Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities-Chapter 38: Boss Room

There were at least ten goblins at the entrance.

Half of them already had their slings drawn. Crystal bullets snapped toward Martin’s party.

Martin moved at once, rushing forward to cut off most of their angles. Behind him, his teammates dropped into their combat stances and readied themselves.

With Bulwark Rush and Shield Bash, Martin seized the front line and locked the first goblins down. His allies flowed right into the opening he created.

Chaosgraphy’s twin swords flashed and hacked into the closest monsters.

The other half had already spun around and bolted deeper into the mine to alert the rest. NukEncore and Kill Clause fired spells and arrows after them, but NukEncore missed in the darkness, while Kill Clause only managed to bring down one because of her skill limits.

The rest got away.

Martin clicked his tongue. I couldn’t taunt them... too far away. They’re much more disciplined now that their boss isn’t forcing them to bring him "the snack." More goblins will be here soon, and they’ll swarm us.

[Emperoar: Let’s get out of here right now. We’ll hide in the dark and hope none of the goblins spot us.]

No one argued. That was answer enough.

Martin broke through the remaining goblins at the front, his teammates finished off the rest, and then he led them toward the darkest part of the mine, where the raw crystals were sparse and the light was weakest.

Soon, Martin and the others slipped into a narrow pocket along the excavation site, a cramped notch between jagged stone and a half-buried support beam. It was barely big enough for all of them.

They had no choice but to press together in the dark. Warmth closed in on him from every side.

NukEncore ended up so close that the soft press of her chest kept brushing his arm whenever she shifted, while one of Chaosgraphy’s long legs slid against his and pinned there for a moment before she adjusted again.

Another small movement pressed a shoulder into him, then a hip, then a different brush of heat that made the tight hiding place feel even smaller.

Martin kept still and listened for the goblins, but it was hard not to notice the women packed around him. Their body heat clung to him in the dark, soft and distracting in all the worst ways.

With their breaths quiet and their bodies pressed so close, the cramped little shelter felt far more dangerous than it should have.

[NukEncore: My hands are about to be completely crystallized.]

[Emperoar: I’ll let you knock the crystals off against my shield soon.]

[Chaosgraphy: Same here.]

[Emperoar: No problem.]

They spoke through private voice chat, their lips moving soundlessly while Kill Clause kept watch over their surroundings. Only Kill Clause could have managed that properly.

Once the goblins gave up searching this floor, they headed farther down to alert the others.

[Kill Clause: We can continue exploring. I believe I’ve found enough clues to lead us to the boss’s room.]

Everyone turned to look at her in surprise.

[Kill Clause: There are wheel tracks. Some are fresh, some are old, and some look permanent. Since the boss controls the crystal excavation and doesn’t let anyone else eat the crystals, every cart should lead to his room, or at least to a storage area near it. All the tracks go down.]

Her composure never shifted.

[Chaosgraphy: Lead the way. We can’t waste time.]

Using the game system to place pins on the minimap, Kill Clause guided Martin, who naturally took point as the Guardian. The rest stayed close behind him.

As they moved lower, each new floor opened wider than the last.

More carts clogged the rails, and more crystal glow leaked through the tunnels.

More goblins moved through the crossings in hurried lines. Some noticed the party and snapped their heads over. Others stayed focused on the mine traffic and never looked up.

By then, Martin’s party had already gotten used to slings and the goblins’ attack patterns.

Then a new type appeared: goblins in crystal armor with spears in hand.

It happened on the fourth floor, where the tunnels tightened into a maze of branching rails, crowded carts, and messy intersections. Cargo sat stacked beside the walls, wheels creaked somewhere deeper in, and armed goblins moved through the lanes often enough that patrols felt less like a precaution and more like part of the mine’s heartbeat.

[NukEncore: Wait, look there. Isn’t that where the lift comes down?]

Everyone followed NukEncore’s line of sight. A patch of thick crystal spikes had been grown into spear-like stakes, as if someone had planted a deadly lawn in the middle of the path.

They remembered the lift above and how it had vanished into the darkness below. The meaning hit them at once. The goblins had planned for anyone trying to come down that way.

[Emperoar: Clever. So we can’t use the lift.]

NukEncore let out a relieved sigh and rested one hand on her chest.

Martin glanced at the clock.

[Time: 07:14]

Seven minutes left... and we’re already on the last floor. We could waste time testing those spear goblins and maybe steal their weapons. Or we could do the crazier thing and punch straight into the boss room.

He looked at his teammates.

[Emperoar: Then we go straight for the boss. No more sneaking.]

[Chaosgraphy: Yeah. Let’s see the boss. If it’s tougher than the Lake Boss, even better.]

[NukEncore: Wait, there was a Lake Boss?]

[Kill Clause: Straight through them, then?]

"That we do," Martin said evenly as he stepped out from their hiding place and sprinted toward the cluster of armored goblins.

His teammates surged after him.

The armored goblins jolted for half a beat, clearly not expecting humans to burst out of the dark and charge straight at them.

Then the fourth floor erupted.

"Human intruders!"

"Stop them!"

"Protect the route!"

Some lowered their spears and braced. Others stumbled sideways between carts, trying to close ranks before Martin hit them.

One even jerked its head toward the deeper tunnel, as if torn between fighting and running for help.

Martin gave them no time to choose. He tore straight through their line and opened a safe lane for his party.

Then he saw them: a huge set of double doors carved straight into the rock, their edges washed in blue light.

The moment he saw them, he knew. That had to be the boss’s room.

He slammed into the doors with his shoulder and burst them open with a thunderous bang.

In an instant, thick blue light flooded his vision and blinded him.

"Oh? Humans! Haha! Kill the man and capture the women! I’ll make them my slaves!"