The Hero Became a Succubus, and the Only Way to Level is to… What?!
Chapter 406 – The Great Hunt

By a stroke of luck, Kanae managed to lose Jhene hiding against a ridge and waiting for her to pass right over. The hobgoblin succubus' muscles might be big, but her brain wasn't. She breathed a sigh of relief and emerged from the cramped, rocky crevice.

Staring across the pale yellow landscape really set in just how vast this Rift was. Possibly even larger. Judging by the sparse trees, low shrubs, and tall swaying grasses, it must be a savanna biome. There were even elephants and zebra packs roaming about.

Rifts were essentially a demigod's playground. They put together trials and crafted dangers to test would-be challengers. Oftentimes, the creators added a spin to them according to their whims. In that way, no two Rift could ever be the same. Demigod Regallis, the maker of this world, wanted Kanae and Jhene to hunt the souls of four mighty beasts. If the others had managed to come in, that would have been great.

So far, there were no signs of them. Kanae squinted across the horizon and wondered what exactly these beasts were.

"I'm no hunter, but Jhene is. Between the two of us, she definitely has the advantage. I can't let her win though. If she gets her hands on whatever treasure Regallis has at the end of this… Ugh. I don't want to think about how much stronger she's going to get," Kanae groaned.

Not to mention, making shrunken heads of those beasts would not end well for them.

Kanae glanced down at her bare body and sighed. She was already at a huge disadvantage. Jhene had stripped her of almost every useful piece of equipment. All she had left were Doom and Gloom, Piercings of Impurity, and Ring of Destined Matrimony. The last one wasn't going to be any help in this situation.

No way to go but forward anymore, so Kanae unfurled her wings and took flight. Jhene must be far enough away by now, too. Taking to the skies, it was nice to feel the sun on her skin without being cooked alive. She flew the opposite way to avoid running into the Mistress of Subjugation. With some luck, Kanae would find the beasts first.

Unfortunately, luck was sorely needed.

As it turned out, searching for specific monsters proved harder than Kanae expected. The Rift was expansive and comprised more biomes than the savanna where she and Jhene had began in. Kanae wandered into a desert, rainforest, frozen wasteland, and there were probably others.

What made them even stranger was the lack of a natural geological border that normally separated them. Well, Rifts did often defy reality. Kanae stood at the three-way threshold between the dry grassy savanna, a familiar sandswept desert, and an icy wasteland. It was as if someone had cut different cakes and pieced them together as one on the same platter.

The frozen biome was definitely a 'no' from Kanae. She had no clothes and would eventually freeze to death. She also had no canteen to hydrate with or cloak to shield from the desert's sun. For the time being, the savanna was the most comfortable place to search.

After the first few days of wandering, it became glaringly clear that Kanae would need a lot of help to make up for her lack of equipment. So she started fucking the wildlife, breeding with dire beasts to produce an army of her own loyal spawn like Hilde did. By the end of the week, she had amassed a pack of dire buffalos, dire warthogs, and some kind of equine creature related to the reptilian marsteed but with spiked spurs on their ankles

Hunting got a lot easier. While riding on the mars, Kanae compelled the dire warthogs to chase down a boar. She used a dagger fashioned from stone to shave off pieces of meat, started a fire, and roasted the succulent but gamey flesh for lunch. Her obedient children feasted on the fresh carcass.

Kanae winced as something inside her pregnant belly kicked. It became almost like a roulette to see what dire beast she birthed. This time, she effortlessly produced another healthy mars, making this the fourth one. The foal cried until she guided it to her lactating breasts.

However, the two of the adult mars that were born male fell into heat after Kanae emptied her womb. Their cocks grew erect, long and hard, twitching with the intent to mate, and dripping with precum. They brandished both clubs in front of her face in a flirtatious show of desire.

"So soon after I gave birth? Hehe. Okay, fine. Let me finish feeding the foal first, then we can mate all night long~" With each hand, Kanae cupped their hefty ballsacks that were full of fertile seed.

Another week had passed, and it was starting to seem like this Rift would never end. No wonder Regallis had a hard time finding challengers to complete this.

Without much shade in the savanna, Kanae's complexion took on a deeper tan. She had rubbed stones together to make paint and apply on herself for fun. Her breasts swelled noticeably from being pregnant so often. Their growing family even formed a hierarchy, and the largest male mars became the alpha of the pack.

In the mornings, they frolicked together in the savanna and played. Kanae nursed the many younglings. When noon rolled around, the older members of the pack went out to hunt and forage for food. By the time she returned, it was time to give birth to a new baby. Finally, as night fell and the stars stretched across the skies, they ended the day with an animalistic orgy until her womb was bursting with cum.

After a month had gone by—

"Ahhhh! What am I even doing?!" Kanae snapped and hurled a bunch of kindling she had collected. "All I do every day is have sex with dire beasts and hunt. I don't even know who I am anymore. Am I an animal or succubus? Is there a difference? I haven't gotten any closer to finishing the Rift!"

The alpha mars, which had accompanied her to help forage, nuzzled his scaly snout into her chest. It was one of the signs she had learned when he wanted to mate again.

"No, stop! Now isn't the time to have sex. I need to hunt the mighty beasts Regallis mentioned, or I'm stuck here forever!" Kanae pushed his head away and sighed.

But her mate was insistent. He knocked Kanae to the ground, and just as she was about to give in to lust, a large shadow pounced past. The mars reared up on his hind legs and growled. Something in the dark snarled back.

Kanae stared in shock. Had she been standing, that creature would have caught her. She jumped to her feet and patted the mars on the back, then turned her attention to the shadowy figure now lurking behind a tree.

"Jhene? Is that you? I'm warning you, I have an army of dire beasts ready to tear you to shreds!" Kanae shouted.

No response other than silently stalking and growling.

Kanae hatched an idea. She covered her breasts with both hands and let go. The Piercings of Impurity flashed a bright light, illuminating the space in front of her and revealing a hulking beast. A body like that of a gorilla, head of a lion, and protruding tusks like a walrus. it shielded its eyes and jumped into the trees.

"Behold, King Cang. The last of his kind," Regallis' voice rang out from the sky. "King Cang belongs to a long extinct species known as cangora. They were the apex dire predators of jungles, savannas, and even tundras. High elven trophy hunters brought them to complete extinction, and King Cang was the last survivor of the species. He wandered for decades, fending off hunters and searching for a mate that no longer existed. Alone and without company, King Cang perished against a hunting party when he was too old to even fight back. His skull now adorns a hunter's lodge of an Ortesian lord, while his soul continued to meander aimlessly in the Realm of Eternal Sleep… until I took him here, where you will put King Cang to rest!"

"By hunting him? I just feel bad for him now!" Kanae protested.

The cangora leaped from the tree. Kanae hopped onto the mars, and ordered him to gallop back to camp. Behind, the mighty beast gave chase. His powerful fists beat the ground like a thundering percussion.

They reached the others, all of whom quickly squared up against King Cang. However, they were severely outmatched. The cangora swung his beefy arms, knocking away swathes of dire beasts. Kanae ordered a pack of hyenas to leap onto him, sinking their teeth and fangs into his back. The buffalos headbutted him with their horns. Warthogs and mars ran circles to keep him disoriented.

Sheer overwhelming numbers brought the king to the ground, and… he seemed resigned to his fate. Kanae hovered over him with a dagger, intending to deal the finishing blow. But seeing how defeated he looked, she faltered.

"I can't kill you. Especially not after what Regallis told me." Kanae frowned and waved the pack away from him. "Hmm. But he didn't actually say anything about hunting to kill. I just need to put your soul to rest. You were alone for most of your life, so…" She descended down between his trunky legs. "How about I resolve that?"

"Ur?" King Cangora tilted his head.

Kanae casted Turn Horny, causing the beast to spring an erection. But nothing prepared her for what emerged. A thick red rod with many tiny and fleshy hooks curving downwards along the shaft. The sheer heat emanating from it made her wet with anticipation, and she salivated at the feral musk wafting up to her nose.

Slippery lubrication oozed from underneath the hooks. Kanae added to it with her saliva, licking the glans and gently massaging King Cangora's balls. However, that was too much for the creature, whose life passed without ever tasting the pleasure of sex. The cangora let loose a fearsome roar as thick clumps of spunk fired from his cock.

"Sounds like you really liked that. Hehe. I liked it, too." Kanae licked some jizz off her hands. 

King Cang rolled his tongue out and panted heavily. The throbbing hard member was still stiffer than rock.

"Well, I suppose a king needs a queen. Don't mind if I do!" Kanae climbed atop the cangora and lowered her hips down to his dick. She felt every little fleshy hook rubbing the inside of her pussy. Soon, she had enveloped every inch of him.

Two thick hands grabbed her waist and pounded away without foreplay or starting slow. His feral rutting was incredible. The power behind each thrust could only belong to something that wanted to breed. And Kanae happily let it happen. She let the monstrous beast take her as if a female of its own species. 

"Yes! Faster! Keep plowing my pussy! It feels so fucking good! I'm losing my mind… I'm going to want to stay here forever just to get fucked like this!" Kanae cried, face buried within the cangora's mane.

The king didn't let up. He pistoned into her to make up for decades of being alone. Hot cum poured straight into Kanae's womb, and the cangora continued thrusting. By the next morning, he had fucked her to satisfaction. She laid twitching on top of his chest. Sticky clumps of spunk were glued to her insides, sealing the entrance of her pussy with a sort of goopy plug.

Wait.

Through bouts of lucidity, Kanae tried to remember if she had switched off Versatile Womb or not. She brushed her character sheet, revealing that the skill was indeed… on.

"Nnh… Oh, crap." Kanae winced as her inflated belly gurgled not from all the cum, but from life brewing inside it— and labor. "I'm cumming… I'm cumming from giving birth again! Aaaaaahhhhh!"

The seal broke. Amniotic juices and leftover spunk poured out, followed by the crown of the infant cangora. Kanae pushed and pushed, and the other beasts of the pack gathered to watch.

"Ook, ook!" King Cang awoke to witness the birth of his child.

One last push, and the newborn cangora popped out. Sparse fine fur matted its skin. The cangora looked like a baby gorilla, but with the underbite and slightly protruding face of a lion cub. Kanae raised the infant up to her breast to let it nurse. King Cang groomed the cub, licking his offspring clean. An expression of satisfaction fell over the otherwise ferocious face.

Giant words flitted across Kanae's vision.

<Hunt Completed>

"Is that really necessary?" Kanae waved at the words, but her hand touched nothing.

"You are correct in that not all hunts must end in the death of the hunted," Regallis explained. "There are fishermen who fish and release their catches. Trappers who use their skills to tag beasts just to learn about them. You've shown compassion to that which found none in an unforgiving world. Although your compassion is rather… unconventional, it is compassion nonetheless!"

"Yeah, great… Say, I don't suppose you can tell me where the next one is? And how much time has passed by in the outside world? I was kind of in the middle of something!" she shouted.

"Fear not, beloved of my colleague Arenade. I have deemed that only minutes shall pass there, for what months passes here. As for the next hunt, I cannot tell you. That would be cheating, challenger. The biome you hunted the cangora will, however, disappear. You will be transported to the next biome which the next beast inhabits," he explained before his voice faded into the ether.

Kanae threw her hands in the air out of exasperation. Just like Regallis described, the savanna began to shift. Shrink might be the more appropriate word, as the rainforest stretched closer and closer until it consumed the original biome. She tipped over from the disorienting change in scenery. Her feet touched the wet and muddy soil of the new biome. A humid blanket wrapped her from all sides.

Instead of the sparse trees of a savanna, tall giants formed a canopy of vegetation. Thick, overgrown shrubs and ferns stretched across the rainforest surface like weed. When Kanae turned around, she was disappointed to find most of her pack gone. Only King Cang, the cub attached to her breast, and a couple of mars were still around.

It must not be their kind of habitat, so Regallis took them away. Kanae sulked. She was going to have to breed another pack again. Until then… she climbed atop the alpha marsteed and whistled sharply.

"Cangoras are apex predators, right? King Cang, go out and hunt. Maybe if you make enough of a commotion, the other mighty beast will show up to challenge you," Kanae ordered.

"Ook! Ook!" King Cang pointed to his dick.

"No sex until you bring something back, you deadbeat! Ugh. I'm literally just surrounded by horny beasts." She rolled her eyes.

The disappointed cangora leaped into the shrubs. In the meantime, Kanae and the mars searched for food themselves. They foraged plenty of edible mushrooms, but she had hoped to find clues of the mighty beast living in the rainforest. 

It was starting to get dark, and night underneath a canopy as thick as a rainforest's meant total darkness. Fortunately, it was still somewhat light out. Kanae had some time left. She climbed down from the alpha mars and got to work starting a fire.

Something rustled in the distant bushes. Kanae thought King Cang had come back, but the cangora cub started growling. It happened too fast for her to react. Before Kanae had realized it, she slammed into a tree. Jhene pressed a heel against her shoulder.

"Yo! Long time no see, bitch. You… What the fuck is that?" Jhene squinted at the cangora.

"My baby, so I'd appreciate it if you got off me!" Kanae whistled.

The alpha mars headbutted Jhene, and the others took turns attacking and used the thick vegetation to hide in after every strike. She dug her heels into the ground and wrestled the alpha down, then easily defeated the rest.

"Any more… tricks?" Jhene panted.

"Just one." Kanae smirked.

King Cang got the drop on Jhene from above. He pinned her to the forest floor and wailed on her with heavy fists. She grabbed a shrunken skull, absorbed its power, and pushed back against the cangora's beastly strength. Hand to fist, the two locked themselves in a standstill, and Kanae almost dared not interrupt the brawl. While stuck like that, the Headhunter couldn't consume another skull to empower herself with.

"S… Stop… Hear me out!" Jhene yelled.

"Why should I? As far as I can tell, you're going to lose once I step in to tip the scales. All it takes is one Turn Horny." Kanae sneered and circled around the hobgoblin succubus.

"I've already defeated two… I see you fucked this one into submission. The last one ain't a pushover. I'm telling you, I tried and fucking lost! It's a leviathan… we gotta work together to beat it," she pleaded.

Jhene admitting defeat gave Kanae pause. She had defeated two beasts already, but the leviathan was much too strong?

"How do I know this isn't a ruse?" Kanae asked.

"Do I look like I got tricks? That's all Elaine and Ambrosia. I'm just… the muscle… I'm also tired of this fucking place. It's been a month! There ain't no decent cattle to drain, and I don't plan on fucking the fauna like you. I was already sick and tired of Savir. I bet you wanna leave, too, yeah? We get outta here and continue this fight once we're outside…"

Kanae could taste the desperation in Jhene's words. Maybe the Mistress of Subjugation wasn't lying after all. A leviathan, was it? Kanae distinctly remembered Teana and the others mentioning fighting one for their Knights' Academy trial. They were a species of hydras that could regenerate their heads… and it just so happened that Kanae possessed an ability to inhibit healing.

"You came to me because you remembered what happened in Dry Gulch," Kanae said.

"I did. You stopped my regeneration with that Necromancer skill. It's my only ticket out of here, and I got enough brains to know when I need help. Well?" Jhene asked.

Kanae motioned for King Cang to ease up, and Jhene collapsed to her knees. It was only now that she noticed how many wounds the succubus was covered in.

Fresh scars marked her body. Poultices made from large leaves and green mush pressed against her arms and legs. She couldn't even see past one eye because it was so swollen.

"Wouldn't be the first time I teamed up with an enemy I knew was going to betray me later. But you're right. I do want to get out of here, too." Kanae extended a hand to her.

"Heh. So, what happened that time?" Jhene asked and clasped the hand.

"I came out on top, which means you better think twice about turning on me. Unless you want things to go terribly wrong for you." She winked.

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