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

Haku and Kurena were blown away by Megadeth's breath.

'Mama, are you okay?'

"Yeah, and you Haku?"

Kurena quickly took out a Heaven's Blessing to heal the damage she took.

'Gyau!'

Kurena noticed something, her Agility was going down. The same applied to Haku.

'Hmm, I thought time was supposed to stop entirely for you, but you seem quite resilient. At least you won't get to scurry around anymore.'

"Haku, step back!"

Then Megadeth's enormous jaws closed in on Haku, trying to bite through him.

Megadeth was a Dimension Dragon, and his breath allowed him to manipulate the flow of time.

Kurena also had Aromatic Vegetables in her magic bag, which could dispel debuffs from her and Haku, though there was a limit to the effect.

Haku spread his wings trying to move faster, but Megadeth had more Agility.

Even with his Resistances and the Aromatic Vegetable, Haku had been slowed down.

"Uryaaa!!"

Kurena unleashed her Skill [True Phoenix Blast] onto Megadeth's face.

'Ghah?!'

A large amount of blood splattered from Megeadeth's head.

'Mama, incredible!!'

"...This is working really well."

Even though Haku was praising her, Kurena felt something was off about her Skill.

Kurena's Skills could cut and smash, the cutting part reaching much farther than her blade.

Direct hits did the most damage, while those at a distance took less.

Allen always spoke of pros and cons, Kurena understood that as powerful ranged attacks having longer cooldowns.

Her strongest Skill [True Supreme Sword] caused a lot of damage in a large area, but the closer the enemy was to her the more damage it took.

Even though her stats were around 10000, she was surprised by how much damage she caused on Megadeth.

He seemed to have a lot of Attack, but not so much Endurance.

'This is nothing!!'

Megadeth continued attacking even though his head was bleeding.

"Get back Haku, then use your breath."

Kurena felt like a breath attack from a distance could work too, and there was enough space for that.

'Okay. Grahhhhhh.'

Haku went back and used [Hellfire Breath], and Megadeth swung his enormous tail from within.

Kurena followed that up with [True Phoenix Blast].

"Our attacks are working."

'Yes, they're working! Ah! I'm fast again!!'

"You're right."

Kurena started to feel like they could win as she watched Megadeth's tail bleed. The slowing breath's effect did not last for long, and the faster they could move the easier the fight would get.

Kurenal let Haku do all the moving around, while she found windows to attack.

It would take some time, but at least they could win that way.

She attacked, retreated, attacked again, and slowly piled up more damage on Megadeth.

But then he stopped moving, and Haku also hovered around watching what would happen.

'...You're strong alright. I'm supposed to fight you with everything I have, and I won't let you win.'

Crack crack

'Mama?! He's transforming again!!'

"I know, get back even more."

Megadeth's body was convulsing just like during his first transformation.

His breath had slowed them down before, so Kurena decided to keep a distance this time.

'I'll tear you apart. Mode Scale!!'

His scales turned to stand on an end as he rolled his body like an armadillo, becoming a spiky 50 meter ball and charging at Kurena.

"Fly higher!"

'Okay!!'

Kurena did not want to take a direct hit from that, so she told Haku to escape higher, just barely avoiding the first hit.

'You really think you're safe like that?'

Megadeths' body flattened to half his height, and before Kurena realized what was happening, he returned to his full size and launched up into the air.

'Gyau?!'

Blood splattered from all over Haku's body as he was knocked away.

"Haku, are you okay?!!"

Kurena quickly used a Heaven's Blessing to recover Haku's Strength.

Megadeth was strong enough to cause damage through Haku's orichalcum armor.

Kurena had also taken damage, but [Limit Break] made her recover 1% every second.

'So you resisted that too. But how long can you last? You're just delaying the inevitable.'

Megadeth noticed Kurena was regenerating, and that she had healing items in the bag.

"Huh?"

Kurena looked back at Megadeth hearing that, and saw that he was regenerating all the damage he took earlier.

'He healed!'

"I know, we have to try harder."

Her Strength and mood was in perfect shape.

Allen had prepared more than 10000 Heaven's Blessings for her, so she could still go on.

Megadeth rolled up into a ball and jumped up again, which Haku managed to dodge and Kurena counterattacked.

"Uryaaaaahhhh!!"

She activated her Skill [True Phoenix Blast].

'Did you do something?'

"It's not working!"

That Skill had caused a lot of damage earlier, but now it only did a little bit, which was healed almost instantly. His Endurance seemed far higher than in his previous form.

'I told you I would tear you apart.'

Megadeth kept rolling at them with the momentum of an elephant stomping a rat.

"Just focus on getting away Haku, I'll attack!"

'Okay!'

Kurena knew they could deal little damage to Megadeth, so they would focus on staying away.

Megadeth's body always seemed to squish down before leaping up, making it easier to dodge.

He had a lot of Endurance which made it hard to deal damage to him, but not so much Agility.

'Don't think this is all I have though. There's still one Mode left.'

He had a third transformation.

Crack crack

Megadeth went from looking like a ball back to a dragon.

"He'll try something again, be careful!"

'Okay!'

Every time he transformed his stats and abilities changed.

This time his claws became bigger than before, making it obvious his Attack had gone up.

'Mode Claw. Good job getting here, but this is the end.'

Megadeth grinned, assured of his victory, while Kurena and Haku remained watchful.

Megadeth swung his claws.

'I'll focus.'

Haku hovered above, keeping enough distance to avoid anything that could happen.

'You can't escape now. Congratulations on getting this far.'

SLASH!!

'Gyau?!'

"Uwah!!"

They were looking at Megadeth, but somehow they were attacked from both sides out of the blue. When they looked again, they noticed Megadeth's claws were gone, having teleported to the air around the two.

'Mama?!'

Haku cried in confusion.

"Don't give up!!"

Kurena had also taken damage, but she did not give up, and made Haku focus again and fly out of the range of the claws.

"..."

She kept looking at Megadeth, trying to figure out how to win.

'I've never lost after entering Mode Claw.'

Megadeth announced and continued attacking, his claws teleporting around Haku and Kurena.

"D-damn it!! Hahh!!"

'Hmph, your defenses are futile.'

'Gyafun!'

While Haku tried to dodge the claws, Megadeth flew up and struck them with his tail.

They collided on the ground and bounced while Kurena was blown away.

She tried to heal as soon as she could, focusing solely on defending now.

'Gyau!'

"Ohh! You dodged it!!"

Haku's movements were starting to change, evading attacks that came even from behind him.

'So even as an infantile Ancient Dragon you learned [Presence Sensing]. You're really growing fast.'

Megadeth noticed the change in Haku, he was growing even amidst the fight, and could dodge Megadeth's attacks.

'Gyau!!'

"Okay okay, we can do this!"

'...But this is the end.'

Megadeth had fought a dragon with Presence Sensing before, so he started changing the timing of his attacks to confuse Haku.

Haku became teary-eyed as he failed to dodge the new attacks, while Kurena's attacks did less damage. Megadeth could heal most of it anyway.

Haku was starting to feel defeated.

"It's fine, we can win."

'O-okay.'

After using a Heaven's Blessing, she tried to cheer Haku up.

'I commend your resiliency to not give up yet, but this is the end. Sometimes Desperado's predictions aren't fulfilled after all.'

Megadeth was convinced of his victory, so he started mentioning something else.

Haku and Kurena paid attention, wondering what he meant.

But then there was a new voice different from Megadeth.

'Desperado's prediction? That's something I'm rather curious about.'

Clack clack

'Wha-?! Why are you here? Wait are you-!!'

Someone Desperado knew well entered the arena.

'I'm sorry, Kurena. The barrier spell was changed a bit so it took me some time to get in here.'

The Arbiter God Pharnemes entered, interrupting Megadeth and Kurena.