The great slime hunt

Angelica and Lila waited outside the palace doors, Lila having changed into her normal outfit. The sight of the dark entrance gave both of them shivers just being near it, but they stuck it out so that they could see their friend walk out. Angelica's head spun with lurid thoughts of what could've happened that night. The notifications only painted so much of a picture, and it was not a good one. When Daelana came down, she had mostly felt remorse for what she had suffered. Her loss of points could attest to that. But Christina barely lost any points, instead gaining them at a startling degree. What could she have done to get that? Why would she do it?

Lila for her part shuffled around nervously. She thought that Angelica was judging her for seeing her humiliating punishment last night and for not helping her through it. Lila knew that she was too terrified to do something. No, even more than that, a part of her was grateful that she had endured such a punishment because it had distracted Malgor from her. Angelica invoked Malgor's ire because he was kissing Lila. She had saved her in a sense. And in return, Lila did nothing and suffered no consequences. Guilt was filling her heart, but the fear kept her from saying it. She simply hoped Christina would come out soon and distract both of them from the situation.

Sure enough, Christina emerged from the palace. Her dress was disheveled and her face was not pleasant, yet both were far more put together than the qualities of Daelana after her first night. Christina didn't look like she had seen a ghost. More like she'd gotten a small fright. This only increased Angelica's worries and suspicions. She ran up to Christina and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Talk to us Christina!" Angelica yelled, "What happened!"

"Stop yelling!" said Christina, "I don't want to talk about it!"

Christina pushed Angelica away, causing her some shock. Christina's mind was a blur of mixed emotions. The dark lord had poured twisted thoughts into her mind, or at least that's what she thought. Such thoughts could've been there all along. That was the worst part, not being able to tell the poison from the truth. But in that dark swirl of confusion, she still found some of her resentment for Angelica. The fact that she, despite her still acting like the hero, did nothing for her. She could not confirm her hate, but it was stewing. She tried to walk away but Angelica stood in front of her once again.

"Wait," said Angelica, "You're my best friend, Christina. I know things have been hard but I knew I'd always have you through thick and thin. You can trust me. Please tell me what happened up there. If he hurt you, I can help."

Christina stopped and looked at her feet. She did want comfort and she wanted to believe that she was still her best friend. But the shame of last night was too much, mostly because she didn't feel like Malgor had hurt her at all.

"You wouldn't understand," said Christina.

"Let me try," said Angelica, "Please, let me try."

Angelica slowly wrapped her arms around Christina, pulling her into an embrace. Christina let her, longing for the warmth she used to feel from her during their adventures. Perhaps she could trust her. It had felt like an eternity since she felt comfortable like this. She hugged Angelica back.

"I'm sorry, Angelica," said Christina, "I don't know what came over me."

Angelica's eyes shot open. She pulled herself from the embrace and looked Christina straight in the eyes, holding her shoulders tightly.

"What do you mean by that?" said Angelica, "What came over you?"

"What?" said Christina, "Nothing! I just..."

"I saw the scoreboard!" said Angelica, "What did he do? What did he say to make you do it?"

Christina pulled away from her grip, a look of surprise on her face.

"What are you trying to say?" said Christina.

"We all saw the scoreboard!" said Angelica, "I'm just trying to get a clearer picture."

"You think I gave myself willingly?" said Christina, "You think I'm a slut, don't you?"

"No!" said Angelica, "I never said that!"

"You said that before!" said Christina, "Yesterday morning! What was it you said? 'Sex-craved maniac!' Is that what you think of me?"

"Forget about that!" said Angelica, "We're talking about last night!"

"Because you think I was a slut last night!" said Christina, "You just want to hear me say it! You want to hear me say that I gave up, just like you think everyone else gave up! All of us threw ourselves at Malgor at the first chance! But not Angelica, right? Not pure-hearted, brave, chosen one Angelica! She needs to be so much stronger and so much better than everyone else! She'd feel so much better about herself if she knew everyone except her was a dark lord's whore! Well, does it make you happy?"

Silence filled the air. Both Angelica and Lila were stunned. That was the most Christina had ever raised her voice, even in the midst of battle. It felt like something had switched inside of her as she raved like a madwoman. Christina breathed heavily, but her mood changed as she saw the fear she had struck in the hearts of her companions. Angelica shed a tear as she looked somberly towards her best friend.

"Is that what you really think of me, Christina?" said Angelica.

Christina bowed her head, not able to answer yes or no for she did not know which was the truth. The silence was thankfully broken as the footsteps of Athalia and Helga were heard exiting the palace. Everyone turned to them, **** for any kind of reprieve from the tension.

"Well, I thought you'd all be gone by now but I suppose the drama was too good!" said Helga, "You two are naturals, honestly. You could really make a career on reality TV!"

"Do you have something to say?" said Angelica angrily.

"Well, I was going to wait a bit for the announcements but since most of you are gathered here I suppose I can make them now," said Helga, "Don't worry. I have ways to make sure those who aren't present hear us too."

Helga held her hand out and a microphone magically appeared in it. The others were confused, having never seen such an object before. She held the microphone to her mouth, her voice amplifying and being heard in everyone's private quarters.

"Good morning harem!" said Helga, "There are a couple of important announcements to be made today. First of all, the news we are all anticipating: Malgor's next playmate! The lucky lady getting her chance at Malgor's bedside tonight will be none other than... the bootylicious pirate Tyra!"

"Tyra is going to..." said Lila nervously.

"But hold your horses, because an even bigger announcement is coming!" said Helga, "I am proud to declare that today our very first bonus challenge will be taking place!"

"Bonus challenge?" said Angelica.

"A chance for you to earn some extra points!" said Helga, "And today's bonus challenge is: the great slime hunt!"

Music started blaring from each scoreboard as the big words The Great Slime Hunt appeared on every screen. The girls stood in confusion.

"What?" said Christina.

"These girls being adventurers have fought slimes in the past," said Helga, "Blobs of sentient gelatin that consume everything in sight. And there seems to be one loose on the island right now! The girl that can find and kill the slime will be receiving a wonderful boost of 10 VP."

The girls all perked up at this. 10 VP was a generous reward. Any one of them would be glad to have it.

"First, a couple of ground rules," said Helga, "We here at harem hotel, while ensuring great psychological harm is done to our contestants, are always sure to never allow permanent bodily harm, at least if it's not sexy! So, anyone eaten by the slime will not be killed. However, we have implemented a special rule for this bonus challenge: easy mode unlocked! If anyone gets eaten by the slime, we will spawn in a single weapon for you. We'll even make it one of your weapons from your adventuring days! This will happen every time someone is eaten until someone has killed it or you are all devoured. Needless to say, if you're all devoured you will all lose the challenge and no one will get the points."

"Wait, so until someone gets eaten we have to kill a slime with no weapons?" said Angelica.

"We're not about to make it easy for you," said Helga, "So prepare yourselves! The challenge starts now!"

A whistle was heard throughout the island and the scoreboards read the words Challenge Start! The girls looked at each other for a brief moment before rushing deeper into the island, racing to find the slime.

***

Tyra looked at her television screen in absolute horror. First she was given the news that she was to be Malgor's next plaything, which didn't sit right with her for obvious reasons. But next and arguably worse was the fact that a challenge had started and she was stuck completely naked because of the stupid spell she let Lila cast on her out of altruism. She cursed herself for her bad luck.

She got up and paced around the room. So many of her fellow girls had been made to streak for one reason or another these past few days, but she thought she wouldn't be dumb enough to get caught in such an embarrassing scenario. She considered her options. She could sit down and wait out the hour like she was planning to do. There was a decent chance that the other girls wouldn't even find the slime in that time. But that was not a risk she wanted to take. Head starts meant a lot and an hour head start was too much of an advantage to let her competition take.

She then wondered if she really needed to take place in the competition at all. At 29 points, she was more comfortable than some. However, that didn't sit well in her mind either. She was so nervous about this challenge because she understood that this was a competition. If she wasn't trying to win, she might as well be trying to lose. And with eternal slavery being on the line, she didn't want to lose. She needed to take advantage of every situation she could and get as may points so that she could get to 100 as fast as possible. Anything beyond putting full effort into any challenge was dooming her slowly.

She steeled herself, went to the door, and opened it. She felt incredibly uncomfortable as the nearby ocean breeze hit her naked body, reminding her of how exposed she was. While nudity seemed to be normal on this island, it still would be really humiliating to be seen like this. But she felt she had ****. At least with no one getting weapons she wouldn't be at any sort of disadvantage theoretically. She closed her eyes and leapt out of her room, ready to hunt a slime in the buff.