Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities

Chapter 155: Celebration!

Martin wanted to reunite with his teammates first and tell them the great news in person. Everyone had already logged back in and gathered near the lake, waiting for the announcement, perhaps even ready to march toward their newly claimed land. Of course, he could have told them through voice chat, but that would have killed the charm of it.

Before he could look for them, Kuro A and the others rushed toward him.

Actually, rushed was not the right word. Plummeted suited the scene much better.

From the top of the waterfall, players stripped off their armor and other valuable equipment before throwing themselves into the lake as if they were having the time of their lives. Even those afraid of heights didn’t let that fear stop them. With reckless excitement, they jumped one after another and crashed into the water.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

White pillars of water burst up around Martin, and in an instant, the peaceful lake turned into a battlefield of splashes, laughter, and shouting players.

One guy landed so badly that he spun twice beneath the surface before shooting back up with both arms raised as if he had personally won the raid.

"Emperoar!"

"Ao Tenshin!"

"Brother EMP!"

"Legend!"

As the guys shouted his name, Martin dropped off Ao Tenshin’s shell and swam toward them. He barely managed two strokes before a wave of players crashed around him. One slapped his back, another grabbed his hand and shook it with both of theirs, and a third pointed at him with a grin wide enough to split his face.

"You madman! You actually dropped a turtle on the Monument!"

"That wasn’t a tank play! That was a war crime!"

"Teach me that move, Brother EMP!"

Martin laughed despite himself. Their excitement hit him harder than he expected. He had fought hard, of course, and he knew his move had worked, but hearing so many people shout his name made the victory feel real in a completely different way.

Meanwhile, Ao Tenshin naturally drew the ladies to her with that adorable face.

The female players gathered around her almost immediately, patting her cheeks, rubbing the top of her head, and praising her shell, her eyes, and her bravery as if she were a tiny princess who had personally saved the kingdom.

Ao Tenshin accepted all of it with shameless dignity. She lifted her chin, blinked her sapphire eyes, and leaned into every gentle touch.

But when one of the guys tried to reach for her cheek, she simply turned her head away and offered him the side of her shell instead.

The women laughed, and Martin stared in silent admiration.

She understands the world better than I do.

Ao Tenshin could have been the perfect wingman if Martin ever truly needed one. She knew exactly how to act around women, rubbing her cheeks against them like a spoiled pet and making soft, satisfied sounds whenever they praised her.

It was such a beautiful sight that every male player froze in place, Martin included.

One of them slung an arm around Martin’s shoulder. "Man, you played your role so well. I’m genuinely impressed! Your fight against Thorn’Shield makes complete sense now!"

"Thanks." Martin smiled. Right, I don’t see Thorn’Shield... did he die? I already forgot if I checked or not. Whatever.

Another player pushed through the water and pointed at him. "No, seriously. When you were fighting Thorn’Shield, I thought you were just buying time. Then you turned the whole damn raid into a setup."

"Who thinks of using a waterfall as a weapon?" someone else asked.

"A tank with protagonist disease," another player answered.

The surrounding players burst into laughter.

Martin scratched his cheek. He wanted to deny it, but for once, he didn’t feel like brushing the praise away completely. Not too long ago, most players saw him as a strange tank surrounded by absurdly beautiful women. Some respected him, some envied him, and some probably assumed he was simply lucky.

Now, their eyes were different. They looked at him like someone who had delivered when everything was on the line.

Kuro A approached him, though his swimming looked awkward. He clearly wasn’t used to it, or perhaps he didn’t even know how to swim at all. He simply used his supernatural stats to keep himself afloat.

"Magnificently done! You never miss, Brother EMP!" Kuro A said.

Using the fall, along with Ao Tenshin’s weight, to overpower the Monument of the Dark had been a great move on Martin’s part. It might have sounded simple, obvious even, but in the heat of the moment, players often defaulted to their safest moves or took far too much risk. Martin, however, had executed everything perfectly.

Kuro A laughed and spread his arms, his wet hair clinging to his face. "You didn’t just survive the final moment, Brother EMP. You read it correctly. You saw the one angle still open to us and committed before anyone else could even process it. That’s the kind of call people remember."

His words settled deeper than the shouting around them.

"The same goes for you, Brother A!" Martin laughed. "You kept everyone moving until the end. If you hadn’t held the line, I wouldn’t have had a chance to do anything."

"That is what a shotcaller is for!" Kuro A declared. "I create the opening, and players like you smash through it!"

More members of Night Espresso returned to Cascade Valley over time, raising the excitement even higher. Players climbed onto nearby rocks, floated in the water, and shouted over one another as they replayed the last moments of the battle with increasingly dramatic gestures. In the middle of it all, Martin and Ao Tenshin drew more attention by the minute.

By then, Martin’s own teammates had returned as well, but they couldn’t find enough room to approach their tank.

NukEncore puffed out her chest and planted her hands on her waist. "Martin’s my tank! Get away from him already!"

The crowd parted a little, though not without laughter.

"He’s our tank, diva," Chaosgraphy retorted, but her voice sounded much softer than usual.

NukEncore noticed that immediately and looked at the white-haired actress. "Did the loss get to you that much?"

Chaosgraphy only smiled and shook her head.

Eventually, all four of them reunited with their tank. To make things even better, and maybe to show off a little, Martin brought them all onto Ao Tenshin’s shell and drifted across the broad waters of Cascade Valley.

The celebration continued around them, but Ao Tenshin’s slow movement created a small bubble of space for their party. The shouting and splashing faded into background noise while sunlight danced across the lake. Behind them, the waterfall roared, filling the air with bright mist.

For a moment, it almost felt as if the raid had ended only for the five of them.

NukEncore stretched her arms above her head, then smiled. "We’re so close to the beach episode, aren’t we?"

Martin furtively glanced at her ample chest and momentarily forgot about everything, even the $100,000 offer.

That was how much weight NukEncore carried.

A cough from the side saved him, as usual, from NukEncore’s natural charm.

Chaosgraphy smiled.