My Overpowered Bunny Girls

Chapter 28: 28. The Party Assembles

Nathan closed the apartment door behind him and let out a breath he felt like he had been holding since the TCA lobby.

Lucy was still at school. The apartment was quiet. Too quiet for someone whose head was currently a war room.

He sat at the table and stared at nothing for a solid minute...

"System."

The familiar blue panel flickered into view.

"How do I summon a second Bunny Girl?"

There was a brief silence that haunted the room before the system responded with its usual clinical efficiency.

[The Next Additional summon require one of the following conditions to be met:]

[1. Host reaches Level 25.]

[2. A significant emotional resonance event between Host and existing summon(s).]

[3. A catalyst item recovered from a Tower floor of sufficient difficulty and compatibility.]

Nathan read the list twice. Level 25 wasn’t impossible, he was sitting at 19 after the Tower of Beginnings, and six levels in two weeks was ambitious but doable with enough climbing. Option two was frustratingly vague. Significant emotional resonance? What did that even mean? Some kind of shared trauma? A moment of perfect sync in battle? Or... A different kind of sync?...

"..."

His face flushed red.

Option three meant climbing again before the duel. Another Tower. More floors. The extraction penalty lurking in the background if anything went sideways. It was too unsure.

Mirko materialized beside him, humanoid, her arms folded. She had been listening through the link.

"I bet you were hoping for something simpler" she said.

"I was hoping for a new ally we could actually train before the fight." Nathan closed the interface. "But the system doesn’t seem to hand out freebies. It settting hoops and waits for me to jump through them."

"So what do we do now?"

"What I should have done from the start." He stood up. "Build a party the normal way."

---

Finding Garrett wasn’t difficult. The TCA directory listed his registered address in a mid-tier district, a fifteen-minute walk from the nearest transit hub. Nathan spent the walk rehearsing his pitch and discarding it twice. By the time he knocked on the door, he had settled on an honest approach.

The door swung open and Garrett stood in the doorway with his arm still in a sling, his brown hair messier than Nathan remembered it to be. Behind him, the apartment was small and cluttered, with empty takeout containers on a table, a pile of gear in one corner, and a large red shape animal sprawled across a couch cushion like a housecat.

The Mad-Sheep’s four abyss-black eyes blinked independently. It made a sound that was somewhere between a bleat and a growl.

"Cross?" Garrett blinked, then broke into a wide grin. "Holy shit. The solo S-Rank celebrity, at my door. Come in, come in. Ignore the mess. I’ve been stuck here for days with this sling and Red’s been going stir-crazy. Red, move. MOVE. Sorry, he’s not great with guests."

Nathan stepped inside, navigating around a stack of recovery potion vials. "How’s the shoulder?"

"Healing. Another week and I’ll be back to swinging." Garrett gestured vaguely at a chair. "So what brings you here? Not that I’m not grateful for the save back on Floor 3, but I figured you for the lone wolf type. Solos Towers, doesn’t join guilds, walks out of lobbies like he’s already thinking about the next fight..."

"I need party members."

Garrett stopped mid-ramble.

"Derek Stone challenged me to a sanctioned duel. Party format. Four-man minimum. Public broadcast. Two weeks from now." Nathan met his eyes. "I need people I can... trust. People who won’t ask too many questions when things get... unusual."

Garrett was quiet for a moment. Then he laughed a short, surprised sound. "You’re serious."

"Completely."

"Man." He ran his good hand through his hair. "You saved my life on Floor 3. I was about to crush my extraction crystal. Ten more seconds and I’d have been out, penalized for a week, probably dropped by my guild prospects. Then you showed up and took down three Crawlers like it was target practice." He looked at Nathan. "You don’t owe me a pitch. I’m in."

Nathan nodded. "That makes two registered bodies. I need two more."

"Two more?" Garrett frowned. "What about..."

He trailed off, clearly unsure how to finish the sentence. Now realising that Nathan’s loner persona might not be the cool kind but more of the lonely kid type with no friends.

"Got it." Garrett leaned back, his grin returning. "Well, what about that Winterhart girl? The ice princess? I’ve seen the way she watches you at TCA briefings."

"She doesn’t watch me."

"She definitely watches you. But more importantly, she’s got an A-Rank summon, she’s a mage and she has an S-Rank clear and a family name that makes people nervous. You get her on the team, and phewww boy."

"I know." Nathan stood. "I’m handling Elise next. You focus on healing up. Two weeks goes faster than you think."

"Cross." Garrett’s voice stopped him at the door. "Thanks. For asking me. Most Climbers at your level wouldn’t look twice at a mid-ranker with a creepy sheep."

Nathan glanced at Red, who had somehow rolled onto its back and was making a sound that might have been snoring.

"Red’s not that creepy."

"Yeah, maybe, you’ll get used to him," Garrett admitted. "Mostly."

---

The Winterhart estate was exactly what Nathan expected. Old stone. Cold elegance. A servant met him at the gate and guided him through corridors lined with frost-patterned tapestries, past a hall of ancestral portraits that seemed to watch him with disapproval.

They emerged into a private training courtyard. Elise was already there, her Frost Golem a silent colossus of diamond-bright ice at her back. She moved through a drill and the golem mirrored her, each strike controlled and deliberate. No wasted motion. No hesitation.

She noticed Nathan and dismissed the construct with a wave. It dissolved into streams of light that retreated into her summon mark.

"Looks like you’re serious about the duel, if you’re here." she said.

"Well, Derek challenged me publicly. If I refuse, my record becomes tainted. And If I accept without a strong party, I lose in front of everyone and he gets exactly what he wants." Nathan met her gaze. "I need people I can... trust. People who will see what I can do and won’t flinch."

Elise studied him as the silence between them stretched.

"So, you’re asking me to join your party."

"Yes."

"And Why should I?"

It wasn’t a hostile question, She was genuinely waiting for an answer. Nathan chose his words carefully.

"Because you’ve been watching me since the Tutorial Realm. you’re curious. you know there’s something different about how I climb, and you want to see it firsthand." He paused. "This is your chance. No guild handlers. No family expectations. Just a Tower and a fight. And after it’s over, you’ll have the answer to the question you’ve been carrying around since I passed your rank on the leaderboard."

Elise’s expression flickered, something almost like acknowledgment. "Okay, I have conditions."

"Name them."

"First, I’m not joining your party permanently. This is a one-time arrangement for the duel." She held up a second finger. "Second, I want honesty. If your bunny really has capabilities you’ve been hiding and I suspect she does, I want to know before we enter the Tower. No surprises."

Nathan thought of Mirko’s humanoid form. Of the Knight class. Of how much he could safely reveal and how much was still his to protect.

"The first condition is fine," he said. "The second... I’ll tell you what’s relevant to the duel. Some things are private. Not because I don’t trust you, but because they’re not entirely my secrets to tell."

Another brief silence passed then Elise nodded slowly.

"That’s acceptable." She extended her hand. "I’m in."

Nathan shook it. Her grip was cool and firm.

From the courtyard doorway, a familiar voice drawled: "Well. Well. Well. This is a touching scene. The ice princess and the bunny king, joining hands in holy alliance. Should I start drafting the press release?"

Dillon Briggs leaned against the stone archway with his arms folded, his katana resting in its sheath at his hip. His smirk was dialed to maximum.

"Dillon." Elise didn’t turn around. "This is a private meeting."

"Is it? I couldn’t tell, what with the heartfelt recruitment happening in the open courtyard where anyone could walk by." He pushed off the archway and strolled toward them. "Relax, princess. I’m not here to crash your moment. I’m here to volunteer."

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

"For the duel, obviously." Dillon spread his hands. "Think about it. You need four party members minimum. You’ve got yourself Elise now but I bet there’s no other person as amazing as myself that’s willing to join this party!. And let’s be honest, you’re still an F-Grade MA Archer on paper. No offense."

"Some taken," Nathan said dryly.

"You need another heavy hitter. Someone who’s actually been climbing regularly since graduation. Someone with a B-Rank summon and a Special Class. Hmph hmph" He tapped his chest. "I check all those boxes. Plus I’m charming, which is good for.... team morale." He winked at Elise.

"You’re insufferable," Elise said. "Which is bad for mine."

"And yet here I am, generously offering my blade." Dillon’s smirk softened slightly. "Look. I want to see it too. Whatever Cross is doing that has you so fascinated, princess, I’m curious. You’ve been staring at his leaderboard data for weeks. Figured I’d get a front-row seat."

Elise’s jaw tightened. "I haven’t been—"

"You absolutely have. It’s almost sweet." He turned to Nathan. "So? I’m a Special Class Samurai with a B-Rank Cloud Serpent summon. I’m offering to fight in your corner. You’d be an idiot to say no."

Nathan considered him. Dillon was annoying, performative, and clearly had some kind of personal attachment to Elise that made him unpredictable. But he was also strong. A-Rank Magic aptitude. B-Rank summon. A special class Samura and his katana technique that had carved through goblins like paper during the Tutorial Realm.

And he was right. They needed another heavy hitter.

"Fine," Nathan said. "You’re in. But if you spend the entire climb making jokes, I’m leaving you behind on the first floor."

"That’s fair. I’ll save the best material for after we win." Dillon sketched a lazy bow. "Looking forward to it, Bunny King."

Elise exhaled slowly. Frost curled at her fingertips. "If you call him that one more time—"

"Relax. I’m being friendly. This is me being friendly." Dillon backed toward the archway. "Two weeks, Cross. Don’t disappoint." freewebnoveℓ.com

He vanished into the house, his footsteps fading down the stone corridor.

Elise turned to Nathan. "I apologize for him."

"Don’t. He’s your problem, not mine." Nathan paused. "Well. He’s our problem now, I guess."

"I’ll keep him in line." She said it like a promise. Or a threat. Possibly both.

---

Nathan walked home through the evening streets, the Leyline Ring humming on his finger with its steady, doubled current. Three party members. Garrett Voss, mid-tier Climber with a Mad-Sheep and a debt of gratitude. Elise Winterhart, Mage prodigy with an A-Rank Frost Golem and a curiosity she could no longer deny. Dillon Briggs, Special Class Samurai with a Cloud Serpent and a personality that was going to be exhausting to manage.

Four registered Climbers including himself. The minimum for the duel.

And Mirko. His Knight. Still hidden. Still waiting.

’Master.’

Her voice was quiet in the back of his mind.

’They’re going to see me. All of them. During the duel, there won’t be any way to hide it.’

"No," he said aloud, watching the city lights flicker on. "There won’t."

’Are you afraid?’ frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

Nathan thought about the answer. He had been hiding Mirko’s true nature since the day he summoned her... through the Tutorial Realm, through the Tower, through Derek’s ridicule and veteran climbers’ whispered suspicions. The secret had kept them safe. Kept them underestimated. Kept the world’s attention at a manageable distance.

But secrets had a shelf life. And this one was about to expire.

"I’m not afraid," he said finally. "Infact. I think I’m Ready."

’Good.’ Mirko’s presence warmed. ’Because I’ve been waiting to show them what a Knight can do.’

Nathan reached the apartment. Lucy’s light was on in the window. Tomorrow they would start training as a party, four Climbers and a bunny girl learning to fight as one unit. Two weeks to build trust, coordinate tactics, and prepare for whatever Tower the TCA Duel Committee selected.

Two weeks until the world saw what Nathan had been hiding.

"One step at a time," he murmured.

’or a hop’ Mirko replied