The instant the opening appeared, Martin’s eyes locked onto the venom sac.

[Emperoar: ALL YOUR STRONGEST ON MY PING!] 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Across the flooded nest, the entire vanguard answered at once. Buffs flared, weapons lifted, and every player with a finishing skill pushed it to the front of their rotation.

Martin equipped his sword again and channeled Dominion of Arms. Then he stepped forward and charged like a berserker, his Black Wolf Fangblade conjuring the orange aura of a ravenous wolf. Kinnami circled close to him, her golden Wolf Spirit presence blending with his own until it seemed as if Martin wielded two hungry wolves at once.

Black and gold auras wove together, sharpening Death Jaw into the fiercest bite the sword had ever unleashed.

Duelists followed in Martin’s wake while the skills of mages and rangers screamed over their shoulders. NukEncore’s Fire Thunder Bolt shook the cave again as she conjured it, then hurled it forward to make sure her bolt reached the target first.

She stared ahead with a wide smile.

This is Martin’s opening... and I want him to finish the mini-boss from the bottom of my heart!

NukEncore loved bombing enemies with fire skills empowered by The Flame Star Blessing. She loved turning the battlefield into a stage of beautiful explosions, and she loved it even more when everyone had no choice but to look at her.

This time, though, she wanted something different.

Everyone had worked hard to give the damage dealers this much freedom. Martin’s command had created this opening, and NukEncore had no desire to steal the brightest moment just because she could.

Chaosgraphy’s earlier words could have explained part of it. Martin could not match them in real life, and this world gave him a place where he could stand beside them. Yet that thought did not guide NukEncore now.

Right now, all she wanted was for Martin to become the star of this vanguard, and perhaps even the entire expansion mission.

[NukEncore: Go, Martin!]

Her shout nearly made every male party member stumble. Two rangers released their arrows a heartbeat too early. One tank raised his shield at the wrong angle and almost took a spell to the back of the helmet. A mage in Party Eighteen lost the final word of her chant, then restarted with a furious blush.

NukEncore sounded far too passionate and sexy for a battlefield command, and even the other girls felt a pang in their hearts.

Martin’s teammates reacted differently. Chaosgraphy, Kill Clause, and Crimson Halo understood NukEncore’s feelings, while Martin missed all of it because his eyes stayed fixed on the venom sac.

Kill Clause drew her bowstring back until the weapon creaked, activating her Resonance Skill before layering Aimed Shot over it. Instead of pouring everything into raw damage, she sharpened the arrow’s speed and penetration until the tip trembled with compressed force.

[Kill Clause: The sac is moving.]

[Emperoar: Can you pin the opening?]

[Kill Clause: Obviously.]

Her arrow entered the golden field as a dark streak and came out faster, cleaner, and crueler. It slipped past Potato Block’s shield, cut between two thrashing legs, and struck the edge of the torn vent at the exact moment the Ant Queen’s abdomen lifted.

Rather than exploding, the shot nailed the opening in place.

[Weak Point Stability reduced.]

[Venom Sac exposed.]

Potato Block saw the system message and let out a laugh that sounded halfway between panic and joy.

[Potato Block: Emperoar, I think my shield is screaming!]

[Emperoar: Then scream louder than it.]

[Potato Block: HA! UNDERSTOOD!]

He slammed his shield into one of the Ant Queen’s broken legs with his entire body behind it. The impact drove his boots through the wet stone, and the leg tried to rise again, trembling with enough force to throw him off.

Other tanks crashed in beside him. They held the queen down for only half a second, but under Martin’s command, half a second was enough.

Chaosgraphy slipped into the Ant Queen’s reach as if she had been invited there. One mandible snapped toward Martin’s path, but she crossed in front of it with a wicked smile, her twin blades scraping sparks from the monster’s jaw.

Rather than trying to overpower the queen, she irritated her, tempted her, and dragged her attention just far enough away from Martin to make the next step possible. Her twin blades crossed beneath the lifted abdomen, and Alpha Rend bit into the soft joint with a vicious flash that forced the Ant Queen to jerk higher.

"Martin," Chaosgraphy called, laughing as one of the queen’s legs stabbed past her hip. "Your ugly lady is opening up."

"Don’t flirt with the boss."

"I’m not. I have standards."

The Ant Queen shrieked and lifted her abdomen higher, trying to crush Chaosgraphy beneath her weight.

That was the opening.

NukEncore’s Fire Thunder Bolt arrived first.

She did not wait for the perfect finishing angle. She threw her strongest hit into the opening the moment it appeared, trusting Martin to turn the damage into a kill.

The bolt slammed into the exposed vent with a violent clap of thunder. The cave flashed white, then red, and the Ant Queen’s abdomen convulsed as fire drilled through Kill Clause’s fracture.

The flames tore through the venom sac in a tight, brutal column, dealing as much damage as NukEncore could force through that narrow wound. She was not being gentle, and she was not saving strength for later. She simply struck first, hard enough to make the boss’s HP plunge before Martin arrived.

The venom sac swelled, scorched and unstable. Blue veins of light crawled across its surface, and the heated wound pulsed like something alive. NukEncore’s fire had not ended the fight, but it had weakened the queen enough for Martin to finish it.

Crimson Halo cast one buff after another, her crimson drill curls swaying as her tome flashed with pale light. Her expression remained calm, but her eyes never left Martin’s HP bar.

Kinnami sensed the danger before the next wave of poison hit. The Wolf Spirit lunged onto Martin’s shoulder plates, her golden paws digging into his armor. Warm green eyes narrowed at the venom pressure rolling toward him, and golden light spilled from her body as she braced herself.

Martin barreled into the venom sac and drove Death Jaw deep into it.