Chapter Summaries

Mansh’s forces devastated Volgograd with their secret weapons, then withdrew toward Moscow rather than risk being trapped by the approaching Russian reinforcements. Their disciplined retreat left the livestream viewers stunned as the army moved to rendezvous with General Guderian.

• Mansh ordered the Nirmaner forces to unleash their secret weapons against Volgograd, and the barrage destroyed the city’s outer defenses and nearby tanks.
• The Firmament announced that Russian air, naval, and army reinforcements would arrive within twenty minutes to an hour.
• Mansh recognized that his forces could not capture and occupy Volgograd before the reinforcements arrived, and that advancing would risk encirclement.
• Mansh ordered his troops to cease fire and head northwest toward Moscow to rendezvous with General Guderian.
• The Nirmaner army withdrew smoothly and in disciplined order, astonishing the livestream viewers.

Xi'er watched Mansh's forces withdraw from Volgograd and prepared Nirmaner for Moscow's expected reinforcements, confident they could win as long as Bear Country avoided nuclear weapons. When Mansh encountered the Russian Bear's faster-than-expected combined force before joining Guderian, he ordered his troops to attack first.

• Xi'er watched Mansh withdraw safely from Volgograd and concluded that Bear Country was not using nuclear weapons on its own territory.
• Xi'er ordered Mansh and Guderian to prepare V1 Missiles, Super Anti-Aircraft Guns, and Tank Killers for Moscow's reinforcements, while Rommel reported crossing the Manselke Hills.
• An hour later, Mansh's army encountered about a thousand Armata tanks and a hundred Su-57 fighters roughly three hundred kilometers southwest of Moscow.
• Because the Russian Bear's forces advanced faster than expected, Mansh had to face them before joining Guderian's army.
• Mansh ordered his forces to attack the Russian Bear's reinforcements with everything they had.

Mansh’s forces attacked the Russian Bear’s Moscow Legion, suppressing its air force and battling its Armata tanks while targeting its recovery vehicles. As the Russian forces suffered heavy losses, Guderian arrived with another 500,000 troops and prepared to join the fight.

• Mansh ordered his anti-aircraft weapons to attack the Russian Bear’s air formation, shooting down several Su-57s and using smoke shells to obscure the sky.
• Mansh sent his tanks against the Armata T14s, while his tank destroyers destroyed the T-16 Armoured Recovery Vehicles and then attacked the tanks.
• Mansh’s forces and the Russian Bear’s army fought for a quarter of an hour, with the tank destroyers improving the exchange to four Nirmaner tanks lost for each Armata disabled.
• A fresh barrage from behind the Russian Bear’s army disabled several more Armata tanks.
• Guderian arrived from Estonia with 500,000 troops, met up with Mansh’s army, and said he would hasten the Russian Bear army’s demise.

After Mansh and Guderian wiped out the Moscow reinforcements, Russian Bear mobilized its military to counterattack. Xi'er ordered the two generals to retreat into Mist Blue Country while Rommel prepared to launch the decisive assault on Saint Petersburg.

• Guderian ordered his forces to attack the Russian Bear army, and more than a hundred thousand King Tiger Tanks bombarded its armored formations.
• Mansh and Guderian’s forces destroyed the Moscow reinforcements, prompting Firmament to announce that Russian Bear’s air, naval, and ground forces were mobilizing.
• Xi'er ordered Mansh and Guderian to withdraw southwest into Mist Blue Country and draw the pursuing Russian Bear forces after them.
• Xi'er revealed that the earlier fighting had been intended to distract and tie down Russian Bear’s forces while Rommel led eight hundred thousand commanders near Saint Petersburg.
• Xi'er told Rommel to attack Saint Petersburg with everything he had.

Xi'er’s plan drew Bear Country’s forces away from Saint Petersburg, leaving Rommel’s two-million-strong army to attack the city. Rommel launched a massive air and naval bombardment, and Saint Petersburg’s harbor and buildings were engulfed in explosions and waves.

• Xi'er used the battle at Mansh and Guderian’s front to pull Bear Country’s forces away from Saint Petersburg.
• Xi'er entrusted Rommel with the decisive attack, and Rommel prepared to exploit the undefended city.
• Rommel ordered his aircraft to bomb Saint Petersburg and its ammunition struck across the city.
• Rommel ordered Daiwa’s fleet to shell the port, and explosions and surging water overwhelmed the harbor.

Rommel led the Nirmaner Army into Saint Petersburg after its forces destroyed the city, then declared it occupied and completed the Challengers’ first mission. The victory celebrations left Kim Geun-seok convinced that South Korea could now strengthen itself while Lin Ye and Great Xia would not recover.

• Rommel entered the devastated Saint Petersburg with the main force and praised the destruction of the city.
• Rommel raised his legion’s fox flag outside the government building and declared Saint Petersburg occupied.
• The Firmament announced that the surviving Challengers had completed their first mission, and the crowd celebrated their victory over Lin Ye.
• Spectators watching the Instance livestream celebrated Nirmaner’s win and argued over whether Lin Ye would die or have to hand over his technology.
• Kim Geun-seok cheered the victory in the Black House and imagined South Korea growing stronger while Lin Ye and Great Xia lost their chance to rise again.

Xiaochuan and the Great Xia officials watched Rommel capture Saint Petersburg and believed Lin Ye’s Instance had been lost, though Long Yuan suspected the battle was not over. The chapter ended with the group realizing that the Firmament had not yet calculated the results or teleported the challengers out.

• Xiaochuan watched Rommel plant his battle flag at the Saint Petersburg government building and reflected on Daiwa’s victory and the technology he might receive.
• Xiaochuan envied Xi’er and the Nirmaner Settlement’s strength, while believing Lin Ye was about to die and that Nirmaner would dominate Azure Star.
• In Great Xia, Ding Chang reassured the Instance Design Center staff that Lin Ye had performed exceptionally despite losing the defense.
• Li Yunlong praised Lin Ye’s resistance but lamented that raising the number of challengers to five million had made the Instance too risky.
• Long Yuan noted that three minutes had passed without the Firmament calculating the results or teleporting anyone out, and said the Instance was not over.

The challengers celebrated taking Saint Petersburg, but the Firmament did not settle Winter Is Coming, revealing that another stage remained. As Rommel ordered his forces back into formation, a blizzard and violent tremors struck Saint Petersburg.

• The auditorium audience realized Winter Is Coming was still active and inferred that the Instance had another mission stage.
• Long Yuan recognized the Instance as an extraordinary contest and considered how Lin Ye's success could elevate Great Xia.
• Lin Ye praised Xi'er's tactics, studied Nirmaner's military skill, and said the challengers had allowed Azure Star to witness Winter Is Coming in its complete form.
• Rommel learned that Mansh and Guderian's forces were still being pursued and warned the challengers that the Instance might not be over.
• The challengers resumed their positions and restarted their equipment as an alarm rang, the ground shook, and snow intensified across Saint Petersburg.

After the Firmament opened the final quest to capture Moscow and Volgograd, Xi'er rallied the Challengers to keep fighting and devised a plan to seize both cities before Bear Country could counterattack. The Three Great Generals accepted his orders and began preparing a half-hour blitz.

• The Firmament announced the final quest to occupy all three major cities in Bear Country and reopened surrender for three minutes.
• Rommel reacted angrily to the surrender option and asked Xi'er what they should do.
• Xi'er encouraged the Challengers to continue, and they all accepted the final quest, permanently closing the surrender option.
• Xi'er ordered Rommel to garrison Saint Petersburg and attack Moska, while Mansh and Guderian split their forces to advance on Volgograd.
• The Three Great Generals accepted Xi'er's plan and prepared to complete the operations within half an hour.

After Rommel captured Saint Petersburg, Lin Ye's Winter Is Coming phase triggered Bear Country's furious counterattack. Rommel lost contact with his allies as the Russian Bear Alliance prepared to fight back.

• Spectators debated whether Lin Ye could stop Xi'er and the Three Great Generals from capturing the remaining major cities.
• Rommel ordered three hundred thousand Army troops and Goryeo's five hundred thousand Air Force to attack Moscow.
• Bear Country's sky turned red, and the Firmament announced the Winter Has Come phase with powerful military, weather, espionage, resistance, and weapons buffs.
• The Firmament warned that Bear Country might launch a nuclear attack if it remained occupied after one hour.
• Rommel's phone and wireless device failed, cutting him off from Head of State Xi'er, General Mansh, and the Winter One Channel.

With communications cut off and an extreme winter slowing his forces, Rommel tried to prepare an assault on Moscow while defending Saint Petersburg. The city’s underground resistance activated a hidden mecha factory, forcing Rommel to abandon the Moscow plan and fight the Dog-Headed Mecha Warriors.

• Rommel divided his forces between an assault corps meant to march on Moscow and a guard army tasked with defending Saint Petersburg, despite the cold delaying their equipment.
• The Underground People's Self-Defense Army gathered in Saint Petersburg and launched surprise attacks on the Challenger forces.
• The Self-Defense Army released Dog-Headed Mecha Warriors from a massive underground factory beneath the city.
• The mecha warriors used rockets, lasers, and machine guns to damage Tiger Tanks and attack the Challenger forces.
• Rommel canceled the Moscow assault and ordered his troops into their vehicles to attack the mechas, while communications failures left him unable to contact Head of State Xi'er.

Lin Ye watched the destruction in Saint Petersburg and explained that the Dog-Headed Mecha Warrior and other advanced weapons had appeared earlier than planned because the Nirmaner Settlement had progressed too quickly. The Firmament’s Yuri’s Revenge buff then mind-controlled Kim Geun-seok and Goryeo pilots with Russian Bear’s Wrath at level three or above, turning them against their own side.

• Lin Ye watched the chaos in Saint Petersburg and described how he had equipped the Dog-Headed Mecha Warrior with future technology.
• Kim Geun-seok convulsed as Yuri’s Revenge took control of him through his level-three Russian Bear’s Wrath.
• Kim Geun-seok shot the Black House staff, boarded his Golden Bird fighter, and flew toward Saint Petersburg to fight for Bear Country.
• Mind-controlled Black Hawk pilots broke away from the Goryeo formation and attacked their fellow aircraft, triggering explosions in the sky above Saint Petersburg.

Yuri's Revenge turned tens of thousands of Goryeo fighters against their own forces, and the chaos spread to the Great He fleet at Saint Petersburg. Unable to distinguish friend from foe in the snow, the Great He people chose to fire on the fighters, leaving the battle spiraling further out of control.

• Yuri's Revenge mind-controlled more than fifty thousand Goryeo fighters, who scattered the air formation and attacked their former comrades.
• The controlled Black Hawk fighters flew toward Saint Petersburg's harbor and bombed the seven hundred thousand Great He warships.
• The remaining Goryeo fighters pursued the defectors and tried to warn the Great He fleet that the red-glowing aircraft had defected.
• The Great He people failed to hear the warning through the snowfall and, resentful of their Goryeo allies, decided the fighters were attacking them deliberately.
• The Great He fleet sounded its bugles and aimed its guns at the Black Hawk fighters.

Daiwa warships and Goryeo aircraft turned on each other in a chaotic battle off Saint Petersburg, while Lin Ye’s enhanced Caspian Sea Monsters waited nearby. The stealthy ground-effect craft prepared to strike the weakened invaders with their powerful weapons.

• Daiwa warships fired indiscriminately at Korean aircraft, destroying several and enraging the Koreans who had not been mind-controlled.
• Goryeo aircraft retaliated against the Daiwa fleet, turning the former allies’ fight against the Bear Country army into a fierce battle at sea and in the air.
• The challenger counts for Eastern Ocean Island and Stick Country fell rapidly as aircraft and warships were destroyed.
• Several thousand Caspian Sea Monsters watched the battle from low above the Gulf of Finland, hidden from airborne and sea-based detection.
• The chapter revealed that Lin Ye had recreated the ground-effect vehicles with enhanced stealth, speed, and weapons, including intercontinental and nuclear strike capabilities.

Cut off from Xi'er and facing Russia Bear’s overwhelming wartime production, Mansh and Guderian realized their mission could no longer succeed. The chapter left their 1.2 million troops confronting a seemingly endless Russian Bear tank force.

• Mansh and Guderian lost contact with Xi'er after the magnetic storm disabled their advanced communications, leaving them to decide their next move alone.
• Guderian spotted dozens of arsenals operating across Mist Blue Country, rapidly producing Russian Bear military vehicles and tanks.
• Guderian warned Mansh that a large tank formation was approaching, and the two prepared to meet the enemy.
• Mansh said the mission had lost its meaning because the Koreans’ information was wrong and the Winter Is Coming Instance could not be broken through.
• Guderian saw millions of Russian Bear tanks filling the snowy landscape and realized their army faced an overwhelming steel torrent.

The Russian Bear Alliance unleashed its overwhelming land and air forces against the 1.2 million-strong Nirmaner army. Guderian surrendered, but the Russian Bear forces slaughtered the surrounded army and swallowed it whole.

• The Russian Bear's Aerospace Forces caught up with the Nirmaner army and began bombing it.
• Guderian ordered his troops to set up anti-aircraft weapons and keep fighting.
• The Russian Bear Alliance's tanks surrounded the Nirmaner army from every direction.
• Guderian raised his hands and surrendered, and soldiers from Nirmaner's other settlements followed.
• The Russian Bear army charged the surrendered forces and destroyed the 1.2 million-strong army.

Guderian and Mansh’s 1.2 million soldiers were wiped out, while the Daiwa fleet and Goryeo fighters were routed by the Russian Bear’s advanced forces. Rommel’s remaining army struggled against the Dog-Head Mecha Warriors inside Saint Petersburg.

• Guderian was killed, and the Firmament announced that the Instance mission had failed and that Lin Ye had acquired his King Tiger Tank and Gustav Cannon technologies.
• Guderian and Mansh’s army of 1.2 million was destroyed, leaving the Challengers’ camp with little chance of turning the battle around.
• Daiwa and Goryeo’s forces began to realize that their fighting was harming their own side and prepared to stop.
• The Russian Bear’s Caspian Sea Monster ground-effect vehicles emerged and attacked both the Daiwa fleet and Goryeo’s fighters, routing the Challenger alliance.
• Rommel’s 800,000 soldiers continued fighting Dog-Head Mecha Warriors in Saint Petersburg as the mecha destroyed tanks and artillery, including tearing a Maus Tank apart.

Rommel discovered that the armies of Tank Country, Eastern Ocean Island, and Stick Country had nearly been wiped out, leaving his force isolated in Saint Petersburg. Kim Geun-seok, controlled by Yuri's Revenge, crashed his Golden Bird into Rommel's armored vehicle.

• Rommel urged his soldiers to hold Saint Petersburg and wait for Mansh and Guderian to come to their aid.
• Rommel checked the Instance backend and saw that Tank Country had 450,000 Challengers left, while Eastern Ocean Island and Stick Country each had one.
• Rommel realized the allied forces had been almost entirely annihilated and spotted Kim Geun-seok's Golden Bird circling overhead.
• Kim Geun-seok's fighter dived toward Rommel, and Rommel recognized that Yuri's Revenge had turned him into a puppet.
• Kim Geun-seok crashed the Golden Bird into Rommel's armored vehicle, destroying both and throwing the battlefield into chaos.

Rommel and Kim Geun-seok were killed in an explosion, and Bear Country’s forces wiped out the remaining Nirmaners, leaving the Winter Is Coming challengers with only Xi’er and Xiaochuan alive. Xi’er recognized that Bear Country’s technological and military advantage made victory impossible, while spectators watched the alliance’s crushing defeat.

• Rommel saw his mission termination notice after the explosion killed him and Kim Geun-seok.
• With Rommel gone, the Nirmaner army collapsed, and Bear Country’s mecha warriors killed the remaining forces in Saint Petersburg.
• The Challenger Alliance was defeated, leaving only Xi’er and Xiaochuan alive in the Instance.
• Spectators reacted with shock and fear as they discussed Bear Country’s weapons and overwhelming strength.
• Xi’er watched the battle footage at Tank Country’s headquarters and concluded that Nirmaner could not overcome Bear Country’s technological advantage.

After Bear Country annihilated the opposing army, Xi'er and Xiaochuan each refused to surrender and faced the consequences. Bear Country launched the Mount Fuji Plan against Eastern Ocean Island, triggering a catastrophic eruption and tsunamis.

• Xi'er celebrated the defeat as a chance to learn from Lin Ye's Instance, then received a final surrender offer from Bear Country.
• Xiaochuan refused to surrender, despite the collapse of his hopes to restore his reputation.
• The Firmament warned Xiaochuan that Bear Country would carry out the Mount Fuji Plan against Eastern Ocean Island.
• A bomber dropped something into Mount Fuji's crater, causing the summit to explode and volcanic ash, rocks, lava, and toxic gases to devastate nearby areas.
• The Mount Fuji Plan triggered tsunamis that struck Eastern Ocean Island's coasts and destroyed several coastal cities.