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

It was the start of June, and Allen was together with Cecile, Sophie, and Lepe there.

A vast wilderness spread out in front of them, dotted with smoking volcanoes.

The moment Allen surveyed the area, a distant volcano erupted violently, and a moment later they heard a loud explosion and a shockwave.

"This place looks so big."

"Yeah, it's called a Paradise after all. It should be even bigger than the Central Continent."

(This place looks incredibly big.)

The territories under control of the Gods were considered Shrines, Gardens, or Paradises depending on how big they were.

[Size of Temples (estimate)]

-Shrines below 100 kilometers wide

-Gardens below 1000 kilometers wide

-Paradises above 1000 kilometers wide

[Correlation between Temples and the Gods there]

-Shrines house 1 God

-Gardens house multiple Gods

-Paradises house a Higher God and multiple Gods

Gods would also choose more suitable names sometimes, like research facility or arena.

According to Merus, the Paradise of Primordial Beasts was as large as all the other Temples combined, so Allen estimated it was dozens of times the size of the Central Continent, and many times the size of the Earth's surface.

"It's all filled with nature, but it looks a lot harsher than the Spirit Paradise…"

Sophie could feel the difference with all her five senses.

If the Spirit Paradise was a jungle, then the Paradise of Primordial Beasts was a savannah.

(I think Shea headed to somewhere along the shoreline, but that's pretty far away. It's so inconvenient to not have Kuwatoro at hand.)

Kuwatoro had been left in the Earth Labyrinth, and Allen had gotten rid of the Bird A summons since he needed them in the Spirit Paradise.

Now he had no idea of how Shea had been doing in the last month.

[The Temples and those assigned to them]

-Paradise of Primordial Beasts: Allen, Cecile, Sophie, Shea, Ten Heroic Beasts (Lepe together with Allen)

-Divine Arena: Kurena, Formar, Ignomas, a part of Helmios' party

-Temple of the God of Music and God of Dance: Rosalina

-God of Magic Isiris' research facility: Larappa and her Magic Engineers

-Earth Labyrinth: Merle, Tam-Tam, Admiral Galara's party, Rosetta and a part of Helmios' party, Gatoruga, Habarak and his assistants, Matildora, Haku, Merus, Makris, Kuwatoro

-God of Medicine Poshon's Shrine: Dogora and Kiel (currently heading there in a magic ship)

(I'm really throwing a lot of resources at the Earth Labyrinth, I really hope they give me at least 2 Levels each run.)

The rewards from that dungeon were good, and the Dragon God Magra who held the item necessary to complete the fetch quest to power up Cecile was there too.

So to help with that, Allen had left Luck, Merus, and various S Rank summons.

There were Demigod Rank ghosts there too, which increased Allen's Level by 1 when defeated, so Allen was hoping they would defeat at least 2 each run, giving him a smooth ride to Level 250, as he was in Level 230 currently.

Normal Mode had a cap of 60, Extra Mode of 99, and Allen in Hell Mode had no cap.

"Hawks, go and see if you find anything. Oh, there's a bunch of ghosts."

Since no one came to pick them up, the group departed on their own.

Given the constraints of summon slots, Allen brought only 3 Bird E summons to survey the area.

Their [Clairvoyance] Skill let them see a wide area, which was Shared with Allen.

"So? Did you find Shea?"

"Well…this place is so big that my Hawks can't see all of it. Let's get on some Griffs and just search in the direction Shea went."

Allen brought 2 Bird B summons, and they split into a group of 3 and one of 1.

Since Kuwatoro was not there, Allen was the only one able to fly with the Bird A's blessing.

"Hey, why am I the only one traveling alone? Cecile, get over here."

Lepe had been silent the entire time, but now he complained about traveling alone.

He was the only one of the Ten Heroic Beasts that had not stayed there the first time.

"Oh, I'm helping Allen so I can't."

Somehow Lepe seemed to enjoy Cecile's usual cold treatment of him.

"Hihii, I can't get enough of that."

According to Shea's brother Zew, beastmen usually liked strong-willed women, so Lepe's reaction to Cecile's cold demeanor made sense.

Allen made a Bird B summon 1.5 times bigger with Command for him to ride with Cecile and Sophie, while Lepe went on a regular size Bird B summon.

The summons spread their wings and they began traversing the vast wilderness.

Allen sat behind the Bird B summon, while Cecil and Sophie sat back next to the wings.

Then Allen took out some dirt and straw, so he could use the Grass G and Bird H summons' Awakened Skills.

Cecile and Sophie helped him with that, like they always did.

"Allen, do you think Shea is alright?"

"We came here with a proper Divine Compass, so I doubt she's been relaxing leisurely. Even if she stopped trying to become the next Beast King, she's still royalty. I'm sure she knows to run if she encounters a strong ghost though."

Cecile sounded worried about Shea.

(Thankfully I have a Spiritual Power regeneration ring now!)

Allen raised his hand, letting his new ring glint in the sunlight.

"Hey, what's wrong with you now?"

"Oh, it's just that I didn't have to fight the hero for it this time."

The quest to obtain it had been rather easy, so he just gave a nonsensical reply to Cecile.

"Master Allen, are we traveling far?"

"Considering the distance and our speed, we'll probably have to travel through the night."

They had arrived there in the afternoon, and they would have to travel for the entire night.

"Open the Grimoire over there."

Cecile picked up the [Seasonal Tastes] from the Grass F summon and placed them in the Grimoire.

(Cecile has been really motivated lately.)

Knowing this trip could help complete Isiris' quest, Cecile was filled with motivation.

[Fetch quest from the God of Magic Isiris]

-Extra mode: bring Nestiad's heart

-Divine Technique: bring Dragon God Magra's horn

-Blessing: bring shards of the sun and moon

-Divine Artifact: bring Beast God Garm's tail

-An extra reward will be given once all four items are gathered

Just defeating Nestiad made that the hardest trial from a God to date.

Garm's tail and the shards of the sun and moon were supposedly in the Paradise of Primordial Beasts, and those seemed to be useful to research Ancient Magic.

Allen continued spending countless Spirit Stones, Generating his summons and having them use their Awakened Skills.

"At this rate the Spirit Stones will be the only bottleneck."

"Yeah, let's just hope Abigayle gets more. I haven't been able to send summons there yet, but hopefully he's doing alright."

2 dragonkin clans had already joined Somei's, which also meant there were two more warden leaders working under Abigayle. As more people were working together, the rate at which they obtained Spirit Stones also increased.

"Do you think the Beast God will listen to your request, Master Allen?"

"Just be careful that you aren't disrespectful to the Beast God Garm. He's an Ancient God, and not really good tempered from what I've heard."

Sophie was worried about their future meeting, while Cecile was worried about Allen's manners.

"That's so rude. I'm never disrespectful to anyone, no matter if they're a god or not."

"That's the problem, Allen. You treat Gods and people the same."

Allen tried to reply seriously, but his true behavior was still obvious.

Sophie was also worried after hearing what Larappa had learned.

Garm had existed for longer than any other God, making him an Ancient God.

(Hmm, I guess he likes being alone, and that's why his Temple is in the opposite side to Shandar.)

Cecile had often said that Allen's brain was made of maps.

Back in the Academy, Rosenheim, and the S Rank Dungeon, he had always copied maps into his Grimoire.

He had tried mapping out the divine realm too, but had not been too successful at that.

There were nearly 300 Gods, and their Temples were moving at varying speeds.

A map was useless there since the Temples would just move somewhere else eventually.

The temples moved like clouds in the sky, but Allen had noticed one trend.

They all moved in clockwise direction around the Temple of the God of Creation Elmea.

It was just like how planets orbit around the sun.

The Temples of Higher Gods like the Divine Arena, or the Temple of the God of Harvest Mormor were closest to Elmea's Temple in the center, while the Heavenly Country of Shandar was the furthest away.

The Paradise of Primordial Beasts was on the opposite extreme of Shandar, far from it and Elmea's Temple.

(Alright, let's see what's waiting for us tomorrow.)

Eventually they set up camp and slept until the next day.

Graham was outside keeping watch, so they were able to sleep without worries.

"The terrain looks different there. Hm? Is it a wall?"

The terrain was changing below them.

They could see a tall wall standing amongst the mountains and cliffs.

They had departed early in the morning, and Sophie had quickly spotted a built structure in the terrain below.

"There's a village there."

"It seems so. Shea must be there, let's land!"

Allen raised his voice and told the Bird B summon to descend.