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

My friends and I descended with the B-rank Birds a short distance away from the too huge S-class dungeon.

As Foreign Minister Nukakai had told me, there were quite a few people at the entrance of the S-class dungeon, so I made sure not to startle them.

We headed towards the queue at the entrance of the tower.

(Are there any windows in this cylindrical tower? Looks like there are quite a few doors under the tower.)

From the presence of the tower, I determined that unlike the Academy City's dungeons, it was not in another dimension, but was a physically existing dungeon. I began to analyze what kind of dungeon it was, as well as our dungeon strategy.

I used E-rank Bird to check the exterior of the tower, but there were no windows and it seemed that the only way to get inside was through the large gate on the ground, which seemed to be on the first floor.

I kept sending E-rank Bird up to see what the top of the tower looked like, but it couldn't get to the top even after a long period of time.

(Well, it's a world with Magic Ships. It's not like it's going to be easy to get in from the rooftop.)

There was not just one gate on the tower, but were evenly paced.

We lined up at one of its arranged entrances.

"Hmm?"

"What? What are you looking at?"

I couldn't help but squeal when I saw the man in front of me in the queue.

He was two heads taller than me, half naked without a jacket and carrying a large sword on his back.

I looked at his head to see how hairy it was and saw ears that I had never seen in the world before.

The supposed adventurer had ears like a dog.

Then, as if he noticed my gaze, he turned around and glared at me, baring his canine teeth.

"No, it's nothing."

"Hmph."

However, the dog-eared man returned his gaze to the front of the queue after gazing at me from top to bottom, probably because I was a child.

(A beastman. There are a lot of beastmen here. Did they come from the Beast Kingdom in the south? The beastmen of this world are quite hairy, aren't they?)

There were humans and dwarves in the queue as well.

And it seemed that there were quite a few beastmen.

To the south of the Bakius Empire was the continent of the Beast Kingdom.

I wondered if the reason why there were so many beastmen present who looked like adventurers was to earn money by attacking the dungeon.

After a short wait, it was my friends and my turn.

The gatekeeper looked at us strangely for a moment, probably because our group was made up of many different races, but when we presented our adventurer's cards, he let us in as normal.

""Ohhh!""

As we passed through the gate, we couldn't help but let out a squeal.

There was a huge city inside the tower.

"It's amazing. A city inside a dungeon?"

The crowd was outrageous, and I knew it would be annoying to stop walking, so I checked my surroundings as I walked.

"Yes. The Temple of Janpani in the center!"

"Central?"

I summoned an E-rank Bird summon in the sky to check the entire city from above.

I vaguely remembered being told by someone about half a day ago not to summon anything in the city, but I wasn't sure.

(The first floor is the city, and the second and subsequent floors are dungeons? Oh! That's the Temple of Janpani?)

The sky above was many kilometers high and the E-rank Bird could fly with ease.

I could see through the E-rank Bird that the ceiling was so high that it was invisible from the ground.

It was still early in the evening, but the light was bright enough to illuminate the entire city, and it was hard to believe that we were in a windowless tower.

The city was built in a circle from the center of the tower, and the streets and buildings were arranged in a circle like an annual ring.

At the center of it all seemed to be the building called the Temple of Janpani, which we were told about when we received the S-class dungeon invitation.

"Allen, what do we do now?"

"Hmm? Oh, Cecile. That's right. We got here earlier than I thought, so let's go to the Temple of Janpani for a bit and hear about the dungeon."

My friends nodded at my words.

Whenever I arrived in a new city, I basically did not do any sightseeing.

My friends knew that I was not the kind of person who would look around the city.

"Hey, there's a Magic Train running over there."

"There's even a Magic Train? Are you sure this is a dungeon?"

Dogora reacted to Kiel's words.

I looked at the end of the railroad tracks with E-rank Bird and noticed that it seemed to run to the center of the city, near the temple.

We all decided to get in.

"We can go into the S-class dungeon from the Temple of Janpani, right? Why were there even adventurers outside?"

"Well, I heard that there are many dungeons around the Tower of Trials, and many adventurers go there for that."

Merle answered my question by muttering while looking at the city from the train.

Around the S-class dungeon called the Tower of Trials, there were countless dungeons ranging from C to A class, and there were quite a few adventurers who were there for that.

I believed that the S-class dungeon provided a city, and thus a world centered around the dungeons.

With that in mind, we arrived at the temple.

It was indeed a temple, but it didn't seem to be the same as the wooden temple dedicated to Rosen, the Spirit God of Rosenheim.

Somehow, the building had a magical tool feel to it, and the sound of some kind of power moving was everywhere.

There was a lot of traffic in and out of the temple, and we tried to go with the flow into the temple.

"What? Hey, kids. This is no place for the likes of you!"

The temple's gatekeeper reacted to us and yelled at us.

"What?"

"This place is only for those who qualify for the S-class dungeon. Now get the hell out of here!"

(Huh? Seriously?...)

The temple's gatekeeper looked at us and decided that we were not qualified to enter the S-class dungeon.

I was surprised, but presented the S-class dungeon invitation to the temple's gatekeeper.

"I'm sorry about this. Such children..."

He was blocking my direction of travel with his body, but to my astonishment, he retreated, saying it was no problem to enter.

"What? Judging us by looks!?"

Cecile was preoccupied with the gatekeeper's reaction from earlier.

Cecile easily reacted to such things.

"Yeah, yeah."

"What do you mean? You were surprised to see that too, Allen!"

Cecile protested that my reaction to the situation was small, and that I should have gotten angry.

"No, well, he was doing his job. He didn't want young adventurers to go into the S-class dungeon and die. Don't get so angry."

(The gatekeeper is supposed to block the entrance. You have to sneak in at night when the gatekeeper is asleep, so it's quite a challenge.)

I was also yelled at, but I didn't think anything of the gatekeeper's attitude.

"What? Well, yes. I mean, you were surprised though, weren't you?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised. Look at the number of adventurers in this temple. That's what the gatekeeper said earlier. The gatekeeper told us earlier that only those who are qualified to enter the S-class dungeon are allowed in the temple. It's a big city, isn't it?"

We only had to show our adventurer's card when entering this tower.

It was an A rank adventurer's card, but any adventurer could enter.

After we entered the city, I had thought that there were many people in the city other than those who had invitations to the S-class dungeon.

I had heard from my homeroom teacher at the Academy that there were no people in the Latash Kingdom who were qualified to enter the S-class dungeon. However, there were quite a few adventurers in the city who had received invitations to enter S-class dungeons.

The world was a big place, and I wondered if people from all over the world had come together to conquer S-class dungeons.

Cecile looks around, thinking for sure.

There were quite a few dwarves, humans, and beastmen.

They all had invitations to the S-class dungeon.

"Oh? Is that the reception?"

Sophie noticed that there was a line of people in one corner of the temple.

"It's true. Let's have a little chat."

We lined up at the counter with the dwarves, who looked different from the other dwarves and wore a sort of Priestly uniform.

"Oh, young adventurers. How may I help you?"

(It's kind of nice, isn't it? I guess dwarves have no sense of inferiority whatsoever for being so small.)

The Priest in charge of the temple reception seemed to know that I was young despite being a head shorter than me.

"I'm trying to conquer the S-class dungeon and was wondering if I could line up here to talk to you?"

"Of course. Oh, my. There is a dwarf here too?"

The temple receptionist noticed that Merle the dwarf was with me.

"Yes!"

Merle replied cheerfully.

"Are you a Golem User, by any chance?"

(How did you know? Well, Merle doesn't have any weapons or armor.)

She didn't have her spear and shield, which she used when she was at the Academy.

"Yeah."

"Do you have a Magic Board?"

"No, I don't. I was told I had to give it back."

(What's a Magic Board?)

"I see. What do you want me to do? I can lend one to you if you want."

"Yes. Please. Can you lend me one!?"

Merle's face lit up.

With that, the temple receptionist went back to the other room and came back with something that looked like a black board.

"This way. Please show your adventurer's card. We'll record the loan from the Magic Board."

(What is it? It's like borrowing a book from the library.)

"Um, what's a Magic Board?"

Merle and the temple receptionist were the only ones carrying on a conversation, so I asked them what it was.

"What? Yes. This is the magic tool needed to bring out Golems."

"Yeah, yeah. Yes!"

"A magic tool that sends out Golems?"

Allen stared at what looked like a jet-black metal plate on the reception counter.