A Regressor's Bucket List Chapter 115
Step, step-
“……”
“……”
The path to the Madman's Mine was silent.
Perhaps the mere thought of the name J. J had dredged up a series of unpleasant memories associated with him.
Tom remained silent the entire time he led the way to the mine, and I didn't bother him either.
The Vampire Clan.
It seemed 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 time is formidable, so his memory of the facts, of what precisely had been the starting point of his emotions, had likely grown hazy.
But separate from his fading memories.
The deep-seated hatred for Vampires, as profound as the countless scars of nightmares imprinted on his mind and body over a long time, was something 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 merely judging a traitor to the clan.』
That hatred was too deep to be addressed with a simple word of 'empathy' meant as comfort.
But that didn't mean his hatred was justified.
As is often the case, emotions driven to extremes are usually tangled with some 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 time had passed without resolving the initial tangled thread, and they had come too far to even think of untangling it.
Rustle-
[Bucket List #12]
『Recruit Party Member - Tom. L. Hardist.』
Well… one way or another.
It was something I would eventually have to find a clue for and resolve.
Thud-
Tom, who had been walking down in silence for a long time, 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 time 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 me here.”
“……”
“…Especially when the Moonlight Syndrome acts up.”
One might find it surprising that Tom, who made a hobby of slaughtering Mutants, had never come 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 Syndrome flared up, and the psychosis-inducing effect, second only to its 'Demonic Nature absorption property', was bound to amplify the agony of the Moonlight Syndrome.
He probably felt it instinctively whenever he saw this light.
That coming near this mine during a bout of Moonlight Syndrome 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 me.
“About that mine.”
It was a rather amusing sight, an old-timer 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 something else, it seemed 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 names given within the dungeon tended to include the target's characteristics.
This was likely because nicknames weren't given by a specific person, but rather came into common use through word of mouth.
This was true for the place names pointing to specific areas in the dungeon, and it was also true for the nicknames of seasoned old-timers.
A prime 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 me in the back.
…In that context, the Madman's Mine also allowed one to infer the region's characteristics from its name.
“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 numerous 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—some 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 same ominous sensation.”
“……”
“Why would they swallow something 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 mechanism 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 meaningful.
…Of course, it was a different story after they swallowed the Quark.
Ultimately, the mindless Magical Beasts, having had all their Demonic Nature absorbed, became 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 time.”
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 Syndrome acted up, the other skilled old-timers of the dungeon also avoided it.
Of course, the option of coming here to exterminate Mutants for the punitive meaning 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 come 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 same 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 merged 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 me to break through alone and for you to follow than for me 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 seemed genuinely funny to him, and he didn't lower his smirk.
Shrug-
“We'll see.”
“……”
“I wonder about that.”
When I shrugged with a meaningful 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 me 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 measured physical performance and combat skill, he was several steps ahead of me.
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 become 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 some extent and must have experienced a botched joint effort before, so he was naturally predicting that outcome.
However.
That was only his perspective.
Inhale-
Exhale-
『You… you're pretty good now.』
『…….』
『The finish wasn't bad.』
『…Just give me a compliment, 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 compliments is such a cliché—.』
And I was quite familiar with his fighting style.
And the combination of him and me.
『…It was good.』
Was pretty decent.
『Quite.』