Martin listened to the comms from Kuro A and the others.

He had done his part. Now he had to trust them to do theirs.

Looking back, he had done pretty well, and that alone should have raised his standing in Cassandra’s eyes. From a practical standpoint, whether Night Espresso won or lost mattered less now. Martin had already earned plenty of contribution points.

But Martin didn’t feel that way.

His friends had been killed because of Just Die. If not for them, Martin and the others might have been facing the final boss of Cascade Valley by now.

Because of that, he wanted to succeed more than anything.

He needed Just Die to fail.

There’s clearly a traitor who told them about our expansion quest. I suspect Thorn’Shield, but I can’t accuse him for no reason other than the fact that I shat on him. On the other hand, even if I expose the traitor somehow, it might only work against us. Just Die won’t care in the slightest.

Martin turned in the water and looked back at Ao Tenshin.

She had already reached level sixty, and thanks to her new racial skills, so had he. In the bigger picture, though, Martin understood that she mattered far more than he did right now. Her bloodline had given her two new skills, and she was eager to keep dominating.

"You’re so huge I can’t see past you from this close," Martin said.

Angel had grown to the size of a small house.

Her shell alone looked broad enough for Martin to sit on comfortably, and if the game allowed it, he could probably set up a homemade gym on her back and grind his stats while she roamed the water. The thought was ridiculous, but looking at her now, it did not feel impossible.

Her body had become massive, heavy, and majestic, but her face had not changed nearly as much.

She still had those round, adorable eyes and that young, almost harmless expression that made Martin want to rub her head instead of command her like a battle beast. No matter how huge she became, Angel still looked like his chubby Dragon Turtle.

Two small bony protrusions had appeared on top of her head. They were not sharp yet. They looked more like blunt little nubs than true horns, but Martin could already tell they came from her dragon heritage.

Somehow, that made her even cuter. She was a giant turtle-dragon with baby horns.

Martin almost laughed despite the battle raging above them.

Angel rubbed her muzzle against Martin.

"I know. You want to fight. You can feel the tremors from two guilds duking it out up there, but I need an idea. I need to know how to help them in a way that actually matters."

Angel’s sapphire eyes shone brightly, and Martin immediately understood.

She had an idea.

—

Above the lake, Just Die’s counterattack had stopped looking desperate.

Their shields moved as one again. Their ranged players fired through clean angles, and Night Espresso’s wall line began losing space by inches. Kuro A kept the formation from breaking, but even he could not turn every retreat into a trade.

That mutt keeps piling up contribution points. He’s the fucking star of this guild... when it should have been me!

Thorn’Shield poured his resentment into his sword and drove himself forward, pinning down Just Die players while working with the rest of Night Espresso. Without his teammates, he could barely do more than stare at the battle. He was underleveled and undergeared.

This is so fucking stupid. How did we even get an expansion quest this early? We haven’t had time to build proper connections in the academy, and we’re already branching out? This has to be that fucking Emperoar’s fault.

Petty as it was, he wasn’t completely wrong, was he?

What’s next? Are you going to steal Cassandra for yourself too, huh, mutt?!

Despite all his hatred for Martin, Thorn’Shield was not the traitor. He was not the one who had called Just Die or any mercenaries to Night Espresso.

That said, as he watched Just Die’s counterattack and saw guild members getting picked off one by one, Thorn’Shield would have been lying if he said betrayal had not crossed his mind.

It felt like the world was giving him chances to switch sides. One clean, efficient betrayal would be enough to show Just Die that he could join them and help.

Still, Thorn’Shield feared Cassandra more than he wanted to admit. She had his real information and could pull strings against him.

He did not want to end up working at a convenience store or some job that paid even less than minimum wage.

Fuck! Fuck you, Emperoar! It’s because of you! I shouldn’t have leveled up to match you. I should have just kept making guides for low-level players. There are way more newbies and casual dogs than high-level players anyway! Fuck it all!

Just then, something cracked beneath Thorn’Shield’s feet.

He froze.

At first, he thought it was another impact from the battle. Maybe a spell had hit nearby, or a tank skill had shaken the stone. Maybe it was some stupid environmental effect that would benefit Emperoar again because the world clearly loved that mutt.

Then the crack widened.

Thorn’Shield looked down.

A thin line split the ground between his boots.

"What the—"

Water exploded upward.

The jet struck him straight under the chin, snapping his head back and launching him off his feet before he could even finish the sentence. His body flipped backward, arms flailing, sword nearly flying from his grip as a burst of blue damage numbers popped above him.

[Knockback]

[Balance Broken]

Thorn’Shield hit the flooded stone on his back and slid several feet through the rising water.

He lay there, soaked, stunned, and furious, until his first thought returned with perfect clarity.

Fuck you, Emperoar!

More cracks split across the West Bank, racing between boots, shields, and broken stone. Geysers of different sizes burst from the ground one after another, flooding the battlefield.

The water level rose quickly, climbing past their ankles and continuing higher.

Both guilds lost their rhythm.

Night Espresso’s front line hesitated. Just Die’s shield formation staggered as water rushed around their boots. Rangers on both sides lowered their bows by instinct, trying to understand whether this was an attack, a trap, or some hidden Cascade Valley mechanic waking up beneath them.

"What is this?"

"The ground is leaking!"

"No, it’s coming from below!"

Kuro A’s face darkened.

Only one thought crossed his mind at first.

Is Cascade Valley going crazy?

Then he checked where the water was coming from.

It was not flowing in from the lake path.

It was rising from beneath the West Bank.

Kuro A’s eyes sharpened.

No... this is not bad.

The battlefield was changing, but not against them. If the water kept rising, Brother EMP would have room to move. Just Die had refused to chase him into the lake, so now the lake was coming here instead.

This will force Just Die to fight him on his terms.

Little did Kuro A know that all of this had been orchestrated by Martin and Angel themselves.