Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities-Chapter 15: Baby Kraken
As soon as the shadow swallowed Martin, he twisted and snapped his shield overhead, perfect-blocking the descending tentacle.
DING!
[Perfect Block!]
It begins now.
The hardest part of the battle against the lake boss had officially begun.
Martin slipped sideways and let the massive tentacle crash into the shore. The impact left it slack for a heartbeat.
That was all the signal the wooden wolves needed.
A huge swarm surged in, jaws sinking into the tentacle’s slick flesh.
Martin didn’t hesitate. He sprinted for the farthest stretch of shore.
Another shadow swept over him. No time.
A grin tugged at his mouth as he threw himself forward and rolled clean past the strike, coming up running.
Behind him, the second tentacle slammed down with a thunderous bang and kicked up a wall of dust. It yanked itself up again, but the dust lingered, hanging thick over the shoreline as a smokescreen.
The wolves were already flooding around both pinned limbs, tearing at them from every angle.
I’ve been here before.
Without the dust, some of them would spot me and peel off to chase. This buys me time. It saves stamina.
The chaos helped in another way, too.
With so many mouths on the first tentacle, the second one drew attention before it could pull free. Teeth sank in. Blood spilled.
The moment blood appeared, the limb seized up and froze.
That was the lake boss’ weakness.
If it wanted to stop Martin from exploiting it, it had to stop attacking him.
Two tentacles were a worthy sacrifice if it meant dealing with the pesky player.
The dust thinned, and both tentacles were gone.
Two down. Six left.
Blood and shredded flesh littered the ground. The evolved wolves stood exposed, crimson eyes shining, muzzles dripping red, all of them turning toward Martin.
The lake churned with bubbles, as if the boss was enjoying the show. A level one player versus an army of monsters was unfair, impossible.
The pack rushed him.
Martin ran to meet them, then stopped and craned his head to the side.
The lake bubbled again, like it was asking whether he really thought it would keep attacking and give him more tentacles to feed.
Martin’s lips curved. "Taunt."
A tentacle twitched above him, then dropped with its full weight. Just before impact, he rolled out of its lane.
BANG!
A heartbeat later, the wolves slammed into the third tentacle and started devouring it.
Martin sneered and sprinted along the edge of the chaos.
Three down. Five left.
He plunged into the billowing dust.
At this point, I don’t care about the Damage Taken Ranking. I’ve been so fixated on it that it blinded me against this boss. If I want a win, I have to control the battlefield.
Wolves circled the pinned limb, hunting for angles to bite deeper. A few ended up directly in Martin’s path.
When they noticed him, their attention snapped to him immediately.
Crimson eyes fixed on him.
Momentum was on his side.
He drove into their ranks. Shield Bash hit harder with his speed and weight behind it. Bark-skin cracked as the wolf yelped.
Martin followed with a sword thrust and kept moving, the monster stuck on his blade, limp.
A hard jerk sent the body flying. It hit the ground and didn’t get back up.
More monsters pounced from behind.
Martin pivoted and braced. Even with near-perfect micro-adjustments, blocking them all wasn’t easy.
"Taunt!"
Anything that could seriously hurt him or his shield got met with Taunt. The skill forced their attacks into the center of his shield.
Together with Fortify, it kept him alive.
Still, the dance against the evolved wolves was brutal.
[Emperoar Lv. 1 HP: 120/120 MP: 100/100]
[Emperoar Lv. 1 HP: 96/120 MP: 54/100]
[Emperoar Lv. 1 HP: 39/120 MP: 29/100]
[Emperoar Lv. 1 HP: 5/120 MP: 3/100]
Death’s breath brushed his neck. One graze and he was done.
Then he twisted his torso, guided the blade with his arm, and drove it forward with his whole body.
DANG!
[CRITICAL STRIKE!]
[You have killed the Crimson Haze Wooden Wolf Lv. 1]
[Level Synchronization Active]
[Level Restored: 1]
[Emperoar Lv. 1 HP: 120/120 MP: 100/100]
Martin turned and showed his back to the monsters on purpose.
He hadn’t rushed into their ranks without a plan.
He’d stepped into the lane, the clean drop-zone. The place where a tentacle could land right on top of them.
All it needed was a push.
"TAUNT!" Martin howled.
The shadow swallowed him... and the evolved wolves.
The tentacle snapped free. The lake monster tried to stop its own limb, but it was too late.
Martin dove aside, ugly and careless, just to escape the blow.
The slam wiped out at least fifteen wolves.
The fourth tentacle lay slack on the shore. Even the survivors couldn’t ignore it.
Dust erupted again, swallowing the shoreline.
The surviving wolves spun and rushed the fourth tentacle, drawn by blood and fresh meat.
Four down. Four left.
That impact shook the forest.
More wooden wolves peeled off the treeline and poured toward the shore.
Martin tore through the dust and ran the other way along the water.
"TAUNT!" he screamed at the normal wooden wolves.
Every one of them snapped toward him and gave chase.
Monsters want lives. That’s this world’s rule.
One taunt on a wolf is enough to drag the whole pack after me.
The evolved ones are different. Blood makes them rabid. They’ll savor the source first, monster or player, then they’ll come for me.
Which means you bastards will finish devouring the fourth tentacle, while the normal wolves turn into my puppies, like they’re meant to.
As long as the normals taste my blood, they stay on me. As long as the evolved taste the boss’ blood, they stay on the tentacle. Split hunger. Split problems.
Same lane. Same trick.
Martin faced the lake with his shield up. Behind him, the pack thundered closer.
"TAUNT!"
The fifth tentacle lunged.
This time it met Martin’s shield head-on.
He followed instantly with Fortify. Invisible armor seemed to wrap around him.
He needed it, because the normal wolves were already digging into his flesh.
Feed on me. Stay on me.
Normal wolves on my blood. Evolved wolves on the boss’ blood. That separation is the whole plan. If the normals switch targets and join the feast, everything syncs up again, and then I’m the only meat left.
Martin shifted his grip and tilted the fifth tentacle off-line.
The evolved wolves surged in and buried their heads into the sleek flesh. Their strength and sheer numbers pinned the tentacle down.
Martin fought his way free the hard way. Wolves gnawed at his legs, dragging him, but he’d been through worse.
He changed his sword grip and stabbed down into the normal wolves clinging to him. A few quick thrusts, and one after another, they dropped.
Five down. Three left. This run is going...
Shadows started swaying erratically across him.
Martin lifted his head. "Well?"
The remaining three tentacles didn’t rise from their usual lanes.
They tilted instead, not like something reacting but like something aiming.
So it finally figured it out.
Up until now, it was chained to fixed drop-zones. The shadow came down, I rolled out, and the wolves punished the limb. I treated the shoreline like a board with marked squares and predictable angles.
Now it can point a tentacle wherever it wants. It can stab from the side, sweep low, hook my legs, or smash the pack to free its own flesh. The "safe pocket" I relied on is gone.
As if to prove it, one tentacle swept sideways along the shore instead of dropping straight down.
BANG!
It slammed through the wolves devouring the fifth tentacle and smashed them flat against the pinned limb.
Martin swallowed hard.
That’s the goal. Clear the pack. Keep them off its blood. If it wipes the wolves off a pinned tentacle, it can pull the limb back before they lock in and freeze it.
Worse, it can split me. Two angles at once. One from the left, one from the right. If I perfect block one, the other tags my side. If I roll, it follows. If I hesitate, I die.
No words came, only the answer.
I can’t taunt early. If I do, it adjusts and staggers the timing. I need commitment. I need both tentacles locked in mid-strike, forced to correct at the same time.
He waited.
Not for the first twitch.
For the moment both limbs snapped toward him with killing intent.
Then Martin screamed the only skill that could bend their path.
"TAUNT!"
Both tentacles corrected mid-swing, dragging their trajectories toward the center of his shield.
Martin threw himself aside at the last frame.
The two tentacles met where he’d been.
They collided with a wet, violent crack, stunned themselves, and dropped onto the shore like dead weight.
Two of the last three down.
One left.
That final tentacle rose like a spear. Water streamed off it as the shadow beneath tightened and took aim.
Martin pushed up onto his feet and raised his shield.
Come.
The tentacle stabbed straight down, fast and heavy.
DING!
[Perfect Block!]
The impact shoved his arm back a fraction. He absorbed it, rolled his shoulder, and reset his stance.
Then the lake boss changed the line.
Instead of another straight drop, the tentacle snapped sideways at knee height, trying to sweep his legs out from under him.
Martin shifted his lead foot, turned his hips, and angled the shield down.
The sweep scraped off the rim.
A second strike followed immediately from above, angled toward his exposed shoulder, aiming to slip past the center and catch the edge.
Martin tucked his elbow to his ribs and rotated the shield, guiding the blow away.
Another hit came low, then high, then a hook meant to catch his wrist. A slam followed, trying to crush him in place.
The boss kept changing the angle by a few degrees each time, denying him the comfortable rhythm he’d built earlier.
Martin didn’t chase openings. He didn’t swing greedily. He only corrected.
This isn’t about killing it with my sword. It’s about surviving its last weapon until it runs out of strength.
The tempo climbed. The final tentacle started chaining hits, rebounding after each slam and lashing again, trying to steal the timing window from him.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
A harsh ring vibrated through the metal.
[Steel Shield (Blue) Durability: 49/120]
His left hand went numb. He couldn’t feel the handle anymore. The forearm burned, and his legs started to feel heavy and unsteady. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
Stamina scraped bottom.
Stand still...
If I step back, it pins me. If I step forward, it sweeps. If I roll, it follows. So I hold the line. I give it nothing but my shield and my timing.
Another strike came in hard.
Martin met it.
The next one was faster.
He met that too.
Just as it felt like his body would finally give out, the tentacle rose... then sagged.
It trembled once, like the boss couldn’t keep the limb rigid anymore, and then it limped back into the lake.
A dark ribbon followed it under the surface.
The water around the retreating tentacle churned, then stuttered. Bubbles rose in weak clusters and popped into thin, red foam that spread outward.
The lake near the shore darkened, crimson bleeding into the ripples until even the water by Martin’s boots looked stained.
The air tasted like iron, sharp and metallic, like he’d bitten a coin.
So even it has a limit.
A few throbbing seconds later, a single system notification appeared.
[You have killed Baby Kraken(BOSS) Lv. 1]
[Level Synchronization Active]
[Level Restored: 1]
Stamina rushed back like a shot of adrenaline, but Martin still dropped to his knees.
He tried to lift his shield. His left fingers didn’t listen. The strap slipped, clattering against the stones.
His stomach rolled once. He swallowed it down and forced air into his lungs.
The lake was fully crimson now. Thin red foam lapped at the shore.
Martin dropped his sword and clenched his right fist.
"HELL YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The shout died early.
The crimson water didn’t settle.
It pulled inward in a slow, tight spiral, like the lake was swallowing its own foam, then pushed outward again.
Something moved under the red surface.
A bulge rolled toward the shore, forcing a path through the thin film. The lake heaved once and spat up an oval shape that bumped against the stones, smooth and pale beneath the crimson sheen.
Martin froze.
What is that...
