The Hero Became a Succubus, and the Only Way to Level is to… What?!
Chapter 407 – Hunting the Hydra

Although Kanae had likened the alliance with Jhene to the time with Lady, circumstances were a little different. As the two trekked through the rainforest, they kept throwing glances at each other. It was the kind of look where one gauged whether or not now was the time to start backstabbing.

Unfortunately, at least according to Jhene, they needed to work together to defeat the hydra. If not, this Rift would be their resting place.

Kanae glanced back at the pack consisting of mars and two cangora. Being trapped here so far wasn't bad. The sex was good, there were plenty of beasts around, and countries didn't exist to wage war. But she sorely missed everyone after a month. With any luck, not much time had passed, and the others continued the good fight while she was in the Rift.

It was starting to get dark. Kanae and Jhene crafted makeshift torches out of a flammable sap lathered on a thick branch. They set up camp inside a dried ravine and agreed to continue searching again in the morning.

The cangora Kanae had given birth to stood five feet tall now in its adolescent age. His stomach growled. Breastmilk no longer sated the beast.

"What kind of beast doesn't know how to hunt for its own food?" Jhene scoffed.

"Give him a break. He was born yesterday," Kanae defended the cangora.

"I guess I wouldn't wanna fight on an empty stomach either." The hobgoblin succubus got to her feet and headed deeper into the jungle.

Kanae followed after Jhene. Some members of the pack tried to follow, but she ordered them to stay behind.

"If you're gonna follow me, at least put the damn torch out. Fire scares animals away, especially the kind you eat!" Jhene snapped.

"Sorry!" Kanae tried to blow out the torch, but the sap burned too intensely. She ran back to camp, tossed it into the campfire, and quickly returned to Jhene, who was shaking her head.

They entered into the darkness of the rainforest at night, whose lunar and starry lights were completely blocked by the thick canopy. The only thing that remotely illuminated the forest floor were twinkling blue fireflies, many of which looked like wisps or spirits from afar.

Kanae's eyes soon adjusted. Her natural darkvision kicked in, granting her a glimpse into the night. The same seemed to be true for Jhene, too, as she moved briskly over obstacles like a predator prowling in their native habitat. It could almost be described as elegant. The succubus was a beefy and lean hobgoblin, yet she didn't make a sound in each step. She carried herself in a stoic posture that left no openings.

The tree branches rustled and showered them with gently-falling leaves. Jhene lifted a hand to signal a stop. She reached for a bolas on her waist made from rope tied to three stones.

"Is something there?" Kanae whispered.

"Sh. Stand right where you are," Jhene instructed, then shifted quietly a few meters to the right.

"Uh… Why—" Before she could get the next word out, a giant boa shot out from above right for her.

Kanae panicked and braced for impact. A flying bolas slammed shut its mouth, and the rest of the body fell from the tree and on top of her. Jhene jumped and speared the boa through the head, killing it in an instant.

"There's your food," Jhene said.

"YOU USED ME AS BAIT!" Kanae yelled while struggling to get free from under the boa's heavy body. "This better not foreshadow our fight with the hydra later!"

"Results are what matters. You ain't dead. The snake's dead. Ya get to eat your fill now." She hoisted it onto her shoulders and began to leave.

Back at the camp, the mars and cangoras waited impatiently to start eating. Jhene meticulously skinned the body. Kanae watched in awe as the crowned Headhunter severed the boa's head cleanly. Swirling magical energies engulfed the head whole, which reappeared on Jhene's waistband collection as a trophy alongside other shrunken beast skulls.

They cut up the boa's body, discarded the organs, and tossed a large chunk of flesh to Kanae's pack to feast on. She and Jhene roasted the rest over a fire.

"Hmm. Tastes like bland, gamey chicken." Kanae gnawed on her portion and wished they had some spices.

"Everything tastes like chicken or fish. You get used to it though. I'm just glad to be born not picky about what I eat, unlike my sisters. They don't like hunting. It's 'too boring' according to them." Jhene tore ravenously into the boa's charred flesh, seemingly reveling in the taste.

"Speaking of hunting, you hunted the other two 'mighty beasts', didn't you? What were they?" she asked.

Jhene lit up all of a sudden. Her eyes sparkled. She put the roast boa down, wiped both hands in the dirt, and fished around her waistband for two shrunken heads. One was a somewhat flat skull with large spikes protruding from the lower jaw. The other had a rhinocerine appearance and, rather than blunted, possessed an incredibly sharp and pointed horn on its nose.

"This one," Jhene began and shoved the rhino-looking skull in Kanae's face, "was called Redback! Regallis said these fuckers used to be all over Savir, until the people hunted them to extinction to make edirashem traveling easier. Tsk. Would've been so cool to see 'em in herds. Redback beat the shit out of me. When it got to charging, there ain't no stopping it. Slammed into me with the weight of a mountain. And this." She lifted the flat skull. "Don't let the shape fool ya. It was big and vicious. Broad body taut with muscles. The arms ended in scythes sharper than steel— er, I'm just rambling. You probably don't really care."

"You're not the only Headhunter I know. My daughter Teana is, too. She hunts a lot of dire beasts and comes back to show me their shrunken heads. I, for one, love hearing her tell me all about them," Kanae explained nostalgically.

"Lucky her. My mo— the Queen-Mother couldn't care less. Things are gonna be different though. Soon." She picked the boa meat back up to her jaws but seemed to have lost her appetite. Instead, the succubus tossed it over her shoulder for the pack of mars to fight over. "We're close to the lake where the hydra is. Get some rest. Once we beat the thing, you and I are back to being enemies."

Without another word, Jhene plopped down against the trunk of a tree and shut her eyes.

Things are going to be different… How? Kanae pondered Jhene's somber words but couldn't peg anything meaningful to them. The instant the Queen-Mother came up, she just completely lost interest in talking any more. Come to think of it, none of Zariah's daughters ever spoke well of her. Except maybe Ambrosia, but even she had few words to share about their mother.

No point in thinking about it now. They had a fight ahead of them tomorrow. Kanae joined the mars in their slumber pile. The two cangoras had disappeared to sleep somewhere high in the canopy, as was their nature. She didn't want to go looking for them and instead laid down between two mars, only for them to spring erections. One stretch across her thighs and another twitched on top of her breasts.

"Fine." Kanae gave in and squeezed their thick members. "Just don't be too loud. Otherwise, we'll wake Jhene up."

Come morning, Kanae awoke covered head to toe in mars spunk. A few streaks of sunlight made it past the canopy. The extremely humid rainforest had made most of the jizz sticky and goopy. Jhene stood over her, arms folded and face full of disgust.

"It kills me to know we're of the same race." Jhene grimaced.

"You're the ones missing out." Kanae sat upright and stretched her arms. "If life is a box of chocolates, I'm not eating just one. I'm trying out everything, including outside the box!"

"That's a stupid idiom. You're just a horny bitch. Now, clean up and get moving. We got a hydra to cut down," she said.

Without a spellcasting instrument to cast Prestidigitation, Kanae had to improvise getting clean. She cut moss off a tree to use as a spongy loofa in wiping herself down. They pressed on deeper into the rainforest for most of the morning before finally coming across an enormous lake. The body of water was so vast, it had gentle waves crashing against a pebbly shore.

Wildlife was sparse here, except for tiny critters like frogs and avian animals. Both the mars and cangoras hesitated to draw closer to the lake. There was no surer sign that the hydra was here.

"Last time I fought the damn thing, it kicked my ass. It's too strong to charm, so we gotta do this the old fashion way. Hope you got more tricks in that pussy of yours instead of cum," Jhene said.

"I do. Bond!" Kanae created a link between her and the pack.

The four mars and two cangoras bulked up noticeably. Although their emotional connections were more bestial and instinctive than people, Kanae felt an innate affection that tethered them together. However…

"And… What the fuck was that supposed to do?" Jhene sighed.

The pack fondled and nuzzled their heads against Kanae's bare body. King Cang held her from behind, rubbing his thick cock between the cheeks of her ass. Some of the mars licked her nipples, and one pressed its head into her crotch.

"W-Well, Bond makes them stronger… but it also makes them want to have sex with me…" Kanae fidgeted nervously on the verge of climaxing.

The surface of the lake rippled. Something— four things broke water. Four draconic heads emerged and let loose a billowing chorus of a roar. The hydra climbed onto shore, the forked tongue of each head licking their gnashing teeth. It stood at a staggering 30-feet. Kanae and Jhene were puny by comparison.

Old scars that tarnished the pale green scales were evidence of a previous battle in which it came out on top. The legs were long and wide flippers that helped propel the beast through water, but the arms ended in eagle-like talons. All four heads reared back with their jaws open.

"You better not die on me, otherwise I'm stuck in here!" Jhene unfurled her wings and flew into the sky.

The hydra heads unleashed a barrage of elemental breaths— ice, fire, lightning, poisonous gas, from one each. Kanae and her pack scattered before being struck. She ordered the cangoras to go wild, and King Cang leaped onto one head to close shut its mouth. The second jumped for another head, but the hydra whirled around and swatted him with its tail.

Jhene absorbed the power of Redback's shrunken head, then descended like a meteor and slammed into the hydra. It let out a pained cry and toppled to the ground.

Meanwhile, Kanae rode in on the alpha mars, twirling a lasso Jhene had made for her. She captured the head King Cang restrained and pulled hard.

"Now!" Kanae shouted.

"Keep it still for me!" This time, Jhene consumed the flat skull and grew giant scythes out of her forearms. She swooped in and severed lassoed head. "You're up!"

The blood pouring from the hydra's gaping neck began to reform parts of its missing flesh. Kanae leaped off the mars and threw a Titanic Blow infused with Necrotizing Touch. Her punch connected. The scales blackened, veins festered, and the blood turned into sludge. Their combined assault had stopped the hydra's regeneration.

"Haha! We're doing it, Kanae!" Jhene cheered from above, then violently shook her head. "I-I mean, stay on your toes. There's still three more heads. After that, I'm betraying the fuck outta you!"

"We have something good going, just accept it!" Kanae yelled.

A head picked up King Cang in its jaws and flung him into the lake. The hydra got back up and blasted Jhene out of the sky with a double lighting breath. She plummeted from the sky, and Kanae flew up to catch her before hitting the ground. The pack of mars bravely squared up against the hydra, but they were much smaller and no match for the enormous leviathan.

"Kuh… Fuck. My entire body… is stiff… I can't move… a muscle…" Jhene growled past her clenched jaws.

"Electricity does that to you. I wish I could help, but I don't have any of my equipment thanks to you! I've been naked… for forever!" Kanae groaned.

"No shit… I took off everything I saw on you…" She tried to stand but fell right back over.

Saw… Wait. Only what Jhene had seen!

Kanae switched on Futanari, and her gigantic club of a cock empowered by the Cock Ring of Hardening sprung out in all its glory.

"I'm an idiot. I should've paid closer attention to my equipment. It's not like you could force me to turn on Futanari while I was unconscious. You could never have gotten the only other enchanted item on me," Kanae explained.

Jhene stared wide-eyed at the massive thing and gulped hard.

"Keep the hydra busy!" Kanae shouted to her pack, and both cangoras jumped out of the lake to help the mars. "I'm going to betray Jhene first and have my way with her."

"You fucking bitch! Don't do you dare— aaahh!" Jhene regained some movement and arched her back.

It was surprisingly a lot wetter than Kanae had expected someone declining so vocally. She pressed into Jhene's soaking pussy. The succubus was incredibly tight from all that muscle, clenching her with a vise.

"Nnh… you're so… big— Guh! I've never had sex… with anyone other than… my sisters… before…" Jhene gasped for breath between each word.

"Muscular women are the best… you have the tightest pussy ever!" Kanae pounded into her with wild abandon.

Their genitals were practically made for each other. Jhene twitched and shuddered underneath Kanae, whose hips picked up speed after every thrust. The Mistress of Subjugation became the subjugated as her pussy seemed to beg for more.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! I'm cumming!" Jhene cried.

"Take it all! Take my entire load!" Kanae plunged her dick into the back of Jhene's pussy, exploding with wave after wave of cum directly into the womb.

[Congratulations! You are now level 285!]

[Skill Drain has temporarily acquired Thrill of the Hunt!

Thrill of the Hunter: Become physically stronger against a quarry marked as your Prey the longer the fight goes on. Consequently, you become weaker against anyone else not marked as Prey. A target is considered Prey after ten seconds of continued battle.]

[You have gained your final Legacy Skill!

Legacy Skills are powerful, signature skills specific to your unique race and class combination obtained at certain milestone levels.

Irresistible Seductress (Active): Any damage inflicted on you is redistributed to thralls under your Charm, Mass Charm, Enthrall, and afflicted with Cursemark of Horniness.

Irresistible Seductress (Passive): Focus on someone or something to make you completely and sexually irresistible to them. They will want nothing more than to mate, breed, shag, bang, fuck, impregnate, and make an utter mess out of the Seductress. In a contest of willpower, those with greater wills and INT have a higher chance of resisting.]

Kanae pulled out of Jhene's pussy and staggered back a little from the incredible influx of information. That was a lot to take in at once. Well, maybe not as bad as Jhene had it, considering she was still trembling on the ground.

The new legacy skill came in two forms, an activatable spell and a passive that required a bit of concentrating. Also… Why was the description for the passive form of Irresistible so vulgar? Whatever.

King Cang and the rest of the pack had fought to exhaustion. Even with one less head, the hydra vastly outmatched them in strength. Jhene mentioned that charming the hydra didn't work for her. What about the new skill?

"Hey, over here!" Kanae drew the hydra's attention and focused Irresistible Seductress but felt no change to herself. "Uhm… How is this supposed to work?"

All three heads looked her way. The suddenness of it took Kanae by surprise. The hydra left the fight and stampeded over, knocking her over in the process. It laid such a giant cock on top of Kanae that the weight of their member threatened to squish her.

"Uurk… wait… this is seriously… one dick… I can't take…" Kanae mumbled, wishing she had a potion to make herself bigger.

Trapped under an enormous slab of dick, there was only one thing left to do. Kanae licked it. Blowjob Proficiency made the hydra shudder. Everything started shaking. Throbbing.

The spasms causing Jhene to go stiff had worn off. She got to her feet just in time for the hydra to blast her again— but from its dick and with a geyser of spunk that sent her flying off back into the forest. They just continued to orgasm and orgasm until its spunk sputtered out in little volume… and the hydra collapsed backwards.

<Load Blown>

"Okay, you're just making fun of me now! Did I actually complete the hunt with that?" Kanae waved the words soaring in her face.

"Yes, you did!" Regallis' words echoed from above. "Congratulations, you and Jhene have completed the Great Hunt. But since it is a tie between you two, I can only award you each with a single thing from my precious trove rather than all of it. I have been thoroughly entertained by this challenge and am glad to finally put this Rift and the mighty beasts to rest."

"Wait! What's going to happen to King Cang? And the other cangora?" she asked.

"Your concern touches my heart, Kanae. Regrettably, I am not like Marrowyn, and it is against my morals to return an extinct species. They will live out the rest of their days hunting in peace among the wilds of a forged world. As for you, it is about time I return you to yours."

As the Rift began to disintegrate, Kanae's pack gathered up one last time to bid her goodbye. She patted each of them on the heads, stroked their manes, and smiled. It was a fun one month. But the real world awaited.

In the next blink of the eye, the rainforest and lake were gone. Kanae blinked again, and she was back in the cultist temple amidst a brutal fight for control between undead and succubi. Bodies, bones, and discarded weapons littered the floor. Steel continued to clash against steel, and magic exploded from every direction.

"Kanae? Kanae!" Alicia shook her by the shoulders.

"Alicia? What happened?" Kanae blinked a few more times and was glad nothing else changed.

"What do you mean? You were gone for only minutes. We've been fighting to hold the cultists off this entire time, and Edina is quickly losing mana… and… where did you get that weapon?" she asked.

Weapon? Kanae glanced down in her right hand, which wielded a longsword of black and purple. The sword flared out twice near the forte of the blade. Magic seemed to pool at both ends, the spade-shaped pommel and the point. She didn't have this before entering the Rift. Was this the treasure Regallis had gifted her? A quick look in the inventory of her character sheet showed the name of the weapon— The Blade of the First Temptress.