Chapter Summaries

Xinyue was attacked by Kees while fishing near the Hand of Passing’s hidden refuge, then returned to find the High Priest and Jini examining a bound Puji. The Hand of Passing prepared a final ritual despite the danger, and the High Priest discovered the Puji had a weak form of Mental Protection before darkness surged from her eyes.

• Xinyue caught a fish on the coast, but invisible Kees attacked her and fled after her Stone Giant crushed several of them.
• Xinyue warned the High Priest, Mira, that the refuge was unsafe and that the Puji might expose their position, but Mira corrected her interpretation of the oracle.
• Jini explained that the Hand of Passing could not easily move because safe refuges, ritual materials, and time were scarce, while believers summoned as sacrifices were already on their way.
• The High Priest sensed weak Mental Protection inside the bound Puji and tried to invade it, causing darkness to surge from her pupils and alarming Xinyue and Jini.

Mira touched Puji’s soul and encountered Linden’s vast soul fragment as it annihilated itself, leaving her weakened but convinced that the Mushroom Race was vital to the Goddess’s plans. Meanwhile, Sword Saint Puji was teleported to an uninhabited area near Eleanor’s southern mountains in two parts.

• Linden detected Mira’s mental intrusion and severed and destroyed the soul fragment she had touched.
• Mira recognized the fragment as part of an immense Sea of Souls, and her divine darkness shielded her from its destructive storm.
• Mira’s use of divine power worsened her condition, and the darkness nearly trapped Xinyue and Jini before withdrawing.
• Mira ordered Jini and Xinyue to prioritize contacting the Mushroom Race and suspend unrelated operations.
• A teleportation Magic Array sent two-thirds of Sword Saint Puji to Eleanor’s territory near the southern mountains, followed shortly by the remaining third.

Elwin survived a botched teleportation and defeated an ambush before Thirteen gave him the Cultists’ locations. He headed toward the Hand of Passing while Xinyue and Jini tried to find a way to contact Thirteen.

• Elwin repaired his damaged body after the teleportation, then killed a Half-Vampire, twelve other ambushers, and their Combat Pujis when they attacked him.
• Thirteen revealed itself and gave Elwin locations through the Mycelium Network, warning him to stay away from its territory and avoid drawing attention.
• Mengya and Stinky Fish remained frightened lackeys, while Mengya worried that Thirteen might eventually turn against My Lady Eleanor.
• Elwin scouted a Blood Cattle factory but avoided attacking because Boss had told him a secret rescue plan was underway, and he traveled toward the coordinates Thirteen had provided.
• Xinyue and Jini discussed how to contact the Mushroom Race and decided to have believers watch for a chance to approach Thirteen when it went out.

Sword Saint Puji and a Lizardman mushroom puppet tracked Hand of Passing to a hidden meeting in Eleanor's territory and attacked the Cultists. Jini's fear spell failed to stop Puji, and the surviving Cultists fled while Puji let them lead him toward their stronghold.

• Sword Saint Puji traveled north with the Lizardman puppet after Boss arranged for it to accompany him.
• Xinyue and the remaining Hand of Passing priests regrouped in a ditch after their attempts to contact the Mushroom Race failed.
• Puji entered the hideout and attacked before Jini could finish speaking, killing two Cultists and slashing at her.
• Xinyue summoned a Stone Giant to protect Jini, but Puji destroyed it and pressed forward.
• Jini cast fear, but Puji shattered the illusion with Sword Heart and wounded her; the Cultists retreated behind stone walls.
• Puji let the fleeing Cultists lead him toward their stronghold, while Linden experienced a fear illusion of being decomposed by Slime.

After Puji’s Sword Heart shattered Jini’s consciousness, the High Priest restored her enough to prepare the ritual while Xinyue concealed the cultists with black mist. Linden and Sword Saint Puji led an army of Pujis toward the cultists’ hiding place, where the Hand of Passing ambushed them and exposed the Lizardman puppet’s face.

• Jini hallucinated the people she had sacrificed, including Kede, before the High Priest and Xinyue brought her back to consciousness.
• The High Priest guided Jini in recalling her identity, then went to preside over the prepared ritual as the cultists took their positions.
• Xinyue covered herself and the cultists in black mist, hiding their scents, magical fluctuations, and sounds as they left their hiding place.
• Linden and Sword Saint Puji advanced toward the Hand of Passing’s hiding place with more than a thousand Pujis.
• Four cultists ambushed Sword Saint Puji, but he killed them with Wind Pressure Slash while other attackers killed Pujis and struck the Lizardman puppet.
• Xinyue’s Rock Hands damaged the Lizardman puppet’s head, revealing its face and leaving her stunned when it spoke to her.

Linden defeated Xinyue and the Cultists outside the hideout, while Sword Saint Puji went ahead to stop their ritual. When Linden arrived, he found Puji defeated by a mysterious girl surrounded by Flowing Darkness and tentacles.

• Elwin's memory of sacrificing his friend resurfaced as Xinyue hesitated to fight Kuruge, whose body Linden controlled as a puppet.
• Sword Saint Puji left the battle and hurried toward the hideout, but Jini blocked the entrance with her Terror magic.
• Linden's Lizardman puppet defeated the Stone Giant and killed Xinyue, after which Kuruge's consciousness was consumed by mushrooms.
• Linden found Jini dead at the entrance and discovered Sword Saint Puji incapacitated inside the hideout, held upside down by a tentacle.
• A pure-white girl with pitch-black pupils turned to Linden and said that the Cultists should never have been his enemies.

Linden met the God of Death, who said she had brought him into the world and asked him to save it, then gave him aid against the darkness. After the Sword Saint attacked the God of Death’s vessel, Mira died on the Fungal Carpet, and Linden obtained the Spirit of Virtue.

• Linden retreated from the darkness surrounding him, but the God of Death’s tentacles incapacitated the Sword Saint and the darkness dissolved a Puji’s soul.
• The God of Death spoke through the Mycelium Network, identified herself as the one who had placed Linden in the world, and told him he was already saving it.
• The God of Death swallowed Jini’s corpse, said Linden had fulfilled the wishes of the Lizardman puppet and the Cat-folk Priest, and promised to aid him.
• The God of Death withdrew the darkness and placed a black stone on the Sword Saint, transforming him into a Black Puji that defeated most forms of perception.
• The Sword Saint, unaware of Linden’s conversation with the God of Death, stabbed her with the Tentacle Blade; Mira then stepped into sunlight and died on the Fungal Carpet.
• Linden obtained the Spirit of Virtue.

Eleanor investigated signs of earth magic, kept the Slave Rune Ribbon as a backup, and ordered Yvette to join Eugene’s campaign against Louisa in the Northern Territory. Meanwhile, Linden learned that Gululu and the murlocs had accepted him as an envoy of the Goddess and pledged themselves to his cause, though he remained cautious about the God of Death.

• Eleanor found traces of high-level earth magic and a ritual array in a hideout, then decided not to use the Slave Rune Ribbon on Thirteen yet.
• Eleanor received Eugene’s intelligence showing that Louisa had survived and become a leader in the Northern Territory.
• Eleanor ordered Yvette to select elite soldiers from the Third and Fourth Armies and assist Eugene, and Yvette eagerly accepted the mission to face Louisa.
• Linden told Gululu that he had seen the God of Death, and Gululu explained that he had long believed Linden was connected to the deity.
• Gululu and the other murlocs pledged themselves to Linden through the Mycelium Network, while Linden remained wary of the God of Death and questioned whether other murlocs existed.

Linden wondered whether the God of Death and the Hand of Passing were trying to save the world, and investigated how souls might fit into their plans. After Sword Saint Puji returned, he argued that preserving souls without their memories and lives did not count as salvation.

• Linden tried to contact the gods through [Spirit] but received no response, then considered what the changing numbers on his Panel might reveal about souls.
• Linden considered stockpiling souls and wondered whether the God of Death, the Demon King, and the Divine Tree knew more about saving the world.
• Sword Saint Puji returned to Puji Dungeon with the Black Stone and passed it to Cannon Fodder Puji.
• Linden asked Sword Saint Puji whether the Hand of Passing had truly been helping the God of Death save the world.
• Sword Saint Puji argued that saving souls without the lives and memories that defined them did not count as salvation.
• Linden thought of Vera's [sacrifice] and gave the Black Stone to Werewolf Kallen for safekeeping.

Vera learned that the Mushroom Worship Cult, which operated the Great Mushroom Charity, had come near Longwu Fort and decided to investigate rather than drive them away. Number Five recognized the cult and eagerly led Vera toward its camp, while Twelve prepared to prove that they were not an evil cult.

• Number Five rehearsed a victory dance for the pujys’ five-hundredth Puji Festival, and Feiling told Vera that the Great Mushroom Charity was actually the unrecognized Mushroom Worship Cult.
• Vera rejected Feiling’s suggestion to drive the cult away and decided to investigate its good works and any possible crimes, explaining that Number Five should know what was happening.
• Number Five said it knew the cult and that Twelve was there, then climbed onto Vera and urged him to visit.
• Vera gathered his squad and soldiers and rode toward the cult’s camp while Number Five secretly warned Twelve through the Mycelium Network.
• Twelve learned Vera was coming and decided to personally entertain Number Five’s friend, while Julia pointed out a possible problem with the skull-covered seat beneath Twelve.

Vera visited the Mushroom Worship Cult’s camp, where he found orderly Mushroom Houses and believers sharing practical advice, then agreed to let the Great Mushroom Charity pass through his territory. Elsewhere, Linden unexpectedly regained the Ultimate Taste skill after Eleanor sold Delicious Mushrooms across the Empire, and he called Norris and Kallen over to test it.

• The number twelve hid its skull throne after Julia warned that outsiders might find it frightening, then prepared stew for Number Five’s friends.
• Vera and Sirian visited the Mushroom Worship Cult’s camp and saw believers teaching refugees how to care for Mushroom Houses.
• Julia welcomed Vera and explained that the cult wanted permission to pass through Longwu Fort; Sirian and Vera tasted the stew and reacted to its extreme deliciousness.
• Number Five and the number twelve helped the two Puji communicate, and Vera agreed to accommodate the Great Mushroom Charity as it crossed his territory.
• Vera wondered whether a Fungal Lord had named the Mushroom Race, while Sirian cautioned him against contacting an unknown being.
• After Eleanor sold more than a dozen cartloads of Delicious Mushrooms across the Empire, Linden gained the Ultimate Taste skill and summoned Norris and Kallen to test it.

Linden cultivated an Ultimate Taste Mushroom while the Fungal Fortress prepared for the Empire’s return along the Luo River. As Louisa reviewed the incoming reinforcements, she discovered that her sister Yvette had reached Hall Level.

• Linden created an Ultimate Taste Mushroom and estimated that it would need seven to ten days of mana to mature.
• Piggy positioned the Fungal Fortress army along the Luo River and waited for the Empire’s forces, while Dwarven reinforcements camped nearby under General Dvalin.
• Louisa considered how the Fungal Fortress could use its medical support to connect the Dwarves to the Mycelium Network and ordered Puji under her command to be strengthened.
• Louisa learned that the Empire’s reinforcements included powerful allies and experts, including Trolls and Blood Scions.
• Louisa read that Yvette, serving under Duchess Eleanor, had recently advanced to Hall Level and recognized her as her sister.

Yvette arrived at Duke Eugene’s camp as the war against the Northern Territory grew more serious, while Duke Levi’s Faceless Ones set out to assassinate Baduo. Their shadow infiltration ended in an ambush by Puji, and Baduo returned to the Dwarf camp alone, still refusing an escort.

• Yvette arrived with her troops, learned that Dwarves had appeared in the Northern Territory, and received orders from Duke Eugene to wait before the army marched.
• Yvette recognized the Faceless Ones, who refused Eugene’s command and said they had come only to target Baduo.
• The Faceless Ones used Shadow Shuttle to travel north and scout the Dwarf camp, but Puji and Mycelium Tentacles attacked them from the shadows.
• General Dvalin questioned Baduo about returning alone, and Baduo dismissed his assigned guards and insisted he could handle the Faceless Ones himself.

Eugene led an imperial army of nearly forty thousand into the Northern Territory despite failing to gather intelligence on its defenses. As both sides rallied, the first fighting began on the Fungal Carpet, where a seemingly dead Puji exploded and infected an imperial captain with Mycelium.

• Eugene and Dean agreed the army would march the next day, and Dean gave Eugene a crystal to summon reinforcements if the battle went badly.
• Dean said Levi would pressure The Mountains' border fortress while he was away, and Eugene accepted the plan.
• Eugene led nearly forty thousand soldiers into the Northern Territory, where Marshal Puji rallied the Fungal Fortress troops and Dvalin rallied the Dwarves.
• An imperial vanguard squad began sealing entrances to the Underground Network as soon as the army entered the Fungal Carpet.
• The squad captain stabbed a Puji emerging from a burrow, but it exploded when he dragged it out, blasting off both his arms.
• Spores from the explosion entered the captain's wounds and grew into Mycelium that burrowed into his flesh and blood.

Eugene’s army used slaves to clear Puji-infested caves and mushroom forests, slowing its advance while Linden absorbed the wounded and abandoned. After nearly half a month, the army reached the Luo River and faced the defensive camp across it as the weather turned colder.

• Eugene ordered slaves brought to the vanguard to fill Puji caves, and Evan was sent to work under armed supervision.
• When Evan resisted, a Horned Demon soldier slashed him down; the Puji retrieved him and carried him into a hole, where Linden could absorb him.
• Linden focused on taking in the slaves and other abandoned casualties while the Puji changed their attacks to reduce disruptions to their work.
• Baduo tried to raid the Empire army’s baggage train but was spotted by a Demon Descendant, inflicted some casualties, and withdrew to the Dwarf Camp.
• The Empire army cleared mushroom forests along its route and reached the Luo River after nearly half a month, where its adjutants saw the defensive camp across the water and remarked on the colder weather.

As the Empire prepared to cross the Luo River, Eugene discovered Pujis waiting beneath the water and arranged for the river to be frozen solid. Louisa and Linden discussed her personal grudge against Yvette, while the chapter ended with Eugene sounding the attack.

• Inanna worried that the rescued slaves would freeze in the Northern Territory, and Linden assured her they would survive.
• Eugene questioned why the Fungal Fortress and Dwarves were holding their positions across the Luo River, then learned from Yvette that Pujis were ambushed underwater.
• Eugene ordered his Mages to freeze the river thick enough to stop the Pujis, and promised Yvette an opportunity to behead Louisa.
• Piggy monitored Yvette through the Fungal Carpet Vision, and Louisa told Linden that Yvette had once mentored and betrayed her.
• Linden learned that Louisa's grudge had led her to take the mission to find Ah Huang, then asked her to write something down.
• The Empire's Mages froze the Luo River seven or eight meters thick, and Eugene sounded the Horn to attack.

The Demon Race launched a probing attack against the Dwarf Camp and Fungal Fortress, then committed Goblins and Horned Demons to a close assault. Linden secretly rescued wounded allies and enemies alike, while the defenders received reinforcements of Second-Generation Mushroom Race; Will died on his first battlefield sortie and prepared to try again.

• Lizardmen tested both positions, but traps, dwarven defenses, and swarms of Puji forced them to retreat.
• Eugene sent Goblins and armored Horned Demons forward, and the Horned Demons broke into the Dwarf Camp to fight Baduo and the dwarves.
• Linden used invisible Puji to drag wounded fighters to safety and provide medical support to both sides.
• Eugene's mages advanced toward the Fungal Fortress while avoiding Puji tunnels and Resonance Cannons, and the Puji Masters prepared for close combat.
• Second-Generation Mushroom Race members arrived as Flying Puji reinforcements, but Will was blown apart during his first charge.
• Will revived from his Mycelium Cocoon, saw his D- evaluation, and resolved not to embarrass himself on his next sortie.

Eugene committed his forces to breaking the Dwarf position, while Piggy intervened to keep the Dwarves from being wiped out and confronted Yvette. Louisa revealed that she had left the Vampire path and used her new power to turn the battle against Yvette.

• Eugene chose to attack the Dwarf position and led the Demon Descendant elites against its defenders, putting Dvalin's line on the verge of collapse while Baduo remained tied up fighting Eugene.
• Piggy watched the Dwarves falter and decided to use the plans meant for Eugene's elites against the soldiers around them instead.
• Yvette confronted Louisa and admitted that she had sabotaged her to gain a Count title, then tried to kill her with a Blood Crystal spear.
• Louisa stopped Yvette's blood weapons and Blood Bats, then revealed her Blood Crystal Battle Armor and Mycelium-covered skin.
• Piggy used Blood Guard Puji to seize control of the battlefield's blood and trap Yvette in Blood Thread Flowers as Louisa declared she was done being a Vampire.

Louisa and the Pujis defeated Yvette’s forces, and Piggy captured Yvette for later processing. As Eugene watched, Cave Four and Cave Seven emerged from beneath the Luo River’s ice and launched an attack on the rear of his troops.

• Yvette’s subordinates charged through Louisa’s Blood Threads, but the Rock Armor Pujis and Jida crushed their advance and sent them fleeing.
• Piggy tore open Yvette’s blood barrier and captured her after she begged Louisa for mercy.
• Eugene realized Louisa’s Blood Power had risen beyond Hall Level as Piggy pointed him toward the Luo River.
• Cave Four and Cave Seven burst through the river ice, and Cave Seven released Puji Masters and their Pujis against Eugene’s rear formation.

Eugene tried to break his army out of an encirclement by Baduo, Louisa, and the Dwarves, but was forced to flee south after losing an arm and a leg. After he crossed several days' distance in a few hours, a black shadow swept past and made him vanish before he could speak with Dean.

• Eugene abandoned the soldiers still fighting and ordered his other troops to break out as the giant Pujis and Louisa threatened to encircle them.
• Eugene incapacitated two Dwarves with blood control, but Louisa and the Pujis disrupted his ability while Baduo kept attacking him.
• Louisa and Piggy joined Baduo against Eugene, and Piggy cut off one of his arms while Baduo severed one of his legs.
• Eugene turned into a Blood Shadow and fled south at extreme speed, while Baduo and Piggy led the pursuit of his retreating troops.
• Eugene met Dean after flying several days' distance in a few hours, but a black shadow swept past and made him disappear.