"Before I leave, we’re going to finish what we’ve started," Alice said. Her breathing was already taking a rhythm that internally excited Clyde to no end. The harem trope could not get in the way. The idea that formed into his skull made him spring into action.

"Hold on a sec," he said. He locked every window—for some reason they just happened to be unlocked at this time—then he did the same for the door. He also turned off the TV in the living room, set his phone’s settings to silent, and made sure no other electronics were on.

"What are you doing?" Alice said, humor in her voice. She floated toward him, grabbed his arm, and led the young man to the bedroom. "I shall order us pie later."

Clyde smiled then kissed the demoness. He undressed her as their lips caressed, hearts singing, as though compatible in a different realm. Soon, he was moving his kisses lower and lower, naked too. Alice let out a brief song of pleasure when his fingers entered her. Her sea. Her treasure. He massaged, and she tightened, holding onto his back, husky breathing tickling his neck.

"Enough teasing," she whispered.

Clyde smiled as he removed his soaked fingers. His erection felt like it could hit the roof.

He gently entered her, warm and tightening and incredible, and threatening to make him release then he moved, thrust.

She was an orchestra of ecstasy, singing in a way that made Clyde take all of her. She caught him in a surprise round of kisses which only enhanced his beast. He thrusted harder and faster. Alice responded with moans that could’ve transcended time.

"Yes, yes, there, oh!"

Clyde felt lost in time as they tossed and turned, switched positions, and rode each other. His enhanced endurance gave him the much-needed break in this crazy world. Eventually, they were like a duet. Alice’s final solo rang from her lips and simultaneously, they released.

Clyde barely managed to pull out in time. Alice’s body jerked at the climax. She hugged against the young man, breathing hard and enticing, juices soaking the sheets. Then she let out a calming breath, sliding down Clyde to lay back on the bed.

When the young man lay beside her, she cuddled against him, eyes seeming to glow.

"I may never leave," Alice said then stuck her tongue out. "Just kidding." She pressed her face into his side then let out a sigh. "I’m going to shower. I would ask you to join but time isn’t on my side. There’s no way out of this meeting with Father.”

"Time is never on our side," Clyde said. Alice gave him another kiss.

"Silly human." She started toward his bathroom. Clyde noticed that she spawned a pink bottle of soap and other things out of nothingness. He could hear the sound of running water after she closed the door, but not without giving him one last look that considered invitation.

He looked at his phone and grinned. Five missed calls and messages. The harem trope had been subdued, but he wasn’t naïve enough to believe that it’d wouldn’t try again.

He showered when Alice left then tossed the sheets and dirty clothes into the wash as he hummed a tune from Earth.

At eight, Clyde met with the others at the nearest bus stop. Thank goodness they actually knew where Seth lived. The directions the frightened young man gave him earlier didn’t make sense. Not for someone new to the city. Clyde’s mental navigation system did nothing. Of course, he’d be using it again soon to go to the grasslands.

Ten minutes barely passed when they made the first encounter of the night. It was a purple man with a thick white beard, sitting on a flying carpet, ten feet into the air. Below him were three level ten imps, glaring at the group.

[Your party has entered combat!]

Cinder demon

Level: 14

Type: Monster

Work under: demon lord spawn.

Special: Dire Wind [ chance of knockdown 12%]

Weakness: Your hostile detection isn’t high enough for this.

Resistances: See above.

Secret: Your hostile detection, luck, and will isn’t high enough for this.

"You guys take on the stupid imps," Kitome said, "I’ll handle the flyer."

Everyone nodded then scattered. Clyde set his sights on a lone imp, unsheathing his sword, and struck it. The imp squealed, not quite dead. It attempted to scratch at the young man with black long claws, but Clyde easily dodged. He finished it with a second swing of his blade, lopping off its head. At the same time, the others killed off their foes. All except Kitome. She seemed to be charging something. The Cinder demon attempted to blast her into oblivion with countless wind spells, but the magical girl held strong.

[Kitome used Heart Arrow!]

The blue-haired girl aimed what appeared to be an invisible bow at the monster in the air, then in a motion that looked like an arrow release, took it down. A glowing arrow tipped with a purple heart of energy streaked to the Cinder demon, plunged through its head, killing the thing instantly.

[Battle completed. Victory! Reward: 800 EXP and $100.]

[Congratulations, you have reached level 15! Stats increased! You have learned Spirit slash!]

"Not bad," Toru said. "We’ll keep that up on the way to Seth’s."

Before the group took off, Harumi checked everyone’s health, nodding when they checked out to her liking. The group fought off four more encounters ranging from ions, to imps, and the cinder demons.

Seth looked surprised to see them. He expected Clyde to bail on him due to the police recommendations of not going out at night. Clyde bringing backup excited the young man.

Clyde analyzed the blond-haired anime boy as he led them to his backyard. He was tall, a head’s height over Toru and lanky, edged with muscle. In fact, he almost had the build of a basketball player. At least its anime equivalent.

Name: Seth.

Level: 11.

Type: brawler.

Relationship: Neutral. Classmate.

HP: 100%

MP: 100%

Stats: Relationship isn’t high enough.

Special abilities: Relationship isn’t high enough.

Skills: how many times do I have to tell you, relationship isn’t high enough, you shit-for-brains.

Magic abilities: see above.

Secrets: see above.

Yet another goddamn chill struck Clyde as they neared the backyard. He gave props to the neighborhood though. It looked peaceful and clean.

Seth had a large grassy front yard and as they approach the back, he could tell it mirrored its counterpart in size. A noise…no, a girlish laugh stopped everyone. Seth paled.

"I don’t know, maybe we should go back," he said.

"No," Toru said. "You can wait here if you want like a weakling. What you’ll see is something you’d better keep secret. You have the gift too."

Without any further argument, the group marched to the backyard. Seth’s pride took over his feet.

At first, Clyde saw nothing. Then he noticed a humanoid shadow, moving slowly toward them. It had the height of Harumi and Kitome, roughly five feet and five inches or so tall.

"What in the…"

The shadow suddenly took form…an odd creature that made Clyde immediately analyze. It had the shape of a busty woman, but all of it seemed to be made of purple…slime?

"What the fuck is that?" Seth yelled. No one answered him. He looked as if he rooted himself to his spot.

Slime girl- Attie

Level: 25

Type: Monster

Work under: N/A.

Special: Forced Sex. [Chance of forcing itself onto victims. It prefers males but doesn’t discriminate. Sex could halve MP and HP. And if the rape is long enough, it can cause exhaustion. 0.1% chance of enemy going wild enough to kill its victim.]

Weakness: Your hostile detection isn’t high enough for this.

Resistances: See above.

Secret: Your hostile detection, luck, and will isn’t high enough for this.

"Guys be on guard. It’s strong," Clyde said. The chill the slime gave him didn’t go away. He knew back at home, they were a mixed bag of either strong or first-level enemies in video games. Seeing how the slime was clearly a mini-boss with a ridiculous special ability, they had no room to fuck around.

[Your party has entered combat!]

The slime girl, Attie giggled, a human laugh. A giggle that made Clyde shudder.

"Humans are a fragile sort, but fun to play with," she said in a woman’s singsong voice. "Hearts full of chaos and power. Let me show you a good time."

"I don’t think so," Kitome said. "Toru, battle plan two?"

"Yeah, I guess," Toru said, "but let’s make Clyde the leader, okay."

They fanned out in a semi-circle formation.

"Why me?" Clyde asked, a little annoyed. He didn’t want to be stuck coming up with complicated shit for these fights.

"Something about you feels off," Toru answered.

"Hey!" Attie barked. "How dare you ignore me."

[Enemy used Static flash stun!]

A flash of light struck Toru. He fell to his ass, stunned. His eyes widened, surprised at being unable to budge from the status affect.

"You’re cute, pretty boy and there’s something alluring... Ah well, I’ll start with you!" Attie said, gliding toward the helpless young man.

"Stop standing there and help!" Toru yelled.

A stream of heart bombs spiraled from Kitome’s direction. The impact stopped the slime just a little.

[Enemy HP has dropped to 180%]

"That hurt," Attie said. "A puny human hurting me? Interfering with my fun? I’ll make sure to punish you nice and…smooth for that."

That attacked seemed to buy Toru the time he needed to break the stun. He was a bit slow to his feet.

Attie shook her head then held up a slime hand. It began to glow. Clyde didn’t know what she was up to, but he sure as shit wasn’t going to let her get off that attack.

He aimed one hand and released the energy ball. The impact knocked it down.

[Critical hit! Enemy HP has dropped to 135% ENEMY IS STUNNED. ATTACK ONCE MORE!]

Everyone took the time to actually use their heads and join in on the attack. Clyde unleashed his scatter shots, Kitome used her energy hearts, Harumi used her electric magic, Toru launched glowing throwing knives at it that seemed to spawn from nothing.

[Enemy HP has dropped to 50%]

The slime girl leapt to her feet, furious. Clyde could tell by the angry trembling and the muttered curses. Suddenly, a large flash of light covered them all.

[Enemy has used All-around empty flash.]

Clyde gulped. In his mind’s eye, he could see a tiny thunderbolt symbol with a timer next to it.

"What the fuck?" Seth hissed. He seemed to be the only person unaffected by the attack, but to Clyde’s dismay, he was backing away really fast. "What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck dude. This can’t be real. But…I…dude, I need God. Dear God, please help."

Clyde tuned out the frightened young man and his mouth nearly dropped. The slime girl was in front of Toru, ripping off his clothes, giggling at his angry protests and threats. In seconds, she had him completely naked. She chuckled, laid him back-first on the ground, then massaged his horn.

"Such a pretty thing," she said as the erection rose to full height. Toru cursed and threatened, but that didn’t stop the slime woman from straddling him.

[Enemy used Forced Sex!]

She rode him vigorously while moaning in pleasure, laughing, and even kissing Toru with slimy lips.

[Toru’s strength is being drained! Toru’s MP has halved! Toru’s HP has halved!]

Clyde glared at the timer, which seemed to be counting down very slowly. He wanted no part of this. He tried to move, but no such luck occurred. Just then, the slime girl let out a climatic yell. He looked to see her turn to him.

He said nothing, just looked bored, uninterested. Toru was breathing hard, plagued with an exhaustion debuff. Clyde’s ploy worked. The slime turned to Kitome. The snarling Kitome. A look that pleased the slime girl.

"I’ll come back to you," she said to Clyde then was in front of the blue-haired anime girl in an instant.

"Shit, shit, shit," Clyde said, "we can’t risk another exhaustion. Not for someone this strong—we’re so close."

If he didn’t value Kitome’s safety, Clyde would’ve considered tossing the hand bomb when the timer ran out. If it ran out. He tried to flash step hoping it would allow him to move, but nothing happened.

Just like before, Attie ripped off her victim’s clothes then laid Kitome down. Kitome whined, tears falling from her eyes.

"Yes, just like that, wretched girl. Now I’ll show you some true pain."

Clyde thought she was a goner, but something struck the slime hard enough to get its attention. An old brick…?

[Enemy HP has dropped to 45% Enemy is enraged!]

"Who’s the wretch?" She rose and looked at Clyde. What she didn’t expect was the baseball bat from behind to bash her repeatedly in the head.

[Enemy HP has dropped to 15%]

Seth didn’t stop—he roared as he beat the living shit out of the perverted slime monster. He beat it until there was only a puddle on the ground. He beat the puddle for a little while too.

[Battle completed. Victory! Reward: 8000 EXP and $300.]

[You have reached levels 16 and 17! You have learned Spirit wave!]

The status effect vanished, and Harumi immediately set off to heal the victims.

"Seth, could you get them clothes?" Clyde said. Seth nodded, sprinting off. He returned a few minutes later with sweat pants and shirts for both Toru and Kitome.

"You really saved our asses back there, man," Clyde said softly. "I felt powerless. That was no ordinary paralysis."

"We…won’t be able to fight the demon lord like this," Kitome said. "I…was so scared. And Toru." She sighed. "Lost his virginity."

He tried to glare, but the young man was just too tired to do anything beyond putting on clothes. He chuckled.

“You’re just mad that she found something alluring about me.”

Just then, a shimmer of light blinked into a chest, a foot in front of Clyde. Like before, it was the size of a small safe, or maybe an ancient storage chest. He couldn’t fight the gamer inside and opened it to distract himself. Luckily, he found the item that he wanted and left the rest for the others to pick through.

[You have found the book: Path of the Mystic. Item value: mysterious. Your unique spiritual based special element allows compatibility with this book. Opening it will allow you to learn Mystic skills, abilities, and magic. You cannot read this book at night. Warning, it will vanish after one use.]

Clyde warped the book to his inventory. Seemingly over the attack, Toru took the time to explain everything to the wide-eyed Seth.

"It’s getting late," Clyde said ten minutes later. "Let’s call it a night. Seth, we’ll keep in touch."

"Let’s all exchange numbers," Harumi said. "This situation is far too important to turn a blind to."

[You have received new phone numbers!]

[Your relationship with Seth has changed from neutral to friendly-respect.]

That night, Clyde felt angry with himself for being so powerless. He hoped the shower would calm him down, but it didn’t. That slime could’ve had them all for dinner… Could’ve raped them into the grave.

He promised himself that this was the end of his weakness. He’d do whatever it took for power. If he couldn’t face enemies like these, then the Viper would destroy him.

Shit. He had to go to Chika’s house the next morning…