The Creepiest Things We Found In Monster Hunter
The world of Monster Hunter is, unsurprisingly, a little scary. It's filled with monsters, after all. Some of those creatures, like the helpful Palicos, are downright adorable. Others, however, aren't very cute at all. They are terrifying beasts that tower over you, wreaking havoc on anything that crosses their path with gnashing teeth, swishing tails, and soul-rending roars. They are ugly, deadly things.
But hey, in Monster Hunter you're a big, buff, armored warrior who literally eats monsters for breakfast; what is there to be afraid of? Plenty, if you take a deeper look at some of the lore of the series. Some of these creepy-crawlies are creepier than others. There are monsters out there that other monsters have nightmares about. So if you thought that that mysterious cry in the night was creepy... think again.
Here are the real horror stories from the world of Monster Hunter.
Devilish Deviljho is known to eat its prey alive
The Deviljho is infamous for bedeviling players with its sudden appearances. There's nothing scarier than a big, bad, cannibalistic monster getting the jump on you. It is the ultimate invasive species, taking over whatever territory it sees fit. Very few other monsters can intimidate it, because it views just about everything — especially other monsters — as a food source. Its high body heat means it has a wicked fast metabolism that requires it to eat constantly.
This thing has a gnarly, drooling, toothy mouth that it tries to fill with whatever meat is nearby; the fresher, the better in this case. Typically, the Deviljho is too impatient to kill its prey. It munches and crunches on screaming monsters while they're still alive, gulping them down without a second thought. Oh, and it'll use these poor creatures as projectiles, if needed.
When you see a bleeding, spit-covered monster falling from the sky, it's likely that there is a Deviljho nearby.
The disgusting corpse coat dragon
What's worse than a zombie? How about a zombie dragon?
While Monster Hunter: World's Vaal Hazak is certainly alive, it looks extremely unwell. This Elder Dragon dwells in the Rotten Vale, where the ground is covered in corpses. Vaal Hazak has a cozy home there, buried beneath bones and half-rotted corpses. And it doesn't mind the smell or the squish, apparently, because it gladly coats itself in rotting flesh. We'll say it just once: gross.
Not only does it wear dead, droopy meat: The Vaal Hazak also can manipulate a life-draining miasma known as Effluvium. Basically, this noxious gas drains the life out of living creatures. The "corpse coat dragon" then uses this energy to heal itself. Great.
But even underneath all the carrion and offal, this thing is ugly. It has a weird double jaw that looks ripped from a horror film. We'd rather take on a whole horde of zombies rather than go anywhere near a Vaal Hazak. If you see one, you should probably stay away.
You don't want to know where Pale Extract comes from
It's not all that strange that hunters in Monster Hunter games use the hides of the monsters that they slay in order to make armor and equipment. That's handy. We wouldn't call that creepy. But eating slime gathered from a monster? That's a little weird. And more than a little creepy.
Pale Extract is a monster material that can enhance the effects of certain medicines. It is used to craft Demondrugs, which fill hunters with demonic energy, increasing their attack power. In order to mix up these potions, you'll have to find and defeat a Khezu or two. Yes, Pale Extract come from the Khezu. From what part, we're not sure. But anything that comes from that slug of a monster seems disgusting.
Do you really want to drink that stuff after knowing which creature secretes it? And is Pale Extract blood? Guts? Drool? Worse? We're probably better off not knowing what Pale Extract is, exactly.
Nerscylla, the worst spider in gaming
If you have any kind of aversion to spiders, look away now, dear reader; we're talking about Nerscylla. This creature is no ordinary spider: it's big enough that the average monster hunter looks like nothing more than a snack. These spiders are unfortunately carnivorous, and have a nasty habit of using its prey's corpses as armor (kind of like a monster hunter, come to think of it).
The worst thing about the Nerscylla is how it kills its prey. It is covered in sharp spikes, but the really scary one is it's wasp-like stinger. Using this, it stabs into the soft belly of its prey (read: you if you get too close) and injects a venom that induces paralysis. This does not kill, however: Unfortunate victims are still alive as the Nerscylla uses its powerful mandibles to bite off chunks of flesh and, slowly but surely, consume its victim down to the bone.
Shogun Ceanataurs live in the skulls of their enemies
Surely crabs aren't that creepy. They're pretty tasty if you're into seafood, in fact. Monster Hunter's Shogun Ceanataurs are too big to cook, though. These oversized hermit crabs are aggressive, clawed creatures that would rather take a bite out of you, dear hunter. Known as the "sickle crab," they have scythe-like claws that they use to strike out at their prey. They can also use these claws to climb onto walls and ceilings, where one could potentially get the drop on you.
Once threatened, these monsters will be locked into a rage mode, bent on murder until they can't move anymore. You'll have to rip them to bits before they give up. What's more is that they are tough to crack. Shogun Ceanataurs don't have shells, but instead avoid damage by living inside the skull of a dead Gravios or some other unknown wyvern. Creepy? Yes, that is definitely creepy.
The deadly legend of Fatalis equipment
There is one monster feared above all monsters: the Fatalis.
As its name might suggest, this Elder Dragon is very deadly. It has been known to decimate populations of other Elder Dragon species, though it's hostile to any living thing. The Fatalis is so powerful, in fact, that it's able to summon up fearful lightning storms, causing some to liken it to a god. A capricious, angry, vengeful god, no doubt.
Worst of all is the White Fatalis. According to legend, this creature has a burning hatred for mankind. That's why it melts hunting parties who dare to take it on, using the molten flesh and gear of its challengers as armor in a mockery of what hunters do to lesser monsters. This is perhaps why Fatalis equipment is fabled to be cursed. If a hunter somehow gets a hold of Fatalis equipment and wears it, they are said to lose their shadow and start to glow. They either go mad or a deep darkness is unleashed within them.
Unconfirmed lore even says that hunters who wear the cursed equipment too long will either disappear... or become a Fatalis themselves.
Mr. X is your new best buddy
In the well-received Resident Evil 2 remake, players desperately try to outrun walk the slow-but-nevertheless-intimidating Mr. X, a towering Tyrant sent to eliminate all witnesses in Raccoon City. In one of Monster Hunter World: Iceborne's crossover DLCs – a collaboration between Monster Hunter and Resident Evil 2 – Mr. X plays a very different part.
Mr. X takes on the role of the Handler in the crossover, which also adds Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. The Handler, for those unfamiliar with Monster Hunter, is a rather jolly character that hands out quests and, on occasion, delicious meats. The reveal trailer for the DLC shows Mr. X lumbering in with his telltale stomps, looking very much like a villain... until we see him barbecuing with Leon, cringing away from danger, and being rescued by, you guessed it, Leon.
But despite this newfound friendship, Mr. X retains his original design: He's a wrinkly, grey monster who haunted our nightmares for weeks following the release of Resident Evil 2, and continues to haunt them now that he's a part of Monster Hunter: World. We're not quite ready to think of him as a friend rather than a creepy stalker of a foe, just yet. It's still too soon.
Gigginox squirms into battle
What's worse than a rampaging Gigginox? How about a dozen of its slimy babies crawling on your face? It's not a pretty picture.
This cave-dwelling wyvern is ugly all over. It doesn't really have any face itself to speak of, but rather, a lamprey-like maw that it can spit poison from. Or eat you alive with.
Speaking of getting eaten alive, we haven't even touched (ugh, never touch one of these) on the other end of the Gigginox. It appears the creature has two heads: one at the front and one at the back. The Gigginox's back end is reserved for asexually spawning batches of babies who are born ravenously hungry. And these nasty little Giggi will try to swarm you, emitting their own poisons as they do so.
We don't know what's worse: watching these newborns try to eat a hunter alive, or witnessing their mother excrete the Giggi Sac that they squirm out of. Either one will make you shiver.
Khezu babies incubate inside living hunters
No one likes leeches. They're nasty things, feeding off of the lifeforce of other animals. But at least they're tiny, right?
We have some bad news about Monster Hunter's dreaded Khezu. This ugly creepy-crawly is like a bus-sized leech with wings. It hangs around in caverns, using its suction cup tail to hang onto the ceiling. So if you hear drip, drip, dripping slime, you are probably in a very bad place.
This creature rarely sees the sun, so it has ghastly pale flesh through which you can see its throbbing arteries. You might notice this as it whips out its stretchy neck to bite into you. You don't want to let this thing get its claws into you, hunter, because once it does, you'll face a fate worse than death. The Khezu reproduces by injecting its young, called Whelps, into a warm, living victim. This is so that the youngsters can have a bite to eat when they're ready to leave the nest.
The nest is you, by the way.
Yama Tsukami is disturbingly human
We can all agree that tentacles are pretty creepy, right? What if those tentacles are attached to a massive, floating Elder Dragon with a disturbingly human mouth? We're getting into max creep factor when we look at the Yama Tsukami. At first glance, this monster might just seem like a floating island. Algae, moss, and even Great Thunderbugs have made Yama Tsukami their home. This Eldritch horror is teeming with life, and is also very much alive.
Unlike other monsters, however, the Yama Tsukami is fairly docile. Even so, we can't help but feel genuinely grossed out by its long, flailing tentacles. What's worse is when it opens its mouth. Rather than fangs or an octopus beak, the mouth of a Yama Tsukami looks remarkably, chillingly human. Its flat teeth suggest that it is an herbivore, and yet, we'd rather it had fangs as opposed to this gaping maw.
There's just something wrong about the Yama Tsukami having such human features. Sonic fans can probably relate.
The Rotten Vale is all rotten, stinking corpses
The Rotten Vale of Monster Hunter: World is a literal graveyard. The whole of the floor there is nothing but corpses: dead, rotting monsters. We can't imagine the smell. Blood flows there in little streams, and bones crunch underfoot. Mold and mushrooms grow here in abundance, feeding off of the decay. In fact, the Coral Highlands are fed by the Rotten Vale.
This isn't to say that this land of the dead doesn't have any living denizens. There are plenty of creatures skittering around the glistening ground. The Vaal Hazok has made a home here, as have Girros, Radobaans, Hornetaurs, and Vespoids. They know to avoid the deeper reaches of the Vale, where hazardous acid pools. But the question remains: How did this place come to be one big mess of dead bodies?
Fan theory has it that the Rotten Vale was, at one time, the corpse of a single Dalamadur: a ridiculously huge Elder Dragon whose body can grow to unimaginable lengths. There's no grave on earth that could hold one of those. Other than the Rotten Vale, of course. So maybe that theory is legit.