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

Kurena and Haku's bodies began glowing with Megadeth.

"Oh, somehow I think I lost power!"

Kurena had undergone 4 Talent Changes by now, and each time she felt her stats go down.

"You've become a Level 1 Dragoon Knight, your stats are only half of what they were."

Kurena's Level had been reset and her Talent had changed to Dragoon Knight.

Her stats had been halved and her Dragoon Skills reset.

The Skills she gained as a Sword Emperor were still the same.

It was just like the previous Talent Change.

It seemed like there were two types, Class Upgrades and Class Changes.

Going from Sword Emperor to Dragoon was a Class Change and some Skills remained.

Going from Dragoon to Dragoon Knight was a Class Upgrade and the Talent Skills were reset.

All previous Talent Changes had been Class Upgrades. That gave more Talent Stars and Skills.

(Hmhmm, so a Talent Change is part of the reward. It'd be best to max out Levels first then, but that will take too long.)

Allen felt the timing could be bette.

But taking Kurena from Level 89 to 99 would take half a year.

Maxing out Levels in Normal mode did not take too long, but Extra Mode took a lot more time.

'Wawa?!'

Haku had also gotten more powerful, and he looked around like a confused puppy.

"He doesn't look a lot like a White Dragon anymore."

"He's more yellow now."

He looked more yellow, and even his horns had changed shape.

[Species]: Light Dragon

[Form]: Infantile

[Rank]: B

[Level]: 1

[Strength]: 1870

[Mana]: 1230

[Attack]: 2510

[Endurance]: 1870

[Agility]: 2510

[Intelligence]: 890

[Luck]: 935

[Special Skills] Light Breath, Flame Spitting, Tearing, Fire Resistance (2), Ice Resistance (2)

[Experience] 0 / 100

His Skills were the same, but his Species and Rank had changed.

The different Resistances also gained a Level.

"What's wrong?"

Allen looked pensive so Kurena asked him.

"Oh, I was just thinking that Haku might not have been the best name if he was going to change like this."

He had given him the name Haku because he was white, but if he knew he would change species a different name would have been better.

"Haku is Haku!"

But that seemed to annoy Kurena.

"Anyway, we have the Gate of Fang next, let's go."

"Wait, I've had enough for today after defeating the Gatekeeper!!"

Cecile demanded a rest.

"But we didn't do anything."

Kurena had defeated the Gatekeeper with a single attack, so Allen wanted to go to the next one.

＊＊＊

They reached the Gate of Fang without any rest and entered the ruins.

A different dragon was painted on the doors, that was likely the next Gatekeeper.

'...So you've conquered the Gate of Claw and seek a new challenge?'

The drawing asked, its eyes focused on Fabre, but she did not reply as her pact stopped her.

Megadeth said she would be able to speak again after a day.

"We do."

'Then surpass this trial and appear before me.'

They were transported to a different area, big enough for a dragon to fly around.

"This seems to be a trend."

"I know, Cecile."

Instead of the hellish fire or freezing cold, this place was eerily dark.

'Oh wow, you actually came. I see you're hard workers.'

Megadeth showed up shortly after.

"Yes, we still have time."

Megadeth stayed behind as they headed to the corridor out of there.

"Oohh, it's so dark!! "

Kurena shouted as she looked out, it was pitch dark outside.

The sun and moon in this world were separated at exactly 180 degrees, always circling around the world. When the sun set, the moon would also rise, and the moon was always a full moon.

They had never seen such a dark night before, which made them feel uneasy.

Pop pop

"At least we have some light like this."

A few lantern magic devices quickly illuminated their surroundings.

Adventurers always carried devices to light fire, illuminate, and check the time.

"This light is incredible!! I can see even more than I can with Stone Slabs!"

Merle was impressed by how much better than looked compared to her Stone Slabs.

"Yes, I've had them for a while but had no reason to use them in Prostia."

He had obtained them from Gordino and could illuminate an entire city.

They were the size of a regular lantern, but could illuminate an area of one square kilometer.

There had to be monsters in this trial as well, so he wanted to avoid ambushes.

He had prepared them when they went to Prostia, without knowing about the crystal flowers.

(If they're this bright they won't need additional Magic Cores.)

Magic Cores were a drop from Gordino, and had to be used sparingly.

"This place is floating too."

Luck looked down the edge at the end of the corridor. It looked the same as the first trial.

The light could not reach all the way to the bottom though.

"Maybe it's just really dark. I'll send Hollows to see if they can find a way to the next level."

Allen summoned 10 Bird D summons, which looked like owls that could see in the dark.

All of they had Growth Level 8 applied, and he added 10 Bird A summons to accompany them.

The Bird A summons could leave a Nest if they found anything.

"Well, I guess we just have to wait now."

"Yeah, wait, hm?"

The summons could fly without suffering damage here, so he let them find the exit.

But soon enough he heard the noise of something flying far in the distance.

Flap flap flap

'Graaaaaawrrrrrrrrr!!'

A black dragon roared, followed by large bats and moths.

"There's a lot of them! Get ready to fight!!"

Everyone took a fighting formation after that, forming a circle with Cecile, Sophie, Kiel, and Luck in the center. Summons could cover any blindspots,

"Hyaaaaaahhhh!!"

'Ghahh?!'

Kurena swung her sword above Haku's head.

The impact made the black dragon fall off into the darkness below.

'You've defeated 1 Dark Dragon. You've obtained 32'000'000 Experience Points.'

(Oh? That's a lot of Experience, I guess it was an A Rank monster or higher.)

The Experience from monsters in the Gate of Claw was low, but it had gone up drastically.

That Dark Dragon was enough to bring Haku to Level 42.

The bats and moths seemed to be B Rank. They were numerous but Cecile's magic and Merle's Tam-Tam's Vulkan Cannon easily took them down.

They spent 2 hours fighting like that. The monsters seemed to be endless, so they were a good way for Kurena and Haku to gather Levels. Meanwhile one of the summons had found something.

"Oh, they found something."

The Bird A summon left a Nest and everyone went there with the Awakened Skill [Homing Instinct].

It looked just like the first place where they arrived, with a long corridor which they went into.

"Ohh, it's a treasure chest!!"

Kiel saw a treasure and ran straight to it.

(Let's hope it's not a mimic.)

Allen felt like having a painful experience could be of Kiel's benefit.

This was the first treasure chest inside a gate, and they found a black bracelet inside.

"Hm, it's a bracelet."

Allen took the bracelet from Kiel's hands and put it in his Inventory.

'You've stored 1 Everlasting Darkness Bracelet.'

(A bracelet huh.)

Storing it simply showed the name, so he decided to equip it next.

"Be careful, it might be cursed."

"Yeah, I know."

There were cursed attacks and cursed items in this world.

Going to Elmea's Church and paying some money usually solved that.

Many things could be solved with money in this world.

[Effects of the Everlasting Darkness Bracelet]:

-Double speed to manifest spirits

-Twice the effect of darkness element attacks

-Mana + 10000

"This seems to be for a spirit mage, or actually Luck specifically. Megadeth was right, there's some good items here."

Megadeth had told them that they could obtain good items in this gate.

It was a perfect item for Luck who used darkness element spirits.

"Wha-?! Why! Show it to me!!"

Cecile huffed and puffed as she snatched the bracelet from Allen.

She tried putting it on, but her Intelligence did not increase at all.

"I told you, it's for Luck."

"Ohh, thank you. Heheh."

Luck looked happy to get a unique item for him.

He had been slightly jealous seeing how everyone else was getting stronger.

After that they found the symbol that took them to the next level. They had cleared the first level on their first day.