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

"Phew, we did it! So, does it say we defeated him?"

"I'll show you even if you don't cling to me like that."

Cecile peeked from behind Allen, trying to see if there was an entry in the Grimoire mentioning the defeat of Lycaoron.

(Merle, we'll know if we defeated him in a bit. Get the Vulcan Cannon ready in case he's still alive.)

"Roger that!!"

Merle replied alone, being the only one remaining outside of Theomenia.

She was still on the same hill as before, riding Tam-Tam with the Vulcan Cannon ready.

If Lycaoron was still alive, she would shower him with bullets.

Allen had transported Lycaoron to a place where Marle could shoot as well.

On top of that, the Small Meteorite that had crushed him stood out like a huge tombstone, so Merle knew where to aim.

But that was all needless precaution.

The Demon General Lycaoron did not come out from beneath Cecile's meteorite.

[You've defeated 1 Demon General. You've achieved Level 83. Strength increased 100. Mana increased 160. Attack increased 56. Endurance increased 56. Agility increased 104. Intelligence increased 160. Luck increased 104.]

Allen could already feel the improved stats in his body.

"Alright, we've defeated the Demon General!!" 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

(Woohoo! I've leveled up, I've leveled up! Ta-daa!)

The Grimoire had no sound output, so Allen subconsciously imagined a level up chime.

"We did it!!"

Kurena jumped with joy.

"Looks like it worked out well, Allen."

"Well, Merus did help a lot with researching his fighting style. Your heals were good too, Kiel."

'Even though I had to die many times?'

Merus had fought Lycaoron many times for the last three days, all to learn how he fought.

Allen congratulated everyone.

Kiel's healing had helped them a lot during the fight.

His place was always in the backline, timing his healing perfectly so the vanguard could fight without disturbance.

(You did well too, Homing Instinct worked flawlessly. Despite the limitations from them being an enemy, it was still useful.)

Allen looked back at the fight, realizing it had gone almost perfectly according to plan.

Bird A's Homing Instinct had many uses when transporting items or allies, but it was a bit more finicky when it came to using it on monsters of Demon Generals.

With an ally, he could freely send them anywhere within a radius of at least one kilometer.

There were no weird conditions like the target needing to be affixed onto the ground.

When it came to enemies, there were two big conditions to be able to use Homing Instinct on them.

- Allen had to touch the target directly.

- And the radius was limited within a one kilometer area.

Allen had gotten so adept with that skill that he was able to transport a large number of allies, like during the fight against the boss in the last floor of the dungeon, or against the golems.

But with those limitations, he only could transport one or two enemies.

Summons' Extra Skills and Awakened Skills had limitations like that, but in a way that was what kept the systems balanced.

Even with those limitations, it opened up surprise attack possibilities, and allowed more attacks or magic to hit.

It also let them shift the place Cecile's terrifying Small Meteorite would hit.

Seeing how well it worked, Allen decided to write a note in the Grimoire to remind himself to use it again in the future.

"Thank you too, Temi and Lepe. I'm glad you took the time to come even though the commando units are already being formed and a new conflict is starting."

"At least you're aware of that, and yes, we're kinda busy. It seems everything is handled here, so can you take us back?"

"Huh? But I'm tired, let me rest at least a bit. Allen, can you give me another Mormo fruit?"

"Sure thing, Lepe. Have some jerky too."

"Thanks."

Once the fight was over, Lepe had gone to Allen's side and asked if there was anything to eat, but it seemed like two Mormo fruits were not enough.

Temi interrupted them, so Allen took out an extra Mormo fruit and some jerky for him.

Temi said they needed to go back as they were amidst an important mission in Rosenheim, but Lepe complained saying it was too soon.

Apparently after Allen's party left for the Holy Land, Prince Zew had told the elves "I don't want to fight inside a fort."

Then he continued "Staying on the defensive until we're attacked isn't how we beastmen live. Let's form an army and go fight the Demon King's Army directly."

At first, the elven generals that were present struggled to understand what he wanted to do.

But Marshall Sigur understood there was some merit to that idea.

Elves were proficient with bows and spirit magic, both long range types of attack, so they always favored staying in forts and fighting from them.

Now with Allen's summons, and specialized commando units, they could go ahead and attack the Demon King's Army before they reached the forts, which would diminish the elven victims.

The ways beastmen and elves fought were way too different.

Beastmen had high Agility, so they could leave the forts and lay traps and launch surprise attacks on the Demon King's Army, without suffering many losses themselves.

While Allen was busy in the Holy Land rescuing people from the Pagan Worshippers and fighting the Demon General, he had still kept an eye on the Demon King's Army's movements in the Central Continent, around the Baukis Empire and Rosenheim.

The attackers numbered around two million, the average of the prior years.

They were split in three groups, a million for the Central Continent, half a million on Baukis, and another half million on Rosenheim, without any reserves left.

The troops on the Central Continent had reached the first strongholds already, a bloody battle ensuing.

Baukis was still safe, a considerable distance on sea still between them..

They had already landed on Rosenheim though, and the Demon King's Army troops marched on the northern regions.

Unlike last year, they had a proper chain of command this time, and their movements were getting annoying, according to what Helmios said one day before.

Apparently they would only attack when Helmios was not present.

On top of that, the troops on Rosenheim somehow anticipated the beastmen commando units, so they marched on erratic paths, making it harder to predict where they would be.

But they still had a trump card there, Astrologer Temi.

She had what could almost be considered a cheat Skill, divining whether the troops would change course or not.

They were also putting Allen's summons to good effect, killing the Demon King's Army's monsters.

That was another reason why Lepe was feeling so tired now.

So basically the battle against the Demon King's Army had already started in Rosenheim, so the Ten Heroic Beasts could not afford to all leave out of the blue.

And that was the same reason why Allen did not look for Helmios, who had helped with the Demon General Razel before.

As for the Phantom Thief Rosetta, her Skill to steal a Demon General's abilities could have been useful, but since Lycaoron used only physical Skills, there was no real need for her.

"Still, you were a lot of help. I'll send some supplies over later."

Saying that, Allen took Temi and Lepe back to their place.

Then before he forgot, he also expressed his gratitude to Dogora.

"Dogora, try not to stress about it that much. Though well, at least Lycaoron didn't notice. Either way, thanks."

Cecile would pretend to use her magic, and Merle would attack from long range with the Vulcan Cannon.

That was their plan in a nutshell.

"Mm, I'll try."

"Hm? What's wrong, Dogora?"

Merle just regrouped with the others, and seemed worried about Dogora.

Kurena also got closer, peeking into Dogora's face wondering what had happened.

Ignoring all of their gazes, Dogora gripped his battleaxe firmly and closed his eyes, replaying the earlier fight in his mind.

"Dammit! Why was I the only one who couldn't use my Extra Skill!!"

Dogora roared atop the temple ruins.

After his scream, he swung down his axe and fell onto his knees.

(I knew it, he was hoping it would happen today. Yesterday he was excited about it.)

Allen recalled Dogora nodding and listening attentively to him explain the plan.

He had fought with all he had against Lycaoron, not afraid of dying against the huge gap in stats between them.

His movements had been perfect, not just standing on the side half-heartedly swinging his axe.

It was also thanks to him firmly holding his shield that the backlines suffered no harm during the fight.

But unlike Kurena, his Extra Skill did not activate.

Kurena had been able to strike a powerful attack on the transformed Lycaoron after using her Extra Skill.

She had also been helped by Lepe's Attack buff, and the Attack necklace she obtained as reward for defeating the last boss in the S Rank Dungeon.

But Dogora's attacks had no effect whatsoever on Lycaoron after transforming.

It had been that way for him ever since the fight against the Demon General Razel, where he failed to activate his Extra Skill too.

"Hey, Merus. Why don't you tell us already? I don't understand why you would keep that secret in the first place though."

Allen felt like the whole situation was too strange.

Everyone had been able to use their Extra Skills, except Dogora.

There had to be a reason for that, and Merus might know it.

Merus had avoided mentioning anything about it, so Allen decided to push him.

'I can't. There's no way I would ever say that.'

Merus refused to answer.

"Could you at least tell us why you aren't telling us?"

Allen decided to ask the reason for his silence.

'...It involves some complicated laws. But I will tell you if you insist.'

Merus seemed to think about it for a moment, then answered hesitantly.