‘…Tom killed Jerry?’
It was a story I didn't know the full details of either.
I already knew about the history between the Vampires and the Beastkin since I put Tom on my bucket list, but their personal story was a separate matter.
Perhaps it was because neither of them were very talkative, and it was their deepest story.
From what I could gather, it seed certain that sothing had happened between them before they ca to the Darkest Dungeon, but no matter how much I retraced my mories of the first playthrough, I had never heard anything about it.
…However.
‘He died long ago… by my hand.’
The mont I heard his quiet mutter, a certain scene did co to mind.
Pfft-
『…In the end, he won.』
Jerry's last words, muttered like a will as he faced death.
It was a sentence without any context, and since it was the first ti I'd seen him smile after getting to know him, the scene was etched in my mory.
At the ti, I couldn't understand what he ant by those words, thrown out with an awkward smile, but it suddenly occurred to that the 'he' Jerry muttered about might have been Tom Hardist.
‘Tom defeated Jerry.’
To paint a rough picture, Tom thought he had killed Jerry, but in reality, it was Jerry's trick.
Thinking of it that way, the pieces seed to fit.
Tom's undeniable goal was the 'extinction of the Vampire Clan,' and Jerry's goal was to survive to the end and carry on the will of his predecessors.
That was the only possibility that could simultaneously explain Tom's conviction about Jerry's death and the paradox of Jerry being very much alive in the current situation.
‘…So that's why he was so certain.’
Wondering if there was a story I didn't know, I tried to probe further on our way into the mine, but.
“You're really not going to tell ?”
“…This is your last warning.”
“……”
“Ask one more ti, and I'll throw you right out of the mine.”
He refused to answer, letting out a threat with his characteristic growl.
However, his voice wasn't particularly laced with annoyance, so it seed he regretted his own slip of the tongue.
…Well. It wasn't that important anyway.
Even if he didn't tell right now, I would find out naturally once we got out of here.
[Warning! An unknown energy is at work.]
[Warning! An unknown effect is occurring in your body.]
‘…….’
Befitting its na, the Madman's Mine, the inside of the mine was packed with Quark.
Not just the ceiling, but the walls, which stretched on endlessly, grew denser and denser with it.
It emitted a bewitching red light.
The intensifying red energy was unsettling in itself, and Tom, too, was frowning.
“Can you handle it?”
Seeing that he hadn't stopped walking even though the discomfort must have been growing stronger the deeper they went, I asked, and he answered with a slight lift of his lips.
Pfft-
“I'm not sure who should be worrying about whom right now.”
“……”
“My ntal strength is not sothing you need to worry about.”
A firm answer. It was a reply tinged with a bit of pride, accompanied by a scornful laugh.
“…That's unexpected. The muscle-bound idiot being weak to ntal attacks is a cliché.”
“…You really don't know anything.”
Shake shake-
“…It's true that we of the Lycan Clan are born with overwhelming physical abilities, but to say our ntal strength is weak is nonsense.”
“……”
“Because we value training the mind as much as we save ti on physical training. Our innate resistance might be weak, but the ntal fortitude of the Lycan Clan, forged through countless experiences, is by no ans weak.”
- Iryahyak!
Ssk-
“…Worry about yourself. That Mutant over there seems a little different from the ones outside.”
***
Chwaaak-
Keoheok!-
Having barely torn away the massive tentacle constricting his neck, Tom Hardist gasped for air and hastily created distance.
- Iryahyak!
‘…Impossible.’
He had expected it to so extent.
This was the only place in the Darkest Dungeon he hadn't personally entered, despite having traveled to almost every other corner of it.
And it was a place that exuded such an unpleasant feeling that even he, soone who could scoff at most things, would unconsciously avoid it.
As such, he knew that whatever resided within this 'Madman's Mine' would not be an easy opponent.
But.
But even so, this was too much.
“…Hey. Snap out of it!!!”
“……”
U-jin didn't even flinch at the shout infused with Mana.
Looking at U-jin, Tom's eyes were filled with such dismay that the word 'calamity' naturally ca to mind.
‘…It wasn't even this bad when I fought the Mound Giant.’
It had been quite so ti to be called recent, but the most morable prey Tom had encountered lately was the Mound Giant, located in the northernmost outskirts of the dungeon.
An unidentifiable Demonic Species whose exact type was unknown, a monster that had established itself like a guardian of the 'Mound' in the northernmost outskirts long before Tom had even entered the dungeon.
It was an opponent so difficult that Tom Hardist, who already reigned as the strongest in the dungeon, had to fight it continuously for two days.
Of course, it wasn't because Tom lacked skill.
No matter how much of a veteran of the dungeon it was, or even that it was a Demonic Species.
It couldn't penetrate his overwhelming durability, inherited from the rich blood of the Lycan Clan.
The problem, however, was that Tom's attacks couldn't reach it either.
Made of earth, no matter how many tis he cut off its legs and arms, it would restore its body as if nothing had happened, and due to the Demon's peculiarity, it didn't even have a main body that could be precisely targeted.
Tom was well aware that the best way to deal with it was to use Mana, but.
He was naturally hopeless in that area, so he had no choice but to repeat only physical attacks.
Even when Tom's attacks scattered its body, the Mound Giant would pull in surrounding earth and remake its body over and over.
After two full days of what seed like a aningless back-and-forth.
At the fleeting mont it revealed its true body due to a Mana Turbulence Phenonon after exhausting all its Mana, Tom was finally able to defeat the Mound Giant.
That was the most difficult target to hunt that Tom could rember in the dungeon.
However.
- Ihiyrak! Ihiiyrak!
Tom could declare with certainty.
After this battle was over.
If soone were to ask him again about the 'strongest enemy he'd t in the dungeon,' the answer would not be the Mound Giant, but this naless Magical Beast screaming its strange cry.
It would be that tentacled Mutant Magical Beast.
Chwaaak-
Not only were his attacks ineffective.
That Mutant Magical Beast was the first in the dungeon to inflict physical damage on Tom.
The sensation of the tentacles tightening around his torso didn't just give him a bad feeling as usual; it was actually suffocating him.
Tom, who had closed the distance lightly, thinking it would be no real blow as usual, had no choice but to recoil in astonishnt and flee the spot.
“Kgh…… It's not even a Demonic Species, so how in the world.”
It wasn't a strict hierarchy, but.
The ranking within the dungeon was sowhat clearly defined by the group one belonged to.
The Demonic Species, thrown in with their hosts according to the will of The Order.
Next were the Hero-class Punished who could handle Mana.
And after them, the regular Punished.
The Mutant Magical Beasts.
It was largely divided into these four group tiers, and from Tom's experience, the Demonic Species took up most of the pie when it ca to those called 'strong' in the dungeon.
But this Mutant Magical Beast was not a Demonic Species.
Not only did he not feel their unique aura, but its appearance was ordinary enough that he could be certain it was a Mutant Magical Beast just by looking at it.
A cephalopod-like Mutant Magical Beast with human-like limbs but a tentacled head.
That's why he couldn't understand it.
Why a re Mutant Magical Beast could land an effective attack on him.
‘…….’
If at least U-jin were with him, he thought he might have known sothing about the Mutant's inexplicable strength, but.
…that wasn't possible.
Because as soon as the battle began, U-jin had one arm severed and had fallen into a near-death state.
『Kuaaack-!』
U-jin, who had always maintained an air of inscrutable composure, failed to evade the tentacle of the Mutant Magical Beast they encountered inside the mine.
His arm was severed by its first swing.
A sudden and unexpected situation.
『……!!!』
Before Tom could even register the feeling of panic, his body moved first.
Knowing better than anyone about the regenerative abilities of the Vampire Trait and its activation conditions.
He had intended to activate the blood-sucking Trait before U-jin fell into a critical state.
But surprisingly, even Tom's imdiate counterattack failed to inflict any real damage on the Mutant Magical Beast, and its outstretched tentacle damaged him.
Hastily creating distance upon the shocking realization that his attacks were ineffective was the full story of how he'd ended up in the current situation.
‘…What a goddamn ss.’
There was no clear solution in sight.
He was soone who preferred to break through with a direct approach rather than strategizing and weighing options, but.
This ti, it seed his typical thod of a frontal assault wouldn't work at all.
But to retreat now.
“Keoheok-.”
U-jin's condition was too poor.
His arm had been crushed and severed, bleeding profusely, and his pupils were unfocused as if he had already gone into shock.
He was even coughing up blood, as if he had suffered internal injuries while being grabbed by the arm and flung around.
If the Vampire Trait wasn't activated imdiately, it wouldn't be strange for him to die on the spot.
“…Dammit.”
『…Thomas. You must protect your mother and your younger brother.』
『…Tommy. *Cough-* At least Simon, you must…….』
『Brother…… I don't want to die…… I don't want to die like this…….』
Bad mories resurfaced.
Unbearably painful voices pierced his ears and dug into his heart.
‘…….’
In truth, on the surface, this wasn't a situation that should have shaken Tom so much.
He had only t U-jin yesterday, and their entire connection amounted to bumming a cigarette.
The usual Tom wouldn't have been swayed by such a trivial matter.
His heart might have felt a bit bitter, but frankly, U-jin wasn't that important of a person to him.
But for Tom, the current event was not a problem on that level.
A sense of powerlessness.
The powerlessness of being unable to do anything despite having a duty right before his eyes was shaking Tom's heart, which had been barely holding on.
That was Tom's Achilles' heel.
It wasn't simply about failing to protect this person with whom he had an ambiguous relationship at this mont.
It was the fact that he hadn't progressed a single step from his past self who couldn't protect his family.
His past self, whom he could never forgive and hated more than anyone.
The desperate powerlessness that ca from not having moved a single step forward from that fucking past.
That was what was breaking Tom down from the inside.
『…Thomas.』
『…Tommy.』
『Brother…….』
The voices, which had been faint, beca increasingly vivid before his eyes, as if his Moonlight Syndro had relapsed.
Tom, cornered both emotionally and situationally.
Paaat-
Rushed blindly at the Mutant.
There was no plan.
Just an emotional impulse, a feeling that he had to do it.
- Ihiyrak!
Needless to say, emotional turmoil is generally not very helpful.
The tide of the battle remained the sa; nothing had changed except that he was a little more agitated.
Tom used his speed to thrust his sword dozens of tis, but his blade failed to inflict any particular damage.
And the tentacle that shot out with a strange sound tightened around his neck.
Keoheok-
As he was slowly fading out, about to lant this aningless death…….
At that mont.
【Ti to get up, don't you think?】
A familiar voice rang out.
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