Chapter Summaries

Shien and his companions recovered Geno, discovered that the bundle she had protected was connected to the Demon King, and rushed to rescue Carol and the other Elf magicians from a spreading forest fire. Shien extinguished the flames and began healing the survivors, while Carol remained gravely injured.

• Merika healed Geno, who begged her to help Carol and the others, and Shien's group discovered a strange bundle that made Demon Roar Chain react.
• Lasha suggested the bundle might be connected to the Demon King, but Shien chose to save Carol and the others first and entrusted it to Lasha.
• Yulin flew with the group into the burning forest, where Shien and Merika sensed survivors beneath the flames.
• Shien jumped into the inferno and used Enchantment: Disperse to extinguish it, revealing Carol and the other injured Elf magicians.
• Geno reunited with the gravely wounded Carol, and Shien cast Celestial Breathe to heal the survivors.

Shien rescued Carol and the Elven girls, healing their injuries after the enemies retreated. The group reached a secluded lake to wash, where the Elven girls discussed their feelings about Shien while he stood guard outside.

• Shien used Celestial Breathe to heal Carol and the Elven girls, who woke up as Lasha reported that the enemies had retreated.
• Carol reunited with her companions, and Merika and Geno realized the fire had burned away the girls’ clothes; the embarrassed Elven girls screamed at Shien for seeing them naked.
• Carol and the Elven girls washed at a secluded lake and discussed how Shien’s status made them feel less resistant to him, until Carol told them to stop.
• Shien stood guard outside the lake and suspected the Elven girls were talking about him, while Yulin warned him not to peek.

Carol revealed that she and Geno had entered ancient ruins beneath Taiger Forest on Queen Sophie and Goddess Nadula’s orders to retrieve Stone Tablets sought by the New Primal Demon. She confirmed that the bundle Lasha carried held the tablets, believed to be ancient books from a forgotten age.

• After waiting for hours while the Elf girls washed and dressed in clothes woven from leaves and branches, Shien asked Carol why Magic Life had pursued her.
• Carol decided Shien could be trusted and explained that she had brought the bundle from ancient ruins deep beneath Taiger Forest.
• Geno explained that the ruins predated the forest and that Nadula had once been driven out by a force that restrained the God Race, then concealed the site.
• Carol said Nadula and the Elven queens had sealed the ruins after finding signs of past habitation and powerful Stone Tablets.
• After learning that the New Primal Demon was collecting ancient books and objects, Nadula and Sophie sent Carol and Geno with Elf Division elites to retrieve the tablets.
• Carol confirmed that the bundle Lasha held contained the Stone Tablets, the ancient books from a forgotten age.

Shien and Lasha recovered ancient Stone Tablets sought by the New Primal Demon, but agreed to examine them only after returning to the Elven Village. Meanwhile, Sophie and Nadula waited anxiously for Carol’s group as the village continued rebuilding after the attack.

• Shien learned that Carol and Geno could not safely read the Stone Tablets, while Lasha asked to examine them and Shien agreed they would wait until Nadula and Artemis were present.
• The elf girls urged the group to return to the Elven Village, and Shien suggested taking a recording of them in their revealing outfits, provoking their angry refusal.
• Shien’s group headed back toward the Elven Village, which was still being rebuilt after the New Primal Demon’s assault and the battle involving Nadula, Artemis, and Lidas.
• Sophie told Nadula she feared Carol and the other elves were in danger retrieving the Stone Tablets, and Nadula explained why the mission had been entrusted to them.

Sophie and Nadula waited anxiously for Carol and the others while discussing Artemis’s lingering death energy, Nadula’s sealed authority, and Sophie’s curse. Just as they hoped Shien would soon come to help, a dragon approached the Elven Village from the distant sky.

• Sophie worried that Carol and the others had not returned, while Nadula suggested they might be searching for a way past the watchers.
• Nadula explained that her authority remained partly sealed and Artemis was still weakened by transformed death energy that ordinary purification could not remove.
• Nadula said only the Mother Goddess or the Hero’s Holy Sword could cleanse Artemis, and that Shien might also remove the curse inside Sophie.
• Nadula revealed that Shien was expected to visit the Elven Village after the royal capital stabilized, but Sophie fell silent at the prospect of asking him for help.
• Sophie and Nadula noticed a dark shadow approaching from the sky as a Dragon’s Roar drew near.

Shien arrived at the Elven Village on a black dragon, where the Magic Life forms attacked before recognizing him. He erased their spells and unleashed Celestial Magic that devastated the land around the village, then entered through the opened barrier and greeted Nadula and the others.

• Sophie and Nadula recognized the approaching black dragon and expected the long-awaited Hero to be with it.
• The Magic Life forms around the Elven Village bombarded the dragon, but Shien used Enchantment: Disperse to erase their spells.
• Shien cast Auroras Meteoric, destroying the surrounding forest and scattering the Magic Life forms while the Elven Village’s barrier shielded the settlement from the blasts.
• Artemis mistook the destruction for an enemy attack, but Nadula told her that Shien had arrived and the others recognized his Celestial Magic.
• Sophie opened the barrier, and the black dragon carried Shien and his companions to the Queen’s Palace, where Shien remarked that his entrance had been excessive.

Shien and the returning Elf Division reunited with Sophie and Nadula in Elven Village, where Merika was welcomed back despite having disobeyed orders. Artemis confronted Lilith, her opposite-born sister, but agreed to withhold judgment for now as long as Lilith did not harm the world; Shien made clear he would protect her.

• Carol and the Elf Division reported their return to Sophie and Nadula, who thanked them for surviving the dangerous mission rather than blaming them.
• Shien explained why Merika had returned, and Nadula apologized to her before Sophie asked her to remain safely in Elven Village.
• Artemis approached Lilith and recounted how Lilith’s first rampage had devastated the world, admitting she had once vowed to destroy her.
• Lilith and Artemis briefly released their opposing auras, but Nadula intervened and both goddesses withdrew them.
• Artemis temporarily suspended her vow to kill Lilith, warning that she would destroy her if Lilith harmed the living again.
• Shien told Artemis that he had shown restraint despite her threat against someone he cared about, and Artemis reacted with a complicated expression.

Shien clashed with Artemis after she declared that she wanted to kill Lilith, leaving their first meeting tense. Nadula then gathered the Stone Tablets and led Shien, Lilith, Sophie, Yulin, and Lasha into the Queen's Palace to examine them, with Artemis summoned to keep watch.

• Artemis left after Shien defended Lilith, and Nadula and Sophie explained that Artemis's inborn sense of justice drove her harsh actions.
• Shien insisted that he would retaliate if Artemis tried to harm Lilith, while Nadula reflected that this Hero differed greatly from those of the past.
• Sophie received the Stone Tablets from Lasha, and Nadula decided they should be opened inside rather than in the village.
• Carol, Geno, Merika, and the other Elven girls departed, while Yulin and Shien chose to inspect the tablets; Shien ensured Lasha could join them.
• Nadula limited the viewers to herself, Shien, Sophie, Lilith, Yulin, and Lasha, summoned Artemis to keep watch, and led them into the Queen's Palace.

Shien opened the bundle of Stone Tablets in the Queen's Palace and discovered that he could read their writing, which came from his previous world. As he began reading the records aloud, Lasha also saw the words and felt powerful emotions stirring within her.

• Sophie formed a platform from vines, and Shien unwrapped the bundle of Stone Tablets while Nadula, Artemis, Lilith, Sophie, Yulin, and Lasha watched.
• Sophie and Yulin lost focus while staring at the Stone Tablets, and Shien blocked their view to bring them back to their senses.
• Nadula and Artemis could not see any writing on the tablets, but Shien recognized the characters as writing from his previous world.
• Shien noticed that Lasha could see the writing too, while intense happiness, loneliness, and sorrow stirred within her.
• At the group's request, Shien arranged the readable tablets and began reading their contents aloud.

Shien and the others read the Demon King’s Stone Tablet records and discovered a lonely girl who had been driven to despair by separation from her visitor. Shien challenged them to reconsider whether the Demon King was truly evil, leaving everyone silent and shaken.

• The tablets recorded how the Demon King cherished visits from a girl, but the girl’s Goddess forbade her from coming after detecting the Demon King’s power.
• As the girl’s visits became scarce, the Demon King sank into loneliness, considered taking her away, and finally gave up on living.
• Shien finished reading the records aloud, and Nadula, Artemis, Sophie, Yulin, and the others struggled to believe they had been written by the Demon King.
• Nadula said the power on the tablets and in the ruin pointed to the Demon King as their author.
• Shien questioned why everyone assumed the Demon King had to be terrifying and evil, and Artemis asked what she would be if she was not evil.

Artemis recalled defying the Three Great Goddesses to confront the Demon King after countless Heroes died, believing she could end the suffering herself. She met the Demon King, recognized her as an overwhelming natural predator, and fled after being dismissed; the chapter left Artemis explaining why she had never learned what the Demon King truly was.

• Shien asked Artemis about her past challenge to the Demon King, prompting her to remember her devotion to justice and order.
• Artemis recalled how the Three Great Goddesses urged her to rely on Heroes, while each generation of Heroes fell without defeating the Demon King.
• After growing unable to endure the suffering that followed each Hero's death, Artemis disobeyed the Three Great Goddesses and fought her way to the Demon King's castle.
• Artemis met the Demon King and realized she was facing a natural predator she could never defeat.
• The Demon King lamented that Artemis was not a Hero and ordered her to leave, and Artemis fled in panic.

Artemis recalled her humiliating encounter with the Demon King and revealed that the Demon King had seemed exhausted and unusually fixated on the Hero. Though the others dismissed the past and turned their attention to Danas, Shien recognized that the Demon King's lingering influence remained a present threat and resolved to seek the power to face it.

• Artemis remembered fleeing the Demon King's castle and explained that she had survived only because the Demon King lost interest in her.
• Artemis said the Demon King had seemed tired, mistaken her for the Hero, and expected something from him.
• Yulin wondered whether the Demon King had a hidden reason for starting the war, but Artemis insisted her crimes against the world remained undeniable.
• Nadula urged everyone to stop discussing the dead Demon King and focus on Danas, the newly born Primal Demon.
• Shien realized Danas was seeking to revive the Demon King and that her power still influenced events, so he hoped to gain the strength to face what was coming.

Shien became determined to investigate the Demon King's past and left to visit the ruins where the Stone Tablets had been found. After accidentally seeing Sophie undressed, he learned their location and was about to set out when Lasha asked to go with him.

• Nadula collected the Demon King's Stone Tablets and entrusted them to Sophie, warning that their contents should not be revealed.
• Sophie arranged rooms for Shien and his companions in the Queen's Palace while the Elven Village was rebuilt.
• Shien relaxed in the surviving hot spring, then decided he needed to visit the ruins where the Stone Tablets had been found.
• Shien teleported into Sophie's room without knocking and found her naked; Sophie pointed out the ruins' location.
• Shien prepared to go to the ruins, but Lasha appeared and asked to accompany him.

Shien and Lasha followed the Demon Roar Chain to a hidden underground ruin in Taiger Forest. Lasha entered first, claiming by intuition that no danger awaited inside, and Shien followed her into the ruins.

• Shien and Lasha searched Taiger Forest for the ruins but could not find them from the air.
• Lasha suggested releasing the Demon Roar Chain, and Shien let it lead them toward a source of power like that of the Stone Tablets.
• The Demon Roar Chain smashed through a boulder and Nadula's barrier, revealing an underground passage.
• Shien found the entrance and decided to discard the unruly chain once he achieved transcendence.
• Lasha entered the ruins first, saying she felt there would be no danger, and Shien followed her inside.

Shien and Lasha uncovered a hidden message in the former Demon Lord’s residence by channeling the Demon Lord’s mana through the stone bed. The message began with a startling introduction from someone named Nien, who claimed to be a Hero.

• Shien and Lasha explored the former Demon Lord’s plain underground residence and found no treasures beyond the missing Stone Tablets.
• Lasha sensed something hidden in the stone bed and suggested that the Demon Lord’s mana could reveal it.
• Shien’s Demon Lord’s jewel released mana that flowed into the stone bed and caused hidden writing to appear.
• Shien and Lasha recognized that the rough handwriting did not belong to the Demon Lord.
• Shien read the opening line, “My name is Nien. I seem to be a Hero,” and stared in astonishment.

Shien and Lasha discovered a hidden record written by the First Generation Hero, Nien, who revealed that her original name was Xiao Hui and described her friendship with the Demon King and her wish to return home. Reading the name triggered a painful memory in Shien, and he unleashed a surge of magic power that blasted Lasha away and shook the Demon King's ruin.

• Lasha recognized the words on the stone bed and read Nien's record with Shien.
• Nien's writing described how she had been summoned from Another World, befriended the Demon King, and wanted to return home rather than kill her.
• Shien read Nien's original name, Xiao Hui, and felt a painful rush of recognition.
• Shien saw the Hero from his dreams mature into a woman who called him "Son."
• Shien collapsed in agony, then released a violent wave of magic power that struck Lasha and shook the ruin.

Shien recovered crucial memories of his childhood and mother, uncovering truths about his power and past. After rescuing the injured Lasha, he left the ruins to sort out what he had learned and consider how to make up for the greatest regret in this world.

• In the Sacred Realm, the Goddess sensed that Shien had found the key to recovering his lost memories and hoped he could mend the regrets shared by the three of them.
• Shien endured burning pain as memories resurfaced of his mother raising him and warning him to control the unusual power within him.
• The name “Xiao Hui” helped Shien connect the fragments and recover a final memory of his mother wishing to see two people again.
• Shien's power settled, and he found Lasha injured and covered in ash inside the ruins.
• Shien healed Lasha with Celestial Magic and told her he had remembered the most important parts of his past.
• Shien decided to return with Lasha and take time to understand the truths he had uncovered before acting on his regret.

Danas learned that the item from Taiger Forest had reached the Elven Village along with Hero Shien and possibly another Demon Lord Candidate, and decided to attack the village again. He prepared to face Shien himself while the Queen Consort brought two Undead Knights under her control and a demon girl called the Princess emerged from the darkness.

• Danas received word that the item had been brought into the Elven Village by the Hero and explained how he had planned to intercept it.
• The Queen Consort considered attacking the Kingdom of Mithra, but Danas reminded her that it held nothing they needed and that their goal was to resurrect the Demon Lord.
• Danas concluded that Shien and another Demon Lord Candidate might both be in the Elven Village, making a renewed attack worthwhile.
• The Queen Consort revealed that the two Undead Knights were fully under her control, and Danas said he had mastered his own power.
• Danas said he would face the Hero and asked the Princess to handle the rest as she appeared from the darkness.

After learning more about the Holy Sword’s history, Shien spent a sleepless night struggling with his emotions and spoke with Lasha about their shared confusion. He then met Nadula, noticed the problems affecting her and Artemis, and asked whether her request concerned them.

• Shien summoned his Holy Sword, reflected on inheriting it and its connection to Roxie, then returned it to his body before his transcendence was complete.
• Lasha told Shien that she also felt confused about what had happened and needed time to sort out her thoughts.
• Shien went to meet Nadula in the Queen’s Palace and set aside some of his distress after recalling an awkward moment with Sophie.
• Nadula asked Shien for help, and Shien guessed that her request concerned the seal on her and the death aura on Artemis.
• Nadula and Artemis reacted with surprise when Shien revealed he had already noticed their abnormalities.

Shien revealed that he could use his Holy Sword to remove Nadula’s seal and purge Artemis’s death aura. After showing that his sword had become astonishingly powerful, he freed Nadula and cleansed Artemis, leaving both Goddesses restored from their afflictions.

• Nadula and Artemis admitted that Danas and the Queen Consort had ambushed them, leaving Nadula sealed and Artemis contaminated by death aura.
• Shien assured the Goddesses that his Holy Sword could remove both afflictions, and they praised him for its power.
• When Artemis asked where his Holy Sword was, Shien drew it from within his body and revealed its greatly increased holy fluctuations.
• Shien slashed Nadula with the Holy Sword and shattered the seal within her.
• Shien swept the Holy Sword through Artemis, purging the death aura from her body.