Team Nemean returned to Camp Stymphalian before the two-week pause ended.
They did not arrive dramatically, without any triumphant march, public announcement, or parade of relics and boss drops. Instead, they came back with tired boots on packed earth, armor repaired enough to function but not enough to hide the scratches, and the smell of dungeon dust clinging to them as they passed beneath the shadow of Death Peak.
Camp Stymphalian had changed again, and that was becoming normal, which somehow made it worse.
The canal from Lake Baratok had advanced, carrying the scent of water into the old bird-haunted territory. Lizardmen engineers argued with Kamohai workers over slope and current, while Giant Crickets hauled timber and stone with long, bounding strides. Tortura archers watched from newly built platforms along the mountainside, and Great Burrow mice vanished into holes under every major structure. Timatoes patrolled the edges of fields with puffed-up pride, occasionally stopping to threaten chickens that ignored them completely.
Above it all, the trolls stood taller than before, with mushroom caps growing from shoulders, knees, and foreheads like natural armor. Phong had said they were level 55 when Team Nemean returned through Fort Erymanthian and heard the first version of the news.
Joanne had stared at him. "You accidentally evolved the trolls."
Phong had looked offended. "I did not do that. Mushroomkhan sneezed on the floor."
"That is worse."
Now, though, nobody was joking, especially after they saw the Greencap captain.
He lay in a recovery shelter near the lizardmen medical tents, propped up on layered blankets and treated hides. His breathing was steadier, his ribs bound, his wounds cleaned, and his fur washed free of most dried blood. However, the missing ear changed him.
It should not have mattered, because the captain was still broad-shouldered for a Greencap Bunny, still scarred, and still carried that rigid cavalry dignity even while lying injured beneath borrowed blankets. His remaining ear stood angled back, and one eye opened when Team Nemean entered, but the left ear was gone.
The place where Josh's blade had taken it had been carefully treated, sealed with medicinal paste and clean cloth. It was no longer bleeding and was not even the worst injury he had suffered, yet it remained visible, a piece of him removed and a trophy in the shape of absence.
Alex stopped at the foot of the cot, and Dominic's expression went flat.
The last time they had seen this captain properly was after Josh's siege against the troll mountain. Back then, the captain had came, threatening a charge with his cavalry, had received the vorpal blade from a Wolven and hunted the boar together. They had shared food, laughter, and he had given them enough pointers that they were still very valuable in the divers league.
Now he lay here with one ear missing because someone had decided Greencap honor was another thing that could be stolen.
"Who?" Alex asked.
Phong stood near the side of the shelter with his arms crossed and eyes dark. He had expected the question, though he still did not like answering it.
"Josh."
The word hit the room like a spark in dry grass.
Joanne's hand went to her revolver, and Jake's jaw tightened. "Of course it was."
Dominic took one step back, not away from the captain but toward the exit, until Janet caught his arm.
"Dom."
He did not look at her, and his voice came out too quiet. "How did he manage to wound Greencap cavalry this badly?"
"He ambushed them with Olen," Phong said. "Olen used specters to trap their mounts and threatened to turn the knights into ghosts to use against Greencap civilians. Josh took the captain's banners."
Alex felt her storm stir, not fully, but enough that dust rose around her boots.
Emma, who had spent the least time with the captain, spoke first with cold practicality. "Stop."
Everyone looked at her, but she did not flinch.
"I am angry too," Emma said, "but Phong is right to look worried, so I assume there is a trap in our emotions."
Phong glanced at her with faint gratitude. "Yes."
Joanne's eyes flashed. "He mutilated someone who helped us."
"I know."
"He worked with Olen to do so."
"It should be expected when Olen's team was eliminated."
"He stole the banners."
Phong's voice sharpened. "I know."
That stopped them more effectively than shouting would have, because Phong was angry too, perhaps even angrier than they were, but he had already reached the colder part of anger.
"We have no angle to attack Josh right now," Emma continued, her voice carrying the clean edge of strategy. "Not publicly, politically, or legally. If Team Nemean hunts him down for harming a Greencap captain, he will spin it as betrayal of humanity."
Jake let out a harsh laugh. "You're kidding."
"No," Emma said. "He will claim we sided with dungeon monsters over human divers and present himself as the victim of a conspiracy between Team Nemean, my father, and a hidden monster alliance. The media might have forgotten about the alliance that fought against his push thanks to the Mushroomkhan, but one reminder and the US would go into panic mode again."
Alex hated how easily she could imagine the headlines, and Dominic looked like he hated it even more.
The Greencap captain's eye moved from one human face to another. "You are loud people," he said weakly.
Joanne looked at him. "You trained us. We are allowed to be mad."
His mouth twitched. "Mad is allowed. Stupid is not."
Phong exhaled through his nose. "Thank you."
"I did not say that for you, farmer."
"You did a little."
The captain closed his eye again, though the twitch at the corner of his mouth remained.
Phong turned and stepped outside the shelter. "Wait here."
He returned several minutes later carrying a pot with both hands, inside which grew a young sapling. It looked delicate at first glance, with only a slender trunk, glossy green leaves, and pale roots wrapped in dark soil, but Alex felt the mana inside it.
A Lime-Oak sapling. When grew to full side, it would become another node at the fast travel system they were already enjoying.
Emma's eyes widened. "Phong."
"I know."
Phong walked to the captain's bedside and set the pot beside him. The Greencap captain opened one eye, then both, and every Greencap Knight in the shelter went still because they understood, even if not fully, that this was not an ordinary plant.
Phong placed one hand lightly against the sapling's trunk. "This is a clone of the Lime-Oak, though I think you would know that by now."
The captain stared at it. "Why do I feel an urge to eat it?"
Phong's expression did not change. "Because if eaten, it should let you evolve."
The shelter fell completely silent, and even the lizardmen medics outside seemed to stop moving. The captain's remaining ear lifted slowly. "You offer me a weapon."
"I offer you a chance," Phong said. "You could use it for revenge if you want, to gather your people, protect your pioneer squads, or even march to Floor Three one day learn the fate of your king."
The captain's paw moved toward the pot, then stopped as his gaze lifted to Phong's face. "You let me touch this before agreement."
"Yes."
"If I eat it now, you cannot take it back."
"I know."
"Even if you kill me after."
"I know."
A long silence followed before the captain reached out and touched the leaves carefully, almost reverently.
Alex understood then why Phong had done it this way. He had not used it as leverage or a contract but had placed trust first, dangerously and perhaps foolishly. In politics, it was a terrible choice, and in war it was worse, because a sane ruler would have demanded oaths, witnesses, guarantees, and collateral. A sane ruler would never place a strategic transport node within reach of an injured commander who had not yet sworn allegiance.
Phong did anyway, because that was how he built things.
The captain looked moved in a way he clearly disliked, and his voice roughened. "What is your request?"
Phong folded his hands behind his back. "Join my alliance and help convince the Greencap Bunnies on my behalf. That is all."
"That is not all."
"It is."
The captain's eyes narrowed, but Phong only shrugged. "You can say no. If you deny me, I will respect it, and our relationship remains what it was before. Yuè will still tend your wounds and your men's wounds until you recover, and you can leave with supplies when you are ready."
The captain's paw tightened around the pot edge. "You are very dangerous, farmer."
Joanne murmured, "We keep telling him that."
Phong ignored her.
The Greencap captain looked past him toward his knights, who lay in nearby cots or sat against walls, wounded but awake and watching. Pioneer Squad Twelve had lost blood, banners, pride, and certainty, but what remained in their eyes was not weakness; it was need. A people without direction became prey, and a commander with new power could become either an answer or a disaster. A politician would have taken advantage of the situation, would have told the captain to swallow his pride for the sake of his people.
Phong had let him kept what left of the Greencap's pride. The captain shall not take advantage of that courtesy.
He looked back at the sapling and then at Phong. "I agree to the alliance."
A breath moved through the shelter, and Phong nodded once. "Thank you."
"But I will not eat it."
Phong blinked.
The captain pushed the pot back slightly, clearly trying too hard to fight his screaming instinct. "You saved my men and me, and you already gave medicine, shelter, food, and protection before asking for anything. I owe you enough without eating your road."
Phong frowned. "You do realize most people would take the evolution?"
"I am not most people."
"That's true."
"You need roads."
Phong rubbed the back of his neck. "Honestly, I am expanding too fast anyway."
Emma closed her eyes briefly, as if pained by how casually he said that.
Phong continued, "Camp Stymphalian, Baratok Town, and Fort Erymanthian are already three major locations, and all of them still need work. I do not need a fourth node in the near future."
"You will."
"Eventually, but not until Team Nemean finds a gate to Floor Four, probably." He smiled faintly. "If we reach that point, I suspect the whole board will have changed again."
The captain studied him. "You mean this."
"Yes."
"Not generosity to bind me tighter."
"Maybe a little," Phong admitted, "but mostly I mean it."
That honesty seemed to satisfy him more than denial would have.
The Greencap captain lifted the sapling from its pot, and the roots clung to the soil while glowing faintly. A lime scent filled the shelter, sharp and clean, layered with the deeper oak scent of old forests and hidden doors. Mana gathered around the plant, and for one heartbeat, Alex felt distant places answer—Camp Stymphalian, Baratok, and Fort Erymanthian, all connected by roads made of roots.
The captain looked at the sapling one last time and then ate it. Not delicately, because even with their discipline, Greencap Bunnies were still rabbits after all, especially when all he had eaten these past few days were soup and mushroom paste. The first bite made the air snap, the second made every Timato outside growl at once, and the third sent a pulse through the ground strong enough that dust fell from the shelter beams.
The captain swallowed, and his body arched as the medics moved forward, only for Phong to raise one hand and stop them. "Wait."
The captain's wounds reopened in light, as green and gold mana poured from the place where his ear had been cut and from the cracks in his ribs and every bruise and tear left by Josh and Olen. His fur bristled, his bones lengthened, and his limbs stretched into something leaner, taller, and more dangerous. His remaining ear grew longer and sharper, but the missing one did not grow back, probably for the better, as it was a reminder of the bravery he had shown.
His paws clenched, claws scraping the cot, while the system pressure around him surged and the wounded knights began to murmur.
Then the notification appeared to those close enough for the dungeon to recognize witness.
[Greencap Bunny Captain has evolved.]
[Race Evolution: Greencap Bunny —> Greencap Hare.]
The captain gasped as his eyes opened, brighter and older, and his aura hit the room like cavalry hooves on packed earth.
[Level Increase: +20]
[Current Level: 67]
Another shift followed, deeper and sharper, as his class evolved like diver classes did at level 30, though there was nothing polite or system-clean about it. This was dungeon blood answering opportunity. The captain sat up, and no one stopped him. He looked down at his hands, then flexed them once, cracking the bed under his grip. A bunny from camp Harpy brought the Vorpal Sword to the captain, and he took it with a silent nod.
Jake whispered, "Okay, that is dangerous."
"Greencap Hare," Emma repeated softly.
The knights of Pioneer Squad Twelve stared before one began to cheer, then another, until the whole shelter shook with wounded voices.
"Captain!"
"Level sixty-seven!"
"He surpassed the king!"
"The king's level was lower!"
"New king!"
"Our captain should be the new Greencap King!"
The captain's ear twitched before he stood, not gracefully, because his body was still adjusting and healing, but when he rose to his full new height, every Greencap in the shelter went quiet. He looked less like a cavalry officer and more like a legendary knight in those famous tales in medieval times of chivalry and might, of blade and magic.
His voice carried without effort. "I remain loyal to the throne."
A few knights lowered their heads at once.
"Unless," the captain added, "the king does something stupid."
There was a brief pause before several injured knights laughed, their voices rough with relief and pain.
Phong smiled despite himself.
The captain turned toward him. "When my men recover, we march."
"March where?"
"To gather the Pioneer Squads under one banner," the Greencap Hare said, his eyes sharpening. "Not for my crown, but for the kingdom and the throne. If the king still lives on Floor Three, we will rescue him."
Alex felt Dominic's anger settle into something cleaner and more focused rather than disappearing entirely.
The captain did not need Team Nemean to avenge him because he had been given the means to stand back up, and that mattered more.
Dominic stepped forward and bowed his head slightly. "You trained us. If you need us—"
"I know," the captain said.
Joanne crossed her arms. "You better not go get killed before we get another sparring session."
His mouth twitched. "Your breathing is still sloppy."
"Wow. I take back my concern."
Jack nodded to him. "Good luck."
Séline placed one fist into her palm and inclined her head in a gesture of martial respect, and Camille mirrored it with a sharper smile.
Emma studied him thoughtfully. "If you gather the squads, choose your messengers carefully. Josh is already moving through other gates."
The Greencap Hare's eyes darkened. "Then I will move faster."
Phong looked like he wanted to say something cautious but chose not to, because some choices belonged to the people who had to carry the banners, even stolen or absent ones.
They left the medical shelter not long after, giving the captain and his knights room to process what had happened. Outside, Camp Stymphalian continued its impossible work as trolls hauled stone, lizard men shaped water, mice ran messages, lizardmen sharpened tools, pixies tested crop fiber under chicken supervision, and Timatoes argued with a fence post while appearing to lose.
For a while, Team Nemean stood together without speaking as the two-week pause neared its end.
The next phase of the diver league waited, dressed up as sport, politics, spectacle, and recruitment. A joined dives of all the teams, a race to see who could hunt the most Celestial Skeletal. Sponsors would smile, cameras would watch, governments would calculate, and Josh would be somewhere else, scarred and scheming. Yue Ting had reached level 50, and the world was shifting under everyone's feet.
Dominic rolled his shoulders. "I suppose we should prepare."
Joanne touched the Celestial Skeletal headpiece hidden beneath her hair and smiled thinly. "I need to test stereo murder."
"Please never call it that again," Janet said.
Jake stretched until his back cracked. "I need to emotionally recover from wells, eyeballs, and being out leveled by a Taoist master."
Emma looked toward Alex. "You need to understand bīng before the next stage."
Alex nodded because she knew she did. bīng, the Ballad, Charge of the Bloodless Knights, and Knight of the Aspect of War all represented too many new edges and not enough time to learn which ones would cut her if held wrong.
Phong walked beside her, quiet until the others drifted ahead. "You okay?" he asked.
Alex looked at him, then at the camp he had built without calling it conquest, and finally toward the shelter where a wounded captain had become a level 67 Greencap Hare because Phong had trusted him with a road and called it a choice.
"No," she said honestly.
Phong nodded. "Yeah. Fair."
She took his hand. "But I will be."
He squeezed back.
Around them, Yuè prepared not for one war but for many possible futures, as fields had to be planted, alliances mended, intelligence expanded, skills tested, and the next stage of the league survived.