Recaps

Hao Ren and Vivian met Salamander aboard the Guardian flagship and learned that the Guardians knew about the Creation Goddess’s plans and Vivian’s role as the Yggdrasil Ark’s guide. The chapter ended as Salamander offered another way to verify Vivian’s identity.

• Hao Ren and Vivian boarded the Guardian flagship Ayr, where Salamander welcomed them and explained that Amantir had to be preserved because it contained something vital to the Guardians.
• Hao Ren asked Salamander about the Nakdal Crystal, and Salamander said it was connected to the secrets of the Guardians’ holy land.
• Vivian revealed that she believed herself to be the Creation Goddess’s daughter, and Hao Ren vouched for her identity as the Goddess’s divine incarnation.
• Salamander said the Guardians knew about the Yggdrasil Ark Project and the guide who had served aboard it.
• Hao Ren said Vivian had activated the Nakdal Crystal, but Salamander explained that this alone could not prove her identity and offered another method.

Hao Ren and Vivian reached the Final Hub, where Salamander explained that Vivian had to undergo an identity verification before he would reveal the sanctuary’s secrets. Salamander led them to the Crystal Throne mountain, and Hao Ren learned that reaching it had already required passing the first trial.

• Aier and Giant Turtle Rock Platform approached the Final Hub, and Salamander explained that the Starry Sky People had powered its Planetary Shield to help defend it from the Corruptors.
• Salamander said Vivian had to pass a formal verification before he could confirm her identity as the guide and reveal the Creation Goddess’s plans.
• Hao Ren and Vivian landed on the planet and saw the crystal mountain where the Crystal Throne lay; Hao Ren left Doudou aboard the ship before they followed Salamander toward it.
• The Data Terminal repeatedly questioned Salamander about the sanctuary and its verification, so Hao Ren shoved it into his pocket.
• Salamander told Hao Ren and Vivian that reaching the mountain’s entrance meant they had passed the first trial, which barred the corrupted and those bearing malice toward the sanctuary.

Salamander brought Vivian to the crystal wall for the temple’s verification, and she connected to the main system after the fairies accepted her as a possible queen. Vivian found herself in a crystal forest as the system confirmed her administrator connection and opened ports on the Throne of the End.

• Salamander summoned the fairies at the cliff and explained that Vivian had passed authentication at the Nakdal Crystal and needed the temple’s second verification procedure.
• The fairies agreed to let Vivian connect to the main system, and she placed her hand against the crystal wall.
• The crystal wall activated and surrounded Vivian with a protective halo, while the Data Terminal confirmed that her life signs remained stable.
• Vivian found herself in a crystal forest, where her powers produced only a hazy light and a Crystal Stag approached her.
• The system confirmed Vivian’s administrator connection, opened ports 12 through 86 of the Throne of the End, and began playing a reserved message.

Vivian passed the Throne of the End’s verification and learned the Creation Goddess’s plan to annihilate both herself and the Lord of Madness. She and Hao Ren returned to Aier, where Vivian explained how the Creation Engine would erase the Goddess’s divine mark from the Dream Plane.

• Vivian woke after her connection to the crystal wall ended, and Hao Ren told her the system had crashed while fairies tried to repair it.
• Salamander recognized Vivian as the Lord of the Throne and transferred command authority over the holy land’s defensive forces to her.
• Vivian said the system contained the Creation Goddess’s complete plan and returned with Hao Ren and Salamander to Aier to discuss it.
• Vivian revealed that the plan would permanently annihilate the Creation Goddess and the Lord of Madness, then lead the Dream Plane into the Era of God Annihilation.
• Vivian explained that the Creation Engine would delete all information entanglements bearing the Goddess’s divine characteristics, leaving the Goddess and the Lord of Madness as its targets.

Vivian explained that the Creation Engine would erase the Creation Goddess and the Lord of Madness, while the Throne Network would replace their roles and preserve the universe. She was meant to operate the Throne of the End, but Hao Ren objected to her taking the seat before they knew it was safe.

• Vivian explained that the Creation Engine searched for divine information recorded on golden discs and deleted matching data from the universe.
• She revealed that the Hub, the Throne of the End, and the divine-power network formed the Throne Network, which would replace the roles of the Creation Goddess and the Lord of Madness.
• Vivian said she was the network’s highest node and had been sent to Earth for protection before eventually returning to operate the Throne of the End.
• Salamander urged Vivian to return to the throne and activate the systems, believing they could overcome the crisis.
• Hao Ren objected to Vivian taking the throne until he understood how it worked and whether it was safe, and Vivian threw a tiny bat at him after his joking warning.

Hao Ren and Vivian persuaded Salamander to postpone activating the damaged Throne Network until they could study it safely. Salamander then revealed that the three Planetary Fortress crystals could locate the Founding Star, which the Creation Goddess intended to destroy along with her remains to prevent the Lord of Madness from returning.

• Hao Ren explained that his organization would analyze and repair the Throne of the End rather than have Vivian sit on it, and Vivian convinced Salamander that the Throne Network should not be activated recklessly.
• Salamander agreed to postpone activation but warned Hao Ren not to damage the Throne of the End.
• Hao Ren asked Salamander why he had wanted them to let Amantir escape, and Salamander said the Amantir Crystal must be preserved because it was linked to the Founding Star.
• Salamander explained that the Amantir, Agudar, and Nakdal Crystals could synchronize into a beacon to locate the Founding Star.
• Salamander revealed that the Creation Goddess had planned to use the beacon to find and destroy the Founding Star and her divine remains, preventing the Lord of Madness from returning.

Hao Ren learned that the Creation Goddess had planned the signposts and the restarted Creation Engine as part of her struggle against the Lord of Madness. He and Salamander planned to retrieve the Amantir Crystal, and Hao Ren sought passage for additional helpers to join the mission.

• Hao Ren realized that the Creation Engine's restart after his arrival had also been part of the Goddess's plan.
• Salamander explained that the three crystals could locate the Founding Star and that the Nakdal Crystal had been lost in spatial turbulence three thousand years earlier.
• Hao Ren offered to infiltrate Amantir and retrieve its crystal, while Salamander said he had detailed plans of the fortress core.
• Salamander explained that the X Sector blockade detected life sequence, which clarified why Hao Ren, Vivian, and Dodo had passed through it.
• Hao Ren asked Salamander for temporary access permissions so he could bring more helpers to Amantir.

Hao Ren reunited with his companions and recruited them to help obtain the Amantir Crystal. After their infiltration plans failed, Lily’s suggestion gave Hao Ren a new idea.

• Hao Ren and Vivian told their companions that their house arrest was over and asked them to help find the Amantir Crystal.
• Izax and the others agreed to join the mission, while Roll asked whether Amantir had dried fish.
• Hao Ren introduced his friends to Salamander and said they had the strength and experience to assist.
• Salamander explained that Amantir’s defenses and the Corruptors’ Mind Network made disguising themselves too dangerous.
• Hao Ren’s group spent hours rejecting infiltration plans, until Lily suggested ramming Agudar into Amantir and Hao Ren suddenly saw a possible solution.

Hao Ren’s forces launched their planned operation against corrupted Amantir, with Nakdal and the Guardian Legion joining the fight. As the battle began, Salamander reported an energy signature from the Amantir Crystal near the Malicious Rift.

• Hao Ren and his allies prepared Nakdal Fortress and the Guardian Legion for the operation, while Vivian assigned Salamander to build fortifications and provide support.
• Nakdal and the drone swarm teleported to the region controlled by the Corruptors and Amantir.
• Amantir’s defenses and Corruptor forces counterattacked immediately, engaging both the Guardian Legion and the drone swarm.
• The drone swarm and Guardian Legion fought the Corruptors in a fierce battle around Amantir.
• Salamander told Hao Ren that remote-sensing radar had detected an energy signature from the Amantir Crystal near the Malicious Rift.

Hao Ren and the Guardian Legion staged a retreat to draw Amantir’s defenders into concentrating their fire on Nakdal Fortress. The fortress appeared to break apart, and its detached island crashed through the weakened planetary shield and disappeared into Amantir’s atmosphere.

• The drone swarm tied up the Corruptors while the Guardian Fleet bombarded Amantir’s shield and weakened it at a targeted point.
• Hao Ren ordered the Guardian Fleet to withdraw and sent Nakdal Fortress into the bombardment as part of Operation Codename: Best Actor.
• Amantir’s defenders concentrated their anti-aircraft fire on Nakdal as it continued attacking the shield and descended toward the weakened area.
• Amantir fired its charged superweapon, shattering Nakdal’s outer shield and splitting the fortress in two while concealed shields protected its sections from direct impact.
• Nakdal pretended to flee, while its detached island passed through the planetary shield, broke into three fragments, and vanished into Amantir’s atmosphere.
• Salamander admitted that without knowing the plan, he would have believed Nakdal had truly been shot down.

Hao Ren and his companions survived their disguised crash landing on Amantir, and the landing unit came down near its intended target. After contacting Salamander, they prepared to leave the wreckage before Corruptor patrols arrived.

• Hao Ren and the others endured the landing as the southern annex island broke through Amantir's shield and crashed onto the planet.
• The landing unit's artificial gravity shut down, sending everyone tumbling until Vivian and the still-tied-up Nangong May avoided the fall.
• The Data Terminal reported that the landing unit remained mostly operational and had landed less than two kilometers from the intended site, though a small patrol was approaching.
• Hao Ren explained that the team had disguised the landing unit as wreckage from Nakdal's staged defeat to evade Amantir's defenses.
• Hao Ren contacted Salamander, who confirmed that the retreat was beginning, and then ordered the group to move before the Corruptors inspected the crash site.

Hao Ren and his companions disguised the crashed command station and landed on Amantir, then crossed its corrupted surface toward the Control Center holding the Amantir Crystal. They reached a ventilation duct entrance near the guarded temple complex and prepared to infiltrate it.

• Hao Ren had Nolan manufacture empty drones and Autonomous Mechanical Units, planted their shells in the command station, erased traces of human activity, and arranged for the station to collapse after they left.
• Hao Ren led his companions away from the wreckage and surveyed Amantir's corrupted landscape, including the Equatorial Rift and the distant Control Center.
• Hao Ren explained that the group would use ventilation ducts to enter the Control Center because the Corruptors paid little attention to passages too small for Guardian Giants.
• Hao Ren's group crossed the exposed terrain undetected while the Corrupted Legion focused on the drone swarm and Guardian forces in space.
• Hao Ren and the others stopped beside a ventilation duct entrance, and the Data Terminal confirmed that airflow indicated the passage was clear.

Hao Ren and his group infiltrated Amantir’s underground facilities through a ventilation duct, where they sensed an unexplained presence and followed strange sounds to a hidden room. There, they discovered a brain monster like the ones they had encountered in Horleta and Siren City.

• Hao Ren led the group through Amantir’s ventilation system using Salamander’s map, and Vivian concealed them when the Data Terminal detected Corruptors nearby.
• Nangong Sanba and Vivian sensed faint psychic remnants, while Lily and Roll later heard muttering coming from below the duct.
• Hao Ren’s group found a metal hatch, and Nangong May opened it with her water powers.
• Hao Ren saw a corrupted brain-like creature controlling machinery in the room below, and Lily recognized it as the same kind of brain monster found in Horleta and Siren City.

Hao Ren and his companions infiltrated Amantir’s underground temple district and discovered that the Corruptors were using the Equatorial Rift Valley to summon monsters. The chapter left them concealed above the valley, where Vivian’s scout revealed multiple brain monsters at the center of the summoning network.

• Hao Ren’s group found a brain monster operating specialized equipment in the underground facility and chose not to attack it.
• The group continued toward the Amantir Crystal as fighting in space ended and the planet’s defenses prepared to strengthen.
• Rising heat and unexplained passages led the group off Salamander’s route and into the Equatorial Rift Valley.
• Hiding under Vivian’s Shadow Veil, the group watched Corruptor monsters fly from the valley and learned that rune-marked platforms summoned them.
• Vivian showed that the summoning platforms fed into a central tower occupied by multiple brain monsters, confirming that Amantir was their nest.

Hao Ren and his team crossed the exposed cliff to reach another ventilation-pipe entrance, where they fought off a brain monster before fleeing inside. The monster’s attempt to send a signal was intercepted by an unknown energy field, leaving Hao Ren and his companions wondering whether another force was present on the planet.

• Hao Ren’s team followed the Data Terminal’s route and crossed the exposed five-hundred-meter gap under Vivian’s Shadow Veil.
• A brain monster rose beside the destination platform and attacked the group, but Hao Ren and the others overwhelmed it with coordinated strikes.
• The brain monster released a mental attack, which Hao Ren resisted before freezing it with his service pistol.
• The brain monster’s signal struck an invisible barrier and vanished, and Lily led the group into the ventilation pipe.
• Hao Ren, Vivian, and Izax recognized that an unknown energy field had intercepted the signal and wondered if another force was on the planet.

Hao Ren and his companions encountered an Amantir fairy who had secretly helped them evade the Corruptors. After learning that many fairies survived by hiding in the planet’s core, Hao Ren began reconsidering the mission to account for them.

• Nangong Sanba sensed a presence nearby, and a small fairy appeared after Vivian called it out.
• The fairy admitted she had blocked the brain monster’s alarm and said she and many companions opposed the Corruptors.
• Hao Ren identified himself as an ally of Salamander and connected the fairy to the Legion Commander, who confirmed his identity.
• The fairy explained that the surviving fairies escaped into Amantir’s primitive crystals after the Corruptors dismantled their crystal matrix.
• Hao Ren and Salamander discussed the fairy’s black-red cowlick and the possibility that fairies could resist the Lord of Madness’s corruption.
• Hao Ren told Salamander they might need to revise the mission to protect the surviving fairies living inside Amantir’s core.

Hao Ren discovered that the fairies could be stored in virtual memory because they existed only on the information level. He left the group considering how to evacuate Amantir’s fairies before destroying the planet, while the Data Terminal protested being used as their storage.

• The little fairy learned that Vivian was the Queen of Fairies and excitedly questioned her about Nakdal, the Hub, and the Throne of the End.
• Hao Ren told the fairy that his group planned to take the Amantir Crystal and destroy Amantir, then asked whether the fairies could leave the planet’s core.
• The fairy explained that the fairies needed Resonance Crystals as vessels, but the Amantir Crystal had no room for them and the other crystals were contaminated.
• The Data Terminal analyzed the little fairy and identified her as a lifeform in the Information Dispersal State, with no material existence but consistent information-level presence.
• Hao Ren used an information-observation filter to show the group how the fairy appeared as information rather than a physical object.
• Hao Ren proposed storing Amantir’s fairies in the Data Terminal’s virtual memory, and the Data Terminal loudly objected.

Hao Ren and his companions successfully stored a fairy in the Data Terminal and decided to retrieve the fairies hidden in Earth's core before pursuing the Amantir Crystal. The fairy warned them that taking the crystal would awaken a huge dreaming monster whose nightmare lair was creating Amantir's seemingly endless army.

• The little fairy repeatedly crashed into the Data Terminal before successfully entering its memory, where the Terminal created a virtual place for her.
• The fairy said several thousand companions were hidden in Earth's core, and Hao Ren decided to retrieve them before continuing toward the Amantir Crystal.
• The fairy warned that removing the Amantir Crystal would immediately awaken a huge monster dreaming beneath it and could drag the planet into a nightmare.
• The fairy explained that the nightmare lair produced monsters, while Guardian Giant brain monsters dreamed with the huge creature and projected nightmare creations into the real world.
• Hao Ren and the others learned that the platforms beneath the rift extended from the nightmare lair and that the brain monsters organized and commanded the projected armies.

Hao Ren and his companions learned how the Nightmare Lair produced monsters and how it was linked to the Amantir Crystal, then followed the fairy toward the shelter. They reached Amantir’s crystal pillar layer and saw that Madness corruption had spread there too.

• Hao Ren learned from the fairy that the Nightmare Lair had appeared after the Guardian Giants fell and that its sleeping monster projected nightmare-born creatures into the rift valley.
• The fairy explained that the Amantir Crystal exchanged energy and information with the Nightmare Lair, making Hao Ren fear the crystal had been corrupted.
• The fairy said she had been sent to investigate the newcomers after a monitoring line detected strange energy, and claimed she had saved them from the monsters.
• The group entered the crystal pillar layer, where the fairy described the planet’s ancient crystal structures and the great grid beneath them.
• Hao Ren and his companions saw a vast crystal forest, including pillars contaminated by Madness, and the fairy led them toward the shelter.

Hao Ren and his companions reached the fairies’ sanctuary at Amantir’s core and learned that the Amantir Crystal was powering the Nightmare Lair. The fairies revealed a possible way to attack the dream-producing monster, and the chapter ended as Hao Ren proposed collapsing the fragile area by destroying three crystal pillars.

• The fairy led Hao Ren’s group up a hidden light road to the sanctuary inside Amantir’s core, where they met the gathered fairies.
• Fairy Number One explained that the Amantir Crystal was connected to the Nightmare Lair and that its monsters drew energy from it.
• A former Control Center assistant fairy confirmed that the crystal could not be taken without confronting the Nightmare Lair.
• A fairy studying the lair said its monster remained deeply asleep, had few guards nearby, and might take about thirty minutes to wake after an attack.
• A fairy who monitored the crystal pillars revealed that the Nightmare Lair rested on three pillars in fragile terrain, and Hao Ren suggested blowing them up.

Hao Ren and his allies finalized a plan to breach the Nightmare Lair by destroying three crystal pillars, then set out with the fairies stored in the Data Terminal. After reaching the crystal-pillar layer, Hao Ren detonated the explosives on the final pillar to begin the assault.

• Hao Ren, Vivian, and the others agreed to collapse three crystal pillars to open a passage to the Nightmare Source without bringing down the entire crust.
• The group spent four hours refining the operation plan, using the fairies' records of Amantir and the corruption army.
• Hao Ren's group downloaded several thousand fairies into the Data Terminal, and the fairies entered its storage safely.
• Lily and Roll returned from running around the miniature planet, and Hao Ren's elite squad used the unstable secret path to reach the crystal-pillar layer.
• Hao Ren's group installed explosives on the three pillars, while the fairies identified wreckage from Nakdal and described how monsters had used dead Guardian Giants as raw materials.
• Hao Ren pressed the detonator as the fairies cheered for trouble.

Hao Ren and his team collapsed a crystal pillar to breach the Nightmare Lair, unleashing catastrophic damage across Amantir. Inside, they discovered the lair was a living mass of flesh and that a giant brain connected to the Amantir Crystal guarded its center; their assault began, but the brain remained protected by many energy barriers.

• Hao Ren's chain explosions toppled a crystal pillar, triggering massive quakes, a failed energy barrier, and a torrent of magma into the crystal-pillar layer.
• Vivian spotted the passage opening in the dome, and Hao Ren led the team through the red membrane into the Nightmare Lair.
• Lily transformed and fired her Dog Cannon at the strongest energy reaction, destroying obstacles but penetrating only several of the brain's energy shields.
• Hao Ren saw the lair's grotesque living interior and realized its giant inverted brain was connected directly to the Amantir Crystal.
• Nangong May used a water-mist barrier to counter the lair's mental shock, while Hao Ren and Nangong Sanba led the team forward and opened fire.

Hao Ren and his allies attacked the Giant Brain in the Nightmare Lair, overcoming its defenses while fighting off Mutated Monsters and Nightmare creatures. The Godslaying Sword’s prattle suppressed the brain’s mental assault as the team continued bombarding its shields.

• Mutated Monsters emerged from the lair’s flesh walls, and Hao Ren deployed mechanical units and drones to hold them back while his squad attacked the Giant Brain’s shields.
• Hao Ren discovered the shields were regenerating more slowly than the team could destroy them and ordered everyone to maintain their fire.
• The Giant Brain began struggling to awaken, causing Nightmare creatures to leak into reality and its whispers to fill the attackers’ minds with illusions.
• Vivian awakened Lily and told Izax to connect everyone to Hao Ren with a Soul chain, then Hao Ren drew the Godslaying Sword and its companion blade.
• The Godslaying Sword’s prattle drowned out the Giant Brain’s whispers and dispelled the illusions, allowing Lily, Vivian, Izax, and the turrets to keep attacking the shields.

Hao Ren and his allies destroyed the Dream-Weaving Brain in the Nightmare Lair as the Corruptors’ guards closed in. The Lair began collapsing, but the Autonomous Mechanical Units secured a powerful crystal before the group withdrew.

• The guards began forcing their way into the Nightmare Lair while Roll warned Hao Ren that monsters were about to break in.
• Lily exhausted her divine power, and Hao Ren used his autonomous turrets to keep attacking the Dream-Weaving Brain’s remaining barriers.
• Hao Ren resisted the Giant Brain’s hallucinations and used the Godslayer Sword and the two Universe Shards to destroy it.
• The Giant Brain’s final words warned that someone or something would wake, and the Nightmare Lair began collapsing.
• The Autonomous Mechanical Units shielded a powerful crystal and vanished with it as Hao Ren called for the group to pull out.

Hao Ren and his team escaped Amantir after destroying the Nightmare Lair and taking the Amantir Crystal, while the planet’s collapsing structure left the Corruptors’ base vulnerable. The drones prepared a massive Annihilation Spear as Nolan raced the team to safety.

• Salamander watched Amantir’s crust collapse after the crystal pillar layer was damaged and waited anxiously for news from Hao Ren’s team.
• The drones ended their standby and cleared their barriers as Salamander received a coded message confirming that the team had succeeded.
• Nolan sped through the Corruptors’ defenses while Hao Ren and his allies held off monsters inside the collapsing Nightmare Lair.
• Nolan reached the rendezvous point, and Hao Ren’s team teleported away just before an explosive device destroyed the Control Center.
• The drones revealed a spear-shaped weapon built from giant crystals, and Nolan announced that the Annihilation Spear was fully charged.