Until then, Just Die had been killing Night Espresso with discipline. Their tanks advanced at the right speed, their ranged players fired from protected angles, their healers stayed spread, and their assassins waited for real openings instead of diving too early.

The quest changed that.

Players who had been fighting cleanly started leaning toward the tunnel. Tanks pushed harder than their healers could safely follow. Ranged players shifted their attention toward the path leading to the lake. Assassins stopped waiting for perfect angles and began cutting through gaps that had not fully opened yet.

They were still dangerous, but the reward had made them impatient.

Kuro A caught the shift immediately.

He did not need a hidden mechanic or a special report. He only needed to watch the way Just Die’s formation stretched toward the tunnel.

[Kuro A: Hold.]

Some Night Espresso players hesitated.

Just Die was coming harder than before. Their charge looked terrifying, a red wave of weapons, spell effects, and greedy eyes rushing straight for the lake.

[Kuro A: Hold the wall.]

A Just Die tank slammed into Night Espresso’s front and forced three players back.

[Kuro A: Left side, give them two steps.]

Night Espresso’s left wing retreated, and Just Die rushed into the space.

[Kuro A: Right side, close.]

The right wing snapped inward.

A wall of shields cut across the lane, blocking only the players who had pushed too far ahead of their support. The frontliners realized too late that their healers were no longer directly behind them.

A Night Espresso mage raised both hands, and the ground between Just Die’s front and backline turned dark with coffee-colored fire. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

The flames did not explode. They crawled low across the dirt, thick and bitter, forcing Just Die’s healers to step around them instead of casting straight through the lane.

Kuro A pointed at the trapped group.

[Kuro A: Now.]

Night Espresso hit them from three sides.

Tanks drove shields into the overextended players and locked them in place. Rangers stopped shooting at whoever was closest and focused the same targets one after another. Mages layered slows, burns, and silence zones until Just Die’s trapped frontliners could neither retreat cleanly nor receive enough healing to survive.

Health bars dropped one after another, and Just Die’s charge began to lose its shape.

"Stop feeding!" the Just Die shotcaller roared. "Back up and reset the line!"

The reward still glowed in front of them, Emperoar’s highlighted location still burned on their minimaps, and the tunnel remained open ahead. Too many players kept trying to reach it, even while their own shotcaller fought to pull them back.

Another group tried to force its way through the center.

Kuro A’s eyes sharpened.

[Kuro A: Center, bend.]

Night Espresso gave them space, and Just Die took it.

[Kuro A: Cut behind them.]

Two Night Espresso tanks stepped out from the wall lane and sealed the gap. A ranger mark appeared above a Just Die healer’s head, and three arrows landed before she finished turning. Her barrier cracked, and a mage’s dark flame swallowed the ground under her boots.

She fell.

The Just Die players who had pushed forward suddenly had no healing behind them.

Kuro A raised his voice.

"They’re chasing the reward!" he shouted. "Make them pay for every step!"

Night Espresso answered with a roar of their own.

The difference spread through the formation at once. Fear loosened. Shields rose higher. Casters stopped backing up with every spell. Rangers began choosing targets instead of firing at whatever enemy rushed closest.

Just Die was still stronger in a clean guild clash, but this fight was no longer clean. Their eyes kept drifting toward the Crystal Spear. Their feet were still on the West Bank. Every step they took toward the lake gave Kuro A another chance to punish them.

Just Die’s backline bent under the counterattack, but it did not break.

Kuro A saw the difference before Night Espresso could mistake pressure for victory.

[Kuro A: Do not chase.]

Several players stopped mid-step.

[Kuro A: They are still Just Die. Hold formation.]

Across the West Bank, Just Die’s secondary shotcaller raised one bloodied hand and forced his players to slow down.

"Hold!" he shouted. "They’re baiting us. Stop giving them free kills!"

The next charge would not be as sloppy.

Far from the West Bank, Raze Dawg’s respawn timer ended inside his monster hunter academy.

The training hall around him was clean, polished, and completely untouched by the war still raging in Cascade Valley. Rows of weapon racks lined the walls. Guild banners hung from the rafters. Freshly respawned players appeared in flashes of red light, cursed under their breath, and slammed fists into walls, benches, and weapon stands.

None of them could return.

The deployment circle at the center of the hall remained dim and sealed, its surface covered in inactive runes.

Raze Dawg did not move right away.

He opened the guild command channel instead.

Noise flooded his ears at once.

[Night Espresso still hasn’t broken!]

[They’re dragging us toward the lake!]

[Emperoar’s marker moved again!]

[Half the idiots on the bank are chasing him!]

[Tell them to stop! He’s killing anyone who gets close to the water!]

Raze Dawg’s expression darkened.

He did not need the battle feed to understand what was happening.

Just Die was still pushing, but their formation had stretched too far toward the lake. Player deaths were stacking in the wrong places, and too many of his people were letting the Crystal Spear drag them away from the real fight.

Then one report cut through the chaos.

[Emperoar’s in the water!]

Raze Dawg’s jaw tightened.

"Idiots."

Several players near the sealed deployment circle turned toward him.

Raze Dawg opened the command channel and roared into it.

[Raze Dawg: Stop chasing Emperoar into the water!]

The guild channel shook with his voice.

[Raze Dawg: He can breathe underwater! The lake is his field now!]

On the West Bank, Just Die’s secondary shotcaller stiffened as the message hit his interface.

[Raze Dawg: Kill Night Espresso first. Break their line, wipe their healers, and take the bank. If you run at the lake one by one, you’re feeding him kills.]

The greed in Just Die’s formation did not vanish, but Raze Dawg’s command pressed down harder than the reward.

Across the West Bank, the secondary shotcaller clenched his bloodied hand and shouted, "You heard him! Forget the tunnel! We wipe Night Espresso first!"

Kuro A saw the change immediately.

Just Die’s line stopped leaning toward the lake. Their shields locked back into place, their ranged players turned away from the tunnel, and their aim returned to Night Espresso’s support pockets.

Kuro A’s eyes narrowed.

Behind both guilds, faint gold still shimmered inside the tunnel leading to the lake. It glowed across the walls, slid over broken armor, and caught along the edges of every weapon still raised on the West Bank.

Emperoar’s location remained marked, and the Crystal Spear was still the prize, but Just Die had locked back into the discipline that made them dangerous.