Recaps

Alice appointed Count Sulik and General Dofak to defend Lulisk City while Greg’s Vanguard Army advanced toward Black Bear Pass. After planning an assault, Turs led the First Brigade’s warriors toward the pass in the early morning darkness.

• Alice appointed Count Sulik as Lulisk City’s garrison general and put Dofak in charge of its fifty thousand defenders as deputy commander and inspector.
• At Black Bear Pass, Liton relayed General Warren’s promise of rewards for holding the pass for seven days, raising the defenders’ morale.
• Greg’s Vanguard Army scouted Black Bear Pass and found that it had about three thousand defenders and four statues that prevented most warriors from flying nearby.
• Greg organized an attack and assigned Turs and the First Brigade to scale the walls and open the gate.
• At three in the morning, Turs led more than five hundred warriors toward Black Bear Pass under cover of darkness.

Turs led a night assault that captured Black Bear Pass for Greg’s army, and Velin later discovered that its four strange black bear statues held the Power of Faith of a foreign god. Lavia warned that the dense faith power was unusual because the Beast God had not fallen.

• Turs and his warriors scaled the slick wall, killed the defenders on top, and fought their way down to the pass gate.
• Turs killed the Black Bear Pass commander, routed the defenders, and opened the gates for Greg’s troops.
• Greg praised Turs’s brigade, ordered the fallen cremated, and kept guards around the statues rather than tampering with them.
• Velin arrived, rewarded the Vanguard Army, and climbed the gate wall to examine the statues.
• Kyle suggested that Priest Lavia offer the statues to the Goddess of Life, and Velin summoned her to inspect them.
• Lavia identified the statues as vessels for a foreign god’s Power of Faith and warned that its density was strange while the Beast God still lived.

Velin investigated the four black bear statues at Black Bear Pass, then advanced toward Flying Tiger Pass while Warren struggled to defend Canyon Mountain Ancient Road. The chapter left Warren ordering the destruction of roads and mountains to slow the invasion, after stripping his brother Kexi of command for objecting.

• Velin questioned prisoners whose souls Kyle searched, learning that the black bear statues only carried a mark that prohibited flight.
• Velin reported the statues to the Command Department, left a company to guard Black Bear Pass, and marched toward Flying Tiger Pass.
• Warren learned that Fire Wolf Pass had fallen and ordered Quintina to abandon Red Snake Pass and reinforce Fire Crow Pass.
• Warren assigned Valentine half the Ghost Fox Pass defenders to hold Fire Crow Pass for six days and sent Melody to request thirty thousand more recruits from Sibeck City.
• Warren ordered the roads through three passes destroyed and threatened to burn the mountains despite the civilians nearby.
• Warren stripped his brother Kexi of his generalship and ordered him escorted to Solomon City for punishment.

Velin’s forces burned the thirty-kilometer stretch between Red Snake Pass and Fire Crow Pass, clearing the ancient road for an assault. Kyle weakened Fire Crow Pass’s defenses with Putlock’s Spear, and Doxius led the Fifth Battalion into its attack.

• Velin ordered Kyle to burn the hills around Red Snake Pass, and the wildfire swept east toward Fire Crow Pass.
• Darnell watched the fire threaten three towns and twenty-eight villages, while Quintina refused to report the matter to Warren herself.
• After the fire died down, Doxius prepared the Fifth Battalion to attack Fire Crow Pass and rallied his three thousand soldiers.
• Velin sent Kyle ahead, and Kyle hurled Putlock’s Spear at Fire Crow Pass, creating a crater beneath its walls.
• Doxius ordered the Fifth Battalion to attack, and the warriors charged toward Fire Crow Pass.

Doxius’s Fifth Battalion captured Fire Crow Pass after Darnell and his defenders fought to the death, and Velin praised the victors while ordering rewards for them. Quintina’s retreat from the pass left her facing Valentin’s fury near Thunder Eagle Pass.

• Quintina led her troops away from Fire Crow Pass while Darnell ordered the Fire Crow Army to defend it to the death.
• Doxius led the Fifth Battalion through the breach, overcame the fire crows, and fought through the defenders as Darnell was killed.
• The last Fire Crow Army soldier fell, and Doxius raised Qixing Territory’s flag over the captured pass.
• Doxius reported 3,326 enemy dead and 23 of his own soldiers killed; Velin approved his actions, ordered rewards, and had the enemy dead buried.
• Velin inspected the fire crow statue atop the walls, while Valentin confronted Quintina over abandoning Fire Crow Pass.

Valentin captured Quintina and the Serpent Army after Fire Crow Pass fell, while Warren punished them and faced the threat of an enemy advance before reinforcements could arrive. Morton revealed that a demonic weapon was buried beneath Ghost Fox Pass and urged Warren to consider retrieving it, leaving Warren undecided.

• Valentin disarmed the Serpent Army, imprisoned Quintina, and ordered the soldiers detained after she reported that Fire Crow Pass had fallen.
• Warren ordered Quintina stripped of her rank and sent to Solomon City for judgment, and demoted the Serpent Army to a slave army under Valentin.
• Morton warned Warren that the enemy could reach Ghost Fox Pass within five days and might break through in less than two.
• Morton told Warren that a demonic weapon lay beneath Ghost Fox Pass and could summon abyssal demons and corrupt Half-demons.
• Warren dismissed the officers and returned home, still weighing whether to retrieve the weapon.

Velin’s forces began their assault on Thunder Eagle Pass, whose defenders were overwhelmed by the Expeditionary Army’s cannon bombardment. Saloyan sent his eldest son Dode away to Ghost Fox Pass and prepared to make a final stand as the enemy charged into the pass.

• Warren decided to wait three days to see whether Thunder Eagle Pass would fall before committing himself to a desperate course.
• Velin ordered the Magic Energy Cannons to bombard Thunder Eagle Pass, and the first barrage killed thousands of defenders and damaged the walls.
• Saloyan ordered the survivors to abandon the walls and prepare to fight inside the pass as a second barrage brought the walls down.
• Saloyan told his eldest son Dode to take the three hundred Thunder Eagle Knights to Ghost Fox Pass and protect the Wendell Family.
• Saloyan gathered the Thunder Eagle Elite while Valen went deeper into the pass to prepare for the final battle.
• Velin ordered the vanguard to attack, and the Blackrock Army soldiers led the charge into Thunder Eagle Pass.

Velin's army captured Thunder Eagle Pass after Saloyan, Valen, and other defenders died in battle. At Ancient Gorge Road Pass, Warren sent Dode to warn the Grand Prince and prepared to act on a dangerous mission, accepting that it could cost him his life.

• Velin ordered a full assault on Thunder Eagle Pass, and his army captured it after Saloyan sacrificed himself and Hebrew claimed Valen's head.
• Warren learned that Thunder Eagle Pass had fallen and that Saloyan, Valen, and Kahn had died, while their armies were nearly destroyed.
• Warren sent Dode to report to the Grand Prince, gave him three hundred Thunder Eagle Knights, and told him to warn his younger brother to evacuate their parents if Ghost Fox Pass fell.
• Warren dismissed the other generals and told Morton that he had decided to risk his life to buy time for the army.
• Warren gave Morton command of the Ghost Fox Army and ordered him to claim Warren had committed suicide if the mission failed.

Warren entered an ancient castle and pulled a demon sword from an altar, allowing the Abyss Lord Budley to take over his body. Budley escaped with Morton and headed for Solomon City, while Velin ordered an advance on two passes after their defenses were damaged.

• Warren followed a parchment to an ancient castle and endured the demon's whispers as he passed through its sealed chambers.
• Warren pulled the demon sword from a skull, and Budley emerged in control of his body.
• Budley transformed Morton into a High-Gold Balrog and decided to leave for Solomon City rather than pursue his old obsession.
• Budley and Morton teleported away from the cavern.
• Kyle reported that statues at Blood Wolf Pass, Wind Leopard Pass, and Ghost Fox Pass had been damaged and that garrisons were withdrawing from the first two.
• Velin ordered Greg and Imogen's battalions to attack Blood Wolf Pass and Wind Leopard Pass as the Vanguard Army.

Budley and Morton prepared to sacrifice Solomon City to open a gate to the Abyss, while Alice investigated the kingdom’s military collapse and suspicious church activity. Believing Casey was in danger, Alice asked the Wind Listeners to get him out of the Ansa Kingdom and protect him for thirty years.

• Morton told Budley that Solomon City had descended into chaos and would be ready for the Blood Sacrifice in two months.
• The Great Priest told Bar to deny the demon believers’ presence, then ordered the church personnel and their families to evacuate Solomon City.
• Alice learned that Warren and Morton had vanished while seeking a demon weapon, and that only Ghost Fox Pass remained of the thirteen passes.
• Alice heard reports of church activity and missing people in the slums, then secretly left Solomon Palace with a portrait of the man she cared for.
• Alice asked the Wind Listeners to take Casey out of the Ansa Kingdom and protect him for thirty years.

Alice asked the masked man to pass on a message, then withdrew it, while he reflected on strange events in Solomon City. At Ghost Fox Pass, Marquis Edmund assessed the alien god’s advancing army and accepted a plan that would sacrifice members of the Isaac Family to preserve its future.

• Alice told the masked man that rumors did not define her, briefly began asking him to deliver a message, then decided against it.
• The masked man noted that the church in the slums was concealing something and that Solomon City had grown peculiar over the past seven days.
• Marquis Edmund learned that the enemy was gathering beneath Wind Leopard Pass and ordered the outer watchtower soldiers to withdraw to Ghost Fox Pass.
• General Iside described how enemy forces had taken several passes, while Edmund sent Uncle Leonard to verify reports of a breach at Fire Crow Pass.
• Uncle Linton advised Edmund to divide the Isaac Iron Army and prepare for retreat, and Edmund accepted the plan on behalf of the family.

Velin’s Fifteenth Army reached Ghost Fox Pass and prepared to attack, while Edmund strengthened the pass’s defenses and ordered his forces to target the enemy’s siege weapons. As the battle began, Kyle confronted the white-haired mid-ranked Holy Seal Warrior sent out to hold him back.

• Velin learned that Edmund Isaac commanded Ghost Fox Pass and assigned Kyle and Kolkrath to handle powerful defenders if they appeared.
• Edmund inspected the walls, tightened patrols, and learned from Bishop Kamien that the Anti-Air Seal would last around twenty-five days.
• The Fifteenth Army camped near the pass, then advanced at dawn with magic energy cannons positioned to bombard the walls.
• Edmund ordered the Knight Order to destroy the enemy siege weapons, while Uncle Leonard charged out to hold back the enemy’s powerful fighters.
• Kyle left the command platform and appeared before the white-haired old man, ready to fight for the promised battle merits.

Kyle defeated the white-haired old man and secured his head, while Kolkrath killed the Four-winged Flying Tiger. At Ghost Fox Pass, Hebrew’s forces overwhelmed the Beast Knights, Edmund fled under Lyndon Isaac’s orders, and Velin began the siege.

• Kyle moved his fight with the white-haired old man to a barren mountain range and sent Kolkrath to fight the Four-winged Flying Tiger.
• Kyle defeated the white-haired old man, destroyed his five Holy Mark Seals, and severed his head as Kolkrath feasted on the fallen tiger.
• Hebrew’s Ice Bear Knight Order killed nearly all three thousand Beast Knights, and Edmund left Ghost Fox Pass with two Holy Seal Knights after Lyndon Isaac warned him to flee.
• Lyndon Isaac ordered the defenders to hold Ghost Fox Pass to the death, while Kyle presented Velin with the white-haired old man’s head and the tiger’s head for sixty Battle Merit.
• Velin halted the Magic Energy Cannons and ordered the Mage Corps to raise six earthen cliffs toward the pass; Lyndon ordered the musketeers to fire on them.
• The six cliffs reached the entrance of Ghost Fox Pass, beginning the siege.

Velin’s army captured Ghost Fox Pass after an overnight battle, then learned that a force of more than forty thousand enemy soldiers waited nearby. As Velin sent forces to pursue them, Edmund retreated toward Liebeck City and allowed his troops to plunder Haine.

• General Carlisle led the Blackrock Army’s assault on Ghost Fox Pass, while Hebrew, Greg, and the defenders fought back until Velin’s Middle Army broke through the gates.
• The battle lasted until dawn, and Lavia’s priests helped keep the Fifteenth Army’s losses below three thousand as Ghost Fox Pass was devastated.
• Hebrew reported eighteen battle merits to Velin, who praised him and said the Ice Bear Knight Order would become an important force.
• Velin examined burned records in the council hall and learned from Greg that more than forty thousand enemy soldiers were stationed twenty kilometers behind the pass.
• Velin ordered Devonshire to attack the reserve force and sent Kyle to kill its Low-Ranked Holy Seal Knight.
• Edmund ordered his army to retreat toward Liebeck City and let his soldiers plunder Haine, while Viscount Haine’s men joined in looting the territory.

Dexhil’s forces entered the Viscountcy of Haine, where Temple Knights stopped a tax-collecting garrison and spared the townspeople who did not resist. Kyle then attacked Edmund’s camp, forcing a Low-Ranked Holy Seal Knight to confront him while Edmund fled.

• Dexhil ordered Muller to scout the enemy, while Kyle watched from above and left ground command to Dexhil.
• An officer in Viscount Haine’s service forced the townspeople to pay thirty-two taxes and beheaded a man who protested.
• Muller’s Temple Knights entered the town, killed its armed defenders, and asked Dexhil what to do with the townspeople who had not resisted.
• Edmund learned that an enemy force had entered the viscountcy and began preparing to evacuate his army.
• A Low-Ranked Holy Seal Knight rescued Edmund from Kyle’s attack, sent him away, and charged Kyle to buy time for the Isaac Family to escape.

Kyle destroyed much of Haine City, secured its survivors and prisoners, and left the Blackrock Army to take control. During a seven-day rest at Ghost Fox Pass, Velin’s forces recovered, recruited thousands of converts, and Velin counted 156 Battle Merits as he prepared to become an earl.

• Kyle burned Haine City, killing more than half its residents, then ordered a survivor to calm the remaining people for the army’s takeover.
• Kyle left Kolkrath to guard the captured soldiers, sent Devonshire a message about taking custody of the prisoners, and returned to Ghost Fox Pass.
• Velin honored the Blackrock Army’s fallen soldiers with the promised rewards while Lavia preached among the prisoners during the seven-day rest.
• Velin calculated that he had earned 156 Battle Merits, largely through Kyle’s kills, and considered what to say when meeting the king as an earl.
• Lavia converted several thousand native Professionals, bringing the Blackrock Army to six thousand; Velin planned to divide it into left and right armies after capturing Liebeck City.

As the foreign gods' army advanced toward Liebeck City, Harvey Goffrey scrambled to muster defenses, but the city’s forces were badly depleted and the local nobles were fleeing or preparing for war. Devonshire’s knights routed a much larger force outside the walls, leaving Liebeck City’s defenders terrified as the main army approached.

• Harvey Goffrey learned that Ghost Fox Pass had fallen and ordered General Fray to prepare Liebeck City for an attack expected within three days.
• Harvey sent for aid from the Eldest Princess and ordered cavalry to mobilize the remaining nobles across Libek Province.
• Devonshire led his knights to the outskirts of Liebeck City, where defenders spotted them and sent Suya’s unit to attack.
• Carnegie led eleven Star Moon Knight Order knights against more than a hundred defenders, killing fifty-three and suffering no injuries.
• The officer on Liebeck City’s wall lost faith in the defense, while Devonshire withdrew to camp and waited for the main army.

Velin’s army launched a siege of Liebeck City, ordering the Blackrock Army to lead the assault while other forces prepared to follow. The attack reached the West City Wall under the Beast God’s shield, and the Blackrock Army began fighting its way up as Hebrew committed the Second Camp to battle.

• Velin assigned the Blackrock Army to lead the first assault and promised Carlisle a day of plunder after the city fell, while ordering Hebrew’s Second Camp to serve as the second wave.
• Velin’s army marched toward Liebeck City, and Harvey left the defenses to Fray while preparing to flee through an underground passage.
• Velin ordered the Magic Energy Cannon unit to bombard the city’s Blood-colored Shield, and the bishop sent Tata with church clergy and war beasts to reinforce the West City Wall.
• Carlisle led the Blackrock Army’s Siege Engines through heavy losses to the wall, where his soldiers climbed up and fought the defenders.
• Hebrew drew his Knight Longsword and ordered his three thousand soldiers to attack.

Hebrew’s Blackrock Army captured Liebeck City after breaking through its western wall and defeating the defenders. Fury surrendered and was handed over to Priest Lavia for reformation, while the city was brought back under control.

• Fury ordered the defenders to gather inside the city after the gate fell, but the West City Wall collapsed after three hours of fighting and Tata charged the attackers with a bear-war-beast corpse.
• Hebrew led Carlisle and the remaining Blackrock Army troops toward the City Lord’s Mansion, where musketeers’ volleys failed to stop the armored warriors and the defenders fled.
• Fury learned the City Lord’s Mansion was burning and surrendered with his family and guards as Hebrew’s forces cleared the city.
• Carlisle presented Fury to Hebrew, who ordered that Fury and his family be escorted outside the city and handed to Velin for disposal.
• Velin assigned Fury to Priest Lavia for seven days of fighting and instruction, intending him to become the Blackrock Army’s Left Army General, and Liebeck City returned to calm by evening.

Velin named Hebrew’s Second Battalion the Ice Sword Camp and reorganized his forces after capturing Sibeck City. A warning that more than a hundred thousand demons would erupt from Solomon City in fifteen days led Velin to slow his advance and summon his grandfather’s aid.

• Velin bestowed the name Ice Sword Camp on Hebrew’s Second Battalion and presented Hebrew with its banner.
• After seven days of rest, Velin sent most of his units to clear resistance across Sibeck Province while Lavia reformed captives for the Blackrock Army.
• Velin learned that a Demonic Calamity would strike Solomon City in fifteen days and ordered his frontline units to slow their advance.
• Velin sent Miller with a letter to Duke of Moravia, asking him to come quickly because demons were coming.
• Duke of Moravia read Velin’s warning and considered testing the Floro Small War Floating City against the demons.

Duke of Moravia prepared the Floro Small War Floating City for battle as the war stalled at Solomon Province, where Alice was replaced by a demon infiltrator and a blood sacrifice plot threatened Solomon City. After a riot erupted among the allied forces, Velin ordered his army to remain cautious and prepare for a period of rest and reorganization.

• Duke of Moravia ordered Bertha, Lisa, and Philo to inspect the Floro Floating City’s weapons, defenses, and Magic Puppet legions.
• After Thousand Fortresses Province fell, Alice discovered that Qilos had drugged her and that nearly every allied army commander was a demon; Qilos replaced Alice and planned to unleash chaos at the front in three days.
• The Archbishop told Bar to leave Solomon City through the West City Gate, while revealing that he had agreed to let demons sacrifice a million people to summon the Abyss and trap someone important to the Alien God.
• A riot broke out among tens of thousands of allied soldiers at the border between Thousand Fortresses Province and Solomon Province.
• Velin rejected Hebrew’s proposal to attack the rioting troops, warned that the apparent conflict was an enemy ploy, and ordered his forces to rest and reorganize for the next half month.

Velin visited the Fuluo War Floating City, where Duke of Moravia taught him to command its Magic Puppet Legion. When an Abyss Gate opened over Solomon City, Velin and his grandfather watched the calamity begin and wondered whether a god was behind it.

• Velin and Kyle arrived at the Fuluo War Floating City, and Duke of Moravia began teaching Velin how to control it.
• Velin absorbed the operating commands and successfully tested his authority over a Magic Puppet before practicing with the ten-thousand-puppet legion.
• A tower spirit reported traces of the abyss and projected the expanding Abyss Gate above Solomon City.
• The Abyss Gate consumed buildings, flesh, and souls as the people of Solomon City fled in terror, while a Life Knight shielded Velin from its whispers.
• Duke of Moravia suspected a god was advancing the calamity, and Velin wondered whether the shattered statues along the Canyon Mountain Ancient Road were connected to it.

Budley escaped to the Abyss with Alice and Morton while the Fuluo War Floating City arrived over Solomon City and began destroying the demons pouring from the Abyssal Gate. The city’s defenses held against the first wave of powerful attackers as Velin watched its firepower.

• The gray-robed old man let the rain fall on him, collapsed, and left behind a blue bead of Mana Energy.
• Budley ordered Morton to bring Alice and planned to return to the Abyss once the gate opened; Duke of Moravia identified Budley as an Abyss Lord to Velin and Kyle.
• After the Abyssal Gate opened, demons flooded Solomon City, and the Fuluo War Floating City moved in to harvest materials.
• Budley took Alice and Morton through the gate, then teleported to the 1,637,827th layer of the Abyss and announced his plan to rebuild his power.
• The Fuluo War Floating City activated its metal prisms and Magic Energy Cannons, destroying most of the demons around it.
• A Soul Intent Low-Tier winged demon struck the Floating City’s Magic Shield, which withstood attacks from hundreds of Soul Intent rank demons.

Duke of Moravia used the floating city’s legendary Flame Burst Spell to destroy or capture demons, then sent its magic puppet legions to clear the ground. Velin received the demons’ souls and materials as his reward, and the calamity ended within seven days.

• Duke of Moravia cast Flame Burst Spell, killing weaker demons and capturing more than two hundred Soul Intent rank demons in the floating city’s spatial prison.
• Duke of Moravia gave Velin command of three magic puppet legions and promised him all the gains from clearing low-level demons.
• The tower spirit explained the roles of the AKL-17, AKG-3, and AKH-12 magic puppet legions, which Velin then deployed against the demons on the ground.
• Velin saw that Solomon City had been reduced to ruins, with barely one in a hundred residents surviving, and suspected the balrog had caused the calamity.
• The magic puppet legions slaughtered the demons and collected their materials and souls, clearing the ground within seven days and leaving Velin with over a million soul lightballs.

Velin counted the enormous value of the demon souls and materials, then argued with Duke of Moravia over payment for the soul light orb containers. Moravia recognized which abyss the gate led to and later fired Fuluo War Floating City's Demon-Slaying Cannon at it.

• Velin asked the Tower Spirit to price the demon souls and materials, learning the collected treasure was worth billions of Gold Coins.
• Duke of Moravia charged Velin six million Low-Grade Magic Crystals for the soul light orb containers, and Velin offered him the demon materials instead.
• Velin left the warehouse with Kyle while Duke of Moravia ordered the materials processed and sent to him.
• Duke of Moravia recognized the Abyss Gate's patterns as belonging to the layer connected to the Balaqui Kingdom and wondered why the calamity had opened it.
• Duke of Moravia drew power from Fuluo War Floating City's twelve Elemental Pools and fired the Demon-Slaying Cannon at the Abyss Gate.