Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• As the Magic Net spreads, Jiang Hao observes growing belief in the gods he has portrayed, alongside hidden skepticism. He knows some earlier displays were illusions, but plans to make his next spectacle real.
• In Washington, President Hodgson learns that Florence has contacted Yog-Sothoth and received seven mystical spells. A video shows Florence summoning terrifying creatures; frightened by their apparent ability to look through the screen, Hodgson stops watching.
• Professor Parsonkin reports that Florence demonstrated four spells—summoning a Byakhee, Ghoul, Burrowing Worm, and resurrecting the dead. The remaining spells—Gate of Kadath, Contact Hound of Tindalos, and Contact Nyarlathotep—were withheld because they are dangerous.
• Hodgson eagerly opens a document titled The Seven Secret Doctrines of the Earth, hoping the mystical knowledge will help America regain global dominance, though he cannot read its script.
• The secretary then reports that the secret military base in Djibouti, where Florence and the researchers were held, has been destroyed.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Hao is confident that his newfound status as a True God will let him create genuinely consequential events.
• Hodgson shifts quickly from casual, self-satisfied humor to fear and political ambition. He trusts Parsonkin’s account, avoids watching the frightening footage, and sees the doctrines primarily as a route to national power.
• The secretary rushes to deliver the news but privately resents Hodgson’s awkward expectations and lack of tact.
• Parsonkin acts as the president’s source of information, explaining the spells and cautioning through his report against using the dangerous ones. Hodgson agrees that they should be handled carefully.
• Florence’s contact with Yog-Sothoth gives him formidable and risky powers, while the destruction of the base raises an immediate, unexplained threat.

Significant themes

• Belief and doubt: Public faith in the gods grows even as skepticism persists beneath the surface.
• Power and political ambition: America treats occult knowledge as a means of restoring dominance.
• The danger of forbidden knowledge: The unshown spells and the creatures in Florence’s demonstration make clear that mystical power carries serious risks.
• Illusion becoming reality: Jiang Hao’s transition to true godhood signals that future divine displays may have real consequences.

Plot points and events

• After Djibouti’s base is destroyed, Hodgson realizes Professor Parsonkin called him only half an hour earlier and claimed Florence had performed magic there. He fears the professor may be dead, corrupted, or under supernatural control.
• Hodgson orders all contact with Djibouti cut off and directs personnel to relocate to other countries before returning home.
• In Egypt, millions gather in Milo—ancient Heliopolis and a historic center of Ra worship—for a ceremony honoring the gods.
• Catherine arrives in a ceremonial golden boat and addresses the crowd as Sekhmet, the Lioness Goddess, Goddess of War, and Goddess of Medicine.
• A majestic golden-maned lion pushes through the crowd. When several people try to touch it, lightning strikes them, suggesting the lion is no ordinary animal and warning the crowd away.

Character developments

• Hodgson responds to the supernatural threat cautiously, prioritizing containment over bringing personnel home.
• Catherine is still adjusting to her identity as Sekhmet’s reincarnation. The enormous crowd’s reverence overwhelms her at first, but she gathers herself and delivers the prepared oracle.
• The secretary shares Hodgson’s fear and helps carry out the evacuation order.

Significant themes

• Supernatural danger and uncertainty: Parsonkin’s impossible call raises the possibility that death, possession, or corruption can cross ordinary boundaries.
• Faith and political power: Egypt’s renewed belief in its gods shapes a mass public ceremony and strengthens Catherine’s influence.
• The danger of irreverence: The lightning strike signals that divine presence demands caution and respect.
• Crisis management: Hodgson’s measured response contrasts with the disastrous decision-making associated with fictional leaders.

Character interactions

• Hodgson questions his secretary about the timing of Parsonkin’s call, then gives him evacuation instructions.
• Egyptian priests guide Catherine’s appearance and speech, while also restraining the crowd from assigning her titles that might offend other gods.
• The crowd welcomes Catherine with intense devotion, then reacts with confusion when the lion appears; the lightning abruptly turns curiosity into a supernatural warning.

Key plot points

• A supernatural lion appears at Catherine’s ceremony and, after striking down people who offended him, asks her—whom he calls Sekhmet—to be his lover.
• Egyptian priests denounce him as a blasphemer, while soldiers advance with weapons to defend Catherine and their goddess.
• The lion sneezes, darkening the sky and summoning dangerous lightning. Though the priests retreat in fear, the soldiers hold their ground.
• The lion praises their courage, then reveals his hostility toward Sparta and unleashes a lightning bolt. Catherine’s newly awakened power cannot stop it.
• Gray mist intervenes, followed by a towering divine figure who shields Catherine and confronts the lion, identifying him as Zeus.

Character developments and interactions

• Catherine tries to protect the soldiers with her newly awakened divine power, but discovers it is not yet strong enough to withstand Zeus’s lightning.
• The soldiers remain loyal and courageous despite the overwhelming threat, contrasting with the priests, who fall back once they recognize the lion’s power.
• The lion, Zeus, is arrogant, flirtatious, and casually menacing; he treats the confrontation as entertainment until he attacks.
• Ninitetir, watching from the crowd, recognizes Zeus and connects his behavior to the myths about his past.
• The arriving divine figure comforts Catherine and directly challenges Zeus for entering a land devoted to another god.

Significant themes

• Faith and courage under threat: The soldiers risk their lives for their goddess, while the priests’ bold declarations give way to fear.
• Power and its limits: Catherine’s divine abilities have awakened, but they cannot yet match Zeus’s strength.
• Myth entering the present: Greek and Egyptian religious figures collide in a modern public setting, turning ancient rivalries into immediate danger.

Plot points and events

• After the divine being’s appearance, the storm and mist vanish, leaving a clear, sunlit sky. The Egyptians celebrate Horus as Ra’s incarnation.
• Ninitetir concludes that the visitor is Zeus, king of the Greek gods. Zeus tells Ra that he has changed his fate of growing old and that his divine power is returning.
• Ra resumes his true form and asks Zeus whether he has come for the Wheel of Fortune, a divine artifact stolen from Greece.
• President Clemens fears Zeus will punish him, since he authorized the theft to help Ra. He privately insists that he acted only for Ra’s sake.
• Zeus points skyward, and a brilliant light strikes a nearby building, forming a vast rainbow bridge that stretches from Earth into space.
• Ninitetir recognizes it as the Rainbow Bridge of Norse legend. An eight-legged horse emerges from it, carrying the one-eyed Odin, accompanied by two ravens and two wolves. Ninitetir identifies him as the Norse god.

Character developments

• Ra appears to have escaped—or altered—the fate of growing old, and his divine power is beginning to return.
• Zeus is portrayed as commanding and enigmatic: he confirms Ra’s recovery but does not explain his arrival or respond to Clemens’s unspoken plea.
• Clemens shifts from political confidence to fear and self-justification when confronted with the consequences of stealing the artifact.
• Ninitetir continues interpreting events through mythology, identifying Zeus and then recognizing the Rainbow Bridge and Odin.

Character interactions

• Zeus addresses Ra directly, acknowledging his renewed power; Ra responds by asking about the Wheel of Fortune.
• Clemens watches Zeus anxiously but receives no direct answer or reassurance.
• The arrival of Odin introduces a new divine presence, suggesting that the dispute over the artifact may involve more than Greece and Egypt.

Significant themes

• Renewal and aging: Ra’s restored vitality changes the balance of divine power.
• Faith, fear, and political responsibility: Clemens’s devotion to Ra coexists with fear of accountability for the theft.
• Mythologies converging: Greek, Egyptian, and Norse gods meet in the same unfolding conflict.
• Human interpretation versus divine scale: Ninitetir and the crowd try to make sense of cosmic events through familiar myths and beliefs.

Key plot points and events

• Odin arrives at Egypt’s celebration, accompanied by Sleipnir, his wolves Geri and Freki, and ravens Huginn and Muninn. His presence impresses both the crowd and millions watching the live broadcast.
• Ninitetir is terrified when Odin’s gaze passes over him, relieved only when Odin looks away.
• Online viewers identify Odin and his legendary possessions, spreading details of Norse mythology. The unexpected spectacle drives the broadcast’s audience and ratings sharply upward.
• Odin tells Ra that he wants the Wheel of Fortune. Ra warns him that it cannot avert Ragnarok—the prophesied end of the Norse gods.
• Odin insists he must try. Ra replies that even changing particular fates would not prevent the larger catastrophe: Ragnarok is the ultimate fate of the gods, humanity, and all life, decreed by Orlog.

Character developments and interactions

• Odin appears regal and composed, but his request for the Wheel reveals his determination to resist the fate awaiting his people.
• Ra acts as a grave, authoritative voice of prophecy. He responds to Odin’s hope with certainty that the coming destruction cannot be escaped.
• Their restrained exchange establishes a conflict between Odin’s resolve to act and Ra’s belief that fate is immutable.
• Ninitetir is shown as deeply intimidated by divine power, while the watching public responds to Odin with fascination and growing attention.

Significant themes

• Fate versus agency: Odin wants to challenge destiny, while Ra insists that no individual change can overturn the final outcome.
• The inevitability of endings: Ra presents beginnings and endings—and the eventual decline of all life—as universal truths.
• Myth and public perception: The broadcast turns divine figures into worldwide spectacles, while viewers’ knowledge of myth shapes how they interpret the gods.

Key plot points and events

• As Odin and Ra discuss Orlog, people online learn that it represents the oldest, highest law or fate governing the universe. The prospect of Ragnarok—a prophesied war that will devastate the world—makes viewers fear for their survival.
• Odin suggests that Ragnarok may have become inevitable when he and his brothers killed Ymir and made the world from his body. He then defies that conclusion, declaring that neither Orlog nor fate will decide the gods’ future.
• Ra praises Odin’s sense of responsibility and gives him the Wheel of Fortune, revealing that the artifact had been in Ra’s possession. Odin says his aim is simply to save his world.
• Meanwhile, streamer Zou Ziming is aboard a ship in the Pacific, pretending to take viewers to R’lyeh before admitting he is only going to film sharks. The sea suddenly convulses, and a colossal creature rises from the depths: Jormungandr, the Great Serpent. Ignoring the ship, it roars Odin’s name.

Character developments and interactions

• Odin emerges as a determined, burdened ruler willing to challenge cosmic fate to protect his world. His defiance inspires admiration and support among viewers, particularly in the Nordic countries.
• Ra recognizes Odin’s leadership and responsibility, contrasting him favorably with Zeus, and entrusts him with the Wheel of Fortune.
• Zeus is discussed by viewers as a likely ally against fate, since he too faces a prophecy that his own son will overthrow him. His motives and the prophecy’s outcome remain uncertain.
• Zou Ziming is portrayed as a cautious entertainer: though he uses the danger of R’lyeh to attract attention, he refuses to risk his life. His livestream audience reacts with jokes and skepticism before witnessing the sea monster’s emergence.

Significant themes

• Fate versus free will: Odin refuses to accept that prophecy or Orlog must determine the future.
• Leadership and responsibility: Odin’s desire to save his world earns respect, especially from people who fear being abandoned by their gods.
• Mythology in the modern world: Online discussion, livestreaming, and public reactions show ancient divine conflicts unfolding under modern scrutiny.
• Fear and spectacle: The chapter shifts from debate about cosmic destiny to sudden, overwhelming danger as Jormungandr appears.

Key plot points and events

• A massive creature rises from the seabed during Zou Ziming’s livestream. Viewers speculate that it is Jormungandr, the Great Serpent of Norse mythology.
• Zou, terrified but alive, identifies the creature as the legendary serpent and films it from the Golden Princess.
• A hooded man in dark boots and a brown knitted top appears. The serpent becomes agitated, then calms and addresses him as “Father.”
• The livestream audience recognizes the man as Loki, recalling footage of him taking Jormungandr away after the battle in Iceland. Viewers debate whether the serpent died, how he returned, and whether Odin’s attempt to alter fate has failed.
• Loki silently says something to Jormungandr. The serpent responds with wild laughter, unleashes immense power, darkens the sky, and raises catastrophic storms and waves.

Character developments

• Zou Ziming remains overwhelmed by fear, but gradually steadies himself enough to keep filming and narrating.
• Jormungandr is revealed to be alive or revived, vastly larger than viewers expected, and seemingly devoted to Loki, whom he calls “Father.” His laughter and display of power suggest a volatile, dangerous turn.
• Loki appears as the serpent’s father and apparent confidant, though what he tells Jormungandr remains unknown.

Character interactions

• Zou addresses his livestream audience while trying to document the creature.
• Jormungandr recognizes Loki and speaks to him with filial familiarity.
• Loki communicates something privately or inaudibly; Jormungandr’s reaction is laughter and a show of overwhelming force.
• Viewers collectively interpret the encounter, linking it to the earlier Iceland battle and Odin’s possible attempt to change fate.

Significant themes

• Awe and terror: A distant livestream makes the creature seem like spectacle; facing it directly is paralyzing.
• Fate and its consequences: Viewers suspect Odin tried to avert Ragnarok, but the serpent’s return suggests his plan may have failed.
• Family and resurrection: Loki’s relationship with Jormungandr raises questions about death, loyalty, and whether the serpent was ever truly gone.
• Human limits and uncertainty: Even with footage and theories, the serpent’s scale, history, and intentions remain largely unknowable.

Plot points and events

• Jormungandr’s movement through the Pacific unleashes an immense storm and tsunami, leaving the Golden Princess and its passengers in danger. Zou Ziming panics and retreats into the cabin while his livestream continues.
• Viewers react to the spectacle, comparing the serpent’s power to Nezha’s legendary control of the sea and wondering how the broadcast signal remains stable.
• Weather satellites confirm that the disaster’s scale far exceeds ordinary storms. Pacific nations’ leaders meet, having already followed the livestream and received expert analyses.
• Hodgson warns that Odin’s borrowing of Ra’s Wheel of Fortune and Jormungandr’s return suggest that Ragnarok is near. He identifies the catastrophe as the work of the Icelandic supernatural who previously failed to kill Jormungandr.
• Eastern Isles Prime Minister Tagawa Masamune insists the crisis should be called “Norse Gods’ Ragnarok,” asserting that his country’s patron, Amenominakanushi, is not subject to twilight. He nevertheless urges nations to take action themselves.
• South Korea’s President Moon Sang-woo recalls a document his country’s hackers stole from the White House and reacts with a mysterious smile.

Character developments and interactions

• Zou Ziming is overwhelmed by the disaster and flees to safety, while his livestream makes the event visible to the world.
• Hodgson takes the crisis seriously and seeks cooperation, though he privately resents Tagawa’s confidence and religious posturing.
• Tagawa Masamune, who had planned to retire but stayed after being urged to remain in office, presents himself as a firm believer in Amenominakanushi. He argues that people should not presume a god owes them protection and must help themselves.
• Moon Sang-woo hints that the stolen White House document may give him or his country an advantage.
• The other leaders inwardly mock Tagawa’s certainty, while envying the possibility that his country’s god might actually intervene.

Significant themes

• Human vulnerability before divine power: A godlike being can create a catastrophe beyond any nation’s ability to control.
• Faith and uncertainty: Leaders claim confidence in their gods, but many privately doubt whether those gods exist or will protect them.
• Self-reliance and cooperation: Tagawa argues that people must act rather than simply wait for divine rescue, while the meeting underscores the need for nations to face the threat together.
• The approaching end of an era: The possibility of Ragnarok frames the disaster as part of a larger conflict among gods, not merely a natural calamity.

Plot points and events

• World leaders meet by video conference to discuss a massive natural disaster threatening countries, especially Pacific island nations.
• Hodgson notices Wen Xiangyu smiling and accuses him of taking pleasure in America’s crisis. Wen claims he was simply happy about someone’s new baby.
• Wen secretly dreams of using the stolen spellbook Seven Secret Doctrines of the Earth to gain magical power, reunify his divided country, defeat its enemies, and reshape the world order. But the book has not yet been deciphered, so he hides his ambitions.
• Hodgson exploits Wen’s public display of respect for America, demanding that Wen’s country pay more toward the cost of U.S. troops stationed there. Wen reluctantly agrees to negotiate an increase, fearing political consequences at home.
• Hodgson then returns the meeting to its stated purpose: finding ways to respond to the disaster.

Character developments and interactions

• Wen Xiangyu presents himself as deferential to America while privately resenting it and plotting to surpass it. His ambition is tempered by caution: he knows he cannot act until the spellbook’s magic is usable.
• Hodgson is suspicious, politically shrewd, and openly transactional. He turns Wen’s diplomatic flattery into leverage for a financial concession.
• Other major-power leaders silently mock Wen’s groveling and recognize Hodgson’s tendency to pressure allies. Leaders of smaller nations, meanwhile, are anxious and frustrated that powerful countries are bickering while their own survival may be at stake.

Significant themes

• Public image versus private motives: Leaders offer polished condolences and diplomatic assurances while harboring resentment, ambition, or self-interest.
• Power and exploitation: Hodgson uses America’s influence to extract concessions, while Wen hopes magical knowledge will let his country overturn the existing order.
• Unequal international influence: Smaller nations face potentially existential danger but have little voice in a meeting dominated by major powers.
• Caution before action: Wen’s grand plans remain fantasies until the spellbook can be deciphered and its power controlled.

Summary

• An unprecedented, god-driven natural disaster is imminent: Jormungandr, the Great Serpent, is churning the ocean, and storms and tsunamis are expected to overwhelm Satsuma Island Nation within half an hour.
• World leaders admit they have no way to stop the disaster. President Tuilaepa desperately asks them for help, even offering to place his small island nation under another country’s protection. Every leader refuses, including Tagawa Masamune, prime minister of the Eastern Isles.
• Satsuma’s vulnerability is heightened by its low elevation and long-term fear of rising seas. With the immediate catastrophe at hand, Tuilaepa realizes that neither his country’s history nor his earlier plans to emigrate can help him.
• After the call ends, he vows to pay any price to whoever can save him. Hela, the Norse goddess of the Underworld, suddenly appears in his office. Her partly beautiful, partly decayed face and chilling presence reveal her identity; she is also Jormungandr’s sister.
• Tuilaepa overcomes his fear enough to bargain. He promises to pay any price if Hela saves him, his country, and its people. Hela raises the stakes by asking whether he would still agree if she demanded that he kill a powerful god.

Character developments and interactions

• Tuilaepa shifts from pleading with world leaders to making a direct, desperate bargain with a goddess. Though frightened, he steadies himself and commits to protecting his people at any cost.
• Tagawa Masamune and the other leaders express sympathy but offer no assistance, reflecting their helplessness and the limited influence of Satsuma.
• Hela enters as a terrifying but controlled presence. Rather than immediately acting, she tests the sincerity and limits of Tuilaepa’s offer.

Significant themes

• Human powerlessness before divine and natural forces: Even technologically advanced nations cannot confront the coming disaster.
• Desperation and sacrifice: Tuilaepa’s promise to pay any price reflects the lengths a leader may go to save his people.
• The cost of bargains: Hela’s final question suggests that salvation may require a morally dangerous act.
• Isolation and vulnerability: Satsuma’s small size and low-lying geography leave it especially exposed, while other nations prioritize their own limits.

Key plot points and events

• Hela asks Tuilaepa to kill a god. Convinced that refusing means certain death—and that agreeing may at least buy him time—he accepts.
• Hela gives him the Godslayer Dagger Florence, a famed Christian Divine Artifact, and curses him and his people: they will be barred from the realm of the dead and never know peace.
• Hela disappears, and a colossal tsunami immediately engulfs Tuilaepa’s office.
• Across the Pacific, storms and an unprecedented tsunami—caused by the Great Serpent Jormungandr—devastate ships and coastal areas. Governments issue evacuation warnings, while people inland fear the disaster may signal Ragnarok.
• Governments offer no public answers and secretly prepare to relocate, believing human weapons cannot stop supernatural forces.
• A brilliant beam pierces the storm clouds, and the Rainbow Bridge reappears over the Pacific. An armored god carrying a hammer emerges from it.

Character developments

• Tuilaepa moves from terror and disbelief to reluctant acceptance, choosing a dangerous mission over what seems like immediate death. Receiving the dagger and Hela’s curse ties him to the conflict in a new way.
• Hela is shown as immensely powerful and purposeful: she can obtain a major Divine Artifact, impose a supernatural curse, and vanish as disaster strikes.
• The governments are revealed as frightened and powerless, prioritizing evacuation over confronting the gods.

Significant themes

• Survival and coercion: Tuilaepa’s choice is shaped by the belief that he has no safe option.
• Human helplessness before divine power: Technology and political authority appear inadequate against supernatural forces.
• Ragnarok and escalating catastrophe: Jormungandr’s disaster is treated as a possible prelude to a war between gods.
• Curses and consequences: Hela’s bargain carries a lasting punishment for Tuilaepa and his people.

Character interactions

• Hela confronts Tuilaepa with the request, gives him the Godslayer Dagger, and curses him and his people.
• Governments warn ships and residents to flee, but they do not reassure the public or explain how to stop the disaster.
• The chapter ends with the arrival of an unidentified armored god, setting up a possible response to Jormungandr’s destruction.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• Thor appears over the Pacific as Jormungandr attacks the Golden Princess and prepares to swallow him.
• Thor’s lightning dispels the serpent’s tsunamis and hurricanes, saving coastal populations. People worldwide celebrate their survival and speculate about the cause; some identify Thor, though Zou Ziming’s livestream has gone dark.
• Governments confirm Thor’s arrival and urge people to keep daily life moving, but the public remains focused on the coming battle.
• Lightning gathers across an immense area around Thor. He channels it into his hammer, creating energy so powerful that it briefly tears fissures in space.
• Jormungandr senses mortal danger, stops its attack, and rises from the deep. Its enormous true body dwarfs what anyone had previously seen.
• Thor strikes the sea with his hammer, sending a devastating lightning blast into Jormungandr. The flash spreads across the Pacific and is visible on a planetary scale, destroying electrical equipment aboard the Golden Princess and disabling some satellites.

Character developments

• Thor is revealed as a formidable protector as well as a warrior: before directly confronting Jormungandr, he neutralizes the disasters threatening millions.
• Jormungandr shifts from confident aggressor to wary defender when instinct warns it of Thor’s power.
• Zou Ziming survives, but his fear deepens as he sees the serpent’s true size and doubts Thor can defeat it. His concern reflects the uncertainty surrounding Ragnarok: prophecy may not dictate the outcome.

Character interactions

• Thor and Jormungandr face off as prophesied enemies, with Jormungandr initially attacking and Thor answering with overwhelming force.
• Survivors comfort one another and share their experiences online, while online commenters argue over whether Thor has appeared and what the Norse gods are like.
• Governments try to reassure the public, but people turn to Zou Ziming’s stream for news even though he cannot broadcast.

Significant themes

• Hope amid catastrophe: Thor’s arrival turns seemingly certain death into survival.
• Prophecy versus choice: Zou questions whether Ragnarok is inevitable, especially after other prophecies have changed.
• Human dependence on technology: Thor’s power saves people but also destroys electronics and satellites.
• The immense scale of divine conflict: A clash between gods affects oceans, weather, communications, and even the view of Earth from space.

Plot points and events

• A battle between Thor and the Great Serpent (Jormungandr) knocks out the satellite feed. U.S. officials debate the cause and order another satellite redirected to record the fight, despite expecting it might be destroyed.
• After being struck by Thor’s lightning, Jormungandr dives beneath the Pacific and launches a massive attack, then swallows Thor whole.
• The serpent appears victorious, leaving Zou Ziming stunned and despairing: Thor’s supposed death seems to erase his last hope.
• Jormungandr soon realizes something inside it is growing. Thor bursts through its belly unharmed, and the serpent dies.
• Thor looks down at his fallen foe and says, “Mortal enemies?!!!”

Character developments and interactions

• Thor appears to have been defeated, but reveals his immense resilience and power by surviving the serpent’s digestive juices and killing it from within.
• Jormungandr shifts from furious, instinct-driven aggression to confused fear when it discovers it cannot digest Thor. Its death leaves it shocked.
• Zou Ziming moves from astonishment at Thor’s apparent defeat to renewed hope when Thor emerges alive.
• President Hodgson and the U.S. officials treat the battle as a matter of global survival, though Hodgson also privately considers the commercial value of the footage.

Significant themes

• Gods exceed human expectations: Their power makes ordinary explanations and technological safeguards seem inadequate.
• Appearances can mislead: Thor’s apparent death proves temporary; the serpent’s apparent victory becomes its undoing.
• Instinct versus thought: Jormungandr’s overwhelming strength has left it unchallenged, but its brief attempt to understand its predicament comes too late.
• Mortality and prophecy: Thor’s apparent death unsettles expectations about Odin’s prophecy, suggesting that its outcome may not be straightforward.

Key plot points and events

• The Liancourt Rocks are under Universe Country’s control, but remain disputed by the Eastern Isles. Universe Country seals off the area with a massive naval and air deployment to conduct a magical experiment.
• The country has secretly obtained an ancient Huaxian text, initially called the Seven Secret Doctrines of the Earth, and translated it as The Earth Book: Seven Secret Canons. The work is attributed to Ge Xuan and contains seven increasingly powerful spells, the final one meant to summon divine beings and reveal Truth.
• Hoping to gain supernatural knowledge and national power before its rival America can, Universe Country chooses to use the final spell to contact Pangu.
• Kwon Jeong-yang volunteers as the summoner and recites the incantation in a sealed laboratory. The words take on an unsettling, alien meaning as he speaks of merging with chaos.
• A childlike voice answers, identifying itself not as Pangu but as Crawling Chaos.

Character developments and interactions

• An Jeong-hun, a senior official, is confident the experiment is safe and sees it as a chance for Universe Country to become a global power. He urges Kwon to win Pangu’s favor.
• Kwon Jeong-yang begins excited by the prospect of becoming a national hero and gaining status. By performing the ritual, he becomes the first point of contact with a being far more ominous than the one his government intended to summon.
• An and Kwon discuss how Universe Country acquired the text, joking that hackers took it from America, which had apparently obtained it from Huaxia.
• The government’s confidence that Pangu is benevolent contrasts sharply with the unexpected entity’s arrival.

Significant themes

• National ambition and hubris: Universe Country treats the supernatural as a strategic resource and assumes it can control the outcome.
• Misinterpretation and hidden danger: The text’s ancient language and the altered meaning of the incantation suggest that the ritual is not doing what its users believe.
• The unknown and cosmic horror: The calm, childlike introduction of “Crawling Chaos” turns the anticipated divine encounter into a chilling mystery.

Plot and events

• During a ritual using The Earth Book: Seven Secret Canons, Kwon Jeong-yang expects to contact Pangu but instead encounters Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos. Nyarlathotep silences his pleas for help and overwhelms him with horrific visions and impossible knowledge.
• In the monitoring room, An Jeong-hun sees no obvious change and suspects the spell may require special aptitude. Just as he considers testing other people, Kwon suddenly claims he contacted Pangu and received supernatural knowledge.
• Kwon says the encounter gave him a perfect memory and offers to transfer his knowledge directly to An. A black, rotting tentacle bursts from Kwon’s chest, pierces the supposedly impenetrable laboratory wall, and enters An’s chest. An is overwhelmed by the knowledge and begins laughing, declaring that everything will return to the “great Lord of All Things.”

Character developments and interactions

• Kwon Jeong-yang shifts from terror and desperate hope to triumphant confidence. He mistakes—or presents—his encounter with Nyarlathotep as contact with Pangu, then becomes a vehicle for the entity’s corruption.
• An Jeong-hun moves from skepticism to patriotic excitement, imagining that divine power will make his nation dominant. His eagerness to believe Kwon leads him to accept the “knowledge transfer,” with disastrous consequences.
• Their interaction is built on a fatal misunderstanding: An sees Kwon as a national hero and trusts his offer, while Kwon’s apparent gift is actually a means of spreading Nyarlathotep’s influence.

Significant themes

• Misinterpretation and false hope: Kwon’s expectation of meeting Pangu shapes his response, but the true entity is Nyarlathotep.
• Ambition and national pride: An’s dream of national supremacy clouds his judgment.
• Forbidden knowledge and corruption: Contact with the supernatural does not grant simple power; it destroys reason and transforms those exposed to it.
• Cosmic horror: Human beliefs and ambitions are insignificant beside forces that cannot be understood or controlled.

Key plot points and events

• After speaking with American President Hodgson, Moon Sang-woo learns that The Earth Book: Seven Secret Canons is not a harmless spellbook for summoning Pangu. It can summon Nyarlathotep, a powerful Cthulhu Evil God.
• Moon urgently orders An Jeong-hun to stop the experiment on the Liancourt Rocks. He then tells General Lee Jeong-ui to seal off the islands, cut off transportation, and prepare for a possible bombing—but to wait for confirmation.
• Lee urges an immediate strike, fearing that Universe Country’s forces could not defeat Nyarlathotep. Moon refuses, worried that an attack might provoke the islanders into completing the summoning.
• Moon reaches the person on the other end of An Jeong-hun’s phone, but it is Kwon Jeong-yang. The lights fail, and an immense shadow descends, suggesting the summoning—or its consequences—may already be underway.

Character developments

• Moon Sang-woo shifts from evasive denial to urgent crisis management. Though frightened, he tries to contain the threat carefully rather than risk triggering it.
• Lee Jeong-ui responds with military pragmatism, recommending an immediate bombing because he believes the threat cannot be fought directly.
• Kwon Jeong-yang’s unexpected appearance on the call signals that events at the islands may have overtaken the planned response.

Character interactions

• Hodgson’s call forces Moon to confront the true nature of the stolen book.
• Moon and Lee clash over whether to attack immediately or wait for confirmation.
• Moon’s attempt to reach An Jeong-hun instead connects him to Kwon Jeong-yang, ending the chapter on a sudden supernatural escalation.

Significant themes

• Fear and containment: Governments treat Cthulhu Evil Gods as an existential threat, enforcing a worldwide ban on summoning them.
• The limits of power: Even a strong military may be helpless against entities of this scale.
• Risky decision-making: Moon must weigh the danger of inaction against the possibility that force could provoke the disaster he hopes to prevent.

Plot points and events

• Streamer Yizhen Nai visits the Red-Tiled House in Han City to broadcast a tour, pretending to be a regular visitor after viewers challenge him to prove his claim.
• He plans to continue to a convention, joking with his audience about games and anime.
• The chat suddenly warns him that the sky has darkened and something terrible is behind him. Recalling recent unexplained disappearances and warnings against outdoor broadcasts, Yizhen Nai panics and runs.
• He sees an overwhelming supernatural invasion centered on the Presidential Palace: an uncanny door appears in the darkness, and grotesque creatures pour out as they sing verses about lost Carcosa.
• Monsters emerge from the earth and sky, including faceless beings, Byakhee, and humanoid fish creatures. The chapter ends with a yellow light and a bloodshot pair of eyes opening above the city.

Character developments

• Yizhen Nai begins as a showman playing up his supposed access to the palace. His confidence and banter collapse into terror as the supernatural catastrophe unfolds.
• The viewers shift rapidly from teasing and joking to urgent warnings, becoming the streamer’s first indication that the danger is real.

Character interactions

• Yizhen Nai jokes with his chat and promises more entertaining sights to keep viewers engaged.
• Viewers needle him about entering the palace, game balance, and anime conventions, then urgently tell him to flee when they see the disaster behind him.

Significant themes

• The ordinary colliding with the cosmic: A casual livestream becomes a direct encounter with an incomprehensible horror.
• False confidence and sudden vulnerability: Yizhen Nai’s performance of familiarity with the palace offers no protection once disaster arrives.
• Horror and madness: The darkness, strange song, and creatures are described as forces that overwhelm human understanding and hope.

Key plot points and events

• A gate opens in Seoul, unleashing Byakhee, Deep Ones, Ghouls, and other monsters. The Cosmic Nation orders an evacuation and sends troops into the city.
• Amid the panic, a combat-geared woman saves a fleeing man from a Byakhee and directs him toward a subway station. A wealthy young man attempting to escape by helicopter is killed when Byakhee attack his aircraft formation.
• At first, troops avoid heavy weapons to limit civilian casualties. As they suffer severe losses and fail to contain the monsters, General Lee Justice authorizes armored vehicles, artillery, aircraft, and missiles. These weapons inflict heavy damage.
• The monsters adapt: Ghouls and Deep Ones scatter through streets and buildings, while Byakhee lure fighter jets into dangerous pursuits between high-rises. Seoul becomes a deadly urban battlefield.
• Watching from Olympus, Jiang Hao concludes that these monster types are not as formidable against modern weapons as he expected and decides to try different templates.

Character developments and interactions

• Lee Justice shifts from cautious restraint to ordering heavy weapons as casualties mount. He blames the scholars who misidentified the Earth Book: Seven Secret Texts as a Taoist work rather than a grimoire.
• Lee’s aide warns that the losses could break the troops and presses for a way forward, but neither man sees a viable option.
• The unnamed combat woman acts decisively to rescue a civilian, while the wealthy young man’s desperate appeal for protection ends before it can be answered.
• Jiang Hao treats the crisis as evidence about the effectiveness of his monster designs and prepares to escalate his experiment.

Significant themes

• Humanity’s failure to learn from disaster: Seoul’s evacuation descends into familiar, history-repeating panic.
• The limits of military power: Modern weapons can devastate monsters, but urban terrain and the creatures’ adaptation make victory costly.
• Political and economic constraints: Seoul’s importance and powerful interests restrict how much force the military can use.
• War as experimentation: For Jiang Hao, the catastrophe is a test of monster templates; for Seoul’s residents and soldiers, it is a slaughterhouse.

Plot and key events

• Cthulhu monsters continue pouring through a mysterious “door” into Han City. They scatter through buildings and ambush people, while Universe Country’s military struggles to contain them.
• Untried generals face mounting casualties and the risk of a troop rout. Civilians who survived the initial attacks hide indoors, but increasingly fear their own military’s stray fire, aerial strafing, and missiles.
• Lee Jeong-ui’s adjutant urges him to deploy thermobaric bombs, arguing that ordinary weapons cannot stop the invasion. Lee refuses because millions of civilians remain in the capital and he will not order their slaughter; instead, he tells the troops to hold out for promised foreign reinforcements.
• Before they can respond further, a massive underground upheaval devastates Han City. Streets collapse and skyscrapers crumble as enormous, squid-like creatures drill up through the ruins.

Character developments and interactions

• Lee Jeong-ui is caught between military necessity and responsibility for civilian lives. Though desperate and under pressure, he refuses to use a weapon he believes would make him a butcher.
• The adjutant is more willing to accept catastrophic civilian losses as the price of stopping the monsters, but cannot persuade Lee.
• Their exchange shows how the invasion is straining both command and morale: the adjutant fears an imminent collapse, while Lee clings to the hope of reinforcements.
• The city’s soldiers and civilians are both victims of the chaos, with military fire posing a deadly threat even to the people it is meant to protect.

Significant themes

• The cost of wartime choices: Military action may save a city from monsters while killing its inhabitants.
• Human-made danger: In the chaos, weapons used by humanity can kill civilians more efficiently than the invading creatures.
• Escalating catastrophe: Just as leaders debate how to contain the invasion, a deeper threat emerges from beneath the city.
• Fragile control: The army’s plans and command structures are overwhelmed by an enemy that keeps adapting and attacking from unexpected directions.

Summary

Han City, the capital of Universe Country, is overrun by Deep Ones, Ghouls, Byakhees, and Burrowing Worms. Although Universe Country’s government publicly insists the attack is under control, reports and photographs suggest the fighting is severe. Other governments issue travel warnings and organize evacuations for their citizens; American officials deny plans for military intervention, while reports suggest a U.S. team may also be tasked with recovering monster corpses.
The invasion alarms people worldwide because the previous Cthulhu attack nearly destroyed Blue Star, and many fear that a powerful Evil God may be behind this one. Online speculation links the attack to the Seven Chapters of the Mysterious Lord, a text said to summon Nyarlathotep. Some people call for solidarity and humanitarian aid, but governments prioritize containment, sealing borders and halting travel to and from Universe Country.
Realizing that foreign military assistance is unlikely, Universe Country’s diplomats divide into five groups and seek help from mystical powers in the Eastern Isles, Egypt, Iceland, the Papal State, and Greece. The excerpt ends as a weary diplomat arrives at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Papal State, where “Jingle Bells” is playing.

Character developments and interactions

• No individual protagonist is developed in this excerpt; the focus is on governments, diplomats, reporters, and the public.
• Universe Country’s officials maintain a reassuring public stance, while its diplomats become angry at the lack of international military support and turn to supernatural allies.
• Foreign governments put their own citizens’ safety—and the containment of the monsters—first, despite public disagreement over whether they should help.
• Online commenters trade fears and theories, including concern for missing travelers and speculation about the invasion’s connection to a forbidden book.

Significant themes

• Fear and memory: The near-destruction caused by Yog-Sothoth shapes the world’s reaction to a new Cthulhu invasion.
• Self-preservation versus solidarity: Calls for humanitarian assistance clash with governments’ decisions to close borders and avoid risking their forces.
• Uncertainty and distrust: Official reassurances conflict with reports of escalating violence.
• Dependence on supernatural power: With conventional help unavailable, Universe Country’s diplomats seek aid from mystical institutions.