By the tenth day, Phong decided it was time to go back to Floor 1.
They had borrowed the lizardmen's lodging long enough.
The second camp was not finished, but it no longer felt fragile. The shoreline route had been tested. The moletato tunnels held. The chilies launchers were rooted and stable. Garlic mines had been set into hidden lines where the moletato network could keep allies safe. Bonktatoes had adapted well to the ground near the lake. Even the defensive weeping onions had grown properly, their choking gas sacs maturing without issue. It was not a fortress yet, but it was no longer just a hopeful camp on dangerous land.
That was enough for now.
More importantly, Phong still had work waiting on Floor 1.
The scorched patch of land the Sky Emperor had asked for was still there, and requests from a being like that were not something he could ignore just because Floor 2 had been busy.
So, at first light, he told everyone they were leaving.
The lizardmen did not object. Their queen's people saw them off with the cool courtesy that had become familiar over the last days. Gifts were exchanged one more time. Promises of future trade were made. Bruno got patted on the head by one of the older warriors, which he accepted as the highest honor of his life. Nyx behaved with enough dignity for both of them.
Then Camp Stymphalian's people turned toward the route home.
The trip back up was tiring, but uneventful.
By the time they reached Camp Stymphalian, dusk had already settled over the familiar land.
The sight of it still eased something in Phong's chest every time. The layered defenses. The living territory. The signs of monsters and allies mixed together in ways that would have terrified most outsiders. To him, it looked like home.
Lights were already going up by the time they entered. Sunflower seeds gave off their soft glow. Movement passed through the camp as word spread that the Floor 2 group had returned.
This time, Séline and Camille took over cooking.
No one argued.
That was partly because both women were competent enough to make refusal feel stupid, and partly because after ten days of partial field meals and lakeside grilling, everyone wanted a proper dinner made by people who looked at kitchen duty the way other people looked at combat.
Séline worked with calm efficiency, sleeves rolled, posture straight, movements clean and practiced. Camille said almost nothing while cutting and sorting ingredients, but every piece ended up exactly where it needed to be. Together, they handled the meal with the kind of silent teamwork that made even Rico lower his voice a little when he wandered too close.
By the time everyone gathered, the camp smelled warm and rich with food.
They sat down together while evening settled in fully, the chatter easier now that they were back on familiar ground. Even after the tension of the last days, returning made things feel looser. Safer, if only a little.
It was during dinner that Emma spoke.
She had been quieter than usual through the first part of the meal, but not tense. Just thoughtful. When there was a pause in the conversation, she set down her bowl and looked toward Phong.
"My family sent word," she said.
That got everyone's attention.
Emma went on, "They already have an escort team on the way to retrieve me. They should arrive tomorrow morning."
Phong nodded once for her to continue.
"They'll wait outside Treant territory," she said. "At the entrance to Camp Harpy."
That made sense. It was close enough to arrange a transfer, but far enough that outsiders would not wander into places they really should not be seeing.
Emma glanced at him with a small, pointed look. "So you should probably tell your bunnies to stay hidden. I'd rather not have them seen by people who don't belong here."
Rico looked personally offended on behalf of the bunnies.
"The knights are majestic," he declared.
"They are also a state secret with fur," Emma replied.
Jake snorted into his food. Even Jack cracked a smile.
Emma looked back to Phong. "I'd like your people to escort me to the meeting point."
Phong did not answer right away.
Instead, he looked around the camp.
At the greencap bunny knights, some of whom were eating with tiny, serious faces as if dinner were a military operation. Their captain sat not far off with the composed air of someone who could probably kill a room full of humans and still keep his fur tidy.
At the treants, slow and massive in the dim light, roots sunk deep into the ground that had become shared territory.
At the lizardmen visitors near the edge of camp.
At the trolls, including their new king, who gave a solemn nod that made the moss hanging from his goat-like horns sway a little in the firelight.
It was a ridiculous sight if one stopped to think about it too hard.
It was also real.
Emma had earned more trust than most outsiders ever would. She had helped tear apart Josh's credibility. She had also protected Camp Stymphalian from the worst kind of media attention when things could have turned ugly. For all her own complicated history, she had done right by them when it mattered.
And Phong had no interest in seeing her get torn to shreds by overprotective allies because someone failed to coordinate a peaceful handoff.
So he nodded.
"Alright," he said. "We'll bring you there."
Emma relaxed a little at that. "Thanks."
"Just don't make my people regret being civilized."
She gave him a dry look. "I'll do my best."
Dinner carried on after that, easier again.
Plans were discussed. Selena asked practical questions about timing. Dominic wanted to know how many people Phong intended to bring. Joanne suggested bringing enough visible force to discourage stupidity without making it look like an execution procession. Rico suggested dramatic banners. No one accepted that idea, which he took with visible pain.
By the time the meal ended, the camp had settled into night.
And that should have been the end of it.
It was not.
Later, after things had quieted and most of the camp was asleep, Alex found Phong.
There was a particular look in her eyes that made him suspicious immediately.
"What," he said.
Alex folded her arms. "You know what."
He did, unfortunately.
"The speech again?"
"The speech," she confirmed. "About heroes. Human nature. War. Morale." Her mouth flattened. "You made it sound as miserable as possible."
"It was accurate."
"It was annoying."
Phong, already tired from ten days on Floor 2 and a full day of travel, made the mistake of thinking that was the whole complaint.
Then Alex stepped closer.
Very close.
"And," she said, voice softer now, "I've decided to use your exhaustion against you."
Phong stared at her for a moment.
"…that sounds like a threat."
"It is."
There were, Phong discovered, several problems with being targeted by a level thirty-five Arbiter Mindblade who was annoyed, affectionate, and very determined to prove a point.
The first was that running would be stupid.
The second was that arguing would not help.
The third was that Alex, when she chose to be relentless, was a genuinely terrifying woman.
By the time morning came, Phong emerged looking like his soul had been harvested for agricultural use.
He was upright.
Technically.
But only technically.
His hair was a mess, his eyes half dead, and the general impression was that of a man who had somehow aged twelve years overnight. A shriveled prune in human form, kept moving only by stubbornness and the faint hope of future breakfast.
Rico took one look at him and gasped.
"…murdered by romance."
Jake nearly dropped his cup.
Jack had to turn away to laugh. Joanne failed to hide her grin. Even Selena pressed her lips together in a doomed effort not to react.
Alex walked out a moment later looking completely composed, refreshed, and far too pleased with herself.
Phong looked at her with the hollow gaze of a man who had been outmatched in every possible category.
She smiled sweetly.
"Good morning."
He narrowed his eyes.
It had no force behind it at all.
And around them, Camp Stymphalian woke to a new day. Emma's escort would arrive soon. The handoff still needed to happen. Work still waited.
But for the moment, the camp got to enjoy one simple truth.
Their level one farmer had survived many dangers.
Last night, barely, had been one of them.
Breakfast at Camp Stymphalian was louder than usual.
Partly because everyone was awake early for Emma's escort handoff. Partly because Rico had decided Phong's condition was a public event.
The raccoon sat on an overturned crate with a cup in his paws, staring at Phong with open fascination.
"You look like dried vegetable."
Phong, who was holding a bowl and trying very hard to remain a person, glanced at him flatly. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Rico said. "Should have practiced with more mates."
Across from him, Jake nearly inhaled his food wrong again. Jack was no help at all. Joanne had given up pretending not to enjoy this and was eating with the smug calm of someone who knew she was witnessing justice. Even Nyx seemed to be judging him.
Alex, of course, looked perfectly fine.
More than fine.
She sat beside him with the composed air of a woman who had slept well, eaten well, and committed emotional crimes without regret. She also knew better than to take offense in what the raccoon said, as Rico operated entirely with Rico's logic.
Phong stabbed a piece of food with more force than necessary, then looked over at Selena.
She had come a few days ago, which had been useful, but he had not actually asked why.
"Why did you come down here?" he asked.
Selena shrugged, casual on the surface, though Phong knew her well enough to see the calculation under it.
"Because staying holed up in the research lab while all of this was happening would've looked suspicious."
Phong nodded once for her to continue.
She rested an elbow on her knee and spoke around a mouthful only after swallowing, which at least proved she had some standards.
"Josh's credibility already blew up." Her tone was dry with satisfaction. "Between Emma's livestream and the drone footage coming back with basically nothing useful because of the Sky Emperor's interference, the whole thing collapsed into a mess."
Emma, seated a little farther down, lifted her cup in silent agreement.
Selena went on. "If I stayed hidden and stopped meeting my friends right after that, it would draw attention. People would wonder what I was doing. Or who I was doing it for."
"Reasonable," Phong said.
Selena gave him a pointed look. "I know."
His phone buzzed in his pocket.
Then buzzed again.
Phong stared at the ceiling for one second before pulling it out.
More messages.
Old college friends.
Again.
Phong scrolled once, then locked the screen.
Jake raised a brow. "Still getting those?"
"Relentlessly."
Selena made a face. "Olen's father?"
Phong nodded.
That was the most likely source. The man had switched tactics after direct pressure failed. No more obvious handlers. No more representative sending passive-aggressive threats wrapped in promises of protection. That part, at least, had stopped.
But the probing had not.
If anything, Josh's public ranting about Camp Stymphalian and mutated plants had made it worse. The more unstable Josh looked, the more someone like Olen's father would want confirmation. Proof. A secret that could be extracted, bought, or cornered out of Phong by sheer persistence.
Phong slipped the phone back into his pocket. "He's stubborn."
"Rich people usually are," Alex said.
Emma snorted softly. "As the local expert, yes."
That got a few laughs.
Phong just exhaled. It was annoying, but annoying was still better than openly dangerous. For now.
Not long after breakfast, they made ready to leave.
Emma's escort was expected soon, and Phong had already given word through the camp to keep sensitive allies out of sight. The greencap bunny knights vanished with professional efficiency. Anything too strange, too valuable, or too hard to explain to outsiders withdrew deeper into Camp Stymphalian's layered territory.
Then Phong led the group toward the meeting point as promised.
The route took them to the edge of Treant territory and toward the entrance to Camp Harpy. The land there held that strange balance common around Camp Stymphalian now. Controlled, but never fully tame. Old roots pushed through the ground in thick ridges. Watchful shapes stood farther back among the trees. The air carried the sense that many things were allowing this meeting to happen, and all of them could change their minds very quickly.
When they arrived, Emma's people were already there.
Several A-class divers.
Phong recognized the type immediately, even before trying to judge their levels.
Professional. Evolved. Capable.
They did not posture or waste motion. Their gear was expensive, practical, professional. Their spacing was good. Their eyes kept moving without looking nervous. Every one of them carried themselves like someone used to danger and used to surviving it.
That told Phong enough.
They understood they were meeting inside the orbit of several high level monsters, and they were smart enough not to treat that lightly.
Emma stopped a few steps ahead of the group and turned back.
For a moment, she looked like herself in the old public sense again. Tannenbaum heir. Songblade. Someone from a world of cameras, wealth, and influence. But there was more weight in her now than when she had first crossed paths with them.
She looked at Dominic.
"You should join the tournament."
Alex frowned at once.
Emma saw it and continued anyway.
"I mean it," she said. "All of you should consider it, but especially Dominic."
Dominic blinked. "Me?"
Emma nodded. "Yes, you."
Her expression sharpened, not hostile, just serious.
"It'll make you more visible. Too visible. Too important to uproot quietly." She glanced over the group, then back at him. "And if the public starts listening to you, your opinions will carry weight. Real weight. Not just inside the dungeon. Outside too."
Alex's mouth tightened. She clearly did not like where the logic led, even if she could not deny it.
Emma did not let up.
"The world is moving toward spectacle whether we like it or not. If people are going to build a stage, then better someone decent stands on it." Her gaze stayed on Dominic. "Someone people can trust."
Dominic rubbed the back of his neck, thoughtful now in that quiet way of his.
Phong glanced at him, then at Alex.
She still looked unhappy, but not because Emma was wrong.
That was the problem.
Emma stepped back after that. One of the escort divers moved to her side, respectful without being overprotective.
She looked at Phong once more. "Thanks for getting me here in one piece."
Phong nodded. "Try not to make it a habit."
A small smile touched her mouth. "No promises."
Then she turned and walked to her escort.
The A-class divers closed around her in a clean formation, not tight enough to look like panic, not loose enough to invite trouble. In another place it might have looked excessive. Here, next to Treant territory and within sight of Death Peak and Lake of Doom, it looked prudent.
Phong and the others stood and watched as they left.
No one moved against Emma.
No trolls lunged from the brush. No treant root dragged anyone under. No lizardman spear appeared from the reeds.
The handoff held.
And when Emma's group disappeared into the distance, the quiet that followed felt heavier than it should have.
Because now her words were still there.
About visibility.
About importance.
About becoming too public to erase.
Dominic looked down the road she had taken, then back toward the others.
No one spoke first.
They did not need to.
The idea had already lodged itself among them.