Chapter Summaries

Herbert learned that the Fallen could seep through the Endless Maze's walls and was heading toward him. As Herbert tried to leave the darkness near Svanney, Nenasya warned him that the Fallen was charging straight at him.

• The Fallen turned into black, fish-reeking slime and slipped through the Endless Maze's walls toward the next area.
• Herbert argued with Nenasya about whether liking women of different races made him indiscriminate, insisting that he liked them for their looks.
• Herbert realized the Fallen had not been bewitched by Nenasya and concluded that the man might simply like fish.
• Herbert failed to find a path through the darkness around Svanney and decided to check on her before returning to Miss Hungry Dragon.
• Nenasya sensed that the Fallen was covered in slime and reeked of fish, then warned Herbert that he was charging straight toward him.

Herbert fled from an intruder who had seized control of the Sealing Formation and sought help from Elisa. He demanded the Vampire's blood and negotiated over how much of his own blood he would trade, leaving their deal unresolved.

• Herbert realized an intruder had seized control of the Sealing Formation and ran through the prison to escape him.
• Nenasya told Herbert the intruder would reach him in about ten minutes and teased him instead of helping at first.
• Herbert reached Elisa's black iron coffin and woke her by pounding on it and shouting for her to get up.
• Herbert demanded Elisa's blood, startling her with the unusual request.
• Elisa offered to trade her blood for Herbert's at a rate of a hundred drops to one, and Herbert countered by offering five drops of his own.

Herbert secured a drop of essence blood from Elisa before encountering the blasphemer, who turned out to be a dead body driven by an obsession. He followed the blasphemer to a wall, where Svanney revealed a path to her cell and asked the Prison Warden to spare him.

• Elisa reluctantly traded Herbert a drop of her essence blood, hoping to receive his blood in return.
• Nenasya warned Herbert that someone was approaching, and he saw the blasphemer walk past him without noticing him.
• Nenasya explained that the blasphemer was already dead and that another soul had taken over his body several days earlier.
• Herbert followed the blasphemer through the darkness until he stopped at a wall and called for Lady Archmage.
• Svanney revealed a path to her cell and asked the Prison Warden not to trouble himself with killing someone who was already dead.

Herbert followed the dying defiler through the Lightless Prison and carried its skull toward Svanney. He reached her glowing underground forest and prepared to enter her tree home.

• Herbert realized Valentina and Freime had weakened the defiler, whose body soon collapsed into a pile of bones.
• Herbert picked up the defiler's skull and promised to take it to see Svanney.
• Herbert hurried through the darkness, trusting Svanney and expecting Nenasya to warn him if danger threatened.
• Herbert discovered a luminous underground forest and found a wooden door in the trunk of a massive glowing tree.
• Herbert remarked that Svanney had made her home luxurious while leaving her roommate in a shabby coffin.

Herbert visited Dark Elf Archmage Svanney in her laboratory and learned that she intended to remain in prison despite a planned rescue by her family. He discovered that the Svanney before him was an avatar and challenged her to meet him in person.

• Herbert entered Svanney’s laboratory and examined its unsettling collection of preserved specimens while the presence influencing his aesthetic sense praised them.
• Svanney appeared, declined to take the skull Herbert delivered, and extracted the soul of a dead Dark Elf messenger from it.
• Svanney explained that she freed the messenger from [Sinful Desire] and relayed that her younger sister had seized control of their family, whose elders planned a rescue.
• Svanney said she would not cooperate with the rescue because she preferred to stay in prison and continue her research.
• Herbert realized Svanney was speaking through an avatar and teased her, asking when she would meet him in person.

Herbert uncovered that Svanney was only a realistic illusion and followed her toward her real body. As they climbed, he told Nenasya that Svanney’s subdued reaction to him and her scent had also given her away.

• Herbert explained that Svanney’s refusal to touch the skull and his intuition led him to suspect she was an illusion.
• Svanney admitted that her real body was upstairs and opened a hidden passage in the treehouse wall.
• Herbert followed Svanney up the long, dark passage despite recognizing the risks.
• Nenasya asked how Herbert had figured it out, and he cited Svanney’s unusually cold reaction to him and her scent.

Herbert entered Svanney’s gruesome laboratory and discovered that his Holy Mark shielded him from the effects of its foul surroundings. After Svanney praised his composure, Herbert told her he respected researchers as long as they did not harm others or cross real boundaries.

• Herbert and the Harmonic God debated whether his natural affinity and alluring fragrance should have affected Svanney.
• Herbert reached the end of the stairs, pushed open the door, and entered a room filled with rotting corpses and scarlet vines.
• Herbert’s Holy Mark glowed and removed his discomfort, leaving him unaffected by the laboratory’s stench.
• Herbert found Svanney on an operating table, where her vines were repairing a prisoner’s severed flesh.
• Svanney explained that an experiment had changed her true body’s appearance, and Herbert complimented her beauty.
• Svanney praised Herbert’s courage, and he said he respected researchers who avoided harming others or crossing real boundaries.

Herbert listened as Svanney described how others rejected her research, and their conversation improved their relationship. He then asked her to agree to the plan to help her escape from prison.

• Svanney led Herbert through her grotesque research space and spoke about how others misunderstood her work.
• Herbert listened and encouraged Svanney, recognizing that her aloofness concealed a desire to be understood.
• Svanney thanked Herbert for hearing her out, and he said he was genuinely interested in her past.
• Herbert judged that his relationship with Svanney had improved and asked her to agree to the plan to help her escape from prison.
• Svanney reacted with surprise to Herbert's request.

Herbert asked Svanney to become his inside source and help him deceive her family, claiming he wanted to prove she could change and help her escape their exploitation. He left her with an invitation to betray her family for his sake.

• Svanney questioned Herbert when he asked her to turn against her family rather than escape with them.
• Herbert explained that his duty as Prison Warden was to reform prisoners and said he wanted to prove Svanney was not evil.
• Herbert urged Svanney to give the Monastery concrete proof of her allegiance by helping him deceive her family.
• Herbert argued that Svanney's family had abandoned and intended to use her, and that betrayal could help her research progress.
• Herbert bowed and asked Svanney to betray her family for him.