“Go, go, you can do it!”

An enormous mace strikes the ground, sending Ricard flying a few meters away when he jumps to avoid it. Clara falls to the ground when the ground shakes.

“Go, team! Go, team! We’re almost there! A little push and we’ll win! (Or we’re done for, if there are more enemies…)”

I make sure to lower the volume so only I can hear the last part.

‘What the hell am I doing?’ you ask. I’m cheering for my team. Isn’t it obvious? What else could I be doing?

‘Then, why am I cheering instead of helping?’ you ask. It’s because I’m useless right now. Let me recapitulate so you can understand…

After escaping the room with those pillars, we found ourselves assaulted by countless enemies in a narrow corridor. They shot arrows at us from the sides at the same time that more enemies rushed at us from the sky, falling in the middle of our ranks.

We thought this was a dangerous spot to fight, so we decided to rush forward, ignoring the enemies, to avoid taking too much damage.

We made the wrong decision.

What we found at the end of the narrow passage wasn’t a door leading to a new area but a large arena. It didn’t take long for all the monsters to surround us and continue the assault, this time without anywhere to hide or run to.

What’s worse, the same colossal Angel from before dropped on top of us. Our chances to win, dwindling by the second.

But, then, in a heroic and valiant sacrifice, worthy of the most epic fairy tales, I made my comrades retreat and sacrificed myself to save the world! I cast as many Chain Lightning as I could to get the monster’s attention and then blew everything up with a Grand Finale. Enemies fell everywhere, the only ones left standing were me and the wounded colossal Angel.

Fufufu! Hahaha! Can you imagine how epic it was!?

And now, since I’m useless thanks to the reduced stats, the only thing I can do is cheer for the rest of my team.

“Give me an L! Give me an E. Give me an A! Give me a G–”

I open my eyes wide and stop myself before it’s too late. What the heck was I doing!? Why was I spelling that lame name!?

All my body shivers. I punch myself in the face as a punishment.

Ah, shit... It counted as an attack and I almost killed myself… Well, at least it was worth it. Let’s resume cheering. But this time, I’ll avoid stupid and dangerous mistakes.

“Go, go, team! You can do it! You just need a last push!”

…Why is it always me who ends up being useless? Why do I have to blow myself up so often? Is it my fault, or is it because of the rest of the team…?

Hah, why am I making this question when it’s obvious it’s because of the rest? I don’t have any fault. None at all.

Ricard tries to parry one attack but is instead squashed into the ground. You can’t parry attacks like that, Ricard…

Well, he’s making fewer mistakes than usual. Usually, he would have been sent flying two or three times because of his own mistakes, but today he’s only been sent flying when it was an effect of the angel’s skills.

Also, there’s no need to worry about him. He has the highest stats in our party, has skills that increase his resilience, and Laura is always keeping an eye to heal him when needed.

He never dies easily, like a true undead should.

Please… don’t tell him I said this or he won’t stop talking until he turns me into a corpse.

Meanwhile, Laura and Clara attack it from the sides and back. Clara’s tentacles are latched onto it, so when the angel tries to shake her off, she spins around the monster instead, further entangling herself with it.

Like right now.

“Hehehe! Do it again, do it again!”

What do you think this is, Clara? An amusement park?

The angel grows angry, turning everything around itself into a sea of bright, white flames. As soon as they appear, everyone, including itself, starts taking continuous damage.

“Ah, shit, this isn’t good…” I comment. I guess I can only do one thing. “Go, go, team! Don’t mind the flames, you can do it!”

Hahaha, did you expect me to actually do something? Nah, it’s impossible. Right now, I’m disabled.

The fight continues.

My team’s HP starts dropping like there’s no tomorrow, but the angel isn’t doing well either. If it continues like this, our entire team won’t be able to do anything for the rest of the dungeon invasion, but we’ll win this fight.

I’m sure of it. After all, what could go wrong?

Shit, what am I doing!? Did I jinx it…? Nah, don’t worry, Andreu. I didn’t say it out loud, so it doesn’t count.

Finally, the colossal Angel drops to the floor with a loud thud. It almost falls on top of Clara, but luckily she manages to untangle herself and move away on time.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

We won! But it’s only thanks to my initial Grand Finale, which took away more than a third of the boss’ HP at the start.

“Yes, I knew you could do it! Good job everyone!”

“Haa… that was hard.” Laura wipes her nonexistent sweat and turns to Clara. “Are you sure this is the last part? There won’t be an impossible area after this one, right?”

“Yes, I’m sure this is the last. My sister will never do something so shameless, hehehe!”

“It wasn’t that hard. So, when is your sister coming? I’m itching for a fight. If she’s half as good as you’ve said…” Ricard trails off, distracted by the door that opens on one side of the arena.

My sister comes in, clapping.

*Clap! Clap!* “Good job, I didn’t expect you to survive the first time you tried it.” She says. “Of course, there are lots of things you can improve, but… we’ll talk about it later.”

Clara jumps at Marta, grabbing her arm and shaking it. “Sis! Did you see how much I’ve improved?”

“Didn’t we agree you wouldn’t call me ‘sis’ anymore?”

“Ah, you’re right. But… did I do well?”

“It was ok.” Marta glares at Clara for a moment and asks her “More importantly. Did you learn your lesson?”

Clara flinches.

“You mean, to stop rushing at things?” Marta doesn’t say anything and keeps staring at her. “I did… I won’t do it anymore…” She finally says, lowering her head. Her voice fades off, to the point I have to strain my ears to hear it.

“Then it’s fine.” Marta then turns her head to me and snorts. “Hmph! At least, you didn’t disappoint me anymore,” she adds after a pause.

Is that all you have to say to me!?

Well, she didn’t criticize me either, it could have been way worse. Getting off scot-free isn’t that bad.

The next one Marta speaks to is Laura.

“I can teach you later if you want, but puzzles aren’t always straightforward. Sometimes you need to think outside the box, or leave it to your intuition, like he did with the final jump.”

She points at me before continuing. Omg! Did I actually get praised here!? Marta PRAISED me!?

“Though I’m sure he was just lucky. It’s impossible he could decipher my code at all.”

Yeah… I knew it couldn’t be real. Why did I even get my hopes up? I swear, the next time, I won’t fall for her tricks.

Laura agrees to Marta’s proposal. “Thank you. It’s an honor to receive your teachings.”

…I’m sure Ricard would die in ecstasy if he were to receive those words.

“Drop the formalities, it’s annoying. Oh, and nice to meet you.”

Then, they exchange greetings. Immediately after, Marta scans Laura, then turns to look at me. She turns her head at Clara, who winks at her; and ends up staring at me once again.

“Oh, I see… now I understand what all that fuss was about...” What did you understand, Marta!? Tell me! I demand an explanation! “I hope we’ll see each other soon in real life.”

Laura giggles. “I’ll do my best.”

This isn’t fair! I want to know it too! Hmm… or maybe not. What if it’s something it’s best I don’t know? What if I regret it later? Then, I better stay ignorant.

Yep, ignorance is bliss.

While I keep rejoicing in my ignorance, Marta turns to the last of us, the only one she hasn’t greeted yet.

Ricard… since my sister came inside this room, he has been staring at her with his eyes wide open and his mouth hanging so low it almost touches the ground. I swear, I’m not exaggerating!

Though, to be more precise, he’s been staring slightly above my sister’s head.

Every time there’s more than one player in the same dungeon instance, there’s a symbol on top of its head for the other players to see. In general, you can choose between a symbol, your nickname, and your current Champion’s name. If you choose the Champion’s name, there’s an extra icon in front of it to show it isn’t the player’s nickname.

For example, on top of my head, I’m sure Marta can read ‘Mad Rat’ right now, with the Champion’s icon in front.

This is true everywhere except in the tournament, where everybody gets the same symbol but with a different color whether it’s an ally or an enemy. Mostly to avoid cheating by using spaces to hide names and similar stuff.

So, why is Ricard like this? It’s because on top of Marta’s head, in bright letters, there’s the name ‘Anthemia’. There’s no symbol in front of it, after all, so it means it’s the player’s nickname.

Also, her Champion looks exactly the same as the Seraphim she uses as Anthemia when playing in the top ranks, except for the wings. The wings’ looks and their numbers are different for each angel type, to avoid player confusion.

This is important because her current wings show she’s using a normal Angel unit instead of her Seraphim.

If it were only for how she looks, I’m sure Ricard would be spouting bullshit about how does she dare impersonate a top ranker. But since it’s impossible for two players to have the same nickname…

I’m sure you can get the rest by yourselves.

“Is this the guy who wants to fight with me?” Marta asks me. “Why is he looking at me like that?”

“It’s… it’s hard to explain,” I say.

“Is that so?” She shrugs and waves her hand in front of his face. “Hello, is there anyone inside, or are you an empty husk?”

Ricard finally snaps out of his stupor. But instead of answering her, he turns to me and starts shouting.

“Hey, Andreu. And you too, Clara. Why didn’t you tell me your sister was Anthemia!? THE Anthemia! The top player who slaughters everybody who dares fight her in melee!”

“Ooh, you know your shit. That’s me! Hahaha!” She laughs.

Hey! What about keeping our real identities a secret, just in case the video gets exposed? You just called us by our real names!

Though it isn’t like I can’t understand him… The shock he just suffered – after ignoring us every time we told him in the past – must be quite great.

I, Clara, and Laura retort to him at the same time.

“I told you…”

“I tried to tell you, but you never listened. Hehehe!”

“They told you, Baldy. Multiple times at that.”

Ignoring everybody, Marta says “All right. Now that you’ve snapped out of your trance… It’s nice to meet you. I’m their older sister.” She chuckles at Ricard’s reaction. “I’ll agree to have a duel with you after seeing how much you’ve struggled to get this chance. But only because my little sister asked for it, so you should be glad. Not everybody can fight against me. I’ve even changed my usual Champion to this weak Angel, who should have the same stats as your Champion, so we can fight on equal terms.”

“No, no, no… This can’t be… Anthemia… My chance at glory… Nobody told me about this!”

Ricard’s shout echoes in the large arena, but we all ignore him.

[https://i.imgur.com/ZGSK4Pl.png]

“Fighting against a better player is a great chance to improve. Take this chance to learn how they move. Observe what decisions they make in every situation. How and which attacks they evade, and which ones they don’t. How they position themselves and how they use the terrain. When and how they use their skills. And if it’s a fight with support mobs included, don’t miss how they command them around, as this might be the most important of them all.

Combat experience is a very important factor in this game, and the fastest and easiest way to get it is to learn from a better player.”

- A tip from a professional DMA player to newer players.