Chapter 1-A New Kind of Hell
The copyright for Monster Girl Encyclopedia is held by Kurobinega and Kenkou Cros Red Hook Studios is the rightful owner of the Darkest Dungeon series
Are you shaken? There is so much worse in store.
- The Academic
Cleaning away the blood on his boots was easier than that on his knife. Picking himself up and dusting himself off, he began to check his gear: knife, check; gun, check; black powder and grapeshot, check and check; locket... check. With his gear in place, he dismissed his thoughts for about five seconds before realizing, "Fuck, wait a minute, it's that damned succubus's fault." Oh, when he finds her, he will...
A feminine scream cut through the forest, knocking him out of his bubbling rage. "Flame damn it, fine, fine, I'll go," he said to no one in particular as he rushed off westward.
The screams only intensified as he began to move through the low branches and high bushes, cutting apart what little stood in his way. Just as he was about to draw his gun for a nearly blind shot at the first target, he stopped abruptly as he reached the edge of a clearing.
There, a massive man loomed over a woman who was on the ground, screaming bloody murder. The man wore a full set of plate armor, underneath which a glimpse of chainmail could be seen. Over his armor, he wore a tabard depicting a square cross engulfed in flames.
The woman, on the other hand, didn't entirely look human. Two short, fluffy dog-like ears protruded from her head, while a tail limply hung attached to her lower back. The man held a blade, two-handed in length, over her face, while in his other hand, he gripped a banner impaled in her left shoulder.
"Please, please... I just sob, sob, sob wanted a hus, hus, husband... I... I just wanted to be loved."
Her painted, nearly breathless words came out in between cries and screams.
"INFIDEL, HERETIC, WHERE IS THAT DEMON OH.. WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON HER!" Literally shaking with rage, jumping from one sentence to the other.
"IF IF IF ANYTHING HAPPENED TO MY TEAMMATES, THEN I'LL FIND YOUR SO-CALLED 'PACK MATES' AND GRIND THEM INTO... INTO DUST."
His screaming, seething shouts seemed to stop the beast woman as she forcefully shut her mouth, whimpering.
"Nothing to say, eh?" His next words came as barely a whisper. The next movement was executed with immense speed, so much so that the beast woman barely had time to scream. The knight swiftly removed the banner from her shoulder and STABBED it into her skull, splitting it open, blood and brain dirtying his boots. As he turned his head to the only other source of sound turning his head east ward.
Leaning against a tree was Dismas, his face partially obscured as a passing shadow made his eyes nearly impossible to see. He tightened his grip on his dagger as he began to approach.
The knight mirrored his action, resting his long sword on his shoulder as he advanced.
"You," Dismas spoke.
"You," the knight echoed.
Standing just a few meters apart, a loud metallic clang reverberated through the clearing.
Frantically, the crusader started examining his friend. "Are you hurt? Injured? Did they corrupt you? Must I kill you in the name of the Light?!"
"Reynauld, please, I'm fine, mate. If some dog was enough to make me bark, then I'd be dead by day three."
"But those... those harlots. They can get inside your head, mess with it..."
"The same could be said about any conversation with Paracelsus."
"True, but that doesn't mean you weren't corrupted."
Silence fell between them.
"Alright, it's still you," Reynauld finally replied.
"So, think this is some kind of... virus? Plague?" Dismas asked, his voice laced with concern as he tried to make sense of the strange events that had brought them here.
Reynauld furrowed his brow, contemplating Dismas' words for a moment. "Try curse," he replied, his tone solemn. "There's an air of dark magic, a malevolent force at work. It goes beyond the realm of a mere virus or plague."
Dismas nodded, his mind racing with the implications. "Do you think anyone else is safe? I mean, I got lucky. I could move in time before... before it took hold."
Reynauld's gaze hardened as he met Dismas' eyes. "I intend to find out," he declared firmly.
"Alright where do we move?" asked Dismas "East I think, I saw some more of those beast women moving in the brush" Replied Reynauld
A single nod confirmed their agreement.
Marching through a non-corrupted, non-haunted, currently unambushed forest was... refreshing? Yes, refreshing was the best way to describe it. Reynauld and Dismas spoke little as they made their way east. It was not long before they saw or smelled their first signs of activity.
As a pungent and acrid stench wafted from up ahead, similar to burned sulfur but with the addition of oil, both Reynauld and Dismas recognized the smell all too well. It was the scent of death, specifically the metallic tang of blood. It seemed as though a live vivisection was taking place just a few meters beyond the rapidly approaching edge of the tree line.
A massacre had transpired here at the crossroads, with eight corpses splattered around—beast women, one could only guess by their fur. All extra appendages were cut off: dog ears, tails, even a nose. At the center stood a looming figure currently holding a dog girl by the face. It seemed that both tendons on her legs were cut, and there was a rather large laceration on her left shoulder. She didn't speak, as her sanity seemed to have retreated to the deepest portions of her mind.
"Ah, mon ami, could you tell me, does it hurt when I do this?" the figure asked as it placed its hand next to the eye of the beast woman, threatening to crush it like a grape. "No reaction? Well, so much to test, so little time."
The figure itself was rather eerie, sporting a cloak that extended to the ground, fully enveloping its form. Two leather pauldrons, adorned with spiked metal, adorned its shoulders. Bandages were used to wrap the length of its arms, while a set of comfortable-looking gloves sat neatly in its hands, holding a jagged knife. On its other side lay a pouch filled with flasks and herbs of all kinds. The look was completed with a mask resembling a crow, topped with a pair of dark, copper-rimmed spectacles.
Dropping the non-responsive beast woman, the figure looked up towards the northern end of the tree line, sighting another figure sitting on their knees.
"No ill wind can snuff out the sacred Flame." A small feminine voice carried by the wind met the ears of all present: "
Verse XXXVI: The Light shines brightest in darkness." Again, the same voice reverberated throughout the crossroads.
"The Light touches us even here," the figure said, proceeding to stand up.
What both the Plague Doctor, Reynuld, and Dismas saw brought a small amount of comfort to their hearts.
A sister of battle, pious and unrelenting, she was garbed in blessed cloth, on top of which lay a reinforced steel plate. Two metal spiked pauldrons protected her shoulder from harm, while a mace was used in a more direct way of "protection".
In her right hand, she held a tome bound in red with many bookmarks in it. It radiated a small amount of holy light.
Standing up and making her way through the sight of a massacre, she canted small prayers under her breath.
"Paracelsus, please, it seems at least some of our companions have found their way here; your 'experiments' can wait a while." The vestal stated her voice a little strained.
"But this plague that turns women into creatures as lustful as your diaries needs to be resurrected further."
".. I .. Well ... H"
"Sisters, you are well; it is good to see that." Reynuld's voice Carried over, "Have you any idea of where we are?"
Non," came the quick reply of Paracelsus, "my guess inside the mind of that sucubusss, or perhaps the relm she is originally from?'
As Paracelsus fell into inconsistent muttering about potential disputes in this new land, the other three converged to discuss what came next.
"My vote is that we find that slut and put her head on a pike," Dismas began. "I second that, trudging that thing was a mistake. I told him to have her killed. I TOLD him." repeated Reynuld.
Well, wild speculations and threats to the void will not improve our situation at all," the Vestal interjected.
"So what, pick a direction and just go till you find the succubus? Mate, we are lost here."
"We cannot falter here; look, we are at a crossroads, any sighs to anywhere." Asked the crusader
"Here in the 'fight, a road sight fell over." Paracelsus joined in now that her lecture was over—to herself.
As the usual suspects looked over near the still lying beast woman, a road sight fell over, indecating three directions.
Lescatie
Carseven
DANGER
Thanks for reading, guys, and wow, I didn't expect such a divide about the nature of monster girls, so let me give my understanding of how and why.
There was once a real monster lord (or daemon lord for the literal translation) who was bad for humans or humanoids, and then the chief god chose a gem smith to become a mega hero and repel it. However, along the way, the mega hero found Lilith, fell for her, and then she was like, "Oh, if I become a demon lord and give the same love to every monster, then world peace." So they killed the demon king and turned every monster into a monster girl.
Without getting into how mana works, men with enough exposure to monster girls will turn into incubus while women will turn into monster girls (case sensitive). NO HUMAN MEN CAN BE BORN FROM A MONSTER GIRL, so while at the end of the day monster girls want love (which is often turned into lust), the ways that love can be expressed are messed up (seriously, read up on some monster girl entries that are just fetishistic to body horror levels). This doesn't include monsters like the sheep girls, which even some order cities are okay with, to Durella and the tomb queen, who are just insane and horny. So in short, monster girls want men but can't make more men, which means death to all races (e.g., the dwarfs are almost all dead).
Onto some other concerns some folks have, and I'll make these into bullet points:
No harems, at least not yet. These people are disturbed and can barely love themselves, never mind many more people.
To corrupt a person, how weakly goes to 6 different flavors of hell is difficult but not impossible, so you don't have to worry about them falling like the "heroes."
The heir is normal, I swear to you
. Yes, the mercs go all over the world, demon realm included, but when you see who it is, you will see why.
Getting the entire hamlet to the new world is a bigger writing task than I am ready for.
The merc perspective on monster girls is heavily dependent on first impressions and follow-ups on them, so some will be Pelinal WhiteStrake, and some will be a bit more monster-friendly.
Thanks for reading! Please review. Oh, and the next chapter will feature the first real fight, and it should be bigger because I have the next two weeks off work.