Chapter Summaries

Flower Lin, Edgar, and Lucas discussed Chris’s rule and toasted Bagnia’s stability at the embassy. At the palace, Mia played with Aisha while visiting the pregnant Queen Elena, then sensed a disaster in the east: the big egg had been pierced.

• Flower Lin told Edgar and Lucas that their father was well and living comfortably in the Summer Palace, though he could not leave.
• The brothers concluded that Chris had saved Bagnia and toasted their father, their country, and their younger brother.
• Mia raced through the palace gardens on Aisha while the pregnant Queen Elena watched and spoke with her.
• Mia revealed that she commanded the Bagnia Snow Mountain Special Forces and that Elena was courting her support.
• Mia suddenly sensed that something terrible had happened in the east and said the big egg had been pierced.

Shanghai Pirate King confronted Eliunor with the Bagnians’ demand for revenge, and Eliunor traced the attack to the Mirror Sea Adventuring Company. He stayed aboard as Shanghai Pirate King’s special advisor while his two subordinates departed with the news, then struggled to make sense of the commander’s name and title.

• Shanghai Pirate King told Eliunor that an illusion-magic ship and half-elven fighters had attacked Bagnia’s First Fleet, killing over a hundred people and capturing a King’s Guard who died under torture.
• Eliunor recognized the attackers as the Mirror Sea Adventuring Company, realized their raid had caused the war, and explained that they were mercenaries serving elven nobles rather than an official force.
• Eliunor offered to stay with Shanghai Pirate King and help identify the real enemies, while his subordinates carried news of the war’s cause back to the Blue Flame Kingdom.
• Shanghai Pirate King accepted Eliunor as a special advisor and allowed the two subordinates to leave, but said Eliunor would serve as a guide rather than a living map.
• After the two elves departed, Eliunor asked the commander’s name and reacted with confusion when Macon Translator rendered it as “Shanghai Pirate King.”

During the voyage toward the elves’ realm, Shanghai Pirate King and Eliunor formed an unlikely friendship as they traded knowledge and stories. Their conversation ended when Eliunor spotted a druid’s scouting birds and warned that the Blue Flame Kingdom’s fleet was nearby and likely to attack that night.

• Shanghai Pirate King and Eliunor shared stories about their lives, ships, and knowledge of the sea.
• Eliunor realized that Shanghai Pirate King and others aboard the ship came from another world, but his discovery did not change their growing friendship.
• On the evening of the third day, Shanghai Pirate King and Eliunor shared liquor and joked about visiting Mooncrown City despite the coming war.
• Eliunor noticed two silent seagulls circling the mast and identified them as a druid’s companions.
• Eliunor warned Shanghai Pirate King that the Blue Flame Kingdom’s fleet had discovered them, reefs lay ahead, and a surprise attack was likely that night.

As the Shanghai Pirate King prepared to face the Blue Flame Kingdom’s fleet, Eliunor explained why he was helping the humans bring his kingdom a costly defeat. Before the fleets could clash, Otherworldly Fiends breached the world crystal wall, forcing the enemies into an unstable alliance to protect the World Tree.

• Eliunor criticized the human fleet’s clumsy formation, and the Shanghai Pirate King explained that his inexperienced crews had to rely on a slow, tightly packed formation built for concentrated fire and boarding combat.
• Eliunor admitted he was helping the humans because he believed the Blue Flame Kingdom needed a painful defeat to confront its arrogance and reform.
• The elven fleet encircled the human ships, and Eliunor identified its forces and flagship, the Emerald Dream.
• The sky turned crimson, and fiery objects fell toward Mooncrown City as Eliunor realized the crystalline barrier had been breached by something from beyond the world.
• Eliunor urged an immediate ceasefire, and the Shanghai Pirate King received a quest update declaring the Worldburners Invasion and temporarily making the fleets an unstable alliance against the threat to the World Tree.

After the meteors revealed that demons were attacking the World Tree, Shanghai Pirate King led the second Revenge Fleet toward the meteor impact sites, despite Eliunor’s concerns about the elves misunderstanding their intentions. The demonic invasion then struck Mooncrown City, where the elves struggled to organize a defense and protect the World Tree.

• The second Revenge Fleet abandoned its expected battle with the elves and pursued the elven fleet after learning that demons threatened the World Tree.
• Eliunor explained that the invaders were demons and proposed earning the elves’ trust by clearing the route to Mooncrown City, but Shanghai Pirate King ordered the fleet straight toward the meteor landings.
• The 150 armed merchant ships charged across the sea, and Shanghai Pirate King dismissed Eliunor’s warnings about navigating without charts.
• Demonic drop pods struck Mooncrown City, unleashing demons through portals and devastating the city’s outskirts, defenses, and key locations.
• The city’s officials panicked as guards and mages rallied to fight, and the elves prepared to defend the World Tree, the Tears of the Firmament.

Chris sensed that demons had breached the crystal wall and ordered Bagnia to prepare for total war while directing the First Fleet toward the Blue Flame Archipelago. As the Blue Flame Kingdom’s fleet raced to Mooncrown Island, the Silverlight Squad struggled to hold its position against berserker demons.

• Chris sensed the world’s foundation being breached and realized demons were attacking World Trees in the Blue Flame Archipelago and west of the Greek Continent.
• Chris issued a quest directing the second Revenge Fleet to support the elves, then ordered the First Fleet to resupply and sail for the Blue Flame Archipelago.
• Chris placed Bagnia on a total-war footing and began preparing an announcement and quests to mobilize players.
• On Silverleaf Path, Captain Aellarion, mage Lilandra, and the depleted Silverlight Squad fought off berserker demons as their defensive line began to collapse.
• An elven mage’s Fire Arrow killed a demon threatening Aellarion, allowing the Silverlight Squad to retreat to a stronger barricade while the demons pursued.

Lirana Morningstar led the elven fleet into Mooncrown City’s harbor and cleared a path through the demons, but an Abyssal Demon Dragon and its airborne forces nearly overwhelmed her ships. The arrival of the human Revenge Fleet from the Magicless Land eased the assault, and Lirana ordered contact with them.

• In Dawnlight Hall, the Blue Flame Kingdom’s nobles argued over how to defend Mooncrown City until an attendant reported that the fleet had returned.
• Lirana Morningstar led the Emerald Dream and the elven fleet in a crescent formation and unleashed a devastating volley that cleared demons from the harbor district.
• After ordering the exhausted fleet to withdraw and recover, Lirana faced an attack by an Abyssal Demon Dragon, Gargoyles, Succubi, and Shadow Demons.
• The demons battered the fleet while the Abyssal Demon Dragon’s fel breath weakened the Emerald Dream’s shield and a smaller assault ship caught fire.
• The Abyssal Demon Dragon and some Gargoyles turned toward the horizon when the human Revenge Fleet from the Magicless Land arrived.
• Lirana ordered her adjutant to contact the Revenge Fleet and ask why it had come.

Shanghai Pirate King led the Revenge Fleet in a desperate charge toward the elven city, where the players landed on the beach and fought off the demons. After the beachhead forces injured the Abyssal Demon Dragon and drove it back into the sky, Shanghai Pirate King declared that they would attempt something bigger.

• Shanghai Pirate King ordered twenty armed merchant ships carrying the fleet’s essential NPCs to return to Bagnia while the remaining ships charged toward the beach.
• Admiral Lilaana sent elven mages to support the Revenge Fleet, but the Abyssal Demon Dragon attacked the human ships and destroyed or crippled several vessels.
• The Revenge Fleet endured heavy losses before its surviving ships grounded on the beach, where Shanghai Pirate King and the players rapidly assembled a defensive position.
• The players repelled the attacking Gargoyles with flintlocks, Swivel Cannons, and Tiger Descending the Mountain Fire Rockets.
• The Abyssal Demon Dragon landed among the Riflemen, but ballista harpoons and rockets wounded it and forced it to retreat into the sky.
• Shanghai Pirate King celebrated the beachhead’s survival and told the players they would attempt something even bigger.

The Bagnians landed on the Eastern Beach despite heavy losses, drawing demons away from the Elf Fleet and prompting the elves to contact them. Shanghai Pirate King declared that they had come on Chris’s orders to protect the world tree, and Eliunor persuaded the stunned elves to accept their help; the groups prepared to advance through demon-held Crystalsong Glade.

• Admiral Lilaana ordered the Swiftwind to contact the Bagnians and sent word to Mooncrown City about their landing and their effect on the demons.
• Mooncrown City’s mages sent Lothlin and the Moonshadow Walkers to meet the Bagnians, while Captain Anros arrived aboard the Swiftwind.
• Shanghai Pirate King told Anros and Lothlin that the Bagnians had landed to kill demons and protect the world tree on Chris’s orders, leaving the elves speechless.
• Eliunor vouched for Shanghai Pirate King and the Bagnians, persuading Anros and Lothlin to welcome them as allies.
• Lothlin warned that reaching the world tree meant crossing demon-corrupted Crystalsong Glade, but Shanghai Pirate King proposed charging straight through with the Bagnians’ guns and cannons.

The Revenge Fleet reorganized on Mooncrown City's Eastern Beach, building defenses, supplies, and a respawn point while preparing to attack the demons. A nighttime probing attack from Crystalsong Glade was repelled, and Shanghai Pirate King ordered the players to finish fortifying before advancing at dawn.

• Shanghai Pirate King kept the Revenge Fleet on the beach to regroup, unload supplies, repair cannons, gather intelligence, and establish a base with logistics, spearhead, and combat units.
• The players worked through the evening to build a defensive wall, set up a field hospital, and prepare a Mechanicus Cult respawn point.
• Sentries spotted demons emerging from Crystalsong Glade, and Shanghai Pirate King ordered the combat unit to fight while the logistics unit continued repairs and the spearhead unit prepared to fill gaps.
• Hundreds of lesser demons and dozens of mid-tier demons attacked the Unyielding, but a repaired cannon aboard the Reefbreaker blasted the attackers and helped turn the tide.
• The Revenge Fleet's cannon fire drove the surviving demons back into Crystalsong Glade, and Shanghai Pirate King ordered the players to continue fortifying and prepare to advance at dawn.

Doomhammer Grosag recognized the beachhead attackers as the fanatical players who had once helped defeat the demons, and realized they threatened his campaign against the world tree. He ordered a major strike to destroy their Resurrection Point and planned to make the Heart of Corruption beat early.

• Grosag watched the humans establish their beachhead and recognized their disregard for death from the demons’ past defeat in another world.
• He identified the divine statue as part of the players’ Resurrection Point and feared they would become an unstoppable force if it activated.
• Grosag ordered the High-rank Demons to stop harassing the elves and launch a devastating attack on the beachhead and its statue.
• He decided to make the Heart of Corruption beat ahead of schedule and prevent the elves from joining forces with the players.
• Grosag realized the coming battle would be more chaotic than expected and worried about the players’ unknown objective.

The Revenge Fleet charged into Crystalsong Glade, but Grosag’s demons slowed the attack with corrupted terrain and ambushes while launching a gargoyle assault on the beachhead. Kelandes’s troops withdrew after a corruption ritual blocked their advance, and the players’ rear base came under attack as Eliunor sought elven magical support.

• Shanghai Pirate King led the players from the Eastern Beach into Crystalsong Glade, where they swept aside the demons’ outer defenses.
• Grosag ordered his troops to retreat in stages and higher demons to gather at the Hearts of Corruption altars as he used the glade’s terrain to wear down the attackers.
• Kelandes tried to march from the Silverleaf Gate, but a demonic corruption ritual poisoned the land, disrupted communications, and threatened his troops, forcing him to retreat into Mooncrown City.
• The players’ advance stalled amid living trees, demon ambushes, mental interference, and worsening weapon misfires, while Shanghai Pirate King struggled to maintain momentum.
• Gargoyles attacked the Eastern Beach and targeted its supplies and Mechanicus Cult church, plunging the beachhead into chaos despite the players’ antiair fire.
• Eliunor recognized the demons’ two-front strategy and asked an elven mage to seek magical support from General Lilaana, though the Kingdom fleet was fighting in the Dock District.

Shanghai Pirate King withdrew part of the player force to save the beachhead while the players left in Crystalsong Glade were surrounded and battered. A desperate naval bombardment opened an escape route, but the survivors returned with heavy losses as Mooncrown City came under renewed attack and the beachhead faced a shortage of respawn resources.

• After learning that demons had attacked the rear, Shanghai Pirate King ordered an organized retreat and led Tin Can and Battlefield Sixth back to the beachhead.
• Shanghai Pirate King found the beachhead badly damaged but its Mechanicus Cult church and respawn point still intact, then rallied players to repair the defenses and rescue those left in the glade.
• As the remaining players were trapped near the forest's edge, Hero of Shangganling logged out so a runner could report their position and request naval gunfire.
• Shanghai Pirate King ordered more than thirty armed merchant ships to bombard the glade with explosive shells, creating a gap through which the surviving players escaped.
• The battered survivors reached the beachhead around three in the afternoon, while magical fighting erupted in Mooncrown City and the players realized their supply of meat for respawns was running low.

With normal resurrection materials running low, Bishop Scarecrow allowed players to be revived using demon flesh, giving them strange mutations and side effects. Eager for stronger bodies and more demon materials, the players hunted in Crystalsong Glade and captured the Berserker Demon Grosat.

• Bishop Scarecrow approved using demon flesh for resurrection after the Mechanicus Cult ran short of fish and livestock meat.
• Fearless Xiaoqiang and other players were resurrected with demon flesh, developing unusual traits and changes in behavior; Flying Dream grew small wings from Gargoyle flesh.
• Shanghai Pirate King accepted the mutated players' presence as long as they could still fight, while Scarecrow watched them warily.
• Several dozen newly mutated players left the beachhead at night to hunt for more demon materials in Crystalsong Glade.
• Flying Dream and the other players ambushed Grosat and his Lesser Imps, killed the Imps, and brought the wounded Berserker Demon down to carry away as valuable material.

After a disastrous defeat, Shanghai Pirate King struggled to control his demoralized, crowdfunded fleet as players experimented with demon flesh to replace their losses. Lothlin warned that the mutations could turn the players into demons and threatened to end elven cooperation, leaving him caught between dwindling supplies, rebellious players, and the Abyssal threat.

• Shanghai Pirate King found players displaying the corpses of powerful demons they had killed in a night raid and ordered them taken to Bishop Scarecrow, but the players ignored him and claimed the loot as their own.
• The fleet’s heavy casualties, lost equipment, and exhausted resurrection supplies eroded Shanghai Pirate King’s authority among the shareholders.
• Shanghai Pirate King tried to rally the players for another offensive, but they rejected his orders and scattered, leaving the beachhead without a unified plan.
• Lothlin and an elven mage confronted Shanghai Pirate King about the players’ use of demon flesh and warned that it could corrupt their souls and threaten the shared defenses.
• Lothlin demanded an end to consuming demon flesh and isolation of visibly mutated warriors, warning that Mooncrown City could withdraw its support if the fleet refused.
• Shanghai Pirate King acknowledged the danger but asked for time to consult his subordinates, left to face the crisis without a clear solution.

After the players rejected the elves’ warning and turned to hunting demons with mutations, Demon Lord Grosag ordered a full assault on their beachhead. Before dawn, his forces instead began a massive siege of Mooncrown City, leaving Shanghai Pirate King wary and unsure what the attack meant for the players.

• Shanghai Pirate King passed Lothlin’s warning to the player leaders, but they dismissed it, and the elves withdrew while Eliunor stayed behind in silence.
• Players formed small hunting teams to gather demon materials and develop new abilities, while Grosag’s forces suffered mounting losses and the elven defenders faced less pressure.
• Grosag recognized that the players were adapting to demonic powers and ordered his forces to assemble for a decisive assault on the beachhead at dawn.
• As the players remained absorbed in their hunts and mutations, a huge demonic assault began against Mooncrown City, and many players watched without offering help.
• Shanghai Pirate King told hunting teams to return and strengthen the beachhead, then sent scouts toward Mooncrown City to learn what was happening.

Chris learned that the Retalia and Bohemian Empires had mobilized troops toward Bagnia, but he focused on the battle in the Blue Flame Archipelago. The demons caught the players off guard with an assault led by an Abyssal Demon Dragon, but the players wounded it with explosive Siege Spears and launched a frenzied attempt to slay it.

• Chris learned that Retalia and Bohemia had mobilized their armies and sent them toward Bagnia, but ordered the Intelligence Bureau to monitor them rather than take overt action.
• A player warned the beachhead that the Demon Army was gathering, and the demons launched a sudden assault before the players could fully prepare.
• The Abyssal Demon Dragon crashed into the Unyielding, broke through the defensive line, and destroyed much of the Waves with its fel breath.
• Shanghai Pirate King and the other players opened fire and charged into the breach, while mutated players attacked the demons and drew the dragon's attention.
• Two players struck the Abyssal Demon Dragon's wing joint and neck with explosive Siege Spears, badly wounding it and inspiring the players to intensify their assault.

The players killed the Abyssal Demon Dragon, but Saphira’s elite demons ambushed the Mechanicus Cult church and destroyed its resurrection point. As the surviving players made a desperate stand aboard merchant ships, the regular military’s fleet arrived and began bombarding the demon forces, though its shots also caused friendly-fire casualties.

• The Abyssal Demon Dragon abandoned escape and fought until players destroyed its damaged left wing, bringing it crashing down on the beachhead.
• Saphira led an elite demon squad in a surprise assault on the Mechanicus Cult church, where newly resurrected players fought to hold the entrance.
• Saphira broke into the church’s inner sanctum and destroyed the Holy Steam Resurrection Machines, triggering a warning that the regional resurrection point had failed.
• The surviving players retreated to armed merchant ships and fought as their last defenses were steadily overwhelmed by demons.
• Shanghai Pirate King and Eliunor faced the collapse of their position until the regular military’s fleet opened fire from the sea, striking demons and accidentally hitting players as well.

Vice Admiral Marlow’s fleet broke the demons’ beach assault with a devastating explosive-shell bombardment, then split its forces to support the beachhead and attack Mooncrown City. Lin Ruoyu and the Extreme Warriors landed amid renewed demon attacks and fought to hold the beachhead as the story left them locked in brutal close combat.

• Vice Admiral Marlow ordered the fleet to fire ten rounds of Explosive Shells at coordinates sent by the King's Guards, breaking the demon assault but heavily injuring demonized players caught in the blast.
• Vice Admiral Marlow left ships to support the beachhead and rescue the wounded, while the main fleet sailed toward Mooncrown City to bombard the demon strongholds.
• Lin Ruoyu led the Extreme Warriors ashore in crowded landing boats and formed a defensive line as Gargoyles attacked from above.
• Lin Ruoyu's troops used Phosphorus Fireworks to disrupt the Gargoyles, then repelled a renewed demon advance with Flintlocks, grenades, and close combat.
• Lin Ruoyu charged into the demon tide with his Executioner's Greatsword, splitting the attacking ranks as the beachhead battle intensified.

After the Iron Justice was destroyed, Lin Ruoyu and the Extreme Warriors turned the tide at the beachhead with disciplined volleys, grenades, and coordinated combat. The players secured the landing zone, but the fighting in Mooncrown City remained uncertain as the chapter ended.

• Shanghai Pirate King and Eliunor watched the newly landed Extreme Warriors attack the demons, and Lin Ruoyu's solo charge stunned them with his strength and armor.
• Shanghai Pirate King identified the Extreme Warriors as Chris's trusted veteran force, while Eliunor recognized Lin Ruoyu's Divine Power Talisman as protection against low-level fel spells.
• Lin Ruoyu withdrew to his formation and ordered the Extreme Warriors to reload, throw grenades, and fire concentrated volleys at the Berserker Demons.
• The Extreme Warriors inspired other players to organize their attacks, while ship guns struck the demons' reinforcements and helped break the assault.
• Lin Ruoyu led a steady advance that cleared the beachhead, and Shanghai Pirate King sent his surviving men to rescue the wounded and secure the Abyssal Demon Dragon.
• Shanghai Pirate King asked about Mooncrown City, and Eliunor feared the elves there were losing ground as several Magic Towers had likely fallen.