It's such a wet and messy orgasm - and a powerful one too - but Lemon cannot allow her to rest or cool down. Not yet, or not as while as there's any energy in her arms to keep going.

About fifteen minutes later, Lemon is thirsty for a change in pace. She ditches the jelly and continues with her own mouth and tongue. Pink takes it on her back, legs spread and shaky from excitement. She knows that whatever happens, she will not be able to even stand after it's all said and done. No matter how much Lemon licks and eats her plaything out, it's not getting any drier. Pink just keeps twitching and moaning shyly. As pleasurable as it still feels, she's certainly getting more relaxed and comfortable.

"This is the most fun I've had all week…" Lemon admits and finally stops, lifting her body to an upward position. She's dragging her hip closer to Pink's, and she's got her legs spread properly. "Look, babe… You got me all wet and tingly too…!"

"Meow…"

"I think I wanna end this with a bang…" Lemon says, and she couldn't be more right. She's been playing with Pink for so long that she's really got herself going as well. She did a good job resisting the desire as long as she did, but no more. She must also get that flush of pleasure. So, she reaches her hand to Pink's chest, removing both of the vibrators. She only needs one going forward. Pressing her pussy down against Pink's, she mounts her properly. She and Pink lock their eyes, and from underneath the sweat, red cheeks, and pleasure, they smile at each other. Lemon begins working her hip, and Pink provides some counter-movement, even though she's already tired and only moving on pure instinct.

Lemon took hold of one vibrator to simply spice up the scissoring. She manages to position it perfectly to please both herself and her plaything. It instantly sends her into a fit of pleasure, causing her to moan wildly, but she's not ready to cum quite yet. She knows that one time will be enough for her, but she wants to edge it out more. Besides, she's not playing with Pink just yet.

"Come on… Won't you hold out a little longer for me…?" Lemon pleads. "I don't think I can take much longer either, but I at least want to cum with you…!"

Pink can make no promises, but she nods anyway. After all, she's got a good feeling that it might be something that's gonna happen regardless of whether she puts any effort into holding back or not.

And sure enough, they both feel the climax coming and see it in each other as well. Lemon is still assertive throughout the whole thing, and she still wants to control the situation. She grabs into the tail plug as she continues to press the bean against the place where their lips connect, and she bursts out moaning loud. Pink, of course, responds with equal excitement and vigor. She also realizes Lemon is doing something else and feels the beads moving out of her. She tightens up with excitement, but not even her contracted muscles can stop the beads from sliding out from her asshole. Her eyes start tearing up again, drool rolling down her jaw as she continues to cum. It feels like a short eternity, and honestly, she doesn't mind time standing still for a while. All good things come to an end though.

Lemon collapses forward into Pink's embrace as they both hug into each other's slim, sweaty bodies. As their tongues get closer to each other, they share a sloppy kiss. Passionately, they end the night with an unforgettable kiss; it may be a good night's kiss, but you wouldn't believe it just looking at them at the moment. Surely enough, without a word spoken to each other, they collapse from exhaustion and fall asleep within moments of their eyelids closing. Only the erotic smell of two little children is left in the room as proof of what happened - along with Pink's naughty costume, of course.

Mansion

Excerpt from the Gamer's Logbook; "Exploring the Mechanics of Nymphsaga", entry number ???, "Clothing Mechanics around Different Slots and Layering."

Nymphsaga has more options for clothing than your average RPG does, and on top of that, the vast majority of these clothes come with customization options to pimp them out to the player's liking. That being said, while the possibilities for Nymphs to look good and fashionable are limitless, how players can benefit from their magical properties are not.

As is the case with more traditional and simple RPGs, each Nymph has a limited amount of "Armor Slots" they can benefit from, meaning that even though it's possible to wear two shirts at once, the player can only get stats from one. If a player chooses to wear two items of the same slot on them, she can either combine them to one item temporarily or simply render one of them obsolete, depending on her preference. It must be pointed out that this action can only be taken within a safe zone.

First of these slots is "Top", which includes shirts, jackets, bikini tops, et cetera. Basically, anything Nymphs use to cover their chest can be considered a top. In the cases where players want to layer their clothes on top of each other, this is where it happens the most. The second slot is "Bottom", which includes pants, shorts, and all manners of skirts. Basically, any outerwear used to cover one's hips and butt.

The word "outerwear" is the key when it comes to bottoms, as "Panties" hold a spot of their own. You can layer panties and a bottom and still benefit from both. At this point, it's also worth noting that one-piece dresses and clothing, which occupy both the top and the bottom slots, have double stats so that they can benefit from both slots without any negative impacts on players who may prefer them. The last conventional slot is "Shoes", which doesn't require much explanation.

The last spots are divided into accessories and jewelry, and players can benefit from two at a time simultaneously. Of course, they can wear more, but stats will only count from those prioritized. Accessories include belts, hats, eyewear, socks, and such, while jewelry includes rings, earrings, and necklaces, for example.

With all this in mind, players are encouraged to preplan their clothing choices carefully each time they update their clothing sets to get the most bang out of their gear while still looking as good and stylish as they possibly can be. After all, both goals can be accomplished.

---

Paradise begins to quiet as the sky above wears a shade of crimson, but the last thing in Angel's mind is sleep. Led by Bell, she quietly stares forward, maybe a little bit downward, with her curious gaze only wandering off for brief moments at the time. The more she thinks about it, the more she feels she should've just settled for a girl. As modest as Bell's attire may be, it cannot hide her beauty and the seemingly irresistible curves of her backside, and Angel just can't stop staring. She has to reluctantly accept that there is undeniable, captivating beauty in Nymph's immature, child-like appearance. She's finally starting to come to terms with her lust and accept that her changing into another lifeform has molded her very soul.

"We've almost there", Bell says, pointing towards ten o'clock. "See that pretty building over there? That's where we're going."

Having been walking northward for a while, no buildings or Nymph-made structures are in sight behind their backs, but now an impressive-looking building reveals itself to Angel from behind the trees. Two stories high, constructed out of cold, grey stone, it looks way too grand to be owned by simply one Nymph. Its yard wears a colorless garden with nothing but mossy green grass and rosy vines. Nobody would fault one for assuming the building to be abandoned if it weren't for the warm light emanating from the windows.

"What is this place anyway?" Angel asks with a shy, shaky voice. "You still haven't told me…"

"My friend lives here", Bell explains. "Well… It's more like a group of friends, actually… I guess you could call it a guild of sorts. They used to be an adventurous bunch, but they settled down a few weeks ago. Something must've happened to them on one of their adventures to spook them off, or maybe they're just on a break. I'm not sure. They love helping those feeling a little needy if you know what I mean. It seems like my friend in specific now devotes most of her time to that."

Angel, despite feeling very needy and horny indeed, still doesn't know exactly what to expect. It probably won't involve Nymph-on-Nymph action, as Bell could've easily taken care of that herself, or so Angel suspects. Only the mere idea of what Bell called an "Exotic Lover" makes her lust go into overdrive as she speculates what it could mean.

The two walk up to the porch and waste no time knocking on the door. After a short while, the door opens with a face of a surprised Nymph behind it. It's clear she wasn't expecting anyone as the only garment she has for herself is a sloppily tied white bathrobe covering her brown skin. A sweet and warm aura of the chamomile-scented bath she took still surrounds her as well. Angel immediately recognizes this girl as the first person she met when they arrived in Paradise, Ana.

"What's up?" Ana asks, putting up a friendly smile while fixing her attire slightly. "It's awfully late for a visit, don't you think?" Then, her eyes curiously wander towards Angel's blushing face as a softly spoken "Unless…" escapes her lips.

Bell steps forward to talk. "Yeah, I know it's late. I'm sorry… But I thought you could help out my friend here…"

"I suspected as much. I remember you well", Ana says, turning her body fully towards Angel, who is too embarrassed to even look Ana in the eyes. "Well, come on in, girls."

Gears start turning in Angel's head as she steps in because even though she didn't really exchange any words with Ana, she's got an idea about what Ana might be about. 'This girl was talking about her pets injecting remedies, and if my memory serves me right, she's an enchanter… It must mean tentacles…' Her body shudders just at the thought of it. She suddenly feels tense, and her heartbeat grows faster. It's a strange feeling, a mix of fear and lustful curiosity. She knows she would loudly reject whatever's implied here under normal circumstances, but her body just won't let her do that. Her body wants to be ravished.

"I hope it's not a bother to leave her in your care", Bell says.

"Don't sweat it", Ana says while she walks closer to Bell. "I've got plenty of room, by the way… And I've also got time to personally tend to you if you want. That includes you too, Bell."

"T-that's an inviting offer", Bell says, with a shaky voice, clearly thinking it through. "But I think I might have to pass…"

"Awww, are you sure?" Ana asks, playfully feigning disappointment. "Well, if you change your mind, just let me know…"

Angel feels like she needs to intervene, so she grabs Bell by her arm, whispering: "Can I ask one thing?" After seeing Bell nod, Angel pulls the girl aside for a moment. "Is this really okay…? I mean, they're tentacles… Right…?"

Bell nods and responds: "I've been here a few times myself."

"Y-you could've told me beforehand…"

"S-sorry… I guess you've never done it with a tentacle demon…?"

Angel shakes her head vigorously, but before she can get another word in, Ana suddenly lays her arm over Angel's shoulder. "I feel left out", she says, feigning to be way more offended than she actually is. She's still all smiles and encourages Angel further. "Are you nervous?"

"A little", Angel admits, trying to smile herself. " I'm just a little confused. Will you treat me personally, or…?"

"Depends on what you want", Ana says. "It's up to you."

"Don't worry, Angel", Bell says. "You can trust Ana. I'll be going now."

Angel begins to stutter even more as she realizes she's about to be left alone with Ana. "R-right… See you tomorrow, I guess…"

"I'll come to see you in the morning", Bell says as she waves goodbye before leaving for good.

As soon as the front door closes, Ana's full attention is on Angel, who's very nervous about the fact that there's this Nymph, who is almost a complete stranger to her, brushing her body against her own. "Well, it's just you and me then…" Ana whispers straight into Angel's ear. "What was your name again, sweetie…? Angela…?"

"Just Angel, actually…"

"So, like I said, this is a premium service, sweetie. My pets, of course, will be involved, but the level of their involvement, as well as my personal involvement, is up to you."

"Well, the thing is, I've never done it with a tentacle", Angel says, suggesting she's not entirely comfortable with the idea without actually saying it. "I'm not very experienced with monsters in general… I've only fallen victim twice…"

Ana catches the hint somewhat, but she's still not done trying to convince Angel to enjoy what her pets have to offer. "If you're nervous, I'll gladly tend to you and take a more active role, but I guarantee you, while the demon aren't the gentlest of lovers, they're capable of making you feel incredible… Oh, and most importantly, they're way more effective at treating your, ermm … "various complications", so to say…"

"Right… But is it alright even if you're with me?"

"Of course it is, sweetie", Ana says and suddenly gropes Angel's chest, a move that surprises her at first. As Ana continues, Angel must admit that it feels comfortable to be fondled. "They wouldn't dare go against their mistress. Oh, and by the way, your breasts have a nice feel to them…"

"W-well, I mean, yours are exactly similar to mine…"

"But it just isn't the same when you touch yourself, don't you agree?" Angel doesn't respond and instead just lets it all happen as Ana wants it to. She notices that her partner's hand is eager to slide inside her clothes, and slowly undress her. "It's probably a good idea to get naked, to avoid getting your clothes broken, you know… My pets rarely undress their playthings in a traditional manner…"

Angel feels a little nervous, so she tries to create some distance between herself and Ana while nodding and starting to get rid of her dress independently. It's luckily a kind of dress that's easy to slide into and out from, so she can move towards her socks and shoes quickly. Before she manages though, two tiny thumbs slide underneath her panties and pull them down, causing her to let a squeal. She steps out of the panties and turns around to see Ana naked, having discarded her bathrobe, now with slightly soiled panties in her hand, making her smile and blush even more. Then, as soon as she's done, Ana takes Angel's hand and pulls her forward while continuing to promote her services.

"As I said, we'll include my pets from the get-go, even if I take a more active role. We can go forward from there, depending on what you'd like to do. Who knows? Maybe you'll even come to prefer being left alone. Many prefer it that way because some of my pets are much more aggressive than me, and sometimes that aggression is exactly what they need…"

"I doubt it", Angel says, trying to smile. She has to admit that Ana's encouraging attitude makes her worry about her current situation a bit less.

"We'll see then", Ana says as she leads Angel into a corridor with nothing but cold, colorless walls and stairs leading down into the bowels of this building, spiraling slightly towards the right. "Our basement used to have two entrances", she explains, "one here and one in the kitchen."

Angel turns her head around. "This feels more than just a basement", she comments. "This tunnel goes pretty deep and feels long."

"I took the liberty of remodeling this part of the basement to use it for my studies and experiments", Ana says. "My pets require a lot of room, you see."

As they walk further down, more of what lies below is revealed. Organic green matter covers the rocks, coiling around the walls and stairs like roots hugging a well-beaten mountain path. They look like tentacles to Angel, and she's hesitant to take a step towards them, but they don't move despite two girls approaching them. She finds it safe to tread through them.

Step by step, there are more of them, each one of them closer to one another, until eventually, they form a wall of tentacles so thick you can't even see the stone underneath it. Strange, pulsating pink veins appear on some of the thicker tentacles providing a glow to the otherwise dark corridor. Then, some of them suddenly start to move, and Angel stops all her movement, standing still, legs slightly crossed. Looking back, she notices the tentacles forming a wall to block the way they just came.

"What's up with that…?" she asks.

"Oh, that's just him "closing the door", so to speak."

"Him…?"

"The big demon that controls this zone. He's the one I've been cultivating for the longest, and he's by far the strongest of my pets, kind of like a heart that pumps energy through all his creations here. Sometimes I have to even wonder… Because he is so strong, who owns who at this point?"

"I'm not sure if I like the sound of that…" Angel says as her heart begins to pump furiously. She was always under the impression that demons birthed by Nymphs are subservient to them and do anything they've asked and that they don't go against their masters at all. She's slightly wrong on that, but she doesn't know that yet, which makes her worry. "Are you sure you've got this under control then?"

"Well, how do I put it…" Ana says, with her hand rubbing her jawline. "Like I suggested, at some point, they just start getting far too powerful for us measly Nymphs to control with simple spells and tricks, so we have to devise other methods to keep them in check. Sadly, HE especially is well past that point, and I'm sure he would love to enslave me. Still, he requires me to be free to provide him with girls to mate with. Consider it a symbiotic relationship between the two of us at this point. He's confined to this place and can't hunt himself… I can help him suppress his urge to hunt while providing Nymphs in need a useful service."

"I-I see, he's smart… Still, that just feels like it makes this more dangerous."

"There's nothing to worry about", Ana says, laying her hands on Angel's shoulders from behind, slowly pushing her forward. "For him to enslave me isn't exactly in his best interest, or in the interest of any demon here for that matter… So just keep walking! It'll be fun!"

Although being told not to worry, Angel can't exactly ignore the potentially alarming situation. If things indeed are as Ana says, if her "pets" are powerful enough to rebel against their master if given an opportunity, then that's a ticking timebomb. Angel has a creeping suspicion that these beings will continue to grow and become more powerful, feeding their hunger. It sounds dangerous to her, and she can't figure out what in the world would motivate Ana.

"Oh, don't be so tense…" Ana whispers directly into Angel's ear as she lowers her hand towards Angel's crotch, who instantly feels a jolt of pleasure run through her spine, accompanied by a soft, girly whimper. "See? You're so wet…" She runs the tiny tip of her finger across the equally tiny slit, which joyfully responds to even the slightest foreign touch. Angel sighs deeply, forgetting everything about her earthly worries for that one moment when she remembers just how badly she needs to have that hole stretched out by something large. "You're so ready for this… I'm sure you're gonna love him."

Ana leads Angel straight towards a wall of tentacles, which then proceeds to open up, all while another pathway closes. It's like they're in a labyrinth with walls and corridors changing places. This hidden path leads to a small, circular room with a peculiar tentacle demon in the middle of it. Eight wide extensions surround a round, fleshy hole in the middle, from inside which two dozen slimy and lively tentacles reach outward and upward. To Angel, it honestly looks like some kind of giant tentacle flower straight out of her nightmares, but at the same time, she feels morbid curiosity over it, and the familiar scent of a male reaches all the way to her, making her heart pump. Never mind that rough, rubbery-looking membrane on the insides of these petals, the bumpy tips of the tentacles look to her like they could drive her mad. 'They're so thick and grotesque', she reckons and clutches herself with both hands. 'They're so much bigger than I could ever imagine. Am I seriously going to experience sex with this… thing…?'

"Alright, sweetie", Ana says, "turn around towards me." Angel does as commanded, even though she feels like she has to keep an eye on that nasty roper behind her. Now, faced with Ana, she tries to look at her mischievous face but diverts her gaze immediately. "See? It's not attacking you, even though it very easily could. Don't you think we need to excite it a little?"

Angel tries to open her mouth to ask, what Ana means by that, but before she manages to finish her sentence, Ana pushes her lips against her, pushing Angel forward towards the beast. Angel almost loses her footing, but her butt and back suddenly touch the petal's surface, sparing her from a rough landing.

Being assisted by Ana, who still has her lips occupied, she leans backward on top of the petal's surface after realizing that the demon has moved a little to help her. Then, she relaxes and lays down properly as the extension begins to straighten up and bring Angel down to lay comfortably on top of her warm, rubbery bed.

Ana is quick to follow and pushes her belly and her budding breasts against Angel's body, all while lovingly clutching both of her hands with her own. "I hope you don't mind kisses…" Ana whispers before going on to steal a couple from Angel's lips. She must admit to finding it pleasant and moans a little, extending her tongue forward, inviting Ana for more. Sure enough, the two tongues share a dance together as they move their ever-so slightly, enjoying each other's warmth and softness. While this is happening, Angel seems surprised that the demon isn't making any advances even though there are two girls literally making out on top of it… Yet, she can't seem to raise her arms up either, not with Ana pushing them down with surprising strength. Not thinking much of it, Angel simply closes her eyes to enjoy everything Ana's doing to her and lets herself be controlled.

This seems to be a signal for the demon, who in one quick motion, wraps two tentacles tightly around Angel's wrists, allowing Ana to lift her own hands and give Angel a stroke on her cheeks and hair while still eating her out. Slowly but surely, her tongue, extended outward between her smiling lips, moves towards Angel's chest. She gives Angel's nipples a kiss and sucks on her little tit as far as she can muster, all while moving her other hand downward to Angel's honeypot. Ana practically grabs her vulva, digging both her index and middle fingers against the slit, pushing and rubbing her palm on Angel's puffy lips. Angel tries to move, but with her hands tied down and Ana on top of her, she can't do much other than raise her back, sway her hips, and moan.

Then, a massive, thick tentacle extends forwards from underneath her feet, coiling in the air in front of her, showing itself to look like some kind of budding flower or maybe a miniature version of the demon she's in the grasp of. It shows itself capable of opening up in four directions, reminding Angel of a "Pear of Anguish", a medieval instrument of torture, specifically designed to be inserted inside a vagina to cause extreme pain. Now, Angel knows that pain is not what she will be feeling given everything she knows about the game, but she can't help but make a direct comparison. It makes her want to close her legs up to hide her quim from it, but before she manages, Ana interrupts her by pressing her hand harder on Angel's groin, almost as if telling her to keep them open. She gets off Angel and pushes her hands softly against Angel's thighs.

"Shhhh, don't be scared", Ana whispers as she stares straight into Angel's pussy which lays exposed between her legs spread wide open. "Let's start with this."

"I-Isn't it too big…?" Angel wonders aloud as she tries to bring both of her knees closer to each other. "Like, it won't fit, won't it…?"

"You won't actually get fucked by that one", Ana says as she makes way for the beastly tentacle rushing straight between Angel's knees. Immediately, the pear-like tentacle opens up completely and reveals a dozen appendices inside, surrounding a small, circular, toothless mouth. It moves closer, right next to her vulva, and tickles her thighs with its long, yet thin feelers.

Half-startled by it, half-shocked, Angel spreads her legs up in surprise. Her brains tell her to close her legs and try to push the tentacle away, but nothing can be done against this assault. The feelers latch onto her thighs, roping themselves around them, while the mouth locks itself tightly in place, directly on top of her pussy. Angel feels its wet membrane rub against both her vagina and her anus, but nothing seems to be poking out. Angel tries to toss her hip, but the demon latched to her follows her around, and with its superior strength, it eventually restricts all her movement altogether. Angel's heart races with her getting more anxious by the minute because she doesn't even know what to expect next.

Something suddenly stabs forward straight into Angel's tiny hole. At first, it feels narrow and small, like a finger, causing her to wail and moan involuntarily from surprise. It's way too lively to be a simple cock, as it doesn't just pulsate inside her but actually wiggles and jumps around. "W-what is this…? It's squirming so much…!"

"It's a parasite."

"Wait, what!?"

"What's wrong, sweetie?"

"What do you mean "what's wrong"!? Is this even safe!?"

Ana suddenly bursts into a fit of playful laughter. "Safe? That's a strange thing to ask! I guess it depends on what you mean by that, but I can assure you this little baby is gonna make you feel real good!"

That's precisely what Angel worries about the most. She's scared and livid due to not consenting to any action involving parasites - not that she even knows what that could mean! - but she's also being made feel incredible sensations by this strange little invader, and she can't even properly convey her emotions. The fact that Ana isn't doing anything to stop just makes her feel like she's in danger. 'Then again, I'm not exactly voicing my disapproval!'

"N-no…" Angel finally whimpers amidst her spasms of pleasure.

"What do you mean, no?" Ana asks in a playful tone.

"Y-you said it's a parasite…! I'm a little scared … o-of w-what that means…!"

"Oh? Well, this parasite serves only one purpose: to make you feel better…" Ana says with a mischievous smile on her face. "It's all you need to worry about, sweetie… Forget about everything else and let pleasure take control…"

To Angel, that sounds way too ambiguous, and at this point, she's sure that Ana is screwing her over in some way. As innocent and unassuming as that little, Arabian girl's smile may be, she knows that no sane person would just infect a Nymph with some kind of womb-dwelling parasite only for the sake of pleasure.

The parasite rushes forward suddenly with a lot of force, almost as if being pushed from behind, forcing itself deeper than it has any business going. Angel tears up a little, mostly because she expects pain, but it doesn't seem to be coming. Instead, she's just filled with discomfort as she lets out a desperate cry. It moves around inside her womb, and she feels it bulging and stretching out to its limits, even seeing some of the effects from the outside. Then, the thick tentacle opens itself up, allowing itself to retract away from Angel's body, retreating back from where it came from. She's left twitching and swaying her hip, trying to figure out what to make of the feeling inside of her. It's like, the worm is just not settling down at all. "It feels so weird…" she complains out loud. "I'm scared…"

Ana leans forward closer to Angel's face. "Shhh, it's okay… Best you don't think about it too much…"

"I thought you had this under control…" Angel says, tearing up a little, and stares at Ana. She's angry and tries to present herself as such, but with the tiny crystalline tears in the corners of her eyes and a pout on her lips, she doesn't look intimidating at all.

"I do have things under perfect control, sweetie…" Ana whispers through her smile.

"Then… Did you do this on purpose…?"

"Oh, Angel…" Ana strokes Angel's cheek softly. "Don't take it personally, okay?"

"Why…? Even though I said no…?"

"Oh, I'm sorry", Ana says, with an obviously faked voice of concern, which comes out to Angel as nothing short of condescending. "In my experience, Nymphs never really mean it when they say "No", so I thought you were only acting…"

"Then can you get it out…?" Angel pleas. "I-I mean… If not now… Then at least eventually…?"

This time, Ana doesn't even respond.

"P-please tell me you're just messing with me… This isn't funny…"

"Didn't I say there comes a point where these kinds of demons become too powerful to control with conventional means…?" Ana asks. "There also comes the point where the line between who's controlling who begins to blur. I honestly sometimes wonder about it myself… Is it a working relationship between me and this demon, a relationship of mutual interests… Or could the demon be using me to fool and trap girls like yourself for it to have its way with?"

The answer isn't satisfactory to Angel, but before she even gets a chance to press the issue further, the tentacles holding her suddenly begin to move, pulling Angel towards the center of this demonic creature, away from Ana's reach, where more tentacles lie in wait.

Ana stands up and takes a couple of calculated steps back, seeming proud of herself. "Honestly, it's the latter at this point. I'm not even ashamed of admitting it. There's nothing wrong with that, right? He is the superior being, and in the end, I'm proud to do his bidding as His servant. He demands more subjects to his will, and I provide. I know what I'm doing is ultimately dangerous to this society as a whole, but I can't resist His will. I'm also dedicated to seeing His plans completed and brought to an end."

Angel's expression doesn't convey shock or anger but rather fear. She now knows of Ana's motivations, but more questions continue to pop into her mind. First and foremost, what are "His" plans exactly, and who is "He"? She presumes it's this demon who's got Ana under its control, or perhaps this demon is also merely a minion or a part of a larger being? As far as Nymphs involved in this go, she has to wonder: 'How wide is this web of lies?'

Did Bell know this was going to happen when she led her to Ana's lair? If so, are Bell's friends in with the scheme too? What about Ana's friends? Then, she also realizes that her friends could be in danger too. She would love nothing more than to go and warn them about this girl being dangerous, but she has a feeling those news won't reach them, at least not from her own mouth. And lastly, she just can't stop thinking about how she could let herself fall into a trap like that. 'I was too clouded by the possibility of getting my sexual needs met…'

Her attention quickly returns to the more pressing matters as the tentacles begin entangling themselves around her limbs and waist even tighter, pushing against her tiny budding tits and rubbing between her legs. They raise her in an upwards position on top of the hole in the middle, about one meter above it, and they continue to tease her while keeping her in perfect bondage.

"I just can't believe you would allow this to happen to your kin…!" Angel finally says as she tries to stifle her involuntary moans from coming out. "Why did you lie to me…?"

"Oh, no no no, sweetie… I can proudly say I didn't lie to you", Ana says as she walks around the room, safe from the tentacle's grasp. "Like I said, I provide Him with Nymphs to mate him… In that sense, you could say that this is a safe transaction, at least for me."

"But you didn't tell me the truth about what you were planning…!" Angel says, trying to sound as angry as she can midst her tears of desperation.

Ana just lets out a burst of laughter. "That's not the same as lying though!"

"Y-you…!" Angel says as she tries to muster up her remaining strength to struggle against the tentacles. She knows in her heart of hearts that it's all futile, but it's simply her natural reaction due to not wanting to be in this situation. "L-let me down…!"

"Hush, Angel", Ana says, smiling the same sweet and innocent smile as before. "Need I repeat myself? Don't think about it too much… Empty your mind and just enjoy."

"H-how can I just stop thinking about this…!?" Angel asks as the pleasure begins to well up, becoming too much to deny and resist as the thick, bumpy tentacle continues to rub, press, and run across her slit. "Do you think I'm gonna forget this…? Or forgive you…?"

"You will", Ana says as she turns her back to Angel and walks away. "They all do." Then, the wall that once hid away this demon's lair now closes between Angel and Ana, leaving Angel confined for good. The large petals also rise up and slowly close towards each other, trying to form another barrier between her and the freedom, soon locking her inside this demonic prison, as if the tight embrace of the roper wasn't enough. She knows it'll still take some time for the "flower" to close up completely, but Angel realizes her ultimate defeat behind multiple inescapable barriers.

Without warning, the giant, bumpy phallic tentacle ceases rubbing its captive toy lengthwise and instead pushes its tip against Angel's rarely defiled vagina, beginning to push vigorously. Angel twists and turns in protest, shaking her head in denial while holding back her tears, but to no avail. The thick penis of the tentacle demon, along with its slimy wet coating, pushes as deep into the little girl's folds as it can, causing her eyes to roll back. So long did her body wait, and it was only after her so-called defeat that she was finally given it. Just like being filled physically with meat, she's filled with insurmountable despair, all while her body feels rapture from the undeniable pleasure.

The tentacle pumps in and out and begins to piston with speed and strength, with every single crushing blow against the child's cervix causing her to moan, causing the wet hole to clasp around the invader tight. Her entire body shakes, and she stares down with disbelief, mouth wide open and tears rolling down her cheeks. "No", she complains, "Stop", she begs, but that's all that she can utter from underneath her wails and moans. Moreover, with every complaint, the roper just tightens its tendrils around her limbs. The bitter taste of defeat and being completely submitted fills her with unfathomable fear.

The demon then introduces new toys to the play. First, a broad, flat tentacle tightens across her face, blinding her eyes completely, almost making her scream in the process. She tries to turn her head around, but the entire world has turned dark. She continues to beg "No" aloud with an increasingly shakier and more desperate voice that fails to hide her bodily pleasure. The tentacles twist around her nipples, causing her to let out a moan of pleasure louder than any other noise she had produced so far. Her body reacts, and she opens up her legs more, or tries to. The tentacles give a little leeway, but don't let her relax them or give an inch towards closing them. The pounding keeps getting more intense by the second, driving her closer toward the climax. She can't take it, her body drowns in pleasure, and she cums all while her rapist is just getting started.

'I can't believe I came so hard.' It really was way more intense than she thought, and even though the peak is now behind her, she cannot relax. Moreover, her womb throbs uncontrollably with pleasure, almost as if hungry for cum. It feels so amazing inside her body that she can't even begin to describe it in words. Worst of all, she feels all the more sensitive and defenseless in the grasp of her rapist, who's still just as violent as before.

All she can do is lament her naivety. How could she let this happen to her? Then again, it might've already been too late by the time she started getting suspicious and scared. Even if she ran away, would she have been able to save herself? Who's to say Ana wouldn't have tried to stop her by force? Or if not her, then the demons? Of course, there's still a chance that this could all be one big prank and that Ana will eventually come and release her, but Angel seriously fears it's just false hope. She knows she's been tricked, so she's not hopeful about being released from the inescapable trap she herself walked into with her own two feet.

The tentacle suddenly stops for a second, and the roper twists her body around, raising her leg a little, and then it begins to pump into her faster. She realizes that this demon must be nearing its own climax. She was already pregnant beforehand, so she doesn't really know what will happen. There's always a chance that the Beastman's sperm hadn't fertilized her eggs yet, and who knows what kinds of effects the parasite has on her, but it might not matter at the end of the day because her rapist doesn't care. It thrusts deep, bringing Angel to yet another orgasm, and then it starts spraying cum straight into her womb like straight out from a hose in large, thick chunks. She moans loud, exhaling sighs of relief in this moment of peace and clarity. Still, all she knows is pleasure, but she feels that she can genuinely breathe for a moment instead of just being tormented.

As the petals of this demonic flower close up completely, walling its victim inside a seamless prison, and as the walls above her tighten, the hole below her widens, pulling her downward slowly. The tentacle retreats from inside its victim's abused cunny and moves on to target her rear hole, using the slimy cum covering its shaft as its lubricant. Meanwhile, a new tentacle enters her once-used cunt. She feels like just giving up and can't even muster up the power to cry.

Her hormones take control of her body and her mind, hungering for more, and she damn sure knows that the parasite is also messing with her body in some way because there is no way what she's feeling down there at the bottom of her belly is normal, even for an artificially-created creature designed to be raped and abused. She also knows damn well that demon's sperm is addictive, but she had no idea just how badly it can fuck up a girl's mind. It's almost as if the relief and pleasure the drug produces are exhausted in under a minute after an incredible rush, and then, the victim is just left hungering for more, and this is what she is slowly finding out with every minute passed from the demon's last ejaculation. She doesn't want to admit it - her heart races at the simple thought of it - but it's undeniable that she wants more, and there's no doubt that this feeling will simply intensify as the hours pass on.

Revelations

Excerpt from the Traveler's Logbook; "the Alien World that is Phantasm", entry number three, "Signs of Civilization?"

I have been preoccupied with exciting discoveries regarding this world, but I didn't want to report on anything before I could properly confirm my findings and gather more information on them. In my previous entry, I talked about different kinds of primitive dwellers on this planet, and I have made even more discoveries since. This report concerns remains of a now-lost civilization that once must've ruled this planet in the same way we humans have ruled earth for thousands of years now.

In the moon's not-so-distant past, there was a civilization capable of building cities far greater than the tribal communities I have looked over from afar. I've discovered entire cities of stone lie in ruins. It is hard for me to guess the meaning of these buildings, but they remind me of great temples of the ancient past. I've even found pyramids. It's a fascinating discovery, as these primitive creatures used similar construction techniques to our early ancestors to build their monuments.

While some of these ruins are thousands of years old, some of them could've been built even more recently, maybe just a little less than a thousand years ago. Some of them are in horrible shape, while others are still in pristine condition. Sadly, they have not left behind any written records for me to try and decipher, but they've built some impressive statues. Most depict animals and beasts, but some represent their own race, and others look like strange, tall humanoids with tentacle limbs. My guess is that they are some kinds of figures of worship for them, or maybe they depict some other lost alien race. As for the builders of these structures themselves, I guess the best way to describe them would be to call them wide-shouldered humanoids with fur and tusks.

I can't seem to figure out what made these beings disappear from this world, as they've left no signs of evidence behind in the places I've discovered so far. Was it some kind of a catastrophe? An outbreak of a worldwide pandemic? Were they wiped out by hostile species that currently roam this world? I guess they could still be alive and hiding somewhere on this planet too.

This concludes my report for today. I hope to learn more about this world during my visit here.

Signed, Rachel Parshikov, a space marine.

---

It's still very early, with most of the Nymphs fast asleep, or at least so Rain assumes when she wakes up feeling slightly cold due to the lack of blanket covering her naked body and the absence of warm sunlight from the windows. She rolls over and sits up, only to find herself struck by immense jealousy. Snow and Wendy are entangled together, hugging each other in their deep slumber. As heartwarming a sight as it is for her to see, she cannot help but feel an immense desire to be in that situation herself. Oh, what she would do to wake up having two naked little girls clutching her like that! Maybe if she woke up with either one of them in her arms, she could've closed her eyes again with a broad smile and relax, but now she's just left annoyed. Of course, she could just lie back down, cuddle in real close and get intimate with them, but she's as perky and energetic as she ever could be. Besides, in her mind, there are just some things in life that are better left untouched.

She crawls out from the bed quietly, and since she doesn't want to do anything inside the house either, she decides to put on her clothes and get some fresh air outside. She doesn't even bother with her unruly bed hair and lets it hang loose.

As soon as she steps outside, she notices something different about this "night". A strange, eerie glow is scattered across Paradise unlike anything she's used to. At first, she assumes it must be something unique to the region, but then she turns her gaze to the heavens, quickly realizing what's happening. The sun is hidden behind the planet, and Phantasm is caught in its shadow. For a solid minute, Rain stands still in front of the now-closed front door, unmoving, admiring the sky. She hadn't paid much attention to it before, but now, she's mesmerized by it, enchanted by its beauty.

It actually makes her think what the whole deal with Phantasm being a moon is because while she's not an expert on the topic by any means, she thought that the same side of the moon always faces the planet… 'Or is that simply the case on Earth', she wonders. It WOULD make sense for the moon's one face to be gravitationally locked to that giant ball of gas, yet there is a frequent day-night cycle. Then, she realizes something so obvious she can't believe she hasn't noticed before; the planet appears larger than it usually does! 'Since Phantasm's orbit is highly elliptical, that could explain why the planet doesn't have that kind of gravitational influence either. Or maybe its spin-axis is locked but doesn't follow a one-to-one spin-orbit resonance… I'm unsure if that's the right terminology, but I recall watching a documentary once…'

"Maybe I'll have a walk…" she suddenly whispers out loud with only herself to hear it, and so she does, taking a nice, slow stroll around the neighborhood to get acquainted with what kind of place Paradise is. 'Maybe it'll help me keep my thoughts grounded on what's around me rather than on some boring space stuff.'

Not too far from Snow's apartment, she finds the road next to the riverside, complete with charming little benches for Nymphs to rest their weary legs, sit down to cuddle on a date, perhaps spend time reading a book, or maybe just relax and chat with others as they pass by on this little road through the residential area. There are many reasons one would want to just sit in such a lovely place. As soon as Rain sets down to rest, she feels like she's away from civilization, somewhere far away, somewhere safe. It isn't the best place to gaze at the sky, but looking down at the calm river is relaxing enough for her as well. The water is so clear she can see the small rocks, strange vegetation, small alien fish, and actually count all the colors of the rainbow underneath the river's flow. The wind blows calmly enough for her to feel it, but she can barely hear it stroke the greenery, nor is it enough to generate ripples on the water's surface. To describe it in one word, she experiences tranquility.

Beneath the sounds of nature around her, she can hear two little feet with shoes lightly rubbing against the rocky path. Rain's eyes turn towards whoever is coming her way, and even though the girl in front of her looks familiar, she can't put her finger on who she is.

"Fine morning to you", this Nymph says. "Wait… Do I know you?"

"I believe I've come across you in Grove", Rain says, "but we haven't spoken."

"So you ARE from Grove", the stranger says, and standing in front of Rain, she offers her hand for a friendly shake. "Name's Katja."

"Oh, now I remember you", Rain says, politely standing up to face Katja. "You're kind of a big deal, aren't ya? Wrote some guides for other Nymphs, even led a raid against that big bad Goblin up in the tower…"

"Well, I do not mean to brag", Katja says, with both her tone and her "power pose" suggesting that she's more than happy to brag, "but I've been doing this for a long time. So anyway, what brings you to Paradise?"

"My friends and I got acquainted with a couple of locals after that whole Hammercliff thingie and thought we should help them get home. How 'bout you?"

"We helped some girls get back here too, but we're actually here because we want to ally ourselves with this community and build a working relationship."

"Easier said than done."

"Yeah, our first priority will be trying to figure out how we can even stay connected. As you probably already know, these two towns aren't especially easy to travel between."

Katja, as a Nymph, looks about as humanlike as one can. She's a little bit taller than Rain, but her body is otherwise just as underdeveloped and delicate. With blue eyes like sapphires and long and curly strawberry blonde hair tied with a single ponytail, she has a sporty vibe to her together with her girly, tight college pants and a comfortable workout hoodie. Rain knows for a fact that Katja is a fighter who also likes to wield large swords, but her style is way more fitting of a tank as she's not so mobile on the battlefield.

In the real world, she's actually a man in his early thirties, having lived his entire life in Gdansk, Poland. He used to study economics but quickly became a dropout after managing to make substantial living gaming. He founded a guild called "Knights of Nilfgaard" and led it as its guild master and primary raid leader for pretty much his entire adult life, reaping considerable success and fame. He had countless world seconds and thirds to his name as far as raiding the current end-game went, but no firsts. Because of this, his guild was always joked about for always being "just the second best", a fact that the leader himself honestly just found comical and even joked about himself.

"You've got to spar with me someday", Rain says and taps lightly on the bench, urging Katja to sit down. "I could probably learn a trick or two from you."

Katja gladly accepts the invitation to give her feet a break but appears a little shy and tense sitting next to a young female on a relatively small bench. Besides, there's something else on her mind too. "I hate to admit, but I'm not really in top form at the moment…"

Rain can tell by looking at her face that her heart sinks a little as she says that, and that joyous smile that was constantly present until this point disappeared. She also blushes in embarrassment.

"My friends and I even got our asses kicked on the way here…" Katja admits, forcing a smile that fails to cloak her true feeling of shame and defeat.

"We had a rough trip too", Rain says and shrugs. "Shit happens."

"Yeah… but it's like, when you're used to fighting every day as something entirely different… there's just a lot missing. My strength, my reach, all of my abilities I used to rely on, how everything I'm fighting is much bigger than I'm used to… it's tough, you know…"

"Yeah, I can relate. If I remember correctly, you used to be an Elf, so your character in Mormia was pretty tall."

Katja nods but suddenly appears confused. "Wait, have we met in Mormia or something?"

"No, but you are pretty famous", Rain says, smirking.

Katja also can't help but smile. "I guess I can handle myself alright now. My form is getting better, all that stuff, but when I was starting… my mates would've hated to see me fight."

"Well, that's all the more reason to spar."

"So, how do you handle yourself then?" Katja asks.

Rain doesn't want to admit that she didn't have that big of trouble getting used to fighting as a Nymph, although she does recognize that she's much weaker. "Putting a few rough breaks aside, I'm getting much better. Looking back at my trip here, for example, I would rank my performance as exemplary."

"Oh, so you like to brag?" Katja asks, rubbing her elbow against Rain, who giggles a little from being a little ticklish. She attacks back, trying to tickle Katja back. This playful wrestling match lasts only about ten seconds until Katja decides it's time to stop, stands up, and summons her weapon for battle. "Well, show me just how good you are then."

"I thought you'd never accept", Rain says. "So, do you want a proper no-rules-barred duel, or should we avoid hitting each other?"

Katja thinks for a moment. She knows that if they were to take a real duel and try to hit each other, that would obviously mean ruining their clothes. "Let's start with a friendly fight and avoid clothes if possible… I just want to get a taste of your swordsmanship."

And so, they both take a few steps back and stare at each other, readying themselves, taking a proper stance, and waiting. They both want the other party to take the first move. The rule is to either disarm the opponent or force a surrender. In the end, it's Rain who's first to move.

It may be a clash of two girls of similar stature wielding almost identical weapons, but it's a clash of two completely opposite schools of thought. Whereas Rain is much more offensive and mobile, Katja prefers to adopt a defensive stance and focus on counterattacks as her strategy. Rain likes to dodge, while Katja prefers to block and parry. For the first three out of four assaults Rain launches, Katja feels overwhelmed, which catches them both off guard. Rain didn't expect to gain the upper hand early, while Katja must adapt quickly or face instant defeat. As someone who's very much used to fighting against enemies in programmed encounters, Katja doesn't even have a counter against one of Rain's moves, an upward swing out of nowhere. Katja is forced out of comfort and tries to dodge, but the sword cuts through her hoodie, barely saving her skin from a direct hit. She clicks her tongue and ditches the broken garment completely, revealing a white sports bra that she had been wearing underneath.

"Sorry about your shirt", Rain says with a smirk. Having caught her beautiful prey off guard, she eyes down her tight, childish body as her sole reward.

"You sure got me there", Katja says, arms shaking. "Y-you would've knocked my sword away if I didn't dodge." Then, she surprises Rain by attacking herself.

Rain is forced on the defensive, which is fine for her. She's fast, but as was the case with Katja, she's not that used to fighting against unpredictable opponents either. She finds an opening amidst her dodges and parries and tries to capitalize on it, only to find herself slicing air. With her wings freed and revealed from underneath her hoodie, Katja attacks from above, forcing Rain to block. She manages to get her weapon in the way but feels stunned by the force of her opponent's blow. She blocks three more attacks before Katja's superior swordsmanship finally manages to outplay her, knocking her sword out of her hands. Realizing she had no chance of victory once Katja got her grove on, Rain stares at Katja, impressed. Despite just losing, she feels happy and excited.

"I may struggle against enemies larger than myself, but a girl as small as me is much easier to handle", Katja says. "Still, I must say, it could've gone either way. You're so good."

"I've got nothing on you though", Rain admits, blushing while she cracks a rare and uncharacteristic smile. "Why do you think you struggle so much with all those bigger baddies?"

"W-well, I-I'm stubborn, and I don't like dodging…" Katja admits. "It's just something that's so hardwired into my head. You saw it yourself when you forced me to dodge. I'm really, REALLY not good at that."

"Well, let's try that theory", Rain says, adopting an offensive stance, thinking they can both benefit from a bit of training. "Let's forget about winning or losing. Focus on dodging my blows while I try to disarm you."

Katja nods. "Bring it on then!"

---

About half an hour later, both Nymphs are tired and sweaty from moving so much, but boy, did they have fun. Feeling like they both connected with each other, they sit back down on a bench to catch their breath. Katja leans her shoulder against Rain, resting all her weight against her, and thanks her.

"Did you get that tired?" Rain asks, teasing Katja by poking her.

"Yeah, you make for a good trainer", Katja says, straightening her back while dragging her butt closer to stay intimate with Rain. "Let's do that again later."

Rain doesn't know how to react to Katja being so cuddly with her, so she just quietly nods and gives her a good stroke on her hair, making Katja beam happily. "So, you arrived here a while ago?"

"Yeah, we've been here for three days now."

"We should probably work together when we eventually decide to travel home. Makes the trip safer."

"Yeah, we definitely should! Anyway, do you have any plans now?"

Rain remembers Snow and Wendy, but as she's about to say she should go check on them, she remembers how cuddly those two were in their sleep, and she gets this creeping suspicion that they haven't stopped being cuddly, no matter if they're still asleep or awake. "Nah, let's hang out more. You know this place already, so show me around."

Katja is happy to oblige, so she stands up and offers Rain her hand. "I'm actually living with a local girl called Naomi. It's close by, so let's go have a bath there."

Rain looks at Katja, who's smiling from ear to ear, and seems to be blushing after having suggested that. Rain, who is always happy to score girls, now salivating at the prospect of seeing Katja naked and even having a bath with her, happily stands up. Her heart, still beating fast from all the moving, now beats from the excitement, but she tries to tell herself to calm down and relax. Regardless, she stands up and, holding Katja's hand, they start walking down the calm and quiet path.

Leaving the riverside path - constantly talking to get to know each other on a personal, real-world level - they find a quiet rocky road. It's a long road that starts all the way in the central plaza of Paradise, twisting and turning to the sparsely populated forests where they're now located. In this area, pretty little cottages are lined close to each other, each with a unique personality and look, separated by meter-tall garden fences. Katja's eyes are on the house she's been staying in, and she notices a pair of familiar girls outside, both of who resemble elves. The first one is the girl Katja talked about, Naomi, a short girl with caramel-brown skin tone and black hair, wearing an unusually skimpy outfit. Then there's a fair-skinned brunette, Lara, dressed up in a tank top and a pair of shorts. Naomi notices Katja as she opens up the screeching gate.

"There you are", Naomi says. "You said you were only going on a quick run."

"I took longer than expected because I ran into her", Katja says, pointing at Rain with her thumb. "We ended up sparring a little."

"We, as in Lara and I, need to show you something", Naomi says with a sense of urgency in her voice. "Let's talk more on the way."

"I really want my morning bath though…" Katja says.

"Save it", Naomi says with a bossy tone. "Let's just get moving, okay? Your girlfriend can also tag along."

Realizing she's still holding Rain's hand, almost like they are on a date, Katja finally decides it's time to let go. "Come on, it's not like that… We're just friends…"

"Got nothing better to do, I suppose", Rain says, shrugging. "Where are we headed?"

"Something weird's going on at the nearby pond", Lara says. "I actually just came here to fetch you two."

"Let's get moving then", Katja says, leaning in towards Rain. "We'll bathe later, okay…?"

Rain swallows once and nods rapidly, just thinking about what kind of beauty could be discovered underneath those college pants and the skin-tight sports bra. She's not even sure if she'd prefer a small and cozy bathtub for intimate contact or a large one to play in. Who knows what it would lead to? Left to fantasize, she quietly follows the three girls she barely even knows while sharing brief introductions with the two she just met.

A little bit south of the town square, ahead of them lay rapids where water flows down from the mountain, forming a tiny lake at the bottom of it surrounded by large willows and a few old oaks. Rain and Katja's attention is immediately grabbed by the giant lilies and lotuses, some of which have not yet opened. The lake itself is a strange sight as well, as it has a subtle, deep blue glow to it, and it looks almost as if it reflects the light of the stars from the sky, and they can feel magic emanating from its surface. The place is apparently a trendy place amongst local Nymphs to come play and swim in, and due to the abundance of source in the area, also a popular place to safely practice flying. Nobody's present at the moment though, apart from one Nymph sleeping naked on top of a lily.

"She wasn't here earlier", Lara realizes and rushes towards the figure, about to wake her up, eager to find answers. It just doesn't make sense to her: why would she be sleeping in such a strange place? Sleeping nude in public, nonetheless.

As Lara's hand descends on the stranger's shoulder gently, she begins to open her eyes. Seeming somewhat drowsy, she doesn't even attempt to sit up, but something in her pale face and green eyes suggests that she's surprised to see another Nymph. Not seeming scared at all, she slowly sits up, looking around to notice the other three watching what's going on, but doesn't bother to cover any of her privates. With eyes now wide open like a pair of saucers, she doesn't make a sound and instead looks at the four Nymphs standing beside her, out of which only Katja has the decency to look away. "Wait… Where am I…? What happened…?" she asks.

"We found you sleeping here", Naomi replies.

"I don't remember this place…" the girl says, looking around. Then, a realization seems to hit her. "Wait, this place DOES seems familiar…"

"Give her some clothes to wear, for Christ's sake", Katja says. "Come on, girls, is this why you brought me here?"

"Well, we wanted you to come to look at these weird flowers that had appeared here overnight", Lara says while scrolling through her inventory to look for something, only to find nothing. "We didn't expect a naked Nymph here either… …Damn it, do you girls have anything to give her?"

"I-it's fine. I don't need clothes", the stranger says, finally managing to wear a happy face.

"You sure?" Rain asks, tilting her head to the side slightly. "You seem a little uncomfortable."

"O-oh, don't mind it… I don't mind being seen like this at all…" the girl says, winking.

"So, you really don't know where you are?" Naomi asks. "This is a settlement called Paradise. Where are you from?"

"Oh, so I'm back in Paradise?" the girl asks, seeming relieved to hear that. "I got lost in the forest to the east of Paradise while collecting mushrooms and fell into some trap…" She then blushes deeply, and the joy drains from her eyes as she recalls exactly what happened. She can remember it all so vividly. "That place was filled to the brim with tentacles… There was no way out of that prison, and nobody came to save me… But how in the world am I here now?"

"Well, unless some unknown savior has brought you while you were unconscious, we have no idea", Naomi admits.

"Girls, I think she died in that place", Katja says, gathering her friends' attention.

"Uhm, we Nymphs are immortal…" the girl comments suddenly.

"Well, in the sense of this being a game, yes", Katja says, questioningly staring at the girl, who now seems even more confused. "But surely you have just respawned after being defeated? In layman's terms… Perished in nature and then resurrected in a safe haven?"

"Is that how it works?" the girl asks, seeming relieved. "I'm still so young, basically a newborn… I haven't been taught everything yet…"

"Well, that explains it then", Lara says, looking around herself, taking note of the other large flowers blooming in the area. "Nymphs are reborn from giant flowers, so the setting matches too."

"How long do you think you were kept captive?" Naomi asks.

"Gosh, I don't even know… Must've been weeks… I birthed so many babies…" she says, blushing and fidgeting as she continues to recall everything she went through.

"Well, it would make sense for her body to shut down", Rain says and shrugs. "I, uhm… Experienced it too, although I was saved before I actually managed to "die". Still, I know what she's been through."

Naomi decides it's finally time to change the topic. "Anyway, what's your name?"

"It's Sonya."

"And you're from here?"

"Yeah, I was born in Paradise."

"Anything else you want to tell about yourself?" Lara continues. "Like where you're from in real life? Do you have any friends here that could be waiting for you?"

"Well, like I said, I'm basically a newborn. I didn't really have any real long-time friends yet. Just my neighbors, who I'm on good terms with. I was just looking for mushrooms, like I said, hoping to make some potions for sale", Sonya explains. Having said that, she then pauses, visibly confused. "But what do you mean by real life?"

"I mean, the real world", Lara says with a flabbergasted look. "You know, which country, which city."

"I already told you I'm from Paradise. We're in the real world, aren't we?"

"Really now…?" Lara says, giving Sonya back an equally confused look. "I started here too, but in the real world, I'm from Utrecht in the Netherlands."

"Is that somewhere nearby?"

"It's in Europe."

Sonya stays quiet for a while and seems really deep in thought. "I'm sorry, but I don't know where that is either…"

"So, are you an NPC then?"

"I-I don't know what that means either…" Sonya says, trying to hold in her nervous laughter. "I'm sorry, I don't know if I should know all of this, so I really must apologize…"

Lara sighs, sounding a little irritated, and shakes her head. "Girls, what's your take from all of this? Is she an NPC or just messing with us?"

"Come on, that's a little rude", Naomi says. "It seems that she genuinely doesn't know or remember… I'm not sure which though…"

"I'm still convinced that she's been respawned or resurrected here after being held captive", Katja says. "Is it truly so that you have nothing on you? What about your skills?"

Everyone takes notice as Sonya moves her hand, almost as if opening her user interface and checking through her inventory and such. It's clear to everyone that she knows how all the game mechanics work. "No, I have nothing, and I haven't even picked up a class or professions yet…"

"So, you know what they are?"

"Well, that's just elementary", Sonya says and finally stands up. "I did that the first time I was born as well."

"Alright, there's definitely something weird going on in here", Lara says.

"At least everything seems to align with what that wee booklet about Nymphs and mortality says about death and rebirth", Rain says. "She's lost her shit, she's back to level one, and she was born from a flower in a place where there's a lot of source, in a Nymph settlement."

"Yes, that much is clear", Naomi says, trying to remember everything she has read on the subject herself. "But that doesn't explain why she can't remember anything. Could it be that there are Nymphs among us that aren't from the same world as we are? That WOULD make her an NPC, but it's just so strange… We haven't met any NPC Nymphs anywhere…"

"Wait just a minute, I think I got it", Katja says with a very hushed and careful tone. "That page did say something about the cost, right? Could that the cost be parts of her memories or even a sense of identity?"

As Rain hears those words spoken, her heart sinks. Surely it could not be the case? She looks at her companions, and she can easily see in their faces that they are thinking about that possibility also, with varying levels of skepticism. Rain, for sure, doesn't want to believe it, but she is ready to do everything to find the truth. She's borderline desperate to disprove that theory because she doesn't want it to be so.

"That's weird… I don't feel like I've forgotten anything…" Sonya says quietly. "And I sure am still the same Sonya I've always been."

"If this is what I think this is, this is serious", Katja says with a grave look in her eyes. "There's going to be more Nymphs resurrecting here, amongst which will surely be people you and your friends know. We should spread the word and try to find out as much as possible about this."

---

It's a morning full of mixed emotions, reuniting, and the fear of what is at stake. During the following few hours, news about defeated Nymphs returning spreads quickly, along with the realization of what those poor souls have lost. It's the same story with every Nymph: none have any recollection of the real, outside world. All the resurrected Nymphs talk and act as if they could just as well be non-playable characters. Yet, at the same time, they still seem to be the same people. They all remember the adventures they've had as Nymphs up until now and the friendships they have made, and they all even share the same personalities, which makes it all just all the more difficult. Still, even though the survivors know for sure they have heard about the Nymph's real-life identities from their very own mouths, the victims themselves have no such memories left. The memories about planet Earth, the home of their souls, have been lost to nothingness.

Everybody with a sense of self from their real identities remaining is left scared of the possibility, especially those that had tasted defeat or escaped doom by the skin of their teeth. Having had what she feared most be proven correct, Rain wants to return back to Snow's house to tell her friends.

Not wanting to leave Rain alone, Katja walks her there while trying to reassure Rain - and perhaps herself too - that everything will eventually turn out alright. "We've survived this far through thick and thin, and we keep getting stronger every day", she says. "As long as we look out for each other and keep safe, we have nothing to worry about."

"Y-yeah, keeping safe…" Rain responds. "That's priority number one right now…"

Katja nods and offers Rain a hug. Realizing they have reached their destination, Katja makes sure to make that hug extra tight and even offers Rain an apology. "I'm sad our date was ruined… I was really looking forward to that bath, y'know." Then, before Rain can even properly respond, Katja turns around, tapping around her user interface, looking at her map. "I hope to find you here later, so we can spar a little more, okay?"

Rain nods and smiles. "We're both gonna need it to get stronger." Then, as Katja leaves, Rain allows herself in through the unlocked door to find Snow and Wendy wide awake and a little confused about where Rain has been. After breaking the news about what had happened, they all rush to look for the allies Snow had lost; Polly and Hina. Luckily, they find them both and quickly confirm that these two Nymphs have also lost their memories from the real world, along with their real identities. It really is just bad news on top of bad news, just another layer of sinister truth about the nature of Nymphsaga. First, it was being stuck inside with no way out; then, it was the revelation about them being hunted by their enemies for sexual gratification, and now this? Suddenly the prospect of being captured seemed all the more horrifying.

When the three finally return to Snow's house with Polly and Hina, Snow turns toward Rain and Wendy with an apologetic look in her eyes. "Um, I hate to do this now, but we should be alone now…"

"I understand", Rain says, giving Snow a loving hug. "Thank you for letting us stay with you."

"No, thank you for helping us get here", Snow says and tries to smile. It's tough for her to look brave and confident, but she somehow manages. "And thank you for saving me with Lemon and Ron. You too, Wendy", she says, hugging Wendy next. "You're the best." With that, she walks to the door, but before she disappears inside her house with her two friends, she has one final request: "If you see the others, tell them to gather here, okay?"

"We will", Wendy promises, and with that, Snow leaves Rain and Wendy outside, wondering where to go from here. Wendy lets out a desperate sigh, turning towards Rain. "I couldn't believe it, but what you said really seems to be true."

Rain nods. Mixed together with her usually bland expression is a clear look of fear and worry. "And I can't believe I've gotten so close to getting defeated myself… That could've easily happened to me…"

"It's so terrifying to think about", Wendy admits. "I mean, me as well, except those Goblins never intended to finish us off, so to speak. I don't even know which would be worse: being a slave for God knows how long while keeping your memories, or respawning with all those memories gone?"

Rain thinks about it for a moment, but she can't come up with an answer. Both seem like bad options, and honestly, she doesn't even want to think about it because there's no way she would ever want to make such a choice. "More importantly, what does this all mean about returning to the real world?"

"I…" Before Wendy can even get her sentence properly rolling, she just freezes and lets out a sigh of desperation. "Sometimes, I wonder if there even is a way out of this all, or if this is just a big fucking prison we're stuck in for the rest of our lives."

"Seriously?"

"I mean fucking hell, how long have we all been here!?" Wendy asks, raising her voice and spreading her arms. "All of us, been here for so long now, and nobody's got a fucking clue about getting out of this world! And now this!? Are we even meant to get out, and if we are, what's the point if we forget everything about the real world!?"

Rain doesn't want to admit it, but she fears Wendy could be correct, and it terrifies her to the point that she starts bargaining with herself. "Y-yeah, but… I mean, this is just speculation, but maybe the memories could return once we leave this world…"

"Fuck, it's days like these that make me want to give up for real…" Wendy says. "But if our memories are at a stake when we lose, then we must fight on and survive, don't we?"

"We don't need to risk it, y'know", Rain says, hugging Wendy with one arm. "Yeah, we COULD continue looking for answers, looking for a way out, or we could just stop all this adventuring and prioritize safety and survival above all."

"It sounds like the smartest idea, at least at the moment", Wendy replies, trying to calm herself down. "Continue fighting, continue training, but no more adventures… Just train so we can defend ourselves if it comes to it…"

"I used to be adamant about trying our hardest and not giving up… But maybe I shouldn't be…"

"Whatever is the case", Wendy says, trying to draw some distance between herself and Rain, "we shouldn't decide anything alone, at least not until we all get back home."

"R-right…"

"Do you actually know where Pink and Lemon are?"

"No, but at least we know where Angel is. Let's go break everyone the news."

---

Ten or so minutes pass, but Rain and Wendy don't feel like talking all that much, not about anything productive anyway. Both of them just quietly think about what the future might hold for them and if adventuring is even worth it anymore with the insurmountable risks looming over their heads. They also think about what they just talked about: is it really worth fighting on? Would it really be better to just hide in a safe haven such as Grove or Paradise, never leave unless absolutely necessary, and just accept this prison, this seemingly inescapable world, as their new, permanent home? It's would be so easy to just say, but they both know it's not so simple. After all, they are not the only ones in their communities, and they both feel at least some responsibility to help others. They both would expect to get some help should they be in danger, so in that sense, they should also be able to offer it too.

As soon as they arrive at Bell's house, they knock on wood and wait. Rubbing her eyes straight out from the bed, Bell looks confused at her two guests. "W-what…? It's still night, isn't it?"

"Nah, it's just an eclipse", Wendy says and points at the sky. "It's midday soon."

"Wow, that's pretty nifty…" Bell admits, admiring the gas giant.

"Where's Angel? Still asleep?"

"Oh, right…" Bell says and smiles. "How should I put this… She was feeling kind of needy, and I'm not sure if I would've been able to satisfy her properly… So, I turned towards a friend for help because I know she has the right tools to satisfy a Nymph."

"Really?" Wendy asks with a genuinely surprised look on her face. "Never could've guessed that from Angel. Who is this friend of yours?"

"Her name is Ana. Want me to show you where she lives? We can go fetch Angel together."

"Oh, I think I know where that is", Rain realizes. "It's probably the same Ana who offered to house some of us earlier. She marked my map."

"Alright", Bell says, nodding. "I'll join you anyway. Let's go as soon as I get something proper to wear."

"Actually, there might be something else you might want to attend to", Wendy says. "Nymphs have started coming back to life, and this includes two of your friends who were lost."

"R-really!?" There's a sense of urgency in Bell's voice, and her face lightens up with joy. "Where are they!?"

"They're with Snow", Wendy explains, looking suddenly a lot more apologetic. "I-it's not all just good news though, I'm afraid… Still, you must meet with them as quickly as possible."

Bell stumbles back inside her apartment, all while looking for clothes to wear, apologizing to her friends. "I see. Thanks for telling me. I'll be going on my own way then."

And so, Rain and Wendy head north, where they hope to find Angel.

---

Ahead of them lies a large mansion, which both of them first suspect to be abandoned. Nevertheless, after rechecking their map to confirm they're indeed in the right spot, they bravely knock on its large front door. As is to be expected with a large house, they have to wait a while for anyone to answer, but surely enough, the door opens up for them. They instantly recognize Ana, wearing the same one-piece they initially met her in.

"Well, well, ain't this a busy morning", she says, leaning against the doorframe. "How can I help you two?"

"Is Angel with you?" Wendy asks, with her eyes inspecting the beautiful and large hall behind Ana. "Bell told us you took care of her."

"Did she now?" Ana asks, with a mischievous smile on her face. "Yeah, she's here. Come in."

"Thanks for taking care of her, by the way", Wendy says as she closes the door behind her as Ana leads her two guests upstairs.

"No need to thank me", Ana says. "I'm doing this out of my love for helping Nymphs." On the top of the staircase, she turns towards a corridor to the left. Ana then knocks on the first door from the right, and after being given permission to come in, she opens the door to find Angel dressing herself up, although still topless. They stare at each other tensely. "I bet you slept well, honey", Ana says, but Angel can't get a word out of her mouth. It's only after Rain and Wendy barge into the room that she allows herself to loosen up for a moment.

"Oh good, you look like you're ready to go soon", Wendy says, arms crossed. "I believe that a strategy meeting is in place."

"Would you like some breakfast before you leave?" Ana asks.

"Sorry, but this is a little more urgent", Wendy says. "Come on, Angel, cover your tits up so we can leave."

"Sheesh, what's the fuss about?" Angel says as she finishes dressing up. Then, they head straight for the front door, Rain and Wendy in front to get out of the house first. Before Angel is allowed to step out though, she feels Ana's hand on her shoulder and turns her head to listen to her whisper, something not meant for Rain or Wendy to hear. Angel nods in understanding and receives a smooch on her cheek before being allowed to leave. She sighs deeply and walks up to her friends, trying to smile.

"Did you have fun getting fucked silly?" Rain asks, arms crossed.

"Why do you have to phrase it like that?" Angel asks, blushing and pouting. Her face quickly softens though, and she smiles. "Yes, I did have a lot of fun. Maybe you should try it too."

"I already experienced it once", Rains says, but even though she jokes, saying it all just reminds her of the possibility of being defeated. "I-in all seriousness, I'd rather not think about getting fucked by ANYTHING right now…"

"D-did something happen?" Angel asks, seeming worried.

"We can talk about it later", Wendy says, looking Angel up and down curiously. "Still, I never expected YOU out of all of us to try out something that lewd."

Angel, despite appearing nervous, shoots right back with a tease of her own. "A-are you saying you would've more likely taken my spot then?"

"N-not at all!" Wendy says, blushing furiously as she tries to deny it. "I-I mean, I wouldn't expect it from any of us, but like… I'm not saying there's anything BAD with it, but - "

"Oh, shush already, it's okay", Angel says and giggles, amused by how flustered Wendy appears. However, this joy is quickly brushed aside by the memories of what happened to her, causing her to promptly retreat to her thoughts with her tiny heart beating fast for "Him". She lays her hand on her stomach, which still feels heavy. She knows "That" is still in there, perhaps until the rest of her days. Ana didn't say anything about it being a permanent change, but Angel feels that it just might be something that's a part of her now. Moreover, she's still feeling just as horny as she was yesterday before seeking aid, making her conscious of her sexuality and strong libido. 'What if those two notice it as well? Ana just told me that I absolutely can't let them know the truth about what happened…'

She recalls the events of last night and contemplates her change of attitude during what took place. Thrust by thrust, she forgot about her fear and anger until it was all gone, replaced by the joy she felt being made feel all those otherworldly sensations. Yes, joy. Pure, womanly, orgasmic joy. That's all that remained in the end; the joy of having been shown what she is capable of experiencing if she just surrenders all control to those who wish to dominate her. 'Is this what I have been afraid of, what I've been avoiding so? It was so scary and horrifying at first, but then… After I just allowed myself to forget…'

Then her attention switches to her friends, only to see Rain teasing Wendy about being so flustered, and she wonders, do those two feel the same as her? Angel may have been the first one to be defiled by her enemies, but she was ultimately the last of her inner circle of friends to experience a total defeat and a true feeling of helplessness. 'I wonder if they felt what I did.' She doesn't dare to ask it aloud because something tells her that those two are still clinging to that romanticized idea of living a life as a free, independent Nymph. Wendy admitted to her that she didn't think she was going to make it out from the Goblin's lair at one point, and Rain also once admitted to accepting she wasn't going to be saved from that tentacle demon. Angel feels like she's not like that. She may be walking on her own two feet, but in her heart, she still feels almost like she's a slave to Him and her own emotions. No, not just emotions, but also something more, something physical. After all, that throb is not gone, and that longing to return just intensifies with every step taken away from that place.

She longingly looks back the road from the mansion toward Paradise, with her heart beating at the thought of "Him" waiting for her to return. No, not just waiting, but compelling her to return. Why did she even let her go? Why did "He" let her walk free? 'Trying to put myself in their shoes, it just doesn't make sense to me… And how cruel is it anyway, to leave me with this longing to be ravished…? It's not enough… I need more, and I will return to His grasp…'

Chapter V - Eclipse