Ethan stretched lazily, stealing a glance toward the depths of the forest. Perched on a tree branch, blending perfectly with the bark, was a humanoid creature lurking in stealth.

If Ethan hadn't been level 31—a full six levels above the dungeon's mobs, he wouldn't have even noticed it.

A Demonhunter.

But Ethan ignored it, pretending he hadn't seen anything.

Up ahead, the four rogues continued clearing the path. The terrain was narrow, almost claustrophobic. If they wanted to spread out, it wouldn't be possible.

The only way forward was single file. But marching in a straight line like that? A disaster waiting to happen.

That was why the rogues were hacking away at the thick underbrush, cutting down overgrown branches and clearing tangled vines underfoot.

And yet, they weren't happy about it. Because when they had cleared this dungeon on Easy Mode, there had been no danger here.

They had walked straight through without a problem. So why was the guild leader being so paranoid?

Still, orders were orders.

At this pace, did he really expect to push the world-first clear?

"Damn it," one of the rogues muttered, kicking aside a thick vine blocking his path.

Bad move.

The vine snapped to life, coiling around his ankle and yanking him upside down into the air.

"AHH—HELP!" he screamed.

His in-game name was PainBehindPromises.

Ethan shook his head. The moment that vine had moved, he could have dodged in at least three different ways.

"It's a Vine Fiend. Lost, Eternal—get in there!"

Two tanks immediately stepped forward, one a Shield Tank, the other a Guardian Knight.

"Melee, hold formation! Mages, focus fire on the vines! Doesn't matter how much damage you deal, just keep them from grabbing anyone else!" Ethan commanded.

Everyone followed his orders. As fire spells rained down, the Vine Fiend's tendrils recoiled from the flames. PainBehindPromises was cut down, landing with a thud.

Truth be told, Ethan had seen the monster long ago.

He had sent the rogues forward on purpose, he wanted to see how they handled the situation.

But he was disappointed.

PainBehindPromises had walked straight into the trap, and the other three rogues? Instead of reacting, they turned and ran.

"What do I do?" Skyblade asked.

"Stay put." Ethan didn't even look at him.

The Vine Fiend was now fully surrounded. Melee fighters locked it in place while mages bombarded it with fire magic, keeping its vines at bay.

Archers, gunners, and spellcasters unloaded their attacks, filling the air with a storm of arrows, bullets, and spells. Within two minutes, the Vine Fiend let out a final shriek before crumbling into dust.

It had been just a basic mob. No way it could survive that kind of onslaught.

"Any drops?"

"Five copper."

A monster like that? Not worth expecting good loot.

"Watch out!" Ethan's voice rang out just at that moment.

But it was too late.

The melee fighters, assuming the fight was over, had relaxed and wandered out of position. Two of them stepped directly into a hidden pit.

Whip!

Another vine lashed out from below, slamming into their bodies. Both players were sent flying. One landed face-first, eating a mouthful of dirt.

That single hit took out half their health.

Skyblade reacted instantly, charging forward to catch one of them. The other two tanks intercepted the second Vine Fiend.

But now there was a problem. They only had four fire mages.

And two Vine Fiends? Not enough firepower to keep both locked down.

As the melee fighters kept getting swatted aside, the only thing keeping them alive was the healers frantically spamming their spells. At last, the team understood why Ethan had insisted on scouting ahead.

On the surface, this path looked identical to the Normal Mode version of the dungeon. But in reality, it was riddled with hidden Vine Fiends and Tree Golems, lying in wait like ordinary plants, ready to snare anyone who walked into their traps.

If the entire team had lined up single file and walked through carelessly? A chain reaction of triggered traps would have wiped them out.

These monsters feared fire, but with only four mages in the party, they were already struggling against two Vine Fiends.

If three or five had attacked at once? Total disaster.

After dealing with the current threat, Ethan personally took the lead. The truth was, they didn't have to fight these monsters at all. As long as they disarmed the traps before triggering them, they could pass safely.

But those four rogues?

They had wandered aimlessly, completely failing to spot any traps. One of them had even kicked an obvious trigger like a complete idiot.

Ethan sighed. He wasn't a rogue, so he lacked Trap Detection. All he had was his past life's experience to recall where each trap was.

One by one, he pointed them out, guiding the rogues to scan and disable each one. This time, they took it seriously. With Ethan's instructions, the four rogues meticulously searched and cleared the traps.

The party advanced without triggering a single ambush. Even those who had doubted Ethan at first were now silent.

By the time they reached the first boss, they had suffered zero casualties. The only death so far had been Lyla's, back during the turtle fight, because her damage output was too high.

This dungeon was one of Ethereal's early-game instances. It wasn't particularly difficult—success mostly depended on the tank's durability and the DPS output.

As for healers? If the tank could hold, healing pressure was minimal.

The first boss went down effortlessly. With Lyla's insane damage per second (DPS), they never had to worry about whether they could kill things fast enough. Instead, the only concern was whether she needed to hold back.

Thankfully, Skyblade's gear was no joke.

At the very least, his weapon had a +30 reinforcement. That meant he could stably hold aggro.

Under Ethan's command, they cleared every single mob in the dungeon—blocking their path or not, it didn't matter. Along the way, they triggered two hidden minibosses and completed a Guardian Mission.

The task?

Defend an NPC digging a tunnel through 18 waves of enemies. When the tunnel was finally complete, the NPC escaped, marking the mission's completion.

By the time they reached the final boss's entrance, it was already 7 AM. At this point, no one doubted Ethan's leadership anymore.

"Boss, I just got a message from a friend." A player spoke up in the team chat.

He hesitated before continuing, "He said Blade Syndicate hired a pro team to run this dungeon, but they wiped 13 times. Every time, they failed at 5% HP."

Everyone fell silent.

"At 5% HP, the boss flies into the air."

"Once it's airborne, all damage becomes useless. And then… it unleashes a dungeon-wide poison storm. Nothing works—not antidotes, not resistance potions. The boss never comes back down until everyone is dead."

"So far, no one has figured out how to survive the poison phase."

Murmurs broke out in the group. But Ethan just smiled.

"If we can get to that point, we've basically won." His voice was calm.

"Just because they failed, doesn't mean we will."

Then, his expression turned serious.

"But listen up, today's strategy does not leave this team. At least for the next few days, no leaks."