Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities-Chapter 6: Leaderboard Update
Wait, I was healed? Stamina was back at full?
Martin’s mind had stayed sharp through the panic, but now even his body snapped back into peak form, like someone had poured air into his lungs. The reset hit so fast it confused him for half a heartbeat.
Wolves were still closing.
Martin forced his feet to move and backed toward the shoreline, boots grinding over wet stones until cold water brushed his heels. Lake behind him. Forest in front. Only one direction.
A wolf lunged.
He raised his shield on instinct and caught the bite dead center with a heavy clang. The impact jolted his arm, but he held.
Martin answered with Shield Bash, snapping the wolf’s head sideways. He threw Threat at another to keep the pack from spreading, then angled his shield to invite the next bite straight into the middle.
[Perfect Block.]
His rhythm returned through muscle memory, even while his thoughts raced.
[Level Synchronization Active]
[Level Restored: 1]
The level-up flash hadn’t even finished fading before the bracket snapped him back to Level 1.
Martin’s breathing steadied, and his heartbeat thumped with sudden clarity.
I get it. The system restores my level to one, but the level-up still restores my HP and stamina.
It doesn’t let me keep progression, but the refill still fires every time. That’s the loophole in this Level One Dungeon, something people have probably been exploiting for hours by now.
He had been so careful until now, treating stamina like a precious resource, putting everything into perfect blocks and keeping his HP as intact as possible.
But his earlier approach had a flaw.
A perfect block was ideal, yes, but forcing blocks when the angle was bad still punished him. A sloppy catch still spiked Damage Taken, and it also chewed durability. Sometimes a small bite on HP was cheaper than sacrificing his shield on a bad rim catch.
Duelists and probably every other class must’ve figured this out way earlier. That’s fine. The first run is never supposed to be perfect.
Now that I understand how this dungeon actually works, I can leverage it properly and push for the highest rank in the Damage Taken category.
This bracket rewards what a Guardian does best: taking hits on purpose without breaking. Let’s put it into practice.
He set his stance again, feeling the spray slick on the stones.
[Steel Shield (Blue) — Durability: 110/120]
[Fortify Cooldown: 0:07]
[Time: 31:05]
[Damage Taken: 1569]
Wolves kept coming, but the wall was real now. No trees behind him. No space for them to peel out and appear at his back. If they wanted him, they had to come through his front.
Martin didn’t rush to kill. He kept multiple wolves low, watching their HP bars like he was juggling knives, waiting until his breathing started to lag. He made sure none of them ran off, and he controlled spacing with small steps, tiny shield adjustments, and disciplined angles.
His stamina dipped into the red. Martin didn’t panic. He chose the nearest wounded wolf and finished it cleanly.
[You have killed the Wood Wolf Lv. 1]
A rush flooded his chest as his HP and stamina refilled. Breathing came easy again.
When his stamina was high, he simply held the line.
He allowed a few shallow bites when a block would have been ugly. Not because he wanted to be hit, but because he refused to pay durability for a bad catch.
This is the one thing leveling up can’t reset, durability. Once my shield is gone, I’m gone. And honestly, this is fucking fun.
His heart pumped with excitement as more ideas came to him. For once, it felt like he was thinking freely, not performing for a build guide or a rulebook. Just learning in real time.
Let’s make an opening this time. Threat is the clean way to force them into the center of my shield, but I can get the same result by showing them a gap on purpose, letting them commit, and then snapping my shield up into their muzzle the moment they lunge.
He shifted his body and exposed his side just enough to look like a mistake.
A wolf growled and prowled, cautious. It didn’t lunge right away.
Martin waited, counting. One second. Two. Too long.
While that wolf hesitated, the others closed distance. Martin had tunneled on the bait, and his shield arc drifted too wide. He changed the angle too much, and his rhythm broke.
A bite clipped the rim and slipped through, hot pain flashing along his side.
[Steel Shield (Blue) — Durability: 109/120]
[Damage Taken: 1748]
Shit happens. It’s not like I’m some immovable object.
Fortify came off cooldown. Martin triggered it. A dull weight settled into his limbs, like temporary armor, and a hard tension wrapped his shoulders, bracing his stance and dulling the next impact.
[Fortify.]
He chose the correction that mattered most.
Martin stepped forward hard and rushed the wolf he had been setting up. Two other wolves, already mid-leap, overshot into the shallow water behind him, splashing as the ground dropped away.
Water exploded.
The water didn’t just splash. It churned, like something underneath had noticed.
That churn wasn’t normal splashback.
They scrambled, and for a moment they weren’t in his lane anymore.
Martin didn’t look. He couldn’t afford it.
He unloaded on his chosen target.
[Perfect Block.]
[Shield Bash.]
Sword thrust.
He switched his grip and brought the blade down, then reset and cut again before it could recover.
[You have killed the Wood Wolf Lv. 1]
[You have leveled up.]
[Level Synchronization Active]
[Level Restored: 1]
His HP and stamina refilled again. Breathing came easy again.
Martin’s jaw tightened with satisfaction, and he immediately forced his focus outward.
Good. I need to keep my eyes on all of them, not tunnel on the one I’m trying to lure. The second I get greedy, the rest close the distance and I pay for it. Still, what about the ones that lunged into the lake?
He risked a glance over his shoulder.
Nothing. Not even a shadow under the surface.
His brows drew together.
There was no time to dig into it.
Wolves kept coming, and Martin dove back into the fight, turning the shoreline into a funnel. When a block would have been ugly, he paid with a small bite instead. When a bite would have been heavy, he repositioned by half a step and forced a clean center hit.
When the pack tried to spread, he used Threat as a stabilizer, not a crutch.
It was hard. It was exhausting. The plan demanded constant awareness, constant micro-corrections, and constant discipline.
The timer kept sliding down in the corner of his vision, bleeding away between resets, blocks, and footwork. But it finally felt like he wasn’t just surviving.
He was running the dungeon like a tank.
Then the lake stirred.
Martin didn’t have time to turn. All he heard were repeated, violent splashes, like something huge was tearing through the shallows. A cold presence slid into the fight.
Shadows stretched across the waterline, thin tendrils whipping through the space between him and the wolves.
The entire combat halted, like the dungeon itself had inhaled.
Martin started to turn anyway.
His vision locked.
[Time: 00:00]
[Highest contribution: Damage Taken.]
[Damage Taken: 3023]
[You’re now leaving the dungeon.]
Fuck. I ran out of time.
The shoreline vanished in a white flash.
Martin blinked and stumbled forward, boots scraping hard stone. Warm, dry air hit his face. The hub’s noise crashed into him, voices and footsteps and distant shouting.
He was at the Light Tree’s feet.
For a second, his body still felt the wet rocks under him. He could still hear the lake, those violent splashes, and the way the water had sounded like something huge was pushing up from below.
His pulse spiked again, not from fear, but from pure, electric excitement.
That was not just another wolf. That was something else. Something heavier. Something that actually hits back. If that thing lives in the lake, then the shoreline isn’t a safe wall anymore. It’s a battlefield, and a battlefield is exactly what I need.
He swallowed, then looked up.
A crowd was gathered around the scoreboard. Not because they could watch anyone’s run, but because this was where every ego in the academy eventually drifted. People compared names. Compared categories. Pretended they were not nervous.
Martin’s eyes swept the front line out of habit.
He found them immediately.
Chaosgraphy had a way of standing that made space around him without him asking for it. Rangar was right there too, solid and still, like he belonged in the same spot no matter how loud the hub got.
Martin’s stomach gave a small twist, then settled. He didn’t know them well, but he knew them enough to recognize the shape of their attention.
Both of them were reading the board.
The screen flickered.
[Leaderboard Update]
[Level One Leaderboard Updated]
[Category: Damage Taken]
Names scrolled.
Numbers shifted.
Martin leaned in without thinking, the earlier lake splashes still echoing in his ears, the thrill still hot in his chest.
Where am I?
