Chapter Summaries

Rimuru learned that Amishir’s inactivity was suspicious, while Fei Ba’ars revealed she had arranged a revenge attempt against the Machine Clan as a trial for Rimuru. The chapter ended with Ye Xiaoqian preparing to leave the team and disappear into the Shadow Church.

• Nine Tails explained that Amishir’s leaderless behavior defied the Machine Clan’s usual collective system, but Rimuru and Lilith decided its troubles did not concern them unless it provoked R’lyeh.
• Fei Ba’ars reassured a red-clothed client that Amishir would not retaliate, then warned him that she would collect personally if his revenge failed.
• Changge Mufeng confronted Fei Ba’ars over her plan to test Rimuru, and Fei insisted she would stop anyone who interfered, even if Rimuru died.
• Fei told Mufeng that she had chosen Amishir as a Pandora’s Box for Rimuru, which could bring either destruction or a reward.
• Ye Xiaoqian prepared to leave the team and hide within the Shadow Church, whose traditions included the Sovereign Lineage and the nearly vanished Weaver Lineage.

Ye Xiaoqian joined the Shadow Church, while Rimuru and his companions traveled to the Sword Mech Realm to reach their employer’s world. There, Machine Clan member Luo approved their contract and revealed her curiosity about Rimuru.

• Ye Xiaoqian disappeared into the Shadow Church followers after promising Rimuru chocolate the next time they met.
• Two days later, Rimuru led the group through a Black Merchant-controlled Void node to Amishir World 0578, the Sword Mech Realm.
• A Black Merchant employee explained that the Machine Clan were powerful mechanical combatants and described the Raven Unit that had once defeated Nine Tails.
• Luo arrived, scanned the group’s identities, and took responsibility for their security activities.
• Luo accepted the group’s contract to enter World 4396, then asked Rimuru if he was human.

The author explained that exhaustion, poor results, and losing the attendance bonus had left them considering ending the novel. They decided to keep writing while resting, update when possible, and focus on planning their next book, while treating this story as effectively finished.

• The author apologized for the late chapter and described working through exhaustion to finish it while trying to preserve the attendance bonus.
• After a reader asked about the bonus, the author felt overwhelmed, considered applying to end the novel, and admitted that writing had stopped being enjoyable.
• A friend offered a break and a trip to Hangzhou, then revealed that the author’s friends had secretly found and read the novel.
• The author’s friends urged them to move on to a new book, and the author acknowledged that the story had worsened over two years and that the editor had lost faith in it.
• The author decided to write while resting, aim for daily updates without promising them, and treat the novel as already ended while preparing for the next book.

Rimuru and his companions waited in Amishir’s domain for permission to travel onward while the Machine Clan member Luo followed Rimuru, claiming she was observing him because he led the group. After Rimuru tried to help Luo understand humans through food and conversation, she revealed that Amishir’s only celebration honored the day of their birth and expressed loyalty to their ruler.

• Rimuru admitted to Luo that he was unsure whether he still counted as human, and she let the group pass.
• Luo followed the group, explaining that Rimuru’s danger level required closer surveillance, and Rimuru agreed to let her accompany them.
• While the group explored during their thirty-hour wait, they discovered Luo was watching Rimuru alone, even following him into his room.
• Lilith invited Luo to join them for food, and Luo said she could not understand why humans ate for enjoyment.
• Rimuru offered Luo food and asked about human emotions, but she explained that Amishir’s only celebration honored their birth and loyalty to their ruler.

Luo explained that Amishir had halted its development for nearly ten thousand years after losing its Sovereign, while its supreme command consciousness sought a way for the Machine Clan to become an independent civilization. Rimuru invited Luo to join his group and learn through direct interaction rather than distant observation.

• Rimuru asked whether Luo watched humans because her former Sovereign had been human, and Luo explained that the Sovereign had admired humanity's creativity and capacity for change.
• Luo revealed that Amishir's supreme command consciousness had suspended its other orders to find a path forward after the Machine Clan lost its Sovereign.
• Rimuru and Nine Tails reasoned that Amishir had stopped acting because it could not judge how to advance safely, and that Luo studied humans and other civilizations to understand their thinking and emotions.
• Luo asked to continue observing Rimuru's group and offered compensation, then explained that she commanded one quarter of Amishir's legions and had learned ways to gather wealth.
• Rimuru invited Luo to join his group so she could learn through genuine interaction instead of watching from afar.

Rimuru brought Luo into the group’s daily life, where a conversation with Lilith led Luo to question the purpose of sleep and Lilith to suggest Rimuru was preserving his human habits. Meanwhile, Saten Ruiko remained undercover with a struggling group of survivors in the apocalyptic world, hoping they would hold on to their humanity.

• Rimuru invited Luo to travel with his group as an observer and introduced her to the experience of sharing a meal.
• Luo told Lilith that the Machine Clan entered collective dormancy every three to five years, then questioned why Rimuru slept so frequently.
• Lilith suggested Rimuru maintained human routines because he wanted to preserve his humanity.
• Saten Ruiko watched her companions argue over poorly cooked food and intervened to keep the group from falling apart.
• Saten Ruiko kept her strength hidden, judging that the group might become dependent on her if she revealed it, and hoped they would not lose their humanity.

Saten Ruiko and her companions were cornered by a Transcendent gang demanding a brutal token of allegiance, but Eler arrived and froze the attackers. Eler introduced herself as a peak Sequence 6 Witch and recruited Ruiko to assist her on the next mission.

• After surviving five days in the trial world, Saten Ruiko and her companions were surrounded by more than twenty Transcendents who demanded their resources and forced them to commit a crime to join.
• The bus driver suggested surrendering to avoid death, but the middle-aged thief warned that the gang had no women because its victims would suffer worse than humiliation.
• Eler approached the group while asking for directions to the Alloy Factory, dismissed the gang, and invited Saten Ruiko to come with her.
• When Saten Ruiko asked her to teach the gang a lesson rather than kill them, Eler froze all twenty attackers until the trial ended.
• Saten Ruiko said the four victims should decide the gang’s fate, and Eler agreed before asking Ruiko to assist her on the next mission.
• Eler introduced herself as Eler A. M. Acherlot Tempest, codename Witch, and revealed that she was near the peak of Sequence 6, leaving Ruiko startled by the name Tempest.

Rimuru’s group entered the Sword-Mech Territory, where Luo’s Machine Clan identity drew unwanted reverence from locals until Rimuru concealed her beneath a hood. While preparing to help the Collective Consciousness resist Kalaudatin, Rimuru realized the supposedly weak enemy’s connection to Vengeance Hyena Phi Barres made the situation suspicious; the chapter leaves the Collective Consciousness and the Black Merchant unable to answer his doubts.

• Rimuru asked Luo to disguise herself so she could experience people without her Machine Clan status shaping their reactions, and the group covered her in a hooded robe.
• The Collective Consciousness explained that Rimuru would need to connect his will to hers and submit his consciousness to a mental impact, so Rimuru began preparing defenses.
• The Collective Consciousness said Kalaudatin had only an interstellar fleet and could not threaten a world, but explained that the vast R-class universe made it difficult to find and eliminate him.
• Rimuru questioned how Kalaudatin could have contacted The Collector if he was so weak, and the Black Merchant identified the involved Collector as Vengeance Hyena Phi Barres.
• Rimuru argued that Kalaudatin could not afford the demigod-level bomb and suspected Phi Barres expected a far greater payoff than the Collective Consciousness could offer, leaving the others silent.

Rimuru and his team fled as Phoenix’s Legion destroyed the Collective Consciousness civilization’s planet, only to discover that the enemy had trapped them in a place where every teleportation led to the same location. Rimuru and Nine Tails realized Phoenix had altered the laws of space, leaving the team surrounded at the End of Space.

• Lilith suspected Vengeance Hyena’s target was Amishir or Rimuru’s group just before Phoenix’s Legion attacked and shattered the planet’s protective barrier.
• Nine Tails identified the attackers as Phoenix’s Sequence 3 Legion, and Rimuru urged the Collective Consciousness to gather its people into its sea of consciousness before he teleported his team away.
• Phoenix’s adjutant destroyed the planet and told Kalaudatin that Rimuru and the others could not escape the trap.
• Rimuru opened a wormhole and withdrew immediately upon seeing a Phoenix Legion formation, then teleported again and emerged at the same place, where Phoenix welcomed him to the End of Space.
• Nine Tails tested teleportation with a stone and confirmed that it returned to the same location, while she and Rimuru realized the enemy had changed the laws of space.

Rimuru tried to protect his companions from Phoenix’s revenge while Nine Tails prepared to evacuate them, but Phoenix’s forces closed in. Luo appeared to block the Phoenix Legion’s pursuit, and the chapter ended with Rimuru realizing they would not attack her.

• Nine Tails transformed into a Star Spirit and offered to hold Phoenix off while Rimuru helped the others escape.
• Phoenix revealed that he intended to kill Rimuru’s companions in revenge, while Rimuru searched through possible futures and found no way to win.
• Rimuru stayed behind to keep Phoenix occupied as Nine Tails and Lilith used Starry-Sky Jump to evacuate the group.
• Phoenix ordered Asfite and the Phoenix Legion to pursue the escaping Sprout members, but Luo stood in their path and said they would not attack her.
• Rimuru recognized Luo and grew anxious, while Phoenix’s expression darkened at her intervention.

Rimuru weighed using time travel and R'lyeh's authority to survive Phoenix, then asked Luo whether Amishir would help if he could answer its search for a way forward. Luo received a contract from Amishir's highest consciousness, and Rimuru prepared to stake everything on the alliance.

• Phoenix prepared to attack Rimuru, while Luo's presence made him wary of provoking Amishir.
• Great Sage explained that Rimuru could travel three years into the past to gain time for himself, though he would return to the same moment.
• Great Sage proposed that Rimuru use his authority to request R'lyeh's invasion, warning that it could make Alaya an enemy and place Luo against him.
• Rimuru asked Luo what Amishir's highest consciousness sought, and she said it needed to awaken and find a direction forward.
• Rimuru offered to help Amishir find that answer in exchange for its aid, and Luo confirmed that the highest consciousness had drafted a contract.

Rimuru used time travel to escape Phoenix with Luo, taking them twenty thousand years into the past, when Amishir’s Machine Clan was still conquering the world. He hoped the journey would help Luo develop an independent consciousness, but her grief at seeing her people’s past glory fade left their future uncertain.

• Rimuru rejected Great Sage’s risky plans and decided to seek Amishir’s support by helping Luo become an independent leader.
• As Phoenix attacked, Rimuru used a time ability to seize Luo’s hand and transport them into the distant past.
• Rimuru and Luo hid from Amishir’s Second Legion, whose advance stirred Luo’s longing and sorrow.
• Rimuru explained that he had chosen an era before Amishir conquered the world to find resources and reduce the risk of temporal backlash.
• Rimuru confirmed that Luo could not connect to Amishir’s collective consciousness because she had not yet been born in this timeline, leaving her free to think independently.

Rimuru took Luo into a war-torn era and began secretly engineering conflicts to gather demigod corpses and materials for his advancement. After seeing how his schemes destroyed a civilization, Luo understood why the Machine Clan’s highest authority had entered dormancy, while Rimuru urged her to learn to act selfishly for her race’s survival.

• Rimuru told Luo they had three years in this era and asked her to set aside her Machine Clan identity while they traveled and minimized their impact on history.
• Rimuru decided to hunt demigods for advancement materials and, within three months, used the Machine Clan’s Second Legion and deception to bring about the destruction of four civilizations.
• Rimuru tricked Queen Biyata into signing an anti-Amishir agreement, leaked it with precise coordinates, and watched Amishir destroy the Biyata Civilization in a week.
• Among the ruins, Luo realized that Amishir’s rigid response to resistance could make it a common enemy, and she understood why its highest authority had later entered dormancy.
• Luo confronted Rimuru over his role in the destruction, and he admitted he had done it for his team and told her that she must learn to use any means necessary for her race’s survival.

Rimuru and Luo continued their campaign of destroying civilizations while growing closer, and Luo began to understand and enjoy his unpredictable methods. When they reached Earth, Luo chose to study humanity, and Rimuru offered to show her the civilization he had once lived in.

• Over the course of a year, Luo adapted to Rimuru’s contradictory nature and began looking forward to his schemes, while he continued trying to persuade her to choose him as the Machine Clan’s new master.
• A year and a half into his time travel, Rimuru and Luo encountered Earth, and Luo asked to stay and observe humanity’s social structure.
• Rimuru agreed to Luo’s request despite considering the human civilization too weak to be useful, and took her to New York.
• Luo assessed the city as a polluted, underdeveloped Level Two civilization, and Rimuru offered to guide her through the world he had once lived in.
• Luo reacted with disbelief when Rimuru suggested his own civilization had once been like this.

Rimuru took Luo around Earth to show her human culture, and their discussion revealed that Luo had begun thinking beyond the Machine Clan’s rigid logic. Their meal was interrupted by a supernatural presence tied to Hell, whose powerful leader might be a Sequence 3 being.

• Rimuru showed Luo Earth’s food, technology, and culture until she accepted that his world was not primarily technological.
• Luo reasoned that different civilizations followed different paths because their souls had different essences, and Rimuru praised her for developing divergent thought.
• Rimuru reflected that Luo’s growth might eventually lead her to question the highest-authority consciousness, then considered his unfinished search for the law of fraud.
• A cold aura spread through the restaurant, and Rimuru and Luo detected a passing entity whose influence came from Hell.
• Luo inferred that Hell was an artificial inner world led by a being with the power of a demigod, perhaps even Sequence 3, while Rimuru smiled at the discovery.

Rimuru and Luo tracked a Hell creature to a woman trapped by an exorcist named Constantine, and Rimuru recognized the world and rescued her. In a separate confrontation, Luo’s touch helped Rimuru awaken a powerful dream-state ability that trapped Phoenix, who realized he was inside Rimuru’s dream.

• Rimuru decided to follow the Hell creature, and Luo joined him after taking her pudding.
• Rimuru and Luo followed the creature to a woman whose car was trapped by an invisible force field as Constantine prepared an exorcism.
• The creature’s destruction opened a fiery breach, and Rimuru caught the woman with a purple chain before asking Constantine about Superman.
• Rimuru’s aura transformed when he touched Luo’s hand, and he unleashed a Void Storm that overwhelmed Phoenix’s attacks.
• Phoenix realized Rimuru had pulled him into a dream and destroyed the Nightmare.

Rimuru tried to use Dream Lord to buy time while Luo sent her memories to Amishir and requested permission to fight alongside him, but the request was rejected. As Phoenix awakened and attacked, Rimuru activated his authority to seek R'lyeh’s aid, leaving him facing Phoenix’s lethal strike.

• Rimuru used Dream Lord to trap Phoenix and his adjutant, then summoned Sylphiel to his side.
• Luo uploaded her memories to Amishir, but the central system gave no response before Phoenix began to wake.
• Rimuru comforted Luo and urged her to leave, knowing their loyalties might soon make them enemies.
• Luo requested equipment assignment to fight in her personal capacity, but Amishir rejected her request.
• Phoenix awakened, saw Rimuru contact R'lyeh, and fired a deadly arrow at him, boasting that five seconds was enough to kill him repeatedly.

Luo defied the Amishir command core to protect Rimuru, and her choice led the dormant Amishir systems to awaken and appoint her their new highest authority. Meanwhile, Phoenix launched a self-sacrificing Nirvana attack at Rimuru, who taunted him as Luo stepped in front of him.

• Luo learned that the answer the command core sought was still missing a part, then received orders to retreat and establish an information node.
• Luo chose to disobey orders and protect Rimuru, prompting the command core to approve her application and awaken the Amishir systems and warriors.
• The Amishir core relieved Xia of the highest authority role and named Luo as successor.
• Phoenix fired an arrow carrying his divine soul and the concept of certain death, and Rimuru found that every attempt to stop it only made it stronger.
• Rimuru taunted Phoenix about his attack's limits and his defeat by R'lyeh, provoking Phoenix to split the arrow into thousands of copies.
• Luo moved to stand in front of Rimuru as Phoenix prepared to attack.

Luo awakened Amishir’s full military strength to defend Rimuru, while Rimuru’s allies arrived and left Phoenix’s forces outmatched. Buffy revealed she had never promised Phoenix help, and Changge Mufeng offered to help Buffy take advantage of Phoenix’s predicament.

• Luo became Amishir’s new beacon and ordered the Machine Clan to deploy its weapons against Phoenix’s firebird attacks.
• Luo rejected Phoenix’s offer of compensation, citing Rimuru’s contract with Amishir, and Phoenix threatened Rimuru and his companions.
• Rimuru pointed out that more than five seconds had passed, and the Shadow Gate and other teleportation passages brought his allies, including The Unifier and Nine Tails, to the battlefield.
• Phoenix realized his forces had been deceived by Buffy, while the newly arrived allies watched him in mockery.
• Buffy told Changge Mufeng she had never promised to stop R'lyeh, and Mufeng offered to use his connection to an Empire emperor to help her act against Phoenix.

After Rimuru's allies defeated Phoenix's forces, The Unifier negotiated Phoenix's retreat in exchange for his Source Divine Artifact and other concessions. Phoenix left Amishir's domain unaware that Buffy was waiting to ensnare him.

• Phoenix admitted defeat and ordered Asphis to gather the legion and retreat, but The Unifier threatened to let Amishir's forces destroy them unless Phoenix paid reparations.
• The Unifier asked Rimuru what he wanted from Phoenix, and Rimuru agreed to demand Phoenix's bow as a weapon.
• Phoenix revealed the bow was his Source Divine Artifact, but he agreed to hand it over and sign a Void Contract after Luo's forces aimed their cannons at Asphis.
• Phoenix surrendered the artifact and received a list of advancement materials before leaving the world with his returning troops.
• Luo offered to give Rimuru the world, and The Unifier teased her about her relationship with Rimuru and Nine Tails.
• Buffy prepared wine and an ambush for Phoenix as he departed.