Nymphsaga/The Raid of Fort Hammercliff

The Great Expedition

Ever since the game of Nymphsaga began, the biggest external threats that Nymphs have faced are, without a doubt, the goblins.

According to a page of lore that will be left unreleased in this story, goblins are one of the four great humanoids of Phantasm that stand above all others in terms of intelligence. Tribal in nature, they're a species of wandering hunter-gatherers scattered across the entire world. They have some permanent settlements, but it is not really in their nature. Their species is genetically very diverse, and depending on the tribe and the subrace, they can vary significantly in size and even appearance. Rarely exceeding the average height of Nymphs, the smallest of them are usually little more than one meter in height, around three and a half feet on average, while the largest of them can grow up to be over two meters or almost seven feet tall. In their hierarchy, where strength is valued, these "hobgoblins" often occupy positions of leadership over their shorter cousins.

As far as their physical attributes go, their skin color varies from green to brown with varying degrees of vibrancy, with some even being grey instead of wearing more common, bright colors. They have little to no body hair, and their snout-faced heads tend to be bald too. The smallest goblins tend to have prominent facial features, such as abnormally large eyes and ears, which help them hunt in the dark and provide superb hearing. In contrast, the larger ones appear proportionally more human-like and tend to suffer from diluted senses as a result. More often than not, goblins of all sizes also have a lot of body fat, making them appear chubby, with more lean and muscular goblins being uncommon. Still, regardless of their body composition, they are pound for pound very strong, with even the weakest of them being able to outmatch any Nymph in terms of raw strength.

Goblins also share similarities to Nymphs who hunt in groups, and they rely greatly on the use of weapons and tools, both ranged and short-range. While their race cannot be considered magically gifted, their casters can manage the same low-tier spells that Nymphs can, with some unique ones as well. Exceptions to this apply, as the bigger hobgoblins are considered vastly more intelligent than normal ones.

Many goblins live near Grove because one of the most prominent tribes in Phantasm, the Hammercliff tribe, has its headquarters located in the forests nearby, on top of a steep yet small mountain, just a few hours' walk away from Grove. From there, they launch hunts and raids to the surrounding areas with a single goal: the sexual enslavement of all Nymphs.

Like most prominent species of Phantasm, goblins lust over Nymphs for their source, and will risk their lives to get their hands on them. Moreover, as an all-male species, they also rely on Nymphs for reproduction. Nymphs of Grove know this because they've seen it happen firsthand. Many, like Pink, tell stories of their groups being ambushed, allies being captured, and even raped before their eyes in the middle of the forest, with the survivors returning home alone, never to see their friends again. After all, once you've been captured, dragged away, and put in the Goblin King's chains inside Fort Hammercliff, there is no escape.

Stripped of their humanity and rights, the Nymphs imprisoned and enslaved live every waking moment of their new lives being raped. Enslaved for the sole purpose of being sexually ravaged and impregnated over and over again, goblin cocks grind and pound them day in, day out, pumping them full of thick semen while draining them of their endless source to satisfy their masters. This source feeds the growing goblin population, keeping the withdrawal symptoms from the lack of source away, while simultaneously giving the tribe fresh soldiers. Goblins live short lives and as a result, breed like rabbits, with an average pregnancy lasting less than a week, and a newborn goblin growing to become an adult in less than a month, and as both sex slaves and nurseries, the Nymphs provide them with the population, whether they want to or not.

Grove yet holds firm against the tribe hunting them in their own backyard, but as the population of Grove suffers and dwindles, the tribe grows stronger, and despite having its protective barrier intact to protect the population centers from raids, it may only be a matter of time before Grove finds itself overwhelmed. They fear that sooner or later, it will be too late to resist and fight back.

With one and a half weeks of game time behind Nymphs of Grove, they find their ranks thinning so much that they decide to focus their efforts on crushing the goblins. They have to do it while defeating them is still relatively easy. Of course, the goblins can never get past the barrier, and Nymphs can, in theory, stay safe if they choose to never leave Grove, but do they want to become prisoners of this barrier? Nymphs of Grove actively debate this, but the answer of the large majority at the moment is "No". Besides, there's no guarantee that the barrier will be there forever. They have no active reason to believe it would disappear, but many feel they shouldn't rule anything out.

So, the Nymphs want to take out the Hammercliff tribe, but they have one big problem: they do not know the exact location of their fortress. They know it's somewhere to the north of Grove, but that is where their information regarding its location end. And sadly, without precise knowledge, they can not launch a large-scale counter-attack to the dangerous reaches of the forest.

With their unreliable and possibly hostile leader, High Priestess Geraldina, still locked into her pyramid with no way of getting inside or getting her out of there, new leaders have risen in her place. They're not princesses or queens, not religious figures, and not even elected politicians; instead, they're charismatic and widely respected Nymphs who have taken the initiative to motivate others around them as warlords and philosophers of sorts. They prefer to call themselves representatives and organizers, but many view them as leaders and role models to look up to. Having even formed a council of sorts, they gather to discuss events, critical news, and possible plans for survival in a large outdoor theatre, eerily similar to those of ancient Greece, in front of an engaging public crowd, most of which are the friends of these same organizers. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join these open forums, as most Nymphs taking the stage don't even want to be there. They simply feel that someone must.

Nymphs, like humans, are people who have very different opinions and subscribe to different political and religious ideologies. Nymphs, in fact, disagree on many things, but the vast majority agree on one thing: to survive, they must stick together in a strong collective. This is a war of survival they're fighting. That's why every decision is made by a vote through direct democracy, where everyone is committed to following the majority's decision. Sometimes it can be tough for the minority, and sometimes they might even make bad decisions, but it's what Nymphs in Grove have decided and what they all stick to, both in good and in bad.

Coming out from this hub is news about a decision to deal a killing blow to the Hammercliff tribe and rescue the captive Nymphs, as voted by an overwhelming majority. Most of the expeditions to the unknown must now focus on the northern region, as Nymphs concentrate their efforts on discovering the location of Fort Hammercliff.

Wendy, having represented her own group of friends, was present in these discussions. She is considered a community leader of sorts by many Nymphs even though she does not actively participate in public meetings and is only present to vote and listen. Still, her face is widely recognized as an active member of the community and a reliable Nymph capable of organizing and leading expeditions into the unknown, and none know this better than her own party.

Having just heard the news from their representative, the quintet of Rain, Wendy, Angel, Pink, and Lemon pack their supplies and depart Grove with plans to venture far away from home in hopes of finding the infamous Fort Hammercliff. Having been relatively successful for the past few days, they're not afraid of the dangers lurking deep in the forest. Not only have they reached the supposedly maximum level of four, but they have also upgraded their arsenals, wardrobes, and professions accordingly and are in a prime position to succeed in this adventure.

Now, why the "supposedly maximum level of four", you might wonder? Nymphs also wonder about it, as it is impossible to gain more experience after level four. They know there is a fifth level, but nobody knows how to get there yet. Most well-studied Nymphs suspect it has something to do with professions, as they all offer new abilities to players that can drastically improve their performance, but they can't be sure.

---

Before we advance the story, why don't I go through some of the talents they have picked? After all, these talents are directly linked to their abilities and give a good idea of how they fight.

First off is Rain, who has picked "Athletics" and "Speed" as her talents. "Athletics" is helpful for her since it is a talent that allows her to move easier and with less stamina being consumed. In addition to being a successful raider, she is quite experienced as a duelist from her days in Mormia. Because of this, she can fully utilize her athletic skills in gymnastics and parkour, making her untouchable against ordinary enemies in one-on-one situations. Given that she's supposed to be a tank for the party, this is very useful because she is weak to direct attacks, and being able to dodge almost anything reduces her need for blocking and parrying attacks. "Speed" is a no-brainer for her as well, as it makes her quicker in every way possible. Together with "Athletics", it eliminates almost all of the stamina usage from her movements, allowing her to sprint insane distances without breaking a sweat while focusing her stamina on attacks. Needless to say, these two talents go well together and fit her style like a glove.

"Athletics" is a talent available for rangers, and it's Wendy's first talent of choice too. While she is a ranger, she prefers mid to short-range, as pistols in Nymphsaga are designed for that. Moving quickly on the battlefield is critically important for her, and so is dodging incoming attacks. Her second talent choice is "Ammo Specialization", which allows its user to change the element of any ammunition from physical to literally anything else. She wants to do this because Rain and Lemon already rely on pure physical damage, and can't do as much about it as she can. For Wendy, this is not an easy feat either, as changing the element on the weapon requires "Spell Crystals" to be equipped, which, as previously mentioned, are also used by casters to unlock specific spell sets in the game. Wendy is lucky to get an Arcane Stone quickly, allowing her to shoot magical bullets dealing arcane damage.

Angel's first choice is obviously "Restoration", as it boosts her restorative abilities and mana regeneration, making her more effective as a healer. Her other talent is "Barriercraft", which enables her to cast all kinds of magical shields and barriers, which can be used both offensively and defensively. For her, this mostly means being able to better protect her allies, and more importantly, herself. A protective barrier, for example, can block a single attack and be vital in situations where Nymph is surprised from behind, which is something she feels like she needs. On that note, all talents give out new abilities, even the passive ones, so while Rain's and Wendy's talents seem passive in nature, that's not all there is to them.

Pink is a reckless mid to short-range caster who uses magical bracelets as her weapons instead of using a wand or a staff. This makes her immune to disarming effects and provides her with hastened casting speeds, but this comes at the cost of limited accuracy and range. Of course, in theory, she can hit targets very far away, but it is not easy, especially considering her play style. As a clothier, she also has access to a "Transformation" spell, which she can use to turn herself into a "Magical Girl" and imbue her fists and feet with magic, making her deadly at melee range when needed. However, while it's easily the most powerful ability in her arsenal, it's not very reliable since maintaining this transformation requires a constant supply of mana.

Pink's first talent choice is "Instant Casting", which allows her to decrease all of her spell's cast times by a little. While attacks that require little to no casting become instant, they're not actually something she can conjure on demand, as instead of having a cast time, they get a cooldown equal to the length of the cast time. Of course, it's still preferable, as she can shoot better while moving, instantly after taking aim. Her second talent is "Dual Slots", which allows her to equip two Spell Crystals simultaneously, a valuable talent for learning a wider arsenal of spells. At the moment, she has access to a rare tier-three Spell Crystal, which has both the fire and lightning elements attached to it, as well as a lesser arcane stone, which she doesn't care about too much.

Lastly, there's Lemon, the silent assassin who prefers to watch over the rest of the group from afar, catching her enemies by surprise before they even know what hit them. She can't move well with a heavy and cumbersome weapon, so she relies on stealth and distance as her defense, which fits her very well as her avatar isn't naturally athletic. She is very good at aiming, though, having practiced Kyūdō as a hobby since early childhood.

Lemon's first talent is "Stealth", which passively makes her invisible to enemies as long as she stays still and keeps a reasonable distance. She can still be sensed through sound, smell, and even overflow of source, but that's a minor problem, especially in a group setting where the attention of enemies is often concentrated on other Nymphs. The initial damage from the stealth shot is always multiplied by three, and critical hits to vital organs further deal double damage, making stealth shots extremely deadly, especially if she can stay hidden throughout the entire fight. Her second talent is "Longshot", which increases her damage output based on her distance from her enemy. Given that she's good at aiming and the synergy between her talents, she is not only the heaviest hitter of all the Nymphs in the group but also perhaps as heavy a hitter as a Nymph can theoretically be. Still, she's also vulnerable, making her a "glass cannon" in the most literal sense of the name.

Now, back to the more relevant parts of the story.

---

Their group finally reaches the northern edge of the Misty Forest, where a tall cliff separates it from the Hammercliff Valley. Ahead of them lies a mountainous landscape with white, bald cliffs rising from the midst of the dense jungle, but no matter where they look, they can't find any signs of the fortress or any signs of civilization for that matter.

"It seems like we made it to the border", Wendy says, stretching her arms and spine after a long walk, thinking about the walk ahead, which may be even longer. "Quite a view, but where oh where do we get down?" she wonders, with her eyes scanning the area.

"Not sure", Rain says, observing the nearby area, "but I'm a little worried about being seen now. It's like we're presenting ourselves on a god-damn pedestal for every goblin to see, standing on top of a cliff."

"I'm more worried about how we get back up once we're down there", Angel points out.

"Oh, stop your worrying, both of you", Wendy says. "There's our safe route to get up and down without climbing, a little bit to the west", she adds, pointing at a spot where the zones connect through the forest, with no tall cliffs in sight.

Lemon joins in the discussion with a suggestion. "Should our first priority be mapping this area on top of the cliffs? If we can secure a safe route, it will make going back and forth from the valley to Grove easier and faster."

"Remember that little rock we walked past ten minutes ago?" Wendy asks. "Someone at the council meeting gave everyone several markings about the area, as mapped by her own party, so we can use them as our checkpoints."

Lemon nods with a happy smile on her face. "Oh, so that's what the stone was about."

"Yeah, it's the best checkpoint, in my opinion", Wendy says. "All we have to do is get to the crossing, and we've secured a safe route."

"In any case, that was one long fucking walk", Rain says and sighs. "I already wanna take a break."

"We can relax for five minutes, no problem", Wendy says. "Everyone okay with that?"

There are no disagreements. They get away from the cliff, where they could possibly be seen from below, and they sit down for a quick breather and a snack.

---

After resting for a while, they take one final stroll back toward their first checkpoint in hopes of securing a good route for their inevitable return. While doing this, Lemon, following the group from a distance to keep track of what's behind them, notices something in the corner of her eye. It's a sole goblin scout, a little green bastard with pearly black eyes gleaming between his thick and flabby cheeks and forehead, walking straight towards the unsuspecting group of four who are more tightly packed to one place. Lemon doesn't know if this is a coincidence, but the goblin seems hostile with its daggers drawn out. This causes her to draw her bow, take aim and tighten the bowstring to its limits. She can't just alert her friends, as the enemy would hear. Besides, goblins never act alone, and she knows this.

'It must be accompanied by others, but where are they?' Lemon can't see any other goblins anywhere. 'Should I try killing the goblin right away?' She's one hundred percent sure she could do it, but she's afraid to initiate combat.

"You should've shot."

A rough voice startles Lemon, who feels her heart skipping a beat. She turns her head around to see a giant goblin, way taller than any other she's seen before, and wielding a massive club, he is already preparing for a swing. Lemon manages to dodge it at the last second, but knowing her cover has already been blown, she realizes there's only one thing left to do.

"They're here!" she screams, alerting her allies of imminent danger.

Immediately, the four Nymphs walking together ahead of Lemon all turn in different directions, drawing their weapons. Rain is the first to see the hobgoblin harassing Lemon, now trying to grab hold of her with his hands. Rain rushes in for help and scares the goblin away with a swing of her own, an attack that the hobgoblin manages to dodge masterfully. Standing erect, he is slightly over one and a half meters in size. Taller, more muscular, and definitely fatter than Rain, he looks like a genuinely menacing foe. Even smaller goblins can be formidable opponents with their unpredictable attack patterns and teamwork, but this one is an absolute monster, an elite goblin. It's not a foe that Rain feels confident about defeating.

"What's the matter, little girl?" the hobgoblin asks. "Scared?"

Rain is immediately shocked to hear this monster speak clear English. It's the first time for her, as the monsters she has faced so far have not been able to speak in familiar languages. She knows that goblins have an advanced language of their own, and even understand some important keywords from English, but this one can do much more. "Hide somewhere, Lemon", Rain says, putting herself between her friend and her opponent. "You know what to do."

Lemon nods and runs away, trying to find a new position to attack from.

Meanwhile, trouble is heading toward the others as well, with the dual-wielding scout, accompanied by a pair of other melee fighters and a shaman, reaching the trio. Angel, who cannot do any damage against the enemy, retreats to a more centralized position from where she hopes to reach everyone, leaving the fight to her allies as she focuses on healing all four of them.

Pink lures two of the enemies in for a melee, quickly being forced into the defensive by them. For a moment, memories of her last battle against a large group of goblins spring to her mind, with her recalling how her group got separated, with everyone getting picked out one by one and slowly wiped out. 'But no way that's gonna happen today', she convinces herself, transforming into her melee form, with her fist flying straight toward the face of the dual-wielding scout. 'We're all much stronger than we were back then', she assures as her meteoric fist sends the scout flying, with the other melee fighter assuming a defensive position.

Surprised by the superhuman strength displayed by Pink's explosive close-range attack, they both step back in retreat, with Pink deciding to take full advantage of the opportunity. Supercharged by Angel's heals to keep her stamina rejuvenated, she fights and punches her way through the injured scout, who despite his best efforts, can't connect his daggers with Pink's skin. In fact, his attempts at attacking Pink only give her better opportunities for an attack, with her flame-infused diagonal kick to the goblin's head eventually finishing the enemy off.

Thinking he now has an easy task at hand striking his enemy's focus elsewhere, the remaining goblin attacks with a powerful, downward swing of his sword but misses his mark at the last possible moment, with the blade barely grazing the Nymph's skin. Cackling, thinking he's about to defeat and rape the Nymph in front of him, he doesn't even realize his grave folly. The last thing he sees before death is a fist cloaked in fire and lightning, which cracks his skull open as the wave of magic blows his brains out from the back of his head. It ends up being Pink's last attack before her transformation dies down. 'That was surprisingly easy', she thinks, quietly celebrating her victory as she slows down to gather her strength in peace.

Having seen Pink succeed, Angel concentrates her efforts on Rain and Wendy, thinking, 'if this goes on, we're gonna have no problems.' The hobgoblin fighting Rain worries her, but to her surprise, it's actually Wendy who's in more trouble. Being forced to fight against a shield-bearing, flail-wielding goblin together with the flame-weaving shaman, she's up against a pair of enemies she has no hope of defeating alone, especially with the tanky rank A goblin proving to be her Achilles' heel. Having his shield up constantly, Wendy can't get a good shot in, and with the tank positioned between her and the caster, she can't even eliminate the damage dealer in the back.

Wendy finds herself in a constant run, desperately trying to get away from the tank, who's unrelenting in his attempts to strike her down. 'If it wasn't for Angel, I would've already run out of steam', she grimaces, swearing in her mind over how much of a sticky situation she's in. Eventually, she catches a single opening and manages to take a shot at the defenseless caster, barely missing the heart. The caster immediately takes cover to heal and recover, leaving Wendy to focus on the shield-bearing goblin. However, having turned her attention away for a second proves fatal.

The enemy charges towards her, striking her down with a shoulder tackle and sending her into a stunned shock. Now on her back and struggling to get on her feet, she sees the goblin charge again, with the flail coming down on her. Unable to dodge in time, she instinctively tries to block the attack, but since her two little pistols are not designed to take hits, and since her arms are far too weak to stop the heavy morning star, the impact disarms her immediately, causing her to scream from the pain and shock.

As Wendy tries her best to regain her composure as soon as possible, she tries to get hold of her weapons once more, but with them having disappeared completely, she ends up just grabbing air. Furthermore, nothing she tries works. Her hands move barely, and so do her legs, but she doesn't have the energy to lift her body up or the mana to even open her user interface. Moreover, with the goblin now on top of her, pushing its thick hand against Wendy's face to block her from screaming for help, she finds herself utterly helpless.

'No fucking way, did I just seriously lose', she asks herself, knowing she just took a "fatal" blow. When Nymphs run out of stamina through consumption, they can't regenerate it for a short while, but when it gets drained away from damage, it can't be healed back up either. Furthermore, this defeat mechanic silences and drains away all the mana as well, and realizing this is indeed what just happened to her, she panics. 'It's gonna rape me', she realizes, as the goblin puts his hand on her body, groping and rubbing her flat chest while howling with laughter. With her teary eyes bulging wide open, she tries to scream into the goblin's hand, kicking her feet and clawing the goblin's arm, but nothing she does discourages or hinders the goblin on top of her. 'Where the hell are my friends!? I know Angel was healing me until the very end, so she at least must know the trouble I'm in!'

Angel realizes the plight of Wendy the instant she lets out a cry of pain, being struck by a flail. She can't see Wendy from the angle she is, especially with the goblin blocking her with his body, and she can't just target Wendy by clicking some button on her user interface either. Every spell must be manually aimed and have a clear route to travel through, even those that do not require a travel distance to reach their targets instantly. Her spells can't go through trees, and they especially can't go through enemies, as the enemy would just absorb her spells. 'And all I fucking have is holy spells, which would just heal it', she thinks, turning her attention to Pink.

"Pink, you've gotta help Wendy!" Angel calls out. "They're trying to capture her!"

Realizing what's going on, Pink runs for rescue, but her sprint is cut short. The enemy reinforcements are on the way, and three of them challenge Pink, forcing her to take this fight alone. Knowing she has limited time before Wendy is captured, she realizes she has to pull all stops again.

Meanwhile, Rain finds herself in a duel where neither fighter can get a hit. As nimble as Rain is, this elite goblin is just as fast and agile. Instead of having just one repeating attack pattern, the hobgoblin has at least five different attack patterns that Rain knows of. All of them are executed in random order, and they all can be interrupted mid-pattern if Rain tries to capitalize on them. When Rain attacks, the enemy dodges regardless of how his current pattern is progressing.

Frustrating as it may be for Rain to admit, this is not an enemy that she can defeat alone. In fact, this is the kind of enemy that no Nymph could ever defeat alone, no matter how strong they could get. He is simply that much better than a Nymph; bigger, faster, stronger, and way more durable. He can never run out of stamina, but Rain sure can. Rain knows she can't run away either, as she would just get caught trying. It is inevitable. She will lose eventually because he is a superior being, and she knows it.

However, she knows she has help, and having stalled the enemy for long enough, Lemon provides her with the aid she so desperately needs. A single arrow flying through the woods pierces the goblin's left pectoral muscle to deal massive damage, causing it to growl in pain. "You will pay for that, whore!" the hobgoblin roars as he rushes towards Rain, enraged.

'It hasn't rushed like this before!' Rain realizes as she panics, wondering if she should dodge, block, or try to counter the attack. 'Dodge', she decides and jumps out of the way, but the enemy doesn't even pay attention to her. He runs straight past her, with its sights set on Lemon, 'but where the fuck is she!?' Rain doesn't have a clue and falls into a state of panic as she rushes to her feet. 'Doesn't matter', she tells herself and sprints at her enemy, trying to stay on his heels.

With three goblins in her way, Pink knows she can't reach Wendy, not even with Angel's heals keeping her up and running. All the damage she does is negated by the enemy caster's heals, while the other two continue to push her back, and with her transformation ability requiring more mana than she has left, she knows she can't rely on it to defeat her enemies either. 'Is there nothing we can fucking do!?' she asks herself in desperation, calling out to her friends. "Rain! Lemon! Help us!"

"They're gone!" Angel shouts.

"Gone!?" Pink replies with a scream. "What happened to them!?"

"I don't fucking know", Angel responds. "The hobgoblin rushed toward the cliff after Lemon attacked it, and Rain rushed after it! I think they're in trouble too!"

Pink swears in her mind, asking herself, 'is this it for us?' How fast the tides of war shift indeed; a minute ago, she felt like she was on top of the world having defeated two goblins unassisted, but now she realizes they're actually losing badly. Even with a pair of goblins on top of Wendy with rope in their hands, they're still outnumbered, and exhausted to top it off.

In fact, the situation feels eerily similar to when she was ambushed by a group of goblins last time. She got separated from her allies and never saw any of them again. She knows their party has been defeated, and she's left standing once more, forced to ask herself, should she just run away again? 'No', she answers. 'Not this time. Angel's still left standing, and I'm not leaving her behind, just as she's not leaving me. And even if we may not be able to defeat these enemies or be able to save Wendy…' She stops to think, trying her best to stay focused and think rationally. Their defeat indeed is inevitable, as she sees it. 'Fuck, and what about Rain and Lemon? Are they even okay?'

Angel sees the situation with the same eyes as Pink, except she is much more terrified of what's happening. Not only that, but she's powerless to stop it, as none of her abilities even work on goblins. The panic starts to sink in as the memories of her last defeat flood her mind, with her recounting the memories of being raped by a monster, 'and if we stay here, that's gonna happen again.' Knowing she won't be saved this time around if that ends up happening, she yells: "We've gotta get the fuck outta here before they get all of us!"

It is a tough pill to swallow, but Pink has to agree. They've got to abandon their friends. 'We have to. There's nothing else we can do.' Pink feels like crying in rage just thinking about it, but for them all to be captured would be even worse. "Fuck!" she yells as she retreats from the three goblins.

Angel turns around to run, but not before seeing all three goblins stay on Pink's heels, matching her speed. 'How can those fat-ass goblins even run as fast as us!?' she wonders, fearing they could run out of steam before the enemy does. "They're after us!" she shouts.

"I know! Just run!"

"But I don't think we can make it!"

"Can't you make a barrier to block them or something!?"

"It takes time, and I would have to stay still!" Then, Angel gets an idea. She can't even believe she's about to suggest it, but she voices it anyway. "What if we split up? That way, they only get one of us!"

Pink responds with an emphatic "No!".

"I'll get their attention! That way, you can -"

"Don't even think about it!" Pink screams. "We can BOTH make it!"

Suddenly, after just a half minute of desperately trying to escape from the enemy, something appears to be moving towards them from the front. It's a small figure, fast on its feet, a Nymph charging straight at the goblins. Pink and Angel also see others a little farther away, a total of four more. They stop in their tracks and feeling like she couldn't run much further anyway, Angel proceeds to help the one charging in with her heals.

The Nymph in the front is fast, way faster than Rain. With a pair of daggers in her hands, she quickly manages to take out the enemy healer with a burst of attacks, and her allies follow not so far behind. The party's swordsman charges in, with their rifle-wielding gunner and a pair of casters staying with Pink and Angel. Realizing they're outnumbered, the remaining two goblins don't even try to fight back as they retreat, only to face immediate defeat.

"Is that you, Angel?" one of the casters asks, eyes wide behind her rectangular glasses. Angel recognizes Melody immediately and notices the worried look on her face, as she approaches her. "Where are the others? What happened?"

"It was an ambush", Angel says, trying to catch her breath. "There were way too many of them, and… they got the others…"

"How far away are they?" asks the dagger-wielding Nymph.

"I think we ran for at least thirty seconds", Pink says, also out of breath. "By the time we got away, Rain and Lemon were already gone, and Wendy got taken away as we escaped…"

A deep, collective sigh is released. "I don't think we can catch up to them anymore", Melody admits.

"It's worth a try", says the gunner. "Let's go search."

"Yes, of course", Melody answers and nods in agreement. "If there's even a chance at rescue, we're gonna take it", she adds, taking out a mana potion and offering it to Angel. "You're a healer, right? Take this. Let's take care of these hotshots together."

Angel nods slowly. With haste, led by Angel and Pink, the seven Nymphs head back to the battlefield.

---

In the end, they find the battlefield empty, with only two little floating loot boxes left behind as a depressing reminder of how little success they had. They search for a moment but find no sign of their friends, not even clues past what they already know.

As much as it pains Pink to repeat history by running away from a lost fight and leaving her allies behind, it pains Angel even more. When she was captured by the spiders, Rain and Wendy stayed behind to save her, yet the moment she was put into a similar position, she ran away like a coward, only thinking about herself. 'I could've stayed behind and fought back. If I had, these five would've probably found us anyway. But how could I have known that help was on the way?' The thoughts torment her, but what's done is done. 'I feel like such a failure. I failed my friends. I wouldn't blame them for hating my guts for abandoning them, considering how hard I find it to not hate myself right now.'

Yet, no matter how much she wants to cry, she knows that the pain she feels is probably nothing compared to what Wendy must be feeling right now. Maybe Rain and Lemon too, but she can't say for sure, as they don't know what happened to them, but Wendy's fate is clear. She's on the way to Fort Hammercliff, and they all know it. Angel doesn't even want to think about what's gonna happen to her, but considering that no Nymph has been able to escape that place, she knows it's nothing good, and the mere thought of Wendy having to suffer makes her want to cry.

'And what of Rain and Lemon?' she continues to wonder. 'I can only hope they're okay, wherever they are.'

"Let's go home", Melody finally decides.

"N-no!" Angel screams out loud. "We'll find them! I'm sure of it!"

"Angel, we've been looking for three hours", Melody continues. "If they were anywhere close by, we would've found them by now."

Angel doesn't want to accept it. There's no way she ever could. She knows the others are right, but her stubborn heart wants to continue searching.

Pink, feeling devastated herself, approaches Angel and hugs her. "We'll continue searching later, okay? We'll find them, I'm sure."

"Yeah, it's only a matter of time", Melody says, trying to fight back her anger. "And when we find their castle, they're all gonna fucking pay."

Those are the first words Angel feels like she can genuinely agree with. 'They will pay indeed', she tells herself, nodding as she wipes her tears away.

Fort Hammercliff, Part One

Excerpt from the Gamer's Logbook; "Exploring the Mechanics of Nymphsaga", entry number ???, "Nymphs and Mortality, Part One: Damage and Stamina Degeneration."

Make no mistake about it: Nymphs are NOT immortal. They will die if their bodies take too much damage.

That being said, Nymphsaga is not a game where enemies are trying to kill players, nor is it a game where Nymph's blood will be spilled by them. Rather, the primary motivation of enemies lies in rendering Nymphs unable to defend themselves, subduing them, and capturing them. Sword strikes cannot cut any player's limbs, and crushing blows will not flatten their organs. They can feel extreme pain, but their bodies will last anything thrown at them. Nymphs are ethereal in that sense since attacks will cut through them, leaving behind only a temporary mark.

All damage, both magical and physical, is done through stamina degeneration, where stamina gets drained away from players as they take damage. The stamina bar has two layers to it, out of which the first one is stamina that can be used by Nymphs for various tasks, and the second one is the bar itself. As Nymphs take damage or suffer through other physically demanding torments such as rape, their stamina bar will eat itself away, reducing the maximum amount of stamina they can recover until there is almost nothing left. Other things that can reduce maximum stamina are hunger, thirst, lack of sleep, and other physical needs. Nymphs only need a small fraction of what humans need to survive and can live without food or drink for up to three days without consequences, but these needs cannot be ignored completely.

When the bar is reduced to 20% of its original size, Nymph's body will collapse and break down, sending them into a "fainted state" where they will not be able to function normally anymore. If in captivity, they continue their lives as nothing more than powerless ragdolls. Yet, their minds will last, as they must endure whatever happens to them afterward. Nymphs can be physically killed only while in a "fainted state", but this is extremely rare, especially in the hands of enemies. The degenerated bar will not be restored by heals and must be recharged by a comfortable good night's sleep.

---

With no stamina or mana left to defend herself, Wendy cannot save herself and finds no assistance from her allies. Still pinned down, still being groped, she continues to kick and resist, but her attacks continue to prove ineffective. It's like kicking a heavy sack of potatoes: nothing she does makes the goblin budge. In a last attempt of desperation, Wendy's knee strike connects with the goblin's private parts, but even that proves useless. The goblin, wearing some kind of protection underneath its leather pants, just laughs with its inhumane cackle and leans closer as if trying to lick her face. Eyes wide open, white-faced in disgust, she trembles in fear, unable to even turn her head with her mouth blocked, and her body freezes. With his strange accent, the goblin calls her "Naughty", and continues to feel her body up.

Then, the slightly injured shaman she got a shot at earlier comes to his friend's aid, and they start to discuss something in a language foreign to Wendy, which reminds her of no language she's ever heard. The pronunciation sounds Germanic, the pacing sounds fast like in Spanish or Japanese, and the words themselves are all over the place. Wendy catches a glimpse of the shaman with a long rope in his hands, and then sees the one pinning him down apply some clear liquid from a poison bottle to a dirty cloth in his hand. Before Wendy can even realize what's going on, he lifts his hand, only to push the fabric against her face. She continues to struggle and tries to scream as she breathes in this foul liquid, which drains away all the strength she has left, paralyzing her and quickly putting her to sleep.

The goblin takes another piece of dry cloth and rolls it up to a tube, pushing it down on Wendy's mouth, forcing it between her teeth, tying it up, and gagging her completely. Goblins then turn her over on her stomach and tie her hands up with one-third of the rope, leaving the next third to tie her hands to her torso, and then the last third to tie her ankles and knees together. And finally, raised to the goblin's shoulder, lying limp like a rolled-up rug, she is taken away without anyone coming to her aid.

Then, a couple of hours later, she wakes up and comes to her senses, immediately wishing she didn't. Still lying limp on the goblin's shoulder, her head facing the road behind her, the goblin holds her by her butt, and given how warm and sweaty her pants feel, he must've held it there for a long while. Her gut tells her to flail and scream, but realizing how much of a tight package she's in, she barely even moves. She can also tell that she hasn't been raped yet, but she honestly doesn't know whether or not it's a good thing. Of course, she doesn't want to be raped even in her sleep, but the way she sees it, 'perhaps if they raped me while I slept, I wouldn't have had to suffer through it.'

'Then again, I would've probably woken up anyway', she supposes, as she tries her best to stay as still as possible. Petrified in fear, the tension she feels is excruciating because she knows it's all still ahead of her. Minute by minute, she becomes surer of her demise, a fate she is not mentally ready for. She knows she's not going to be saved after unwillingly taking a cock for a few minutes, as was the case with Angel with the spider, and Pink with the wolf. No, she knows she's going to get raped by a monster much stronger than her, and then impregnated by him. 'And then they're going to rape me again', she realizes, with tears of terror already welling in her eyes, as she tries to hold herself back from making any noise. 'And again, and again, and again, and again, who knows for how many hours, how many days… even weeks, perhaps…'

Yet, no matter how much she doesn't want it, she can't do anything about it. She knows it, she hates it, and just thinking about it makes her skin crawl.

Her only saving grace is to perhaps escape, but how? 'Wiggling out of these binds is utterly impossible', she suspects, not even wanting to waste her breath trying, 'not that I would make it far anyway. I don't even know where I am. In the middle of a jungle clearly, far away from home.' She knows her only option is to be saved, but by whom? 'My friends? What the hell happened to them? I'm pretty sure I'm alone, based on what I'm seeing from this angle, so the other must've gotten away. I sure hope they did.'

She turns her head and body around a little, trying to assess her situation further, wondering if screaming would do any help. 'I know I could be able to make a lot of noise, even with this dirty rag gagging me, but something tells me nobody's here.' That's when a firm smack to her butt startles her, causing her to mumble from shock and surprise into the cloth.

"Bad girl", the goblin carrying her says. "No struggle."

Knowing that resisting and struggling won't do any good or help her situation, she decides to comply, as much as it pains her. 'Maybe if I just do what they say, and don't make a fuss, I'll make it easier for myself', she realizes, staying as calm as possible while still trying to look around. 'Not that you can make rape much easier.'

Then, they finally reach their destination, Fort Hammercliff. As the name suggests, it's a grey stone fortress built on top of a steep mountain, with its upper parts standing and mostly intact, and its lower parts in ruins with the jungle having reclaimed most of the castle yard at the foot of the cliff. She only manages to catch a glimpse of it before she's taken through a palisade gate built by the goblins to surround the ruins, with a goblin village built amidst the rubble, the pillars, and the jungle.

Whatever hope of intervention and being rescued she previously had drains away, as she knows she's past the point of no return. With the village swarming with goblins living their daily lives, she knows no ordinary party can save her. 'How many of them fucking are here', she wonders, noticing how the goblins look at her, laughing, smiling, licking their lips, and tugging on their pants. 'And how many of them are gonna rape me!? If there's that many of them, no way it's gonna be just one or two!'

However, even as she's dragged through the village into the castle's ruined interior, a vast stony hall with a collapsed roof, none of the goblins in the village follow her. Instead, the party of goblins takes her to a passage at the side of the hall, leading her down a tunnel deep beneath the mountain. The corridor itself is narrow and dark, with no torches lining the walls, and despite the many rows of jail cells with iron lining the walls, she can't see inside many of these cells. She can only hear the countless wails of the Nymphs imprisoned in these dungeons. Some cry, some moan. Some are full of life and energy, while others sound tired and lifeless. Some sound like they're afraid, and some sound angry. Some even sound surprisingly willing, and that's the part that shocks Wendy the most. 'Have they given up?' She doesn't know the answer, but she personally can't imagine seeing herself reduced to such a state.

As soon as the goblins find the first empty cell, they carry Wendy inside a small, empty room reminiscent of a torture chamber lit by eerie, magical lights. There are no locks, but the doors and handles look too heavy for her to open alone. For now, though, the door remains open. With a tall stone slab in the middle, perhaps serving as a table or maybe a bed, the walls are littered with iron and chains, with even a wooden rack on the wall lined up with tools and toys for sexual plays, or as she would like to call it, "torture". The shield-bearer finally lays Wendy down in the middle of the slab and leaves her sitting up, with five goblins surrounding her. Wendy stares the goblin dead in the eye, knowing this indeed is the same one who defeated her, but the goblin himself doesn't pay attention to her, not yet. Instead, he discusses something with others while laughing and smiling. Left out of the discussion, unable to understand what they're saying, she becomes increasingly scared of what's about to happen to her.

A rattling sound startles her. A chain drags through the cold, hard floor, and she notices an iron collar in one goblin's hands. She begins to kick and struggle against the binds, but the shield-bearer grabs her hair and pushes her head against the stone. As she screams into the cloth, the other goblin presses the collar around her neck, locking it tight. Heavy for a Nymph to bear, with a surprising amount of room for her neck to move, Wendy could fit her palms under it, but with the key in the enemy's possession, she knows the chains won't be coming off. She knows she's a slave now, and the collar is the proof. With the goblin still holding the chain in its hands, he pulls down on it hard, making sure Wendy can't lift her head or back from the slab.

Then, they rip the cloth off her face, almost as if wanting to hear her cry, and as the bladed weapons come for her, she gasps and shakily begs "No". Cold steel kisses her body but dares not to cut her skin as the tips slowly find their way underneath the ropes, and more importantly, underneath her clothes. Hands tied behind her back, she watches as the package starts to unravel and begins to squeal. Starting from her belly and continuing toward her neck, the sharp knife cuts through the cloth and the rope, slowly revealing her stomach, and as they finally feast their eyes on her flat chest, they begin licking their lips at the sight of her two tiny nipples. Horrified, she can't hold back the tears any longer.

They cut her legs free, pull on her shoes and socks, and then her belt, ripping it open. Now, somewhat free, out from the ropes, she tries to resist again, only to find out how weak she truly is. She is nothing against the hands that undress her. Piece by piece, they expose her body, with the knife targetting her pants, cutting them open from the sides, along with her panties, but leave the tattered bottom on her for the time being. They even cut the ties on her hands, which honestly surprises her, not that it matters.

Suddenly, Wendy notices something. She was so focused on the goblins undressing her that she forgot about the one that didn't. The largest and fattest of them, the same goblin who defeated her, stands naked in front of the slab, with its green, erect cock in front of her, and with eyes wide open, she can't even look away. 'It's so huge', she realizes, trying to size it up with her eyes. Even though the creature is about as tall as her, its genitals are not even remotely child-sized. It's large like an adult human cock, and that scares her.

The goblin grabs hold of her pants from the front, ripping them away with one clean pull, along with her panties, causing Wendy to scream as her pussy gets exposed. Frantic and panicked, she pushes her knees together and shoves her hands forward to cover herself up, but the goblin grabs her thighs with its chubby sausage fingers, pulling her legs apart effortlessly. Wendy continues to kick and scream "No", as she still covers her genitals up, but with the goblin pulling her closer to the edge of the slab, he positions himself between her legs, making it impossible for her to close them.

"No, stop!" she screams and begs, trying to shake her hips defiantly in a sorry attempt to close her legs, thinking about wanting to push the goblin's fat belly away. However, she freezes before she can even move her hands from her pussy, noticing the erect cock over her stomach, with the entire length hovering over her belly button with the tip barely reaching past it. She holds herself from pushing, doing her best not to touch it. She doesn't want to even accidentally feel that green, stinky piece of meat on her skin.

'Don't you DARE put that thing in me', is what she wants to say, with a furious tone, but she's too scared to speak out and too hysterical to form full sentences in her mouth. She can only manage simple words like "No" and "Please", weep in panic, and beg for it to stop. But no matter how much her tears flow, no matter how she struggles and screams and cries, the goblin won't stop. His hunger for source is bottomless, and he will do anything to get his cock wet with a Nymph.

Wendy doesn't even notice it at first, but another goblin comes for her. Climbing on top of the slab, he suddenly grabs hold of her wrists, prying her hands away from her groin and pushing them down with all his weight. Screaming "No" even louder than before while sobbing loudly, she tries to pull her waist away from the goblin in front of her, knowing full well her bald virgin pussy is now completely exposed for her rapist to use and see. Yet, no matter how much she tries to lift her body up, turn it over, or do anything else for that matter, it's all futile.

First, the goblin releases his grip from her thighs, grabbing hold of Wendy's waist with his right hand. Then he pulls his hips backward, with his left hand on the cock, pressing the raging boner down and presenting it to Wendy's little vulva. Leaking with precum, the tip kisses her opening and presses down on it. With both of her rapist's hands now resting on her waist, he leans forward and pushes into her slowly, pulling her waist against the cock with force at the same time, with her continuing to scream and cry in terror. 'It hurts! It hurts so much! I'm not even fucking wet!' She almost wishes she would be, but the goblin doesn't seem to care.

The first thrust is very slow and difficult indeed, but as the cock painfully tears through her hymen, the rest of the shaft follows. A quick and powerful thrust into the hole deflowers her, causing her to let out an agonizing scream caused by the dry insertion. Her hole painfully stretches to the shape of her first cock, which now sits still inside her, pushing against her deepest reaches. Her pussy instinctively tries to push the rapist out, trying to contract and tighten back to its natural shape, but she only ends up gripping the goblin's cock harder, making him even more eager to rape her.

Grinding out and grinding back in, skin massages her insides, sending shockwaves up her spine through the nerves inside her and around her opening. The rock-hard cock feels feverishly warm inside her crushing grip, and the goblin slowly picks up the speed. At the receiving end of this blunt force, Wendy still continues to cry "No", begging for it to "Stop". 'How can it even enjoy this!?' she asks, staring her rapist in the eye as he grunts through his sadistic grin. She can't even see his dick from the position she's in, not with the goblin's chubby belly shaking on top of her as he plows in and out of her.

As the goblin moves as fast as the tight hole allows him to, the moisture begins seeping out of her. With every hit against her cervix, she tightens up a little bit and feels a wave of unwanted pleasure sent through her lower body, causing her pussy to get wetter as a response, much to her dismay. She knows it's probably better than not getting wet at all, as it will relieve her pain, but she just doesn't want to accept it. It doesn't make sense to her, and she can't get over how she's forced to feel pleasure from an act she doesn't even want to participate in.

'It's not fair', she tells herself, as her screams and shouts become increasingly quieter. She still continues to beg for the goblin to stop, but between her pleas, her breathing grows more labored, with her gasps of pleasure trying to resist her from moaning. 'It's raping me, so how can its cock make me feel like this? I'm not even supposed to be a girl! And I'm not even gay, so how can a fucking rapist's cock make my… my pussy… feel… it feels so unfair! It just won't stop raping me! Why won't it stop!?'

Yet, she also knew this would happen, given everything she's read and heard about Nymphs. Her weakness, her involuntary physical responses, she knew that all would happen. She thought she'd be able to resist it, be stronger than it, but in the end, she's just a Nymph, and she can't fight her biology. No Nymph can, because sex is what they're designed for. It doesn't matter whether it's consensual or not, and it doesn't matter whose mind is trapped inside its body; a Nymph must feel pleasure. It's inevitable, and Wendy is learning this first-hand through her hardcore rape.

The goblin really starts to pick up pace as it becomes increasingly easier for him to do so. Squishy claps and slaps fill the room alongside the Nymph's cries as her wet love coats the rapist's cock, helping him tear through her vagina. To her, it almost feels like the cock's reaching even deeper than before. She feels almost as if her internal organs are being flattened by the cock, like meat being tenderized. Every single thrust is brutal like a punch, and with the strong hands holding her in place, the punches are just intensified. Yet, there is no pain. The only physical sensation she is capable of feeling right now is an irresistible pleasure. Everything else is dulled and has faded out. Her sense of pleasure feels almost magnified, with every other sense drowning under intense ecstasy. Needless to say, Wendy's mind still is not exactly in line with her physical sensations. In fact, her mental condition just starts to worsen as she becomes even more confused. Excruciating anticipation of what's going to happen next torments her soul. She knows where this is going.

The goblin lifts her lower body up from the stone and leans his body backward as he pushes his hips forward harder, grunting like a gorilla. 'It's gonna cum at any second', she realizes, recognizing the piston-like movement of a male about to ejaculate. 'And I can't be too far from my own orgasm either! Not with how its cock is making me feel! I can't even hold myself back from moaning!' Her body finally begins to give up completely, disconnecting itself from her head, where she wants none of it. Having been unable to voice her usual pegs or pleas for a minute now, even her voice betrays her as her screams have been entirely replaced by loud moans of undeniable pleasure. Yet, despite her wanting so bad not to cum, every single quick thrust brings her closer and closer to the climax until she finally reaches the zenith.

Like a bolt of electricity, pleasure penetrates her brains, and she's forced to literally scream from pleasure. Ecstasy is written all over her teary face, having been turned silly despite her previously terrified expression, and she can't keep her mouth shut for a second. No longer being able to deny her reality, even her mind gives in momentarily. 'Good fucking god it feels so fucking good!'

She's brought back to reality from the pleasure-infused trance, and her moaning stops as the cock stops. The goblin ejaculates inside her, and she lets out one final scream of terror. She can feel a rock-hard cock throb inside her in a melting heat, and she can feel it fill her up, and given everything she knows about goblins, she knows she's fucked. 'It's cumming! It's cumming! It's… I… I should've known', she thinks, as she stares at her own belly in disbelief. Despite not being able to see what's happening inside her pussy, she feels all of it, and with the way the cock still throbs uncontrollably inside her, she knows his ejaculation isn't even over. 'It's cumming so much… I'm gonna get pregnant for sure…'

Grunting and gasping as he lets out a growl-like moan, her rapist finally backs away, pulling his dick out of Wendy's once-used little cunny, with his cock still leaking and throbbing, coated with cum from top to bottom. Still pinned down and unable to sit up, Wendy stares at the cock, feeling like fainting just thinking about it. 'Me, a goblin's mother', she tells herself, feeling her rapist's sperm drip down her perineum and anus as the excess leaks out of her vagina.

Before she even realizes what's happening, the next goblin pushes himself on top of her, physically presenting himself on the stone slab as the goblin behind her pulls on her hands to move her toward the slab's center. She recognizes him as the shaman from earlier, and despite her ability to close her legs momentarily, her tired body holds back. Instead, she just quietly lies still as the shaman positions its cock in front of her cum-soaked hole. All it takes is one quick thrust for him to get inside her, and this time, she doesn't even bother to scream "No". She only lets out a shrill moan as it pushes against her cervix. Then, after feeling her up for a few seconds, he begins to thrust immediately.

'Guessed that right', she supposes, with her mind having given up, and with no will to fight back. 'There's five of them. They're all gonna rape me one by one.'

Despite being just as tight as the first time, her cunny's all slippery with the mix of goblin jizz and her own juice, making the new goblin's movement quick and easy. Pushing himself down on top of her, the creature subdues her hands, taking complete control of his mate, pushing them down as he stares at her body, with his eyes squarely on her chest.

Wendy's attention, meanwhile, is squarely on herself. Eyes closed now, not wanting to stare her ugly rapist in the eye, she concentrates on what she's feeling. Her climax never truly subsided, leaving her feeling incredible even after the fact. 'I swear, this… fucking pedophile, rapist, lowlife bastard's gonna make me cum all over again', she thinks, trying to muffle her high-pitch moans with the lips tightly puckered against each other. The mere idea of it sounds so foreign to her too. Experiencing subsequent orgasms is not something she has ever even dreamed of achieving, especially not in the real world. Maybe during her first experiment with her hand, but the thought didn't even cross her mind. 'I didn't even want this a minute ago, and I still feel like crying my eyes out', she thinks, 'but I can't take it! It's almost like my body wants to cum! I want to cum so bad!'

Tip-toed, being literally fucked off the slab, with the goblin's cock keeping her lower back and butt suspended in air, her legs clasp against the goblin involuntarily as another climax overtakes her. Even though the going is nowhere near as fast as rough as it was with the previous goblin - at least not yet - the orgasm isn't any less intense. It's still enough to fry her brains and overload her senses as she can't even think straight for a short while, with the only thing on her mind being the goblin's cock grinding her tight pre-teen pussy inside out.

Like before, even after the climax dies, her body's left thirsting, with her heart pounding so hard afterward that she wouldn't find it surprising to lose herself to such intense pleasure. 'I'm really starting to sound like some of those other poor girls', she thinks, unable to keep her mouth clasped shut. 'But I… I haven't given up! Not like them!' Or so she'd like to think. The truth is, since she has never been tested and sexually tortured like this, she can't really tell how fragile she is. Still, the seeds of insanity to erode her mind away have already been planted, and should these flowers blossom, her mind would surely surrender to pleasure.

---

The five goblins continue to ravage her for over an hour, taking turns raping her, and as willing as Wendy's body has become, her mind isn't any more complicit. Her tears have dried up, as even her cries have drowned under the tidal waves of pleasure. The only thing that Wendy can honestly be grateful for at the moment is the fact that they're more than content with using her vagina and have not tried to force cocks into her mouth or her ass.

Commotion fills the room, but not one filled with alarm, and faced away from the door, fucked from behind on her fours, Wendy can't see what's going on. There's talk, there's laughter, and there are heavy steps approaching her, so she knows it can't be anything good. The goblin pulls out mid-fuck from her before he even gets a chance to ejaculate. There is someone new to do her; a sixth goblin, presumably a big deal in the eyes of the other goblins, because no way would they give up fucking her so easily otherwise.

"Wow, you look like a good fuck", the goblin's voice says, as he laughs with a deep voice.

'Wait, it can speak!?' Wendy is caught completely off guard by those words. She only opens her mouth to gasp in surprise, but she's still too scared to speak. Hands larger than the previous ones take hold of her shoulders as they lift her to sit down. Slowly, Wendy turns around to look at the new goblin's face as he takes a look at her body. Wendy recognizes it as a hobgoblin, standing much taller than the other grunts in the room.

"Hahaha, aren't you a cute one? You might be my favorite so far from the ones today." His flattering doesn't make her any happier. In fact, they only make her more nervous and scared. Her eyes drop down to this already naked goblin's groins, and she sees his erect dick. Her eyes are locked on the cock that has to be larger than an adult's forearm. It's big, it's thick, it's veiny, and with its brown hue and mottled green skin, it's downright just mean. Honestly, it looks almost like a dildo to her, as she can't believe such a behemoth could be attached to a living being.

Pep returns to her body the instant goblin lifts her up, holding her up by her legs, grabbing onto them tightly as he forces her legs spread apart. She flails her tired legs as she feels her back tugged closer toward the hobgoblin, with all fifteen kilograms of iron chain attached to the collar resting on the goblin's shoulder and hanging from his back. In an upwards position, kept high in the air like a little toy, Wendy looks down and observes the up-facing erection underneath her quim, on top of which she's about to be dropped soon.

"No!" she screams, and with her hands free to move, she lowers her hand to block her pussy. "It won't fit! Spare me!"

"Hahaha, and they told me you're not very talkative!" the hobgoblin laughs. "So, it is MY cock that finally made you beg for mercy? I'm honored."

"Don't put it in! Please, anything else!" Having his hands focused on the legs, he thinks for a moment about what to do. Well, all he has to do is move Wendy's body a little bit forward, and suddenly, the glans is kissing her anus instead. Her eyes open wide like a couple of clean plates, and she screams loudly in panic. "I WAS KIDDING! SHOVE IT INTO MY PUSSY, I BEG YOU!"

"Oh, who could resist a plea like that!" the hobgoblin growls, happy to oblige, as he honestly wants pussy more than ass.

'Fuck! I can't believe I actually let myself beg like that', Wendy moans, shaking in fear and wanting to cry all over again. Reduced to such a pitiful state, she feels so weak and pathetic. 'But at least my ass is spared', she thinks, supposing such an insertion would've hurt like hell.

Fearing the hobgoblin might change his mind, Wendy decides it's in her best interest to not mount any resistance, but it doesn't make staying still any easier. Feeling tense and stiff, she trembles as the goblin pushes her down on the giant cock, with its tip squarely in place and not slipping away. He loosens his grip for a moment, wanting to have Wendy's weight fall down on the dick as she takes it in, and slowly but surely, the tip begins to stretch her wide open. With every inch added to the circumference of her stretched-out vagina, her face turns crazier, but the full insertion doesn't follow. With her hands still touching her vulva, now avoiding the cock, she starts to hyperventilate with new tears rolling down her shocked, yet ecstatic face. 'It's way too big after all', she complains, 'but I… I'm just too afraid to say anything! If I complain, they might punish and hurt me!'

"That's right", the goblin says, still feeling the Nymph's tight, childish pussy resist him on top of his tip. "Just be a good girl and take it!"

Then, the goblin takes hold of her again, pulling her body down the throbbing rod. An instinctive plea escapes her lips as she begs "No", but before she even manages to beg for it to "Stop", the second word gets cut short with an involuntary scream of pleasure. In that instantaneous moment, she experiences a new squirting orgasm, 'and it hasn't even started moving yet! I'm seriously cumming just from the insertion!' With the cock pushing against her cervix, she can feel every single throb of the cock more clearly and vividly than before, feeling almost as if she could be able to count the veins, and it terrifies her. She's terrified to her core of how incredible it feels.

She can see much from the angle she's in, and she notices how the monstrous cock isn't even halfway inside her, yet the inhumanely strong beast thrusts into her almost as if wanting to go balls deep. It's so thick her stomach literally feels like bulging, and with every crushing pound against her cervix, she feels her body jump and toss up against the goblin's tight clasp on her body. Enraptured with her orgasm still dripping all over her rapist's cock, she wonders if it even can go any deeper than that. 'Surely not!? A cervix is not meant to be pierced, but his cock feels like it's punching through me, punching my womb, and trying to squash my insides!' And despite every single logical part of her screaming how she should be in excruciating pain right now, the pain is nowhere to be found. The extreme pleasure continues to overshadow every other sensation.

With every subsequent blow, Wendy almost feels like it's getting deeper. No, she can tell that it IS getting deeper. She can't tell just by observing the thrusts as they disappear into her, but she can tell it's already pushing deeper than it did when he started fucking her. Yet, it doesn't damage her, because while such a thing would be impossible for a human, she knows she's not quite human. She's a Nymph, and their bodies are much more accommodating. 'Besides, it's not like it's going through my cervix', she reasons. 'It's just pushing it further and further back!'

Yet another orgasm overtakes her mid-thrusts, feeling as if continuing from the last one, driving her crazy. 'The way he's raping me is so incredible! Using me like a toy! Dominating me like a doll! Owning me like a fleshlight! All while standing up himself!' And the goblin fucks like a machine, moving Wendy's body up and down in a perfect one-to-one rhythm with his cock, with no wasted motion or a missed beat, and still reaching deeper and deeper, she's in shock.

With her tongue hanging out, Wendy continues to moan with an increasingly high pitch and pace in her voice, starting to sound more and more like a panting little dog while being forced to cum from rape, with the sparks flying wild in her head. Judging her rapist by his speed and his breathing, she knows he's about to cum, and amidst her rapture, she already fantasizes about what it will feel like. 'That thing is thicker and longer than my own arm, and his testicles are the size of tennis balls', she goes over in her head, with her palms squarely pressing against her own face, hiding her blush as the tears soak her fingers. Just thinking about how much cum is going to fill her vagina, how much a giant cock like that will throb, how good it must feel… all these thoughts make her heart pound harder with love and anticipation.

Then, he actually cums, with her mind blanking and caving in to the pleasure, with the throbbing feeling just as orgasmic as the thrusting itself. Brought to a squirting orgasm again, she feels mentally past the point of no return. She can't take it anymore. Not even her heart can deny the pleasure, not with how much the bull inside her is cumming. With sperm spewing and shooting with incredible force, seeping into every open crevice and gap inside her vagina and straight into her womb, and even leaking out of her, her heart feels fulfilled in a way she didn't think possible. Smiling almost as if happy, staring at the roof as her eyes roll back, her brains feel nothing but the joy of cumming, and of being cummed inside.

As the hobgoblin finally pulls out of her, and lowers her back on the slab, Wendy collapses forward. Having fainted from the exhaustion, she only returns to her senses as her body hits the stone. Unable to lift herself up, she just pushes her palms against the cold surface, trying to catch her breath.

Faced toward the door, her eyes catch something in the corner of her eye, the party of goblins who raped her first is gone, but the hobgoblin is not alone. Excitedly growling, speaking in its bizarre tongue, he waves the next patch of goblins in, and Wendy's eyes widen. Life returns to her, but she still doesn't manage to move. She wants to scream, but her lips only open as her mouth gapes like that of a fish. She counts five more goblins. 'No, six… seven… eight… and there's more outside…'

Her heart sinks. What she thought was a gangrape is much more than that, and it's already been an hour. It already feels like a lifetime to her, but it's not over. Far from it. 'How many more goblins? How many more cocks? How many more hours?' And she knows there's no point in struggling and crying. Like the hobgoblin told her, she must be a good girl and take it all.

---

With the assistance of their allies, Pink and Angel return securely home. Left feeling defeated and helpless, they can only imagine what their friends are going through right now. All they want to do is help, but they must first figure out where their friends are. Frustratingly for them, that's not something they can do alone.

In addition to Melody, the modestly dressed purple-haired bookworm, acting leader, the strategist, and the healer of her group, there are four additional members to the group. Candy is Melody's closest partner in life, being her significant other both in-game and in real life, with Melody being a biological female in the real world, with Candy being her husband and the father of her three beautiful children. Needless to say, with Melody being a heterosexual woman, she finds the fact that her husband is a little girl a little bit bothersome, but that is a story for another time.

Candy is a dagger-wielding assassin in a skimpy outfit consisting of shorts made of jeans cloth and a bikini top covering her golden-brown skin. She's above average in height but has a very skinny body with no curves to boast about beyond her beautiful pair of budding little tits. Her dark brown hair is messy, wild, and short in length, and she also appears fully human. She's kind of similar to Melody as far as being a quiet girl goes, but instead of just being a naturally serious personality, she's just ridiculously shy, only exasperated by the fact that she absolutely hates being a girl.

Their swordsnymph (a funny word that) is called Luna, and despite her similar choice of weapon, she's a very different fighter to Rain, as she relies on strength and elemental damage instead of quickness. There is a talent similar to "Ammo Specialisation" available for soldiers as well, which imbues weapons with a magical coating. Like Melody and Candy, she's mature-looking for your average Nymph and is actually the tallest of the group, just over 140 centimeters tall. She's a blonde with hair reaching up to her shoulders, which she has decorated with a single pigtail sticking out from the side of her head. Dressed modestly in long pants reaching all the way to her ankles and a cute pink sleeveless shirt as a top, she dresses up like an average person in the real world, which is unusual for Nymphs. Personality-wise, she's exactly what you would expect a young, socially extroverted teenage girl to be like. Athletic, intelligent, and kind, she's like your stereotypical popular, good-at-everything "barbie girl" in school, who all the other popular girls want to hang out with, and who makes all the boys fall over like dominos. She is pretty much like that in real life as well, except for the fact that she's a closeted VR-MMO nerd, a secret her real-life girlfriends must never learn about.

Then, there is Nora, the staff-wielding caster and the first of two "abnormals" in the group. She's pretty much what you would expect a stereotypical Dark Elf or a Drow to be, with long pointy ears and dark, greyish skin. A little bit on the shorter side, she is very petite indeed. Her dark hair has a strange blue hue to it, and her eyes are purple. Her outfit is just as skimpy as Candy's, but she has a miniskirt instead of shorts. She's a hybrid between a supporter and a damage dealer, and she relies on both strengthening her allies through positive status effects and ice magic to dish out punishment. It is also worth pointing out that she's wearing a scarf. Like Rain and Pink, she's a bit of a jokester. A natural-born optimist, she finds joy in everything. Still, overall, she's a calm and collected personality who doesn't like to talk too much about what kind of person she is in real life.

And last, there is Laura, a cute little gnomish girl with a round yet cute nose and jug ears pointing out from her long and wavy brunette hair. She's about the same size as Pink with a slightly juicier butt and a chest, which make her look a little chubby, given her height. Her clothing consists of brown booty shorts and a cute vest covering a plain, black short-sleeve T-shirt. She's a gunner who opts to use a futuristic rifle similar to Wendy's pistols. However, her role is more similar to Lemon's, with a notable lack of reliance on stealth. Instead, she relies on her "Accuracy" talent as an aim-bot and likes running around on the battlefield. As far as personality goes… well, let's just say that she's as loud as her gun is; there is no silencer.

Now, inside the protective barrier, Pink and Angel pretty much instantly collapse to their knees. Angel has already been doing her best not to cry, but having lost two of her dearest friends into the unknown, and failed in protecting another new friend she'd just made, she can't hold it in anymore. "I feel so worthless", she says, weeping. "We lost so easily, and I could do nothing to help them…"

Luna is first to comfort her with a warm hug from behind. "It wasn't your fault. It could've happened to anyone."

"Yeah, no kidding", Melody says and sighs. "We've faced similar adversities and managed to get away by a hair's margin."

"From what I understood, you were against way too many enemies at once", Laura says. "We would've lost too. Any group of five would've."

"We should've all escaped when we had a chance", Pink says, mourning. "Although I'm not sure if we would've made it anyway…"

"It's no use worrying about it now", Melody says. "I assume that you two want to help out your friends. If you have nobody else to join, then join us."

Angel nods deeply. "Yes… I will join you…"

"It's only a matter of time until we find that fortress and raid it empty", Luna says, offering her hand to Angel, dragging her back to her feet. "Your friends will be saved."

"I sure hope so", Pink mumbles.

"Let's all return to our homes", Melody says, "and rest and gather our strength. We eat, restock, nap, and prepare for an expedition tomorrow. Is that alright by you girls?"

"Why tomorrow!?" Angel protests. "It's only afternoon! There's still time!"

"I know how you feel", Luna says, "but we're all tired. You included."

As much as Angel wants to go out there immediately and try to help her friends, she knows she can't rush to her doom, especially not alone. She must rely on her newfound allies and the community, and most importantly, be patient. "Then, I will go home for the time being… I have a lot to think about…"

Nora comes to her and taps her on the shoulder. "Be sure to eat well, sweetie. In fact, would you like for me to cook you something?"

"I-it's fine", Angel answers. "I've already done meal prep for tonight, not that I feel like eating much…"

"I don't mean to intrude, but I would love a good meal", Pink says.

Nora grabs Pink's hand gleefully and nods. "Come with me then! You've been through a lot, so just lay low and let me shower you with tasty treats! And you're coming too, Angel."

Despite wanting to be left alone again, Angel ends up just nodding.

On their way back toward the residential areas, they come across a Nymph unfamiliar to Angel and Pink but very familiar to the rest. This tiny Nymph, with the same body type that Pink has, is called Dana, who's a half-elf like Rain with strange, star-shaped irises. Her magnificently long wavy white hair is tied with a giant red bowtie with polka dots, and her frilly, white summer dress comes with a colorful flowery pattern on its short skirt. Overall, she looks like an 8-year-old cosplaying as an American housewife straight out of the 1950s.

"Would you look at that! You've returned safe and sound", Dana says, crossing her arms, and walks up to Melody. "What's up?"

"Ah, nothing much", Melody says, with a rare smile on her face. "Bad luck on our expedition, but we managed to save these unfortunate girls who had their friends taken away by goblins."

"Oh, poor souls", Dana says with a genuinely sympathetic tone. "I'm sure you'll love what I'm about to say then because someone has actually found the fortress."

"What!?" Melody raises her voice, and a light appears on her face. Everyone else seems equally surprised. "So quickly?"

"Yeah, turns out that the decision to focus our efforts towards one place turned out to be a good one", Dana says. "There's a council discussion in three hours to make sure that the place she is talking about is genuine. Spread the word. Tell everyone you meet, and be there on time."

"Yes, yes, of course", Melody says. "In fact, would you like me to join you right away?"

"You're not tired from the adventure?"

"Well, I mean… this is way more important."

"Just rest, okay?" Dana says and waves Melody goodbye. "It's not like I'm gonna do anything besides walking around and harassing strangers anyway."

Angel is left speechless but hopeful. 'Who would've guessed that I could be able to help my friends so soon', she thinks, with her heart beginning to pump harder. 'I must be present. I just must.' Of course, she still can't get ahead of herself, as they still don't know what awaits them at the fortress, but she's feeling particularly strong and optimistic about being able to save her friends.

"You heard the girl, so go spread the word", Melody says.

"Wow, you're such a poet", Nora says, giggling.

"Shut it", Melody says, visibly blushing and looking away embarrassed. She hates being teased.

"Who was she anyway?" Pink asks with a curious tone.

"Oh, you haven't been at the council discussions at the outdoor theater?" Laura asks. "She's one of the girls who organize those gatherings with several others. She's kind of a big deal."

"Oh, I didn't know that", Pink says.

"She's such a good girl", Nora says, still giggling.

Because they all live apart from each other, they scatter quickly in different directions. Melody and Candy go in their own direction, while the others go together to Nora's place to enjoy the dinner Nora is about to make them.

Fort Hammercliff, Part Two

Excerpt from the Gamer's Logbook; "Exploring the Mechanics of Nymphsaga", entry number ???, "Nymphs and Mortality, Part Two: Mental Breakdown and the Spiritual Death of Nymph."

Phantasm is a cruel world for a Nymph, and it will torment anyone unfortunate enough to lose herself to the wilderness, but as established in the previous entry, Nymphs will not die easily. That's why a protective mechanic in the game will allow players to perish into their "deaths", if you can even call it that. It's a spiritual death caused by the mental breakdown of the Nymph under extreme pressure.

Everything that counts as stamina degeneration counts towards mental breakdown, but during rape, the speed of degeneration increases. It's not a countdown that players can keep track of, and it will always come as a total surprise to them. Nymphs will not see it coming. Sometimes the breakdown occurs fast in just a few days, and sometimes it takes time, but Nymph's mind cannot last more than three weeks of non-stop rape. The speed at which this happens depends mostly on how rough the Nymph's assaulter is. There are also situations where the Nymphs cannot be saved, and breakdown always occurs quicker in these situations.

Countdown towards the breakdown will reset every time the Nymph recovers from her torment. Of course, programmed enemies are not intelligent enough to abuse this mechanic, as it would be just plain unfair, but the fact that even an hour's worth of safe rest may reset the countdown is something that every player must keep in her mind.

After the mental breakdown occurs, the player's spirit will leave Nymph's body, which will stay alive for its captors to abuse, but without a spirit, the body will disappear and despawn eventually. Still, sometimes they can feel their torment continue even after the breakdown has occurred and suffer deep into it for added intensity. The question of what happens to the Nymph's spirit after death is a chapter left for the next part of this entry, but let's just say that players will not get out of the Nymphsaga when they die. Something else will happen.

---

There is no reason for anyone in Grove to doubt the honesty of the Nymphs who claim to have discovered Fort Hammercliff. They're a collection of eight Nymphs made out of three different groups, all of who had their first groups ripped apart by goblins and thus have no reasons to lie. Besides, with a high-level scout in their party, they also bring receipts. After the council meeting discussing this discovery concludes, in a matter of just fifteen or so minutes, a large group of a few hundred Nymphs leaves Grove as they march into war. There is a long, long night ahead of them, and they don't plan on wasting time.

In two to three hours, they arrive in a valley covered in greenery, bathing in a red evening glow, with their destination lying in the middle, standing on top of a lone mountain. As they advance, they realize that there are no goblins to be seen patrolling anywhere in the valley, which comes as a surprise and a blessing for them. It gives them plenty of time to plan their next move before storming the enemy gates and the village outside the castle.

Then, as the sun sets beyond the horizon, the Nymphs bring down their hammer of justice. The sharpshooters rain down a hail of arrows and bullets while the long-range casters provide the artillery with their barrage. The goblins in the village, inside their huts and workshops, smitheries and tanneries, armories and barracks, take up arms to defend themselves, only to find themselves outnumbered. Not going down without a fight, they manage to incapacitate many Nymphs, but with every fallen soldier being backed by a dozen more, they fail to take prisoners. As the palisade falls and the village burns, the goblins retreat further inside the castle, the great hall at the foot of the mountain.

The goblins continue to defend their hall and their king, but try as they might, they're unable to push back the horde of Nymphs who quickly capture the great hall as well. Out from the remains of this once-great, now ruined temple, a single path leads upstairs to the keep, with the rest of the goblins waiting there, and the Nymphs know the battle is already won. Having the enemy cornered in their keep, they decide to play it safe for the time being to not only tend to their injured, but also to storm the dungeons below the mountain to rescue some of the tribe Hammercliff's prisoners and slaves.

The raid separates into several groups of different sizes, with many healers staying behind in the great hall and several smaller parties entering the dungeons, where many goblins, still unaware of the situation outside, continue to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Among these parties is the one Angel and Pink are part of, and together with their newly-found allies, the five girls who also saved them from being captured, they catch their enemy with their pants down, raping the Nymphs imprisoned down there as if nothing's going on.

Despite being caught off guard, with many of the strongest goblin warriors unarmed, they prove a formidable foe against the party of seven, as well as an additional party of five assigned to the same dungeon. Luna and another unnamed Nymph work together as a wall against an elite hobgoblin inside this narrow corridor, while Luna and a couple of others provide the damage against the elite from the back. Angel and Melody have an easy but crucial job, with their two tanks being the only ones they have to heal, and with Candy and Laura attacking and surprising the enemy's backline and their healers, the goblins don't stand a chance. Even while outnumbered, thanks to the element of surprise, the Nymphs manage to kill every single goblin in the dungeon, finally letting the captives rest and let out a sigh of relief.

Candy rushes to the first girl she can see, feeling both panicked and furious at what she's seeing. In front of her, she has a cute little blonde girl shackled to a wall, with even her legs being forced open with chains on her ankles, and if the sight of a gang-raped child doesn't turn her stomach, then the overwhelming stench of cum covering her body sure does. Horrified, she grabs and pulls on the chains, only to see a holographic window with a padlock on it appear before her eyes. "Fuck! How the fuck do we get rid of these chains!?"

"Keys!" Melody responds, picking one up from a dead goblin. She runs to the same girl, freeing her and noticing that the keys will not even be consumed on use. "Oh, I was getting worried because I only found one…"

"Wendy!" Angel suddenly screams as she rushes to the cell she's in. "No, no, no", is all she can repeatedly say as she notices the condition she's in. Still lying on the same stone slab, she doesn't so much as move her limbs as Angel calls out to her. Despite Wendy's preteen body being covered head to toe in goblin semen with an enormous mass pooling underneath her butt, Angel climbs on the slab, embracing Wendy while crying at the top of her lungs. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Barely lucid and awake, suspended in a catatonic trance, Wendy finally realizes it's not another goblin on top of her, nor a new cock to rape her on top of the previous one. She doesn't even know how many goblins used her or for how long she's been raped. It all feels like a blur, but considering the goblins never stopped, considering she never passed out entirely, it can't have been more than a day.

And yet, there she is. Her Angel, her dear friend. 'She came for me, found me so soon', she notices and gathers all the little strength she can muster just to wrap her arms around Angel. It's not even a hug, as she just lays her hands on her back, almost as if saying it's alright, almost as if thanking her.

Then she notices Pink, and then Melody, with them both just staring at her with shocked expressions.

"This is so much worse than I thought", Pink says as she takes the key from Melody's hand, coming for Wendy's aid.

"I'm so sorry we couldn't save you earlier!" Angel yells, still bleeding tears on Wendy's cheek as she practically rubs her face against it. "I'm sorry we ran away like cowards!" she continues, feeling Wendy lie motionless underneath her. When she finally lifts her head to look at Wendy again, she only sees her passed out asleep, with a relieved smile on her face.

"She's been through a lot", Melody says as she crosses her arms, sighing with a disgusted look on her face. "Just… take her out of here, okay? It's safe outside…"

Nodding through her tears, Angel lets Pink remove the collar and helps her sit the unconscious girl up. Alone, they wouldn't be able to carry an unconscious Nymph, but together, each lending their shoulders for both of her arms, they manage to drag Wendy away to safety.

---

One by one, other parties assigned to the several underground facilities find captive Nymphs, horrified seeing the states to which they have been reduced. Even the best-conditioned of them are pitiful sights to see, with some still having flat bellies, and others already carrying offspring inside their bloated bellies. Freed from their torment, most pass out immediately after being saved, with only a few being able to stay awake to thank and hug their rescuers. Most of the ones staying awake continue to cry and mourn their fates even after being saved, with some sobbing uncontrollably, while others even laugh and cry tears of joy. Still, no matter the condition of the Nymph, they are all grateful to be rescued.

Most importantly of all, many, like Wendy, are finally reunited with their friends. But the fight isn't over yet, and the Nymphs all know it.

Left to be taken care of in the place of the previously injured, the rescued Nymphs watch as one final raid ascends the stairs to clear the castle clean of every single stinking goblin. Led by Dana, a caster who wields the elements of fire, earth, and arcane, and Katja, the fearless claymore-wielding tank, the organizers of this very raid, they all expect a challenging battle ahead of them, facing the XX-Ranked Goblin King of the Hammercliff Tribe.

With the raid split into five segments, the tanks take turns attacking the goblin king in waves, as the other melee take care of the other goblins, the elites, and the grunts. Meanwhile, the role of the healers is to heal the exhausted in the back to ensure the heals wouldn't miss their targets in a frantic melee. Lastly, the rangers and the casters are split into two groups, with one assigned to take care of the goblin king, and another being full of supportive players capable of effective crowd control against the enemy healers and grunts to aid the melee.

Despite having the numbers and tactics to take down the foe, many Nymphs also fall, primarily due to inexperience. Still, after five minutes of non-stop fighting in the court of the goblin king, the Nymphs prevail.

With their leader down, the remaining goblins scatter as the Nymphs capture Fort Hammercliff for themselves. Some get caught and struck down, but others also escape, leading some to fear the goblins could bounce back, but with their numbers thinned down by several hundreds, the Nymphs know the goblins won't pose a significant threat for the months to come.

Having kicked the goblins out of their own home, they begin searching every nook and cranny of these ruins in hopes of finding more captive Nymphs, as well as looting treasure. Looting is naturally free for all in Nymphsaga, but most Nymphs agree that they should only take loot from the enemies they themselves have killed or participated in killing, and everyone respects this unspoken rule. Things are a little bit different with the loot from the boss, where they decide to distribute the gear by a chance of lottery, with everyone getting a fair chance, but everyone being able to only roll on one item.

Now, all they have to do is return home. Lucky for them, this night is shaping to be exceptionally bright, with the gas giant dominating the skyline, reflecting light from its parent star to illuminate their road home. Gazing her eyes at this awe-inspiring sight hovering above her, Dana begins to second-guess herself. Would it be wise to even return at night, especially when everyone's so tired? Would setting up a temporary camp and spending a night in the forest be safer? 'We've simply got too many casualties', she feels. 'If everyone was healthy, we wouldn't have to worry, but we've also got to take care of the prisoners, and they're in no condition to fight.'

Lucky for her, it's not a decision she alone has to carry on her shoulders, but it's still deep food for her thoughts. The last thing she or anyone else in the party wants is to make a critical miscalculation that could result in even more casualties, perhaps even in a total loss. After all, they still don't know if there are significant threats beyond the goblins out there in the jungle.

"Hey! Are you some kind of leader?" one very cheerful girl asks, startling Dana as she snaps out of her thoughts. She's not an important character in the story and will not appear ever again in the future, but for the sake of clarity, let's call her Jane.

"I believe an organizer would fit me better", Dana responds with a confident smile, eyeing Jane down, who appears to be panting heavily after dashing. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

Flailing her arms in the air, Jane responds with a loud voice. "There's this Nymph who is super weird! She doesn't even know about Grove!"

Dana raises her other eyebrow and immediately takes a few steps toward Jane. "Take me to her!" she orders, grabbing her arm. As Jane starts to run, Dana instantly slows her down. "Calm, calm… we don't have to run…"

"Oh, hahaha!" Jane finds herself laughing, blushing a little. "Yeah, we don't…"

"It's good to be full of energy", Dana says, nodding to herself. She soon finds herself in front of this "weird" girl, sitting down naked with a mug of juice in her hands. Dana immediately doesn't realize anything out of the ordinary, as this Nymph looks like a normal half-Asian, half-African girl. "You're recovering nicely", Dana says with an encouraging smile. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah", this Nymph says nervously, managing to pop a smile herself. "I was only captured like two or three hours ago, so I've got a surprising lot of energy…"

"What's your name? I'm Dana."

"I'm Olivia", the girl says and sets the cup down to bow gracefully, a move which surprised Dana, as she's not used to such manners. "I'm eternally grateful for you all… I thought this was it for me…"

"We did what we had to", Dana says, trying to stay humble, not trying to make herself seem like a hero. Then, she immediately remembers what Jane told her. "So, where are you from?"

"From Paradise."

"Where is that?" Dana asks. "What kind of place is it?"

"It's a village in a little hidden valley to the north from here", Olivia explains. "It's not even that far away."

Dana raises her arm to her jawline. "There shouldn't be any other starting zones for Nymphs other than Grove…"

"I have never heard of Grove…"

Dana crosses her arms again. "Are you a player then? And not an NPC?"

"I'm definitely a real person", Olivia says, looking even a little offended. "I'm from Melbourne, 18 years old, and currently studying law at the Queen's College."

"Well, what the hell", Dana says, scratching her head. "I'm inclined to believe, but I'm also one hundred percent certain that Grove is the ONLY place where Nymphs can start the game."

Olivia looks a little perplexed and tilts her head. "Everyone in Paradise disagrees. In fact, we thought it's the only place where the game can begin."

"There is something weird going on", Dana thinks out loud. She can't help but feel that she, and every other Nymph, have had their memories tampered with, if that is even possible. She clearly remembers seeing many pictures from the game in the real world, and they all depicted Grove, every single one of them. "Do you remember this… Paradise from the real world as well?"

"Yes", Olivia says and nods. "There is no mistake about it."

"Okay. If that's true, there must be something really weird going on", Dana says slowly and silently.

"Yeah, I agree", Olivia says. "Everyone here says they're from Grove? I feel like I'm being gaslit or something, and I just feel so, so gobsmacked…"

"There might even be more villages like this!" Jane suddenly says, almost appearing shocked at her own realization.

"Yeah, that's what I thought as well", Dana says, nodding. "This world is freaking huge, after all."

"Maybe it's possible, but does that really make sense when you think about it?" Olivia asks. "I mean, were there really that many players to begin with? There's, like, three thousand of us in Paradise."

"Grove is pretty large as well", Dana says, still thinking deeply. "Yeah, there is definitely much more to this world than meets the eye, especially if they have tampered with our memories as well." 'But whose memories? Mine, or Olivia's? Or everyone's? Probably everyone's because I don't believe Olivia is lying, and I can't imagine a situation where she would be right while everyone else here is wrong.' "In any case, I think we have to ask everyone where they are from. Who knows, we may learn even more." Then, she turns towards Jane. "Hey, you."

"Yes!"

"Help me out a little. Explain the situation to anyone who seems idle and ask them to help interview people."

"Yes, madam!" With that said, Jane runs away.

"Now then", Dana says, arms crossed, and takes one hard look at Olivia. "I don't think we have any other choice than to take you to Grove."

"Yeah", Olivia sighs. "It's a hard pill to swallow because my real-life friends are in Paradise, but I understand it's the only thing you can do."

"Exactly", Dana says, nodding. "But I'm sure we can establish a connection to Paradise at a later date and find a safe route there. I'm sure that a relationship between two different communities will benefit all of us."

"Yeah, we all want the same thing", Olivia says, nodding herself as well. "Freedom from this world."

---

Having both participated in the fight against the goblin king, Angel and Pink don't feel like exchanging much small talk as they walk down back to the great hall. Leaving empty-handed and without any new loot bugs Angel a little, but even still, not finding Rain or Lemon is what's on top of her worries. You could say the same about Pink, who despite winning a precious pair of epic, magical bracelets from the goblin king, would love nothing more than to find them.

"I'm not even sure if this is a good or a bad sign", Angel thinks out loud, wondering where the hell they could even be.

"Well, since they didn't get captured by the goblins", Pink says, trying to be as optimistic as possible, "it's safe to assume they killed the hobgoblin. Maybe they're already home."

"I sure hope so", Angel supposes, mumbling. "Sure would be awesome", she adds, still fearing the worst.

"Do you mind if I look around a little?" Pink then asks. "I wanna look for the others too. You know, the girls in my first party that got wiped out…"

"Sure, take your time", Angel says as she decides to return to Wendy, wanting nothing more than to stay by her side.

Being tended to by a couple of Nymphs, Wendy's already been cleaned. After all, with a river running through the valley, the Nymphs have an ample supply of clean water. Furthermore, when Angel finally returns to her friend, she notices she's awake. Leaning her back against a wall, rolled into a blanket to cover her naked self, she stares her soulless, lightless eyes at the night sky, unmoving, almost lifeless, not even realizing she's being approached at first. However, as soon as she sees Angel's smiling, crying face on top of her, life returns to her eyes. Angel drops to her knees, offering Wendy another warm and loving hug, which she's happy to both take and respond to. Quietly weeping tears of joy, she hugs Angel tight.

"I'm so sorry", Angel says.

"Don't say that…" Wendy says, feeling sore in her throat, sounding hoarse. Although she's speaking for the first time in hours, she's not that surprised to hear how awful she sounds, given she didn't expect to be able to talk at all. "It wasn't your fault…"

"But… but I ran away", Angel whispers, sounding guiltier than ever before. Yet still, she can't help but be honest with Wendy, because as awful as she feels about it, she knows she can't lie to her.

"You were right to", Wendy says, surprising and shocking Angel with her words. "Come on, Angel… they were about to capture us all… and I would've hated if something happened to you…"

"And I hate what they did to YOU!" Angel responds, shaking her head. "We could've helped you! We might've been able to! We should've just - "

"Shhhh", Wendy hushes Angel, pulling her even closer as she strokes Angel's hair. "Like I said, it's not your fault. You did everything you could. And even if you didn't… I'd still forgive you…"

Angel doesn't say anything in response. Trying to calm herself in Wendy's warmth, she stays still and slowly nods.

"I'm just so glad you came for me", Wendy says. "It was brave of you to. That's more than I could've hoped for."

"You're the brave one here", Angel says. "It must've been so awful, yet you… you're so strong… to have gotten through it…"

Wendy falls quiet and unresponsive, feeling anything but brave herself. While it felt like a blur, a flash of pictures in a horror show she was living, she remembers how she screamed, begged, and cried vividly. But she also remembers how she moaned, and how she passed out over and over again from pleasure, only to be brought back to her senses again and again by the goblins keeping her awake throughout the ordeal. Just as she's shocked to be even able to speak, she's stunned to be not as bad off as she feels like she should be. Then again, even if she got through it, she feels she will never get over it.

More importantly, with all those memories, the sight of all those cocks, and the stench of cum still fresh in her mind, she knows she's been impregnated. She sees Nymphs all around her with pregnant bellies, all filled with goblin offspring, and she knows that's in her future as well. It fills her with despair because giving birth and becoming a mother is not something she's mentally ready for, nor something that should even be possible in her mind, not with her childish body. She sighs, wanting to just cry at the thought of a goblin's baby, her own rapist's child growing inside her.

'Besides, if that's all it took for me to lose and get captured, who's to say it can't happen again', she asks herself. Even if she doesn't feel like it right now, she knows she got incredibly lucky to be saved as soon as she did, after only just ten or so hours after her initial capture. 'I might not even be saved the next time around', she fears.

Melody comes for Wendy as well, noticing she's awake. "Oh, you're finally up!" she says, sounding happy. "I'm so glad you're safe now."

Wendy looks at Melody, and the others too. 'So many of them came for us', she thinks, wanting to smile again. 'Even though they barely know me… know us… they all risked their own freedom to save us all. I mean, if my friends got captured, I would want to go after them, so maybe there's always hope for us all…'

However, as she looks at the Nymphs around her, three are conspicuous by their absence. She knows she saw Pink earlier, for she's the one who released her from the chains, but it makes her think out loud: "Where's Rain? Where's Lemon?"

"We don't know", Melody says, shaking her head. "We looked everywhere in the forest when we found you girls, and we've searched all over the great hall too. They're not here, that's for sure."

"So they got away too, huh…" Wendy mumbles.

"Pink thinks they might already be back in Grove", Angel says, wiping her tears away, trying to sound optimistic. "I mean, they have to, since they must've defeated that hobgoblin by themselves…"

"In any case", Melody says and walks even closer to Wendy, kneeling in front of her. "Sorry to be a bother, but we're still not out of the woods. We must get moving soon."

"Even though it's so late?" Angel asks, surprised.

"It's a gamble, yes", Melody admits, "but the night is as bright as it's ever going to be, and staying here could be equally dangerous. Do you think you can stand, Wendy?"

"No… I can't… not yet…"

"We're not in a hurry yet, but I've got something to give you just in case", Melody says and touches Wendy's shoulder as Angel finally steps back. After opening her user interface, she shows Wendy her inventory and points at a special potion blend she has made. "It's a potion to relieve heat and restore part of your stamina bar, but only temporarily. It should be good for three hours, just enough for you to get home safely."

Wendy or none of her close allies knew of such a potion. Melody, like Lemon, is an alchemist, but their recipe books are dissimilar due to having studied and discovered completely different recipes, and not having traded their secrets with each other yet. "Shouldn't we save them for those worse off?" Wendy asks, reluctant to accept the potion.

"It's fine", Melody says and materializes the potion. "We've got plenty of them prepared, thanks to the reagents being readily available in Grove, so just take it."

"Well, I won't say no then", Wendy says, storing the potion in her own inventory. "How about a potion to get rid of my baby…?" she then asks, almost whispering. Melody doesn't say anything, as she is afraid of giving Wendy a negative answer. "Well, of course, such a thing doesn't exist…"

"I'm sorry… it hasn't been discovered yet…"

"I'll be by your side, Wendy", Angel says, still hugging her friend. "I'll help you get over it, I promise. Please, stay strong."

As hard as it is for Wendy to stay strong, she agrees with Angel. She must get over it one way or another. Nodding, she thanks her friend.

---

In thirty more minutes, the Nymphs are sure that the entire place has been turned upside down, with them having double and triple-checked every area in hopes of finding more treasure and prisoners. They have shouted and yelled in hopes of hearing responses but have heard none. Confident that nobody will be left behind, they pack everything they can find and begin the long walk home.

Even though the journey is made in the dark of the night, they face no trouble. Turns out that the forest isn't that much more dangerous during nights, at least not in these parts of Phantasm, or at least not on this exceptionally bright night. It's way past bedtime for most Nymphs when they finally return, so everyone heads straight into their homes, or crash into their friend's beds. Most of them collapse instantly into their beds, not needing a minute to fall asleep.

Speaking of crashing into someone else's bed, that's what all the Nymphs from Paradise have to do. After all, none of the forty Nymphs who claim to be from there have a home of their own. While the Nymphs of Grove don't mind offering a helping hand, it does lead to some uncomfortable situations, with almost every Nymph only having one bed in their apartment. Still, in the end, such things are minor inconveniences in the grand scheme of things.

Recess IV

Having slept like a log, Wendy wakes up in her own bed, drenched in sweat, in the early morning hours when the sun is just starting to rise. She's glad to be safe, feeling immensely relieved, but with her body and mind still remembering the horror she went through, she doesn't even feel like getting up. It doesn't even matter if she closes her eyes or not; lying flat on her back, the pictures of countless goblins taking turns raping her are still vivid in her mind. These visions don't manage to make her cry anymore. In fact, they barely make her feel anything other than sadness and worthlessness, and it's those negative feelings that keep her from getting up.

Yet, even though she tries, she can't get back to sleep anymore. For the next ten minutes or so, she stays wide awake, just thinking about it all. Eventually, though, she decides to sit up. Hoping she might stop thinking about the goblins and what they did to her by washing their stench off her, she heads straight to her bathroom.

Having upgraded her bathtub recently - at the cost of only ten gold coins - she fills it to the brim with hot water as she marvels at it. It's large enough for an adult to fit in, and she absolutely loves it. Of course, Grove is a village with nothing but prepubescent children in there, but then again, two - or even three - little girls can easily fit into the tub, and isn't that just wonderful? 'Not sure who I'd ever share it with, though', she adds, feeling slightly embarrassed thinking about it. With the upgrade, she also received a lifetime supply of herbal soaps and fragrances, with twenty-seven varieties in total. She especially loves the one that smells of yuzu, mainly because its lovely fresh and citrusy smell reminds her of her home in Kyoto.

Eyes closed and naked, she's in heaven. Her bathroom is a place of silence and tranquility, a perfect place for anyone to gather their thoughts and just lie down to think while letting one's stress melt away. For Wendy, this only means her physical stress because while her stamina has returned to normal, there are still two physical conditions she's yet to overcome. First is the baby she's carrying in her womb, a child of a goblin, and the second is her sexual excitement. Having read the excerpts from the Bioengineer's logbook, she knows these conditions are linked to each other, with one quote, in particular, echoing in her mind: "…Nymphs go to extreme heat and forcefully generate source at an increased rate to speed up the pregnancies, essentially by feeding the baby or the eggs growing inside them."

Moreover, it's not just that she's horny. What she feels is more than a little itch to masturbate. The throbbing she feels between her legs and deep inside her body is a constant longing for release, and her condition just keeps bringing her thoughts back to the last night. 'All those goblins, and their giant cocks, and the way they raped me one after another, and the way they made me feel, it was so horrible. Yet, my body feels like it still wants more.'

As painful as those memories are to her, her body, the weak body of a Nymph, demands rough sex. Once having tasted it, she can never go back to being innocent and ignorant about what sex through the eyes of a Nymph feels like. Her body will remember it forever and instinctively continue to desire it, like a curse she can't dispel. She's an artificial creature created for the sole purpose of sex and pleasure, and she knows it. Her soul cannot escape that prison.

A soft moan escapes her lips. Having breathed heavily for a while, she snaps out of her thoughts to find her hand unconsciously rubbing her pussy. 'Did I really just rub myself out fantasizing about their cocks?' Not only that, but her subconscious attempt at relieving herself of her lust just ended up dealing more damage, with her ending up feeling even hornier than a minute ago.

'I'm pathetic', she thinks, admonishing herself. 'This world and this stupid body are changing me. It's like I've become a completely different person, and… maybe that's exactly what's happening. I'm becoming less like a man, and more like a girl. Less like Kensuke, more like Wendy. Are we even the same people anymore? Kensuke would've never even dreamed of a cock, but here I am… me, Wendy, getting horny and wet, thinking about getting raped. No, no, not raped, never… just… fucked roughly… even though I'm not supposed to… I really am pathetic…'

Pathetic or not, she can't help herself or her bodily state. Leaning her head back, with her mind racing as two fingers twirl around inside her pussy, all she can think about is being brought to another orgasm. She can't stop her other hand from rubbing her clit out either, but at the very least, she tries to distract herself with happier fantasies; not ones with goblins, not ones involving rape, but ones where someone makes love to her roughly. 'Oh, that would be so much more lovely', she thinks, moaning and sighing deeply. 'Getting fucked by a man would be so much better… not that I'm attracted to men or anything! But maybe… since I'm doing it by myself… is self-cest a thing? Not that Kensuke would've ever fucked a damn child! I look like I'm fucking nine or something! Tiny, no tits or anything, yet my… my fucking pussy just feels so, so damn incredible when I masturbate! Still, a cock inside of me feels even better! Aaaah, I want cock so bad! I want to get fucked so hard right now!'

Cumming in just a matter of minutes, she feels her whole body flush with pleasure, granting her a release from her thoughts. However, she instantly regrets it. With her heart pounding hard, her head feeling light, and her stamina having drained completely, she almost feels like fainting from being so dizzy. 'Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to masturbate in a hot bath', she supposes, taking her time getting up from the tub. 'I need to lay down again. Maybe I'll even catch more sleep. Goodness knows I could use a couple more hours.'

After drinking three small cups of water and putting on some light clothes, which are nothing but childish panties and a cami that barely covers her belly, both of which are pale pink in color, she lays down to rest, thinking about what's gonna happen to her next.

'Well, obviously I'm gonna inflate like a balloon and give birth to that bastard, because fuck whether or not I wanna even become a mother, I guess, but… sigh, I don't wanna think about it, so… what then? Now that I'm free… can I ever return to being the same adventurer I was until yesterday? Can I still be the leader my friends expect me to be? And what about the next time… when something like yesterday happens again… what's gonna happen to me?'

That's the question she keeps coming back to. It's not even a question of "If", but rather, "When". She knows how weak she is, and how strong the enemies are, so she knows it's just a matter of time before she gets raped again, especially if she goes out on an adventure again, but it's not just herself she's worried about. It could happen to her friends, the Nymphs around her that she cares deeply about. It has already happened to Angel and Pink, both of who got off relatively easy, but what if they don't get off easy next time? What if SHE doesn't get off that easy? What if she won't be rescued? What then? She now knows about the mental breakdown, having learned about it during her return to Grove. The unknown that lies beyond the breakdown scares her, and she doesn't even want to ask herself what that would mean.

Then it hits her. Rain and Lemon. Her eyes widen as she realizes, 'It could be happening to them right now. How could I forget about them when they could be in even bigger trouble than me right now?'

As far as she knows, they're still out there somewhere. Or are they? Have they returned? She remembers how Angel banged on Rain's door when they returned to Grove, but since there was no answer, she knows Rain's not back.

'But they defeated that hobgoblin', Wendy thinks with a smirk on her face. 'Well, of course they did. Rain's so much more talented than I am, and Lemon… gosh, she's a much better shot than me. I swear, she's like Batman; give her enough time to prep and plan her attacks, and she'll one-shot kill anything. If there are a couple of girls I would bet my money on surviving in the wild, it's those two, but since they're not home… gosh, I just don't know. It's such a dangerous world out there, and they're just a couple of little girls against who knows what. More goblins, that giant demon, that giant spider, that tentacle monster hiding in the underwater lake…'

"God damn it…" Wendy swears out loud. 'Where are they? I want to help them, but I'm not in the right condition. I just want to get better soon. This is so frustrating.'

A soft knock surprises her. Someone's at the door. Exhausted, she gets up to meet her guest, Angel.

"Oh, I suspected you might be up", Angel says, trying to smile.

"Well, I did get some sleep", Wendy says.

"I couldn't sleep at all", Angel admits as her smile dies down. "I'm so worried about those two. And I was also worried for you."

Wendy scratches her cheek, feeling a little embarrassed. "Thank you for thinking about me… and thank you again for yesterday as well…"

Angel blushes at Wendy's words, with her sad frown turning into a more genuine and natural smile.

"Let's have a little chat", Wendy says and opens the door wide, inviting Angel in. As soon as Wendy closes the door, her eyes lock on Angel's, and looking like she's got something she would really like to say, she opens her mouth a couple of times without getting the right words out. "I have something selfish to ask of you", she finally says, looking nervous.

"Ask away. I will do anything."

Wendy spreads her arms wide. "Hug me."

Angel, caught by surprise for a moment, hesitates to fulfill Wendy's request, even though she had no problem hugging and embracing Wendy the day before. 'But that was just because I was so happy to see her!' she reasons, not that she isn't happy to see her today as well. Still, even through her hesitancy, she finds it hard to resist. With her teary eyes and her adorable blush, it's probably the cutest Wendy has ever looked in Angel's eyes. As hard as it is for her to believe, Angel can't resist those eyes, and she can't fight back her urge to hug her friend anyway. So, she embraces her. Lovingly, yet not in a lustful or sexual way. It's a hug a child would expect from a mother, a warm and soft embrace.

"Thanks…"

"You're welcome. Everyone needs a hug sometimes."

"Yeah, I definitely needed a hug from a friend…"

"I'll hug you anytime you need one."

With that, the long hug comes to a close, and they're both left smiling and blushing, with Wendy realizing she started crying again. She dries up her eyes, and through it all, she doesn't stop smiling for one second. "We've always been good friends, but ever since coming here, I feel like we've bonded even more."

Angel nods deeply. "I guess that's what this world does to us. Trouble brings friends even closer."

"Speaking of friends…"

Angel immediately realizes what Wendy means, and her happy smile turns into an expression of extreme worry. "Yeah, like I said, I can't stop thinking about them", she says. "As much as I would love to be with you right now, Pink and I will look for them together with Melody and her friends. Now that the valley is rid of most goblins, it should be easier to travel there."

"I want to come too…"

Angel lays her hands on Wendy's shoulders. "No, you stay here. There's no way in hell you're in any kind of condition to leave."

"It just hurts to not be able to help…"

"I suppose it's a somewhat good sign", Angel says with a reassuring tone. "I was afraid you would be ready to throw in the towel."

"I sort of feel like it, and I'm afraid of getting captured and raped again…" Wendy freezes, with Angel just looking at her with an increasingly worried look in her eyes. "But… I'm afraid of that happening to my friends too, and helping them is more important… because they could be suffering right now…"

"Yeah, and that's exactly why we're gonna search for them", Angel says, nodding and trying to smile. "I'm not gonna abandon them. Just like I'm never gonna abandon you again."

"Gosh, Angel", Wendy says, giggling as she continues to wipe her tears away. "The feeling goes both ways…"

"How about your condition?" Angel asks.

"O-oh, I've recovered a lot…"

"I mean, like… with your… ummm…"

'Oh, she means me being pregnant', Wendy realizes and looks away in shame as she lays both her hands on her belly, right on top of her womb. Her waistline is still as flat as it was the day before, almost as if there's nothing inside her, but she obviously knows her baby is there, probably as an embryo, because Nymphs go through the whole nine months in a matter of mere days. Still, she doesn't want to outright say what being pregnant has done to her, at least not initially, but when she remembers that Angel knows how Nymphs are, she decides to be more open and honest. She knows that Angel will understand and not call her weird or anything because she knows, just like Angel knows, that the same thing can happen to anyone.

"W-well, no morning sickness today", Wendy jokingly says, trying to laugh it all off. "But… yeah, it has weakened me a lot…"

"O-oh… so… how do you manage?"

"Well, relieving myself of extra tension worked wonders a while ago", Wendy says quietly, almost whispering, admitting to having just masturbated.

Angel blushes, as she knows precisely what Wendy means. She just nods slowly and says: "I see…"

"I'm still feeling it, though. The feeling just won't go away, especially considering the hell they put me through…"

"I wish there was something we could do to help you…"

"Well", Wendy begins, blushing heavily. "Since the baby feeds on source to grow up faster, and source generation is directly linked to sexual tension and excitement, it probably is possible to hasten up pregnancies by simply engaging in sexual acts, as crazy as it sounds…"

"There's also that potion Melody gave you", Angel remembers. "The one that relieves it a little."

"I think it just made things worse after the effect wore off, to be honest…"

"O-oh, well… that's a problem…"

"But… maybe there's some other potion out there that can help me!" Wendy says and tries to smile. 'Or maybe I'll just stick to my hand', she thinks, refusing to say the quiet part out loud. 'Or maybe the potion I actually need is a freaking dildo.'

"Want me to go check stores?" Angel asks.

"I… can take care of that myself…"

"No, you stay home and rest, okay?" Angel says with a happy smile. "I have plenty of time before we leave on our adventure, so I'll take care of your needs until then."

Wendy blushes and smiles, nodding. 'I really couldn't ask for a better friend.'

"I'll go visit Melody's and Candy's place for those potions, as I'm gonna visit them today anyway."

"I would appreciate it", Wendy says and nods. 'Maybe having her buy me a sex toy would be a better idea.' "Thank you so much for all you have done for me."

"You're welcome", Angel says and looks like she's about to leave. "Need anything else before I go?"

"Yeah, just one more thing", Wendy says, acting all cutesy and embarrassed.

"Oh?"

"Please hug me again…"

"Again!?"

Wendy doesn't want to wait for Angel to do it, and instead, she's the one that goes for a hug, grabbing Angel's body tight. "You told me that you'll hug me anytime…"

"O-oh, I think I really did", Angel says and laughs as she wraps her arms around Wendy.

---

Immediately after leaving, Angel heads to the city center to do some business. There aren't many shops, as keeping up one takes a lot of time and effort, but she knows of one particular alchemist who can help her, even if she doesn't have her shop open. This girl is Melody. Living in a three-room apartment at the foot of a giant oak together with Candy, the entrance to their home is a storefront catering mainly to alchemical needs, with some maps, books, clothes, and other equipment on sale as well. Noticing the door's open, Angel gets inside.

"Good morning", Melody says. "How's Wendy?"

"She's getting better", Angel admits, "but she's really not herself. You should go visit her too. I'm sure she'd appreciate it."

"Maybe later in the evening. I'm still preparing, taking inventory, wondering what we should take with us on our trip", Melody lists, almost as if talking to herself.

"Actually, I'm on an errand for her, and she's looking for a potion that could help her get over her, errr… you know…"

"Horniness, I know", Melody responds with a deadpan expression. However, as straight a shooter as she may appear to be in a moment, Angel notices that she's also blushing a little.

"R-right… that…"

"Apart from the potion I gave her earlier, I don't know about any", Melody responds. "How did it work on her? Did she tell you?"

"I think she said that it only made matters worse for herself", Angel remembers.

"Yeah, so as you can imagine, it's only a temporary relief", Melody says, nodding. "Well, all remedies against such… "conditions" are, so in that sense, while the potion did serve a purpose yesterday, I wouldn't recommend it as long-term medication."

"Well, that's that then", Angel says and shrugs. "Thanks for the advice, I guess…"

"I'll give you a few anyway", Melody says, pointing her thumb at the shelves, "in case Wendy feels like she has to drink one."

"Much appreciated", Angel says. "I'll pay you back later."

"Yeah, cook us dinner sometime", Melody suggests. "And speaking of which… could your skills as a chef be able to help you?"

"Hey, that's actually a good idea", Angel thinks out loud, smiling. "I don't know of such a recipe yet, but maybe one exists!"

"Go check the library", Melody says and smiles. "Plenty of recipes available. And if that doesn't work", she continues, lifting her hand in the air, with her palm facing upward, almost as if presenting something with it. Then, with a seductive smile, she lifts her middle and ring fingers up and thrusts them upward several times. "You can always rely on the tried and true methods to take care of your girlfriend…"

"Sheesh, stop teasing me", Angel says, feeling uncomfortable through her smiles. "We've literally never even met in real life…"

"You know what they say: all the best things in life are free", Melody says, with her tongue peeking out through her smiling lips as she winks. "Rings true when it comes to problems like these, if you ask me."

"I… I'll keep your advice in mind", Angel responds as she gets ready to leave. "Thanks again, and see you in a couple of hours."

---

As Angel heads straight toward the library, she continues to bash herself for two straight minutes for being too dumb to realize that she could have the remedy at her own fingertips. No matter, she goes to the recipe section of the library to look for a suitable cookbook and finds one specifically dedicated to all kinds of herbal teas. Knowing most herbs in Phantasm have medicinal properties - since they're also used for Alchemy - she thinks she's hit the jackpot.

After skipping through the first fifteen pages, some of which are still empty due to the corresponding lore page still being undiscovered, she reads about a tea made from "Aphrodite's Nettle", which can be used to temporarily reduce arousal. 'Just what I needed', she thinks, and purchases the recipe to herself. After all, just reading it in the book isn't enough. Without learning the recipe through the in-game profession system, the tea would be just normal tea with no magical properties.

Then, she actually tries to learn more about the nettle in question from the Florist's Logbook, which describes Aphrodite's Nettle as an incredibly fragrant, completely green herb that grows on the outskirts of Grove, blending well into its surroundings. Primarily known for its potent poison, it can be crushed with a pestle and mortar into a paste to create powerful love potions, and when dried, its leaves can be used for the opposite effect. Speaking of poison, a word of warning from the book reads as follows: "Be careful not to touch its leaves, as you risk getting poisoned by its trichomes. Its leaves are laced with a powerful aphrodisiac that will drive its victims crazy in heat, and while the poison will naturally evaporate from the plant after ten minutes from picking, the poison may survive in a Nymph's bloodstream for several hours." Needless to say, Angel does not want to get herself poisoned. She has an expedition to attend, a rescue mission nonetheless. Getting horny now is something she doesn't want. Regardless, knowing what she's looking for, she takes a little walk to the Grove outskirts.

Angel finds herself walking through a familiar neighborhood and stops to look at a familiar store owned by Lemon. 'I've been looking for Rain at her own home, but could she actually be with Lemon', she wonders. 'It's the one place I haven't checked today. After all this worrying, could they actually be there?' She decides to fly to the treehouse next to the store, using her pearly white wings engulfed in a sparkling silvery mist. Then, she anxiously knocks on the door, waiting, hoping, and praying for someone to open up.

Hammercliff Valley

Why not do things a little bit different this time around? Let's talk about discoveries made by Nymphs of Grove that cannot be found from logbooks, as this information is based on their own independent research. Let's talk about Grove and its immediate surroundings and give these places some names.

Grove is part of a large forest that Nymphs call "Misty Forest" for the simple fact that the forest is completely engulfed in a thick, perpetual mist. As far as its characteristics go, it's pretty much the same as Grove in terms of vegetation. Some unique flowers and herbs here outside the barrier can't bloom in Grove, but they can be counted with just one hand. Enemies are stronger, of course, but with the goblins gone, the worst this forest has to offer are the horned demons. It's a very safe place to explore with ease, especially for those who have not reached the (supposedly) maximum level of four yet. It's also a very easy place to navigate, given that it's situated on an even plain. It's an excellent place for a newbie to train in, but at the same time, there is no good loot to be found either.

To get better loot and find more revealing lore, Nymphs must go to the surrounding regions, which are prohibited from entry for anyone who isn't level four yet per a guideline set by the council of Grove. There are a total of four zones surrounding the Misty Forest for Nymphs to choose from.

The "Hammercliff Valley" is the zone in the north, which loans its name from the now deserted fortress sitting at its heart. Even without the goblins, it's a moderately dangerous place to venture to with its mountainous landscapes and its hard-to-navigate thick forests. Near Fort Hammercliff, there are even more ruins, which belong to a once-great city. Ruins of this civilization are scattered all across the valley, hiding heaps of treasure left to be discovered, along with some very challenging elite and raid encounters for the bravest adventurers.

To the east is "Dark Forest", which really is just a continuation of Misty Forest, as it looks pretty much the same if you ignore the fact that everything is darker. Yes, Nymphs of Grove really are THAT simpleminded when it comes to naming things. This is the place that Rain, Wendy, and Angel once got lost in. It's a place where maps and compasses stop working completely on entry for those not well-trained in Scouting. Even though it's technically part of the same exact forest, it offers much more challenging foes than Misty Forest. Insects and slimes are plentiful in the area. Really, it's a diverse ecosystem. Most Nymphs consider this place to be off-limits simply because it's so easy to get lost in there, and it's highly ill-advised to venture deep into this part of the forest without the help of a high-level Scout.

To the south is the "Misty Swamp", engulfed by the same mist found all over Misty Forest. As the name suggests, these are swamplands, and per stories told by the Nymphs that have gone there, it's an area supposedly swarming with tentacles and slimes. They're literally everywhere. It's not a place that Nymphs will be able to leave with their clothes on. Like the previous two zones, it's hard to navigate, but for very different reasons. It's an even landscape, and the map works, but it's not very easy to pass through wetlands, especially with rapey tentacles hiding in the waters. It's widely considered the most dangerous zone close to Grove, and pretty much everyone agrees the area is off-limits for exploration. For one reason or another, Nymphs that venture far into the swamps don't tend to return or be heard of again.

And last, to the west, is the "Purple Forest", because, well, it's full of trees with purple leaves. Some also call it the "Magical Forest", but those Nymphs completely ignore the fact that the entire planet is magical, making the name obsolete. Before the decision to invade Fort Hammercliff, this place was actually the choice for most Nymphs to venture to, as it's geographically straightforward to navigate, and the maps work too. While indeed a dangerous place, it's at very least manageable, as monsters are similar to the ones in the Misty Forest. It's basically just a slightly more punishing version of that zone. Tactics against the enemies are mostly the same, and so are their attack patterns. While there is no perpetual mist covering this forest, there are some pockets of magical, mysterious dust sparkling in all the colors of the rainbow, which is a breathtaking sight to behold.

As far as Nymphs from Grove are considered, these five zones are the entire world to them. No Nymph has claimed to go farther than the four zones that surround Misty Forest, and nobody knows for sure what lies ahead of them. If they believe the Nymphs who are not from Grove, somewhere beyond Hammercliff Valley lies Paradise, another town populated by Nymphs. They also talk about zones that border their home, but that's a story for another time.

---

Now, it's about time I tell you what happened to Rain and Lemon, how their fight with the elite goblin concluded, and what happened next. It's going to be a long story. It comes at the cost of me telling you if the door will be answered for Angel, but that's only fair. After all, you will now find the answer to that question. Let's roll back to the moment when the elite goblin rushes towards Lemon, and Rain chases after it.

At that very moment, Rain finds herself asking two questions: One, How much damage did Lemon's arrow really do?, and two, Exactly how fucking fast is this fat bastard!?. When the goblin ran through her, he dealt some damage to her, and she didn't get time to recover properly. She has to down one stamina potion because she knows that if she attacks after catching her enemy, the attack will drain her dry, and she cannot defend herself properly. She can't let that happen because she knows that Lemon can't defend herself for long. She has to get the enemy's attention somehow to help Lemon deal another great blow to it.

There lies her third question: How do I communicate this plan to Lemon?. The hobgoblin understands their language, so it is not out of the question to assume it would adjust its tactics accordingly if he heard Rain announce it aloud. It would be crazy to think that a programmed enemy would be able to do that, but then again, enemies are not supposed to be able to interrupt their patterns either. Conventional logic of enemy behavior she's used to from Mormia does not apply here.

A short distance away from the cliff, Lemon sits on a thick branch in a tree. She does not think she's safe up there for a moment, but the lengths that her enemy is willing to go to get her down from the tree surprises her. The hobgoblin jumps high, bouncing up like a grasshopper, and with a flying swing, he looks to slam his giant club straight at Lemon. Taking such a hit would surely result in an instant defeat, so she does the only thing she can think of and jumps down at the last second. Branch gets obliterated by the mace, as Lemon expected it would. Landing proves to be difficult, but at the very least, the hobgoblin now has to collect himself before preparing for the next charge. Lemon knows that this one she won't be able to dodge so easily.

She sees Rain coming and taking a turn to attack the enemy from the blind spot. As the hobgoblin prepares for a charge, Rain jumps from behind with a powerful slicing attack. Rain suspects that she won't be able to cut her enemy's limbs because of how thick they are, so she opts to attack his waist instead, cutting deep into the soft tissue below ribs. Interrupted, the hobgoblin adjusts his position, and his full attention is back on Rain. He receives rapid shots from the bow, which again cause him to turn his attention to Lemon, even more annoyed than before. Rain immediately realizes the method to this goblin's madness; you can't keep his attention with repeated attacks, taunting, or high damage. He will always target the last person to attack him regardless of how much damage it dealt, making him untankable. Rain knows of those enemies and how to deal with them, but the only viable two-player tactic she knows of requires two melee players. And since Lemon doesn't realize what Rain realized either, there is much Rain can do to help the situation. All she can do is watch the hobgoblin rush at Lemon, out of Rain's reach, who is now forced to play catch-up again.

I need to come up with some kind of strategy and make sure Lemon follows it, is her line of thinking, but for now, all she can think of is getting the attention back on herself and to make sure Lemon won't inadvertently complicate matters more.

Lemon manages to dodge the hobgoblin's charge, and that's when she also sees two more goblins coming their way from the distance. They're normal-sized, use melee weapons, and are the last thing Rain and Lemon want to happen to them. Not only that, but the hobgoblin has forced the fight dangerously close to the cliff. There is no escape for Lemon, who finds herself helpless at the edge of the cliff. She dodges the enemy's first attack but loses her footing and falls to her knees. Avoiding the second one will be impossible for her, especially since the enemy's pattern seems to start with quick swings this time around.

Rain finally catches up and attacks the enemy's wrist, only ending up grazing it. She can't sever it, just like she previously suspected. Next to the cliff's edge, she stops at the last second, with the enemy now looking to smash his club at her. She rolls out of the way at the last second, causing the club to crash down on the rocks beneath. The move shatters the ground along with a large portion of the cliff, causing the hobgoblin to fall down. For a moment, Rain thinks that this could maybe be a blessing as she avoids falling with it, but then she realizes that Lemon, who is slower and on her knees, is not so lucky. She's too slow to get to her feet, and although it looks for a moment like she would get away in time, she fails to do so. Shocked, Rain looks down, thinking about what the hell to do. She has a general idea of where the rest of her friends are, but she doesn't know anything about their conditions. She can't really get to them either, not without beating two goblins at once, who are now getting closer and closer. She suspects that her friends are fine, and she knows for a fact that Lemon is not going to be okay if left alone. Her heart begins to race hard as she mentally prepares for what many would consider a suicidal leap. She, however, knows that she'll be fine.

As fast as she can, she rushes towards the cliff and takes a massive leap forward as she summons her wings. She can't fly with them, but she can steer herself and, more importantly, soften her landing. With all the vegetation below, the landing is looking to be a soft one.

Vegetation saves Lemon from getting knocked out by the damage caused by the long fall. She's the only person in the group who can't conjure her wings yet, and this becomes very apparent as she falls through weak branches straight into a thick and lush bush. Stunned and without stamina, she can't muster up the strength to sit up. Laying on her back, she sees her enemy, which makes her heart skip a beat and the color drain from her face.

Bloodied and battered - having taken heavy damage - the hobgoblin stands up slowly. The only thing that remains of his extreme physical prowess is his size, as he can't move or hit as fast as he could before. Still, none of that matters to Lemon, who now expects herself to be caught, taken to Fort Hammercliff, impregnated, and raped over and over again until she goes mad. She is scared of this prospect and looks helpless, and watches the goblin drag his mace on the ground, walking towards her. The hobgoblin laughs deeply, rejoiced by her demise. And he never sees the attack coming. Neither does Lemon. A slice coming from above, dropping down like a meteorite straight against the goblin's shoulder, cuts down along the thick skin all the way to the waistline, where it cuts his belt clean in half. The hobgoblin loses his pants, a sight that turns Lemon's face white and blue in horror, as there is a massive erect goblin cock right in front of her. The enemy turns around, still alive and standing, facing Rain for the last time. She, too, finds herself taken aback by the size of her enemy's erect genitals.

"You…! You again!" he screams.

"You have to kill me to get to my dear friend."

"I'll make you wish you were dead!" the hobgoblin yells with bestial rage.

Rain realizes that her enemy is now injured and on his last legs. Even still, she's not sure if she can defeat him. She will, of course, try, because what other choice does she have? There's no way she's going down without a fight, especially because she knows that she has a better possibility of killing it now.

Rain prepares to attack the moment she realizes which pattern the goblin is on. To her surprise, the hobgoblin doesn't manage to dodge her attack this time, but her hit was still just a flesh wound. She can't kill the enemy with hits like that. She has to try harder. Focused, she prepares for the next set of attacks. And while she does, she realizes Lemon doing something. She's conjuring up something behind the unsuspecting goblin's back. A potion? Yes, indeed, a potion. Lemon didn't get knocked out completely, so it is very much possible for her to drink a stamina potion and get some stamina back, even though her bar has been reduced to just one-third of its original size. This would be a disaster for Rain, but this is an acceptable hindrance for Lemon, who doesn't need stamina for anything but dodging and running. Now, all Rain has to do is try to keep up with her enemy and not fail, and Lemon can hit the nail in the coffin from a blind spot.

Once confident she's at a safe distance, Lemon takes aim, waiting patiently. She, too, knows some of her enemy's patterns, even though she hasn't been able to observe them properly. She knows of one pattern in specific that ends up with a massive swing of a club followed by a short period of vulnerability. That is her best chance to score a massive hit. So, she waits and has to wait for a long time, as the patterns come in random. She's getting scared for Rain, who is running dry and can't keep up much longer. Finally, the enemy looks like it's executing the correct pattern, and Lemon pulls her bowstring to its absolute limit. One shot is all she needs now. She's sure of it. She waits. She won't even blink. Her heart is a mess, and she's visibly shaking, biding for the right moment. She finally releases the arrow, and it flies past the leaves and trees to connect its target. The arrow punctures the skull of her target.

Accompanied by a final dying scream, the hobgoblin disintegrates magnificently into thin particles, leaving behind its loot. Rain can't do anything but fall on her back and lay still. She's drenched in sweat, her breath is heavy, and her heart is pumping blood at maximum capacity. She and Lemon may have fallen down and separated from their friends, but at the very least, they're safe.

Rain closes her eyes, feeling like fainting, but she holds on to reality. She hears soft footsteps stop just beside her, and as she opens her eyes, she sees a kind smile on a familiar face of Lemon looking down at her. Seeing the smile puts one on her face as well, and she begins to laugh. Lemon giggles as well. In the end, despite all the hardship they went through, they succeeded together, which makes them both glad.

Lemon falls to her knees and opens up her inventory. She's the one with most of the spare potions, as well as a magical leather pouch of water that replenishes itself slowly for an endless supply of water. It is an uncommon dropped artifact that generates just enough water for one person to enjoy on a trip. She takes one sip of it and offers rest to Rain. "Drink up, Rain…"

"Thank you… And nice shot…"

Lemon giggles again. "I would never miss a shot like that."

"In a weird way, we were lucky to fall here", Rain says, now sitting up, and takes a huge and messy sip. "Fall damage sure did damage it enough for us to defeat it."

"And I sure was lucky to land on bushes", Lemon adds, sitting down next to Rain. "Few feet to the side, and I would've probably injured myself so badly I wouldn't have been able to fight."

"I kind of want to relax, but I'm afraid the goblins will find us here", Rain says and stands up, offering her hand to Lemon. "Let's loot the motherfucker and get out of here."

As Rain and Lemon check out the loot, Rain's bad luck regarding terrible loot comes to a screeching halt, as she loots a new top for herself. It's a hoodie, just like the last one, but it's black in color. On the backside, there is a print of a large, pink star. Since she does not find any problems with it, she decides to change up right away, keeping her other, now worse hoodie as a spare.

"Where should we go?" Lemon asks. "I feel like hugging the cliff would help us get home faster, but goblins may find us like that."

"We can follow the cliff, but let's not cling to it", Rain suggests.

It is what the two decide to go by. They stay close enough to see the cliffs constantly but avoid getting close to them.

---

After about five minutes of walking, they see a group of goblins. This one is different from the last one, and there are six of them. They are all collected to one place, and the duo of Nymphs are sure that they are hidden properly from them. The fact that there are so many goblins scares them, though, as they're not confident about being able to escape. Besides, they really want to take a break. They're both tired, especially Lemon. They do not know the exact mechanics behind the stamina degeneration yet, but they realize that Lemon's stamina isn't coming back. Their bodies demand rest, which they're not allowed as long as they're in the wild.

They come across a strange, gray stone formation in the middle of dense forest. These are stone pillars of some sort, with ornate carvings on them, and as they walk past them, they can also see more stone and ruins ahead of them. In fact, there is a whole ruined structure ahead of them. It's not quite a building anymore, but it is partially intact anyway. They can't even imagine how large it is in scale, but it seems partially underground. What was the purpose of this place they stumbled on? Regardless of its purpose, it looks like a kind of place that could offer a hiding place. Out in the open, where an enemy could come from any direction, they don't feel safe.

As they walk through the ruins, they suddenly find themselves deep in the midst of them. They walk on an ancient road paved with cobblestone, now overtaken by the grass, weed, and occasional flowers growing from the cracks. The abnormal trees around them take strange shapes, with dark brown vine-like branches and roots hugging the pillars and cracked stone walls. Leaves themselves look pretty normal, but the wood creeps them out. They also notice strange, closed "slits" in some of them, but they can't seem to find out what their purpose is. They look around anxiously, but there is nobody else around. Yet, they feel like they're being watched.

They finally find a good place to hide and relax at the entrance of a larger building with beautiful stone arcs and even more pillars. It's effectively a dead end, so should they be found, they would probably be screwed. They're sure that they'll be safe, though, as the ruins seem like a peaceful place. So, they both sit down.

As soon as Rain sits down, she picks up her map only to find out that they have walked quite a long distance away from the checkpoint. They have not found a way to get up from the valley yet, and she begins to think that maybe they should've gone in a different direction instead. Ruins are too large to be shown entirely on the map, but she feels like they don't have time to explore, as their safe return to Grove takes a priority. Just as she's about to ask Lemon for her opinion, she notices her leaning against her softly, and laying her head on Rain's shoulder, sighing. Rain looks at Lemon, who is staring at the map she can now see in front of her. Rain dares not to move and decides to not react to Lemon's sudden showing of affection in any way.

"Let me stay like this for a while…" Lemon whispers, sounding tired.

"What's up, Lemon…?" Rain asks. "You're pretty intimate."

"Yeah, I just kind of felt like leaning against you for a moment… If you don't mind…"

"I mean… I don't…" Rain doesn't honestly know how to respond. Since she's not bothered by Lemon, though, she decides to just relax and closes the map along with her eyes. Honestly, having someone stay so close to her feels calming to her. She feels Lemon cuddle up to her even more. Rain answers to this intimate approach by extending her arm to Lemon's shoulder, mostly so they can get even closer to each other. Lemon, too, moves her arm, reaching to Rain's hip.

"You're so warm and nice…"

"No, seriously… What's up with you…?" Rain asks.

"Don't make me say it…"

"Say what…?"

"Gosh, you're so dense…"

"I guess I am a little dense…" Rain admits, which makes Lemon smile.

"I'm just glad to have met you…" Lemon says and sighs happily. "And thanks for coming back down to save me from that stinky goblin…"

"You're welcome…" Rain whispers, also smiling. "I'm glad to have met you too." I'm glad she likes me, but this show of intimacy feels weird. It's like she's in love. Rain doesn't know if she's correct to have guessed that, but it's what she strongly suspects. She likes Lemon too, but not in any kind of romantic way. She thinks Lemon is undeniably cute, but she feels like trying to advance such an intimate relationship with her would probably be a bad idea. She was fine doing it with Pink because she knew there was nothing but lust involved for both parties, but if she did it with Lemon for the sake of simple lust, Lemon would probably get a wrong idea, which would likely damage their relationship more than it would help. Or, so Rain at least thinks. There's no way of knowing for sure without talking about it, but Rain is kind of embarrassed of bringing the topic up.

"Do you think we will survive…?" Lemon suddenly asks, after a brief moment of silence.

Rain begins by saying "Well" almost as if looking to continue from there, but she falls silent without finishing her sentence. "To be honest, I'm not very optimistic…"

"Yeah, me neither…" Lemon says, sounding a little depressed. "We're just simply too weak…"

Rain doesn't want to admit it, but Lemon is right. "It's so frustrating…" she says, almost sounding as if she was exhaling the words while sighing. "Let's be extra careful, alright? And protect each other."

Lemon nods, trying to smile. "That's a promise, alright?"

"Well, I do promise to try my best", Rain says silently.

Lemon suddenly hugs Rain even tighter, which startles Rain for a second. "I'm not even going to let them touch you. You're all mine…" Rain turns around, and they both look at each other. Rain blinks rapidly a few times, dumbfounded, while Lemon smiles with a bright blush on her cheeks. "In fact, why don't we make another promise?" Lemon asks, leaning closer. "Something to motivate us to get home…"

Rain thinks she knows where this is going but doesn't reply yet.

"I'm going to tell you exactly how I feel…" Lemon says with a voice that is absolutely seeping with lust. Rain can't help but blush, and her face mirrors clear signs of embarrassment. A shy smile appears on her lips, and her sudden change in demeanor is something that Lemon finds almost funny. "Are you into girls?" Lemon suddenly asks.

"Well, I mean… I AM a man in real life…"

Lemon's eyes suddenly thin, and her smile changes from a lustful one to one that is slightly more skeptical. "Wait, seriously? You're a guy?"

Not her too, Rain thinks, immediately reminded of when Pink was sure that she was really a girl. Am I really that girly? That's a grave blow to my manhood. She finally nods slowly. "Yeah, I'm a bloke in real life. How about you?"

"Well, I'm a real girl…" Lemon says, staring down Rain's body. "Then again, I guess you're now just as much of a real girl as I am…"

"I suppose…"

"Do you miss your dick?" Lemon asks with a dead-serious tone. "Since you're into chicks."

Rain admits it with a slight nod, although reluctantly.

"Really…? Would you love to bone me?"

Rain has never admitted to Lemon about being into kids, so she kind of dodges the question. "You do realize that you're a kid right now, right…?"

"Doesn't seem to be a problem to you right now", Lemon says and giggles softly. "Well, it doesn't matter. I don't want to stroke a sore spot, but I never was that much into dicks anyway…"

"So, you're into girls, huh…" Rain thinks out loud. "Does the fact that I'm a guy bother you then?"

Lemon blinks rapidly for a moment. "Not at all", she finally says, as if it was obvious. "Because you're a girl now."

Rain eyes down Lemon's body, thinking about how hot she is and how much of a shame it is that she doesn't like dicks. Just like Pink, Lemon is definitely a girl Rain would love banging, even though she's hesitant to say it out loud. Then again, she would rank all Nymphs she has seen so far by at least seven out of ten, way above what she would rate an average little girl. Well, not like I have to worry about that. I'm not going to be able to bang anyone with a damn cunt between my legs.

"By the way…" Lemon says. "What do you think happened to our friends when we got separated?"

"Well, I hope they got away… We were outnumbered pretty heavily, so I fear for them."

"Yeah, me too… But something tells me they're fine", Lemon says, trying to sound optimistic. "I hope…" she adds, a little meekly.

"Should we get going now?" Rain asks. "Are you fine now?"

"I feel a little bit better", Lemon says, nodding. "But… I kind of want to stay like this for a while longer…"

Rain nods, smiling. "Request granted. Few more minutes then."

"Oh, and about that promise we were supposed to make…"

Rain tilts her head confused, but instead of saying anything out loud, Lemon just gives her a quick smooch on her cheek. Blushing, Rain tries to process what just really happened and shuts down completely.

"I'll give you one on the lips once we get home, okay…?"

All Rain can do is nod in approval.

---

After about five more minutes of being side by side in each other's warmth, they decide to get up. Just as they're about to leave their little corner, though, they hear talking from the direction they came from. With low, masculine voices, monsters speak in a language unknown to them. Goblins or demons? They're not sure, and they don't even dare to look. They're both ready to draw their weapons, but for now, they just cling to each other and wait. It takes about a minute for them to realize that they're essentially hugging each other, which is something that makes them both smile and blush.

"Something tells me we shouldn't go back the same route", Rain says.

Lemon nods. "They could be on our tails." As she says that, she summons her bow and peeks outside. The enemy is gone, so they can move now. They must move with haste, though. They have two possible routes to choose from. One leads down the stairs, while the other is on a level ground, leading into a ruined building. They bank on the latter route, as going down the stairs could just lead them deeper into the ruins.

The temple complex turns out to be much bigger than they anticipated, but at the very least, it seems like they're heading out from the ruins. The route they picked also appears to be a safe one. They find themselves in a large room with something strange in the middle. It's a round stone table with a crystal standing on top of it. It reminds them of a Spell Crystal, but it's perfectly round, like a polished pearl. White in color, its surface looks almost as if that of a soap bubble. It takes many colors, and they seem to change depending on which direction you look it from. It's also a lot bigger than a Spell Crystal too, about three inches in diameter. It looks like a treasure, Rain wonders, but why is it lying in the middle of a room? They could be the first Nymphs to ever lay feet into these ruins, which would explain why it hasn't been touched.

As Rain - hungry for loot as ever - extends her hand towards it, a window describing this item appears. It's a purple item, which suggests that it's an extremely rare, high-tier treasure. It's not used for combat, and it's not a reagent either. It has no flavor text attached to it and no instructions for use. It simply has a name, "Relic of Deliria".

"Oh, that's some sweet loot", Lemon says. "Let's take it."

"I have some bad memories of picking up rare loot just laying around in the middle of nowhere", Rain says, hesitating.

"Oh, right… You told about that one time when you and those two dropped into that cave."

"This doesn't look like a trap, though…" Rain says, with her hand on her jaw. She looks around her. There is nothing but trees and roots around them, growing into the building from the outside. The floor doesn't look rigged either, so they can't except to be dropped anywhere. Speaking of drops, there is no roof either, so nothing should drop on them. "I say we go for it", she suggests as she summons her sword. "But let's draw our weapons first, just in case."

"I'll do the honors", Lemon says and clicks the item to put it in her inventory. Crystal disappears, and so, the loot has been taken. Left waiting in silence, two girls look around them. Nothing is happening. They both let out a sigh of relief. "Let's get out of here."

Now, out from the building, they find even more ruins. Ahead of them lies yet another cobblestone path. This part of the forest is even thicker than the last one. Rain looks around her, looking at the creepy trees. There is something strange in one of them. Something small, something white. It appears almost as if blinking and closely resembles an eye. When it blinks, Rain sees it for what it is. She remembers the closed slits from earlier and realizes that they were all eyes. These trees have eyes, and they seem to be following them. They didn't seem to be observing them earlier, or were they? She certainly has felt like she has been watched for a long time. "They're looking at us…" Rain whispers.

Lemon doesn't first understand what Rain means, but then, she sees the eye as well. "Sure seems like it", Lemon says, a little scared. "What even are they?"

"Not the slightest clue, but they haven't been watching us all the time we've been here, have they?"

"Not that I know of", Lemon says.

Rain tries to think about it hard, and it seems like they took an interest in them after they picked up the Relic. Or was it just a coincidence? Rain's not sure, and that's not the only question in her mind either. She also wonders who, if anything, is using these eyes to watch them? Are these trees connected to each other? If these trees communicate with each other and share information through roots, how big is the network?

Deep in her thoughts, Rain becomes utterly unaware of her surroundings. Hidden in a large crack of the cobblestone path is a strange flower, which comes alive and reveals its true nature. A large tentacle, green in color, attacks Rain from below, instantly grabbing onto her legs like a snake. Having snared its prey, the tentacle slimy tightens, and just like that, it has the Nymph locked to place. Rain has her weapon in hand but slicing a tentacle that has already grabbed her proves too tricky. She needs to attack the base, but it's tugging into her. She can't really cut it without hurting herself, which puts her in a dire pinch. Panicking, she starts pulling her leg and goes for a piercing attack. Somehow, she manages to slam her sword to the ground and cut the tentacle enough to pull her leg out.

Lemon couldn't do anything to help, which terrifies her. What is an arrow against a tentacle monster? You could even say that they are effectively immune against such ranged attacks. Sure, it's possible to shoot tentacles down in theory, but is it feasible? Lemon certainly thinks not. The only way for her to damage a tentacle monster is to attack its main body, but this one has its body hidden deep underground. She searches the area looking for more places where the tentacles could come from. More flowers look similar, but how many of them hide tentacles underneath them?

"Careful now!" Lemon instructs. "Avoid the plants. I think they're disguised tentacles."

"Yeah, got it", Rain says and takes few steps forward, only to be interrupted by a scream. Lemon actually backs down away from the cobblestone path to softer soil, which turns out to be a fatal mistake because while being able to disguise themselves as flowers that observe their surroundings, they have other limbs hiding underground as well. These tentacles can attack from any gap not completely covered by cobblestone.

And so, from underneath this soil, multiple tentacles attack Lemon. Eight green tentacles attack her in unison, taking hold of her legs to tie them together and then her arms to press them against her body. They raise her from the ground effortlessly but don't seem to be doing anything else yet.

Rain immediately runs in for the save but attacking so suddenly turns out to be a bad idea. One tentacle lashes her body like a whip, attacking her before she can take a proper defensive stance. It doesn't end with a lash either since the tentacle grabs onto her arm. It's not the arm she's holding a sword in, but Rain knows another similar attack would disarm her completely. Deciding that even though it might be difficult and exhausting, she should take a swing at her large sword with one hand alone.

However, before she can take the swing, she realizes that her sword is stuck. A tentacle has taken hold of her sword from behind. With all the strength she can muster, she pulls it away while cutting the skin of the tentacle holding it down, going on to then slash the tentacle gripping her arm. This move leaves her exhausted though, and vulnerable to the attack that's about to come. Having distracted and slowed down its prey, the monster attacks with another lash of a tentacle. Rain's feet are free, which helps her dodge it, miraculously so. Now, she can attack, and there is not a weapon stronger than a sword against tentacles. She targets the tentacles holding Lemon in place and cuts them in half, killing them all in one swing. Lemon drops to the ground as the tentacles disintegrate into thin air, but unable to gain her footing, she lands clumsily on the uneven ground beneath her. In a last-ditch effort, Rain grabs Lemon's arm to pull her towards herself and succeeds. They both fall to the ground, lying still on top of each other while breathing heavily.

"Oh my gosh, are we safe?" Lemon asks as she struggles to get up, still shaking in fear.

"No, we have no idea how many tentacles there are!" Rain yells. She suspects that they are in the middle of a minefield and surrounded by traps.

Traps are kinds of enemies that do not follow the conventional logic of ranked enemies. They are very easy to avoid encounters if you know where they are hiding and how they work, but they cannot be easily damaged, at least not before they reveal themselves. Some of them are even unkillable. Usually, Rain and Lemon would rely on Wendy to spot traps from afar with her Scouting skills, but this time around, they can't and thus have no idea where the enemies are. How large is the trapped area, and how many tentacles are there really lurking below them? Too many for them to handle is the correct answer.

Unable to get up in time, they are helpless against what's about to come for them. From where the last tentacles came, more come, and they grab onto both of their ankles. When Rain fell, her sword also fell out of her hand, so she tries to reach it, only to find it too far away. The sole lifeline she has is arm's length away from her fingertips, and the distance keeps growing. She can't resummon the weapon yet, and she also knows that once she's restrained, she's not going to be able to summon it at all. Tentacles pull on their legs, dragging their bodies towards the woods, slowly but surely.

"Can't you do anything!?" Lemon asks, almost screaming in panic. "They're going to rape us!"

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Rain shouts. She knows that it isn't her fault, but at the same time, part of her feels responsible for their demise since she was the only one who is the only one who can defend themselves against these kinds of enemies. She's not one to take personal failure lightly, which makes her upset on top of being scared.

Lemon is even more upset than Rain is. She knew from the moment she picked up her class that there would be some great advantages and weaknesses for her - as there are for every class - but she never guessed that she would come across an enemy she can't do anything against. Just the idea of being in such a situation - against a foe she can't even damage - is upsetting and frustrating for her. She tries desperately to grab onto something, but she's already too close to ground zero, from where she can no longer save herself.

Unable to see what's happening underneath her, she feels tentacles taking hold of her entire body once again, and worst of all, there's way more of them than last time around. This time, they're not looking to tie her into one tight package like a rope but instead restrain each one of her body parts separately for absolute control over her. Realizing that she's going to be raped now, she wails quietly, repeating the word "No" over and over again. She can't accept losing virginity like this, not at the hands of tentacles of all things. She isn't the kind of girl who likes to be restrained by anything, period. To have her entire body and all her limbs restrained is a nightmare come true, so much so that she doesn't even have the courage to scream. Tips of the tentacles are also looking to get underneath her clothes and pressing the full length underneath them. They have easy access to her bare nipples and her buttocks, but they're not looking to invade any of her holes. Not yet.

Rain is nowhere as scared as Lemon is. More than anything, she's just angry and disgusted. The tentacles feel slimy, but even though they're covered in a layer of mucus, they don't stick to her skin. She also feels tentacles dancing on her bare skin directly, and since she's wearing a skirt, tentacles have much easier access to between her legs. The only tentacle that is content with touching her indirectly is the one that is pressing against her panties, digging into her slit. She can feel its tip around where her clitoral hood is, and the slight movements of this tentacle cause her to move and struggle. With every struggle though, the tentacles just tighten around her body. They're not looking to suppress her movements completely or to hurt her, but they immobilize her body by pushing her back firmly to the ground.

Meanwhile, the tentacles underneath the two Nymph's clothes begin to properly undress them. They're slow and ineffective at doing it since they can't really undress them while having them restrained, so they tear through the clothes instead. They have a much easier time with Rain, but that doesn't mean that Lemon's pants are safe either. They feel their bottoms coming down, and not just the skirt and pants, but also the panties along with them.

To surprise Lemon once again is a new set of tentacles attacking her from the blind spot, grabbing onto her thighs and shoulders. With the added strength, they're able to lift her from the ground. As she is raised to an upward position, levitating above the ground, her legs are forcefully spread wide apart. She can't muster up the strength to resist even an inch, which causes her to panic, especially since she knows how exposed she must look right now. "No, not like this!" A desperate cry for help is voiced, but nothing can stop what's coming. She can't see well what's happening underneath her, and to be honest, she isn't even trying, but Rain, who's still lying on the ground, eyes locked to Lemon's body, can see that there is an additional tentacle - one that is a little different from the others - that has not grabbed Lemon and has not touched her even once yet. Now, it's preying on its victim, and it has a clear target, perfectly exposed for it to assault effortlessly. Its thick head presses against the brown slit of a little girl and immediately digs in, beginning to push. Lemon continues to protest. "No, get the hell away from me!" However, it's all in vain.

Rain's situation doesn't seem to be getting any better, as she's fully exposed down there as well. A big tentacle similar to the one tormenting Lemon appears between her legs, attacking her vagina. She, too, tries to resist, but it's all useless. Her entire body is restricted by the tentacles, and she can't shake her hips at all. She can only watch how it presses against her genitals and begins to tease her opening. Shaking, Rain finds it impossible to resist the pleasure seeping in. Just like the last time, when Pink touched her down there for the first time, a sudden, intense sensation fills her from all the way from the tips of her toes to the back of her head. Her body remembers this sensation oh so well, and every brush from the drippy tentacle against her immature slit drains away her ability to resist while simultaneously preparing her for a painless insertion. Because of her inability to stop this - and her immense frustration - Rain is starting to tear up. She feels defeated and at mercy, being toyed by her soon-to-be rapist.

Just fucking rape me already and get it over with, she swears in her mind, clenching her teeth. She knows - nay, she hopes - that the tentacle trap will be done after one time, so the quicker it rapes her, the better. She still doesn't want it, but if it's going to happen anyway, why bother resisting? Why delay the inevitable?

Lemon shakes her lower body with all the strength she can muster. She can even avoid the tentacle a little bit, moving her hips away, but the tentacle is following her, still constantly pressed against her. In fact, movement only makes it so that it gets to lick her genitals, which are unforgivably sensitive to a foreign touch. Tentacles grab tighter to her thighs, taking away her ability to sway her hips as well, and the tentacle is already in place. It can't be avoided.

Then, at the same time, both tentacles begin to push forward. In one teary blink of an eye, tentacle invades the virgin hole of Lemon with a snap and a punch, finally causing its victim to scream and shout. The tentacle won't start thrusting in and out yet, and instead just keeps itself in place, letting Lemon feel the size of the thing inside her. It's not a sensation wholly unknown to her. She claims to not being that much into dicks, but she has some experience with sex toys. It's just that the scale is completely out of the ordinary for her, as is the fact that she's not the one in control. She wants it out from her so bad, yet it just keeps pressing upwards, pushing her entire body along. Her muscles tighten, almost as if trying to tell it to get out, but it just makes things worse. She's molded into shape by a foreign invader, and trying to resist it just makes it feel like it's being sucked deeper inside with each relaxation of her muscles.

And so, the tentacle begins to drag out, grinding her insides with amazing friction, causing her entire body to tremble in a stunning shock. Eyes closed, cheeks filled with tears, she lets out another long wail. Quickly, it is interrupted by another quick movement of the tentacle slamming back deep inside her. And then, finally, the second time it drags out, it picks up the pace. It's quick from the very beginning and rapes the little Nymph hard.

Simultaneously, the tentacle inserts into Rain, just as quickly and as easily. As her hymen tears, her back arcs back in surprise, and she lets out a loud gasp. I can't take this after all! she mourns. It's too damn big! For fucks sake, just get it over with! She knew that the tentacle was a large one, yet she still finds herself surprised by the overwhelming physical sensation, multiplied by her minuscule size, her childish figure, and her young, firm muscles for added intensity. Instantaneous insertion reaches deeper than fingers that once pleasured her ever could. It's thicker and bigger than anything she's experienced before. For the first time in her life, she feels just what it feels like to have a pussy stuffed full and stretched out by a massive organ. She hates it just as much as she thought she would. She identifies as a man, and while she doesn't care about looking like a girl, a pussy is not something she wants to have. Too bad for her she has one, and it's going to be used and raped hard.

Rain is not given much time to feel the tentacle lay still inside her. The movement begins for her in the exact same manner as it did for Lemon. It drags out slow, slams in quick, and then, it's constant motion from there. The second thrust causes her to gasp again. Morbidly fascinated by the sight, she watches just how it moves in and out of her, disappearing deep inside her body with each forward thrust, and to her, it looks just as intense as it feels. From the angle she's in, she can't see the place where they connect, but she can see just how thick it is and just how fast it moves. The tentacle turns and twists, slithering as it retracts and straightens as it slams back in. Rain's pussy gets oiled up forcefully by the slimy lubricant coating the tentacle as her body tries to desperately accommodate. It's not just the wetness she feels either, but also unwilling, stubborn pleasure. Her face, which mirrors disgust and fear, is starting to turn redder, and her mouth is widening open as her breathing turns harder. She absolutely cannot accept the way it's making her feel. Please, just finish already, she begs. If it doesn't finish up before I cum, I will surely go crazy!

As Lemon gets fucked from below, her facial expressions begin to change as well. They do not mirror pure fear and terror anymore, as unwanted pleasure is mixed into them. How can they even make me feel like this? she mourns as tears fall down her cheek. Having never felt pleasure so intense before, she's in disbelief, unable to accept such delight could be a byproduct of rape.

She opens her eyes up just a little bit, and suddenly, she realizes more tentacles coming for her. They haven't been under her clothes for a while now. She still has her shirt on, and that is about to change. These tentacles come from the front and behind, and squirming, they raise her shirt, revealing her flat chest and belly. They come out from the shirt's arms and the neck hole, and they begin to pull this shirt apart. Along with her pearly necklace, her top gets ripped off, and her immature upper body is revealed from below. She watches tentacles immediately latch onto her nipples, rubbing and twisting them with tiny little worm-like appendages coming out from inside these tentacles. Another one of these tentacles assaults the outer parts of her vagina, teasing her clit while she gets fucked. Her face is not spared from the tentacles either. One comes from behind her neck moves up and down her cheek while the little one pulls on the side of her mouth. Teased all over, effectively levitating in the air, restrained by warm and squishy tentacles, she can no longer deny how good they make her feel. She can't appreciate it given the circumstances, but they certainly take a toll on her sanity. And she's not the only one.

Tentacles descend on Rain's body to raise her body from the ground, tearing her back from the ground beneath. They pull her legs down, spreading and forcing them apart further, all while it thrusts without slowing down even for a moment. The tentacles with little feelers are also on her, looking for a way underneath her top. She feels them tease her nipples, and she can see her clothes bulge. They actually have the intelligence to pull down the zipper, which both fascinates and terrifies Rain at the same time. Then, tentacles pull her higher, partially undressing her without destroying the shirt. Naked, she finds herself finally raised to an upward position, which it just seems to find even more intense. The tentacle has enough length to pierce through her entire body, and it moves so hard. It physically can't pierce her, of course, but every hit is still like a strike of a hammer.

Wasting no more time, driven by their primordial, demonic lust to dominate, they start moving twice as fast as before. Neither Rain nor Lemon can resist at all anymore. Defeated mentally and physically, they both yell, scream and moan in panic, surprise, and awe. The energy and vigor the tentacles have amazes them. One by one, irresistible pleasure overtakes their bodies, almost as if from out of nowhere. The first one to give in is Lemon, but Rain is not too far behind. Lost in pleasure caused by their respective, sudden climaxes, they can't even process what the tentacles have in store for their bodies. Sperm gushes into their wombs, filling them up with thick, demonic cream. What this means for them remains to be seen, as they do not know for certain how strong these tentacles are. Besides, they have not seen any lore about whenever trap enemies even can impregnate Nymphs.

Much to their relief, the tentacles retract back underground, satisfied, and their torture comes to a close. The trap is on cooldown and cannot be triggered again for a while. Even after a half minute's worth of rest, tentacles are not coming back. Two Nymphs are left lying naked on the ground, next to each other. Stunned, neither of them can move.

As short-lived as their torment was, it was still way too long. It wasn't quite a marathon, but it was as draining as a hundred-meter sprint can possibly be. The rape did untold damage to them, and they know for sure that they for sure won't be able to defend themselves should they be attacked. Even a rank F enemy would probably manhandle them.

Rain, struggling to get up, rolls on top of her stomach, swearing in her mind. If she wasn't feeling pessimistic about her and Lemon's chances of survival before, she sure is now. If getting raped is that easy when they're relatively able to fight, how bad are things going to get to them now that they're both unable to even defend themselves properly? She can't even get on her knees, much less fight with a sword. What's more, she knows they're still being observed. She can see the eyes that gaze down on them.

"We need to get away…!" Rain says, finally forcing herself to her knees. Her hips are a weak mess, and her legs feel like they wouldn't be able to carry her weight standing up.

"I can't even get up…" Lemon says, weeping, on the brink of a breakdown. "How could this happen to us…!"

Work, body, work! Rain commands herself, punching down on her thigh. Get up, you stupid body of mine!

Rain gets to her shaky feet, breathing heavily. As if the throbbing, lingering ache between her legs wasn't enough, she can feel semen drip down her leg as a reminder of the fact that tentacles emptied a massive load inside her. She has done her best not to cry during all this, but she cannot hold back her tears fully. She is determined to not burst out crying, not until she has been completely defeated, and she won't give up without a fight, no matter how desperate that fight could be. "We have to move, Lemon…" she whispers. "Before they attack us again…"

Lemon finds it tough, but she nods anyway. She understands that they really have to go. There's no way they can stay on the path they choose, for this way is full of traps. Who knows what would happen should traps catch them again.

---

While their low stamina is perhaps the most damaging factor in their physical states, their persistent horniness is what worries them more. It's like a migraine, having completely overtaken their physical wellbeing. It's constantly on their minds, and it won't go away or ease. Being pregnant might be a big worry long-term, but short-term sexual excitement is what's more worrying. Their bodies demand immediate rest.

They drag their bodies slowly back inside the temple, which seems to be a safe place, as far as the threat of tentacles is concerned. They find a good corner to hide in and sit down to rest. As soon as she can, Lemon takes the opportunity to research the cause of their horniness. She discovers a hidden status-altering effect called "Miasma poisoning" through her mastery of Alchemy, which seems a condition caused by demonic semen. It's a stacking effect, and there is no cure for it as far as Lemon knows.

"I suspected a poison, but unfortunately, there's no cure for this one", Lemon explains, sighing deeply.

"How do we get rid of this effect then?" Rain asks. "I mean, there's not even a timer on it."

"Yeah, who knows how long it'll last", Lemon answers. She's still in a heavy state and in much worse mental condition than the pissed-off Rain, but sitting down, she at least feels herself recover ever-so-slightly. Seeing that Rain is taking the rape better motivates her to stay strong as well … or at least try to.

"Should we wait it out, or should we try?" Rain asks.

Lemon sighs. "I honestly think they're both dangerous options…" They now know that the ruins harbor tentacles, but who knows how many there are and where they lie? And then, there's the issue of those eyes, she realizes. If they really do observe us, then the enemy must know where we are right now. "Still, I think we have to move soon", she finally says with a very soft voice. "Somewhere where the eyes won't follow…"

"I'm inclined to agree", Rain admits and observes the interior of the building they're in. They only have two exits; one leads towards the place where they were just raped, while the other leads back deeper into the ruins, from where they originally came from. Both options suck, she tells herself and sighs deeply, leaning against the stone wall with her bare back. She's about to speak out as she feels the rock move behind her. Her back presses against a rigged tile, which is now pressed firmly down. She leans forward, almost as if expecting something horrible to happen, but no, it's just a door. Or, more specifically, a secret pathway.

Still sitting down, Rain gazes down this now open path and sees it leading down a tunnel back outside, illuminated by strange energy crystals on the walls. "Did our luck just turn around…?" she asks, whispering. "Or is this too good to be true…?"

"I do certainly think this is too good to be too", Lemon says with a skeptical tone, "but I don't think we have any better alternatives at the moment."

"Yeah, I'm not too keen on going back to that stupid road with tentacles underneath", Rain says.

"And there could still be enemies patrolling deeper in the ruins as well", Lemon says.

"Yep, I think this is worth a risk", Rain says and gets up. This time, she feels like she has an easier time staying on two feet. She still can't even dream of running though.

"Should we go right away then…?" Lemon asks. "Maybe rest in some better place. I don't feel safe here."

Rain agrees with the idea and offers Lemon a hand, pulling her up to her feet. As soon as Lemon gets on her feet, she also feels like being able to stand and walk properly. Then, with Rain leading the way, they enter the corridor and walk forward very carefully. Got to be sure to watch my footing, because there could be more tiles like the last one, Rain suspects.

Just like that, a crack can be heard. This time, it comes from underneath the two girls. Rain is sure it wasn't her, so it must've been Lemon, and Lemon notices it too. Her foot stepped on a loose tile on the floor, causing two walls to drop from the floor on both ends of the tunnel to lock them inside of the dark corridor. What's more, they feel the ground beneath them shake and move. The floor splits in two in the middle, and the gab begins to immediately widen, revealing a long and scary fall.

Left standing on the opposite sides of this now widening gap, they both see something appear in between them; a dozen mean, big, green, and bumpy tentacles reaching up from the hole below. They're given no time to process the situation in which they're in before they all attack at the same time, lashing out with vicious force, taking hold of their ankles, thighs, and wrists. Horrified of what's suddenly happening, they helplessly stare at their legs and feet being pulled towards the still-widening massive gap in the middle of the room. They both realize there's absolutely nothing that can save them anymore.

The fall is not a long one, not that it matters anyway. Restrained, they're not dropping down. They're left hovering in the air on top of the monster that has them snared. They find themselves not in a pit but rather a large, wide room. In the middle of it, above the point where they are, is perhaps the worst thing imaginable for them. What they see is no simple trap.

Held in an upwards position, next to each other, face to face, chests close to each other, they both observe the demon beneath them. It's the green heart of a colossus extending its root-like tentacles all the way to the walls and through the cracked stone walls into its surroundings. They understand now that this is the massive demon that has connected itself to the vegetation above and corrupted it far and wide, perhaps even the very same demon that had laid the tentacle traps outside and already raped them once. It's a big, bad boss, large like a truck. In that sense, you could call it a trap, one that you can't escape.

Rain and Lemon know this from the beginning. Tentacles haven't even raped them yet, and they already know that they won't be able to escape. All of the anger Rain had filled in her heart transforms in a duration of one gasp of terror into despair, while Lemon's once-thought-to-be-nightmare turns into a hell. No words are spoken, and no tears are shed. All they can do is stare in utter disbelief.

More tentacles come for their bodies, attacking them in a flash. Where a human would perhaps require some time and effort to restrain a struggling foe, these tentacles don't. Multiple tentacles, each possessing enough strength to subdue a little Nymph alone, immediately latch into their bodies, turning and twisting their joints as if they were mere toys. And then, with not even ten seconds having passed since they got pulled down, new tentacles are already coming for their genitals.

As the tip of the glans presses against Lemon from the blind angle, she finally screams out loud. "This cannot be happening!" The new tentacle doesn't initially feel any thicker than the last one, but once it starts to push against the soft and wet lips and into the tiny hole hidden in between, Lemon immediately realizes that this one is way bigger than the last one. It hasn't even inserted into her, yet it already feels like it's stretching her to her limits. Her body lets it in relatively quickly, and the tip sinks into her depths, followed by a thick shaft covered in countless small bumps, teasing her stretched-out opening as the tip presses hard up against her cervix.

Rain gets penetrated in a similar fashion, and this time around, her reactions are much louder. As the tentacle penetrates her already wet pussy, she lets out a loud scream, which halfway through morphs into a moan of pleasure. It's not waiting around to feel her insides either as it begins to thrust viciously from the get-go. Her pussy is stretched out to the limit and pounded mercilessly. She struggles with all her remaining strength out of pure desperation, but her legs won't even flinch from the bondage. She can't move her knees even an inch closer to each other. Her hands are quickly restrained and tied in a tight package behind her back as well. She sways in the air, in rhythm with tentacle cock, while the ropers holding her in place move her in a tight package back and forth in a way that would surely make an adult jiggle. No longer able to wish for her rapist to just get it over with, her plea turns from one into another.

"Stop, stop it! Please, just stop!" A desperate plea spoken out loud will not help her, as the tentacle is bound to her pussy. And amid this panic, she also feels extreme ecstasy lingering from her first rape and her first orgasm.

Suddenly, she feels a slimy and wet kiss on another one of her holes. A place nobody has touched yet is being invaded by yet another massive tentacle. Kissing her anus, it follows her movements, pressing down on the hole. She lets out only one soft "No" as she clenches her entire body, almost as if preparing for a sharp jolt of pain. Covered in thick mucus, the tentacle penetrates her virgin anus in one split second. Her entire lower body twitches as her eyes roll back. She spasms heavily and feels both of her holes convulse. In a vicious chain reaction, anal insertion causes her to get to the brink of cumming.

Pleasure radiates all over her body as the bumpy rods both begin to move in and out of her. Just like the one in her pussy, the tentacle in her ass doesn't wait to feel her out. It moves just as fast as the other one, at almost the exact same pace. Her narrow waistline and hips feel barely enough to fit one tentacle. Now, with two, it feels as if the two giant cocks are rubbing against each other inside her tight clamp. Most surprisingly, the pain she expected never came. Even when having her ass raped, she is unable to differentiate pain from the sea of ecstasy.

Why is my body acting like this!? It will drive me crazy! I'll lose my mind! I will seriously lose my sanity if I cum!

There is nothing she can do to slow the tentacles down and nothing she can do to resist her bodily pleasure. A squirting orgasm takes over her body, her mind, and her soul. Tongue extending out and eyes rolling back, she moans as tears finally start to roll down. Yet, one would expect from her madly smiling face that those are tears of joy. They're not. They're the first and the last tears of sadness and fear that she will shed during this ordeal. She does not experience just the rape and forceful submission of her body, but also the submission of her mind. Ever since the first trap, she has already gotten addicted, and every orgasm will just drag her deeper into this hole until there is no escape from her mind's prison. The tentacles force her to accept being a slut for them.

In front of Rain, in the exact same position, like a mirror image of her, so close that she would touch her if she could, Lemon sees how the tentacle penetrates Rain from behind, and she is honestly expecting the same to happen to her. Her heart begins to beat like a drum, as the last thing she wants is a tentacle in her butt. The demon has something else in mind for her though, as a tentacle presents itself to her face, showing her exactly what it looks like from a close-up. Turns out, it looks exactly what it feels like, but that's not Lemon's biggest worry. She knows that the demon is thinking, and she's looking to resist it to the bitter end. She clenches her teeth and shuts her lips tight, muffling her cries and her moans. It's a hard feat to accomplish, yet it's going to be even harder to keep the tentacle away from her face.

The tip kisses her lips, rolling around and pushing hard. For the first time ever, the tentacles are looking to physically hurt her by twisting her arms into a painful submission, and she can't help but let the phallic tentacle into her mouth as she involuntarily tries to scream in pain. She has no other choice. Instantly, it comes in deep. She won't even gag; she's physically incapable of it. Her lips and tongue press against its slimy skin, forcing her to taste it. She can't even bite it, as her jaw feels absolutely powerless. Then again, she knows that she wouldn't be able to hurt it anyway. It moves back and forth and causes her mouth to make slurping sounds as she tries to moan, muffled. She can't take anymore either. She, too, will be forced cum just as intensely as Rain did just before her. Yet, the tentacle doesn't slow down. It's not even close to cumming yet, having merely started.

Orgasming just once has completely taken away their abilities to struggle. Rendered obedient, their bodies accept defeat, not that tentacles care. They are determined to get rougher than before anyway. The demon wants to dominate, and it tightens its stranglehold on its two prey.

In restraining bondage, the tentacles invading the two girls speed up. Two more tentacles attack, one for each, one bound to fill a hole left unabused. Rain can't even bring herself to close her mouth as her eyes gaze down on the tentacle. Tongue extended out, mouth wide open from moaning, it forces itself into her mouth. At the same time, Lemon feels the tentacle being inserted into her ass before she can even properly process that it even is there. It sends her body into a similar shock that Rain experienced earlier and to the brink of yet another orgasm.

All three holes for both are being stuffed, and these tentacles are loading up thick white liquid for them. All these slimy tentacles sweat mucus, conjuring up a powerful, intoxicating smell. While it covers parts of their bodies and makes their skin feel hot and even more sensitive, it attacks the rest of their senses. From sexual pleasure to the sounds and smells around them, they can't envision anything except tentacle rape in their minds. They can't move, they can't slow the rapists down, and they can't even moan or beg for them to stop anymore. There is just one thing left to do: ejaculate. Their fate is fast approaching.

Tentacles speed up once again for one final time. Girls can't imagine them getting any quicker from this. There's just no way they can. The tentacles between their legs push deeper and thrust even harder than before. They do not batter their mouths, but their holes sure are being crushed while they feel like their entire bodies, along with their internal organs, are giving in. It's not a painful sensation but rather one of rapture. It's yet another ingredient to the sexual cocktail, yet another way to intensify their pleasure further. As absurdly powerful as the previous two orgasms were for them, they know that the coming orgasms will be even more incredible.

In her last moments of sanity and defiance, Lemon finally accepts her fate. This is it, this is the end. She may be right, as much as she hates it. Even though a devout, lifelong lesbian, she cannot even get her mind off the tentacle dicks that triple penetrate her. How can it be that they have made her feel more incredible than anything she has experienced in her lifetime? It's not fair, she tells herself. How could it be? Her preferred partner could never make her feel like this, and the tentacles are sure to teach her that.

Rain finds herself finding her situation unfair as well. She's not the one that is supposed to be in this situation. She's not supposed to be a child, a little girl to be fucked by anything. She's the one who's supposed to be in control in her fantasies. She's the one that is supposed to be making little girls feel like she's feeling right now. So why? Why must she be going through all this? Whatever the reason, she will have to get used to it. She's must learn to love being a girl, and more importantly, love being a slut for the tentacles to abuse.

Filled with their respective thoughts of defeat and reluctant acceptance, they feel their climaxes coming. Lemon will cum once again at the hands of something she doesn't find herself attracted to, while Rain will cum like the little girl she's been transformed into and forced to live as. They get pounded all the way to their orgasms, and even after they start cumming, the tentacles still won't stop. Not until they're halfway through their next climaxes.

All the tentacles stop at the same time, with simultaneous ejaculations of all six throbbing tentacles. Pouring down their throats, into their guts, and filling up their wombs, sperm gushes into their tiny girly holes in abnormal amounts. And the tentacles do not give an inch. They do not care about covering up their bodies with sperm or aesthetics. All they want to do is get it all inside the girls. In that very moment, as they taste the cum for the very first time in their lives - and find it tasting good - and as they feel the throbbing tentacles letting a wave of cum into their guts, they find the sperm entering their wombs to be the most satisfying sensation of them all. Demonic seed, one that will surely cultivate offspring inside their tiny bellies, fills them to the absolute brim. The tentacle demon wants to put his two new seedbeds into good use.

Their hunger has not been satisfied, and it never will. Tentacles do not wait to relish in the afterglow and restart the thrusting right from where they last left. They will not be pulling away, not for a long time. The only reason for them to retract is for them to slam back in hard, and the two Nymphs must take it all.

---

Tentacles have become a little less hands-on with the girls, as there is no need for them to restrain them so hard anymore. No longer holding them in the air in a package, they instead let them lay still in different kinds of positions, sometimes even on their knees, forced to ride the tentacles. There is still a clear pecking order, as the tentacles are still calling the shots, but Rain and Lemon are okay with anything. They can't escape, and they wouldn't escape even if you gave them a chance. Not only do they find themselves consenting, but they also find themselves actually pushing themselves on the tentacles. None of this is because of their own volition, as they would never do that if they were sane. The problem is, they are no longer sane. They have gone completely insane.

Along with the seed came a poison more potent than the last one to further corrupt their bodies, souls, and minds. Filled with demonic miasma, cause of this poisoning, semen is pumped into the two girls even after their bodies shouldn't realistically be able to take anymore. What's really going through their minds anymore? Well, not much, really. They have been reduced to being simple creatures who live only for sex, and their brains have been adjusted accordingly.

Of course, the sperm has more obvious effects as well. Having been pumped full of it, their bellies not only bulged up with semen but also with the eggs that had slowly started to grow up inside of them. Anyone could see they were pregnant, but they still had hours to go before they would be forced to deliver. The tentacles had now also made sure to coat their skin with semen as well to really make them look like a pair of pitiful little tentacle slaves.

It's not just the tentacles the Nymphs find pleasure in either, but also themselves. Tentacles allow them this pleasure. After all, the demon has been very okay with the idea of an FFM threesome since the beginning.

Currently, two Nymphs lay on top of each other on a fleshy bed, barely restrained. Rain is on top, while Lemon plays the bottom. Free from waist up, they indulge in each other with both their mouths and their hands while the tentacles still penetrate both their holes and keep hold of their legs and hips. They play with each other's flat chests with both their fingers and their mouths as if enchanted by the childish beauty. They grab each other, hug tight, kiss, exchange saliva, and even swap cum. They occasionally rub each other's clits to intensify pleasure too, especially when nearing orgasms, and they don't even have to communicate. All this is something they do out of a pure primordial instinct for pleasure. As if mind controlled, they do all this without thinking. Intoxicated by the tentacle semen and each other, their minds are blank and broken.

How long has it already taken? How long do they have in front of them as they are rushed towards their demise? They do not know, and they don't even understand the concept of time. There undoubtedly is a long road behind them. Yet, that lengthy road still pales in comparison to the one that lays in front of them. Night has fallen, not that they know or care anything about it. Should things remain the same - should no one find them - there would be a dozen more sleepless nights in their immediate future. The mental breakdown does not occur in one night, even in their case where they've already broken down.

Still, regardless of how long it takes, one thing is for sure; they cannot be corrupted any further. They have been turned into sluts. It doesn't matter if salvation or doom awaits them; they will never fully recover regardless, and they will never go back to being what they used to be.

Poison

Excerpt from the Gamer's Logbook; "Exploring the Mechanics of Nymphsaga", entry number ???, "Universal Principles of Channeling Mana."

Channeling mana is an integral part of every Nymph's life, even in the case of those who do not possess any abilities to cast spells. Every Nymph has mana, and all of them, regardless of their profession, class, or talent choices, have the exact same amount of it. Only regeneration rate and spell cost can be altered, as the amount of maximum mana can never change. Channeling mana and magical energy are required for every in-game action to be activated, even when the ability in question doesn't cost any mana.

Every spell, ability, and action requires three things to happen at the same time to be successfully activated: A state of mind, motion, and a resource to spend. When all conditions are met, mana will flow automatically through these actions and activate the ability in question. It's vitally important for every Nymph to know these steps, so let's go through all of them.

Regarding "The State of Mind" - When a Nymph learns a new ability, it always comes with an instruction, and the first instruction is always to picture a specific state of mind. These are something similar to spoken words or incantations, and even pictures and figures as well. For example, to enable user interface, Nymph must picture a window in front of them. When the ability requires an incantation, it can also be spoken out loud as well. It doesn't really make a bit of difference anyway. Some items do not require a state of mind, like items that can have their effect triggered through magic channeling. Magical lanterns are a good example, which you just need to look at to activate it.

Finally, it's worth pointing out that even though "a state of mind" is required, actual emotions do not play a role in this. All spells and abilities can be cast and activated while calm or angry, happy or sad; it doesn't make a difference. Still, some mind-altering status effects can prevent the player from achieving a specific state of mind, either partially or completely. Effects like "amnesia" and "insanity" are two examples of this.

Regarding "Motion" - No spell or ability can be activated without motion, or in some cases a "special alignment of body-parts". The motion requirements are always included in the instructions as well. To use the user interface as an example again, they must swipe their hand while holding the fingers together. For a powered-up melee swing, there has to be a swing of a weapon. For a spell, there has to be a specific alignment of fingers and hands. Some complex spells might even require something similar to a dance or meditation. Some abilities can use motions shared between many different abilities. Snap of a finger, for example, is used to activate dozens of different items and even some abilities.

The only status-effects that can prevent this requirement from being met is paralyzation, for obvious reasons, but that's not the only thing that players need to worry about when thinking about what kind of abilities they can use. After all, most enemies in the game will do anything in their powers to subdue Nymphs into submission, whether it's by the use of brute force or tools. It's kind of hard to use motion to cast spells when being helplessly bound, now isn't it?

Regarding "Resources to Spend" - This should be pretty straightforward. Want to use a melee ability? You need stamina. Want to cast a spell? You need mana. Want to make a product through your profession? You need the ingredients summoned in front of you. Want to put on the lights? Well, you don't actually need anything for that, not as long as the lights work, anyway. Some high-tier abilities may also need actual reagents in addition to mana or stamina cost as well.

This is also the area where Nymphs will most often have trouble in. Amnesia and paralyzing effects are rare, but everyone will run out of juice at some point. Many poisons and spells can also drain these resources away from players, further increasing problems for them, and then there are the status-altering effects too. Silence and interruption are both relatively common magic effects that can temporarily disable the use of mana altogether.

Only when these three conditions are made, the ability will be used, cast, activated, or whatever. And no, using these abilities is actually not hard at all. It's way easier than it sounds, as every Nymph just knows how to do it, just like they know how to breathe without constantly thinking about it. Once you get the hang of it, it will be natural for you.

---

Angel stands still in silence, with nothing but the sound of calm wind stroking the nature around her. No sounds are coming out from the apartment, and nobody is answering the door. She tries to take a peek inside but can't figure out if anyone is inside. Having waited for a long enough time, she decides to leave; her friends are not there. She needs to get back to work and get Wendy her medicine.

Nearby the barrier, she looks around the bushes in hopes of finding some Aphrodite's Nettles. Her first clue comes in the form of a strong yet pleasant smell, which leads her to this poisonous plant. She finds three nettles growing next to some wild flowers, close to a large oak at the very edge of Grove. She only has one instruction to go by: do NOT touch the leaves. It should be an easy feat to accomplish, as the shaft is very long. All she has to do is to take it by its stalk and just pick it up. Or, so she thinks.

She can't just pick up the nettle by pulling it from the ground, as it proves much sturdier than she ever anticipated. She can't even rip the entire plant off either, as the roots go very deep beneath the ground. If only I had a knife, she mourns as she relaxes for a moment. I'll buy one the next time I visit a general store. She takes a deep breath and goes for one last pull. Just as she's about to grab it, she realizes something flying right past her, right in front of her eyes. It's a giant fly, and it startles her for a second. She ends up falling backward straight on her butt.

A burning sensation takes over her entire hand, and her heartbeat suddenly hastens as she realizes what just happened. She ended up doing the very thing she absolutely had to avoid doing, and that was touching the leaves. Her only consolation is that it won't literally harm her, kill her, or anything like that, but it WILL make her horny. Just how horny exactly? She's nervous about having to find out, but her brains tell her that it shouldn't be a big deal. I mean, it only grazed the back of my hand a little. There's no way it will have a great effect on me, right?

She continues her work and tries to come up with a strategy to pull the plant out. In the end, her long nails - a part of her that she's still not used to having - help her pinch through the tenacious shaft and pull the nettles out by twisting them slightly. After the poison wears off from the leaves, she finally stores them in her inventory.

On her way back towards civilization, the poison slowly starts affecting her. First, her face feels like it's burning, especially her cheeks. She finds difficulty breathing, and then she notices her nipples push uncomfortably against her tight dress, which she never pays much attention to despite being a little self-conscious of her breasts. She touches them, finding them more sensitive than ever. And most importantly, she can feel a wet spot appearing on her panties. She had only gotten wet twice before, once when she touched herself a little and then again when the spider raped her. What makes both of these cases similar is the stimulus to her genitals, but even though there's nothing like that this time around, she still gets wet and horny.

She keeps cursing to herself in her mind, lamenting over the fact she just had to get startled by such a harmless little bug. Because of that little bastard, now she's getting horny, and while there are many things she can do to help it, she doesn't want any of it. She was supposed to go look for her friends, and now she's in this kind of condition? Because of some stupid herb? God fucking damn it, I hate this world, she tells herself.

Outside the apartment tree, she sees Pink waiting for her, and she's waving her hand happily. "Hey, Angel! Where were you?"

"I was collecting herbs…" Angel says, panting.

"Oh, you don't look so good. What's wrong?"

"I ended up getting poisoned…"

"That's not good", Pink says worryingly and approaches Angel to touch her.

"Please, Pink… Do not touch me right now…" Angel kindly asks. "My entire body feels very sensitive right now…"

"Oh man, this looks serious", Pink says, smiling anyway. "Yeah, that's not good at all. Looks like you can't come help us after all…"

"Yeah, I'm so fucking annoyed I can't go", Angel says and sighs. "Anyway, I have to go help Wendy."

Pink nods. "Maybe this is for the best anyway, as Wendy needs someone to look after her and help her."

"Yeah… Did you talk to her?"

Pink shakes her head. "I was planning on doing that, but I just got here."

"I'll go check on her", Angel says. "I need to brew us some calming tea to get rid of this heat…"

Pink nods and waves her hand as she walks away. "I'll come to check on her later. Give her my regards."

---

Shortly after Angel left, Wendy's condition started to worsen again. Not only that, but she ended up becoming even hornier than she was before she masturbated. Like a boomerang, it just returns to her, no matter how much she tries to get rid of it. Left laying still, hornier than ever, Wendy waits patiently for her friend to get back with a relief. The wait is unbearable, and it feels like time is running slow-motion for Wendy. She feels like she needs to do something about her heat, so still laying on the bed sideways, she reaches her hand to her panties and gives herself a slight rub. Before she can even think about what she's doing, she's completely drawn in and unable to stop.

Masturbation has become something that she's familiar with and more or less addicted to. Ever since she first experienced what kind of feeling her body can produce, she has done it many times, almost every night, sort of like a goodnight ritual to her. She was always content with her hands, but now, having felt a dick inside her, she feels like she can't just satisfy herself with her hand anymore. On top of that, her pussy feels like it has evolved into an eternal spring of pleasure. It doesn't matter how much she plays with herself or how bad she tries to relieve herself of her tension. She will just become horny again. She just came less than an hour ago, and now she's doing it again.

I want to cum so bad, she tells herself, biting her lower lip. Her body hungers for more, and it craves greater satisfaction. I can't help myself at all. I want to just cum over and over again, but my fingers don't even feel satisfying anymore. I can't believe I'm thinking about this, but I really should get myself some sort of sex toy. Maybe a dildo would satisfy me. Ah, now I really want one. I just want to stick a massive rubbery dildo deep into my pussy and just ram myself with it! I need something bigger!

Wendy imagines a dick. Her hands can't simulate one, but she imagines one anyway. In her mind, she envisions a large cock digging into her. She tries to imagine it being a human, but her mind is drawn to the goblins. She doesn't want to remember their dicks, but she can't forget. It was their dicks that changed her and showed her greater pleasure. Even though it was so scary, she keeps telling herself, all while she finds herself unable to stop. Even though I hated it. How can my body yearn for it?

Her heart jumps straight to her throat, and all the movement stops as she hears the door open. She's lying on her side, back against the door, so maybe whoever just entered didn't catch her masturbating? She seriously hopes so, at least! She stopped straight in her tracks, and she lays still, eyes open wide and heart beating like a war drum.

"Eh… I'm back…" Angel says silently as she looks at Wendy, confused. Angel immediately realizes what's going on, and the thought makes her blush. Did I just catch her masturbating?

Wendy turns around and nods, still lying down. "Welcome back…"

Angel thinks it could be in her best interest to try and pretend she didn't see anything. "I couldn't find a potion, but I have a tea recipe that might help", she explains. "I just left the plants to dry in the sun. We can enjoy it later."

"How long will it exactly take?" Wendy asks.

"Maybe an hour…" Angel says.

Yeah, there's no fucking way I can wait that long to calm down, Wendy thinks and sighs heavily.

"What's wrong?"

"I started feeling the heat again…"

"R-really? I see…"

Wendy looks annoyed as she stares Angel up judgingly. "Just admit that you saw me masturbating…"

Angel does not dare to say a word, and her eyes are trying to avoid contacting Wendy. Blushing not only because of her own heat but also because of immense embarrassment, she decides to apologize. "I'm sorry I came without knocking first…"

Wendy sighs again. "Honestly, I don't even care anymore… Not when you already know I've become like this…"

"R-right…" Angel says, trying to find the right words to say. "I don't think any less of you… It must feel unbearable…"

"But what's up with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're red as a tomato and acting a little strange."

"O-oh, that… I kind of got into an accident in the process of getting you herbs", Angel admits and forces a smile. "I got poisoned by its aphrodisiac…"

Wendy thins her eyes as a smug smile appears on her face. "Oh, really now? So, you're the same as me?" It even gives her an idea, but she's not sure if she wants to voice it. If we're both horny, wouldn't it make sense for us to try to treat ourselves together? She thinks that there's no way Angel would agree to it, and she's not even sure if she wants it herself, but in all her infinite horniness, it's all she can think of. Wendy knows they're friends, which is a bit of an issue, but still not even the biggest one to her. Could she even properly satisfy me? Wendy doesn't want to admit it, but what she wants right now is a dick. She can't believe it, but it's the truth. If she can't pleasure herself, can another girl do it? Well, it probably is not going to be as satisfying as a dick would be, but it's still better than doing it alone.

"I think we both need some time to ourselves while the leaves dry out", Angel says, as her body turns towards the door. "So… Yeah, see you later."

"Wait a minute", Wendy says, with a shaky voice. She watches Angel turn back to face her, and their eyes meet. While she's scared of asking, she feels like she has to at least bring the topic up, even if it doesn't lead anywhere. "Don't you think it would be more effective to do it together?"

Angel doesn't even know how to answer. She just utterly can't believe what she just heard. Did Wendy just say she wants to have sex with me!? "But we're friends…"

"Yeah, I don't think we should do this either", Wendy says, raising her voice. "I mean, not as far as our friendship is considered, but… I have no one else to turn to. I can't satisfy myself alone. Masturbating just makes it worse. I need someone else to do it for me."

"I don't want to have sex with a kid…"

"I don't want to beg, but please…"

Angel turns unresponsive but still can't run away, as it is too hard for her to back down from the situation. She wants to run away, but her feet are glued to the ground. She doesn't want to accept, but she doesn't want to reject Wendy's proposal either. She eyes down Wendy's immature figure. She's small and slim, and she's flat all over. There is not an ounce of fat on her breasts, and her beet-red face is that of a little child as well. She can't deny that Wendy is cute and adorable, especially when she's blushing. Just thinking about Wendy's appearance positively is making her fall into just a deeper hole. It's clearly a female, but she's not into kids, so why does she find her somewhat attractive?

No, I can't look at her in that way, she tells herself. She's my friend, for fucks sake! Wendy means a lot to her as a longtime friend. She feels that trying to add something sexual to this relationship could damage it, and because of it, she can't bring herself to accept it. Then again, it's not like Wendy's asking her to have sex because of love or lust, but rather because of necessity. You could even say that Wendy is sick, and sick people need to be tended to. It's just that in this case, her sickness comes in the form of sexual excitement.

Thinking about the sickness instantly brings Angel's thoughts to herself. It's not just Wendy that is feeling sick, but Angel herself too. She can feel an intense, throbbing sensation emanating from deep inside her, and she feels hot. She wants to comfort herself too. She just wants to do it alone, but would it help? What if the situation is the same for her as well? What if masturbating will make it just worse? Wendy was right to propose sex, and she knows it. Sex with another person really could be the best way of getting rid of heat more effectively. Finally, Angel accepts the proposal with a deep sigh and a nod. "I have conditions", she says.

Wendy's all ears and willing to listen, so she nods.

"We will only do it one time."

"Naturally…" Wendy says. She herself fears that this might not be a one-time deal, as they could face similar problems in the future, but she decides to not bring it up. Now is not a time to worry about that.

"And you must also do it to me."

This one is a proposal that Wendy was not even thinking about herself. She was thinking only about herself and her own condition, but suddenly she realizes that Angel is in a similar state. Wendy doesn't really care that the person doing her is a child, but to be the one doing it to someone else is a completely different thing. If they both were adults, there wouldn't probably be a problem, as they both are into adult women, and neither of them finds each other sexually desirable. Despite not wanting to have anything to do with it, Wendy agrees to this proposal as well. She can't start being unfair now. "Oh, what the hell, I'll do you as well…"

Feeling a little hot and sweaty, Angel begins to undress by pulling down the zipper behind her back. She stops, looking at Wendy, who is tugging tight to the bottom of her shirt. "Are you not going to get naked…?"

"Isn't taking off my panties enough…?" Wendy asks meekly.

"That's not fair since I have to take everything out…" Angel takes off her dress, exposing her naked upper body for Wendy to see. "Come on now, let's both get naked and do this properly."

Seeing that Angel truly is taking everything off - even her kneesocks - Wendy feels like she too must undress completely. She is wearing very little to begin with, so she's already basically done as soon as she gets to it. She does take her time though, feeling embarrassed. Wendy looks like sitting up when Angel suddenly climbs on the bed, on her fours on top of her. Instantly, Wendy halts, staying still like a statue as if trying to avoid any direct skin-to-skin contact. She looks at the sight of a little girl over her, and she can't take her eyes off her body. Her heart beats like crazy, and she looks down at her own body as well. She sees two children, so close to each other, herself and her friend, naked, daring not to touch each other or to move forward despite their full intentions to have sex.

"How should we even go about this…?" Wendy asks with a shaky, high-pitch voice.

"Now that I think of it, I've never even paid thought to how chicks do it together…" Angel admits.

"I mean, it can't be too hard…"

"Well, I mean… How do I fuck you without a dick…?" Angel asks, almost whispering.

Wendy's eyes twitch as a bright blush, and an annoyed smile appears on her face. "Just fucking grow one then…" she says, jokingly.

Angel finds humor in Wendy's words and laughs uncomfortably. "I wish I could…"

Yeah, me too, Wendy tells herself, repeating the words only in her mind.

"Should we kiss…?"

"Kiss!?" Wendy says out loud. She doesn't want to kiss. Her lips are reserved for one person only, and that is her real-life lover in Hanako. In her opinion, kissing is reserved for lovers, and she doesn't consider Angel her lover and never wants to. "Why should we kiss!?"

"I don't know! To ease ourselves into this!"

"I-I say we skip the formalities and just get straight into it!" Wendy states loudly and immediately starts to think. Her brains try to process the information and try to come up with anything else. She instantly comes up with a better idea, one that she's familiar with already. "Turn around. Let's lick each other instead."

"Wait, straight to action!?"

"I don't care about foreplay! It's not like we're not lovers or anything!"

Angel feels the same way about not being lovers, but her approach is still different. She believes it would be best to start with foreplay and follow up from there organically instead of just jumping straight into the deep end, but at the same time, she's not sure if even that would make it easier. Besides, could licking each other be considered "foreplay" or "straight to action" anyway? She just doesn't have a clue.

"Okay, fine…" Angel finally says, raising her body and readjusting her position. Turning around, her feet are still lying on Wendy's sides, but her butt is faced at her. She gets back to her fours and moves back. Their skin ends up rubbing against each other as her feet tough Wendy's upper body. Very soon, Angel finds herself gazing down at the little girl's genitals under her, and she realizes at this moment that her butt must be right in front of Wendy's face as well. Angel closes her eyes and leans forward as she tries to imagine herself doing this to someone else.

A sudden, warm breath touches her pussy before she can take one lick, and just it alone feels tingly and amazing. Angel shakes, letting out a high, muffled buzz, which then turns into a moan as she feels a tongue softly touch her slit. Her back arcs a little bit, and she moves her hips away in surprise, leaning forward. It was just one little touch with the tip of a tongue, and it alone made her crazy. She's panting heavily, and she now realizes just how potent the poison running through her veins is.

How the hell am I ever supposed to be able to focus if I feel like this? Two hands suddenly come from both sides of her hips, and they grab onto her butt, sinking into her firm, soft buttocks. They pull her back towards the girl she's basically sitting on top of, and suddenly, the tongue touches her even stronger. No longer able to just pull herself away, she feels the girl licking her relentlessly, as she just arcs her back even more, shaking and trying to hold back her moans. She almost wants to sit her hip down harder because of how good it feels to be licked, but she's afraid she might make it uncomfortable for her dear friend.

Yeah, that's right, a friend. Her good friend Wendy. That's Wendy's tongue running all over pussy. Not wanting to deny the reality any longer, she slowly opens her eyes to see Wendy's legs spread wide open underneath her. No matter how much she tries to imagine herself doing it with someone else or someone older, she can't deny the sight of a tiny, childish slit between that girl's legs. For goodness' sake, I'm not a pedophile, she laments, as she lowers her face downward anyway. But neither is she, yet she's doing her best to satisfy me. I promised, so I'll have to do her as well.

As Wendy works, she waits for Angel to respond with something. Rather, anything at this point! Wendy knows how to work pussy properly with just a tongue, and she's more than willing to show Angel her skills, but it's making her increasingly hornier. So horny, in fact, that she's getting a little irritated. I was the one who was supposed to get eaten out, and now I'm doing all the work!?

Just as she's thinking about saying something, she finally feels Angel's mouth touching her privates. Kissing, sucking, and licking, Angel can't seem to be able to do just one thing and stick to it. It's almost as if she's not even sure how to go about this business. Yet, it still feels incredible to Wendy. Nymphs are very easy to please sexually. Their body will not ask for technique; simple stimulation is all it takes for them to go crazy. As far as Wendy's theory about needing someone else goes, she's right on the money. The tongue of another Nymph is nothing like her own hand. It's unpredictable to the point that even the slightest movements manage to catch her by surprise, and that is all she could ever ask for. It's basically the difference between being tickled and trying to tickle yourself; you can't make yourself laugh. Of course, Wendy can make herself orgasm, but she already feels that the pleasure she's going to feel moving forward will rival what she felt at the hands of goblins. Of course, Nymph's tongue and hands can never beat the sensations that penises make Nymphs feel, but this is more than enough as a solid substitute. Wendy definitely thinks that this is going to be able to satisfy her.

It's not easy for Angel to focus on her work, especially since Wendy is grabbing tight on her ass, basically digging very deep without her being able to relieve the pressure. It makes it feel more amazing, but at the cost of her concentration. She also feels like she has to grab onto something, but what? Pressing the backs of her hands against the sheets, she moves her hands under Wendy's legs and basically hugs them in a way that Wendy can't close her legs anymore. Angel does something that Wendy hasn't done to her yet, reaching towards Wendy's pussy with her hands, which isn't a hard feat to accomplish. Her fingers press softly against the puffy, wet lips, opening the child's labia majora up so she can see everything hidden between her folds.

Through her barely open eyes, Angel finds herself enchanted by the little hole now visible. She can't resist her urge to stick a finger inside. So, that's exactly what she does. Instantly, she can hear and even feel Wendy's muffled moans against her own pussy, and the tight hole twitch and tighten against her finger. Her mouth concentrates on the now exposed clitoral hood, which she proceeds to bully with her tongue. Wendy is sure to answer fire with fire, and Angel, too, feels her little bean being teased mercilessly.

It's like a battle. They're dueling to get the other one to orgasm first, and they both feel like losing. To be honest, it's a battle that they both want to lose. Even though they're not able to communicate it aloud, their muffled moans and movements and the way they just grab onto each other even tighter and more passionately mirrors the desire to cum. This desire is going to be fulfilled real soon, and they both know it. By the actions of each other, they orgasm one after another, almost at the same time. The first one to give in is Wendy, who had already warmed up before they started. Honestly, Angel was in a worse condition because of the poison and thus wasn't far behind. As they orgasm, they both begin to slow down a little bit until they both, exhausted, stop playing with each other together.

Angel rolls to the side and lies on her back for a moment. Wendy is having none of it. She's one to get on top of Angel this time and turns around so they can be face to face. Eyes crazed, she breaths heavily through her mouth, with a blush even brighter than before. She eyes down one of her very best friends, who she just had sex with. They did something they shouldn't have, and they loved it. They can still taste each other's liquids on top of their tongues and feel the warmth and wetness on their rosy red lips. Anyone who would see them would surely think they're going to kiss yet, as they both look like lusting for each other but do they really dare? Wendy doesn't want to kiss, but when she watches at Angel's lips, how can she resist herself?

"I can't do it after all…" Wendy whispers. Even though she wants it, she can't bring herself to kiss someone else than her true lover. Even if she would do everything else, something at least needs to stay sacred.

Angel, who doesn't feel the same way at all, puts the other hand behind Wendy's back and the other one against the back of her head and leans upward for a kiss. Wendy resists, and in this brief moment of defiance, Angel stops the advance. It was only a matter of one little centimeter. Just slightly more, and their lips would've met. Angel respects Wendy's wish for now, and she speaks out instead. "If you can't do it… Then will you let me do it for you…?"

Angel's proposal is something that Wendy finds hard to resist because honestly if Angel did kiss her, she knows that she wouldn't be able to hold herself back anymore. "If you kiss me, I will never be able to look at you in the same way again…"

"I think we're already past the point of no return, Wendy…"

She's right, Wendy admits, not speaking the words out loud. She truly knows it, that they already are past that point. Even if they stopped now, she wouldn't be able to look at Angel just as a friend.

Before Wendy gets a chance to voice her opinions, Angel voices hers. "You made me do this…"

Wendy feels the soft lips press against her mouth, tearing down all her walls of resistance, forcing her to surrender. She answers lovingly and passionately. She makes sure to apologize to Hanako, for she has sinned and cheated on her. She's sure Hanako understands, given the circumstances.

Wendy, who has always been able to satisfy herself with just a hand, who has never felt the need for any more than one round, finds herself hornier than before. She can't get Angel out of her mind, and Angel's the same. They're both in just as bad a state as they were before they started. The only thing that has changed is that they don't really call it a bad state anymore. How could they when they're having so much fun? One of Angel's conditions was to do it only one time, but that's not a promise they're going to be able to keep. No, they're going to do it over and over again as many times as it takes. One time turns into one night. It's barely midday, so they have a long day in front of them. They're happy to waste it away having sex.

Conclusion

Around the same time - or maybe a couple of hours later - in the ruins where two Nymphs got lost, one of them finds herself coming back to her senses. Or is she really? Is she awake or simply dreaming? Strangely enough, she doesn't feel anything. The tentacles are gone, and she's no longer restrained. She can't tell if it's hot or cold. She feels dirty from the mucus, but the wind feels cool on her naked skin. If there is a wind, she must be outside. If she's outside, she must be free. And if she can appreciate this and visualize her salvation clearly in her mind, she must have recovered her sanity as well.

Have you ever been put to sleep before surgery or some other elective operation? The doctor asks you to slowly count to ten, but the general anesthesia puts you to sleep before you get to the end. That is what it all ending felt like to her. She has no recollection of how it all went down, as everything just faded to black. Did she lose her consciousness mid-orgasm, or was there even any action going on? The entire ordeal appears fuzzy in her mind, and she has no idea how it all ended.

She can remember some scenes from when it was going on, almost like a photo album opening before her mind's eye. Feelings she felt were so unbelievably intense and otherworldly that she can't bring herself to imagine being even close to those sensations. It's almost as if she was turned into someone else or as if someone else took over her body. She was a slut for that brief chapter in her life, a total and complete slut to the whims of her squirmy tentacle master. How could that be? It's not who she is. She's not a submissive girl, and she's definitely not one that takes pleasure in being penetrated, not in real life at least. So how could I act like that?

Madness, that's what it was. Pure insanity. Just thinking about acting the way she did makes her sulk. Yet, for some reason, she can't bring herself to cry or be sad about it, at least for the time being. She feels - surprisingly - very much okay, both physically and mentally. It brings her mind to more relevant questions: Where is she now? Is she alone?

Her eyes open up ever so slightly and let in the light. Her vision is blurry, but she can clearly see trees overhead. She brings herself to move, which turns out to be surprisingly easy. She must have recovered during her comfortable sleep. She can see - and hear - a flickering warm light that is not coming down from the heavens. There is a campfire and sitting beside it on top of a stone pillar sits a man.

A man? She finds herself in shock. He indeed is a man, but maybe not a human? His thick, light-brown skin has a slight greenish, unnatural hue to it. He's tall as a wardrobe and muscular like an Olympic powerlifter. He's a bald man, shirtless, and wearing black leather pants made from thick, scaly hide. He has a spear as a weapon, and this spear, which is lying still on the ground, must be at least as long as he is tall. From behind, he sure looks like a human, but there's no way he could be.

He must be a monster, she convinces herself. He's too big to be a goblin, and color doesn't match a demon either. He is something entirely different.

The man is cooking a meal, that's for sure. He's defenseless at this very moment, but his size suggests that she wouldn't be able to kill him even if she tried. He's way more menacing than the elite goblin ever was, and that alone was a foe that she and her friend had trouble with. She gets up slowly as if looking to escape. As established before, she's not tied or restrained in any way. Why is this? If the monster has caught them, it would make sense for him to have done something to them. Yet, this doesn't seem to be the case at all.

Careful to not make a sound, she gets to her feet and prepares to open up her inventory to summon a weapon. As she does, the man turns around. Did he hear? He must possess incredible ears if he did, as she was making sure she would not make the slightest sound. This bald man's face looks like that of an ogre, a very handsome ogre. He looks like a mix of a goblin and a human. His eyes are certainly human and seem kind, even though his lips do not. It's hard for her to figure out whenever he's angry or not.

"Oh, you're finally awake", the ogre says.

As he speaks, both Nymphs find themselves wide awake. They didn't even realize each other. They were saved together. Yes, they both independently come up with the same thought. It was this monster, this big burly man, who saved them.

"Relax, will you?" ogre says. He shows no signs of hostility. In fact, he's not even looking at his weapon. "Want some jerky? It tastes awful, but it's incredibly nutritious."

Rain and Lemon both look at each other, puzzled.

"Playing mute, eh?" ogre says and turns around. "Have it your way."

Rain leans in to whisper something to Lemon: "I don't think we can kill it…"

"More importantly, are you okay…?" Lemon asks, worried.

Rain nods. "But that's not the problem… That big guy means trouble…"

"I think so too… He seems harmless, but he's a monster… They can't be trusted…"

"Do you think we could escape…?"

"Look at him… There's no way we can escape…"

"You know", ogre says, interrupting the conversation. "I can hear every word. Besides, didn't I tell you girls to relax?"

"What do you want from us?" Rain suddenly asks.

Ogre, mouth full of meat, answers: "I saved you two, you know."

"Why though?"

"What do you mean why? They were raping you."

Rain lowers her eyebrows, and a bright blush appears on her uncomfortable, otherwise expressionless face. "Well, yes… But why did YOU want to save us…?"

"That's a weird way to say "thank you", little miss", ogre says, sounding a little annoyed, and turns towards the two little naked girls, who are not even trying to cover up, strangely enough.

Rain lowers her face and musters up the strength to thank the monster. She doesn't want to do so, as she still sees this ogre as an enemy, but there's just no way she wouldn't thank him after being saved. "Thank you for saving us…"

"I…" Lemon begins, also appearing a little shy. "I must thank you as well… Who knows what would've happened to us."

Ogre nods, smiling, and offers his giant hand. To say it's a giant is an understatement. He could crush a coconut with it. "My name is Ron. How about you two kids?"

One after another, Rain and Lemon simply introduce themselves, saying nothing but their names.

"I've seen some girls like you in these parts of the forest", Ron says. "Not too many though. They have seen me too and seemed pretty scared of me. I'm not sure why…"

"Well, I mean… You are a giant monster", Rain says. "We're kind of scared of you too…"

"Well, I can't really help being a monster", Ron says with an uncomfortable look on her face, as he scratches the back of his head. "I've just wanted to talk to them, but they run away no matter how friendly I present myself. I'm a really social guy, you know, and it hurts because there aren't any people to talk to here."

"What about the demon?" Lemon asks. "You know, the one that was… Uhmm…"

"Oh, I killed the demon. And I must say, I never thought I would find you getting raped. That must've been a horrifying experience."

"Hold on a minute", Lemon says. Meanwhile, Rain is looking through her inventory to summon herself spare clothes and her old hoodie to get something to wear. "You were surprised to see us raped? And you didn't know why those Nymphs ran away from you either?"

"W-well, yeah…" Ron says, dumbstruck. "Finding you being raped was the last thing I expected."

"We have been told that in this game every single monster is out there to rape us Nymphs", Lemon says.

"Oh, that would explain few things", Ron says, looking really surprised. "So that's why you kids always seem to run away from me. So, you're called Nymphs, huh?"

"Excuse me for asking", Rain says, as she pulls up the zipper to cover up her naked chest. She's already wearing her panties. "But I couldn't help but notice that you talk like you're a player."

"Yeah, I'm a player", Ron says, nodding. "I kind of suspected you were too."

"I thought that in this game, only Nymphs are playable characters."

"I have never heard of any Nymphs", Ron says, looking even more surprised. "I thought this game was some kind of survival RPG."

"Well, we must be playing a completely different game in the same universe then…" Rain says, deep in thought. She hasn't heard of anything like this from the other Nymphs yet. Playable monsters? How many are there? This one seems like a good guy, but are all of them our allies?

Rain looks at Ron with extreme skepticism. If he's a player, just like Nymphs, he should, in theory, be an ally since he shares the same fate as Nymphs, being stuck inside a videogame. Still, it cannot be ignored that he's also a monster. Monsters are driven by their lust towards source. Ron could be the same, or at least turn out to be like that in the future, should he not be able to contain his lust anymore. He seems very relaxed and almost as if incapable of seeing the two Nymphs in a sexual light though, which helps Rain calm her head down as well. It's a good thing he's not a pedo, Rain thinks.

"So, this means that you're stuck here as well?" Lemon asks.

"Yeah", Ron says, nodding once. "You too, I guess. And I've been alone all this time, looking and searching all this time for clues. I've made my camp close to these ruins because this place seems to be pretty abundant with food and treasures. But enough of me, I wanna learn about you Nymphs."

"Not sure what there is to tell…" Rain says, scratching her cheek. "As you can see, we're little girls."

"Yeah, I can see that…" Ron says with thin, jaded eyes. "No need to point out the obvious."

"We live in this forest inside a protective barrier to the south from here. There's like, maybe two to three thousand of us", Rain explains. "Since you clearly aren't a Nymph, you also probably don't know anything about this game being called Nymphsaga."

"Yeah, never heard."

"How about Mormia?"

"Oh, loved that game."

Rain finds the idea of someone who loves Mormia not knowing about Nymphsaga to be unbelievable, especially since they are in that very game. She independently comes to the same exact conclusion that Dana did earlier in the story; someone must've altered their memories. Rain doesn't even know how to continue the discussion from here, so she decides to ask Ron a new question, one that is perhaps even more important. "So, do you know about source then?"

"Nope."

"Apparently, it's something us Nymphs produce. According to the lore, we were created by some aliens to be - "

"Stop", Lemon says, interrupting Rain on the tracks. "Do you honestly think it's a good idea to tell HIM?"

"I don't think it makes a bit of difference", Rain says.

"I do not feel comfortable about talking about that subject with a monster…" Lemon says, glaring at Ron.

"I would appreciate if you didn't treat me like a monster…" Ron says, looking a little saddened by Lemon's words and worry.

"Yeah, I mean, he did save us…" Rain says.

Lemon sighs deeply. "Okay… I'm sorry…"

"As I was saying", Rain says, coughing into her fist, "We were created by aliens to be sex toys, and this source is some kind of super addictive substance that those aliens depend on or something, so this entire world wants to fuck us."

Ron looks like he doesn't believe a word Rain just said. All three sit still in absolute silence, with Lemon being the only one to actually do something. She's now conjuring up some clothes to wear. "I'll make this clear once and for all", Ron begins with a dead-serious expression. "I vow to never ever rape any Nymphs. Children are not supposed to have sex."

"That's a very small reassurance considering that the rest of the world wants to rape us…" Rain says, shrugging. "Glad to have you as an ally nonetheless."

"So that's why the tentacles were raping you as well, huh…?" Ron says.

"Don't remind me…" Rain says, meekly.

"It also explains why you were a little worried about telling me…" Ron says, turning towards Lemon, who just conjured herself a pretty, creamy white plain summer dress. "You really must see me as a monster…"

"Well, yeah… I didn't mean to sound rude. It's just that given what I know about source and how it affects living creatures, I'm worried it could affect you too."

"If it ever starts affecting me, I'll do my absolute best to fight the desire", Ron says, hand on his heart.

Rain and Lemon look around them. Judging by the position of the sun, it's already way past noon. They're still inside the ruins, but they have found themselves a comfortable corner to rest in. "How long have we been out of it?" Rain asks.

"You slept for maybe ten hours. I rescued you around the sunrise, so… It's been a long day looking over you two."

Lemon walks up to Ron, seeming a little shy. "I feel like you've already done so much for us, but… I would like to ask you to help us get home."

Ron nods, smiling. "Sure. I'll help."

"Do you need anything in return?" Rain asks.

"Honestly, I don't think there's much you can offer me…" Ron says, with a hand on his jaw. "No, actually, there is something that I want that you have, and that is information. I'm looking to learn about this world as much as possible. I have a feeling that you know a lot more about this world than I do, especially if there are thousands of you Nymphs."

"That's an easy request to fulfill", Rain says and gives Ron her tiny hand. "I'll teach you lots."

Ron offers Rain his hand, but it's way too big for Rain to actually hold it properly, so Rain just ends up shaking his index finger, a sight that causes Ron to laugh. "It's a deal then."

"Also, I demand that you become my friend", Rain says.

"There you go again", Lemon says, giggling.

"Alright, I'll be your friend", says Ron, laughing again. "But are you sure you don't want to eat?"

"Dude, meat is fucking disgusting", Rain says. "How can anyone eat that shit?"

"Oh, so you're one of those people…" Ron says, looking a little nervous.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rain asks with an annoyed tone.

"N-nothing…" Ron answers, a little embarrassed. Getting to an argument with a vegan is not something he wants, so he decides to back down from his comment and let it be.

"I wouldn't mind a bite…" Lemon whispers. Ron gives her a tiny skewer, and she bites into it. Turns out, it tastes absolutely disgusting and nauseating to her, and she spits most of it out. "Oh my god, it tastes horrible…"

"Told you", Rain says, crossing her arms. "Just stick to plants."

"I suppose I must…" Lemon says, nodding. "So, Nymphs really CAN'T eat meat, huh…? That's a shame… I like meat…"

"Funnily enough, I can't eat anything other than meat", Ron says. "If I try to eat fruits, I react the same way you do."

"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but for once, I'm glad to be a Nymph…" Rain says.

"How about your physical condition though?" Ron asks. "Are you sure you're able to walk?"

Rain and Lemon look at each other. They both are going through the same thing. They might've felt fine laying down, and they might've regained most of their stamina, but there is a new blight slowing them down considerably, and that is abnormal demonic pregnancy. It is honestly something they didn't even think about up until now, but now realize that it really happened to them. They can feel no movement, but even standing up and changing clothes, their bodies do feel a little heavy, and they can tell that there's something inside them. Besides, they suspect - just like Wendy suspected - that their bodies will go into heat as a result. They feel sensitive all over.

Rain is the first one to talk: "Walking is fine, but don't expect us to run or fight."

"Well, I can probably fight if required…" Lemon says, putting great emphasis on the word probably. "Otherwise, I'm the same as Rain."

"Well, that's more than enough", Ron says. "I'll defend you girls."

---

None of the three adventurers recognize the part of the ruins they are in. They're still on the lower floors, as evident by the tunnels and corridors. Of course, there are no roofs in some places, which is why the light can get in. Having talked with Ron for a while now, Rain's and Lemon's attention is drawn back to themselves. They both have a lot to think about, both regarding their own well-being and each other. The same questions puzzle both of them. Yet, they are unable to voice those questions. Walking a safe distance away from Ron behind him, they both look at each other silently.

It has to be pointed out that Rain is not a philosophically-minded person, nor is she scientifically literate or religious, and she sure as hell doesn't have any political bias regarding any of this. She does not know how much of her behavior is due to her lived experiences as a male and how much of it is due to her current biology as a female. That being said, she is trying hard to analyze and rationalize what happened to her during her ordeal. She has always thought that she, as a person, is the person she is in real life, regardless of her current physical appearance or regardless of any of her possible physical appearances across the different games and platforms she has been a part of. The person inside her body has always been the same, kind of like a soul, so to say. In her eyes, her soul carries her personality, her likes and dislikes, all her personal preferences, and, more importantly, her memories and her ego. This is the person she considers to be "me".Why does she believe this? Well, no reason, really. Just her personal feelings. Like said before, it's not something she has thought a lot about.

But now, for the first time in her life, she is asking these questions and challenging this personal view of hers. She finds herself challenged to the core because the person she was during the tentacle rape was not the person she considers to be herself. No, that's not accurate either, she corrects herself. How she acted when the traps caught her - how she was angry at what was going on - was her real personality. Even when she got caught with Lemon the second time, she still was someone she could recognize as herself.

It was only after that point on where she really "changed". The physical sensations she felt shattered her heart and her brains, along with her ego, completely destroying the person she was. What caused this? Was it really the physical stress? She wouldn't say that the mind is completely separate from the body, but she finds herself asking, how big a role exactly does biology, which is her new female body, play in her behavior? Does her biology play as big a role as her soul does, or does one play a bigger role? Moreover, has her new biological reality caused her personality to change, and how much has it changed really? Is it going to change more as she continues to experience new things in her new, hypersensitive body? As far as her ego goes, could she even become someone else entirely? She does not know the answer to any of these questions.

But I have never been raped before, she suddenly tells herself. Maybe that WAS the real me. Maybe that's how I would act if it happened to me in real life as well. It's not something she believes, but it's a possibility that comes to her mind. Oh, and wasn't there something else as well? It didn't even cross her mind, but after being raped by the tentacle trap with Lemon, she was injected with something. It was a condition called Demonic Miasma. Did that play a role in how I was acting?

"Hey…" Rain suddenly whispers.

Lemon is slow to answer, as she seems almost as if she was surprised by Rain talking. "What's up?"

"Is the miasma gone?"

Lemon nods, answering quickly this time. "I confirmed that earlier. Are you worried about that?"

"Yeah, I mean… I was kind of thinking that maybe this world is changing me…"

"I was thinking about that too", Lemon admits. "Not drastically, but… I guess it could be more dramatic for you…" She started out the sentence as some sort of statement, but towards the end, she kind of meant it as a question.

Rain is ashamed of admitting it, but what other choice does she have? She nods deeply. "You and Pink both thought I was a girl, so… I actually thought that maybe this world has made me act girly…"

"If I were you, I wouldn't be worried about the opinions of two people…" Lemon says, trying to smile. "It was just a hunch I had, and a personal hunch at that… It's not like I thought about it deeply or anything…"

"That hunch had to be rooted on something", Rain says, arms crossed. "What is it about me? Is it the way I talk?"

Lemon shakes her head. "It's more like, how you move, how you express yourself, and stuff… Kind of like, your… Everything?"

"That could be even worse then…" Rain whispers, looking a little worried. She certainly does feel like the way she thinks hasn't changed, and her preferences certainly haven't changed, but if the change is rooted in her behavior - if it's subconscious - it has pretty much already happened to her. That is, if I'm going by Lemon's opinion, Rain reminds herself. I need to ask Angel and Wendy as well. "How do you feel changed then?"

"You should know…" Lemon says, blushing. "How that hell made us act…"

"Oh, right…" Rain says, embarrassed.

"I mean, maybe our bodies and biology played a huge role in it, but I think it was because of that miasma thing…" Lemon suspects. "Status effects can alter anything, after all. Maybe that one was something that could alter our minds. Maybe the demon even possessed mind control abilities."

"That's an interesting theory as well…"

"I would call it a hypothesis…" Lemon says, correcting her friend.

Rain tilts her head. "I'm sorry, I don't even understand the difference…"

Lemon shrugs, smiling. "I guess it doesn't matter."

"I kind of hope that is the case… Since I don't really like the idea of my personality changing…"

"Honestly, the idea of mind control sounds worse to me…" Lemon says, looking a little scared.

"I don't know… I mean, it's bad, but it's just temporary, isn't it?" Rain then envisions a monster mind-controlling her and forcing her to do whatever without her being able to do anything, a situation that feels even more unfair and horrifying than the idea of getting caught in a trap. "Okay, you're actually right. That is WAY worse."

"Are you afraid of acting like a girl?"

"Well, I mean…" Rain doesn't want to outright say it because it's not an entirely accurate statement. She's not even sure if there is that much of a difference between acting like a boy and acting like a girl. If there's one person who should know, it's her, but she still doesn't know. "Maybe part of me is…"

"How about the other part?"

"Oh, the other part of me couldn't give a shit. I'm still me." Then, she falls silent. "It's just that… There's kind of the problem… If I become someone else entirely, can I even call myself the same person anymore…?"

"Oh, I kind of see where you're coming from…" Lemon says, nodding. "I guess that could be happening to me as well. I'm not sure, since I'm kind of the same here and in real life…"

"Stop right where you are!" Ron suddenly yells, and just like that, the two girls freeze. "And take few steps back before you walk into a trap."

Rain and Lemon take a few steps back and realize that they didn't see Ron taking a turn to the left during their discussion. "O-oh, are there traps there…?" Lemon asks.

"Yeah", Ron says, nodding. "Just stay focused, alright?"

"Have you been listening to us?" Rain suddenly asks.

"Well, I could hear you talk, but it sounded personal, so I tried ignoring you."

Rain sighs. She didn't get the answer to her question. Then again, she's not sure if she even cares.

"Oh, you can tell where the traps are?" Lemon asks.

"Yeah. I've had this power called 'Scouting' since the beginning", Ron explains.

"Oh, it could be the same as Wendy's profession", Lemon realizes, sounding surprised. "For us, that is a chosen ability."

"I didn't have a choice", Ron says, shrugging. "Whatever, I think it's useful."

---

Like said before, the ruins are still relatively unknown to Ron, so he ends up getting lost a little bit underground. There aren't many stairs that connect upstairs to downstairs, and since they're not exiting through the same hole that he entered, they're venturing into unknown territories. They actually find themselves entering a place guarded by tentacle demons. They're not a problem to Ron, as tentacles can't restrict him. Even when they grab him, he can just rip them apart with his muscles, a feat that is nothing but an impossible dream to a Nymph.

Behind the thick wall of tentacles is a room with another colossal blob of fleshy tentacle mass, which acts as a corrupting heart. Rain and Lemon both recognize it immediately to be a similar kind of monster that raped them. "I thought there were just one of these…" Ron says, taking few steps back from it.

"How bad is it?" Lemon asks.

"It's a boss, only ranked with one X, but it's still not an enemy I'm excited about attacking", Ron says.

"So wait", Lemon begins, as a nervous grin appears on her face. "You took on a literal raid boss by yourself to save us…?"

"Mad respect, dude", Rain says with a thumb extended upward. "You're one strong fella."

"Well, I mean… I can handle most elites because I'm strong, but fighting big monsters like this still gives me the hibby-jibbiys."

"Well, you should have an advantage against tentacle monster, considering you can rip those tentacles apart and all", Rain says. "I know because I use melee weapons as well."

"Oh, trust me. These ones I can't just rip off. I have to rely on my spear and my speed."

"It's fine", Lemon says. "Let's go some other route."

Wrinkles suddenly appear on Ron's forehead, and he looks almost as if focusing. "No…" he says with a low, angry voice. "I can hear someone… This bastard has a victim as well… We can't leave her here…"

"Oh dear", Lemon says. "Are you filling risking your life to save someone else again…?"

"I'm not worried about dying", Ron says, taking an offensive stance. At the same time, Rain and Lemon decide to back down a little bit. "I'm just don't want to get hurt. That's all."

Then, he attacks. He immediately pierces the unmoving body from the distance. The boss can't defend itself, so it should, in theory, be easy to kill. The problem is, it has incredible regenerative powers and truckloads of health. It's also why it's so resistant to magic. You can't have enemies in the game that can just be killed from a distance without them defending themselves. It would be just insane, especially in terms of boss fights. Besides, this one can summon minions, a feature very typical to stationary enemies ranked elite or higher. Rain and Lemon kind of suspected this as well, and that's why they got away. Now, hiding, they watch the fight from the shadows, hoping that the minions don't find and rape them.

The main body of the boss is an easy target for Ron, as are the giant tentacles. He said he can't rip them off, but he can handle one or two at once. They usually attack in numbers, so he has to back down a lot. Small and quick minions are a bigger problem for him, as they tend to get very close to him. Spear is not a melee weapon that can be used effectively to attack enemies close to you, so Ron has to rely on his fists and kicks against the smaller minions. While these jumping little tentacle balls - looking like octopi on land - would probably look to latch to Nymphs to rape them, against Ron, they go for a kill. They're just as effective at doing this as they are at raping, which kind of horrifies Rain and Lemon. After all, what if these tentacles wanted to kill them? They would bite their heads off clean just as easily as they could insert into them. Of course, that's not something that can happen in this game, but their gaping, hellish mouths are not a pretty sight.

Seeing Ron fight seems just as terrifying to these two small and powerless children. He's amazingly strong to take on a raid boss by himself. They have no way of confirming it for themselves, but he could actually be on a similar scale himself. He's twice as tall compared to a Nymph, and with all his lean and heavy muscle, he weighs at least ten times more. Should he turn on Nymphs, he would probably be an encounter rivaling raid bosses as well. No, he would, in a way, probably be even worse, as you can't use conventional raid tactics in player versus player situations. In any case, they can't believe how glad they are to have him on their side, even if just momentarily.

The fight is very long and hard, but it eventually concludes in Ron's favor. He survived but is left out of breath. Despite his physical prowess, even his body won't take everything and will run out of fuel at one point. As Ron falls to rest on his knees, Rain and Lemon get out from hiding and approach the now released Nymph.

The stranger is already unconscious when they get to her. They can't wake her up, but she's clearly alive. Seeing her condition makes them realize that they must've been like this as well when they got saved, and just like them, this Nymph is going to stay fainted for a long time. She is an average-sized Nymph with cute, wide hips and the tiniest pair of budding breasts one could have. Her skin is pale in complexion, and her long, straight hair is white like snow. She looks fully human, but as they can't see her eyes, which are closed, they can't say for sure.

"I think she's going to be okay", Lemon says and lets out a sigh of relief.

"Looks like I have one more kid to save", Ron says and kneels next to her. "We can't wait for her to recover though. I'm going to carry her."

"Is that fine?" Lemon asks. "We could be attacked."

"I doubt anyone would attack me willingly", Ron says and laughs. "Enemies outside are nothing but small fries, and if needed, I can kill them with my kicks alone."

Shrugging, Lemon answers by simply saying: "If you say so."

Rain, meanwhile, takes a look at the loot. Eyes shining with glee, she goes on to actually try and pick something up as Ron's giant hand grabs Rain. Grabbing her body like a toy, Ron raises her to air, and she looks at the ogre with thin, murderous eyes. "Dude, I was just checking out loot."

"It's not nice to ninja loot", Ron says, and let's Rain down. "Oh, I guess you wanted to take that skirt."

"Well, duh. It's not like you're going to use it."

"If you ask nicely, I'll let you have it."

"I'll suck your dick if you do."

Ron backs down, looking a little uncomfortable. "I hope that was a joke."

Rain crosses her arms and blushes. "Well, obviously…" she whispers. "So, um… Can I have it…?"

"Of course, you can. Take it."

Rain is now a lucky recipient of two uncommon items on this journey. The skirt is about as good as the hoodie she found earlier and boasts stats that are useful to her. While the skirt looks lovely in her opinion, she feels like such a long garment with colorful patterns wouldn't fit her. I'm gonna have to convert its appearance once we get home.

"In fact, you can take everything as far as I care", Ron finally decides. "None of it's suitable for me anyway."

There's also a pair of rare earrings on the loot table, ones that add stealth- and critical-damage multipliers, so they're perfect for Lemon. The secondary stat which boosts mana regeneration is not useful for her, but she doesn't care. There are also five common ingredients, two uncommon ingredients, and one high-tier ingredient, which seems is useful for enchanting. Obviously, Rain takes it. Lemon takes the rest of the ingredients, as she already knows what to do with most of them.

Then, as they leave the part of ruin they're currently in, they finally find a way out from the ruins. With the map now serving as their guide towards Grove, a long journey home - fortunately, led by Ron - begins.

---

It's a long road through the forest to the place where they can climb up. It proves to be a journey they would've most likely failed at traversing even if they made it out from the ruins, but none of that matters anymore, because they're just happy to get to safety.

Now, out from the Hammercliff Valley, there is nothing but walking in front of them. Nothing can surprise them anymore, and they're sure of it. As they walk, Ron makes sure to tell Nymphs the location of his camp. It is located close to the border of Hammercliff Valley on Misty Forest's side, near a cliff in a rocky cave. Ron's map can be shared with Nymphs in the same way Nymphs can share information themselves, so they're given the exact location. Rain and Lemon, of course, mark the location on their maps, as they believe it's in their best interest.

During the trip, the three talk a lot. Ron doesn't have much to offer to Nymphs because he works and lives alone, but that doesn't matter. Nymphs are more than happy to share the lore they know about with Ron, especially since they promised to do so. I won't go through the lore they tell Ron, as all that information has already been discussed in previous parts of the story.

They also talk a lot about themselves and what kind of people they are in real life. They all find themselves fascinated by how different people they are and how different their circumstances are. We already know a lot about Rain, but what about Lemon?

According to her, she's pretty much the spitting image of her real self as her character looks exactly like she looked when she was about eight or nine years old. She was born in Bangladesh but moved to Denver, Colorado, when she was just six years old. Now, she's 28 and is studying pharmaceutics at the university level. She really loves medicine and helping others, which is also evident in her in-game profession.

Ron is the oldest of the bunch at the age of sixty. He's a retired ex-military veteran born in El Salvador. Apparently, he was forced to retire after having his leg blown off, which is why he finds a lot of pleasure in virtual reality gaming. It's the only way for him to live a somewhat active life, even though it all might just be escapism from reality. He was never depressed about having his life changed drastically since he has a loving family with four children and even two grandchildren already. Speaking of which, he lives currently in the USA as an immigrant, just like Lemon does. Now, he lives in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Time flies by, and they safely return to Grove. The only thing that lies between them and their home is the barrier. Rain and Lemon can't put it into words just how happy they are to be back. They have tried being carefree and cheerful despite their horrible experiences - mostly because it's hard for them to process what truly happened - but now, they can't help but tear up a little bit. At the same time, Ron tries touching the barrier, which he had come across a few times before, not knowing what it was. Not only is it something that he can't penetrate, but it also deals some damage to him in the form of an electric shock. It truly is something that monsters can't cross, even if those monsters could be players as well.

"Well, this is as far as I go", Ron says, finally letting the third, nameless Nymph down. "I was hoping that maybe I could help carry her a little bit further…"

"It's fine", Rain says, as together with Lemon, they keep the unconscious girl up and supported. Together, they barely have the strength to carry her, but it's not going to be easy, considering their physical condition, which has worsened considerably since they left the ruins, just as they feared.

"Thank you so much for saving us", Lemon says. "I would hug you, but I don't want to drop this poor girl…"

"I don't need a hug…" Ron says, blushing.

Rain opens her mouth and begins to speak: "Like I promised, I will totally suck your dick."

"No, you won't", Ron says strictly. "Don't even joke about such vulgar things."

"Yeah, yeah", Rain says, and for the first time since they met, she shows Ron her smiling face. "Thank you."

"Oh, so you can smile after all", Ron says and laughs. "Come visit me. You're most likely to find me there during sunset." Then, he walks away with a kind wave of a hand.

Lemon sighs and takes the first step forward, along with Rain. Then another step, and a third. Just like that, they walk through the barrier inside the safety of Grove. After few more steps, they both find themselves collapsing down to their knees. They can't believe that they are safe. How unlikely it was for them to be rescued by an ogre of all things? Had it not been for him, they would likely still be out there, getting raped endlessly. A long road lies behind them. Getting home shouldn't take a lot of time. Yet, they can't move anymore. "I feel like fainting right now…" Lemon says.

"Me too… I want to lay down so bad…"

"Not only that, we have to drag this poor girl…" Lemon says, still clinging onto the unconscious little girl. "I wonder if anyone will help us…"

Rain forces herself to her feet and breathes in deep. She lets out as loud a shout as she can. "Help!" she screams. "Anyone! We need help!" And just like that, she falls back to her knees. "God damn it, I feel so weak…" she says. "It's a wonder we even could walk all that time…"

Lemon nods, and tries to smile. "Yeah, we really, REALLY need to get some rest."

"Should I shout again…?" Rain asks.

Lemon shakes her head, and this time she's the one to shout for help. Nobody is coming though. They're still far away from where the people live, so it's only expected. Then, they start to move again. This time, they get a little bit farther than the last time, mostly because they force themselves. Again, they yell for help. Both of them. After a while, they finally hear an answer. Someone is looking for them.

"Where are you?" the voice calls. They do not have the strength to stand up or shout anymore, so they just wait. After a short while, six Nymphs rush to them. They do not recognize any of them, but still, they're so happy to see some kind faces of Nymphs that they instantly feel like bursting into tears. Immediately realize what's up, the six strangers offer potions, and they offer their shoulders for Rain and Lemon to lean on. They also offer to carry the third, unnamed Nymph.

Just fifteen minutes later, they arrive at Lemon's apartment. The first one to lay down on the child-sized bed is the unconscious one. There's not much room for Rain and Lemon left, but that's not a problem. They both pitch some of their gold coins for an upgrade, a king-sized upgrade, to be exact, making the bed instantly larger. A fluffy, super deluxe double bed is enough for two adults now and should be more than enough for three Nymphs. Quickly, they get out from their clothes and lie down, sinking into the comfortable sheets. Unmoving, they feel like their bodies weigh a ton, and they can't get up anymore. They both lay their heads down and try to sleep.

---

In dead silence, they both lie down unmoving, both of them thinking that the other one is asleep. Neither of them is in reality. Their horniness is making sure they won't sleep. Laying down, they also realize something. They are feeling turbulence from the last time. Their bodies just won't forget. When they close their eyes and remember the scenes, and they simultaneously feel their bodies rock and their groins ache, it's almost as if they're still out there. Well, not really, but their memories haven't left that place. Amongst those memories are the ones from the times when they touched each other.

It's those memories that suddenly are on top of every other one for Rain. Those are the memories she treasures in her mind the most. After all, Rain finds Lemon cute and extremely sexy. She doesn't want to say exotic because her race is not why she find Lemon attractive. Race means nothing to her as long as the face looks kissable and the body fuckable. To her, Lemon ranks high in both categories. Yet, even the word "exotic" is one that she would use to describe this brown-skinned Asian cutie, and she managed to do something sensual and exciting with her during that otherwise difficult ordeal.

Yet, at the same time, she finds them to be somewhat sad memories. She can remember Lemon's touch, her warmth, even her taste, but while she can remember doing it, she does not remember what was going through her head at the time. It's almost as if nothing was going on in her head at the time, which she finds very scary. It's like it wasn't me doing her, she reminisces, but someone else. It's like they weren't my memories at all. That could indeed be argued, for they weren't alone in that situation. The tentacles were there too.

In light of all of that, Rain also realizes something really reassuring about herself, which she didn't consider earlier. Even though she may have changed as far as her behavior goes, her sexual preference has not changed. Yeah, those tentacles made her moan like a whore, but in her heart of hearts, she's still the same loli-loving pervert. She still finds little girls to be just as sexy as she did before, and because of this, just like the last time she shared a bed with a little girl, she finds herself wanting to pounce on the kid next to her and just push her down and eat her out. Is it her pedophilic lust for preteen girls? Yes, and she's not even ashamed of admitting it to herself anymore because she knows it's alright. She's not some kind of monster. No, not at all. She just wants some love. That's all.

Rain finally turns around, only to see Lemon turned towards her, with a smile and a blush on her face. Rain also blushes herself, and quite lustfully so.

"Can't sleep, honey?" Lemon whispers, smiling.

Being called with a nice name makes Rain's heart flutter, and she just can't resist a smile. She simply nods.

"I was SO tired, but the instant I got to relax, my body got injected with a shot of caffeine…" Lemon says and giggles.

"Me too", Rain says. "I was also thinking a lot about what we did to each other while we were… You know…"

"Yeah…" Lemon says with an understanding tone and a mischievous smile. "Me too…"

"I was thinking about how sad it was to do it in such circumstances…" Rain says and crawls slowly, shyly, a little bit closer.

"I think I know what you mean…" Lemon says. "Well, we can just say that it didn't count, as there were tentacles involved."

Rain nods again. She agrees wholeheartedly.

"Having you by my side also made catching sleep a bit difficult", Lemon says, fidgeting nervously. "You know… Because I made a promise to you about telling how exactly I feel…"

Rain smiles and nods. "I find it difficult to catch sleep with such an adorable girl by my side too", she admits, acting all flirty.

With that, Lemon suddenly gets on top of Rain, who gasps in surprise. Rain was on the brink of pouncing on Lemon herself, but never in her wildest dreams did she expect Lemon to be the one to make the first advance.

"I've been secretly wanting to do this for a long time…!" Lemon says, and as she finishes her sentence, she pushes her lips against Rain's lips. Rain is surprised for only a moment, as she wants to hug Lemon. She doesn't even care about rolling over and taking back the control even though she prefers to be a top. Lemon is also a top, or so it looks like. Rain has always found girls who act submissive to be the sexiest little things in the world, but at this moment, she's happy to throw that preference of her straight into the dustbin. After all, little girls who push themselves on her are a close second as far as the sexiest little things in the world go. Besides, she finds the idea of top tops "competing" for dominance in a sexual play to be an incredibly sexy idea. Then again, does one really need to even call it a competition? Rain suspects that Lemon will be happy to be at the receiving end of some love too.

Lemon takes a breather from her kissing and lustfully smiles, breathing heavily straight into Rain's face. "Oh baby, I've wanted this so long…!"

Rain's gaping mouth closes slightly as she rolls her tongue back in. "So, is that how you feel…?"

Lemon nods gleefully. "I wanna do you so bad…!"

Rain's heart pounds like crazy as the memories of Lemon getting intimate with her in the ruins come to her mind. I mean, she did kiss me on my cheek, so it was to be somewhat expected, Rain remembers. Based on their discussion on the ruins earlier, she already predicted that Lemon has hots for her, but she never expected her lovesickness to be this severe. Or is it lust? She wants to find out. "Since when…?"

"Since I met you… I knew instantly that there's something special about you…" As Lemon says that, she grabs into Rain's butt, tightly squeezing on it. "I always find myself going crazy around other girls, and I kind of have a wild imagination… I like to fantasize about all kinds of lesbian plays, fantasize girls around me doing all kinds of crazy stuff to each other behind closed doors, and fantasize about myself doing all that stuff to them too…"

Rain knows what Lemon means. She has these "Yuri goggles" she can't take off. Rain suspects that Lemon has a different word for it, as she does not suspect her of being an otaku, but in principle, it's the same thing, whatever you want to call it.

Lemon continues: "You're a girl I definitely want to have for myself, even in my fantasies…"

"Is that a confession…?" Rain asks.

"Well, kind of… But not really… I don't want to settle down, and I wouldn't want to ask that of you either…"

"Well, I'm happy to accept your terms…" Rain says, smiling like she had a rock lifted from her shoulders. She doesn't care about settling down either. How could she? There are just way too many girls she wants to fuck.

Lemon moves her face down and lays her tongue on the little, erect nipple in the middle of Rain's other breast, something that makes the little girl's back twist and arc in pure pleasure. Rain's so sensitive that even a lick to her nipples feels orgasmic.

"I just want to make you part of my little harem", Lemon says, holding back her giggles as she smiles lustfully. "My first addition to the wide list of all the cute girls I have had sex with…"

Oh God, Rain thinks to herself, gulping once. She's basically the same as me. I thought this game would be a hell, but… As far as girls go, this place is a heaven. "Looks like our interests align…" she says and can't help but to smile.

"Rain, my love…! My darling…! I'll make you my first conquest…!"

Rain giggles happily. "Speaking of conquests, I'm already ahead of you… I fucked Pink… Jealous…?"

Lemon breathes in deep, with an absolutely insane look in her eyes. "Oh, yes…! I am jealous of you…! But I don't care…! I want you either way…!" Then, she moves back down on Rain. Like possessed, she just wants to embrace the little girl underneath her, feel her warmth and softness with her body, and touch her all over. Above everything else, she just wants to eat out those soft, rosy lips of Rain. She wants to lick and stick her tongue deep. She wants to exchange saliva and taste just how sweet it is. And Rain, she's more than happy to give Lemon everything she wants, and then some.

Rain pushes upwards and embraces the girl lying on top of her. She spreads her legs to let her even deeper into her embrace, and she lays her hand on the soft, firm, and sporty buttocks. Her hard squeeze causes Lemon's back to arc as every single one of her ten long nails digs into the skin. Lemon lets out a loud, erotic moan, and she looks absolutely delighted. As she gets up, she looks down, and a thought crosses her mind as she sees how close their genitals are together. In a missionary position, the frontmost parts of their genitals are already touching. It's not enough for her. Spreading her legs, she gets to a better position, and she grabs another one of Rain's legs. Rain knows exactly what Lemon is thinking, and she will let her have her way.

Tribadism, scissoring, call it whatever you want. Rain never got around doing it with Pink even though they kind of were planning on doing it. They were just too preoccupied with trying all sorts of other stuff. Rain regretted not doing it afterward, but that's not going to matter anymore since she gets to experience it now anyway.

Lemon pushes herself down with very little force, and the lips touch, pressing against each other ever so slightly. A soft and wet lower body kiss pushes down on Rain. Lemon lays down on her other leg while she holds the other one in place. She moves in a perfect rhythm, rubbing her vulva in a circular motion. Rain, enchanted by sight, covers her mouth with her hand and looks down where their genitals are connected. It's an unreal sight, one that she could never have dreamed of. She still kind of misses her dick, but this isn't so bad either, especially considering how amazing it feels. The touch itself is the softest she could ever imagine, but the pleasure it causes her is far from soft. It's intense, constant, and only seems to get better with every single motion of their hips rubbing against each other.

Laying down, Rain closes her eyes and her back arcs heavily. She does not cover her mouth anymore, and instead, she lays her other hand down while the other one grabs her own chest. She pleasures herself and rubs her nipple while Lemon pushes down on her pussy. She's completely pulled into the play, submissive to the whims of her lover. Her loud, girly, high-pitch moans are a testament to that.

Lemon, despite seeing how submissive and willing Rain is, doesn't relent. She hugs Rain's leg tight and leans her own body backward slightly as several moans escape her own lips. Lemon moans almost every time as she breathes out. Her breathing is getting more rapid as waves of pleasure fluctuate up and down. She can feel her body twitching and spasming, and Rain's body responds the same way. Like an engine running at full speed, a battery loaded to the brim with power, Lemon's hips sway on their own almost without her even thinking about it. She, too, is pulled in, and she can't bring herself to stop, not until she cums. She won't even care if Rain cums first. No, she actually wants that. She wants to see what kind of scream Rain lets out when she cums, and what kind of face will she make.

The reactions are getting fiercer, especially for Rain, who feels like orgasming in Lemon's grasp. Delighted, Lemon looks down at the redhead lying her back on the bed, proud of herself and how she has made this little girl feel. How could she not be proud? She got in bed with the exact girl she wanted, and she's getting to dominate her as much as she wants. Moreover, Rain feels good to the point where she's screaming Lemon's name in pleasure over and over again. All this just makes Lemon's heart flutter with happiness. Her only regret is the fact that they couldn't cum together at the same time, but hey, there's plenty of time for that. In fact, she's ready to cum herself.

Lemon doesn't stop, not until the last second. Driven now by her desire to just orgasm herself, she pushes down even harder, and she moves even harder all the way until she just stops. Her body jerks violently, and she can't concentrate anymore. She finds herself squirting with amazing force and she lets out a loud scream of pleasure, one that will surely echo to the neighbors and outside. If anyone was worried about what could've happened to her, they now know, she's home, safe and sound, and very much okay.

Exhausted, Lemon's legs are spread, and her grip on Rain's legs loosens as she wants to just lay down and relax for a moment. Rain sees this as an opportunity to sit up and apply some movement of her own to continue the play from straight where they left off. Barely having recovered from her last orgasm, she suddenly feels Rain press against herself, but she's not mad at all. Quite the contrary, she finds herself delighted by Rain just wanting more. Lemon, too starts to move, providing some counter-movement.

This time, it's not as much about being in control or being on a receiving end. They are in a position that allows them both to move a little. Face to face, it doesn't get too far though, as they just can't resist the urge to share a tongue kiss and an embrace. Their genitals are still somewhat connected, with their legs intertwined, but they can't really pleasure themselves like this, so their desire for that pulls their lips apart. They're ready to go all-in again.

Their hands touch each other's naked bodies, especially their thighs and their hips, but also occasionally all the way up to their chests. This time, they're determined to cum together. They're not even communicating with words, as they can tell from their spasms and movements when they want to back down and when they want to push harder. Their minds are one. They can achieve their goal of simultaneous orgasms, and they get close to it. They both can tell. And so, they push forward a thousand miles an hour. This is it. They know it.

At the same time, both of their backs arc back, and they both spasm and convulse as they push against each other. It's the only part that connects them, as they both lean back in a similar manner. And their screams are absolutely incredible. Almost as if trying to compete which one of them can make a louder scream of pleasure, they both moan hard. Every time they think it's over, it just gets more intense. They want to hug and kiss, but they do not dare to take a single break, not until it's over.

Finally, they bask in a moment of tranquility, and they both lean towards each other for yet another kiss. You'd think that an orgasm is something that will drain your strength, but they find themselves even more energized. Nothing can stop them now. Well, maybe someone can. They forgot about her, but there is a third girl in the bed. They both gaze towards her. She's still sleeping very peacefully, almost too peacefully. You would perhaps even think that she's awake and merely pretending to be asleep. Yet, she has not moved at all from the position they left her in.

"How did she not wake up is beyond me…" Rain says.

"Honestly", Lemon starts with a cunning smile. "Would that be a bad thing…?"

"I don't want to disrupt her…" Rain whispers. "Then again, I don't want to stop making love either…"

"Well, I mean… She can join us if she wakes up", Lemon says and giggles. "In fact, if you are just pretending to be asleep, why not speak up? Let's have threesome." They wait, but there really is no answer. There's no waking her up. "Aww, threesome would've been so much fun…" Lemon says, turning back towards Rain. "I guess it's just two of us…"

Rain can't do anything else but nod. Earlier, she thought that this world could be heaven as far as girls are concerned. Now she's convinced. Phantasm may be hell, but within the safety of Grove, she's in heaven.

---

In the end, it has to be asked: Is it love? It's more than a normal friendship, so it could be. They certainly treat each other like lovers, calling each other cute and heartwarming names. Still, considering how intimate the society of Nymphs is in general because of their living circumstances, it could just be that having a sexual relationship is just something that is "normal" for Nymphs. Maybe in the society of Nymphs, sex is just how they show friendship? If you were to ask Rain and Lemon, they would certainly say yes. They're not lovers, they're just friends. Friends with benefits, yes, but certainly less than lovers.

They both agree that they want to work towards that kind of polyamorous society where sex is more accepted, even though it could be difficult for most Nymphs to agree. Wouldn't that make it so that instead of gaining a lover, they gained a partner in crime in each other? Or is it an open relationship? Neither of them knows, and honestly, they don't care either, because either way, they're happy to think of each other as an irreplaceable partner, no matter what the role of the partner might be in their respective lives.

---

A new morning rises, and a long, wet, and hot night is behind Rain. All her sorrows and pains are nothing but a sad memory anymore. I mean, how could she be sad? The tentacles defeated her and Lemon, but they made it out. Besides, she's is in a paradise. She's not in a bed with just one naked little girl. No, there are two of them.

As Rain wakes up, they are both still fast asleep. Lemon lays naked on her back with drool rolling down her cheek, and the nameless Nymph sleeps on her stomach with an adorable smile on her face. Not only that, Rain finds this white-haired Nymph's hand on top of her shoulder, almost as if wanting to climb on top of her in sleep, almost as if thanking her. How cute, Rain thinks, wondering the Nymph was sleeping through it all or if she actually woke up at some moment. Rain and Lemon DID kind of moan in her ear, sharing the same bed and all, so it's not out of the question.

Rain, though, feels like she can't stay for long. She has something perhaps even more important than Lemon in her mind: Angel, Wendy and Pink. What happened to them? She wants to find out. No, she NEEDS to find out. She absolutely has to. Lucky for her, she's as energized as ever and ready to head out.

She dresses up in her now restored clothes, silently and slowly. She heads out towards to door, takes one final look at the two girls she will now leave sleeping undisturbed. The only thing left to do is to write a little love letter to Lemon. There are already papers and pencils waiting on a table, so she takes it upon herself to write a letter explaining her absence. She also makes sure to thank Lemon for a fantastic night before finally leaving.

It's already noon. She really did sleep a lot. If she wasn't recovered before, she sure as hell is now!

No, that's not true. She has not recovered yet, and she sure as hell is not yet free from what the tentacle monster did to her. Reality kicks her in the stomach like the bastard he is. This reality is her child, a demon spawn growing in her womb. It's moving and kicking, so it has grown to be quite an energetic little bastard. She can feel it vividly, even though you wouldn't be able to tell that she's pregnant looking at her still slim waistline. But she can tell, she's pregnant, and alas, she can also tell: This is the day it's going to be born.

Chapter III