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

Chapter 652: Earth Labyrinth RTA (21) The last second

After activating the Awakened Skill [Dragon Soul], Haku tore off Magra's head.

(That was too close. We only have 1 minute and a half left. Where's the door? Hurry!!)

[99th floor: 0:01:33 left]

Allen searched for the key that would lead out of the 99th floor.

After Haku tore off Magra's head, the key came loose and glittered on the floor.

Allen dashed forward to the key.

'Grrrr!!'

"Wha?!"

But Haku stood in his way.

His body was bent forward, and his eyes looked crazed as he bared his fangs at Allen's group.

He was seeing Allen as an enemy since he had rushed in so suddenly.

Then Haku shook his hips, using his more than 500000 Attack to swing his tail.

'Absolute Defense! Ghnghh!!'

Luvanka used his Special Skill [Absolute Defense] to block the enormous tail with his 6 arms.

But Haku's thorny dragon scales still scraped away at the skin on Luvanka's 6 arms.

On top of that, Haku tried to bite Luvanka.

'Haku, calm down! Allen, leave this to me!!'

Matildora looked desperate as he clung to Haku's neck and restrained him, pulling him away from Luvanka, and Allen used that opening to grab the key.

'Don't worry about me! Go ahead!! We're conquering the dungeon!!'

'The two of them will take care of Haku! We can't give up until the last second!!'

Using the Bird F summon, Allen told everyone what to do.

"All of you! Go towards Haku!!"

"We're counting on you, Great Spirits!"

Sophie and Luck's Great Spirits also went to heal and protect Luvanka and Matildora.

'Here's some ice to cool down your head!'

'Graawwrrrr!!'

'We'll keep going until the end then! There!!'

The Ice Great Spirit Iruzo sealed Haku's mouth with ice, while the Water Great Spirit Tonies healed Luvanka and Matildora's injuries.

(Alright, he can't deal with multiple targets. Now we just have to hope Haku wakes up soon.)

Allen watched the Great Spirits helping, then ran towards Cecile and the rest.

Then Magra's body began to vanish into bubbles of light.

*Bump*

(Wait, what is it now?)

The Grimoire appeared in front of Allen and a log began to be written.

Many things were happening one after another, though Allen was not thrilled by it.

'The Dragon God Magra's soul has been released from the Earth Labyrinth. He can be used to create the Dragon S summon. Please collect it with the Sacred Beast Stone.'

"What… I had expected as much though. Shea, take this!!"

(Please, let it reach!)

Allen activated his Throwing Skill and threw the key like a fast ball at Shea.

'Huh? What? Allen?!'

"I'll be there in a bit. Just open the door!!"

'Okay. But you hurry up!!'

Shea jumped up to the keyhole and put the key there, which made the engraved dragon's eyes lit up and the door started opening, making the floor rumble.

"There's stairs! There's stairs behind the door!"

"Yes, let's run down everyone. And you hurry up too, Master Allen!!"

Cecile saw a staircase going down 100 meters down, and everyone rushed in at Sophie's command.

"I know. Collect it already!!"

Allen replied to Sophie, as he held out the Sacred Beast Stone and absorbed Magra's soul.

(There aren't even 50 seconds left. I really don't want to be left behind.)

[99th floor. 0:00:48 left]

The timer on the mini-sculpture kept ticking down.

"There's no time left, Master Allen!!"

Sophie shouted louder than ever before, her voice coming from far away.

She usually had really tame emotions, but in this situation she could not keep calm.

(Oh? The soul is following me.)

Magra's soul followed the Sacred Beast Stone as it was absorbed.

Allen had already switched most of his cards from Intelligence to Agility.

Then he dashed across many hundreds of meters in an instant.

"Woahhhhh?! 24 seconds!!"

[99th floor, 0:00:24 left]

He did not like how quickly he was running out of time.

He had already reached the stairs, but he still had to go down the spiral staircase.

Instead of using the stairs, Allen spread his arms and jumped off, using the Blessing [Flight] to soar down.

(Huh? The ground?)

Suddenly Allen felt like he could no longer feel gravity, even though he was going down at an incredible speed. At some point it was like he suddenly started to rise instead.

But he had no time to think about that now.

When he reached the end, he found himself in a dark place with little sunlight, making it hard to tell whether it was day or night.

It looked like a vast place with nothing in it, except for flashing sculptures on the side.

'Those who cleared the dungeon please touch me.'

'Those who cleared the dungeon please touch me.'

'Those who cleared the dungeon please touch me.'

It seemed like touching those sculptures was a requirement to complete the dungeon.

All of them spoke rapidly.

"Allen, hurry up!!"

Cecile shouted, already touching one of the sculptures.

"Hnnnnggggghhh!!"

Allen stopped looking at the timer and rushed at the sculptures.

He reached forward and grabbed the head of one of them.

'Allen has been registered. Your completion time was 99 hours, 59 minutes, 57 seconds.'

[99th floor, 0:00:03 left]

The mini-sculpture showed they only had 3 seconds left.

"Ohhhhh!! We did itttttttt!!"

(Yayyyyyyyyyyyy!!)

Raising the Sacred Beast Stone with both arms, Allen began to celebrate.

"We somehow did it. Will the rest be alright?"

"They're okay! Nothing bad has happened."

Allen looked at the Grimoire and saw that no one's Strength had gone down to 0.

Everyone turned around to the Earth Labyrinth's exit behind them.

"It seems Lady Iruzo's ice helped cool off Haku's head. He's calmed down."

The Bird E summon could see Haku and the rest.

Gatoruga's Water Great Spirit Iruzo had frozen Haku's 100 meter long body, keeping him still until the black aura around him vanished and he returned back to normal.

Allen told everyone Haku was okay, everyone sighed in relief and finally celebrated their accomplishment.

"We did it! We did it!!"

"We did it, Master Allen!"

"So we finally got through it!!"

"Yahoo! We did it! Ah… I need to think of a triumphant pose for this!!"

"Allen's help really got us through."

Cecile, Sophie, and Luck all exchanged high fives.

Merle also came down from Tam-Tam and also joined in with a jumping high five.

Shea undid [Full Beast Mode] and went to high five Allen too.

It was important for the party to get along.

"Also why did you take so long… You barely made it here!!"

Even though Allen had gotten there in time, Cecile was still angry with him.

Her happiness was quickly taken over by anger.

Allen thought it was good that she did not conceal her emotions though.

"I mean, Cecile. I still had to collect Magra's soul."

"Ohh, so you'll be able to get the Dragon S summon then. Does that mean you'll get the Angel S summon next?"

"Ohhh! Incredible!!"

'...Currently negotiating with Magra. Please wait.'

'A summon? What's that? I'm not turning into that! I'll be the God of the new world!!'

'Silence. I can't believe you're still going on about that even after being sealed for so long…'

It was the first time a discussion appeared on the Grimoire.

Allen just hoped that Lupto would be able to get it done without any compromises.

"Ah, they're here."

The group that had fallen behind restraining Haku appeared.

The Water Great Spirit Tonies had already healed them back to full health.

'Sorry for keeping you waiting.'

"It's alright, Matildora. Thank you for helping us."

'Well, getting through was important for you, wasn't it Allen?'

Allen had wished they could have gotten through without leaving anyone behind, but he just nodded.

'Still, to think I would get to experience the Earth Labyrinth…'

Luvanka smiled in a strange way, crossing his 6 arms, and nodding with a slightly different emotion from the satisfaction everyone else felt.

(It seems Luvanka has a propensity to sacrificing himself.)

'That's how I am. Get used to it.'

Since they had Sharing activated, Luvanka could tell Allen's thoughts.

Luvanka had worked hard when fighting the final boss Magra.

But his personality had led to him ignoring Allen's orders many times.

"Haku, you helped us a lot there."

'Kuuunnn…'

Haku just held his head down and replied exhausted.

"Don't worry. It was the Skill's fault. Kurena isn't here either, but you still saved us."

'Mama…'

Haku's eyes became teary as he thought about Kurena, and raised his face.

(The Dragon God Gefon's soul, huh. I guess it's finally time I get my own dragon.)

Magra had mentioned the name of the Dragon God Gefon, who had served the God of Light Amante.

Allen would have to ask what he meant later.

Then Allen mentioned what they would do next, and everyone nodded.

The participants had been working hard for 2 months.

Everyone looked back, where a sculpture was standing.

'...It seems everyone has gathered then. Allen and company, congratulations for beating the Earth Labyrinth.'

"Thank you for waiting for everyone."

It seemed like the sculpture had been waiting for them before speaking.

Everyone let Allen do the talking, as he was the leader.

'First off, your group has been the first in 13615 years to gain a record here.'

"A record? For beating the Earth Labyrinth?"

'Yes. Congratulations. You're currently standing in the 394th place on the leaderboards.'

The sculpture detailed their achievement.

"