The Illusion Labyrinth

Looking at the seemingly endless passage before her, Mina felt a wave of helplessness. She had never imagined that a task as simple as driving away goblins would end up like this. Things had gone smoothly at first. The goblins were nothing special, and under the knights led by Duncan, they had fled their caves in near-disarray. Duncan had then led the paladins in pursuit. After all, merely driving the creatures away was far from enough. Goblins were stupid by nature, yet considered themselves clever. Once they decided the paladins had left the village, they would surely return and resume their evil deeds. The only solution was to wipe them out, leaving none alive. And it was precisely that decision that had brought a strange disaster upon the paladins.

Perhaps the goblins had grown angry at the paladins' relentless pursuit, or perhaps they had been driven into a corner. Whatever the reason, one goblin who appeared to hold a high position let out several squeaks, then hurled himself at a stone slab beside him.

Of course, no one tried to stop such a foolish act of suicide. The paladins, who styled themselves as representatives of kindness and justice, were no exception. But they soon discovered that they had made the mistake of deferring to authority. As the goblin died, his blood flowed into the cracks in the stone slab, and then... the scenery changed.

Mina was now completely separated from the other paladins. She had considered praying and trying to escape the strange labyrinth through divine guidance, but ultimately abandoned the idea.

"This is a test from the god."

She gripped the holy emblem at her chest, feeling the faint divine power it gave off.

I have to overcome this trial myself to earn the god's recognition.

As a Divine Chosen, that was her pride.

"Clank."

The sound of heavy armor rang out, and Mina felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her heart. Although she was a Divine Chosen, she had never trained in offensive divine arts. A priest was always weak when alone. And now, judging by the sound, a knight seemed to have come close to her.

"Sir Duncan, is that you?"

Mina called softly toward the source of the sound, but received no answer.

Soon, a figure appeared in her field of vision.

Duncan stepped out from the other side of the wall, his resolute face unchanged. He seemed startled when he saw Mina, then strode toward her with a joyful expression. Mina breathed a sigh of relief, then quickly set her face and resumed her usual distant expression.

"This is trouble. We never expected those ratmen to have a trick like this. What happened to the other knights? We have to find them and leave here at once..." No sooner had she finished speaking than she found Duncan gripping her shoulders. The knight's strength bore down on the frail priest like a heavy hill, making Mina frown in displeasure. She then raised her gaze and stared at Sir Duncan's face.

"Sir Duncan, you..."

Then she fell silent, her face draining of color.

The usually stern Sir Duncan now wore a wicked, lecherous grin. Chuckling, he brought his face close to the flustered priestess. Although Mina had noticed that something was wrong, she could not escape Duncan's large, powerful hands. She tried to struggle, but what was happening before her left her mind blank. She had been trained to attack enemies and to defend against and evade attacks, but her lessons had never taught her how to resist a paladin making improper advances toward her.

"Sir Duncan! Please control yourself!!"

Mina tried to maintain her dignity as she rebuked the knight. But what happened next turned her face deathly pale. Sir Duncan's eyes fell from their sockets, and slimy tentacles emerged from his eyes, mouth, nostrils, and ears. At some point, the hands holding her down had also transformed into the limbs of a mollusk. Before the priestess could react, they coiled around her arms and legs. Soon she was hanging upside down in midair, and the tentacles had already wrapped themselves around her body.

"Let me go, you evil monster!!"

Mina shouted sharply, clutching the holy emblem in her hand.

"Great God of Justice... mmph...!!"

She never finished. The monster had opened its mouth, and something that looked like a tongue, but was far longer, slipped into hers and blocked the rest of her words.

This was definitely not the best way to kiss.

The unfamiliar stimulation left the girl's mind blank, and for an instant she even stopped struggling. As a priestess who served the God of Justice, and a Divine Chosen at that, she had chosen her path at a very young age and cast aside unnecessary emotions. But now, this stimulation seemed to throw the floodgates of emotion she had kept shut into disarray. Her mind filled with confused feelings, leaving her unable to think rationally.

Clearly, the monster was not satisfied with that. It growled softly as its slimy, cold tentacles tore off Mina's priestly robes, coiled around her body from below, and slowly crept up her thighs. The other tentacles also moved into position and began to go further.

"Mmph... mmph...!!"

The strange, tingling sensation in her breasts brought Mina back to her senses from the shock of her "first kiss." She twisted her body, trying to escape the terrible tentacles violating her, but she was utterly helpless. Under the tentacles' desire, waves of stimulation swept through her body and mind, robbing her of the strength to resist.

"Mmph..."

Mina's body began to tremble, then suddenly arched upward. That last touch had utterly shattered the resolve she had held to all this time and brought her to a climax she had never experienced before. The sensation took control of her body, spreading like molten lava. But when she realized that something wet and cold was preparing to enter her body, her expression finally changed.

"...!! ...!!"

She struggled and fought with all her might, but nothing happened. Just then, the priestess caught sight of a figure out of the corner of her eye.

Li Lin walked over slowly, watching Mina. She did not know whether it was her imagination, but a cold, gloomy light seemed to flicker in his eyes.

But the feeling lasted only an instant. She twisted desperately; this was her best chance to be saved. She tried hard to call out, to make a sound. But instead of dealing with the tentacle monster as she expected, Li Lin walked over to Mina with a thoughtful expression.

"Smack!!!"

A sharp pain shot through the girl's cheek. The slap nearly knocked Mina unconscious again.

"What are you do...!!"

Mina came to her senses and angrily tried to demand an answer, but she soon stopped in surprise.

There was nothing.

There was no labyrinth before her, nor any tentacle monster. Only Li Lin stood there quietly, looking at her. Only then did Mina realize that her clothes had been tossed everywhere. One of her hands was raised to her mouth, with clear traces of saliva still on its fingers. Her other hand was already between her legs, evidently attempting an "in-depth" exploration and investigation of her body.

"Th-this is..."

Even without much thought, the girl understood what had happened. She must have fallen under an illusion, which was why she had seen that scene. And the tentacles that had removed her clothes and kept caressing and violating her were...

She did not pursue the thought. She hurriedly turned around, putting her back to Li Lin. At the thought that the man before her had seen her in such an indecent state, she almost felt the urge to kill herself on the spot.

"You hadn't come back after so long, so I came to see what was happening."

With that, Li Lin slowly stepped aside, and Mina immediately took the opportunity to gather her clothes from the ground and put them on. Fortunately, her priestly robes were easy to take off and not difficult to put on either. Soon, Mina was dressed as before. She clutched her holy emblem and walked over to Li Lin with her head lowered. Although being near the man made her somewhat uncomfortable now, she had no choice.

"What is this...?"

"This seems to be some kind of illusion."

Li Lin explained.

"I think the other paladins must have fallen under the same illusion. Something must have triggered it. Did you see anything strange while you were pursuing the goblins?"

Of course, paladins were naturally resistant to magic, and people like the Divine Chosen should have been even more resistant. Li Lin had doubted it at first too, so instead of immediately going in to rescue them, he had thoroughly examined the surrounding area. In the end, he discovered that this had originally been the center of a magic circle. Judging by its shape, it might have been several hundred years old, and the configuration of the circle itself was not meant to trigger an illusion. But magic was infinitely varied and exceptionally complex. Perhaps the abandoned, incomplete magic circle had somehow coincided with a new combination, resulting in powerful illusion magic. Although Li Lin did not know how it had come about, it seemed that while its effects were indeed strong, unfortunately it was also easy to break.

Of course, Li Lin did not tell Mina about these magical matters. And Mina's mind was now so full of the naked, shameful state she had displayed before the man that she had no mood to concern herself with them. Only when Li Lin asked again did she come back from her thoughts. Soon, she remembered the stone slab.

"Yes, there was. A stone slab..."

"A stone slab?"

Li Lin thought for a moment.

"Could you take me to see it?"

"Of course."

Mina was no longer as cold as before. On the contrary, she was a little afraid to face Li Lin, but she gripped her holy emblem and nodded as if she had drawn courage from it.

But just as Li Lin took a step to leave, Mina called him back.

"Mr. Li Lin."

She looked at the man before her, her face slightly flushed. Her expression was still indifferent, though tinged with a little panic.

"Please don't tell anyone about this, all right?"

"Of course."

When Li Lin nodded in agreement, Mina finally felt the weight lift from her heart. She let out a long breath, then quickly recovered her usual expression and led the way.

After the two figures disappeared along the mountain path, Angela's petite figure emerged from the branches. She gazed after Mina with a contemptuous, wicked look and gave a soft, cold laugh.

"The younger sister is lewd, and the elder sister is actually the same. Hmph, they really were born to be slaves. Just wait. Sooner or later, I'll make you both my master's possessions."

Her quiet, cold laughter cut through the dim canyon. Thick fog surrounded Angela's figure once more, and she vanished.