Chapter Summaries

Ryan’s army entered a territory ruled by White Wolves and was welcomed into a village where Bjorn, its strongest fighter, attacked them and was killed. Ryan questioned Ramont about the world’s brutal fighter system and learned that Gam shared its world with the people of Fenrir.

• Ryan’s army halted as White Wolves ambushed the Black Wolves following them, then Ramont and other villagers arrived and invited the travelers to their village.
• Ramont explained that the village raised hounds to sacrifice their souls, and Bjorn emerged and demanded food while claiming the village’s wealth and women as the strongest fighter.
• Ryan ordered Borgeld and Volibear to attack Bjorn, who transformed into a Grizzly Bear, and they killed him as the villagers fought back.
• The villagers told Ryan that fighters gained power by sacrificing hounds, surviving the Skala City arena, devouring enemies’ souls, and hunting beasts in The Wilds.
• Ramont explained that White Wolves and humans traded food and guidance, while Black Wolves raided them, and revealed that the Fenrir Tribesmen came from a separate world from Gam’s people.

Ryan discovered that the hound and wolf civilizations were locked in a war shaped by a past conflict between deities, then captured Egil and considered how to conquer their world. The chapter left Ryan preparing to bring Frozen Earth Territory’s influence to Fenrir’s people.

• Ryan gave Ramont a potion that would double his physical abilities for three months, then left the hound village to seek the wolf packs.
• Ryan used a burning arrow to draw Fenrir’s people out of the Mountain Forest, but the captured warriors refused to deliver a message and were killed.
• With Grand Mage Macken’s help, Ryan captured dozens of wolf-tribe people and learned their account of the War of the Deities Across Planes and the conflict with Gam’s civilization.
• Egil led an assault on Ryan’s camp, but Macken’s Blood Wither weakened the wolves and Ryan’s retainers captured Egil.
• Ryan learned that Egil led Fenrir’s remaining five or six thousand people and considered conquering the world through military force or other forms of influence.

Ryan spared Egil and tasked Mikaela with investigating the gods before returning to the Frozen Earth Territory, where he planned a northern defense line. He struck a bargain with Ross to build it and founded an Alchemy Academy, but Ross warned that the territory had almost no suitable alchemy apprentices.

• Ryan let Egil and his warriors leave, warning Egil that he had only two chances left to challenge him, then ordered Mikaela to investigate the world's gods.
• Egil returned with hundreds of warriors and raided Gam's people for food while Ryan learned of orcs gathering north of the Frozen Earth Territory and considered building a Great Wall.
• Ross revealed that Shadow Magic belonged to a dark being seeking to claim his Legendary Boon, and asked Ryan to help him reach legend by another path.
• Ryan blessed Ross with Spirituality power and bargained with him to build a Great Wall in exchange for help obtaining a Legendary Boon.
• Ryan appointed Ross chief alchemist and dean of a planned Alchemy Academy, but Ross said the territory had no alchemy talent beyond a few craftsmen from Svadilfari.

Ryan learned that Avril had graduated from the Magic Academy and planned to serve in Countess Blade Rose’s Mage Corps, while he led his army back into the Other Plane. In Skala City, Mikaela uncovered the arena’s soul-granting power and a gold mine as Fenrir’s army attacked, leaving Brunamigis and Egil locked in battle.

• Ryan read Viscount Melendez’s letter about Avril’s graduation, her service with Countess Blade Rose, and her plan to make Abyssal land part of her dowry.
• Ryan led his army into the Other Plane while Borgeld watched for an attack that never came.
• Mikaela learned that Skala City was ruled by powerful Children of Doomsday and built over a gold mine, then watched his soldier Cook enter the arena without a Hound and survive the deity’s soul-bestowing power.
• Fenrir’s forces attacked the villages near Skala City, and Egil wounded Brunamigis as Haidoruf rallied Gam’s fighters to pursue them.
• Brunamigis shot Fenrir warriors from a hillside while Egil followed the scent of blood and vowed to kill him.

Ryan led his forces to defeat the hound warriors and seize Skala City, where Mikaela revealed that a gold mine lay beneath it. The surviving Garm people submitted to Ryan, and he took control of the city in four days.

• The deity's wrath drove ten warriors and the people of Tyrael Forest City to march south against the invaders.
• Egil fought Ryan's forces, then withdrew with Fenrir's people after Ryan gave him one last chance to submit.
• Ryan's Armored Bears crushed the hound soldiers' assault, and Borgeld killed Boarskin Jofurs and Bearskin Haidoruf.
• Wolfskin Ulf submitted to Ryan, and the surviving Garm people accepted Ryan as their king.
• Ryan entered Skala City four days after first hearing its name, and Mikaela told him a gold mine lay beneath it.

Ryan’s army defeated the people of Tyrael Forest City after Brunamigis used the souls of sacrificed hounds to gain the Hound Deity’s power. Ryan entered the city after its defenders opened the gates under pressure, bringing Tyrael Forest City under the Frozen Earth Territory’s rule.

• Ryan learned from Ulf that ancient war ruins lay in the Northlands, then left Skala City and led his army toward Tyrael Forest City.
• Brunamigis sacrificed five thousand hounds in the arena, gained immense strength, and rallied the people of Tyrael Forest City to fight Ryan’s army.
• Ryan used repeated advances and withdrawals to wear down the city’s fanatical defenders, but Brunamigis eventually led nearly thirty thousand people into battle.
• Brunamigis’s soul arrows struck Brandt, but Brandt’s Shield of the Stag protected him; Brandt wounded Brunamigis and defeated the city’s fighters.
• Ryan’s forces captured more than seven thousand people and forced the remaining inhabitants to open the gates, after which Ryan entered Tyrael Forest City.

Ryan subdued Tyrael Forest City, then returned to the Frozen Earth Territory to organize the Northern Trade Guild and expand its industry with Ross’s Alchemical Blast Furnaces. The chapter ended with Mage Luna revealing her completed Mage Tower and her progress in Life Magic and Soul Magic.

• Ryan ordered his soldiers to destroy Tyrael Forest City’s arena and kill its hounds, then forced the city’s people to accept him as their lord and demonstrated his Spirituality Blessing.
• Ryan learned that Tyrael Forest City stood over a silver mine and ordered his army to conquer Gam’s remaining settlements while he returned to the Frozen Earth Territory.
• Ryan established the Northern Trade Guild with several nobles and planned to use its supply chain to enrich Zero Crossing City while limiting which nobles could join.
• Ryan asked Brock for more furnaces, but Ross showed him an Alchemical Blast Furnace he had created and explained its enormous output and methods for handling pollution and slag.
• Ryan saw the completed Mage Tower and heard Mage Luna explain that she had entered a new direction in Life Magic and made progress in Soul Magic.

Ryan discovered Soul Crystals created by a weakened deity and planned to relocate the Garm people before confronting the Hound Deity. He defeated Egil and conquered Fenrir’s people, while the exiled wolf king struggled north through the snow with a loyal White Wolf carrying him toward a warm spring.

• Ryan brought Soul Crystals from Skala City to Grand Mage Luna, Grand Mage Macken, and Ross, who examined their pure soul power and discussed killing the deity that created them.
• Ryan planned to move roughly one hundred and ten thousand Garm people into the Frozen Earth Territory, and Aethelred warned that its supplies could last only fifteen days without additional provisions.
• Ryan led his army against Egil and Fenrir’s people, defeated Egil in combat, and blocked the warriors’ retreat into the Mountain Forest.
• Egil accepted defeat and pledged Fenrir’s people to Ryan, then left alone with three White Wolves as a snowstorm buried the battlefield.
• Egil collapsed in the snow, and a White Wolf carried him north, fought off starving wolves, and brought his body into a warm fissure, where it waited by a hot spring as wolves howled outside.

Ryan studied accounts of the War of the Deities Across Planes in Count Winter's and Count Soron's libraries, tracing the conflict between the Lord of Dawn, fallen deities, mages, and nobles. The histories suggested that humans could absorb Divine Essence and that the deities differed, leaving Ryan to continue his investigation with new questions about the war.

• Ryan arranged for Gam's people to help build a city in Frozen Earth Territory while expanding its defenses and preparing for growing tensions in the Northlands.
• Ryan visited Count Winter and read an account describing how a distant world was devastated after the War of the Deities Across Planes and the death of a deity.
• Ryan concluded that the dead deities whose residual wills fueled his Spirituality Panel had been on the losing side, while the Lord of Dawn had survived with the victors.
• Ryan traveled to Count Soron's territory to read a local history of the war, which recounted the Church of Dawn's campaign, its defeat, and the arrival of the Northlands.
• Ryan read that mages and nobles had absorbed the Divine Essence of fallen deities, that the Florian Empire later challenged the Church, and that the Lord of Dawn's radiance returned as the Magic Factors became active again.

Ryan explored the distinction between gods and spirits and searched for a way to kill the Hound Deity, while Brock advanced to Sky Knight. Ryan then led an expedition through ancient battlefield ruins in Gam and Fenrir’s world, finding frozen dead and discovering that the Planar Gate returned to places rich in spirituality when he was away.

• Ryan concluded that the War of the Deities Across Planes involved gods and spirits, and decided to seek a way to kill the Hound Deity without fearing its power would backfire.
• Brock used a Furnace Life Potion and the Tyrfing Hammer to advance to Sky Knight, then left for the Northlands to search for forging materials.
• Ryan considered buying Knight Combat Techniques from fallen nobles after Brock’s new strength surpassed Lord Horla’s.
• Ryan led several hundred Knight Retainers through Gam and Fenrir’s world, finding picked-over battlefield ruins and remains from wars involving followers of gods, spirits, and centaurs.
• Ryan’s scouts found a frozen river battlefield containing ghouls beneath the ice, and he marked the site before returning everyone to Frozen Earth Territory through the Planar Gate.
• Ryan tested the Planar Gate and found that when he was absent, it anchored itself in places where spirituality was more abundant.

Ryan prepared to confront the weakened Hound Deity while seeking greater political influence in the South through a marriage alliance with Avril Melendez. Avril learned that she would arrive in Frozen Earth Territory in half a month, and Ryan realized the wedding date had been moved up after his request to Count Clayton for a weapon capable of killing a deity.

• Ryan discussed the three conditions for killing a deity with Ross, and said he could seize the Hound Deity's source while Ross prepared for the final step.
• Ryan considered how to expand his influence and wealth in the South and decided to write to the Melendez Family about his marriage to Avril.
• Avril worked on magical formations for Nassia Trees in Countess Blade Rose's garden and learned she would receive ten trees that could yield Mithril.
• Avril received a family letter saying she would go to Frozen Earth Territory in half a month, accompanied by her father and Count Clayton for the wedding.
• Ryan received the news that the wedding had been moved up and connected the change to his letter asking Count Clayton for a powerful weapon to kill a weakened deity.

Ryan discovered the Hound Deity’s location and led a campaign that wiped out the hounds and humans who attacked Tyrael Forest City, then prepared to confront the deity. With half a month remaining before his wedding, he kept Gam’s people under guard and offered Ulf a new faith as he awaited Count Clayton’s arrival and the fight against the deity.

• Ryan ordered scouts to watch the living ruin where they suspected the Hound Deity resided, then sent the Stag Legion and wolf packs to hunt down its hounds.
• The hounds massacred Gam’s people in Tyrael Forest City, and Ryan broke into the city with the Stag Legion and killed every hound and human who fought them.
• Ryan freed the survivors hiding beneath the arena, destroyed the Hound Deity’s blood-made apparition, and moved Gam’s people to Skala City.
• Ryan continued clearing hounds from the Otherworld and gave Ulf half a month to choose whether to remain loyal to the Hound Deity, while Fenrir’s people guarded Skala City.
• Ryan blessed Ulf and urged him to believe in Ryan instead of the deities, as Count Clayton and Viscount Melendez traveled toward Frozen Earth Territory for Ryan’s upcoming wedding.

The Clayton family convoy crossed Winged Gorge and reached Northwind Province, where Count Clayton reunited with Ryan and discussed the family’s secrets and the dangers of challenging a god. Count Clayton committed the entire bloodline to the fight, then declared that the weakened god could simply be cut down with a sword.

• Count Clayton arrived at Winged Gorge on his Amber Dragon and judged that the Emperor had abandoned the Empire’s east.
• After the convoy passed the gorge, Katz revealed that the jeweled box held living Divine Essence taken from the Mammoth-folk Tribe, and Aatrox explained that Count Clayton had imprisoned its will in a Destiny Gem.
• Count Clayton’s convoy reached Zero Crossing City, where Ryan’s army met it in a tense show of force before Ryan welcomed his father.
• Count Clayton told Ryan how Aatrox earned the family’s access to warhorses by killing the Church’s final successor, and explained that the Empire’s nobles had paid a terrible price to deal with gods.
• Count Clayton warned that a god’s vengeance could curse the entire Clayton bloodline, then said the family would either be destroyed or reach a new age of glory.
• After Ryan said the god’s servants were no stronger than Golden Knights, Count Clayton offered to kill it with the sword Ryan had given him.

Ryan welcomed Avril to the Frozen Earth Territory, then joined Count Clayton and other powerful allies in preparing to confront the god sealed inside the northern storm. When Aatrox summoned abyssal powers, Ryan’s Dusk Divinity answered and brought Surtr into the world, where Aatrox offered him the Divine Essence as the group’s trade.

• Ryan welcomed Avril to the Frozen Earth Territory, where its citizens and Knight Retainers gathered to celebrate her arrival as mistress.
• Ryan led Count Clayton and their companions through the Planar Gate, then revealed that he had found the god trapped within the northern storm.
• Count Clayton recruited the Wind Emperor and explained that the storm was the world spirit’s final act of sacrifice to imprison the god.
• Aatrox revealed his identity and summoned abyssal powers, while Ryan used three Taisu units of Dusk origin to answer the call.
• Surtr emerged from the magma as the storm shook the land, and Aatrox offered him the seven-colored box to begin a trade.

Aatrox, the Wind Emperor, Count Clayton, and Ross helped the Crystal Hound fight Dusk Surtr after the Wind Emperor severed both gods from the Taisu ocean. Surtr exploded in a final attack, and the survivors seized the weakened Crystal Hound’s essence.

• Aatrox used a Dawn contract to bargain with Dusk Surtr over the jeweled box, and Surtr agreed before attacking the frost storm and revealing its scattered Ice Crystals.
• The Wind Emperor cut off the Great Beings from the Taisu ocean, while the Crystal Hound emerged from hidden Soul Crystals and tore into Surtr.
• Surtr used Doom of Asgard as the Hound Deity answered with a beam of light, leaving both beings gravely wounded and locked in a stalemate.
• Aatrox corroded Surtr’s Divine Essence with Abyssal power, causing Surtr to embrace the Crystal Hound and explode.
• Count Clayton absorbed Surtr’s remaining heat and restrained the shattered Crystal Hound, while the Wind Emperor gathered scattered Divine Essence.
• Ross unleashed the Shadow Python to bite the Crystal Hound, and Count Clayton struck it with his Knight’s Greatsword as the python swallowed it.

Ross turned the Shadow Python into a living crystal creature and helped destroy the Hound Deity’s temporary body, but the deity itself awakened through the world and formed another body from Surtr. Count Clayton and the Wind Emperor fought the deity with Egil and the Direwolf’s intervention, and the chapter ended with Aatrox containing its Divine Essence as Ryan’s panel changed to show Surtr’s divinity.

• Ross embedded a cyan Philosopher’s Stone in the Shadow Python, creating a crystal body that crushed the Crystal Hound’s remaining vitality.
• Aatrox explained that the Hound Deity’s body was only temporary, and the awakened deity exerted its power through the entire world.
• Count Clayton used Monarch Flame to locate and restrain the deity, while the Wind Emperor’s magic and Clayton’s attacks destroyed its second body, a two-headed Lava Hound formed from Surtr.
• The Hound Deity began draining the world’s remaining power, but Egil blew his horn and summoned the Direwolf, which severed the deity’s connection to the world and defeated it.
• The Direwolf left Ryan with a Hound’s Blessing, and Aatrox sealed the deity’s Divine Essence in the gemstone box.
• Ryan’s Spirituality Panel changed to show “Divinity: Dusk (Taisu), Giant Mammoth,” and he heard Surtr roar over the loss of Its divinity.

After the Hound Deity fell, Ryan and the others divided its remains and used the divine essence to transform a dragon, empower Aatrox, and forge a Legendary weapon. Ryan left with a Godbone Potion and the Amber Sword as the story turned to his wedding, due the next day.

• Ryan discovered that Dusk Divinity had increased fiftyfold, while Aatrox completed his sacrifice without Surtr receiving the offering.
• The Wind Emperor converted the Hound Deity’s remains into Godbone Potions, and Count Clayton’s Amber Dragon drank one and transformed into a Blaze Dragon.
• Count Clayton demonstrated his strength by knocking the newly transformed Blaze Dragon from the sky, then gave Ryan a potion and warned him it could kill anyone too weak to withstand it.
• Aatrox revealed the Clayton Family’s ambition to become the Empire’s fifth grand ducal family and drank a potion that regrew his severed arm.
• Count Clayton bathed the Amber Sword in the Blaze Dragon’s blood, making it Legendary, and gave it to Ryan, who subdued it with the Gram Scabbard.
• The fallen deity’s lingering power caused supernatural materials to grow across the battlefield, while the Northlands’ cold intensified; Ryan learned the battle had lasted two and a half days and that his wedding was tomorrow.

Ryan killed the Hound Deity, gained Hound's Blessing, and accepted the worship of Gam's people before marrying Avril and strengthening his ties with the Melendez Family. He then entered the dying Otherworld to seek Fenrir Deity and witnessed the wolf deity's final battle and sacrifice.

• Ryan defeated Egil, who chose to return north and serve Fenrir Deity's final will.
• Ryan granted Hound's Blessing to Ulf and Gam's people, who knelt and worshipped him.
• Ryan and Avril married, and Ryan used Taisu to turn Northgar Lake into a warm lake unaffected by the Northlands.
• Ryan led Avril and his Knight Retainers into the dying Otherworld and traveled north to find Fenrir Deity.
• At Fenrir Deity's battlefield, Ryan witnessed the Direwolf sacrifice himself to kill the Hound Deity and then become part of the world.
• Ryan returned from Fenrir Deity's final memory with Wolf Spirit's Blessing.

Ryan secured the loyalty of Fenrir's people, began expanding Frozen Earth Territory, and ascended to the rank of Sky Knight. The chapter left him extending his forces into the northern lands and inspecting his growing territory.

• Ryan accepted the loyalty of Fenrir's people, left Egil warhorses, and returned to Frozen Earth Territory with new blessings.
• Ryan and Avril discussed the death of worlds as construction began on a new city, while Sack led novice adventurers into the Mountain Forest.
• Sack's group followed Fenrir's hunters into a Werewolf ambush, and Sack killed a wounded Werewolf before making contact with the hunters.
• Ryan ascended to Sky Knight, discovered that eating helped restore and strengthen his body, and issued new orders to his expanding army.
• Ryan sent Gam's Fighters and Fenrir's Hunters to hunt orcs and dispatched the Stag Legion north as he planned to claim more land for Frozen Earth Territory.

As the Otherworld approached its end, Ryan accepted Foxskin’s loyalty and rescued wolves before preparing the Frozen Earth Territory for an organized invasion by the Gagg Werewolves. The chapter ends with Brandt’s cavalry and the Werewolves clashing in the Mountain Forest, where the humans won the ambush at a heavy cost to their warhorses.

• Ryan accepted Foxskin’s pledge of loyalty and took the invisibility cloak Foxskin had found on an ancient battlefield.
• Ryan sent Egil and his pack of wolves to the Frozen Earth Territory, then learned that the Werewolf invasions had become organized under the Gagg clan.
• Ryan’s military meeting prepared the territory for war, and he designated Winter City as the first line of defense.
• Ves rejected Tatia’s request to attack Brandt’s cavalry and instead planned to ambush the humans in the Mountain Forest.
• Brandt led two thousand cavalrymen into the forest, where wolves exposed the Gagg Werewolves’ ambush and the humans charged their position.
• The Knight Retainers and Borgeld’s Armored Bears slaughtered many Werewolves, while Brandt stopped his horse near a cliff and more than a dozen cavalrymen and horses plunged over the edge.