Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities-Chapter 61: Against Chaosgraphy

Martin repeated to himself the strengths and weaknesses of the spear and shield Robert had taught him, drilling that precious information into himself until it became instinct. He raised his shield, angled his body slightly left, and lowered his spear toward Chaosgraphy, waiting for her to make the first move.

It’s best this way. She’s a melee DPS too. If she wants to do any damage, she has to come to me.

Chaosgraphy understood that as well. With steps that made her curves sway beautifully, she lunged toward Martin and rapidly closed the distance. Her feet barely seemed to touch the ground for long, and she only grew faster with each step.

There was no hesitation in her movement, as if she were already riding the flow of a skill.

The cocky curl of her lips caught Martin’s eye.

And he wanted to wipe it off her face.

Just as Chaosgraphy reached the edge of his range, Martin drove his spear forward. His hands moved cleanly. His timing felt clean too.

Then Chaos stopped on a dime right in front of the spearhead.

Martin’s eyes snapped wide. The tip cut through empty air a breath from her face, and only then did he feel it, the ugly pull of overextension, the half-second where his right side had nothing protecting it but hope.

Neither of them knew Martin’s exact spear range that well yet, but Chaos had baited it out perfectly. The instant his thrust fully extended, she dropped low, slipped beneath the shaft, and shot to his right side, the same side occupied by his weapon arm.

She made it look easy, and that pissed him off.

"Your shield gave you away. Your right side is open, and a spear is terrible at this range," Chaosgraphy said.

Her sword tore through Martin’s newbie clothes and bit into his skin.

The blade slid in hot and sharp. Blood burst out at once, and the Bleeding effect applied.

Fuck. She baited me so well.

The problem wasn’t the thrust itself. Anyone could stab or click a skill icon. The real difference was timing, movement, and reading what came next, and Chaosgraphy had read him perfectly.

I was saving Taunt for the moment she clashed with me so I could cover my right side and hide the spear’s weakness!

Martin’s mind raced.

He hadn’t even realized Chaosgraphy had buried her sword deep enough for the blade to jut out from his body. At the same time, she let go of that sword and grabbed the shaft of his spear.

Then she stepped in tight.

Her shoulder pressed into the weapon. Her weight folded over the shaft. The spear was driven down at a crooked angle, and Martin’s arm locked with it before he could wrench it free.

Having her that close made everything worse. He could feel the pressure of her body against the weapon, the force of her control, and the certainty with which she used his own reach against him.

My Strength stat is definitely higher than hers, but she’s using her body weight to pin me in place.

Using that same shift of weight, Chaosgraphy drove in with her other sword. The blade flashed up under his guard, scored a critical strike, and shoved his health down even further.

Heat flared through Martin’s side.

This is exactly the pace she wants. If I don’t break it... yeah, she must be expecting me to think that way. The easiest way to break her rhythm is Taunt... which I won’t use.

Martin didn’t go for Taunt just because it was the easiest option available to him. Not only had Chaos expected it, but she might have had an answer for it too. She had spent time in other parties, after all.

Instead, he twisted his torso hard and whipped his shield across in a sharp, brutal arc.

It caught Chaos in the middle of her pressure and knocked her out of rhythm. The impact jarred through his arm, but the moment her control broke, he finally had room to move again.

Martin pressed the advantage at once. Riding that opening, he chained Bulwark Rush into Shield Bash and hurled his whole body forward behind the strike. Chaosgraphy vanished from his sight.

Part of it was because she was too close for him to track cleanly.

But the other part was her dash.

Chaos’s blood-triggered movement was frighteningly sharp. She didn’t need to appear near the wound itself. As long as her target was bleeding, she could flash to whatever angle she wanted.

She had practiced that to near perfection.

One instant she was in front of him.

A heartbeat later, she appeared at Martin’s side, already turning into the follow-up.

Yet she didn’t find a vulnerable opening there.

She found Martin’s shield dropping straight toward her face.

BANG!

The impact rang through the forest and snapped her head to the side. Even Martin felt the hit travel through the rim of the shield and into his shoulder.

"KYAAAAAA! THAT WAS SO HOT!" NukEncore’s scream tore through the trees.

"...Aren’t you supposed to cheer for Chaos?" Kill Clause asked dryly.

But Martin didn’t hear NukEncore this time, even if he was the one who had drawn out her most shameless side. He had only one desire, and that was to show Chaosgraphy that he could match her and even outplay her at her own game.

As the shield bash disoriented her and threw her completely off balance, Martin thrust with Solitary Edge. This time, he didn’t stab like he was holding a longer sword. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

His shield led. His footing followed. The spear drove in behind it in one straight, natural line.

The point buried itself in Chaos’s stomach.

Her breath caught. Blood splashed warm across the shaft as her health plummeted, and Martin felt it at once as shield and spear finally worked together the way they were supposed to.

For the first time since the spar began, the spark in her eyes sharpened.

"That one was real," she said.

Hearing that from her hit Martin harder than he expected. He had forced her to acknowledge him, not with luck or a trick, but with a real exchange.

At the side of the clearing, NukEncore sucked in a breath as if she wanted to cheer again. The sound never came out.

Martin looked too alive. Not just excited. Not just focused.

He looked alive in a way that made his whole body seem sharper as he faced Chaosgraphy, and the sight stung more than NukEncore wanted to admit. Her fingers curled around her own arms.

I want to fight Martin, too. Make him push past his limits!

Martin knew he couldn’t stay that close to Chaosgraphy for long. Her blades were too dangerous there, and every extra heartbeat near her was an invitation to get carved apart. He kicked into Aegis Tumble to make space while keeping his guard ready in case she chased him.

But it was the first time he had used Aegis Tumble with his spear.

The spearhead stabbed into the soil and stuck fast.

His body kept going.

A second later, Martin pitched forward over the trapped weapon and slammed headfirst into the ground, legs folding under him in the least dignified position possible.

For one deadly silent second, all three pairs of beautiful eyes stared at him.

Then the laughter broke loose.

Chaos pressed a hand to her mouth, shoulders shaking, but the laugh still escaped her in short, helpless bursts. "That would’ve looked cool if you had landed it."

NukEncore doubled over and slapped her thigh. "Haha! Martin, you noob!"

Even after the teasing, the way her eyes lingered on him had changed. Somewhere under the laughter, her resolve had already started hardening.

You’re the biggest noob, girl!

Kill Clause did not laugh as loudly as the other two, but the faint curve at the corner of her lips gave her away. She was the one who walked over and offered him her hand.

There was a softness in her eyes, almost like she was looking at a stubborn little brother, and while the warmth suited her more than he expected, Martin didn’t exactly want that kind of place in her mind.

He took her hand and stood up, then sighed.

He wanted her to look at him like a man, and that made this failure even more embarrassing.

"Damn, that was embarrassing," he said.

Kill Clause tilted her head slightly. "You still did well. In a longer fight, Chaos would eventually wear you down. Her blades chew through your defenses, and every wound helps her recover. But you checked her once, punished her cleanly, and proved you’re a tank who can threaten duelists and other damage dealers instead of just enduring them."

That praise was more than he could have asked for.

Chaosgraphy walked over to them. Her lips had settled now, but the look in her eyes hadn’t.

Martin could still feel the heat of the exchange there, still see the sharpened attention she was giving him now. It was not the same look she had worn at the start of the spar.

There was still amusement in it, but no longer the easy kind. Now it felt tighter, more focused, and more personal.

He had a thought about her too, and he voiced it.

"Chaos... could it be that in real life..." Martin began.

His words made Chaos go still, made NukEncore’s eyes flare wide, and drew a flat stare from Kill Clause sharp enough to cut.

Martin finished his question. "...you used to be a delinquent too?"

After a moment of dead silence, Chaosgraphy threw her head back and burst out laughing. The sound came out so open and unguarded that it warmed the clearing.

"Martin, you..." she said, then finished in the depths of her heart. Your misunderstandings about us are so funny, and they’re starting to grow on me... it’s yet another reason not to tell you our real names... we’ll have to reward you generously in the future. I just hope you don’t get mad at us.

"Me what?" Martin asked.

The corner of Chaos’s mouth lifted again, but this time it held more helpless amusement than smugness. "You really couldn’t have been more wrong."

"Hmm," he murmured, then turned to Kill Clause. "How about we spar next?"

"Us?" Kill Clause blinked once, clearly caught off guard, then gave a small nod and picked up her bow. "All right. Let’s do it, then."

She walked to Chaos’s spot and took her place as the next challenger.

Martin watched her from behind. There was nothing playful in the way Kill Clause moved into position. Her steps were calm, her back straight, and the bow in her hand already made the air around her feel different from Chaos’s sharp, close-range pressure.

Then his gaze dipped to Kill Clause’s plump bottom.

If he had to be honest, she had the best ass among his friends, and that was yet another reason he didn’t want her to look at him like a sibling.

This spar was going to feel different.

Just like his spar with Chaos, though, it would not be gentle.