Chapter Summaries

Fifteen fought the Sword Saint Puji in the Wicked Grass and suffered a decisive defeat before the Puji vanished. After Number Nine reported the encounter to Linden, Linden recognized the Sword Saint and turned his attention back to the Northern Territory, where the excavation had uncovered something big.

• Fifteen charged the Sword Saint Puji repeatedly, but the Puji countered his techniques, disarmed him, and nearly killed him before disappearing.
• Number Nine reached Fifteen, and Fifteen gathered his swords and decided they should leave before the Puji returned.
• The Sword Saint Puji reflected on how its tentacles and skills could expand its swordsmanship, then prepared to practice new moves on the scarecrows.
• Number Nine contacted Linden through the Fungal Carpet and claimed it had helped defeat an out-of-control Puji that nearly killed Fifteen.
• Linden recognized the Sword Saint from Number Nine's account, dismissed its boastful report, and focused on the Northern Territory excavation, which had uncovered something big.

Torin, Grum, and Baroque uncovered a vast underground city while excavating, and discovered that its architecture appeared to be Dwarven. A Cold Spirit emerged and pursued them as they fled through the ruins.

• Grum asked Torin whether they would return to the Mountains, but Torin refused because he wanted to investigate the ruins, and Baroque chose to remain in the Fungal Fortress.
• Torin, Baroque, and Grum restarted Drilling Puji, and the ground collapsed beneath them, dropping them into a cavern.
• Baroque broke his tail in the fall, while Torin and Grum found themselves in an enormous underground city filled with ruined buildings and a distant spiral structure.
• Grum recognized that the low doorways and buildings looked like Dwarf architecture.
• A Cold Spirit appeared, and Torin and Grum dragged the injured Baroque away as it chased them.

Torin, Grum, and Baroque were trapped in an ancient Dwarf forge by pursuing Cold Spirits and discovered a storehouse of ruined Battle Puppets. Norris arrived in Jida and rescued them, ordering the survivors to follow him out.

• Torin, Grum, and Baroque fled into an underground forge as the Cold Spirits broke through the entrance behind them.
• Torin and Grum discovered an ancient Battle Puppet forge and found a warehouse filled with more than a hundred ruined puppets.
• Torin powered a Battle Puppet with his spare Magic Crystal, and it cut one Cold Spirit in half before breaking apart under attack.
• Baroque prepared for death while Grum charged the Cold Spirits, but Norris blasted through the ceiling in Jida and destroyed the nearby pursuers.
• Norris cleared a path with Jida and told Grum and Torin to retreat with him while they carried the unconscious Baroque.

Linden planned to send Pink Puji and other forces into the ancient ruin beneath his home to confront the Frost Elemental Lord, whose presence was worsening the Northern Territory’s cold. He recruited Inanna for the dangerous mission, and Cave Four eagerly joined her.

• Louisa asked Linden to mobilize the Fungal Fortress’s armies to fight through the regenerating Cold Spirits and attack the Frost Elemental Lord, but Linden weighed the likely losses and the Empire’s possible response.
• Linden decided to bring Pink Puji into the operation and sent a request for her help.
• At the Duke’s Mansion, Cave Four became excited when the Fungal Lord’s new decree offered it a chance to leave its dull duties.
• Inanna told Linden she had recently gained two levels and agreed eagerly to help with the dangerous task at the Dungeon.
• Cave Four dragged Number Ten along as it prepared to join Inanna.

Inanna led her Puji through Fungal Fortress to the Relic Hollow, where the Cold Spirits reacted to her as if she were their empress. The chapter ended with everyone present stunned by the spirits’ sudden submission.

• Inanna entered the Dungeon with her Puji while Mushroom Capital’s citizens cheered her as a war hero.
• Inanna traveled toward Fungal Fortress, admired its welcoming Demon Race citizens and Giant Heating Puji, and passed a green-skinned vampire being punished at the gate.
• Linden brought Inanna to the Relic Hollow with Norris and a Jida squad.
• The Cold Spirits stopped attacking Piggy’s camp and approached Inanna gently, leaving Piggy, Norris, and Yellow Book astonished.

Linden sent Pink Puji to test whether her unusually powerful Favor of the Elemental Spirit could influence the Elemental Lord, while Marquis Cassinar prepared an expedition to investigate a hidden Vampire treasure. Cassinar’s hope of reaching it revived after Kiro successfully deciphered part of the teleportation array’s damaged connection.

• Linden questioned Yellow Book about Pink Puji’s powerful talent, but neither could explain why it surpassed the version Yellow Book had seen before.
• Linden surrounded Pink Puji with guards and sent her toward the Elemental Lord’s complex, hoping to learn whether the Cold Spirits’ devotion would affect it too.
• In Urbic Territory, Marquis Cassinar checked supplies and assembled trusted Vampire descendants for an expedition through an old teleportation array.
• Cassinar recalled finding a treasure scroll from the former Vampire Grand Duke and spending centuries trying to restore the array linked to its coordinates.
• Cassinar had invited Kiro to decipher part of the array’s runes, and the Fox-folk had succeeded.

Marquis Cassinar led five Blood Scions to the spiral building to retrieve a secret treasure, while Pink Puji’s team also entered and encountered powerful Cold Spirits. Cassinar’s group pressed onward after losing Qina, as Linden’s team sensed spellcasting within the building.

• Cassinar ignored his butler’s warning and teleported with five Blood Scions to the cold ruin, assigning two to guard their way out.
• Cassinar and his companions fought off pursuing Cold Spirits and used Mana Interference Powder to lose them before entering the spiral building.
• Inanna drew Cold Spirits away from Pink Puji’s team with balls of light as they approached the building, where Linden sensed unusual spellcasting.
• Linden’s team entered the building and encountered Hall Level Cold Spirits, including a Snow Attendant circling Inanna and a Frost Knight kneeling beside her.
• Cassinar fought a Snow Attendant, escaped its ice ring with help from his Blood Scions, and discovered that Qina had frozen to death.
• Cassinar and the surviving Blood Scions scattered interference dust and continued up the spiral staircase.

Louisa’s forces ambushed Cassinar Urbic and his Blood Scions in the ruins, but Cassinar escaped into a control room and activated its unknown devices. The Spiral building began to collapse, leaving Norris trapped with three hostile Blood Scions and only Jida and the Yellow Book beside him.

• Cassinar and the Blood Scions continued through the ruins, where Cassinar spotted Louisa waiting with a mixed-race force.
• Louisa revealed that she served a master who was no colleague of Cassinar’s, and her forces ambushed him and his companions.
• Cassinar evaded the Resonance Cannons and fled as Norris and the Puji attacked the Blood Scions.
• Cassinar retreated to the control room and activated several Magic Crystal instruments, triggering the Spiral building’s collapse.
• Norris survived in a sealed-off corridor with Jida, the Yellow Book, and three Diamond Rank Blood Scions.

Linden’s group secured the teleportation array while the ruin’s shifting structure created new dangers. Norris and Louisa survived a bloody fight with the Blood Scions, while Inanna was cornered by the Blood Clan Marquis Cassinar.

• Linden destroyed one corner of the teleportation array and sent soldiers and Pujis to guard it after the Spiral structure reconfigured and buried one of his Pujis.
• Norris lost Jida’s Resonance Cannon and Scout Puji, but used a point-blank Magic Cannon blast and explosion to kill two Blood Scions.
• Louisa arrived after the explosion, killed the last Blood Scion, and carried the gravely wounded Norris and the Yellow Book out of the collapsing corridor.
• Inanna faced Cassinar with Cave Four Ji, Number Ten, and two Cold Spirits as Cassinar attacked them with a wave of blood pillars.

Cassinar pursued Inanna through the ruins while Number Ten and Cave Four tried to protect her, but the Frost Elemental Lord intervened and froze the Marquis. Cave Four kept Cassinar alive as Linden had ordered, then the Frost Elemental Lord turned toward Cave Four and Inanna, and Inanna’s constant-temperature Pendant shattered.

• Cave Four’s attack went wrong when the Cold Spirits struck it with an ice crystal and sent it frozen into a collapsed passage.
• Number Ten used Invisibility Art and sacrificed itself to blast open Cassinar’s blood curtain, allowing Inanna to flee.
• Cave Four returned in a Behemoth Puji body, shielded Inanna inside itself, and trapped Cassinar while Linden revealed that the teleportation array had been destroyed.
• Cassinar tried to pierce Behemoth Puji and seize Inanna as a hostage, but the Frost Elemental Lord froze his blood, body, and shadow.
• Cave Four protected Cassinar from dying under Linden’s orders, while the Frost Elemental Lord approached and frost spread across Behemoth Puji until Inanna’s constant-temperature Pendant broke.

Linden and the Fungal Fortress finished dealing with the ruins’ immediate threats and rescued the surviving soldiers, while the Frost Elemental Lord’s attachment to Inanna offered a possible way to control it. The chapter ended with Linden’s people opening the hidden treasure room described by Cassinar’s scroll.

• Cave Four hurled Inanna away, but the Frost Elemental Lord froze her and then dressed her in ice that absorbed the chill, becoming infatuated with her.
• Linden and the Cold Spirits dealt with the Blood Clan, and the Fungal Fortress spent two days rescuing survivors from the collapsed Spiral building, though more than seventy soldiers died.
• Linden noticed that one dead Half-Demon’s soul clung briefly to his own before disappearing, but he found no explanation for the anomaly.
• Yellow Book suggested studying the damaged Dwarven seal to create a seal for the Frost Elemental Lord, and Linden considered also asking the Dwarves for help.
• Linden sent people to search the Forge for Battle Puppets and other valuables, then Cassinar revealed the treasure scroll’s secret and his subordinates opened the hidden room.

Linden discovered a powerful but dangerous set of Magic Crystal Equipment and tested its effects, learning that it amplified Blood Manipulation at the cost of severe mental side effects. Louisa chose to wear the full set, eager to become stronger.

• Linden used the Yellow Book to identify the spiked armor as Magic Crystal Equipment, an expensive technology that consumed high-quality crystals and could drive users mad.
• Linden searched for the unconscious Ivan in Norwid and then arranged experiments on the equipment using D-Rank personnel and a captured Blood Clan member.
• The tests revealed that the Blood Clan Specialized Magic Crystal Armament enhanced physical strength and blood control, formed a blood-repairing protective layer, and caused dangerous delusions and magic addiction.
• Linden told Louisa that A-Rank crystals could let her overpower Hall Level Blood Clan members, and she immediately began putting on the armor despite its inward-facing spikes.
• Linden generated a Puji after Louisa declared herself his sharpest sword, while the Yellow Book privately called vampires perverts.

Linden's people tortured Cassinar at the Gate of Cries while Norris recovered and Louisa tested her new Magic Crystal Armament. As Linden oversaw research on the recovered Battle Puppets, he faced the problem of rescuing Pink Puji from the Frost Elemental Lord.

• At dawn, Cassinar was bound beside the green-skinned vampire and began screaming when Linden's Heating Puji intensified the sunlight's heat.
• Norris recovered from his wounds while Little Black kept him close, and Cave Four Ji welcomed Louisa to the Training Ground.
• Louisa fitted B-Rank Magic Crystals into her armor, transformed it into blood-crystal armor, and sparred fiercely with Cave Four Ji.
• Linden assigned Torin to study the recovered Battle Puppets with help from Spark and the other mages, while Grum and Baroque stayed for the offered benefits.
• The Frost Elemental Lord refused to let Pink Puji leave the ruins, so the Yellow Book suggested building a teleportation array to rescue her.

Linden completed his exploration of the Crystal Stele and discovered Cave Thirteen’s hidden abyssal domain, a vast treasure store linked to the dungeon’s treasure chests. In its Information Cubes, he found an experiment record signed by Ixion, whom he recognized as the God of Light.

• Linden finished triggering the Crystal Stele’s final rune node, and an Illumination Puji vanished from an adventurer party and appeared in an unfamiliar abyssal domain.
• Linden found a giant magic array that sent treasure from the hoard into dungeon treasure chests, then lifted its restriction and let the Puji rummage through the riches.
• Linden discovered ordinary human bones among the treasure and set them aside to investigate later.
• Linden read an Information Cube describing failed experiments to create a new soul and Ether Compression Technology’s limitations.
• Linden recognized Ixion’s signature at the end of the record as belonging to the God of Light.

Linden explored the God of Light’s experimental records and speculated about the world’s dwindling souls before discovering the records could help him learn the Sun Stone’s abilities. The Sword Saint returned from Scarecrow Abyss dead, was reborn as a Puji, and set out again with Inanna after Linden prepared him a new body.

• Linden read the God of Light’s records, wondered whether Heroes were souls stolen from other worlds, and noted the clues about the universe, Aether, and the Void Realm.
• Linden found more Sun Stone experiment records and decided they might reveal how to use the artifact.
• The Sword Saint returned dead from Scarecrow Abyss and, after being reborn, could not explain what had killed him.
• Number Five suggested the Sword Saint had run out of magic power, and Linden prepared him a new body and four swords.
• Linden sent Inanna along with the Sword Saint, who lost control of his body and was scooped up by her after she arrived through the teleportation array.

After returning to Mushroom Capital, Inanna reunited with Fahr and met Fifteen, while Fahr investigated a new group worshiping mushrooms and Puji. The chapter ended with Alama arriving to find Inanna holding Sword Saint Puji.

• Inanna returned to Mushroom Capital with Sword Saint Puji, and Fahr welcomed her before arranging her stay at the Adventurers' Guild.
• Inanna reunited with Fifteen, whose Number Nine assured him Sword Saint Puji was one of their own mushrooms.
• Fahr resumed work and ordered Mirabelle to investigate the Mushroom Worship Cult and discover who was behind it.
• Fahr worried the Hand of Passing might be using the cult as a new cover and decided to ask Alama for advice.
• Alama arrived in Mushroom Capital and found Inanna holding Sword Saint Puji, who turned its cap away in embarrassment.

Duke Alama met with Inanna after she returned safely from the dungeon and agreed to let her join an envoy traveling to The Mountains, with Eiding assigned to accompany her. As the group set out, Alama also ordered a restrained crackdown on the Mushroom Worship Cult, except for members tied to the Hand of Passing, who were to be killed.

• Duke Alama found Inanna safe and learned she wanted to travel to The Mountains to meet the Dwarves.
• Alama suggested that a reliable human accompany Inanna, and she chose Eiding; Alama reacted with barely contained displeasure at the older illusionist’s assignment.
• Eiding received orders to join the envoy and felt relieved when the party departed a week later, despite not understanding Alama’s hostility toward him.
• Sword Saint Puji agreed to escort the party through the Scarecrow Abyss and toward the Dwarves’ Mountains.
• Fahr asked Alama how to deal with the Mushroom Worship Cult, and Alama ordered its leaders arrested and its spread restricted, but directed that anyone linked to the Hand of Passing be killed.

A Pig-man captain discovered that Tagu had betrayed his squad to the Hand of Passing, whose High Priestess subdued and killed him before ordering preparations for a ritual. In Mushroom Capital, Julia’s Mushroom Worship Cult discussed finding a Mushroom Race member to worship, but orderly footsteps interrupted their gathering.

• The Pig-man captain woke in a prison cart among his captured humans and recognized Tagu, his scout, among the black-robed escorts.
• Tagu admitted betraying the squad for the Hand of Passing, and the captain broke free, smashed open the cages, and threw the captives into chaos.
• The Hand of Passing’s High Priestess silenced the crowd and used her chants to calm the captain before he died.
• The High Priestess ordered the cultists to prepare a ritual and gather more people so they could hear their Lord’s oracle again.
• In Mushroom Capital, Julia led the Mushroom Worship Cult in praising Puji and sharing Fluorescent Mushroom Soup as members discussed finding a Mushroom Race member.
• Orderly footsteps sounded outside the cult’s house, interrupting the discussion.

Linden discovered that faith might create connections between souls after a dead cult member briefly became a Puji. Interested in faith’s effects, he approached the imprisoned Julia as a cocoon emerged from the Fungal Carpet.

• A guard captain learned that his men had accidentally killed a refugee who had joined the Mushroom Worship Cult, and they buried the body outside the city.
• Linden found the dead man’s unusually sticky soul and placed it in a Cannon Fodder Puji body, but the panicked Puji ran off a slope and died before Linden could question him.
• Linden traced the corpse to the Fungal Carpet and learned the dead man had belonged to the Mushroom Worship Cult.
• Linden reasoned that the cult’s faith might connect souls and considered how faith could explain the power of divine skills.
• Julia prayed to the Puji God in her dungeon cell as the Fungal Carpet spread and a cocoon emerged.

Twelve freed Julia from her cell and showed her the Mushroom Garden, where humans and Demon Race citizens lived and worked together, presenting the Fungal Lord’s promise of a peaceful world. Julia returned to her cell with renewed faith in the Fungal Lord, while Linden treated the visit as an experiment in shaping belief.

• Twelve emerged from its cocoon, introduced itself to Julia, and used Charm to lead her past the guards and out of prison.
• Twelve guided Julia through Puji Dungeon, where she saw members of the Demon Race working alongside other Fungal Citizens.
• Twelve told Julia that the Fungal Lord saw no essential difference between races and described a future without conflict.
• Julia watched the diverse citizens living together and wept as she imagined a world without war.
• Linden revealed that Twelve had followed a prepared script to strengthen Julia’s faith, then Twelve returned her to her cell and gave her Water of Life.
• Julia praised the Fungal Lord as Twelve departed.