Chapter Summaries

Caroso bought Rupert's Tear at the auction before Celica stormed in to stop the sale of a Dark Elf. Celica accused the Corleone Family of illegal trafficking and forced the nobles to surrender, while the auction house's attempt to interfere left the hall in darkness.

• Saya and Caroso attended the auction, where Caroso outbid others and bought Rupert's Tear for three hundred thousand Magic Crystal Coins.
• The auctioneer displayed a wounded Dark Elf in a cage, and the Single-ponytail recognized her childhood companion.
• Celica entered the auction house and demanded that the Dark Elf be handed over to the Goddess of Dawn Church.
• Jeff Corleone claimed the captive was a human in disguise, but Celica insisted on inspecting her without a search warrant.
• Jeff gestured to his people, and the Single-ponytail cut the power, plunging the auction hall into darkness.
• Celica illuminated the hall with Holy Power and ordered everyone to squat with their hands on their heads, while Caroso explained to Saya that magic was sealed but Holy Power was not.

An assault on Corleone Manor threw the auction into chaos as Celica protected the Dark Elf and fought Minette, who had come to take her. The manor’s defenses shifted against the attackers, nobles turned on one another, and Saya discovered Caroso had disappeared.

• Single-ponytail ordered her forces to attack Corleone Manor, while Scarface led mercenaries into the armory to seize weapons and loot the treasury.
• Jeff activated Plan F, changing the manor’s defenses and formations; Scarface’s group was caught by gunfire and a hidden magic array.
• Minette shook the floating island and infiltrated the manor as Celica’s Holy Shield shattered under a dark-energy attack.
• Celica urged the auction guests to evacuate, but nobles and their retainers fought amid Minette’s attacks and lava giants.
• Minette and Celica clashed repeatedly while Minette demanded the Dark Elf and Celica insisted on taking her to the church.
• Saya turned to find Caroso gone, while the Dark Elf heard Minette’s voice and began to cry.

The auction hall descended into chaos again as emergency crews fought among themselves and the exits were sealed. Ailin gathered nobles from the Pander Empire and prepared to force their way out, while Jeff ordered them suppressed to protect his contingency plan.

• Jeff activated the Calm Spirit magic circle, calming the crowd and weakening summoned retainers, but black-clad men soon entered and began fighting among themselves.
• The main doors slammed shut and bronze gates blocked every passage except one, intensifying the panic as Rio watched from his private room and refused to intervene.
• Ailin crashed into Jeff’s control console and warned that there were bombs beneath the auction house.
• Ailin gathered nobles and guards from the Pander Empire, then pointed her longsword at Jeff and declared that she did not trust him.
• Jeff ordered everyone to suppress Ailin and her group before they could charge through the remaining exit.

As the auction hall descended into violence, Caroso used powerful Nature Mage cards to stop Jeff and shield Ailin’s escape attempt. Saya caught Jeff’s pocket watch and gained access to its magic, but faced the remaining black-clad men alone.

• Jeff’s men suppressed the hall’s magic and trapped nobles in nets, while Ailin led the Pander nobles toward the exit.
• Jeff blocked Ailin’s group with a magic array and charged at them as his men closed in.
• Caroso used Emperor Gufu and Nature Mage spells to summon Treants that stopped Jeff and vines that blocked the nets.
• Rio tossed Jeff’s pocket watch to him, but Caroso kicked it away before Jeff could reach it.
• Saya caught the pocket watch and received its magical power as the remaining black-clad men turned to face him.

Jeff confronted Saya over the suspected plot, while Saya and Caroso teamed up to hold him off. Ailin led the nobles in a violent breakout through the auction house guards, and the battle continued with Jeff trapped between the escape attempt and the brothers’ attack.

• Jeff suspected Saya of being involved in the attack and ordered his guards to capture him, but Saya used Teleport to escape the nets.
• Celica and Minette continued fighting as Ailin led the nobles toward an exit, and Jeff ordered his men to stop pursuing them.
• Ailin’s group encountered men in black, and she charged their formation despite being wounded by Demon-Breaking Rounds.
• Caroso intervened to protect Saya, and he and Saya combined their spells to trap Jeff in ice, which Jeff broke free from.
• Saya and Caroso attacked Jeff with Arcane Missiles and a Poison Bee Swarm, enveloping him in green mist.

Caroso and Saya kept Jeff occupied while rescuers attacked the Dark Elf’s cage, and Saya realized Caroso had maneuvered him into their planned strategy. As Jeff pursued them, Caroso offered to help Merlin rescue the captured High Elf, but Jeff mistook Merlin for their accomplice and blocked their path.

• Caroso and Saya restrained Jeff with coordinated magic, and Saya realized he had been drawn into the plan they had previously discussed.
• Caroso told Saya that he would take responsibility for leading the scheme, though Saya had no choice but to keep following the plan.
• A single-ponytail girl and other attendants attacked the Seastone cage holding the Dark Elf while the black-clad men fought them.
• Caroso and Saya ran for the passage, and Jeff chose to pursue them rather than focus on the Dark Elf.
• Merlin headed toward the passage to find the captured High Elf, and Caroso offered to help in exchange for a favor.
• Jeff swung his sword to block Caroso, Saya, and Merlin, mistakenly treating Merlin as their accomplice.

Merlin fought Jeff to protect the people held at the auction house while Rio chose to let events unfold. Caroso and Saya reached the captives’ room, where Caroso used his knowledge of the facility to open the door and retrieve a hidden ring of keys.

• Merlin refused Jeff’s demand to leave and attacked him with a sword, revealing her skill as an eighth-tier warrior.
• Rio watched the fight and told his attendant to let his uncle handle matters, explaining that he intended to gamble on the coming transformation.
• Caroso and Saya left the passage and argued about Caroso’s plan to bring the second event into reality.
• Caroso entered the password to open a secured bronze door and led Saya into a room holding captive knights and an elf.
• Caroso opened a hidden compartment in the wall and took out a ring of keys while the captives watched.

Ailin led the freed prisoners off the Corleone Family’s floating estate, but they were stranded without their powers or a way down. Meanwhile, Peter and Shirley investigated a rural church before a crowd of people suddenly fell from the sky near them.

• Caroso freed the prisoners and told them that Ailin Yixite and Saya Kolia had rescued them, while he secretly informed the High Elf that Merlin had sent them.
• Ailin led the prisoners outside, then rejected Marquis Brey’s suggestion to wait because they could be silenced or blamed if Celica died.
• Ailin proposed capturing nearby sentries to learn how to leave the floating island.
• Peter and Shirley found no obvious problems at the rural church and discussed where someone could pray to the goddess without being noticed.
• A crowd of knights, mages, and nobles fell from the sky, and Peter and Shirley hurried to help them.

After escaping the auction, Shirley, Peter, and Ailin discovered a vast Seastone barrier beneath the floating island, which Peter suspected concealed a major secret. The chapter ended with Caroso sent to retrieve help while Ailin worried that the people of her country could no longer be trusted.

• Shirley calmed the frightened escapees, and Ailin explained how Jeff’s magic arrays had trapped the auction’s guests while Bishop Celica fought an attacker.
• Shirley and Ailin went with Peter to meet Saya and Caroso, who reported that Celica and her opponent were still fighting above.
• Ailin sensed something terrifying beneath them, and Peter insisted that they investigate the ground instead of rushing to Celica’s aid.
• Peter used Giant Growth on a Dawn Recruit, who dug through the earth and uncovered an enormous mass of Seastone.
• Peter sent Caroso to find help and tools, while Ailin offered to call on others and Caroso stopped her.

Caroso gathered Alita, Krumen, and Bai to help Bishop Celica with a secret task in the wilderness, while Messiah watched over the church and reacted to a fissure opening in the Goddess of Dawn statue. The group headed toward the forest, and Messiah set out to see the unfolding trouble.

• Caroso told Alita that Bishop Celica needed their support, and Alita agreed to help after learning the task involved digging.
• Caroso recruited Krumen, hoping her mechanical skills could help build a machine on the spot.
• Caroso, Krumen, Bai, and Alita left the church and headed toward the forest to help investigate.
• Messiah played an ancient ballad above the church as a fissure opened in the Goddess of Dawn statue.
• Messiah mocked the statue and went to watch the excitement, warning that anyone seeking revival would need her permission.

Caroso returned to the Seastone excavation with Bai and Alita, and Bai’s legendary summon forged real iron tools to help the group dig and make parts for Krumen. As the powerful fighters battled overhead, Krumen announced that her assembly was complete.

• Caroso arrived with Krumen, Bai, and Alita, and Peter asked why the two eighth-tier card makers had come.
• Bai summoned Forging Master Buck, who forged iron hoes from materials gathered nearby.
• Peter and the others used the hoes to dig through the Seastone, while Buck made precise parts for Krumen.
• Alita watched the battle overhead and changed the subject when Shirley said she could not help.
• Krumen announced that the assembly was complete.

Caroso and the others uncovered cultivation tanks containing artificial Death Knights modeled on the legendary Knights of the Round Table, then decided to leave and summon reinforcements. As they returned to the surface, Celica arrived while Minette had disappeared.

• Krumen built a magic-crystal-powered chainsaw that let Caroso cut through the Seastone, and Peter helped pry open the stone and punch through the granite beneath it.
• Caroso and Peter discovered tanks containing powerful, ice-armored Death Knights, and Ailin recognized their faces as resembling the founders of the Pander Empire.
• Ailin named the apparent Knights of the Round Table, then realized the figures were younger than the real knights could have been.
• Caroso suggested the figures had been created using the knights' history and reputation rather than their desecrated corpses, while Peter warned they could grow to the eighth rank.
• Peter decided the group should return to the surface and call for reinforcements, and Caroso encouraged the shaken Ailin to consider her duty as the Empire's princess.
• After the group climbed out, Celica descended from the sky, and Minette was gone.

Merlin defeated Jeff and left him questioning his priorities, while Rio dealt with the nobles after the Corleone Family stopped the attack. Celica learned that the auction house’s underground facility contained tanks for creating Death Knights, leaving her to consider whether the family’s leader was involved.

• Merlin spared Jeff after defeating him, and Jeff resolved to become stronger rather than rely on family status.
• Rio apologized to the nobles for trapping them in nets and said the Corleone Family would pursue the mastermind behind the attack.
• Celica told Shirley that the attacker had been too powerful for her to face and considered investigating how the terrorists had contacted Minette.
• Peter reported that the underground facility contained cultivation tanks holding people with Death Knight auras and that the Death Knights were all seventh rank.
• Celica warned that Dawn’s divine punishment would reach the Corleone Family’s leader if he had been involved.

Celica and the others tried to investigate the hole, but Riccardo accused her of betraying the Goddess of Dawn Church and activated the God Slaying Array against her. They survived by taking cover underground, while Riccardo ordered Primont to ensure they never came back out and powerful leaders from other churches and associations arrived.

• Celica recovered her strength and prepared to investigate the hole with Peter, while Ailin insisted on joining them as a princess.
• Priests formed the God Slaying Array around Celica and the others, suppressing their magic as Riccardo announced that Celica was guilty of betraying the Church.
• Celica, Caroso, Saya, and the others fled into the hole, and Celica blocked the entrance with a Seastone slab before the array's beam annihilated everything above it.
• Riccardo told Primont to take his knights into the pit and silence the survivors, while Primont claimed they would not escape.
• Leaders from major churches and professional associations arrived and asked Riccardo what had happened.

Celica and her companions survived the God Slaying Array, but Riccardo’s attack left them badly injured and trapped beneath the Seastone. Celica hoped the nearby church leaders she had arranged to gather would protect them, while Bai warned that Riccardo might still kill them and blame them for what happened.

• Riccardo tried to dismiss the visiting church leaders’ questions about the God Slaying Array and the Seastone, but the Pope of the Church of the Blazing God of War and a cardinal from the Church of the Lionheart pressed him for answers.
• Celica, Shirley, Peter, Bai, and Alita struggled to survive the power that seeped through gaps in the stone slab; the ice melted, the Death Knights were vaporized, and Caroso led several low-level people through a door.
• Celica accused Riccardo of trying to kill her, while Alita panicked that he would silence the survivors and Bai urged her to stay calm.
• Celica explained that she had arranged for leaders from various churches to stay nearby, hoping they had noticed the array’s disturbance.
• Alita suggested going up to meet the church leaders, but Bai warned that Riccardo could kill them and accuse them of being traitors, leaving Celica uncertain what to do.

Caroso, Saya, Ailin, and Krumen survived the God Slaying Array and found themselves separated from Celica and the others in a sealed underground complex. Krumen identified it as the Goblin Ruins and realized it might contain valuable artifacts.

• Caroso told Saya that Celica's allies were likely holding back the church's forces and that they needed to find an exit.
• Ailin woke and searched for Celica, but found another room and no sign of her group.
• Caroso explained that they were no longer in the same place, and Ailin realized the ceiling was sealed.
• Krumen woke, recognized the complex as the Goblin Ruins, and explained that the ancient goblins had advanced mechanical and biological knowledge.
• Krumen became excited at the prospect of finding valuable things in the ruins.

Caroso and his companions explored the Goblin Ruins, where Krumen discovered she could make ice bombs from the materials there. After Pander Empire soldiers ambushed them, Caroso used the bomb and his fighting skills to defeat their knight, while Minette set out to enter the ruins through another entrance.

• Krumen explained that she could use the ruins' materials to make ice bombs, surprising Saya and Caroso.
• Minette prepared to return to the dangerous Goblin Ruins to repay a favor and rescue Mei, despite Single-ponytail and Mei trying to dissuade her.
• Pander Empire soldiers ambushed Caroso, Krumen, Saya, and Ailin with guns and Demon-Breaking Rounds, wounding Ailin before she found cover.
• Caroso planted an ice bomb as a feint, freezing the soldiers and disrupting the knight's attempt to use a remote control.
• Caroso cut off the knight's arm with a greatsword, and Krumen asked Saya to reimburse her for the bomb.

Ailin confronted a knight who had tried to kill her under Grand Duke Benson’s orders and executed him after he defended his loyalty and questioned the idea of a just war. The underground facility began releasing its seventh-rank Death Knights, leaving Caroso, Ailin, Saya, and Krumen to face them.

• Ailin questioned the defeated knight, who admitted he had obeyed Grand Duke Benson and defended his loyalty to his lord.
• The knight argued that all wars served power and wealth, while Caroso explained the King of Knights’ reforms and Ailin struggled with the conflict between loyalty and righteousness.
• Ailin killed the knight after Caroso advised her to follow her heart.
• The cultivation tanks began absorbing their liquid, and Caroso guessed someone was releasing the Death Knights or destroying evidence.
• The Death Knights burst from their tanks, and Saya, Ailin, Caroso, and Krumen prepared to fight.

Caroso, Ailin, and Saya fought through Death Knights on the third floor while Celica and her companions battled a larger force above. Celica confronted a paladin who served the church’s scheme, and the chapter ended with her unleashing a powerful Divine Radiance of Dawn to withstand an explosion of Death Knights.

• Ailin, Caroso, and Saya coordinated their attacks to melt, stagger, and cut down the Death Knights on the third floor while Krumen struggled to keep up.
• Celica’s group fought waves of seventh-tier Death Knights as Bai and Alita used healing cards to stabilize the injured and Shirley focused on healing Celica.
• Alita questioned why the Death Knights were being used as expendable forces, and Bai suggested their enemies were trying to avoid exposing more important assets.
• An eighth-tier paladin and his knights appeared and attacked Celica, declaring that he was carrying out a mission for the church.
• Celica rejected the paladin’s claim that the church’s actions served the Goddess, destroyed the knights’ formation, and drove him back.
• The paladin triggered an explosion among the Death Knights, and Celica planted her sword in the ground and unleashed Divine Radiance of Dawn to shield her group.

Caroso, Ailin, Saya, and Krumen rescued Celica’s group from an eighth-rank ambush by using the Goblin Ruins’ magic arrays and mechanisms. The exhausted survivors regrouped in the command room, where Saya began explaining what had happened.

• Celica’s party faced two eighth-rank knights after Celica had destroyed most of the Death Knights, but a magic array blocked the attack and dropped them through two levels.
• Celica’s group landed in the Goblin Ruins’ command room, where they found Caroso, Ailin, Saya, and Krumen waiting.
• Caroso and Ailin were badly injured, Saya was exhausted, and Krumen was the only one still in normal condition.
• Bai examined Caroso’s frostbitten arm, while Celica and Alita asked what had happened and Ailin’s condition was checked by Peter.
• Caroso asked Saya to explain the situation, and Saya began recounting how Krumen had discovered the ruins and Caroso had found the command room.