Recaps

Iver, Sherlock, and Lily followed Hai Na home and discovered that the village’s passage of time was disordered. At Hai Na’s house, they met her father, a dwarf whose hidden blacksmith inheritance raised questions about Hai Na’s family and past.

• Iver, Sherlock, and Lily realized that night had fallen far sooner than expected and confirmed that outsiders sensed the village’s distorted passage of time.
• Hai Na led the group into her family’s blacksmith shop, where Sherlock noticed that the furnaces were cold despite the pig iron and tools inside.
• Sherlock wondered whether Hai Na’s father was an extraordinary blacksmith who could summon Fire Essences.
• Hai Na’s father scolded her for staying out until nightfall, and Iver, Lily, and Sherlock were surprised to discover that he was a dwarf.
• Sherlock concluded that Hai Na’s father was an unlicensed dwarf blacksmith who had passed an illegal inheritance to her.

Iver and Sherlock learned more about Hai Na’s family as Magnetic Hammer explained how he had raised her and Jack after their biological father left. Iver sampled Magnetic Hammer’s unusual dwarven beer, while Sherlock considered asking him to forge a walking stick.

• Magnetic Hammer told Iver and the others that Hai Na and Jack were not his biological children and that their biological father had left before Jack was born.
• Sherlock asked about Hai Na’s father, and Magnetic Hammer described the man’s former master as a boastful, inferior blacksmith.
• Hai Na’s mother explained that she had found Magnetic Hammer unconscious in the swamp after he ran away, and Hai Na connected this to Grandpa William’s arrival.
• Magnetic Hammer offered Iver a cup of dwarven beer, and Iver recognized its charred flavor as coming from roasted malt or charcoal.
• Hai Na’s mother took Hai Na, Jack, and Sherlock upstairs while Iver stayed with Magnetic Hammer; Sherlock considered asking him to forge a walking stick as a gift for Edward.

Iver learned from Magnetic Hammer why dwarves invested their faith in Angels and why elves distrusted them, then discovered that many villagers had no names. The chapter left Iver stunned by the revelation that Hai Na’s mother was unnamed.

• Iver and Magnetic Hammer became close as they discussed the religious rivalry between dwarves and elves.
• Magnetic Hammer explained that dwarves deliberately supported weaker Angels in hopes of earning their favor and helping one rise to Pillar God status.
• Iver realized that Magnetic Hammer had taught Jack blacksmithing and opposed Hai Na going to the royal capital partly because of their shared Dedication Path.
• Iver asked Hai Na’s mother’s name, and Magnetic Hammer explained that many villagers had no names.

Iver returned to Sherlock after a night at Magnetic Hammer's place and learned that Sherlock had uncovered troubling clues about Eagle Cape Village. They planned to investigate the swamp and question villagers in separate groups, leaving the chapter with Iver uneasy about splitting up.

• Iver found Sherlock awake and writing notes, and Sherlock explained that he had questioned Hai Na, her mother, and Jack about the village.
• Sherlock noted that no one in the village was between twenty-six and roughly sixty years old, and that the older residents' ages and names were unknown.
• Iver argued that the villagers were living people but said their lack of names was especially alarming, explaining how names preserved a person's existence and comparing the village to the victims of White Punishment.
• Sherlock planned for the group to inspect the forbidden swamp together, then split up to question the elders, priest, Old Blacksmith, and Old Inspector about the village's history, Hai Na's father, and local burials.
• Iver agreed to Sherlock's investigation plan but worried that splitting up in the eerie village was a bad sign.

Iver and his companions entered the forbidden swamp to investigate its secrets, where they encountered headless undead and prepared to defend themselves. As Lily and Liz fought the undead, Sherlock summoned mud hawks from the swamp.

• Hai Na led Iver, Sherlock, Lily, and Liz through the Dense Forest toward the swamp, explaining the village's layout and her childhood curiosity about the forbidden area.
• White Mist rose around the group, and the ground turned to foul-smelling sludge as Lily warned that something was approaching.
• Several Second Level Headless Undead approached, and Lily used gray threads to lift and restrain them.
• Liz attacked one of the undead with a burst of wind, shattering it and embedding bone fragments in nearby trees.
• Sherlock summoned mud hawks from the swamp to protect the group.

Sherlock and his companions fought a giant Mud Bone Turtle in the swamp, and Iver helped Sherlock defeat it with a spell enhanced by Purification Fire. After gaining experience for the kill, Iver decided they should clear the swamp of monsters to protect the villagers.

• Sherlock warned his companions that something enormous was moving beneath the swamp, and a giant Mud Bone Turtle emerged and attacked.
• Iver identified the turtle as a Fourth Level social monster and explained that its shell was thick, its mud made the ground treacherous, and its head was vulnerable.
• Lily used her gray threads to suspend and swing her companions between trees as the turtle charged through the swamp.
• Sherlock combined alcohol with his earth spell to attack the turtle's mud-covered head, while Iver added Purification Fire to strengthen the spell.
• Sherlock's golden-flamed spell bored into the turtle's head and destroyed it, earning Iver 26 Free Experience.
• Iver changed his mind about what to do next and proposed clearing the area to keep the villagers safe.

Iver tested whether monsters in the swamp could grant experience and discovered they did, while Swamp Ghouls yielded unusually high rewards. When Sherlock’s attempt to summon Mud Eagle failed, the swamp drained into a vast black hole that Iver recognized as a portal to the Fairy Kingdom.

• Iver killed a nest of Mud Bone Turtles in their dreams and gained a fixed amount of Free Experience from each one.
• Iver dispersed a Night Parade Knight and a Swamp Ghoul, finding that the ghoul granted unusually high experience for its level.
• Iver persuaded Sherlock to summon another elemental creature so they could investigate the swamp’s abnormal experience rewards.
• Sherlock’s summoning spell failed, and the swamp and its mist drained into a huge, funnel-shaped black hole.
• Iver stopped Lily from approaching the hole and identified it as a Fairy Hole leading to the Fairy Kingdom.

Iver and Sherlock discovered that the swamp concealed an entrance to the Fairy Kingdom, then left after concluding it was not directly responsible for Eagle Cape Village’s abnormality. Iver and Lily cleaned themselves and headed for the village elder’s house, where Iver was about to return to his grandfather’s home.

• Iver explained that the swamp’s hole was the hidden Earth Attribute Fairy Hole and that the fairies’ barrier likely concealed Eagle Cape Village from the outside.
• Sherlock used an Earth Attribute spell to refill the hole with mud, and he and Iver left the swamp.
• Iver told Hai Na that her village held many dangerous secrets, leaving her bewildered about her childhood home.
• Iver and Lily cleaned off the swamp gas, then followed Hai Na’s directions to the village elder’s house.
• Iver learned that the village had three elders, including his deceased grandfather, and prepared to go home.

Iver learned from the squire that Jacob had entered Eagle Cape Village by the Small Forest Path decades before outsiders began using the swamp, whose travelers could not leave because they had already died and been resurrected as undead. Meanwhile, Sherlock and Hai Na’s questions at a village smithy hinted that locals encountered the Swamp People differently from outsiders.

• The squire told Iver that Jacob had been the first outsider to visit Eagle Cape Village, arriving through the Small Forest Path about sixty years earlier.
• The squire explained that people who entered through the swamp could not leave because they were undead resurrected from it.
• Hai Na and Sherlock visited a working smithy, where the blacksmith and a customer warmly greeted Hai Na and asked about her return and marriage plans.
• A customer noticed Sherlock had been to the swamp, and Hai Na lied that she and Sherlock had gone together and returned when fog made it dangerous.
• The customer asked whether they had encountered other undead, and Hai Na said they had but had defeated them.
• Sherlock wondered whether locals alone could encounter the Swamp People, then stayed quiet as the customer resumed chatting with Hai Na.

Iver learned that Jacob created a ritual that resurrected people in Eagle Cape Village as living duplicates with complete souls, while their original souls remained hidden in the swamp. He realized Jacob had been researching how to replicate the human soul, the work Noble Red wanted to obtain.

• The old gentleman told Iver that people entering Eagle Cape Village through the swamp were resurrected duplicates, and asked whether they were the same people who had died.
• Iver connected the question to his own uncertain identity and learned that Jacob had first used the ritual to resurrect Inspector William.
• The old gentleman explained that Jacob later performed another ritual, after which children began to be born in the village.
• Lily prompted Iver to ask whether the resurrected outsiders had souls, and the old gentleman confirmed that they had complete, identical souls while their original souls remained in the swamp.
• Iver realized Jacob had been trying to replicate the human soul, explaining why Noble Red wanted his research manuscripts.

Iver pieced together how Jacob’s resurrection ritual had duplicated souls and connected it to the Swamp People, Hai Na, and Fairy Hole. The clues left him questioning whether Jacob was truly dead—and who Iver himself was.

• Iver explained how resurrection and soul manipulation could drain the world’s supply of souls, causing soul deprivation.
• Iver deduced that Jacob’s early resurrection ritual had accidentally preserved original souls, turning resurrection into soul duplication, and that Jacob had hidden those souls inside Fairy Hole.
• Iver connected Magnetic Hammer’s arrival and Hai Na’s birth to Jacob’s experiments, suspecting Hai Na had been one of his specimens.
• Iver reconstructed Jacob’s return to Eagle Cape Village, the restarting of the Swamp People Ritual, and Jacob’s possible pursuit of artificially created souls.
• Iver wondered whether Jacob was really dead, questioned whether they had both truly caught wind chill, and asked, “Who... am I?”

Iver questioned what his origins and Jacob’s research might mean, then left to seek answers from Eagle Cape Village’s priest. Meanwhile, Grand Guardian George searched a captured Noble Red member’s memories and learned that the group had been looking for a Sacred Entity on Glass Island, but believed it had already left.

• Iver suspected that Jacob’s experiments might explain the players, their unusual abilities, and his own connection to the game, then asked the village elder whether Jacob was really dead.
• The elder offered no useful new information, so Iver left to question Eagle Cape Village’s only priest.
• Grand Guardian George used the Soul Searching Spell on a captured high-ranking Noble Red member and discovered that Noble Red’s rebellion against Avalon was a cover for its own plans.
• George learned that Wolfram had brought Noble Red to Glass Island to find a Sacred Entity linked to deities such as the Serpent Father or Ring Angel.
• Noble Red began withdrawing after receiving word that the Sacred Entity they sought was no longer on Glass Island.

Vivian joined her Glass Island classmates on a church-school trip to Mubay County, where she slipped away and met Ye Zhi. She initially rejected him, but agreed to hear his report when he said it concerned the Sacred Entity.

• The chapter explained how church schools used countryside trips to prepare students for assignments in remote towns after graduation.
• Vivian played with her classmates, then left them to take a walk by herself.
• Vivian's cheerful manner faded as she went around a corner and found Ye Zhi waiting.
• Ye Zhi called Vivian his master, but she told him he was no longer her dog and refused to hear what he had to say.
• Ye Zhi said his report concerned the Sacred Entity, so Vivian agreed to listen.

Vivian sent Ye Zhi to protect Eagle Cape Village and keep people away from the swamp while she continued her plans as Vivian Mathers. Merlin discovered that the Shadow of Avalon Ritual concealed a second ritual capable of dragging an Angel down, and went to the Fairy Kingdom to question the Queen.

• Vivian rebuked Ye Zhi for approaching her and ordered him to watch the giants, protect Alexander and Eagle Cape Village, and keep people away from the swamp.
• Vivian told Ye Zhi that she was Vivian Mathers, refused to reward him, and sent him away to carry out his task.
• After Vivian rejoined the Children, Merlin appeared in the alley and wondered who she had been speaking to.
• Merlin recalled that the Shadow of Avalon Ritual had gone wrong and realized it concealed a separate ritual capable of dragging down a Shadow Angel.
• Merlin traveled to the Fairy Kingdom and asked the fairies to take him to the Queen.

Hai Na and Sherlock investigated the villagers’ reactions to the swamp and suspected that Jacob had created Eagle Cape Village’s unusual traditions. Magnetic Hammer then revealed that Jacob was a ritualist who rebuilt the village in the shape of a precise Ritual Array.

• Hai Na’s mother scolded her for taking Sherlock to the swamp, and Sherlock used her reaction to infer that locals and outsiders understood the Forbidden Area differently.
• Sherlock concluded that Hai Na’s mother was hiding a deeper secret connected to Hai Na’s father and suspected that Jacob had created Eagle Cape Village’s abnormal traditions.
• Hai Na and Sherlock spoke with Magnetic Hammer, who regretted missing Iver and agreed to talk about Jacob.
• Magnetic Hammer explained that Jacob had rebuilt the village’s houses and roads using powerful rituals.
• Magnetic Hammer said Eagle Cape Village’s houses formed an orderly circle filled with geometric patterns resembling a Ritual Array.

Sherlock confirmed Eagle Cape Village was a vast ritual array and investigated Hai Na’s biological father, who had vanished after reportedly seeing a double of himself. Connecting the disappearance to Jacob Alexander, Glass Island, and the Red Hilt Sword’s curse, Sherlock came close to uncovering a conspiracy involving Iver’s parents but realized a crucial clue was still missing.

• Sherlock asked Magnetic Hammer about Hai Na’s missing father, and Magnetic Hammer said he had reportedly seen someone identical to himself before disappearing.
• Magnetic Hammer explained that Hai Na’s father later sent a letter from Glass Island but never returned, while Sherlock suspected the missing man had been a copy created through a ritual.
• Sherlock connected Hai Na’s father, Jacob Alexander, and the Red Hilt Sword’s curse leaking on Glass Island, concluding that Hai Na’s father may have helped Jacob perform a ritual remotely.
• Sherlock traced the timeline around Iver’s parents’ deaths and Jacob’s death but could not determine why Jacob’s plan had led to their deaths.
• Sherlock realized one crucial clue was missing and punched Hai Na as he decided to find Iver and share his deductions.

Merlin visited Fairy Queen Titania after the fairies guided him through the Fairy Kingdom in a playful musical procession. Titania agreed to look into Merlin’s questions about people with fairy abilities and borrowing the Fairy Hole, and revealed that only a few guests were present.

• The fairies carried Merlin through the Fairy Kingdom in a rainbow-lit musical procession and delivered him to Titania’s floating island.
• Merlin teleported through the candy palace and greeted Fairy Queen Titania.
• Merlin asked Titania which people had recently gained fairy abilities, who her current guests were, and whether he could borrow the Fairy Hole.
• Titania said she would look into the first and third requests and noted that she had only a few guests.
• Titania addressed the Gem Bird as James, and it transformed into an old man.

Merlin discovered that James Moriarty was staying in Titania’s birdcage and learned that James had intervened in Jacob Alexander’s plans for Iver and Yulia. James asked Merlin to tell him what Iver and Yulia had done while he stayed away.

• Merlin told James and Titania that Vivian had altered the Shadow of Avalon Ritual, possibly with Jacob’s help, and that he needed the Fairy Hole to investigate Beheading Valley.
• James said a letter from Jacob’s eldest son described research into fusing phantom fragments with human souls, which James believed was part of an attempt to create a god.
• James explained that Jacob’s original plan involved Iver being sent to Bishop Mathers and Yulia being adopted by the Barton Couple, but James raised them himself instead.
• James revealed that he had faked his death to give Iver space after Iver gained suspicious secret knowledge, then asked Merlin what Iver and Yulia had done in his absence.

Iver learned that Hai Na had been guided toward the Paths of Authority and Transcendence, and suspected her father’s disappearance was tied to her ability to leave Eagle Cape Village. As dusk fell, red-robed people charged into the village, and Iver hid with Lily inside the priest’s house.

• The priest told Iver that Eagle Cape Village had no cemetery and that its people were Nameless remnants who had sold their souls to Amber.
• The priest explained that Jacob had advised Hai Na’s mother to cultivate Hai Na’s affinity for Authority, prompting Iver to recognize her childhood lessons as deliberate education in that Path.
• Iver inferred that Hai Na’s original affinity might have been Transcendence and that her father’s disappearance could be connected to Jacob, Noble Red, or the village’s Twilight seal.
• Iver recalled the game’s rebel leader Nameless and suspected she was Hai Na from another timeline.
• Iver left the priest’s house at dusk, heard people shouting at the village entrance, and pulled Lily back inside as red-robed people charged in.

Cassiem searched for the Book of Law after Prince Wolfram sent him to find the place closest to death, but he suspected the order was a plot to remove him. When a road appeared into a village hidden within a Mesozoic Lock, Cassiem sensed a powerful aura of dusk and decided the Book of Law might be there.

• Cassiem doubted the eye demon’s prophecy and suspected it wanted him driven away from Prince Wolfram.
• Cassiem considered replacing Prince Wolfram as the prince appeared to be losing his ambition.
• Cassiem and his companions discovered a road that had suddenly appeared in the forest and entered a Mesozoic Lock.
• Cassiem sensed powerful deathly dusk in a silent village and wondered whether the Book of Law was there.
• Cassiem ordered his companions to search every house and keep the elderly and literate villagers alive in the square.

Iver and Lily were attacked by Noble Red’s armed Demon Scholars while hiding in the priest’s house. After realizing they intended to kill everyone, Iver summoned the Paradox Flame Butterfly to fight back.

• Iver watched more than forty Noble Red soldiers gather and prepare a ritual, identifying their giant leader as a dangerous opponent.
• Lily offered to assassinate the giant, but Iver warned that she could not safely escape a Fifth Level Transcendent.
• A Demon Scholar spotted Iver, and the group bombarded the house with Bone Rotting Thunder and Fireball.
• Iver protected Lily with the Shadow Fiend and recognized that Noble Red meant to leave no survivors.
• Iver ordered the Paradox Flame Butterfly to attack, and she agreed to burn the Demon Scholars.

Iver unleashed the Paradox Flame Butterfly against the Demon Scholars attacking the ritual site, while the Shadow Demon protected him and Lily. The enemy’s Fifth Level giant weakened the Butterfly with a Flame Nullification Barrier, but she targeted the ritual’s foundations; the giant then decided to reveal his Demon Avatar.

• Iver summoned the Paradox Flame Butterfly, who burned five or six Demon Scholars and forced him to send Lily into the shadows.
• Iver ordered the Butterfly to destroy the ritual and told the Shadow Demon to protect him, allowing it to attack the demons.
• Three demons rushed into the house to kill Iver and disrupt the ritual, but the Shadow Demon split one apart and pierced the other two with its tentacles.
• The Fifth Level giant raised a Flame Nullification Barrier that weakened the Butterfly’s flames, but she flew around it and used lasers to damage the ritual’s foundation arrays.
• The Butterfly’s attacks made the barrier turn transparent and killed two more enemies, prompting the giant to recognize her as a Greater Phantom Demon and prepare to reveal his Demon Avatar.

Iver and Paradox Flame Butterfly fought Cassiem’s Demon Scholars as Cassiem completed his transformation into Punishment Demon. Iver freed Paradox Flame Butterfly from Punishment Demon’s trap and ordered her to self-destruct in a Dawnfire strike, hoping to hold out until the Wild Hunt King arrived.

• Cassiem consumed Smoke Demon to strengthen his metamorphosis while Paradox Flame Butterfly attacked and scattered the Demon Scholars.
• Cassiem emerged as Punishment Demon, a Greater Demon who bound Paradox Flame Butterfly with a barbed chain and forced the surviving Demon Scholars into a self-sacrifice spell aimed at Iver.
• Iver used Shadow Cloak on Paradox Flame Butterfly to break her bonds and make her disappear, then she unleashed Dawnfire to dispel the storm.
• Iver ordered Paradox Flame Butterfly to self-destruct and sent her blazing toward Punishment Demon, then shielded Lily and Shadow Demon from the resulting blast.

Sherlock and Hai Na rushed to investigate a sudden storm and explosion at the village entrance, arriving with Liz to find Iver recovering amid the wreckage. Iver asked Sherlock to wall off the site just as the Wild Hunt arrived.

• A sudden storm and earthquake made Sherlock and Hai Na worry that something had happened to Iver, and they decided to investigate after an explosion shook the village entrance.
• Hai Na summoned Liz with the Griffin Flute, and she and Sherlock rode the griffin in Wind Elemental Form to the village entrance.
• Sherlock and Hai Na found a huge crater, a burning priest's house, and Iver healing himself with the Sacrificial Fire Method.
• Iver asked Sherlock to build a wall around the site and come inside, and Sherlock used a spell to raise earthen walls.
• A cold wind swept past, and Sherlock recognized that the Wild Hunt had arrived.

Iver and his companions sheltered from the Wild Hunt after Noble Red attacked Eagle Cape Village, while Iver revealed that a dangerous Punishment Demon remained outside. He hoped Hellerchein would leave the demon weakened but alive so he could capture its power, and planned to strengthen the group by finding an Earthbound Spirit.

• Iver lit a candle to drive away the Wild Hunt's cold and ordered Sherlock and Hai Na to extinguish the other flames and bring the unconscious priest downstairs.
• Iver told Sherlock that Noble Red and the Giant King had bombarded the village houses, and Sherlock suspected they had come to gather human materials.
• Iver warned Sherlock and Hai Na not to go outside because Noble Red's surviving Fifth Level Demon Avatar was a Punishment Demon fighting Hellerchein and the Wild Hunt.
• Iver explained that he wanted the Punishment Demon alive so he could extract its power and turn it into cards, especially the Thunderclap Halberd.
• Iver decided to find the Earthbound Spirit in a nearby inn to strengthen the group before confronting the wounded Punishment Demon.