Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

"What? I don't know anything? What is this 'Liberator' anyway?"

I was irritated with Demon General Razel, who said I was ignorant.

While I was at it, I asked what 'Liberator' meant.

(Wow, he's pretty big when he stands up. He's about 2.5 meters tall. His body size doesn't look like that of an elf. He doesn't seem to have anything that looks like a weapon, but his muscular physique looks like that of a vanguard's.)

Despite my demeanor, I checked Demon General Razel's body carefully from top to bottom.

I wanted to know as much as possible before the battle about my opponent's fighting style, whether he was a vanguard who was good at physical attacks or a rearguard who was good at magic.

I believed that fighting style could be determined by someone's body.

I recalled that Demon General Razel had defeated my B-rank Spirit Ellie with magic before. Based on his appearance and past knowledge, I proceeded to analyze whether he was the type of enemy that could be both vanguard or a rearguard.

"Hmm. That's why I'm saying you don't know anything."

(You're not going to tell me anything about the 'Liberator'. Oh well, let's try provoking him.)

"Don't play dumb with me, I'm listening. You're a Dark Elf, right? I want to know how you became a Demon General."

"..."

Demon General Razel's expression changed. Nephtila, who was standing next to him, gasped.

"What's the matter? Your face changed color. You wanted the World Tree so much that you attacked Rosenheim. Did you enjoy staying at Fortenia, where the World Tree looks so good from?"

"Did the Elven Queen tell you that? The World Tree was originally ours. The elves monopolized it."

Demon General Razel spoke quietly, but his voice was clearly filled with anger.

"No, it wasn't! The World Tree has always been under the care of the elves!"

"Hmm, you're a High Elf... of Rosenheim royalty. The descendants of the Prayer Maiden appear to know nothing. You actually believe that the World Tree was yours from the beginning?"

(Whoa, Sophie got angry?. Well, the World Tree seems to be important to the Elves and Dark Elves. It doesn't really matter to me who it belonged to. But still, it belonged to the Dark Elves?The Queen didn't say anything about that.)

I thought about the history of the Elves and Dark Elves around the World Tree from the conversation between Sophie and Demon General Razel.

There might have been a time thousands of years ago when the Dark Elves really did control the World Tree.

Perhaps the older Dark Elves led Dark Elf Razel to believe that the World Tree was theirs before he became a Demon General.

I didn't know who the World Tree belonged to, but it didn't change what I was about to do.

"I don't know who the World Tree belongs to, but I do know for a fact that you've slaughtered millions of elves with your magical beasts in tow."

I spoke up, interrupting the conversation between Demon General Razel and Sophie.

"That's certainly true. Many more elves will die in the future. That's why I'm here. What can you do about it?"

"Of course we're going to defeat them. Do you have any idea how many people we've sacrificed!"

My words were the cue.

We took our battle stances.

Kurena and Dogora readied their weapons, while Kiel prepared to heal us.

Kiel and I had already applied all the buffs before entering the throne room as we knew we wouldn't have been able to once the battle began.

Demon General Razel and Nephthila also reacted and tried to get into an attacking stance.

In such a situation, the first attacker was me, who could use .

B-rank Dragon's Commander Dora-Dora appeared right next to Nephthila, and used his awakening skill, [Fires of Wrath].

Commander Dora-Dora spit out a ray of fire from its light-filled mouth.

Demon General Razel and Nephtila were enveloped in a flash of fire.

Commander Dora-Dora's [Fires of Wrath] burned a wide area in the temple. The wood-based building could not withstand the fires, and was turned into charcoal. Some of the large log pillars also turned to ashes and fell down, unable to fulfill their role as pillars.

And it seemed that the temple was too small for Commandr Dora-Dora who was taller than 20 meter, and the roof of the temple was being peeled off with every movement of Commander Dora-Dora.

The temple was instantly half-destroyed by Commander Dora-Dora.

"You have defeated 1 Demon. You have acquired 7,200,000 experience points."

(We've defeated Nephthila. Now all that's left is Demon General Razel.)

I confirmed the defeat of Nephthila in my Grimoire's log.

I had half-destroyed the historical and artful temple of Fortenia, but I was focused only on the battle. I knew that it would happen since Demon General Razel was inside the temple.

The elves could rebuild it after Demon General Razel's defeat.

On the cover of the Grimoire, there was a log that said that I had defeated one Demon. Since I hadn't unlocked last time we fought, Nephtila was able to survive using his Recovery Magic, but he couldn't survive Commander Dora-Dora's one attack.

"Oh, just one blow to defeat Nephthila?"

But out of the fire, Demon General Razel slowly emerged, with not even his armor burning.

(Zero damage?)

His nonchalant demeanor made me feel as if he hadn't suffered any damage.

"Kurena, Dogora, he is a powerful enemy!Don't let him hit you!"

"All right!"

"Oh!"

With that, Kurena and Dogora plunged forward, weapons in hand.

Demon General Razel seemed to have no choice but to deal with them.

"Gef!"

"Ha!"

Demon General Razel's fist crashed into Kurena's weapon. Kurena couldn't hold on and was blown away. The same went for Dogora.

"Kiel, heal Dogora first."

"Yeah, I know."

Demon General Razel faced Commander Dora-Dora's awakening skill head on, but he was almost unharmed.

With his level of [Endurance], B-rank Beasts or B-rank Spirits, who also had offensive awakening skills, wouldn't have that much difference in the result.

I changed my position in the formation to be between Cecile and Kiel and Kurena and Dogora, and took the mid-guard position while utilizing C-rank Stone's special skill [Substitute] and awakening skill [Self-Sacrifice] while using and managing Kurena and Dogora's health so that they didn't die.

Kurena and Dogora had already been buffed by B-rank Fish's special skill [Turtle Shield] and awakening skill [Turtle Barrier] awakening skill, so Demon General Razel's attack damage dealt 60% less damage then they were supposed to.

Even so, Demon General Razel unleashed an attack of such power that if they weren't careful, they could die.

(Do you feel like there's too much of a power gap and you're not taking us seriously? We will settle this before you get the chance to use your Extra Skill.)

The Higher Demon Glaster's Extra Skill was a threat.

It took us an hour to defeat him after he used it.

I predicted that Demon General's Extra Skill would be strong enough to annihilate us.

I wanted to finish the battle as soon as possible.

"Kurena, Extra Skill!"

"Yeah, I get it."

When she replied to my words, Kurena's body began to glow shimmer.

"Oh, the Gate of Extra."

Demon General Razel mumbled a few words at Kurena's change. However, there was no agitation on his face at all.

Without even taking a stance, Demon General Razel headed towards Kurena.

(Okay, Formar, you too. Extra Skill, please.)

The moment that Demon General Razel turned his attention to Kurena, who had used her Extra Skill...

"Grrrr!"

At my order, the B-rank Bird, a kilometer away from the temple, chirped.

Formar was standing on the back of the B-rank Bird that chirped.

With the sound of B-rank Bird's chirp as a signal, he set up his bow and aimed an arrow through a gap in the half-destroyed temple.

Formar's whole body glew like a shimmer.

Formar activated his Extra Skill [Arrow of Light].

The arrow that he had held up began to glow without a light source.

Then, with the glow intact, the arrow shot forward. Through the gap in the temple, towards the Demon General's heart from behind where Formar had aimed.

As the [Arrow of Light] corrected its trajectory, it struck Demon General Razel's back near his heart.

Demon General Razel stiffened for a moment due to the sudden attack from behind.

"Hey!"

In that moment, Kurena, who was heading for Demon General Razel, closed the distance at once, grabbed her greatsword and swung it down with both hands at his neck.

(Oh? Did she succeed to land a direct hit to his neck which has no armor!?)

Formar's Extra Skill [Arrow of Light] forced Demon General Razel to turn his consciousness to his back.

And in the meantime, with the intention of cutting off his head, Kurena while in her [Limit Break] mode swung her greatsword.

"So, you're as naive as you look. I can't believe you can't tell the difference between our abilities."

Kurena's greatsword stopped, motionless, at the neck of Demon General Razel.

Kurena's attack couldn't even get Demon General Razel to shed a drop of blood.

Even though it was a direct hit to the neck, it didn't look like Demon General Razel received any kind of damage at all.