Chapter Summaries

Hawk and Edgar received John’s encoded orders and prepared separate ambushes designed to destroy enemy forces while avoiding a direct battle. The chapter ended with both commanders mobilizing their troops to carry out the plans.

• Hawk ordered soldiers to build pollen-coated pontoon bridges, prepare the riverbed with Burst Ore and Ironmelting Stone, and move the Mage Cannon Vehicles.
• Hawk explained that John’s hidden orders used the bridges to lure enemy engineers into mining them, then use Enchanting Pollen to detonate the mines and explosives in the river to disable enemy artillery during the retreat.
• Siegfried deciphered John’s true message and vowed to destroy the arriving enemy forces without losing a soldier.
• Edgar received orders to create Magnetic Energy Pollen fog that could cause enemy cannon barrels to explode, and to use Arrowshadow Frog toxins and cooking smoke to lure troops into an ambush.
• Edgar ordered the 5th Regiment to fell trees in the Magnetic Energy Woods while he led the remaining forces south to capture Arrowshadow Frogs and extract their toxins.

Zalga led the Orc Composite Army into the gray fog and ordered a bombardment, triggering a catastrophic explosion when the Magnetic Energy Tree pollen made their cannon shells jam. At Allied Forces headquarters, Garl prepared countermeasures against an expected Imperial assault while investigating enemy smoke to the north, leaving him intent on striking Roderick Dalton.

• Dimis warned Zalga that the gray fog and the Imperial commander’s tactics might conceal a trap, but Zalga dismissed his concerns and ordered the Orc Composite Army to advance.
• After scouts reported an enemy camp of at least ten thousand soldiers, Zalga ordered the artillery to fire, and pollen in the fog caused the cannon barrels to rupture and explode among their crews.
• Garl learned that the Empire planned to build pontoon bridges across the Moonfall River and ordered engineers and heavy artillery to plant naval mines beneath them.
• Garl’s scouts reported enemy troops and patrols near white smoke behind their position, while the communications chief revealed that Roxy Sankaster, Will, and Orian had left on a special reconnaissance mission.
• Garl ordered the Reconnaissance Unit, the City-Burner Corps, and a heavy composite battalion led by Edmund to investigate the smoke, then marked Stargazing City on his map and threatened Roderick Dalton.

At the Moonfall River, Yimir reassured Bayi that the Kingdom’s fleet was preparing to encircle the Imperial Navy and persuaded him to remain loyal to Roxy and the Fifth Legion. Their discussion was cut short when John Maslow’s forces ambushed the Allied artillery and detonated mines on the pontoon bridge, leaving Yimir to realize their army was trapped.

• Bayi voiced doubts about the Fifth Legion’s chances under acting commander Garl, and Yimir explained the political reasons behind Garl’s appointment and the Blazing Sun Fleet’s planned approach.
• Yimir told Bayi that General Orco had defended Roxy at the council, then urged Bayi to commit himself to Roxy and the Fifth Legion.
• Bayi pledged his loyalty, and Yimir accepted him as an ally.
• Enemy beam attacks struck the Allied artillery vehicles, carving burning gouges into the riverbank and killing troops near the front.
• Yimir tried to order a retreat, but blue lights spread from the pontoon bridge as the mines abandoned by panicked engineers were drawn beneath its planks and detonated over the Moonfall River.

After ambushes devastated the Fifth Legion, Garl blamed a supposed mole in communications and ordered Colonel Shalu to plant false intelligence. In the north, Zalga learned that the Fifth Legion had also been hit and ordered his army to abandon the pursuit and march south to attack Stargazing City.

• Garl rejected reports of the Fifth Legion’s heavy losses and concluded that a spy in communications had leaked his orders to John Maslow.
• Garl forced Shalu Shabac to spread false intelligence about reinforcements and ordered him to tell Zalga to rendezvous with the Fifth Legion.
• Garl ordered the Allied Forces to gather in the south and advance on the enemy headquarters in force.
• Zalga discovered that Edgar’s apparent camp was an illusion made with Image Ferns, after his artillery and infantry suffered heavy losses.
• A Goblin soldier reported that the Fifth Legion had been ambushed at Sleeping Mountain and Moonfall River, and Zalga ordered his army south to join the Fifth Legion and attack Stargazing City.

Roxy recognized John Maslow’s tactics and redirected the Silent Thorn force toward his suspected command post in the southeast. While John waited in hiding in the Azure Origin Ancient Grove, he learned that Roxy’s troops had entered his first ambush zone.

• After learning of three successful ambushes, Roxy resolved to defeat and capture John, then ordered the Silent Thorn force to abandon its route to Stargazing City.
• Roxy reasoned that John would keep the decisive battle in the rainforest and identified the Azure Origin Ancient Grove in the southeast as his likely command post.
• John received news that Edgar had won two battles and Siegfried’s 1,500 guards had destroyed a larger enemy force without casualties.
• John hid in a hollow ancient tree with Wendy Pig and prepared a secret escape route through its roots into an underground current.
• Wendy received a front-line report that Roxy’s force had entered the first ambush zone and was about to clash with Colonel Roderick’s concealed troops.

Zalga blamed Dimis for the Allied Forces’ delay as Goblin troops cleared the overgrown Tearvines, but Dimis discovered the vines were releasing female Giant Land Snapping Turtle pheromones that were drawing a horde of males toward the army. As Dimis urged an immediate retreat, a blazing meteor shot toward the Allied Forces.

• Zalga reprimanded Dimis for failing to detect the Tearvines and shifted responsibility for the delay onto him, while privately hoping to use the Goblin troops as cannon fodder.
• The generals heard synchronized mating calls and felt the ground tremble as a large number of male Upper Tier Giant Land Snapping Turtles approached.
• Dimis found sticky fluid on a cut Tearvine and recognized it as female Land Snapping Turtle pheromones, spread through the vines by the enemy.
• Dimis warned the Allied Forces to retreat immediately, and Zalga began ordering the army to withdraw.
• A figure covered in red magma sent a blazing meteor toward the Allied Forces before Zalga could finish his order.

After the Allied Forces fell into a series of traps laid by the Empire, Garl struck down Zalga and took command of the army. He ordered the troops to camp and recover before launching an assault against John Maslow.

• Roderick's Supernova Explosion and the Tearvine's pheromones triggered a stampede of male Land Snapping Turtles, and Zalga ordered the wounded to stay behind as the rear guard.
• Dimis Darkmoon pretended to accept the rear-guard order while deciding to abandon the battlefield with his clan and reconsider its future.
• Zalga led the Allied Forces to the lower reaches of Moonfall River, where the soldiers washed off the pheromones and escaped the turtles, but Kambert's poison in the water caused mass illness.
• Garl blamed Zalga for the army's losses, punched him unconscious, and declared that he would take command of the combined army.
• Garl used his Transcendent Mage aura to force the generals to submit, then ordered the troops to set up camp and rest while the Medical Department treated the poisoned soldiers.

Hawk explained John’s five-stage plan to annihilate the Allied Forces, convincing the assembled officers that John’s absence was part of a strategy to lure away the enemy commander. Edgar, who had considered withdrawing, listened in stunned silence as Hawk declared victory already secured.

• Edgar asked where John was, and Hawk revealed that John was fighting on another battlefield and would likely not join the main force.
• Hawk argued that John had to act as bait to draw the Allied commander away, then insisted that John had prepared detailed plans for the battle.
• Edgar angrily questioned whether John’s plans could account for unpredictable battlefield changes, while Hawk cited John’s previous victories to defend his judgment.
• Hawk outlined five linked schemes: a cliff collapse used as bait, a fuel-fed rainforest fire, an acid-ant swarm, a Phantomlight Parrot decoy headquarters, and a biogas explosion in Bone Forest Swamp.
• Hawk declared that John’s strategies had checkmated the enemy and that the Empire would win, leaving Edgar and the other officers stunned.

Elliott, an Empire agent embedded in the Allied Forces, risked contacting John with intelligence about enemy reinforcements, but John recognized it as bait and warned him that he was exposed. Surrounded by Garl Loken’s troops, Elliott killed himself rather than be captured, while Garl threatened John over the communication link.

• Elliott slipped away from camp and used a hidden device to report that Heim-powered warships carrying the Klein Military District Second Army would reach the Fauken Front within five days.
• John realized the report was false bait and warned Elliott that he had been exposed and must flee immediately.
• Elliott ran through the forest but found himself surrounded by Allied soldiers led by Garl Loken.
• Rather than be captured and risk betraying the Empire under interrogation, Elliott saluted John and shot himself.
• Garl taunted John over the device, threatened him, and laughed, while John calmly ended the exchange.

Roxy confronted Colonel Will about the Imperial spy Elliott Vane, then secretly deployed Anti-Air Magic Devices around the Azure Origin Ancient Grove as she prepared to face John Maslow. Will concealed his alarm at her precautions while Roxy kept watching him and warned that a great fire was about to ignite.

• Roxy told Will that Elliott Vane had been exposed as an Imperial agent and pointed out his past service under Will, then threatened him with execution to test his reaction.
• Will denied being a spy and invoked the Hoffman Family's loyalty, and Roxy lowered her pistol while claiming she had only been joking.
• Roxy considered how John Maslow might be manipulating events and resolved to capture him, even if she had to sacrifice the Fifth Legion.
• Roxy ordered Orian to teleport the Silent Thorn force to the Azure Origin Ancient Tree and coordinate the deployment of Anti-Air Magic Devices across the grove.
• Will realized Roxy had hidden the Anti-Air deployment from him, and she assigned him to protect her while continuing to observe his behavior.
• Roxy warned Will that a great fire was about to ignite, and he replied that he was prepared to fight amid the flames.

Garl ordered the Allied Forces toward Stargazing City, while Barnabos prepared the Demolition Company at Quartz Cliff and resolved to grow stronger in support of John. At Quartz Valley, Garl recognized the danger and diverted the army, just as a shot rang out from the cliff.

• Garl ordered the Allied Forces to continue south toward Stargazing City after learning most soldiers had recovered.
• Barnabos waited with the Demolition Company at Quartz Cliff, worried about John’s fight and resolved to become a stronger, more capable support for his commander.
• Bababo Yi reported that the enemy had reached Ambush Point No. 1, and Barnabos ordered his troops to prepare their Magic Rifles and attack if the enemy tried to retreat.
• Garl halted the Allied Forces at Quartz Valley, studied the map, and ordered the army to abandon the direct route and head south through the forest.
• Garl warned that artillery could collapse Quartz Valley and trap the army, but a magical ripple and a flash of fire were followed by a gunshot from the cliff.

Garl led the Allied Forces into the southern forest after the Empire’s mage soldiers attacked, then sent Colonel Watt’s regiment through Quartz Valley to secretly approach Stargazing City. John anticipated the move and ordered Barnabos to hold the valley, while assuring his loyal allies that he would survive the coming battle.

• Barnabos’s aerial sniping killed dozens of Beastfolk officers and destroyed roughly a dozen Mage Cannon Vehicles before he withdrew.
• Garl led the Allied Forces into the southern forest and ordered Colonel Watt to take the Mage Technology Third Regiment through Quartz Valley toward Stargazing City under Camouflage Formula.
• Garl told Watt to set up Anti-Air Devices and Anti-Magic Devices near the enemy headquarters, promising to recommend him for promotion if the plan succeeded.
• After learning from Barnabos that Garl had taken command, John predicted a secret Allied advance through Quartz Valley and ordered Barnabos to remain there and watch for camouflage.
• John reassured Barnabos that he would not die on the battlefield, and Barnabos pledged to await his return and protect him.

Garl led the Allied Forces through the Cocobia Rainforest, believing he had detected John Maslow’s poison ambush and avoided it. A fuel-and-fire attack and a poisonous fog barrier trapped the army, leaving Garl to race toward a nearby underground valley as a possible escape.

• Garl ordered the Allied Forces to spread out and avoid twenty-one sites containing magical beast corpses, convinced he had thwarted John Maslow’s poison plan.
• Birds fleeing overhead alerted Garl to incoming projectiles, which scattered fuel across the jungle without exploding.
• A massive fire magic formation ignited the fuel, turning the rainforest into a spreading wall of flames and burning many soldiers.
• Garl learned that poisonous fog was advancing through the cleared rear corridor, trapping the army between the fire and the deadly fog.
• Garl spotted an underground valley less than five kilometers away and ordered the troops to regroup and follow him southeast.

Garl led the Allied Forces into a valley he suspected was an Imperial Army trap, trusting the twelve Black Knight tanks to counter Beam Mage Cannon Vehicles. When a tank sank into a pothole, he discovered Red Giant Ant corpses hidden in the rock walls and realized the valley was infested with acid ants, just as a magical sonic attack began striking the troops.

• Garl ordered the Black Knight tanks to lead the Allied Forces into the valley with their Prism Spell Arrays ready to counter enemy cannon fire.
• The Allied Forces advanced for an hour without finding hidden troops or an ambush, while potholes multiplied along the valley walls.
• Black Knight tank number six became stuck after crushing ground above a pothole, and Garl examined a nearby hole.
• Garl found a recently placed magical beast corpse with bite marks and identified the holes as Red Giant Ant food-storage pits.
• Sharp cries amplified through the pits disoriented Allied soldiers and caused a soldier's firearm to overheat and explode.

Garl’s forces suffered catastrophic losses after Roderick’s deception triggered a Red Giant Ant swarm and the Empire’s ambushes. Believing new intelligence offered a chance to destroy John Maslow’s remaining forces, Garl ordered his battered army to march on an apparent enemy headquarters.

• Garl used the Melting-Cut Ray to counter Roderick’s Supernova Explosion, but the attack struck and killed the Red Giant Ant queen, unleashing the swarm beneath the Allied Forces.
• The Red Giant Ants ravaged Garl’s troops, while Mage Soldiers blocked the valley exit; Garl bored through a mountain passage and lost more soldiers to Roderick’s and Samuel’s attacks.
• Roderick and Samuel withdrew before Garl could attack their temporary camp, leaving Garl with just over thirteen thousand troops out of his original seventy thousand.
• Garl learned the Mage Technology Third Regiment had gone silent near D14 Region, then received a report that scouts had spotted an apparent enemy camp in a swamp ten kilometers away.
• Garl concluded the enemy was retreating after destroying Watt’s regiment and ordered his exhausted army to march immediately and attack the apparent headquarters.

Garl ordered the Allied Forces to ignore a swarm of Carrion Demon Crocodiles and race through Bone Forest Swamp, convinced John Maslow had sent them as a harmless delay. The crocodiles carried hidden Magecraft Grenades, and the chapter ended as their collisions triggered a chain of explosions through the advancing army.

• Garl ordered ice- and earth-element mages to harden and freeze the ground ahead, neutralizing possible pit traps.
• A scout reported that at least a thousand Carrion Demon Crocodiles were approaching the Allied Forces, and Garl concluded John Maslow was using them to delay his advance.
• Garl ordered the army to drive through the beasts at full speed, believing their weak bodies posed no threat.
• A scout recognized blue light in a crocodile’s abdomen as the glow of Magecraft Grenades, but the vehicle carrying him crushed the beast before he could warn the driver.
• The crocodile’s exposed grenades detonated, setting off a chain of explosions across the Allied Forces’ advancing column.

Garl used the Melting-Cut Ray to clear a path through the swamp, then ordered a prolonged artillery barrage that he believed had killed John Maslow and secured victory. John’s trap sprang when Imperial shells fell from the sky and ignited the swamp gas, annihilating the Allied Forces in Bone Forest Swamp.

• Garl sacrificed his final two Magic Furnaces to destroy the magic crocodile horde and open two routes for the Allied Forces’ advance.
• Garl spotted John Maslow at the Imperial camp and ordered the heavy cannons to bombard it for twenty minutes.
• Garl found the camp reduced to a crater, assumed John had been killed, and prepared to move on toward Stargazing City.
• Swamp gas rose from the crater, and Garl recognized the danger but dismissed the possibility that John had planned another attack.
• Imperial Gamma-Class Heavy Cannon shells fell from the sky and ignited the gas, creating a vast explosion that annihilated the Allied Forces in Bone Forest Swamp.

Roxy abandoned her fire attack after realizing John had strengthened his firebreaks, and led the Allied Forces into the Azure Origin Ancient Grove. John prepared his first ambush as the enemy advanced, hoping the Fifth Legion would be defeated before Roxy could threaten the 14th Squad’s escape.

• Roxy ordered the Independent 1st Battalion to bombard four sectors with dissolving shells, but John recognized the attack and trusted Marda’s reinforced flame-retardant gel to resist them.
• Roxy concluded John had improved the gel, suspended the fire attack, and ordered Colonel Lyria to advance toward G36.
• Will remained under Roxy’s surveillance and realized he had no way to warn John about his role in the battle.
• John watched Roxy’s forces enter the grove and regretted that he had to fight before the Fifth Legion’s defeat was confirmed.
• John ordered the Mage Soldiers at Ambush Zone One to release hallucinogenic spores along the enemy’s route, then withdraw to Ambush Zone Two.

Roxy led the Allied Forces through John Maslow’s ambushes, using gas masks and the Soulheart Art to counter his traps. She ordered the troops to charge and capture John alive, while his plan to delay her remained critical to the battle’s outcome.

• Roxy ordered the Allied Forces to equip gas masks before advancing into the moss-covered battlefield.
• The troops passed through John’s hallucinogenic-spore ambush without being slowed, and John prepared layered traps at the next ambush point.
• Acid bombs buried beneath the ground killed more than a dozen Silent Thorn soldiers, and Roxy concluded that John was trying to buy time for the main battlefield.
• Roxy ordered Will’s engineering unit to scan for mines, but magnetite buried by John disrupted the ground-penetrating radar.
• Roxy activated the Soulheart Art, connected to every soldier with blue threads, and boosted their magic power.
• Roxy ordered the Allied Forces to charge with her and capture John alive.

John anticipated Roxy’s decapitation plan and used concealed snipers and decoys to delay her advance, but Roxy countered by ordering a three-pronged fire attack. As the Allied Forces advanced across the burned forest, explosions made the flames spread into a rapidly closing ring around them.

• John ordered his second battle line to snipe the advancing Allied Forces, activate Firefly Decoys, and withdraw to the coast.
• The Allied Forces’ enhanced advance was ambushed by gunfire and spells, but Lyria’s Silent Domain and Orian’s magic intercepted the attack while the ambushers escaped.
• Roxy used Thermal Sensing to detect apparent enemies in the forest, recognized John’s heat-decoy strategy, and ordered her forces to burn three designated areas.
• Roxy sent the Independent 1st Battalion and Silent Thorn unit to lay fuel and ignite three fire lines while Orian and Lyria guarded against further attacks.
• As the Allied Forces advanced over the blackened ground, explosions caused the controlled flames to spread outward and encircle them in a massive ring of fire.