Chapter Summaries

Eduardo received a message about an unusual corpse in the Red Tide Fief and set out to investigate, while Louis oversaw tests of a flamethrower and two Demon Explosive Bombs. The weapons proved powerful enough to burn through enemies and devastate a mountain, and Louis ordered the bombs mass-produced as war drew near.

• Eduardo unearthed another charred corpse, then received a letter from Louis about an unusual corpse in the Red Tide Fief and decided to travel there.
• Mike and Silco demonstrated their flamethrower by burning an Ice Wasteland Boar, and Louis praised the weapon's battlefield potential.
• Mike and the knights tested a Light Demon Explosive Bomb, which destroyed one boar and badly burned another at a distance.
• Silco and the craftsmen fired a Heavy Demon Explosive Bomb into a mountain, blasting a deep crater and leaving the area burning.
• Louis ordered Mike to begin mass production of the Demon Explosive Bombs because they might soon be needed.

Eduardo used Divine Grace on Aike’s body and discovered that the Brood Hive had contaminated the living and may have taken over a Snow Oath outpost. Louis ordered scouts to find the outpost, and Kaslo’s squad found its members trapped in a strange shared dream.

• Eduardo used Divine Grace to experience Aike’s memories, learning that Aike and his father fled a Snow Oath camp after its members became hostile and that Aike had encountered the Brood Hive’s mental power.
• Eduardo concluded that the Brood Hive could covertly contaminate living minds and that the Snow Oath camp might be a disguised nest.
• Louis ordered scout knights to search around the Winter Dawn Fief for the outpost, intending to confront the Brood Hive if they found it.
• After two days of searching, Kaslo, Alan, and Leo found an unmapped Snow Oath settlement where its warriors stood motionless and repeated actions as if trapped in a shared dream.
• Kaslo stopped Alan from attacking the settlement and led the scouts away before they could be drawn into the strange influence.

Louis and Eduardo led specially equipped knight squads against a village full of insect corpses and discovered a powerful Brood Hive. After the squads’ flamethrowers drove back the corpses, Louis prepared a Demon Explosive Bomb Launcher and ordered his knights to wait for his signal.

• Louis and Eduardo identified the village’s moving mass of vines as a likely Brood Hive, while Louis’s Insect Corpse Strike Team took positions around the village.
• The knights detonated Demon Explosive Bombs, awakening the insect corpses, which began using the forbidden technique called boiling blood frenzy.
• Louis’s squads used Fire-Scaled Model Flamethrowers to burn through the charging insect corpses and advanced until Louis ordered them to withdraw.
• A Brood Hive emerged near the altar, and Eduardo warned Louis that it was stronger than the one they had faced before and urged him to seek Duke Edmund’s help.
• Louis set up a Demon Explosive Bomb Launcher, told the knights not to fire until ordered, and faced the Brood Hive.

Alon unleashed the Brood Hive and its evolved insect corpses against Louis Calvin’s Red Tide Knights, but Louis destroyed the nest with a precisely fired Heavy Demon Explosive Bomb. After the battle, Louis ordered the knights to eliminate any surviving insects, treat the wounded, and bring everyone home.

• Alon commanded his insect corpses to attack the Red Tide Knights, but their flamethrowers burned through the swarm.
• Alon opened the forbidden gateway, causing the Brood Hive to rise and release evolved insect corpses.
• Louis ordered a Heavy Demon Explosive Bomb fired into the Brood Hive’s core, destroying the nest, the swarm, and Alon.
• Eduardo and the Red Tide Knights were astonished by Louis’s weapon and its precise, devastating strike.
• Louis ordered the knights to burn any insects that might revive, tally casualties, treat the wounded, and ensure everyone returned alive.

After Louis’s forces destroyed an evolved, mobile Brood Hive with no deaths, he sent samples and a warning to Duke Edmund. Edmund ordered the Northern Frontier to investigate suspected Brood Hives and prepare for war.

• Louis ordered his knights to burn out surviving insects, and Lambert reported that the force had suffered no deaths.
• Louis and Eduardo concluded that the Brood Hive had evolved, with battle-aura-using hosts and the ability to move like a mobile hatchery.
• Louis sent a confidential letter and sealed biological samples to Duke Edmund in Frost Glaive City.
• Duke Edmund read Louis’s report and examined the samples, confirming that the threat was real and evolving.
• Duke Edmund summoned his commanders, ordered notices and investigations across the Northern Frontier, and sent records to the Imperial Capital Intelligence Bureau and Academy of Sciences.

The Cold Abyss Priest used a blood sacrifice to awaken the Ancient God and whip the Snow Oath believers into a frenzy. The Despair Witch revealed that the sacrifice was staged, but the Brood Hive beneath the altar had been fed, and she set the Snow Oath’s revenge in motion ahead of schedule.

• The Cold Abyss Priest sacrificed apparent Imperial captives at the altar, causing the inscriptions to glow and something beneath the ice to stir.
• The Snow Oath warriors hailed the Ancient God’s response and vowed to restore the Snow Kingdom.
• The Despair Witch revealed that the captives were illusion puppets and that the real captives had already been fed to the Brood Hive.
• After receiving a signal indicating that a second Brood Hive had been destroyed, the Despair Witch suspected someone in the Empire could track the hives and decided to accelerate her plans.
• The Despair Witch told Hiro that his revenge could begin early, and Hiro collapsed to his knees, celebrating the chance to punish the Empire.
• The Despair Witch ordered Hiro to gather the Snow Oath warriors before disappearing.

Louis learned that the Despair Witch planned to begin devouring the Northern Frontier on October 10, using the Snow Oath and its leader Hiro to create an evolving insect-corpse army. He recognized the approaching disaster and set out to consult Mike about the defenses.

• Louis read the daily intelligence and learned that Vale had advanced to mid-tier Elite Knight.
• Louis discovered that the Despair Witch had moved the Northern Frontier plan forward to October 10 and that Hiro was preparing the Snow Oath for an attack.
• Louis pieced together how the Brood Hives would consume the Snow Oath and turn its warriors, combat skills, and bloodline fury into an insect-corpse legion.
• Sif noticed Louis's distress, comforted him, and urged him not to carry everything alone.
• Louis struggled to focus on cultivation, then finished breakfast and left to check the defensive arrangements with Mike.

Louis reviewed Red Tide Fief’s defenses and ordered preparations for a coming war that could threaten all of Snowpeak Commandery. At the knight training grounds, he pushed for faster fire-wall tactics and directed Lambert to strengthen the forces before the crisis arrived.

• Mike reported that the Tulou strongholds, mountain-road traps, and vibration-triggered alarms were ready, and Louis proposed adding iron-plate barriers and flame-projecting devices.
• Louis told Mike that a great war was coming and said he intended to protect every territory under his command and the whole of Snowpeak Commandery.
• Louis watched the Red Tide Knights drill with alchemical flamethrowers, and Lambert reported that their rotating fire-wall tactics had improved but still risked gaps during a surprise attack.
• Louis ordered Lambert to intensify training until the knights could establish a triple blockade instantly, even amid chaos or while charging.
• Lambert reported that the fief had four Transcendent Knights, 123 Elite Knights, 232 Official Knights, and 467 Apprentice Knights, and Louis directed him to distribute the latest Knight Growth Potion to those with the greatest potential.

Magewood’s Insect Corpse investigation team followed the Snow Oath to a gorge, where they discovered a powerful Brood Hive and were ambushed by Insect Corpses, including Lake. Fewer than a quarter of the mages escaped, while the Despair Priestess prepared to awaken the enormous cocoon beneath the Snow Oath altar.

• After nearly two months of fruitless searching, Flora agreed to follow the Snow Oath army when Dilin sensed they might be connected to the Brood Hive.
• The mages secretly watched the Snow Oath perform a ritual in a gorge, and Dilin confirmed that a Brood Hive there was more than a hundred times stronger than the remains they had found before.
• Three Insect Corpses appeared at the cave entrance, including Lake, whom Flora recognized; Dilin determined that Lake had retained his mind and spellcasting abilities.
• Lake and the other Insect Corpses attacked, and Dilin and Flora coordinated the mages’ defense until Lake’s spells overwhelmed them.
• Flora ordered a retreat as the Insect Corpses slaughtered the rear guard; fewer than a quarter of the mage corps escaped, carrying the unconscious Dilin and injured Flora.
• At the altar, the Despair Priestess watched the surviving mages flee and prepared to begin his plan as the enormous insect cocoon beneath the platform awakened.

The Despair Witch summoned the Doom Brood Hive beneath the altar, revealing that she had deceived the Snow Oath into believing it was their Ancient God. As Insect Mist filled the altar square and infected the gathered believers, the chapter ended with people beginning to convulse.

• The Despair Witch rallied the Snow Oath with promises of vengeance and the return of the Snow Kingdom as the sealed Brood Hive pulsed beneath the altar.
• The Doom Brood Hive broke through the altar, and the Despair Witch praised its completed form and independent abilities.
• Hiro realized the Despair Witch had lied about the Ancient God and accused her of deceiving the Snow Oath.
• The Despair Witch ordered the blessing to begin, and the Doom Brood Hive released Insect Mist carrying tiny Corpse Insects.
• A Snow Oath member clawed at his eyes before falling eerily calm, while others began convulsing and vomiting.

The Despair Witch unleashed the Brood Hive’s Insect Mist, transforming the Snow Oath camp into a legion of Corpse Insects. As her forces advanced toward Frost Glaive City and hidden brood hives awakened across the Northern Frontier, she declared that her campaign was only beginning.

• Hiro warned the Snow Oath to flee, but the Insect Mist infected the camp and turned its people into Corpse Insects.
• Hiro resisted for half an hour before the Brood Hive’s voice overcame him and erased his consciousness and memories.
• The Despair Witch revealed that she had manipulated Hiro and cultivated the Brood Hive for years using the Snow Oath and its sacrifices.
• The Despair Witch activated hidden brood hives across the Northern Frontier, spreading the outbreak beyond the Snow Oath camp.
• The Despair Witch sent the assembled Insect Corpse legion toward Frost Glaive City and vowed that this was only the beginning.

Louis learned that the Despair Witch had unleashed multiple Brood Hives, turning more than six thousand Snow Oath soldiers into insect corpses and threatening the Northern Frontier. With a hive due to reach Red Tide Fief within three hours, he prepared to defend his territory before aiding nearby fiefs.

• Red Tide residents entered the Tulou buildings under Louis's orders while his knights assembled outside the city.
• Louis's daily intelligence system reported that the Doom Brood Hive had transformed over six thousand Snow Oath soldiers into insect corpses.
• Louis learned that a Brood Hive from Blue-Rock Rift would reach Red Tide Fief's eastern perimeter within three hours.
• Louis learned that another Brood Hive threatened Red Cloud, White Fox, and Cliff's End fiefs, and that twenty-three hive embryos had been scattered across the Northern Frontier.
• Louis recorded the intelligence and focused on stopping the coming assault on Red Tide Fief.

Louis prepared the Red Tide Knight Order for the Brood Hive’s assault and used traps, fire, and Demon Explosive Bombs to decimate its vanguard. The Brood Hive then emerged and pushed through the defenses, leaving Louis and Red Tide facing the main threat.

• Louis told the knights that the Brood Hive would reach Red Tide within three hours, rallied them, and received their oath of loyalty.
• When the Cold Iron Resonance Pillars detected a large force, Louis put his contingency plans into action as the Insect Corpses advanced toward the fief’s southeastern flank.
• At a Tulou, Rock narrated the battle to calm the residents as rolling logs, collapsing pits, flamethrowers, and Demon Explosive Bombs nearly wiped out the vanguard.
• Louis warned that the battle was not over, and the Brood Hive emerged from the valley and advanced through Red Tide’s defenses, regenerating from their attacks.
• Rock told the frightened residents that Louis had anticipated the threat, though he privately doubted his own reassurance.

Louis used Silco's Heavy Demon Explosive Bomb to destroy the Brood Hive and save the Red Tide Fief. As the Tulou residents celebrated, Louis ordered the knights to burn away the remaining Insect Corpses and prepared to send aid to the other fiefs in Snowpeak Commandery.

• Louis ordered the knights to fire the Heavy Demon Explosive Bomb at the Brood Hive's heart sac.
• The bomb obliterated the Brood Hive and vaporized or burned the surrounding Insect Corpses.
• Rock saw the blast, collapsed, and then told the Tulou residents that Louis had thrown down a sun.
• The Tulou residents cheered and celebrated their survival and victory.
• Louis ordered the knights to clear the battlefield with Flamethrowers and recognized that the Red Tide Fief was secure.

The Doom Brood Hive invaded Grant County, overwhelming the Frozen Blood Warband and consuming the Grant Family. After Count Grant was transformed into an insect corpse, the hive continued marching south.

• During Elton Grant’s coming-of-age banquet, the Doom Brood Hive emerged from the northern mountain road and sent its insect corpses against Grant County’s outposts and villages.
• The outpost fortress and surrounding villages fell, and a wounded knight commander warned the Grant Family that monsters were attacking.
• Count Grant ordered the Frozen Blood Warband to defend Embedded Rock Fortress, but the insect tide broke through the outer defenses and surrounded the city.
• The red-robed witch had captured nobles and warriors sealed into cocoons, where they emerged as insect corpses retaining their combat skills.
• Count Grant encountered insect-corpses resembling his grandson and second son, fought the swarm, and was captured.
• The red-robed witch wrapped Count Grant in insect silk until he became an insect corpse, and the Doom Brood Hive marched south.

Pal’s territory was overrun by the Brood Hive, and Pal died before being remade into an insect corpse. As twenty-three Brood Hives swept across the Northern Frontier, Duke Edmund sealed Frost Glaive City and appealed to the emperor for aid.

• Pal’s frontier territory prospered under Selton’s support, but Pal’s dreams of returning home in triumph ended when a second-generation Brood Hive attacked.
• Insect corpses overwhelmed Pal’s camp, and Pal fled with a handful of guards, abandoning his troops and officials.
• Pal was pinned by insect spines, died cursing Louis and his family, and was remade into an insect corpse.
• The Doom Brood Hive and twenty-three other Brood Hives advanced south, destroying fiefs and breaking the Northern Frontier’s defenses.
• Duke Edmund ordered Frost Glaive City sealed in War Fortress mode and sent his Knight Commander to the Imperial Capital with an urgent appeal for aid.

Veris Calvin and the defenders of Red Cloud held off the Brood Hive until Louis Calvin arrived with explosive weapons and flamethrower teams, destroying the monster. Louis left support for the battered fief before departing to reinforce other failing defensive lines in Snowpeak Commandery.

• Veris chose to defend Red Cloud and ordered his soldiers to hold their positions as the Brood Hive approached.
• The Brood Hive shattered the western defenses, and Veris prepared to order a retreat before Louis’s forces arrived with an explosive strike.
• Louis directed fire assault teams and repeated bomb attacks that killed the Brood Hive and burned the insect corpses.
• Veris reported the defenders’ casualties, and Louis praised him for holding the town and saving its people.
• Louis left two flamethrower teams, a medic, and promised supplies before riding north to reinforce other nobles’ defenses.

Louis led the Red Tide Legion through Snowpeak Commandery, rescuing threatened fiefs and bringing surviving nobles and soldiers under Red Tide’s protection. After days of fighting, he continued into a devastated region where many settlements had already fallen and left only ruins.

• Louis ordered the Red Tide Legion to prioritize strategic hubs, loyal lords, and forces that could join Red Tide, while leaving uncooperative nobles off the rescue list.
• Louis rescued Yorn Harvey and his people, then ordered them to withdraw to the Red Tide Fief as he rode on to other fiefs.
• At the ruined Nott Castle, Louis learned Lord Edward had abandoned his people and died; he accepted the surviving knights into Red Tide under Lambert’s command.
• Louis arrived at Grant Castle and promised Lady Grant and her survivors shelter in the Red Tide Fief.
• Over the following days, Louis led Red Tide forces across Snowpeak Commandery, saving isolated settlements and recruiting grateful survivors while burning the remains of fallen fiefs.

Louis returned to Red Tide after seventeen days of fighting and built a defensive line against the insect corpses while the fief sheltered refugees. After reuniting with Emily and Sif, he learned that most of the Northern Frontier had fallen and Frost Glaive City faced encirclement, leaving the Dragonblood Legion’s arrival as the region’s main hope.

• Louis established fire-support outposts and defenses across Snow Ridge, then returned to Red Tide Fief after holding back the first insect tide.
• Louis visited the refugee camp, where residents thanked him for rescuing them and found shelter, food, and care under his relocation plan.
• Emily and Sif welcomed Louis back and reported that they had managed Red Tide’s administration, supplies, and security in his absence.
• Emily gave Louis a letter from Duke Edmund, who praised his defense of Snowpeak Commandery and warned that the Northern Frontier’s western line had collapsed.
• Louis assessed the Northern Frontier’s devastation and Frost Glaive City’s encirclement, while the Dragonblood Legion, led by Gaius Calvin and Arthur Garen, marched north.
• Emily and Sif reassured Louis as he worried about the refugees and the uncertain future of Red Tide.

Louis took unified command of the surviving nobles’ troops and began reshaping Snowpeak Commandery’s defenses around Red Tide. He then visited the injured Flora, secured her gratitude and the prospect of support from Magewood, and left hoping its mages could help defeat the Brood Hive.

• Louis warned the assembled nobles that the Doom Brood Hive had overrun the western front and was surrounding Frost Glaive City, then demanded their troops submit to his unified command.
• Yorn Harvey, Lady Grant, Roland Sirius, and the other nobles surrendered their military authority to Red Tide Command Headquarters.
• Louis assigned troops to defensive positions and placed local depots and supplies under joint Red Tide oversight.
• Louis visited the recovering Flora, examined her notes on the Brood Hive, and learned that powerful mages from Magewood were coming to support the Northern Frontier.
• Flora expressed gratitude and admiration toward Louis, while he planned to use Red Tide’s rescue of her to secure Magewood’s help against the Brood Hive.