Latest update:December 2, 2023
Summary:The Hunt is Over. The Moon Presence lies dead, and The Good Hunter has become the new master of the Dream. However, wanting to get away from the horrible place that is Yharnam, she has willed the Hunter's Workshop to a new realm. One filled with lustful Monster Girls and the humans who oppose them. On RoyalRoad. TvTropes: p/Fanfic/AHunter
Link:https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13385102/1/A-Hunter-s-New-Home
Word count:341k
Chapters:64
The full moon shone beautifully over the silent forest as the wagon rumbled along the well-trodden road. The two horses were breathing hard as they galloped forward with small urgings from their driver. The man was well into his twilight years, his white, wrinkled skin contorted into a determined frown. He cracked the reins of the horses in desperation while scanning the treeline. Shadows danced along the edges of his vision, always darting away whenever his head whipped in their direction.
A small shriek made him whip his head to his right. He saw his daughter's eyes flitting about the trees, fear etched into her heart-shaped face. She hugged herself tightly, fingers bunching the sleeves of her plain, brown blouse.
She looked to her father, short black hair whipping about in the breeze, "Da! I s-s-saw something in the trees! Didn't you say they wouldn't follow us?!"
"Hush, Sandra! You're imagining things!" he tried to keep his voice as level as possible, not wanting to scare her more.
It didn't work, and Sandra's grip on her arms tightened, "No I'm not! I─"
Her words caught in her throat, her eyes went wide, and she stared at her father.
No, not at him. Behind him.
Her father swiftly turned around, catching a glimpse of orange fur disappearing into the dark foliage. Sultry giggles started echoing through the forest. They chased after the wagon, surrounding them, no matter how hard the man pushed his steeds.
Sandra started shaking her head and babbling incoherently, her fear turning into despair. Her father felt shame well up in his chest at putting her through this. The young thing hadn't even come of age, and already she was forced to leave her home behind. He kept his eyes glued to the road while his thoughts went to the ax he had lying in the back of the wagon. He didn't have much Mana left, but he'd sooner die than let those monsters have Sandra. As long as she gets away, all this would be worth it.
"Driver."
He'd have jumped out of his skin if the voice's tone wasn't so bone-chilling. His body froze up in fear before memory made him relax. In the hectic, uncertain atmosphere he had forgotten that they had a passenger with them. He slightly turned his head to keep one eye on the road and the other on the back of the wagon.
The guest had said nothing since they had fled from the fallen city of Lescatie. They simply laid in the back surrounded by boxes filled with supplies the driver had been saving up ever since the first monster sightings. Their body was covered by a long, thick brown cloak, keeping their features hidden. Their hood shifted as they started to rise from their position, but their back was towards the driver, preventing him from seeing their face.
The stranger raised their right arm, a hand pointing deeper into the forest. They spoke with the same, chilling voice, "There is a turn coming up. Take it and don't stop until you reach a clearing." They cut the father off before he could argue, "You would do well to take my advice. Lest you wish for our pursuers to catch us and abduct both your daughter and you, Kolin Descartes."
Kolin's eyes widened in shock at how the stranger knew his name. However, a blur to his left made him forgo questioning the stranger's instructions. Not like there were any better options. All he could do was hope this risk paid off.
It didn't take long for them to reach the clearing the stranger had mentioned. The whole area was covered with flowers. Reds, blues, and yellows all bent in the breeze as the wagon dashed into the flower bed.
"Stop once you reach the center," the stranger said while scooting to the edge of the wagon.
"What?!" Kolin shouted while whipping his panicked face around, "You can't be serious! We're done for if we stop now!"
The stranger's reply was uncaring and bereft of emotion, "If you don't your horses will give out on you. Then you'll have to go on foot, and likely without the supplies."
Kolin was about to argue, but the ragged breathing of his horses stopped him. He spent a large sum of his emergency savings on these steeds specifically for their stamina. He knew that a flight from Lescatie would be a long one, but he hadn't anticipated the monsters pursuing them so relentlessly. Cursing his naivete, he pulled back on the reigns, forcing the horses into a sudden stop. They both reared up and whinnied, before stamping back down with nostrils flaring in exhaustion.
"Why'd we stop Daddy!? Where are you going?!" Kolin ignored his daughter's pleas as he jumped down from his seat. Swiftly he went to the back of the wagon just as the strange dropped down to the ground. Only now did Kolin notice how large they were. He was a good six feet tall, and they towered over him.
The hooded stranger turned to look at Kolin, who felt a shiver go up his spine. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being sized up and evaluated, like a piece of meat at a butcher's shop. Worse was that he couldn't see the person's eyes or face, preventing him from gauging their emotions.
"You have done well, Kolin," the stranger said as they started to walk to the side of the wagon, "I shall take it from here."
"Don't go counting me out," Kolin grunted as he pulled himself into the back of the wagon. He found the ax and vaulted over the side with it in hand. The head gleamed in the moonlight, having kept its edge thanks to the nights Kolin spent sharpening it. It was heavier than he remembered, but he hefted it over his shoulder with ease. He straightened his posture while scanning their surroundings for any hint of movement. The horses' whinnies made him walk over to check on them.
He beheld the horses with their snouts in the stranger's gloved hands. The stranger paid him no mind, their attention firmly locked on the equines. The man saw two thin, black-gloved hands attached to long arms dripping with some kind of liquid. That was all he could see before the steeds were finished and the stranger quickly retracted their hands into the cloak.
They walked towards Kolin, "I gave the horses water laced with a special herb. They should recover and be able to run for two days straight. Grab the reins and run." They spoke quickly and quietly, but their words carried the weight and authority to not be questioned.
Unfortunately, Kolin wasn't good with authority.
"Now just hold on," he grabbed the stranger by the shoulder just as they tried to step passed him, "What are you playing at?"
When there was no reply, Kolin continued, "First you show up and ask to ride with me away from the city, then you tell us to come to this clearing that you somehow know about, then you give my horses strange liquids to drink, and now you're telling me to run away."
"I have done all those things, yes," the stranger didn't sound intimidated at all, "Is that a problem?"
"Damn right it is," Kolin wheeled around to stare into the hooded face of the stranger, "Why in the Chief Gods' name should I trust you? How do I know you're not leading me and my daughter into a trap?"
"You shouldn't and you can't," the stranger deadpanned, "But it's either listen to me or let the monsters catch you. Your choice. Besides that, I'm planning to stay behind and slow those creatures down. I'm sure you would rather risk a stranger's life than your daughter's."
The stranger shoved their way passed Kolin, who could only grip his ax in frustration. He couldn't argue with them because they were right. He didn't like it, but if the monsters were busy with the stranger then maybe he and Sandra could…
"Damn it," he bit his lip, tossed the ax back into the wagon, then lifted himself into the driver's seat. His daughter latched onto his arm as he took the reins, her eyes red from crying the entire time. He gripped the reins tightly before looking back towards the stranger. They were standing right behind the wagon, gaze completely focused on the forest beyond. Kolin shouted to them, "I don't know who you are, but if we ever meet again, I'll buy ya as many drinks as you want! Hiyaah!"
He cracked the reins and the horses sped off into the forest. The stranger didn't look back to watch them go, merely listened as the clacking of their wheels faded into the distance. They stood there for what felt like hours before they finally caught movement. Out of the corner of their eye, they saw a large shadow approaching them from the right. Two more appeared from the left and even more began to appear from the treeline in front of them. The stranger counted fifty before the shadows stopped stepping from the trees. They surrounded the cloaked human ensuring there was nowhere for them to run.
Any normal person would be trembling, looking for a way out, or praying to the Gods to give them strength.
As three shadows split off from the larger group and approached them, the stranger simply sighed in annoyance and frustration.
It would be another long night.
Of course, Het was the first one to reach the human. The orange furred Ocelomeh was every bit as wild as you'd come to expect from her species and wasted no time in getting close to their quarry. Elveta rolled her eyes, hefting her massive blade while sashaying forward. Her bronze, tattooed skin shone in the moonlight as she approached. She stopped right next to Het who was licking her lips while looking the human up and down.
Elveta placed a hand on her hip, making sure to accentuate her "assets", before saying, "Stopped running, have you? Told you we'd wear them out eventually, Het."
The catgirl nodded rapidly in agreement, "Yeah, but aren't we missing the man in the wagon? I wanted him all to myself."
"No need to worry," Nezzra, a Dark Elf, stepped to Het's right side. The rings in her ears jingled in the night air, "I'll send a detachment after them while we deal with things here." At Het's glare, she added, "With direct orders to not touch the man, else they have to deal with you. I want to take the girl. The thought of watching as she ravishes her own father...excites me."
The Dark Elf moaned, causing the gathered monster girls to start laughing at the thought of the debauchery that would soon be upon them.
That is until the stranger standing before them finally spoke.
"I shall say this but once," their voice seemed to echo across the entire clearing, reaching the ears of every monster girl in attendance. It was a dark, cruel, uncompromising voice that made even the most veteran members of the group shiver in fear, "Leave this place. The city has fallen. You have won. Return home and enjoy the spoils of your victory. If you do this, I will leave you be. But, if one of you so much as dares pursue the two people fleeing for their lives from your depraved machinations, then all your lives will be forfeit."
Elveta felt her combat instincts kick in, forcing her into a defensive stance. She scowled at the stranger trying to get an estimate of their prowess. The long cloak they wore prevented her from gaining anything concrete, but she had been around enough battles to recognize the pressure of an experienced combatant.
And this pressure...it was immense.
She hoped no one could see the hands holding her weapon shaking in excitement.
Het had felt the same, crouching low to the ground and hissing at the opponent, "You aren't in a position to be making demands."
"Indeed," Nezzra said, leaning on her staff while checking her carefully manicured nails, "I can tell there is no Mana within you. One strike from Het and you'll be on your knees begging for a good fuck. Sarash! Take a few harpies and go after the wagon."
Multiple squawks came from the amassed group of monsters before five feathered creatures took to the sky. They flew in a V formation, heading in the same direction as the wagon to cut them off before they got too far away.
They weren't even at the treeline before five loud bangs echoed across the field in rapid succession.
All the monster girls froze up as the five harpies fell to the ground with a thump. Blood began to pool around each of their bodies.
Elveta, Het, and Nezzra all stared at the dead bodies of their comrades with varying emotions. They turned to look at the stranger, only to see their cloak fall to the ground in a heap.
Nezzra was the first to notice the shadow that had fallen over her. She looked up and saw a figure silhouetted by the moon fall with a large blade in its right hand.
A scream died in her throat as the human bisected her straight down the middle.
With a sickening, wet tearing sound, the Dark Elf's body split into two. Blood spurted onto the stranger and the flowers as the body hit the soft ground. The human stood up to their full height. They wore pitch black clothes that hugged their body just enough to be protective, but not enough to restrict their movements. Their hands were covered by matching black gloves, with their hair hidden underneath a tricorn hat with a white feather in it. Though their mouth and chin were covered by a black bandana, all in attendance could tell the human was female. However, that was not what had captured their attention.
It was the long curved blade that she wielded. Its tip was long and thin, but it widened as you got closer to the handle. It sparkled in the moonlight with the crimson blood of Nezzra dripping from it. The strange woman quickly flicked her weapon backward, making the blood splash onto the ground behind her. Smoke rose from the barrel of a long, slender object she held in her left hand. Even the veterans among them couldn't remember a weapon like that ever wielded by humans. But, evidenced by the rapidly cooling bodies of their fellow harpies, they all knew it was dangerous.
Elveta felt anger replace the original excitement she had felt at the thought of a good fight. Memories of al the precious time she had spent with Nezzra flashed through her mind. Her grip on her sword tightened as a wild roar split the air, followed by Het leaping at the Dark Elf's killer. The feline drew her ancestral weapon back with both hands planning to put her full weight behind the strike. She smiled as the strange woman didn't react to her attack at all. Her blade came down and she braced for the impact with flesh.
Only for her weapon to hit the ground, knocking up flowers and dust.
Her head flew off her shoulders faster than she could recover.
The human stepped forward as Het's body fell to the ground while her head arced through the air sending flecks of blood across the field. The human walked leisurely as if being surrounded by a group of angry, lusting mamono wasn't even a threat to her.
Elveta's teeth grit in defiance of the conceited woman. She raised her voice so it could be heard by her whole battalion, "You fucking bitch! You'll pay this blood debt with your own body! Capture her and fuck her into the ground!"
'….Why are they always naked?'
The Huntress slashed through another monster, a dog/cat hybrid of some kind, causing blood to spray over her clothes. She felt the arcane power of her blood consume the foreign ichor, drawing it into her wounds. As they knit themselves closed, she dashed into the space the hybrid's death had opened up. Her weapon never stopped moving and everywhere it fell a creature would die. Horizontal bisection here, disembowelment there, the numbers meant very little to the wide arcs of her blade.
'They are at war. Wading into battle with nothing to protect you was foolhardy, to say the least.'
The flapping of wings made her frown and look for one of the larger monsters. She spotted a horned, red-skinned demon charging at her with a club as large as the Huntress' body held high. The Huntress waited for the weapon to come down before quickly jumping. She landed on the haft of the weapon, dashed forward, and used the demon's face to springboard into the air.
'Even a chainmail vest would be better than fighting nude.'
High above the brawl, she spotted four more harpies trying to chase after the wagon. With cold efficiency, she sighted down Evelyn and fired once for each monster. Loud bangs broke the silence of the night as the four more harpies fell to the earth below. The Huntress swiftly angled her body downward, as gravity forced her back into the melee.
Three foes, similar in appearance to the pointy-eared one she killed, held their hands out towards her. Multiple balls of flame shot from their hands towards her falling form. Grunting, she willed her firearm away and reached around her back to grip the folded, wooden shaft with her left arm. She slammed the sword onto the other side, unfolded the full length of the Burial Blade, and sliced at the approaching fireballs. They exploded in a dazzling display of crimson which she emerged through, completely unharmed.
'True, the Hunters fought Beasts with little more than reinforced leather armor. But Beast could cleave through even the toughest of metal with a single swipe. The best way to fight them was with speed, skill, and tenacity.'
The faces of the magic users contorted in fear just as the Huntress crashed into their position. With a single swing of her newly transformed scythe, they and ten more fell into the flowerbed below. The Huntress stood up straight, nonchalantly blocking a strike from the bronze-skinned woman who had spoken to her. The foe had good instincts, dashing backward just as the Huntress turned her gaze. But she was not good enough. By the time her feet hit the ground, the Huntress was already on her again. She brought up her sword to block the Huntress' horizontal swing, only to be left puzzled when her sword met wood instead of steel.
She figured it out a second too late.
'Then again, I have heard that these creatures do not wish to kill humans. Merely seduce and reproduce with the males. Their nudist preferences are likely meant to accomplish that.'
The Huntress dragged her weapon towards her with both hands. Her scythe's blade severed the monster's head from her shoulders, a guillotine execution.
'A fine tactic ...if their opponents are human.'
The Huntress kept fighting, her elongated weapon perfect for fighting large crowds, never stopping to clean her blade nor pausing for a breath. Eventually, only ten of the original fifty monsters remained standing. As the Huntress stood in front of them, the Grim Reaper come to life, they all dropped to their knees.
Another catlike creature shouted through tears in her eyes, "We surrend–"
A diagonal cut silenced her in an instant.
'But I'm not human. I am a Hunter.'
It didn't take long for the Huntress to finish off the weeping monsters. Only then did she cease moving. Her uncaring, black eyes surveyed the flower bed with indifference.
The carnage was immense.
Blood soaked the field, turning every flower there a dark shade of crimson. Intestines and limbs were scattered every which way, and the bodies continued to feed the soil with their ichor. A combination of the monsters' frenzied charge and the Huntress' attacks had churned up the earth itself. The stench of death and blood was so thick that it overpowered all other scents in the area.
The Huntress smiled softly.
She had accomplished her mission.
The man and his daughter were long gone, and the monsters had no way to track them.
She took a deep breath, sheathing her weapon on her back. She brushed a piece of a liver off her shoulder, wiped the blood out of her eyes as best she could, picked a direction, and began to walk.
The only witness to her battle was the full moon, staring down at the world like an indifferent god.
While the main body of the monster army celebrated their occupation of Lescatie, a detachment chasing down escaping humans came upon the carnage wrought by the Huntress. The news soon reached their superiors who immediately ordered a wide ranging search of the area. However, even with magical means, they could find no clues as to who was responsible for the massacre. Rumors and tall tales describing what took place began to spread. Some were exaggerated, others more realistic.
While none ever came close to the truth of the matter, the tales spread along the entire Frontier. Monster and human alike soon heard the tale of the "Blood Soaked Flower Patch".
Even if she was completely unaware of it, the Huntress had begun to spread her legend.
Link:https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13385102/1/A-Hunter-s-New-Home