Anyone who has played any Monster Hunter game will have probably noticed at some point that the ways these so called "monsters" act are strangely familiar, with their behavior being more animalistic than monstrous. This is without a doubt the thing...
The moon hangs low in the sky as it makes its way over the horizon, signifying the approaching end of the night. Moonlight reflects off the lakes of green fluids, making them shine in great contrast to the ragged mountains that surround them, their jagged peaks acting as the gateway to the volcanic landscape located further inland, while a dormant volcano that periodically becomes active looms over them, a plume of smoke billowing from its summit.
Below this craggy terrain, a massive system of caves and tunnels creep their way through solid stone. Various ores and minerals dot the subterranean landscape's walls, floor, and ceilings, while patches of bioluminescent plants illuminate the area's oppressing darkness.
In the deepest part of the subterranean system, green volcanic fumes rise from the cracks in the earth, the rocks around them bearing the scars from magma flows, with some even emitting an orange glow from the heat far down beneath them. Nearer to the surface, shafts of moonlight penetrate through the holes and gashes in the ceiling, allowing these spots of this strange ecosystem to be exposed to the outside world.
As a beam of fading moonlight shines through a crevasse in the ceiling that leads to the gigantic subterranean chamber, it reveals the silken threads of a colossal web. The extraordinarily complex structure glitters as it's exposed to this rare instance of lighting, giving it an ethereal appearance.
However, despite its beauty, this marvelous construct holds some dark secrets. Woven by a sinister architect, this web is a trap, its sticky strands made to ensnare anything unlucky enough to walk, fly, or fall into it, with the web's builder being the only one to know where it's safe to step. Hidden away from the chamber's entrances, cocooned corpses dangle for the ceiling or web, acting as a larder for the trap's owner. Yet it's not just the victims which are hanging from the stone surfaces. At the center of this macabre display is Phantom, a female Nerscylla and the one behind this deadly trap.
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Dangling from a single, powerful strand of silk attached to the cavern's rocky ceiling, Phantom stays there completely motionless, her back covered in toxic, purple spikes, a byproduct of spending so much time upside-down and her diet of venomous prey, the chemicals she sequesters seeping through her exoskeleton before congealing into her defensive spines. Additionally, her body is covered by the hide of a Gypceros she flayed, the bird wyvern's rubbery skin protecting her from various predators by making it harder for her to be properly grabbed and masking her scent.
Suddenly, the temnoceran's unmoving body comes to life as Phantom awakens from her sleep. Reaching out with all six of her limbs, the Nerscylla grabs a hold of her thread and starts climbing, detaching herself from the silk in the process. Once Phantom reaches the cave's ceiling, she begins to freely crawl around, her hooked claws finding a hold in even the tiniest cracks as she makes her way to her cocooned victims. Easily weaving through the hanging bodies, she occasionally stops and tugs on the silk holding her meals up, testing to see how heavy they are, as her poor eyesight provides little visual identification.
