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

Basque was wearing two bracelets with gemstones encrusted in them, one yellow, the other red.

All of Basque's stats all across the board were higher than most other Demon Generals.

Just his strength alone was already higher than Razel or Lycaoron's after they transformed.

He also seemed able to chain his Skills unusually quickly, but that was accomplished thanks to his two Sacred Beads.

But he also had anklets, a pendant with a bright crimson gem, and twinkling earrings.

They all contributed to increase his stats in one way or another.

He wore no clothes in his upper body, yet all those accessories allowed him to not have to think about protecting himself.

It was hard to say whether he gained them as a Demon General, or when he lived as a human and S Rank adventurer, but he possessed what were likely the strongest accessories in the world.

(His loot is invaluable. I'll have to take all of it from him even if I have to kill him.)

Allen was willing to do anything to get his hands on those accessories.

"Flare!!"

After waiting for a moment when Kurena and Dogora stepped away, Cecile launched an enormous fireball at Basque.

She had Makris' Sacred Bead equipped, which halved the time she had to wait to re-cast a Skill.

Basque raised his arms, taking a defensive stance.

The Spirit King's Blessing had raised Cecile's Intelligence to 42'000, which was enough to force a Demon General to defend.

A moment later she unleashed Lightning Magic, followed by more Fire Magic.

'Hnnng! So you have a Sacred Bead too. Makris' from here in Clebeur, huh.'

Noticing Cecile's quick casts and the bracelet shining on her arm, Basque was able to guess that it was Makris' Sacred Bead.

"Sophie, use your spirit magic to fight him too."

"Understood."

'Huh? Long range attacks are so annoying. Woah! Elves are so hot too…'

Sophie channeled as much mana as she could muster into the spirits.

Her Intelligence was lower than Cecile's, but the amount of mana she could spend at once was enormous.

And the more mana she spent, the more powerful her attacks.

Sophie could not cast her magic in successive numbers like Cecile, but her spirits loaded with mana could be deadly.

They fought in tandem, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the other.

Even under the barrage of attacks, Basque had taken notice of Sophie's appearance.

"You're doing nothing to her! Ghah!!"

As Basque ran towards Sophie, licking his lips, Dogora put himself on his path trying to stop Basque, but was kicked like a pebble on the roadside.

He had not stopped Basque at all.

Unlike Kurena and Shea, Dogora could not afford to dodge Basque's attacks.

Using his shield to stop the enemy's advance was his harsh duty.

Yet he threw himself into danger, believing his Extra Skill would activate any minute now.

Still, the little delay added to Basque when kicking Dogora gave Sophie enough time to run away.

He had allowed Cecile and Sophie to escape a dangerous situation, in more ways than one.

"Merus, use your attribute change. Dogora's starting to struggle."

(We can't afford to stretch this fight out. Basque still isn't fighting seriously.)

Basque had not transformed yet, but was already this strong.

'Already doing it, but it's hardly working. I fear his earrings give him some form of resistance.'

Merus had been trying to use his Attribute Change Skill, but it had no effect on Basque's resistances.

The earrings he had equipped were somehow nullifying the effect.

Merus had noticed that every time he used the Skill, Basque's earrings would glow in a suspicious way.

"Hm, I see. Lady Shea, can you go into Beast King mode yet?"

(I'm counting on that too.)

"Huh?! Just wait a bit longer, I'm trying."

Shea did not think that could be achieved so easily.

But Allen kept prodding at her, saying things like "But Prince Zew did it" just so she could activate it.

Everyone in the beastmen's royal family understood how to use their Extra Skill, but Shea had not mastered it yet.

(Garm is supposed to be a Higher God too, he should just stop being so stingy and let everyone activate their Beast King mode.)

This world had gods and demi-gods.

But a handful of them were Higher Gods, which had special powers.

Higher Gods were even more powerful than the Four Great Gods, which ruled over the four elements.

When a god gained a multitude of followers, all of whom worshiped them faithfully, the gods could grant more miracles to those followers.

Garm, the Beast God that granted the beastmen power to escape from Giamut's tyrannical reign a thousand years ago, was one such Higher God.

He had given all the members of Albahar's royal family the Beast King Extra Skill to rule over the rest of the beastmen.

On top of that all children born into the royal family had Talents with 3 Stars, and once one took the throne, they would gain even more Stars.

Allen observed Shea and felt like she was lacking something, she needed a push to really utilize it.

But they could not afford to spend too long fighting Basque and his exceedingly high stats.

He kept looking at Merus and Cecile.

"We've got no other choice then. Let's do this together. Merus, Cecile, are you ready?"

'Yes, ready here.'

"I am."

Merus and Cecile were ready.

Allen checked through the eyes of a Bird F summon outside to see if things were ready there.

(Everyone's there too. Let's do this then!!)

The Bird F summon relayed his thoughts only to the designated targets.

'Huhh, you still got some tricks up your sleeve? How fun!'

Basque reacted to Allen's words, his face contorting with gleeful joy.

'Judgement Thunder'

Merus had recovered his mana, so he gathered all of it to use his Awakened Skill on Basque.

'Hghah?!'

The lightning bolt struck Basque and the altar behind him.

The enormous heat from it essentially melted the altar, which sent a powerful shockwave to the surroundings.

Blub blub

Clatter

Seeing Basque staggered from the powerful lightning, Allen rushed towards him.

If Judgement Thunder did not kill the enemy instantly, it would leave them staggered for a moment, just like with the Iron Golem.

Though the only beings that could survive such a hit enhanced by the Spirit King's Blessing were only S Rank monsters, the golems in the S Rank Dungeon, and Demon Generals.

They did not have much time, so Allen decided to proceed to the next step of his strategy.

(Time to move.)

The moment Allen touched Basque, they were transported to another place.

An enemy could only be transported with the Bird A summon's Awakened Skill [Homing Instinct] if Allen touched them.

Allen took the Demon General out of the temple to a place one kilometer away, the limit of the skill.

Together with Basque, he also took the rest of his party, and those with Shea.

'Huh? Where are we? Waiit, what's that I see over there?'

He noticed almost instantly.

Around a thousand beastmen formed an arc a hundred meters away, all looking at him.

Their bodies were blurry, covered in a heat haze.

"Follow my lead! Brave Lance!!"

Rath shouted as he lifted a spear.

Then as he called the name of his Extra Skill, he threw the spear with all his might.

'Pfft, your measly spears won't- gheh, ghuh!'

Basque had looked confident so far, but now his face looked pained for the first time.

The spear pierced his chest and the tip protruded from his back.

He had never imagined the spears from those soldiers, not even their leader's, would do anything to him.

His stats were so much higher than even their Extra Skills would do little damage he could ignore.

(Rath's attack worked. Good thing Fin's Shark Oil covered their weapons first.)

Out of the 2000 beastmen soldiers, Allen told the 1000 that had a long range Extra Skill to come to this spot while they went to the temple.

Allen's Fish C summon's Awakened Skill [Shark Oil] raised the Critical Chance of weapons by 10%.

Critical hits caused an incredible amount of damage, even if the enemy had strong defenses.

On top of that, the Spirit King's Blessing was still active as well.

The particles of light rained onto the beastmen soldiers.

Allen was also wearing two rings he found in the S Rank Dungeon, which increased his Attack by 3000 and 5000.

Those were passed onto his Fish C summon, and onto the 1000 soldiers.

Allen had verified that Extra Skills caused damage to Demon Generals during the fight against Razel.

Just in case he also had Kam use his Extra Skill on Basque earlier to see if it worked.

That arrow was not meant to cause much damage to Basque, but was assurance that the plan would work.

Extra Skills had a long cooldown, but the 1000 beastmen soldiers had rested for long enough to be able to use them simultaneously.

"""HAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"""

With Rath at the lead, the beastmen all launched their Extra Skills towards Basque.

(Marvelous. I'll call this formation Extra Attack from now on. Now we just need to finish him off.)

"Cecile, your turn."

While Basque was busy warding off the endless rain of Extra Skills, Cecile was going to deliver the final blow.

"Let's go! Small Meteorite!!"

Cecile had already started the process, so she was able to quickly launch her Extra Skill [Small Meteorite].

The Sacred Bead she had equipped also halved her Extra Skill's cast time and cooldown.

A large rock, glowing red hot, fell towards Basque.

The continuous Extra Skills would not stop either, so he could not afford to evade.

He raised his arms trying to stop it, but it was so heavy he could not stop it, making him resort to breaking it apart.

The area under the Small Meteorite was so large that Allen had to use Homing Instinct to pull them all to a safe distance.

"Vulcan Cannon engaged!!"

A stream of melting hot bullets headed straight to Basque who was still desperately trying to hoist the rock away from him.

He was slowly being crushed under the Small Meteorite.

Crack

As he vanished under the rock, the ruby on Basque's chest shattered.

At the same time, all the damage Basque had taken so far seemed to revert, as if he had never been harmed.

'Oh come on, you just broke the Life Ruby I struggled so much to get. But oh well, at least it was tons of fun. Time to travel back to Gushara's Temple. I'll be waiting for you, heehee.'

Basque had been unable to do anything in the latter half of the fight, but he seemed satisfied.

The anklet on his foot began to glow when he said 'travel'.

And his body vanished from there.