At one of the entrances to Cascade Valley, a guild as large as Cassandra’s Night Espresso had gathered.

Some players lounged against tree trunks. Others sat on fallen logs near the middle of the path, their heavy armor and oversized weapons turning the clearing into something that looked less like a waiting area and more like a villain raid camp.

Black steel, red cloth, bone-white masks, and smoky enchantments marked their equipment. From an outsider’s perspective, the whole group looked as if they had dressed for dark schemes long before any actual plotting began.

Behind them, the entrance to Cascade Valley yawned between two cliffs wrapped in moss and hanging roots. Mist drifted out in slow waves, carrying the distant roar of waterfalls and the wet, mineral scent of stone. Every few seconds, something splashed deep inside the valley, followed by the faint clicking of countless insect legs moving somewhere beyond the fog.

Their camp had been thrown together with the lazy confidence of players who expected to win. Bedrolls were spread near the roots. Half-empty potion crates sat beside weapon racks made from hacked branches. A few recording crystals hovered above the clearing, already angled toward the valley path as if they expected Cassandra’s guild to arrive as entertainment.

[Guild: Just Die]

[Online: 79/80]

[Affiliation: Mountain Risen Monster Hunter Academy]

As a guild from Mountain Risen Monster Hunter Academy, Just Die had seized the entrance on their own side of Cascade Valley before anyone else could claim it.

The location was popular for a reason. Ants spawned there in waves every hour or so, crawling out from nests packed with eggs, and any player chasing the current level cap could grind there fast.

Every member of Just Die had already reached that cap.

[Raze Dawg Lv. 60]

Raze Dawg looked like he had built his entire avatar around the idea of being unpleasant to meet on a narrow path. His armor was black leather reinforced with jagged metal plates, and a red scarf hung loose around his neck like a warning flag. A half-mask covered the lower part of his face, painted with white fangs that made his grin look wider than it really was.

Beside his log, a hyena-like beast lay with its head on its paws.

[Ashjaw Hyena Lv. 60]

Its fur was charcoal black, but dull orange cracks glowed along its jaw whenever it breathed. One of its ears was torn, one eye was pale, and its claws scraped lazily against the dirt as if it was already imagining what Cassandra’s players would taste like.

"Our paid mercenaries are struggling against Night Espresso," Raze Dawg, the second-in-command of Just Die, said as he stared at the system windows spread out in front of him.

The windows glowed faintly red above the bonfire, an ugly little irony when one part of their plan was already going wrong.

"Who cares? We don’t need them. It was the boss’ idea anyway. Why isn’t she here?" another player beside Raze Dawg asked.

"She’s busy. That’s all I know," Raze Dawg replied.

No one pushed him for more. In Just Die, the boss’ absence was the kind of thing players complained about only when she was not close enough to hear them.

"If those idiots can’t do their job, Cassandra’s people get here early. Fine by me. The sooner they walk in, the sooner we delete them."

That point earned a round of laughter, including from Raze Dawg.

He nodded. "Yeah. As long as we enter Cascade Valley after Night Espresso, we’re free to do whatever we want. We defeat Cassandra’s guild, steal the Crystal Spear, and claim this territory for ourselves."

The others grinned, their eyes bright with greed.

"Man, what kind of bonuses do we get for claiming new land? We’ll be the first ones to find out!"

"Isn’t the lore about monsters stealing the beasts’ homes? We might get new beasts!"

"I don’t give a fuck about lore, dude. But if I can get a cool pet, I’m all in!"

"You think I care about the lore? Those NPCs keep talking about beasts to me!"

"I was grinding the Hidden Level One dungeon because I heard it was the best place to get beasts, but I had no luck. So I grinded the Hidden Level Twenty dungeon instead. Guess what? No luck there either! Then I leave the dungeon and see some chick with a beast walking a lizard like a dog. I was so pissed."

"Haha!"

The usual gaming stories and trash talk rolled through the clearing until one of the paid mercenaries sent Just Die the message they had been waiting for.

[Night Espresso is at the border of Cascade Valley. Good luck.]

Ashjaw’s pale eye opened beside him.

The hyena’s cracked jaw glowed hotter for a breath, and a low, ugly laugh rumbled out of its throat.

Raze Dawg scratched the beast behind its torn ear without looking away from the message.

"Heh. Good luck, he says," he sneered. "After failing to take down so much as a single player."

—

Cascade Valley finally opened before Martin and the others.

Countless waterfalls poured down the cliffs ahead, spreading into a wide basin that shimmered beneath the mist. It was the kind of scenery that should have existed only in a fantasy world, serene and breathtaking enough to slow the march for a heartbeat.

Then players began coming out of the valley.

Some limped. Some carried broken weapons. Red blood streaked their armor, mixed with the blue blood of monsters, and the sight stripped away the beauty in an instant.

All that beauty only made the danger feel stranger.

This was a monsters’ den wearing the face of paradise.

Martin tightened his grip around his shield.

And there is a traitor among us. Someone sold our information and our location to outsiders. That person might do something even worse inside Cascade Valley. I need to stay alert and keep at least a little suspicion reserved for everyone, including the guild leaders.

His gaze shifted briefly toward Party Twenty.

Only my teammates stand outside that suspicion.

Meanwhile, Kuro A kept his eyes on the valley entrance and opened the guild voice channel.

[Kuro A: Shift into the formations we covered during the briefing. First objective: secure each nest and destroy the eggs before they hatch. Our enemies are not only the monsters inside the valley. Rival players will try to protect those eggs so they can farm the spawns for levels. Do not hesitate because they wear player names instead of monster tags. We fight for the guild. We clear the nests for the guild.]

Night Espresso entered Cascade Valley as one disciplined mass.

The vanguard crossed the mist first, shields raised against whatever waited beyond the white curtain. Heavy boots splashed through shallow water, and the softer steps of mages, archers, and supports followed in organized lanes behind them. The roar of the waterfalls grew louder with every step until it filled the space between voices and made even the guild’s armor seem quieter.

No one rushed ahead.

Even with the valley finally opening before them, Night Espresso did not scatter toward the nearest nest or break into excited chatter. Parties moved by lanes, each group holding the spacing Kuro A had drilled into them before the march began.

Shields stayed on the outside. Supports remained covered. Ranged players watched the nest mounds instead of the scenery.

Even Thorn’Shield behaved like a good dog.

Martin almost smiled at that thought. Working under Cassandra Selfmore truly could teach people discipline.

The valley opened around them in layers of stone, water, and pale blue mist. Waterfalls spilled from high cliffs into connected basins, and narrow banks twisted between them like natural roads. Farther ahead, broken trees and raised mounds marked the ant nests scattered across the wet ground.

Instead of simple piles of dirt, the nests pulsed faintly beneath layers of wet soil, broken shells, and pale eggs visible through cracks in the sides. Every few seconds, thin black legs scraped at the openings, then vanished back inside before the players could count how many monsters waited below.

Martin kept his shield angled toward the forest behind them until the last row of Night Espresso crossed the border. Only then did he turn his attention to the valley itself.

A message appeared in front of him.

[Kuro A -> Party 20: Your assigned sector is Nest Line Four on the west bank. Move with Parties 17, 18, and 19. Your objective is to clear the monsters around the nests, destroy the eggs, and hold the lane until the next order.]

Martin read it once, then glanced toward his teammates.

Party Twenty was not being sent alone.

Party Seventeen moved ahead first, their two tanks taking the outer edge of the west bank. Party Eighteen followed with ranged weapons raised, already watching the nest openings. Party Nineteen stayed closer to the rear, their supports spreading buffs through the group before the first ant even appeared.

They moved toward the west bank without hesitation, every step showing they had heard Kuro A’s briefing and remembered it.

Party Twenty slipped into the middle of them, exactly where Kuro A had placed them.

It was not the flashiest position, but it made sense. Party Seventeen would take the first bite of anything coming from the west bank. Party Eighteen would punish monsters that exposed themselves near the nest openings. Party Nineteen would keep the group standing through poison, broken armor, and bad angles.

Party Twenty had been placed in the uncomfortable space between all of that, ready to catch whatever slipped through.

Martin adjusted his grip on his shield and followed their path with his eyes.

Nest Line Four waited somewhere beyond the mist, the waterfalls, and the clicking sounds rising from the mounds ahead.