Chapter Summaries

Lang Li Bai Tiao met Yeno Lakman, a rebellious Vampire Spawn imprisoned in the Duke’s dungeon, and persuaded him to help fight his father. After freeing Yeno, Lang Li Bai Tiao set out to rob the Duke’s treasure vaults.

• Lang Li Bai Tiao crawled through the dungeon and spoke with Yeno Lakman, who warned that the Duke controlled every Vampire Spawn and would eventually turn them into blood.
• Lang Li Bai Tiao challenged Yeno’s fatalism and offered to free him if he helped raid the Duke’s lair and find a way to kill him.
• Yeno Lakman agreed to join Lang Li Bai Tiao, who picked the lock and freed him from his cage.
• Yeno revealed that he knew the locations of several of the Duke’s guarded treasure vaults, and Lang Li Bai Tiao urged him to lead the way while sneaking along the wall.

Nellie led the North Wind Eagle Guard into the Storm Highlands, where Alger and the Red Scale Conquerors intercepted them. The aerial battle began with Singo shooting down two Eagle Guards as Nellie ordered her regiment to scatter.

• Nellie led forty-eight Eagle Guards into the Storm Highlands and vowed to avenge her former commander and comrades.
• Alger recognized Nellie but prepared to fight, declaring that he and she now served different masters.
• Nellie ordered the Eagle Guards to attack the Red Scale Conquerors in a wide circular formation.
• Singo shot down a giant eagle and its rider from hundreds of meters away, startling the Eagle Guards.
• Nellie ordered her regiment to spread out and evade the enemy archers, but Singo shot down another Eagle Guard.

The players and Alger routed the North Wind Eagle Guards in an aerial battle, and Alger killed Nellie after she challenged him to a duel. Nellie recognized Alger as the commander she had once admired only moments before he struck her down.

• The players shot down more than ten Eagle Guards, and Nellie ordered the survivors to close in and form circular formations around the Red Scale Conquerors.
• Alger used aerial maneuvers he had learned from the players to escape the encirclement and kill two Eagle Guards.
• Nellie ordered the other guards to disperse and charged Alger alone, determined not to lose again.
• Alger met Nellie's charge with his flaming greatsword, and Nellie recognized him as her former commander before he cut off her head.

Alger killed Nellie and left the players to finish the battle, then scouted the allied army and discovered that the Northern Three Kingdoms had assembled a massive force against the Burned-Out Nest. He flew back toward Dragon Valley to report the army’s arrival to his Master.

• Alger killed Nellie, then returned to the battlefield as the players overwhelmed the North Wind Eagle Guard.
• Steamed Bun and Singo argued over a kill after Singo’s arrow struck an Eagle Guard Steamed Bun was pursuing.
• Alger left the players to scout the allied army and found tens of thousands of soldiers marching under the banners of the Northern Three Kingdoms.
• Alger realized the Rackman Dynasty had committed nearly twenty thousand soldiers to the campaign and flew toward Dragon Valley to report to his Master.

Ember Nest’s leaders debated how to face the Northern allied army, and Keosius chose to take the initiative and prepare a surprise. The allied commanders selected Trill Valley as their base, unaware that Ember Nest was already mobilizing.

• Darena identified Trill Valley and Trill Throat as the allied army’s only practical route into the Storm Highlands, while Lang Pu urged a defensive strategy and Dolo demanded an attack.
• Keosius silenced the dispute and announced that Ember Nest would take the initiative and give the enemy a grand gift.
• A horn sounded as Hobgoblins, Tieflings, Lizardmen, Kobolds, and Goblins mobilized across the Storm Highlands.
• Robert Dudley selected Trill Valley as the allied army’s encampment, and Andre Bosk worried that Ember Nest might trap them there.
• Robert dismissed Andre’s concern, arguing that the Lektar Mountains would prevent Ember Nest from appearing behind the army without warning.

Robert arranged the allied army’s advance, assigning the Honor Legion to probe the Storm Highlands before the noble forces attacked. He reassured the lords that three Dragon Slayer Ballistas could bring down the Flying Flame Dragon, though the Sixth North Wind Eagle Guard Regiment was still missing.

• Earl Matthew Nott asked Robert how he planned to arrange the army’s advance, and Robert assigned ten thousand laborers to serve as the vanguard.
• Andre objected to using commoners as cannon fodder, but Robert said they had volunteered and would receive pensions if they died.
• Robert placed the Eagle's Claw in the center, the Lionheart Legion and Nott reinforcements on the wings, and noble forces throughout the army, while the North Wind Eagle Guard watched from the air.
• A Lakman baron asked how the army would deal with the Flying Flame Dragon, and Robert and Gray Eagle claimed it was only a young Red Dragon.
• Robert unveiled three Dragon Slayer Ballistas and declared that they would shoot the dragon from the sky.

Joseph forced the Honor Legion through Trill Valley’s traps and led it into a battlefield where Ember Nest’s monster army surrounded them. The two cannon-fodder legions clashed, and the Honor Legion began collapsing under the monsters’ assault.

• Joseph whipped frightened soldiers and ordered the Honor Legion to advance through Trill Valley.
• Joseph reached open ground and saw tens of thousands of Goblins and Kobolds approaching from every direction, including Erde flying overhead.
• Joseph ordered the militia to fight as the Honor Legion and Ember Nest’s monster legion collided.
• The Goblins and Kobolds attacked recklessly, while Erde set soldiers ablaze with Fire Bolts.
• The Honor Legion lost more than a hundred men within minutes as panic and chaos spread through its ranks.

Joseph tried to stop the Honor Legion’s rout but was overwhelmed and killed by Goblins and Kobolds. Robert prepared his elite army to face the monsters, but learned that the missing Sixth Regiment might have encountered the dragon.

• Joseph charged against the fleeing Honor Legion, killed a deserter, and tried to force the soldiers to fight, but the army continued to collapse.
• Goblins and Kobolds swarmed Joseph, pinned him down, and killed him.
• Aiden reported to Robert that the Honor Legion had collapsed and that about six thousand routed soldiers were approaching.
• Robert assessed the enemy force and rallied his army to fight for the Duke and the Lakman Duchy.
• Robert asked why the Sixth Regiment had not returned, and Aiden said it might have encountered the dragon.

Robert’s allied army advanced into Trill Valley and discovered Ember Nest’s full force waiting for them, led by a Red Dragon. After the dragon’s appearance was revealed to be an illusion, both armies prepared to fight, leaving the battle about to begin.

• Robert ordered Eagle’s Claw to crush the Goblins and Kobolds, driving them back with disciplined spear-and-shield ranks and volleys of arrows.
• The allied army advanced into Trill Valley and found Ember Nest’s main army assembled, including Terrestrial Dragon Beasts, Wyverns, Ogres, Hobgoblins, Lizardmen, Tieflings, and dragon-blooded Goblins and Kobolds.
• A Red Dragon appeared over the horizon and warned the humans that they were tools of the Vampire Duke before threatening to burn them with flame.
• Schroeder told Robert that the dragon was an illusion, and Robert regained his composure and ordered the Dragon Slayer Ballistas to be loaded.
• Dolo rallied Ember Nest’s forces for their master, and the allied army and the Embers of the Burned Kin prepared to begin battle.

The vassal races attacked Eagle's Claw, whose infantry suffered heavy losses from the Hobgoblin guns and Terrestrial Dragon Beasts. As Dolo slaughtered the North Wind Winged Cavalry, Robert realized his forces could not handle the monsters and reconsidered his strategy.

• The Kobold and Goblin legions charged Eagle's Claw's Spear Shield Infantry, while the Hobgoblin Line Infantry advanced under their cover.
• Dolo ordered the Hobgoblins to fire, killing or wounding more than two hundred soldiers in the Spear Shield Infantry's front ranks.
• Robert sent the North Wind Winged Cavalry to charge the enemy lines.
• The cavalry discovered the Terrestrial Dragon Beasts behind the Hobgoblin Line Infantry, and the beasts crushed their charging formation.
• Dolo joined the battle and used Bloodfire Battle Axe to cut down the cavalry as the Hobgoblins fired on them.
• Robert watched the cavalry fall into chaos and reconsidered his strategy.

Ember Nest’s monsters broke through Eagle's Claw’s ground defenses, while the North Wind Eagle Guards briefly slowed their advance before Alger led the Red Scale Conquerors in a devastating aerial ambush. The human army lost its aerial support and was driven back as the sky battle continued.

• Dolo led Ember Nest’s charge, tore open the allied army’s formation, and Da Tou secretly ate a fallen soldier while Lang Pu watched through a magical pendant.
• As Eagle's Claw’s line collapsed, Robert ordered Aiden and the North Wind Eagle Guards to attack, and their repeated dives slowed the monsters’ advance.
• Alger seized the Eagle Guards’ exposed opening and led seventeen Atavistic Wyverns and the Red Scale Conquerors in a Dragon Roar Charge that burned more than half of the Eagle Guards.
• Aiden ordered the surviving Eagle Guards to scatter and retreat as Smaug’s Wyverns and three Chimeras joined the chaotic aerial battle.
• With human aerial support crippled, Ember Nest’s monsters drove the human army back while both sides continued fighting in the sky.

Earl Robert waited for the Red Dragon to appear while the allied and Ember Nest armies fought fiercely across Trill Valley. Dolo’s advance stalled against Tarick’s Paladins, but Steel Frenzy’s Guardian Mech opened a breach on the flank, leaving the players and Tieflings to overwhelm the allied reinforcements.

• Earl Robert refused to use the Dragon Slayer Ballista before the Red Dragon appeared, while the battle across Trill Valley descended into a bloody stalemate.
• Tarick and the Crown Oath Paladins trapped Dolo in a holy duel, but Ake and Koda helped him kill one Paladin before protective spells stopped their advance.
• Mezhuolash’s players charged the allied flank without discipline, and volleys of arrows killed Freedom Wings in bear form.
• Steel Frenzy drove his Guardian Mech through the allied line, while Battlefield Wheelchair Man and the other players poured through the breach and scattered the defenders.
• Mezhuolash ordered Damakos and the Tieflings to attack through the players’ opening and take the spoils, while leaving the Starfallers to fend for themselves.

Andre Bosk devastated the players in battle, but Born Battle Maniac and Xia Ye Qiuyu captured him alive to ransom him to the Bosk Family. The players left the unconscious Honor Paladin bound behind a hill, expecting to profit from his status.

• Andre Bosk severed Steel Frenzy’s Guardian Armor arms, killed Battlefield Wheelchair Man, and pierced Steel Frenzy through the cockpit.
• Born Battle Maniac and Xia Ye Qiuyu identified Andre as a member of the powerful Bosk Family and decided to capture him alive for ransom.
• Andre killed more than a hundred players but grew exhausted as they attacked him with varied tactics.
• Kingship Guild immobilized Andre, but a Fog Cloud covered the battlefield and Born Battle Maniac carried him away.
• Born Battle Maniac knocked Andre unconscious and bound him despite Xia Ye Qiuyu’s warning not to kill him.

Mezhuolash led the Tieflings in breaking the allied army’s right wing, using undead and magic to terrorize the soldiers and force the nobles at the Bosk command tent to surrender. He then ordered a retreat to North of the Pass, intending to take the captured nobles to witness a grand ceremony.

• Mezhuolash charged into the allied army, terrified its soldiers with Dreadful Aspect, and raised fallen troops as undead with Control Undead.
• Mezhuolash advanced on the Bosk command position and offered the nobles surrender in exchange for their lives.
• Baron Matthew tried to flee, but Mezhuolash used Crown of Madness to bring him down, killed him, and turned him into an undead creature.
• Viscount Luton and the other nobles surrendered, and the Tieflings bound them.
• Mezhuolash rejected Damakos’s suggestion to attack the allied center and ordered the Tieflings to escort the nobles back to North of the Pass for a grand ceremony.

The allied army struggled against Ember Nest’s forces until Robert ordered Schroeder to support the front, and the chief mage’s Ice Storm was countered by Lang Pu. Lang Pu then unleashed a Wall of Fire against the allied soldiers, leaving the battlefield burning.

• Steamed Bun killed Aiden, commander of the North Wind Eagle Guard First Regiment, with a diving lance attack.
• Robert sent for Schroeder when the allied frontline began to falter.
• Schroeder cast Ice Storm, freezing many dragon-blooded monsters on the high ground.
• Lang Pu arrived and used Wall of Force to redirect the hailstones onto the allied army, forcing Schroeder to retreat.
• Lang Pu mocked Dolo before casting Wall of Fire across the battlefield, allowing Ember Nest’s servants to pursue the burning allied soldiers.

Lang Pu ordered Ember Nest’s forces to retreat, and the allied army cautiously pursued them into Trill Valley. Lang Pu then raised a stone wall across Trill Throat, trapping nearly ten thousand allied soldiers in the valley.

• Lang Pu invoked the Red Dragon’s recorded command, forcing Dolo and Ember Nest’s servants to retreat from the battlefield.
• Robert and Schroeder speculated that Ember Nest feared the cost of a prolonged war, and Robert ordered the allied army to pursue.
• Exhausted allied soldiers advanced slowly, ignoring officers’ calls to hurry toward victory.
• Lang Pu gathered Ember Nest’s monsters, the noble prisoners, and the players on the mountain while the allied army approached.
• Lang Pu cast Stone Wall Spell and sealed Trill Throat’s exit, trapping the allied army inside Trill Valley.

Robert’s army found Trill Throat blocked by a stone wall as Keosius, a Red Dragon, unleashed an immense firestorm across the valley. Trapped between the flames and the wall, Robert aimed a Dragon Slayer Ballista at Keosius, hoping to stop the calamity.

• Robert learned that a stone wall blocked Trill Throat, and Schroeder identified it as a fifth-circle Stone Wall Spell.
• Robert turned and saw Keosius at the heart of a vast firestorm, while Schroeder recognized the weather-altering magic as an eighth-circle Control Weather spell.
• Keosius’s flames formed a massive Fire Dragon Tornado that swept through Trill Valley and left the allied army with nowhere to retreat.
• Robert ordered his soldiers to uncover and turn a Dragon Slayer Ballista toward Keosius.
• Robert aimed the ballista at Keosius, who looked down at him with apparent disdain.

Keosius destroyed the allied army at Trill Valley with the Fire Dragon Tornado, killing Robert and turning the battlefield into a sea of flames. Schroeder escaped, and the massacre left the Northern United Kingdom on the brink of collapse as dragon rule approached.

• Robert fired a Dragon Slaying Arrow at Keosius, but Keosius became flame and the arrow fell harmlessly to the ground.
• Keosius crushed the ballistae, killed Robert, and charged into the allied army as the Fire Dragon Tornado engulfed the battlefield.
• The allied soldiers were burned or suffocated in the smoke, while Schroeder used Lesser Teleportation to flee and Keosius let him escape.
• Viscount Luton watched the destruction and named it the Purgatory Calamity as Ember Nest’s servants and the captured nobles witnessed Keosius’s power.
• Keosius returned to the Ember Nest camp and called the destruction a fine display of fireworks; Duke Luton’s chronicle later named the event the Trill Massacre.

After Ember Nest destroyed the allied army, the North trembled and the duchies sought peace and cooperation while Dolo led Ember Nest's forces forward. Recovering from the battle, Keosius gained the Po Jun achievement and a power that strengthened him against multiple enemies, but he remained wary of how much stronger the world’s greatest powers might be.

• News of the allied army’s annihilation spread across the North, and Keosius’s Purgatory Calamity became the stuff of fearful rumors.
• Norton Duchy offered ransom and a peace treaty, while Northern nobles and Bosque Duchy secretly sought terms with Ember Nest.
• Darena welcomed the envoys but planned to demand far greater concessions from the Northern Nobles.
• Dolo led Ember Nest’s forces forward as the monsters roared for war.
• Keosius rested in a cave, reflecting on the strain of casting Control Weather through the Storm King’s Eye.
• Keosius gained the Po Jun achievement, which increased his physical power and strengthened him when facing multiple enemies, but he remained conscious of his weakness in the wider world.

Keosius used the experience from his victory to advance one level, gaining new abilities and a terrifying spell that might attract Tiamat’s attention. Uneasy about the Dragon Queen noticing him, he ordered Lang Pu to establish a shrine far from Dragon Valley.

• Keosius reviewed the experience gained from thousands of enemies and chose to advance one level, gaining the Hard Landing feat and raising his Charisma to 25.
• Keosius gained Dragon's Breath, a healing spell, and Tiamat's Terrifying Illusion, a spell that could frighten targets with an image of the Dragon Queen.
• Keosius worried that Tiamat might be watching him and decided not to use her illusion spell except in a critical moment.
• Keosius called Lang Pu through the magic mirror and ordered him to build a shrine to Tiamat in a spacious cave far from Dragon Valley.
• Lang Pu praised Keosius for offering Gold Coins, but Keosius later replaced them with Copper Coins.