The Lion's Parade turned on me like I was the raid boss, not that giant fatass just a few meters away.

Swords drawn and raise, staves angled, one ranger already had an arrow nocked and glowing, and I swear if looks could crit, I'd have dropped dead before the Titan of Ashen Bark could even sneeze.

Ten sets of eyes locked on me, all glaring of knives and distrust, while I held my hands up high like some criminal caught red-handed.

"Whoa, whoa, easy there," I said, flashing the cheesiest smile I could muster. "I come in peace, pinky promise, no mass murdering today."

"Why are you here?" Jack's voice was flat, clipped, all steel. His golden armor made him look even taller than usual, dude towered while here I was, five-foot-something with both hands raised like an idiot about to cause another riot and looting in downtown Los Angeles, "Rebuilding the guild after you messed us up was a hassle, I'm not looking for trouble, CJS69."

"I need a team," I admitted. "And you guys need… me, maybe."

That made them shift. Some scoffed, some rolled their eyes, and one of the mages muttered something in I absolutely overheard: 'is she drunk or just stupid?'

Jack squinted at me,

"Clarify, please." he said, blade on shoulder, "You don't seem like the teamer type. And I'm not willing to let you treat my guild like a meatshield that'll take all the risk for you, if that's what you're asking."

I tilted my head toward the Titan thrashing in the clearing.

"I know exactly what that thing's going to do next, out of the 6 possible moves and effects under one animation listed on the wiki, I know a way to predict which one it's going to use."

A beat of silence.

Then laughter, short and sharp laughters of amusement and untrusting foes not daring to think of the fact that their queen can achieve greatness.

"Bullshit. Everyone knows it's random." One of the guy let out a comment.

"Unthinkable," Jack said, shaking his head, "If that's true, then everyone must've gotten it by now."

"Thinkable," I corrected, stepping closer.

He gripped tighter on his sword while mine was still sheathed, and he just watched me like waiting for any wrong move to cut me down.

I had to crane my neck up, reach high just to plant my palm on his pauldron, cold golden steel, and he didn't flinch.

"Trust me." I grinned like a mad scientist, "Let me make the calls, you guys get the glory, the credit, recognition, maybe a pile of new recruits licking your boots after this? What's the harm? Hell, maybe you'll even be the best guild in VR."

Jack studied me, long enough that my feet started to get sore and I had to switch my idling stance and lean on one feet with hand on the hip.

Then, finally, he asked: "What are you getting out of this?"

There was no problem with this question, of course, so I opened my mouth, but then I stopped for a second… Should I tell him, or anyone for that matter, about the fact that I'm now a Squire and is trying to get Apprentice Knight by helping ten players in need?

I decided against it, because they would grasp my lack of combat-focused spells and stats, so nope, too vulnerable. I needed something else, something to throw them off the question.

"So… Ahem." I grinned wide, leaned in, and whispered like I was telling him state secrets, making sure that the others weren't hearing this, "I had a crush on one of your guild members. Need you to put in a good word for me when she's online, it's DreamDream"

I did whisper, I swear, but the decibals must've been great enough for the other nine to hear.

"... My cousin?" Jack was shook.

"Your cousin?" I was shook.

His whole team looked at each other like they'd just overheard a scandal in high school cafeteria, someone coughed awkwardly, clearing their throat, someone else muttered 'what the hell' under their breath.

Jack arched a brow, "…You're serious?"

"With my whole heart," I said, hand over heart.

"... I need to talk this through with my team." Jack replied.

"Take your time." I nodded.

The Lion's Parade huddled together, ten voices murmuring through party chat, some louder than others, the occasional "no way" slipping out, some glanced back at me, and I just posed with a peace sign at 'em, or just started dangling myself on a tree like a monkey bar while waiting.

It took them a solid minute before Jack finally turned back.

"Fine," he said. "But under one condition: no one dies. If anyone in my team goes down, this ends here and we're on our own."

I smirked, nodding while holding back the urge to lick my lips.

Then my eyes caught something shiny, one of their healers whom I recognized back when I killed the group, a girl named Lyra, had a wristwatch on her avatar.

Not entire cosmetic either, it actually tells the ingame town corresponding to the world's time.

"Oh hey, can I borrow that?" I pointed at it.

Lyra stiffened, glanced nervously at Jack, he obviously hesitated, but he gave her the smallest nod. Something along the lines of "it's your choice in the end."

"Don't break it." With a sigh, she unstrapped it and handed it over.

"Wouldn't dream of it." I slid the watch onto my wrist, feeling its faint hum as the system synced up.

Perfect, now I had a timer to cheat the Titan's pseudo-random pool.

"Don't tell me you can tell the pattern with… Time?" Lyra commented, her brows furrowed.

"If I tell ya, I'm gonna have to kill ya~ Or at least, you can make it worth my time." I blinked, very cutely.

She visibly cringed and got back behind the formation.

"What's your username?" Jack asked, breaking the tension.

"CJS69Real"

A party invite blinked across my vision, not a guild invite, of course, his guild would have like 30 something ish people in it, while only 10 of them were present to take on this raid boss for now.

[You have been invited to join the party: Lion's Parade Raid Team 1]

I hit accept without hesitation. The interface flickered, eleven names now stacked neatly on the left side of my HUD.

J97

Buster2k

LyraBell

SolsticeRun

Emberline

PyroPuff

DaggerDan

Feral_Moon

AquaHalo

Thornhand

CJS69Real

Jack's voice came through party chat, almost snickering as he tapped my shoulder.

"Why would anyone add [Real] to their name? Really reminds me of those old console days where you would add two xs at the end and front to try and stand out when choosing a name."

"Urg… Some idiot squatted my name, don't mention it…" I groaned.

"So there's a chance you're not the real infamous incel loser CJS69 on the forum, and just a wannabe." Jack added, eyeing me up and down.

"Whatever gets you off and let you sleep at night." I waved him off.

We approached the clearing where The Titan of Ashen Bark was picking off hoards of players with its AoE moves.

"What do you want us to do?" Jack asked me.

"I'll stay back here and give micromanagement commands whenever necessary, I want you guys to trust me and move or attack when I say so. All the while, keep doing what you do best, play slow like you've planned with Jack doing most of the commands."

They hesitated, but Jack ensured them and we get on with the plan.

The three tanks—Buster2k, Thornhand, and SolsticeRun—marched into the fray first, shields up and glowing as the Titan's molten eye swiveled down at them.

J97 and DaggerDan rushed in right behind, blades flashing, while the ranged attackers—Emberline and PyroPuff—unleashed volleys of fireballs and arrows.

I hung back, cloak fluttering, clutching my new sword but making no move to join the frontlines.

Today, I was playing babysitter. With Guard's Bond activated, I placed around ~100 FakeHP LyraBell's character because she was the main healer, I glanced over as she kept a distance from me while beginning her healing chants.

AquaHalo and Feral_Moon stacked buffs on the frontline, layering holy wards as well as some debuffs… Debuffs are more useful rare to have, so I'm not surprised they only have the bare minimum.

The Titan roared, fire cracking between its bark plates. Its claws tore the ground apart, but the tanks absorbed the blows like professionals, rotating taunts exactly like Jack had ordered earlier. He shouted commands while effectively, crisp and steady, he really sounded like one of those FPS game Lieutenants.

And me? I kept one eye on the watch, the other on the boss.

Tick… Tock… Tick… Tock

Then came the tell.

The Titan's wooden jaw split open, its massive arms rising high, slamming its fists together with a sound like thunder cracking in stone.

The entire raid froze, breath held, no one knew which of the six horrors was coming next.

Except me.

The second hand was 38 when the clap sounded, and my lips curled into a grin.

"Everyone, walk forward! It's debuffing the backlines!" my voice echoed through voicechat, startling everyone in the party, "Use the other players as shields! Just get in front of someone!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.