Chapter 166: Daunting Pose (2)

Seiya chose Celseus to use the hardening technique. I felt that it was the wrong choice, and Celseus didn’t like it either.

「Seiya! I can’t move if my body gets hardened! I won’t be able to protect you! So, let’s not use this technique! Please, please!」

However, Seiya looked attentively at Ardama, while totally ignoring us.

「Ardama. I want you to show me your ultimate hardening defense technique.」

Ardama began laughing happily immediately after she heard Seiya.

「Uh, uh, uh. You are well-informed, young man. It seems that you are aware of my hidden power. I call it the secret of my natural trait.」

「Se…Secret!? Isn’t the previous hardening your greatest skill!?」

「That hardening is completely different from the secret one.」

Then, Ardama turned to Celseus. A dazzling light overflowed from Ardama’s hands and was released towards Celseus.

「Ohh!? What’s this!? 」

The diffused light covered the whole body of Celseus. Then, Celseus’ skin changed immediately! Except for the equipment and clothes he wore, Celseus skin became like steel just like what happened with Ardama before!

「Se…Seiya! Celseus’ body has hardened…Eh, what are you doing!?」

Seiya held a shining black handgun toward Ardama!

…Wait a moment!! Why was Seiya aiming at Ardama and not the hardened Celseus!? I couldn’t understand what was going on!! In addition…

「Ardama’s body is no longer hardened, can’t you see that Seiya!? What you’re doing is dangerous!!」

I shouted, but Seiya silently pulled the trigger without hesitation. Several shots were fired consecutively. And…I was surprised when I stared at Ardama.

「Ehh!? Celseus!? 」

Before I knew it, the hardened Celseus stood in front of Ardama with his arms outstretched in order to protect her!

No way!! Celseus was right next to me just a second ago!!

I screamed as I asked Seiya, who put the handgun on his pocket.

「Seiya!! How did Celseus move so quickly!?」

「It is Ardama’s special skill. By applying hardness to a third party instead of yourself, you can give that person hardness and agility at the same time.」

Ardama laughed while nodding to Seiya’s words.

「The art of my special natural trait becomes stronger and faster because there is someone to protect…This skill is my secret, in order words, the “Daunting Pose”!」

「The Daunting Pose, you say!? 」

「Yes. The person who is doing the Daunting Pose will be an invincible shield that automatically protects the caster.」

「Eh, is that so. That means… 」

「To put it simply, for the upcoming saving quest of Twisted Exfolia, I’ll use Celseus as a lightning rod to shield me from bullets aimed directly at me. That’s all.」

「Of course it’s not a “that’s all”!! 」

Celseus shouted loudly.

「I don’t want to do it!! Why do I have to become a lightning rod!!」

Seiya began searching for something and pointed a new gun at Ardama. The gun had a longer length than the one he had before, and it was a fancy-looking gun.

「Se…Seiya…! That gun is…!」

「By repeating the synthesis process, I created a gun capable of firing small magic bullets automatically and continuously. In my world, this gun is called a submachine gun.」

「You…You’re joking, aren’t you…! Are you going to shoot me with a submachine gun…?」

Celseus tried to escape. However, because his body was hardened, it seemed impossible for him to move freely. His body made dull noise as he tried to move, but to no avail.

Seiya fired a bullet at Ardama again. A light gunshot echoed. Then, Celseus moved at a tremendous speed to protect Ardama! As previously seen, he stood in front of her quickly as if the dullness was a lie! The speed reminded me of the speed accomplished by the Berserker Seiya. Celseus moved his arms and legs in an obvious pose to protect Ardama.

…He…He truly acted like a shield to protect the caster from menacing bullets! This power wasn’t just a mere secret! This hidden skill was, in fact, a powerful defense mechanism for protection! It felt like a steel wall!

Nonetheless. Celseus, who continued to be hit by bullets, screamed aloud.

「It hurtssssssssssssssssssssss!!」

「Wait, does it hurt even though the body is hardened!?」

「The hardness is completely flawless and durable, but some pain remains. Well, actually, it doesn’t hurt that much, so the best he can do is to endure it.」

Contrary to his will, Celseus, who became like steel, opened his arms and became a shield. In reality, the bullets didn’t inflict any damage on his hardened skin, however, the same didn’t happen with his equipment and clothes. Everything Celseus wore outside his skin flipped away from his body and he became naked.

「Ah, yahhhhhhhhhhhhh!! 」

The steel-colored Celseus shouted with embarrassment. After a while. Perhaps, Seiya had shot all the bullets since he put away the submachine gun. Seiya passed by the quivering Celseus, and spoke to Ardama.

「It seems that he received most of the bullets. It looked like the skill was in effect.」

「Well, the hardness technique acted like a magical power on this god rather than a physical power.」

「Magical power? What do you mean? 」

「A small amount of magic generates from the activated Daunting Pose. Those bullets had magical properties in them, am I right? It means that those fired bullets acted like magnets. That is the reason why he received most of them, since they were attracted by his hardness.」

「I see. So is it possible for him to handle shots coming from every direction? For example, can he handle shots from all 360 degrees?」

「It is extremely difficult to react to all attacks, such as rainstorms. Still, I think that 80% of the attacks can be prevented.」

「That’s sufficient. I’ll take care of the remaining 20%. 」

Seiya reloaded more bullets into the submachine gun while having a conversation with Ardama. Then, he took a distance from Ardama and started shooting again. He aimed at Ardama from as many angles as possible. However, Celseus moved quickly and responded accordingly to the attacks. Countless cartridge cases were scattered under Seiya’s feet, and Celseus continued screaming.

「Yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! 」

…Ugh! What a pitiful cry! He looked so pathetic!

I began grinning inside, as I was the spectator this time. Ardama also laughed happily.

「Uh, uh, uh, uh. What a very good feeling… 」

「Hmm? Why is she feeling good? 」

「At the same time Celseus practices his hardening; he gives Ardama the HP as a price for his training. After this, I have to learn the Daunting Pose myself.」

「Ah, I see! It’s like killing two birds with one stone! 」

However, Ardama stretched her arms with a satisfied face.

「Well then. That’s all for today.」

「Hmm. Why?」

「The HP that overflows from that god has run out. I am tired, so I will see you tomorrow.」

When I looked the other side, I saw that a naked Celseus sat in the ground.

「Ahh, ahh…I don’t care…Ahh, ahh, ahh…I really don’t care about anything anymore…」

…!? Celseus became depressed!?

It seemed that his embarrassment feelings disappeared when his mind got full of negative thoughts. That was the reason why his HP stopped overflowing. Hmm, how miserable! We…Well, Celseus should be glad ‘cause they stopped doing this training today! Tomorrow would be a new day! Perhaps, he could recover until then!

I was staring at a fallen Celseus with a smile.

「Don’t worry, Ardama. We have another god here.」

Seiya’s words froze my spine!

「Se…Se…Seiya, don’t tell me that…!!!」

「Lista. I want you to give Ardama your HP. I need your cooperation now.」

「You must be kidding!! 」

「I see, I see! Okay, it is that goddess’ turn…How great! “Daunting Pose”!」

「Yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!」

I tried to escape, but a thing that resembled a ray of light wrapped my body from Ardama’s hand! My skin became like steel, the same has Celseus! I felt a pulsating sensation all over my body!

「I…I can’t move…Ah!? 」

Seiya was already pointing the submachine gun at me!

「This time, I will try to extract most of your embarrassing moments to overflow your HP. So I’m going to aim directly at you.」

「Wa…Wait a moment… 」

However, ruthless gunshots echoed continuously. Pain ran all over my body at the same time! It felt as if I was getting full of holes in various places of my body!

「It hurtssssssssssssssss!! 」

However, something else worried me more than the perforation pain. My pure white dress became tattered because of the endless gunfire! Soon, my skin became bare for everyone to see! The color of my skin was now steel, but the embarrassment of being naked remained the same.

「Yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! 」

I managed to hide my breasts and important parts with my hands, but I ended up screaming pathetically like Celseus.

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Why were gods born if not only to suffer…

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