Chapter Summaries

Lu Yuan descended into the Collapse Pit and met the Blue Knight in a passage filled with Rotating Eerie Inscriptions, where he gained inscription-study experience and sheltered her from their pressure. They reached the vast chamber where the Copper Wall had vanished, and the Worm of Knowledge began consuming the inscriptions.

• Klaus asked Margaret to clear out nearby Ghouls while he watched the people at the Pipe Network Layer.
• Lu Yuan entered the Collapse Pit, endured the Rotating Eerie Inscriptions, and gained Advanced Eerie Inscription Studies experience as he walked deeper.
• Lu Yuan met the Blue Knight, who followed him after the inscriptions focused on him and eased the pressure on her.
• The Blue Knight recalled Klaus recommending Lu Yuan to the Knight Academy and recognized his unusual talent and strength.
• Lu Yuan and the Blue Knight reached the vast chamber, where the Copper Wall was gone and the inscriptions were far denser.
• The Worm of Knowledge emerged and began eating the Rotating Eerie Inscriptions while Lu Yuan let it feed.

Lu Yuan and Blue Knight reached the abyss where Copper Wall had vanished and found a tainted golden glow far below. They decided to descend together, with Blue Knight riding on Lu Yuan’s back as they prepared to climb down using her threads.

• Blue Knight sensed a terrifying presence ahead but followed Lu Yuan toward where Copper Wall had disappeared.
• Lu Yuan’s Eerie Inscription Studies and Forbidden Studies experience rose as he approached the abyss, where he discovered that Copper Wall had sunk away whole.
• Lu Yuan and Blue Knight spotted a faint, tainted golden light deep below and agreed to descend.
• Blue Knight climbed onto Lu Yuan’s back and used her threads to protect him from the Eerie Inscriptions, while Lu Yuan found he could control the threads.
• Lu Yuan anchored the threads to the cliff edge and flipped over it with Blue Knight on his back.

Lu Yuan and the Blue Knight descended to the damaged, sinking Copper Wall to search for the fifth fragment. Touching it showed Lu Yuan that the fragment was elsewhere, but also revealed the Crown being corrupted, and he returned to find the Blue Knight frozen beside him.

• Lu Yuan and the Blue Knight descended through the dense Eerie Inscriptions, and Lu Yuan asked about the Knight Academy’s user of Time Bestower.
• They reached the battered Copper Wall, which was sinking and leaking golden light through its cracks.
• Lu Yuan touched the wall and found no connection to the fifth fragment, then was pulled into a vision of the Crown.
• The vision showed six of the Crown’s Glazed Gems corrupted into eyes while the central gem began to open.
• Lu Yuan’s consciousness returned to the cliff, where he found the Blue Knight rigid and frozen against him.

Lu Yuan struggled to escape the collapsing Copper Wall with the Blue Knight, who was trapped in a vision of a Golden Crown offering her the Fifth Order. After she rejected the Crown and awakened, she carried him to safety, while the corruption continued spreading through Bronze City and the Ascension Society tried to burn it from the southern wall.

• The Copper Wall shook and sank faster, forcing Lu Yuan to climb while the Blue Knight remained rigid on his back and a Golden Crown appeared above her head.
• Lu Yuan used the Worm of Knowledge and the Authority of the Sea of Knowledge to glimpse the Blue Knight's vision, where she rejected the Golden Crown and threw it away despite its promise of the Fifth Order.
• The Blue Knight awoke, seized control of the threads, and carried Lu Yuan up the cliff as golden light and Flesh pursued them from The Abyss.
• After reaching the Pipe Network Layer, the Blue Knight threw the fading Golden Crown into The Abyss, but its corruption continued shaking the passages and darkening the remaining Bronze Patterns.
• Klaus halted his evacuation work as the Pipe Network Layer trembled, while the Great Ascendant oversaw the Ascension Society's failed attempts to stop Flesh spreading through the southern city wall.
• The Ascension Society directed a Steam Flame Spray Device at the contaminated wall, sending a pillar of fire crashing into it.

The Flesh adapted to the Great Ascendant’s flames, forcing him to order an evacuation as Bronze City’s defenses began to fail. After the West Wall transformed into a living Flesh Wall, four Horizontal Line Faces emerged and headed toward the Inner City.

• The Great Ascendant learned that the Flesh could cling to materials and survive separation, then watched it adapt and spread faster than the Flame Thrower could burn it away.
• The Great Ascendant ordered everyone to retreat to the Outer City while the Born continued burning the walls.
• The Guardian sensed the underground malice intensifying and prepared to fight when the Person on the Wall urged him to join forces.
• The West Wall fell, transformed into a living Flesh Wall that absorbed the Born and Night Watchers stationed there.
• Four Horizontal Line Faces emerged from the West Wall, looked toward the Tower of Erudition and nearby residences, then vanished.

Blue Knight, Lu Yuan, and Klaus escaped the Pipe Network Layer as gold-black flesh pursued them, only to find Bronze City buried in dense white fog. Klaus ordered all forces to evacuate the Collapse Pits, but the spreading flesh overwhelmed Conrad and his Night Watchers, leaving the Pipe Network Layer consumed.

• Blue Knight dragged Lu Yuan from the abyss while gold-black flesh chased them through the Pipe Network Layer, and Klaus joined their escape.
• The three reached the surface and found Bronze City shrouded in white fog; Klaus repeatedly ordered all Night Watchers to evacuate every Collapse Pit.
• Conrad received Klaus's broken retreat order and led six Night Watchers away from their Collapse Pit.
• Flesh burst from Conrad's Collapse Pit, engulfed the barricades, and consumed three Night Watchers as Conrad and the survivors tried to flee.
• Conrad and the remaining Night Watchers threw Mithril at the advancing flesh, but it smothered the flames and swallowed Conrad and the Collapse Pit.

As Flesh consumed Bronze City, Klaus, Blue Knight, and Lu Yuan returned to the branch while Margaret sought shelter with survivors. At Old Assembly Square, Hooded Night Watcher confronted a featureless creature emerging from the fog with Old Ding’s corpse.

• Klaus learned that the Inner City Wall had mutated and the West Wall Night Watchers had died, then led Blue Knight, Lu Yuan, and the surviving messenger toward the branch.
• Flesh Pillars erupted throughout Bronze City as dark red Flesh spread across the Inner City Wall and buildings.
• Margaret noticed Ghouls fleeing toward a Collapse Pit, then escaped advancing Flesh with four Night Watchers into a Church Stone Building.
• Margaret saw Flesh surrounding the church while a nun trusted the Angel to protect those inside.
• At Old Assembly Square, several sentry lamps went out, and Hooded Night Watcher ordered the others into the tent.
• A featureless, slime-covered creature emerged from the fog carrying Old Ding’s corpse, as Hooded Night Watcher’s chest opened and a pale figure sprang out to attack.

Line-Face and another Special Individual fought Hooded Night Watchers as the spreading flesh sealed Bronze City and cut off every retreat. At the Tower of Erudition, the Guardian forced the Person on the Wall to join him in confronting the threat approaching the Inner City.

• Line-Face overwhelmed the Hooded Night Watcher at Old Assembly Square with pollution, while Night Watchers gathered in fear.
• A second Line-Face attacked the Hooded Night Watcher guarding a Collapse Pit, and they fought in the white fog.
• The Great Ascendant found the city gate sealed by flesh and led his researchers back toward the Ascension Society.
• The Guardian sensed that the threat underground was awakening faster than expected and warned that the Tower of Erudition could not hold without action.
• The Guardian threatened to throw the Person on the Wall's skull into the flesh, compelling it to agree to suppress the approaching Special Individuals while he cleared them out.
• The Person on the Wall withdrew into darkness to buy the Guardian several minutes as the Guardian waited for the Special Individuals to come closer.

Klaus rallied the residents who had stayed in Bronze City, urging them to believe the Night Watchers could defeat the Eerie. As the Seed of Hope grew from the crowd’s emotions, the Person on the Wall’s Gray Mist swept through the city and the Guardian retaliated, leaving the battle’s outcome unresolved.

• Klaus returned to the Night Watcher branch and addressed the gathered residents, promising the Night Watchers and Holy Armor Army would defend Bronze City.
• Lu Yuan noticed the Seed of Hope growing rapidly as the crowd’s emotions flowed into it.
• A powerful aura erupted from the Tower of Erudition, and Klaus told the crowd that a Night Watcher senior had acted, restoring their hope.
• Lu Yuan saw Gray Mist spread from the Inner City, freezing Ghouls and Special Individuals and suppressing his perception; he recognized it as the Person on the Wall’s power.
• The Guardian answered with black aura and enormous eyes that caused pollution and Special Individuals across the Inner City to grow Pitch-Black Eyeballs and shatter.

The Guardian’s Pitch-Black Eyeballs tore through the Flesh spreading across Bronze City while Gray Mist immobilized the Flesh and its Special Individuals. As the Guardian’s power began to weaken, Lu Yuan still had not found the fifth fragment, and he and Klaus feared the underground Flesh had not been destroyed.

• The Guardian’s Pitch-Black Eyeballs overwhelmed the Special Individuals and the Flesh Wall, while Gray Mist held them in place.
• Gray Mist froze the Special Individual attacking the Hooded Night Watcher at Old Assembly Square, and the Night Watcher survived as the creature was destroyed.
• At the Collapse Pit, Gray Mist stopped another Special Individual, allowing the Hooded Night Watcher to strike it and survive.
• Margaret prepared to defend the Church Stone Building as Flesh consumed its lower floors, but Gray Mist immobilized the growth and Pitch-Black Eyeballs destroyed it.
• Margaret concluded that two existences above the Fifth Order had acted together, while the Nuns prayed over the revealed Angel Statue.
• Lu Yuan watched the Guardian’s power fade, and Klaus ordered the residents into the Branch as Lu Yuan worried about the fifth fragment.

Lu Yuan discovered that the Hope tree could potentially help someone reach the Fifth Order, while Klaus weighed who should receive its power. In the Tower of Erudition, Helmut confronted the nobles sheltering there and blamed their dealings with the Grey Covenant for Bronze City’s crisis.

• Lu Yuan found the Hope tree radiating golden light, and Gray-White Text identified it as a growing source of power that might advance someone to the Fifth Order.
• Klaus felt the Hope tree stir the divinity sealed in his amber and considered Guardian, Leike, and himself as possible candidates to receive its power.
• Lu Yuan and Klaus agreed that using the tree would likely destroy it, but they did not know the cost or the best time to act.
• Helmut silenced the nobles sheltering in the Tower of Erudition and revealed that the Empire’s mission took priority over their survival.
• Helmut accused the nobles of letting the Grey Covenant take root in Bronze City through their dealings with it.

As the Flesh Wall overwhelmed Bronze City and Guardian and the Person on the Wall failed to stop it, Lu Yuan connected with the four underground Fragments and prepared to risk summoning the fifth. The chapter left Klaus, Blue Knight, Leike, and the Night Watchers fighting to evacuate residents while the Flesh advanced toward the Branch.

• Helmut warned the nobles that they would die with him if the Empire lost the war, then ended the meeting.
• The Flesh Wall surged upward and spread toward the Tower of Erudition and the Branch, forcing Guardian to abandon his suppression of the wall.
• Guardian and the Person on the Wall attacked the Flesh Wall together, but a Gold-Black Barrier repelled them and left both close to their limits.
• Klaus and Blue Knight defended the Branch while Leike and the Night Watchers evacuated residents underground.
• Lu Yuan connected with the four underground Fragments, sensed the fifth, and prepared to gather the four before forcibly summoning it.

Lu Yuan assembled four fragments into the incomplete Golden Order and discovered that the Person on the Wall held the fifth fragment in the Inner City. As the Flesh overwhelmed Bronze City and advanced on the Tower of Erudition, Guardian and the Person on the Wall prepared to act.

• Lu Yuan sensed four fragments pass through the underground Flesh and emerge from the Copper Pillars, then watched them join into an incomplete Golden Order.
• Lu Yuan used the assembled fragments to locate the fifth piece near the Tower of Erudition and realized the Person on the Wall had taken it.
• Guardian watched the four Flesh-covered walls collapse into the Inner City, sweeping away troops and flooding streets and buildings.
• The Person on the Wall feared the Flesh would reach the Tower of Erudition and told Guardian to make his move.
• Guardian began raising his black aura as the Visitor in the Mist watched the approaching disaster with a lighter mood.

The Guardian and the Person on the Wall fought the endless Flesh, but the corrupted Crown overwhelmed them and Bronze City fell. With his power failing, the Guardian told Arthur to begin; Arthur prepared his last resort with Hilde, revealing that the plan would cost his life and asking her to protect a booklet.

• The Person on the Wall and the Guardian used their powers to hold back the Flesh, but the endless tide overwhelmed their defenses.
• A Crown corrupted by Flesh emerged from a wall and struck the Guardian, while the Person on the Wall shielded him and was badly injured.
• The Guardian’s giant eyeball shattered, and he told Arthur to begin as his body mutated and Bronze City fell.
• Arthur learned the Guardian had failed and told Hilde it was their turn to act.
• Arthur revealed that he had expected to die when he made a deal with a Taboo, then asked Hilde to follow the plan and keep his booklet safe.

Arthur activated the Fourth Fishing plan and entered the Sea of Knowledge, opening a rift above the Tower of Erudition where words poured down and clashed with the tides of flesh. At the Branch, Lu Yuan drew a swarm of hidden Worms of Knowledge to himself while Klaus and Blue Knight continued fighting the advancing flesh.

• Arthur activated the array with Hilde, sending his consciousness into the Sea of Knowledge as his body became its anchor.
• A rift opened above the Tower of Erudition, and words from the Sea of Knowledge poured into Bronze City, corroding the tide of flesh and shaking the tower.
• The Gray-White Skull accused the Guardian of breaking their promise before it was dragged back into the Tower of Erudition.
• The Visitor in the Mist watched the clash from a distant Clock Tower, called the plan interesting, and vanished over Bronze City.
• At the Branch, Lu Yuan sensed a major event in the Inner City as Worms of Knowledge emerged across the Outer City and swarmed toward him.
• Lu Yuan's Worm of Knowledge emerged and drew the swarm to a halt before him, while Klaus and Blue Knight continued holding back the flesh.

Lu Yuan unleashed the Worms of Knowledge against the Abyssal flesh, temporarily stopping its advance and shielding the branch’s thousands of occupants. As the swarm’s hidden power became visible to the defenders, Klaus returned with a medicine bottle called Breath of the Dying and warned that the Guardian was close to falling.

• Lu Yuan gave the Worms of Knowledge permission to feed on the Abyssal flesh, and their swarm formed a River of Light that attacked it.
• The worms gnawed through the flesh and forced it to retreat, but fresh flesh from underground replenished it and created a stalemate.
• The Worms of Knowledge held the flesh outside the branch, temporarily protecting the thousands sheltering beneath it.
• Klaus, Leike, the Blue Knight, and other Night Watchers saw Lu Yuan command the colorful swarm and recognized that it differed from the Tower of Erudition’s Knowledge-Derived Worms.
• Lu Yuan accepted that his power could no longer remain secret and gained experience in several skills as the worms fed.
• Klaus returned to Lu Yuan, said the Guardian in the Inner City could not hold on much longer, and showed him a medicine bottle identified as Breath of the Dying.

Lu Yuan agreed to try to deliver Klaus’s potion to the Guardian and decided to seek help from the Person on the Wall, but he could not reach him. A Pathfinder airship arrived at the Branch, bringing support as the chapter ended with its hatch opening.

• Klaus told Lu Yuan he had planned to drink the potion himself but now wanted to give it to the Guardian.
• Lu Yuan sensed that the Worms of Knowledge could not clear a route through the flesh, but agreed to Klaus’s request because he had other plans.
• Lu Yuan tried to contact the Person on the Wall and, finding no response despite sensing his aura, decided to enter the Inner City himself.
• An enormous Pathfinder airship emerged from the eastern clouds and descended toward the Branch.
• The airship blasted the encroaching flesh away from its landing site, landed, and opened its hatch as two Pathfinders stepped out.

Klaus, Lu Yuan, Green, and the Blue Knight boarded the Sky-Seeking Fortress to enter Bronze City's overrun Inner City and reach the Tower of Erudition. As the airship crossed the wall of flesh, the Tower's Guardian remained trapped and the Sea of Knowledge rift was closing.

• Logan warned Klaus that the airship could enter the Inner City but could not land or return, while Green said the city's inscriptions and the Guardian's anchors were failing.
• Klaus insisted on going to the Tower of Erudition with the Copper-Shelled Potion, and Lu Yuan, Green, and the Blue Knight joined him.
• Lu Yuan directed the Sea of Worms to keep the flesh from spreading without eating until they fell asleep, while Leike stayed behind to command the remaining Insect Tide.
• The group boarded the Sky-Seeking Fortress and saw that dark red flesh had engulfed the Inner City, leaving only the Tower of Erudition protected by gray fog.
• The Person on the Wall failed to pull Lu Yuan into his domain as the golden crown blocked messages and the Sea of Knowledge rift began closing.
• The Sky-Seeking Fortress crossed the wall of flesh and headed toward the Inner City.

Lu Yuan and the others flew toward the Tower of Erudition aboard the Sky-Seeking Fortress while the Worms of Knowledge fed him a surge of experience. As the airship emerged from the fog, they saw that the Inner City had been almost completely buried beneath spreading flesh and roots.

• Green proudly described the Sky-Seeking Fortress and its weapons, while Logan warned that its firepower could not defeat the Taboo existence and said they could only carry Klaus's group to the tower.
• The Worms of Knowledge sent Lu Yuan a surge of experience, filling Pharmacology and Pharmacognosy and unlocking Pharmaceutics.
• Lu Yuan saw that Forbidden Studies had also gained experience, while Sanity and Bronze City's current state remained unchanged.
• As the fog thinned, the airship reached the Inner City and revealed streets, plazas, and buildings buried beneath dark red and dark gold flesh.
• The Blue Knight, Klaus, and Green stared at the vast expanse of flesh and roots spreading through the Inner City.

Lu Yuan and the others flew the Sky-Seeking Fortress toward the Tower of Erudition, where a Flesh Crown watched over the battle between Flesh and the Sea of Knowledge. The airship evaded the Crown’s searching eyes and attacking tendrils, but its inscriptions and gasbag were pushed close to their limits as it sped onward.

• Lu Yuan recognized the enormous Flesh Crown near the Tower of Erudition and sensed a connection between it and the authority in his left eye.
• When an eyeball fixed its gaze on the Sky-Seeking Fortress, Logan activated the Stealth Inscription and concealed the airship from it.
• The Crown sent additional eyes searching, while tendrils rose from the Flesh and forced Logan to steer the airship higher.
• Logan ordered full speed ahead and placed the weapons systems on standby as tendrils reached the airship and mucus corroded its window.
• A tendril struck the gasbag, but the inscriptions burned it apart, and Logan accelerated the Sky-Seeking Fortress beyond the searching eyes.