Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities

Chapter 82: Martin vs Thorn’Shield (2)

The heavy blow from Thorn’Shield’s skill triggered Martin’s Tidal Shell, and a sphere of churning water snapped around him like the sea itself had rushed up to shield him. The surface rippled hard from the impact, tight and swollen with force, as though one more strike might set the whole thing off. The shell was primed to burst, and Martin could not waste even a second while it was active.

Leaning forward, he rushed Thorn’Shield again with Bulwark Rush.

He gave the man no time to react.

"TAUNT!" Martin shouted.

Forced into a basic auto attack, Thorn’Shield went for a downward slash. It was an unusual choice, since Martin and most players usually defaulted to a thrust when taunted. Thorn’Shield’s muscle memory was different.

Martin poured Solitary Edge into his trident and drove it forward with a bonus equal to 100 percent of his Strength, landing a heavy hit on Thorn’Shield. At the same time, he chose not to block the basic auto attack, feeding the damage into his Tidal Shell instead. A thin crack spread across its surface.

Thorn’Shield’s face twisted. I couldn’t block because of the taunt!

[-314 HP!]

His gaze caught the damage number just as Martin’s trident punched into his shoulder, blood splashing across the edge of his vision. That hit came far too close to Death Jaw’s output for comfort. With less HP than Martin, he could already see where a few more like that would lead.

Even so, Thorn’Shield stayed confident.

He still had one last trump card up his sleeve.

Rip that water shield apart first.

Death Jaw coiled along his blade, the orange aura tightening until it hugged the steel like a living pelt. A low, ugly growl rolled out of it first, then sharpened into something that sounded like jaws grinding through bone.

Thorn’Shield drove the blade straight at Martin, and the aura snapped forward with the thrust like a wolf lunging for the throat. Phantom fangs flashed past the blade’s tip as it ripped through the Tidal Shell. The moment it broke, the shell erupted into a violent torrent and slammed back into Thorn’Shield with a significant burst of damage.

[-253 HP!]

The hell is this? This shell bites back!

The burst bought Martin an opening, but not comfort. Thorn’Shield’s last strike still sat ugly in his body, his shoulder tight and his breath not fully back under control. He rolled the ache out with one hard exhale, reset his grip on the trident, and kept coming anyway.

As the shock faded, Thorn’Shield’s jaw tightened. Of course Martin would taunt again and keep pressing while his sword was tied up.

The instant Martin’s taunt rang out, Thorn’Shield let go of his weapon. The sword stabbed into the ground beside him with a dull thunk. For an instant, it looked reckless. Then the trick was revealed.

With only his shield left in hand, the taunt forced him to raise his guard instead.

Martin realized it too late, and his trident thrust slammed straight into Thorn’Shield’s shield.

BANG!

The impact boomed across the fighting ring, but all of Martin’s forward rhythm died in that one muffled collision. Thorn’Shield had not just blocked the strike. He had stolen the flow of the fight back for a heartbeat.

Then Thorn’Shield roared, and his sword answered with a savage howl. It became obvious that he had used a taunt of his own and was about to unleash his combo.

Yet Martin went against every expectation.

He rolled backward with Aegis Tumble.

The trident left his hand a beat before his body moved. Death Jaw tore through the space where his chest had been an instant earlier, the wolf’s howl ripping through empty air. Martin’s body turned low and clean through the roll, his timing so sharp it looked almost inevitable.

Crimson Halo’s smile sharpened. Her fingers pressed harder into the spine of her tome, and her lips parted just slightly before she closed them again. The clean drop of his body, the perfect timing, the way he rose without wasting a motion... all of it sent a warm, unwelcome pull low through her stomach.

Even under that much pressure, he answered perfectly. He is undoubtedly used to performing with everything on the line.

Martin dropped to one knee, snatched the trident back up, rose in one fluid motion, and drove straight back into the same Solitary Edge and Bulwark Rush combo.

That was when Thorn’Shield revealed his final trump card.

[You have used Wolf Pack Defense (Rare).]

[You have used Fortify (Common).]

His presence thickened at once, defense stacking over defense until he seemed rooted behind the shield.

Martin could tell Thorn’Shield had fully dug in.

Then I’ll break through it.

He shifted his grip on the trident, raised it overhead, and hurled it at Thorn’Shield. Strangely, Solitary Edge did not fade. It stayed wrapped around the weapon as the trident whistled through the air.

It bounced off Thorn’Shield’s armor as if his entire body had become a wall.

Without hesitation, Martin summoned his warhammer from his inventory and threw his full weight into a swing, tracing an orange arc around himself before slamming the flat side of the weapon into Thorn’Shield’s shield.

BANG!

The impact blasted dust in every direction. Thorn’Shield’s eyes flew wide. The shock tore through his shield arm, ran across his shoulders, rattled his teeth, and sank all the way into his legs. Even with the block, his body went numb under the force of it.

BANG!

Martin stepped in hard, and Robert’s Warhammer crashed down again with the same crushing force. There was no pause, no hesitation, no space to recover. This was no longer just power. It was relentless, crushing pressure.

This dog just keeps biting!

Crimson Halo did not blink. Each step Martin forced forward after that sent more heat into her chest, not fear, but something hotter and far more inconvenient.

She straightened her back and crossed one leg over the other, as though posture alone might discipline the warmth creeping through her body. He was not merely winning. He was imposing himself on the ring.

Now armed with nothing but a common sword, Martin crowded into the tightest melee range possible and hacked at the stunned Thorn’Shield. Steel scraped armor, sparks jumped, and Thorn’Shield’s HP kept dropping all the same.

Soon enough, feeling returned to Thorn’Shield’s hands and legs. He raised his shield and braced himself against Martin’s onslaught. Shield alone was not enough, so he brought up his sword as well and crossed blades with Martin.

But the moment he tried to make space, Martin stayed on him. One step back, and Martin was there. A shift of the shoulders, and Martin was already cutting off the angle. He clung to close range as if he had turned the duel into a cage and locked Thorn’Shield inside it.

The crowd had been loud at the start, full of nerves and opinions, but that noise was gone now.

A hush spread around the ring as more and more of them realized what Martin was doing. He was not just outlasting Thorn’Shield. He was solving him.

Even the players who had come expecting a close duel were starting to understand that the pace no longer belonged to both men.

This thieving dog... he smelled it?

A sharp grin pulled at Martin’s lips. "You can’t use your strongest skill, can you?"

Thorn’Shield’s expression gave him the answer.

The instant the man raised his shield, Martin Shield Bashed him, slipped past the guard, and drove his sword through the gap, carving away more HP.

"Your basic auto attack is a slash, but you kept setting up thrusts. So Death Jaw is a thrust. As long as I stay this close, you can’t line it up right. Thorn’Shield, I won this duel. Your sword is mine."

For a moment, Martin looked like the delinquent he used to be, all sharp grin and ugly confidence.

A vein throbbed at Thorn’Shield’s temple. "Don’t bare your teeth at me, dog!"

He slashed down at Martin.

Martin blocked it perfectly, then followed with a Shield Bash.

He stunned Thorn’Shield.

For a brief second, their eyes met. In that frozen beat, Thorn’Shield knew it too. Martin had read him cleanly and closed every door that mattered.

Crimson Halo watched with half-lidded eyes and a grip that had gone subtly firmer around her tome.

There was something deeply unfair in how good he looked at that moment, all restraint, pressure, and cold finish. That he did not bask in it only made it worse.

"GG WP," Martin said.

Thorn’Shield’s lips parted on a cold breath.

Then Martin delivered the final blow.

[You have killed Thorn’Shield.]

For one suspended heartbeat, the ring went silent.

Steady as ever, Martin lowered his weapon without flourish while Thorn’Shield’s defeat settled across the ground between them like something too clear to argue with.

Then Martin lifted his eyes toward the Light Tree Hub.

The crowd noticed at once.

A wave of realization passed through the players around the ring, and the silence broke into sharp murmurs as they shifted aside for him while crowding toward the Hub at the same time. Thorn’Shield would respawn there.

And he had lost.

Which meant the sword was Martin’s.

No one wanted to miss what Thorn’Shield would do with the whole training ground watching.