Chapter Summaries

Colonel Dofrank received reinforcements and learned that expanding the portal might require sending more people through it, risking heavy casualties. He agreed to test the enemy’s anti-armor capabilities by sending Leman Russ tanks through first, with infantry following.

• Magos Ohm's technical recovery team and Colonel Leithris's armored company arrived to reinforce Colonel Dofrank.
• Colonel Leithris said his company needed five days to rest and repair its tanks before combat.
• Magos Ohm's team found that the portal could not be expanded by altering its energy supply or surroundings.
• Magos Ohm theorized that sending larger groups through the portal would expand it, potentially at the cost of thousands of lives.
• Colonel Leithris condemned the proposal and suggested sending tanks through first, and Dofrank agreed to test the enemy's anti-armor capabilities.

Mare and Demiurge prepared Nazarick’s defenses around the portal, while Demiurge concealed a lethal underground trap and waited for the enemy. The Imperium’s Leman Russ tanks and soldiers emerged, shrugging off magic and destroying a Death Knight as Ainz watched from the rear to assess the Imperium’s strength.

• Mare built thick walls around the portal while Aura questioned Demiurge about Nazarick’s defensive plan.
• Demiurge explained the walls’ anti-divination treasures and decoy defenses, while hiding the deeper trap and world-class item beneath them.
• When the portal flickered, Demiurge ordered the undead to prepare and considered what he had learned about the Imperium of Man and the Yad 227th Regiment.
• Leman Russ tanks emerged from the portal and endured the Death Wizards’ fireballs with almost no damage.
• A Leman Russ tank fired a high-explosive shell that blasted a charging Death Knight apart as more tanks and Imperial soldiers advanced.
• Demiurge committed his forces against the Imperium’s troops while Ainz watched from the Golden Throne to gauge their strength.

Ainz watched Demiurge’s forces struggle against the Imperium’s Leman Russ tanks and reflected on Nazarick’s hidden military strength. Mare’s lightning spell temporarily disabled the tanks, but their crews began repairing them with incense and prepared to resume fighting.

• Ainz considered Nazarick’s thousands of undead, high-level beasts, and secret defenses while observing the battle.
• Demiurge asked Mare to test the Imperium army’s resistance to high-tier magic as the tanks advanced toward the city walls.
• Mare struck the four Leman Russ tanks with Heavenly Thunder, bringing them to a halt and relieving Ainz.
• The tank crews reported that the lightning had killed no one and began using a Mechanicus censer to restore their machines.

Mare and Demiurge fought the Imperium’s forces, using vines, defensive magic, and a repeatedly resurrecting phoenix as the soldiers breached their walls and bombarded their positions. After Ainz ordered them to end the engagement, Demiurge destroyed the tanks, but Ragnar and the Space Wolves emerged through a portal and attacked him.

• Mare sent massive vines against the Imperium soldiers while Leman Russ tanks and infantry fought back.
• An Imperium officer used the tanks’ breaching shells to open the earth-and-stone wall, then directed mortar fire at the detected spellcasters.
• Demiurge blocked the first mortar volley with Hell’s Wall, and Ainz ordered him to end the engagement.
• Mare unleashed a phoenix that repeatedly revived before crashing into the soldiers, while Demiurge flew to destroy four tanks.
• Ragnar led Space Wolves through a portal, declared Demiurge’s death, and lunged at him with his power axe.

As Imperial forces faltered against Nazarick’s guardians, Captain Ragnar and the Space Wolves arrived at the portal and learned that the missing 447th Reconnaissance Company had likely entered the world beyond it. Ragnar led a hundred Space Marines through the gate to confront the enemy, leaving the battle poised to shift.

• Colonel Dofrank ordered Colonel Leithris to send more troops and vehicles through the portal despite the disastrous losses.
• Captain Ragnar arrived with the Space Wolves and asked Colonel Dofrank what was happening at the portal.
• Colonel Dofrank and Priest Ohm explained that the missing reconnaissance company might have vanished into the world beyond the gate and that the Imperials’ attack was failing.
• Ragnar sent an encrypted report to Primarch Leman Russ, then led a hundred Space Marines through the portal.
• Ragnar emerged before Demiurge, raised his power axe, and roared that the xenos’ end had come.

Ragnar and the Space Wolves battled Demiurge and the undead legion, and Ragnar killed Demiurge with his power axe. Ainz was left shocked by the weapon as Leman Russ learned of a portal in the sub-sector.

• Ragnar rallied the Imperial soldiers and led a battle company of Space Wolves onto the battlefield, alarming Demiurge and Ainz.
• Ainz claimed he had prepared a magical trap beneath the portal, while the Space Wolves cut through the undead legion with bolters, flames, plasma, grenades, and melta weapons.
• Demiurge attacked Ragnar with Hellfire Wall, but Ragnar's power axe cut through the flames and resisted Demiurge's command to stop.
• Demiurge enlarged his fist and struck at Ragnar, but Ragnar's disintegration field turned the fist to dust before he killed Demiurge with an upward axe swing.
• Mare, Aura, and Ainz watched in shock as Demiurge fell, while Leman Russ heard that a portal had appeared in the sub-sector.

After Ragnar killed Demiurge with a devastating power axe, Ainz reassessed the Space Marines and mobilized Nazarick’s forces to stop their advance. Mare and Aura remained under heavy attack near the teleportation gate as the Space Wolves pushed through their defenses.

• Ragnar killed Demiurge with his power axe, leaving Ainz stunned by the weapon’s destructive power.
• Ainz ordered Pandora’s Actor to aid Mare and Aura, sent Albedo and Sebas with him, and took Shalltear to the front line.
• Ainz directed Cocytus and the maids to defend Nazarick, and ordered the Tomb to prepare its defenses and activate Gargantua if needed.
• The Space Wolves slaughtered Nazarick’s undead and repeatedly killed Mare’s phoenix, draining his mana.
• Aura joined Mare with her magical beasts and sent the Thorn Dragon to attack, but Ragnar and his battle-brothers forced their way through the incoming spikes.

Aura’s beasts and Ragnar’s Space Wolves suffered heavy losses as the battle escalated, and Albedo and Sebas joined the fight against Ragnar. With Mare weakening, Ainz decided to cast Fallen Down to clear the enemies near the portal.

• Aura petrified the Space Wolves, but Ragnar broke free, killed Ander, and cut down the Eyeless Tyrant before striking Aura with his thrown power axe.
• Albedo, Sebas, and Pandora’s Actor arrived to aid Aura, and Albedo attacked Ragnar while Pandora’s Actor ordered the Guardians to kill the Space Wolves.
• Ragnar used a grenade to force Albedo back, but Sebas struck through a gap in his armor and wounded him.
• The beasts and Pandora’s Actor’s forces killed many Space Wolves, who fought to their final breaths.
• Shalltear warned Ainz that Mare was losing the ability to draw the heavy weapons’ fire, so Ainz prepared to cast Fallen Down near the portal.

Ainz used Fallen Down against the Space Wolves while Albedo, Sebas, and Mare continued fighting Ragnar. The blast devastated the battlefield, and Mare’s vines left Ragnar immobilized as Albedo and Sebas prepared to finish him.

• Ainz prepared his hourglass and countermeasure sticks, then told Shalltear to guard him as Ragnar fought Albedo and Sebas.
• After the phoenix disintegrated, Ainz used the hourglass to hasten Fallen Down and unleashed the spell on the Space Wolves near the portal.
• The Space Wolves fled, but the descending light burned them and destroyed corpses, weapons, and undead across the battlefield.
• Ragnar watched his brothers die in the blast and charged Albedo, who mocked his fury while Sebas prepared to strike.
• Mare broke Ragnar’s leg with a staff and bound him in vines, surprising Albedo and Sebas.

Mare nearly killed Ragnar after Ragnar wounded his sister, but Albedo stopped him so Ainz could interrogate the prisoner. On the Imperium’s side, Leman Russ arrived, learned how the portal worked, and examined it after the destruction of the expeditionary force.

• Mare, enraged over his sister’s injuries, attacked Ragnar with his staff until Albedo intervened and kept him alive for interrogation.
• Pandora’s Actor relayed Ainz’s orders to imprison Ragnar and establish a more distant defensive line with magical traps and Gargantua.
• Colonels Dofrank and Leithris discussed the annihilation of their forces, while Priest Ohm reported that the Space Wolves’ deaths had expanded the portal.
• Leman Russ appeared at the command center and demanded a detailed account of the situation.
• Leman Russ inspected the portal and asked Priest Ohm whether people could pass through it in either direction.

Leman Russ discovered that a mysterious door reacted to him and triggered a protective mechanism, so he reported the phenomenon to The Emperor. After reading Russ’s letter, The Emperor prepared to travel to him with Valdor, Lion El'Jonson, and Magnus.

• Leman Russ ordered the troops to avoid entering the door and to secure the area while he investigated its reaction.
• Leman Russ reassured Colonel Dofrank, then left to report the door’s behavior to The Emperor.
• Leman Russ wrote a letter describing the discovery and sent it through the Astropaths.
• The Emperor read Leman Russ’s letter and decided the discovery could affect the Imperium’s future.
• The Emperor ordered Valdor to prepare the Emperor's Dream and summoned Lion El'Jonson, the First Legion, and Magnus.

Ainz surveyed Nazarick’s defenses, revived Demiurge, and asked him to improve the battle plan against the enemy. The chapter ended when Sebas reported that the gate had grown larger and more solid.

• Ainz reviewed Nazarick’s floors and defenses, noting that the enemy’s previous assault had devastated the eighth floor.
• Ainz revived Demiurge with liquid gold, and Demiurge apologized for disrupting Ainz’s plans.
• Ainz explained that Shizu had identified the enemy weapon’s damage as a special enchantment and that Nazarick’s core forces had learned countering enchantments.
• Demiurge examined Ainz’s defensive map and argued that the Sorcerer Kingdom should mobilize its armies and civilians as cannon fodder.
• Sebas messaged Ainz that the gate had changed, becoming larger and more solid.

As the portal began contracting after Leman Russ left to meet the Emperor, Beyenard ordered troops to enter it despite Russ's command to wait for reinforcements. Colonel Dofrank led the Yad 227th Infantry Regiment through, halting the contraction and advancing into the swamp beyond.

• Father Ohm explained that troops sent through the portal had stabilized it, while its expansion had slowed once deployments stopped.
• Leman Russ departed to meet the Emperor, leaving Beyenard in charge of the portal.
• After the portal began shrinking rapidly, Beyenard decided to send troops through and accept responsibility for disobeying Russ's orders.
• Colonel Dofrank led the Yad 227th Infantry Regiment through the narrowing portal, and its contraction stopped.
• Dofrank ordered his regiment to advance through the mire among the corpses.

Ainz’s forces initially devastated the Imperium of Man’s infantry and armor with undead, demons, and swamp traps, but the Imperium deployed enormous Emperor’s Doomblades that battered Mare, Kyouhukou, and Gargantua. The Doomblades emerged from Ainz’s counterattack seemingly unscathed, leaving him stunned by their strength.

• Ainz sent undead and Demiurge’s demons against the Yad 227th Infantry Regiment, while Mare’s swamp and Kyouhukou’s insects attacked the Imperium’s armored vehicles.
• Three Emperor’s Doomblades emerged from the portal and blasted apart Demiurge’s demon servants as Mare failed to drag them into the swamp.
• A Doomblade fired an Earthshaker round into the swamp, injuring Mare and Kyouhukou and killing Kyouhukou’s insects.
• Ainz summoned Gargantua, which hurled a massive boulder at a Doomblade, but the boulder shattered and the Doomblade’s shot blew off Gargantua’s arm.
• The Doomblade drove out from the rocks without visible damage, triggering Ainz’s Forced Calm.

Ainz sent summoned mages and Death Sages against the Imperium's forces, while Colonel Dofrank struggled to advance through the portal-limited battlefield. The Emperor's Doomblades crushed a Death Sage's strongest spell and the portal began glowing again.

• Ainz activated a gold- and crystal-consuming formation to extend his mages' range and ordered them to bombard the Imperium's forces.
• Colonel Dofrank's troops suffered casualties from sorcery and struggled to advance through rubble and marshland as the Doomblades fought Gargantua.
• A shadowy demon pierced Colonel Dofrank's chest with its poisoned tongue.
• Ainz sent four Death Sages to attack the Emperor's Doomblades and stop them from damaging Gargantua.
• A Death Sage's aging spell barely affected Colonel Leithris's Doomblade, which destroyed the Sage with its main cannon and tracks.
• Ainz saw the portal begin glowing again.

Ainz and Nazarick’s Guardians overwhelmed the Space Wolves and crossed the portal, only to be annihilated by an orbital lance strike. On the other side, the Emperor and Leman Russ confronted Beyenard about the battle and the portal.

• Ainz sent the Sages of Death into the Space Wolves’ ranks, and one froze much of the battlefield with Death Stasis before the Guardians attacked.
• The Guardians used World Items to destroy the Emperor Doomblade and devastate the Space Wolves, forcing the survivors to retreat toward the portal.
• Ainz ordered the Guardians to pursue the retreating forces, and Nazarick’s troops crossed the portal into an apparently undefended fortress.
• Beyenard ordered the escort ships to bombard the portal’s surroundings, and their lance strike shattered Sebas’s Heaven’s Barrier and killed the Guardians.
• The throne’s protective gem failed to save the Guardians, leaving Ainz shocked and unable to rise.
• Leman Russ questioned Beyenard for disobeying orders while the Emperor stood behind him, fascinated by the portal.

The Emperor used Magnus’s psychic artifacts to prepare the gateway while keeping its purpose from his sons. As the gateway expanded, the Emperor’s secret team moved ancient relics into a pit nearby, and Malcador arrived with Lion El’Jonson and the Dark Angels.

• The Emperor asked Leman Russ how long the gateway had existed, and Leman Russ said it had been about half a year.
• Magnus brought psychic artifacts to the Emperor, who crushed them and inserted the resulting gems into the gateway.
• Leman Russ and Magnus traded insults until the Emperor stopped them and ordered Magnus to keep quiet.
• The Emperor assigned the Adeptus Custodes and Adeptus Mechanicus to the gateway’s facilities and sent the Space Wolves and Thousand Sons to wait farther away.
• The Emperor’s secret team transported ancient Aeldari and human relics into a newly excavated pit near the gateway.
• Malcador arrived with Lion El’Jonson and his sons as the Dark Angels descended around his transport.

Malcador opened the divine artifact beside the Golden Throne, concealing the portal and the surrounding sector from the Warp gods as the Emperor sent Knights and Titans through. Ainz resurrected the dead Guardians and moved Nazarick into hiding, but the Imperium’s growing force at the portal culminated in the arrival of a Warlord Titan, leaving him terrified and unsure what to do.

• Malcador sat on the Golden Throne and opened the sealed box, whose light concealed the Throne, the planet, and the sector from the Warp gods.
• The Emperor ordered Knights and Titans through the portal and told them to establish positions rather than pursue enemies.
• Ainz resurrected the Guardians with gold coins, learned they had died in a burst of heat, and ordered Nazarick into a defensive posture.
• Ainz moved the Great Tomb of Nazarick beneath the mountains, left a fake tomb behind, and withdrew most of his forces from the Sorcerer Kingdom.
• Ainz watched Knight mechs and Warhound Titans emerge through the portal and destroy the undead around it.
• A Warlord Titan followed the other Imperial forces and fired a massive shell, leaving Ainz gripping his throne and wondering what to do next.

Ainz questioned a Space Wolf about the Imperium of Man’s Titan but learned nothing, and the prisoner’s defiance deepened his fear of the enemy. Convinced Nazarick could not survive or find a place under the Imperium, Ainz gathered with its inhabitants and told them they could leave.

• Ainz showed a captured Space Wolf images of the Titan and demanded to know its weakness, but the prisoner refused to answer and mocked him.
• Ainz left the interrogation to Nirost, who resumed torturing the Space Wolf.
• Ainz recalled the Imperium’s vast armies and destructive Titans, and considered whether Nazarick could surrender before dismissing the idea.
• Ainz reached the throne hall and found the Guardians, battle maids, and other servants gathered there.
• Ainz told everyone they could leave because Nazarick was no longer fit to be called home.

Ainz abandoned hope of resisting the Imperium of Man until Albedo and the other Guardians convinced him to lead them into one final battle. Meanwhile, The Emperor ordered Perturabo to defend the star system around the gate and prepared to prevent the Warp from interfering with the world beyond it.

• Ainz told the Guardians to leave and admitted he was a coward, but Albedo reminded him of the Great Tomb and showed him the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown.
• Albedo and the Guardians declared they wanted to face the Great Tomb's final moments beside Ainz, and asked him to lead them into battle.
• Ainz accepted that he had been irresponsible and resolved to fight to create a path to survival for the Guardians.
• The Emperor ordered Perturabo and the Iron Warriors Legion to establish an impenetrable defense around the star system.
• The Emperor praised Perturabo for taking the final watch, then told Malcador that he would prevent the Warp from reaching through the gate as auxiliary troops, Space Marines, and Leman Russ entered the other world.