Ch. 581The Ratfolk Collapse

Key plot points and events

  • The battle reaches its decisive stage. The Silver King’s side commits its strongest fighters, while Green fields his Death Angel Clone, the Skeleton Lord, and several powerful allies. Both sides have two Calamity Rank fighters, but Green’s forces also include numerous Legendary troops.
  • Alexia recognizes the danger posed by Green’s forces and considers withdrawing her largely unscathed Gray Elf army. The Silver King realizes that losing the Gray Elves would make defeat inevitable, so he launches an attack to force the fight to continue.
  • On the ground, General James commits five thousand reserves between the red-skinned orcs and ratfolk, splitting their forces. Fewer than three hundred Fallen Knights then charge the ratfolk flank, using Dragon-Hunting Rifles to spread panic.
  • Attacked from three directions—and finally struck by a massive Dragon Bone Skeleton Warrior—the thirty-thousand-strong ratfolk army breaks and flees. Their shaman abandons the aerial battle to try to rally them.
  • Rather than chase the retreating ratfolk, James redirects his troops toward the red-skinned orcs’ flank. In under five minutes, the battle’s momentum turns sharply against the Silver King’s coalition.

Character developments and interactions

  • Alexia proves pragmatic and self-interested: once she sees that the enemy is stronger than expected, she considers cutting her losses and withdrawing. Her hesitation alarms the Silver King.
  • The Silver King responds by attacking before Alexia can decide, then grows despondent as the ratfolk collapse and his side’s defeat appears imminent.
  • General James demonstrates strong battlefield judgment, exploiting the ratfolk’s low morale and anticipating that they would retreat once pressured.
  • The ratfolk shaman is powerful but inexperienced in warfare. Shocked by his army’s collapse, he prioritizes rallying his people and realizes that continuing the battle would be disastrous.
  • Green’s forces reveal their strength through the Skeleton Lord, elite fighters, and disciplined coordination between troops.

Significant themes

  • Morale can outweigh numbers: the ratfolk’s panic turns a large army into a rout.
  • Tactical timing and coordination: James’s reserve deployment and flank attack transform the battle quickly.
  • Pragmatism versus loyalty: Alexia weighs survival and self-interest, while the Silver King tries to keep the alliance intact.
  • The cost of defeat: losing elite troops could cripple the ratfolk tribe for years, even though relatively few are killed in the rout.

Ch. 582Daniel's Choice

Chapter Summary: “Daniel’s Choice”

Key plot points and events

  • As the Silver King’s forces falter, Daniel, chief of the Green Tree Tribe, charges toward him. The Silver King and the Gray Elf Queen both assume Daniel is making a desperate, suicidal attack.
  • Instead, Daniel suddenly strikes the Silver King with his battle-axe, badly wounding him and severing his spine. Daniel reveals that the attack is his pledge of loyalty to Green, the Undead Lord.
  • Daniel had secretly contacted Green through his Mind Necklace and Soul Link. He chose defection to protect his tribe—and especially its newborn children—from the Gray Elves. He also ordered his surviving warriors to withdraw and surrender to the Undead Empire.
  • Green accepts the Green Tree Tribe’s allegiance and promises to protect it. The Skeleton Lord pins and incapacitates the Silver King.
  • The alliance against Green rapidly unravels. The Ratfolk shaman withdraws, and the Red Orc chief Lunsa retreats before his army is surrounded. The Red Orcs lose at least five thousand warriors.
  • Green orders his forces not to pursue. General James conducts an orderly withdrawal, giving Penny a lesson in battlefield command: a great general must be able to bring troops back under control, not merely send them forward.
  • The Gray Elves also withdraw. The Gray Elf Queen and Emperor Tattle wait uneasily to learn what Green will do next. Green approaches the queen and opens with a courteous greeting.

Character developments and interactions

  • Daniel makes a drastic break with his former loyalty and honor, choosing his tribe’s survival over allegiance to the Silver King. Though he risks rejection by kneeling defenseless before Green, he is relieved when his people are accepted.
  • Green demonstrates that he anticipated Daniel’s choice and responds with a public promise of protection. He also shows restraint by refusing to pursue the retreating enemies when doing so could lead to costly fighting.
  • The Silver King, betrayed by a former friend, is left gravely wounded and unable to resist.
  • The Gray Elf Queen recognizes that her pressure helped push Daniel toward Green. She is now concerned that the Green Tree Tribe’s defection has created a powerful neighbor.
  • Lunsa sees the danger to the Red Orcs and retreats, but fears that his people cannot follow the Green Tree Tribe’s example because their traditional leaders would resist surrender.
  • Penny learns from General James’s disciplined withdrawal, gaining insight into the judgment and control required of a capable commander.

Significant themes

  • Survival versus loyalty: Daniel sacrifices old allegiances and personal honor to preserve his people.
  • The consequences of political pressure: The Gray Elves’ threat helps drive the Green Tree Tribe into Green’s camp.
  • Leadership and responsibility: Daniel acts for his tribe’s vulnerable members, while Green weighs the costs of continuing the battle.
  • Command beyond attack: James’s orderly withdrawal illustrates that managing and recovering forces is as important as winning ground.
  • Shifting power and allegiance: A single defection breaks the opposing alliance and reshapes the political balance.

Ch. 583The Real Treasure

Plot points and events

  • After defeating the northern forces, Green offers to preserve the status quo: the Green Tree Tribe will join the Undead Empire, but Green will not expand farther north, and the gray elves and Emperor Tattle will not advance south.
  • Gray Elf Queen Alexia accepts the settlement, though she distrusts Green and recognizes that her tribe cannot stand against the Undead Empire alone. She resolves to seek powerful allies.
  • Penny questions why Green lets the defeated rulers leave. Green explains that killing their armies without killing the Calamity Rank leaders would create lasting enemies. The gray elf queen’s responsibility to her people restrains her, while Emperor Tattle’s freedom makes him more dangerous.
  • Green says the empire has already gained the Green Tree Tribe and the Silver King, and suspects the Silver King is hiding something.
  • Green offers the captured Silver King survival in exchange for becoming an Undead. Though devastated by surrendering his freedom, the Centaur accepts. Green transforms him, gaining a powerful new enforcer.
  • The Silver King leads Green to a hidden chamber in a sealed space, where a golden-maned Centaur girl has survived since an earlier age in suspended life. She wakes and recognizes the Silver King, who introduces Green as his master.

Character developments and interactions

  • Green demonstrates strategic restraint, preferring a stable border and manageable rivals to a costly effort to eliminate powerful enemies. He also expands his forces by converting the Silver King.
  • Alexia suppresses her pride, acknowledges her tribe’s weakness, and turns toward alliance-building, while remaining skeptical of Green’s promises.
  • Penny challenges Green’s decision to spare the enemy leaders, prompting him to explain the risks behind it.
  • The Silver King shifts from proud ruler to defeated captive. Fear of death overcomes his desire for freedom, and he accepts undeath despite the emotional cost. His introduction of Green to the awakened Centaur suggests a connection to his hidden past.
  • Emperor Tattle remains composed and is identified by Green as a particularly troublesome opponent because he has no people or territory to hold him back.

Significant themes

  • Power and restraint: Winning does not mean pursuing total destruction; Green weighs the future costs of continued conflict.
  • Survival versus freedom: The Silver King chooses continued existence at the price of his former identity and independence.
  • Uncertainty and mistrust: Alexia doubts Green’s assurances, and Green’s suspicion that the Silver King conceals a secret proves justified.
  • Endurance across ages: The sealed Centaur embodies the lengths ancient peoples went to survive the world’s previous catastrophe.

Ch. 584Developing the South

Key plot points and events

  • Green meets Ailing Isaac, an artificial Centaur created to preserve her people’s history and civilization. The Silver King, once a Calamity Rank warrior, has guarded her for ages.
  • Green initially sees little value in Ailing, but the Silver King reveals that she was made from the cells of a legendary Centaur War Goddess and may have the potential to reach Saint Spirit Rank. Green agrees to let her leave and puts the Silver King in charge of training her.
  • The northern war ends with major gains for Green: the Silver King becomes Undead, and Green Tree Tribe chief Daniel becomes a Shadow Creature. Green also has four surviving Legendary Rank Orc leaders transformed to secure Daniel’s position.
  • Daniel blames the tribe’s defeat on an alleged plot by the Silver King and gray Elf queen Alexia. His account is largely fabricated, but it gives the Orcs a way to accept submission to Green and offers the tribe a path to survive.
  • The victory deters nearby rivals and leaves the northern frontier likely to remain quiet. Since the Undead Empire’s northern holdings are already stretched far from the Graveyard, Green shifts expansion south.
  • Green sends 150,000 troops toward the Griffin City-State, leaving General James with 50,000 to guard the north. He appoints Penny commander-in-chief, with the Silver King as her deputy, while he returns to the Graveyard.

Character developments and interactions

  • Green remains pragmatic: he frees Ailing largely on a whim and treats her possible potential as a worthwhile gamble. He also uses the postwar army to expand south and gives Penny a major command test.
  • The Silver King is anxious to protect Ailing but appeals to her warrior ancestry to persuade Green to take her out of confinement. Though his feelings for her remain, he is now Green’s subordinate and accepts responsibility for her training.
  • Ailing Isaac is revealed as an innocent, childlike person despite her ancient existence. She is delighted at the prospect of seeing the outside world.
  • Daniel sacrifices his principles and invents a politically useful account of the defeat. His priority is preserving the Green Tree Tribe, and his cooperation helps consolidate Green’s control.
  • Penny receives her first major test of leadership, involving logistics, intelligence, long-distance movement, and the competing interests of the army’s retainer groups. Green expects competence, not a spectacular victory.

Significant themes

  • Pragmatism and survival: Green, Daniel, and the Silver King make difficult choices based on what they believe will secure their interests or protect those in their care.
  • Legacy and preservation: Ailing embodies the Centaurs’ effort to preserve their civilization, contrasting with the self-serving purpose of the Human City-State’s “Civilization Treasury.”
  • Power and political control: Green’s victory strengthens his empire, while Daniel’s story shows how defeat can be reframed to maintain unity.
  • Leadership as a test: Penny’s campaign is presented as a trial of practical command and administration, not simply battlefield prowess.
    The chapter closes with Green returning to the Graveyard, where an unexpected surprise awaits him.

Ch. 585Scapegoat

Plot points and events

  • In the aftermath of the coalition’s defeat, Gray Elf Queen Alexia fears the rising Undead Empire may threaten her people. She relaxes only when its troops begin withdrawing, after having secretly prepared to move the Elven Mother Tree if the army made another move.
  • Back at the Graveyard, Green discovers that Black Claw, Dr. Vincent, and Professor Arkansas have built Kagnus, a gigantic Alchemy Computer containing a million homunculi. Its successful first startup delights the builders.
  • Green points out that the machine still needs a way to be used. He proposes adapting his existing Tower Spirit to serve as its operating core, leaving the technical work to the experts.
  • In the Number One Void World, the destruction of the Sison Kingdom’s Zevar Desert factory stalls its advance. The Frost Giant Court joins the Holy Light Church’s side and pushes back the Divine Eagle Empire, but fire-mage reinforcements eventually halt the giants.
  • The Sison Kingdom publicly blames Green’s alternate identity, Takrama the Demon Warlock, for the factory’s destruction, despite Green believing the authorities know the real culprits. He wonders why he has been deliberately made the scapegoat—or whether he simply got caught in the middle.
  • Grand Duke Mora sends Green an urgent request: find Modi and Arudika and obtain the Sphere of Faith from them.

Character developments and interactions

  • Alexia conceals her fear from her subordinates, presenting a steady front while privately considering drastic measures to protect her people.
  • Green shifts from observing the new computer to directing its next stage, and becomes frustrated when the Sison Kingdom’s political maneuvering saddles him with blame.
  • Black Claw, Dr. Vincent, and Professor Arkansas celebrate their technical breakthrough, then realize they have not considered how anyone will operate the computer. Green’s Tower Spirit proposal gives them a practical direction.
  • Green and Alexia each respond to the war’s outcome with caution: Alexia worries about her people’s survival, while Green turns back to the wider conflicts and schemes unfolding elsewhere.

Significant themes

  • Power and vulnerability: Even long-lived, formidable Gray Elves can feel endangered by a rapidly rising empire.
  • Innovation and adaptation: Building Kagnus is only the first step; making it useful requires new thinking and cooperation.
  • War, politics, and blame: Military setbacks reshape alliances, while public accusations may serve strategic purposes rather than reflect the truth.
  • Unintended consequences: Green’s plan to follow events from the sidelines leaves him exposed as the designated culprit.

Ch. 586Hound Squad

Key plot points and events

  • Grand Duke Mora orders Green to seize the Sphere of Faith from Modi and Arudika. Green doubts he can do so, and suspects the request is connected to the later stages of the Lorenzo Kingdom’s God-Making Plan. If the plan succeeds and Mora reaches Saint Spirit Rank, Green’s influence over him could disappear—though Mora’s rise might also benefit Green politically.
  • Green travels to Luwa City, where Modi and the Golden Dragon Girl are believed to be hiding.
  • Four members of the Sison Kingdom’s Hound Squad confront Green, believing he is a wanted Demon Warlock. Their leader unleashes a swarm of man-eating beetles, which kills several civilians.
  • Green’s dog, Erha, transforms into a Hell Two-Headed Hound. The beetles freeze in terror, and the four Hounds flee. Erha quickly catches them.
  • Green sends the leader’s soul into the Nightmare Kingdom. Before the remaining captive can speak, an implanted bomb detonates and kills him; Green escapes the blast using Spirit World Traversal.
  • Modi arrives and identifies Green by several of his names, including Wood Slater and Green Wilson.

Character developments

  • Green weighs the risks and rewards of Mora’s apparent ambitions, then handles the Hound Squad with confidence. His ability to protect himself and evade the bomb underscores his power, while his measured politeness toward Modi shows caution in the face of a far stronger opponent.
  • Erha shifts from a goofy, treat-seeking dog into a fearsome Hell Two-Headed Hound, revealing both his lethal strength and his affectionate, comic side.
  • Modi appears composed and self-assured. By naming Green’s identities, he signals that he knows more about him than Green expected.
  • The Hound Squad are shown to be capable but overconfident; their covert training and loyalty are undermined by the military’s willingness to kill them rather than risk their defection.

Significant themes

  • Power and political leverage: Mora’s possible advancement could reshape his relationship with Green and the balance of influence between them.
  • Hidden identities and information: Green’s aliases, the Hounds’ tracking, and Modi’s recognition make knowledge itself a source of danger and advantage.
  • Institutional cruelty: The military’s implanted bombs reveal how expendable its agents are to their own leadership.
  • The cost of violence: The beetle attack kills civilians who are merely in the way, contrasting the Hounds’ casual brutality with Green’s focused response.

Character interactions

  • Green’s thoughts reveal his uneasy dependence on—and suspicion of—Grand Duke Mora.
  • The Hounds taunt and attack Green, only to panic when Erha exposes his true form.
  • Erha’s loyalty is paired with playful dependence: after the fight, he returns to Green for a treat.
  • Green briefly questions a surviving Hound, but the implanted bomb silences him.
  • Modi approaches Green calmly and addresses him by multiple names, setting up a tense confrontation.

Ch. 587Green vs. Modi

Key plot points and events

  • Green confronts Modi, who has realized Green tracked him because of the Sphere of Faith. Modi decides to fight rather than keep running.
  • Green withdraws his Demon Warlock clone and enters the Death Angel, then summons her and the Skeleton Lord to attack.
  • Modi displays Psychic Energy infused with a trace of Divinity and conjures a gigantic, indistinct colossus. He also uses illusions or substitutes to evade Green’s attacks.
  • The Skeleton Lord battles the colossus, damaging it repeatedly. He notices a ruby-like object beneath its head but prudently avoids treating it as an obvious weakness, striking its legs instead.
  • Green eventually locates Modi’s real body. Using the Death Angel’s exceptional swordsmanship, he pierces Modi’s chest through the weakest point in his magical barrier.
  • Modi retaliates with dangerous golden rays. The Death Angel’s wings block some of them, but even brief contact jolts Green’s consciousness, forcing him to retreat.
  • Modi survives, but his lung is badly wounded and his injury is worsened by the Death Angel’s Death Psychic Energy and undead poison. The colossus is also close to collapsing.

Character developments

  • Green fights with calculated aggression, combining the Death Angel’s skill, the Skeleton Lord’s strength, and an unexpected underground Blade Storm ambush. He recognizes the danger of Modi’s golden attack and withdraws in time.
  • Modi begins confident and composed, but Green’s strength and the severity of his wound shatter his certainty. He recognizes that his long run of success has made him overconfident.
  • The Skeleton Lord demonstrates both tremendous power and sound battlefield judgment, refusing to pursue a possible baited weakness.
  • The Death Angel serves as Green’s combat vessel and proves formidable in both attack and defense.

Significant themes

  • Overconfidence and its cost: Modi’s assumption of inevitable victory leaves him unprepared for Green’s abilities.
  • Strategy alongside strength: Illusions, feints, careful target selection, and timely retreat matter as much as brute force.
  • Necromancy’s ruthless nature: Green’s poisoned weapons reflect a discipline built around death and practical, uncompromising methods.
  • Hidden danger and uncertainty: Modi’s shifting phantoms, mysterious golden rays, and the colossus’s unclear weakness keep both sides wary.

Character interactions

  • Green and Modi face off over the Sphere of Faith, with Modi choosing direct confrontation and Green answering with his strongest summoned fighters.
  • Green’s coordination with the Death Angel lets him exploit Modi’s defenses and land a severe wound.
  • The Skeleton Lord engages the colossus while Green fights Modi, dividing Modi’s forces and steadily weakening his summoned giant.
  • Modi’s golden-ray counterattack forces Green to prioritize survival, turning the battle from a near-certain cornering into an ongoing, dangerous struggle.

Ch. 588593 The Flame of Revolution

Plot and events

  • While badly injured, Modi reflects on his growing arrogance and recognizes that he had begun to act like the “child of destiny” his revolution opposes. He recommits himself to helping ordinary people overthrow oppressive powers, even if he dies or fails.
  • This renewed conviction makes his aura surge toward Mid Calamity Rank and awakens the Revolutionary Flame. He attacks Green’s Death Angel, whose swords cut Modi to pieces—but the flame consumes his remains and overwhelms Death Angel, seemingly destroying Green’s consciousness.
  • Modi then realizes Green has survived. Green, speaking through Death Angel, fatally wounds him and cuts him apart again. Skeleton Lord captures Modi’s Sphere of Faith, while the Revolutionary Flame proves too dangerous for Death Angel to take.
  • The flame escapes through a spatial rift. Arudika arrives too late to stop Green from retreating, but lands a devastating blow that badly damages Death Angel. Green withdraws with Skeleton Lord and the Sphere of Faith.
  • Arudika reunites with Modi, who returns as a spirit formed from the flame. Though he nearly died, he says the ordeal revealed a path toward Mid Calamity Rank. He has fused his soul with the Revolutionary Flame, tying his survival to the revolution’s ultimate fate.

Character developments and interactions

  • Modi moves from self-reproach to renewed resolve. His apparent defeat becomes a turning point in his cultivation, but his bond with the Revolutionary Flame carries a potentially fatal cost.
  • Green demonstrates that his control of the undead is not simply a Soul Link that can be severed by consuming his soul. He exploits Modi’s confidence, kills him once, and escapes with the Sphere of Faith.
  • Arudika arrives furious and strikes Death Angel in retaliation, but her lateness leaves her feeling guilty. Her concern for Modi contrasts with her anger at his attempt to dismiss the danger.
  • Modi and Arudika share a close, trusting relationship: she worries over his near-death, while he reassures her and focuses on the opportunity his ordeal has revealed.

Significant themes

  • Rejecting destiny: Modi’s revolution aims to prove that ordinary people can shape their own future rather than submit to fate or those who claim divine authority.
  • Conviction and sacrifice: Modi’s renewed ideals empower him, but his fusion with the Revolutionary Flame makes his life inseparable from the revolution’s eventual success or failure.
  • Defeat as transformation: Both Modi’s near-death and his clash with Green become catalysts for insight and change.
  • The cost of revolution: The flame may help remake the world, yet its eventual extinction—and Modi’s death—are bound to the revolution’s triumph.

Ch. 589Modified Death Angel

Plot points

  • Green repairs the Death Angel in the Graveyard, spending over 50,000 Psychic Energy. Its performance against the Golden Dragon Girl exposes a serious flaw: Divine Power Blessing gives it Calamity Rank strength, but its underlying Legendary Rank body cannot withstand a powerful enemy’s attacks.
  • Green considers upgrading or replacing the construct. Since faith is useful mainly to deities, he refuses to keep the Sphere of Faith and instead asks Grand Duke Mora what he will pay for it.
  • In Xisothon, King Carter V’s officers confirm that Modi and the Demon Warlock were at the ruined city, though they cannot identify the warlock. Facing mounting military pressure, Carter orders Prince Biden to attack the Holy Light Church’s First Defensive Line at any cost.
  • Black Claw examines the Death Angel and proposes a radical overhaul: retain its head and power core, then install them in a custom Alchemy Mecha. He believes this could raise it to at least Early Calamity Rank.
  • Green agrees with the concept but, unwilling to risk one of his few Calamity Rank fighters, orders Black Claw to test the method on Skeleton Soldiers first. A successful design could eventually enable Green to equip his Undead troops with mecha.

Character developments and interactions

  • Green recognizes the limits of his Death Angel, acts pragmatically over the costly Sphere of Faith, and balances ambition with caution by requiring tests before approving the overhaul.
  • Black Claw is exhausted but energized by his work. He confidently presents an ambitious plan, drawing on his mechanical-alchemy expertise.
  • Carter V appears calculating and resolute: he sees Sison as vulnerable to exploitation and believes the kingdom must demonstrate its strength to protect its future.
  • Carter and his officers discuss the investigation, while Green negotiates with Grand Duke Mora and later consults Black Claw about the Death Angel.

Significant themes

  • Strength versus structural limits: temporary enhancement cannot replace a fundamentally inadequate body.
  • Innovation balanced against risk: the mecha project could transform Green’s forces, but failure might cost him a rare Calamity Rank combatant.
  • Political survival and sacrifice: Carter sees Sison as expendable to larger powers and chooses bold military action to preserve its interests.
  • Pragmatism and exchange: Green treats the Sphere of Faith as a valuable asset and expects compensation rather than giving it away.

Ch. 590Skeleton Soldier Marines

Key plot points and events

  • With labor and funding secured, Green revives his plan to equip his Skeleton Soldiers and Zombies with Alchemy Mecha. Black Claw suggests a more efficient design: discard most of each Undead’s body and use only its Soulfire-bearing skull and spine as the mecha’s core.
  • Black Claw begins converting his old factory into a much larger production facility. Green also arranges to buy machinery from the Divine Eagle Empire, aiming eventually to produce mecha on a huge scale.
  • The first Skeleton Soldier Marine Mech is designed around Black Claw’s Marine Mech, with a long Dragon-Hunting Rifle. It removes life-support systems, uses a Death Psychic Energy converter, and carries fuel sufficient for several months.
  • A Marine Mech can raise a basic Skeleton Soldier’s combat level from roughly [lv1] to [lv4] or [lv5], but mass production will be expensive. Even at a projected unit cost below 10,000 Gold Pounds, equipping ten thousand troops would cost around 100 million, before fuel, ammunition, and maintenance.
  • Green watches Prototype Number One being assembled: a Cyclops strips a Skeleton Soldier down to its skull and spine, revives its Soulfire in a tank of concentrated Death Psychic Energy, and a mechanical arm installs it in the mecha. Its skull sits inside the chest and links by mithril wires to an Evil-Eye Monster’s eye in the helmet.

Character developments

  • Green shifts from treating Undead like ordinary soldiers to viewing their bodies as replaceable components. His ambition grows, but he is sobered by the enormous costs of realizing it.
  • Black Claw demonstrates his ingenuity and commitment, driving the workshop’s design and the Marine Mech’s development despite the demanding work.
  • The Skeleton Soldiers remain loyal and useful, but the prototype process reveals the disturbing physical sacrifices required to turn them into enhanced troops.

Significant themes

  • Military power and its price: The mecha promise a major increase in battlefield strength, but production, fuel, ammunition, and upkeep threaten to consume Green’s wealth.
  • Instrumental treatment of the Undead: Their loyalty and fearlessness make them valuable to Green, while their bodies are treated as expendable material.
  • Industrial ambition: Green is moving from individual inventions toward large-scale mechanized warfare.
  • Protection through transformation: The skull’s placement inside the mecha’s chest prioritizes its survival, even as the Undead soldier is radically altered.

Character interactions

  • Green relies on Black Claw’s expertise and backs his proposal with substantial funding and access to trade connections.
  • Black Claw explains each stage of the prototype to Green, while a Cyclops performs the brutal preparation and the machinery completes the installation.
  • The Evil-Eye Monster’s eye in the helmet is a grim reminder of the army’s recent annihilation of an entire tribe under Penny’s command.

Ch. 591Prince Biden's Invitation

Plot and key events

  • Black Claw proposes fitting Alchemy Mecha with Evil Eye eyeballs. Their ability to form Soul Links could let Green coordinate troops over a network, with the Alchemy Computer and Tower Spirit Claire potentially serving as a command hub.
  • Green and Black Claw plan a two-tier force: one mecha-equipped Marine Skeleton Soldier leading ten mecha-equipped Kobold Zombies. The Kobolds are cheap, numerous, and do not count toward Green’s Mental Power Limit. If successful, Green could command a direct army of over a hundred thousand.
  • Green assigns Black Claw, Professor Arkansas, and Dr. Vincent to develop both mecha models. The main challenge is keeping the Kobold version effective while costing under two thousand Gold Pounds.
  • Before Green can contact Grand Duke Mora about the Sphere of Faith, Prince Biden of the Sison Kingdom invites him to meet, having learned that Green possesses it.
  • Green arrives at the Sison–Holy Light Church front in the guise of Takrama. Sison’s airships and mecha are gaining an advantage, despite the Church’s individually stronger soldiers. Biden leaves the battle to meet Green.
  • Biden recognizes Green’s connection to the killing of Marquis Boladi and the blocking of Wrath of Holy Light. Green refuses to be intimidated and demands that Biden state his purpose. Biden confirms his interest in the Sphere of Faith and asks to discuss it; Green asks what he is offering.

Character developments and interactions

  • Green thinks strategically about turning technological advances into a much larger force. He remains wary and assertive in his meeting with Biden, keeping the Skeleton Lord ready and refusing to be drawn into accusations.
  • Black Claw demonstrates ingenuity by adapting Evil Eye traits into a communications and command system, then helps shape the force structure and its mecha requirements.
  • The Kobold Shaman is distressed that his Zombies have become marginal fighters; Green’s plan offers them a renewed role.
  • Prince Biden appears politically independent and possibly ambitious: he secretly approaches Green, leaves the front during a major battle, and seeks the Sphere of Faith. He tests Green by bringing up Boladi’s death, but Green stands his ground.
  • The exchange between Green and Biden is tense and transactional. Each knows the other has secrets and leverage, and neither trusts the other.

Significant themes

  • Technology as a force multiplier: mecha and Soul Links can let weaker troops compete with individually superior enemies.
  • Practical adaptation and inclusion: the plan repurposes Evil Eye remains and gives the overlooked Kobold Zombies a meaningful place in Green’s army.
  • Scale and control: Green aims not merely to increase troop numbers, but to create a vast force he can command directly.
  • Power and political self-interest: the battlefield and Biden’s secret approach suggest that military conflicts and royal loyalties are shaped by competing ambitions as well as stated causes.

Ch. 592597: A Trap Within a Trap

Plot and key events

  • Green is building an Undead mecha force and needs an industrial base in the Undead World to produce and repair its machines. Because Lorenzo lacks the necessary technology, he proposes that Sison provide a complete Alchemy Mecha production chain in exchange for the Sphere of Faith.
  • Prince Biden offers 50 million Gold Pounds, but Green dismisses the money and insists on the industrial system. He briefly displays the Sphere, prompting Biden to reach for it; the Skeleton Lord intervenes.
  • Biden then drops the pretense of negotiation. He reveals that he has arranged for two Calamity Rank members of the Holy Light Church to help seize the Sphere, while a Magic Array seals the area and conceals the fight.
  • Green reveals that he suspected the invitation was a trap and has identified Biden’s backup plans, including using the Abyss Club or a valuable alchemical machine as bait. Biden realizes Green must have his own plan.
  • Carter V appears and shatters the sealing array. Green’s allies arrive as well, including Longdi, General George Wei, Princess Mulesina, and two Calamity Rank clerics of the Church of the Light of Wisdom. Biden recognizes that he has been caught in a countertrap.

Character developments and interactions

  • Green is shown to be ambitious and practical: he values a lasting industrial foundation more than a huge cash payment. Though cautious about Biden, he deliberately enters the meeting and stays composed when the trap is revealed.
  • Prince Biden proves calculating and ruthless, prepared to use force and allied with the Holy Light Church. His confidence falters once Green exposes his preparations and Carter V arrives.
  • The Skeleton Lord protects Green from Biden’s sudden attempt to grab him, demonstrating its role as both bodyguard and deterrent.
  • Carter V and Green’s allies turn the apparent ambush into a reversal, though the chapter ends just as the confrontation is about to unfold.

Significant themes

  • Industrial capacity and self-sufficiency: Green’s ambition depends not merely on acquiring mecha but on building the industries needed to sustain them.
  • Deception and counterdeception: Both sides prepare hidden contingencies, but Biden’s trap is ultimately outmaneuvered.
  • Power, loyalty, and political ambition: Biden’s alliance with the Holy Light Church suggests he is willing to reshape political loyalties to secure the throne.
  • The limits of technology: The chapter notes that alchemy has declined since the fall of the Alchemy God, yet Sison’s fusion of machinery and alchemy offers a distinctive path forward.

Ch. 593Conversion Rune

Key events

  • Green reveals that he had warned Grand Duke Mora about Prince Biden’s plan. Mora passed the information to King Carter V and sent Princess Mulesina, helping set up an ambush with six Calamity Rank allies. In exchange, Mora would receive the Sphere of Faith, while Green negotiated for factories and technology on behalf of his true ally.
  • Surrounded and outmatched, Prince Biden reveals the Conversion Rune on his forehead. The Holy Light Church branded him six years earlier after exploiting his desperation to save his dying mother; they failed to save her and used her soul to force his conversion.
  • The Rune makes Biden a puppet, compelled to obey the Church. He explains that it was the Church’s order—not his own ambition—that drove him to seek the Sphere of Faith. When the Rune takes control, he escapes in a pillar of light with the Church’s two silent Calamity Rank companions.
  • Carter V is furious but regains his composure. He thanks Green and honors the promised deal: factories and advanced alchemical technology for Green’s territory. Carter does not realize Green intends to build the factories in the Mist World.
  • Carter and his allies move to stabilize the battlefield and contain the damage Biden’s plans caused. The Divine Eagle Empire and the Light of Wisdom also commit forces to prevent the conflict from worsening.
  • Left alone, Green and Princess Mulesina reunite. She recognizes Erha as “Little Meatball,” and he responds with terrified recognition.

Character developments and interactions

  • Green proves cautious and politically shrewd: he uses the crisis to secure valuable industrial resources while keeping his real plans secret. He and Mulesina share an easy rapport.
  • Carter V shifts from anger at Green’s demands to gratitude for his warning. Biden’s betrayal becomes personal, turning Carter’s opposition to the Holy Light Church from political policy into a matter of revenge.
  • Prince Biden is revealed as a tragic, coerced traitor. His bond with Carter was genuine, but the Church’s control has left him unable to choose freely.
  • Grand Duke Mora emerges as an exceptionally calculating broker, arranging the deal to gain the Sphere of Faith without paying for it.
  • Erha is comically frightened by Mulesina, who knows him from childhood.

Significant themes

  • Coercion and moral responsibility: Biden’s apparent betrayal masks the Church’s control over him.
  • Political maneuvering and hidden motives: Green, Mora, and Carter each pursue different interests through the same crisis.
  • Personal grief amid political conflict: The Church’s exploitation of Biden’s mother transforms a national struggle into a personal vendetta.
  • Trust and loyalty: Carter must reconcile his memories of a loyal friend with the actions of the puppet Biden has become.

Ch. 594Divine Runes

Key events

  • Princess Mulesina recognizes Erha as a childhood companion, but Erha reacts with terror. She threatens to make him into hotpot, then turns to Green’s recent requests for machinery and factories, eager to join his next venture. Green promises to explain later.
  • The story shifts to the Lorenzo Kingdom’s God-Making Plan. At the ruined site of Feilagon County, a gigantic Divine Broodmother is being used to transform Isabelle, Duke Vra’s wife, into a Deity. It has been supplied with the blood, souls, energy, and organic matter of hundreds of millions of creatures and more than ten million people.
  • Grand Duke Mora gathers the region’s Calamity Rank powers, the Rune Federation, and Marshal Komodo of the Divine Eagle Empire. The empire had previously stayed out of the plan, but sends Komodo as a fallback as its own God-Making effort faces uncertainty and the wider war between powers and their patron Deities grows beyond control.
  • Mora launches the Sphere of Faith into the Broodmother. Isabelle absorbs its light, and after more than an hour, mysterious Divine Runes appear across her body—the crucial first sign that the transformation may be succeeding. As the runes begin to stabilize, she unexpectedly opens her eyes.

Character developments and interactions

  • Green and Mulesina: Mulesina’s proven success as Green’s business partner makes her keen to join his new scheme; Green keeps the plan private for the moment.
  • Erha and Mulesina: Erha’s frightened response suggests painful memories of their shared past, while Mulesina initially interprets his behavior as a personal slight.
  • Grand Duke Mora: Though now mild and restrained, Mora’s past reputation is revealed: he once killed a powerful imperial duke and threatened the nobles who demanded revenge, forcing them to back down.
  • Duke Vra and Mrs. Cassel: Both watch Isabelle’s transformation with conflicting emotions. Vra wonders whether the woman he loved still exists, while Cassel confronts the prospect that her envied sister may become a god. Neither can influence the outcome.
  • Komodo and Mora: Komodo treats Mora with deference, reflecting Mora’s strength and the respect—and fear—he commands.

Significant themes

  • The cost of making a god: The plan depends on mass death and the exploitation of Isabelle’s body, making divine ascension horrifying as well as awe-inspiring.
  • Power and political calculation: Nations and Deities maneuver for advantage; the Divine Eagle Empire’s involvement is driven by strategic contingency, not simple loyalty.
  • Identity and transformation: Vra’s fear that Isabelle may no longer be herself underscores the uncertainty of becoming divine.
  • Hidden pasts and relationships: Erha’s reaction hints at unresolved history, while Mora’s contrast between a violent past and calm present complicates his character.

Ch. 595Void Tentacle

Key plot points and events

  • Isabelle, vessel of a Deity, awakens in a strange trance as the Divine Broodmother turns black and a spatial rift opens to the Void. A Void Yin Spirit—powerful enough to rival a High God—projects its consciousness into the Broodmother.
  • A Void Tentacle pushes through the rift. Grand Duke Mora rallies the gathered fighters to stop the Spirit before it can widen the breach.
  • Duke Vra and Mrs. Cassel realize that Rondok, who carried the Void Yin Spirit’s consciousness, has disappeared. They conceal this, fearing the consequences for the God-Making Plan.
  • Washington sends Tanasova back to the Main World to preserve the Rune Federation’s strength. Mora reveals astonishing power, vastly exceeding Marshal Komodo’s, and charges the tentacle.
  • Meanwhile, Green and Princess Mulesina inspect her expanding industrial operation in Void World 26. Green explains that he is developing costly Skeleton Soldier Marine Mechs to compensate for having fewer, stronger contracted Undead. Mulesina is interested in whether the machines can be made profitable and asks if their cost can be reduced.

Character developments and interactions

  • Grand Duke Mora takes command in the crisis and demonstrates that his strength far surpasses what the others expected.
  • Washington prioritizes the Rune Federation’s survival by ordering Tanasova to withdraw; Tanasova accepts the duty without protest.
  • Duke Vra and Mrs. Cassel hide Rondok’s disappearance rather than risk exposing a threat to the God-Making Plan.
  • Princess Mulesina has grown more sociable and ambitious, transforming her castle and building a business around Bone Dragon products. She values Green as a partner and evaluates his mecha project chiefly for its commercial potential.
  • Green explains his strategy: because he cannot command vast Undead armies, he must increase each unit’s effectiveness. He is open with Mulesina about his project and its high cost.

Significant themes

  • Sacrifice and responsibility: Tanasova retreats for the sake of his people, while the remaining fighters face a potentially catastrophic enemy.
  • Unequal power and precarious alliances: Mora’s strength dwarfs that of his allies, and the crisis could leave rival nations dependent on one another.
  • Adaptation through technology: Green seeks to compensate for limited numbers by strengthening individual Undead with machinery.
  • Profit and partnership: Mulesina’s commercial drive reshapes her life, but she chooses cooperation with Green over taking the venture for herself.

Ch. 596A Fifty-Fifty Split

Key plot points

  • Green proposes producing advanced Alchemy Mecha, including a cheaper, stripped-down model. He offers Princess Mulesina a 30/70 profit split: she supplies raw materials and handles distribution, while he manages manufacturing.
  • Mulesina negotiates for an even split, arguing that she can secure government contracts from the Lorenzo Kingdom, the Rune Federation, and the Divine Eagle Empire. Green initially counters with 40/60.
  • She reveals the real basis for her proposal: the cheaper mecha will cost around 1,500–2,000 Gold Pounds to make but can be sold exclusively to governments for 3,000. After paying intermediaries, the partners should receive about 2,700 per unit. Green accepts the 50/50 deal.
  • They divide responsibilities. Mulesina will develop raw-material supplies and refining factories; Green promises a production-ready design within three days. He suggests giving the Divine Eagle Empire a few units for battlefield trials, though Mulesina dislikes the idea of giving them away.
  • Mulesina follows through on the sales strategy, visiting Princess Muer Yatis with an expensive gift to strengthen their relationship before later discussing purchases.
  • In the Mist World, Claire uses the Alchemy Computer to simulate the stripped-down mecha. The simulations are effective enough that the design reaches mass-production finalization without a physical prototype.
  • Carter V delivers on his promise, preparing twelve factories and 14,000 workers, along with their families. Green hires a Void Ship for over a million Gold Pounds to transport them and their equipment. Machinery previously ordered from the Divine Eagle Empire is also delivered early.

Character developments and interactions

  • Mulesina shows growing commercial skill and confidence. She bargains hard, identifies the profit potential of restricted government sales, and promptly takes steps to build political ties and supply capacity. Her former innocence gives way to a playful, profit-minded—and somewhat miserly—business persona.
  • Green remains calm and practical in negotiations. He recognizes the value of Mulesina’s sales access and accepts her split once he understands the pricing strategy. He also prioritizes speed, spending heavily to secure factories, workers, and machinery.
  • Claire demonstrates the growing usefulness of her connection to the Alchemy Computer, contributing roughly 40% of its processing power and enabling virtual testing.
  • Mulesina affectionately but roughly handles Erha, her childhood companion, while Green watches with amusement. Their easy familiarity adds a playful note to the business discussion.
  • Carter V keeps his word by assembling the promised factories, workforce, and families; Green takes responsibility for transporting them.

Significant themes

  • Profit, negotiation, and partnership: The chapter centers on bargaining over how expertise, resources, manufacturing, and market access translate into shares.
  • Government procurement and controlled markets: Restricting sales to governments allows the partners to charge far more than production costs, exposing the tension between public purchasing and private profiteering.
  • Technology and industrial scale: Computer simulation accelerates development, while factories, labor, raw materials, and transport make mass production possible.
  • Changing identities: Mulesina’s transformation into a shrewd capitalist is presented humorously, as Green reflects that he may have helped turn a sheltered princess into a profiteer.

Ch. 597God

Key plot points and events

  • Green rapidly develops infrastructure near the human settlement: roads, planned railways, factories, housing, and schools. He relocates nearly 800,000 workers and their families from the Sison Kingdom away from the Graveyard’s dangerous Death Psychic Energy, aiming to integrate them into the existing community.
  • Black Claw completes the first blue-painted Marine Mech prototype. The cheaper model uses an automatic Enchanted Rifle instead of a costly Dragon-Hunting Rifle; its smoky Steam Power core is imperfect but does not hinder its performance.
  • A Kobold Zombie is fitted into the mech and linked remotely through a Soul Link network. After an initial frequency error is corrected, Green successfully commands it to charge and destroy a target. Tests show promise, though the mech’s limited intelligence means operators will need standardized commands. Green intends to mass-produce and battle-test it amid the war between the Divine Eagle Empire and the Holy Light Church.
  • In Void World 7, Duke Vra and Mrs. Cassel discover Rondok has been left an empty shell, his consciousness gone. Duke Vra recognizes that his schemes are powerless against a deity’s strength.
  • They witness Isabelle emerge from the Divine Broodmother transformed into a grotesque monster. Divine Runes purge the Void Yin Spirit’s influence, then mutate her body—but also stabilize and nurture Divinity, signaling her transformation into a deity.

Character developments and interactions

  • Green acts as an ambitious but pragmatic industrial planner: he provides workers with homes and schools to secure their commitment, and pushes the mech toward production despite its flaws.
  • Black Claw leads the prototype’s development and works with Claire to fix the Soul Link receiver. Green then tests the machine by issuing commands through the network.
  • Duke Vra shifts from confidence in elaborate plotting to grim recognition that divine power can overwhelm even careful plans. He and Mrs. Cassel share the shock of Isabelle’s transformation.
  • Isabelle undergoes a dramatic change from being inside the Divine Broodmother to becoming a monstrous, emerging deity.

Significant themes

  • Industrialization and control: Green builds an economy and workforce designed to support his larger military ambitions.
  • Pragmatism and standardization: Cheap equipment, imperfect prototypes, and obedient Zombie pilots are treated as acceptable if they serve a clear purpose.
  • The limits of planning: Duke Vra’s schemes fail to account for the overwhelming force of a deity.
  • Transformation and the cost of divinity: Isabelle’s rise to godhood is accompanied by horrifying physical mutation.

Ch. 598Outer Gods

Key plot points and events

  • The God-Making Plan succeeds, but its newborn Deity emerges as an enormous, grotesque being rather than a beautiful humanoid. Its Divine Runes are stable, and Divinity is forming within it.
  • A Void Tentacle attacks the newborn god, tearing away a Divine Rune. The creature retaliates, and the two begin a fierce battle that drives the assembled Calamity Rank experts away.
  • Grand Duke Mora realizes the plan has not failed: the Void Yin Spirit’s interference awakened Isabelle’s sleeping divine consciousness. The plan is now beyond his control, since her consciousness can no longer be sealed.
  • Akara arrives, revealing herself as the Goddess of the Night’s chosen follower and the vessel for the Goddess’s presence. The Goddess calls the newborn being an Outer God and praises Mora for bringing it close to completion. Mora suspects she had been manipulating events for her own ends.
  • Elsewhere, prototypes of Skeleton and Kobold Marine Armor are finalized. A hundred Kobold units are produced for field testing and sent to the front lines, where they are assigned to a cannon-fodder force.

Character developments and interactions

  • Grand Duke Mora shifts from shock to understanding when he recognizes the creature as a true god. Though he has lost control of his plan, he remains composed and confronts Akara over her apparent manipulation. He nevertheless shows deference when the Goddess of the Night manifests.
  • Marshal Komodo returns badly wounded, missing an arm, and asks Mora what to do. Washington is also seriously injured; his damaged foundation may prevent him from advancing further.
  • Akara arrives with a calm, authoritative manner, claiming she must contain the battle before it destroys the Void World. Her reunion with Mora exposes their past love and conflict. When the Goddess of the Night speaks through her, the encounter becomes one between a Deity and the assembled mortals.
  • Princess Mulesina arranges for the Kobold armor to be tested in combat. Prince Simdo, treating the request as minor, sends the units to the dangerous front lines.

Significant themes

  • The true nature of gods: Deities may be monstrous and alien; familiar divine images are idealized representations, not necessarily their real forms.
  • Ambition and loss of control: Mora’s century-long project achieves its aim but awakens a consciousness he cannot contain, while a greater power may have guided him.
  • Mortality before divinity: Even powerful Calamity Rank figures are gravely vulnerable in a battle between gods.
  • War and experimentation: New armor is rushed from production into frontline combat, where the soldiers effectively serve as test subjects.

Ch. 599Battle on the Meka Plains

Plot points and events

  • A hundred Kobold Marine Mechas, including ten high-spec Skeleton Soldier models, are deployed on the Divine Eagle Empire’s frontline against the Holy Light Church’s Criminal Army. Green secretly joins as a technician so he can personally command them and test their battlefield performance.
  • Both armies charge after their respective war songs amplify their troops with magical and religious effects. The huge forces collide, producing horrific casualties.
  • Green spreads his mechas out along the flank and orders them to fire their Dragon-Hunting Rifles. Their opening volley wipes out more than six hundred enemy soldiers before close combat reaches them.
  • A towering enemy fighter, Wak, charges the squad. The mechas coordinate automatically and kill him with three concentrated volleys.
  • The squad then sweeps around the enemy flank, supporting nearby allied troops and helping destroy the forces facing them. Within minutes, the mechas become the focal point of a growing force of about three thousand soldiers.
  • Commanders on both sides notice the unit. The Divine Eagle Empire’s general orders the battle recorded and sent to Prince Simdo; a young Holy Light Church bishop investigates the threat from above using an owl’s vision.

Character developments

  • Green moves from eager experimentation to surprise at how decisively the mechas perform. His familiar strategy-game instincts help him command them, though the battlefield’s reality quickly replaces his sense of playing a game.
  • The Divine Eagle Empire’s general recognizes the mechas’ value and frustration grows over his own empire’s research failures.
  • The young bishop responds to the threat by personally seeking a closer view, showing concern and initiative.

Character interactions

  • Green’s direct commands guide the ten Skeleton Soldier models, while the Soul Link network lets the other ninety follow their orders in unison.
  • The mechas coordinate with nearby allied troops, whose soldiers rally around the unit and join its advance.
  • The Empire’s general reacts to the unit by ordering surveillance and reporting, while the bishop and his cleric use an owl scout to locate it.

Significant themes

  • Technology and battlefield power: A small, well-equipped unit can influence a vast battle.
  • Coordination and leadership: Green’s command system turns the mechas into an effective force, and nearby soldiers adapt to their success.
  • The brutality of war: Magical inspiration does not prevent mass death; it intensifies the armies’ willingness to charge.
  • Innovation and institutional failure: The mechas’ performance highlights the gap between Green’s work and the Empire’s established research efforts.

Ch. 600The Stunning Marine Armor

Plot points and events

  • A young bishop orders Holy Light cannon fire against Green’s Marine Armor squad, despite the fact that allied troops remain in the blast zone. He justifies their deaths as a chance for “sinners” to redeem themselves.
  • The volley destroys six Kobold Marine Armor units and kills many nearby cannon-fodder soldiers. A costly Skeleton Soldier unit survives a direct hit, though badly damaged; it remains operational enough to coordinate the other mechas through the Soul Link.
  • By the end of a day’s fighting, only 54 of Green’s original 100 units remain. Of 23 recoverable mechas, just four can be repaired immediately, though Black Claw’s robust design lets damaged units keep fighting well past the point when their effectiveness begins to decline.
  • The trial impresses Prince Simdo, the Divine Eagle Empire’s supreme commander, who is desperate to reduce the mounting casualties of a prolonged war. He asks Princess Mulesina whether the mechas can be purchased in large numbers.
  • Green and Mulesina begin preparing to negotiate a major contract, potentially for hundreds of thousands of units. Green sees the deal as a source of enormous profit and a chance to become a powerful arms supplier.
  • Mulesina approaches Princess Muer Yatis, offering her a commission. Yatis refuses to rely on friendship or promises alone and checks the mechas’ battlefield performance directly with Prince Simdo. His positive assessment reassures her, while Simdo realizes her involvement will make it difficult for the military to bargain the price down.

Character developments and interactions

  • Green is impressed by the mechas’ durability and views the battle as a successful test, despite the losses. He shifts quickly from reviewing performance to planning production and a major sales deal.
  • Black Claw’s design is validated in combat: its damage tolerance keeps mechas functional under severe punishment, though extensive battlefield repairs remain difficult.
  • Prince Simdo moves from surprise at the test results to seeing the mechas as a possible answer to the empire’s unsustainable casualties. He wants a large purchase but is frustrated that Yatis’s commission weakens his bargaining position.
  • Princess Mulesina acts swiftly to turn the military’s interest into a deal, coordinating with Green and recruiting Yatis as a broker.
  • Princess Muer Yatis shows caution and political judgment. Though tempted by the commission, she verifies the product’s value before committing, and Simdo’s endorsement gives her confidence.
  • The young bishop’s callous treatment of his own troops contrasts with the empire’s concern over losing soldiers, whom its leaders recognize as necessary to social stability.

Significant themes

  • The human cost of war: The chapter contrasts the empire’s growing concern over casualties with the Church commander’s willingness to sacrifice “sinners.”
  • Technology as both protection and business: Marine Armor can reduce battlefield losses, but its performance also creates a lucrative market and political leverage.
  • Power behind commerce: Green recognizes that becoming a major arms supplier could bring influence as well as wealth.
  • Pragmatism and trust: Yatis insists on independent evidence before accepting a profitable arrangement, while Simdo’s battlefield judgment becomes central to the negotiations.
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