Chapter Summaries

Dai Le led the remaining Indian Challengers in a final attack, but Dragon Country’s forces wiped them out. Katerina then sent her carrier aircraft toward Qiong Island, only to find Dragon Country’s fleet waiting there and destroy her air force.

• Dai Le ordered the Challengers to attack Dragon Country, hoping to learn from its combined-arms tactics, and was killed by a Type 99A shell as his forces were defeated.
• The Firmament declared India Country’s Challenger forces wiped out and reported that Dragon Country would strike India Country’s remaining forces and Big Macaque Country’s forces.
• Katerina learned of India Country’s defeat and ordered two thousand carrier aircraft to bomb Qiong Island during the hour before Dragon Country’s reinforcements arrived.
• Dragon Country’s five aircraft carriers, destroyers, and coastal anti-aircraft batteries ambushed Katerina’s aircraft and destroyed the attacking force.
• Katerina saw that Dragon Country had anticipated her plan and had kept a powerful fleet near Qiong Island while its forces in India were only a small part of its strength.

After Dragon Country destroyed Katerina’s carrier-based aircraft, she sent decoy fleets to draw fire and launched her explosive-packed Decoy Fleet toward the Nanming Fleet. The Decoy Fleet reached the Dragon Country ships during a lull, leaving them facing a dangerous choice as it closed in.

• Katerina learned that Dragon Country had destroyed all her carrier-based aircraft and concluded that attacking Qiong Island directly would be dangerous.
• Katerina ordered her three million ships split into smaller formations and sent ten advance fleets to draw Dragon Country’s fire.
• The Nanming Fleet attacked the ten Gaul fleets with aircraft and missiles, sinking ships and causing Big Macaque Country’s numbers to fall.
• Katerina sent the Decoy Fleet, including three carriers packed with explosives, charging toward the Nanming Fleet at thirty knots.
• The Decoy Fleet approached the Dragon Country ships during a lull in their attacks, threatening to trigger massive explosions if it was struck or allowed closer.

Dragon Country turned Katerina’s explosive Decoy Fleet against her by using torpedoes to raise a wave that drove it into her forces, inflicting catastrophic losses. As Katerina struggled to recover, Dragon Country’s returning carrier groups arrived and surrounded her carrier, the Queen.

• Katerina watched Dragon Country’s five carriers fire torpedoes into the sea and realized they might be trying to raise a wave.
• A gigantic wave turned the Decoy Fleet around and swept it into the densest part of Katerina’s fleet, where its explosive carriers detonated.
• The blast killed 700,000 Challengers from Big Macaque Country and took ten carriers and thirty carrier groups out of action, cutting Katerina’s strength by nearly forty percent.
• Katerina was injured and despaired as she recognized that Dragon Country had turned her own attack against her.
• The Firmament announced that Dragon Country’s First, Second, and Third Carrier Groups had arrived at the Qiong Island battlefield.
• Dragon Country’s carriers, destroyers, and aircraft surrounded Katerina’s carrier, the Queen.

Katerina turned her trapped fleet toward the three carriers returning from India Country, hoping to break the Nanming Fleet’s defenses by forcing it to send reinforcements. The two sides fought to a temporary deadlock, but five carrier groups arrived around Qiong Island and tipped the battle toward Dragon Country.

• Katerina ordered her fleet to turn around and attack the Tibet Number, the Miaojiang, and the Heavenly Prefecture.
• The Challenger fleet and Dragon Country’s ships exchanged fire, and the outdated vessels the Challengers had brought sank rapidly.
• Katerina used her Zumwalt-class Destroyers and Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships to hold off Dragon Country’s forces and issued formation and attack orders.
• The battle became a deadlock between the Eagle Sauce ships and Dragon Country’s top-tier fleet, drawing intense attention from the Instance livestream audience.
• Five carrier groups around Qiong Island reached the battlefield and began attacking the Challenger fleet, shifting the balance toward Dragon Country.

Katerina’s surface fleet collapsed under the Nanming Fleet’s attack, so she led the hidden Columbia-class submarine force toward Qiong Island for a final strike. The submarines encountered a vast formation of Dragon Country submarines waiting in the deep sea.

• The Nanming Fleet used its speed advantage and concentrated missile attacks to devastate Katerina’s fleet, reducing the Challengers from one million to 600,000.
• After a missile hit the Queen, Katerina decided to use her hidden force of 50 Columbia-class Strategic Nuclear Submarines to attack Qiong Island.
• Katerina boarded a submarine and ordered the formation to head for Qiong Island and launch its missiles.
• A Challenger warned Katerina about something ahead, and she saw thousands of Dragon Country submarines packed across the seabed.

Katerina’s submarine attack on Qiong Island failed when Lin Ye’s hidden fleet of nuclear submarines destroyed Eagle Sauce’s submarines and the Nanming Fleet eliminated the surface forces. With Big Macaque Country reduced to one challenger, spectators questioned whether the Challenger Alliance could still defeat Dragon Country.

• The Nanming Fleet deployed a thousand Type 097 nuclear submarines, blocking Katerina’s route to Qiong Island and leaving her fleet outnumbered and trapped.
• Katerina realized Lin Ye had anticipated her tactics and, as torpedoes closed in, admitted defeat to her uncle and cousin over Watchtower No. 1’s channel.
• Yu-8 torpedoes destroyed all fifty of Eagle Sauce’s nuclear submarines, while the Nanming Fleet wiped out the challengers above the surface.
• The Instance’s personnel count fell until only one challenger remained from Big Macaque Country.
• Spectators reacted to Katerina’s defeat and wondered whether Mr. Fulangche and Prince Singh could still lead the Challenger Alliance to victory.

After Dragon Country defeated Katerina’s forces, Singh hid in civilian clothes and planned to survive until Bear Country delivered the Big Ivan nuclear bomb. Joseph and Fulangche faced the collapse of their chances, but Joseph rejected his father’s caution and prepared to attack Sunlight City.

• Singh raged over Katerina’s defeat and feared Dragon Country’s overwhelming military strength.
• Singh disguised himself as an ordinary NPC and planned to wait for the Big Ivan nuclear bomb to arrive at Cam Ranh Bay the next day.
• Joseph saw Katerina die and urged Fulangche to let him attack Sunlight City immediately.
• Fulangche warned Joseph to stay calm and coordinate their forces, offering to draw Dragon Country’s fire.
• Joseph refused Fulangche’s plan and declared he would cross the Camel Hump Air Route to bomb Sunlight City with everything he had.

Joseph defied Fulangche’s warning and prepared the Challenger camp’s remaining air force to cross the Himalayan Sacred Mountain and attack Tibet’s main city. As the formation reached the Camel Hump Air Route, Joseph ordered the pilots to fly at Mach 1 despite their concerns about the dangerous conditions.

• Fulangche warned Joseph that flying through the Camel Hump Air Route was too dangerous and ordered him to support the attack only around the Sacred Mountain’s outskirts.
• Joseph rejected his father’s orders, believing the air force had to attack before Dragon Country’s forces could reinforce their position.
• Joseph prepared the Challenger camp’s aircraft at Gurkha Air Force Military Base and ordered them to attack Tibet’s main city.
• Fifteen minutes later, 400,000 aircraft took off toward the Camel Hump Air Route, and Joseph reflected that his D.520 fighters were inferior to Lin Ye’s F-22 Raptors.
• As the formation approached the mountain pass, Joseph ordered every aircraft to cross the Himalayan Sacred Mountain at Mach 1 despite the pilots’ objections.

Joseph led the Challengers’ fighters through the Himalayan Sacred Mountain at Mach 1, hoping to reach Tibet before Dragon Country’s reinforcements arrived. The perilous flight destroyed most of his force, and as Joseph emerged alone, a vulture flew into his engine.

• Joseph ordered the fighters to follow his flight path at Mach 1, and Firmament announced Dragon Country’s formations would intercept them in one hour.
• Joseph flew into the Himalayan pass, where thin air, freezing temperatures, turbulence, and failing instruments made the route increasingly dangerous.
• Hundreds of thousands of Challengers crashed into mountains or collided with other fighters as the losses mounted.
• Joseph struggled through the mountains and emerged near the exit, then ordered the surviving pilots to bomb Tibet’s main city.
• Joseph realized no teammates remained after the route had cost him three hundred thousand Air Force personnel, and a Tibetan Himalayan vulture flew into his engine blades.

Joseph’s F-22 crashed after a Himalayan griffon vulture struck its engine, wiping out the Challenger camp’s Air Force and ending his Instance mission. As spectators mocked Joseph’s failure, Singh disguised himself as a beggar and prayed for protection, realizing he could rely only on himself.

• A Himalayan griffon vulture struck Joseph’s F-22 engine, and the damaged jet plunged into the mountains, killing him.
• The Firmament notification confirmed Joseph’s death and recorded that his mission ended, leaving him a spectator.
• Spectators mocked Joseph for losing the Challenger camp’s entire Air Force without attacking Dragon Country.
• Singh watched Joseph’s defeat from the street outside the Presidential Palace in Luo City and cursed the Gaul Settlement for wasting 300 million points.
• Singh concluded that the other Settlements were unreliable and prayed to the gods to protect him until the next day.

After Joseph’s defeat left the Challengers facing overwhelming Dragon Country forces, Fulangche refused to give up and revealed that he had chosen India Country for the Himalayan Sacred Mountain. He ordered the remaining army to bombard the mountain to trigger an avalanche against Dragon Country’s approaching ground forces.

• Fulangche blamed Joseph’s impulsive actions as the remaining Challengers lost hope and Dragon Country’s air, ground, and naval forces closed in.
• Bonaparte soldiers urged Fulangche to stop fighting, but he rebuked them and insisted the battle was not yet lost.
• Fulangche showed his commanders a map and ordered them to gather west of the Himalayan Sacred Mountain.
• Fulangche directed all 1.2 million weapons to bombard the mountain when Dragon Country’s forces arrived, aiming to bury them in an avalanche.

Fulangche led the surviving challengers in bombarding the Himalayan Sacred Mountain to trigger an avalanche against the Dragon Country army. The avalanche reached the mountain’s foot and swallowed the Dragon Country troops, while the challengers’ fate remained unclear.

• Fulangche ordered 1.2 million challengers to gather outside Kashmir and warned them not to enter the region.
• After the Dragon Country brigades and Tibet Corps arrived, Fulangche ordered the challengers to bombard the Himalayan Sacred Mountain.
• The bombardment exposed the challengers’ position, and the Dragon Country troops began heading toward them.
• The repeated artillery strikes shook the mountain and triggered a massive avalanche.
• The avalanche swept down to the mountain’s foot and engulfed the Dragon Country soldiers and equipment.

Fulangche celebrated an avalanche that devastated Dragon Country’s forces on the Himalayan Sacred Mountain and prepared to advance on Sunlight City. His victory turned ominous when the Challengers triggered Dragon Country’s powerful Every Inch of Territory Cost in Blood BUFF, mobilizing the country to fight back.

• Fulangche saw that the avalanche had raised the ground and received notifications that Dragon Country’s Combined Arms Brigades and Tibet Corps had suffered heavy damage.
• Fulangche led the Challengers back toward the Sacred Mountain, where they found the mountain path buried beneath snow, wreckage, and the frozen bodies of Dragon Country’s troops.
• The Challengers celebrated their apparent victory, while spectators praised Fulangche and taunted Lin Ye.
• Fulangche ordered the Challengers to hurry through the Sacred Mountain and attack Sunlight City before Dragon Country could send reinforcements.
• The Firmament announced that the Challengers had damaged Dragon Country’s territory and destroyed more than half of a major formation, triggering the Every Inch of Territory Cost in Blood BUFF.
• Fulangche sensed the BUFF’s immense power as Dragon Country mobilized its forces to repel the Challengers.

After Dragon Country’s national spirit buff appeared, Fulangche’s army encountered scattered Tibet Corps soldiers who sacrificed themselves to inflict losses and delay the advance. Fulangche’s forces eventually crossed the Himalayan pass and continued toward Sunlight City.

• Fulangche ordered the Challengers to hurry across the Himalayan Sacred Mountain before Dragon Country’s main army arrived.
• Frozen Dragon Country soldiers rose from the snow and used antitank guns to destroy several Gaul tanks before being shot down.
• Fulangche rejected talk of ghosts and warned the Challengers to beware of the soldiers, even if they seemed like corpses.
• A hidden Dragon Country soldier let a tank run over him before detonating explosives, flipping the tank and wrecking nearby artillery vehicles.
• Fulangche urged his forces onward despite the suicide attacks, and the Challengers crossed the mountain pass toward Sunlight City.

Dragon Country soldiers sacrificed themselves with explosives to devastate the Gaul Challengers’ formation, leaving Fulangche and his forces terrified and unable to continue. After the Firmament explained the soldiers’ devotion to their country, Fulangche accepted defeat and acknowledged Lin Ye’s skill.

• Dragon Country soldiers on Sacred Mountain attacked the Gaul force, then leaped into its ranks strapped with explosives, destroying weapons and killing 100,000 people.
• Fulangche questioned the Firmament about the soldiers’ willingness to die, and it explained that Dragon Country’s soldiers would sacrifice themselves for their country and future generations.
• Fulangche was shaken by the soldiers’ faith, while the surviving Challengers lost the will to fight and pleaded to stop advancing.
• Fulangche accepted that the Gaul force had lost, lit his last cigar, and praised Lin Ye.

Fulangche realized that Lin Ye’s true advantage was the Dragon Country soldiers’ willingness to sacrifice themselves, which made the Challengers’ defeat inevitable. Dragon Country’s forces annihilated all 1.1 million Indian Challengers, leaving Singh as Big Macaque Country’s last survivor and spectators across Azure Star terrified by the soldiers’ resolve.

• Fulangche concluded that Dragon Country’s tactics and self-sacrificing soldiers had trapped the Challengers and made victory impossible.
• Dragon Country’s air force, regrouped armies, and Nanming Fleet arrived and launched a massive bombardment against the Challengers in the Sacred Mountain valley.
• The bombardment triggered another avalanche that swallowed the remaining forces, wiping out all 1.1 million Indian Challengers.
• The Firmament declared India Country’s Challengers dead and its territory completely occupied by Dragon Country, while Singh remained as Big Macaque Country’s sole survivor.
• Spectators watching the Instance were deeply shaken by the Dragon Country soldiers’ cries and willingness to die for their country.

After Dragon Country’s soldiers sacrificed themselves to stop the challengers, spectators and leaders in Dahe and India Settlements recognized how formidable Lin Ye’s Instance and Dragon Country were. Brahma decided that if Singh survived, he would end India Settlement’s Holy War against Lin Ye.

• Spectators reconsidered their support for the seven great Settlements and feared facing Dragon Country in future Instances.
• Minamoto no Yorimitsu and Xiaochuan left the Instance after Fulangche’s defeat and admitted Dahe Settlement could not beat The Great Wall Watch.
• Xiaochuan resented Lin Ye for creating Dragon Country soldiers whose devotion surpassed Dahe’s claims of Bushido.
• Brahma recognized that Dragon Country’s soldiers’ love for their country was genuine, unlike the faith India Settlement placed in him.
• Brahma vowed to tell Singh to end the Holy War if he survived the Instance.

Prince Singh reached the Cam Ranh Bay military base and found the hidden silo containing Bear Country’s Big Ivan nuclear bomb. He set its target to Sichuan Tianfu, intending to seize Qiong Island after the strike, while the Instance continued with only his perspective remaining.

• After Fletcher triggered the Avalanche, Joseph called Singh to confirm that the nuclear bomb had arrived at Cam Ranh Bay.
• Singh traveled to the deserted military base by clinging to a train, then entered the hidden underground missile silo.
• Singh reached the launch control room and found that radiation was already making him ill.
• Singh set the Big Ivan’s impact coordinates to Sichuan Tianfu, planning to use the blast to help him occupy Qiong Island.

Singh launched the Big Ivan nuclear bomb, believing it would secure his victory, but Dragon Country intercepted it and the explosion killed him. The Instance population fell to zero for India Country and Big Macaque Country.

• Singh launched the Big Ivan nuclear bomb and celebrated, expecting to win the Instance.
• The Firmament announced that Dragon Country had detected the launch and fired anti-ballistic missiles to intercept it.
• The Firmament explained that Dragon Country had deployed missile defenses near Big Macaque Country after the attack on its electronic reconnaissance ship.
• Dragon Country's missiles destroyed Big Ivan above Cam Ranh Bay, and the blast swept into the launch silo and killed Singh.
• The Instance population dropped to zero for India Country and Big Macaque Country.

The Great Wall Watch Instance ended in failure after Prince Singh detonated the Big Ivan nuclear bomb, and the Firmament rated the Challengers and deducted points according to their performance. The Instance closed with 900,000 people erased and no clearers, leaving Azure Star facing a major upheaval as Lin Ye stood at the top.

• Prince Singh's nuclear bomb destroyed Cam Ranh Bay and razed Big Macaque Country before the Firmament declared the Instance a failure.
• The Firmament gave Katerina, Fulangche, and Dai Le A-rank ratings, Singh and several groups B-rank ratings, Fulangche's Army Challengers D-rank ratings, and Joseph's Air Force Challengers E-rank ratings.
• The Firmament erased Challengers whose point balances fell to zero after the penalties, including some A San people and many Level 2 Challengers who had followed Joseph.
• The Firmament announced that 900,000 people had been erased, the Instance completion rate was 0.2%, and the erasure rate was 22.5%.
• The second Great Wall Watch Instance ended with a 0% clearance rate and Dragon Country's remaining strength still unknown.