Chapter Summaries

After the gnolls disrupted Transia’s psionic communications, Digua Shao’s squad tested a radio that could operate through interference and received orders to test a landline in the tunnels. When kobolds attacked and blocked their route, Fanqiejiang proposed following their tunnel toward the gnoll camp for a surprise raid.

• The Blessing of the Hunt let gnoll hunters move silently and detect dangers, helping the Bonechewer Clan clear ground in the Filthy Swamp as its plants quickly regrew.
• The gnoll priests disrupted psionic energy, knocking out Transia’s communication orbs and prompting Digua Shao’s squad to test a field radio made by Meng Haha.
• After the radio failed at maximum range, Old Qin directed the squad to contact Wolf Castle, and Digua Shao successfully reached him through heavy interference.
• Old Qin assigned the squad to test a landline in Tunnel F after another team was ambushed, but armed kobolds emerged from a collapsed tunnel and attacked them.
• Digua Shao’s squad killed the kobolds, and Fanqiejiang urged them to follow the tunnel the kobolds had dug, hoping it led toward the gnoll camp.

The Art Squad attacked a gnoll forward camp in the Filthy Swamp, using explosive toads, guns, traps, and the surrounding carnivorous plants to turn the battle against the gnolls. Cucumber Stick survived long enough to rout the camp, then learned Dog Egg had helped frighten the gnolls away.

• Roasted Sweet Potato, Tofu, Tomato Sauce, and Cucumber Stick found a gnoll camp and planned to disrupt its troops before they could reinforce the front.
• Tomato Sauce lured explosive toads into the camp while Roasted Sweet Potato and Tofu bombarded it, injuring the gnolls and badly wounding Taskmaster Hughson.
• Tomato Sauce charged into the gnolls and died in an explosion, while Roasted Sweet Potato and Tofu fled through the swamp and Cucumber Stick killed the wounded Hughson.
• Cucumber Stick rigged the camp with mines and explosives, then hid in the mud as returning gnolls triggered the traps and killed several captains.
• Cucumber Stick leaped out and attacked a gnoll priest, and the gnolls fled in terror after Dog Egg secretly supported him with a Fear spell.

Lord Qin coordinated Transia’s fight against Hugerson’s gnolls while Chenlong’s forces struggled to hold the swamp front. After Earthwalk bombings helped complete the encirclement, surviving gnolls were led toward Bloodclaw territory, where they were welcomed as allies from the Dark Mountains.

• Lord Qin approved the Artists squad’s victory over a gnoll camp, then ordered his forces to leave an opening that would steer fleeing gnolls toward Bloodclaw territory.
• Five-Wheel Drive described Transia’s encirclement plan as Chenlong and his guild fought Hugerson’s gnolls alongside Avalon forces and Torrent Knights.
• Gnolls broke through the newbie line, forcing Chenlong and the Torrent Knights to reinforce the front as the battle turned against Transia.
• Yansang persuaded dwarf earth priests to use Earthwalk to deliver explosives, and their surprise attacks helped Transia encircle and defeat most of the gnolls.
• Meow Brother summoned a Thornbeast as the fighting entered its final stage, while a group of surviving gnolls escaped into the swamp.
• A Bloodclaw scout welcomed the fugitives as powerful brothers from the Dark Mountains and hurried them toward Chief Nash.

Transia’s forces used ambushes and sabotage to slow the gnolls in the Filthy Swamp, but Hugueson prepared to overwhelm them with a mass migration of ordinary gnolls. Old Qin’s command planned to delay the advance and rely on the fortified Maginot Line, while a developer announcement promised increased headset production.

• Transia’s soldiers and Silver Dwarves used tunnels, Earth Glide, explosives, and snipers to harass the gnolls, killing more than three thousand vanguard troops and weakening their morale.
• Hugueson ordered the Cleaver Claw Clan to send its fighting-age males to the swamp and assigned them to patrols under blessed hunters, with kobolds used as protection.
• Old Qin learned from Fort Courage that at least three hundred thousand Cleaver Claw Clan gnolls were crossing Blackflame Pass to reinforce Hugueson.
• Old Eugene warned that the mass migration would create a full-scale Black Calamity, while Five Pairs of Wheels proposed using the swamp’s psionic nodes to draw gnoll forces away from the main advance.
• Old Qin described the allied forces assembled along the Maginot Line and urged his troops to hold their sector in the Filthy Swamp.
• Guochan 013 showed the group an announcement that Alpha Company’s second hardware production line had begun operating, and Old Qin agreed to prepare a backup plan for summoning two thousand troops.

Murphy coordinated headset distribution and security checks while Hugson’s gnoll forces struggled through the Filthy Swamp. After exposing Nash’s deception, Hugson spared him and demanded that he arrange a meeting with Murphy before the decisive battle.

• Brother Loyalty asked Murphy to exclude risky applicants from headset distribution and requested 300 slots for professional support staff; Murphy agreed to submit the request and shared advance information about an upcoming Spring Festival event.
• Murphy blacklisted seven applicants flagged by the operations team and chose seven replacements for the next headset distribution.
• Hugson’s forces suffered heavy losses in the Filthy Swamp as players and Natalie’s nature faithful harried them, while Hugson estimated that crossing the swamp would take about ten days.
• Hugson wandered into the swamp, killed four player squads and a thornbeast, and found a strange seed for his priests to study.
• Nash approached Hugson with a false claim that local gnolls wanted to join him, but Hugson deduced that Nash had been sent to locate him by Transia’s rapid messaging network.
• Hugson stopped Nash from fleeing, spared him, and ordered him to lead the way while calling Murphy for a meeting before the decisive battle.

Huggson inspected the Bloodclaw Clan and debated with Nash over Hogg’s vision for gnoll civilization before Murphy and his allies confronted him. Huggson revealed that he had come to discuss the Hunting Lord and warned that Murphy’s plan to bring the god down had only one chance.

• Huggson toured Smugglers’ Wood and learned from Nash how Hogg had taught the Bloodclaw Clan to work, read, and record history.
• Nash shared Hogg’s essay, which argued that gnolls could escape the Black Calamity by becoming civilized, controlling their reproduction, and producing their own food.
• Huggson called Hogg’s proposals idealistic, while Nash argued that outside support from Murphy had already helped the Bloodclaw Clan change.
• Murphy arrived with Triss, Kudell, Velanthe, Palanno, and Yvette, and threatened to kill Huggson, who warned that another Chosen could replace him.
• Huggson told Murphy that the Hunting Lord was focused elsewhere and warned that Murphy had only one chance to defeat him; he then offered to lead his army back to the Dark Mountains.

Xu Gerson told Murphy that he would lead the Splitclaw and Bloodscar forces against Transia, sacrificing the fanatics to keep the Lord of the Hunt focused on him and secure a future for the gnolls. As the decisive battle at the Machino Line approached, Murphy prepared the Bloodclaw Clan to shelter the Splitclaw civilians and learned that the Godslayers would be summoned in seven days.

• Xu Gerson gave Murphy and Triss an ultimatum, explaining that he would lead the Lord of the Hunt's fanatical warriors against the Machino Line so they could be wiped out and the gnolls could break from their past.
• Xu Gerson told Murphy that he sought revenge because Portana had raised and protected him, even though she had also used him.
• Murphy warned Xu Gerson to accept help from the Twilight cultists and claim as much of their support as possible for his family; Xu Gerson did not reject the advice.
• Murphy ordered Nash and the Bloodclaw Clan to prepare to take in more than a hundred thousand Splitclaw elders, women, and children after the battle.
• Nash reported that his hunters had mapped a route toward Lake Shuelpus, but Murphy refused to divert Xu Gerson's army from the Machino Line.
• Palanno arrived with word that Lord Pain would summon the Godslayers in seven days, and Murphy headed back to the line as the decisive battle began.

Murphy’s summons selected 200 Godslayers, forcing achievement hunters and combat-focused players to negotiate over places and guards. As preparations spread across the Machino Line, Murphy equipped Maxim and Felosil for the mission, while both leaders prepared to depart for the Godslaying battle.

• Old Huo accepted his conscription notice and planned to fund thirty-six Silver-ranked guards, while Chuiyue urged him to buy an exoskeleton for protection.
• Fly Ash and Bricklayer transferred their conscription notices to Chenlong’s guild in exchange for help rescuing Fly Ash’s wives from Chardo Port after the war.
• Chenlong and Haizhu organized elite guild members to apply for accompanying-guard positions, and Xu Gou reported that several NPC leaders were recruiting warriors through challenges.
• Biji asked Kudel to help her join Murphy’s Godslayers, but Kudel explained that she could not match the foreigners’ willingness to use suicidal tactics.
• Murphy told Maxim to prioritize survival, gave him Salokdar’s armor, and arranged organ enhancements and support before he joined the Lord of Plantagenet at Fort Valor.
• Felosil took up the repaired Moonbow and saw a vision of Adel’s destruction, while Triss reminded her of their agreement to hunt the child who had strayed from the right path.

Little Bach met Murphy before the Godslaying mission and asked Old Flywheel to return to Chardo Port after finishing his dangerous Warp-related project. She delivered the Purifiers’ invitation to Murphy, then led her psychics toward the Dark Mountains to join the effort against the evil god.

• Old Flywheel warned Little Bach that Murphy distrusted the Tower of Rings, and she explained her history with Minx and her reasons for joining the fight against Dusk.
• Little Bach asked Old Flywheel to help Minx and protect Chardo Port, but he said he had to finish a dangerous Warp-related project first.
• Murphy arrived, confirmed Old Flywheel could travel to Chardo Port after the project ended, and detected a protective symbiote lodged in Little Bach’s brain.
• Little Bach invited Murphy to Whitecliff on behalf of Sir Sim and the Dean, where the Eye of Worldwatch might be waiting for him.
• Little Bach accepted responsibility for the Tower of Rings’ failures and led her psychics toward the Dark Mountains to fight the evil god.

As the Filthy Swamp defense neared collapse, Old Qin judged the players’ costly resistance successful and prepared his staff officers for the decisive battle at the Machino Line. Hugsgren’s gnoll army approached the same confrontation, relieving Warlord Haas of command and sending him to guard the rear.

• Five Pairs of Wheels and Veteran of the Qing Dynasty reported that the gnolls were overwhelming the Filthy Swamp defenses, while National Product 013 reported around 3,000 player casualties against at least 15,000 gnoll casualties.
• Old Qin declared the swamp operation successful for weakening the gnolls and ordered the young staff officers to take command assignments at the Machino Line after passing his trial.
• Old Qin gave the young officers Pathfinder protective gear, dismissed them from staff training, and told Five Pairs of Wheels to recruit students for further courses.
• Warlord Haas told Hugsgren that the gnolls were close to reaching Transia and warned about the Wardens of Creation spreading among gnolls.
• Hugsgren dismissed Haas from frontline command, appointed him warden of Shadow Valley, and knocked him unconscious before turning toward the Machino Line.

During the Battle of the Maginot Line, rookie players fought off a kobold and gnoll assault, and Protect Little Potato discovered that his music could strengthen his comrades. After surviving the battle and killing a wounded gnoll, he reunited with his wife, Mrs. Judy, who joined him on the front.

• Commander Kudell ordered the Winter Wolf artillery crews to bombard the attackers while rookies and People's Army soldiers defended the trenches.
• Horse of Misfortune organized the rookies, and Protect Little Potato used a bugle to play music that granted nearby players combat buffs.
• As the rookies were overwhelmed, Horse of Misfortune called in artillery fire, which wiped out the surrounded players and nearby kobolds.
• Protect Little Potato finished off a wounded gnoll and gathered dog tags, feeling inspired to create new music.
• Mrs. Judy found Protect Little Potato, playfully took command of him, and talked with him about helping their daughter make the world she loved into a paradise.

Murphy and the Transian commanders faced a new gnoll threat after Huggerson’s forces began using explosives and kobold tunnels to break the Maginot Line. A trap at Nack Mine killed hundreds of soldiers and players, leaving Old Qin in shock and Huggerson urging the gnoll warlords to learn from the victory.

• Adele reported that rookie troops had suffered heavy losses, and Murphy ordered Mirian to summon Transia’s militias as reserves.
• Dolores revealed that kobolds had used Brass Dwarf explosives to destroy a trench, prompting Murphy to send Thorn Nightstalkers to search for the stockpiles and warn Krim Fortress.
• Huggerson’s forces demolished an outpost at Krim Fortress, where Baldwin and Old Qin’s reinforcements fought to retake it with the help of vampire bombers and players.
• Gnoll demolitions captured the trenches near Nack Mine, and Old Qin led players and People's Army soldiers in an assault to reclaim them.
• Old Qin discovered a kobold tunnel in the outer trench, but an explosion and falling meteor killed nearly all the trapped soldiers and players; Old Qin suffered an emergency disconnect.
• Huggerson watched the attack’s aftermath and asked its warlords whether they had learned from the Transians’ use of expendable lives.

After Old Qin blamed himself for the disastrous defeat, he devised a plan to turn the players’ three-day resurrection into a public miracle that would frighten the gnolls and inspire Transian soldiers. Murphy supported the players’ risky plan, and Kudel volunteered to carry it out on his front, leaving the defense to prove whether Transians could fight without the outsiders.

• Loyal Bro visited Old Qin in the hospital and told him his login privileges had been suspended for seven days while he recovered.
• Old Qin accepted responsibility for the five hundred casualties and advised the commanders to rely on firepower, mobility, players, and self-healing vampires against the gnolls’ suicide tactics.
• Old Qin proposed a devastating player assault followed by their deaths and a public return three days later, using the resurrection as a morale-boosting miracle.
• Kudel and the vampire commanders debated the players’ plan, and Murphy argued that Transians had to defend their homeland rather than depend on the outsiders.
• Kudel approved the plan for his front and vowed to lead the Transians through the test themselves.

Old Qin prepared the players for a planned counterattack while the gnolls’ explosive tactics weakened morale along the Maginot Line. As Transia mobilized its militia, Norman resigned as Mirian’s bodyguard and set out for the front, carrying her sword and a long-delayed promise.

• Five-Spoked Wheel organized the players for the operation, and Old Qin explained its purpose in a video to reassure them.
• The gnolls expanded their use of kobold sappers, explosives, and meteor spells, forcing the Maginot Line into a defensive posture and shaking the foreign reinforcements’ morale.
• Mirian issued militia conscription notices across Transia, and villagers gathered and sent militiamen to training despite some resistance.
• Norman volunteered for the front, arguing that Murphy’s large-scale mobilization showed the war could worsen and that Transia needed every willing defender.
• Mirian approved Norman’s request and gave him the Scarlet Lady sword, while arranging for Lady Frilian to replace him as her head of security.
• Norman said goodbye to Mirian and the Tribune’s Guard, then rode toward the battlefield, determined to keep the promise he had missed by ten years.

As the Black Calamity raged, Flanders McKent and retired Witch Hunter Porter received orders to join Transia’s forces, leaving their remote village and families behind. Flanders prepared to lead the Transian Militia, while Porter departed to train the rebuilt White Oak Warband.

• Flanders McKent had built the Third Brigade village into a thriving home for former blood-thrall veterans and their families.
• Porter delivered Flanders a sealed conscription order naming him brigadier general and commander of the Transian Militia, and revealed that he too had been summoned as a drill instructor.
• Flanders told his family he was going to war to protect them and Transia, and asked William to care for his mother and sister and help the Porters at harvest.
• Porter packed his Witch Hunter gear and reassured his adopted children, Sam and Lisa, that he would return before Lisa’s seed flowered.
• Amber arrived with a Windgriffin, and Porter left for the White Oak Warband determined not to fail his family again.

Five-Wheel and the staff headquarters prepared Operation “Three-Day Miracle” and selected the gnolls’ largest munitions depot as the target. As the players gathered for battle, their manufacturers planned a gnoll armor-and-weapons contract, while Ouni Sauce pitched a suicide truck for the attack.

• Five-Wheel worked with veteran and new players to review intelligence and choose a target for the operation.
• Manufacturing players discussed testing prototype chainmail and proposed selling standardized arms and armor to the Wise Wolf’s gnolls, with Pink Cat Bunny offering to arrange sales and logistics.
• Amber told Old Norman and Old Porter that she intended to defend Transia and hoped for a peaceful future, while admitting she had written her will.
• Taipal announced that the Nightstalkers of the Thorn had located the gnolls’ largest munitions depot, which the players would target for destruction.
• Bulldozer Man Attack led the manufacturing players out to battle, where Ouni Sauce pitched Lord Kudell an explosive-laden suicide truck and offered to drive it himself.

Murphy approved the player-led mission to destroy the gnolls’ arsenal and prepared to face his Silver Trial on the Maginot Line. Triss discovered that Murphy had gathered 39 Ancestral Powers, far more than he could easily fuse, and ordered him to undress so she could discipline him.

• Five-Pair-Wheels briefed Murphy on the plan to destroy the gnolls’ swamp arsenal, and Murphy ordered the operation to proceed while promising to hold the defense line.
• Murphy told Adele he intended to attempt his Silver Trial during the coming battle, then put on Old Edward’s flawless Greenly Lion armor.
• Adele kissed Murphy before Triss arrived and teased them, then joined Triss in preparing for the fighting.
• Triss asked how many Ancestral Powers Murphy had collected, and he revealed that he had 39, including many incomplete powers contributed by players.
• Triss warned that the powers could interfere with one another and make Murphy’s Silver Trial dangerously difficult, then ordered him to undress.

Murphy rallied more than six thousand players for the Three-Day Miracle, sending them to destroy the gnolls’ arsenal while he stayed behind to defend the position. As the players marched out, Murphy prepared to begin his own operation with Nefertari’s reinforcements.

• Horny accompanied his pregnant wife, Sister-in-Law Horny, at the assembly area and arranged for her to return to Scarlet Keep while he led the vanguard.
• Big Sain filmed the preparations as Ou Ni-chan explained that his truck had been deliberately built to explode as a military weapon.
• Murphy delivered a speech promising to hold the position until the players returned, then declared the Three-Day Miracle underway.
• Five Pairs of Wheels led the players out toward the gnolls as the vampires took to the sky and the shamans burrowed underground.
• Murphy asked Bonnie when Nefertari would arrive, learned she was bringing the Feast of Ten Thousand Souls’ spellcasting core and unfinished mechanized elite units, and announced that their operation would begin.

The Heroic Spirit Corps launched a suicidal assault on the gnolls’ munitions depot, with Old Soldier of the Qing Dynasty taking command after Five-Pair Wheel died. Ouni Sauce drove a rigged coal-powered truck into the explosives and destroyed the depot, leaving Murphy ready to strike the gathered gnoll reinforcements with an Astral Rift.

• Three hundred newbie players charged fifty gnoll elites, and the players’ high-grade Light-Eater Victory Wine wiped out the patrol at the cost of 120 lives.
• Five-Pair Wheel led the assault toward the munitions depot, but a dwarf bomb killed him and destroyed his skeletal warhorse, so Old Soldier of the Qing Dynasty took command.
• Jieweizhike warned Old Soldier of the Qing Dynasty that thousands of gnolls were converging, and Old Soldier ordered veteran players to break through toward the valley while the others kept the enemy occupied.
• Ouni Sauce and Master Liu drove their modified coal-powered truck through the defenses, using the Rock brothers’ underground blasts to clear a path before crashing into the gnolls’ explosive storehouse.
• The munitions depot exploded, and Murphy ordered Bol to cast an Astral Rift on the gnoll reinforcements gathered near the valley.

Hugheson learned that Transian spirits had destroyed its largest munitions depot and saw their absence as a chance to break the Maginot Line while secretly preparing to help Silver Wolf Hellsong bring down Nordtov’s god. As Murphy and Triss’s forces endured a relentless gnoll assault, Kudel set out to reinforce Murphy’s position.

• Hugheson learned that five thousand undying spirits had destroyed the swamp munitions depot in an Astral Rift and ordered a concentrated attack on Murphy’s position.
• Silver Wolf Hellsong told Hugheson to pressure Nordtov until its people sought divine power, which would let her target her father’s divine kingdom.
• Hugheson’s gnolls and kobolds launched a fierce assault on Murphy’s position, where Murphy fought at the front as the Hunting Lord’s power fueled the attackers.
• Adele reported severe casualties and shortages to Triss, who took charge after the commander and deputy were killed and ordered reinforcements and tunnel defenses.
• Adele requested a new commander, ammunition, and reserve troops, and Kudel promised to come personally while Murphy’s soldiers held the line.