Chapter Summaries

Lord Li Ang arrived at Fidne Village ahead of the Snake Worship Cult's army and learned from an elderly tribune that Lord Fabius and Governor Livius had devastated the region while trying to build up their forces. The five thousand people they had forcibly conscripted were hidden in the eastern mountains, and Li Ang was left to wonder where they were as the cult's army approached.

• Lord Li Ang reached desolate Fidne Village ahead of the Snake Worship Cult's army and sent Risadiran to investigate its survivors.
• Risadiran seized an elderly tribune, who told Li Ang that the Red Death had never reached the village and that Lord Fabius was its lord.
• The tribune explained that Governor Livius and Lord Fabius had forcibly conscripted nearly eight thousand people, including women and children, to strengthen their position amid the civil war.
• Governor Livius and Lord Fabius killed nearly three thousand people they suspected of joining the Snake Worship Cult, then plundered the surrounding area for grain.
• The tribune told Li Ang that the father and son had taken the remaining five thousand forcibly conscripted people into the eastern mountains.

Li Ang used Elisa’s disguise as a Snake Worship Cult priestess to draw Livius and Lord Fabius out of hiding and capture Fabius at the family estate. With the Snake Worship Cult army approaching and his forces short on men and arrows, Li Ang prepared to defend Fidne Village and lure the enemy into the valley.

• Li Ang occupied the Livius family estate and gathered about two hundred elderly villagers to help locate the family’s mines and support his ambush plans.
• Elisa posed as a Snake Worship Cult priestess and led the villagers to a major mine, prompting Livius and Lord Fabius to mobilize their soldiers.
• Lord Fabius followed Elisa’s group back to the estate and led soldiers through a hidden passage, where Li Ang’s forces surrounded them and forced Fabius to surrender.
• Li Ang ordered Lord Fabius to lead him to the captured villagers and release them.
• Wendilf reported that Snake Worship Cult scouts had been spotted nearby, and Li Ang prepared the village entrance with wooden stakes despite the shortage of trained fighters and arrows.

Li Ang and Elisa lured the Snake Worship Cult army into a narrow valley passage before triggering explosives that brought down the cliffs and buried most of the force. Li Ang, the villagers, and the manor’s defenders then attacked the survivors, leaving the valley cleared of standing Snake Worship Cultists.

• Li Ang watched the Snake Worship Cult vanguard enter the valley and approach the manor, where Elisa posed as a priestess commanding Lord Fabius’s soldiers and the rescued villagers.
• Elisa ordered the vanguard to attack the manor while her followers cut a narrow passage through the stake barricades, then directed the Cobra Warriors to attack from two sides.
• The main Snake Worship Cult army hurried through the passage, and a shot from the manor killed a priestess as Li Ang’s explosives began detonating along the cliffs.
• The explosions triggered landslides that buried the valley and trapped the Snake Worship Cult army, while the narrow passage left the soldiers with little room to escape.
• Li Ang, the female soldiers, the Noldor, and the villagers attacked the survivors, and within half an hour no Snake Worship Cultists remained standing in the valley.

Li Ang trapped the Snake Worship Cult army in the valley with landslides and smoke, then turned against Lord Fabius and his family's soldiers over their crimes against the villagers. After the villagers killed Fabius and the soldiers, Li Ang revealed to Amy that he intended to take the villagers away with him.

• Wendy and the Noldo Guard sealed the valley entrance with a fire while Li Ang lit a second fire at Fidne, filling the valley with smoke and suffocating the trapped Snake Worshippers.
• Li Ang ordered Lord Fabius to have the villagers recover their families and wealth and bring back Livius, promising to spare the disarmed soldiers if they complied.
• The villagers returned with the women and children and Livius's corpse, which had been mutilated after they found evidence that he and his soldiers had abused and killed women and girls.
• Li Ang had Livius's corpse thrown into the fire and called the soldiers Snake Worshippers, prompting the villagers to kill the soldiers and Lord Fabius.
• Amy questioned Li Ang about making the villagers do the killing, and he said he intended to take them away with him.

Li Ang finished eliminating the Snake Worship Cult at Fidne Village and led its villagers and seized supplies toward Calundru Castle before visiting Erudition City. Meanwhile, Kairos detained Emperor Marius at Fort Lela, Maltis vanished after capturing a Mettenheim commander, and Li Ang learned that Ansen had found possible clues to controlling Red Death in Brettwen.

• Li Ang’s forces and the villagers cleared and buried the Snake Worship Cultists’ bodies in the valley, while the Bacchus Empire’s governors maintained order during reconstruction.
• Kairos ordered Emperor Marius taken to Fort Lela, and Marius sent Agasong away to seek Justus or Alina before his own capture.
• Maltis defeated and captured a Mettenheim Legion Commander, then forced his regiment to take her surviving Adder Vanguards and their dead back to Amara Continent.
• Li Ang led more than six thousand people north, sent the villagers and supplies to Calundru Castle, and took the Silver Hand to Erudition City.
• General Clerion told Li Ang that Ansen had gone to Brettwen and had found clues related to controlling Red Death at an abandoned Snake Worship Cult nest.

Li Ang's men discovered a blood altar built from Red Death victims in Brettwen, where a mysterious voice identified Kloze as a potential Chosen shell before vanishing. Governor Kairos arrived escorting the imprisoned Emperor Marius, and his anguish over his son Antonius left the altar's purpose and Kairos's involvement unresolved.

• Li Ang and his men found Brettwen deserted, discovered blood flowing from a sealed temple, and warned Erudition City not to drink Lake Sava's water.
• The men broke into the temple and found hundreds of corpses surrounding a blood pool, where Castro's mutilated body lay chained to an altar.
• A disembodied voice described the ritual's thousand victims and called Kloze a promising Chosen shell, then vanished when Sammer reported an approaching army.
• Sammer identified the arriving force as Governor Kairos's, and Li Ang ordered his men to hide near the altar.
• Kairos brought the imprisoned Emperor Marius into Brettwen, panicked at the ruined temple, and mourned Antonius while Marius demanded an explanation.

Kairos explained how the Snake Worship Cult poisoned and took control of Antonius, then used him to try to lure Kairos into bringing Emperor Marius to an altar. After Li Ang appeared and questioned the scene, Kairos revealed that the temple had contained no corpses when it was sealed, only Antonius.

• Kairos told Emperor Marius that the Snake Worship Cult had poisoned Antonius and taken control of him.
• Kairos recounted how Lady Aras mistook Antonius for Kairos’s lover, ordered a servant to shoot him with a poisoned needle, and then worsened his condition by summoning quack doctors.
• Snake Worship Cultists posing as priests treated Antonius, awakened him as a compliant puppet, and brought Lady Aras and the household into the cult.
• The cult used Antonius to try to make Kairos open Imperial Port to its army, then demanded Emperor Marius’s blood as the price for restoring Antonius.
• Kairos said he had seen the cult seal Antonius inside the temple, where there had been no corpses at the time.
• Li Ang appeared, and Kairos confirmed that the altar had held only Antonius when it was sealed.

Li Ang confronted Kairos and Emperor Marius at the village temple, where a resurrected monster emerged from the altar and Kairos pursued it in hopes of finding his son and the Snake Worship Cult priest. Marius revealed his hidden Shadow Wolves, while Li Ang left to search for Ansen, who was on a boat on Lake Sava with two strangers.

• Li Ang surrounded Kairos's guards, helped Emperor Marius leave their custody, and tried to dissuade Kairos from confronting him.
• A mutilated corpse rose from the altar, and Kairos asked Li Ang to let it go so he could follow it to the cult priest and his son, Antonius.
• Li Ang let Kairos pursue the monster and told him that the Snake Worship Cult army near Fidne Village had been wiped out; Kairos thanked him and left with his troops.
• Marius declined Li Ang's offer to escort him and revealed that Sura and the Shadow Wolves had been following Kairos.
• Marius told Li Ang that the Vipers were trained by the Shadow Wolf Pack, and Li Ang departed to find Ansen and return to Calundru Castle.
• Ansen was revealed to be on a small boat on Lake Sava with an unconscious, scale-marked man and an armed woman.

Ansen and Julia fled the lake with an unconscious man whose unusual poison might help cure Red Death, but Devourers pursued them through the swamp. Risadiran found them and fought alongside Julia, and the two bonded over accidentally killing their younger brothers and their shared hatred of the Snake Worship Cult.

• Ansen and Julia reached a swamp while carrying the unconscious man, but realized they had lost their way as Devourers crept after them.
• Risadiran arrived with Noldo Rangers, killed a Devourer, and sent Ansen south on horseback with the patient while he and Julia stayed to fight.
• Risadiran and Julia coordinated seamlessly against the Devourers and defeated them within minutes.
• Julia told Risadiran that the Bacchus Empire hunted her because she had accidentally killed her twin brother Julius after discovering her family served a Snake Worship Cult priestess.
• Risadiran revealed that he too had accidentally killed a younger cousin and encouraged Julia to meet Li Ang, who opposed the Snake Worship Cult.
• Julia said she wanted to destroy the cult, and she and Risadiran bonded over their shared preference for bows and crossbows.

Ansen discovered that a poison affecting Antonius might suppress the Red Death, while Li Ang’s coconut-water infusion helped them try to keep him alive. Their discussion of blood transfusions led them to suspect that King Ulrich had injected Noldo blood into himself, and that the royal family’s supposed madness might have another cause.

• Ansen returned to Brettwen and found Antonius alive but unconscious, apparently protected from the Red Death’s transmission by an unknown poison.
• Ansen treated Antonius in the village while Li Ang helped, and they agreed he needed fluids and consciousness restored so they could identify the poison.
• Li Ang infused Antonius with coconut water through a vein, hoping to stabilize him long enough to wake.
• Ansen connected blood incompatibility, the Noldo’s resistance to the Red Death, and King Ulrich’s interest in Noldo maidens.
• Li Ang and Ansen suspected that King Ulrich had received Noldo blood and that the royal family’s supposed madness might not be madness.

Li Ang discovered that horsepox could immunize people against Red Death and organized its rapid spread with Amy and Sarah. Goddess Eunomia rewarded Li Ang and his companions, but warned that more evil enemies were watching their territory.

• Li Ang tested Risadiran's blood on a Red Death patient, but the patient died, while Julia remained uninfected after Antonius's blood had touched her hand.
• Alice developed sores after exposure to Red Death, then began recovering, leading Li Ang to suspect that infection in a hardy animal could provide a vaccine.
• Ansen tested the theory on himself, and Jocelyn confirmed that horsepox protected people from Red Death after recovering from mild symptoms.
• Amy and Sarah helped spread horsepox vaccination across nearby territories and improved Li Ang's reputation.
• Goddess Eunomia strengthened Li Ang and several companions' skills, then warned Li Ang that evil enemies were watching their territory.

Li Ang returned to Long River Town after securing Calundru Castle and Shield Wind Fortress, while the Goddess of Order’s warning about heretics remained unresolved. As the Red Death vaccine spread, Emperor Marius faced a huge debt for horses and arranged a covert raid into Dexia to seize more.

• Li Ang appointed Ansen acting governor of Calundru Castle to contain the Red Death and tasked Amy with rebuilding Shield Wind Fortress.
• Li Ang returned to Long River Town, where order, migration, and Pande Bank lending had grown during his absence.
• Ansen sold General Clerion three hundred horses on credit for vaccine production, securing Emperor Marius’s backing for a five-hundred-thousand-denar loan.
• Emperor Marius worried that vaccine costs could bankrupt the empire and decided to obtain horses from neighboring Dexia instead.
• Emperor Marius sent illegal armed groups into Dexia under the pretext of fighting heretics, while General Sura’s Shadow Wolf Pack followed to take Dexian horses.

Emperor Marius sent Agason to reorganize Fort Lela while General Titus returned to Sava Fortress with the Phoenix Knight Order and drove off invading forces from the Lionheart Kingdom and the Duchy of Dexia. After his victories, Titus began considering how to keep the Phoenix Knights under his command and build his own power by prolonging the war.

• Emperor Marius appointed Agason marshal and sent him to Fort Lela to reorganize its garrison.
• King Ulrich secretly sent troops across the Sava River, and Brennus and Bahaman fought over Sava Fortress until both withdrew after Li Ang took Calundru Castle.
• General Titus returned from the Amara Continent with the Phoenix Knight Order after destroying Snake Worship Cult ports and destroying part of the Fear Legion's fleet at sea.
• Titus ambushed Bahaman's retreating forces and later drove Brennus from villages in his territory, taking horses and inflicting heavy losses.
• Titus began considering how to retain control of the Phoenix Knight Order, expand his territory, and turn the knights into his private force by keeping the war going.

Agason led a thousand newly reorganized soldiers in a surprise attack that captured Seven Forks Fortress, forcing King Ulrich to mobilize the Lionheart Kingdom for war. Unable to pay Agason’s demanded ransom, Ulrich appointed Li Ang marshal and tasked him with retaking the fortress.

• Titus provoked conflict with the Lionheart Kingdom and the Duchy of Dexia, while Agason feared the weakened Bacchus Empire could not withstand a prolonged three-nation war.
• Agason led his troops across the freezing Sava River at night, infiltrated Seven Forks Fortress as reinforcements, and seized it.
• Agason demanded that King Ulrich pay one million denars and sign a ceasefire in exchange for leaving the fortress.
• Ulrich, whose treasury was depleted by debts and the rebuilding of the Lion Knight Order, declared war and summoned the kingdom’s lords to retake Seven Forks Fortress.
• A royal envoy appointed Li Ang marshal of the Lionheart Kingdom and charged him with leading the campaign to reclaim the fortress.

Li Ang delayed his campaign to retake Seven Forks Fortress, but a huge merchant convoy and the danger of a financial crisis forced him to mobilize the Lion Territory’s lords and consider expanding the war. The Duchy of Dexia then captured Sava Fortress and sent troops near Lion City, giving Li Ang the pretext he needed to act.

• Li Ang recognized that King Ulrich had made him marshal without providing troops or supplies, and he delayed organizing his army while training recruits.
• Merchants flocked to Long River Town and assembled a massive convoy, expecting to profit by following Li Ang’s campaign.
• Li Ang sent Eric east with the marshal’s scepter to gather the Lion Territory’s lords and let the merchants sell their goods to their forces.
• Li Ang realized that unsold merchant stock and bank loans could trigger a financial crisis, so he considered invading another country to find a market.
• The Duchy of Dexia captured Sava Fortress and sent troops near Lion City, giving Li Ang a justification for deploying his army.

Eric’s merchant caravan was mistaken for a massive Lionheart Kingdom army, prompting Titus to flee Sava Fortress and Ryman to seize it before Dexian forces drove him out. Believing Lion City had been left undefended, Bahad Khan Kadan then decided to raid its surrounding lands, unaware that it was full of troops and capable commanders.

• Eric’s merchant caravan gathered beneath the lords’ banners and drifted toward the Sava River, making it look like the Lionheart Kingdom’s army was preparing to attack.
• Titus mistook the caravan for a vast Lionheart force and withdrew to Fort Lela, after which Ryman abandoned the bridgehead and captured the empty Sava Fortress.
• Dexian forces attacked Sava Fortress, drove Ryman out after a day and a half, and inflicted heavy casualties before he discovered that Eric’s supposed army was mostly merchants.
• Eric and Ryman persuaded the merchants to retreat east, while Kadan’s forces found little loot in Sava Fortress and sought a more profitable target.
• Kadan mistook the merchant caravan for the Lionheart Kingdom’s main army moving east and decided to cross the Sava River and raid the lands around Lion City.

Ulrich’s forces crushed Kadan’s Dexian raiders at Yalagar Village but suffered heavy losses, leaving both rulers weakened. After Ulrich declared total war on Dexia, Li Ang rapidly mobilized for an invasion, while planning to negotiate with Agason over Seven Forks Fortress.

• Ulrich stationed the rebuilt Lion Knight Order and his enlarged Royal City Guard in Lion City, while Brennus assembled a new force and northwest lords gathered there.
• Kadan’s raiding army entered Yalagar Village and unexpectedly encountered Ulrich’s concentrated forces, prompting Ulrich to lead a charge against them.
• After a day of fierce cavalry fighting, the Lion Knight Order and Royal City Guard suffered heavy casualties, while Kadan’s army retreated into Dexia with little spoils.
• Kadan returned home weakened and faced a challenge from his younger brother Emil Xixis, who used Kadan’s hereditary succession system to argue that Dexia should be divided between them.
• Ulrich declared total war on Dexia, and Li Ang quickly mobilized his troops and summoned the kingdom’s lords to Sava Fortress for an invasion.
• Li Ang planned to avoid storming Seven Forks Fortress and instead seek a peaceful settlement with Agason.

Agason, driven to exhaustion by a month of misreading troop movements, mistook Li Ang’s sincere offer of an alliance for a trap and attacked him. Li Ang survived the sword strike thanks to the Dragon Tear, while Agason was wounded in the counterattack.

• Agason spent a month believing Li Ang’s movements and the Dexian army’s actions signaled an imminent invasion, and he prepared to abandon Seven Forks Fortress for a raid on Lion Lake City.
• Li Ang met Agason at Seven Forks Fortress and proposed a ceasefire and an alliance between the Lionheart Kingdom and the Bacchus Empire against Dexia.
• Agason distrusted Li Ang’s offer and suddenly attacked him with a quick-draw sword strike.
• Li Ang was wounded when the Dragon Tear in his chest pocket stopped the sword from killing him, and his counterattack broke several of Agason’s ribs.

Wendy tried to save the gravely wounded Li Ang by drawing vitality runes on his chest with her blood. When her blood splashed onto the purple crystals in his wound, they vanished along with the injury, and Li Ang woke unharmed.

• Li Ang collapsed after Agasong stabbed him, and Wendy and Kloze carried him away while both sides withdrew to tend to their leaders.
• Wendy watched Li Ang's heartbeat and breathing slow in the carriage, but did not know how to treat the strange purple crystals embedded in his wound.
• Wendy cut her wrist and began drawing Noldo vitality runes across Li Ang's chest with her blood.
• The carriage jolted, splashing Wendy's blood onto the crystals and ruining part of the sigil; the crystals flared with gentle purple light, then the wound disappeared.
• Li Ang woke and asked Wendy why she was crying before realizing he was naked except for his pants.

After waking from a coma with his wounds miraculously healed, Li Ang learned that Wendy had used her blood to draw a rune on him and restore him. His unusually slow heartbeat still worried her, but he felt strong as the carriage stopped so he could get fresh underwear.

• Li Ang awoke to find Wendy crying and pressed against his chest, then mistook her bleeding wrist for a suicide attempt and bandaged it with his torn underwear.
• Wendy explained that Li Ang’s wound had revealed purple fragments and that she had used her blood to complete a rune, which shone with purple light before he recovered.
• Li Ang discovered that his chest wound and old shoulder scar had vanished, while his heartbeat remained unusually slow despite feeling healthy and strong.
• Wendy, exhausted from drawing the rune and losing blood, rested as Li Ang stopped the carriage and asked Kloze to bring him underwear.
• Kloze saw Wendy asleep on the bloodstained couch and Li Ang putting on underwear, then mistakenly concluded that the two had been intimate.