Chapter Summaries

Priest Enkai unexpectedly tried to avert a battle with Winterhold, throwing the players’ carefully arranged plan into chaos. Kairils’s response remained unknown as both sides waited for him to decide whether to fight or let the cultists pass.

• Give Me Your Phone and You’ve Cried Already panicked when Enkai called the confrontation a misunderstanding, but Lin Shen stopped them from attacking.
• Ma Lou and Jiahao realized Enkai had backed down to avoid the risks of fighting Kairils, leaving their plan in danger.
• Enkai apologized to Kairils and offered to withdraw, while Ovid and the recruits could only watch.
• Winterhold’s young knights felt reassured by the cultists’ submission, but the second-tier knights stayed ready for battle.
• Viel expected Kairils to refuse mercy, but Kairils’s next move stunned everyone.

Kairils backed down and let Priest Enkai’s Cultists withdraw, but Lu Ziye sprang an ambush on Winterhold’s knights and killed one. He called on the Cultists to join the attack, leaving Enkai stunned.

• Kairils sheathed the White Long Halberd and ordered Priest Enkai and the Cultists to leave.
• Priest Enkai accepted Kairils’s mercy and began ordering his followers to withdraw.
• Lu Ziye leaped from a dead tree and unleashed blood-red tentacles on the Winterhold knights.
• Kairils froze and shattered most of the tentacles, but one pierced a First-Tier Knight and knocked him from his horse.
• Lu Ziye urged Priest Enkai and the Cultists to attack Winterhold, leaving Enkai dumbstruck.

Lu Ziye attacked the Winterhold knights, but Kairils quickly froze and grievously wounded him. Lin Shen claimed Lu Ziye was Black Forest’s hidden weapon, leaving Enkai desperately denying any connection as Kairils asked Viel about the injured knight.

• Enkai recognized Lu Ziye’s Abyssal power and assumed he was a survivor from Blood-Weeping Ridge seeking revenge.
• Kairils froze Lu Ziye’s feet and shattered his tentacle shield before striking him in the chest with his Long Halberd.
• Lu Ziye was hurled into the watching Cultists, where Lin Shen helped him up.
• Lin Shen praised Lu Ziye as Black Forest’s secret weapon and called his attack part of Enkai’s masterful plan.
• Enkai denied knowing Lu Ziye and pleaded with Kairils that the attack did not represent Black Forest.
• Kairils ignored Enkai and asked Viel about their injured companion.

Kairils and the Winterhold knights charged the Black Forest cultists after a knight died, while Priest Enkai prepared his people to fight back. [God Never Laughs] emerged with his newly advanced fear-based class and drained terror from everyone on the battlefield, rapidly increasing his level; four players watched from behind a tree.

• Viel reported that the wounded First-Tier Knight could not be saved, and Kairils ordered his knights to attack the cultists.
• Priest Enkai recognized that his Black Forest Branch had been blamed and ordered Ovid to target the mounted knights.
• Ovid led the cultists into a charge against the Winterhold knights as both sides prepared to clash.
• [God Never Laughs] appeared and spread fear across the battlefield, drawing it into himself and surging from level 21 to level 29.
• The four players watched the battlefield from behind a large tree.

[God Never Laughs] used the Fear Apostle’s power to attack Kairils, whose momentary disorientation let Lu Ziye and Priest Enkai launch a coordinated assault. Kairils remained calm and prepared to retaliate against his attackers.

• Ma Lou and Jiahao recognized that [God Never Laughs] grew stronger as nearby enemies feared him, while he knew his borrowed power would fade if the battle dragged on.
• [God Never Laughs] struck Kairils with a sonic attack, and its fear-inducing shriek disrupted Kairils despite his ice shield blocking the blast.
• Lu Ziye recovered enough to fight and sent blood-red tentacles around Kairils’s shield toward him.
• Priest Enkai seized the opening, conjured over a hundred Blood Spikes, and rained them down on Kairils and the knights.
• Kairils showed no fear as Lu Ziye’s tentacles and Priest Enkai’s Blood Spikes converged, and he vowed to grant them their wish to die.

Kairils fought off Lu Ziye, Priest Enkai, and [God Never Laughs] while his fellow Second-Tier Knights left him unsupported. As the battle wore him down, he awakened the Long Halberd’s ancient power and leaped toward his enemies.

• Kairils used his winter power to freeze and shatter Lu Ziye’s tentacles and block the attacks raining down on him.
• Kairils noticed that Viel and the other two Second-Tier Knights were pretending to fight Cultists instead of helping him.
• [God Never Laughs] struck Kairils with a sonic attack, allowing Lu Ziye to hit him before Kairils knocked Lu Ziye away.
• Lu Ziye recovered by draining blood from nearby Cultists while Priest Enkai and [God Never Laughs] continued attacking Kairils.
• Kairils decided to end the battle quickly and awakened glowing ice-blue runes across his Long Halberd as Ma Lou and Jiahao watched from hiding.
• Kairils leaped from his warhorse at several times his usual speed.

Kairils killed [God Never Laughs] with a single halberd thrust and charged at Priest Enkai, who brought out a strange lump of flesh as a last resort. [God Never Laughs] resurrected in Fog Town and ran back toward the battle, deciding that everyone who knew about the Winterhold Knights had to die.

• Kairils impaled [God Never Laughs], kicked him into the grass, and announced that Priest Enkai was next.
• [God Never Laughs]'s corpse vanished in the grass, while Lu Ziye watched Kairils's sudden display of power in shock.
• [God Never Laughs] resurrected in Fog Town and raced toward the forest, resolving to kill every witness to the deaths of the Winterhold Knights and Cultists.
• Kairils charged Priest Enkai and shattered the Blood Shields he conjured.
• Priest Enkai abandoned his defenses, pulled a shriveled lump of flesh from his robe, and infused it with divine power, causing red strands to spread over his body.

Enkai absorbed a lump of flesh to reach an unstable third-tier level and fought Kairils, who matched his power. As the players and fighters retreated from their clash, Lu Ziye worried that Enkai’s temporary strength would not last.

• Enkai absorbed the flesh’s power, and blood threads formed a barrier that stopped Kairils’s halberd strike.
• Enkai transformed into a blood-thread-covered monster, and the system identified him as an unstable third-tier enemy whose power-up consumed his lifespan.
• Lu Ziye, Jiahao, and Ma Lou discussed the danger and hoped Kairils and Enkai would weaken each other while the players stayed clear.
• Enkai attacked with blood whips while Kairils countered with his Long Halberd, and their shock waves forced nearby fighters to retreat.
• The players realized Kairils could hold his own against Enkai, while Lu Ziye warned that Enkai’s temporary power would not last.

Lu Ziye staged a convincing retreat after Kairils struck him, luring two Winterhold Knights into pursuing him for the Calamity Token. As the Knights approached his motionless body in the woods, one warned that it might be a trap.

• Lu Ziye attacked Kairils, took a heavy blow, and pretended to flee while threatening revenge.
• Knight Viel sent two Second-Tier Knights after Lu Ziye, hoping to claim the reward for bringing back his corpse.
• Viel watched Kairils continue battling Priest Enkai and worried that Kairils would punish him for withholding help.
• The two Knights tracked Lu Ziye through the forest and saw him fall into the mud and stop moving.
• One Knight rushed toward Lu Ziye, while the other warned that the apparent corpse could be a trap.

Lu Ziye’s ambush trapped two Winterhold knights, but their Winter Frost Armor let them survive the attack and turn on him. [God Never Cries], [Immortal Star Crazy Young Master], and [Kindergarten Boss] emerged from the Ash Mist to attack as Lu Ziye called for Old Ji to save him.

• Lu Ziye sprang from his fake corpse as Ash Chains bound the two knights, and he and hidden allies attacked with tentacles and Ashen Missiles.
• The knights burned their divine power to break the chains and shield themselves with Winter Frost Armor, surviving the assault with only minor injuries.
• The knights charged Lu Ziye, whose movements were slowed by the cold, and he shouted for Old Ji to save him.
• An Ash Spear exploded into Ash Mist, obscuring the knights’ vision and allowing [God Never Cries] to attack one knight’s throat.
• [Immortal Star Crazy Young Master] and [Kindergarten Boss] charged from behind the knights through the Ash Mist.

Ji Luo joined Lu Ziye and the others in ambushing two Winterhold Knights while Laughs recovered after Kairils killed him in one blow. The knights realized their attackers were not Abyss cultists and tried to negotiate, but the players chose to eliminate them rather than risk Winterhold retaliation.

• Ji Luo pulled Lu Ziye from the battlefield, learned that Laughs had been killed by Kairils, and charged toward the two knights with an Ash Spear.
• Kuang Shao, Bossy Guy, God Never Cries, and the other players coordinated attacks against the knights inside the Ash Mist.
• One knight realized the players wielded no Abyss power and called for a halt, claiming they were all warriors of the Righteous Gods Faction.
• The knight offered to let the incident go and threatened Winterhold's retaliation if the players kept fighting.
• Immortal Star Crazy Young Master rejected the threat, and Ji Luo, God Never Cries, Kindergarten Boss, and Immortal Star Crazy Young Master attacked the knights together.

The four second-tier players defeated the two Winterhold Knights in the Ash Mist, with [God Never Cries] using a false body to turn a fatal strike into a trap. Meanwhile, Kairils continued fighting Priest Enkai, whose borrowed pseudo-third-tier power lacked the control of true Blood Authority.

• [God Never Cries] let the left Winterhold Knight stab a fake body, then killed him with an Ash Spear while he was stunned by its explosion.
• The remaining Winterhold Knight fled, but Kuang Shao blocked his escape and Lu Ziye drained his blood and divine power with a flesh tentacle.
• Kairils and Priest Enkai continued their fierce battle amid the ruined forest.
• Kairils exploited Priest Enkai's inability to control his borrowed third-tier power to clash with him despite having only peak second-tier strength.

Lu Ziye returned after killing the two Second-Tier Knights pursuing him, while [God Never Laughs] reappeared alive after Kairils had pierced his chest. Their arrival stunned the battlefield, and [God Never Laughs] declared that he had come back to kill the Winterhold Knights.

• Kairils and Priest Enkai weakened each other in their prolonged battle, while Knight Viel planned to claim credit for finishing off Enkai.
• Knight Viel grew uneasy when the two Second-Tier Knights he had sent after the fleeing Cultist failed to return.
• Lu Ziye emerged from the grass unharmed and boasted that the two Second-Tier Knights had become his nourishment.
• Knight Viel demanded to know how Lu Ziye had killed the knights, and a voice from nearby offered to explain.
• [God Never Laughs] appeared alive despite Kairils having pierced his chest, then mocked Winterhold and vowed to send its Knights to their graves.

After the Winterhold Knights’ advantage collapsed and two Second-Tier Knights were presumed dead, Kairils judged the battle lost and ordered a retreat. He led the survivors toward Graycliff Town, protecting the four refugees as they escaped.

• Viel realized the two Second-Tier Knights he had sent away were likely dead, while Kairils faced the consequences of his squad’s disastrous decisions.
• Kairils assessed the enemy’s remaining strength and decided that retreating with his troops and the four refugees was more important than continuing the fight.
• Kairils launched a blast of freezing air at the cultists, fell back to his knights, and ordered everyone to mount up and retreat toward Graycliff Town.
• Viel led the way, the surviving First-Tier Knights formed a protective center around Ma Lou, Jiahao, and the two newcomers, and Kairils covered the rear.
• Ma Lou and Jiahao exchanged a glance as Kairils ensured the refugees were included in the retreat.

Ma Lou and Jiahao chose not to sabotage Kairils’s retreat, allowing the surviving Winterhold knights to escape toward Graycliff Town. Lu Ziye and [God Never Laughs] pursued them to ensure they left the area, while Priest Enkai’s exhaustion prevented the Cultists from giving chase.

• Ma Lou considered abandoning Kairils and letting the Cultists kill more knights, but felt guilty about betraying his integrity and dedication.
• Jiahao agreed that the mission’s main objective was already achieved and decided to let Kairils take more survivors back to Winterhold.
• Lu Ziye and [God Never Laughs] chased the fleeing knights, intending to drive them out of the area rather than let them turn back toward Fog Town.
• Ovid urged Priest Enkai to stop the knights, but Enkai said he was too exhausted after fighting Kairils to pursue them.
• Lin Shen wondered whether kicking the weakened Priest Enkai might earn him some experience.

Priest Enkai stopped Lin Shen and [You've Cried Already] from joining Ovid’s pursuit and revealed that he wanted Ovid to die, removing a rival for the Black Forest Branch Divine Child position. He left the two players with the choice of accepting his protection and scheme.

• Ovid led the remaining Cultists after the fleeing Winterhold Knights, while Lin Shen and [You've Cried Already] pretended to follow.
• Priest Enkai called Lin Shen and [You've Cried Already] back and warned that Kairils might have a hidden trump card beyond his Long Halberd.
• Lin Shen and [You've Cried Already] feigned alarm about Ovid’s danger and offered to bring him back.
• Enkai refused, explaining that Ovid’s death would eliminate a rival for the Black Forest Branch Divine Child position.
• Enkai called the two his trusted men and asked whether they understood his intentions.

Lin Shen and [You've Cried Already] won Priest Enkai’s confidence by pledging loyalty and offering to help purge his rivals in the Black Forest Branch. Their new alliance was interrupted by a freezing wind from the direction Ovid had pursued Kairils, and Enkai believed Ovid had been defeated.

• Lin Shen recognized Enkai’s attempt to win them over and knelt to pledge his loyalty, denouncing Ovid and the short priest as threats to the branch.
• [You've Cried Already] joined Lin Shen in swearing allegiance to Enkai, and Lin Shen stopped him from calling the priest his adoptive father.
• Enkai praised both men for their loyalty and judgment, and the three formed an alliance while concealing their separate motives.
• A bitter, freezing wind swept in from the direction Ovid had pursued, making Lin Shen and [You've Cried Already] shiver.
• Enkai claimed Kairils still had strength and mocked Ovid, suggesting Ovid had been frozen into an ice sculpture.

Priest Enkai, Lin Shen, and [You've Cried Already] found the frozen battlefield and discovered Captain Ovid still alive. Lin Shen pretended to help him, then fatally drove the ice spear deeper and claimed he would take Ovid’s Divine Child position and experience.

• Priest Enkai led Lin Shen and [You've Cried Already] through the forest, telling them to hide their satisfaction if Ovid had died.
• The group found a frozen battlefield where more than half of Ovid’s cultists had become ice sculptures, while a few survivors remained alive.
• Lin Shen found Ovid pinned beneath a tree by an ice spear and acted distraught as he called for Priest Enkai.
• Priest Enkai declared Ovid beyond saving, while Lin Shen pretended to try to remove the spear.
• Lin Shen shoved the spear deeper and twisted it, then whispered that he would take Ovid’s Divine Child position and experience before Ovid died.

Lin Shen pretended to grieve Ovid’s death while learning how the Winterhold Knights had defeated the cultists. Priest Enkai reflected that Kairils’s survival had spared the Black Forest Branch from a devastating war.

• Lin Shen received EXP and Ash Coins for participating in the kill, then acted heartbroken over Ovid’s death as Enkai and the surviving cultists praised his loyalty.
• A surviving cultist told Lin Shen that Kairils had killed Ovid and many others with an ice-crystal spear after Ovid provoked him.
• Lin Shen asked where the two red-robed brothers from Bloodweeping Ridge had gone, and the cultists said they had continued chasing the knights instead of helping Ovid.
• Lin Shen and [You've Cried Already] felt relieved that Lao Lu and Xiaozi had pursued the knights and planned to check in with their group chat later.
• Enkai considered Kairils’s survival a fortunate outcome because it reduced the risk of an all-out war between Winterhold and the Black Forest Branch.

After the survivors returned toward their Branch, Lu Ziye and [God Never Laughs] confirmed that the knights seemed to be heading for Winterhold, but Lu Ziye spotted a force approaching Fog Town. Kairils then discovered Cultists blocking the knights’ route ahead and ordered his squad to prepare for battle.

• Priest Enkai ordered the surviving Cultists to collect the Winterhold Knights’ bodies and return to the Branch to report what happened.
• Lu Ziye and [God Never Laughs] watched the knights ride toward Winterhold, and [God Never Laughs] logged out to report that the first stage of the plan was complete.
• Lu Ziye stayed behind to follow the knights, then spotted a mass of figures on the horizon heading toward Fog Town.
• Knight Viel urged Kairils to seek revenge on the Cultists, but Kairils told him their priority was reaching Graycliff Town alive.
• Kairils spotted an ambush ahead, drew his White Long Halberd, and ordered the knights to prepare for battle.