Chapter 19: Next Target

Waking up the next morning was an interesting experience for Narvas, what with three other warm and feminine bodies draped across his own, the stench of sex both strong and lingering.

"Yeah...there were definitely some perks to being dumped into this world. All I had to do was suffer and bleed for it."

"Mmm...good morning, master~!"

Hala's cheery tones caused the male to blink as she stared up from where she was ensconced in his left arm's embrace, no sign of weariness or soreness to be found.

He sure as hell felt drained.

"That's a lot of energy you have."

"Oh? Do you desire that I expend it? After last night I would be quite happy to do so, master~!"

"Hala, don't be so crass! I'm sure master has had his fill...right?"

Now waking up herself Varsha sent a demure look Narvas' way, hesitantly whispering, "Y-you would desire our bodies again, master?"

"I dunno...I think even that new form of his has limits. Good morning, Narvas~!"

The hero blinked as Sylphy uncurled herself from his chest, smiling happily before placing a kiss on the man's lips, unbound hair spilling across her slim shoulders and nude chest, only her glimmering leggings adorning the divine form greeting him with a loving peck.

"SO worth it."

"Maybe this is the wrong time to ask but no one has any aches or pains? No injuries or anything like that?"

A round of negatives greeted him, the man sighing in relief as Hala teased, "I do feel rather delightfully stretched, granted~! Master, I think this muscle should continue to be worked and strengthened on a nightly basis."

Varsha blushed, mumbling, "Every night?" with clear disbelief in her tone.

"As incredibly lovely as that sounds I think that would wear even my Enslaver form down to the nub. All things in moderation and all that."

"Pfft. That's not the impression I got from your actions last night~!"

"Yes yes, I'm a horny bastard, guilty as charged. Bear in mind I never would have gotten remotely close to girls as exotic and beautiful as you three back in my original world so I think I get a free pass when it comes to the indulgence department."

So saying he gave Sylphy's small but tight ass an affectionate squeeze, the other two snuggling deeper into his body.

"...That said, we have a busy day ahead of us."

"Feh, so we do."

"Aww...I wanted to sleep a little longer…"

Almost capitulating to the Fairy's frankly adorable complaint as she curled up atop his chest once again Narvas heaved out a sigh, stroking her hair and stating, "Sorry, but saving the world isn't the kind of job you should walk in late for. I'll shower first and get breakfast started, see if Kayla and Lenia have left us any messages to follow up on."

Picking up Sylphy—who never ceased to surprise the hero in how light she was—and setting her aside the Lucent Empress promptly engulfed her in a greedy hug, the blue-haired woman snuggling deep into the embrace as he made his way out of the room.

"And I thought getting out of bed was hard when I was just going to school. Turns out it's magnitudes more difficult when you have a bunch of naked babes that are all too ready for another few rounds. Who knew?"


"WARK! Wark, wark!"

"You realize I can't understand what you're saying, right?"

"Wark?"

"Precisely."

"WARK! Wark, wark!"

Heaving a sigh at the Filolial that continued to blithely squawk and screech into his face through the kitchen window with great enthusiasm Narvas turned to the rest of his party, happily chowing down on the breakfast he'd whipped up before asking, "Do any of you understand what he's saying? I don't speak queen's herd, unfortunately."

"He's saying there's a visitor at the front door, master."

"Oh. Hostile?"

"I doubt lady Fitoria would have instructed them to be so accommodating if they were."

He shrugged at Hala's comment.

"Fair point. I'll see who it is then."

Setting aside his own meal for the moment and walking through the front entrance Narvas mentally prepared himself for a fight.

Sure, he doubted that's what was about to go down...but paranoia had made of him a believer in sleeping with a knife under the pillow, so to speak. Thankfully his caution turned out to be just that, caution, as he spotted one of Xephina's followers happily doling out head rubs and chin scratches to the small herd of Filolial's Fitoria had left to watch over his home, the giant birds preening and cooing at his ministrations.

"You must be a pretty good guy if the queen's herd is practically trying to smother you to death."

The man was dressed simply, features nondescript and Narvas would have lost him in a crowd if it wasn't for the level 74 tag attached to his name.

"I could say the same about you, Claw hero. The Filolial queen doesn't lightly hand out her favor to just anyone. Hennison, at your service."

Clasping the man's hand in a firm handshake—inwardly sighing at the realization that his opposite could mangle the bones with a quick exertion of power—Narvas replied, "Pleasure to meet you, Hennison. Julietta said someone would be coming along with a list of targets and other stuff like that, got anything interesting? We were about to head out for the day."

Smiling as they got right down to business Hennison pulled a map of Faubley from one of his sleeves, stating, "An examination of our old records and other recorded histories shows in the kingdom's northern reaches lies a collapsed entryway to an old city that used to be founded by a Vassal hero just like yourself, roughly eight hundred years distant."

The man pointed to a circled location, continuing his explanation with, "When the third Guardian Beast awoke it attacked this location and in the ensuring battle caused both an earthquake and subsequent landslide that buried the city deep underground. The ferocity of the monsters that took up residence there as well as its labyrinthine nature and distant location have ensured that most treasure seekers or prospective adventurers steer clear of it."

Narvas cupped his chin in thought, curiously asking, "What sort of levels are we talking about on average?"

"Anywhere from 40-70."

The Vassal hero gave the smiling man a wry look, stating, "You know most premeditated murder attempts try to be a bit more stealthy and subtle."

Chuckling at the comment Hennison said, "Funnily enough I had the same reaction when hearing of this information from the Oracle. She must have a great deal of faith in you and your party, to offer up so dangerous a locale for one of your hunting and expedition grounds."

"Well I'm flattered, I guess."

Sounding anything but the other man produced a second map, this one of Siltvelt as he added, "We have a secondary location, fortunately. Levels anywhere from 30-50 although details are...sparse. All the Oracle and our goddess have been able to tell is that something malicious has begun to take place in that forest, typically home to the Elves although contact has been spotty over the years. No further details and none on the composition of the monsters that may call it home."

Narvas considered both options, asking, "Any bad feelings about the Faubley location?"

"Other than those related to knowing such an environment is the opposite of conducive to healthy living? None."

"Alright, the Siltvelt forest it is. Having extra friends never hurt anyone if the Elves really are in a pickle and the lower levels of the monsters can give us a solid base to work off of when we hit the ruins afterwards."

Hennison nodded, agreeing with, "A sound tactical decision, Vassal hero. Unless you shall be needing anything else I will take my leave...the Oracle has kept us quite busy since your visit."

Gesturing towards the kitchen the Claw hero asked, "Want anything to eat before you do? Just made breakfast and it's all fresh and ready to go."

"While the opportunity to eat a meal of the vaunted Vassal hero's own making is indeed tempting...I will have to pass, duty calls after all. Until next time we meet, Claw hero."

Without another word the man spun on his heel and jogged away, the various Filolials dipping their heads and warbling in goodbye...before he broke out into a sprint, vanishing over the horizon at a pace Narvas could only blink at.

"Gotta go fast, I guess...can't wait till I'm able to do that."

Returning to the inside of his home Narvas immediately began making a checklist of everything they might need for a trek through the forest and making contact with a people that were highly reclusive at best, if half the rumors he'd heard about them were true.

"This should be quite the experience…"


"And just how did last night go, master?"

Lenia's teasing tone caused the young man to blink, asking, "What do you mean by that?"

Kayla rolled her eyes as they walked back towards the teleport point located near Xephina's location, the three monster girls awaiting their arrival as she dryly stated, "The three of your now intimate lovers approached us yesterday and inquired whether we would feel more at ease if we left the house so as to not hear the excessive noise."

"They even offered us the option to join, amusingly enough."

The rabbit demihuman chuckled at the statement, Narvas glancing at them as he playfully asked, "And you didn't want to? I'm sure we could have accommodated an extra pair of bodies."

Kayla gave the chuckling male a dull look.

"I like you, master. But not that much."

More openly laughing at her snark the hero took a moment to bring up his affinity charts, curious about a few things related to that particular aspect of his skills.

Both Sylphy, Varsha and Hala had 83/100 affinity apiece while Lenia and Kayla were at 74/100 and 71/100 respectively, weeks of life-and-death battles, friendly banter and swapping of life stories—boosted by his Claws related to the Enslaver line—having caused the numbers to skyrocket over such a short amount of time. But what was interesting was that the affinity charts didn't seem to operate under blanket thresholds, rather taking into account the individual's preferences and personality.

Hala had wanted the dick when she was at a lower affinity level than both of the demihumans, same for Sylphy and Varsha...but neither Kayla or Lenia had expressed any real desire to fuck, seemingly content with remaining friendly and amicable with no romantic overtones to their interactions.

He didn't have a problem with that, instead coming to the conclusion that the affinity chart wasn't some arbitrary measure of how willing a person was to suck his dick but instead a measure of how loyal or 'close' a person was.

The two demihumans may not feel any real desire to have him dust the pink attic with the womb broom but they sure as hell would jump on the proverbial grenade without a second thought.

"I wonder what happens when we reach max affinity though...apparently bonuses can be unlocked by being in close proximity to one another but so far I haven't noticed anything in regards to that. Just one more mechanic to keep an eye on, I suppose."

"Well moving forward from what I do in my private time—which just so happens to be in the bedroom—how's your sister doing, Lenia?"

"Better, she's more open and emotive around me now than she was the last time we met. Some of the other residents were saying she would sometimes look in the direction we first arrived in, as if expecting me to return from that same vector."

"Looking forward to your return, maybe?"

A smile tilted the demihuman's lips.

"One can hope. But what shall our quest for the day be, master?"

Pulling out the map Hennison had given him the Claw hero explained, "Hunt and exploration, possibly some diplomacy thrown in for good measure. One of Julietta's people told us that the Elves that live within this forest here—typically the more recluse types—might be up to or a part of something potentially dangerous. We're going to investigate and see if we can make some friends along the way."

"Were you not the one who was often going out of his way to avoid interacting with the other denizens of this world, master?"

"Stop asking smart and intelligent questions, Kayla."

The demihuman gave him a flat stare that he smirked at, explaining, "The Elves, assuming we meet any, are reclusive, remember? What are they going to do if we do show up and talk, get the kingdoms to go after me?"

The fox girl sighed, wryly responding, "All the same I would appreciate it if we attempted to avoid a scenario such as that, master."

"Relax, I'm mildly insane, not stupid."

Ears twitching in mirth Lenia mused, "Are you certain about that, master?"

"Don't you start now, I've already got my hands full of Kayla's sass, I don't need yours as well."

The group continued to banter as they made their way to the warp point, swapping tales and stories as Narvas made a note to visit the goddess as soon as they were finished with their current task...no doubt she would have plenty of comments related to his adventures.


"So is it just me or is something wrong with this forest?"

"It's not just you, Narvas. Something awful is happening further in, the life force of everything is...skewed, I think. Towards violence and rage, baser emotions also present."

The Fairy stuck close to the Vassal hero, ethereal features locked in a frown as she occasionally brushed a hand over the bark of passing trees or bushes, the rest of the party not set at ease one bit by the admission.

Varsha had flown the hero to their desired location, a teleport point had been dropped and they'd begun exploring, finding nothing too awry for the first couple of hours, forest locals non-aggressive or simply wary of their presence, the air cool and comforting as the towering trees provided plenty of shade.

And then the atmosphere, for lack of a better term, had shifted.

Gone was the calm and serenity, replaced instead with trepidation and a noticeable lack of background noise. Sylphy's words were basically just confirming what they already suspected and planned for.

"Wait."

Holding up a hand Narvas intently peered at his minimap, noting a possible enemy at the periphery of it's expanded sixty meter radius. Motioning for his party to silently spread out they did just that, Varsha and Hala morphing into their monster forms as the Lucent Empress took to the treetops, silently fluttering on her wings as Sylphy reciprocated the action, Narvas closing his eyes as he shifted Zhua into an alternate form, a simple and low-level Claw that held little use aside from its ability to use sound waves to map out a large area of the immediate terrain in a hundred meter radius, providing him with a simple but effective map at the cost of useful stats or other abilities.

"...Looks like we have our first customer of the day. They even prepped an ambush, just for us."

"Master?"

Shifting Zhua out of sonar-mode he turned to his party, quietly stating, "Four enemies up ahead, waiting. Armed with nets, spears and other things of unknown quality. They're tall and powerful looking, about 2.5 meters and humanoid in shape. Can't make anything else out."

Lenia frowned, whispering, "Waiting for us? How can you tell?"

"Three were concealed in the trees, bodies facing our way. The other one was ground level and sporadically moving about, making lots of noise. Classic ambush tactics. And if I'm wrong then better safe than dead, if they detected us coming I don't want to give them any benefit of the doubt."

"Fair point. How should we proceed?"

"Simple. Ambush the ambushers."

Plan concocted the entire party took to the trees, Varsha waiting a short distance away so that her presence wouldn't cause much alarm, softly and carefully ascending through the canopy as they slowly closed the distance with their hunters turned prey.

"Hopefully they were planning on killing us. I don't want to have accidentally murdered something that was just being careful."

Minutes passed, the group slowly getting into position and Narvas finally got his first look at the creatures they were to be engaging, his appraisal kicking into action.

Primeval Hooters, ranging from level 35-37, all armed with stone and wooden tools while looking like a madman's cross between gorilla and buff human.

"Shit. That probably means they're smart as hell, too. Why else would they be waiting in ambush?"

Trading glances with his party the hero raised three fingers and began counting down as they prepared to attack, Impact Claw taking center stage on his right arm.

And then they moved.

Barely so much as a leaf was rustled as they dropped, Hala targeting one, Lenia and Kayla another while Narvas picked his own target, Sylphy on overwatch as Varsha heard their assault begin and raced towards their location.

To the hero's surprise, things went smoothly and without fuss. The Hooters stank something fierce, sure—a nauseating mix of sweat, musk and other fetid odors—but they had obviously been caught off guard, barely able to so much as grunt before they were taken down.

Hala's razor sharp talons sliced through her targets neck, eyes and various other soft tissues without much trouble, Kayla firing off a blade of wind through her target's windpipe while Lenia went for the more direct method of simply ramming her sword through the Hooter's eye.

Narvas' method wasn't quite as refined but it got the job done just the same, the Impact Claw still a handy weapon for his current level as it punched through the ape monster's skull with a wet CRUNCH of breaking skull and mulching flesh, the hero riding the body down through the trees and causing quite a ruckus.

"Alright, and now for the last one-"

WHAM!

Head spinning and brain dazed the Claw hero felt himself impact something that was probably a tree trunk before collapsing to the ground below, distantly noting that one clean strike from the Primeval Hooter that been playing as bait shaved off almost a third of his HP in one go.

"Jesus...it's confirmed, these things hit like a truck."

Forcing himself to get his head in the game Narvas picked himself off the ground-

-and felt a rib crack as he was pildrived into it, a deep and bass snarl accompanying the sight of the remaining Primeval Hooter towering over him with an expression of pure hatred upon its brute features, muscled leg screwing its heel into his bruised chest while a sling with rocks the size of small apples hung over its shoulder.

"Oh. That explains what hit me."

Powerful arms seized his own, unyielding fingers gripping tight as the Vassal hero began to fruitlessly thrash-

-and a scream tore itself from his throat as his limb was snapped like a wet twig, bone tearing through flesh as icy fire raced along his nerves, the Hooter shouting in glee at his shouts...and failed to notice the shadow looming overhead.

Itdidnotice when Varsha lunged forward, grabbing the Hooter's head within her powerful jaws before yanking it away and bore it to the ground, the creature thrashing wildly in a bid to free itself, screaming and howling all the while.

It stopped once the Dragon began to jerk her sinuous neck to-and-fro, snapping the Hooter in half with a snarl that put its prey's to shame.

"Narvas, are you alright?!"

Hearing the soft flutter of Sylphy's wings close by the Vassal hero grit his teeth, not bothering to hide his tears at the agonizing pain assailing his body.

"Not really. Ribs and arm kinda fucked up."

"Hold on, I'll heal it right away!"

Screwing his eyes shut the Claw hero heard the Fairy began to softly chant and sing under her breath, blue light filtering past his eyelids as the pain began to fade, gradually being replaced with warmth and a sense of normalcy.

"Damn...thanks, Sylphy. Everyone else in one piece?"

The rest of his party dropped down from the treetops where they had been keeping watch, Varsha worriedly nudging his body with her snout as he gave her a pat on the scaly and armored nose, stating, "Don't worry, I'm fine. Just a little shaken up."

Rising to his feet as the Dragon—now back to her previous size before the level reset despite not hitting level 40 yet—took a step back as he announced, "Okay, word of warning. Those fuckers are strong. Don't try to fight them in close combat unless your name is Varsha or me with Sylphy's magic and a defensive Claw equipped."

"Understood, master."

Shaking off the memory of his arm breaking and tearing under unyielding strength—it wasn't the first time it had happened and wouldn't be the last—Narvas instead stated, "Scout around the area, see if there's anything they were guarding or might have used for camp nearby. We'll want to have as much knowledge about these things as possible."

The party split off from each other to carry out his instructions, Narvas dragging the monster's bodies together in order to dissect and absorb them into Zhua-

-and didn't get the chance as Hala, voice devoid of her usual playfulness or teasing, called out, "Master! You had best see this for yourself."

Frowning at the ominous words Narvas settled for simply absorbing one of the bodies whole, setting aside the popup for later perusal as he climbed to Hala's location roughly halfway up a collection of particularly thick branches that had grown together, creating a stable platform of sorts.

"What is it?"

Expression dark the Lucent Empress pointed towards where a collection of leaves and branches had been tossed as an improvised door, a sudden stench of such foul intensity reaching his nose that he almost retched.

"Evil—whether done out of malice or not—is strong here, master."

Forcing himself to not be a sniveling coward the Claw hero pulled aside the awning-

-and this time really did puke, the sight alongside a fresh wave of the stink enough to do him in.

Giggling hysterically to himself the Vassal hero muttered, "Oh boy not enough that I get dumped into one of the edgier and realistic Isekai franchises out there it's also a grimdark, fucked-up, Elf-centric rape hentai. Aren't I the lucky one?!"

"Master? Master are you-"

Snarling violently Narvas smashed a fist onto his leg, the dull ache clearing his mind somewhat as Hala warily watched him from the side, Zhua's gem flashing sporadically as he muttered, "I'm good...I'm good. Don't worry, you two."

Straightening out his spine the Lucent Empress sadly stated, "Ah...my apologies, master. I often forget that your background is one of relative peace and prosperity, not horrors such as this."

"Yeah well, I'm in the thick of it now one way or another. Might as well fake it til' I make it."

Taking a slow, calming breath and wiping away the bile that had coated his chin the Vassal hero returned to the nightmare with an expressionless motion, breathing through his mouth.

Three bodies, with wrists and ankles restrained by what looked like vine and dull eyes that stared sightlessly at nothing, the corpses fresh and with barely any signs of decomposition.

...That wouldn't have been too bad if it wasn't for the mangled, prolapsed lower halves of the trio alongside the swollen stomachs, two females and one male with long pointed ears, skin and floor stained with semen and blood from where he just knew they had essentially been raped to death, no distinction made between gender if the dude's ass was any indication.

"...What the fuck is going on in this forest? A bad feeling? Julietta, I think you may have just underestimated how far into shit things have gone here…"

Rising to his feet and mood noticeably darker the Vassal hero made to return to his party-

-and stopped short, a golden length of twisted and serrated metal now held at his throat as a very much alive Elf, beautiful features twisted into cold rage stared him down, a quick glance showing almost fifteen additional Elves holding his party at arrow or sword point as they looked his way for directions.

The real kicker was that the woman holding his life in her hands was level 82, the rest not a digit under 42.

"...Right, I can explain this."