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

[80th floor, 7:11 left]

-2 Keys

-Other necessary items omitted

As everyone attacked at the same time, the chain broke and the key fell from Andre's neck.

"Merus!"

The moment the key was freed from the chain, Allen gave out an order.

'I know!'

After using her Skill, Shea had to keep still for a moment, so Merus was the one moving, flying forward to pick up the key.

(We don't need to defeat him.)

Andre did not have powerful weapons or Skills, and instead he used his enormous Endurance and healing power to drag out the fight, so Allen knew what it would take to win.

He had to take the key and head to the stairs instead of defeating Andre.

(We're prioritizing reaching the 99th floor this time. Wait, hm?)

As Merus spread his wings and flew forward, suddenly Andre's face appeared in front of him.

That was slightly odd, since Allen's strategy had worked flawlessly, but Andre looked calm.

Andre was pressed against the floor as he resisted Cecile's Extra Skill [Small Meteor], so Allen believed he should not be able to move.

Only a few seconds had passed since Shea's rapid attacks broke the chain and let the key fall free, but then Andre's voice rang out.

'Hmph, you think you can win like that?'

Just as Merus was about to reach the key, he felt a strike on his stomach.

'Ghah?!'

A long tongue like a chameleon's jumped out of Andre's mouth and sent Merus flying away.

'Hm? Then I'll-!!'

"Stop! Shea!! Luvanka, protect Shea!!"

'Got it! Ghuh?!'

Merus' vision was Shared with Allen, so he also knew how powerful the tongue attack was.

Merus had survived it, but Shea would easily be killed by it.

As Shea got closer to the key and the tongue, Luvanka moved in between them to block, but he was sent flying back from the hit too.

Then Andre's tongue coiled around the key and pulled it back into his mouth.

"W-wait…"

"Oh no, what should we do now…"

*Gulp*

'Phew, that was close, you almost took the key from me. It seems they're going pretty wild on the floor below, but I'm glad I kept my guard up. Oh, I think I'm saying too much now. Either way, you've wasted even more time now.'

Andre spoke with a confident voice, assured of his victory.

"It seems we have to defeat him to get the key now…"

"But we got rid of so much of his Strength before and it wasn't enough…"

'Oh, strategizing is important. Take as long as you want. I still have to keep working for 7 hours after all.'

Andre would not stop grinning.

Allen looked at the timer on the mini-sculpture again. They barely had 7 hours left.

(So the enemy knows how far in this is and how much time left we have. Now I just have to come up with a strategy to get out of this. At least it's good that he's so confident he already won.)

Allen began thinking of a strategy again.

Merle and the golems were still attacking from far away.

The spirit masters were also imbuing their Great Spirits with Mana to keep attacking, and Cecile kept casting spells too.

Haku and Matildora kept using their breath attacks since those dealt a lot of damage.

The two healers in the rear lines kept using their healing magic.

But everything just repeated as before, except that this time Andre used his tongue for ranged attacks, and once his Strength was low he recovered it all.

"This is worrying."

After watching Andre heal a second time, Sophie began to get worried.

'What's wrong? Is that all?'

(So this time he healed in 20 minutes, I guess he doesn't have much of a strategy and is just trying to waste time then. His positioning tells me that too. But at least he doesn't suspect anything, it's not like I've told my plan to anyone yet.)

Allen analyzed Andre's behavior and words to determine he was just trying to waste time.

Now they only had around 6 hours and a half left.

They could not afford to waste more time if they wanted to make it to the 99th floor.

Allen was only giving simple instructions, since he did not want Andre to pick up on anything.

There was only around 1 kilometer between the entrance behind them and the exit on the other side.

"Sophie, use Spirit God's Blessing. Merus, speed us up with Maracas."

(I like having more max Mana, but Andre has 300000 Agility so I have to increase the chances.)

"Understood. Spirit God's Blessing!"

This was the second time they used [Spirit God's Blessing] since they entered the dungeon.

(Now everyone's cooldowns are reset.)

"Haku! Step back and use your breath to burn him!!"

'Gyau! Graawwrrrrrrr!!'

'Hm? What is this power!!'

The flames were so bright they were blinding.

-Haku's stats (version with Spirit God's Blessing)

[Strength] 255092

[Mana] 203266

[Spiritual Power] 203266

[Attack] 346989 + 60000 (weapon)

[Endurance] 365003 + 60000 (armor)

[Agility] 319820

[Intelligence] 322619

[Luck] 247099

Andre did not have any resistance to breath attacks, so he curled up his body into a defensive pose, but Haku's breath only became more powerful.

Magic spells scaled with Intelligence, but breath attacks scaled with Attack.

Haku's more than 340000 Attack was having a clear effect.

Andre returned his legs and head into his shell, starting to heal.

(That wasn't enough to defeat him. He has too much Strength.)

"Hey! Not even Haku defeated him! I'll attack too!!"

'Everyone step back! Aim for the gates as soon as I give the signal!!'

Allen used the Bird F Skill [Transmission] to give a new order to everyone.

Everyone understood that was important for Allen's plan.

(It's getting so hot. But I won't stop attacking.)

'D-damn youuuu!!'

No matter how much Andre healed, Haku would not stop using his breath, so Andre attacked back, stretching out his tongue to hit Haku who was many hundreds of meters away.

"Alright, Merus use Greatsword!"

'Catalog [Greatsword] Tall Slasher.'

'Ghah!!'

As if waiting for it, Merus used the Greatsword's Awakened Skill [Tall Slasher] on the stretched tongue.

[Weapon name: Greatsword]

1: Special Skill Name: Lightning King Sword

-Sends a shockwave of lightning from the blade

2: Awakened Skill Name: Tall Slasher

-A powerful slash with lightning element attack 𝒻𝓻𝘦𝑒𝓌𝑒𝓫𝓷𝑜𝓋𝘦𝓵.𝓬𝘰𝓂

-Cooldown 1 day

The tongue was cut and a large amount of blood gushed out from Andre's mouth.

(Good, now charge into his mouth.)

'Okay. Are you sure about it though?'

(We'll just do our best here after that.)

As Andre shouted in pain, Merus jumped into his mouth.

Andre was 300 meters long, so Merus looked like a bug in comparison.

'Hm? Wait, are you… Don't you dare!!'

"Good, everyone back. But Haku keep using your breath, and Tam-Tam use Retreating Bullets!! Keep the formation as we retreat!!"

'Gyau!!'

'No problem.'

Allen gave the final orders and everyone headed to the exit with Haku and Tam-Tam covering their retreat.

(Oh, Merus is still going into Andre's body at a really high speed. Have you found anything?)

'Almost…'

Merus' view was Shared with Allen so he could see what was happening.

It was like he had plunged into a sea of acid, which lowered Merus' Strength.

Meanwhile Allen and the rest had reached the wall.

*Clank clank*

"Th-the key doesn't work after all…"

Sophie tried opening the gate just in case, but the keys she had could not open it.

"Wait, is he…"

"Yeah, Merus is searching for the key right now. Oh, let's go!!"

As Merus' Strength was chipped away, he spotted the shiny orichalcum key.

Merus took it and quickly stored it in the Inventory.

*Poof*

Then Merus' Strength gave out and he vanished in bubbles of light.

Allen quickly took out the key from the Grimoire's Inventory and put it in the keyhole.

(Let's just hope that transporting items through the Inventory isn't against the regulations. It barely took a second anyway.)

The 100 meter tall gates creaked heavily as they opened up.

"The gates are open, everyone get in."

Sophie urged everyone to go through the gate.

'I won't let you get away!!'

Andre put his legs and head inside his shell and then began to roll toward them.

"Haku, Tam-Tam, everyone got away. Get here too!!"

Allen shouted to those two who were covering everyone's escape, who quickly moved through the gate too, managing to pass just as Andre was about to hit them.

*Voooommmmm*

'Wait! Come back and fight me!! Graaaawwwwwwwwwww!!'

Andre was 300 meters long and could not get through the gate, so he could only shout loudly.

Past the gate was a long corridor, so everyone returned to their formation and moved forward.

"Alright, let's get moving."

"Wait, what are we going to do about Merus?!"

"It was a valuable sacrifice. We can't use Merus for the rest of the dungeon."

The Earth Labyrinth rules stopped Allen from re-summoning defeated summons.

He could not summon, but he could Create them, allowing him to regain his stats from Blessings.

(That was my fault for not anticipating he would swallow the key. Going through the 90th floor will be the trickiest part now. Luckily Merus used the Special Skill and Awakened Skill before going away so we have the boost in Agility.)

They had to go from the 80th floor to the 99th floor in 6 hours.

As they moved through the long corridor and Allen wondered how much time they had lost, they noticed two rooms on the sides that required keys.

"What should we do? Just move along?"

Cecile asked if they would just keep going forward, or open the two doors.

"...We have 2 keys. I'd like to keep them for later, but maybe we need whatever is past these doors later on."

They had prioritized moving on time so it was hard to say whether they had enough keys or not.

But they did not know what was past those doors, and it could be important.

If they needed whatever was there later, then skipping the doors would ruin everything.

"Alright Sophie, open the doors."

Sophie was carrying the 2 keys.

"Okay Cecile. Here I go."

The keys would vanish on use with a 50% chance, but this time it remained whole and the door opened with a rumbling sound.

Everyone looked into the room as a dazzling light came out from within.

"Wait, isn't that orichalcum?!!"

Everyone stopped as they turned to look into the room.

There was an enormous ore deposit there.

"