Recaps

After learning how Ailiruila had protected Ice Tree Village as a Banshee, Xia Nan connected her decline and the village’s growing Goblin population to wider monster unrest. He visited Ailiruila’s grave with her grieving family, where the Ice Crystal Flower Bracelet’s attributes suddenly changed.

• The village chief told Xia Nan that Ailiruila had once guarded the village and that she began losing control around the start of the year.
• Xia Nan learned that Goblins had become unusually numerous near the village and recalled encountering a large Goblin force elsewhere.
• Xia Nan left the village chief’s cottage and prepared to depart for Blood-Cast Fortress with his companions.
• Xia Nan visited Ailiruila’s grave, where Old Sang and Sarah mourned beside her intact burial.
• Xia Nan removed Sarah’s Ice Crystal Flower Bracelet and noticed that its Attribute Panel had changed.

Xia Nan discovered that the Ice Crystal Flower from Spring Never Arrived had become an enchanted accessory after Ailiruila's death, then returned to Blood-Cast Fortress with his companions after a dangerous journey. He found the fortress crowded with a sudden influx of veteran and novice adventurers and asked a young officer what had caused it.

• Xia Nan examined Spring Never Arrived's new abilities, removed its Ice Crystal Flower, and returned Sarah's remaining bracelet to her as a memorial offering for Ailiruila.
• Xia Nan attached the flower to his necklace, then discussed magical equipment with his companions around the campfire.
• Xia Nan and the others set out at dawn and fought a berserk giant boar and a displacer beast before reaching Blood-Cast Fortress at sunset.
• Xia Nan noticed the fortress's outer camp was crowded with new adventurers, including timid novices being exploited by vendors.
• At the crowded Military Merit Office, Uriah volunteered to queue while Xia Nan approached the young officer and asked why so many adventurers had arrived.

Xia Nan learned that monsters were appearing more frequently near Blood-Cast Fortress and collected his share of the mission’s battle merits. After advancing to Border Patrolman, he went to a tavern with Tal and Fanny, where he asked Tal what he wanted to discuss.

• A young logistics officer told Xia Nan that monster sightings near Blood-Cast Fortress had increased and that the Inner Fortress might be preparing a large operation.
• Uriah submitted mission B135, and the group divided its 45 battle merits according to their contributions, giving Xia Nan 18.
• The group exchanged materials from two additional monsters for merits, earning Xia Nan another 12 and bringing his total above fifty.
• Completing the B-rank mission advanced Xia Nan from Recruit to Border Patrolman, one rank below Fortress Guardian.
• Tal invited Xia Nan for a drink, and the two went to a tavern with Fanny, where Xia Nan asked Tal what he wanted.

Tal told Xia Nan he planned to join Sulfur Dragon Breath, and Xia Nan accepted his choice while warning that the team might soon disband if it found no new members. As Xia Nan ate at a tavern in Blood-Cast Fortress, Zanfrui, Ak, and Wenser arrived, leaving him to wonder how the three had come together.

• Tal explained that he intended to join Sulfur Dragon Breath, and Xia Nan reassured him that he had no objection.
• Xia Nan advised Tal to hurry because Sulfur Dragon Breath might disband if it failed to recruit soon.
• Xia Nan ordered and enjoyed a hearty meal at a Blood-Cast Fortress tavern.
• Zanfrui, Ak, and Wenser entered the tavern after arriving with a recruitment squad.
• Zanfrui tried to appear like an experienced adventurer at the counter but nearly fell off his stool.

Zanfrui and Wenser arrived at Blood-Cast Fortress and went to a tavern, where the powerful adventurer Magda targeted Zanfrui. The chapter ended with Magda demanding that he sit on her lap and feed her.

• Zanfrui befriended Wenser during their journey after learning that Wenser knew stories about Grove Wilmot, the Silver Lake Shield.
• After registering at Blood-Cast Fortress, Zanfrui brought Wenser to a tavern and offered to pay for their meal.
• Wenser ordered only the cheapest sauerkraut and black bread, while Zanfrui planned to order far more food than they could eat.
• Magda, the Level 5 captain of the Ghost-Faced Spider team, approached and demanded that Zanfrui treat her to a meal.
• Ak offered to cover Magda's and her team's expenses, but Magda agreed only if Zanfrui sat on her lap and fed her.

Zanfrui, Ak, and Wenser faced a threat from Magda, the Fat Hyena, until Xia Nan intervened and drove her away. The group thanked Xia Nan and discussed their next plans in Blood-Cast Fortress.

• Zanfrui stepped forward to protect Wenser and Ak, offering to feed Magda if she let all three leave unharmed.
• Wenser spotted Xia Nan in the tavern but initially pretended not to see him so he would not be drawn into danger.
• Xia Nan signaled Wenser that he would help, and Wenser called out to him, prompting Zanfrui to greet him too.
• Magda sensed Xia Nan's superior strength, abandoned her attempt to claim Zanfrui, and led the Ghost-Faced Spider out of the tavern.
• Zanfrui, Wenser, and Ak thanked Xia Nan for rescuing them, and Ak offered to cover the expenses for Xia Nan, Tal, and Fanny.
• Xia Nan asked the group what they planned to do next.

Xia Nan warned Zanfrui and Ak about the dangers around Blood-Cast Fortress, then reported his mission findings to Fugan. Fugan confirmed the link between rising goblin numbers and berserk monsters, but told Xia Nan to rest and focus on his own affairs while the mission channels remained closed.

• Zanfrui asked to join Xia Nan’s team, but Xia Nan rejected him because the inexperienced boy could not keep pace.
• Ak asked about local dangers, and Tal explained why more adventurers had gathered at Blood-Cast Fortress while sizing Ak up as a potential recruit for Sulfur Dragon Breath.
• Xia Nan left the tavern with Fanny and went to meet Fugan in the Inner Fortress.
• Xia Nan reported the hunter, banshee, rising monster numbers, and goblins, and showed Fugan the ice crystal flower accessory [Spring Never Arrived].
• Fugan confirmed that rising goblin numbers were connected to monsters going berserk and said he had come to Blood-Cast Fortress to address the issue.
• Fugan told Xia Nan to rest until the mission channels reopened and then attend to what needed doing without worrying too much.

Xia Nan headed to a Goblin Nest after resting from the Banshee assignment, but news that the Blood-Cast Fortress had reopened its commissions redirected him to the Military Merit Office. He received an assignment to investigate missing sheep and signs of a possible Underdark entrance southwest of the fortress.

• Xia Nan saw exhausted garrison soldiers return with a Meltback Drake carcass and heard that monsters had been appearing unusually close to the fortress.
• Adventurers learned that commissions were available again, so Xia Nan abandoned his plan to visit a Goblin Nest and joined the queue at the Military Merit Office.
• Xia Nan received assignment B632, which called for investigating missing sheep and underground tremors southwest of the Blood-Cast Fortress and eliminating monsters emerging from the Underdark.

Xia Nan accepted an investigation quest and traveled alone with Fanny to a remote valley where a shepherd’s sheep had been vanishing after a sudden underground disturbance. After hearing the shepherd’s account, Xia Nan set out to inspect the sheep pen.

• Blood-Cast Fortress assigned Xia Nan an investigation quest suited to his demonstrated strength, and he left alone with Fanny.
• Xia Nan reached a small pasture and found the frightened flock and its crude, damaged enclosure.
• The shepherd welcomed Xia Nan into his cottage and explained that he grazed his sheep in the valley to improve their wool.
• The shepherd said a crash from the west had damaged the pen, underground noises had followed, and nearly half his flock had disappeared.
• Xia Nan finished questioning the shepherd and asked him to lead the way to the sheep pen.

Zanfrui, Wenser, and Ak investigated undead activity near the Blood-Cast Fortress, where Zanfrui narrowly avoided a skeleton soldier’s attack before Wenser and Ak helped destroy it. Elsewhere, Xia Nan investigated missing sheep and found scratches and nearly invisible spider silk, leaving the culprit’s identity unresolved.

• Zanfrui charged a skeleton soldier recklessly, dodged its sword strike, and Wenser severed its spine before Zanfrui smashed its skull and holy water extinguished its undead flame.
• Ak advised Zanfrui to stay calmer and explained that the trio had taken an investigation mission because military recruitment was suspended.
• Ak confirmed the skeleton was dead and told Zanfrui and Wenser to rest before moving on.
• Xia Nan questioned a shepherd about sheep that had vanished without leaving tracks or drag marks.
• Xia Nan noticed deep scratches on the sheep pen’s roof and nearly invisible spider silk beneath its edge.

Xia Nan identified the creature attacking a shepherd’s flock as a phase spider and planned to ambush it while investigating a suspected Underdark entrance. When the spider appeared that night and killed a ram, Xia Nan struck as it tried to shift planes, hitting it with an empowered dagger.

• Xia Nan used the clues at the sheep pen to identify the attacker as a phase spider and agreed to stay with the shepherd for three days to hunt it.
• Xia Nan arranged to watch the flock at night and investigate the suspected Underdark entrance during the day, while the shepherd agreed to follow his instructions.
• Xia Nan and Fanny caught snow hares for dinner, and Xia Nan told the shepherd to rest while he kept watch.
• A phase spider appeared on the shed roof, teleported into the pen, and killed the flock’s ram.
• As the phase spider prepared to use Ethereal Jaunt, Xia Nan threw an empowered dagger that struck its vital point and erupted in an explosion of energy.

Xia Nan crippled and pursued a Phase Spider, then discovered its nest among Goblins and an entrance to the Underdark. When Fanny alerted him to a dangerous cluster of mushrooms, Xia Nan fled with her as the cave began to collapse.

• Xia Nan wounded the Phase Spider with [Gravity Etching] and pursued it as its damaged Ethereal Jaunt forced it to make shorter jumps.
• Xia Nan and Fanny tracked the Phase Spider to a Goblin nest, where Goblins fed animal and Goblinoid corpses to Phase Spider eggs and hatchlings.
• Xia Nan and Fanny killed the nest's Goblins and spiders, and Xia Nan found a fissure he identified as a likely entrance to the Underdark.
• Fanny alerted Xia Nan to a small cluster of mushrooms, and Xia Nan grabbed her and raced for the cave entrance as the rock walls cracked and the cave collapsed.

Ak, Zanfrui, and Wenser faced an attack by ten powerful ghouls and tried to escape, but a violent earthquake swallowed them all. The chapter left their fate unknown as they plunged into darkness.

• Ak recalled how Zanfrui and Wenser had clashed over their reckless and protective fighting styles after battling skeleton soldiers.
• Ak detected a fresh stench of rot and warned Zanfrui and Wenser as ten ghouls closed in around their camp.
• Ak blasted open an escape route with his shield and carried Zanfrui and Wenser away from the ghouls.
• An elite ghoul ordered the others to pursue Ak, while an earthquake shook the ground beneath them.
• Ak threw Zanfrui and Wenser ahead and prepared to face the ghouls, but the ground collapsed and swallowed all of them.

After escaping the rockfall in the Goblin Nest, Xia Nan and Fanny discovered that the mushrooms were traces of the Wasteland Druid Fugan was tracking. Stranded in the Underdark, Xia Nan set out to find a way back to the Blood-Cast Fortress and encountered a Kenku.

• Xia Nan freed himself and Fanny from the rubble, then healed their minor injuries with Lesser Healing.
• Fanny confirmed that the mushrooms in the Goblin Nest were connected to the Wasteland Druid, prompting Xia Nan to decide he needed to report the discovery to Fugan.
• Xia Nan realized he had fallen into the Underdark and chose an upward-sloping tunnel to explore with Fanny.
• Xia Nan killed a charging crowlike monster with Gravity Etching and identified it as a Kenku.

Xia Nan and Fanny discovered a cavern filled with slain Kenku and heard a fight nearby. He arrived just in time to save Zanfrui and Wenser from a Ghoul after Zanfrui used the Returning Tide Shield Stance.

• Xia Nan left the slain Kenku behind and continued through the Underdark with Fanny.
• Xia Nan found more than forty dead Kenku in a cavern, their wounds suggesting they had been killed with weapons.
• Xia Nan heard fighting and recognized the voices of Zanfrui and Wenser battling a Ghoul.
• Wenser stabbed the Ghoul, and Zanfrui shielded him from its counterattack before using the Returning Tide Shield Stance to block another blow.
• Xia Nan arrived with Fanny and killed the Ghoul by driving his flaming wooden sword through its skull.

Xia Nan gained the first inspiration for a combat technique after witnessing Zanfrui’s shield stance, then saved him from a Ghoul’s infection. He agreed to help Zanfrui search for Ak while seeking an exit from the Underdark, and Zanfrui offered to teach him the technique.

• Xia Nan realized the shield’s sudden return to its defensive position had inspired a technique based on [Reset], [Loop], and [Cancel].
• Xia Nan killed the wounded Ghoul with [Green Pine] and used [Spring Never Arrived] to remove the infection spreading through Zanfrui’s wound.
• Zanfrui told Xia Nan that Ak had stayed behind to hold off the Ghouls and was separated from them when the earthquake sent them into the Underdark.
• Xia Nan said he planned to find an exit and offered to look for Ak along the way, as long as doing so did not endanger their escape.
• Zanfrui asked Xia Nan to take Wenser and agreed to teach him the [Returning Tide Shield Stance].

Xia Nan tested a new combat technique while fighting cave gnolls and used it to kill their leader and save Zanfrui from a fatal counterattack. After giving Zanfrui and Wenser advice, the group prepared to continue through the Underdark, but a dangerous chorus of howls approached from a tunnel.

• Xia Nan fought the cave gnoll leader with [Honey Tangerine Dagger] and developed a sudden reset-like strike that let him kill it.
• Zanfrui and Wenser worked together to defeat a cave gnoll, but it launched a final attack at Zanfrui; Xia Nan immobilized it with gravitational control and killed it.
• Xia Nan praised Zanfrui and offered him and Wenser combat advice, then planned for the group to rest before continuing their search for an exit and Ak.
• After barely fifteen minutes of rest, Xia Nan's group heard a dense chorus of howls and felt danger approaching from a tunnel.

Xia Nan and his companions escaped a dangerous Kenku flock with help from the Gnome Langda Yanshao, who explained his connection to the flock. The group had found a temporary refuge, but Langda’s account revealed that the Kenku had begun behaving strangely two months earlier.

• Xia Nan sensed a flock of nearly a hundred Kenku approaching and led Zanfrui, Wenser, and Fanny toward a hidden crack in the rock.
• A Gnome beckoned them into a chamber and muffled the Kenku screeches with his feather cloak until the flock passed.
• The Gnome introduced himself as Langda Yanshao, and Xia Nan and Zanfrui explained that an earthquake had stranded them in the Underdark.
• Langda explained that his party had followed the Kenku flock for nearly three years to profit from its migration route and the remains it left behind.
• Langda said he had noticed a strange change in the Kenku flock two months earlier.

Xia Nan questioned Ronda about the berserk Kenku and learned that Goblins had attacked the flock before Ronda’s captain vanished and his two teammates went missing. Ronda offered to guide Xia Nan’s group to a surface exit, while Ak awoke alone underground and called for Zanfrui.

• Ronda explained that the Kenku’s growing aggression began after they encountered Goblins that resisted their screeches, and his party chose to keep following the flock for profit.
• Ronda recounted that the Goblins later overwhelmed the Kenku, splitting the flock; his captain disappeared during their fight, and the other two teammates vanished after following the smaller group.
• Ronda told Xia Nan that one surface route was blocked and offered to guide the group through another route near an adult Hook Horror in exchange for help.
• Zanfrui asked Ronda whether he had seen a middle-aged man carrying a heavy shield, but Ronda said he had not.
• Ak woke injured beneath a glowing Fungal Moss ceiling, remembered falling when the ground collapsed, and called out for Young Master Zanfrui before someone answered him.