Chapter Summaries

Dick relaxed with his fellow adventurers at the tavern, competing with Berengar in an arm-wrestling match and then drinking and dancing. Glen the Shieldbreaker took him onto the dance floor as the tavern celebration continued.

• Dick listened as the dog trainer explained that the Judge of Hell wanted him to explore a dangerous new space.
• Gadslif joined the dwarf onstage, while Gangduo declined the rabbit-eared server’s offer of company and said he wanted to rest.
• Berengar challenged Dick to an arm-wrestling match, and Dick let her gain an advantage before defeating her.
• Dick and Berengar drank together, and she told him that she and Teresa were a couple and thanked him for turning Teresa down.
• Glen the Shieldbreaker asked Dick to dance, took his hand, and guided him onto the dance floor.

After waking from a dream about Xiya, Dick learned that his final mission was to scout a newly formed space in Edge Hell. With his former teammates unavailable, the Judge of Hell introduced four possible recruits and warned Dick that choosing Vayne meant taking Dismas too.

• Dick danced and drank with Glen before dreaming that Xiya visited him and asked him to come find her.
• Dick woke in the tavern and learned from the Judge of Hell that he was to explore a newly formed space in Edge Hell.
• The Judge of Hell explained that Shieldbreaker, the houndmaster, the jester, the bounty hunter, the berserker, and Sister Theresa could not join the mission.
• The Judge of Hell introduced Barnestan, a veteran adventurer recovering from madness, and Bolder, a young plague doctor with useful potions.
• The Judge of Hell introduced Dismas and Vayne as a couple who always traveled together, warning Dick that their previous teams rarely returned with anyone else.

Dick chose Barnestan, Dismas, and Vayne for a mission into a new rift space, where they found a tavern and learned that two routes lay ahead. The group rested at the tavern, leaving their choice between the Burning City and the burial mounds unresolved.

• Dick chose the grave robber, the highwayman, and the veteran to accompany him on the mission.
• The Judge of Hell introduced Dick to Barnestan, Dismas, and Vayne, then sent them into a new space.
• The adventurers crossed a valley and met a tavern owner, who explained that his establishment and staff had been transported there.
• The group paid to rest at the tavern after noticing their mental strain ease inside.
• The owner told them that the paths ahead led to the Burning City or the burial mounds.

Dick and his adventuring party entered the Burning City, where they fought off a group of highwaymen and continued deeper into the ruined streets. The veteran’s lingering mental trauma resurfaced, and the party reached another fork in the road.

• Dick and his companions rested at an inn, then set out for the Burning City the next morning.
• The party crossed a stone bridge and entered the city, choosing the left route at a fork.
• Two highwaymen and a hound ambushed the group beside a fallen tree, but Dick and his companions quickly defeated them and drove off the dog.
• The veteran kept smashing a corpse until Dick shook him out of a dazed episode, and the grave robber and highwayman mocked him.
• The party passed an inner city gate and found burned corpses hanging from a building before reaching two more branching paths.

Dick led the group through a purple mist that corrupted the veteran and the grave robber before they recovered and reached a burning library. Inside, the team encountered a group of charred monsters and fought them, with the battle underway when the chapter ended.

• Dick chose the road to the right, where he spotted a purple mist that the others failed to notice.
• The veteran and the grave robber rushed into the mist under its influence, but Dick dispersed it and carried the veteran out while the highwayman rescued the grave robber.
• The veteran and grave robber recovered from their mental corruption, and the group went around a torch tainted by a wraith's presence.
• Dick and his companions entered the burning library and found several charred monsters waiting among the bookshelves.
• The veteran charged the monsters, the grave robber attacked with her crossbow and pickaxe, and Dick cast a Protection Sign over the group.
• The mirror-bearing woman clawed the veteran, who knocked her down and crushed her head with his hammer.

Dick and his teammates fought through the library’s monsters and killed the Librarian, but the veteran was murdered when a wondrous amulet appeared. The grave robber and highwayman revealed their betrayal and threatened the wounded Dick.

• Dick protected the grave robber from a Burning Shaman and helped the group defeat the first wave of monsters.
• Several new monsters appeared, followed by the Librarian, whose burning books summoned more enemies and affected Dick’s teammates.
• Dick transformed into a giant, endured the Librarian’s attack, and killed it with a sword strike.
• The group found a purple amulet, and the veteran picked it up before the highwayman killed him.
• The grave robber and highwayman claimed the treasure and confronted the wounded Dick, revealing that they had killed their former teammates.

Dick survived the betrayal of his party, defeated an Abyss Observer, and returned from Burning City to receive Toxin Immunity from Minos before being sent to Hell’s second level. After Dick left, Dexit appeared and revealed that he planned to ambush him on the eighth level.

• Dick killed the couple who had murdered the veteran, took their valuables and amulet, and continued alone through Burning City.
• Dick defeated the Abyss Observer, gained Energy Points and a Divinity Fragment, and opened a portal back to the tavern.
• Dick told Minos that the couple had killed the veteran and attacked him, and Minos admitted he had hoped Dick would deal with them.
• Minos granted Dick Toxin Immunity and sent him through a portal toward the second level of Hell.
• Dexit arrived after Dick left, questioned Minos about him, and left a rune as a farewell gift while threatening to ambush Dick on the eighth level.

Virgil warned Dick that Dexit planned to target him in the second level of Hell, where Dick pursued an apparition of Xiya and fought the mercenaries who had once died at his hands. After reaching a swamp, Dick realized the women before him were a monster’s illusions and faced its grotesque true form.

• Virgil explained that Dexit, formerly known as Yuejiqi, intended to deal with Dick once he reached Dexit’s level, and told Dick he had to find his own way onward.
• Dick spotted Xiya and chased her across a stone bridge, where a hurricane swept him into an ambush by fifteen mercenaries led by a man he had killed in life.
• Dick used Elizabeth’s awakened power to cut down the mercenaries, then fed their Soul Coins to the black sword and crossed the bridge to a stone door.
• Dick entered what appeared to be a palace and embraced Xiya, but the illusion vanished, revealing the Lord of the Mist Swamp and Xiya attacking him.
• Dick recognized that the women confronting him were deceptive forms and mocked the monster, which revealed its blood-eyed, fanged appearance and grotesque lower body.

Dick met Rasputin, the former ruler of the second level of Hell, who asked him to retrieve his stolen [Destiny] from Queen Cleopatra so he could open the gate to the third level. Dick climbed to the palace summit, where Cleopatra summoned an armored man to attack him.

• Dick killed thirty Lustful Gluttons, upgraded Sword Oil Making to Grandmaster, and raised a disk that served as an elevator.
• Rasputin told Dick that Queen Cleopatra had taken his [Destiny] and promised to open the gate to the third level if Dick retrieved it.
• Dick rode the disk upward, killed the monsters that attacked him, then climbed a mountain path and crossed a mesh crowded with suffering souls.
• Dick reached the summit and found Queen Cleopatra, who demanded to know why he had come and learned he had killed her guards.
• Cleopatra opened her mouth, revealing an armored man who charged at Dick with a spear and shield.

Dick defeated Queen Cleopatra and her Roman warrior, upgraded Blink, and recovered Rasputin's [Destiny]. After returning it, he entered the passage to the third layer of Hell through Rasputin's mouth and received a warning about the Lord of Gluttony.

• Dick activated Blood of Madness after the Roman warrior wounded him, then beheaded the warrior and killed Queen Cleopatra.
• Dick gained 1,200 Energy Points and a Divinity Fragment, spent the points to upgrade Blink, and collected the Soul Coins and the jar containing [Destiny].
• Dick retraced his route through the mountain and returned the jar to Rasputin.
• Rasputin reattached [Destiny] and revealed that the entrance to the next layer of Hell was inside his mouth.
• Dick leaped into Rasputin's mouth and heard his warning that the Lord of Gluttony on the third layer hated the scent of purity.

Dick entered the Gluttony Restaurant, where Virgil revealed that Heaven had disappeared and Hell now received every soul, then warned him about the level’s guardian. After the Hell Three-Headed Dog attacked, Dick was frozen and badly burned before it swallowed him.

• Virgil explained to Dick that Heaven no longer existed and that Hell had absorbed its authority over the dead.
• Virgil told Dick that the Hell Three-Headed Dog, Ker Bai Nos, guarded the Gluttony Restaurant, then vanished and left Dick exposed to the souls there.
• The restaurant’s souls tried to eat Dick, but a barbed maw erupted from the floor and devoured the obese souls before Dick continued onward.
• Dick followed the warped restaurant to the three-headed guardian, which recognized him and attacked with ice and fire.
• The Hell Three-Headed Dog froze Dick’s legs, burned off his left arm, and swallowed him.

Dick met Nameless inside the Three-Headed Dog’s stomach and agreed to escape with him through the dog’s water route. As they squeezed through the passage toward two guarding demons, Ker felt a brief pain but dismissed it.

• Dick fell into the Three-Headed Dog’s stomach, where he met Nameless, a former king seeking to find his dead people and apologize to them.
• Dick and Nameless shared food and discussed their past adventures with Vandoorn before Nameless described possible escape routes.
• Nameless warned Dick that the dog could not be killed and proposed escaping through its water route, where two Hell demons stood guard.
• Dick insisted on leaving despite his injured arm, and he and Nameless squeezed into the narrow passage.
• Ker felt sudden pain in his middle head, wondered if Dick was still alive inside him, then dismissed the discomfort and went back to sleep.

Dick and Nameless fought two turtle-like parts of the Three-Headed Dog and were swept out of its body by a rising tide. The dog realized it had peed them into the Endless Abyss, where a hurricane then separated the two men in the darkness.

• Dick and Nameless defeated the two turtles after learning they were parts of the Three-Headed Dog, but they could not squeeze through the passage out of the valley.
• The Three-Headed Dog woke to pee at the edge of the palace while Dick and Nameless waited inside the valley.
• Dick sensed the rising tide, and the rushing water widened the passage and swept Dick and Nameless out.
• The Three-Headed Dog realized it had peed Dick and Nameless into the Endless Abyss, then returned to sleep with the other heads.
• Dick and Nameless fell through darkness until a hurricane blew them apart.

Dick met Sven and Dream Shadow after they emerged from a stone doorway in the fourth layer of Hell, then learned that Dream Shadow was searching for her father, who had been abducted by an Abyss Cavalry demon. As the trio considered how to cross the corrosive mist, a hunched green figure approached them through it.

• Dick found himself on a stone platform beyond a sealed door and discovered that the pale red mist ahead was corrosive.
• Sven and Dream Shadow emerged from the door, introduced themselves to Dick, and found they could not return through it.
• Dream Shadow entered the mist under protective runes, suffered burns, and used Shadow Healing to mend them.
• Sven explained that Dream Shadow's father had been abducted by a demon, and Dick identified the creature as an Abyss Cavalry from Hell's fourth layer.
• Sven said that two companions had died protecting him and Dream Shadow, and promised to help her find her father.
• Dick spotted a hunched green figure approaching through the mist, and the trio drew their weapons and prepared for it.

Dick, Dream Shadow, and the dwarf encountered Gerui, a half-orc selling torches to protect travelers from the corrosive fog in Hell's fourth layer, Echoes of Greed. After Dick bargained him down to one gold coin and led the group into the fog, he sensed fighting and monsters ahead.

• Gerui offered to sell torches that would let Dick, Dream Shadow, and the dwarf cross the pale red fog, asking ten gold coins per torch.
• Dick revealed he could create fire with magic, showing the group they did not need Gerui's torches to survive the fog.
• Gerui lowered his price, and Dick bargained him down to one gold coin for all three torches.
• Dick lit the torches, gave two to his companions, and led them into the fog, where they felt no corrosive effects.
• Dream Shadow praised Dick's haggling, and the dwarf offered to protect him and Dream Shadow from monsters.
• Dick activated his Witcher Senses and heard fighting, shouts, and unknown monsters ahead.

Dick and his companions rescued the archer Triss from shadow monsters and followed her to the protected Dawn Tavern, where they learned about the Soul Lantern and the king corrupting the fourth layer of Hell. Triss introduced them to her mother, Aila, while the elven priest struggled with Triss's claim that the Shadow God was a demon general.

• Dick and his companions fought alongside Triss, using a protective barrier and their weapons and magic to defeat dozens of shadow monsters and gain Energy Points.
• Triss explained that the mist could turn the dead into shadow monsters, and Dick helped her behead her fallen companions before they traveled to the Dawn Tavern.
• Triss told Dick that she sought the Soul Lantern to resist the mist and planned to kill the guide carrying it, then storm the king's palace and end his corruption.
• Dick asked Triss about Xiya, while the elven priest revealed that the Demon Cavalry had taken her father for insulting the Shadow God; Triss argued that the supposed god was a demon general serving the king.
• Triss led the group into the protected Dawn Tavern, explained that her mother Aila had created its barrier, and pointed out Aila as they entered.

Dick and the adventurers fought off a Demon Cavalry ambush led by the Shadow General, who was revealed as Dream Shadow’s false god and had corrupted her father. After the victory, Dream Shadow’s father briefly returned to human form, urged her to live well and trust Sven, then died from the irreversible corruption.

• Aila bound Dream Shadow after sensing shadow power in her, but released her when Dick explained that she sought her kidnapped father and the truth.
• Dick offered to help Triss retrieve the Soul Lantern, and the group went to the inn to rest and eat.
• The Shadow General and dozens of Demon Cavalry attacked the settlement, badly wounding the druid and killing several adventurers.
• Dream Shadow rejected the Shadow General and attacked him, while Dick struck him from the air and the group pinned him down and killed him.
• The Shadow General’s death restored Dream Shadow’s father to human form, but the druid said his demonic corruption could not be cured.
• Dream Shadow’s father joined her hand with Sven’s, asked him to care for her, and died.

Dick and his companions ambushed the guide carrying the Soul Lantern, but the guide’s magic turned Triss against them and summoned hundreds of shadow monsters. Dick killed the guide and continued fighting the horde, leaving his companions watching as he harvested the creatures’ energy.

• The druid told Dick that the shadow demon had entered through the girl’s former shadow power, then asked him to find the Soul Lantern while she repaired the protective circle.
• Dick met Triss, Nameless, the priest, and Sven, and agreed to set out with the priest to seize the lantern and avenge her father.
• Dick’s group ambushed the half-human spider guide and his followers, but the guide deflected the archer’s arrow and ordered his men to attack.
• The guide used magic to control Triss and summon shadow monsters, while Dick grew into a giant and blasted the attackers with a shockwave.
• Dick killed the guide and fought off the summoned shadows, ordering Sven and the priest to leave the creatures to him as more continued to arrive.

Dick freed a flower spirit from the Soul Lantern, gained protection from the crimson mist, and led his companions through the gate by posing as the king’s favored. The golden gatekeeper exposed the deception and attacked them, but Dick realized that the man weakened whenever he threw gold coins and urged everyone to throw away their own.

• Dick took the Soul Lantern and the half-human spider’s sword and scabbard, then used the lantern to see through the crimson mist.
• Dick discovered that a flower spirit was trapped in the lantern; after she first threatened him, he released her and received Flower Fairy’s Blessing, which let the group move freely through corrosive mist.
• Dick and his companions reached a gated wall, and Dick convinced the golden gatekeeper to let them inside by claiming they were the king’s favored.
• The gatekeeper revealed that he had tricked them, shut the gate, and ordered dozens of adventurers to attack; he then wounded Dick and Dream Shadow with gold coins.
• Dick noticed that the gatekeeper grew thinner after each attack and shouted for the group to throw away all their gold coins.

Dick and his allies defeated the golden gatekeeper, entered the palace, and helped the archdruid and Cuidis confront King Gordon. Dick reached Gordon, learned that Dexit had sent him and that Gordon served Tiamat, and prepared to fight as the palace battle continued below.

• Dick and his teammates destroyed the golden gatekeeper’s little golden men, killed him, and divided the gold coins among themselves.
• Dick led the group through the abandoned city to the palace, where he and the archer killed the two guards and helped the archdruid bring more than twenty adventurers through a portal.
• The archdruid confronted Gordon, while Cuidis learned that her father had resurrected her pet dog Beibei; Gordon ordered his soldiers to attack the adventurers and fled upstairs.
• Dick pursued Gordon, killed a monster that proved to be Beibei, and reached the upper floor, where Gordon awaited him with a greatsword.
• Gordon told Dick that Dexit, ruler of Hell’s eighth layer, had ordered his death, and revealed that he served Tiamat by drawing on people’s greed.