Chapter 166: Daunting Pose (1)

I followed Seiya as usual. Behind me, Celseus was walking with a terrifying look on his face. It couldn’t be helped though, he knew that he was going to be humiliated. Do your best, Celseus! I’m rooting for you! But from a safe distance!

「By the way, Seiya. What kind of Underworld person are you going to train with?」

「I heard that Ardama, who lives on the 9th Avenue of the Underworld, is able to harden his body.」

「Huh!! Harden, you say!! Then, does that mean that you’re trying to increase your defense power!?」

「No. Actually… 」

Seiya stopped talking midway. We had walked a dozen of minutes outside the center of the Underworld. We reached a crossroad with four different directions. Seiya stopped in the middle of the road and looked around. He muttered “Again, I see”.

「Ah. Did the topography of the Underworld change again?」

「Yeah. This road used to lead to the 9th Avenue.」

I looked ahead at the path, which Seiya pointed to. Trees were sparsely scattered across the footpath, and a rocky landscape spread beyond that point. I didn’t think there was a town on that direction. After a little hesitation, Seiya began to walk down the road.

「He…Hey, Seiya. The road has changed, am I right? I wonder if the direction is correct. Are we going to reach the 9th Avenue where Ardama is located without any problems?」

「I don’t know. Let’s go ahead for the time being. 」

We followed Seiya for more than ten minutes. The pavement road turned into a gravel road. A rocky landscape spread in front of us. The scenery was filled with large steep rocks. Under the red sky of the Underworld, these huge rocks looked like gravestones. They gave me the creeps. Seiya sighed then.

「The farther away we are from the center of the Underworld, the more noticeable are the changes in the topography. This area should’ve been the 9th Avenue.」

「This area was supposed to be the 9th Avenue!? This place doesn’t look like a town at all!!」

「Anyway, I will search the area and see if I can find Ardama. You guys should do it too. Ardama looks like a turtle.」

「A turtle, huh…」

Somehow, a giant bipedal turtle appeared on my head when I tried to imagine Ardama’s appearance. With that picture in mind, I began to explore the area. I looked at the shade of a big rock to see if Ardama was there…

「Whoa! 」

I saw countless of scorpion-like insects of the Underworld roaming around in the shade of the big rock.

Ah, suddenly, I felt nauseous…Ahh. I wondered if Ardama really lived in a place like this…

I felt tired after looking around endlessly. Suddenly I noticed that Celseus stood nearby, seemingly unmotivated.

「Hey, Celseus! Are you looking for him properly? 」

「Well, kinda. But, I don’t want to. It’s better for me if we don’t find him…AH!?」

Seiya was silently staring at us from a distance. Celseus hurriedly put his hand on his mouth and screamed loudly in order to appease Seiya.

「Mister Ardama!! Mister Ardama!! Are you thereeeeeeeeee!?」

I laughed awkwardly upon hearing the screams of a frightened Celseus. Suddenly! A big crack opened in the ground under my feet!

「Whahh!? 」

Someone appeared from the ground, full of rock fragments attached to its body. This person took away the fragments from the body with its hands.

「…Did you call me? 」

「Eh, well, are you Mister Ardama?」

This person had a tan body and an earth-colored hair. The eyes were pitch black and looked eerie. At first glance, this person looked terrifying. However, this person smiled lovingly at us and spoke with a bright voice.

「That is right. I am Ardama.」

「He doesn’t look at all like a turtle…!」

Celseus looked confused. Yeah, he was right. Ardama was certainly not a turtle. Moreover, Ardama was not a “he”. In fact; Ardama had a bulge on the chest, which means Ardama was a girl. She had breasts. To be honest, she looked like a clay fairy. I wondered if Seiya’s information was incorrect.

However, Ardama put her hand on her chin and shook her head.

「A turtle, I see. Well, there were times when I looked like that… Probably, I think…」

「Don’t you know who you are!? 」

Ardama shook her head and responded, “I don’t know, I really don’t know”. After that, she stared fixedly at Seiya with a mysterious look on her face.

「Young man. Have we met before? 」

「We are meeting for the first time. 」

「I see, I see. I felt as if I saw you before. Well, maybe it’s because you resemble someone I know, young man.」

She laughed happily. She was friendly unlike her appearance. However, Seiya looked at Ardama with stern eyes. Seiya spoke with a whispering voice right next to me.

「I located this person in a very different place than I envisioned, and even the appearance and personality don’t match with the information I got.」

「Well, but aren’t you glad? We managed to find her. But I do agree that she’s different from the person you described her to be.」

「It would be nice if this person were the one I’ve been looking for.」

「Eh. Do…Don’t tell me…that she is not Ardama!?」

「I’m going to check her identity now.」

Seiya spoke quite seriously to the person of the Underworld who smiled carefree.

「Ardama. I want you to show me your special skill, which is hardening.」

「Eh, I see. I heard rumors. “Be friendly when the hero comes”…Lord Hades told me these words.」

Ardama’s body changed while she spoke. The color in the tip of her head changed from an earthy color to a steel coloring. The metallic color spread instantly from her head to the lower part of her body. Eventually, her whole body shined brightly like a brilliant steel.

「This is my natural trait! 」

Ardama had her arms folded upon changing her body. It seemed that her body coated with steel. Indeed, she hardened her body, right…eh, ehhh!?

I heard the sound of a sword! When I looked back, I saw that Seiya pulled his sword out of his sheath and pointed the blade towards Ardama!

「I’m going to test your defense mechanism. 」

「Se…Seiya! That’s rude… 」

「Well. I don’t mind it. 」

「Good. I will strike you now. 」

Seiya, who turned into a Berserker before I knew it, approached a smiling Ardama. He slashed her without any hesitation! The red blade was a sword from the Underworld that was much sharper than the Platinum Sword. I covered my eyes when Seiya attacked Ardama, but at the same time, I heard a strong metallic sound as if two pieces of steel collided with one another. When I looked at them, I saw that Ardama was laughing as before. She kept laughing even after receiving an attack from Seiya’s sword.

「No good, no good. As you can see, physical and magical attacks don’t hurt me when I activate my natural trait.」

「Oh. Okay. Then, how about this sword? 」

Seiya put the red sword from the Underworld into his sheath, and pulled another sword from a different sheath.

「Ehh! That’s a very sharp-looking sword! 」

After seeing the divine sparkle of the Holy Sword Egzation, Ardama exclaimed with admiration.

「This sword has a special skill named “Crushing Wound”. If you get cut by this sword, you won’t be able to heal your injury in the future, so is it okay with you if I attack with this sword?」

「I don’t mind it. 」

Was…Was this really okay!? The power of the Holy Sword Egzation was enormous!! The sword was enough to defeat the Demon King of Geabrande!!

Perhaps Seiya knew the implications of the power of the Holy Sword. He aimed at Ardama’s arms instead of the key points such as the chest and head. The moment he hit her arms with the sword, a deafening metal sound roared high. Seiya stopped moving the Egzation near the upper arm of Ardama.

「Uh, uh, uh! It doesn’t make sense to me, how can I heal or regenerate if I wasn’t hurt in the first place? This hardening skill, which is my natural trait, is invincible!」

A…Amazing!! It was so incredible, indeed!! I never thought that someone of the Underworld would have this type of skill!!

I felt astonished, and whispered in Seiya’s ear.

「I wish you had learnt this skill way sooner, don’t you think so!? 」

If Seiya had known Ardama’s existence before, then the saving quest of the Twisted Geabrande would have been much easier. I asked Seiya, but he ignored me and looked toward Ardama with cool-looking eyes. Ardama kept laughing loudly.

「Then attack me next. 」

Suddenly, Ardama’s face got clouded.

「I…I apologize, but I cannot do such a thing… 」

「Why can’t you attack me? 」

Seiya began to poke the hardened Ardama with Egzation.

「Ah, wait! Stop it! Stop poking me! 」

Despite being poked by Seiya repeatedly, Ardama just stood there as if she couldn’t do anything at all. And then, I realized the weakness of her special ability.

「I see…she can’t move…! 」

「Yeah. It is almost the same as the hardening technique of the Dragon Mother. Even if the defense is perfect, the agility is reduced to zero. In other words, the ability of this person is an inflexible and inconvenient technique.」

「You are being truly rude to me now!! I won’t teach you my natural trait if you think that way, got it!?」

「Well, there is still a way to use it. 」

Still a way to use it, huh. Seiya was probably worried about the enemy this time. After all, this newly enemy could shoot guns. Maybe Seiya wanted to “harden in order to neutralize the bullets fired at him by the enemy”.

「But, you see. You can hardly move if you harden your body, right? You will be able to defend yourself from the bullets, but you won’t be able to do anything else.」

「Lista. You are misunderstanding my purpose. I won’t be the one to harden the body. It will be Celseus the one to do it.」

「Why me!? 」

Celseus, who had been quiet until now, changed his complexion and shouted.

「Because you have the largest body volume. 」

「No, wait a second, what do you mean!? 」

「Seiya, do you intend to use Celseus as a shield? But, that’s…」

I didn’t feel that Celseus would be great during an emergency, especially in hardening since he wouldn’t be able to move. In the first place, Celseus always behaved like a scaredy-cat. I even stopped thinking of him as the Swordsman God. I doubted that he would use that technique to protect Seiya and me. Why was Seiya choosing Celseus to use the hardening technique…? This absurd idea puzzled me…

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Well Lista, you would be surprised 😉

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