Chapter Summaries

Shien found Capeline in captivity and learned that Moro might be searching for the legendary Branch of Flourishing, a treasure tied to the Supreme God or the Demon King. He teleported Capeline out and agreed to rescue her imprisoned female knights as well, leaving the group concealed among the undead.

• Capeline asked whether Roxie Lusti Mitra had come to the empire, and Shien assured her that Roxie had stayed away.
• Shien and Capeline discussed the Branch of Flourishing and recited a verse predicting its awakening under a dark sky and crimson earth.
• Capeline asked Shien to rescue her, and he teleported them out of her cell while keeping them concealed from the undead.
• Capeline asked Shien to save her imprisoned female knights, explaining that they were her loyal subordinates and personal guards.
• Shien teleported from cell to cell to rescue the female knights, then had them stay close to him so his concealment would protect them.

Shien freed Capeline and her female knights from the hidden dungeon, but sent them away while he prepared to return inside the waterfall base. He left with Capeline’s cloak to conceal his identity, while she and the others fled the area.

• Shien brought the rescued female knights outside, and Capeline led them into nearby bushes to hide and recover.
• Capeline planned to return to the Imperial Capital, but Shien advised her to leave the dangerous area first and find materials to cover themselves.
• Shien decided to go back into the base, and Capeline asked whether he would return inside.
• Shien took Capeline’s cloak so he could conceal his identity, ignoring her protests.
• Capeline and the female knights departed, and Shien turned back toward the waterfall.

Shien confronted Limjo and the knights who surrounded him after discovering the Sacred Realm’s missing captives. Shien overwhelmed the army and brutally defeated Limjo, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Limjo surrounded Shien with knights from many nations and demanded to know how he had infiltrated the base and emptied the basement.
• Shien drew the Holy Sword instead of answering, and Limjo ordered the knights to attack.
• Shien unleashed his magic power and blasted the charging knights away, then mocked them as he stood unharmed.
• Limjo reacted to Shien’s sudden appearance and briefly deflected his attack, but Shien kicked him down and stomped on his chest repeatedly.

Shien mercilessly beat Limjo until Limjo’s obsession with Roxie and hatred of Shien triggered a monstrous transformation. Limjo gained the Special Skill Death Great Spirit Body, lost his God’s Blessing, and launched a lightning-fast attack on Shien.

• Shien kicked Limjo repeatedly, leaving him unable to fight back as Limjo recalled his ambition to claim Roxie and his decision to serve the High Priest.
• Limjo’s fixation on Roxie and desire to defeat Shien erupted into a surge of cold magic that blasted Shien away.
• Limjo transformed, gaining white hair, claws, fangs, and black veins as his level rose from eighty-four to ninety and his skills were replaced by Death Great Spirit Body.
• Shien’s Outer Perception of Heaven revealed that Limjo had lost God’s Blessing, suggesting he had committed a crime that outraged both humans and gods.
• Limjo charged Shien and brought down his claws, smashing the ground in an explosive attack.

Shien overwhelmed Limjo in battle despite Limjo’s rapidly increasing strength, then restrained him with Enchantment Magic. Limjo recognized the magic and demanded to know who Shien was, but Shien left him to guess.

• Shien used his superior swordsmanship to deflect Limjo’s claw attacks and kicked him into the river.
• Shien pursued Limjo through the river and battered him before kicking him from the air into the ground.
• Shien observed that Limjo’s power and physical abilities kept growing as ghastly green lights transformed his body, apparently accelerated by his anger.
• Shien used Enchantment Magic to bind Limjo with pressure and encase his body in rock.
• Limjo recognized Shien’s Enchantment Magic and demanded to know his identity, and Shien teased him to guess.

Shien tortured Limjo to provoke the hidden watcher, forcing the High Priest to reveal herself and rescue Limjo. The High Priest summoned a Corpse Dragon to attack Shien, who dispersed its Dragon Breath and calmly parried its claws and fangs.

• Shien enchanted the stone trapping Limjo with fire and then split, causing Limjo severe pain and provoking the hidden watcher.
• The High Priest unleashed a deathly attack, freed Limjo, and gave him more Spirit Essence to devour.
• The High Priest confronted Shien, but he refused to back down and challenged her to take what she wanted from him.
• The High Priest summoned a Corpse Dragon and ordered it to attack Shien.
• Shien dispersed the Corpse Dragon's decaying Dragon Breath with Enchantment Magic and split another blast with the Holy Sword.
• The Corpse Dragon charged Shien, who held his ground and parried its claws and fangs with effortless sword strikes.

Shien stopped holding back, summoned Yulin, and used Celestial Magic to battle the High Priest’s necromancy. As Yulin overwhelmed the Corpse Dragon, Shien appeared before the High Priest and severed her arm.

• The High Priest unleashed Astarte, sending a storm of death aura at Shien, but his Holy Sword easily purified it.
• Shien released his full magic power, scattering the clouds, and Yulin descended to knock the Corpse Dragon from the sky.
• Limjo recognized Shien as Artur’s enemy, while Shien cast Starry Arrays against the High Priest and Limjo.
• The High Priest countered with her accumulated death aura, but Yulin kept the Corpse Dragon from joining the battle and crushed it with her breath and claws.
• Shien suddenly appeared before the High Priest and cut off one of her arms with the Holy Sword.

Shien confronted the High Priest and Limjo, revealing his strength as he fought to stop them from escaping. He left Limjo defeated and declared that he would never win Roxie's heart.

• Shien teleported to the High Priest, severed her arm, and pursued her as she fled with Limjo.
• Limjo broke free, powered up to level 95, and attacked Shien, but Shien deflected his blows and slashed open his chest.
• Yulin returned from defeating the Corpse Dragon and fought the High Priest, preventing her from rescuing Limjo.
• Shien dodged Limjo’s frenzied attacks, knocked him down, and mocked his pride and noble background.
• Shien told Limjo that he would never win Roxie’s heart and asked if he understood.

Limjo erupted in rage after Shien dismissed his chance of winning Roxie's heart, and Shien erased him with Annihilation. The High Priest summoned a vast undead army and revealed she was the ancient necromancer defeated by Anima, now pursuing transcendence through her Death Great Spirit Body.

• Limjo refused to accept Shien's words, but Shien used Enchantment: Annihilation to erase him from existence.
• The High Priest raged at Shien and summoned a huge undead legion, including Yuri and Sona.
• Shien recognized the High Priest as the necromancer Anima had defeated thousands of years ago, and the High Priest admitted her identity.
• The High Priest explained that she had survived as an undead soul, rebuilt her body two thousand years ago, and spent a thousand years developing the Death Great Spirit Body to transcend life's limits.

Shien learned that the High Priest had created Greater Spirit Bodies in an attempt to reach the Transcendent Class, and that she had transformed Limjo into one before Shien destroyed it. The High Priest attacked in revenge, but Shien unleashed Auroras Meteoric and wiped out her forces, leaving the battlefield and her secret base devastated.

• The High Priest explained that she had spent two thousand years gathering Spirit Essence and searching for vessels, and that Limjo had become her second Greater Spirit Body before Shien eradicated it.
• The enraged High Priest ordered her undead army to attack Shien, while Yulin shielded him with Dragon Breath and his Starry Arrays struck at the undead.
• Shien rose into the sky and began casting Auroras Meteoric as the High Priest unleashed a black tempest of death energy.
• The Starry Arrays blocked the tempest, and Shien's meteor shower devastated the undead army, destroyed the High Priest's barrier and secret base, and buried Yuri and Sona.
• A meteor struck the High Priest and made her vanish, and Shien rode Yulin above the ruined battlefield as she roared in victory.

After Shien’s overwhelming Celestial Magic devastated the battlefield, he captured the High Priest’s surviving soul and discovered that the Holy Sword could harm her. The High Priest recognized Shien’s identity and begged for her life, leaving her at his mercy.

• Capeline and the female knights witnessed Shien’s meteor shower and realized how much stronger he had become.
• Shien surveyed the ruined battlefield from Yulin’s head as the meteors vanished and the waterfall collapsed.
• Shien used Enchantment: Imprisonment to trap the High Priest’s soul inside a crystal ball.
• Shien slashed the High Priest’s soul with the Holy Sword, and she recognized it as a weapon capable of destroying her.
• The High Priest begged for mercy and agreed to answer Shien’s questions.

Shien interrogated the High Priest about the secret base and its connection to Moro, but a soul-targeting curse silenced her before she could reveal the details. He destroyed the base, freed its captives, and returned to the Imperial Capital with the High Priest’s valuables, expecting Moro to come back for her plans concerning the legendary treasure.

• Shien questioned the High Priest and learned that the base was excavating a treasure connected to the Supreme God and the Demon King.
• When Shien asked about the treasure and Moro, a curse targeting the High Priest’s soul activated, and she died before answering.
• Shien crushed the crystal ball and used the Holy Sword to purify the death energy and Spirit Essence released from it.
• Shien and Yulin left the ruined base, and the captive knights, servants, and slaves fled while the High Priest’s half-human, half-corpse lackeys collapsed.
• Shien searched the base, found gold, silver, and Magic Items, then took them back to the Imperial Capital.

Moro learned that her curse on the High Priest had been exposed and prepared to return to the Empire to pursue her plan involving the Branch of Flourishing. Danas warned her that Shien and his unpredictable status as a Hero posed a danger, then revealed he knew she planned to hand everything over to her true master.

• The Empire Knights arrived at Moro's destroyed secret base, found the meteor-shower victims, and reported the devastation to the Imperial Capital.
• Moro learned her curse had activated and told Danas she had never relied on the High Priest, whom she had cursed to keep her from interfering.
• Danas noted Shien had returned to the Empire with only the Evil God at his side, while Moro insisted she would go back to protect the thousand years of work behind her plan for the Branch of Flourishing.
• Danas warned Moro that Shien's return as a Hero was an unpredictable threat, but Moro angrily rejected his praise of Heroes.
• Danas asked whether Moro meant to hand everything over to her true master, prompting her to turn cold and demand to know how he had learned of it.
• Moro vanished, and Danas said he needed to speed things up.

Shien returned to House Bigusle and investigated the legend of the Branch of Flourishing at the Imperial Palace. After learning an ancient book might contain the legend, he headed for the Emperor’s bedchamber and offered to teach the Emperor a lesson for Harvis.

• Shien returned to House Bigusle and found the estate under heavy surveillance while Lasha, Lilith, Rocket, and Tilly were away.
• Shien noted that his level had reached Seventy-Nine and decided to seek information about the Branch of Flourishing at the Imperial Palace.
• Shien asked Harvis about the legend, and Harvis recalled that their mother had told it and that a poem described the conditions for the treasure to appear.
• Harvis told Shien that their mother had been unconscious for ten years and suggested an ancient royal book in the Emperor’s bedchamber might record the legend.
• Shien decided to search the Emperor’s bedchamber and offered to teach the Emperor a lesson for Harvis, who eagerly accepted the idea.

Shien infiltrated the heavily guarded Imperial Palace and abducted the emperor while searching for an ancient book. He found the book, whose cover depicted glittering willow-like branches.

• Officials leaving the emperor’s residence whispered that the emperor had surrounded himself with ten thousand Empire Knights out of fear of the Phantom Thief and the powerhouse who destroyed House Laifirut.
• The emperor berated nobles for failing to find the Phantom Thief and the mysterious powerhouse, then promised rewards to whoever killed them.
• After the nobles left, the emperor panicked over Moro’s absence and failed to notice a cloaked figure approaching him.
• The cloaked figure subdued the emperor, bound him upside down, and searched the room’s bookshelves.
• Shien found an ancient book with a cover showing glittering willow-like branches.

Shien learned that Moro was pursuing the Branch of Flourishing and believed she planned to fulfill the prophecy that would reveal it, though he could not determine why she had targeted Tier. After sparing the emperor from death, Shien made him go mad, plunging the Ragna Empire into chaos.

• Shien read the imperial legend of the Branch of Flourishing and realized Moro likely wanted to fulfill its prophecy rather than dig it up.
• Shien wondered why Moro had targeted Tier but could not identify what she needed from her.
• Shien decided to investigate Lainy Bafien after leaving the Imperial Palace, with Lasha and Lilith likely watching the location.
• Shien told the emperor he would spare his life so he could repent before his mother, then cast Bestowal: Madness on him.
• The emperor went mad, and the Ragna Empire entered a period of chaos.

Shien returned to House Bigusle after leaving the emperor afflicted with powerful madness-inducing magic, only to learn that Lainy Bafien had been rescued from an attack that destroyed her household. As suspicion and mysteries mounted, Lasha revealed she had found traces that could lead Shien to Tier and Laisha.

• The Imperial Palace learned that the emperor was under an incurable madness spell, and Harvis remained indifferent while vowing to make his father repent before his mother's grave.
• Shien returned to House Bigusle and found Lasha and Lilith caring for the unconscious Lainy Bafien, whom Lilith had rescued from an assassination attempt.
• Lasha told Shien that House Bafien had also been attacked and that every member had died, while the attackers had killed themselves and destroyed their bodies.
• Shien suspected the massacre would be blamed on him and wondered whether Lainy's rescue and House Bafien's destruction concealed a larger plot.
• Lasha told Shien she had detected traces of Tier's Space Magic and had found a possible location for Tier and Laisha.

Shien returned to House Laifirut, evaded the Empire’s investigation, and found the family’s hidden treasury. He reunited with Tier there, and they embraced and kissed.

• Shien secretly entered the ruins of House Laifirut while Imperial investigators searched for clues.
• Using Outer Perception of Heaven, Shien found a concealed space beneath the estate and teleported past its barrier.
• Shien discovered House Laifirut’s treasury and lamented leaving without looting it earlier.
• A hooded attacker tried to slash Shien, but he stopped her and recognized Tier.
• Tier lowered her mask, stepped into Shien’s arms, and kissed him.

Shien reunited with Tier in the Imperial Capital, healed her injury, and learned how she had survived her failed mission against House Laifirut. After they compared their recent growth, Shien asked Tier what she had been doing during the month apart.

• Shien and Tier reunited, and he healed the wound she had sustained during her infiltration of the Imperial Palace.
• Tier admitted she had underestimated Moro and House Laifirut and had nearly been killed while pursuing her goal.
• Laisha revealed that she had secretly watched over Tier and helped her escape danger several times.
• Shien told Tier and Laisha that he had entered the Inner Sanctum, and they were astonished by his rapid growth.
• Shien discovered that Tier had reached level seventy, then teased Laisha for avoiding direct fights.
• Shien asked Tier what she had been doing during the month apart, and she began to explain.

Tier explained that she had been searching the Imperial Capital for the horn her mother cut off at birth, which had once kept her dangerous power under control. She had finally infiltrated House Laifirut’s basement to find it, leaving Shien to understand why she had risked so much.

• Shien demanded that Tier explain what she had been searching for and threatened to take her back to the Kingdom if she refused.
• Tier said she wanted to find her horn, and Shien recalled how her Unique Skill could make her power grow uncontrollably.
• Tier revealed that she had been born with a real horn that stored power and acted as a brake, but her mother cut it off at birth.
• Tier explained that her mother killed the birth attendants, blamed Tier’s power, and secretly sent the horn to House Laifirut for study.
• Tier recounted how she searched House Laifirut and connected noble houses, then infiltrated the Imperial Palace before finally entering House Laifirut’s basement after its destruction.