Chapter Summaries

Tanaka considered killing the unconscious Kiro but stopped when the Demon King arrived. After the Demon King defeated Mortis and regained control, Tanaka explained Kiro’s plan to stop Mushroom from destroying the world, leaving the warning not to investigate the sea for the Demon King to consider.

• Kiro collapsed after warning Tanaka not to investigate the sea, and Tanaka saw that he was unconscious from overusing his ability.
• Tanaka reflected that Kiro had treated him as a disposable pawn and began tightening his hand around Kiro’s neck, but he loosened his grip as the Demon King approached.
• The Demon King entered the underground chamber with Mofulei after suppressing the forces loyal to Mortis and recognized Tanaka as the Hero who had freed him.
• Tanaka noticed that the Demon King’s Panel had revealed more information, including several special abilities, and felt overwhelmed by the Demon King’s power.
• The Demon King reassured Tanaka and had his followers carry Kiro, while Tanaka recounted Kiro’s plan to stop Mushroom from destroying the world.
• The Demon King questioned Kiro’s warning about the sea, but agreed to treat it cautiously and postpone investigating it.

After defeating Mortis and reclaiming the throne, the Demon King secured the empire’s submission and turned its resources toward stopping the puji and the Fungal Carpet. His plans threatened Eleanor’s territory and Blood Cattle Factories, prompting Linden to begin a rescue operation early.

• Darean and Vesalius fought for three days until news arrived that Mortis had been killed; Vesalius fled, while Darean celebrated.
• The Demon King regained the throne and received the submission of Eleanor, Duke Levi, Darean, Valerice, and Sigismund.
• The Demon King identified the puji and Fungal Carpet as the empire’s greatest threat and ordered cities to build Slime Controllers so slimes could consume the spreading mycelium.
• The Demon King sent word that his envoys would clear the Fungal Carpet from Eleanor’s lands and dismantle her Blood Cattle Factories, leaving Eleanor furious and panicked.
• Linden learned of the Demon King’s plans and began the rescue operation ahead of schedule.

The Demon King assigned Darean to support Levi and ordered him to improve the slaves’ treatment rather than free them. As the Demon King arrived at Eleanor’s castle, Eleanor ordered the Blood Cattle drained, while a slave consumed a Despair Mushroom and unleashed black fog across the city.

• The Demon King offered Gray Dean’s Magic Core and leadership of the Demon Descendants, and Gray agreed despite the pain it would bring.
• The Demon King sent Darean to support Levi and told him to ensure the slaves were fed and not worked to death, but not to free them yet.
• The Demon King teleported alone to Eleanor’s castle, wary that she might drain the Blood Cattle before he arrived.
• Eleanor ordered her subordinates to drain the Blood Cattle before Twilight Castle’s people arrived.
• A Blood Cattle slave ate a Despair Mushroom, and black fog spread rapidly across the city.

The Demon King stopped a despair-driven illusion that had turned the city into a nightmare, but learned that Puji had already taken a shipload of slaves beneath the sea. The crisis in the city ended as the Demon King worried about what had happened in nearby cities.

• Blood Cattle Factory workers hid in a warehouse while a monster made from torture tools hunted them and killed the Succubus.
• The Demon King emerged from the castle and destroyed two monsters with white fire and ice.
• The Demon King used magic to detect the illusion’s horrors and found a slave at the city center who was causing the despairing mental fluctuations.
• The Demon King used Seventh-tier magic—Mind Lock to incapacitate the slave, causing the illusion to collapse.
• The Demon King learned that Puji had taken the slaves beneath the sea and worried about the nearby cities.

The Demon King rushed between cities to contain the Despair Mushroom illusions while Linden’s operation rescued only some of the slaves. With her territory devastated and the Demon King approaching, Eleanor fled toward the Northern Territory, only to arrive in Happy Paradise and fall into Louisa’s hands.

• The Demon King avoided the seabed Puji, rescued people in three cities, and found another city already reduced to ruins as Linden’s slave evacuation suffered losses.
• Eleanor feared the Demon King would punish her for the destruction of her territory, and Thirteen proposed that she flee to the Northern Territory and seek refuge with its Second Brother.
• Eleanor packed her treasure and teleported with Thirteen, abandoning Mengya and Stinky Fish; after she left, a Puji destroyed the teleportation array and the surrounding area descended into chaos.
• Eleanor arrived in Happy Paradise with her hands and right leg severed, and Louisa seized her while Thirteen was reassembled and freed from the Slave Rune Ribbon.
• Louisa called Eleanor prey, but when Eleanor offered treasure and help with Louisa’s advancement, Louisa agreed to keep her alive for that purpose.

Owen awoke among rescued slaves being transported inside a Giant Puji to the Fungal Fortress. After arriving, he reunited with his sister and learned that they could eventually earn enough Contribution Points to restore her missing hands.

• Owen woke from a nightmare in the Giant Puji and learned from Chief Ji and the other survivors that the Fungal Lord had rescued them.
• Owen registered his information and helped explain their situation to newly awakened slaves as they traveled toward the Fungal Fortress.
• A Purple Blood insect broke into the Giant Puji, but Chief Ji killed it and sealed the breach, and the survivors continued their journey.
• The Giant Puji reached its destination, and a Half-Demon told Owen that his sister was in Temporary Barracks No. 33.
• Owen reunited with his sister, who had lost both hands, and the Half-Demon explained that they could earn enough Contribution Points for the Water of Life to restore them.

Owen and Alice began rebuilding their lives at Mycelium Puji Fortress, where Alice used Puji hands as a temporary replacement for her lost ones. Linden weighed the Empire’s growing defenses and prepared operations against Kees and the dragons, while Feixi arrived in the Imperial Capital to meet the Demon King.

• Owen celebrated when Alice successfully used two Puji hands to pick up a stone, though they had spent most of their Contribution Points on them.
• Eleanor knocked one of Alice’s Puji arms loose, but Qiong compensated the siblings and persuaded Eleanor to leave; they saw a message identifying her as a free-range death-row prisoner.
• Linden’s attacks on the Empire faltered, Levi abandoned his estate, and tensions with the Mountain Dwarves grew as the Fungal Carpet spread toward their border.
• Linden planned a surprise attack on Kees from the Tidal Sanctuary and prepared the Dragon Colosseum so Little Black could fight and recover repeatedly.
• Feixi left High Keep Fortress and arrived at Twilight Castle in the Imperial Capital to seek an audience with the Demon King.

The Demon King met Sigismund and discovered that his mind was affected by Mental Adhesion, while Sigismund was secretly sharing his body with a dwindling outsider soul. The Demon King used a rune chamber to block the voice, then asked Sigismund to explain what was wrong.

• The Demon King examined parasitized subjects, then met Sigismund and found his appearance was not concealed and his Abyss Magic influence was mild.
• The Demon King noticed Sigismund's Mental Adhesion status while Sigismund hid the fact that his roommate's soul inhabited his mind and hated the Demon King.
• The Demon King discussed plans to increase forces in the south and offered Sigismund something that could help him.
• The Demon King activated runes in a basement room, stunning Sigismund and abruptly silencing his roommate.
• Sigismund regained his senses, attempted to use Blood Manipulation, and heard the Demon King ask him to explain his mental problem.

The Demon King investigated the foreign soul attached to Sigismund and discovered it was an unusually vast soul resembling a Puji. After the soul resisted and self-destructed, Sigismund woke free of his roommate, while the Demon King began planning further research.

• Sigismund told the Demon King about his roommate, and the Demon King used a Magic Array to put Sigismund to sleep before preparing a ritual with three Blood Guards.
• The Demon King entered Sigismund's consciousness, found the foreign soul as a giant cyan-capped Puji, and identified its connection to Sigismund as unusually stable.
• Big Puji attacked the Demon King, who fought back with mental attacks and used the Blood Guards as shields and weapons.
• Sigismund woke without sensing his roommate and celebrated his freedom, deciding to start a weight-loss plan.
• The foreign soul self-destructed before the Demon King could suppress it again, and the Demon King used the remaining Blood Guards to protect Sigismund before resolving to investigate Puji's soul further.

Sigismund struggled with the aftereffects of his damaged soul and resolved to take control of his own mental defenses. Meanwhile, Linden lost his connection to Feixi, and the Demon King prepared a massive ritual to investigate Puji while reflecting on the suffering that sustained the world.

• Sigismund woke after hearing his roommate call to him and decided to study mental defenses rather than ask the Demon King to examine his soul again.
• Linden failed to reconnect with Feixi, sensed a tiny remnant of his soul there, and took out his anger on Kees by beating him with a Giant Puji.
• The Demon King tested Puji's mental defenses with a mage and ten sacrifices, but they died instantly from a powerful mental counterattack.
• The Demon King gathered more than fifteen hundred Blood Guards and condemned prisoners at Twilight Castle to prepare a large ritual to investigate Puji.
• The Demon King visited the still-unconscious Fox-folk and wished for an end to the world sustained by suffering.

The Demon King began a ritual to explore the Puji Mycelium Network, but the network’s violent mental defenses consumed hundreds of sacrifices and nearly destroyed the connection. He forced his way into a vast sea-like mental space, where an explosion erupted from the depths.

• Mofulei prepared a ritual array with more than two thousand sacrifices so the Demon King could attack the Puji Mycelium Network core.
• The Demon King arranged a fallback and assigned Gray and the other Demon Descendants to defend Twilight Castle before connecting with the sealed Puji.
• A storm of mental explosions erupted inside the ritual, rapidly destroying the sacrifices and nearly overwhelming the Demon King.
• The Demon King used Mental Quicksand to break through the storm and pass through the collapsing connection point.
• The Demon King entered an immense sea-like mental space, and a sharp explosion shook it from beneath the water.

Inanna discovered that Cave Four was trembling because the Fungal Lord was excited as the Demon King invaded Linden’s mental space. Linden overwhelmed him, but the Demon King escaped by shedding part of himself and returned to his castle badly damaged.

• Inanna recalled Little Ice and found Cave Four trembling, which Cave Four said was caused by the Fungal Lord’s excitement.
• The Demon King breached Linden’s mental defenses, and Linden attacked him with overwhelming waves of soul power.
• The Demon King recognized Linden as the Fungal Lord and asked what he was, while Linden declared himself the Demon King’s grandfather.
• Linden trapped the Demon King in his mental sea, but the Demon King used [Honesty] to protect an escape gate and claimed that one part of him would vanish.
• Linden saw that the trapped Demon King displayed only [Envy], while another part escaped through a second gate.
• The Demon King returned to his body, which collapsed in part before he restored his human form and walked stiffly toward the castle.

Linden examined the Demon King’s severed soul, which remained sealed in the Spirit Sea with [Envy], and considered how it might be used. As the lump began to form a face, Linden focused on the Demon King’s claim that his soul had not been created by a god.

• Linden concluded that the Demon King’s soul-splitting ability likely depended on Virtues, Great Sins, or level-less skills, and reasoned that [Honesty] had limits and restrictions.
• Linden decided not to destroy the Demon King’s soul fragment, since it could heal and destruction would likely only wound the Demon King.
• Linden considered extracting [Envy] by placing the soul in a physical body, but chose to keep the fragment sealed while studying it when he had time.
• Linden questioned the origin of his unusually large and distinctive soul after the Demon King said his own soul had not been created by a god.
• Linden cleared the seawater and pressure away from the Slime, and a face slowly formed on the lump.

Linden questioned the Demon King about the gods and learned that the Seat of Navigation could reveal the truth about their motives and his own situation. After sealing the Demon King again, Linden detected a strange connection between their souls and received a brief response from the God of Death telling him to stop preaching.

• Linden asked the Demon King about the gods, and the Demon King said they stirred up conflict to obtain sacrifices and souls.
• The Demon King offered to take Linden to the Seat of Navigation, but Linden refused to trust him, and the bubble sealed him again.
• Linden considered whether the gods planned to use him as fuel and noticed that a tiny piece of his soul seemed to have merged with the Demon King's soul.
• Linden tried to contact the God of Death through [Spirituality], and the God of Death briefly answered, telling him to stop preaching.

Linden prepared to use Little Black against an injured Green Dragon so she could advance her Ancient Dragon Path. Little Black rushed to the Ruins to save Norris, and her attack on the dragon began as it poisoned him.

• Fungal Citizens spread gossip about a Horned Demon who had blamed a Half-Demon for his own misconduct, then praised the Fungal Lord.
• Linden ignored the God of Death’s advice and decided to continue his plans to unify the continent with Mushroom Transformers.
• Linden captured a wounded Green Dragon after its fight with another dragon and brought it to the Ruins for Little Black to face.
• Little Black saw the Green Dragon attacking Norris and hurried through the underground passage to reach him.
• The Green Dragon mocked Little Black and attacked Norris with Dragon Breath, so Little Black charged into it.

Linden and the Pujis staged a second fight between Little Black and the Green Dragon, using traps, repairs, and a staged injury to help Little Black defeat it. Little Black rescued Norris and flew to the Mushroom Garden, while Linden’s progress toward raising an ancient dragon reached 16%.

• The Green Dragon injured Little Black with its tail, but the Pujis rescued her and carried her away through hidden holes.
• Linden’s team released hallucinogenic spores to subdue the Green Dragon, repaired the ruins, and treated Little Black while making Norris look wounded.
• The Green Dragon woke to a restored ruin and a staged cry for help, and Little Black struck its uninjured eye, blinding it.
• Little Black wore down the weakened Green Dragon until it collapsed, then seized Norris and flew toward the Mushroom Garden.
• Linden’s Ancient Dragon Path progress reached 16%, while Little Black slept beside Norris in her Mushroom House.

Bretta Zafa confronted the Deepforge clan chief over rumors about mycelial parasitism, then watched the dwarven council debate the Fungal Fortress’s offer to buy living dragons with S-Rank Magic Crystals. Linden also sent dragon purchase requests to humans and Elves, while Duke Lorenzo spotted kobolds near Dragon Roar Valley.

• Bretta’s grandson asked whether mycelium controlled the thoughts of parasitized dwarves, and Bretta learned that rumors were spreading among the clans.
• Bretta challenged the Deepforge clan chief at the royal council for spreading fear and potentially abandoning parasitized dwarves.
• Blacksteel revealed that the Fungal Fortress offered three S-Rank Magic Crystals for each living dragon, prompting the dwarven chiefs to reconsider and negotiate for a higher price.
• Bretta concluded that trade with the Fungal Fortress would grow and resolved to find a solution to mycelial parasitism.
• Linden sent dragon purchase requests to humans and Elves, and Duke Lorenzo saw kobolds appear near Dragon Roar Valley.

After the dragons vanished, Swergis led the abandoned kobolds in search of their masters, and they attacked a city on the New Defense Line. Cave Four arrived to defend the city and used Mushroom Might, leaving the kneeling kobolds staring in worship at the tiny mushroom.

• Swergis urged the masterless kobolds to leave Dragon Cliff and search for their dragons.
• The kobold army besieged a New Defense Line city, and its commander learned they were following their masters' trail toward the rear.
• The city's defenders struggled to hold off the kobolds and their Dragon Beasts while waiting for reinforcements.
• Cave Four arrived ahead of Inanna and unleashed Mushroom Might on the battlefield.
• The Dragon Beasts froze and the kobolds fell to their knees, then searched for the figure commanding their reverence and found Cave Four.

Number Ten persuaded the kobolds to stop attacking the city by arguing that their actions did not serve the dragons, just as Master Azra and Master Colossus arrived. Azra killed Colossus and abandoned the kobolds, leaving the survivors stunned amid the scorched battlefield.

• Number Ten used telepathy to tell the kobolds that the Familiars had received Dragon Might and Dragon Breath from their lord, then challenged their reason for attacking the city.
• Swergis explained that the kobolds had followed the dragons out of Dragon Cliff, and Number Ten accused him and the Kobold Shaman of putting their own desires above the dragons’ interests.
• The Fungal Lord warned Number Ten that two dragons were approaching, and Master Azra pursued Master Colossus toward the city.
• Azra crashed Colossus into the ground outside the city and killed him with lightning Dragon Breath, also killing nearby kobolds and scorching the surrounding land.
• The Kobold Shaman begged Azra to recognize him as a loyal servant, but Azra knocked him aside and flew away without looking back.

Number Ten brought Swergis and several kobolds to Puji Dungeon, where they witnessed Little Black defeat Nagarosa and learned that Number Ten served her. After tricking the kobolds into eating dragon meat, Number Ten arranged their conversion to mycelium symbiosis, while Linden prepared to search for Kees's true body in the sea.

• Number Ten convinced Swergis and the remaining kobolds to camp outside Dragon Roar Valley, then invited Swergis and a few companions to meet his master at Puji Dungeon.
• After a half-month journey, Number Ten stopped the kobolds at a Spatial Rift to eat meat before leading them into the dungeon.
• Number Ten brought the kobolds to the giant dragon Arena, where Little Black defeated Nagarosa and grew stronger.
• Number Ten gave Swergis dragon meat and declared Little Black the future ancient dragon, leaving Swergis horrified when he realized what he had eaten.
• Linden converted the kobolds through mycelium symbiosis and sent promising members back to recruit others and help investigate Dragon Cliff Dungeon.
• Linden prepared the navy at the Tidal Sanctuary to draw Kees's true body out of the sea.