Chapter Summaries

Li agreed to help Gulman under conditions and planned to use a Permanent Solidification Spell to let him walk the world in human form. Elsewhere, Kiss and Prince Kabane arrived with a large force and discovered that the advance party had likely been wiped out.

• Gulman agreed to Li's conditions if Li taught him his magic, while Li asked whether Gulman going above would disturb the plane.
• Gulman explained that he could not sustain his Gaia Giant Serpent form or use most of its powers, and Li proposed casting a Permanent Solidification Spell once he transformed into a human.
• The ceiling collapsed, and Li found Timaria waiting outside the destroyed door, asking what had happened.
• Kiss and Prince Kabane arrived beneath the ancient tree with more than a thousand powerful followers and searched for Lord Zeref's advance party.
• A subordinate reported that a fierce battle had occurred and most of the advance party had likely died, leaving Kiss worried about the missing whistle.

Kis investigated a scorched battlefield and found the Behemoth's Whistle still held by a slain member of the Twelve Shields. Kabane took the whistle and sounded it, confirming his claim to be Behemoth's heir.

• Kis led the group to the battlefield and found nearly two hundred square meters of ground covered in ash and skeletons, with no trace of magic or curse power.
• Kis spotted a member of the Twelve Shields pinned to a tree by a spear and saw that he still clutched the Behemoth's Whistle.
• Kabane took the whistle from the skeleton while Kis warned him that the source of the destruction remained unknown.
• Kabane sounded the whistle with his childhood technique and took its response as proof that he was Behemoth's heir.

Kis lost Kabane when he crumbled into dust, then set out to find whoever had caused his death. A week later, Li and his group were still crossing the desert, struggling with the sealed teleportation magic and the harsh conditions.

• Purple energy enveloped Kabane, and he crumbled into dust while Kis survived but lost all vitality.
• Kis feared Kyouka would blame her for failing the mission, then ordered her subordinates to help her hunt down whoever was responsible.
• Li and his group spent a week traveling through the desert, where they discovered teleportation magic was sealed.
• Gulman transformed into a half-elf after Li used Permanent Solidification, and he and Azshara struggled in the desert heat.
• Gulman cheered and sprinted toward an enormous cactus, while Li recognized what he had found.

Li and his companions found a patch of giant cacti in the desert, where Gulman eagerly drank their poisonous sap and the others gathered edible flesh. Azshara absorbed some of a cactus’s life force, though she said she had done nothing else.

• Li tasted the cactus’s milky sap and discovered it was poisonous, while Gulman eagerly drank it anyway.
• Li explained that the cactus flesh was edible but spoiled within a few hours, and the group used it to replenish their rations.
• Li spotted a dense patch of giant cacti, and Gulman charged toward them, thrilled at the chance to drink more sap.
• Azshara touched a cactus and appeared to absorb something from it while Li and Timaria discussed her actions.
• Azshara told Li she had drawn out some of the cactus’s life force.

Li, Timaria, and Azshara rescued Gulman from churning sand and a giant snake, but the ground suddenly gave way beneath Li. The chapter ended with Li sinking into the sand as Timaria flew upward with Gulman.

• Timaria noticed that Gulman had not returned, and the group rushed toward her cries for help.
• Li spotted hostile magic around the towering cacti and attacked them with lightning and fire, easing Gulman's struggle in the sand.
• Timaria pulled Gulman free, but a giant snake emerged and grabbed Gulman's calf with its tongue.
• Li struck the snake with six fireballs, driving it back underground, and Timaria brought Gulman to the group.
• Li asked Gulman what had happened, but the ground collapsed beneath him and he sank into the sand.

Li discovered that the strange snakes attacking the group were cactus roots, and he used earth magic to drive them back. His stomp awakened a powerful being that had slept for five hundred years, which began speaking to the group.

• Li escaped the sucking sand and immobilized dozens of cactus roots with a burst of golden light.
• Li told Timaria and Gulman that the snakes were roots and explained that the ancient central cactus could command its kind.
• Li shook the ground with Earth Pulse, making the cacti topple and their roots retreat underground.
• A deep voice announced that the group had disturbed its five-hundred-year sleep.
• Gulman mocked the voice, which angrily called him a mongrel hybrid and demanded respect.

Li and the others dug up the mysterious voice beneath the desert and found an ancient bronze-colored metal slab with a golden magic-array tablet embedded in it. Gulman attacked it after it mentioned the Behemoth Dynasty, and Li stopped him to question the slab about what it was.

• The voice told Azshara and the others that it was about a hundred meters beneath their feet and asked them to dig it out.
• Li stomped the sand away, creating a hundred-meter-deep pit that exposed the hidden object.
• Li and Gulman saw that the object was a metal slab with a golden magic-array tablet embedded in its center.
• The slab thanked the group for letting it see the sun and began to identify itself as the greatest of the Behemoth Dynasty.
• Gulman jumped into the pit and punched the slab, demanding to know what it knew about the Behemoth Dynasty.
• Li grabbed Gulman's arm and asked the metal slab what it was.

Li and his companions discovered a talking portal that claimed it could send them to the Behemoth city-state, but its other endpoint had been inactive for centuries. After learning the Behemoth Dynasty had fallen, the portal begged them to take it along.

• The portal introduced itself as the Magical Inclination Matter Existence Particle Decomposition Long-Distance Rebirth Device, and Timaria recognized its importance.
• Li stopped Timaria from stepping onto the portal and questioned how it could send them to Behemoth without a detected magical connection.
• The portal admitted its other half had not awakened and revealed that it had lost contact with it centuries earlier.
• Gulman told the portal that the Behemoth Dynasty had been destroyed, and the portal realized why nobody had activated it.
• The portal begged Li and his companions to take it with them, and Li asked Gulman whether he had noticed what it resembled.

Li and Gulman confronted the sentient metal plate that claimed to be a teleportation gate, and Li discovered that Zeref was controlling it. Li agreed to strike north after taking control of the desert, then severed Zeref’s connection and began forging the plate into protective equipment for Gulman.

• The teleportation gate claimed it could help Li and Gulman find the Behemoth Dynasty, but they doubted its reliability.
• Li recognized that Zeref was behind the gate, and Zeref admitted he wanted to know what had happened to his other half.
• Zeref promised not to interfere and asked Li to strike north after taking control of the desert; Li agreed.
• Li severed Zeref’s magical connection to the metal plate, trapping Zeref’s magic inside it.
• Li melted the plate with azure flames to forge protection for Gulman, who could not currently use magic.

Li forged enchanted armor and a longsword for Gulman, then continued through the desert with Timaria and Azshara while searching for clues. He explained that Zeref was his archenemy and warned that they would turn back if they found nothing within half a month.

• Li reshaped a magical artifact into armor and a longsword, covering them with Holy Marks before fitting the armor onto Gulman.
• Gulman asked about the Holy Marks and Zeref, and Li identified Ankhseram as their source and Zeref as his archenemy.
• Timaria recalled that Li had eased her worries about Zeref targeting her family by saying she mattered less to Zeref than her family did.
• Li gave water to Timaria and Azshara and said their supply could last at least a month.
• Li told Azshara that they would return early if they found no clues within half a month.

Li and his companions found a badly dehydrated man buried in the desert and rescued him. After revealing powerful magic, the man thanked Li and identified the unusual powers of those traveling with him.

• Timaria spotted a half-buried person in the distance, and Li and the others went to investigate.
• Li found the man near death inside heat-conducting black armor and gave him water.
• The man recovered enough to stop the group, then used magic to free himself from the sand.
• The man thanked Li and remarked on the spatial magic, magical beast power, and night power among Li's companions.

Li met Bar of the Judgment Army and learned that Bar had come to investigate the Blood Sandstorm. As the storm approached, Li led Azshara toward it, confident he could protect her.

• Bar explained why the Judgment Army condemned spacetime, beast, and dark-night magic, then introduced himself to Li.
• Li explained that Timaria’s spatial magic only stopped time within an area, and Bar thanked her for helping him.
• Gulman alerted Li to a vast, baleful sandstorm approaching from the north, filled with struggling ghostlike creatures.
• Bar announced that he would enter the Blood Sandstorm to investigate it, while Li said they could not escape by running.
• Li took Azshara’s hand and led her toward the storm, assuring her that she would be safe beside him.

A sandstorm swept over Li, Azshara, Timaria, and Gulman, and Li protected them with a magical barrier as undead spirits attacked. The storm’s primary consciousness demanded their flesh and blood while the group remained trapped inside it.

• Azshara struggled to stand against the storm, so Li called Timaria and Gulman over to join him and protect her.
• Gulman asked where Bar was, and Li spotted him advancing into the storm before dismissing the Judgment Army member as a lunatic.
• Li cast Flowing Light of the Sky, but the sand pillars tracked his magic and attacked the group.
• Azshara recognized undead among the debris, and Li explained that the spirits were victims of the storm seeking living prey.
• As the barrier began to fail, Li strengthened it with a hybrid spell of wind and ice magic.
• The sandstorm engulfed the group, and its primary consciousness called on them to hand over their flesh and blood.

Li protected himself, Azshara, and Gulman from a deadly sandstorm with a spell resembling the Word Spirit Technique, then used the same power to disperse it. The group returned safely to the ground after the storm vanished.

• The sandstorm summoned the souls of slain knights, and their attacks began to crack Li's defensive barrier.
• Li created a bright spherical space that isolated the group from the storm, astounding Azshara and Gulman with his use of the Word Spirit Technique.
• Li explained that he had transformed his own power to imitate the technique rather than borrow a god's power.
• Li declared that he would grant them the power to dispel evil, and sunlight appeared as the sandstorm disappeared.
• Li lowered the sphere's light curtain and brought everyone's feet back to the ground.

Li rescued Bar from beneath the sand after the sandstorm, and Bar explained that it had formed from the souls of the Judgment Army’s founder and the knights who fought him. Li invited Bar to join the journey to Behemoth’s ruins, and Gulman challenged him to a contest.

• Timaria noticed Bar was missing, and Li searched beneath the sand and brought him back to the surface.
• Li healed Bar, who thanked him and declared that they were brothers.
• Bar explained that the sandstorm came from the fallen founder of the Judgment Army and the knights who died fighting him, and said he was the army’s last member.
• Bar said he would return to face the sandstorm, then asked why Li and the others were in the desert.
• Li invited Bar to accompany them to the ruins of Behemoth, and Gulman offered to test Bar’s strength.

Li arranged a duel between Gulman and Bar, who underestimated Gulman because he sensed no magic from him. Gulman disappeared using a Holy Mark and reappeared in front of Bar, leaving the duel just beginning.

• Li proposed that Gulman and Bar wager on their duel, and Bar agreed to lose if he could not defeat Gulman within ten seconds after allowing him three moves.
• Bar summoned a lance and a horse of light with Holy Spirit Summoning, revealing the Judgment Army’s practice of turning souls into weapons and mounts.
• Bar promised not to attack while Gulman cast enhancement magic, but Gulman vanished before he could act.
• Gulman used the Battlefield Insertion Holy Mark, powered by his life force, and unexpectedly appeared in front of Bar.

Gulman used his Holy Mark and Battlefield Insertion to turn Bar’s charge against him, forcing Bar to admit defeat before Gulman insisted their fight was not over. Bar then attacked at full strength, and his spear collided with Gulman’s powerful light shield, leaving the outcome uncertain.

• Bar tried to retreat, but his holy spirit steed charged Gulman, who blocked its hoof with a Holy Mark shield.
• Gulman used Battlefield Insertion to appear behind Bar and punch him, but Bar summoned holy spirit armor and countered with his spear.
• Bar admitted he had lost, but Gulman said the battle was not over and let Bar attack first.
• Bar charged across the sand at full speed as Gulman summoned a much stronger light shield.
• Bar’s spear of light struck Gulman’s shield, and the clash’s outcome remained unknown.

Gulman used his Holy Mark-protected armor to withstand Bar’s holy lance and revealed the power of Random Elemental Bestowal. The chapter left Bar stunned as Gulman conjured a massive fireball, forcing him to shield himself and his horse.

• Bar drove his holy lance through Gulman’s defensive barrier, then increased its power with Star Shatter.
• Gulman was blasted away, but his gauntlet remained undamaged and its counterattack Holy Mark sent force back into Bar’s arm.
• Gulman told Bar he would stop holding back, while Bar prepared to charge again.
• Gulman activated Random Elemental Bestowal and gave the air immense fire elemental power, forming a huge fireball before Bar.
• Bar cast Guard to shield himself and his holy spirit horse from the fireball.

Gulman overwhelmed Bar with a series of elemental attacks, breaking his holy-light defenses and leaving him exhausted. Li gave Bar a ball of holy-light energy to restore him, and Bar then asked Gulman whether she had really used magic.

• Bar was startled when Gulman’s fire attack struck near him, then charged after deciding he understood her spell.
• Gulman struck Bar with lightning, and Bar used Sacrifice of Holy Light to defend himself.
• Gulman followed with a stone spike, a falling boulder, and powerful winds that shattered Bar’s defenses and injured him.
• Li gave Bar a ball of concentrated holy-light energy, which Bar swallowed to recover his magic power and heal.
• Bar asked Gulman whether she had really used magic, and Gulman angrily insisted that Bar was the miss.

Li and Azshara encountered a fallen beastman while traveling through the desert toward Behemoth's lands. After Li killed it, Azshara explained the beastmen had become ageless and nearly deathless, and over a hundred more approached.

• Li and Azshara took watch and sensed the foul aura of beastmen nearby.
• Azshara shot an approaching beastman, explaining that fallen beastmen had once hunted elves in the desert.
• The beastman pulled the arrow from its head and called Azshara tasty food, so Li killed it with Dao Light Fire.
• Azshara told Li the beastmen had surrendered to an evil god and no longer aged or died.
• Li spotted more than a hundred beastmen approaching and recognized their nature as resembling undead chimeras.