Meanwhile, Night Espresso began its full-scale battle against Just Die.

At first, Night Espresso tried to pincer the enemy guild from both sides. One group pressed from the open bank while the other cut in from the ruined nest terrain, using broken shells, cracked stone, and collapsed tunnels as cover.

The plan worked only long enough for Just Die to adjust.

Their tanks widened the front line, their ranged players stepped back into cleaner firing positions, and their healers spread out instead of clumping together. No single burst could catch too many of them at once, and Night Espresso’s first push dulled almost immediately.

Just Die answered with practiced discipline and started dropping Night Espresso players one by one.

A Night Espresso swordsman broke through the first line, only for two Just Die spearmen to catch him from both sides and lock him in place. A healer tried to save him, but a red curse landed first and cut the healing amount in half. His health bar dropped, flickered, and vanished.

Another Night Espresso player fell near the wall, followed by two more before the support line could stabilize.

Kuro A watched the deaths without flinching. Panic would not bring them back, and rage would only make the line break faster.

[Kuro A: Pull closer to the West Bank walls.]

[Kuro A: Do not fight them in the open.]

[Kuro A: Tanks, narrow the lanes.]

[Kuro A: Supports, move behind the wall line.]

Night Espresso obeyed, giving up space without giving it up for free. Their tanks retreated in measured steps, shields raised and weapons ready. Their mages dropped slows across the dirt to make Just Die pay for every push, while their rangers kept shooting at anyone who overextended.

That pressure forced Just Die’s front line to keep advancing with discipline instead of rushing for easy kills.

The West Bank walls forced the battle into narrower lanes.

With stone at their backs, Night Espresso no longer had to guard every angle. Assassins had fewer paths into the support line, and healers could finally stand long enough to cast full recovery skills instead of throwing desperate instant heals while running.

The move helped, but it did not solve the battle.

Just Die was still stronger in the direct clash. Their players hit harder, rotated faster, and punished mistakes the instant they appeared. Whenever Night Espresso pushed too far from the wall, Just Die snapped shut around them and dragged them down.

Kuro A’s jaw tightened.

We cannot beat them by matching their charge.

His eyes moved across the battlefield, following every gap, every retreat, and every player who stepped too far forward.

Then we make them charge wrong.

Golden light from the Crystal Spear suddenly poured out from the dark tunnel leading to the outside lake.

The battlefield shuddered as players from both guilds turned their heads.

The tunnel did not simply brighten. Gold rushed through it in a violent flood, crawling over the wet stone, filling the cracks in the walls, and spilling across the West Bank in wide, burning streaks. Armor, weapons, shields, and scorched ground all caught the same light, until the battlefield looked like the lake had opened its mouth and breathed molten gold into the cave.

"Eyes forward!" Kuro A snapped.

Just Die’s shotcallers shouted similar orders from the other side, and the battle resumed with the same relentless pressure as before.

Even so, the light stayed in everyone’s mind.

It faded once, then returned brighter than before. The next pulse rolled through the tunnel with a heavy roar that shook loose dust from the ceiling and sent ripples through the puddles under everyone’s boots.

The third pulse carried the distorted screech of monsters being wiped out under the lake.

The sound was distant but ugly, twisted by water and stone until it scraped through the tunnel like an entire swarm being erased beneath the lake.

Then the final burst arrived.

Gold swallowed the tunnel completely. For several seconds, the passage to the outside lake looked less like a tunnel and more like the throat of a storm.

The entire West Bank flashed.

A system window appeared in front of every player.

[All monsters within Cascade Valley have been killed.]

[Contribution Ranking Updated.]

[#1: Emperoar — 5,413 monsters killed.]

Night Espresso went silent.

Even the players still fighting lost their rhythm as the number settled in front of them. More than five thousand monsters had died under Emperoar’s name, and no one on the West Bank could immediately understand how.

Somewhere near the support line, a Night Espresso mage laughed under his breath.

"What the hell did he do in there?"

No one answered.

Kuro A clenched his hands as a wide smirk spread across his face.

No wonder Miss Cassandra chose this place. You really are a trump card, Brother EMP.

He killed the smile almost as soon as it appeared, because Just Die had received something else.

Their players froze as a different set of windows opened in front of them. Their expressions shifted with each new line, and Kuro A saw the change spread through their formation. The reward was pulling their attention off the fight in front of them.

[You are the only guild still opposing the expansion of Night Espresso’s territory.]

[New Quest Received: Destroy the Crystal Spear.]

[Player Wielding the Crystal Spear: Emperoar.]

[Emperoar’s location has been highlighted on your minimap.]

[Reward: Just Die will receive a 100% loot bonus within Cascade Valley for one week.] 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

[Higher-grade items will have a 25% increased drop chance.]

[Experience gained within Cascade Valley will increase by 20%.]

[Your guild will also have a 5% chance to obtain an item required for the Cascade Valley expansion mission and claim the territory for itself.]

"You all see that?!" one of Just Die’s secondary shotcallers shouted.

"YEAH!"

"The spear’s marked!"

"Emperoar’s marked!"

The shotcaller raised his weapon toward the tunnel.

"Do not scatter! Punch through the wall line and open the tunnel!"

Just Die roared, and their formation surged forward with renewed aggression.

This time, the charge came too fast.