Recaps

The Astrologer Grand Knight Commander told Eli that the dark star had begun a prophecy and that Eli was the one destined to confront the coming disaster. In the Hanging Tower, Lu Yuan and Frey remained trapped in a trance despite the Lantern Knight’s attempts to revive them.

• The Astrologer Grand Knight Commander explained that the dark star’s appearance meant the prophecy had begun and that he and Eli needed to travel to the Northern Territory for an astrological ritual.
• The Astrologer Grand Knight Commander told Eli that he was the person who had lit all four statues and that only he could receive the stars’ guidance.
• Eli questioned why he had been chosen, then went to pack so he could leave with his teacher.
• The Lantern Knight carried Lu Yuan and Frey away from the twisting mass in the potion room and gave them Sanity Restoration Potions made with Advanced Holy Water.
• The Lantern Knight slapped Lu Yuan and Frey when they failed to wake, while the room’s Inscription and Sanity Check lamp showed no sign of detecting the danger.

Lu Yuan and Frey entered the true, corpse-strewn Land of the Dead Silence and began suffering severe sanity contamination. As Frey weakened, they turned away from the mountain range, but two Withered Glory Society Heretics blocked their path and attacked.

• Lu Yuan and Frey discovered that bones and corpses covered the land, while Gray-White Text warned of faint sanity contamination.
• Lu Yuan realized Frey was deteriorating faster than he was and decided they should retreat from the mountain range.
• As they walked away from the mountain, Lu Yuan sensed that the Authority of the Sea of Knowledge would take another day to manifest fully.
• Two Withered Glory Society Heretics emerged from the fog and began chanting after recognizing that Lu Yuan and Frey were not believers of the Holy Sovereign.
• The ground shook as dead flesh, bones, and wailing souls surged toward Lu Yuan and Frey, and Lu Yuan noticed that the Heretics seemed protected by the world.

Lu Yuan killed two Heretics and discovered that the Land of the Dead Silence rewarded him with Sanity IV progress, while the world consumed the corpses. He and Frey left to search for a way forward, unaware that more Heretics had appeared where the dead men fell.

• Lu Yuan ignored the Heretics' flesh-and-bone barriers and killed both men with his fists, losing one point of sanity for each kill.
• Lu Yuan gained two half-point increases to Sanity IV and suspected that killing Heretics earned him experience.
• The Land of the Dead Silence devoured the corpses, leaving bones and skin behind, and Lu Yuan warned Frey to report any changes in herself.
• Lu Yuan led Frey away while considering whether more Heretics might provide experience.
• Several Heretics emerged from the mist and bowed devotedly before the remains of the two dead men.

Lu Yuan and Frey struggled through the mist as the world’s contamination worsened Frey’s condition. Lu Yuan realized that Frey’s past four-day stay might mean the contamination did not necessarily mutate a person’s pathway, while pursuers set out to capture them for the Holy Sovereign.

• A hooded leader declared that outsiders had disrupted the Holy Sovereign’s plans and ordered his followers to pursue Lu Yuan and Frey.
• Lu Yuan recognized that something had disrupted his sense of direction as he and Frey traveled through the thickening mist.
• Frey feared she would lose her memories and become contaminated, and Lu Yuan told her to hold on for one day.
• Lu Yuan reasoned that Frey’s previous four-day stay in this world did not fit the rate of contamination they were experiencing.
• Frey concluded that her memory might be wrong, or that the contamination had not been enough to mutate a person’s pathway.

Lu Yuan and Frey walked deeper into the fog, hoping to find a way out without Frey being contaminated. They witnessed a colossal monster battling an unknown figure, then fled as Lu Yuan wondered whether the fighter was the Lantern Knight.

• Lu Yuan reassured Frey that she might avoid contamination and promised to get her out, and she chose to trust him.
• Lu Yuan and Frey continued through the fog until it suddenly froze and a distant blast scattered it.
• Lu Yuan saw a colossal creature of rotting flesh and lost a point of sanity, then warned Frey not to look.
• A pillar of white light struck the creature, and Lu Yuan's perception warned him of a powerful source of pollution.
• Lu Yuan pulled Frey away from the battle and considered whether the unknown fighter was the Lantern Knight, but decided not to approach.

Lu Yuan confronted a group of Withered Glory Society Heretics who wanted to take Frey to their Holy Sovereign. He defeated two attackers easily, but the leader trapped him and launched an assault on his sanity, which his checks resisted.

• Lu Yuan sensed a faint contamination aura and turned to face several Heretics emerging from the fog.
• The Heretics' leader recognized Frey as a devout believer and demanded that Lu Yuan hand her over so they could bring her to the Holy Sovereign.
• The Heretics transformed and attacked, while Lu Yuan told Frey to hide and promised to deal with them.
• Lu Yuan punched through two charging Heretics with ease, and the leader remarked on his immense sanity.
• The leader tore open the ground, bound Lu Yuan's legs with flesh and bone, and sent wailing souls against his sanity, but Lu Yuan passed each check.

Lu Yuan let a cult leader’s sanity assault continue until it stopped yielding experience, then broke free and killed him. He and Frey continued through the fog, with Frey hoping Lu Yuan could lead her out of the Land of the Dead Silence.

• The cult leader engulfed Lu Yuan in a cocoon of flesh and bone, while repeated sanity checks earned Lu Yuan experience and minor immunity to the Land of the Dead Silence.
• Frey believed Lu Yuan was doomed but stepped forward to try to buy him time.
• Lu Yuan burst out of the cocoon, smashed through the leader’s barriers, and killed him.
• Lu Yuan calculated his sanity and experience gains, then walked back to Frey.
• Frey’s fear turned to relief and ingratiation when she saw Lu Yuan approach, and he told her they needed to move faster.

Lu Yuan and Frey fled through the fog after defeating the Heretics, but Frey suddenly weakened as flesh and bones began crawling over her body. Lu Yuan discovered that her sanity was being eroded and that she seemed close to becoming someone’s follower.

• Lu Yuan led Frey away from the fight, suspecting the Heretics could track his location and expecting a larger group to pursue them.
• Frey praised Lu Yuan’s strength and grew hopeful that they could escape, while Lu Yuan promised not to abandon her unless she became completely contaminated.
• Frey faltered and nearly collapsed as her body began to distort, while flesh and bones from the ground crawled up her.
• Lu Yuan saw that the gray-white text had issued no warning, then received a notice that Frey’s sanity was being eroded and she seemed about to become someone’s follower.

Lu Yuan tore the Contamination from Frey and carried her into the fog when she remained unresponsive. As Frey's consciousness sank into forgotten memories, she saw visions of rotting figures protecting or capturing her, a Great Tower of flesh and bone, and a crowd chanting below it.

• Lu Yuan ripped the spreading Contamination from Frey's body and carried her away after slapping her failed to restore her awareness.
• Frey remembered a rotting figure shielding her from a reaching hand.
• Frey saw chanting figures surround her before a rotting figure grabbed her and tried to flee with her, only for the crowd to swallow them.
• Frey saw an enormous Great Tower built from flesh and bone, with cages hanging from its sides.
• Frey saw herself imprisoned in one of the cages above a plain where hundreds of figures chanted and sang.

Frey woke on Lu Yuan’s back after reliving the moment of her death, while a new group of the Holy Sovereign’s followers discovered that Lu Yuan had killed their squad and began pursuing him to reclaim the Seed inside her. The chapter left Lu Yuan carrying Frey through the fog as she thanked him for saving her.

• Frey remembered the Land of the Dead Silence consuming her and fought against becoming the enormous creature before a glimmer of light appeared.
• A group of the Holy Sovereign’s followers examined the remains of the squad Lu Yuan had killed and concluded their enemy had overwhelmed them without resistance.
• The group performed a ritual that captured souls in a pulsing lump of flesh, which pointed in the direction Lu Yuan had gone.
• The group learned that the Holy Sovereign’s chosen person was with their squad’s killer and that the newborn Seed was still inside her, so they summoned reinforcements to retrieve it.
• Frey woke while Lu Yuan carried her through the fog and thanked him for saving her, and Lu Yuan told her she would not die for now.

Lu Yuan carried Frey through the fog as she recovered memories of her first days in the Land of the Dead Silence. She recounted how wanderers had helped her before Heretics captured her and took her to a Flesh tower for a ritual, where something pulled her away at the last moment.

• Frey asked Lu Yuan to carry her on his back so she would not reconnect with the ground, and then described the memories she had recovered.
• Frey said wanderers had sheltered her from Heretics and taught her that they could travel safely only when the fog was thick.
• On the fourth day, Heretics discovered the wanderers' hiding place, defeated them, and captured Frey and other newcomers.
• The Heretics locked the captives in cages covered with Inscriptions and performed a ritual that made the captives' bodies melt into the Flesh.
• Frey said she had held out longer than the others, but something pulled her away just as the ritual was ending.

Lu Yuan carried Frey through the thinning mist as she recalled where she had first arrived in the world. He followed her directions toward a possible hiding place, hoping to find wanderers and learn how they preserved their sanity.

• Lu Yuan asked Frey about the Great Tower, but she could not remember its location or the world's boundaries.
• As the mist thinned, Frey warned Lu Yuan that Heretics could spot them and urged him to find somewhere to hide.
• Frey recognized a path near a massive skeleton and directed Lu Yuan toward the place where she had stayed before.
• Lu Yuan headed down the path, hoping to find wanderers who could explain how they survived the world's constant drain on sanity.
• Lu Yuan concluded that carrying Frey prevented her from contacting the ground and being contaminated, though he would need to protect her during fights.

Lu Yuan and Frey found a deserted camp protected from the surrounding flesh by Black Stones. Inside the main tent, they discovered Withered Glory Society members kneeling around the dead wanderer Frey had come to find, and Lu Yuan prepared to act.

• Lu Yuan and Frey followed signs of past fighting to a walled camp made from bones and stones.
• Lu Yuan entered through a collapsed section of the wall and found that the Black Stones covering the ground reduced the sluggish resistance he had felt outside.
• Lu Yuan heard murmuring inside the main tent and detected a weak source of pollution.
• Lu Yuan and Frey looked inside and saw four Withered Glory Society members chanting around the corpse of Frey's missing wanderer.
• Frey recognized the corpse, and Lu Yuan decided to deal with the four members.

Lu Yuan attacked four heretics in their tent and killed three, using the last one's fear to force him into answering questions. He suspected the Black Stone had weakened the tent's connection to the Holy Sovereign, leaving the story with Lu Yuan interrogating the surviving heretic about the camp and the ritual.

• Lu Yuan entered the tent carrying Frey and killed a heretic who recognized the Seed's aura, observing that the heretic's body vanished as it shriveled.
• Lu Yuan killed two more heretics before they could finish chanting, and saw the last heretic's devotion give way to fear.
• Lu Yuan confronted the surviving heretic, who collapsed and begged him not to kill him.
• Lu Yuan suspected the Black Stone had weakened the tent's connection to the Holy Sovereign and hurried to question the heretic before the world could eliminate him.
• Lu Yuan demanded to know how the heretics found the camp and why they had been kneeling before a wanderer's corpse.

Lu Yuan interrogated a heretic and learned that the fog disrupted heretic communications, while they sent messages by manipulating the flesh and blood of the Holy Sovereign’s estate. After killing the captive, he stayed in the tent to consider what he had learned as Frey clung to him in fear.

• Lu Yuan threatened a captured heretic until the man explained that heretics performed the Purification Ritual to transform Wanderers into subjects of the Holy Sovereign or dispel them.
• The heretic revealed that the fog blocked communication between heretics and that they transmitted messages by manipulating the estate’s flesh and blood.
• Lu Yuan killed the heretic by pulling his head and spine from his body, frightening Frey.
• Lu Yuan reassured Frey that heretics were no longer human and urged her not to show them mercy.
• The corpse withered into dry bones, and Lu Yuan reviewed the information he had learned about the fog.

Lu Yuan and Frey left the fallen Wanderer camp and hurried toward another camp as the mist receded and exposed the Land of the Dead Silence. Frey explained how Wanderers passed messages between camps, while Lu Yuan pressed on despite doubting they could arrive before the mist cleared.

• Lu Yuan asked Frey about other camps, and she pointed him toward the camp she had stayed in after her first day in this world.
• Lu Yuan collapsed the tent over the Wanderer's corpse and the Heretics' remains, then carried Frey away from the discovered camp.
• As they ran across the dark red earth, Frey told Lu Yuan that she had been transferred between camps because her first group was too small to protect her.
• Frey explained that Wanderers used Signal Points marked with Black Stones and symbol-carved bone fragments to leave messages for other camps.
• Frey warned that the next camp was far away and they might not reach it before the mist cleared, but Lu Yuan increased his pace and said the Heretics were too weak to catch him.

Lu Yuan carried Frey through the thinning fog while numerous heretics tracked them, and he worried that leading them to the next camp would endanger its occupants. The Blue Knight and Brunkel, badly wounded and stripped of their possessions, continued through the wilderness after recalling the battles that had brought them there.

• Lu Yuan sensed many watchers tracking his movements and confirmed that approaching pursuers could not keep up with him.
• Lu Yuan considered whether to take a detour rather than expose the next camp to the heretics following him.
• The Blue Knight and Brunkel continued through the wilderness and discussed whether it was the lair of the Holy Sovereign.
• The Blue Knight recalled that she and Brunkel had slaughtered the heretics at a sacrificial site in the Quarantine Zone.
• The Northern Territory Tribal Alliance's forces attacked the Blue Knight's group; Brunkel and the Blue Knight killed one Fourth Order fighter and many others but suffered severe injuries, and one of the Three Nuns died.

The Blue Knight and Brunkel, weakened and injured after being dragged into a world that eroded their sanity, were surrounded by Heretics pursuing a mysterious Seed. They charged the Heretics to break through, but the Blue Knight was contaminated after killing their leader as Brunkel fought the remaining attackers.

• The Blue Knight and Brunkel learned that the world’s aura and the Heretics’ blood mist were eroding their sanity, while their injuries and missing weapons weakened them.
• The two women emerged from the fog onto a vast plain of bones and rotting flesh, where Heretics chasing a Seed spotted them and redirected their attack.
• The Blue Knight recognized that escape was impossible and charged the approaching Heretics with Brunkel to break through their ranks.
• The Blue Knight killed the Third Order leader with a hand strike and punch, but contamination from his body surged into her.
• Brunkel fought the remaining Heretics bare-handed and killed several as the others continued attacking.

The Blue Knight and Brunkel were surrounded by Heretics and fought two Fourth Order leaders as a fleshly swamp restricted their movements. Lu Yuan and Frey followed the distant battle and reached a slope overlooking the fight, where the Blue Knight was still battling the Heretic leader.

• The Blue Knight ordered Brunkel to stop pursuing the first Heretic squad when more enemies, including Fourth Order leaders, blocked their way.
• The Blue Knight attacked the Heretic leader, who turned the ground into a swamp that slowed her while his followers surrounded them.
• The Blue Knight traded blows with the leader and injured his chest, but he began healing in his own territory as Brunkel faced a second Fourth Order leader.
• The Blue Knight decided to risk everything and charged the leader again, determined to defeat one of them before she and Brunkel were worn down.
• Lu Yuan and Frey sensed the battle, changed direction, and approached the fighting in hopes of helping Wanderers and questioning them.
• Lu Yuan and Frey climbed a slope and saw two figures fighting, including a Heretic whose power surpassed any Lu Yuan had previously encountered.

Lu Yuan and Frey arrived at a battlefield where the injured Blue Knight and Brunkel were surrounded by Fourth Order heretics and their chanting followers. Lu Yuan rushed in to help, and the Blue Knight and Brunkel stopped a heretic leader from attacking him.

• Lu Yuan recognized the wounded Blue Knight among two ongoing battles and decided to join the fight, while Frey chose to stay with him.
• Lu Yuan told Frey to prepare, then carried her toward the battlefield at high speed.
• The Blue Knight and Brunkel struggled against two Fourth Order heretics as the heretics’ chanting made the ground flesh spread around them.
• A heretic sensed Lu Yuan’s arrival and warned the others, but Lu Yuan killed an outer guard and charged toward another chanting heretic.
• The heretic leader tried to attack Lu Yuan, but the Blue Knight and Brunkel moved to stop him.

Lu Yuan joined the Blue Knight and Brunkel in the heretic stronghold, slaughtering the chanting heretics until their formation collapsed. As the Blue Knight fought a Fourth Order leader, she realized Lu Yuan had become far stronger than she knew.

• The Blue Knight wounded a heretic leader and spotted Lu Yuan arriving with a frail girl on his back.
• Lu Yuan killed the chanting Second and Third Order heretics while mocking their leaders, disrupting the formation.
• Lu Yuan killed five Third Order heretics and six Second Order heretics, causing the formation to shatter.
• A heretic leader broke away from the Blue Knight and struck Lu Yuan, but Lu Yuan blocked the attack without serious injury.
• The Blue Knight seized the leader's exposed flank and continued attacking as she wondered how Lu Yuan had become so powerful.

Lu Yuan slaughtered the fleeing heretics while carrying Frey, then faced a desperate charge from the two Fourth-Order leaders. The Gray-White Text identified one as a grievously injured fanatic devotee, and Lu Yuan stood his ground as both leaders targeted him.

• The Third-Order heretics recognized Lu Yuan as the killer of their companions and fled toward their leaders, but Lu Yuan crushed one heretic’s jaw and tore off his head.
• Lu Yuan killed three Second-Order heretics and pursued the fleeing Third Orders, killing the one at the rear while Frey clung to his back.
• The heretic leader fighting the Blue Knight exploded his flesh, pinned her in a blood-and-flesh whirlpool, and formed a flesh-sack before charging at Lu Yuan with his skeleton.
• The Gray-White Text identified the leader as a grievously injured fanatic devotee who had relied on the Holy Sovereign to reach the Fourth Order.
• Lu Yuan stood his ground as the flesh-sack and skeleton charged toward him, while Frey buried her head against his back.

Lu Yuan confronted a severely injured Fourth Order Heretic Leader while the Blue Knight and Brunkel fought the other leader. Lu Yuan matched the Heretic Leader in combat, and the chapter ended with the second leader preparing to flee as Brunkel moved to stop him.

• Lu Yuan charged the Fourth Order Heretic Leader, determined to test his strength and gain experience.
• Lu Yuan exchanged powerful blows with the Heretic Leader, whose injuries left him struggling to match Lu Yuan.
• The Blue Knight broke free of the flesh vortex and stopped a skeleton from striking Lu Yuan, then let him continue fighting alone.
• Brunkel and the other Heretic Leader paused when they saw Lu Yuan holding his own against a Fourth Order.
• The second Heretic Leader tried to break away and escape, but Brunkel recognized his intent and moved to stop him.

Lu Yuan defeated the Fourth Order Heretic leader by destroying his flesh and crushing the skeleton that sustained him, gaining experience at the cost of some sanity and strength. With another Heretic leader escaped and reinforcements a possibility, Lu Yuan and the others left with Frey to find a safe place.

• The Heretic leader and three Third Orders fled while Lu Yuan stayed to fight the Fourth Order Heretic.
• Lu Yuan tore apart the mass of flesh, then destroyed the Heretic leader's skeleton and gained 10 experience points.
• Lu Yuan noticed his sanity had fallen below 70 and that his body had weakened slightly.
• Brunkel admired Lu Yuan's skill and began considering recruiting him, while the Blue Knight also recognized his growing strength.
• Lu Yuan warned that they should leave before reinforcements arrived, and the Blue Knight and Brunkel agreed to go with him and Frey.

Lu Yuan traveled with the Blue Knight, Brunkel, and Frey through the Land of the Dead Silence while trying to understand why the two Fourth Orders were so badly weakened. The Blue Knight revealed they had been ambushed during a Northern Territory Mission before being pulled into this world, leaving Lu Yuan worried about her body in the outside world.

• Lu Yuan followed Frey's directions while the Blue Knight introduced Brunkel as the Empire's Heretic Cleanser and identified Lu Yuan as a Night Watcher captain.
• The Blue Knight tried to discourage Brunkel from recruiting Lu Yuan, but Brunkel admired him even more after learning he belonged to the Night Watchers.
• Lu Yuan asked why the Blue Knight had come to the Land of the Dead Silence and how she and Brunkel had been so badly injured.
• The Blue Knight said they had been ambushed during the Northern Territory Mission and dragged into the world before their sanity could recover.
• Lu Yuan realized the Blue Knight's body remained outside the Land of the Dead Silence and feared what might happen to it if she died here.