Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities-Chapter 4: Level One Dungeon

"I’m in," Martin said.

Level one meant he couldn’t outscale mistakes. Every hit would be earned.

A level-one dungeon run should’ve felt like punishment: locked stats, locked skills, and no grinding his way out of mistakes.

But the hidden bracket promised higher-grade rewards, the kind that let players pull ahead early. And more than that, it promised something his real life didn’t.

A change.

"I’m in too," Chaosgraphy said, like she’d been waiting for him to blink first.

Rangar’s grin widened. "Good. Stick close."

He guided them out of the tutorial grounds and deeper into the forest. Minutes later, buildings carved into thick tree trunks came into view, more barracks than cottages, with hunters in worn gear checking newcomers as they filed past.

So the academy’s reputation was real.

Martin nodded to anyone who looked his way and got nods back. Nameplates floated above every head.

All NPCs so far.

Farther in, the academy opened up into the familiar spread of an MMORPG starter city: alchemy, a blacksmith, an armory, and other workshops tucked into the trees.

Rangar ignored all of it and headed straight for the tallest trunk in the entire grove.

The Light Tree.

It was so massive it could’ve held an apartment block inside. At its base, players crowded around scoreboards hanging from branches overhead. Some didn’t even look up, probably reading the same boards through their UI.

"You’ll get a notification in a second," Rangar said, pride creeping into his voice. "Stay close to the Light Tree."

A pulse of blue light flickered in Martin’s vision.

[You have received an invitation to the Level One Forest Dungeon.]

[In the Level One Forest Dungeon, you cannot level up. Your stats are locked at level one, and you cannot upgrade your skills beyond level one. Everything you obtain within the Level One Dungeon is yours.]

Martin accepted without hesitating.

Chaosgraphy accepted a heartbeat after him.

Of course she did.

[Invitation accepted.]

[You are not in a party.]

[Do you want to go solo?]

Martin tapped Yes.

Chaosgraphy did the same.

"Don’t back out halfway," she said, eyes fixed forward. "If you’re in, be in."

"I wasn’t planning to," Martin replied.

That familiar login haze washed over him. His body broke into motes of light, then snapped back together.

He reappeared in an artificial forest that looked like the academy woods, minus the buildings, the towering trees, and the people.

[You are in the Level One Forest Dungeon.]

[Time Limit: 1:00:00.]

Silence settled over the dungeon. There was no wind in the leaves, no birds in the branches, and no distant chatter of other players. Only the faint hum of the system, like the forest itself was holding its breath.

Time limit makes sense. Otherwise, people would camp inside a run and abuse rankings.

[Emperoar Lv. 1 HP: 120/120 MP: 100/100]

Damage Taken is one of the scoreboard categories. In this bracket, it’s a score, not a mistake.

I’ll do a test run first. Learn patterns. Then I go all out when the new week starts.

Shield up, Martin moved forward, careful but not slow.

A strip of bark peeled off a tree ahead.

It hit the ground, twisted, and rose into a wolf made of splintered wood.

It lunged.

Martin braced his shield in front of his chest and caught it head-on.

BANG!

DING!

[Perfect Block!]

He angled the shield instead of holding it flat, letting the impact slide off rather than drive into him.

The wolf bounced off the shield and shook its head.

A number blinked at the edge of his vision.

[Damage Taken: 47]

Martin’s HP didn’t move.

Perfect blocks negate HP loss, but Damage Taken still counts the impact.

Good. I can score without bleeding for it.

The wolf snapped again, head-first.

Martin planted his feet and met the timing.

DING!

[Perfect Block!]

[Damage Taken: 90]

He stepped into it and slammed forward.

Shield Bash struck the wolf’s skull.

The creature froze, stiff as a log.

A perfect block into Shield Bash equals a stun.

Martin lowered his shield to his hip and thrust with his sword. The motion wasn’t clean. Not like Chaosgraphy’s twin-blade flow.

Still, the tip dug a shallow gouge into the wolf’s forehead.

Then the stun wore off.

[Wood Wolf Lv. 1 HP: 61/100 MP: -]

Don’t get greedy. Reset.

Its movement was simple, almost scripted. Lunge. Snap. Recover.

Martin repeated the sequence twice more, tighter each time.

Perfect block.

Shield Bash.

A quick stab.

Back to guard.

The wooden wolf finally collapsed into dead bark.

[You have killed Wood Wolf Lv. 1.]

[You have received Five Copper Coins.]

Martin exhaled slowly.

He glanced at his UI.

[Damage Taken: 169]

[Time Left: 57m21s]

He had mixed feelings. A clean kill, no HP lost, no durability chipped.

On paper, it was clean.

But 169 points in over a minute still wasn’t much.

This is... not what I want.

Chaosgraphy’s Flurry flashed in his mind. Ten critical strikes. Perfect rhythm. Perfect confidence.

He liked that pressure. He liked having someone he actually wanted to beat.

If I want first place, I have to push harder.

I needed more monsters. More hits. All of it controlled.

He stepped over the bark corpse and went deeper.

The next wolf peeled free from a trunk ahead. Martin didn’t rush it. He backed into a wider lane, turning so the creature stayed in front of his shield while he drew it along.

I remembered this was also a tank’s job. Threat. Positioning. Don’t let it slip. Keep its attention high enough that even sudden movement doesn’t break it loose.

Another strip of bark peeled loose from the side.

A second wolf.

It hit him from his blind spot, right where his shield wasn’t.

[-28 HP!]

[Damage Taken: 197]

The shove jolted him forward.

It didn’t hurt so much as feel like someone had shoved him with their whole body.

Still, it was annoying.

Worse, it broke his control. The first wolf’s head snapped away from him, its attention slipping. It circled, and suddenly both were moving at once, trying to split his guard.

One lunged high.

Martin snapped his shield up and caught it clean.

DING!

[Perfect Block!]

[Damage Taken: 241]

The second wolf crashed in a half step later, off-angle.

Martin tried to turn, but the hit landed on the edge of his guard.

BANG!

[Block!]

[Shield Durability: 114/120]

The rim vibrated, numbing his forearm for a second.

[Damage Taken: 293]

"Fortify!"

A hard, bracing pressure locked through his body.

Fortify was only buying me seconds. I had to fix my positioning.

The next impact still got through.

[-18 HP!]

[Damage Taken: 311]

Martin’s eyes narrowed, a sweat bead trickling down his temple.

Fortify was on cooldown now.

This is bad.

If I can’t solve multi-target fast, I’ll fall behind.

He tightened his grip and backed toward the nearest tree, forcing both wolves into his front arc.

One line. One rhythm. Perfect blocks only.

A soft crackle sounded behind him.

Bark peeled free, right behind his shoulder.

Martin’s spine went cold.

Leaves rustled from where the wolves hadn’t been.

Another wolf meant another angle I couldn’t cover.

If I turned, I’d give them my back. If I didn’t, I’d get pincered.

Shit.