Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Green, using the identity of mercenary Anbolan, notices a caravan arriving at the frontier town and learns that its passengers include Police Captain Jessica and her team.
• Jessica’s group is investigating the disappearance of Officer Niant. Their map points to a location near where Niderland Alva, the Barbarian Green is searching for, was last seen.
• Green presents his mercenary badge and tells Jessica about the matching disappearance. The coincidence makes the officers wary, but before they can decide whether to cooperate, a scream comes from the nearby freight depot.
• Inside the depot office, they find two corpses that have decayed into mummies in a room where everything appears unnaturally aged. The mummies awaken as low-level Undead but remain trapped in their chairs.
• Jessica recognizes the danger as death psychic-energy contamination, protects the frightened merchant and a woman, and destroys the mummies with her enchanted pistol. The room remains sinister despite their deaths.

Character developments

• Green is alert and calculating. He spots the connection between the two investigations and approaches Jessica’s team to avoid seeming suspicious when their paths cross later. His mercenary identity is fabricated, though his credentials are backed by powerful connections.
• Jessica is introduced as an unusually young, high-ranking and capable Police captain. Initially cautious toward Green, she softens after verifying his badge and demonstrates decisive leadership during the depot emergency.
• The merchant and the woman are overwhelmed by fear at the sight of the corpses, while Jessica takes charge and shields them.

Character interactions

• Green introduces himself to Jessica and offers the shared lead about Niderland, though she remains suspicious of the apparent coincidence.
• Jessica’s team operates cautiously and professionally, checking information with a magical map and assessing Green before trusting him.
• When the scream interrupts their discussion, Jessica acts immediately; Green follows her and the other officers into the office.

Significant themes

• Trust and deception: Green’s false identity and the officers’ understandable suspicion shape their first encounter.
• Converging mysteries: The missing Police officer and missing Barbarian may be connected through their shared last-known location.
• Supernatural danger: The room’s unnatural decay and awakened corpses introduce a threat beyond ordinary frontier hazards.
• Authority and corruption: The depot’s obligatory five-percent toll, enforced through military connections, reveals how power and coercion govern the town’s trade.

Plot points and events

• A merchant caravan finds the trading post inexplicably deserted. The merchant and Chelsea, who cooks for the staff, search the building; after the merchant opens the front door, he becomes dizzy, and Chelsea screams at what appears to be a horrifying scene.
• Police Officer Jessica investigates. The witnesses’ accounts, signs of illusion magic, and traces of Death Psychic Energy suggest that what Chelsea saw earlier was not real.
• Police discover an unhidden basement beneath the office. Jessica and her team find five bodies and a strange altar. The corpses have been drained of an unusual Psychic Energy, leaving two mummified while the others appear recently killed.
• Green recognizes that the energy resembles, but is weaker than, Terminal Psychic Energy. He finds no other clues and suspects the crime may be linked to the disappearance of Officer Niant and the person Green came to find.
• A nationwide database search reveals no similar cases. Jessica concludes the matter is beyond the local police and calls in the Anomalies Bureau.

Character developments and interactions

• Green uses his knowledge as a Legendary Necromancer to interpret the altar and bodies, but cannot explain why such a powerful practitioner would target an ordinary trading post. His observations also deepen his impression of the Rune Federation’s technological advantage over the Lorenzo Kingdom.
• Jessica remains professional and cautious. Though curious about Green’s assessment and visibly unsettled by something about the altar, she does not overreach; she protects her team by referring the case to specialists.
• The merchant and Chelsea provide complementary accounts: the merchant is composed enough to recount the search, while Chelsea remains badly shaken.
• Shura examines the basement and searches the federation’s connected databases, demonstrating the police force’s specialized equipment and technological resources.

Significant themes

• The limits of knowledge: Green can identify the altar’s energy but cannot explain its purpose or connect it conclusively to the disappearances.
• Prudent use of authority: Jessica’s decision to defer to the Anomalies Bureau emphasizes responsible caution over ambition.
• Uneven power and progress: Green contrasts the Rune Federation’s advanced technology and comparatively better living conditions with the Lorenzo Kingdom’s decline, while noting that inequality and political manipulation persist in both societies.

Plot points and events

• Officer Jessica has asked the Rune Federation’s Anomalies Bureau to take over both the strange warehouse case and Officer Niant’s disappearance. Green suspects the warehouse may be connected to his severed Soul Link with Niderland, so he stays in town and quietly sends ravens to investigate.
• While Jessica’s group waits at town hall, patrolmen report seeing lights and figures inside the supposedly empty warehouse. Green and Jessica investigate, but find nothing upstairs. In the basement, the bodies and strange altar have vanished, replaced by the corpse of Officer Niant.
• Jessica identifies Niant through the Identity Rune police officers receive. Though shaken, she stays composed and urges Green to leave the basement immediately.
• The next morning, the Anomalies Bureau’s investigation team has failed to arrive. The Bureau contacts Shura to ask whether the team ever reached town, revealing that it has also gone missing.
• As the group considers leaving, Green senses Legendary Rank Psychic Energy—and a powerful aura of death—in the nearby woods. He concludes that a Necromancer is likely involved and warns that escape may already be impossible.

Character developments

• Green remains observant and cautious, using his knowledge of psychic energy to recognize that the situation is escalating. He suspects the same hidden force may be behind the warehouse, Niant’s death, the Bureau team’s disappearance, and possibly his lost Soul Link.
• Jessica proves more attached to Niant than Green had assumed. She is visibly distressed by his body but controls her emotions and acts decisively, showing both personal concern and professional discipline.
• Shura is increasingly frightened but still follows orders and reports the Bureau’s message.
• The other officer responds to danger with anger and a desire to flee, highlighting the group’s growing fear and uncertainty.

Significant themes

• The unknown and escalating danger: Apparitions, vanished bodies, a missing investigative team, and a powerful Necromancer make the threat increasingly difficult to understand or escape.
• Duty and responsibility: Jessica continues to lead and protect her team despite her fear, while Green stays because he believes leaving is no longer safe.
• Appearance versus reality: The warehouse seems empty, yet its contents have changed; what initially appears to be a routine investigation is part of a much larger supernatural crisis.

Character interactions

• Green and Jessica initially share an awkward, tacit understanding about involving the Anomalies Bureau. During the warehouse search, Jessica trusts Green enough to take him inside with her.
• Jessica’s reaction to Niant’s corpse surprises Green and corrects his assumption that they were not close. She explains the Identity Rune system when he questions how she recognized the body.
• Jessica reassures Shura that she will get her home safely. Later, she listens calmly to Green’s warning, while another officer challenges him in fear and frustration.

Key plot points and events

• Green recognizes that the town’s crises may be connected and urges caution, but Officer Rog angrily threatens him. Jessica reins Rog in; he soon realizes he had lost control of his emotions.
• Jessica’s group waits for Anomalies Bureau reinforcements, but none arrive. The bespectacled agent also loses contact with the Bureau.
• Green’s Ravens find no trace of a struggle where Niderland disappeared. They then discover that every Barbarian settlement is deserted, with food and belongings left behind—an unexplained disappearance resembling the earlier vanishing of a Gnoll tribe.
• After Green has the Ravens summoned away, a huge eye opens atop the tribe’s largest tent and watches the spot where they vanished.
• The town’s officers suffer shared nightmares, though Jessica, Green, locals, and passing merchants are unaffected.
• Officer Niant’s corpse mysteriously walks out of the freight depot and heads into a fog-covered forest. Jessica confirms his body is missing and prepares to pursue him.
• Green warns that a Legendary Rank Necromancer is in the forest. Rog again accuses Green of causing the trouble. Jessica appears to aim at Green, but suddenly shoots Rog instead, killing him, and warns the others to stay away from her.

Character developments and interactions

• Green remains guarded and observant, using the Ravens to investigate. His warning to Jessica suggests he knows more than he has revealed.
• Jessica tries to keep her team composed and make cautious decisions, but the crisis steadily strains her. Her sudden attack on Rog is a shocking reversal that leaves her colleagues unsure whether she is protecting them or has become dangerous.
• Rog is increasingly unstable and hostile toward Green. His earlier loss of emotional control foreshadows his final confrontation with Jessica, though the reason she kills him is not yet clear.
• Niderland, the Barbarians, and Niant are all tied to unexplained disappearances or supernatural events, deepening the mystery.

Significant themes

• Unseen influence and loss of control: Rog’s outbursts and the group’s nightmares suggest their emotions and minds may be manipulated.
• Vanishing without a trace: Niderland, the Barbarian people, and now Niant’s corpse disappear under different but possibly connected circumstances.
• Caution versus action: Green favors observation, while Jessica must decide whether to confront the danger directly.
• Growing distrust: The officers’ suspicion of Green and the abrupt shooting intensify the sense that no one can be safely trusted.

Key plot points and events

• In the Lorenzo Kingdom, the White Seagull pirate ship is sailing near Chester Port after defeating another crew. A Dragon Lich suddenly appears overhead, and Green—wearing a Kingdom major-general’s uniform—lands on deck.
• Green identifies the one-eyed captain as Gomez and orders him to surrender command of the ship and sail to Black Forest Port before dark. Gomez agrees to comply rather than risk a confrontation.
• The takeover follows a troubling investigation: three Kingdom Navy warships vanished near Chester Port in less than half a month. Green arrived with an Anomalies Bureau team, but its searches found no clues. When more than half the investigators disappeared at sea aboard an enchanted destroyer, Green went out himself to search for them.
• In a separate investigation within the Rune Federation, Jessica shoots a police officer named Rog, but tentacles emerge from his neck. Green warns her away and destroys the corpse with a sword strike before it can explode, saving her from serious injury. Psychic interference has disabled the team’s Magic Communicator.
• Jessica proposes returning to town for help. The mayor, a retired soldier, and patrolmen led by Old Jerry agree to assist. Green remains wary of the mayor despite finding no visible sign that he is abnormal, and suspects the missing Barbarian Tribe—including Niderland—may still be alive.

Character developments

• Green is decisive and vigilant, willing to take personal risks when his team disappears. His warning to Jessica shows his sharp instincts, while his command of Gomez’s ship demonstrates his readiness to use intimidation when needed.
• Jessica shows courage in confronting Rog and sound judgment in seeking help, but she is also grateful for Green’s intervention and increasingly respects him.
• Gomez shifts quickly from confident pirate captain to submissive host when faced with Green’s power and authority.
• The mayor and Old Jerry’s patrolmen respond calmly and bravely to the crisis, with the mayor’s military past reflected in his readiness to help.

Significant themes

• Danger beneath appearances: Rog looks like a defeated man but conceals a deadly threat; the apparently ordinary town may also hide the truth about the missing tribe.
• Authority and survival: Green’s uniform and Dragon Lich command immediate obedience, while the weakened state of modern piracy shows how changing technology reshapes power.
• Trust under uncertainty: The investigators must rely on one another and local residents despite communication failure and Green’s suspicions.

Character interactions

• Green’s intimidating arrival forces Gomez and his crew to submit, and Green takes control of their ship.
• Green protects Jessica from Rog’s corpse; she thanks him, and the other officers begin to see him differently.
• Jessica consults Shura about contacting their superiors, then seeks Green’s agreement to return to town.
• The mayor and Old Jerry’s patrolmen offer practical support, while Green quietly evaluates the mayor rather than fully trusting him.

Chapter summary

• Green takes control of Gomez: After forcing the pirate captain to obey, Green brings Gomez and his crew toward Black Forest Port. Gomez initially hopes to leave once they arrive, but Green pressures him to join the Anomalies Bureau. When Gomez’s hesitation turns into an attempt to resist, the Lich Mage Frio immobilizes him while Green uses Death Psychic Energy to transform him into a Shadow creature. Gomez submits as Green’s servant, and Green orders him to keep the crew in line.
• Black Forest Port’s importance: The port is a vast, mobile city built on the remains of a colossal sea beast. It shelters pirates, supports their raids on merchant shipping, and sells them ships, weapons, and supplies. Its defenses and reputation are formidable: even a Divine Eagle Empire fleet accompanied by a Calamity Rank powerhouse once failed to conquer it.
• Green changes his plan: He originally intended to enter openly as a representative of the Lorenzo Kingdom and seek intelligence from Dean Sost, the port’s ruler. But a sailor’s body has appeared far inland, despite the sailor having vanished aboard the patrol ship Feilongduo at sea. Green identifies the man as part of the missing crew and learns that the sailor Hildova was among those lost. This raises the possibility that the missing ships and the disappearance of the Barbarian tribe are connected. Green decides to conceal his identity, using Gomez’s pirate crew as cover.
• Arrival: The White Seagull docks after paying its fee. Green, now dressed as an ordinary sailor, disembarks with Gomez and enters the bustling port, where goods ranging from food to powerful enchanted weapons are openly sold.

Character developments and interactions

• Green shows both strategic caution and ruthless control. He abandons his diplomatic approach when new evidence suggests a wider conspiracy, but he also uses overwhelming force to ensure Gomez cannot betray or escape him.
• Gomez shifts from a proud captain to a coerced subordinate. Though he repeatedly considers resisting, Green’s power—and Frio’s intervention—leaves him no real choice. His loyalty is reported as 65, suggesting submission rather than genuine allegiance.
• Frio acts as Green’s enforcer, silently preventing Gomez from fighting back.
• The pirates and laborers accept Gomez’s initial surrender because they fear Green’s power and prefer not to provoke him.
• Green’s relationship with Gomez is defined by intimidation and domination, while his dealings with Black Forest Port are still uncertain: he hopes to gather information without revealing his true identity.

Significant themes

• Power and coercion: Strength determines who commands, and weaker characters must choose between resistance and survival.
• Concealment and uncertainty: Green hides his identity because the emerging connection between missing ships and other disappearances suggests a larger threat.
• Piracy as an economy: Black Forest Port’s prosperity depends on the cycle of plunder, trade, and reinvestment.
• Clues linking distant events: The sailor’s body connects a disappearance at sea to a location far away, turning separate mysteries into a possible conspiracy.

Key plot points and events

• Green and Gomez visit Black Forest Port’s Intelligence Market to investigate the Lorenzo Kingdom’s three missing warships. The market has no information at all—a suspicious absence that suggests someone is suppressing the story.
• Green orders Gomez to leave port, then secretly watches him. A skilled young man follows Gomez, but Green uses ravens to trace the follower back to an alchemical factory.
• The follower reports to Sentas, a Formal Rank Transcendent, who informs Nicrot, a factory manager and trusted subordinate of Dean Sost.
• Nicrot reports to Dean Sost at Soster Palace. Sost expected someone to investigate the warships but gives no clear instructions.
• At the palace, Nicrot encounters a sinister, clown-dressed stranger and senses that the person is far more powerful than he is.
• On his way back to the factory, Nicrot is intercepted by Green. Green uses Death Corruption to overwhelm him and probe his memories, learning about Sost, the port’s operations, and its capacity to build enormous enchanted warships. Green resolves to use Nicrot as an avatar to infiltrate Sost’s organization.

Character developments and interactions

• Green shifts from cautious investigator to active infiltrator. He anticipates surveillance, uses ravens to track it, and exploits Nicrot’s memories to get closer to Dean Sost.
• Gomez follows Green’s orders and escapes the port, unaware that Green is tracking the man who followed him.
• Nicrot is shown as a disciplined but subordinate factory manager. His brief encounter with the clown alarms him, and Green’s psychic attack leaves him vulnerable.
• Dean Sost appears powerful and calculating; his expectation that someone would inquire about the ships hints at prior knowledge or preparation.
• Sentas acts as Nicrot’s informant, while the mysterious clown’s hostility toward Nicrot remains unexplained.

Significant themes

• Secrecy and surveillance: Information is deliberately hidden, and both sides use tracking and observation.
• Power and vulnerability: Nicrot’s rank and position cannot protect him from Green’s overwhelming mental strength.
• Infiltration and deception: Green turns an enemy subordinate into a means of entering Sost’s inner circle.
• Industrial and military power: Black Forest Port’s vast factory can produce advanced weapons and warships, underscoring its strategic importance.

Plot points and events

• After searching Nicrot’s memories, Green takes over his body and heads toward the Factories. He diverts to an abandoned, fire-scorched workshop site, where he confronts the unseen follower who has been tracking him.
• The follower reveals himself as Hilem the Clown, the Death Council’s tenth councilor. He recognizes that Green is not Nicrot and accuses him of killing Sinem. Hilem says he is interested in killing Green, regardless of whether Sinem is truly dead.
• Hilem attacks with razor-sharp cards that pierce Green’s Bone Shield. Though Green is constrained by Nicrot’s ordinary body, he counters by summoning six Legendary Rank allies: Holly and three other Four-Winged Angels, Frio, and Aliotega.
• Overwhelmed by the summons, Hilem unleashes his deck as a storm of blades, then uses shadow-splitting stealth to target Green. Frio’s Floating Cannon scatters his shadow forms with heavy gunfire, forcing him back into view and wounding him.
• Hilem attempts to escape, but a lance strikes through his hiding place. He vanishes in a cloud of smoke, apparently fleeing into the Spirit World. Green cannot locate him afterward.
• Green considers whether Hilem acted on a personal grudge or official Death Council business. He is wary of provoking the organization, whose chairman is rumored to be a powerful Calamity Rank being.

Character development

• Green remains composed and strategic, testing Hilem’s motives before fighting. He recognizes the limits imposed by Nicrot’s body but compensates with powerful summons. Afterward, he thinks carefully about the political consequences rather than simply pursuing revenge.
• Hilem begins smug and confident, underestimating Green because he assumes Sinem’s killer must be injured. Faced with Green’s overwhelming forces, he abandons his playful style, fights desperately, and ultimately retreats.

Significant themes

• Deception and mistaken assumptions: Hilem misjudges Green’s condition and capabilities, while Green’s borrowed body conceals his true identity.
• Power and strategy: Green’s strength lies not only in personal ability but in preparation and coordination with his summons.
• The cost of conflict: A fight can create consequences beyond its immediate outcome, especially when powerful factions may become involved.
• Survival over pride: Hilem chooses escape once he realizes the battle is unwinnable.

Character interactions

• Green and Hilem exchange accusations and probe each other’s motives before combat begins.
• Green directs his summoned allies as a coordinated force against Hilem, while Hilem adapts from direct attack to mass defense, stealth, and escape.
• After the battle, Green assesses Hilem’s relationship to the Death Council and weighs whether the encounter could escalate into a broader feud.

Key plot points

• After the battle with Clown Hylem, Dean Sost’s heavily armed Guard seals off the wreckage. Green, still posing as Nicrot, tells Sost that unknown black-clad fighters battled Hylem and drove him away.
• Sost accepts the account but wonders who the attackers were and whether they pose a threat to him or Black Forest Port. The narration reveals that his feared strength depends largely on the Divine Artifact Sea King, whose use is extraordinarily costly.
• Sost’s secretary and mistress, Hicaros, arrives and privately summons him away. Green recognizes that her apparent beauty hides formidable combat ability and suspects she is a spy—possibly from the Divine Eagle Empire.
• Hicaros takes charge of the investigation, transfers Nicrot’s duties to Sentas, and leads Green to the port’s surveillance room. She expects him to resist losing his authority, but Green calmly accepts.
• Alone with Green, Hicaros reveals that she and her allies had planned to make Nicrot leave the port. When Green remains unharmed, she discovers he has caught a deadly Black Forest Bug. He tries to infect it with Death Psychic Energy, but it bursts apart. Hicaros realizes that he is not Nicrot.

Character developments and interactions

• Green: Maintains his disguise and gives Sost a fabricated account. He stays cautious around Hicaros, avoids the confrontation she seems to be provoking, and demonstrates unusual control and power by catching the venomous insect.
• Dean Sost: Shows trust in Nicrot while remaining suspicious of the unknown attackers. His public reputation exceeds his personal strength, but Sea King lets him challenge far stronger opponents at great cost.
• Hicaros: Shifts from a polished, alluring official to an openly hostile conspirator. Her failed attempt to kill Green exposes her suspicions and forces her to question his identity.
• Sentas: Quickly accepts Hicaros’s order to take over Nicrot’s duties, helping reveal that the two are acting together against him.
• Green and Hicaros: Their apparent investigation becomes a trap: she tries to remove or kill him, while he conceals his true identity and calmly turns the attempt aside.

Significant themes

• Disguise and hidden identities: Green’s impersonation, Hicaros’s concealed strength, and her suspected espionage make appearances unreliable.
• Power and resource costs: Sost’s ability to wield Sea King shows that great power may depend on scarce resources rather than strength alone.
• Manipulation and restraint: Hicaros tries to provoke Green into defending his status; his refusal to take the bait disrupts her plan.
• Unintended consequences: Green’s attempt to turn the rare bug into an undead creature accidentally reveals that he is far more than he appears.

Plot points and events

• Hicaros attacks Green with a poisoned dagger, but Frio—a Black-Robed Mage—stops her with Legendary Rank psychic force and aims a Floating Cannon at her.
• Green implants a strand of Death Psychic Energy in Hicaros’s brain, giving him the power to incapacitate or kill her. When she invokes her ties to the Divine Eagle Empire and secretly tries to signal for help, Green punishes her with intense pain and destroys her distress device.
• Hicaros submits. Green questions her, including about the missing Lorenzo Kingdom warship, but learns little; he conceals which questions matter and leaves without pressing for more.
• Afterward, Hicaros removes her own head, switches it for another, and reattaches it. Her severed head warns her to be cautious. Hicaros declares that she is now in charge and vows revenge on Green.

Character developments and interactions

• Green shifts from covert information-gathering to open coercion after Hicaros attacks him. He is calculating and ruthless, using the psychic strand to control her while keeping his investigation hidden.
• Hicaros moves from aggressive confidence and threats to fearful compliance, then reveals a strange ability to exchange heads. Her final actions show that she remains defiant and is already planning retaliation.
• Frio acts as Green’s enforcer, immobilizing Hicaros and preventing her attack.
• Hicaros’s relationship with her other self is revealed through their exchange: the severed head calls her “my Split Soul, my sister,” while Hicaros dismisses its advice and assumes command.

Significant themes

• Power and coercion: Green’s superior strength lets him override Hicaros’s training, status, and threats.
• Deception and hidden identities: Green disguises himself and conceals his aims; Hicaros hides her distress device and later reveals an unusual head-changing ability.
• Control versus resistance: Hicaros submits under duress but retains her will and plots revenge, leaving their conflict unresolved.

Key plot points and events

• After escaping confinement, Hicaros replaces her original head with one controlled by her Split Soul, hoping to hide her true self and eventually remove the Death Psychic Energy in her brain.
• Green, watching through his control over that energy, destroys the replacement head with a Floating Cannon. Hicaros is forced to restore her original head and realizes Green may be monitoring her constantly.
• Dean Sost summons Hicaros to discuss surveillance footage of mysterious intruders. She reports finding no evidence, and Sost tells her to stop investigating.
• Sost reveals that Duke Morrisonte of the Divine Eagle Empire is coming to Black Forest Port. Morrisonte is a formidable Calamity Rank Transcendent and a former enemy of Sost, though their earlier naval conflict ended because of political pressure and problems within the empire.
• Green suspects the duke’s visit may connect to other unexplained incidents near the empire’s borders, but has no proof.
• Two days later, Morrisonte arrives aboard a powerful enchanted warship. At the banquet, he and Sost behave as cordial allies, though Green senses an underlying scheme.
• Hicaros discreetly signals Green to follow her into a corridor, leaving their purpose—and the duke’s plans—unrevealed.

Character developments and interactions

• Hicaros remains defiant and plots to use Green’s control to her advantage, but his ability to punish and possibly observe her leaves her wary. She also hides her distress from Sost.
• Green / Nicrot maintains control over Hicaros and becomes suspicious of Morrisonte’s visit. As Nicrot, his avatar helps prepare and oversee the banquet.
• Dean Sost shows personal tenderness toward Hicaros, whose appearance reminds him of his late wife, but remains an alert and politically cautious ruler.
• Duke Morrisonte is introduced as a powerful former adversary of Sost. His friendly public manner contrasts with Green’s sense that something is being concealed.

Significant themes

• Control and resistance: Hicaros seeks freedom, but Green’s hold over her body and mind sharply limits her choices.
• Masks and appearances: Hicaros conceals her intentions from Sost, while the duke’s warm reception may disguise political maneuvering.
• Power and diplomacy: Even a ruler like Sost must accommodate the Divine Eagle Empire’s influence.
• Uncertainty and foreshadowing: Green links the visit to earlier mysteries, suggesting that larger events may be converging.

Plot points and events

• Green confronts Hicaros privately and demands intelligence in exchange for removing the dangerous threads embedded in her brain. He asks about the Rune Federation and the Barbarians, warning that any lie will cost her life.
• Hicaros reveals that the Divine Eagle Empire is connected to the Barbarians’ disappearance. She also discloses that the Nature Church worked with the empire to make three Lorenzo Kingdom warships disappear. She knows little about the larger plan.
• Green suspects that High Priest Sonic has revived the Nature Church’s influence and may have grown powerful enough to deal with the empire.
• As a sign of good faith, Green dissolves about a third of the threads in Hicaros’s brain—but insists she must help him three times before he will release her completely. This is their first exchange.
• After the banquet, Duke Morissent receives a Nature Church messenger. The messenger reports that events have gone smoothly but warns that something unexpected may have occurred in the Rune Federation. Morissent intimidates him and orders Sonic to stay out of the matter. The messenger’s body repairs itself with vines, revealing his unnatural, puppet-like nature.

Character developments and interactions

• Green remains guarded and ruthless, using threats and partial concessions to control Hicaros while extracting useful information.
• Hicaros tries to use Morissent’s presence to strengthen her bargaining position, but Green sees through the bluff. Though an imperial agent trained to face death, her near-death experience has left her frightened enough to submit to his terms.
• Duke Morissent is powerful, arrogant, and contemptuous of the Nature Church. He has authority over the cooperation but resents it and reacts angrily to news that might complicate the plan.
• The messenger is eerily obedient and seemingly indifferent to pain, suggesting the Nature Church employs beings altered or controlled by unnatural means.
• The conversation between Green and Hicaros is a coercive bargain; Morissent’s exchange with the messenger exposes tension between the Divine Eagle Empire and its Nature Church allies.

Significant themes

• Coercion and survival: Both Hicaros’s bargain and the messenger’s obedience show how power limits individual choice.
• Uncertain alliances: The empire and Nature Church cooperate, but Morissent’s hostility suggests their partnership is uneasy.
• The cost of confronting death: Hicaros’s experience changes her resolve, revealing that courage can falter when death becomes immediate.
• Hidden schemes: The disclosures deepen the mystery surrounding the Barbarians’ disappearance and the missing warships.

Key plot points and events

• Duke Morrisonte learns that Dean Sost is still hesitant about cooperating with the empire. He also hears that a mysterious mercenary has disrupted the Nature Church’s plans in the Rune Federation and orders his people to finish their operation early.
• Hicaros secretly meets her granduncle, Krissen, the ghost butler. She asks him to remove the Death Psychic Energy Green planted in her brain. Krissen finds it but cannot extract it safely without risking severe damage.
• Krissen warns Hicaros not to seek Duke Morrisonte’s help: the duke would not protect her, and learning of the situation could put her in greater danger. With few options, Hicaros resolves to comply with Green and hope he keeps his word.
• In Lorenzo Kingdom, Cyrabelle reports evidence that the Divine Eagle Empire, the Nature Church, and Sonic were involved in the disappearance of three navy warships. Grand Duke Mora orders Green to capture or kill High Priest Sonic—or at least locate him.
• Green welcomes the assignment because Sonic possesses part of the Nature God’s Divine Kingdom, a prize Green once wanted but was too weak to claim.
• Green meets Hicaros in secret and demands that she help him find Sonic’s exact location within two days. Hicaros protests that the task is dangerous and nearly impossible, but Green insists she cooperate.

Character developments and interactions

• Hicaros is frightened and increasingly trapped by the psychic thread in her brain. She turns to Krissen for help, but his inability to remove it leaves her dependent on Green’s promises.
• Krissen is stern toward Hicaros’s lack of advancement, yet shows genuine concern for her. He tries to protect her by warning her against involving Morrisonte.
• Green is focused and opportunistic, using his leverage over Hicaros to recruit her for his pursuit of Sonic. He remains confident that she can obtain information despite her objections.
• Morrisonte displays political arrogance, believing others will ultimately accept the empire’s influence, and responds to obstacles with pressure and threats.

Significant themes

• Coercion and limited choices: Hicaros must choose between obeying Green and risking the consequences of defiance.
• Power and expendability: Krissen’s warning makes clear that powerful leaders may treat subordinates as disposable.
• Political intrigue and competing agendas: The empire, Nature Church, and Lorenzo Kingdom maneuver around the missing warships and Sonic’s plans.
• Past ambitions returning: Green’s old desire for the Divine Kingdom gives his new mission a personal stake.

Key plot points and events

• Hicaros returns early with precise intelligence: High Priest Sonic and the Nature Church—now calling itself the Nature Hermitage—are believed to be hiding on Sisoldis Island, about 150 kilometers from Black Forest Port.
• Green leaves his Nicrot avatar behind and sets sail with Gomez and the pirates aboard the White Seagull. The crew has been restless while waiting, but Gomez obeys Green’s orders.
• Green reaches the island during a celebration prompted by a fisherman’s supposed capture of a giant whale. The whale’s tail is being carried in a procession to the local Sea God Temple as an offering.
• At the temple, Green detects a faint trace of Divine Power during the islanders’ ritual. He realizes the Sea God—thought to have fallen in an ancient Divine War—may be awakening.
• Green suspects Sonic and the Nature Hermitage have come to exploit this awakening, perhaps to obtain the Sea God’s Divine Power for the God of Nature. He also wonders whether the Divine Eagle Empire’s presence is connected, though the wider links to the Barbarians and missing Lorenzo warships remain unclear.
• Offshore, Boris and other Nature Hermitage members wait aboard a large cruiser. Boris is desperate to locate the faint Divine Power, believing the awakening God of Nature must consume the “False God’s” power. He threatens a subordinate who cannot find its source.
• High Priest Sonic appears to Boris as a spectral projection and is greeted as the “Voice of God” and “Prophet who guides the lost.”

Character developments and interactions

• Hicaros exceeds expectations by completing her intelligence task ahead of schedule; Green praises her work.
• Green shifts from searching blindly for Sonic to forming a theory about the Sea God’s possible return and the Nature Hermitage’s intentions. He watches the islanders’ ritual rather than disrupting it.
• Gomez shows how seriously he takes Green’s authority, keeping the pirates in place despite their frustration.
• Boris is revealed as fervent, ambitious, and cruelly demanding. His anger toward his subordinate contrasts with his immediate reverence toward Sonic.
• Sonic remains distant and powerful: his appearance alone commands Boris’s submission.

Significant themes

• Potential and expectations: Hicaros’s success shows that people can accomplish more than they—or others—expect.
• Faith and divine power: The islanders’ humble rites may be drawing a response from an ancient deity, while the Nature Hermitage seeks to exploit that power.
• Religious conflict and manipulation: The Hermitage calls the Sea God a “False God” and views its Divine Power as something to be consumed for the God of Nature.
• Belief and community: The whale celebration unites the islanders, who preserve the tradition’s comforting meaning despite doubts about the catch.

Plot points and events

• High Priest Sonic secretly boards the ship using Mirror Image Art to inspect an instrument that detects divine power. It confirms a presence but cannot pinpoint the Sea God. In public, Sonic continues to act as a kindly prophet, hiding his ruthless past and his growing resemblance to the religious authorities he once despised.
• On Sisoldis Island, Green uses ravens to find the Nature Hermitage’s base. He spots several rival groups watching it, including agents likely tied to the Divine Eagle Empire, Dean Sost, and other major powers. He rules out Lorenzo Kingdom and suspects the Holy Light Church or the Light of Wisdom may be behind the unidentified group.
• Two black-robed figures deliver Pradas, a revered daughter of the sea, to the Hermitage. Grand Elder Simonado recognizes her importance. When his divine radiance prompts a matching glow from Pradas, the Hermitage concludes that the Sea God has awakened and that she can help them locate Him.
• Pradas breaks her bonds, forms a water blade, and threatens to kill herself unless Simonado protects the islanders. Simonado counters with threats to murder the residents, forcing her to surrender. She then offers cooperation in exchange for their safety.
• Pradas reveals that she believes the Sea God intends to use her as a sacrifice when He fully returns. Simonado, unsure what to make of this, consults Sonic. Sonic agrees to cooperate with her—but a dark figure suddenly hurtles toward Pradas.

Character developments and interactions

• Sonic presents himself as compassionate and composed, though his history is brutally ambitious. Having gained part of the Nature God’s legacy, he can grant divine radiance to select followers, and he readily accepts Pradas’s proposed bargain.
• Green demonstrates his strategic reach through the ravens and calmly assesses the competing factions, confident that their agents pose little threat to him.
• Pradas remains composed under capture and shows resourcefulness by escaping her bonds. Her concern for ordinary islanders drives her to negotiate, while her claim that she is destined to be sacrificed complicates her apparent loyalty to the Sea God.
• Simonado appears devout and kindly but quickly resorts to mass-murder threats when Pradas resists. He is unsettled by her willingness to betray the Sea God and defers the decision to Sonic.

Significant themes

• Religious hypocrisy and power: Sonic has become like the institution he once hated, using faith and divine favor to consolidate authority.
• Faith versus personal survival: Pradas’s devotion is complicated by her belief that the Sea God plans to sacrifice her.
• Coercion and moral compromise: Pradas’s attempt to protect the islanders is defeated by Simonado’s willingness to threaten innocents.
• Rival powers and hidden agendas: Multiple factions converge on the island, turning the search for the Sea God into a broader political contest.

Plot points and events

• Holly, a High-Level Legendary Flame Angel, drives back Simonado when he attacks Pradas, allowing Rota and Nancy to carry Pradas away from the Nature Hermitage.
• Green takes custody of Pradas and demands information, threatening to turn her into a suffering zombie if she refuses. Seeing she cannot escape, she agrees to cooperate.
• Pradas explains that the Sea God’s worship began only months ago, after miracles and faint divine responses appeared on Sisoldis Island. An unexplained dream made her the Sea God’s Daughter, or chosen sacrifice.
• The Sea God is an ancient Deity of Ocean and Storm, now so weak that powerful factions hope to control his Divine Offices and Divinity to gain a path toward greater power. The Nature Hermitage and the Divine Eagle Empire are among those drawn to the island.
• Green suspects the missing Lorenzo warships may have stumbled into a Secret Realm or unknown Void World rather than being deliberately eliminated.
• Pradas reveals that she has learned the truth through the Sea God’s murmurs: when she reaches Demigodhood, the Sea God will awaken, consume her soul, and use her body as his vessel.

Character developments and interactions

• Pradas shifts from suspicion and defiance to reluctant cooperation. She regrets becoming the chosen sacrifice and fears that her fate may endanger the island’s thousands of inhabitants. Though unusually gifted and able to endure divine whispers, she is not a willing believer or martyr.
• Green is pragmatic and intimidating, using the zombie and its tormented soul to compel Pradas. He listens to her account and recognizes her rare ability to withstand a Deity’s voice.
• Holly demonstrates overwhelming strength by blocking Simonado’s divine attack. Simonado’s confidence in his faith and rank gives way to fear when he realizes he cannot match her.
• Pradas’s encounters—with the Nature Hermitage, Green, and the rescuing Angel Liches—underscore how little power she has over her own fate.

Significant themes

• Power and coercion: factions treat Pradas as a means to control the Sea God, while Green also forces her cooperation.
• Faith versus exploitation: the islanders’ new worship is entangled with political ambition and a planned sacrifice.
• The cost of power: Pradas’s extraordinary potential promises advancement but ultimately serves the Sea God’s return.
• Uncertainty and hidden worlds: the missing ships may have vanished into an unknown realm, suggesting the crisis extends beyond the island.

Key plot points and events

• Pradas reveals what she knows about the Sea God’s apparent awakening, including secrets learned through dreams. She explains that she wants the Sea God to remain asleep.
• She senses the arrival of the Sea God Guard: two enormous creatures, a flying whale and a giant octopus. Green sends Holly to confront them.
• Holly, a High-Level Legendary Flame Angel, defeats both guards in minutes. Their souls are absorbed into Green’s Nightmare Kingdom despite bearing the Sea God’s mark.
• Their weak Divine Power makes Green question whether the Sea God has truly awakened—or whether an artifact has merely created that impression. He suspects the Nature Hermitage and Divine Eagle Empire are gambling on the possibility while hoping to obtain a relic either way.
• Nearby, another Sea God Guard, a huge black fish with a girl-like feeler called Little Black, watches the battle. She is joined by Redscale, an abrasive fish-headed warrior. When Holly approaches, Redscale charges to fight her, while Little Black rises to avenge the fallen guards.

Character developments and interactions

• Green remains composed and strategic, delegating the fight to Holly while reconsidering what the Sea God’s weakness means.
• Pradas is awed by Holly’s overwhelming power. Her fear of Green grows, and she decides to make him an ally rather than an enemy.
• Holly demonstrates just how formidable she is, dispatching two Legendary opponents almost effortlessly.
• Little Black is cautious and frightened by Holly’s strength, but anger over the deaths of “Bighead” and “Little Eight” draws her into the coming conflict.
• Redscale teases and intimidates Little Black, then eagerly rushes to confront Holly, showing his appetite for battle despite facing a stronger opponent.

Significant themes

• Power and shifting loyalties: Pradas chooses alliance over resistance after witnessing Green’s strength.
• Uncertainty and strategic risk: The Sea God’s status is unclear, yet rival factions pursue the possibility of awakening—or the value of her relics.
• Faith and divine decline: The guards’ faint Sea God power suggests that divine devotion alone may not preserve strength after a god’s fall.
• Appearance versus reality: The Sea God Guards look terrifying, but Holly’s power makes their size and menace largely irrelevant.

Plot points and events

• The Flame Angel abandons her attack on Redscale to sever the tentacle linking Little Black to the girl riding him, wounding the pair.
• Redscale is ambushed by Green’s forces: Frio’s Floating Cannons, the Nightmare Knight Aliotega, and the Dragon Lich. The Shadow Red Dragon, Alshfaro, joins the attack and drives Little Black underwater with his fiery breath.
• Surrounded and overwhelmed, Redscale flees into the sea in grouper form. Little Black also tries to escape but is cornered and surrenders, along with the girl.
• A hidden Calamity Rank Skeleton ambushes Redscale below the surface, killing him with a warhammer. Redscale dies still calling on the absent Sea God, whose blessing he believes will soon restore his former strength.
• Green arrives with Pradas, collects Redscale’s soul into the Nightmare Kingdom, and orders the dragons to eat the corpse. The meal makes both dragons stronger, especially Alshfaro, who grows substantially.

Character developments and interactions

• Redscale shifts from a wary, proud warrior to a desperate fugitive as coordinated attacks expose how far he has weakened without the Sea God’s blessing. His final faith in the Sea God goes unanswered.
• Little Black initially considers helping Redscale out of self-preservation, but abandons the fight when Alshfaro attacks. He and the girl choose surrender once escape becomes impossible.
• Green’s forces work together to overwhelm Redscale: the cannons and Aliotega keep him occupied while the dragons add pressure and the Flame Angel waits for an opening. A hidden Skeleton delivers the killing blow.
• Green turns Redscale’s death into a practical gain by harvesting his soul and feeding his remains to the dragons.

Significant themes

• Declining power and lost faith: Redscale’s former greatness has eroded, and his appeal to the Sea God receives no answer.
• Teamwork and overwhelming force: Redscale cannot withstand coordinated attacks from multiple powerful enemies.
• Survival and surrender: Little Black’s bravado gives way to pragmatic submission.
• Power through consumption: Redscale’s remains become a resource that strengthens Green’s dragons.

Key plot points and events

• Green spares the last surviving Sea God Guard, a large black fish, after the fish offers information and valuables. Green wants to question him about the fallen Sea God and learn from his millennia-spanning memories.
• The fish reveals that his former lair contains a Golden Warship once used by the Sea God’s forces.
• Green finds the ship badly damaged but still extraordinary: it can travel through the Void between worlds. The Graveyard identifies it as a level-14 Divine Artifact Assembly, damaged by 44 percent.
• Repairing it would cost 360,000 Psychic Energy—far more than Green currently has. He moves the ship and its scattered treasure into the Mist World, keeping it isolated until he can inspect and repair it safely.
• The fish and the girl on his head realize they are effectively trapped in Green’s domain. Green leaves them there and closes the gate.
• Back on Sisolde Island, Green reunites with Pradas. The island’s celebrations are interrupted when a powerful boom shakes the island and buildings begin to crack. The chapter ends as the islanders recognize an earthquake.

Character developments and interactions

• Green shows caution as well as ambition: he sees the warship’s enormous potential but postpones repairs because of the cost and the danger of an artifact linked to a fallen Deity. He firmly warns the fish that survival depends on proving useful.
• The Sea God Guard shifts from feigned helplessness to pragmatic cooperation, offering the warship to save himself. Once inside the Mist World, he understands that Green has exposed him to a secret he cannot escape.
• The girl on the fish’s head initially tries to avoid being eaten, then recognizes the seriousness of their situation and accepts that she has little choice.
• Alshfaro, the Shadow Red Dragon, eagerly eyes the fish as prey, but obeys Green’s warning not to attack. He later taunts the captive pair.
• Pradas is relieved to find Green alive, not out of romantic attachment but because he is her only dependable ally. She knows both the Nature Hermitage and her role as Daughter of the Sea God may ultimately lead to her death.

Significant themes

• Power and survival: The Sea God’s former servants have been reduced to fugitives, and the last guard survives by bargaining with Green.
• The legacy of fallen powers: The damaged warship and its treasures preserve traces of the ancient Divine War and the Sea God’s lost empire.
• Pragmatism and restraint: Green prioritizes usefulness, cost, and safety over immediate acquisition or violence.
• Captivity and dependence: The fish, the girl, and Pradas each recognize that their survival depends on others—and that their choices are severely limited.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• A major earthquake strikes Sisoldis Island, followed by a towering tsunami. Coastal villages are overwhelmed, and ships—including Gomez’s White Seagull—race to survive the wave.
• Green senses familiar Psychic Energy and realizes Dean Sost has activated Sea King. He also detects Duke Morissent, a Calamity Rank powerhouse, and suspects the Divine Eagle Empire has begun its long-planned attack.
• A concealed fleet of thirty Enchanted Ironclads appears outside Black Forest Port. The ships had hidden under a magical Light Screen and sank more than sixty civilian vessels along the way. With Dean Sost away, the port falls into confusion; many favor surrender, while a few urge resistance. The fleet opens fire.
• At Soster Palace, Hicaros, Sentas, and two others search Dean Sost’s bedroom for the hidden entrance to his secret chamber. The chamber supplies Sea King with resources and Divine Power Crystals; cutting off that supply could leave Dean able to fight for only about a minute.
• A spy senses a faint Psychic Energy fluctuation but cannot locate its source. Hicaros asks Krissen to tell Duke Morissent to intensify his attack, hoping the increased strain will make the hidden chamber easier to find.
• Morissent unleashes his full power while wearing the Divine Eagle Empire’s Black Iron Crown. He has kept Sea King suppressed, but cannot penetrate its formidable defenses.

Character developments and interactions

• Green quickly connects Dean Sost’s activation of Sea King with Morissent’s presence and recognizes that the empire’s friendly posture has concealed hostile intentions.
• Gomez responds to the tsunami with the experience of a seasoned pirate, driving his ship toward the wave in an attempt to ride over it.
• Hicaros grows anxious and impatient as the search stalls, but remains focused on the mission and acts decisively once the Psychic Energy clue emerges.
• Sentas takes Hicaros’s criticism without arguing, prioritizing the search over their tension.
• Krissen understands that finding the supply chamber is essential and promptly relays Hicaros’s request to Morissent.
• Morissent commits his full strength to the battle, yet remains dependent on the spies’ operation to cut off Sea King’s supply.

Significant themes

• Betrayal beneath diplomacy: The Divine Eagle Empire’s concealed fleet reveals that its apparent peace and friendship were a mask.
• The cost of power: Sea King is immensely powerful but consumes vast resources, making its supply line a crucial vulnerability.
• Crisis and divided loyalties: Black Forest Port’s people fracture between surrender and resistance when their leader is absent.
• Human vulnerability before catastrophe: The tsunami overwhelms coastal villagers and civilian ships, emphasizing the devastation caused by the battle’s upheaval.