Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities-Chapter 48: Lucky Noob Goin’ In Hot!
All around the throne room, the crystals answered.
The pillars trembled. Loose shards on the floor rattled and jumped. Veins of blue light pulsed through the walls, then every crystal in sight began to rise, tearing free from stone and debris alike until the whole chamber looked like it had been caught in a storm of living crystal.
For one stunned instant, the throne room felt like a living thing.
He has... a third phase?!
She got her answer immediately.
The floating shards exploded outward and pelted humans and goblins alike in a merciless crystal storm.
Martin’s eyes widened.
The formation was gone.
Kill Clause could no longer spare shots for Chaosgraphy. NukEncore was cut off on cleanup duty. Chaosgraphy had lost her route to him. And the finishing setup he had just moved into was suddenly useless.
In a single burst, the boss had shattered the team’s rhythm and forced all of them into solo defense.
At this range, Chaosgraphy couldn’t move an inch. All she could do was slash through the storm of incoming crystals, but there were too many, and her HP was dropping fast.
Thankfully, she leveled up as the goblin boss attacked everyone indiscriminately.
[You have leveled up!]
[Level Synchronization Active]
[Level Restored: 1]
Her health, mana, and stamina snapped back to full. She could keep fighting, but that still didn’t solve the real problem: she couldn’t move.
The plan was to finish him with Martin’s Control Shield tether and his momentum. He can’t really swing while it’s active, so I was supposed to take the final opening. But... the route is gone. I can’t move!
Kill Clause survived the crystal rain the way only she could.
She didn’t panic. She read the pattern once, shifted half a step, and let the first wave tear through the goblin lunging at her instead. One of her traps snapped under another monster’s feet at the perfect moment, jerking it into the path of the next volley and buying her just enough space to breathe.
Every movement was lean, cold, and exact.
She used the chaos, the goblins, and her own setup like she had already planned for all of it.
NukEncore didn’t have it nearly as easy.
Her Mana Shield kept flaring around her, only to ripple and thin every time another wave of crystal shards slammed into it. The goblins she had tagged earlier were dying too fast, forcing level-ups that restored her resources for a moment, but the crystal storm was chewing through her mana even faster.
She crushed one crystal in her hand.
Mana rushed into her, and for half a heartbeat, she felt relief.
Then it was gone again. She crushed another crystal, and then another, her fingers shaking as she tried to feed her shield faster than the room could strip it away. Blue light ran over her skin, flickered, then thinned again under the relentless barrage.
Crystal shards punched through the weakening barrier and sliced into her clothes and flesh. Warm blood ran down her arms and thighs as panic tightened in her chest with every failed attempt to keep up.
I’m going to die... I’m really going to die here! I... I don’t want to!
Leaving everyone behind would have felt awful.
Being the only one to die felt even worse.
Her stomach twisted.
Then heavy footsteps thundered toward her.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The sound cut through the crystal storm.
Shards that should have torn into her instead slammed into something broad and unyielding, skipping away in sharp blue sparks. One after another, they bounced off a shield planted in front of her with brutal force.
NukEncore lifted her tearful eyes and froze.
Martin was suddenly right in front of her.
He stood between her and the storm with his shield raised and his body braced behind it, boots dug into the floor, shoulders locked, taking the full punishment of the barrage for her.
Every impact jolted through his arm and shoulder.
Crystal fragments hammered into the shield hard enough to make his stance shudder, but he forced himself to hold. His grip tightened around the handle. His legs tensed. Even with the game dulling pain, the strain was real.
Crystal fragments kept hammering into him and skidding away, but he didn’t give an inch.
It was the same person she thought she wouldn’t be able to rely on during this run.
And yet he had still come for her.
Martin had seen it the moment the formation broke.
Chaosgraphy had lost her route. Kill Clause was too far away to turn pressure into a finisher. But NukEncore still had line of sight, range, and enough firepower to hit the boss the instant someone bought her the space to cast.
She was the only clean option left.
"M-Martin! But why?! You need to drag the boss! Leave me alone!" she shouted.
But I’m... so happy... you weren’t supposed to watch out for me, but you still did!
"Shut up and get up," Martin said.
At those words, NukEncore’s heart went badum-badum.
"You’re going to kill this boss. I’ll be the shield that makes it possible."
And in an instant, her chest went cold. Not because he was wrong, but because he was right.
Chaosgraphy was cut off. Kill Clause was pinned down. Martin couldn’t attack while protecting her.
That left her.
Eh? Me? Me doing Alexandra’s job? Ehhhhhhhhhhhh!
Her hands flew together on instinct, fingers clutching tightly as if that alone could hold her together.
She looked like a lost hamster dropped into the middle of a battlefield, small and shaken under all that pressure.
Then Martin’s words hit her again.
Shut up and get up.
Her heart thumped.
Confidence didn’t come all at once, but the panic cracked just enough for something warmer to push through. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
Martin believed she could do this.
So did the others.
The thought made the pressure heavier, but it also straightened her spine.
She didn’t want to disappoint him.
She didn’t want to disappoint any of them.
I... I’ll do it and finish the boss! If push comes to shove, I will rely on my lucky noob aura!
