Chapter 165: Shining Metamorphosis, Laughing Foreigner, and Tipping Point Part 1

「C, come on! Please become a shield for my sake!」

「Oi, oi, isn’t using civilians like that going completely overboard……!?」

On the display screen, Yggdryer wraps his tentacles around a few children and elderly and places them right in front of him, using them as meat-shields.

Apparently Babel does not support external display, because Lucas’s words are displayed at the bottom of the screen in form of Japanese subtitles. It’s better than nothing, I guess.

「I can still feel some bashfulness, sixty points.」

「Taking infants and elderly hostage feels so good, seventy five points.」

「Ah, umm……?」

While Natsume-san was trying to stall for time in the most efficient way possible, both Pencilgton and I gave our own evaluation of her actions so far. While we were giving our own frightening commentary like that, someone approached us…… Sasahara Eight-san?

「Mind if I ask you something?」

「Hm? Ahh……」

「Sure thing, don’t be shy! I’ll try to answer to the best of my (beautiful) ability!」

Right about now, I didn’t feel like answering any questions at all. Fortunately, Pencilgton almost right away snatched the microphone that was originally directed at me. Her voice was surprisingly cheerful.

That being said, it might have been the cause of the voice changer built in the helmets. But in Pencilgton’s case it would actually be hard to guess.

「Umm, you see…… Is Player Natsume always so ferocious when it comes to games?」

「Fufufu, well you see, about that…… We are sure that this is the correct way of playing Galaxia Heroes: Chaos! In other words…… It’s all part of the tactic!」

「What do you mean by that?」

「You see, there’s a certain gauge in this game…… And I don’t mean like your typical fighting games super or special attack gauge. Those only accumulate if you damage your opponent or get damaged ----」

While Pencilgton started talking with such an intensity that the commentator couldn’t get a word in, I decided to tweak for a little bit with my helmet so I could focus on observing the fight properly.

And to do that, some things were absolutely necessary for me to do.

Thanks to the extremely unusual construction of this helmet, the only way to make the visor slide away was to press a certain button around the neck part. That being said, the parts that slide away are only around the mouth, nose and eyes.

Maybe it’s the recreation of some of the function of the helmet from the game it was from, but for me the impression could be only one: “Neat! You can eat something with the helmet still on!”

KASHAN! KASHAN! KASHA! PIP! PIP! PIP!

「Nfuah!?」

I wanted to open the mouth piece of the helmet, but instead I ended up pressing the power button that was in the very close proximity to the button I wanted to press. So anyone who was watching could witness the sight most bizarre: a guy in a pumpkin helmet that was glowing like a Christmas tree.

There was also a certain someone who was doing everything in his/her power to not laugh at this sight, but eventually lost and started laughing so much that their sides began to hurt. Just who……

「Fuh, kuh, fufufufufu……」

Was it you?

I was slightly distracted by the appearance of Silvia Goldberg laughing her ass off, when suddenly……It’s time to bring the big guns to the table.

GOSOSO. (Taking out the energy drink that was stashed in the holster)

PSH! (Cracking the can open)

CHIYU! (Sticking the straw inside of the can)

PICA! (Shine)

「Puhyu!」

「…… Buha!?」

This time around I was sure that the black macho was laughing his ass off. Sadly, I wasn’t too sure about that, because the white macho covered him by leaning towards someone who was sitting in the audience just behind him. So now Sylvia Goldberg was not alone, but there was someone else joining her…… Umm, wasn’t his name “Johnson” or something like that?

I wonder if this some sort of their own tactics? Like, psychological warfare? I wanted to laugh at them on my own, but then I noticed the camera approaching me…… better say something about this sucker here.

「…… This is some seriously good stuff.」

With no better idea in my mind at the current moment, I stroke a gutsy pose and shifted the bottle so that the label of the energy drink could be visible on camera.

「Dude, what the hell are you even doing?」

「Contributing to sales? I would like this thing to become available in Japan as soon as possible.」

「Ah, I get it now, I get you…… Oh, look! The situation is changing!」

「Oh, you’re right.」

Looking up at the screen, I could see that Yggdryer was robbed of his hostages and was now forced into defense by Dr. Sandalphone, who reluctantly started acting and switched into offense.

「Think that’s going to be it for this round?」

「Hell if I know. He was forced to use some of his gauge just to free the hostages. Shouldn’t Natsume-chan start doing the same if she wants to regain the advantage?」

It was certainly a difficult situation. If you use your gauge in the first round, then you’re going to end up at a disadvantage in the next round. However, if it means winning a round, it’s all worth the trouble.