Chapter Summaries

Linden devised a way to delay the Demon Race’s attack on Red Stone City while pursuing the Wood Core, and Eiding began searching for materials. Meanwhile, Puji and Eiding used an Abyss Magic Array to unleash Shadow Bugs against the Demon Race camp, and Linden planned to search the abyss for stronger creatures.

• Linden realized he only needed to delay the Demon Race for two or three days and instructed Eiding to search Red Stone City for specific materials.
• After Earth Peak Fortress fell, a Shadow Bug swallowed Goblins and dragged a Pig-man Soldier into the shadows.
• Puji received a newly summoned Shadow Bug through the Abyss Magic Array and kicked it toward the Demon Race military camp.
• Linden planned to keep using the Magic Array to search the abyss for more powerful creatures.

Nova and Night Owl planned to use the Wood Core to strike the wounded Duke Xenophon, while Abyss summons disrupted the Demon Race camp outside Red Stone City. Xenophon ordered his army to attack at dawn, and Puji continued summoning creatures to cause trouble.

• Nova identified Xenophon as the Demon Race commander and proposed using the Wood Core to exploit his old wound, but Night Owl took the branch for the attack.
• Nova and Night Owl discovered and killed a shadow-hiding insect near Red Stone City's wall, prompting Nova to strengthen the city's patrols.
• Shadow Bugs and other Abyss summons caused chaos throughout Xenophon's camp, and Xenophon destroyed a stink-producing monster above his tent.
• Xenophon ordered his whole army to attack Red Stone City at first light after concluding the disturbances were meant to buy time.
• Puji continued pulling summons from the Abyss Ritual beside Eiding and complained that repeated casts had produced only weak creatures.

Linden’s Abyss summoning unleashed a Storm Giant that attacked the Demon Race army, while another summoned presence vanished beneath the Fungal Carpet in the Northern Territory. Heavy snow and an unexpected drop in temperature revealed that the second event had triggered a wider disaster.

• Linden continued summoning while Eiding’s concealment and mana reserves began to fail, and a storm formed overhead.
• Lightning destroyed Scout Puji and struck a forming ball of light, creating a Storm Giant as Eiding fled through the gale.
• The Demon Race army detected the disturbance, and Xenophon led the troops against the Storm Giant as it charged their camp.
• Red Stone City’s defenders saw the Storm Giant fighting the Demon Race army and realized it seemed to be heading their way.
• Linden lost sight of Eiding and watched another ball of light attach to his soul, travel to the Northern Territory, and disappear beneath the Fungal Carpet.
• Heavy snow spread across the Northern Territory during the shift from spring to summer, and Linden realized something had gone seriously wrong.

A sudden, heavy snowfall struck the Fungal Fortress, but Linden’s Pujis and emergency supply teams kept the settlement running. As workers were recruited to search for the underground Mad Spirit, Linden prioritized sending rescue teams to Northern Territory tribes threatened by the worsening cold.

• Torin, Baroque, and Grum woke to deep snow and watched a Giant Drilling Puji melt it as Mushroom Descendants distributed warm clothing and blankets.
• The three saw snow-clearing Pujis operating across the Fungal Fortress and learned that a new Great Earth Hole mission sought experienced diggers to find the Mad Spirit.
• Linden organized production of three Drilling Puji models and emergency tasks while tracking the Mad Spirit through altered underground magic flows.
• Linden sent Puji Rescue Teams toward nearby Northern Territory tribes because their people lacked warmth and food as the cold spread.

As an abnormal cold threatened the Northern Territory, Linden sent Spark and other squads to deliver free food and firewood to struggling tribes and invite them to join the Northern Territory Alliance. Meanwhile, Sigismund learned of Xenophon’s disastrous failures on the Western Front and looked toward the burning High Keep Fortress.

• A bear-man found a frozen tribe member and feared the deep freeze would soon kill many more, but Spark stopped him from taking a Walking Mushroom and said he had come looking for the nearby tribe.
• Spark delivered mushrooms and firewood to the bear-men on behalf of Fungal Fortress and the Northern Territory Alliance, offering further aid if they joined the alliance.
• After Spark’s squad left, the bear-man leader sent a small group to investigate the alliance, while Linden’s other squads carried aid to tribes within their reach.
• Sigismund condemned Xenophon for allowing a Storm Elemental summoning and losing most of his army, then turned his attention to the burning High Keep Fortress.

Sigismund’s Demon Race forces captured High Keep Fortress after a day and night of fighting, but Alama prepared a final confrontation with help from Lorenzo. Eleanor sealed the main hall in a Blood Prison, and Sigismund clashed with Alama as Linden warned him not to die.

• Sigismund learned human reinforcements were approaching and ordered his troops to avoid Valerice after she injured another friendly squad.
• After the battle raged for a day and night, Alama invited Sigismund into the castle’s remaining main hall.
• Lorenzo rushed out and used magical threads to fling Valerice from the hall, leaving Alama to face Sigismund and Eleanor.
• Eleanor cast Blood Manipulation: Blood Prison, sealing the hall and creating a battlefield that strengthened Sigismund while poisoning the humans.
• Sigismund warned Linden not to interfere, and Alama charged as their swords met in a clash of bloodlight and steel.

Alama used the Sun Stone to cripple Eleanor and escape Sigismund, but Lorenzo helped him flee as Valerice attacked. High Keep Fortress fell to the Demon Race, while Linden realized the Sun Stone was nearby and considered how to obtain it.

• Alama endured Sigismund and Eleanor’s Blood Prison assault as Blood Poison slowed him, then taunted Sigismund about his past and declining strength.
• Alama revealed the Sun Stone hidden in his greatsword and nearly killed Eleanor, but Sigismund’s thrown weapon deflected his finishing strike.
• The Blood Prison collapsed, and Lorenzo arrived, pulled Alama away from Eleanor, and escaped with him using Phantoms as Valerice pursued them.
• High Keep Fortress fell to the Demon Race half a day later, leaving humanity without its sturdy defensive stronghold.
• Linden recognized the Sun Stone as the missing fragment he sought and focused on Inanna while considering how to obtain it.

Inanna developed a water spell that carried Pujis, while Eric learned that High Keep Fortress had fallen and Duke Alama was gravely wounded. As Eric considered how to protect Inanna and support the collapsing front, Inanna declared she would save the old man, and a guard reported that the mansion was surrounded by Pujis.

• Inanna used the Puji Carrying Technique to lift thirteen Pujis with water threads and tested how the spell carried and safely returned them.
• Eric worried about Inanna's growing attachment to the Pujis and feared the danger they might pose.
• Eric received word that High Keep Fortress had fallen and Duke Alama was gravely wounded, leaving Three Mountains City at risk of being overwhelmed.
• Eric began planning to reinforce the front and prepare a safe refuge for Inanna, considering the Elf Forest.
• Inanna raised Knight Puji and told Eric she would save the old man.
• A guard rushed to Eric and reported that the mansion was surrounded by Pujis.

Linden sent eight thousand Pujis to support Inanna at the front, while Eric arranged her command role and extensive protections as the armies paused to recover. In the Empire's north, Kiro revealed to Tanaka that the world would be destroyed in a few years and asked him to undo the Demon King's seal.

• Linden assigned eight thousand Pujis, including elite troops and two Knight Pujis, to Inanna's support brigade and promised to replenish losses.
• Eric agreed to send Inanna to the front as the nominal leader of new Puji Masters and arranged equipment, an adjutant, and bodyguards.
• The Demons paused their advance while Duke Eleanor recovered and High Keep Fortress was repaired.
• Kiro entered a northern Imperial city under the protection of a green signet ring and met Tanaka, who was disguised as a Half-Demon.
• Kiro told Tanaka that the world would be destroyed in a few years and asked him to undo the Demon King's seal.

Tanaka killed the Stone Scorpion gang under Kiro’s direction and learned that its superiors supplied victims to the Hand of Passing cult. Meanwhile, Inanna’s army prepared to march, and the missing Eiding returned injured and missing an arm.

• Tanaka poisoned Stone Scorpion’s food, killed its Gold Rank boss and other gang members, and reached LV29.
• Kiro told Tanaka to free the abducted tribe refugees, erase their memories, and dispel his clone so the deaths would look like revenge by the tribe.
• Kiro explained that the Rust Coin Alliance worked with the Hand of Passing, which sacrificed elderly, low-strength people to its God of Death.
• Linden prepared for war as two thousand Puji Masters formed the army’s wings and Inanna led eight thousand in the center.
• Eiding appeared on the northern Fungal Carpet, ragged and exhausted, missing an arm, and called out to his boss.

Eiding recounted his escape from the Storm Elemental and his reunion with the Silver Thorn Squad, who were caught in the creature’s rampage. As Ivan empowered himself with an S-Rank Crystal and manifested a powerful magic array, Linden realized the others were still in danger and called for a rescue.

• Puji welcomed Eiding back, and Eiding described how the Storm Elemental destroyed the Demon Race legion and Red Stone City.
• Eiding encountered Nova and the Silver Thorn Squad as they fled the Storm Elemental, but its attack blasted the group into the air.
• Night Owl escaped into the shadows with Ivan while Ivan grabbed an S-Rank Crystal and fitted it into the Magic Crystal slot in his abdomen.
• Ivan’s new power shielded the group from the Storm Elemental’s thunder, and he formed a magic array without any spellcasting materials.
• A teleportation array lit up in Red Stone City, and Linden urged the others to go save the group.

Linden learned that the Silver Thorn Squad was trapped in Red Stone City, then used stored magic to summon a Diamond Rank Knight Puji and cleared the Storm Elementals in his path. He and Eiding reached the basement just as Night Owl confronted what appeared to be a Diamond Rank Storm Elemental.

• Eiding told Linden that the Wood Core remained in the City Lord's Mansion basement and that the squad could likely hold out for only two or three more days.
• Linden cultivated Elite Puji to protect the area, then created hundreds of Puji with Magic Storage to gather magic for a stronger summon.
• Linden used the stored magic to summon a weakened Diamond Rank Knight Puji, which destroyed three Storm Elementals alongside his cannon attack.
• Eiding led Linden toward the basement while Night Owl struggled to guard the injured Ivan, Nova, and Garr.
• Night Owl saw a Storm Elemental nearly fill the basement passage and recognized it as Diamond Rank.

Linden and the Pujis defeated the Diamond Rank Storm Elemental and rescued Night Owl, who had nearly died fighting it. Night Owl joined Linden’s group, where Linden remembered him as the man who had once cut down his Puji.

• Night Owl was paralyzed and badly injured by the Storm Elemental, while Nova used the Wood Core to restore her vitality at the cost of his own.
• Linden had Eiding’s Pujis fill the passage with spores, disrupting the Storm Elemental’s perceptions.
• Crystal-less Knight Puji ambushed the Storm Elemental with a Magic Cannon blast and fought it in a brutal clash.
• Night Owl returned to the passage and drove Black Blade into the Storm Elemental’s core, destroying it.
• Linden caught Night Owl with a Mycelium Tentacle, causing him to fall, and told Eiding that Night Owl had once cut down his Puji.

Nova and Night Owl accepted Eiding’s help to save Garr and escape the Elemental Spirit-infested region, while Eiding received the Life-Seeking Wood Core as repayment and returned an S-Rank Magic Crystal to Nova. Linden focused on transporting the core to Puji Dungeon, then contacted the sacred tree about the fragment, only to be thrown out again.

• Nova regretted using his life force to restore Night Owl, and Eiding offered to save Garr by making him symbiotic with a Knight Puji.
• Eiding’s Puji spores improved Garr’s condition, while Ivan remained unconscious from the Thought Overload status caused by using the S-Rank Magic Crystal.
• Nova agreed to give Eiding the Life-Seeking Wood Core after reaching safety, and Eiding agreed to escort the Silver Thorn Squad through the region.
• The Pujis helped the wounded squad reach the Fungal Carpet, where Eiding accepted the wood core and returned an S-Rank Magic Crystal to Nova as repayment for Ivan’s past help.
• Linden directed the Pujis to transport the wood core underground toward Puji Dungeon, while Eiding declined an escort and headed back alone.
• Linden’s Voice Puji told the sacred tree that the fragment was on its way, but the tree threw both Pujis out before it could finish speaking.

Vera Squad returned to Jingu City after purifying a ruined town and learned that more help was needed to contain the Death Plague. At the free food distribution, Feiling confronted two City Defense Force soldiers for mistreating a woman, provoking hostility from the surrounding guards.

• Sirian grew exhausted during the night watch, and Vera told him to rest while she took over.
• Vera Squad returned to Jingu City after completing two days of purification work in a destroyed town.
• Feiling accepted a commission to help two Priests purify a city south of Jingu, and Vera suggested the group rest for a day first.
• At the city square, a City Defense Force soldier kicked away a poor woman's bowl and splashed stew onto Vera's armor.
• Feiling demanded that the soldiers apologize to the woman, but one dismissed her and the surrounding City Guards turned hostile toward Vera Squad.

Vera's squad intervened when a City Guard harassed a woman in Jingu City, and the woman introduced herself as Lucia. In the Sacred Tree Dungeon, Linden traded the recovered Artifact Fragment for Life Essence and learned the world might be destroyed in about a dozen years, or last fifty to sixty years if heavenly methods took effect.

• A City Guard provoked Feiling and kicked a woman, so Commander Angela broke his leg and ordered him punished.
• Vera apologized to the woman and cautioned Feiling about acting impulsively before asking the woman her name; she answered that she was Lucia.
• The Puji Phalanx escorted the Artifact Fragment through the Sacred Tree Dungeon and delivered it to the Sacred Tree.
• The Sacred Tree gave the Knight Puji Life Essence and told Linden the world might end in about a dozen years, or endure another fifty to sixty years if heavenly methods worked.
• Linden placed the Life Essence on the Fungal Carpet, triggering Greed to plunder the Life Essence skill.

Linden tested his newly acquired level-less skill, [Life Essence], and found that it enhanced a Puji’s recovery but seemed no better than skills he already knew. As he headed to confront Sacred Tree about the skill, a strange drop of liquid appeared on the Cyan Mushroom.

• Linden examined [Life Essence] and discovered that he could install it on only one Puji at a time, with the skill returning to his Panel when that Puji died.
• Linden installed [Life Essence] on a Heavy Armor Puji and tested its healing by subjecting it to several kinds of damage.
• Linden found that the skill quickly restored the Heavy Armor Puji’s severed parts but judged it inferior to combining [Regeneration] and [Mycelium Reorganization].
• Linden suspected Sacred Tree had passed off a defective unranked skill and went to demand an explanation.
• A transparent drop of liquid slid from the Cyan Mushroom’s cap as Linden approached Sacred Tree’s door.

Linden tested the liquid secreted by his main body and discovered that Life Essence healed injuries, boosted combatants, and granted experience to uninjured users. When he drank it himself, however, he still failed to level up, leaving him to wonder how much experience he needed compared with others.

• Linden tested Life Essence on a captive, watching it heal the man’s injuries, regenerate his severed arm, and increase his level and attributes before he transformed into a Mushroom Guard.
• Linden tested more captives and concluded that Life Essence healed wounds, temporarily boosted attributes during combat, and converted into experience when absorbed without injuries.
• Linden repeatedly reabsorbed the liquid his main body produced, but he did not gain a level.
• Linden secretly split the daily Life Essence with Little Black, who advanced from LV63 to LV64 while Linden remained at his current level.

Linden concluded that his enormous soul might explain why he needed vastly more experience to level up, then decided to use diluted Water of Life to strengthen his companions. He visited Ming’s training arena, praised him for winning another fight, and gave him Water of Life, which raised Ming from level 22 to level 23.

• Linden considered whether his massive soul caused his unusually high experience requirements, though his leveling speed had improved as the Fungal Carpet network expanded.
• Linden decided to distribute diluted Water of Life among his core members, giving Little Black and Ming priority.
• Marshal Puji led his Honor Guards through the Fungal Fortress to Ming’s training ground, where Ming fought a team of D-Rank personnel.
• Ming defeated the opposing team, and Marshal Puji praised him for the victory.
• Marshal Puji fed Ming Water of Life, raising him from level 22 to level 23.

Inanna led her Puji Legion toward Red Stone City and learned that Alama was in danger, but the Storm Elementals occupying the route forced her to weigh a long detour against a risky shortcut. When a huge swarm pursued her scouting party beyond the Elemental Turbulence Zone, Eight Thousand Direct Puji arrived, and the Storm Elementals unexpectedly gathered around Inanna as if obeying her.

• Inanna learned that Alama and Grand Duke Lorenzo had fallen into an enemy trap, while the route through Red Stone City was blocked by powerful Storm Elementals.
• The adjutant showed Inanna a five-day detour and a dangerous shortcut that could save three days, so she rode to inspect the Elemental Turbulence Zone before deciding.
• Inanna and the adjutant saw more than a hundred Storm Elementals and fled when the swarm charged toward them.
• The Storm Elementals followed the scouting party beyond the zone's boundary, and the adjutant prepared to cover Inanna's retreat.
• Inanna called for Boss, and Eight Thousand Direct Puji arrived under Linden's command.
• The Storm Elementals calmed, ignored the soldiers, and circled Inanna with an apparent sense of obedience.