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

Chapter 576: The God of Magic Isiris' research facility

For 4 entire days Allen continued spending the Spirit Stones Abigayle obtained to gain Skill Experience for Generation.

The morning of the 5th day they were all gathered in the magic ship's dining room, including Dogora who only took breaks from training at such times.

"We still aren't there yet? I want to go to the Earth Labyrinth."

Dogora complained about the long trip while gnawing at meat between two pieces of bread.

"It's strange, Piyon also said that most Temples should only take around 3 days of travel time."

(Apparently the Paradise of Primordial Beasts is the furthest one and that one only took 3 days.)

The magic ship used many Magic Cores linked together, making it really fast.

(Wait I didn't notice because of Dogora's tantrum, but are we under attack?)

The magic ship's alarms started ringing loudly.

"What? Is it a ghost attack?!"

Kiel was easily startled, and was the first one to jump on his feet.

'Umm, Commandant? Can you hear me? Isiris' Temple isn't here! We searched for nothing!!'

The magic devices of the magic ship broadcasted Larappa's shouts.

Allen's group hurried out and headed to the control room, where the screens showed what was outside.

"Huh? That's…"

Kiel gasped when he saw the screens.

(Oh wow!)

"There's nothing there. What's the meaning of this, Larappa?"

Allen was lost for words, so Cecile spoke instead of him.

There was nothing outside, just a vast empty expanse.

"Wait, look here Allen. The Divine Compass…"

Piyon told Allen to look at the Divine Compass, which was making the wheel spin wildly.

It reminded Allen of TV shows were compasses would spin aimlessly when exposed to strong magnetic fields in forests.

"Wait, could it be that this is actually the God of Magic's Temple?"

"Maybe, it's been that way since we arrived last night, but we can't find it anywhere here…"

Piyon replied awkwardly.

Meanwhile Allen wished that they had let him know the day before it was already like that.

The screen showed nothing. They had continued searching in case the Temple was really small, but that yielded no results.

(Maybe I should call Kuwatoro. Actually no, she's busy with the Earth Labyrinth.)

Kuwatoro's Special Skill [Thousand-mile Eyes] would help scouting the area, but it could not be used without Kuwatoro. Helmios' party was also in the Earth Labyrinth.

(Merus, Isiris' Temple isn't here.)

Allen used Sharing to talk to Merus who was in the Earth Labyrinth.

'Isiris' research facility? I believe it was attacked during the reign of the previous Demon King, so she asked Desperado to hide it in another dimension.'

Desperado was Isiris' husband, and Allen had met him when they crossed the Gate of Judgement.

(The God of Space and Time, huh. I guess we just can't see it.)

'That's probably it. There should be a cube device pointing at the entrance.'

"Hmm… It seems we simply can't see it. I'll send out Hawks to investigate."

Allen brought out around 5 Bird E summons, which scouted the area with Clairvoyance.

"So? Do you see anything?"

"I found it, Cecile. Excuse me Piyon, could you turn the wheel a little to the right…"

Allen guided the magic ship for around 50 kilometers, until they reached a cube floating in the air. Then he used the Bird A's Blessing [Flight] to head out to it.

'We heard you were headed here, Allen and party. Would you like to enter the research facility?'

"Yes please."

'The Space-Time barrier will be momentarily opened then.'

The cube began to make mechanical noises, each of its faces lighting up in a different color.

Then space shattered like glass, opening a rift into a different dimension.

"I wonder what's on the other side."

A large object was floating in mid-air inside that dimension. It seemed like space and time were distorted in there, repeating the same scenery in an endless loop.

(This reminds me of the looping forest from my past life, and I hate it.)

Back when he was Kenichi, he recalled playing a game with a forest that would loop on itself unless he took the right path. He was still young and did not have any walkthroughs so trying to research the correct route was a bad memory for him.

'Your entry to the research facility has been approved, The magic ship may proceed.'

The rift was big enough for the magic ship to pass through.

Allen used a Bird F summon to tell Piyon to move the magic ship forward.

(That looks like a big crystal, maybe like Laputa, or the Fifth Angel. Actually, I guess it's like a huge Magic Core.)

It looked like an octahedron with sides that were 100 kilometers long.

It was impossible to see through it, but outside it had a light blue color and slowly spun in place.

Allen had seen similar structures in his past life, but they were not as big.

In a way, the object resembled a very scaled up type of Magic Core.

'The entrance is in the center, so please head there.'

The cube would not guide them all the way there.

There was a hole on one corner of the octahedron, which was wide enough for the magic ship.

They headed there and carefully followed the octahedron's rotation to enter.

(So this is the landing pad? I don't think the magic ship will get further than this.)

Shortly after entering the octahedron they reached a landing pad.

It was quite a big space, but it was filled with magic ships, so there was not much room left.

Everyone got out of the magic ship then, since they could not continue traveling on it.

"Incredible! I've never seen magic ships like this!! I wonder if they're high speed ones."

"Boss, how about this one!! Look at the engine!!"

"Hey! Who gave you permission to go around touching things!!"

(I'm glad I brought Larappa along. Though I'd like to get some progress heading to the Paradise of Primordial Beasts.)

Larappa and some of her dwarves had come along. They all venerated Isiris, and were curious to research her creations there. The magic ships stored there were enough to get them excited.

Seeing them like that made it hard for Allen to tell them to head to their next destination already.

In the end, he decided that Piyon would set course and travel there alone.

"So this is where the God of Magic Isiris is."

Cecile wanted to meet Isiris as soon as possible to receive a trial.

"I wouldn't know. I'll let the Hawks go on ahead."

Since the area was so big, he sent Bird E summons to scout ahead.

There were also magic ships hanging with thick chains from the ceiling, which looked like whales in a museum exhibit. But no matter how far the summons went, there were only magic ships and cube devices.

"There's something in the center."

Eventually they went to the center, where a device surrounded with a glowing magic circle was placed.

'You must be Allen.'

The cube floating in front of the magic circle spoke to Allen.

"Yes. What is this?"

'An elevator magic device.'

"Where is the God of Magic Isiris?"

'I don't know. But the floors above are the God of Magic Isiris' research facility.'

"And down?"

The large octahedron looked like two pyramids joined at their base.

'The floor below is the God of Space and Time Desperado's dimensional control region.'

"Can we go downstairs then?"

'I'm sorry, but you don't have permission to enter God of Space and Time Desperado's region.'

"Why are you even asking that? Can we go up?"

Cecile was fed up with Allen's usual roundabout way of dealing with things, so she took over talking with the cube.

'Of course. Which floor would you like to go to?'

"I guess there's multiple floors up there. Take us to the floor directly above us for now."

'Understood, please step inside the circle.'

Everyone walked into the circle. Then the circumference lit up with a strange pattern and the group was teleported one floor up.

"Hey! There's just golems here now."

"Boss, there's golems we've never seen before here."

"Why are you looking at that without asking for my permission? And where are we?!!"

"...Maybe it would've been easier for them if we went together with Piyon after all."

"It's fine, don't worry about it. I'll send my Hawks to investigate and see if the God of Magic is here."

The Bird E summons flew carefully through the gaps between the golems.

"