Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~
chapter-145

Dragon (1)

Three months have passed since then, and it is January now.

Our days are filled with small celebrations of the New Year and dungeon conquering.

In addition, the Academy only has summer and spring breaks. Spring break is in March, so in January there are classes at the Academy except for January 1st, which is the New Year. This was a surprising curriculum for me, who has a common sense that the third day of the New Year is a day to play games instead of going to Academy. I once again realized that this was indeed a different world.

On days when the Academy is in session, we perform laps to defeat the bottom floor bosses.

On the two days a week that the Academy is closed, we aim to conquer dungeons in the morning.

Our goal is to conquer one floor of the A-class dungeon in these two days. One of the two days during the attack, we camp in the dungeon.

One day is a lodging day in the dungeon, so out of the six days a week, there are at most five days we defeat the bottom floor bosses.

In addition, the Academy allows some dungeon leave. The dungeons are mazes, and only I have C-rank Bird Frans after all.

Dungeons are inherently time-consuming.

If you are on holiday and you can’t get out of the dungeon and have to take a break from the Academy, you can still apply for it. To some extent, you can apply for a “Dungeon Leave” to the Academy.

We have also applied for this leave twice before January. We stepped on the Transfer Trap twice and just couldn’t get back during the holidays. Even though I put three Frans ahead of us to avoid the trap, we still stepped on them sometimes.

I also learned about other parties that have conquered A-class dungeons.

I was told by the Adventurer’s Guild that the A-class dungeon attackers, who apparently number about five to ten parties in this Academy City, only defeat the bottom floor boss once or twice a week.

I thought to myself, “No wonder the rare items from the rewards for defeating the bottom floor bosses soared in the auction. The number of items on display was small as well.

The Academy was closed on January 1st, so I participated in the auction for the first time. There were quite a few people there, and apparently merchants and other people from the Royal Capital and other large cities were coming to bid on the items as well.

I heard that anywhere in the Kingdom can be reached in a day or two by Magic Ship. The auction was held on the 25th of the previous month, and the auction was held on the 1st of this month. Even though the period was short, there seemed to be many participants from other places. They may have been traveling back and forth to the Academy City during the short period of time, but even so, there were many participants.

When I checked with the Adventurer’s Guild, they told me that they were using magic tools to communicate information about the items on display between the Adventurer’s Guilds. This world had communication technology using magic tools.

It is said that meetings are being held between the Kingdom and the Empire using communication technology. This is also being done between continents, and they are also communicating with the Bakius Empire and Rosenheim. I’m impressed by how much technology the Bakius Empire is providing.

I also thought that if the Crown Prince became King, the provision of technology would likely stop due to his non-cooperation in defeating the Demon King’s army.

As for the dungeon raid, it looks like we’ll be able to conquer our second A-class dungeon this month.

The magical beasts are of a slightly different type from the first one, but it’s not a problem.

My <Strengthening> has finally reached Level 7. The effect was to increase two statuses by 1000. My summons are now less likely to get defeated by B-rank magical beasts, and hunting in A-class dungeons with Summon Squads is now more efficient than ever.

The Summoning Trap has significantly increased the chance of defeating a magical beast when surrounded by or in combat with an Abyss Box.

Our equipment has also improved a lot in the past three months. After all, in order to become stronger, equipment is indispensable. There is no way anyone can fight the Demon Lord without proper equipment.

They were all weapons and magical items.

Allen

Heliocane Sword Strength Ring (+100 [Strength]) Toughness Ring (+500 [Endurance])

Kurena

Heliocane Greatsword Power Ring (+100 [Attack]) Power Ring (+100 [Attack])

Cecile

The Staff of Light Demon Strength Ring (+100 [Strength]) Intelligence Ring (+100 [Intelligence])

Dogora

Adamantite Axe Strength Ring (+100 [Strength]) Power Ring (+100 [Attack])

Kiel

The Staff of Judgment Toughness Ring (+500 [Endurance]) Strength Ring (+100 [Strength])

We have found 7 Silver chests in about three months. In the midst of all this, there was one thing we learned after conquering the A-class dungeon.

From the wooden chests, you’ll find weapons made of Heliocane, Rings that increase your status by 100, Sleep Resistance Rings, and Poison Resistance Rings. The non-metal weapons will be of the same class as those made of Heliocane.

The armor will be made of Heliocane, B-rank magical beasts and other appropriate materials.

From the Silver chests, you will find Adamantite weapons, Rings that increase your status by 500, Curse Resistance Rings, and Paralysis Resistance Rings. The non-metal weapons will be of the same class as those made of Adamantite.

The armor is made of Adamantite, A-rank magical beasts and other appropriate materials.

If you don’t know the effect of an item, there are Appraisers in town. There is a Talent called “Appraiser” that will help you find out the effects of equipment, rings, and other magical tools.

Each appraisal cost us about 1 Gold coin for a wooden chest material in A-class dungeon, and about 3 Gold coins for a Silver chest.

It’s a great help because it gives us quite a bit of information on it.

I think appraisal skills are important.

In three months, we got almost everything we needed from the chests, so we decided to sell what we didn’t need at the monthly auction on the 25th. It’s going to take us about a year to be able to equip ourselves with weapons, armor, and magic items from Silver chests and above.

“It’s a Dragon.”

Dogora murmured when he saw the bottom floor boss for this time.

Today is a day for lap bosses, so we were challenging the bottom floor boss of the A-class dungeon.

So far, we’ve defeated the bottom floor bosses of A-class dungeons about 75 times, but no Dragons have appeared until now. All the bottom floor bosses have come out except for the Dragon-type.

In front of us was a reddish-brown, feathered, Western-style Dragon with thick legs and small hands. Its legs were thick, and its hands looked small compared to its feet, making me wonder if it is the type that stands on two legs.

It was frozen while slightly drooping.

“Yeah, I know.”

This was our first encounter against a Dragon in three months. I’d say there’s a 1 in 50 to 100 chance of the bottom floor boss being Dragon-type.

“Allen, what are we going to do?”

Kurena asked me how we’re going to fight. Everyone often asks me when we encounter a new magical beast.

“‘The Dragon is the strongest of the bottom floor bosses, so I’ll attack first. I’ll have four Tekkas’ standing by for a wide-area breath attack.”

There are several patterns of how we fight the bottom floor bosses, but the completion time is the fastest when I make the first attack. However, we don’t always use the same method in order to find a more efficient way to fight.

“”Okay.””

The Dragon-type, the strongest type of the bottom floor bosses, is said to have more [Attack] and [Endurance] than any other bottom floor bosses. It is said to have destroyed many parties of adventurers.

The weakest bottom floor bosses are the Beast-types. They are very susceptible to abnormal status conditions, and C-rank Insect Pion’s Awakening skill, [Deadly Thrust], can kill them instantly.

With my words, everyone got into position.

This time, I summoned C-rank Stones, and our formation prioritizes defense. I used the Grimoire to change the Holder composition and put away all three of my Summon Squads.

First, it’s important to know how strong this Dragon is.

If we can defeat it without relying on them this time, I will not put them away in the future.

“Then, let’s begin.”

I used Frans’ awakening skill [Sprint]. I was in the middle, with Kurena and Dogora in the vanguard and Cecile and Kiel in the rear.

The five of us slowly approached the droopy Dragon. The timing of the first strike is important.

At about this point, I held out my hand towards the Dragon.

“Go, Kabeo Bombs.”

I stopped calling it [Meteorite (Provisional)] a long time ago. That’s a very important word for Cecile. I don’t take things that belong to others.

Ten E-rank Stones appeared around the Dragon and exploded at once.

“What are you doing? Attacking me out of the blue!”

The Dragon shouted through the flames of the explosion.

The Dragon was angry and slowly raised its upper body, which seemed to be nearly ten meters high.

(Oh? Is this gonna work?)

I have noticed something.

The bottom floor bosses of A-class dungeons can sometimes speak. I was able to talk to a Undead Spirit-type boss before. Apparently, they may or may not be able to speak depending on their [Intelligence] or the species.

So far, the only ones who could speak were the mortal types, so I wonder if Dragons could speak too.

In addition, just because we can talk doesn’t mean I’m going to forgive Undead Spirits. I am determined to defeat them without mercy.

“It talked.”

Cecile spilled her thoughts like Dragons can talk. He was mooing and smoking, having been hit with the Kabeo’s awakening skill [Self-Destruct] all over its body.

To check on the Dragon, we stopped moving forward and looked at it.

As the smoke settled to a certain extent, my vision cleared and I saw the Dragon staring at me.

The Dragon seemed to have us.

“How dare five adventurers challenge me to a fight? You don’t know that you’ve been lucky enough not to encounter any Dragons until now. Ignorance is a sin, isn’t it? In honor of your arrogance, watch as I burn and writhe you in agony at…”

“Come on, Kabeo, [Self-Destruct].”

Before the Dragon could finish its speech, the same number of E-rank Stones surrounded the Dragon and then self-destructed. I had been using my Grimoire to create additional E-rank Stones since the last ones blew up.

“Ahhhhh! I’ll never forgive you!”

(Oh? It has lost its temper.”

While Allen was lucky to have an extra attack, the Dragon came at him with a very rough tone of voice, making the earth shake.