Swish-
One would expect Tom to be surprised by the sudden appearance of a Succubus, but he didn't show much sign of alarm.
He rely furrowed his brow, focusing his gaze to assess the situation, and stared in her direction with an unchanged expression.
He accepted it as if it were a matter of course, as if he experienced such things all the ti.
Of course, that didn't an he had let his guard down completely.
In the Darkest Dungeon, where no one could be trusted and everyone could be an enemy, revealing one's presence first ant you had business to attend to.
And in most cases, that 'business' was sothing that would trigger a 'battle', like needing food or eliminating a competitor.
I could feel him raising his guard, awakening his senses, and his drooping tail stood on end, its fur bristling.
Grrrr-
“…I had heard there was a Succubus around here, but I didn't expect it to show itself first.”
His initial reaction was so natural that I wondered, but it seed Tom knew that a Succubus was living in this area.
It wasn't that he was actively looking for it, but it seed he was aware of its existence.
【Oh my. Aren't you the ones who invaded first? It's been quite a while since I made this my territory. Fufufut-.】
The Succubus, flashing a loathso eye-smile at , raised the corners of her mouth and muttered.
【The one I'm interested in is that sweet-slling Hero over there… If you leave him, I'll spare you.】
Judging by her words, it seed I was the purpose for her appearance.
I could roughly guess the reason.
A change of host.
Other than that, there was no reason for a Succubus to need a human body.
‘…A Succubus.’
I had thought I might run into one.
After all, it wasn't just Mutants and convicts who resided here; one of the reasons The Order operated this underground prison was for the 'imprisonnt of hosts possessed by Demonic Species'.
Exorcism Prison.
That was why another na for this Darkest Dungeon was the Exorcism Prison.
Because the thods to defeat each type of Demonic Species had not all been discovered yet, it was extrely difficult to forcibly separate them from the host's body even if they were detected by an Exorcist.
When such a helpless situation arose, The Order would have no choice but to bind the host and the Demonic Species together and throw them in here.
Well, when Quark was plentiful, they wouldn't have to resort to this.
But compared to the number of Demonic Species being discovered each year, the supply of Quark was limited.
It had probably been quite so ti since they started operating the Darkest Dungeon as an Exorcism Prison.
Of course, this was not a publicly known story.
From The Order's perspective, they couldn't just leave the considerably dangerous Demonic Species alone, but throwing them into a normal prison was risky because you never knew what cunning tricks they might use with their 'Demonic Singularity'. So they threw them in here.
But throwing in the host, who was strictly in the realm of a victim, was not a context that aligned well with The Order's definition of justice.
The frustrating part was that they had no other choice.
…Well, anyway.
Seeing as she could skillfully unfold a curtain of Mana, she didn't seem to be a low-ranking, naless Succubus within her species like Loxy. She was at least a Nad.
Perhaps even Knight-class.
This was already a fairly remote area even for the Darkest Dungeon.
Claiming this place as her territory implied the confidence that she could hunt any of the Mutants that road this deep.
…However.
‘…Is she crazy?’
To , her actions were laughable.
No matter how confident she was in her skills, revealing herself directly in front of the 'Mad Dog', who was already famous as a veteran of the dungeon, was literally an act of madness.
It was sothing she could only do because she had truly never experienced it.
Of course.
…It wasn't that I couldn't guess what she was banking on to be so cocky.
“Get lost. I'll spare you this once.”
【Fufut- Are you confident? There's a rumor going around that the Mad Dog is hopeless with Mana. And I happen to be quite exceptional in that departnt.】
“……”
Even in the first tiline, there were definitely guys who foolishly charged in, believing such absurd rumors.
I had seen it in my past life—a few idiots who had watched Tom's battles from afar saw him insisting on only hand-to-hand combat and charged at him, claiming he was terrible with Mana.
【…It won't be easy for you.】
Of course, it wasn't a story without any basis.
As a trade-off for being born with overwhelming physical performance, the Lycan Clan was indeed less talented in Mana utilization.
And Tom, having been born with exceptional physical conditions even among them, was so untalented with Mana that he couldn't learn any skills other than physical enhancent.
So, if you were to look strictly at their stats, his compatibility with a Succubus, who had maxed-out Mana utilization, was indeed poor.
Pfft-
“It's always the sa. You Succubi.”
【……?】
However, compatibility was sothing that could only be applied between subjects of a sowhat equal level.
It was not a weapon that could bridge a fundantal gap in level.
“You… how many Succubi do you think I've caught while living here?”
I hadn't confird it myself, so I couldn't precisely gauge his full power at this point in ti.
But even assuming at a minimum that he hadn't grown one bit since before entering the Darkest Dungeon, Tom Hardist should have skills that easily surpassed a 3-star Hero.
He was a veteran Vampire Hunter who once road the Demon King's Territory, hunting the Nad of the Vampire Clan who were by no ans inferior to Baron-class demons.
If she had thought for even a mont about what that ant, she couldn't have possibly charged at him like this.
“To be honest, I don't know the exact number either.”
Screee-
He scraped his dull claws once and lowered his body.
“I just kill them on sight; I don't bother to classify and count them.”
【…….】
“…But I know for a fact that it's well over a hundred.”
Krrrrrk-
Having sharpened his claws, he coiled his body tightly, and simultaneously, the ground beneath him caved in.
“…And it looks like one more is about to be added to the list.”
…He was a man who hated Magical Beasts just as much as I did.
Of course, his hatred was heavily skewed in one direction, but even so, compared to an ordinary person, his hatred for Magical Beasts in general could by no ans be called small.
Therefore.
His earlier words to the Succubus, telling her to 'get lost'.
One could tell just how rciful that had been.
Of course.
KABOOM-!
…The mont she realized that would be after she was torn to shreds by his claws.
***
Gurgle- Gurgle-
“…Good grief.”
The corpse of the Succubus, split in two, made a scraping sound.
A grueso corpse, sprawled out with its torso and lower body severed in half.
The wound, which looked more torn and crushed than slashed, added to the brutality of the corpse.
The host's pupils were frozen in purple, gurgling and spewing out Mana.
She had died before she could even manifest her Trait.
“Who in the world catches a Succubus with a speed fight?”
“…Catching them before they can use their tricks is the best way. Hunting a Succubus gets annoying if it drags on.”
The chanism by which Tom caught the Succubus was simpler than I thought.
Just as he said, he maximized his physical output and tore her body apart before the Succubus could react and use its tricks.
…Of course, since the host is not the Succubus's true essence, normally, killing the host wouldn't kill the Succubus, but.
The Mana Turbulence Phenonon.
In addition, here, where Quark that nullifies the Demonic Singularity grew naturally, the story was a bit different.
Of course, since it wasn't directly adjacent to Quark, the Succubus's abilities didn't disappear completely.
Still, since this was the ho of Quark, it was within its sphere of influence, and its abilities were restricted.
Simply put, unlike outside, there was a certain 'buffering' in the manifestation of its abilities.
And Tom's thod of hunting Succubi was to use that very buffering.
To cause instant death to the host before the Succubus could escape or use its tricks.
By doing so, the concentration of Mana would rise due to the massive Mana leak from the host before the magic could be properly activated, strengthening the Mana Turbulence Phenonon.
The Succubus is then left trapped, its existence bound to the host.
Of course, if there was another suitable host nearby for the Succubus to transfer to, escaping wasn't impossible, but this dungeon wasn't a very densely populated area.
And if soone was weak enough to be taken down by a spell hastily cast in the throes of death, they wouldn't have been able to beat the Succubus in the first place.
‘…….’
Of course, that didn't an just anyone could use this thod.
The ti a Succubus originally needed to use its Trait was just the instant it took to materialize a 'thought', and even if that ti was doubled due to the buffering, it was still a short mont that could be called an instant.
In the end, it ant the attack had to be completed before entering the Succubus's range of perception.
In other words, it was a tactic only possible if the attacker's attack speed was faster than the Succubus's perception.
And as far as I knew, this guy was the only one in this dungeon capable of this thod.
Crackle- Spark-
The purple Mana that belatedly gushed out sparked.
It seed to be making a desperate attempt to transfer to , but.
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