Chapter Summaries

Brando’s group found the hunters massacred at Anlek’s camp and buried their remains so their families could learn what happened. Charles found Peya alive in the Nuga River, and she woke under Qian’s care, still unable to remember the full escape.

• Hypamira led Brando and the others to Anlek’s campsite, where they found more than twenty dead hunters and Medisa honoring them with ice-flower bouquets.
• Brando promised that Anlek would pay, while Laurenna urged the group to bury the dead and bring their remains back to their families.
• Brando agreed to the burials, and the group dug marked graves before Medisa and Freya searched for survivors.
• Charles told Brando he had rescued a living woman named Peya from the icy Nuga River; she had been wounded while fleeing the slaughter and could not remember everything that happened.
• Peya woke from a nightmare in Qian’s care, and Qian warned her not to speak because her injuries and fever were severe.

Brando’s group learned that the hunter Peya’s brother Yalta was missing, and Peya asked to join them as a guide into Frost-dyed Forest. Brando accepted after making her promise to follow his orders, leaving the group with a new guide as they prepared to enter the forest.

• Brando told the group legends about the Min’er People and the Tree-dwellers while they sat around the campfire.
• Qian reported that a female hunter had run off to search for her younger brother.
• Brando recalled that Peya had searched the bodies at the hunters’ camp, but Yalta was missing along with two other people.
• Peya explained that her father had survived trips into Frost-dyed Forest and that she wanted to find Yalta, whether he was alive or dead.
• Brando warned Peya that she would join as a guide and could not act freely to rescue her brother, and Peya swore to obey him.

Brando led his party to the entrance of Milose's Final Breath, an ancient dungeon sealed by a curtain of light. After warning them about the magic spirits within the Night Forest, he opened a passage through the barrier and entered the forest.

• After Peya recovered, Brando's party left the Nuga River and traveled through the snow-covered woods toward the dungeon.
• The party reached Mana Bind, the pale blue barrier surrounding Milose's Final Breath, and Peya described the dangers her father had recorded beyond it.
• Brando explained that the glowing figures in the Night Forest were magic spirits, not ghosts, and warned the party not to carry magical items that might attract them.
• Brando touched Mana Bind, opened a passage through the barrier, and stepped into the eternally dark Night Forest.
• Brando invited the rest of the party to enter the forest.

Brando led the group through the Twilight Hills and discovered a hidden Wizard Tower linked to the Wraiths haunting the forest. As Charles began the spell to summon it, the Wraiths attacked, leaving the group to defend him.

• Brando ordered the party to avoid magic and follow the valley, where Qian and Medisa found a vast gathering of Wraiths blocking the way.
• Brando used Medisa’s shadow and a magical marker to locate the hidden Wizard Tower, then explained its connection to the Black Tower Wizards and their failed attempt to destroy a Demonic Item.
• Brando told Charles to summon the tower and directed the others to protect him while he cast the spell.
• The Wraiths detected Charles’s magic, rushed toward the party, and attacked with streams of black flame.

Brando tested his companions against the wraiths and used Pashmira’s Stone Shield to help the team fight them while limiting the backlash of their Dark Magic. As the defensive tactic strained Pashmira’s mana, Brando forced Haruze to face a wraith alone and ordered him to kill it.

• The wraiths attacked with black flames, and Laurenna killed one before Brando warned the others that the dying creatures released weakening Dark Magic.
• Qian drove back the wraiths with the Azure Spear, while Brando directed Pashmira to place Stone Shields so the team could approach and wound the enemies without immediately killing them.
• Brando learned that Pashmira had spent 161 mana after casting Stone Shield seven times and estimated that the tactic could last only about another minute.
• Brando used his Space Element to bring a female elven wraith close, placed a Magic Crystal on Haruze, and gave him the Magic Sword Silke’s Loyalty I.
• Brando teleported Haruze in front of the wraith and ordered him to kill it, threatening to make him wear women’s clothes if he failed within five minutes.

Haruze faced an elven witch spirit while Brando insisted that he fight, and he gradually overcame his fear by defending himself and counterattacking. Wounded but determined, Haruze launched a powerful sword attack at the spirit.

• The spirit grabbed Haruze and reached for his Magic Crystal, while Brando refused Peya's request to spare him from the fight.
• Haruze recalled his sister's lessons, drew his sword, and survived the spirit's Dark Magic with Silke's Loyalty.
• Haruze used defensive swordsmanship to cut the spirit, then charged it and wounded its claw despite being struck and injured.
• Brando gave Haruze replacement swords as the spirit's spells broke them, and Haruze continued fighting until the spirit hesitated to retreat.
• Haruze gripped Silke's Loyalty III with both hands and unleashed a sweeping attack that surged toward the spirit.

Brando led the group into a Wizard Tower protected by an Advanced Exorcism Array and realized they could exploit its barrier to defeat the surrounding magical spirits. He organized rotating attacks to let several companions gain experience, and Charles and Medisa began the first assault.

• Brando recognized Haruze's White Crow Swordplay as proof that the Little Prince might be an Awakened One gifted in both magic and swordsmanship, then pulled him away from the magical spirit and praised his fighting.
• Charles summoned a Wizard Tower, and Brando ordered the group to retreat inside while Haruze and the others withdrew from the battle.
• The magical spirits were stopped by the tower's Advanced Exorcism Array, and Brando proposed wiping them out from behind the barrier.
• Brando assigned Charles and Medisa, Hypamira and Freya, and Nemesis and Laurenna to rotate attacks as the magical spirits' Weakened stacks accumulated.
• Charles attacked the spirits through the barrier, gained a level after several spells, and drove them back; Medisa then volunteered to pursue them and fight at close range.

While the battle outside the Wizard Tower continued, Brando led Qian, Haruze, and Firas into its upper floors using the correct teleportation array. In the overgrown labyrinth, Brando killed a Familiar near a skeleton, leaving the group wondering whether a wizard still lurked in the tower.

• Brando took Qian, the Little Prince, and Firas upstairs and activated the red teleportation array with Magic Crystals.
• The group arrived in an overgrown corridor, where Brando explained that they had reached the wizards' living quarters.
• Haruze identified the teleportation system as the Black Tower Wizards' Twelve Lunar Cycles arrays and praised Brando for deciphering them.
• Brando warned Firas about the labyrinth, its dangerous doors, and the Minotaurs, then led the group past five doors toward a skeleton.
• Brando found and killed a weasel-like Familiar beside the skeleton, prompting Firas and Haruze to fear that a wizard remained in the tower.

Brando and the others discovered that the skeleton was likely a Madaran undead warrior and searched its belongings according to local custom. The pouch contained a hidden-quest bone tablet and powerful equipment, including a cursed sword, leaving Brando to face the implications of the find.

• Brando realized the skeleton might have been a Skeleton Soldier, and Haruze recognized its armor as resembling Madara's military equipment.
• Brando let Firas examine the deceased's belongings, explaining the proper order for identifying the dead and sorting their possessions.
• Firas found a bone tablet marked as a quest item, and Brando suspected it could trigger a hidden quest.
• Firas emptied the pouch and revealed the Dual Serpent's Eye and Dual Serpent's Fang rings, which Brando recognized as a rare equipment set.
• Brando identified the weapon among the remaining items as Francis's Grasp, a cursed sword whose use could make its wielder age and cost them a level.

Brando identified the treasures recovered from the skeleton and gave Valora's Vanity Mirror to Firas as a gift for Laurenna, strengthening the prospect of friendship with their families. After recognizing the skeleton as a Skeleton Knight and uncovering its historic Lion's Fang, Brando gave the sword to Haruze and urged him to prove himself worthy of it.

• Brando explained Valora's Vanity Mirror to Firas, who asked for it as a gift for Laurenna, and Brando handed it over to foster goodwill with Firas's family.
• Brando identified the final treasure as a Bone Dragon Tooth, which was especially valuable to him because his Attribute of Spacetime could exploit its Curse of Aging.
• Haruze corrected Firas's account of undead dragons and wondered why humans could not join forces against the undead; Brando then examined the skeleton's inscribed armor and concluded it had been a Skeleton Knight.
• Brando gave the Skeleton Knight's enchanted armor to Firas to help protect him deeper inside the dungeon.
• Brando recognized the knight's flame-shaped sabre as the legendary Lion's Fang and presented it to Haruze, telling him to take responsibility for the sword and prove himself brave.

After clearing the Wizard Tower and the remaining magical spirits, Brando led the group onward through The Courtyard, where they defeated several packs of Twilight Hounds. They reached the pass at the far end, where a leader-level Twilight Hound was likely waiting nearby.

• Brando reunited with Charles and Medisa, praised their progress, and ordered the group to leave the tower and move on.
• The group cleared the battlefield, finding only two Chaos Fragments among the magical spirits’ drops, then continued through the forest.
• Brando recognized signs of Twilight Hounds and used Charles’s Dimensional Anchor to trap and defeat the first pack.
• Brando led the group through The Courtyard, using the same tactic to win several more fights as Charles, Medisa, and Hypamira gained levels.
• After Charles ran out of spells, Brando called a halt at the pass, suspecting that a leader-level Twilight Hound was nearby.

Brando's group camped in the ruins after finding that someone had destroyed the Twilight Hounds' nest and traveled north ahead of them. By the fire, Medisa shared her thoughts about love, time, and her wish to live as an ordinary person.

• Peya and Charles prepared pine bears the Royal Knights had killed, while Brando examined the Twilight Hound's crystal and its ruined nest.
• Nemesis found signs that another group had destroyed the nest and headed north, and she judged that Anlek was the likeliest culprit.
• Brando decided the party would camp and rest, reasoning that they had gained ground on Anlek and should avoid meeting him too soon.
• Brando's group ate a pine-bear feast, and Hypamira raised a barrier to keep its scent and sound from attracting monsters.
• Medisa reflected on her painful memories and discussed the meaning of the Midsummer Festival with Brando before leaning against him and thanking him for helping her feel she could be ordinary.

Peya’s nightmare of her missing brother led Brando to suspect that the forest’s ghostly knights were real, as the second magic tide arrived early. Brando’s group fled toward the Wall of Sighs and encountered a glowing troop of knights in the woods.

• Peya sleepwalked toward the campfire while dreaming of her brother Yalta, but Brando stopped her and woke her.
• Peya described seeing Yalta among a procession of white-robed ghosts, and Brando connected the vision to legends of the Nameless Ones.
• Brando spotted signs that the second magic tide had arrived and ordered Medisa to wake the camp.
• The magic tide swept toward the forest, and Brando’s group set out for the Wall of Sighs, leaving most of their tents behind.
• Peya cried out when the group encountered a glowing troop of knights advancing through the forest.

Brando led the knights through a dream-mist where the Nameless Ones lured travelers into memories of the past. He became separated from the others and realized he had fallen asleep inside his own dream.

• Brando warned the procession not to follow the visions, but seven people disappeared into the forest.
• Nemesis blamed herself for misjudging the knights who had been lost, and Brando defended them against her criticism.
• Brando explained that the group was trapped in the Nameless Ones' dream-mist and urged everyone to stand firm and stay calm.
• The darkness separated Brando from Nemesis, Laurenna, Firas, Freya, and the rest of the knights.
• Brando emerged alone beside a river under a starry sky, heard music from a distant town, and realized he was dreaming.

Brando encountered Prince Haruze in a shared dream and guided him through a forest to investigate a mysterious death. They emerged at a festival outside Munsterlos, the capital of Eluin, which Haruze seemed to recognize.

• Brando remembered his childhood and worried that he might never have a chance to seek his parents’ forgiveness.
• Prince Haruze stumbled into Brando’s dream, and Brando warned him not to react to anything strange they might see.
• Brando found an empty carriage stained with blood and followed a trail to a murdered young noble.
• Brando discovered a blank slip of paper and a distinctive Seal Ring on the corpse, then explained that they needed to help the Nameless One recover its identity.
• Brando and Haruze left the forest and saw a festival outside a classical city that Haruze appeared to recognize as Munsterlos.

Brando realized that the festival memory belonged to him and led Haruze toward the banquet tied to the Nameless One’s assassination. To satisfy Viscount Cadell’s invitation despite Miss Beth’s absence, Brando proposed disguising Haruze as a woman.

• Brando recognized Viscount Begning’s carriage and recalled that the festival was the Midsummer Festival held before Princess Griffine’s assassination.
• Brando realized the memory was his own and found an invitation for Viscount Cadell and his fiancée, Miss Beth, to attend a banquet.
• Brando and Haruze concluded they might need to attend the banquet as Cadell and his fiancée, but they could not find Miss Beth.
• Brando noticed Haruze’s delicate appearance and proposed that he disguise himself in women’s clothes.
• Haruze blushed and shook his head as Brando began to address him.

Brando and Haruze prepared to attend the royal banquet in Viscount Cadell’s dream, where Haruze chose to disguise himself as a noblewoman and face the task alongside his teacher. When they arrived, Brando was confronted by a woman who looked exactly like Nemesis.

• Haruze dressed in a silver gown, handed Lion's Fang to Brando, and said he would face the dream’s challenge rather than rely on others.
• Brando encouraged Haruze’s resolve, practiced his noblewoman’s behavior with him, and suspected the dream’s task was connected to the Little Prince.
• Brando took Haruze by carriage toward the royal palace, recalling the banquet and warning him not to act rashly or try to change the dream.
• At the carriage door, Brando saw a woman who looked exactly like Nemesis, and she identified him as Viscount Cadell.

Brando relived memories of his past companions while accompanying Haruze through a dream centered on Viscount Cadell. At a private banquet, Princess Griffine addressed them and hinted at the reason she had summoned them, but the chapter ended before she explained.

• Brando met Bai Jia and Hongcha outside the Golden Vine Palace and recognized them from his memories of the Crimson Travelers.
• Bai Jia told Brando that Princess Griffine had arranged a private banquet for him and Bedis.
• Brando followed Hongcha through the palace to the garden, where he encountered the older Princess Griffine.
• Haruze recognized Griffine as his sister, and Brando realized that Bedis's role in Cadell's dream was helping the Viscount recover memories of a princess fiancée.
• Griffine asked Brando whether he understood why she had summoned him and Bedis, then said that Grand Duke Anlek would also arrive that night.

Brando spoke with Princess Griffine and Hongcha in the dream, reflecting on the princess’s sacrifices and searching for Viscount Cadell’s buried memories. He noticed strange details in the banquet hall before colliding with a child, leaving the identity of the child unknown.

• Princess Griffine asked Brando to leave her alone with Haruze, and Brando secretly signaled Haruze to gather information.
• Brando bowed to Princess Griffine, then left the garden and found Hongcha waiting outside.
• Hongcha said the nobles backed Grand Duke Anlek and questioned whether anyone would sacrifice themselves for Princess Griffine; her remark made Brando suspect he was confronting Viscount Cadell’s own doubts.
• Brando searched the banquet hall for Anlek and noticed the clock showed eight, the view outside was an unfamiliar dark forest, and the air smelled of blood and burning.
• Brando stepped backward and collided with a child carrying a plate, scattering tableware.

Brando confronted a dream that recreated his childhood parents and the fears he had about his life, then tried to reassure Haruze that the altered history around them was only a trap. The hall’s scene shifted when the Crimson Traveler group appeared, but the assassin’s expected entrance did not happen.

• Brando saw young Su Fei and the parents from his memories, then fled when their kindness overwhelmed him.
• Haruze found Brando and explained that this world’s history had erased Brando’s deeds, killed Freya, and left Princess Griffine facing death.
• Brando told Haruze that the Nameless Ones were distorting their dream and described the legend of overlapping histories and branching worlds.
• Brando noticed the smell of blood and burning intensify as the hall fell silent and the Crimson Traveler group emerged from a second-floor doorway.
• Brando expected an assassin to enter through another door, but it remained shut, leaving him wondering whether history had changed.