Chapter Summaries

After Great Zhou’s costly clash in the Rainforest, Zhou Xu kept his army in camp while waiting for the Lizardmen to react. The Lizardmen High Priest, pressured by attacks from both Great Zhou and the Ratmen, decided that Great Zhou should be the force to crush first.

• Li Ce reported Great Zhou’s casualties to Zhou Xu: four soldiers had been killed, three were missing, twenty-seven were wounded, and eighteen showed symptoms of poisoning; the poisoned soldiers received antidotes.
• Zhou Xu let his troops recover for five days, then rejected Li Ce’s proposal to launch another probing attack, reasoning that the Lizardmen might suspect a trap.
• Zhou Xu told Zhuo Ge that Qian Sui’s presence alone could not explain the Lizardmen’s inaction and expected the enemy to make a move soon.
• A messenger told the Lizardmen High Priest that the Ratmen had counterattacked their frontline, leaving the Lizardmen unable to concentrate their forces against either enemy.
• The High Priest summoned Soros and chose Great Zhou as the force to crush, judging it weaker and more vulnerable than the entrenched Ratmen.

After the High Priest ordered Soros to attack Great Zhou so his forces could focus on the Ratmen, Soros prepared a night offensive. The lizardmen attacked Zhou Xu’s camp, and Zhou Xu ordered his troops to withdraw toward the better-defended rear camp while Zhuo Ge, the Centaur tribe, and Qiansui delayed the assault.

• The High Priest told Soros that the southern battlefield required reinforcements and ordered him to defeat Great Zhou’s forces.
• Soros informed Gruul of the order and instructed him to avoid Zhou Chongshan and target enemy soldiers instead.
• Soros completed battle preparations and launched an attack on Great Zhou’s camp at night.
• Diak spotted the lizardmen’s movements and sounded the alarm as the soldiers rushed to arm themselves.
• Zhou Xu ordered Zhuo Ge and the Centaur tribe to hold back the night raid while the main force withdrew, and sent Qiansui to help.

Soros sent the Lizardmen to pursue Zhou Xu’s retreating army and trap Qiansui, while the centaurs tried to keep the Raptor Cavalry occupied. Qiansui escaped the encirclement, and Zhou Xu’s force reached the garrison camp, which prepared to meet the Lizardmen’s night raid.

• Gruul’s Raptor Cavalry scattered to tie down Qiansui as Diak and Zhuo Ge led the centaurs in harassing them and covering the Great Zhou army’s retreat.
• After learning that Zhou Xu’s main force was withdrawing, Soros ordered four Shield Dragons toward the enemy’s rear camp and sent infantry and Raptor Cavalry after Qiansui and the centaurs.
• The Lizardmen surrounded Qiansui with waves of Raptor Cavalry while their forces prevented Diak and Zhuo Ge from reaching him.
• Qiansui recognized the enemy’s plan to wear him down, burst through the encirclement, and escaped.
• Zhou Xu’s main army retreated overnight to the garrison camp, which was already on combat alert and prepared for the Lizardmen’s night raid.

Zhou Xu prepared the troop camp for the Lizardmen’s delayed night raid and deduced that their Shield Dragons would lead an attack while the Raptor Cavalry contained his forces. As the Shield Dragons advanced, Great Zhou evacuated supplies, armed its soldiers with Enchanted Weapons, and had the Crossbow Soldier Unit attack, drawing the enemy’s attention and prompting a response from fifty Raptor Cavalry.

• Zhou Xu learned that the Shield Dragons were advancing in a square formation while the Raptor Cavalry surrounded Qian Sui and his troops.
• Zhou Xu ordered his forces to avoid becoming entangled with the Raptor Cavalry, evacuate the camp’s supplies and logistics personnel, and equip Enchanted Weapons.
• Zhou Xu ordered the Crossbow Soldier Unit to attack the approaching Shield Dragons, and its eight Three-bow Ballistas fired together.
• A Shield Dragon screamed and stumbled after the bolts pierced its defenses, alarming the Lizardmen infantry inside its formation.
• A Lizardmen commander located the Crossbow Soldier Unit, and the enemy prepared fifty Raptor Cavalry to pursue it.

Zhou Chongshan’s cavalry ambushed a Raptor Cavalry detachment while the Crossbow Soldier Unit struck the Shield Dragons and then withdrew safely. Gruul pursued Zhuo Ge and the other centaurs as Zhou Xu’s forces approached the garrison camp, where Zhou Xu activated Beast Soldier Control.

• Zhou Chongshan led Great Zhou cavalry into a charge that routed fifty Raptor Cavalry and sent the Lizardmen commander calling for reinforcements.
• The Crossbow Soldier Unit fired another two volleys at the Shield Dragons, then packed up its Three-bow Ballistae and retreated toward the garrison camp under Zhou Chongshan’s escort.
• Zhuo Ge and Diak kept the Lizardmen’s main cavalry force occupied, while Qiansui conserved its strength according to Zhou Xu’s instructions.
• Gruul pursued the centaurs to keep them away from the Lizardmen infantry as the Great Zhou garrison camp came into view.
• Zhou Xu unleashed the power of True Words and used Beast Soldier Control.

Zhou Xu used True Words to turn the Shield Dragons against one another while the Crossbow Soldiers struck a trapped dragon with enchanted bolts. As Lizardman infantry fled and their commander died, Gruul concluded that the only way to change the battle was to charge the Great Zhou camp.

• Zhou Xu controlled a Shield Dragon, which crushed Lizardman infantry and struck another Shield Dragon, sending it stumbling into a pit trap.
• The Crossbow Soldiers fired eight enchanted bolts into the trapped Shield Dragon, piercing its armor.
• Zhou Xu made the controlled Shield Dragon roll over, crushing many Lizardman infantry and killing their commander, then released control.
• Zhou Xu took control of another Shield Dragon and made it strike the exposed belly of the fallen dragon, gravely injuring it.
• The surviving Lizardman infantry fled, while Zhou Xu kept his troops inside the camp to avoid the Raptor Cavalry.
• Gruul surveyed the battle and decided that charging the Great Zhou camp was the only way to turn the situation around.

Zhou Xu’s forces repelled Gruul’s Raptor Cavalry with spear defenses, then used True Speech to summon and control Skeleton Soldiers as the raiders tried to retreat. Gruul and his men ended the chapter surrounded by skeletons.

• Soros ordered Gruul to cover the Lizardmen infantry’s retreat after Shield Dragons ran amok and caused heavy casualties.
• Gruul led the Raptor Cavalry in a surprise charge against Great Zhou’s garrison camp.
• Great Zhou’s infantry used long spears behind chevaux-de-frise to stop the cavalry’s attacks.
• After hearing Soros’s retreat horn, Gruul ordered his cavalry to withdraw.
• Zhou Xu used True Speech to summon Skeleton Soldiers and command them to seize the raptors’ legs.
• Gruul and his cavalry stumbled as skeletons rose around them and surrounded them.

Zhou Xu’s forces turned the battle against Gruul’s Raptor Cavalry when Zhuo Ge, Diak’s Centaurs, and the Great Zhou cavalry launched a coordinated charge. The enemy fled under pursuit as dawn broke, while Zhou Xu’s power waned after sustaining the Skeleton Soldiers.

• Zhuo Ge understood the signal from the watchtower and led Diak’s Centaurs to join Zhou Chongshan and Shilke’s cavalry.
• Zhuo Ge and the Centaurs charged the disorganized Raptor Cavalry, devastating their ranks alongside the Great Zhou cavalry.
• Zhou Xu withdrew the Skeleton Soldiers as his True Words power diminished, having already weakened and restrained the enemy.
• The remaining Raptor Cavalry fled, and Zhuo Ge’s force pursued them while Zhou Chongshan abandoned his inaccurate shots.
• Shilke’s Elf Knights charged ahead as Zhuo Ge noticed dawn breaking.

As dawn broke, Zhou Xu’s Great Zhou forces turned back the Lizardmen attack and pursued their fleeing troops. Zhou Chongshan caught up with Gruul and killed him in a duel, while the defeated Soros was left to face the High Priest’s anger.

• A messenger reported the Great Zhou cavalry’s counterattack to Soros, who realized the battle was lost.
• Gruul fled with a sizable group of Raptor Cavalry, drawing the enemy’s pursuit.
• Shilke led the Elf Knights in an Airflow Barrier charge that cut down the fleeing Raptor Cavalry.
• Zhou Chongshan caught up with Gruul, who activated Boiling Blood and challenged him to fight to the death.
• Zhou Chongshan pierced Gruul’s throat with his spear and killed him.

After a night of fighting, Zhou Xu ordered his exhausted troops to rest and reviewed the battle’s heavy casualties after sleeping through the day. He expected the Lizardmen to be occupied by the Ratmen in the south, giving Great Zhou time to recover, though its cavalry had been badly depleted.

• After Gruul’s fight with Zhou Chongshan, Zhou Chongshan adjusted his condition and felt his strength continuing to grow through battle.
• At dawn, Zhou Xu put Big Bone and Second Bone away, assigned follow-up work to Li Ce, and went to sleep instead of launching another offensive.
• Zhou Xu woke after dark, learned that Li Ce had left a report, and told his personal guard to let Li Ce rest while he got food.
• Zhou Xu read the casualty report: Great Zhou had lost nineteen soldiers, with forty-seven wounded, including eleven seriously wounded, while the cavalry had suffered the losses.
• Zhou Xu judged that Great Zhou’s cavalry had fallen to less than half its original strength, but estimated the Lizardmen had lost three or four hundred Raptor Cavalry and would be under greater pressure on the plains.

After recovering from exhaustion, Zhou Xu inspected the camp as the logistics unit salvaged Giant Crossbow Bolts from the four Shield Dragons. Their apparent lack of heartblood led him to reconsider what made a creature extraordinary, and he settled on intelligence rather than combat power as the key trait.

• Zhou Xu slept through the night and woke the next morning with much of his mental strength restored.
• Zhou Xu saw the logistics unit laboriously cutting into the Shield Dragons and pulling out their Giant Crossbow Bolts for reuse.
• Zhou Xu asked whether anyone had checked a Shield Dragon for a heart, and the logistics officer said they had not begun dissecting the difficult bodies.
• Zhou Xu inferred from Qiansui’s continued sleep that the Shield Dragons probably lacked heartblood and were not extraordinary creatures.
• Zhou Xu concluded that extraordinary creatures were distinguished chiefly by intelligence, comparing Qiansui and Big Bone with the less intelligent Shield Dragons.

After inspecting the battle’s losses, Zhou Xu recognized the promise of reusable Enchanted Crossbow Bolts and continued organizing recovery and reinforcements. On the Lizardmen side, Soros reported the defeat and Gruul’s disappearance to the High Priest, who ordered him to hold the Rainforest defensive line.

• Zhou Xu concluded that enchanted Giant Crossbow Bolts could be reused after Wang Dong replenished their True Word power, though making them last indefinitely would require further study.
• Zhou Xu oversaw post-battle work as his forces estimated that they had killed more than six hundred enemies, largely through his control of the Shield Dragon.
• A new energy channel opened, bringing Zhou Xu another batch of trained Mountain Soldiers with supplies and equipment.
• Soros reported the defeat to the High Priest and disclosed that Gruul and another commander had not returned.
• The High Priest accepted Soros’s report and ordered him to defend the Rainforest line against further enemy incursions.

After the devastating battle, Soros prepared the Lizardmen to defend the Rainforest while Zhou Xu’s Great Zhou forces recovered and rebuilt. As autumn brought a better harvest and the continents drew closer, Zhou Xu chose to let the Ratmen and Lizardmen wear each other down rather than risk another costly offensive.

• Soros left the temple relieved that the High Priest had remained calm and ordered him to guard the Rainforest defenses.
• Zhou Xu put fifty Mountain Soldiers to work processing battle remains and preparing replacement skeletons.
• Great Zhou’s autumn corn harvest eased food shortages, and Zhou Xu’s forces eventually received their first corn on the front lines.
• Zhou Xu observed that the World Shards were drawing closer and that energy channels were appearing more frequently.
• Li Ce reported that the Lizardmen had shifted to defense, and Zhou Xu declined to probe them, choosing instead to let them fight the Ratmen.

Zhou Xu ordered Li Ce to prepare a probing attack against the Lizardmen, then tested four Shield Dragon skeletons and found their sluggish movement made them unsuitable for offense. Six days later, he led a force of 300 Lizardmen Skeleton Soldiers and human Mountain Soldiers toward the Rainforest.

• Zhou Xu decided to launch a probing attack at the end of the month and sent Wang Pengfei to inform Li Ce.
• Zhou Xu turned four Shield Dragon skeletons into Skeleton Beast Soldiers, tested one, and judged their slow movement made them poor attackers but potentially useful defenders.
• Li Ce accepted the order, agreeing that pressure on the Lizardmen would help keep the threat from shifting back to their side.
• Six days later, Zhou Xu raised 300 Lizardmen Skeleton Soldiers—200 Green Lizardmen and 100 Blue Lizardmen—and advanced with human Mountain Soldiers toward the Rainforest.

Zhou Xu’s forces advanced on the Lizardmen stronghold in the Rainforest, where Soros set an ambush to separate the Skeleton Soldiers from Great Zhou’s infantry. Zhou Chongshan recognized the plan, but Soros’s Blue Lizard temple guards blocked his counterattack as the Raptor Cavalry moved to attack the skeletons.

• Soros learned that Zhou Xu’s approaching Skeleton Soldiers included Green Lizard skeletons from his own race.
• Zhou Xu sent the Skeleton Soldiers into the Rainforest ahead of Great Zhou’s sword-and-shield infantry.
• Soros planned to split the infantry from the skeletons, targeting the humans while the Raptor Cavalry attacked the skeleton force.
• Green Lizard Infantry ambushed Zhou Chongshan’s soldiers with short spears, and Zhou Chongshan ordered a Defense Formation.
• Raptor Cavalry charged out of the Rainforest and cut between the infantry and Skeleton Soldiers.
• Blue Lizard Sword and Shield Soldiers intercepted Zhou Chongshan and his guards, preventing them from breaking through to the Raptor Cavalry.

Zhou Chongshan’s forces fought the Lizardmen in the Rainforest as Qiansui joined the battle, while Soros adapted his tactics to counter the powerful creature. At the plain’s defensive position, Zhou Xu sensed that many Skeleton Soldiers had fallen and raised more.

• Zhou Chongshan’s troops held their formation against the Lizardmen, and he signaled for support when the fighting remained deadlocked.
• Qiansui charged onto the battlefield and killed a Blue Lizard Sword and Shield Soldier with one paw.
• Soros recognized Qiansui as a supernatural creature and ordered the Raptor Cavalry to scatter, then attack the enemy sword and shield troops instead of luring Qiansui away.
• Soros expected the melee to prevent Qiansui from attacking freely without risking its own troops.
• Zhou Xu sensed that many Skeleton Soldiers had been destroyed and used Skeleton Soldier Control to raise more.

Zhou Xu’s revived Skeleton Soldiers disrupted the battlefield and helped Great Zhou overwhelm the Lizardmen, while Soros realized their sword-and-shield troops had grown stronger. Soros learned Qiansui had escaped toward the Lizardmen tribal settlement, ordered a retreat, and rushed there with his remaining forces.

• Zhou Xu’s True Word restored the shattered Skeleton Soldiers, which joined the melee and pinned down the Raptor Cavalry for Great Zhou’s sword-and-shield troops to attack.
• Soros saw the Lizardmen losing ground and concluded that the Raptor Cavalry was their only chance to change the battle.
• A panicked Lizardman told Soros that Qiansui had charged through the forward camp and was heading toward the tribal settlement.
• Soros ordered the Lizardmen to withdraw and hurry to protect the settlement, leaving the Raptor Cavalry to cover their retreat.
• Zhou Chongshan’s Great Zhou forces pursued the retreating Lizardmen, but Soros’s troops shook them off and raced toward the settlement.

Qiansui’s arrival exposed the Lizardmen’s hidden settlement, and Zhou Xu ordered the Great Zhou forces to press their attack. With the enemy approaching the temple, Soros pleaded with the High Priest to intervene, forcing him to confront the weakening power he had concealed.

• Qiansui entered the Lizardmen settlement, and the returning Raptor Cavalry surrounded it as Soros realized its roar could reveal their territory.
• Zhou Xu learned that Qiansui had reached the Lizardmen settlement, then ordered an attack after Zhou Chongshan reported that his troops could continue fighting.
• The Lizardmen’s elderly, weak, women, and children fled toward the temple while the High Priest received reports of the invasion.
• Soros learned the Great Zhou forces were advancing and hurried to the temple to ask the High Priest to turn the tide.
• The High Priest considered how his god’s decline had weakened him and recognized that he could no longer avoid confronting the enemy.

The High Priest joined the Lizardmen’s defense and used an invisible force to seize Qiansui, leaving the creature close to death. A Crystal Short Spear then flew toward the High Priest as Zhou Chongshan’s Great Zhou infantry charged into the settlement.

• The High Priest ordered Soros to gather every clansman able to fight, and Soros armed the Lizardmen and prepared to face the enemy.
• Qiansui let the Raptor Cavalry restrain it until Green Lizard Infantry attacked with Crystal Short Spears, then it smashed through a stone building and killed a soldier hiding inside.
• Soros realized the Lizardmen could not contain Qiansui with their buildings and agility, but kept his plan to strike before the enemy main force arrived.
• The High Priest arrived in a sedan chair, assessed Qiansui as a young extraordinary creature, and used an invisible force to lift and restrain it.
• Qiansui’s roar shook the Lizardmen and attacked the High Priest’s consciousness, so the High Priest tightened his grip and squeezed blood from Qiansui’s mouth and nostrils.
• A Crystal Short Spear shot toward the High Priest as Zhou Chongshan led the Great Zhou infantry into the Lizardmen settlement.

The High Priest freed Qiansui, then used his powers to batter Zhou Chongshan’s troops and let the Raptor Cavalry attack them. Just as Soros expected victory, two enormous Skeleton Beasts burst from the Rainforest and charged into the battle.

• The High Priest caught Qiansui’s Crystal Short Spear, releasing his hold on her, and Qiansui fled.
• The High Priest brought down a rain of stones on the Great Zhou troops, then ordered the Lizardmen to pursue them.
• Zhou Chongshan rallied his soldiers into a defensive formation while the Raptor Cavalry attacked and Soros believed the enemy’s Skeleton Soldiers were gone.
• Two enormous Skeleton Beasts broke through the Rainforest and charged into the Lizardmen settlement and battlefield.