Chapter Summaries

Hao Ren and Lily followed Ash Rat to a hidden contact point and met Madam Mary, who killed Ash Rat before questioning them. Hao Ren offered news about the Demon Hunters and arranged to meet the witches the following night.

• Ash Rat led Hao Ren and Lily through the slums to a ruined wall marked with hidden witchcraft.
• Madam Mary's face emerged from black sludge on the wall and killed Ash Rat when he tried to explain their arrival.
• Hao Ren introduced himself as a wizard traveling with a werewolf and asked about the witches' plans to rescue an imprisoned witch.
• Madam Mary revealed that the imprisoned witch was a false story used to distract the church, and Hao Ren said he had news about the Demon Hunters.
• Hao Ren showed Madam Mary a holy silver shortsword as proof, and she arranged to meet him after nightfall the next day beyond the western gate, guided by a crow.

Hao Ren and Lily investigated a medieval city and found evidence that witches had prepared to rescue a captured companion. After gathering information throughout the day, they left the city at night to meet the witches.

• Hao Ren and Lily entered the inner city in disguise and found a gallows and burning stakes at an execution square.
• Hao Ren spotted a Rune of Leta and concluded that witches had prepared the square to rescue an important captured companion.
• Hao Ren explained to Lily how witches, warlocks, and human organizations had dealt with one another during the Dark Era.
• Hao Ren and Lily searched the city for information until nightfall, then climbed over the city wall to meet the witches.

Hao Ren and Lily followed the witch Madam Mary's giant crow, Kodo, to a gathering of witches in a cemetery. After proving his supposed wizard identity, Hao Ren challenged Madam Mary about her story of a captured witch and learned that the prisoner was Heiserana, a powerful Blood Mage whom the witches hoped to rescue.

• Hao Ren and Lily left the city at night and followed Kodo through the wilderness to a cemetery.
• Kodo led Hao Ren and Lily into the cemetery, where Madam Mary and several witches had gathered.
• Hao Ren summoned an array of weapons to prove he was a wizard, while Lily's werewolf aura convinced the witches of her identity.
• Madam Mary asked whether Hao Ren had news of the Demon Hunters, but he demanded information about the captured witch.
• A young witch explained that the witches hoped to gain protection by rescuing an important representative, and named her as Heiserana, a powerful Blood Mage.

Hao Ren joined the witches’ plans after learning that the captured witch was named Heiserana and that Demon Hunters were closing in. The hooded wizard saw through Hao Ren’s act and confronted him about his real motives.

• Hao Ren reacted when Helen named Heiserana, then denied knowing the Blood Mage she meant.
• Helen, the sickly witch, and Madam Mary accepted Hao Ren’s warning that Demon Hunters were approaching and believed he had killed one.
• Hao Ren learned the witches wanted to reach Shadow City for protection and offered to travel with them, with Lily’s reluctant agreement.
• The hooded wizard approached Hao Ren and said he knew Hao Ren was pursuing something other than helping the witches or reaching Shadow City.

Hao Ren learned that Heiserana was set to be burned at the stake, and joined Madam Mary’s witches as they planned a rescue before the Demon Hunters arrived. The chapter ended with a Demon Hunter elder approaching the city and warning that Heiserana would be especially dangerous when she woke.

• Barn questioned Hao Ren about Roan's Night Watch Knights, then left after realizing Hao Ren did not know the name.
• Rom reported that Heiserana had confessed to practicing black magic and would be burned at noon the next day.
• Madam Mary rallied the witches to rescue Heiserana before the Demon Hunters arrived, and Hao Ren minimized their numbers to keep the group from losing heart.
• Madam Mary began explaining the rescue plan while Hao Ren wondered whether Heiserana was the bat spirit he knew.
• A Demon Hunter elder watched the city and told his deputy that Heiserana would be dangerous when she woke.

Hao Ren and Lily discovered that the witch being burned was Heiserana, who had apparently allowed herself to be captured as part of a scheme. Madam Mary launched the planned attack on the execution square, but Heiserana was horrified when rescuers rushed toward her.

• Hao Ren and Lily reached the square and saw Heiserana brought in chains to be burned.
• Hao Ren recognized Heiserana and realized she had likely been captured on purpose.
• Heiserana cursed the officials as they read out her charges and waited for them to light the pyre.
• Madam Mary ordered the attack, unleashing locusts and chaos across the square.
• Several figures rushed toward the execution site, and Heiserana shouted in alarm at the rescuers.

Hao Ren and the witches disrupted Heiserana’s intended plan while rescuing her from execution, then fled the city with Lily’s help. Heiserana escaped with them but was left bewildered and dismayed by her unexpected rescuers.

• Madam Mary and the witches attacked the execution square, and Hao Ren joined the assault with Lily to reach Heiserana.
• Hao Ren freed Heiserana and convinced her to come with them by mentioning Vivian and calling her “little Bat.”
• Madam Mary warned that reinforcements were coming, so Hao Ren and the group fled toward the western gate.
• Lily tore down the city gate and hurled it at the soldiers before the group escaped through an alley and broke out of the city.
• Hao Ren and the others reunited with Helen outside the western gate, while Heiserana looked utterly despairing.

After the witches rescued Heiserana from an execution ground, she angrily explained that they had ruined her own plan, then questioned Hao Ren about his connection to Vivian. Hao Ren convinced her by showing her the little bat Vivian had entrusted to him.

• The witches returned to Misty Cemetery with Hao Ren, Lily, and Heiserana after escaping the city.
• Madam Mary greeted Heiserana, who berated the witches for raiding the execution ground when she had never needed rescuing.
• Hao Ren calmed Heiserana and asked her to explain what had happened, while she demanded to know who he was and how he knew Vivian.
• Hao Ren told Heiserana that Vivian feared her Curse Halo would harm her, but Heiserana insisted he needed stronger proof of their friendship.
• Hao Ren produced the sleeping little bat Vivian had given him, and Heiserana finally believed that he knew her.

Hao Ren confirmed his identity to Heiserana, who explained that she had let humans capture her to lure Demon Hunters away from Vivian’s sleeping place. The witches’ public rampage had ruined her careful plan and risked bringing a larger force of Demon Hunters to the area.

• Hao Ren proved his connection to Vivian with her little bat, and Heiserana accepted that he was her closest friend.
• Hao Ren asked Heiserana why she had deliberately allowed the humans to capture her.
• Heiserana revealed that Vivian had been sleeping nearby for more than two hundred years and that Demon Hunters were searching for her slumbering ground.
• Heiserana explained that she planned to use her capture and escape to draw the Demon Hunters into a trap and kill them.
• Heiserana told the witches that their attack, especially Lily’s public appearance as a Werewolf, would alert the Demon Hunters and likely bring reinforcements.

Hao Ren and Heiserana planned to move Vivian from her hidden slumbering ground before the Demon Hunters found it. The Demon Hunters ambushed them before they could set out, killing one witch and wounding two others.

• Hao Ren introduced himself and Lily to Heiserana and explained that he had joined the witches because he thought she had been captured.
• Heiserana said Shadow City would not send reinforcements, so she proposed moving Vivian from the castle hidden partly in the Shadow World.
• Heiserana gave the group a black crystal to guide them through the Shadow World and planned to reach the castle by noon the next day.
• Demon Hunters attacked the group with Holy Silver Crossbow Bolts and Rune magic, killing one witch and heavily wounding two others.
• Wizard Barn raised Mud Barriers for cover, and Hao Ren realized the Demon Hunters had come directly instead of seeking reinforcements.

Hao Ren helped Heiserana and the witches escape the Demon Hunters’ attack, then disguised himself as a Demon Hunter to approach the hunters and investigate why they had come after Vivian. He ended the chapter claiming to be a Wanderer Hunter whose half-month pursuit of the witches had been ruined.

• The Demon Hunters destroyed the witches’ defenses, and Heiserana concluded that the group needed to break through and leave someone behind to cover their retreat.
• Hao Ren armed Lily with two Gatling Guns and ammunition, then sent her to lead Heiserana, Madam Mary, Barn, and the witches out of the cemetery.
• Hao Ren stayed behind, changed into Demon Hunter equipment, and activated a Demon Hunter insignia to make the hunters mistake him for an ally.
• Hao Ren confronted the approaching Demon Hunters and claimed he was a Wanderer Hunter who had been following the witches for half a month.

Hao Ren posed as a Wanderer Hunter and convinced Lockheed that the Demon Hunters had ruined his investigation into an ancient ruin tied to their mission. The Demon Hunter elder arrived, and Hao Ren recognized him as someone who could see through Hassu’s disguise equipment.

• Hao Ren introduced himself to Lockheed as a former member of the Norse Battle Group who had hunted alone for several thousand years.
• Lockheed explained that his Hunt Group had come to deal with an ancient nonhuman who might awaken, and a Demon Hunter reported that the witches had escaped with help from a Werewolf.
• Hao Ren claimed the witches had been seeking an ancient ruin connected to the Hunt Group’s target and scolded Lockheed for interrupting their gathering before they revealed its location and seal-breaking spell.
• Lockheed admitted his unit had acted impulsively and insisted on confessing the mistake to the elder, who was already on his way.
• When the gray-haired elder arrived, Hao Ren recognized him and hurriedly hid his short sword and emblem because Hassu knew the disguise equipment.

Hao Ren joined Hassu’s Demon Hunters after they mistook him for a Wanderer Hunter, then learned they had come to contain the danger around Vivian’s long slumber. As Hassu prepared to lure the awakening threat away from human settlements, Hao Ren realized the negative energy came from Vivian’s forming Evil Spirit, not Vivian herself.

• Hao Ren recognized the arriving elder as Hassu from six hundred years earlier and tried to conceal his connection to Hassu’s equipment.
• Lockheed explained the clash with Hassu’s Hunt Group, and Hassu apologized to Hao Ren before proposing they cooperate to pursue the escaped witches.
• Hassu’s hunters camped in the abandoned cemetery and planned to track the witches to an ancient castle where Vivian Ancestor was resting.
• Hassu told Hao Ren the Demon Hunters were not there to hunt Vivian but had investigated her two-century slumber and detected powerful negative energy nearby.
• Hao Ren concluded that Vivian’s Evil Spirit was taking shape, while Hassu revealed his plan to draw the berserk awakening away from human habitation and endure it until it passed.

Hao Ren learned that Vivian’s Evil Spirits were drawn to Korperos, likely because of the Godslayer Sword, and discovered that attacking Vivian while she slept would trigger the Red Moon. Before leaving to warn Heiserana and Lily’s group, he lured Hassu away from the graveyard and struck him with a metal brick.

• A Demon Hunter explained that Vivian’s rampages had once threatened Korperos, so hunters redirected her excess strength to protect their headquarters rather than the nearby humans.
• Hao Ren concluded that Vivian’s Evil Spirits were drawn north by the Godslayer Sword, and that its purification explained why the little weakling did not share that urge.
• Hassu told Hao Ren that attacking Vivian in her sleep would automatically summon the Red Moon and expose intruders to her Soulless Guards.
• After the Demon Hunters finished planning their operation against the witches, Hao Ren decided he needed to warn Heiserana and Lily’s group and revise their awakening plan.
• Hao Ren led Hassu to the opened graves under the pretense of showing him a strange ritual, then hit him with a metal brick.

Hao Ren captured Hassu and reunited with the witches at their hidden refuge in a haunted ruin. With Hassu restrained and unconscious, Hao Ren turned his attention to the possibility that someone was missing.

• Hao Ren struck Hassu with an alloy brick, then trapped him in his pocket dimension and escaped the Demon Hunters.
• Hao Ren followed secret marks through the medieval wilderness to the witches' hideout, where he found Lily and Heiserana.
• Hao Ren released Hassu only partway from his pocket dimension, and Lily knocked him unconscious with the brick.
• Hao Ren secured Hassu with restraints and told the witches he needed the Demon Hunter alive for his plans.
• After reassuring the witches that Hassu was under control, Hao Ren realized someone was missing.

Hao Ren and Heiserana realized that Barn had taken the Shadow Key and was likely heading for Vivian’s resting place. After learning that a berserk Vivian avatar lurked in the Shadow World, they revised their plan to keep the witches outside and use Heiserana’s shadow magic to control the soulless guards.

• Madam Mary said Barn had become separated from the group, and Heiserana realized he still had the Shadow Key.
• Hao Ren asked Heiserana about Roan’s Night Watch Knights and learned they had once guarded Vivian’s resting place.
• Hao Ren concluded that Barn knew about the knights and had likely come for Vivian’s resting place, prompting Heiserana to move to stop him.
• Hao Ren warned Heiserana that Barn would likely encounter a berserk Vivian avatar inside the Shadow World.
• Heiserana decided the witches should remain outside and planned to use her shadow magic to control the soulless guards without the Shadow Key.

Hao Ren and Heiserana opened the passage to Vivian’s Shadow World through a pool in Haraon Castle. The group crossed into the reflected castle, uncertain whether its defenses or Soulless Guards awaited them.

• Hao Ren’s group entered the ruined Haraon Castle, where Heiserana explained that its eerie phenomena came from shadow power.
• Lily knocked the waking Hassu unconscious with a brick after he tried to reach for his weapon.
• Heiserana used her blood, moonlight, and an incantation to fill the dry garden pool with a reflection of the castle’s intact past.
• Heiserana warned that Baarn might have activated the Shadow Stronghold’s defenses, then entered the Shadow World through the pool’s surface.
• Hao Ren and the witches followed Heiserana through the pool, and Lily jumped in last despite disliking water.

Hao Ren and the witches entered Vivian’s Shadow World, where Heiserana explained that it was shaped by Vivian’s dreams and warned that its power could absorb them. As Soulless Guards awakened and attacked, the group fought toward the North Tower to seize control of the world.

• Hao Ren and the witches emerged into a vast black-and-white version of Roan Ancient Castle, and Heiserana explained how Vivian’s dream shaped the Shadow World.
• Heiserana sent shadow bats to scout and discovered that Barn had entered the Shadow World while Soulless Guards began awakening.
• Hao Ren spotted the guards approaching, and gargoyle statues around the square shattered to reveal smoke-like monsters.
• Hao Ren used his plasma gunblade and graviton grenades against the gargoyles while Lily protected Hassu with a greatsword.
• The group realized that the Soulless Guards kept returning and multiplying, so they retreated toward the North Tower under Heiserana’s guidance.

Hao Ren's group fought through Vivian's awakened Soulless in the Shadow Stronghold while Demon Hunters arrived at her real-world estate. After defeating the Head Butler, Heiserana suspected the Evil Spirit had begun stirring in the cemetery.

• Heiserana led Hao Ren's group through the Shadow Stronghold as Soulless guards emerged from its paintings and attacked them.
• Heiserana explained that the Soulless came from Vivian's dreams and grew stronger the longer she slept.
• Three bodies of the Head Butler appeared in the Crossroads Hall, and Heiserana told the group they had to destroy all three at once.
• Lockheed and the Demon Hunters found Vivian's estate and entered the castle to search for the Elder and hold Vivian back until she woke.
• Hao Ren's group defeated the Head Butler, and Heiserana concluded that something had changed in the cemetery and said they had to split up.

Hao Ren and Lily headed for the cemetery while Heiserana went to the North Tower and the witches went to the Shadow Cellar. They reached the Wall of Thorns and Roses, the illusion blocking the way to the cemetery.

• Heiserana divided the group, assigning herself to regain control of the Soulless Guard, the witches to monitor the castle from the Shadow Cellar, and Hao Ren and Lily to investigate the cemetery.
• Hao Ren handed out communicators, which Heiserana and the witches accepted for keeping in contact.
• Lily struck the recovering Hassu with her alloy greatsword, and Hao Ren took her toward the cemetery with Hassu in tow.
• Hao Ren and Lily raced through the silent castle, avoiding strange rooms that Heiserana warned led to nightmares or deeper layers of the Shadow World.
• Hao Ren and Lily reached the foyer before the Wall of Thorns and Roses and reported their location over the communicator.