Chapter Summaries

Arro crossed a wasteland filled with Undead and discovered a dense Skeleton Monster army, while Old Man Shire led a desperate defense by young villagers. The defenders used a wall of fire to halt the monsters and prepared to retreat for more fuel before fighting again.

• Arro fought off Skeleton Monsters, found no signs of living people, and spotted an unusually large gathering of Undead in the distance.
• Old Man Shire and the young men formed a shield line and fought the Skeleton Monsters with improvised weapons.
• The skeletons broke through the defenders’ formation, killing one young warrior as the battle continued.
• Old Man Shire ordered a retreat across a clearing prepared with grass, oil, and wood, and the defenders ignited it to create a wall of fire.
• Hami asked whether the fire would destroy the monsters, and Old Man Shire decided they would return with more fuel and reclaim their homeland.

After the battle, the surviving young men grieved for their dead companions as Old Shar guarded them and tried to persuade Hami not to flee their village. The group continued onward, and Old Shar announced he was going back, leaving Hami unsure where he meant.

• The young men walked across the barren earth, mourning Leo, Elro, Little Nord, and their other dead companions.
• Hami fell back beside Old Shar and blamed their losses on the Count's sudden orders and their brief emergency training.
• Old Shar explained that they had to defend their home while the territory's soldiers guarded the border, and warned that fleeing would bring new dangers.
• Hami argued that they could find uninhabited land elsewhere, but Old Shar challenged him to consider the risks of travel, hostile locals, bandits, and Demonic Beasts.
• Old Shar stopped arguing, patted Hami on the shoulder, and said he was going back; Hami asked where he meant.

Old Shar and Hami hurried toward the previous battlefield to recover the dead before they became monsters. Old Shar reminded Hami that their freedom and livelihood came from Count’s rule, and they stopped when they sensed movement ahead.

• Hami worried that Old Shar planned to flee with him, then tried to distract him with nostalgic stories about bread, a girl, and life before.
• Old Shar told Hami that Count’s pardon of serfs, access to wasteland, and low taxes made Count worth fighting for.
• Old Shar explained that they were going to retrieve the bodies before they turned into monsters and blended into the Skeleton Monster Group.
• Hami asked whether Lord Claire would punish Old Shar for abandoning the schedule, and Old Shar said Hami had come along on his own.
• Old Shar heard movement ahead, grabbed Hami, and crouched to listen to the ground.

Arro defeated the skeletons and met Hami and the one-armed Old Man Shire, who said they had lured the undead to the area. As Arro escorted them to the Canyon Entrance, they found their companions’ charred bodies, and Old Man Shire recognized Dru and Elro.

• Arro killed the Skeleton Monsters, gained swordsmanship experience, and reached nearly four thousand experience points.
• Old Man Shire and Hami emerged from behind a hill, and Arro questioned their presence and identity.
• Old Man Shire said they were soldiers from the Earl’s territory who had lured undead toward the Canyon Entrance before a fire scattered them.
• Arro offered to escort the pair, introduced himself as Moon, and watched them warily as they traveled.
• At the Canyon Entrance, Old Man Shire recognized Dru and Elro among the charred corpses, while Hami stared at the bodies in stunned silence.

Arro watched Old Shar uncover five Charred Corpses and saw Hami struggle with the sight. As Old Shar and Hami prepared to cremate the bodies, Arro decided to stay with them to find Baron Claire and learn more about the Undead Scourge.

• Old Shar dug five bodies from the charcoal ash while Arro observed, and Hami stared at the remains in shock.
• Old Shar called Hami back to himself and told him to gather unburned wood before Baron Claire came looking for them.
• Old Shar explained that they would cremate the bodies because they could not safely carry them and feared the dead might turn into monsters.
• Arro considered following Old Shar and Hami to find Baron Claire, then offered to help dig the cremation pit.
• Old Shar protested, but Arro took over the digging and sent Old Shar and Hami to gather wood.

Arro helped Old Shar bury the dead Charred Corpses, then accompanied him and Hami toward Jiro Town while asking about the spread of Skeleton Monsters and Necrotic Beetles. They reached a hidden checkpoint guarded by Mrs. Wenlin, where Arro urged the wary Old Shar to cross the lowered ladder.

• Old Shar buried the Charred Corpses in stone-lined graves, and Arro asked to accompany him and Hami back to Jiro Town.
• On the way, Old Shar told Arro that Skeleton Monsters had spread across Meyer Town and nearby towns, forcing people to retreat to Jiro Town.
• Arro asked Old Shar about Necrotic Beetles, and Old Shar offered to ask the others about them once they returned.
• At a hidden checkpoint, Mrs. Wenlin recognized Old Shar and had a ladder lowered over a concealed pitfall.
• Arro patted Old Shar on the shoulder and urged him to cross the ladder despite his hesitation.

Arro crossed into the camp Old Shar and Hami guarded, where commoners had gathered after fleeing the undead. He agreed to wait for Baron Claire and saw the wounded survivors maintaining a fortified settlement beside Jiro Town.

• Aunt Wenlin tried to ask Arro for help, but Old Shar stopped her and apologized for her request.
• Arro told Old Shar to arrange a place for him to rest and said he knew Baron Claire, asking to meet him when he returned.
• Old Shar led Arro and Hami through a bloodstained gorge littered with bones to the camp's guarded entrance.
• The Young Men welcomed Old Shar and Hami back, while Arro noticed their recent injuries and the camp's defenses.
• Old Shar guided Arro through the camp, where residents trained, tended the wounded, built shelters, and worked fields near Jiro Town.

Arro was brought to a guarded cabin in the garrison while he waited for Baron Claire, and he observed the busy refugee camp and its contrast with quiet Jiro Town. He heard a timid voice ask whether Dru had returned.

• Old Shar led Arro to a remote cabin on high ground, explaining that outsiders were barred from Jiro Town and that Baron Claire had left by the narrow path.
• Arro noticed the veteran soldiers watching him and questioned Old Shar about a file prepared for Baron Claire, but chose not to challenge his explanation.
• Arro checked the cabin for traps and spies, then drank sugar salt water and ate dried meat to recover from his battles.
• Arro watched refugees work in the camp as supplies came out of Jiro Town, and wondered whether the refugees were being kept busy to prevent unrest.
• Arro heard a timid voice beneath the slope ask whether Dru had returned.

Arro grieved for the dead Dru alongside the settlement, then returned to studying magic and maintaining his equipment. Hami brought him the promised rye bread, leaving Arro intrigued and hungry as he prepared to try it.

• A woman learned from Old Shar that Dru had died and blamed her own greed for the loss of her children.
• Arro found the meat he had been eating tasteless and returned to his cabin after sunset.
• Arro maintained his armor and Blazing Greatsword, then realized his new familiarity with rune structures had helped him memorize the Small Fireball Spell.
• Arro decided to study the Water Mirror Spell before Hami knocked and offered him rye bread.
• Hami told Arro that Mrs. Wenlin had freshly baked the bread, and Arro accepted it after becoming interested in Hami's description.
• Arro examined the hard, golden loaf and thought of charred grilled fish, which made him hungry.

Arro reflected on the taste of rye bread before studying and successfully casting the Water Mirror Spell. He tested its scouting function, discovering that its remote viewpoint was linked to the main mirror by a strand of mist, and found that physical contact with the strand had no effect.

• Arro ate rye bread and, as he remembered difficult days at Owl Wizard Academy, began to understand Hami's appreciation of it.
• Arro reviewed the Water Mirror Spell's magic patterns and decided to practice casting it directly.
• Arro successfully formed a water mirror, then used it to view himself and move it around.
• Arro created a smaller remote water sphere connected to the mirror by mist and observed that moving it changed the mirror's viewpoint.
• Arro waved his hand through the connecting mist and found that neither he nor the water mirror sensed any change.

Arro tested the Water Mirror Spell as a way to communicate and observe from a distance, combining it with the Feather Fall Spell to create a drifting surveillance device. While checking its range, he spotted points of light on a mountain peak and wondered whether guards were stationed there.

• Arro sent tiny Water Balls into the wilderness to test the Water Mirror Spell’s stability, speed, and signal behavior.
• Arro discovered that attaching the Feather Fall Spell could keep an Observation Water Ball aloft and produce a stable image.
• Arro modified the spell structure to make the Observation Water Ball circle, but it struck the Wooden Cabin’s wall.
• Arro adjusted the Water Ball’s speed and trajectory, then watched it circle outside as an upward mountain wind disrupted its path.
• Arro judged the drifting Water Ball a useful, inexpensive alternative to aerial observation and checked how far it had traveled.
• Arro noticed points of light on the Mountain Peak and wondered whether guards were stationed atop the cliff.

Arro used a Surveillance Water Ball to discover Miles beside an activated Magic Pattern Array on the mountain peak and showed the scene to Old Shar. As they watched again, Arro spotted two strange winged undead near Miles.

• Arro used a Surveillance Water Ball to see Miles beside a glowing Magic Pattern Array atop the mountain peak.
• Arro asked Old Shar whether Baron Claire had left Miles any instructions, and Old Shar said he did not know Miles and that the Personal Guards had stayed in Jiro Town.
• Arro showed Old Shar the water mirror, revealing Miles and the Magic Pattern Array on the peak.
• Old Shar feared the array might trigger an Undead Disaster, but Arro questioned whether Miles was doing anything harmful and warned that destroying the array could be dangerous.
• Arro saw two bizarre black shadows near Miles and recognized them as winged undead.

Arro raced to the mountain to stop Miles’s Magic Pattern Array and confronted Miles and two Undead Vultures. After Miles saw through Arro’s false claim of being a Fernando wizard, Arro launched a surprise attack on one of the creatures.

• Arro ordered Old Shar to raise the garrison’s alert and evacuate civilians, then hurried toward the mountain while Old Shar rang the Alarm Bell.
• Arro climbed the rock wall using Tree Climbing and reached the mountaintop, where two Undead Vultures attacked him.
• Arro parried an Undead Vulture’s strike and pretended to be a wizard of the Fernando Family to approach Miles beside the Magic Pattern Array.
• Miles demanded Arro’s family crest and mission scroll, then ordered the Undead Vultures to kill him.
• Arro used his techniques to close in and struck at the slender bone neck of the nearby Undead Vulture.

Arro defeated the Undead Vulture and captured Miles, then broke through Miles’s defenses to make him reveal what he knew. At the Refugee Camp, a Camp Howl plunged the residents into chaos, and Old Shar asked Arro whether he had uncovered anything about the enemy.

• Arro used his movement and sword techniques to kill the Undead Vulture, gaining 1363 Experience Points.
• Arro defeated Miles and questioned him, challenging his faith until Miles agreed to talk.
• Hami warned Old Shar that people in the Refugee Camp had suddenly gone mad, and Old Shar identified the event as a Night Terror.
• Arro explained that Camp Howls could affect crowded, exhausted people under intense negative pressure, then let Hami take the bound Miles inside.
• Old Shar asked Arro whether Miles had revealed anything and whether Arro had dealt with Mo-something Tu.

Arro explained that the destroyed Magic Pattern Array had already drawn Undead System energy into the Refugee Camp, triggering a Camp Howl and affecting Old Shar. After purifying him, Arro sent him to organize fires and wake the camp, while warning that accomplices and a large Skeleton Monster attack might be coming; he gave Old Shar one hour to bring reinforcements to the mountain pass.

• Arro explained that the Magic Pattern Array had drawn Undead System energy into the land and caused the Camp Howl, while Old Shar struggled to accept that the refugees had been affected.
• Old Shar succumbed to fear and despair, so Arro used a Purification Potion to wake him and warned him that he had been affected by the energy.
• Arro told Old Shar to gather the people still awake, light strong bonfires, and lead the refugees toward them to help dispel the Night Terror.
• Arro warned Old Shar that Miles might have had accomplices in the camp, and Old Shar realized they might still be present.
• Arro told Old Shar that Skeleton Monsters were likely converging on the camp and gave him one hour to bring people to guard the mountain pass.

Arrow reached the canyon during a skeleton attack and held the line while soldiers withdrew to help contain a camp howl. As shadowy figures released stitched giant elephants and undead vultures against him, Arrow ordered his two supporters to retreat into the canyon.

• Arrow arrived at the canyon, used a Light Sphere to help the soldiers, and told them to leave the defense to him while they responded to the camp howl.
• Arrow demonstrated his Small Fireball Spell, then used his flaming greatsword to hold back the skeletons as the soldiers retreated.
• Levi stayed behind with Isaac to support Arrow while the veteran soldier withdrew.
• Two Black Robed People identified Arrow as a threat to their mission and decided to release the remaining Alchemical Corpses.
• Arrow illuminated the approaching Stitched Giant Elephants and Undead Vultures, then told Levi and Isaac to retreat into the canyon.

Arro survived the Undead Vulture’s diving attack and pursued it through the air, using the Feather Fall Spell and Soaring Dragon Movement Technique to get close. He killed it with a hand grenade, then turned his attention to the approaching Stitched Giant Elephants.

• Arro used the imprinted Trip Spell and his greatsword to deflect the Undead Vulture’s first strike, though the impact sent him flying through Skeleton Warriors.
• Arro decided the Undead Vulture could not escape, then leaped from the skeletons and used the Feather Fall Spell and Soaring Dragon Movement Technique to chase it.
• When the Undead Vulture turned to attack again, Arro reversed the wind force around himself to stop short and threw a hand grenade into its hollow body.
• The grenade exploded inside the Undead Vulture, killing it, and Arro received reduced Experience Points because the grenade had finished the enemy.
• Arro praised the hand grenade’s power and looked toward the approaching Stitched Giant Elephants with a malicious glint.

Arro used hand grenades to destroy the Stitched Giant Elephants while Morfei Fernando and the Black Robed Person plotted to send two more Undead Vultures after him. As Arro fought on, he concluded that Redd Ranelli had deliberately drawn him into a trap as a half-forced invitation to another Night of the Moon Dance.

• Arro used his Soaring Dragon Movement Technique to throw hand grenades at the Stitched Giant Elephants and blast them apart.
• Morfei Fernando hesitated to risk the family’s remaining Undead Vultures, but the Black Robed Person urged him to attack Arro so they could claim his treasures.
• Arro refused the soldiers’ offer to tend his wounds and told them to prepare to retreat while he continued fighting Skeleton Monsters.
• Arro noticed the Undead Vultures’ observers near the edge of his perception range and suspected that Redd Ranelli had chosen the location deliberately.
• Arro recalled that Redd had called him “Moonlit Dancer” and decided the attack was a half-forced invitation to repeat the Night of the Moon Dance.

Arro flew after an Undead Vulture and killed it, then confronted Morfei Fernando and Corey. When Morfei offered to ransom his life, Arro tried to invite him to camp, but Morfei was killed before the invitation could be completed, and Corey claimed he came from the Earl's territory.

• Arro activated Phoenix Spreading Wings and used the Soaring Dragon Movement Technique to pursue an Undead Vulture.
• Arro killed the Undead Vulture and gained several techniques and 1815 Experience Points.
• Arro attacked Morfei Fernando and Corey with a crystal explosive, forcing them to defend themselves.
• Morfei offered to ransom his life, and Arro changed his mind about fighting and invited him to camp instead.
• Morfei stabbed Arro's young target with a Tiger Claw, and Arro killed him with a Blazing Greatsword.
• Corey revealed his swollen, grayish-white form and claimed to be from the Earl's territory.

Arro confronted Corey over the Ranelli family’s schemes, then fought him after Corey revealed his bloodline transformation. Arro killed Corey and gained more than eight hundred Experience Points, but wondered how a Junior Apprentice had been worth so much.

• Arro accused Corey and Redd Ranelli of trying to use him, while struggling to control the frenzy caused by the Magic Strike Technique.
• Corey begged for mercy and blamed Redd, but Arro refused to listen and attacked him.
• Corey used his Bloodline Side Apprentice abilities to transform, and Arro pressed his assault with his heavy sword.
• Arro ignited his sword with the Blazing Sword Technique and killed Corey.
• The system awarded Arro the Magic Strike Technique, the Blazing Sword Technique, and 815 Experience Points.