Chapter Summaries

Roland learned that Borkan would eventually come for Dylan Fikernando and resolved to protect his father-in-law while building a Dark Angel Legion. Sanita then asked Roland for help because the Hidden Valley Clan was isolated and unable to withstand the Demon Disaster.

• Dylan Fikernando warned Roland that Borkan, a Level 19 Legendary Dark Angel with a powerful divine artifact, would come to rescue Luisa.
• Roland reassured Dylan Fikernando that he would handle Borkan and explained that Fire Dragon King Zarick could help if needed.
• Roland ordered most of the recovered treasures placed on the Military Merit list and asked Dylan Fikernando to prepare Demon Commander-level Dark Jade for creating Dark Angels.
• Sanita arrived at Black Fortress after seeing Roland's peaceful, well-supplied territory and resolved to seek his aid.
• Sanita told Roland that the Hidden Valley Clan had lost much of the Northern Great Plains and lacked allies and strength to resist the Demon Disaster.

Sanita asked Roland to rescue the Hidden Valley Clan from a Demon Mage army, and after negotiating substantial payment and future trade, he agreed to lead troops to the Lafamoji Plains within three days. Roland eagerly anticipated the Demon Mages’ valuable spoils as he prepared to march.

• Roland concealed his disdain for Sanita’s past betrayal while considering the Hidden Valley Clan’s importance as a source of Magic Crystals.
• Leslie argued that Roland’s forces were too battered to help soon, prompting Sanita to offer Magic Crystals, ores, and foxfolk magical beast cubs.
• Roland agreed to send troops immediately if Sanita continued helping him collect Magic Crystals from the Beastkin Empire in exchange for supplies.
• Sanita revealed that the besieging army included nearly three thousand Demon Mages, five Saint Domain demons, and more than thirty Archmages.
• Roland promised to lead his army to the Lafamoji Plains within three days, and Sanita thanked him.

Dylan Fikernando led more than two thousand Dark Angels to Mordi City and approached the Demon Army’s commanders under the guise of seeking aid. After Tirmorchi grew suspicious, Dylan attacked him by surprise, leaving the Demon Mage gravely wounded and crashing to the ground.

• The five Demon Mages discussed the Hidden Valley Clan’s resistance, and Tirmorchi ordered someone to summon Kurtas’s Flame Demon Army despite his subordinates’ concerns about sharing the spoils.
• Tirmorchi allowed Dylan Fikernando, Minos, and more than two thousand Dark Angels to approach, believing they could help break the city’s defenses.
• Dylan admitted that the Dark Angels had been defeated by a human lord, while Tirmorchi rebuked his subordinates for mocking him.
• Tirmorchi grew wary when Dylan calmly accepted the insults and asked why he had come.
• Dylan declared that he had come to borrow Tirmorchi’s head and struck him with a powerful surprise attack, shattering his barriers and sending him crashing into the ground.

Dylan Fikernando ambushed Tirmorchi, then revealed a force of fourteen Saint Domain experts who joined the Hidden Valley Clan in a counterattack against the Demon Army. Tirmorchi escaped after splitting himself into three shadows, but the other Saint Domain Demon Mages were killed and the demons’ assault collapsed.

• Dylan Fikernando wounded Tirmorchi and summoned Roland, Felicia, Reff, Monk, Alvis, Kailon, Natalie, Gustav, Sanita, Salite, Camilla, Minos, and other Saint Domain experts from a portable treasure.
• Roland ordered the experts to attack the Demon Mages as Felicia and Salite besieged Tirmorchi, while Mordi City’s foxkin troops launched a counterattack against the Demon Army.
• Camilla and the other experts killed two Saint Domain Demon Mages, leaving Tirmorchi increasingly fearful and outmatched.
• Felicia trapped Tirmorchi with water magic, and Salite struck him with mental spells as he tried to escape.
• Tirmorchi used an ancient box to release wraiths and split himself into three shadows; Salite destroyed one, but another escaped the battlefield.
• Salite and Felicia joined the remaining experts in killing the last two Saint Domain Demon Mages.

After Roland’s forces crushed the Demon Army, he secured valuable spoils, especially Demon Mage Trans-species Books. He proposed that the Hidden Valley Clan help other factions fight their Demon Disasters in exchange for resources, and Salite and Sanita agreed.

• Reff reported that the battle had killed more than two thousand Demon Mages, four Saint Domain Demon Mages, and hundreds of thousands of Low-tier Demons, while the surviving army fled.
• Reff revealed that Roland’s side had claimed four Saint Domain pieces of equipment, rare treasures, Dark Element Magic Crystals, and three Demon Mage Trans-species Books, which Roland ordered prepared for use in his territory.
• Salite and Sanita thanked Roland for helping the Hidden Valley Clan defeat the Demon Army and discussed their future relationship.
• Roland suggested that the Hidden Valley Clan support other factions struggling with Demon Disasters and receive resources in return.
• Salite and Sanita agreed to Roland’s proposal to help other factions while presenting it as a righteous effort to save lives.

Roland reviewed intelligence on the Demon Disaster in the Three Great Kingdoms and decided to pursue population in the Terra Kingdom’s eastern coastal provinces. He ordered further reconnaissance in Autran and Storm as well, leaving his plans to intervene on the continent underway.

• Caesar rode through the sky on Dylan Fikernando while Roland and Elizabeth shared a quiet moment, until Leslie and Reff arrived with business to discuss.
• Elizabeth rebuked Leslie for teasing her, and Dylan Fikernando warned him to treat his daughter respectfully.
• Reff reported heavy losses and demon attacks across Terra, Autran, and Storm, while Roland explained that his territory needed millions of additional people.
• Leslie described the vulnerable coastal provinces of eastern Terra, especially Barrix, Morando, Palau, and Arian, and recommended targeting them for their population and lack of royal legions.
• Roland approved negotiating with nearby noble families in those four provinces and ordered further reconnaissance in Autran and Storm.

Leslie urged Roland to make Saint Domain Potions despite their soaring cost, arguing that the territory needed stronger experts before the Three Great Kingdoms turned against it. Roland agreed to begin preparations, and Dylan Fikernando asked for potions too as the territory prepared to profit from wartime trade.

• Leslie reported that war had driven the price of each set of Saint Domain Potion materials to at least three hundred thousand gold coins and urged Roland to pursue the breakthrough regardless of cost.
• Roland worried that the expense would strain the territory alongside Dark Angel conversions, compensation payments, and development costs, but Leslie predicted wartime trade and smuggling would soon bring in more than ten million gold coins monthly.
• Reff suggested expanding the army, but Roland prioritized training professionals and elite legions while ordering the Military Affairs Department to prepare mid- and lower-level officers for future expansion.
• Roland authorized Leslie to buy Saint Domain Potion materials and begin preparations, while Leslie promised to secure enough supplies to make Roland a Saint Domain Apothecary.
• Dylan Fikernando asked Roland for a share of the potions, and Roland promised to provide them after mastering the craft; Dylan offered to find potions suited to Dark Angels.

With the Harrison Family facing an overwhelming Demon Army and no support from Boni, its elders debated retreating until Alredo arrived with Roland’s offer to help. The family’s fate was left hanging as its leaders reacted to the unexpected offer.

• The Harrison Family learned that a Demon Army from Fehr County, led by a Hellish Headless Knight, was advancing on Quiris County while its forces remained depleted.
• Green proposed abandoning the territory, but Audis condemned retreat, and Pedro said the family’s main force had to stay while its elite clansmen could evacuate.
• Pedro reported that Boni had refused to send troops, leaving the elders desperate for a way to survive the invasion.
• Alredo arrived at Harrison Castle, provoked Pedro, then invoked Roland’s power to prevent Pedro from attacking him.
• Alredo offered Roland’s aid against the Demon Army, prompting the Harrison elders to cheer.

Alredo negotiated Roland’s military aid with the desperate Harrison Family, which agreed to discuss surrendering slaves in exchange for protection. Five days later, the nearly two-hundred-thousand-strong Demon Army approached Harrison Family Castle under the command of the Hellish Headless Knight Drummond.

• Pedro objected to Alredo’s demand for five hundred thousand slaves, but Josh, Ostry, and more than half the elders pleaded for the Harrison Family to accept aid.
• Alredo agreed to discuss a five-year protection deal at a higher price, and the negotiations ended with Pedro storming out, Ansel looking ashen, and Ostry in tears.
• Five days later, Drummond led nearly two hundred thousand demons toward Harrison Family Castle after destroying a county and killing more than a million humans.
• Drummond ordered his commanders to increase their pace when they told him the castle was still a day away.

Roland’s forces met Drummond’s Demon Army outside Harrison Castle and overwhelmed the demons, while seven Saint Domain experts fought Drummond in a grueling battle. Drummond eventually escaped through a Spatial Rift, leaving the allied forces exhausted and the demon army nearly destroyed.

• Drummond led the Demon Army in an assault on Harrison Castle, but the defenders’ mages and Felicia blocked his strike and revealed several Saint Domain experts.
• Roland’s Magical Beast Knights, Earth Giants, Sea Folk, and elite soldiers encircled the demons, while the Saint Domain experts and human warriors engaged Drummond and the Demon Commanders.
• Drummond unleashed the Law of Destruction, severely injuring Reff, Monk, and Alvis, knocking Kailon into the earth, and nearly breaking Pedro’s resolve.
• Felicia slowed Drummond with her water domain as the Saint Domain experts circled him and wore down his strength through a day and night of fighting.
• With the Demon Army nearly wiped out and elite troops closing in, Drummond escaped through a Spatial Rift, and the exhausted Saint Domain experts collapsed.

Roland failed in his seventh attempt to refine a Saint Domain Fire Element Rhythm Potion, then learned that the victory in Quiris County had brought nearly one million rescued and promised slaves. He ordered Reff and Alredo to act quickly across the Terra Kingdom’s eastern provinces before Phillips could respond.

• Roland and Olivia attempted to refine a Saint Domain Fire Element Rhythm Potion, but the final step failed and destroyed materials worth three hundred thousand gold coins.
• Olivia urged Roland to rest, and they discussed building a Mage Tower for Felicia while sharing an awkward moment together.
• Leslie arrived and reported that Reff’s forces had won in Quiris County, rescuing more than three hundred thousand captives and securing another six hundred thousand slaves from the Harrison Family.
• Roland ordered Leslie to have Reff target struggling families across the eastern provinces and Alredo investigate demons that preyed on humans.
• Roland told Leslie to arrange merchant ships through James to transport the slaves back.

Dark Angel Borkan ordered Aelia and Lucille back to the Saint Nor Continent to watch Roland after learning that Michael and Minos had betrayed him. As Roland’s territory grew wealthy and powerful from the Demon Disaster, King Phillips decided to secretly lure demons into attacking it.

• Borkan questioned Aelia and Lucille about the army’s defeat, sentenced them to ten years of Demonic Flame Soul Devouring Punishment, and ordered them to monitor Roland.
• Roland’s territory expanded its workshops and forces, while Reff and Felicia’s legions killed hundreds of thousands of demons and brought nearly three million slaves back to the territory.
• Phillips became furious when he learned Roland had taken millions of people from the Terra Kingdom and demanded that his ministers help recover them.
• Cameron and other ministers persuaded Phillips to postpone open war until the Demon Disaster ended, but Phillips insisted Roland had to be eliminated immediately.
• Phillips ordered Rade to contact a Legendary Demon and reveal that Roland’s Sea of Ten Thousand Islands held nearly ten million people but no Legendary expert.

At the annual meeting in Azure Tide City, Roland revealed that he had become a Grandmaster Apothecary, then heard a report on the territory’s expansion and resources. The territory controlled four major sea regions, but a shortage of labor would delay the development of its vast farmland.

• Roland entered the annual meeting and presented a potion that caused a fiery phenomenon, revealing his breakthrough to Grandmaster Apothecary.
• The officials congratulated Roland, and he asked them to keep his achievement quiet while promising Saint Domain Potions according to merit.
• Roland began the annual summary meeting and handed the floor to Leslie.
• Leslie reported that the territory controlled the Azure Tide, Emerald, Spirit Tide, and Glazed Sea regions, with more than twenty thousand islands and extensive mineral resources.
• Leslie estimated that developed farmland could produce over twenty million tons of grain annually, but warned that labor shortages would keep production far below that level for at least three years.

At the year-end conference, Leslie, Reff, Olivia, and Dylan Fikernando reported on the territory’s finances, military strength, magical support, and Dark Angel forces. Roland learned that the territory had grown wealthy and developed powerful support workshops, while its army had suffered losses and its Dark Angel program continued to expand.

• Leslie reported that the territory had 7.3 million people, monthly income of 10.8 million gold coins, substantial grain reserves, and workshops generating large profits.
• Reff detailed the territory’s warriors, mages, legions, naval fleets, and weapons, including an army of 180,000 soldiers.
• Olivia reported that the territory’s alchemists, apothecaries, and Magic Pattern Masters could produce cannons, potions, inscriptions, scrolls, and magic arrays.
• Dylan Fikernando reported that 1,900 Dark Angels remained and that 520 more were undergoing race conversion.
• Roland recalled how a Saint Domain-level Dark Angel had seized control of an old marquis family’s Dark Angels, explaining the risks behind his own program.

Roland outlined the territory’s development plans and reorganized its military, setting expansion targets for its legions and creating new flying and elemental mage regiments. Alice resented losing most of her former Mage Regiment, leaving Roland to face her simmering anger as the meeting continued.

• Dylan Fikernando reported that 125 people were undergoing Demon Mage trans-species conversion and that the process would take six months to a year.
• Roland assigned the Administrative Department plans to develop Emerald, the Mystic Tide Sea Region, and the Glazed Sea Region, expand trade, and establish Ocean, Treasury, and Finance departments.
• Roland ordered multiple legions to expand, set troop and professional quotas, and established a Flying Legion under Alredo with Malcolm as deputy.
• Roland divided the Mage Regiment into elemental regiments, appointing captains including Felicia, Olivia, Alice, and Ryan.
• Natalie objected to being placed beneath Edwin, while Alice resented her reduced command and addressed Roland with icy sarcasm.

At the year-end meeting, Roland approved Alice’s plan to rescue elves from slave traders, while setting limits on the departments’ financial oversight and urging the island governors to build self-sufficient industries. He later agreed to let Alice travel to the continent with Natalie to recruit the elves, then shared an intimate moment with her in the carriage.

• Roland negotiated Alice’s demand for resources for the Wood Forest Mage Regiment and instructed the Military Affairs Department to recruit people and skilled workers.
• Alice asked the Military Affairs Department to help rescue enslaved elves, and Roland approved the plan after setting a threshold for the Administrative Department’s financial oversight.
• Roland told the island governors to develop agriculture and workshop industries, then outlined further plans for the territory’s farms, academies, and equipment workshop.
• In the carriage, Alice argued that Roland had cast her aside and asked to travel to the continent to recruit elves.
• Roland agreed to let Alice go with Natalie, warning her to avoid conflict with the royal families of the Three Great Kingdoms.
• Roland and Alice became intimate in the carriage.

Roland met with Sanita to discuss joining forces against the Flame Demon legion occupying the Valde Great Forest. Reff negotiated for a larger contribution of Hidden Valley Clan priests, arguing that the clan would benefit by gaining access to the forest’s resources, while Sanita remained wary of the proposed terms.

• Roland learned that Sanita had arrived and went with Leslie, Reff, and Fili to meet her.
• Sanita reported that the Valde Great Forest held more than a million demons, including eight thousand Flame Demons and four Saint-level Flame Demons.
• Reff demanded that the Hidden Valley Clan send at least four thousand five hundred priests, each of intermediate level or higher.
• Sanita asked for a larger share of the spoils, but Reff argued that the clan could gain the Valde Great Forest after defeating the Flame Demons.
• Reff said the weakened Nuxue Clan could not reclaim the forest and that the Hidden Valley Clan could profit from its resources during the Demon Disaster; Sanita resented him.

Roland and Sanita mobilized their forces to fight the flame demons in the Valde Great Forest, but Hestral refused to be drawn into the open and prepared defenses. After Roland reached the Beastkin Empire, Sanita warned him that a second flame demon legion was approaching, threatening to prolong the battle and strain Roland’s forces.

• Roland and Sanita agreed that the Hidden Valley Clan would provide nearly three hundred thousand troops while Roland supplied his legions, mages, and Saint Domain experts, with Roland claiming eighty percent of the spoils.
• Hestral ordered his flame demons to prepare for battle against the Hidden Valley Clan, then chose to scout Roland’s movements and delay the clan’s attack until Azmo arrived.
• Roland learned that Hestral’s army was retreating deeper into the Valde Great Forest, so he ordered scouts to investigate and his fleet to speed toward the Beastkin Empire.
• After Roland landed in the Beastkin Empire, Sanita reported that another flame demon legion was advancing from the west with five Saint Domain demons and roughly six hundred thousand Low-tier Demons.
• Roland recognized that the two flame demon legions could prevent a quick victory and leave him unable to protect his territory or abandon the Hidden Valley Clan.

Roland and Sanita chose to fight the Balrog legion in the Valde Great Forest, and Roland ordered an attack designed to reduce his army’s losses. After the army blocked the demons’ cannon barrage, fire mages set the forest ablaze, leaving the flames spreading beyond the front lines.

• Roland offered Sanita retreat to an island or a joint assault, and Sanita chose to fight.
• Roland and Sanita agreed to destroy the Balrog legion in the Valde Great Forest within seven days.
• After his army landed, Roland rejected a direct advance and ordered Bulwark warriors toward the forest while sea demon priests prepared defenses.
• Dark Fire Magic Crystal Cannons fired more than a hundred shells at the advancing Bulwark warriors, but Natalie and the sea demon priests held up a protective curtain.
• Roland’s fire-element mages sent more than a thousand fire serpents into the forest, igniting a blaze that rapidly spread through the dry trees.

Roland and the Hidden Valley Clan set the Valde Great Forest ablaze, killing hundreds of thousands of demons and destroying much of the forest. The fire cleared a route to Hestral’s position, giving the clan a chance to attack before reinforcements arrived.

• Roland ordered his mages to spread the flames through the forest, while demons destroyed their Dark Fire Magic Crystal Cannons before the fortress warriors could seize them.
• Hestral rejected Skul and Kao’s calls for an immediate counterattack and ordered elite demons to gather while lesser demons retreated toward the forest’s outer edges.
• After learning Roland had started the fire, Sanita urged the Hidden Valley Clan to withdraw from the forest and set it ablaze as well.
• Salite ordered the Orc warriors out and sent the clan’s priests to cast fire spells, driving the demons deeper into the forest.
• The fire raged for five days, killing more than three hundred thousand Low-tier Demons and opening a path toward the lava lake where Hestral was stationed.