Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities-Chapter 62: Against Kill Clause

To make things fair, Kill Clause didn’t take her shooting stance. Instead, she stood still with her bow lowered, giving Martin a fair start.

But Martin disliked that kind of fairness. It sat wrong with him, too close to pity, and he spoke before the feeling could settle.

"You can take your shooting stance before the spar begins," he said.

"No need," Kill Clause replied flatly.

Martin narrowed his eyes and shifted his shield slightly, irritation already pricking at him. Could it be that she wants to set up traps first? That has to be it. Otherwise, I can’t see someone who’s a boss in real life playing this fair.

Off to the side, NukEncore lifted her chin and leaned forward with bright, restless interest, while Chaosgraphy stood beside her with her arms crossed and her gaze fixed on the spar.

Since it was a match between a ranged class and a melee class, NukEncore had taken it upon herself to call the start, like a judge at the beginning of a race.

Of course, she did it in her own way. "Begin!"

Instantly, Kill Clause raised her hand with smooth economy. Her mana dropped, and Martin’s eyes sharpened at once as he realized she had already trapped the space in front of him. The battlefield had changed before he had even taken his first real step.

He did his best to trace the path of her hand and line of sight so he could pinpoint where those traps were.

She doesn’t have a movement skill yet, but it’s not like I have anything that can close the gap fast either. I should be able to beat her once I get my hands on her... so until then, I just have to survive!

Martin followed his plan and chose the path he believed was still clear. Much to his surprise, on his very first step, thick vines burst from the ground and coiled around his legs so tightly that his whole body jolted.

I didn’t expect a trap there!

His heart lurched when he looked up and saw that Kill Clause had already drawn her bowstring taut, her posture straight and steady, as if drawing the bow came more naturally to her than standing at rest. She had not hesitated for even a second.

With each passing moment, the shot gathered more speed and force, and the arrow trembled faintly under the pressure of the power she was pouring into it. She then layered Crippling Arrow over it with such ease that the whole setup looked almost unfair.

But there was no trick behind it. It was simply her skill and the perfection of her shooting form.

BANG!

The arrow screamed through the air toward Martin, then shifted ever so slightly at the last instant, just enough to slide off the line of a perfect block. The impact slammed into his shield hard enough to rattle through his shoulder and leave his left hand and forearm numb.

I should’ve used Fortify for that one. But it changed direction at the last moment, and only a little, so it was hard to read.

"Impressive. You read it," Kill Clause said.

"You don’t know how much of a noob NukEncore used to be. Her Arcane Bolts were something else," Martin replied with a chuckle.

"I would love to shoot down those Arcane Bolts," Kill Clause said, a faint smile touching her lips.

By the time she finished speaking, she had already drawn a second arrow. Even with both skills layered together, the shot still couldn’t take his arm out of the fight, and his shield dipped only to rise again over his openings.

The vines around his legs loosened, and Martin pushed forward at once with Bulwark Rush, trying to break through before she could lock him down again.

It didn’t work. Thick vines burst up once more and wrapped around him, stopping his advance cold. At the same time, Kill Clause sent another Crippling Arrow toward his lower body and pressed the opening the moment it appeared.

Martin raised his shield, but that was exactly the problem. The shield could only answer one line at a time. It covered his chest, then his shoulder, then angled down toward his legs, and every correction left another opening somewhere else.

Damn it...

Chaosgraphy had come at him like a storm, all speed, pressure, and instinct. Kill Clause was the opposite. She stayed calm, kept her distance, and forced him to endure the fight on her terms.

With his legs trapped again, Fortify became his only real saving grace, along with the defense bonuses from Aegis Tumble and Control Devil’s Shield’s Tether. Without them, those arrows would have torn through his openings one after another.

On the side, NukEncore tilted her head and asked Chaosgraphy, "Is it just me, or is archery pretty boring?"

"It only looks boring because you can’t see what each arrow is doing, and because it isn’t flashy overall. Put yourself in Martin’s position and ask yourself whether you’d be able to stand against her and survive," Chaosgraphy said without taking her eyes off the spar, her arms still crossed as though she were measuring every mistake Martin made.

To an untrained eye, the exchange might have looked plain. There were no explosions or wild clashes, only a girl with a bow, a tank with a shield, and arrows cutting through open air.

But every shot demanded an answer, and every step Martin took felt expensive.

NukEncore pictured herself in Martin’s place, hurling fireballs while trying to keep her mana shield up. She could maybe blast away one arrow, maybe two, but Kill Clause was faster than her. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

If Clause started running while firing, NukEncore wasn’t sure she would ever get a clean spell off before another arrow came at her.

"She’s limited to only three skills, two of which are single-target attacks and crowd control. But I still don’t see myself surviving her onslaught if it were me against her," Chaosgraphy said, her gaze still fixed on Kill Clause.

NukEncore’s eyes widened, and her lips parted before she quickly pulled herself back into her usual proud expression. It takes a lot for this Alexandra to admit that!

"I didn’t expect that," NukEncore said in a diva tone. "Could it be that while you’re a great counter to Martin’s class, Clause’s Ranger class counters you instead? So it’s like we’re all each other’s counters?"

"Yeah. That’s the dynamic that will keep this party alive until one of us falls behind," Chaosgraphy said honestly, unaware that her words squeezed NukEncore’s heart.

NukEncore pressed her lips together. As a mage, she still had a long way to go.

Then Martin caught it. He did not see a flaw in her form or any hesitation in her expression. What he found was a rhythm, the small opening that came right after her release and before the next answer followed.

He tightened his grip on the spear. Now.

Martin exploded forward, combining Bulwark Rush with Spear Thrust. His shield drove him ahead in a brutal line while his spear lashed out and cut through the incoming arrow before continuing forward with him.

In an instant, the distance that had felt impossible was gone, and the tip of his spear stopped a breath away from Kill Clause’s throat.

A small, controlled smile touched Kill Clause’s lips. "You handled that well. Well done, Martin."

Martin let out a slow breath and flexed his numb fingers around the shield strap. His left arm still buzzed from the earlier impact, and his legs still felt heavy from the repeated binds, but standing in front of her like this was deeply satisfying because he had finally made it through.

"Thanks. Next time, you should move," he said.

Martin glanced at the ground around her, then back at her face. Through all of that pressure, she had barely moved at all. She had stood her ground, kept firing, and made him fight through every bit of space between them before he could finally threaten her.

She gave a small nod, calm as ever, though her attention on him felt a little more intent now. "That’s what I need to practice in this game world. In real life, my archery teachers would scold me if I tried something so foolish."

The smile that touched her lips then was small and genuine, softened by memory, and it hit Martin much harder than it should have.

He held her gaze for a moment longer than he meant to, his spear still raised between them, before finally forcing himself to speak. "You know I have even more reason to spar with you now?"

"Why’s that?" Kill Clause asked, still looking at him with that quiet focus of hers.

"You come alive the most when it’s just archery," Martin said.

For the first time that spar, Kill Clause seemed caught off guard. Her eyes lingered on him as she turned his words over, and maybe he was right.

NukEncore stepped in before their quiet moment could linger any longer, lifting her chin as if claiming her turn by right. "We fight now!"

"Sure," he said with a chuckle.