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

Both sides continued attacking many times after that, but they were unable to sway the fight one side or the other. Shea just kept using all her Skills to see what worked.

1 hour passed like that.

'Mghuh!! You're activating a Skill?'

Shea activated the Skill [Counterattack Frenzy] to fend off Cougar's attack.

'Asura Charge!'

The moment Cougar's body was bent back, Luvanka charged at him, doing a combo attack.

'True Swift Death Strike! Hmph!!'

Shea tried to attack again, but Luvanka had pushed Cougar away, so she could not reach him.

'You're quite unskilled at cooperating, I see. If three consecutive hits is all you can do, you two will never be able to defeat me.'

Shea felt like something was off about Cougar's grin.

'What's wrong, Shea?'

'Luvanka, it seems there's a specific way to get through this challenge. Simply defeating him isn't what Lord Garm wants.'

Shea had learned something from the things Cougar said and their fight until then.

'I see. So you've noticed something. But it seems you're out of time.'

'Hm? Ah, the effects' duration.'

Shea was a bit shocked, but then she noticed what was happening.

Luvanka's Awakened Skill [Mythical Beast Mode] had run out.

Luck who could double the duration of Skills and Sophie who could reset cooldowns was not there.

They had been fighting for 1 hour, but they had run out of time now.

Luvanka's stats went down and he lost his Strength regeneration, so Cougar's attacks would be more dangerous.

'Well, you ran out of time so you can't fight. Take your time before coming back.'

Seeing that Shea and Luvanka lost their fighting spirit, Cougar grinned and sat on the stairs.

He would stay there and wait until they attacked again.

'...So you're just stopping us from going up?'

'Yes.'

Carefully, Shea and Luvanka stepped away from Cougar, but he did not follow them. He just yawned and leaned back on the stairs, falling asleep.

Shea and Luvanka went around 1 kilometer away from Cougar, and deployed a magic tent.

'...So it'll be a long fight.'

'It seems so. Let's rest for a bit and then train. Our cooldowns will be over at this time tomorrow.'

'Are you sure about that?'

'I have no option. Zew might go through his challenge any moment now. So anything helps.'

'Oh, so you have a plan?'

'Yes, but we need to get better at working together. So we'll train later to defeat Cougar.'

Shea struggled to keep up with Luvanka's movements, but she felt the challenge of that floor was to get better at working together.

'So you're trying to get the most out of our Skills?'

Shea's Skill [Inexhaustible Beast King] allowed her to chain combos better.

'Anyway, let's rest for a bit and discuss our strategy.'

Shea started by talking about her Skills, and then Luvanka also explained what he could do.

[Shea's Divine Techniques and Skills (Simplified Version)]

-Divine Wind Consecutive Hits:

Claws of wind shoot out from her fist. Number of hits scale with Skill Level.

Damage doubles during combo chaining.

Short activation time, slight recovery time after use.

-True Clobber:

A right straight punch infused with magic. Versatile, easy to combo.

Damage increases by 1.1x during combo chaining.

Very short activation time, very slight recovery time after use.

-True Swift Death Strike

An approaching dash followed by a right straight punch. Easy to combo.

Damage increases by 1.2x during combo chaining.

Short activation time, slight recovery time after use.

-True Hell Hit

Can be activated when close to the enemy's chest. Thrust one hand to attack vital points.

Increased Critical Chance by 1.5x.

Damage increases by 1.5x during combo chaining.

Moderate activation time, moderate recovery time after use.

-True Demolishing Punch

Can be activated when close to the enemy's chest. Wide swing with knuckles guards, easy to dodge.

Damage increases by 1.8x during combo chaining. Long activation time, significant recovery time after use.

-Counterattack Frenzy

Deflects enemy physical attacks for 1 hour after activation.

Damage increases by 1.5x during combo chaining.

No activation time, no recovery time after use.

-Inexhaustible Beast King

Buff Skill. Enables Combos (chained attacks) for one hour after activation.

Damage increases 1.2x every time an ally extends the combo chain.

While a combo chain is active, cooldown and activation time of other Skills are slightly reduced.

[Luvanka's Special Skills and Awakened Skill effects (Simplified Version)]

-Punch Shower

Attacks the enemy (single or multiple) with all 6 arms, dealing non-elemental damage.

Due to the high number of attacks, combo chaining is easier to trigger.

-Asura Charge

All 6 arms aim at a single point before ramming forward. Non-elemental.

-Complete Defense

All 6 arms cross to increase Endurance, scaling by the amount of consumed Mana.

Effect increases by 1.5x when protecting allies rather than oneself.

-Tremor Waves

Stomps on the ground, creating a shockwave that deals earth element damage to a single target.

Less effective against airborne enemies.

-Beast Blood

Stats increase each time a beastman, beast, or sacred beast is attacked.

The increased stats can be shared with other beastmen.

-Mythical Beast Mode

Grows larger and enters a Mythical Beast Mode for one hour.

In Mythical Beast Mode, all stats are increased by 30000, Dodge Chance increases by 50%, and Strength is super regenerated (recovers 1% Strength per second).

-Sacred Bead Creation

Can generate one Sacred Bead. Gives the least Sacred Bead Points out of all S Rank summons.

'...I see, a combination of attacks will let our Skills deal more damage.'

'That's it. I wish you had more Skills though..'

Shea sighed, seeing how few attack Skills Luvanka had.

'Don't say that. We'll just have to make do with what we have.'

'That's true. Let's train then! Full Beast Mode is still active so I won't be able to hold back too much.'

'That's fine.'

Shea took off her weapons and armor and they began attacking each other.

Luvanka's 2 upper arms attacked Shea relentlessly.

Shea tried to brace herself and block the attacks, but her legs could not support the pressure.

'I see. They certainly feel like countless strikes.'

Shea resisted the urge to tell Luvanka to move slower, and did her best to follow Luvanka's movements.

She needed to understand how he moved to fight together later.

The two continued training for half a day, and then the building got darker.

There were no torches or fires lighting the building, but the walls themselves were glowing. And somehow they became dimmer at night.

"So the day is ending…"

Shea noticed that, and by now Full Beast Mode and Beast Mode had both been exhausted.

'It reminds me of the S Rank Dungeon. Though that was lit with magic devices…'

"Hm, I see. So you have Allen's memories."

Shea remembered that Luvanka's memories were shared with Allen.

There was something she had to do before it was night, so she opened her magic bag.

From it she deployed a small magic tent, which was around 5 meters deep and could house 1 person. It was quite heavy so there was no need to secure it to the ground, though it had anchor points so it could be deployed in places with unsteady ground like deserts.

'I feel like we'll be here for a while.'

"Why are you just watching? You should at least help with preparing a fire while I'm setting up the tent."

Only the two of them were setting up camp, so Shea asked Luvanka to help with the fire.

Since there was no one else there, someone with more arms was useful, and Shea grinned seeing how much help Luvanka was.

'I like you. You don't hold back.'

'"Well, praising me won't get you anything."

'I don't expect to get anything either.'

Luvanka grinned as he piled up firewood.

Meanwhile Shea took out an enormous box many meters in size from her magic bag.

That was different from the magic bags Allen used, and had a bigger opening, some could even fit a castle.

Before it was only nobles and royalty who used magic devices.

They were used by them during their travels, which attracted the attention of adventurers, who also began to use them, and making them commonplace was a big achievement of Guild Master McCarran.

There was a Golem Pilot dwarf in the S Rank Adventurer Party [Glorious Serenity], who had suggested the creation of various other magic devices, including some that made anything inside them be frozen in time. Many of her creations were ubiquitous amongst high rank adventurers.

[Members of the S Rank Adventurer Party Glorious Serenity]

-McCarran (Human, Fighter, currently the Guild Master)

-Istar Cumes (Human, Venerable, former pope, currently dead)

-Yoze (Lion beastman, previous Beast King (Muza's father), 10 times consecutive winner of the tournament, Beast Fighter King, currently dead)

-Neneby (Dwarf, Magic Rock King, currently dead)

-Gressa (Human, Sorcerer King, currently dead)

-Arbus (High Dark Elf, Spirit Master, currently the Dark Elf King)

Without thanking her ancestors whatsoever, Shea finished deploying her magic tent and lit the fire, where she started roasting some meat.

By the time she was done eating, all the light had vanished from the walls and the building was silent.

Then she took a shower to wash away her sweat and went to a soft bed where she continued thinking of ways to defeat Cougar until she fell asleep.

Outside, Luvanka kept guard, his eyes focused on Cougar who was on the stairs in the center of the room.

Some time passed after that.

Maybe it was 30 minutes, or maybe 3 hours.

'...Shea, wake up!!'

'Hm?'

'Are you awake? Shea, where are we?'

'What? What do you mean? Lu…Luvanka?!'

'Who else would it be? But why did you become so small?!'

There was a 30 year old gorilla beastman in front of Shea.

'Hm? What's happening here?!!'

Shea was woken up by Luvanka, who had turned into a beastman again, and found herself on top of a carpet on top of stone, and not in Garm's Shrine.

She looked down at her hands, and noticed they were much smaller than she remembered.