Step, step-
“……”
“……”
The path to the Madman's Mine was silent.
Perhaps the re thought of the na J. J had dredged up a series of unpleasant mories associated with him.
Tom remained silent the entire ti he led the way to the mine, and I didn't bother him either.
The Vampire Clan.
It seed that the topic itself was his sore spot.
『…Why do you hate Vampires so much?』
Pfft-
『A Vampire Hunter hates Vampires. Does there need to be a reason?』
In a way, it was only natural for him.
What happened between the Vampire Clan and the Beastkin was a nightmare for him.
And for well over half his life, that nightmare had been etched into his mind every fortnight.
Of course, even so, the power of ti is formidable, so his mory of the facts, of what precisely had been the starting point of his emotions, had likely grown hazy.
But separate from his fading mories.
The deep-seated hatred for Vampires, as profound as the countless scars of nightmares imprinted on his mind and body over a long ti, was sothing that couldn't be fully expressed by the simple phrase 'a deep emotional rift'.
『If it weren't for that accursed clan, the Beastkin wouldn't be in this miserable state.』
『…….』
『I am rely judging a traitor to the clan.』
That hatred was too deep to be addressed with a simple word of 'empathy' ant as comfort.
But that didn't an his hatred was justified.
As is often the case, emotions driven to extres are usually tangled with so misunderstanding, and the relationship between him and Jerry, between Vampires and Beastkin, was not much different.
From my perspective, knowing the full story, neither side was at fault.
It was just that too much ti had passed without resolving the initial tangled thread, and they had co too far to even think of untangling it.
Rustle-
[Bucket List #12]
『Recruit Party mber - Tom. L. Hardist.』
Well… one way or another.
It was sothing I would eventually have to find a clue for and resolve.
Thud-
Tom, who had been walking down in silence for a long ti, stopped.
Just then, a tingling sensation on the surface of my skin.
An unpleasant flow of Mana was filling the surroundings.
Lifting my head to check, I saw a massive peak in the distance, emitting a faint reddish light.
“…Looks like we've pretty much arrived.”
…The Madman's Mine was situated there.
***
“…This is my first ti seeing it in person.”
Tom muttered as he looked at the bizarre swarm of Mutants gathered around the mine.
“Really?”
“…It's not that I never thought of coming, but my feet just wouldn't carry here.”
“……”
“…Especially when the Moonlight Syndro acts up.”
One might find it surprising that Tom, who made a hobby of slaughtering Mutants, had never co here before.
But in truth, considering the Quark's abilities, it was only natural.
The timing of his Howling was intrinsically linked to when his Moonlight Syndro flared up, and the psychosis-inducing effect, second only to its 'Demonic Nature absorption property', was bound to amplify the agony of the Moonlight Syndro.
He probably felt it instinctively whenever he saw this light.
That coming near this mine during a bout of Moonlight Syndro could be quite fatal, even for him, who was practically immune to physical threats within the dungeon.
“…Do you know it well?”
Tom turned the question on .
“About that mine.”
It was a rather amusing sight, an old-tir of the dungeon asking a complete newbie.
But he didn't seem to care at all, asking as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Whether it was trust or sothing else, it seed I had earned a certain degree of his recognition.
…Well, as long as you didn't directly bruise his pride, he had a surprisingly easy-going personality.
“Well… I know as much as I need to.”
Most nas given within the dungeon tended to include the target's characteristics.
This was likely because nicknas weren't given by a specific person, but rather ca into common use through word of mouth.
This was true for the place nas pointing to specific areas in the dungeon, and it was also true for the nicknas of seasoned old-tirs.
A pri example was Tom himself, who was called 'Mad Dog' for slaughtering Mutants day in and day out.
There was also the 'Spring of Purification', where purifying water welled up, and the 'Forest of Beginnings' that had stabbed in the back.
…In that context, the Madman's Mine also allowed one to infer the region's characteristics from its na.
“We'll talk about the other precautions once we're inside… For now, let's break through the gatekeepers.”
“Gatekeepers, you say……”
Swish-
“Are you talking about them?”
Tom asked, pointing to the nurous Mutants surrounding the mine.
Nod-
“That's right.”
The first characteristic of the Madman's Mine was the multitude of mad Mutants surrounding it.
Unlike the Mutants that were simply Magical Beasts with bizarre traits like tentacles or fluids added on, the Mutants loitering around this mine had one common feature.
That within their bodies, they possessed a 'Quark'.
To borrow Tom's expression, a 'red stone'.
The way they carried it varied greatly—so had it embedded in their foreheads, while others had it lodged deep inside their bodies, out of sight—but it was certain that each one had one.
“…I don't get it. They should feel the sa ominous sensation.”
“……”
“Why would they swallow sothing like that?”
Pfft-
“That ominous feeling you sense is a surprisingly high-level thought process.”
“……”
“To mindless Mutants like them, it just looks like a delicious chunk of Mana.”
“…Is that so.”
He replied lukewarmly, as if the answer wasn't clear enough to truly resonate with him.
But that was really all there was to it.
Intelligent beings with higher thought processes felt an ominous sensation from afar and even experienced hallucinations up close, but to mindless Magical Beasts, it was like sweet honey.
It was a difference stemming from the Quark's chanism of action.
Basically, the Quark absorbed the Demonic Nature residing within an approaching target, and in the process of absorption, the sublimated Demonic Nature reacted with Mana to cause hallucinations.
While that process was ominous and unpleasant for intelligent beings, for non-intelligent beings, the process itself was not aningful.
…Of course, it was a different story after they swallowed the Quark.
Ultimately, the mindless Magical Beasts, having had all their Demonic Nature absorbed, beca slaves to the Quark residing in their bodies.
- Kkieeek!!
- Rerereuk rerereuk.
- Hakyakyakyak!
‘…….’
And so they gathered in a teeming swarm to guard the mine, becoming its gatekeepers.
“…There are more of them than when I saw them from afar last ti.”
Tom muttered quietly.
His tone was calm, but the horde of Magical Beasts surrounding the mine was not a number that could be summarized with a simple 'there are more of them'.
If the number of Mutants that had gathered around Tom during his Howling was a 1.
Then the number of Mutants lying in wait here was likely well over 100.
‘…….’
The reason was simple.
Just as Tom had deliberately not sought this place out when his Moonlight Syndro acted up, the other skilled old-tirs of the dungeon also avoided it.
Of course, the option of coming here to exterminate Mutants for the punitive aning of it wasn't completely off the table.
But in the first place, Tom was the only one in here who thought he needed to atone.
The rest, at best, had the goal of surviving until their sentence was over and being released.
They might deal with a Mutant that appeared before them and threatened their lives, but there was no reason to brave the unpleasantness and co all the way here to hunt them.
Thus, neglected by all, the Mutants piled up one by one, their numbers swelling.
Like trees in a protected greenbelt, they now densely surrounded the 'Madman's Mine'.
My saying that we had to 'break through' it was in the sa vein.
I had called the horde of Mutants surrounding the Madman's Mine 'gatekeepers', but in reality, their numbers were less reminiscent of guards at a castle gate and more like a world-filling zombie horde.
“Do you have a special plan?”
“Well… nothing too special. You and I will have to match our rhythm and break through the thinnest point.”
There wasn't just one entrance into the mine.
It was shaped like an ant colony, with entrances scattered here and there that rged into one deep inside.
We just needed to break through one spot and get inside.
“Match our rhythm, you say……”
Pfft-
Tom's lips curled upwards.
“Don't bother.”
“……”
“It'll be faster for to break through alone and for you to follow than for to match your pace.”
The man scoffed as if the idea was ridiculous.
It didn't necessarily carry a tone of mockery.
But my words about matching his rhythm seed genuinely funny to him, and he didn't lower his smirk.
Shrug-
“We'll see.”
“……”
“I wonder about that.”
When I shrugged with a aningful tone, he shook his head.
“I admit you have outstanding talent. But talent is just talent, not skill.”
“……”
“You're a million years too early to match now, so just do as I say. If I try to match your level, I'll be held back.”
…From his perspective, it wasn't unreasonable to think that way.
It was true that if you asured physical performance and combat skill, he was several steps ahead of .
Moreover, from his point of view, we had practically no understanding or experience with each other yet to even consider the efficiency of a joint attack.
Simply put, it was a situation where we couldn't expect any synergy whatsoever.
In this situation, 1 1 might not even equal 2, but could beco a negative… no, it was natural that it would.
He, too, had reached a level where he could be said to have mastered combat to so extent and must have experienced a botched joint effort before, so he was naturally predicting that outco.
However.
That was only his perspective.
Inhale-
Exhale-
『You… you're pretty good now.』
『…….』
『The finish wasn't bad.』
『…Just give a complint, you bastard.』
I had already fought alongside him in no small number of battles.
『Who are you trying to impress, striking a pose like that? If it was good, just say it was good.』
『…….』
『Anyway, being stingy with complints is such a cliché—.』
And I was quite familiar with his fighting style.
And the combination of him and .
『…It was good.』
Was pretty decent.
『Quite.』
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