Chapter Summaries

Sernal used his final strength to protect Wes and entrusted him with carrying on the fight against darkness. Sauron learned of Sernal’s betrayal and ordered his forces to avoid provoking the northern humans for now.

• Sernal appeared before Wes and explained that his guilt over his past crimes had led him to sacrifice himself to protect Wes.
• Sernal praised Wes’s potential, urged him to summon his dragon, and prepared to pass his legacy on to him.
• Uwasa reported Sernal’s betrayal to Sauron, who ordered Khamûl and Lidilias to recover and warned his forces not to provoke the northern humans.
• A mysterious observer praised Sernal for breaking free of the One Ring’s control and bowed to him before vanishing.
• Sernal comforted the tearful Wes, urged him to protect the northern humans, and told him to use his holy sword to fulfill his dreams.

Sernal sacrificed his soul to forge armor for Wes and Villy, leaving Wes with his holy sword and the legacy of Arnor. As Wes and Villy returned, Caslo tried to leave his bed to find them, only to learn Ajax was arriving and was greeted with a feigned illness.

• Sernal transformed his soul into silver armor for Wes and sacred dragon armor for Villy, urging Wes to carry on the Dúnedain’s hope.
• Villy explained that Sernal had forged two soul-bound pieces of equipment, and Wes mourned his sacrifice before accepting the holy sword and vowing to honor his legacy.
• Villy pointed out that Wes’s Arnorian blood and Sernal’s sword could give him a claim to territory in Arnor, and Wes prepared to return with him.
• Caslo tried to leave his bed to check on Sernal and Wes, but Reno knocked him back and told him Ajax was coming to reinforce them.
• Ajax arrived asking after Caslo, and Caslo hid beneath the blankets and made himself look gravely ill while Reno mocked his act.

Caslo pretended to be gravely injured to avoid Ajax’s anger, but she confronted him over risking his life to save Wes. Later, an alarm sounded at Lulong Fortress when a returning dragon approached, and Reno recognized it as Wes.

• Caslo feigned a near-fatal injury in front of Ajax, while Reno and Dos Antony struggled to hide their surprise.
• After Reno and Dos Antony left, Ajax confronted Caslo for risking his life to save Wes and cried as he comforted her.
• Reno and Dos Antony were caught listening outside Caslo’s room and traded threats about telling Ajax.
• The alarm bells rang at Lulong Fortress, and Reno recognized the approaching dragon as Wes before scolding the sentries.

After the war, Roland’s kingdom recovered and expanded over five years, and he prepared to lead his army on a new campaign. The chapter ended with Roland arguing with the system about his reputation as a peaceful ruler.

• Wes explained that Sernal had regained his senses before dying, leaving Caslo and Reno to mourn his suffering.
• Ajax declared the crisis over and departed Lulong Fortress on her dragon.
• On October 1, 2949, Roland reviewed the kingdom’s growth and asked Yun Feng whether his army was ready.
• Yun Feng confirmed that the troops had gathered after five years of preparation.
• Roland saw the system’s assessment of his kingdom and protested its implication that he was a warmonger.
• The system pointed out that Roland’s forces had slaughtered the Orcs across the Lagrange Plain for five years.

After five years of consolidating his kingdom, Roland launched a Great Expedition east with most of Lagrange’s army and high-tier fighters. He left Reno to defend Lulong Fortress and entrusted Flowing City to Yun Feng, despite concerns that the kingdom’s remaining forces were too thin.

• Apophis Breo held Junlin Fortress in the Misty Mountains and helped sever the Orcs’ route between the north and Mordor.
• Ismir rebuilt Windhelm Town into Windhelm City, raided through Mirkwood with his Goblin Knights, and became a roaming threat to the region’s tribes.
• Roland chose to begin the kingdom’s Great Expedition to extend his control over the Lagrange Plain.
• Reno reported that General Omsk and the Vanguard Knight Order had already gone ahead to clear the way.
• Roland left Reno in charge of Lulong Fortress and Yun Feng responsible for Flowing City as he took most of the kingdom’s soldiers east.
• Reno warned Roland that the expedition had stripped the kingdom of much of its military strength.

Roland led the Great Expedition toward Lagrange City while Sauron weighed the risks of committing Mordor’s elite Orc Warg Riders. As the column advanced, Alistair sensed danger in the unnaturally quiet surroundings, though he had no evidence to explain it.

• Sauron faced a dilemma because his weakened armies could not stop Roland without risking his valuable Orc Warg Riders.
• Reno saw Luke Leopold and Merk Leopold off as commanders of the two Swift River Infantry legions joining the expedition.
• Roland’s army marched with more than a thousand Shire Horses, which he planned to use for rapid troop redeployments.
• Roland tried to play Gomoku with Adolf Heinrich and Darian Nightblade, then resisted their suggestions that he return home.
• Alistair warned Roland that the area was too quiet after searching the surrounding miles, but he could offer only a feeling as evidence.

Valfay shot down an Easterling-trained hawk, revealing that dark forces were watching Roland’s army. Roland ordered Alistair to lead the Goblin Knights to Lagrange City and secure the crossing before the Orcs and Easterlings could establish a bridgehead.

• Valfay destroyed a scout hawk and identified it as trained by the Easterlings, while the Dragon Riders admitted they had not expected a bird to be enemy surveillance.
• Adolf Heinrich noted that Omsk’s raids on the Wandering Orc tribes had likely exposed Roland’s army, and Roland welcomed the chance to confront the dark forces.
• Caslo predicted that the Orcs and Easterlings would meet near the Swift River and Redwater River crossing outside Lagrange City.
• Alistair suggested seizing the strategic crossing, so Roland appointed him commander of the vanguard and ordered him to take Lagrange City.
• Darian Nightblade questioned the Goblin Knights’ usefulness, and Roland defended their training and mobility.

Roland’s army marched toward the front while Alistair prepared the Goblin Knights for a rapid advance. After an Eagle Trainer spied on the camp, Roland ordered his forces to find and eliminate the handlers, and Darian Nightblade brought one back dead.

• Roland sent Alistair and the Goblin Knights forward, and Alistair ordered them to travel light with five days of supplies.
• Roland assigned Darian Nightblade to catch scouts on the ground while the Dragon Knights dealt with aerial observers, then ordered the army to camp.
• Omsk returned to camp, where Valfay showed him an Eagle Trainer he had shot down while it was spying on the army.
• Omsk explained that Eagle Trainers likely operated in relays, and Roland ordered the handlers found and killed.
• Darian Nightblade brought back the corpse of a Beast Tamer and his Eagle Trainer, and Roland tasked Caslo with wiping out the scouts.

An Eastern Yi Eagle Trainer reported that Western human forces included real Dragon Knights, while Caslo and Caldo discovered and intercepted the scouts’ message. The exposed scouts decided to hide until nightfall before attempting to withdraw.

• An Eastern Yi Eagle Trainer told his contact that Dragon Knights had shot down his trained eagle and described the Western army’s strength.
• The contact recorded the report and sent it by trained eagle from the cave.
• Caldo spotted the messenger eagle, struck it down with Dragon Might, and Caslo recovered its letter.
• Caslo read the report and asked Caldo whether he could find the hidden scouts, and Caldo said Dragon Eye had already spotted them.
• The Eagle Trainers realized their hiding place was exposed, but one stopped the other from leaving and insisted they wait until nightfall.

Caslo captured two Eastern Yi Eagle Trainers, whose interrogation revealed that they were the first outpost to discover Roland’s army. Roland realized the Goblin Knights had already exposed the army’s approach and ordered a forced march to support them rather than abandon them as bait.

• Caslo and his companions found two Eagle Trainers hiding underground, knocked them unconscious, and brought them to Roland’s command tent.
• Roland’s guards woke and interrogated the captives, who revealed that they were the dark forces’ first outpost.
• Roland and Adolf Heinrich realized the Goblin Knights’ advance had exposed the location of the main army to the dark coalition.
• Roland considered the danger facing Alistair and the Goblin Knights, but rejected abandoning them to preserve the main force.
• After Adolf Heinrich warned against treating the Goblin Knights as expendable, Roland ordered the army to march at a forced pace.

The Eastern Yi Chariot People learned of the kingdom’s advance and gathered a hundred thousand troops, while Roland hurried to reinforce the Goblin Knights. Alistair chose to attack the Chariot People as they prepared to cross the Swift River, and a packed boat capsized before he could throw his spear.

• Eagle scouts spread word of the kingdom’s advance, and the Eastern Yi mistakenly believed tens of thousands of elite troops were marching on Rune.
• The Eastern Yi assembled an army of one hundred thousand while Roland force-marched his main force to catch up with the Goblin Knights.
• Caslo reported to Roland that Alistair’s Goblin Knights intended to resist the invaders and remain loyal to the kingdom.
• Alistair rejected orders to avoid a head-on clash and prepared his Goblin Knights to attack the Chariot People crossing the Swift River.
• A boat packed with Chariot People soldiers capsized in the Swift River as Alistair watched.

Alistair led the Goblin Banner Knight Order against Eastern Yi troops crossing the river, using Roland’s Lobbing Shot skill to devastate them with javelins. When Eastern Yi archers and Skirmisher Knights counterattacked, Alistair ordered his force to retreat.

• Alistair watched the Eastern Yi struggle through the fast-moving river as aquatic magical beasts attacked their boats.
• Alistair ordered the Goblin Knights to raise their spears and hurl javelins at the crossing troops.
• The Goblin Knights’ javelin barrage killed many Eastern Yi and drew aquatic magical beasts to the bloodied river.
• Eastern Yi archers and Skirmisher Knights organized a counterattack, firing on the Goblin Knights behind Battle Qi Flame shields.
• Alistair led another javelin volley against the Eastern Yi before ordering the Goblin Knights to retreat.

Alistair’s Goblin Knights harried the Eastern Yi vanguard with javelins before withdrawing, while Roland learned the enemy had already discovered his army and sent Wes ahead to attack their strongpoints. At the river crossing, Alistair rallied his Pig Riders to charge the Eastern Yi’s shield formation.

• Alistair ordered the Goblin Knights to halt and throw javelins at the Eastern Yi crossing the river, killing more than a thousand soldiers.
• Alistair withdrew his knights from the arrow fire, then ordered a second javelin volley when the Eastern Yi’s shield formation opened gaps.
• Adolf Heinrich read an Eastern Yi Eagle Trainer’s memories and learned that the enemy had monitored the area and already knew about Roland’s army.
• Roland sent Wes ahead to eliminate enemy strongpoints and ordered Caslo to hold the central army.
• Alistair formed the Goblin Knights into a wedge and led them to charge the Eastern Yi shield line.

Alistair and the Goblin Knights smashed the Eastern Yi Chariot People’s vanguard as it crossed the river, then withdrew when their Battle Qi began to fail. With enemy reinforcements arriving, Alistair waited anxiously for Roland’s army.

• Alistair led the Goblin Knights in a charge that shattered the Eastern Yi Chariot People’s shield wall and inflicted heavy casualties.
• Luowaku ordered the vanguard to retreat, while the Eastern Yi crossing force abandoned soldiers on the western bank.
• The Goblin Knights slaughtered the stranded infantry until a stray arrow pierced one of their members, prompting Alistair to order a withdrawal.
• A Goblin Knight reported that nearly half of the vanguard had died, and Alistair worried that Roland’s army might not arrive in time.
• Alistair spotted Wes flying overhead and saluted him.

Wes and Villy attacked the Eastern Yi Chariot People, whose soldiers had no way to fight a dragon in the sky. Villy’s Dragon Breath devastated their vanguard, and Luowaku ordered the survivors to scatter only after their formation had been shattered.

• Villy’s roar terrified the Eastern Yi Chariot People, while Wes sensed his dragon’s growing bloodlust through their contract.
• Villy urged Wes to attack, and Wes agreed after warning that they would retreat if necessary.
• Luowaku ordered his soldiers to form shield walls and fire arrows as Villy dived toward them.
• Villy’s Dragon Breath blasted through the formation, and Wes joined the attack with his dragon lance.
• Villy’s purple Dragon Breath turned many Eastern Yi into ash and raised a few slain soldiers as skeletal Undead.
• Luowaku finally ordered the fewer than two thousand survivors to scatter as Villy swooped down again.

Villy unleashed the Draconic Grand Forbidden Spell Evil Dragon Manifests Demonic Domain, turning the Eastern Yi Chariot People into Undead and blasting Alistair’s Goblin Knights with its shockwave. Wes scolded Villy for hitting their allies as the Goblin Knights regrouped and counted casualties.

• Villy gathered Dragon Power and summoned a colossal Demon Dragon phantom, while Alistair and the Goblin Knights watched without realizing they were too close to the spell.
• The phantom swept across the Eastern Yi Chariot People, killing them and raising their bodies as skeletal soldiers under the spell’s evil power.
• The shockwave hurled Alistair, his Goblin Knights, and their Tutu Pigs across the ground, and Alistair ordered his troops to regroup and count casualties.
• Wes saw the Goblin Knights sprawled below through the Dragon Eye and confronted Villy for hitting their own allies.
• Villy dismissed the damage as a minor aftershock and criticized the Goblin Knights for being too weak to withstand it.

After Villy’s Grand Forbidden Spell injured the Goblin Knights, Wes apologized to Alistair, who accepted the apology and focused on treating the wounded. Wes later confronted Villy over his recklessness, while Villy worried that the Goblins might not be all right.

• Alistair learned that the Goblin Knights had suffered fractures but no deaths, and ordered the injured treated.
• Wes entered Alistair’s tent, apologized for Villy’s spell injuring the Goblins, and offered compensation.
• Alistair declined to pursue the matter, and his knights stabilized the wounded with potions supplied by Roland.
• Wes scolded Villy for nearly wiping out the Goblin mercenaries, while Villy brushed off the danger and asked whether they had survived.

Wes’s Grand Forbidden Spell routed the Eastern Yi Chariot People vanguard but also badly injured the Goblin Knight Order, prompting Caslo to apologize to Alistair and promise help. Caslo then announced that King Roland was on his way to Lagrange City.

• Caslo caught up with Wes and learned that the Goblin Knight Order had routed the Eastern Yi Chariot People vanguard after Wes used a Grand Forbidden Spell.
• Wes admitted there had been an accident, while Caslo focused on assessing the Goblin Knight Order’s condition and the needs of Roland’s early eastern campaign.
• Alistair told Caslo that Wes’s spell had caused most of the Goblin Knight Order’s wounded.
• Caslo apologized to Alistair on behalf of the Kingdom’s Dragon Knight Order and promised to help secure the Goblins’ requests from Roland.
• Caslo told Alistair that King Roland would soon arrive in Lagrange City.

Uwasa, a Nazgûl sent by Sauron to investigate the Lagrange campaign, found the battlefield where a Grand Forbidden Spell had destroyed the Eastern Yi Chariot People vanguard. He mistook Wes for the spellcaster and infiltrated the camp to abduct him, unaware that Wes and Villy were using him as bait.

• Uwasa examined the battlefield, killed the skeletal Luowaku, and wondered why the Lagrange Kingdom had used a Grand Forbidden Spell against the vanguard.
• Wes learned that a High-Tier Professional had scanned the camp, but Villy stopped him from summoning his dragon and proposed using Wes as bait.
• Uwasa arrived after receiving news of the eastern campaign and traveled through a spatial gate toward the Lagrange camp.
• Uwasa's gate opened over the Redwater River, and he crawled out after a miscalculation.
• Uwasa judged the goblin soldiers harmless, identified Wes as the likely commander, and appeared behind him to seize his shoulder.

Wes and Villy fought Uwasa, who used his spatial powers to evade their attacks and launch ambushes. As the battle continued, a mysterious figure watched from the riverbank and warned that Wes’s lack of experience could let Uwasa behead him.

• Villy blasted Uwasa away as Wes confronted him over Sernal’s death and taunted him about the Nazgûl’s defeats.
• Villy carried Wes into the sky to escape Uwasa’s Space Blades, while Alistair led the Goblin Knights away.
• Uwasa repeatedly attacked Wes from the void, but Villy’s Dragon Power forced him out of hiding and Wes struck him with a demonic dragon shockwave.
• A mysterious figure appeared on the riverbank, judged Wes inexperienced, and feared Uwasa would behead him despite Villy’s protection.