Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities

Chapter 178: Valuable Teammate

From afar, NukEncore cupped her cheeks and parted her lips wide, looking like a horror-stricken woman whose soul had been sucked away.

Rias is so good. OMG! So this is what a pro player looks like in person!

If these two had played together from the start, the chances of NukEncore ever meeting Martin would have basically been zero. Rias would have carried her to the top herself, managing her in-game growth with the same ruthless efficiency she used in real life.

OMG! Thank God I went alone and incognito!

Rias’ gaming experience played a huge role, but this was still an immersive world. She wasn’t clicking buttons or moving a mouse here. Every dodge, step, and strike came from her own body.

That was where her self-defense training came in, training she had started because of Elisebeth’s popularity. It was easier for bodyguards to protect one woman than two.

That had been Rias’ reasoning, so she had trained hard and worked on herself, learning how to move under pressure, keep her balance, judge distance, and react when someone closed in too fast.

Somehow, the hours she had spent learning footwork, balance, and distance were paying off inside a monster nest. Of course, one could also say that all that effort had made her stand out more as a woman, especially because of how well it had sculpted her ass.

Her rival in that particular department peeled herself away from her guild-management tabs and looked over at Rias.

Cassandra’s eyes narrowed. She’s a natural. Valuable to the party, and perhaps even more useful to the guild, considering how flawlessly she manages Elisebeth’s career. But recruiting her directly is unlikely. She’ll stay with Elisebeth, which means the better move may be to put her talent to use elsewhere... perhaps with Martin’s career.

As Cassandra’s gaze slid from Rias to Martin, her smile deepened by the smallest degree.

Martin had noticed too. Standing near the nest entrance with his sword in hand and blood on his armor, he watched Rias carve through the wounded ants with terrifying efficiency.

At first, simple surprise crossed his face, but it soon tightened into something far less comfortable.

He had been proud of what he and Angel had done. They had broken the wave, stopped the charge, and left the remaining enemies limping. That should have been enough.

Then Rias entered the space they had created and made it look easy.

Their weakness only explained part of it. The uncomfortable part was how clearly Rias understood what to do with them.

Each time Rias slipped behind an ant, cut into a wound, retreated before the counterattack, and moved toward the next patch of shade, Martin felt the same pressure build in his chest.

It looked clean and natural, as if she had been born inside the system and had only been waiting for a dagger to prove it.

Before he could stop it, his stomach sank. It stinks... we’re both men... and he’s already so damn good. If he picks up better gear... fuck, man.

His grip tightened around his sword even though he knew he should have been happy. Rias was his teammate now, and her strength belonged to their side.

A competent ally meant better odds, faster clears, and safer battles. It meant someone else could share the pressure with him.

So why did it feel like someone had quietly shoved him one step backward?

His own beginning came back to him: the awkwardness, the hesitation, and the desperate need to figure out what his body could even do in this world.

He had struggled, failed, and thrown himself forward because he had no other choice, learning through pain, fear, and pure stubbornness. And now Rias was here, adapting after only a handful of exchanges, as though the game had opened itself for her.

Hang in there. He’s my teammate now. I should be happy. I should compete with him, not sulk like this. So why am I so damn bummed?

The worst part was that he knew the jealousy made no sense. It wasn’t hatred, and it wasn’t even resentment. It was the ugly little sting of seeing someone else step onto the same path and run faster than he had.

Martin hated that feeling, so he did the most Martin thing possible.

He overcompensated.

Gritting his teeth, he slammed his sword into the ground.

"HOLD THE LINE!"

A golden ribbon exploded from within him and rose into a shining curtain over the nest’s entrance. The light stretched upward like a battle standard, bright and defiant, cutting through the darkness with a wall of holy gold.

Within that curtain, Martin charged at the enemies alone. His armor struck the ground hard enough to shake loose dust from the walls, and he switched from one weapon to another too quickly, too aggressively, as if slowing down would force him to think.

He moved through them in a brutal chain: sword to shield, shield to trident, trident to warhammer, then back to sword.

Each blink of teleportation ended with a brutal impact. His armor carried weight into every strike, and the monsters buckled beneath him as golden light trailed after his movements.

He appeared above one ant and came down like a falling statue, then vanished from another monster’s charge and reappeared at its side, driving his weapon into a crack already split through its shell.

The nest entrance became his stage as Martin fought like the place itself had personally insulted him.

All because he had gotten jealous.

Cassandra watched him with an amused smirk. "How adorable."

NukEncore’s alarm cut straight through the amusement.

"Eh?! Martin?! Is there a boss inside?! What’s wrong?!"

Her head snapped from Martin to the nest entrance, then to the wounded monsters, then back to Martin again. In her mind, no normal person suddenly shouted like that and charged harder unless some terrifying hidden enemy had appeared.

In NukEncore’s mind, that could only mean Martin was in danger. And if Martin was in danger, obviously she had to help.

NukEncore rushed in with all the urgency of a loyal companion entering legend. For two whole steps, she looked heroic.

On the third, her boot landed in monster blood.

Her foot shot forward, her arms windmilled, and her dignity abandoned the party.

"Uek!"

She fell flat on her face with a wet slap, sliding just far enough to make the disaster worse before stopping near the edge of the golden curtain.

For a moment, she didn’t move. Then one hand slowly lifted from the ground, trembling with offended elegance.

"I’m okay," she mumbled against the floor.

When Rias turned around, the sharp focus in her eyes broke at once.

NukEncore, the glamorous diva who could command an audience with one smile, was sprawled face-first in monster blood with all the majesty of a dropped pillow.

Her hair was a mess, her pose was tragic, and the sheer betrayal written across her body made the scene even worse.

Rias tried to hold it in. She truly did. Her lips pressed together, her shoulders tightened, and a small sound escaped her anyway.

When another followed, a bright laugh finally burst from her lips.

"Hahahah!"