The Hero Became a Succubus, and the Only Way to Level is to… What?!
Chapter 405 – Bowels of the Temple

A muffled whirring stirred Kanae from her slumber. She snapped awake butt naked in an exceedingly bright chamber. A glass window beamed down hot sunlight at her. When she tried to shield her eyes, neither hands moved. Metal restraints shackled her spread eagle to a stone altar. Her clothes were missing, weapons gone, and no sign of the others anywhere.

The dungeon contained cells packed to the brim with prisoners groaning and crying. Other stone altars were empty, and it seemed Kanae was the only occupant. Tables of sexual torture instruments surrounded her. Some she recognized, like the moaning maiden, a wooden horse, nipple clamps, and more.

"You didn't have Cockcalibur on you. Where in three hells is it?" Jhene's voice asked from the darkness.

"At least have the courtesy of showing yourself when you talk to me." Kanae sighed.

Jhene jumped down from the dungeon's mezzanine and landed gingerly next to the altar. The hobgoblin succubus brushed her mane of black hair from her face, then leaned in close until they were face to face.

"Close enough?" Jhene smirked. "I checked every inch of ya. Fingered your cunt and tail, thinking you must've hid it one of them. Nope. C'moooon. Make it easier for us. We've all been stuck here in this sandy hell for months. I want out already!"

"You're never going to find it, that's for sure. And where are my friends?" Kanae struggled against the shackles, but they pinned her firmly to the bed of stone.

She walked away in a huff and exclaimed, "Argh! That trap was supposed to nail all four of you. Why'd ya have to go and make up some stupid plan to move one at a time? Well, I got the one that matters. As for your pals, there's plenty more chances to get them. You should start worrying about yourself instead."

Jhene snapped her fingers. Two succubi carried a gold-banded chest down from the upper floor. Both of them muttered an incantation, dispelling some runes on the box. The Mistress of Subjugation kicked open the lid and reached in. From the altar, Kanae craned her neck to try and get a better look. But the hobgoblin succubus' broad shoulders blocked the view.

"So, I got a knack for hunting big game. It's a lotta fun bringing down beasties and making trophies outta them. After all, they make me stronger when I consume their powers. Sometimes though, I come across small game that ain't worth killing. But sure as three hells worth keeping." Jhene spun around holding a strange beady creature in a vise.

The thing writhed like a snake, but looked nothing like one. Each segment of its body, if they could be called that, were golf ball-sized and oozed a slimy substance.

"This is an analbeadobra," Jhene said.

"Uhm. Kind of on the nose, isn't it?" Kanae squinted at the wormy creature.

"I'm not the one who named these fucking things. Anyway, they secrete a lubricating liquid from their bodies when threatened. Helps them escape from whatever's trying to catch them for a meal, and then… heh. They look for a nice, dark, and tight place to hide." She tossed the analbeadobra on the altar.

Kanae flinched and tried to shut her legs but couldn't. The little critter darted away for safety— right into her ass. She arched her back as it burrowed deep inside. Its lubricated body facilitated an easy entry. The analbeadobra twisted and turned within, causing the ball segments to push against the walls of her ass.

"Nnnh… Stop… Oh, fuck… it's starting to feel good… No, wait! G-Get it out… Please!" Kanae pleaded.

"What's wrong? Labelle and Ambrosia told me you love getting fucked. You're a weird succubus, ya know that? We should be doing the fucking, always. You make us look weak, squealing and moaning like a bitch in heat. Maybe that's why the cattle races don't take us seriously anymore. I gotta say though, it's a lotta fun seeing you get so worked up." Jhene strolled over to one of the tables and picked up some nipple clamps. She attached them onto Kanae's nipples, sending her over the edge from pleasure. The Mistress of Subjugation wasn't done just yet. There were many more toys and monsters to use.

The succubi cultists continued to bring exotic creatures and tools. They rolled in raised garden beds on wheels, containing overgrown plants. Jhene severed two pitchers from the plant with tongues like a slinky toy. She attached them to Kanae's breasts and immediately started sucking.

Next, they brought out a fishbowl that teemed with red leeches. Jhene plucked a couple out, and attached them to Kanae one by one on the shoulders, abdomen, neck, knees, and thighs. Everywhere the leeches latched onto started feeling ten times more sensitive. They didn't suck her blood, and instead injected something that made every nerve shoot off like fireworks.

The nipple clamps became more intense. The pitcher plants seemed to suck even harder. The analbeadobra felt like it had grown larger. Kanae's eyes rolled back as she climaxed from her ass… and didn't stop.

"I… I keep orgasming! Hnngh… Why can't I stop cumming?!" Kanae panicked.

"Ya like that?" Jhene stroked Kanae's sweat-drenched cheek with the back of her hand. "These leeches came from a remote river in the Hellfire Badlands. They slowly suck your mana. But because anyone with half a brain will pull leeches off, these things evolved to make it so that you don't wanna. So, they release toxins that make you orgasm over, and over, and over, and over until you die of mana starvation and pleasure."

Dying from a lack of mana would never happen to Kanae, because she had too many thralls with the Cursemark of Horniness.

[Cursemark of Horniness: Inflict a curse on someone that perpetually and gradually drains their mana into you. They will face an unquenchable desire for sex to replenish their dwindling mana pool once a day or die. Only the succubus who inflicts the curse can dispel it.]

The mana Kanae received quickly replenished any amount sucked off by the red leeches. That was one matter though. Escaping was another.

"When are you… going to send… a horde… of monsters… to fuck me?" Kanae asked eagerly.

"And give you a chance to charm them? Nah. Not happening. I know a slut when I see one, and the best way to deal with them is not to give them dick," Jhene said.

"Oh, come on!" She pouted.

"But your cunt is looking a little empty. Alrighty, fine. You asked for it. Bring me the ramming mushroom!"

When no one answered Jhene's orders, she clicked her tongue and angrily whirled around to face the mezzanine. None of the other succubi came. Except one. A particularly terrified succubus flew from the upper floor and landed hard beside them.

"Sister, help!" the succubus cultist cried.

A ghastly miasma poured from the mezzanine and creeped across the ground. Edina emerged in a lich-like form, donning a gown of savage bones formed from sacrificed death knights. The Pillar of the Damned and Scythe of Soul Reaping had been combined into a single weapon, brimming with necromantic energies.

"Hey, Kanae!" Edina waved like a doofus. "Finally found you. Man, you won't believe just how big this place is. We got lost sooo many times!"

"Get the slaves to the engine room! I'll handle them." Jhene shoved the succubus, who raced over to a lever and pulled it.

The ground shuddered as though the entire ziggurat was coming down. Something was going down, but not the ziggurat. The prison cells full of crying prisoners sank into the floor, replacing them with new empty cages.

Jhene absorbed several shrunken skulls and empowered herself. She launched at Edina with explosive energy. Something else caught her attention, and she veered off course. Shivs whistled across the dungeon, barely missing her by a hair.

"Well, shit. I was training all month to hit a flying target." Rasheena sighed from above.

"You're the sultan's aunt! How's it feel knowing Elaine and Cerberus are fucking day and night?" Jhene taunted.

"Oooh. You succubi really know how to piss someone off!" She hopped down and flung a flurry of knives.

While Edina and Rasheena battled Jhene, Kanae struggled to break free while constantly orgasming. It was no use. Everything felt too good to stop. Even the analbeadobra wriggling in her ass seemed right at home inside her.

Another orgasm was coming. Kanae squeezed her eyes shut. The pitcher started sucking even harder. This was going to be a big one. At the height of ecstasy, something— or someone— kissed her. Familiar supple lips pressed against her own. A hand caressed down the length of her arm and entwined their fingers, and the other cupped her cheek.

"Alicia?" Kanae gasped when their lips parted.

"It's me," Alicia replied, full of relief. "I thought I lost you when I heard Jhene's voice on the other side of that chamber. I don't know what I would have done with myself if you and Claudia were no longer by my side."

"And here you are, coming to save me— ahhh! Nnnh… hahh… Sorry, I just came again… Can you, uh… get me out of this already?" she muttered in embarrassment.

Alicia giggled while still cloaked in invisibility. Something inserted into the locks of Kanae's shackles, and the restraints on her wrists and ankles came loose a second later. She ripped off the leeches and pitcher plants, but left the analbeadobra in her ass.

"You still have something inside you, don't you?" Alicia asked.

"No… B-By the way, where's my stuff?" Kanae quickly changed the subject.

They didn't have time to look. Jhene's leg came down on them like a guillotine, cracking the stone altar in half. She sucked in a deep breath and let loose a jet of flames. Kanae and Alicia dove away, their fall knocking over a table and its tools.

"I might not be able to see you, Alicia. But I know you're there! I know your scent, because you smell just like Claudia." Jhene grinned.

Edina descended upon the Mistress of Subjugation and swung the Scythe of Soul Reaping at her throat. She lifted an arm and stopped the blade cold. The surface of her skin chipped off with pieces of stone, and the scythe had barely even cut her. Jhene roundhouse kicked Edina in the side of the head and sent her flying.

Seizing on the distraction, Kanae reached into the analbeadobra chest and pulled out a handful of them. She flung them in Jhene's direction, and the succubus reacted too slow. Her eyes snapped open upon realizing what they were, but it was too late to escape them.

Three analbeadobras propelled themselves into Jhene's ass. The impact bumped her a foot off the ground. She desperately grabbed at them, but they had already burrowed out of reach.

"D-Damn you— ahhh! I'm not into ass play. But if you think this is enough… nngh… to stop me, think again!" Jhene barreled towards Kanae, who picked up and flung the fish bowl of leeches.

It shattered against her body, but they didn't latch on like Kanae had hoped. The hobgoblin succubus' skin was a layer of stone that leeches couldn't bite onto. As Kanae braced for impact, the air shifted. Alicia had left her side.

Jhene slammed into Kanae with the force of a wrecking ball. She skidded backwards on her heels. Bestial Strength and Lion's Pride were hardly enough match the Mistress of Subjugation's incredible strength. Without Lust or a wand, she had nothing to cast spells with despite having an arsenal of abilities. All she could cast was…

"Turn Horny! Turn Horny! Turn Horny!" Kanae incanted the spell over and over again, the only one of which didn't require a spellcasting or focusing element.

"Aaaahhhh! Tch! Two can play at that! Turn Horny! Turn Horny! Turn Horny!" Jhene fired the same spell back.

They continued to sexually stimulate each other until Alicia plunged a dagger into her sister's back.

"H… How?!" Jhene murmured breathlessly.

"Assassins don't care about defenses and armor. Your loss, sister." Alicia sneered.

"We'll see about that…" She looped her tail around the skull of a reptilian beast.

"Nnh… Alicia… down!" Kanae warned.

Spikes protruded from Jhene's shoulders and back. Alicia dashed away before getting skewered. The crowned Headhunter flew to the same lever from earlier and pulled it again. As the cages lowered into the floor, she ripped the metal part to enter and disappear from sight. Another set of empty cells replaced them.

"Edina! Are you okay?" Kanae leaned over the unconscious squirreling, whose bone armor had broken off in multiple places.

"Ugh… Kanae? I can't see you… it's so dark…" Edina came to consciousness and groaned.

"Sorry." She sat upright. "My tits were in the way. Looks like you're fine though."

"Fucking hells… That's just one of the cultist leaders? Sure packs a punch…" Rasheena had Alicia helping her stand straight.

The last two times they had fought Jhene, it took Petyr being there to win one over her. That was in Dry Gulch. The other time in Vanuis, they had lost and resulted in the temple falling into cultist hands.

"Think your venom got Jhene?" Kanae asked.

"Doubtful. Hobgoblin constitution makes them mildly resistant to most poisons and venoms. Not immune though. She is definitely hurting," Alicia explained.

"Are you planning on getting dressed or just walk around naked like a street whore?" Rasheena folded her arms.

"My equipment is missing! What do you want me to do about it? I'm willing to bet it's in their engine room, just to keep it as far from me as possible," she said.

They only had one way down, and it was through the same way the prisoners and Jhene went. Alicia picked the lock into a cell for them to catch a ride on, while Edina called forth an undead to pull the lever.

The floor shuddered and gave way. Heavy chains behind the walls slowly lowered the large cell into the temple's depths. It grew more humid the deeper they went. Soon, the sound of steam escaping pipes whistled all around. The thunderous boom of machinery swelled to a chorus.

When the dark vertical tunnel opened, their cell entered a gigantic space reminiscent of and much larger than the sunken temple Alicia was made to serve under. Metal pipes snaked across the ground and walls like a dwarven factory. Countless Savirans were being corralled into portals, and succubi whipped the stragglers to force them in. At the center of the room stood a troll-sized crystal suspended by chains and steel bands. A humming Rift sparked in front of it.

In the back of Kanae's mind, the voice of Regallis rang out in words that she couldn't discern. Yet she knew exactly what he was trying to say. That was his Rift. The Cult of Lust and Depravity somehow brought it with them in the temple.

"My… My people. Where are they going?" Rasheena asked, her claws clenching the bars of the cell.

"Into artificial Rifts," Alicia began in a spiteful manner, "made to house people in small words, so that we can harvest their mana as the temple's power source."

"The temple loses power if we free everyone from the artificial Rifts. We have to be careful though. It's floating right above Isha Palace. A lot of innocent people will die. Subdue the succubi and Jhene, and find out how to move the temple away before we ground it. Edina, give us an army," Kanae ordered.

"You got it!" Edina kicked the cell door open and flew out.

Succubi cultists and Ortesians rushed to stop her. But the necromancer summoned two death knights, Cantu, and a small army's worth of undead into the chamber.

"Kanae!" Jhene grabbed her by the throat as soon as she stepped out of the cell. "Let's fight somewhere more private, yeah?"

"Unhand her!" Alicia cried.

With her other hand, Jhene crushed the metal gate and bars together, trapping Rasheena and Alicia within the cage. Kanae kicked and punched with little success. The succubus flashed a toothy smile, and flew them both into the Rift.

Darkness engulfed them. Warm winds, not at all sweltering or scorching like in Savir, caressed Kanae's skin. She awoke still naked in a vast rolling plains of tall yellow grass up to the knees. Jhene rose to her feet, hand clutching the side of her head and wincing.

They were about to clash until a bellowing voice rang out like a horn across the savanna.

"Welcome, champions!" Regallis boomed jovially. "I sense great promise and strength in the two of you. My name is Regallis, and I possess incredible treasures waiting to be claimed by the victor of this Rift. You may aid each other or go at it alone, but you should know this will be a treacherous trial. The souls of four mighty beasts inhabit this Rift, pulled from the Realm of Eternal Sleep. Some whose souls have not yet passed on until they face a worthy hunt. The Great Hunt. Defeat them and become the hunter. Or be defeated and become the hunted."

"Mighty beasts, huh? I sure as three hells could use some new shrunken skulls. If I'd known this is what the Rift was, I would've challenged it sooner. I hope you're ready, Kanae, to see what a real hunter can do!" Jhene roared.

"Oh, yeah? Well… er… Not before I get my brains fucked out by them first!" Kanae unfurled her wings and took off into the sky first.

"Wait, what?! Get back here, you horny bitch!" She flew up in a panic to give chase.

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