Chapter 4: The Hunt Begins
As soon as I started to let the villagers ride my baby, my sweet ride quickly became a badass amusement park ride.
"Whoa, this is amazing!" A village kid said with excitement as I was driving fast down the road.
I quickly made my money and once I had enough dough, I bought some food from the bar and ate like a damn king. I was still getting bothered by people who wanted to ride my baby but brushed them off.
Thyra was still in the bar; she was now shit-faced drunk and dancing with a drunken man in the middle of the bar. At least she's happy and smiling again. Something did happen with monsters in her past given the disdain she displayed when I mentioned them.
Time passed and I found myself sitting down on a bed in the room that I rented for the night at the local Inn. After all I shit, I've been through, it was finally time to lay my head down and get rest. I hope that this was all a realistic dream and I would wake up back in my room at good ol' Las Vegas.
I took off my jacket, shoes, and pants, but kept on my shirt and boxers and I kept my trusty shotgun close by. I didn't want those demonic murder-sluts from trying anything with me while I slept. However, before I could hit the hay, I heard a knock on my door.
"Yo, who is it!?" I shouted.
"Thyra…" I heard her voice behind the door. I got up from the bed and opened the door.
The warrior woman wasn't wearing her armor, but she now in a pink nightgown. I was able to see that she had more scars on her body, but damn, despite the scars and rock-hard muscles, she still had a quite a feminine form. She had an hourglass figure and thanks to her armor being removed, her tits were actually a bit bigger.
"Trying to seduce me again?"
Thyra pouted.
"Can't blame a girl for trying." She said, pushing up her breasts to emphasize them.
"Stop, you're acting like a-"
I immediately stopped myself.
"Like a what?" She asked curiously.
I was going to say that she's acting like a horny monster girl, but then I remembered her bad mood from the bar when I mentioned the monsters…
Speaking of monsters, this might be the right time to talk about the succubus issue…
"Hey, can you come in. I need to talk to you about something important." I invited her in.
"Sure!" Thyra came into the room and sat on my bed, giving me those bedroom eyes as I closed the door and sat next to her. Unfortunately for her, I wasn't in the mood for sex and her night was about to turn sour.
I didn't want to put her in a bad mood again, but damn it, I'm too weak to take on those succubi by myself, even with my guns. She needs to know the truth.
"I've discovered a secret about the Village Chief and the Fortune Teller."
"Oh, what secret?"
I braced myself…
"They are both succubi in disguise and are plotting to turn the women of the village into succubi on the night of Purple Sabbath." I said to her.
Her jaw dropped.
"W-What?" She asked weakly.
"I'm not bullshitting you Thyra; I simply came to the village to sightsee as I'm an adventurer like you, but I was able to discover their secret. I have no motive against the two, but I want to save this village from them. I don't want-"
Thyra suddenly grabbed my shirt and pulled me forward. She was pretty damn strong and those iron hard muscles and her story of choking a harpy to death were not lies.
"Please tell me that this is the truth. I've known them for a while, and they have treated me well…" She said in a low voice, but like what happened in the bar, the room started to get really cold.
I honestly don't know if she's like Elsa where she can produce ice or making her presence icy when she gets mad is an intimidation tactic, either way, it's starting to scare me. It didn't help that the bells were ringing.
"N-No, I'm telling the truth, Thyra. What do I have to gain at attacking the Village Chief and the Fortune Teller?"
"And why should I believe you? You came here on first day and think you know everyone? You're a stranger that doesn't understand them…" Thyra said with a frown.
"You ain't any better, girl. You're trying to have a one-night stand with me, but you know jack shit about me other than my name and I like to drive cars." I thought.
"It's all a goddamn front, Thyra. They WANT people to think they are nice and sweet, but they are really succubi that want to turn women into monsters and turn the men into cattle." I said to her.
Thyra released my shirt and stood up from the bed.
"Are you one of those Ilias worshipping Heroes?" Thyra replied.
"No, I don't worship Ilias and I'm not a Hero, I'm just a traveler from Grangold."
Thyra stepped away from me and towards my door.
"I'm sorry Corey, but I don't believe you at all. I've been good friends with the chief and the teller so I would know that they are monsters because I dislike the monster kind. You haven't provided any evidence other than just pointing an accusing finger; you are reminding me of those people from Witch Hunt Village and it's putting a bad taste in my mouth." She opened the door.
"Good night." Thyra left me.
That didn't go so well…
Of course she wouldn't believe me right away. She's known those two succubi-posing-as-normal-humans for a while. Meanwhile, I'm a stranger that hasn't even been here for a day and didn't have nothing to show for their true nature. I needed to show her what their plan was and the ritual that the Fortune Teller is setting up. However, that can wait in till tomorrow…
I'm fucking exhausted from my first day coming here, so I need sleep now…
I woke up at the sound of my phone dinging.
It was morning as the rays of the sunlight shined through the window, but what confused me was the dinging of my phone. It dinged like I just received a text message which should be impossible…
I have no reception or Wi-fi here, so how the hell is my phone getting texts?
"What the hell?" I grabbed my phone off the bed.
I had a text message, but It wasn't from any of my family, friends, or co-workers at my job. It was completely unknown.
The person who texted me was called Herald, just Herald. It actually freaked me out that I switched on my special sight to observe my phone; I didn't sense anything odd and the bells weren't ringing in my head.
Curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to text back a reply.
Herald: Reply when you get this message.
I texted back a response.
Me: Who or what are you?
Herald: Your commanding officer, Hunter. You are chosen. You can use this to communicate with other Hunters such as yourself.
Me: There are others like me here? Why have we been summoned in a Japanese hentai game? And you still didn't answer me. What and who are you?
Herald: A Herald, Hunter. You are simply here to tip the scales of mankind against the overwhelming odds. Inherit the Earth.
The responses from Herald were very fast; the second I texted my message out, the Herald's message came back to me in less than five seconds.
Me: How can I get back home? I don't want to do this.
Herald: You can't in till you create a Utopia for humanity; you are a Hunter, you must hunt.
Fucking shit.
I gritted my teeth as I felt anger surge through my veins.
This is exactly what I was afraid of when I learned that I was given superpowers at random. Of course that it wasn't gonna be free and that I would have to do the bidding of some strange being or god…
I was a glorified monster slaying slave…
Me: Alright, fucking fine whatever you are, muthafucka! What the fuck am I supposed to do!?
Herald: Your Virtue will be decided upon what you think must do when faced against the creatures. Do you turn away from the monsters in the village, fight it, or reason with the creature. What Virtue do you choose? Text ZEAL if you want to fight monsters, MERCY if you want to make peace with them, or VISIONARY to gain an understanding of them.
Wait a goddamn minute. This is starting to sound familiar…
A strange voice telling me to fight monsters…
Cryptic messages appearing on surfaces…
The message on the mirror straight up called me an Imbued…
The strange being called a Messenger is speaking to me…
Virtues…
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
I dropped my phone as I slowly sat down on my bed in shock.
N-Not only was I in a hentai game, but…but, I think the World of Darkness setting has come here. I remember the Tabletop RPG way more than Monster Girl Quest. A grimdark world where various supernatural factions are in a never-ending war while poor little mankind is just background ambience.
You get to play as a vampire, werewolf, or mage and go through all sorts of struggles with a Storyteller that creates the situations. You get to create your badass awesome non-human OC (or PCs is what the old saying was) that will either win and get stronger or bite the dust because World of Darkness enjoys tearing the dude that wants to be heroic head off.
You have blood sucking undead vampires that can dodge bullets, throw cars, shapeshift into mist or animals, or fuck up your mind and they treat humans as cattle or pawns.
You got tall muscle-bound werewolves built like shitbrick houses that summon nature spirits, their power is literally fueled by ANGER, have a 'Humanity bad! Mother Nature good!' mentality and are fighting against an evil force that wants to corrupt and destroy the planet.
You've got the mages; ordinary humans that suddenly gained the power to fuck with time, space, and reality with their high-end magic spells and gain a higher form of complex thinking that a normal man goes insane. They are hella OP.
Oh, and there were ghosts, mummies, changelings, and demons too.
All of that shit.
Here in this hentai game world.
Oh, fuuuuck. Ilias, her angels, and the Monster Lord and her subjects are so fucked it ain't funny. Just from the names Zeal, Hunter, and Messenger alone, I can pretty much tell what exactly I am now.
The name Imbued should have clued me in on what I am, but I was denying it and thought I was something like a summoned hero to save the day. Kind of like what the four dudes from Shield Hero anime were supposed to do.
There's nothing good about this shit, especially since I know the nature of what I truly am.
I was a Hunter, not just any Hunter. I was an Imbued from Hunter: The Reckoning.
The gameline where the average joe heard a strange voice in his head and now can he see monsters, is driven to hunt them, and has abilities called Edges which are anti-monster powers. As he becomes more devoted to the hunt, the more his normal life fades away and he becomes more obsessed and insane.
It was bad enough I was stuck in a hentai game, but now…this shit just got even worse.
Why does being an Imbued suck so much?
Despite the hype that they were supposed to be blessed superhumans to go hunt damn the big bad vamps that kill and eat humans, they are unfortunately not that strong. Obtaining Edges are not only hard, but it makes the Hunter more deranged as he gets stronger. The 'great power comes great insanity' card is in full swing here. They also can't freely throw around power like the vamps and werewolves can; their powers aren't only faulty, but they have a very short period of time they are active.
And when the Hunter does get the power to go toe-to-toe with powerful monsters, he's pretty much a raving lunatic that will die a violent death.
The average Hunter is still just a mundane ass human that can only shrug off mind control and detect monsters. The Hunters are just as squishy as the Mages, but the Mages have WAY more firepower than the Hunters.
Yeah, the Hunter can gain abilities like summoning a flaming sword, summon a smoke cloud to hide in or escape, force monsters to tell the truth, or create barriers and sanctuaries that monsters can't cross.
But again, they are still really squishy, it's really difficult to get multiple Edges, and the dilemma at activating them as the Hunters have no manual or mentor to tell them how their superpowers work.
As I recall, the Hunters are new in the World of Darkness. They didn't have a super-secret organization ran by long-time members to recruit rookies like the vamps, werewolves, and mages had; supernatural organizations that existed for many decades. Hell, the vamp's Camarilla organization existed for centuries, stretching all the way back to Medieval times and the werewolves had the Garou Nation that existed even before America was discovered by the Europeans.
The Hunters just had a fucking website called Hunter dot net that's used for chatting about what they should do to monsters, what their slaying experience is like, the team ups to plan an assault on a monster, and tactics and tips on how to not die a violent death when hunting down monsters.
No resources and no tough guy veterans that's been through hell and back to serve as mentors and commanding officers to help inexperienced newbies and be the badass leaders to fight against cruel monsters while inspiring the young and weak to git gud. Oh, sure the Messengers would sometimes leave cryptic messages every now and then, but the Imbued were mostly on their own.
And about the Edges…
I may summon a cool ass flaming sword that can hit hard yes, but I can't heal myself, I can't shield myself from harm, I don't have super strength, speed, or toughness, and there's a chance that my cool sword will refuse to come to me when I try to summon it.
The powers I get is also random, so I can't invest in one Edge that I like. Oh, I want to get a cool flaming sword? Too bad, I'm stuck with a crappy smoke cloud that I can use to run and hide in. I want to freeze a monster in place so I can land easy direct hits on it? TOO BAD, I get an Edge that puts a 'tracking device' on it instead.
That explains why the Hunters had to rely on groups, ambushing the monster, and using cheap trips and guerilla warfare to win. The Edges are simply edges; its superpowers yeah, but it's to more-or-less make sure the Hunter has more of a chance at beating the monster than the normal monster hunting human.
Hunters can become really powerful because the Level 5 Edges are the strongest ones as I recall.
I remember that one Level 5 Edge allows the Hunter to basically nuke the enemy with a powerful explosion with a wave of his hand, another Level 5 Edge that can literally negate the power of a monster, or one Level 5 Edge that hurls a damn mini-lightning storm at the enemy.
I would have been excited about this, but then I remembered that the game rules made it almost fucking impossible for a Hunter to obtain a Level 5 Edge. And even if I do obtain a Level 5 Edge, I'm gonna be nuttier than a bag of fuckin' peanuts and I'll become obsessed with nothing but slaying.
The vamps and werewolves start out being pretty tough; vamps are undead so a buckshot round to the chest will hurt them, but it will only annoy them where such a thing is fatal for a Hunter and the vamp's wounds can be easily healed simply by expending Blood points, aka, the blood they drink from humans can heal them or be used as fuel to power their flashy vampire abilities called Disciplines.
The werewolves are armored tanks with claws and teeth, nuff said. Not only are they werewolf hulks, they can also summon spirits to give them an advantage in battle and they even have their own unique abilities called Gifts. Hell, most werewolves start their adventure brutally murdering a human or monster when they awaken their inner RAGE.
Which brings me back to the Virtue thing…
After collecting my thoughts, I slowly picked up my phone off the floor. What Virtue do I choose? I decided to ask.
Me: What Virtue do you think is right for me?
Herald: What did you feel when you learned that underage human girls will be turned into monsters and will attack, and rape grown human men?
Me: Disgust and anger. What can I do to save them?
Herald: That is up to you to decide. Do you wish to fight monsters to save them?
I hesitated for a moment, but I finally made my choice. This was the most intense texting I have ever done in my life.
Me: Yes. I'll kill the succubi if they think they are going to turn little girls into sex demons and turn human men into cattle. I choose ZEAL.
Herald: Congratulations, Hunter. You are an Avenger. Happy hunting and good luck…
Me: Wait, how do I use the Edges, and do I already have an Edge?
Herald: You have Cleave as your first Edge. Since you have chosen Zeal, you can obtain other Zeal-based Edges from the other Imbued and skills tied into being an Avenger.
Me: Can you like give me a list of Edges so I know what I want to invest getting?
A few seconds later, I was sent a few long text messages detailing every Edge that Hunters can get and telling me the names and motives of other Imbued. I was astounded, but there was an annoying nagging in the back of my head…
This ain't right…
Why is the Herald talking and helping me? I thought they just grant you powers, point you in the direction of monsters, and just leave when you begin your monster hunting quest. They are very hands off when it came to imbuing Hunters, but this one is acting out-of-character by explaining things to me.
The Heralds also didn't speak to Hunters through texting on their phones, only through ghostly whispers and out-of-nowhere writing on surfaces…
Nor did the Heralds showed you a rundown of what your powers are like and what you can invest in as Edges gained by Hunters are completely random…
Have the rules changed because the Herald isn't in the universe of World of Darkness? Because this isn't supposed to be how its like. Hunters are pretty much on their own after they get imbued and like I said earlier, they got no veteran mentor, no ancient organization, or manual to tell them how things work. Just each other and Hunter dot Net.
Something is different…
Me: Are there other Hunters like me here?
Herald: Not here yet, but the other world is populated by Imbued leading the charge against the ruling monsters.
Me: Another world? Where?
Herald: The world ruled by the Dark One and her children that have enslaved mankind and have killed the Light One.
The Dark One and her kids are alive and the Light One is dead? Is the Herald talking about the Dark Goddess, the Ancestors, and Ilias? It mentioned another world, so it couldn't be here as the mother of monsters and her kids are sealed away…
Ah.
I just figured out why. It's talking about an alternative world like what Comic Book stories like to do. A what-if world if Ilias was dead and the Dark Goddess went unchallenged and can do whatever she wanted. Just like Flashpoint Paradox where Bruce Wayne died instead of his parents or Wonder Woman being a cruel conquering mass-murdering tyrant instead of a noble and heroic warrior that stands for justice.
It's the Multiverse theory. That means there's definably a world where Ilias and her angels reign supreme and the monsters are all dead.
My phone dinged and the Herald sent me a picture; the picture detailed a grinning Hunter and his group holding the decapitated head of a succubus. It was like a big game hunter posing next to the animal they shot and killed. Under the pic titled: Devil-Slut Slain.
"Holy shit." I said out loud.
I was sent a text, but it wasn't from Herald, it looked like a Hunter was speaking to his fellow comrades. I tried to text back, but I was blocked. It look like I couldn't reach the Imbued from the other world.
[Subject: Stay Frosty]
Gary01: We've managed to kill a good number of them, but they've alerted the higher ups. Stay frosty and keep your guns ready to fire. Watch out for the furry fox bitch with the multiple tails, she's really cunning.
Rhodes65: Can anyone explain why these goddamn things are all female and want to rape us?
Texan77: They attack us for our semen, like some kind of porno monster.
Gary01: Well, the same reason why vampires attack us for our blood. They gain power and fuel from it. Yeah, its strange that its male semen they feed on, but we cannot tolerate this predation on mankind.
Rhodes65: Whatever these creatures are, they ain't gonna turn us into food and sex slaves. I rather take a bullet to the head than get raped by a vile insect girl creature or whatever the fuck it is…
Texan77: Tell me about it, ya'll. I had a fucking terrible time when dragon tried to rape me…it had a fucking girl fused into its tongue, saying such raunchy shit to me that it will make a whore blush. Ugh…
Gary01: Anyway, stay strong everyone. Working together is key, even if we aren't on Earth anymore. We got each other and we can rally the humans in this world to be on our side.
Rhodes65: How did you kill the dragon, Texan?
Texan77: Whipped its ass with my good ol' Dixie Bomb, blew that scaly bitch to pieces with just a wave of my hand. It went to a big dragon that can swallow a car in one bite to being reduced into pieces of charred flesh in a second! It was so totally awesome!
Rhodes65: Nice.
Gary01: Well done. A succubus using the power of the wind was evading all of my shots, so I merely imposed human limitations on her; I took her head off after she discovered that she couldn't call upon the wind power and couldn't use any spells
Texan77: Job well done, partner.
Oh, boy, that ain't good.
Not only are these Imbued from Earth, but they aren't from my Earth, they come from the World of Darkness Earth if they have experience with dealing with vampires.
The whole blowing an enemy into oblivion attack sounds suspiciously like the Level 5 Edge that Avengers have…
And imposing human limitations on a monster, making them as average as a normal human sounds a lot like the Level 5 Martyr Edge…
The monster girls over there must be in shock seeing random humans dressed in modern clothing armed with guns popping out of nowhere to hunt and kill them. The fact that this Imbued 'Texan77' just one shotted a dragon, which are considered high-level monster girls infamous for being tough and fearsome means the Imbued aren't so weak in the new world.
I guess that's why the Heralds intentionally made the Hunters not that strong, as everyone in the other gamelines will cry out in unfairness at seeing the Hunter PCs one hit kill their precious elder vampire, archmage, and veteran werewolf PCs.
It does make sense; the developers from White Wolf was about to make it canon that the Imbued were supposed to be watered-down Champions from Exalted. But they back-pedaled from it.
Unfortunately, this means the main character's plea for coexistence is going be even harder now that random monster hunting humans with powers are gonna be running around across the world.
Despite the Imbued not being that strong in the WoD setting, they are more than a threat than the weak ass 'Ilias Heroes' here; however, from looking at the chatter between the Hunters, they won't just have guns, but can use the Level 5 Edges without going insane. This means the Imbued will be able to go toe-to-toe with even the likes of the Heavenly Knights and the Imbued have no handicap.
And since these are Hunters from the WoD Earth, they ain't gonna a give a shit about hentai logic or figure out that they are in a monster girl hentai game; they'll just see the monster girls as unholy abominations raping resisting humans out of sadistic glee. Whether they need semen or not.
The Imbued might try to ally with the angels, thinking they are on mankind's side. I could see it happening…in till they find out that the angels use rape as punishment, and there's one angel that is so goddamn perverted she might as well be a succubus; the Christian and Catholic Hunters are gonna be in for a real shock when they see that. Ilias is also batshit crazy that wants to manipulate humanity, so I don't see the Angel-Imbued alliance lasting that long…
After all, the Imbued are all about not letting humanity be controlled and ruled over by monsters; the angels in this world aren't really pure and they do count as monsters that want to manipulate mankind…
I finally gave out a deep sigh that I didn't know I was holding in. So this is what I had to deal with…
I'm stuck in a monster girl hentai game and given powers of an Imbued from Hunter: The Reckoning, a Tabletop RPG developed by White Wolf. The main plot for Monster Girl Quest is gonna get fucked sideways once the Imbued start landing here.
Now, I was an Avenger. An Imbued that was the most aggressive in hunting down monsters, besides the Waywards who are the worse.
I looked in my phone to see what power that I currently had. I had one Edge which was Cleave; a Level 1 Edge that most Avengers gained.
(Cleave: With this Edge, the Avenger creates weapons out of thin, or imbue weaponry (including their own fists) with power, making the Avenger's attacks more powerful. Cleave can only enhance close-ranged attacks, it cannot be imbued into ranged weaponry like guns. The Avenger can craft a Terrible Swift Sword by obtaining a real sword and imbuing Cleave into it, making the Edge more powerful and effective.)
While it does suck that I can't enchant my shotgun with mystical energy, it's still pretty cool that I can basically punch a ghost with Cleave.
Herald: Go forth and hunt, Hunter. You will obtain more power and skills as you hunt and kill. Farewell…for now.
I tried texting it to see what else it can tell me, but Herald didn't reply back to me. Well, at least I know what's going to happen later on. However, does this mean I'm prepared to take on the two succubi?
They aren't weak and are pretty much mini bosses in terms of power. Thyra is going to come in handy later, but what should I do? Do I get Thyra on my side and then attack the succubi after I show her evidence? Or do I wait in till other Imbued show up to form a hunting party and then go after them?
But, before that…
I stood up from the bed and held out my hand. I pictured the image of a flaming sword in my mind. The Imbued used Conviction to fuel their Edges, kind of like mana that spell casters used. However, its tied into the Imbued's willpower. The stronger the will to fight and protect, the higher a Hunter's Conviction is.
"Come to me…" I whispered.
After a few tries, it still wasn't coming to me. I guess it's the fact that I'm not witnessing any injustices being done to a human by a monster; Avengers are born from being tormented by a monster or watching someone else being victimized by a monster.
That's the point of their name, to unleash mankind's vengeance on the non-human creatures that use humans as pawns, toys, or food, or think they can victimize and abuse humans because the monster knows the human is powerless to fight back.
After all, I'm not from the Earth where undead vampires prey on humans and magical werewolves are at war with an evil force that wants to twist and corrupt everything. So it actually makes sense why its even harder for me to use my powers. In fact, it's gonna be hard to kill because I haven't killed anyone whatsoever…
Maybe if I get my hands on a sword from the Weaponry shop here in the village and create this Terrible Swift Sword, I can use Cleave easier.
Yeah, I'll do that.
My phone dinged again, but it wasn't from a text. There was a new app that I didn't download on my screen; the app was called Hunter dot Net. I pressed the app and It took me to an internet forum. So far, the amount of people on the forum was one.
I was that one, which further confirmed that I was the only Imbued here…for now.
I sighed.
"Here's the start of the hunt…" I typed in my online Hunter name that I'll be using to speak with other Hunters. I would become known as Vegas50.
My first mission is to create my Terrible Swift Sword and test drive my first Edge.
Oh, god.
I didn't ask for any of this…