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

Prince Zew had been searching the ruins of a temple for 3 days. When Temi arrived, she read the fortunes and saw that the fragments of the sun and moon were there.

After that, she went on her feet and began walking into the temple, so everyone followed her.

"But why, there's only a deadend there."

"Shut up and keep walking."

"Don't kick me!"

As soon as Lepe began to complain, Hobah kicked him forward.

Temi had completed the God of Divination's trial, so she was far more confident now.

(If I remember correctly there's only a room with a broken statue there. Actually, there's nothung but a broken statue in the entire temple.)

They went deeper into the temple, far from the entrance, but the walls were strangely bright like they were hit by daylight.

Allen watched Temi's tail wagging in front of them as he wondered what this temple was, and what the fragments of the sun and moon were. And then he remembered something.

(Merus, what's this temple?)

'Hm? I don't know. I'm too busy checking how sharp fans are.'

Merus was using his fans to give buffs to the dragonkin, and he sounded really annoyed.

He had stayed there to help fight ghosts, since he could see everything through Allen's eyes.

But he was stuck casting buffs too, since his attacks were so powerful they would shatter all the Spirit Stones.

Since there were 2 forts, Merus was buffing one, and Makris the other one.

Allen had expected him to not know, but decided to ask just in case.

Merus had lived for 100000 years, but had little contact with Garm and this place.

Elmea always kept distant from Garm, so there were few chances for Merus to visit.

(So he's never seen it, and has no idea what it is. Oh, we're almost out of the corridor.)

"I was called to this room. Now I wonder where it is~"

They came out of the corridor to a room, where everyone began looking around.

"There really is nothing here. The ceiling is really tall here though."

After looking around, Cecile looked up. The room was far taller than the corridor, likely spanning many floors of the pyramid.

The floor was decorated with a beautiful pattern similar to those of Central Asia in Allen's past life.

"Oh? I think there's something in the center though."

Sophie pointed at the statue of a goddess that stood half broken in the center.

The statue would have been 3 meters tall, but the upper body was broken on the floor.

"I see. So there's something related to the fragments of the sun and moon here."

They had gotten there following Temi, and Allen was sure there had to be something there.

"What do you mean, something?"

"A switch, there has to be one to get stairs to go up and down, I'm sure."

"How do you even know that?"

Allen felt like he had been in similar situations before.

There were events where he had to go through dungeons shaped like broken palaces, and there were always secret switches he had to step on to open up a new path.

(Okay, it's going to be really embarrassing if there's nothing, so Maria come out.)

Just in case, Allen brought out a Wraith C summon.

'Yes?'

"I want to know if there's anything below us, could you go into the floor for a bit?"

Maybe there was a floor below them, with a way to get there hidden somewhere.

'Got it! Hmmmph!! I can't go through…'

The summon's eyes began to glow and she flew down onto the ground, but was unable to phase through.

"There must be some sort of barrier then. Try going through the ceiling to another floor then."

Allen wanted to know if all walls were like that.

'Got it. This time for suree…'

Since she had Growth Level 9 applied, she flew at an incredible speed, and vanished into the ceiling, her voice cutting off instantly. It seemed like the barrier only affected the floor.

Everyone watched Allen's tests with the Wraith C summon.

"You were right, Master Allen! There must be some barrier on the floor!!"

Sophie held her hands together and praised Allen.

"Sophie, it's still too early to celebrate. There has to be a hidden switch somewhere, we should all search for it!!"

Allen quickly began examining the floor, looking for a hidden switch.

"We should search too."

Zew saw how Allen searched with his cheek on the floor, so he began helping too.

"Are you serious? How are we supposed to search such a big place."

"D-damn you!!"

"I'll do it, I'll do it! Just spare me!!"

Lepe quickly changed his mind when he saw Hobah approaching him with bulging muscles.

Everyone imitated Allen, searching for the switch with their cheeks on the floor.

Around an hour passed but no one found the switch.

"Hey, Allen! There's nothing here!"

Cecile looked really annoyed as she started to doubt Allen's hunch.

"Nah, it must be somewhere. It's obvious for any place like this, there's always a hidden switch!"

"Allen, just what were you doing in your past life…"

Allen's eyes turned red as he rubbed his cheek harder on the floor as he searched, startling Cecile. Allen was still traumatized from his time as a child when he could not find secret switches, little Kenichi had been completely defeated by a dungeon in his second year of elementary school.

(It should be round and stand out a bit. I'll definitely find that button!!)

"Listen up! Check every pattern, divet, bump, stone with a different color, anything! They're all hints! There has to be a hidden switch here!!"

Everyone began moving faster, spurred on by the drastic change in Allen's attitude.

Another hour passed after that, but they were still too few to really search the area that was many hundreds of meters wide.

"Hm, it's true we need more helpers. Matsuhime, use [Long Hair]."

'Got it.'

Allen Generated a Wraith D summon with Growth Level 8 to help, who used her 30000 Intelligence to spread her hair everywhere. Her 10000 hairs grew longer with more Intelligence.

"Wait what's happening?"

Lepe quickly jumped off the ground.

The long strands of hair quickly covered the entire room.

(So I got a use for Matsuhime right away. It was worth it to Level Up Generation.)

Allen felt like not all summons had Skills meant for combat, they were useful for other things.

'I'm done.'

Once the room was covered, the Wraith D summon said that.

"Good, push down everywhere then, without missing a spot."

'Got it.'

The hairs began to wriggle and press everywhere, and after a moment of silence Cecile spoke again.

"Nothing's happening."

"I know there's something on the floor. Push with all your strength! From one corner to another!"

'Got it.'

Allen desperately told the Wraith D to push harder, so the hairs began to wriggle even more.

Everyone just watched in disappointment.

"Ughh, what's even going on anymore."

"Hmm, it's necessary though. That switch thing might be under this, help me lift it Hobah."

"Yessir!"

Lepe looked annoyed, but Zew realized there was a part of the floor they had not covered yet.

Maybe the hidden switch was below the broken statue, so he asked Hobah for help lifting it.

"Oh, this is even heavier than I thought."

"Yeah, let's try to place it on top of the lower body."

The two beastmen had maxed out their Level, but it was still heavy for them.

But with a strenuous effort, they were able to lift it up.

"Alright, just a bit more…"

Being careful to make sure the two pieces fit perfectly, Zew and Hobah lowered the top half of the statue, until they made contact and there was a clicking sound.

(Hm?)

Allen was hardly paying attention to what Zew and Hobah did, but when that sound came out he quickly turned to look at the statue.

Put back together, the statue's head began to glow.

The light kept spreading, reaching the statue's feet and then spreading through the floor.

Then a magic circle with many geometric shapes lit up on the ground, before it all started shaking.

A secret switch had been activated.

"Hey, what's happening now?!"

Cecile had to move her feet to maintain her balance.

"Matsuhime, you can take your hair away. There's a hole in the floor."

'Got it.'

The Wraith D summon pulled back her hair, revealing a circular hole on the floor. And when they looked into it, they saw a set of stairsteps.

The switch to open that had been hidden in the statue.

(The secret switch…)

Allen stared at Zew and Hobah, who had found the switch he had been searching for 2 hours.

Then without saying a word, he looked down the stairs.

No one knew what to say in that situation, until Zew decided to speak.

"W-well, Allen was right, there was a hidden switch huh. There's a floor below, let's go everyone!"

Allen could feel Zew's kindness, like a ray of sunlight brightening the room.

"