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

Chapter 264: Pioneer (1)

It was the day after my friends changed their Talents.

"Good."

"Paw Paw."

Sophie was holding a three-year old boy dressed in what looked like a traditional costume.

The boy was an Infant Earth Spirit called Korpokkur.

He had a large leaf on his back.

"You've grown quite a lot."

"Yes. It is thanks to the Spirit God."

"..."

I looked at the Spirit God who was curled up on Sophie's head, and silent.

Hearing that the world would be destroyed in a few years, Rosen, the Spirit God, did his best to support Sophie.

The destruction of the world meant the disappearance of his beloved elves from the world.

He was helping Sophie raise her affinity with the Infant Spirits.

I felt that it was not allowed.

However, the Infant Spirit, with fairly low intelligence, had no idea what Spirit God was saying, but nodded his head regardless.

Then, even more desperately, the Spirit God persuaded him.

My friends and I were being forced to watch some kind of comedy skit.

"Hey, Allen. Can't we just get rid of the Admiral or whatever the hell he is?"

In the midst of the heartwarming atmosphere, Dogora swore.

"Dogora, you are still saying that?"

"How long is he going to stay?"

Dogora said to me in the queue.

We were entering the dungeon that day, in the morning, but as usual, we were having to wait. Especially since the line extended to outside the temple.

Dogora, who had been holding back what he wanted to say because we were in front of Admiral Galara, even though he was drunk, overflowed with frustration.

"Yes!"

Kurena, too, was not happy with the things that Admiral Galara said to Dogora, and she puffed out her cheeks and agreed with him.

"Hmm."

"Huh? Fugyu!"

I pinched Kurena's cheek.

"Have you reflected on that?"

"Why? Fugui!"

She glared at me with eyes of defiance.

Since there was no sign of remorse, I pinched her cheeks harder.

Kurena's cheeks stretched and contracted.

"Oh, hey, should I help?"

Kiel was puzzled by the situation.

(Don't hesitate to help.)

"Enough! The gatekeeper will stop us again."

After receiving a firm scolding from Cecile, I released Kurena.

"Why..."

Kurena complained with tears in her eyes, asking why it was wrong to speak ill of Admiral Galara.

Apparently, she was not convinced.

"Admiral Galara is a pioneer. You must respect him."

""Pioneer?""

Kurena and Dogora simultaneously raised their voices in doubt.

"This is a memory from my previous life, but I firmly believe that there are always pioneers in the world."

I spoke as we moved a little further along the queue.

Not only Kurena and Dogora, but all of my friends were listening to me.

Even in my previous life, those called "Bosses" were placed in various places, such as dungeons and castles of magical beasts.

It was only in games, but as usual, I left that part out of the story.

Bosses didn't always exist; sometimes new bosses emerged.

It was because of the new version updates.

No one knew how to beat the new Boss.

The "Pioneers" were the ones who would defeat those new Bosses.

Through trial and error, they would strive for the optimal solution to defeat the new Boss.

They would seek out what their weaknesses were, what the ideal party composition would be, how many people were needed, what equipment were needed, etc.

The Pioneers were the most at risk because they would have no prior information about their opponent.

Still, they paved the way for latecomers.

I was a pioneer in my previous life when I was a student, because I had a lot of time on my hands.

However, when I got a job and became a salaryman, I became a latecomer.

But I knew how to appreciate Pioneers.

They put their strategies on online forums and their own blogs to light the way for latecomers.

When I was playing an online game under the character name Kenichi in my previous life, a stupidly strong new Boss named the Ice Queen was implemented in a new dungeon called the Ice Castle.

The new Boss was so strong that she was unbeatable because the game distributor forgot the concept of game balance.

A senior user who I knew took up that challenge.

Defeated by the Ice Queen's overwhelming power, he dropped his equipment.

He lost his equipment that had taken him tens of thousands of hours to forge.

A few friends of his and I brought our equipment together to save the senior who was in danger of retiring.

(How dare you do this in real life!?)

I knew that what had happened was something that happened in the game.

But for me, the game was reality itself, not just a game.

Still, looking at Admiral Galara, I couldn't say that I would have risked my life in my previous life.

"Admiral Galara lost six of his friends who had followed him from his days as an adventurer to his military service. It was no wonder he was desperate. Perhaps, Dogora, he's worried that you will become conceited after getting strong and that you'll do something reckless."

(And he might not be able to handle the pressure without sake, as he has to follow the unreasonable order of the Emperor.)

"Okay."

"Yeah."

Both Dogora and Kurena responded, and from their expressions, they seemed to understand.

In the meantime, we moved to the 4th floor.

"We've got three Level 1s today. Merle and Kurena, you take the lead, and Dogora, you back off a bit until you get to some levels."

(Well, there are only A-rank magical beasts in this floor, so their level will go up fast. What? A hidden cube.)

An E-rank Bird discovered a hidden cube floating on a leaf.

E-rank Birds circled the sky on the 4th floor even when I was not on the 4th floor.

Even so, they rarely found hidden cubes, so I made it a priority to head there.

We descended on the leaf in front of the hidden cube.

"I hope this will give us a useful Stone Slab."

"Yeah! Then my Super Golem will be complete!"

Merle responded by clutching the Magic Board dangling in front of her chest.

"I want to be the one to do it today!"

Kurena, who had been scolded by me and was remorseful, said that she would do it.

"... Okay."

"Oh, God. Allen, you have already lost five times in a row, so just give it up."

"No, I gave it up obediently, honestly."

"You're not being honest."

Cecile said with dismay at my attitude.

Cecile seemed to be wondering what all that gratuitous talk earlier was about.

Just as Kurena was about to talk to the hidden cube...

Buzz

My view changes from the top of a leaf floating on the surface of the water.

(Oh? What's this? It looks like a Canyon.)

My friends and I were somewhere with reddish-brown pillars of rock and dry earth.

And in front of us was a one-eyed Giant over 10 meters tall, holding a club.

And it seemed to have noticed us.

"Gru Aaaaah!!!!"

It raised a war cry and rushed towards us, making the ground shake.

And it seemed that there were more than one of those Giants.

Multiple Giants front and back, left and right, came at you, shaking the ground.

"We're in the Death Zone! Get on Griffs. Merle, buy us some time!"

I understood that we had been teleported to the Death Zone.

I gave everyone instructions in rapid succession.

"Yeah! Tam-Tam Descend!"

A huge Mithril Golem appeared.

Then, as she was accustomed to doing, Merle got in and held back multiple Giants.

The Golem's size overwhelmed the Giants.

The Golem literally kicked up a Giant over 10 meters tall and blasted it into the sky.

(Merle's Golem is indeed impressive. A-rank magical beasts are nothing infront of it. I wonder who got such a valuable Stone Slab. Well, it doesn't matter.)

[Name] Tam Tam

[Pilot] Merle

[Rank] Mithril

[Strength] 9000＋1800

[Mana] 9000+1800

[Attack] 9,000 + 3,000

[Endurance] 9000 + 4800

[Agility] 9000

[Intelligence] 9000+1800

[Luck] 9,000

I was impressed by the effectiveness of the Stone Slab that Kiel had won after my five consecutive losses.

The Mithril Golem originally had a status of 3000.

But, when the Giant Stone Slab, which occupied three Stone Slab work of spaces inserted in the Magic Board, its status tripled to 9,000.

The Strengthening Stone Slab increased [Attack] and [Endurance] by 3000 as well.

"Awesome as ever..."

Dogora was also impressed by the overwhelming power of the Mithril Golem.

"Yeaah! Tam-Tam!"

Merle piloted the earth-shaking Mithril Golem from the crystal on its chest.

The Giants were probably A-rank magical beasts in terms of size, but Tam-Tam easily blocked their movements.

The Mithril Golem, with a Giant Stone Slab attached to the Magic Board, was 50 meters tall.

It made the Giants look like kittens or puppies.

The rest of us, while working in unison, defeated the Giants who were blown away and out of position.

"You have defeated 1 Cyclops. You have acquired 7,200,000 Experience."

Apparently the Giants name was Cyclops. My Grimoire displayed the amount of experience gained from the Cyclops that Kurena had just defeated.

"Oh! I've leveled up!"

Dogora Level increased by nearly 40 at once.

Since he was just Level 1 before, his status increased explosively, and the Great Axe felt very light to him.

"Guruu!"

But more and more Cyclops emerged from the rocky pillars of the canyon with a low roar.

There seemed to be more than 100 cyclops all over the area, but even from the ground rumblings it seemed like a swarm that was too large to be fully visible.

"Uh, here comes the experience. It's been a long time since we've been in a Death Zone. Let's make sure we earn a lot!"

""Oh!!!!""

The battle continued with Allen's shout.

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