Chapter Summaries

The Skyrim Strategy Team retreated from Irithyll after battling the Crocodile Sunlight King, then celebrated their victory over Overlord Wolnir at Firelink Shrine. Elsa returned to the Light Eagle Legion with the strategy for defeating Wolnir, where Iliphis appeared to wonder whether she was pitying him.

• The exhausted Skyrim Strategy Team fled the Crocodile Sunlight King, returned to Firelink Shrine, and decided their defeat of Overlord Wolnir made the day's expedition worthwhile.
• Lu Lu Wo invited Elsa to a feast, but Elsa declined and teleported to the Catacombs of Carthus to tell Iliphis how to defeat Wolnir.
• Lu Lu Wo revealed that she had been in Bede City before Count Philip died, then led her team toward the royal city for a celebration.
• Elsa returned to the Light Eagle Legion and shared the Skyrim Strategy Team's findings, including the need to attack Wolnir's bracelets.
• As the captains praised Elsa's contribution, she saw Iliphis silently ask whether she was pitying him.

Elsa reported the rewards from defeating Wolnir, while Iliphis concealed his alarm over the first-clear reward and weighed pursuing his dream of founding a kingdom against gaining power through Princess Serena. At a royal banquet, Serena turned noblewomen into reluctant Zane fans and drew Ka Rong’s Bede Family into the resulting boom; the chapter ended with Leon announcing that the Strategy Teams had discovered how to enter Irithyll of the Boreal Valley.

• Elsa told Iliphis and the captains what they had obtained after defeating Wolnir, and Iliphis ordered them to investigate who had received the first-clear reward.
• Iliphis reflected that the dungeon might lead him to his own kingdom, though marrying Princess Serena could also give him the power he wanted.
• At Minister Aoluo’s banquet, Serena revealed her love for the Zane Dungeon and pressured noblewomen into professing their fandom and wearing a Platinum Child hood.
• Ka Rong showed Serena a Four Knights of Gwyn Medal from his family’s workshop, and word of her interest in Zane spread through the royal city, clearing the Bede Family’s backlogged merchandise.
• The surge of visitors crowded the Light Eagle Legion’s base and filled the dungeon’s entrance queues as challengers pursued Wolnir’s Crown.
• Leon announced that the Strategy Teams had discovered how to enter Irithyll of the Boreal Valley.

Lu Lu Wo gave up invading after a series of humiliating defeats, while Leon and his companions tested the Wolnir Holy Sword against the Farron Undead Legion and discovered a new path in Farron Keep. They followed it toward the Road of Sacrifices, where the chapter left them poised to explore a possible anomaly.

• Lu Lu Wo and Bei Er Tuo found the message saying travelers needed a Small Doll to enter Irithyll, though they still did not know where to obtain one.
• Lu Lu Wo realized Leon's Broken Pot strategy for defeating Overlord Wolnir was easier for most adventurers to use than her Rust Monster method, and his guide had outsold the Skyrim Strategy Team's.
• Lu Lu Wo lost three invasions in a row—to Leon and his companions, the Mysterious Hooded Man, and Sword Saint Gapar—and decided she would never invade again.
• Leon and Malu's group tested the Wolnir Holy Sword against the Farron Undead Legion, but the weapon only enraged them, and the party was quickly defeated.
• On the way back through Farron Keep, Leon noticed a new path where Delu's map showed a crazed werewolf had been tied up, and the group climbed it until they reached the Road of Sacrifices.

Gong Qiying connected the Road of Sacrifices to Farron Keep and the Cathedral of the Deep while postponing the Undead Settlement. On the road, Leon and his companions witnessed the transport of human flesh, fought off Crow People, and discovered clues linking the Cathedral to a hungry saint.

• Gong Qiying planned the Road of Sacrifices as a beginner route from Farron Keep to the Cathedral of the Deep and reserved the Undead Settlement for a future update.
• Leon and his companions followed Cage Man as he carried human flesh, secretly helping him fight off groups of flesh-hungry Living Dead and Crow People.
• A Crow Person stole Cage Man's cage, and its scream summoned a large crowd of Crow People that forced Leon's group to fight their way out.
• Leon and his companions found Cage Man dead and recovered a letter saying the Cathedral needed more human flesh because the saint's appetite was growing.
• Man-Eating Girl attacked the group, but Leon killed her quickly with Swift Slash; they found a pile of bones and Malu acquired the Mercenary Twinblades.

Leon and the Strategy Team explored the Road of Sacrifices, a newcomer-friendly area that offered useful weapons and resources before leading toward Farron Keep. The chapter left them facing two powerful Farron Guard Exiles, as Malu fled the Cleric Exile’s dual Smelter Hammers.

• Malu used her Mercenary Twinblades to tear through Crow People and stick-wielding Living Dead, while Leon learned how forcefully the Living Dead could charge.
• The team crossed Impaled Corpse Forest, fought werewolves and crabs, and avoided what they mistook for living Mushroom Men.
• Leon and Delu recognized that the Road of Sacrifices was designed to help newcomers level up before pushing them toward Zane’s more difficult regions.
• The team found the Notebook of Orbeck of Vinheim, avoided a Black Knight, and reached an Exile and a Cleric Exile guarding a ruined building.
• Malu’s twinblades barely scratched the Cleric Exile’s armor, and she ran when his Smelter Hammer devastated the ground beside her.
• The Cleric Exile drew a second Smelter Hammer and pursued Malu while Leon, Te Er, and the others faced the Exiles.

Leon and his companions fought their way through the Road of Sacrifices, losing Malu and a Cleric Exile in a deadly fall before defeating the Crystallized Old Man. After meeting the Gold-ranked adventurer Fingel and reading a letter from his stepmother, Leon learned that his father and sister had run away from home.

• Delu, Te Er, Malu, and Leon fought the two Exiles; Malu and the Cleric Exile fell into a concealed pit, and Leon found Malu's bloodied Mercenary Twinblades below.
• Delu used Eagle Eye Technique to identify a dangerous new area beyond the guarded building, and the team continued deeper into the dungeon.
• Leon and his companions defeated the Crystallized Old Man, collected his soul, and left when the dungeon began closing.
• Fingel introduced himself as a Gold-ranked adventurer, delivered a letter from Leon's stepmother, and revealed that his Hasawi Squad had become the third team to defeat Overlord Wolnir.
• Leon read the letter and learned that his father and sister had run away from home.

Leon refused to return home despite his stepmother’s plea, and Malu helped produce the Strategy Team’s guide to the Road of Sacrifices. As the new area drew adventurers back to Zane, the Hasawi Squad explored the dungeon and set their sights on the Cathedral of the Deep.

• Leon learned that his father, Te Pi, and sister, Mei Gen, had separately left home, while his stepmother struggled to manage the family business and asked him to return; Leon refused.
• Leon discovered that Malu could read through magic but could not write, so he made her learn to write by preparing the Road of Sacrifices guide.
• Adventurers tested the guide, uncovered discrepancies in its weapon and enemy information, and began returning to Zane as the Road of Sacrifices attracted growing crowds.
• Gong Qiying expanded Eagle Capital Dungeon’s Portals to three, while the popularity of Sain Style brought more adventurers to Zane.
• The Hasawi Squad, led by Fingel, explored Zane after hearing about its reputation, then entered the Cathedral of the Deep and decided to investigate it themselves.

Fingel, Matilda, and Aleya guided the Guzha Squad through an ambush on the way to the Cathedral of the Deep, then reached the Cleansing Chapel and found a path toward the graveyard. The chapter leaves the Guzha Squad preparing to fight a vast crowd of pale Living Dead under Fingel’s instruction.

• Fingel let the newly promoted Silver-Rank Guzha Squad lead through the forest so he could assess their teamwork.
• Hollow soldiers ambushed the Guzha Squad with flaming arrows, oil-filled hunting dogs, and gunpowder barrels, but Fingel and Matilda protected them while Aleya revived a fainted mage.
• Fingel defeated the remaining Hollow soldiers, then apologized for nearly hitting the Guzha Squad and explained their tactical mistakes as they continued onward.
• The group reached the Cathedral of the Deep, discovered the Cleansing Chapel bonfire and its route back to Firelink Shrine, and found both inner doors blocked.
• Aleya found an upward path to a graveyard, where Fingel told the Guzha Squad to practice against the seemingly weak, pale Living Dead.

Fingel and his companions encountered Living Dead in the graveyard, discovering that the seemingly weak monsters attacked with poisonous mist and flesh-eating maggots. Fingel reached the Guzha Squad and found Bearded Tus trapped in a horrifying embrace with a maggot creature while the squad fought Grave Keepers.

• Bearded Tus and the Guzha Squad fought waves of weak Living Dead, which kept crawling out from beneath the tombstones.
• The squad's mage used Magic Descent to clear the gathered Living Dead, and the adventurers pushed deeper into the graveyard.
• Matilda discovered maggots inside a Living Dead, which spewed poisonous mist and worms onto her and drove her to smash the surrounding tombstones.
• Fingel was caught in the Living Dead's maggot attack, and Aleya used plants and straws to clear the worms before he discovered his body was covered in bleeding holes.
• Fingel hurried to warn the Guzha Squad, but found them fighting three Grave Keepers while Bearded Tus was held by a writhing maggot figure formed from a Living Dead.

After Tus suffered repeated panic attacks from the graveyard’s maggot-like creatures, the Hasawi Squad led the Guzha Squad through the area and up to the Cathedral of the Deep’s roof. They encountered the Cursed there, while Tus heard several heavy crossbows being drawn.

• Tus woke in the Cleansing Chapel, panicked at Aleya’s rice porridge, and repeatedly fainted after mistaking ordinary objects for maggots.
• Fingel used short-term memory-erasure magic on Tus and the Guzha Squad, then the Hasawi Squad led the group onward with hallucinogenic mushrooms as a fallback.
• The group fought Living Dead and Grave Keepers, navigated the confusing graveyard, and collected equipment and other loot along the way.
• The squads climbed a wooden plank to reach the Cathedral of the Deep’s roof, where the Cursed landed before them.
• As Tus urged everyone to prepare for the Elite Monster, he heard the sound of several heavy crossbows being drawn nearby.

The Guzha Squad fought The Cursed while Fingel tried to trap him with Gravity Slash and Flash Spell, but The Cursed’s lack of eyes foiled the plan. After Tus was killed by an invisible flying archer and revived at the Cleansing Chapel, he heard someone calling from the well.

• The Cursed charged Matilda, who stood her ground and fought him while Fingel told Tus to search the high platform for invisible enemies.
• Fingel used Gravity Slash and Flash Spell against The Cursed, but the armored foe was unaffected by the blinding spell, cut Fingel in half, and left him to be stitched back together by Aleya.
• The Cursed knocked Matilda back, grabbed the giant eagle, and rose into the air as burning arrows revealed invisible flying archers around the battlefield.
• An unseen archer shot Tus, who revived at the Cleansing Chapel and prepared to return to the fight.
• Tus heard a voice calling from the well at the chapel entrance.

Tus found Jack Baldo trapped in a well and received an Undead Hunter Charm in exchange for an Element Bottle. Meanwhile, Fingel led the group across the Cathedral of the Deep rooftops, where increasingly powerful weapons joined the fight, and the chapter ended as a Gatling gun opened fire beside the Cursed.

• Tus spoke with Jack Baldo in the well, gave him an Element Bottle, and received an Undead Hunter Charm.
• Tus and his companions reunited with Fingel, who explained that the Cursed had escaped and was waiting for them in the sky.
• Fingel's group fought the Cursed while hollow soldiers upgraded from heavy crossbows to scatter crossbows, repeating crossbows, and firearms.
• Fingel realized the Cursed was guiding them through the cathedral rooftops and stopped Matilda from defeating him so they could follow his route.
• Tus was shot by a hollow soldier wielding a pistol, but the weak bullets only caused shallow wounds before the soldier exploded and knocked him off the platform.
• An Old Yharnam Hunter appeared on a high platform with a Gatling gun, and Fingel feared that Left Bow's Avatar would appear next.

Fingel and his teammates discovered how to counter the Cathedral of the Deep’s firearms, defeated The Cursed Soul and the Old Yharnam Hunter, and earned rewards from Gong Qiying. They continued into the cathedral, only to find themselves back at the Cleansing Chapel bonfire.

• Matilda shielded the party from the Gatling’s bullets while Fingel attacked The Cursed Soul and discovered that the monster’s armor was vulnerable to magic.
• Aleya grew ironwood barriers, and Fingel tested them to learn that the strange weapons dealt less damage to ordinary objects without magical power.
• Fingel coordinated an ambush that brought down The Cursed Soul and the giant eagle, then used the monster’s greatshield to make the Gatling’s bullets strike the armored puppet.
• Gong Qiying rewarded the adventurers with extra souls, Experience Candy, a Fire Gem, and a Lake Rune after they defeated The Cursed Soul and the Old Yharnam Hunter.
• Fingel led the party down into the cathedral, where they opened a mechanism-operated door and discovered that it returned them to the Cleansing Chapel bonfire.

Fingel and the squads explored the Cathedral of the Deep, fighting their way through ambushes and discovering a vast interior filled with obstacles and tempting loot. As they debated whether to fly across to a distant platform, a giant rose behind them.

• The squads rested at the Cleansing Chapel after opening a shortcut, then followed a winding corridor into the Cathedral of the Deep.
• Matilda and the others defeated ambushing slaves and Church Knights, then found three Treasure Chest Monsters at a dead end.
• The group fought Deep Bishops whose fire and soul magic proved dangerous, though their slow movement made them manageable.
• The adventurers reached a second-floor platform overlooking the cathedral and spotted sluice gates, a revolting green floor, and a giant near a distant platform.
• Fingel began asking the group to vote on whether to explore normally or fly across, but a giant suddenly stood up behind him.

The Hasawi Squad and Guzha Squad fought through the Cathedral of the Deep, where a giant slave separated them and Patches tricked Tus’s group into a deadly trap. As Fingel’s squad prepared to rescue them by flying to a raised platform, the giants on both sides of the cathedral began moving.

• The giant slave attacked the adventurers, and Fingel’s squad fled through the cathedral while the giant pursued them and hurled monsters at them.
• Fingel, Matilda, and Aleya drew the giant’s attention so Tus and the Guzha Squad could escape toward the sluice gate; the giant knocked Fingel into the swamp as Tus’s group ran ahead.
• The Guzha Squad found a white-armored Onion Knight who helped them defeat two Church Knights, then traded directions to a treasury for their souls.
• The Onion Knight revealed himself as Patches and lowered the sluice gate, trapping Tus and the Guzha Squad among approaching monsters as the giant stirred.
• Fingel’s squad returned after knocking out the giant and treating its poison, then prepared to use the Flight Spell to rescue Tus’s group, but the giants on both sides of the cathedral moved.

Fingel tried to fly over the second sluice gate, but the dungeon’s anti-air defenses knocked him down. Matilda carried him across, only for the giant slaves and hidden Ancient Nord Draugr to trap them in a barrage of roars that turned them into a bizarre game of badminton.

• Fingel rescued the Guzha Squad with Matilda and Aleya, then explained that he planned to fly over the second sluice gate.
• Fingel approached the gate but was struck by Troll Roar from a giant slave and fell into the mud after a second giant attacked from behind.
• Matilda carried Fingel toward the gate on armor-made wings, but Ancient Nord Draugr hidden inside the giants used Unrelenting Force to blast them backward.
• The two giant slaves alternated Dragon Roar and Troll Roar, batting Matilda and Fingel back and forth as Tus and the mage recorded the spectacle.
• Footage of the First Zane Dungeon Giant Badminton Tournament spread, and badminton acquired the name Fingel ball.

After recovering from the Giants’ attack, Fingel led the adventurers to the Cathedral of the Deep’s high platform and down a path where an oppressive presence revealed the boss area. The Deepwater Bishop Congregation emerged around a gigantic coffin flowing with black sludge.

• Fingel woke in the Cathedral of the Deep and learned that Aleya’s ambush had saved him and Matilda from the Giants.
• Matilda led the group past the sluice gates, and the adventurers cleared the remaining monsters before reaching the high platform.
• The group found a Bewitching Branch, used it to charm a Church Knight, and surveyed the cathedral from above.
• Fingel and the others discovered a descending path behind the platform, where eerie statues, black mist, and ominous music built their dread.
• More than a hundred Deep Bishops surrounded the adventurers beside a gigantic coffin as the Deepwater Bishop Congregation appeared.

Fingel and the adventurers fought the Deepwater Bishop Congregation, whose bishops revived and unleashed increasingly powerful combined magic. After discovering that killing the bishop marked by red light stopped the revivals, they triggered the Archbishop’s appearance, and the surviving bishops began charging an instant-death attack.

• Aleya shielded the adventurers from the bishops’ fireballs with frost-covered trees as Fingel directed the battle.
• The Guzha Squad was overwhelmed by a sudden mass of bishops, and Fingel’s unstable spell wiped them out with King Rank Prairie Fire, nearly exhausting him.
• The bishops revived around Aldrich’s coffin and coordinated their magic, including dark purple spells that inflicted Terror.
• Fingel and Matilda struck the coffin, but the attacks only shed carrion that formed hostile creatures, while the bishops continued fighting.
• Fingel noticed that killing the bishop marked by red light stopped new bishops from appearing, and the adventurers hunted the marked targets.
• After the bishops were reduced by half, the white-robed Archbishop appeared, and the remaining bishops began charging a battlefield-clearing instant-death attack.

Fingel, Matilda, and Aleya unleashed Hell March to help the adventurers break the Deep Bishops’ barrier, but they failed to stop the Congregation’s lethal attack in time. In another party’s run, Leon defeated the Deep Bishop and discovered that the Small Doll let them enter Irithyll.

• The Deepwater Bishop Congregation raised a barrier and summoned carrion monsters to punish adventurers who had skipped parts of the dungeon.
• Matilda activated Hell March, summoning the dead who had hurt nearby adventurers; Tus saw his deceased grandmother, while Fingel saw the villagers he had once killed after they were transformed into monsters.
• Aleya restored Matilda’s stamina with a Vitality Vine as Fingel and the phantoms attacked the barrier, but the Congregation’s dark clouds began causing the adventurers to bleed.
• Fingel and the others broke the barrier and struck the archbishop, but its death attack fell before they could stop it, and Fingel sighed as the battlefield went dark.
• Leon’s Strategy Team defeated the Deep Bishop after following the proper route, and Leon realized that the Small Doll meant they could enter Irithyll.

King Anzi III's blood infected a maid after he scratched her, while Leon's team secured the Small Doll and qualified to enter Irithyll. Gong Qiying prepared Irithyll's dungeon and planned to let adventurers see Anor Londo's former glory before its corruption.

• Anzi III scratched a maid, mixing their blood, and she received treatment at a church while her wound healed and began to itch.
• Leon and Malu celebrated their team's qualification to enter Irithyll after obtaining the Small Doll from the Cathedral of the Deep.
• Gong Qiying read adventurers' reactions to Irithyll and reports that teams were clearing the Road of Sacrifices and Cathedral of the Deep.
• Gong Qiying reviewed Irithyll's layout and planned its areas, including a fighting ground behind Pontiff Sulyvahn and a Dark Moon Blade covenant.
• Gong Qiying decided to create Painting Worlds near Irithyll's bonfires so adventurers could see Anor Londo before Aldrich's corruption, and considered adding a Sun Warrior as a companion.