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

Allen's team went to a nearby lake, which had beautiful sparkly water, which left Sophie speechless. They were there since the rabbit spirit requested water from that lake.

"Ahh, what a beautiful place… Wait, there's spirits here too."

Multiple spirits had arrived first, and they drank from the water with their heads plunged inside.

"Hmph, so we just have to take some water now."

Luck was still bothered by the rabbit spirit. He still looked like an 8 year old, and acted as one.

Seeing that, Sophie turned to Allen, looking a bit disappointed by his attitude.

"Sometimes efforts can go unrewarded though."

Many fetch quests were like that.

"What does that mean?"

"Well, for example sometimes a king or queen might work really hard for their people, but then the people don't feel grateful at all."

"That's a politically interesting way of seeing it."

"Not really, it's just something that happens."

Allen refuted Sophie's attempt at flattering him.

"But why can't they just be a little thankful anyway?"

Allen's team navigated around the other spirits, finding an empty area.

"We're doing this for the Spirit Gods. I didn't give that rabbit spirit a World Tree Seed just because I felt like it."

He told Luck that they were not doing that for the rabbit spirit, and there was no need for him to feel grateful either.

"I see, I see."

Luck seemed like he had found a way to understand that concept in his own way..

"Alright, so we just need to scoop up some water. Hmm, the water got here from uphill…oh, it's actually coming from the Great Spirit God's mountain."

"Oh? You're right. We should feel grateful for it."

Allen used [Thousand-mile Eyes] to check, and saw the water got there from the mountain.

"Hey, Allen! This water actually tastes really good!!"

While Allen and Sophie looked around, Luck had gone ahead and began drinking the water.

"Wait, I don't think it's a good idea to just drink water from a lake like that."

The water seemed to be refreshing enough to improve Luck's mood.

(Is it really that good though?)

Since this was the divine realm, Allen figured the water could be miraculously tasty or something like that. He was not a fancy eater, but even he got curious, so he leaned down to scoop up some.

'You braaaats!! What are you doing touching the Spring of Life without permission!!'

Some old man holding a cane rushed at them with an enraged face. He was faster than his appearance suggested, and quickly swatted Luck's head with his cane.

"Huh? Gya?!"

Luck's eyes nearly popped out from the pain and quickly filled with tears. Allen and Sophie quickly stood between Luck and the old man, wondering what was going on.

The disturbance made the nearby spirits get scared so they all ran away.

"I'm really sorry, we didn't realize how important these waters were, so we reached for them carelessly."

'Hm? Well, as long as you understand now it's alright.'

The old man seemed to calm down seeing Allen apologize and bow to him, taking deep breaths after running so much.

(Oh? This grandpa is actually a Water Great Spirit. Maybe he's the guardian of this lake?)

[Name] Tonies

[Age] 50289

[Species] Spirit

[Strength] 39000

[Mana] 32000

[Spiritual Power] 33000

[Attack] 32000

[Endurance] 36000

[Agility] 35000

[Intelligence] 39000

[Luck] 24000

[Attack Element] Water

[Endurance Element] Water

The stats were those of a Great Spirit, and the elements indicated he was a water spirit.

He was 1.5 meters tall, and had a long beard and mustache, appearing like an old man more than 80 years old. His robe was dripping with water, while the top of his cane was adorned with a snail shell. Allen thought it was obvious he was a water spirit.

"We crossed the Gate of Judgement, and were allowed to move around the Spirit Paradise."

While they did not know that it was an important lake, Allen still apologized for reaching into it.

'An elf, a dark elf, and a human hmmm. What a strange pairing. Is the Spirit God Rosen with you?'

"No. The Spirit God Rosen and Fabre who recently became one too came here with us, but then Rosen…"

Rosen had to atone for his sins.

'Ahh, his sins… It's not rare for spirits to take the side of elves, and the Great Spirit God should be aware of that though.'

The spirit sounded somewhat sad hearing that. He seemed to know something, so Allen decided to be a bit more assertive.

"Actually, the Great Spirit God also gave us a task…"

(I really feel like I'm getting somewhere with this quest now.)

He explained how he has 10 days to solve the Spirit Paradise's problem and save Rosen.

That was why he went around trying to help spirits, until one requested water from the lake.

'I see…'

He seemed to understand something.

"Would you happen to know something about that?"

'Hm?! Well…I guess I do. There's something quite troubling… The Spring of Life, the lifeline of spirits, is drying up.'

The Great Spirit looked shocked for a moment, but then mentioned the Spirit Paradise's problem.

"What?! Does that mean that all the spirits here are in danger too?!"

'Dangerous isn't enough to describe it.'

"That's a serious problem!"

Sophie covered her mouth as she shouted in shock.

"You were right, Allen. There's actually a big problem here."

Luck rubbed his hurting head as he realized Allen's hunch was correct.

"I see, so the water level is getting lower."

The erosion marks in the areas around the lake showed how much the water level had decreased. Using Kuwatoro's [Thousand-mile Eyes] he noticed the lake that was hundreds of kilometers wide was only half its original size.

(This is actually a really big lake. I guess it's like the Caspian Sea.)

'For now there's just enough for spirits to continue living on, but then there's this brat guzzling it without a single care…'

(So that's why he was so mad with Luck.)

"You called it the Spring of Life, so I assume it's no regular water either."

Allen also had to figure out a way to solve the problem.

'Of course it isn't. It's the source of all life, a miracle brought forth by the Great Spirit God.'

(So that's why the water comes from the Great Spirit God's mountain.)

The mountain looked like a volcano, with the water coming from the crater on the top.

"Do you know what could be causing that?"

'Well…hmm… It seems there's someone who's stealing the Dew of Life while we aren't watching!'

It seemed like Dew of Life was what they called the water from the Spring of Life.

"I see. I believe that's the problem the Great Spirit God entrusted us to solve then."

"What should we do then?"

"We'll keep watch for now, Sophie. It's hard to steal this much water undetected."

The erosion lines showed how much water was missing, and the even distance between the lines showed it had been drained in regular intervals.

Allen brought out Bird E and Bird D summons in large amounts to observe the entire lake.

"We'll find them and make them pay!!"

The rabbit spirit had completely vanished from the minds of everyone there.

(Luck sounds extra motivated. He was born in the desert, so I guess this is more important to him. Wait no, I have to focus on something else too.)

"Also, could you form a pact with Sophie? We'll need all the help we can get to solve this."

This was the first Water Great Spirit they found, so he asked just in case.

'Wait, could you be Rosenheim's Queen?'

(Oh? He didn't refuse right away. It seems he wanted to ask that for a while too, maybe this will work.)

The Great Spirit Tonies had been acting slightly strange for a bit.

"No, the Queen is my mother, I'm just the princess."

The Water Great Spirit looked at Sophie, then at Luck.

'Why are you together with a dark elf? I can tell he's also a high dark elf.'

Luck was so young that he was not mistaken for the king like Sophie.

(Oh? Conversations like this happen all the time in quests.)

Allen remembered conversations where he had to answer [Yes] or [No] correctly to complete a quest. He placed all his faith in Sophie to reply correctly.

"We've been embroiled in war with the dark elves for thousands of years. But senseless fighting produces nothing, so I want to fix our relationship back to the times when we were at peace."

Sophie knew that there was one time in the past when elves and dark elves lived together.

'I see, and that's why you're traveling with dark elf royalty.'

"What's wrong with that?! Just shut up and help us already! It's not like you have anything better to do! Ghlkhjgh?!"

(Shut up Luck!!)

Allen held Luck from behind and gagged him with his hands.

'You seem friendly with each other. The future of the Spirit Paradise hinges on this too…alright, I'll help you.'

"Th-thank you very much. Let's form a pact then, Water Great Spirit. Grant me your power."

'I am the Water Great Spirit Tonies! I'll work alongside you from now on.'

Sophie held her hand out, and Tonies held it, producing a blinding light.

The Grimoire popped up in front of Allen.

'Sophie has formed a pact with a Water Great Spirit.'

(Oh? There's a log for it too. We discovered the problem and found a Water Great Spirit, luck is turning our way.)

"Alright, now we just have to find the water thief."

Allen's team set up camp next to the lake and prepared to find the thief.

Eventually the sun set, and even at night the Bird D summons continued flying above the lake, but they could not find anyone suspicious. Soon it was the morning of the third day.

"Hey, Allen. Wake up, it's morning already."

"...Hm? I fell asleep…"

Luck shook Allen awake, and he realized the sun was already high in the sky.

He checked his summons in case they found something, but so far there was nothing.

"That's worrying, and we don't have a lot of time either…"

"There's a lot of spirits drinking from it now though."

It was hard to believe they could drain the lake so much, but throughout the day there had been more than 10 or 20 spirits coming to drink from the lake.

At least that showed how important it was for their day to day life.

'Dew of Life serves as nourishment for spirits. It's normal for them to come here.'

Tonies said that much was normal.

"And they aren't drinking so much of it that the Spring of Life could dry up."

Enough water came into the lake to replenish what they drank.

Sophie rested her cheek on one hand as she wondered what to do. It had been 3 days since they were tasked with saving Rosen, and they only had 7 days left.

Allen ate Mormo fruits for breakfast and tried to think of a solution too.

(Hmm, or maybe the thief just hasn't come back so far, though hmm…)

"Alright, we'll check inside the lake today."

"Oh? Oh yeah, there could be someone evil hiding inside the lake."

Luck was on board with the idea.

And so, Allen's team decided they would go inside the Spring of Life.