Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities-Chapter 31: Stop The Cart
"So you came back with a plan, right?" NukEncore asked after she decided to stick with Martin’s party.
That cart roller coaster and the crater fall hadn’t been enough to scare her off. She’d had too much fun in the forest to quit now.
More than that, NukEncore felt like everyone in Martin’s party actually clicked.
And honestly? The party just worked.
A big part of it was Martin and the others knowing the forest so well. Martin set the stage, and NukEncore got to be the chaos.
It had worked perfectly. Then they hit the mine.
Still, NukEncore had hope.
Eyes bright, she looked at Martin.
He shook his head. "I don’t really have a plan yet."
NukEncore looked to Chaosgraphy.
She shook her head.
Kill Clause reacted the same.
"Tell me you’re not all masochists. Dying doesn’t turn you on, right? I can’t be the only normal one here!" NukEncore asked, loud enough for everyone nearby to hear.
Martin rolled his eyes. "I don’t have to prove to you that I’m healthy."
"That’s true, yes!" NukEncore nodded vehemently, the Step On Me moment flashing through her mind. "So we need a solid plan. As long as it’s only Chaos who’s a masochist, we’re still safe."
She narrowed her eyes, thinking out loud. The others fell silent with her.
Their problem was the cart: the insane speed, and the ramp at the end. They needed it because walking down the sloped road would eat too much of their dungeon time.
It was an hour-long run, after all.
No one had an answer yet. Martin tried to lighten the mood with the snacks he’d prepared beforehand.
"I don’t have many of these, so I didn’t use them on the exploration run," he said, pulling items from his inventory and passing them around. "But once we start fighting serious monsters and aiming for the categories, we should all eat them."
NukEncore had reacted the hardest after their first death, so Martin handed her a snack first.
She accepted it carefully, like being first mattered more than it should have. A strange smile tugged at her lips, teasing him for being so straightforward.
The snack was exactly to her taste.
[Arcane Sugar Bite (I) (Common) (One Time Use)]
[Effects (Lv 1–10): Mana Regen +6%, Intelligence +8, Spell Haste +8% to +14% (scales with level)]
[Full effects apply only after the entire item is consumed, and only for players between levels 1 and 10.]
It was a compact cube of caramelized sugar and soft nougat that melted quickly on the tongue. A mage snack you could finish between pulls.
"Thank you! Did you make it yourself?" NukEncore asked, her voice sweeter than the snack.
Martin nodded. "Yeah. It was my first subclass: First Star Chef. The NPC I’m learning from is a Five Star Chef, and he’s amazing, honestly."
He grinned. "I asked to cook for once without magic, and he taught me a lot. I liked working with him yesterday."
Chaosgraphy received her snack next. "Just as I expected. You can buff us with food now."
She glanced at him. "Going out of your way to make snacks we like best is awfully kind of you. I appreciate the effort and the gesture, though. Thanks."
"It’s fine." Martin chuckled. "Samu said it’s good to have preferences and a clear goal to work toward. It keeps the passion going and might even give the food additional effects. His words, not mine."
Chaosgraphy nodded, eyes on the description.
She read the effect lines like she was reviewing a contract, then nodded once, satisfied.
[Vanguard Pretzel Twist (I) (Common) (One Time Use)]
[Effects (Lv 1–10): Attack Speed +6%, Agility +8, Stamina Regen +8% to +14% (scales with level)]
[Full effects apply only after the entire item is consumed, and only for players between levels 1 and 10.]
It was a salty, crunchy pretzel twist brushed with butter-salt dust. Designed for duelists, fast to chew, with no crumbs sticking to your throat.
Finally, he passed the snack to Kill Clause. She took it with a straight face, her movements practiced, like she was used to receiving gifts.
She tucked the cookie away with the same precision she used to store arrows, as if even crumbs were unacceptable.
"I’ll report this to the boss," she said. "You stayed steady under pressure, and you prepared."
Martin smiled. "Preparations are nothing if they bring no results."
Kill Clause blinked in surprise, then smiled faintly. "Correct."
And the cookie she’d received was indeed to her liking.
[Trailblazer Coffee Cookie (I) (Common) (One Time Use)]
[Effects (Lv 1–10): Ranged Damage +6%, Perception +8, Movement Speed +8% to +14% (scales with level)]
[Full effects apply only after the entire item is consumed, and only for players between levels 1 and 10.]
It was a crisp, coffee-friendly cookie, lightly cocoa-dusted, that snapped clean and went down fast. Made for rangers who ate on the move.
The buffs were insane, especially at level one, where every extra stat mattered.
It eased the tension.
...but it didn’t solve the cart.
"Could I try it now?" NukEncore asked.
"No," Chaosgraphy replied. "Don’t waste food."
"Mm..." NukEncore pouted. "But we can eat as much as we want in here, right?"
She lifted the sugar cube halfway to her lips, then froze when Chaosgraphy’s eyes flicked up. She coughed and pretended she’d only been smelling it.
She knew it was childish to waste something that precious.
But her comment didn’t fall on deaf ears.
Kill Clause and Chaosgraphy looked at her with quiet understanding.
For women like them, appearances mattered. Plenty of food ended up back on the shelf or in the fridge, even when they weren’t hungry.
...and the first hurdle still stood.
"I have a solution," Kill Clause suddenly said.
As all eyes fell on her, she slipped into a boss-like demeanor, like she was briefing employees on the next move.
—
[Time: 41:45]
[You have found the entrance to the Buried Mining Site.]
[Level Requirement: 5]
The moment they stepped inside, the forest vanished behind them. Sound changed first, swallowed by thick dark and replaced with a hollow echo that made every footstep feel louder than it should.
The air was colder here, damp enough to cling to skin. The smell was metal and old water, like rust soaked into stone.
Somewhere deeper in the tunnel, something scraped faintly, as if the rails were shifting under their own weight. Martin couldn’t see the track yet, but he could feel it in the silence, waiting.
It took us around twenty minutes at full speed, with everyone cooperating. If we really pushed and used food buffs beforehand, we could cut it to fifteen.
Martin briefly recalled their speedrun through the forest. Only the Wooden Bears had slowed them down.
Chaosgraphy kept targeting joints, while Martin and Kill Clause held the other monsters in place long enough for her to cripple them. That was the only reason they’d reached the hidden entrance so fast.
The team went in.
Without wasting time, Martin scooped NukEncore into a princess carry and sprinted forward. It was part of the plan, saving seconds and sparing her from getting jostled every few steps.
"Mhm."
She hummed and swung her legs as he ran, as if being carried like a princess was written into her DNA.
She couldn’t stay in his arms for long. From memory, he took the right turn, cut through it, and soon spotted the old cart in the darkness.
For a second, he had to fight the urge to look at her huge tits. He set her down, then grabbed the cart’s rim and hopped in without anyone’s help. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
He turned and offered a hand to the others.
NukEncore needed it most; she was a mage, and she was the shortest. Chaosgraphy and Kill Clause helped each other in.
Martin took the front position and clamped both hands on the rim. He tapped the cart once with his shield, then braced.
His teammates were already seated, ready for the roller coaster.
The cart lurched, then tipped into the slide. The wheels shrieked against the rails as gravity grabbed them.
In a heartbeat, the speed ramped up, and the metal rim vibrated under his palms. The cart rattled over every seam in the track, each joint hitting like a hammer.
Cold air knifed up the tunnel, carrying the tang of rust and wet stone. Tiny sparks flashed at the wheels whenever they kissed a curve too hard.
Wind slammed into Martin’s face and stung his eyes. He forced himself not to blink, even as tears threatened at the corners.
He stared ahead, pouring every drop of focus into the rails. He was the key to surviving the ramp.
It was my tank’s duty to make a stage for everyone. I’d get us there, for sure.
I would definitely stop this cart, even though bungee was pretty fun.
A strip of blue light flared at the end of the tunnel.
That was the cue.
Stop the cart.
