Chapter Summaries

Under overwhelming pressure and a nuclear blast, Jieshibang tried to keep Shengdun’s Command Center functioning as staff feared Great Xia had destroyed the Freedom and was about to attack them. He shot a panicking communications soldier, restored a measure of order, and turned to Thompson for a report on the city.

• Jieshibang ordered the Command Center staff to get up and return to work despite the crushing pressure.
• A technician reported concentrated explosions above the city, then confirmed that a nuclear bomb of at least a hundred kilotons had detonated on the surface.
• The staff concluded that Great Xia had destroyed the Freedom and was attacking Shengdun, and panic spread through the Command Center.
• Jieshibang shot a communications soldier who was wailing that Eagle Country was finished, then warned everyone else not to undermine morale.
• Jieshibang insisted the reports were only speculation, and several officers echoed his call to resist psychological warfare.
• Jieshibang found Jenny incapacitated beneath the command console and asked Thompson for a report on the city.

After a mysterious pressure and shock waves threw Shengdun Underground City into chaos, Jieshibang imposed martial law and prepared to fight Great Xia. As soldiers assembled, tremors began shaking the Third Military Camp from within its surrounding walls.

• Thompson called the districts and learned that residents were collapsing while religious fanatics and looters spread violence across the city.
• Jieshibang ordered the garrison to impose martial law, shoot looters on sight, disperse obstructive religious gatherings, and prepare to attack Great Xia.
• Soldiers deployed to restore order as nearly forty thousand combat troops assembled across twelve military camps with weapons and vehicles.
• At the Third Military Camp, a lieutenant colonel rallied five thousand soldiers against Great Xia despite the pressure weakening them.
• The ground began trembling repeatedly, and the lieutenant colonel and his adjutant realized the muffled rumbling seemed to come from inside the nearby walls.

A gigantic Burrowing Earth Dragon bored through the Dome Wall into the Third Military Camp, killing Brian and shrugging off most of the soldiers’ gunfire. As the lieutenant colonel faced the fully emerged beast, countless dark red eyes appeared deeper inside the wall.

• Brian heard grinding inside the Dome Wall and spotted cracks spreading through the concrete.
• The wall shattered, and the Burrowing Earth Dragon crushed Brian as it forced its way into the camp.
• The lieutenant colonel ordered more than five thousand soldiers to open fire, but most bullets bounced off the monster’s armor.
• The Burrowing Earth Dragon emerged fully, revealing a body over a hundred meters long that crushed buildings, vehicles, and fortifications.
• A sergeant froze with an anti-tank rocket launcher when countless dark red eyes lit up inside the opening and deep in the rock.

Burrowing Earth Dragons and the Demon Clan Army broke through Shengdun Underground City's defenses, devastating its barracks and driving its soldiers into retreat. City Lord Jieshibang ordered tactical nuclear bombs used against the invading monsters, stopping their advance at the cost of the civilians caught in the blasts.

• A Black sergeant attached C4 to a Burrowing Earth Dragon, but its violent thrashing devastated the Third Barracks and killed or wounded more than a third of the soldiers there.
• Five Burrowing Earth Dragons breached Shengdun Underground City's domed walls, allowing the Demon Clan Army to flood into the city and overwhelm its cramped defenses.
• City Lord Jieshibang ordered soldiers to pack defensive positions with C4 and blow up strongpoints they lost, but Heavy Armor Demon Soldiers and Sixth Rank monsters survived the explosions.
• Jieshibang ordered tactical nuclear bombs detonated at fallen intersections, vaporizing invading monsters and civilians and halting the Demon Clan Army's advance.
• The surviving soldiers cheered as the nuclear blasts stopped the monsters.

Cho'Gath entered Shengdun Underground City, and Jieshibang ordered a hundred-kiloton nuclear strike after a miniature bomb failed to harm it. The blast devastated the city, but the Command Center could not tell whether Cho'Gath had died and sent soldiers to investigate.

• Cho'Gath broke through the city's overhead structure and entered Shengdun Underground City, terrifying the soldiers and Command Center staff.
• Jieshibang ordered the soldiers to detonate a Miniature Nuclear Bomb beneath Cho'Gath, but its energy shield absorbed the blast.
• Jieshibang overruled objections and ordered a hundred-kiloton warhead used despite the danger to civilians.
• A wounded soldier detonated the warhead beside Cho'Gath, and the blast vaporized everything near ground zero, damaged the city, and disabled nearby electronics.
• Jieshibang learned that the surviving camera feeds could not show whether Cho'Gath had been killed, so he ordered soldiers from the ninth duty post to confirm it in person.

Leo and Parker were sent into the nuclear blast zone, where they discovered that the enormous monster had survived the close-range nuclear explosion. They escaped and reported back as soldiers confirmed the monster was moving toward Residential District Six and other monsters were active again.

• The second lieutenant ordered Leo and Parker to investigate the nuclear blast zone, and they drove through the devastated, radioactive streets.
• Leo and Parker heard heavy footsteps in the haze and saw the colossal monster emerge, protected by a purple energy shield.
• The monster stomped near their vehicle, and Leo reversed and drove away with Parker before they were crushed.
• Leo and Parker reported that the monster had survived the nuclear blast, leaving the Command Center stunned.
• Frontline soldiers reported that the monster was moving toward Residential District Six and that monsters were active around the blast zone and emerging from drainage channels.

Jieshibang and Shengdun's remaining defenders sacrificed the city with repeated nuclear blasts to slow Cho'Gath, but the monster reached their final shelter. As demons overwhelmed the entrance and Cho'Gath broke through the ceiling, Jieshibang still held the last one-megaton bomb's detonator.

• Jieshibang ordered Shengdun's forces to detonate nuclear bombs along Cho'Gath's route, destroying districts and killing civilians as they tried to slow it.
• Cho'Gath continued advancing through the Underground City while explosions and radiation consumed habitable space and dwindling survivors.
• Jieshibang, Thompson, and just over a hundred soldiers gathered in the farthest emergency shelter beside their last one-megaton bomb.
• The Demon Clan's vanguard attacked the shelter, and the defenders opened fire as larger Heavy Armor Demon Soldiers pushed through the passage.
• Cho'Gath smashed through the ceiling above the shelter, its dark purple shield appearing through the crack.

Jieshibang detonated a one-megaton nuclear warhead in Shengdun Underground City, destroying the city and its millions of residents. Elsewhere, Seventh-Order Demon Venerable Kosla traced missile attacks to Great Xia’s underground cities and was caught in a series of carefully aimed strikes.

• Jieshibang watched the shelter’s defenders fight the Demon Clan, then pressed the detonator and set off a nuclear warhead beneath Shengdun Underground City.
• The nuclear blast destroyed Shengdun Underground City and the millions of Eagle Country citizens inside it.
• Kosla followed incoming missiles across Antarctica, realized humans were misleading it with launches from different directions, and searched the icefields for their source.
• Kosla spotted the glowing World Tree above Great Xia’s Tianxiong and Tianyong Underground Cities, saw missile launches around it, and flew toward the tree.
• Great Xia unleashed successive missile attacks and a nuclear bomb; Kosla narrowly escaped the blasts, but another nuclear flash erupted along its climb.

Human forces killed Kosla with a coordinated barrage of nuclear bombs, while Cho'Gath emerged from beneath the ruins of Shengdun and learned of Kosla's death. At Tianxiong Underground City, Lin Shigong's command center celebrated the apparent destruction of the Seventh-Order Demon Venerable, unaware that Cho'Gath was flying toward Kosla's final coordinates.

• Human missiles drove Kosla into a confined area, where more than a dozen nuclear bombs detonated and killed it.
• Cho'Gath burst out from beneath Shengdun, survived the earlier nuclear blast, and set out to destroy nearby human gathering points.
• Cho'Gath received Kosla's report, then sensed its mental link vanish and realized that Kosla had died.
• Furious at losing another Seventh-Order Demon Venerable, Cho'Gath abandoned his initial target and flew toward Kosla's final coordinates.
• At Tianxiong Underground City's command center, Lin Shigong's forces reviewed the footage and concluded that the nuclear barrage had killed Kosla.
• The command center erupted in cheers over Kosla's apparent death.

After Cho'Gath emerged from the ice above the Shengdun, it first headed toward New York Underground City, then changed course toward Tianxiong Underground City. Lin Shigong received authorization to use Great Xia's sole antimatter bomb there, but the commanders argued over how to deploy it as Cho'Gath approached.

• Lin Shigong ordered the Command Center to search for threats after the Seventh-Order Demon Venerable was killed by a nuclear bomb array.
• A communications soldier reported that Cho'Gath had emerged from the shattered ice above the Shengdun, and Lin Shigong ordered its flight path calculated.
• The communications soldier reported that Cho'Gath was heading toward New York Underground City, prompting Lin Shigong to continue monitoring it.
• The communications soldier announced that Cho'Gath had changed course and was heading toward Tianxiong Underground City, so Lin Shigong ordered missile units to fire everything they could launch.
• Lin Shigong requested permission to use the antimatter bomb, and Celestial Pivot City Command Center authorized its use.
• Lin Shigong, Chen Jianguo, and their staff argued over whether to launch the antimatter bomb on a missile or bury it in the ice as a mine.

As Demon God Cho'Gath raced toward Tianxiong Underground City, Lin Shigong and the Command Center chose to keep the Antimatter Bomb inside the city and sacrifice themselves to guarantee a hit. With most civilians evacuated to Celestial Pivot City but more than twenty thousand still refusing or delaying, the threat closed in.

• Cho'Gath survived the missile interception and came within thirty-five kilometers of Tianxiong Underground City, leaving less than eighteen seconds before he arrived.
• Lin Shigong ordered the Antimatter Bomb kept inside the city and asked the Command Center staff to face death with him.
• An old staff officer, a young communications soldier, and the other Command Center personnel stood ready to die rather than bring shame on their uniforms.
• The adjutant reported that Holy Human Race mages had helped evacuate more than ninety percent of Tianxiong City's residents to Celestial Pivot City.
• The adjutant told Lin Shigong that more than twenty thousand people remained because they refused to leave their belongings, doubted the danger, or kept delaying.

An Eighth-Order Demon God-Cho'Gath appeared above the World Tree, and his overwhelming pressure struck Great Xia’s Command Center and the evacuation crowds below. Lin Shigong’s soldiers forced themselves to stand firm, while the civilians remained in chaos as the threat descended.

• Lin Shigong ordered his adjutant to force every civilian through the portals, even if they had to be knocked out and carried.
• An immense pressure overwhelmed the Command Center, but Lin Shigong resisted it and rallied the fallen soldiers to stand.
• The Command Center’s screen showed Eighth-Order Demon God-Cho'Gath hovering above the World Tree, and the staff recognized that he had arrived.
• At the portals, civilians argued with soldiers over quilts, a teapot, and whether the disaster was real, delaying evacuation.
• The same oppressive force descended over the panicked crowd beneath the World Tree.

Cho'Gath terrorized the people beneath the World Tree and prepared to descend on their settlement, believing they had killed three of his Seventh-Order Demon Venerables. As an inexplicable warning made him stop in midair, the fate of the people below remained uncertain.

• Cho'Gath's mental pressure drove civilians and soldiers to the ground, but the veterans rallied and forced the civilians toward the Portal.
• The crowd spotted Cho'Gath hovering over the World Tree and fell into despair while soldiers continued urging them onward.
• Cho'Gath savored the humans' fear and recalled that they had killed three of his Seventh-Order Demon Venerables, including Kosla.
• Cho'Gath dismissed the humans' earlier victories as luck and began attacking the settlement beneath him.
• The humans' artillery, missiles, energy beams, and aircraft struck Cho'Gath's shield, and his roar disabled aircraft that then crashed.
• Cho'Gath prepared to descend and crush the settlement, but an inexplicable flicker of alarm made him halt in midair.

Cho'Gath shattered the human defenses in Antarctica and punched down the World Tree, destroying Tianxiong Underground City's only hope. As its defenders watched, he continued his leisurely slaughter, leaving them to rage and despair.

• Cho'Gath landed amid the Antarctic defenses, destroying missile positions and crushing a tank while shrugging off the attacks.
• Cho'Gath swept away an antiaircraft position and roared down two attack helicopters, incapacitating nearby soldiers.
• Cho'Gath reached the World Tree and punched through its trunk, causing the giant tree to collapse onto the ice.
• Lin Shigong and the underground command staff watched the World Tree fall as survivors grieved the loss of their sustenance and hope.
• A veteran squad leader and other defenders attacked Cho'Gath despite knowing their weapons could not pierce his shield.
• Cho'Gath walked through the defensive line, crushing soldiers and equipment while deliberately prolonging the slaughter.

Cho'Gath hunted survivors on the surface after the portals closed, leaving twelve thousand people trapped in its path. In Tianxiong Underground City's Command Center, Lin Shigong and his staff watched helplessly as the survivors fought to stay alive.

• Cho'Gath approached the portals, but they shut down before it could investigate them.
• Lin Shigong confirmed that about twelve thousand soldiers and civilians remained on the surface and announced their final battle.
• A squad leader sent his soldiers to hide civilians and keep them safe while Cho'Gath advanced across the icefield.
• The adjutant urged Lin Shigong to use nuclear bombs, but Lin Shigong pointed out that the blast would kill the survivors and might not harm Cho'Gath.

Lin Shigong prepared Tianxiong Underground City to lure the Demon God into range of an Antimatter Bomb, but six Burrowing Earth Dragons began tunneling toward the city’s outer walls. He ordered robots to plant explosives at their approach points, and the walls started cracking as the creatures drew near.

• Lin Shigong confirmed that Tianxiong Underground City had been evacuated and that the Antimatter Bomb and layered defenses were in place.
• A technician detected six Burrowing Earth Dragons tunneling toward the Third through Fifth Layers, with the fastest expected to reach the Fourth Layer in twelve minutes.
• Lin Shigong ordered robots to plant Cubic Nitrogen Explosives inside the walls at all six seismic-source locations.
• Combat Robots carried the explosives to their assigned positions and connected their fuses to central control.
• At the Fourth Layer’s G4-17 Section, the wall shook and cracked as the Burrowing Earth Dragons chewed through the concrete.

Lin Shigong destroyed two Burrowing Earth Dragons by detonating explosives in the tunnels, then sent a vehicle carrying the Antimatter Bomb into position as Cho'Gath approached the Underground City. Cho'Gath began widening the northern tunnel by force and marched underground toward the human nest.

• Lin Shigong ordered explosives detonated, killing two Burrowing Earth Dragons and sealing their tunnels against the Demon Clan Army.
• Lin Shigong ordered the vehicle carrying the Antimatter Bomb to move out as Cho'Gath turned toward the Underground City's entrance.
• Cho'Gath learned that all six Burrowing Earth Dragons had been wiped out and chose to enter through the northern tunnel leading to Tianxiong Underground City.
• Cho'Gath tore open the tunnel entrance and widened the passage so he could walk upright into the underground route.
• Cho'Gath marched along the tunnel toward the human nest while missiles exploded harmlessly against his Energy Shield.

With Cho'Gath expected to reach Tianxiong City in two hours and eleven Burrowing Earth Dragons closing in, Lin Shigong planned to let the Demon God enter the city and detonate the Antimatter Bomb. A young Staff Officer proposed moving the bomb into the tunnel to attack Cho'Gath before it reached the city, giving the defenders a chance to survive.

• A technician calculated that Cho'Gath would reach Tianxiong City in two hours, while another reported that eleven Burrowing Earth Dragons were approaching.
• Chen Jianguo told Lin Shigong that six Burrowing Earth Dragons were heading for Tianyong City and his forces were laying mines; Lin said his plan was to wait for Cho'Gath to enter Tianxiong City before detonating the Antimatter Bomb.
• A young Staff Officer proposed transporting the bomb down the intact section of tunnel and detonating it three or four kilometers from Tianxiong City when Cho'Gath reached it.
• The officers embraced the plan, noting that the bomb and a military truck were ready, and prepared to calculate Cho'Gath's progress so they could detonate it at the right moment.

Lin Shigong moved the Command Center team and their equipment to the Tianxiong branch of Great Xia Industrial Bank’s underground vault so they could survive the Antimatter Bomb’s detonation. The team established communications and prepared to seal themselves inside when the bomb exploded, with their estimated survival chance rising to at least seventy percent.

• Lin Shigong ordered the team to dismantle the Command Center equipment, gather supplies, and retreat to the bank vault far from the planned detonation point.
• Lin Shigong led more than twenty technicians and staff officers through the empty Tianxiong Underground City to the vault.
• A technician retrieved the access code, and the team moved supplies into the vault and ran a fiber-optic cable to restore communications.
• Lin Shigong told everyone to cut the cable and close the vault doors as soon as the Antimatter Bomb detonated.
• The adjutant asked technician Liu about their odds of survival, and Liu estimated at least sixty percent, possibly seventy percent.

Fourteen special operations soldiers waited beside a truck carrying an antimatter device as Cho'Gath dug toward them. After easing their nerves with jokes, the soldiers prepared to detonate the device, while Cho'Gath abruptly stopped several kilometers away.

• The captain offered cigarettes to the fourteen soldiers as Cho'Gath's digging rumbled closer through the tunnel.
• The soldiers joked about the antimatter device and Four admitted he had been single for over ten years, exposing his stories about past relationships as a lie.
• The soldiers' laughter faded, and they silently waited for Cho'Gath to reach them so they could press the detonator.
• The captain crushed his cigarette and stood with a hunter's gaze as the soldiers held their positions.
• Cho'Gath stopped digging, his arms freezing in midair as his scarlet pupils contracted and his enormous head leaned forward.