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

Chapter 616: Giran's 2nd trial, God of Wind Ninlil

The next morning Allen's group was back at Shandar's capital Rabul.

The magic ship was ready to depart, since Allen had notified them in advance.

"Please, come inside."

The pilot Piyon spoke to Allen, Cecile, and Sophie, letting out the mechanized stairs of the ship.

(Hmm, so these stairs are magic devices too. I guess everything is, now that I think about it.)

Allen grabbed the stairs' railing and thought about the usefulness of magic devices.

They went up the stairs and entered the control room.

"We'll depart right away. Sorry for making you wait like this."

Piyon began manipulating the magic device gauges and checking the ship's functionality.

"No it's fine, I still had some business with the blacksmiths at the Earth Labyrinth too."

To turn Rame into a Divine Bird, Allen had been visiting Rameciel's palace, the blacksmiths at the Earth Labyrinth, and the research facility of the God of Magic Isiris.

He had told Piyon about the trip before that, so they could depart as soon as he was done.

"Huh, alright then."

Piyon was not sure what that meant, but decided to not pry.

(Anyway, I'm glad that doing that will be easy. It's just a simple metal piece, so once they have the stamps ready they'll be able to cast a bunch by tomorrow. Though plain metal doesn't look the best, so I'll have artists in Rameciel paint rainbow feathers on them.)

Allen thought back to the blacksmiths at the Earth Labyrinth, led by Habarak.

He had taken the blacksmiths to Rameciel to get a good look at Rame, before starting work.

They said it would take them one day.

Allen also planned on hiring artists to paint the product to make them more impressive.

Meanwhile Cecile looked at the Divine Compass, which steered the magic ship towards the Temple of the God of Wind Ninlil.

"Hey Allen, wouldn't it be better if we just focused on the other thing? I doubt this is going to work anyway."

Cecile and Sophie had also been discussing how to make Rame a Divine Bird since the last night, part of which they had started putting into practice today.

"It's not like we're going to start a fight. But prayers alone won't be enough for the Mythical Bird Rame to become a Divine Bird, we need to go deeper."

Allen was still trying to figure out what was required for Rame to become a God, and the visit to the God of Wind Ninlil was also to investigate that further.

"I just don't want to face a God's wrath…"

"A God's wrath? That sounds rather ominous."

The wrath of a God meant annihilation for the divine people, which were the race closest to the Gods.

"Oh, don't worry about that, Piyon. It doesn't have anything to do with you. And I doubt our good deeds would be repaid with wrath."

"Huh, alright then."

Piyon decided not to pry further.

"I believe I heard that the God of Wind Ninlil's Temple is close by?"

Allen was a bit more careful with his words around Piyon.

"Yes, we should be there in no time, the God of Wind Ninlil has always been close to us."

Each race had different Gods they prayed to, and divine people prayed to Ninlil a lot.

There was plenty of wind above the clouds in Shandar, so they had mechanisms in place to utilize that wind to make water flow and mills work.

Ninlil lived on a cloud island near Shandar.

3 hours passed, and as his cooldowns were reset, Allen consumed his Spirit Stones at a rapid speed with Generation.

(Heheheh, I'm at Level 248 now. I have a lot of Mana now, so I can do this even faster.)

Allen grinned menacingly as he dreamed of gaining more Skill Experience.

Since Merle was constantly hunting Demigod Rank Ghosts, Allen's Level kept going up.

"U-um…we're about to arrive."

Piyon was slightly hesitant to talk to Allen, seeing his grin.

"Ohh, is it that big cloud over there? Will the magic ship be safe flying into it?"

There was a large cloud tens of kilometers in radius that looked like an enormous whirlpool swallowing everything. The God of Wind Ninlil lived inside.

"Look over there. That hole leads to the Temple, and serves as an entrance."

"So there's a proper entrance."

Cecile sounded impressed by that.

Piyon skillfully piloted the ship into the hole in the clouds, which would lead them to the Temple.

There was quite a lot of wind which made the ship sway, but it continued traveling without issue.

After a while they spotted a building, which served as landing pad, so Piyon took the ship there.

"Alright, we've arrived."

"Thank you. We'll be heading to visit the God of Wind Ninlil then."

"Should I wait for you to be done, or may I go back?"

"We'll be going somewhere else on our own after we're done, so you don't have to wait."

Piyon was given permission to return to Shandar after they disembarked.

"Oh, what a gentle breeze. It feels nice."

After breaking through the outer whirlpool, the wind inside was rather comfortable.

The clouds also blocked most of the harsh sunlight, turning it into a gentle warmth.

Allen turned around and bowed to Piyon to thank him for bringing them there, and he replied with a bit of waving.

Then he went inside the magic ship, and it left through the hole it came through.

(Hm? They're already here? I guess they were told we were coming.)

An Archangel with wings was walking towards them.

'Helloo~ Are you Allen that was coming to this Wind Whirlpool~?'

She spoke with a languid voice. It seemed like they had received word Allen was going there.

"Oh, thank you for coming to receive us."

'Oh it's nothing, I'm Ranran. So what do we owe your visit to~?'

Her name was as lethargic as her appearance.

Allen even thought that she looked so soft that the wind might carry her away.

"There's something we'd like to ask the God of Wind Ninlil, that's why we came today."

'Is that so~? But Lord Ninlil doesn't really like talking to people much, so he might not receive you. Is that alright~?'

"That's fine. Could we still try talking to him?"

'Hanyu~? So you'll still try meeting him even if he might not receive you~?'

"It's worth giving it a try."

'Mm~ Well, in that case you can try meeting him. He's over there~'

"Over there? Not inside the Temple?"

There was a temple on an elevated position, but he did not seem to be inside there.

'He's not really the type to stay still inside a temple~'

"I see."

(I guess he's a bit of a free spirit then, or a free god, rather. Anyway, let's do this.)

"Alright, Hawks, you go search for the God of Wind first."

'Pii!!'

There was just a vast expanse of clouds with no vegetation visible from the landing pad.

Since Allen was given permission, he sent 5 Bird E summons to search the place.

"So? Have you found him yet?"

"Yeah, I got him."

"That was fast."

It was not a very big place, and there was plenty of visibility so it was not hard to find him.

He was sleeping atop the clouds not too far from the temple.

Since Merus was also using summons to gather Spirit Stones, Allen got rid of the 5 Bird E summons to free up slots.

Then Allen summoned a Bird B summon to fly to the sleeping man.

The Archangel also followed them to see what would happen.

'Guu~ Guu~'

They could hear him snoring already.

He looked like a really young adult, with his upper body exposed, and sleeping with all limbs stretched out.

Allen's group approached him and knelt next to him.

"God of Wind Ninlil, I hope you can excuse our intrusion into your Temple like this. But we came because we'd like to discuss something."

'Guu~ Guu~'

It seemed like Allen's presence there was bothersome, as Ninlil's breath became faster.

"I'm really sorry, umm…"

'Lord Ninlil is sleeping~'

Allen tried to talk more, but the Archangel stopped him, telling him to wait until Ninlil woke up.

Allen stopped talking and sat on the clouds, waiting for the God of Wind to wake up.

30 minutes passed.

1 hour passed.

3 hours passed.

Allen kept his head low, waiting for the God of Wind to wake up.

Cecile and Sophie did the same.

Allen avoided using Generation too, not wanting to do anything that could be considered rude, and simply waited until he could talk to the God of Wind.

Eventually almost 6 hours passed.

'Mm? Phew~ That was a nice nap. Wait, who are you?'

The man eventually opened his eyes and stretched his arms broadly before noticing Allen's group.

"