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

Allen swiftly moved forward to close the gap as Nestirad swung its left hand, who’d invoked yet another «Absorption Explosive Punch».

It would be an instant death for Dogora if he couldn't avoid it.

"H-Hey, Allen?! What about the formation!!?"

Keel, who had been playing the role of recovery user, promptly raised his voice at Allen.

Luck had already shifted from the mid-guard to vanguard, now if even Allen, too, left his spot, the whole burden would fall on Formar to take care behind.

A role of vanguard and rearguard were both indispensable in formation. If vanguard was the wall, then rearguard was the arrow that prevented any heavy hitter from approaching vanguard. Furthermore, too many vanguards would lower the speed of timely recovery for anyone in need.

(I know that too, but we can't stick up to the same plan seeing how Nestirad has recovery skills. We had to overpower his recovery by overpowering the damage or we would achieve nothing!!)

In the end, Allen focused on dealing with Nestirad first before replying to Keel.

"Cursed Flame Soul Strike!!"

(It certainly is fast, but not to an invincible territory!)

«Alright guys, I will be managing from vanguard too. Keel, focus on healing!!»

Allen made his judgement to stay in the frontline.

"Ah, geez! Fine, I get it!"

Keel's wry shout reached from the rearguard.

"Great. More debuff, Luck. Time to speedrun, everyone!!"

Allen called for more debuffs. Some strikes ended up missing the target, some couldn't inflict them, but from a larger picture, they still managed to deal some of the debuff on Nestirad, thus reducing its stats.

With the rearguard being managed by Haku and Magla, the vanguard—Kurena, Dogora, Shea, Merle, Ignomas—doubled down on their offense.

Now that Luck's debuff had started to show effect, everyone had begun to see their attacks finally doing some damage.

«I have enough of you!!»

"Ack!?"

(Damn, that came out of nowhere. Did he see through Bird F's camouflage? Whatever, if that’s all it takes to keep his attention occupied!!)

Soon, right-hand of Nestirad cut through air and approached Allen.

Apparently, Nestirad had figured it out Allen was using some sort of technique to relay commands secretly by noticing his comrades's replies or gazes.

Now, the hand-strike of Nestirad was dead-locked on Allen, and with the longer reach of right hand, it didn't seem like it could be dodged as well. However Allen didn't even show any attempt to evade, which should've been enough to sever his torso in tow, and instead jumped at Nestirad with a slash of his own.

«Ah, shit!! Hey, can't you dodge!?»

"No, focus on offense, Merle!! Just bear with it for now!"

Allen rebuked Merle who expressed his discontentment to feel half the pain meant for Allen.

"The hell. I didn't know it was possible to share the damage."

«Yeah. Our opponent is more smart than we had imagined so we have to take some extreme measures. Anyway, I can't give a rundown on how it works for now. Luck, sorry to push you hard but can you change the debuff of «Curse Strike» to one and keep lowering it's stats?»

"I got it, Allen!!"

Since Merle had changed to armament of Angel C, his width of attack had increased by a good margin. The armament not only had strong resistance to debuffs, it also rewarded more endurance, or agility. Appearing to be made of orichalcum at a glance, the «Heavenly Vajra Armor» has also been enhanced to Lv 9.

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«Heavenly Vajra Armor Effect»

—One with the Soul: While active, it absorbs half of the damage received by the Summoner. It also absorbs half of the damage received by the summoned angel’s Summoner and transfers that damage to the summoner.

—Absolute Defense: While active, increases health and durability by 100,000 and boosts defense. Evasion rate increases by 100%. Enhanced Physical, magical, and breath resistance (Big). Durability attribute is converted to the Holy attribute. When activated, no other special skills or awakening abilities can be activated. Cooldown time is one day.

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On the other hand, Nestirad had also increased the intensity of its attack to eliminate Allen at any cost.

Allen dodged the attack with hair breadth, and continued to slash with his sword. But soon, the battlefield started to see other changes.

«One stack of Cused Strike is about to end!!»

Luck shouted, and sure enough, one of the two skeletons latched on Nestirad's back had started to scratch its throat with both hands, letting out a silent, agonized breathing. It was a sign that debuff's duration was about to end.

And if it ended, it wouldn't be easy to inflict another debuff given the proc rate.

Just as Allen's comrade were going all ham with their offense, once again, Nestirad opted for the both hand skill from earlier which had insta-killed Lubank, and inflicted serious damage to Merle.

«Begone! Whirling Edge!»

Nestirad spread its two arms, and spun like a windmill on its spot. The heavy attack made way for Merle and Allen.

«Argh!!»

"Rrgh!!"

(It hurts. But fortunately we weathered due to its weakened state.)

The formidable attack had damaged Merle and Allen's defense, broke their bones, and dealt huge damage. But unlike the first time, neither Merle disappeared, nor Allen got floored.

«Recovery, Keel!!»

«Hurry up, I am dying!!»

At the same time, Merle and Allen were sharing their endurance, so this also helped in tanking the attack. Plus, they also managed to stay rooted on their spot, instead of being blown away, and promptly slashed down at Nestirad. Nestirad was wide open after using its strongest attack.

"Ah, geez. Atleast let us heal you first!!"

"Awawa, P-please do not move too much."

«Good grief, I'm all giddy.

«Oww, I am the same.»

Keel shouted in disbelief, while a flustered voice came from Sophie's Great Spirit of Water, who was using the Spirit A with heaven's grace.

As the one in charge of healing, their battle had been just as intense.

While Allen and his comrade's stats had been enhanced by around 10,000~30,000 through buff, Nestirad was also too strong with twice the stats of their.

It was obvious for the team members to sustain damage or injuries, and given that the damage was frequent, the healers also had to be at the top of their game to make sure everyone remained at their tip-top health.

With a barrage of attacks being exchanged every second, Keel still needed time to stock his mana and spiritual force before activating recovery magic. Meanwhile, Nestirad's offense was too swift to keep the healing ready immediately.

Even with level 8 on his recovery magic, and overcoming the trial of Potion God, or stepping into Extra Mode, he still was falling apart in speed.

———Keel's healing magic name by level and their effect (Simplified)————

- Skill Level 1: Heal, Endurance recovery (Small). Single target

- Skill Level 2: High Heal, Endurance recovery (Medium). Single target

- Skill Level 3: Healing Rain, Endurance recovery (Small). Area of effect (small)

- Skill Level 4: Great Heal, Endurance recovery (Large). Single target

- Skill Level 5: Healing Window, Endurance recovery (Medium). Large area of effect

- Skill Level 6: All Heal, Endurance recovery (Extreme). Small area of effect

- Skill Level 7: Recovery, Endurance recovery (Extreme). Reduces incoming damage. Single target

- Skill Level 8: Recovery Sunshine, Endurance recovery (Extreme). Reduces incoming damage. Medium area of effect

With the effect of the Mystical Necklace, Keel's healing had become potent. It also allowed him to use multiple recovery magic at once, plus the reduced cooldown helped the spells readily available.

Nevertheless, when the exchange of offense was done in literal split seconds, even the non exhaustive number of recovery fell short. Keel judged that this shouldn't go on, and turned to his secret technique.

"Alright then, Ultimate Heal!! Elixir Garden!!"

Keel invoked the divine skill «Elixir Garden».

With Keel at the centre, a sublime shine spread around like ripples.

*Fissure*

A bud sprouted from the cloud-like ground, and entered an accelerated growth phase. The bud sprouted and elongated, and eventually, red flowers started to bloom at the tip of its stalk.

"Grrgh!"

A groan escaped from Dogora as he was blown away while attempting to stop Nestirad's attack. It happened that he staggered to the spot where the red flower was and stepped on it.

*Fwoosh*

The flower petals suddenly open up, and from there Keel's spiritual aura spreads out, instantly healing Dogora's wound.

"Woah, I am healed!?"

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«Divine Technique - Elixir Garden Effect (Simplified)»

- While active, divine herbal sprouts with healing properties will continue to bloom within a 1-kilometer radius.

- The sprouts grow to about 30 cm and blossom in a variety of colors.

- When the flowers have grown and one minute has passed, if someone stepped into the range or entered within a 10-meter radius, the petals would scatter.

- Once the petals scatter, the color of the flower would determines the following effect:

Red Flower: Fully restores the Endurance of all allies within a 100-meter radius.

Blue Flower: Fully restores the MP (or spiritual power in the divine realm) of all allies within a 100-meter radius.

Yellow Flower: Removes debuffs from all allies within a 100-meter radius.

Green Flower: Relieves fatigue of all allies within a 100-meter radius.

Silver Flower: Doubles the duration of buffs for all allies within a 100-meter radius.

Gold Flower: Reduces cooldowns by half for all allies within a 100-meter radius.

Rainbow Flower: Grants all of the above effects to allies within a 200-meter radius.

※The effects last for 1 hour.

※Cooldown time: 1 day.

※MP is converted to spiritual power in the divine realm.

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It was like someone had painted the white canvas with a myriad of colors, the flowers of various colors spread beneath the feet of vanguard, midguard, rearguard, or even the comrades behind Nestirad.

(The fruit doesn't fall far from its tree huh. Even the skill is so RNG based, just like Keel himself's gacha-esque parameters.)

Anyway, with the flowers extending up to vanguard position, the frontliners energetically sprang up on their feet. Meanwhile, under the support of mana recovery and reduced cooldown, the midguard and rearguard fearlessly launched an onslaught of spells and skill toward Nestirad, supporting the vanguard with their attack.

«Phew, that was a nice save~.»

The Great Spirit of Water let out a relieved sigh.

"Ah, shit. The second debuff is about to be undone as well!!"

Alas, Luck wasn't in the condition to be rejoiced at the miracle of Keel's divine technique, and cursed.

Nestirad boasted extreme endurance and resistance. The only way they'd manage to make a dent finally was by the grace of debuffs, though they're still far from exhausting Nestirad.

But the assistance of debuffs was nearing its end completely. The cinch in armor of Nestirad was made by Luck's Cursed Strike. And if that one is lost, it would become incredibly hard to inflict more debuffs. Everything they'd worked to achieve would become meaningless.

Allen keenly perceived the desperation of Luck, who had been unleashing nonstop onslaught of his to somehow keep the debuffs.

This was the turning point where they'd to deal a heavy blow to Nestirad. Allen determined the plan.

(It's bruteforce time!! Graham! Merle!)

«Umu!»

Graham, now in a fused state with Allen, showed his affirmation for Allen's plan.

A split second later—both Allen and Merle cut through the air and slashed at the nape of Nestirad in a cross-slash fashion.

"Soooul Sabeeeer!"

«Sparkling Slash!!»

A combined strike of three befell at Nestirad.

T/N - Sorry everyone, an error popped up yesterday so I couldn't update in time. I will try to stay on schedule.