Martin stepped through the small waterfall and into the hidden cave mouth behind it, following the party ahead as cold mist rolled over his armor.

The cave behind the waterfall did not feel fully dry. Water crawled down the walls in thin silver veins, and every footstep sent shallow ripples through the mist gathered across the floor. Somewhere deeper inside, the clicking of ant legs echoed in uneven bursts, too distant to see and too close to ignore.

Around Martin, alongside his teammates, moved healers, mages, and rangers from the other guild parties. They were backline players, fragile compared to the tanks at the edge, but they were also essential to the expedition.

Party Twenty stayed near the middle of the lane, surrounded by players who could punish enemies from safety but would fold quickly if anything reached them. Their party had the lowest average level, so Kuro A had placed them where glory was scarce and mistakes were expensive.

Party Seventeen’s tanks moved ahead, their shields already catching the cave light. Party Eighteen and Party Nineteen spread behind them, filling the lane with bows, spell circles, healing marks, and anti-poison blessings. Party Twenty remained in the middle, too far back to claim the first kills but too far forward to relax.

Martin understood Kuro A’s placement immediately. If anything slipped through, it would reach them first, and that applied to both monsters and players.

[You have begun the expansion mission: Cascade Valley.]

[Prove the worth and competence of Night Espresso.]

[Time Limit: 6 hours]

[Within the next six hours, all members of Night Espresso shall be blessed by the Light Tree’s Sunlight. Any monster they kill in Cascade Valley shall not respawn for the duration of the blessing. Unaffiliated players will not be able to re-enter Cascade Valley for the next six hours as well.]

[Objective: Defeat all monsters and unaffiliated players. Once Cascade Valley becomes a neutral zone occupied solely by Night Espresso, the Monument of the Dark shall emerge.]

[The Monument of the Dark must be pierced by an item blessed by the Light of Claimness.]

[You have received a new blessing: The Blessing of the Light Tree’s Sunlight.]

[The Blessing of the Light Tree’s Sunlight: In addition to the aforementioned effects, you are able to level up through player deaths, receiving experience appropriate to their levels.]

Mist covered everyone’s legs up to their knees in the narrow lane, and the slick ground threatened their footing with every step. The only light came from player skills and system windows, where everyone confirmed their main objectives along with Kuro A’s shot-calling details.

Martin’s gaze slowed on the objective window before he could close it.

He looked ahead.

Who has the Crystal Spear? Probably Kuro A. The other thing we need to check is...

[Kuro A: We’ve confirmed that players inside Cascade Valley aren’t aware of the expansion mission. You can ambush them or catch them off guard. If anyone is willing to log out, you can wait a few seconds, but don’t let anyone lead you by the nose. Kill anyone who tries to buy time!]

Yep. Kuro A already checked what mattered most, and his parties are moving fast.

"Ahhhh! What the hell are you doing?!" someone shouted from deeper inside the cave.

The answer came as three overlapping explosions. Orange light flashed across the wet ceiling, followed by the sharp crack of stone and one desperate curse that ended halfway through. Then silence swallowed the tunnel.

A moment later, several Night Espresso players leveled up.

A high-level player had just been killed without anything close to a fair fight.

"Wait, did you just level up three times?!" someone from Party Eighteen shouted.

The tank at the front laughed. "Yeah! This is so good! And that dude also dropped his armor! We can pawn it for a nice sum later!"

"Check if it’s part of a good equipment set! What are the set bonuses?" someone else asked.

"Uh, let’s see..."

Voice chat changed at once. Discipline did not disappear, but excitement slipped under it like fire under a door. Everyone had heard the same thing: armor drops, player experience, and six hours of locked territory.

Martin narrowed his eyes.

This is bad. If this keeps going, the front parties will snowball while we guard their backs. I need to turn this position into an advantage.

"Save that enthusiasm for later. We need to be efficient and clear this cave instead. I can see a group of players fighting ants ahead of us. We can sweep in and defeat them all when both sides are at their most vulnerable," Martin said through voice chat, his words drawing everyone’s attention.

"You can see through this mist?" a fellow guild member asked.

Martin replied, "Yeah, thanks to my visor."

[Hunter of the Depths (Orange): Improves visibility and target recognition in murky water, foam, and heavy current. Aquatic enemies become easier to follow, and surprise attacks from blind angles are harder to land.]

Martin let the visor’s effect speak for itself. Through his eyes, the mist was not a wall but a thin veil. Shapes moved behind it: players, ant legs, spell circles, and uneven stones waiting to trip careless feet.

A ranger backed away from snapping mandibles near the left wall. A mage’s spell circle flickered too close to a nest crack. Three player silhouettes fought with their backs turned to Night Espresso, too focused on the ants to notice the guild closing in behind them.

They had no idea Night Espresso was coming.

Even the slick ground held less threat for Martin, which made him the most stable tank in the western sector.

"Our formation is great, but my vision lets us use it better. Do you want to exploit those weaknesses with me and get ahead of the others?" Martin asked.

"Ahead of the others?" someone repeated.

Martin smiled widely. "The level cap is sixty. A single kill allowed one of our tanks to level up three times. In this situation, we can catch up to the others in less than three hours, as long as we clear more caves than they do. Given those circumstances, I’m sure we can make it happen. Our parties have a chance to gain even more contribution than Night Espresso’s top parties."

The offer hung in voice chat, sweet enough to tempt anyone who had just watched another party gain three levels from one kill.

A few doubts still remained, and one man voiced them first. "What if you just want to use us to level yourself and your teammates, huh? Didn’t you spend a lot of time in the Hidden Level One Dungeon?"

Martin straightened and looked directly into the man’s eyes.

Even though the man could not see him clearly through the mist, he still felt that stare.

Martin said, "I did. I opened the Hidden Level One Dungeon for our guild, and now our crafting-class players are profiting from it. This time, you can profit from my effort too. Am I wrong?"

Months of dealing with entitled customers in real life had trained Martin’s voice into something flat, patient, and difficult to argue with. He did not sound offended, and he did not sound desperate.

That made him harder to distrust.

"You’re right," the man admitted. "I’m in. Party Seventeen is in your hands, Emperoar."

"Party Eighteen as well," a female party leader added.

"Party Nineteen too," a ranger from Party Nineteen said.

Martin smiled. "Let’s do what tanks do best and take control of the battlefield."

He broke away from his group’s position and walked to the front, despite having the lowest level of them all.

When Martin reached the front, the mist opened for him alone.

The unaffiliated players were still fighting near the cracked mound, their backs turned to Night Espresso. One ant corpse twitched at their feet, but the nest behind them was not dead. Thin legs pushed through the cracks one after another, while the players argued over who should tank the next wave.

The ants ahead did not scream or roar. They only clicked, scraped, and dragged their hooked legs across wet stone, which somehow made them worse. Every sound bounced strangely inside the cave, making it hard to tell whether the swarm was twenty steps away or already underfoot.

Martin raised his shield.

"Party Seventeen, don’t rush straight in. Angle right and cut off their retreat. Party Eighteen, aim for the mage. Party Nineteen, prepare cleanse. If the ants poison them before we reach them, let the poison work for us." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

No one moved for half a second before Party Seventeen obeyed.

The formation shifted around Martin’s shield, and for the first time since entering Cascade Valley, their uncomfortable middle position became a weapon.

Behind him, Kill Clause stared at Martin, her red eyes narrowing with quiet interest.

No hesitation. You’re growing so well, Martin. It’s getting difficult to see a younger sibling in you.

The curve of her lips did not go unnoticed by a certain member of Martin’s team, one who had lived long enough to stand beside Cassandra herself.