Chapter Summaries

The Demon King's rebel army reached the Imperial Capital, where Wood and Elara surrendered after their marriage-alliance offer failed. The Demon King rejected their pleas, the capital fell half a month later, and the Aurelian Dynasty was destroyed after Haviland's death.

• Wood and Elara feared the rebels' battle puppets and considered offering the imperial princess in a marriage alliance, while the Demon King refused the proposal.
• Rune suggested tricking the capital into opening its gates, but the Demon King rejected deception to protect the new Empire's credibility.
• Skall killed seven prisoners seeking revenge for his family's murder, and the Demon King ordered him detained for judgment.
• The Demon King planned to separate humans after the war and use Imperial Princess Seraphina as their leader.
• Wood and Elara surrendered the open city gates and offered the head of a puppet, but the Demon King sent them back to face their approaching deaths.
• The Imperial Capital fell half a month later, Wood and Elara were executed, and Haviland's death in 555 marked the end of the Aurelian Dynasty.

Sophia and Bella drove the mist from two islands, rescuing wounded islanders as preparations continued to evacuate Silver Sand Bay. With the intelligent bugs watching and Kees strengthening itself, the fleet’s dangerous return to the mainland was about to begin.

• Sophia and Bella broke Grossa’s illusion, killed him, and freed the islanders hanging in his hall.
• Sophia calmed a wounded man while her people treated the survivors, and Bella saw that Samuel’s group had also repelled the mist.
• Warren told Sophia that two repaired ships would be ready to sail the next day, as the fleet prepared to evacuate the islands.
• Sophia refused the two mermaids’ request to rescue their people, knowing their home was in Kees’s territory.
• Kees sensed through a slain Eye Bug that the Mushrooms were acting and recognized that the greatest trial had begun.

Piggy directed Tidal Sanctuary’s deep-dive squads as they mapped the seabed and fought off Kees ambushes. When Baroque’s squad uncovered a swarm of Kees in the depths, Piggy sent Sword Saint Puji to intercept them.

• Baroque killed several Kees while leading his squad back within its assigned range, refusing to pursue them when Marshal Piggy ordered a retreat.
• Piggy monitored more than thirty squads through the Mycelium Network, and the teams began descending in containers to map the deep sea.
• Baroque’s squad encountered a swarm of Kees pursuing them from the depths, and Baroque warned Piggy as the Murlocs hauled him upward.
• Piggy ordered Swordfish deployed to the Cave Four area, and Sword Saint Puji was teleported there and reassembled.
• Sword Saint Puji dove into the sea and cut the pursuing Kees into scraps of flesh with a Moonlight Step.

Linden’s forces descended through the deep sea to hunt the Kees, but a chorus of magically controlled mermaids ambushed the advance team and drew them into a battle against a swarm of insects. Most of the soldiers were converted into Pujis afterward, but Norris disappeared into the rock wall, leaving Linden searching for him.

• Linden sent the Fungal Fortress’s navy down Mycelium Pillars to support the fight against the Kees while Swordfish remained missing.
• Norris and the advance team destroyed a Meat Whale bug and continued their descent without finding Sword Saint Puji.
• A chorus of Mermaids’ Charm Voice enchanted most of the advance team, and Norris discovered a fleshy tentacle wall using mermaids to sing.
• Norris blasted the tentacle wall with a Resonance Cannon, ending the song but exposing the team to a swarm of insects that overwhelmed their formation.
• Slender arms pulled Norris and several soldiers into the rock wall, while follow-up troops killed the insects and more than eighty percent of the fallen soldiers became Pujis.
• Linden searched the rock wall for Norris after realizing he was missing.

Linden considered how to counter Kees while Norris woke in a strange underwater realm among the Mermaids. There, the Mermaid Empress Sephiria confronted Sword Saint Puji over Elwin’s whereabouts, and Elwin revealed himself just as she attacked.

• Linden found no trace of Norris behind the ordinary stone wall and worried that Kees’s new [Flesh Fusion] ability could make it more dangerous.
• Norris woke with an air bubble over his head in a sealed underwater realm, where a Mermaid brought him to Sword Saint Puji and a thousand Mermaids.
• The Mermaid Empress Sephiria questioned Sword Saint Puji after Norris called him the Sword Saint, then bound him when she learned he claimed to have inherited the title from Elwin.
• Sephiria tried to charm Norris into explaining where Elwin was, but he refused to answer, so she lifted him by the throat with a current.
• Sword Saint Puji cut Norris free and revealed that he was Elwin, but Sephiria rejected the claim and sent seawater surging toward him and Norris.

Sword Saint Puji revealed himself to Sephiria as the resurrected Elwin and learned that a monster had driven the mermaids toward starvation and certain death. When the monster found their refuge, Norris recognized its voice, and Elwin realized it was Boss.

• Sword Saint Puji tried to convince Sephiria that he was Elwin, but her [Charm Voice] triggered his [Sword Heart] and injured her.
• Elwin proved his identity by recalling private memories, then explained that he had died and been resurrected as a Puji.
• Sephiria described how the mermaids were running out of food and hiding behind a temporary choral barrier from a monstrous enemy.
• The barrier trembled, and Sephiria offered Elwin an escape route, but he chose to protect her.
• The barrier burst, and Norris recognized the monster's chorus; Elwin identified the arriving creature as Boss.

Linden found the mermaids’ hidden refuge, learned that Kees’s enormous body lay in their former homeland, and began planning an attack with Piggy. Meanwhile, Sophia’s Hero Fleet changed course through waters where Kees had driven the mermaids away.

• Linden used [Charm Voice] to break through the mermaids’ concealment and reached Norris and the others, where he revealed himself through a comic disguise and scolded Norris for attracting mermaids.
• Sephiria, the Mermaid Empress, told Linden that an enormous monster had filled the trench where the mermaids once lived, giving him the location of Kees.
• Linden reacted with excitement at the prospect of fighting Kees again and began organizing an encirclement and kill with Piggy, leaving the mermaids’ resettlement to Norris.
• Sophia’s Hero Fleet, carrying islanders from Silver Sand Bay, changed routes because mist covered its original course.
• Priest Samuel warned Sophia that the new route passed through hidden reefs where mermaids had once been active, and Sophia hoped Kees had driven them away without leaving too many bugs behind.

The mermaids arrived at the Tidal Sanctuary’s Resettlement Zone, where Sephiria learned from Linden that Sword Saint Puji had other romantic entanglements and vowed to win Elwin for herself. Linden also reviewed the Empire’s activity and the transported Ji God Soldier as preparations continued to deal with Kees.

• Sephiria and the mermaids reached the Dungeon entrance and saw Fungal Fortress Soldiers moving pieces of the Ji God Soldier with Puji.
• Sephiria asked Elwin to stay, but Elwin left to practice his sword after cutting down a Recording Crystal Puji had been secretly using.
• Linden hinted that Elwin had been involved with other women, then gave Sephiria a Recording Crystal showing Elwin with an Elf and a pink-haired human.
• After watching the footage, Sephiria vowed that she would have Elwin this time.
• Linden reviewed reports that the Empire was moving resources to Twilight Castle and ordered Piggy to strengthen border-city defenses while the intelligence network remained disrupted.
• Linden noted that the Ji God Soldier had been cut apart for transport and could be reassembled, though repairing its outer shell would take time.

The Fungal Fortress vanguard entered the Trench, where Kees's Flesh Carpet had covered the walls and begun fusing with living creatures. After clearing some of it with corrosion, the soldiers came under attack from hidden enemies and uncovered fused Mermaids, while the main force descended to join the battle.

• The vanguard discovered that Kees's Flesh Carpet had covered the Trench and fused a Half-Demon's hand to it, so they used a Mushroom Cannon to destroy the severed hand and nearby flesh.
• Marshal Piggy ordered the soldiers to use Corrosion Curse to wither the Flesh Carpet, and the Fungal Fortress troops began clearing it around the Trench.
• Jida pulled a Murloc out of an undercurrent attack, but several soldiers were injured or killed as the team formed up and sent their dead into a Mycelium Pillar.
• Norris sensed movement inside the rock walls, and Jida's Resonance Cannon exposed fused Mermaids connected to flesh tubes.
• A Mermaid spoke of a final battle before Linden killed her, and more Jida, Puji Masters, Cave Four, and Cave Seven descended into the Trench.

Linden’s Fungal Fortress fought Kees’s forces in the Trench, using Puji cannon fodder and an Ultimate Resonance Cannon to destroy most of a giant Flesh Pillar. The battle took a new turn when five Dragons fused to another Flesh Pillar attacked the Ji God Soldier, while Sophia saw Kees Heart’s terrifying Panel.

• Sophia spotted mermaids, murlocs, Half-Demons, and Pujis gathered ahead of the fleet, while Linden’s forces began bombarding Kees’s Flesh Carpets with self-destructing Pujis.
• Kees sent Evil Eyes, Tentacle Beasts, and Marine Insects against the Fungal Fortress, and Cave Four tore apart a Tentacle Beast before a Flesh Pillar hurled him out of the sea.
• Chimeric Mermaids embedded in the Flesh Pillar used [Charm Voice] to daze the Fungal Fortress soldiers, but a Voice Puji revealed the Ji God Soldier’s Ultimate Resonance Cannon and blasted most of the pillar away.
• Piggy ordered the troops to reform and pursue, but five Dragons attached to another Flesh Pillar burst from a seabed fissure and attacked the Ji God Soldier.
• Sophia and Bella saw the giant Flesh Pillar rise and get blasted apart, and Sophia also saw Kees Heart’s terrifying Panel.

Kees's Five-Emperor Dragon nearly destroyed the Ji God Soldier, while Linden discovered that Kees's abnormalities came from the Abyss. Sophia's long-range attack helped turn the fight, but Kees then rose from the trench as a colossal mass of flesh before Sophia and her party.

• Kees's Five-Emperor Dragon overwhelmed the Ji God Soldier, destroying its arms and letting Kees's flesh interfere with Linden's control of the Puji.
• Little Black held off two dragon heads, but the remaining dragons continued breaking into the Ji God Soldier's chest.
• Linden used [Soul Touch] on Kees and encountered a flood of chaotic information, realizing Kees's abnormalities came from the Abyss.
• Sophia fired a magical arrow from beyond Linden's perception range, killing the Green Dragon and damaging the Flesh Pillar and the other dragons.
• Sophia explained to Bella and her party that Kees had obtained [Gluttony] and needed to be stopped before it reached land.
• Kees lifted a colossal mass of flesh from the trench as Flesh Pillars rose around Sophia's ship.

Kees attacked Sophia and Bella’s ship with its enormous Abyss Core body, but Sword Saint Puji seized Bella’s half of the Scepter of the Ocean and reunited it with the other half. The restored divine artifact made the ocean boil as the Tidal Sanctuary’s seal began to fail.

• Kees emerged from the sea with the Abyss Core inside its huge mass of flesh and sent swarms of creatures against the Fungal Fortress army and Sophia’s ship.
• Sophia fought off Kees’s attackers with her bow, but her mana dwindled and the ship’s defenses broke under the assault.
• Bella used her half of the Scepter of the Ocean to raise water columns that swept away insects and restrained Kees’s Flesh Pillars.
• Sword Saint Puji killed the gigantic Island Crab, snatched Bella’s half of the scepter, and returned to the Fungal Carpet.
• Sword Saint Puji joined the two halves of the Scepter of the Ocean, causing the ocean to boil as the Seal Array in the Tidal Sanctuary began to crack further.

Sword Saint Puji used the divine artifact to trap Kees behind walls of seawater, but Kees mutated under the Abyss Core and threatened to break free. Linden prepared a countermeasure by sacrificing a Cannon Fodder Puji to obtain [Greed] and forcibly extracting [Envy] from the Demon King, then found [Envy] could be used directly.

• After the divine artifact was taken, Sword Saint Puji raised the Scepter and surrounded Kees with eight walls of seawater, shredding thousands of insects with water blades.
• Kees's Abyss Core beat faster as Kees cried that it was not a scrapped proposal and its flesh began producing strange monsters that melted back into it.
• Sophia watched Kees's shifting Panel while Sword Saint Puji struggled to hold the sea walls, and Linden told them through the Mycelium Network to hold on.
• In the Mushroom Garden, Linden stuffed the Demon King soul into a Cannon Fodder Puji, had Knight Puji chop it up, and obtained [Greed].
• At Twilight Castle, the Demon King suffered as [Envy] was torn from his soul, and Linden acquired [Envy].
• Linden's Panel displayed [Envy] in a golden glow, revealing that he could use it directly without activating it through a personal trait.

Kees's Abyssal mutation began erasing the world's rules, but Linden locked down its abilities and freed the beings fused into its flesh. Kees died, leaving behind an Information Cube that revealed its abandoned Unified Integration project and the successful Shared Dream project.

• Kees's Abyssal Rifts erased part of the sea wall and overwhelmed the Sword Saint and Sophia's group with collapsing rules and corrupted information.
• Linden used Envy of the Seven Sins through the Mycelium Network to lock down Kees's abilities, freeing its controlled Puppets and the creatures fused into its Flesh Pillars.
• The freed dragons, Island Crab, Mages, and Abyssal monsters attacked the Flesh Pillars and Kees, while Little Black struck the dragons' pillar from the sky.
• Kees spoke to Linden, admitted it had wanted to win and replace him, and died as its flesh and blood lost vitality.
• A Puji touched the black-cube Abyss Core, whose Information Cube showed that the Unified Integration project had failed and the Shared Dream project had succeeded.

Linden gained levels and skills from Kees, but discovered that using Envy could randomly reduce a skill’s level. The Demon King’s seal broke and the weakened Slime escaped, while Sophia questioned Samuel about resurrection and rebirth.

• Linden absorbed Kees’s remains, rose from level 73 to 77, and acquired skills including Mental Diffusion and Leviathan.
• Linden discovered that Envy randomly lowered the level of one of his skills whenever he used it.
• The Scepter of the Ocean was completed, but the Demon King’s seal shattered and the weakened Slime escaped after Knight Pujis damaged its soul.
• Sophia and the survivors were rescued after her ship sank, and Bella apologized for losing the divine artifact.
• Sophia asked Samuel about the Sword Saint Elwin Slayne, then drew him aside to ask about resurrection and rebirth.

At Puji House, Sam asked Gavin whether Mycelium Symbiosis could control people’s thoughts, and Gavin dismissed the rumor. In the Mycelium Network, Evan secretly visited his grown daughter and learned that his wife had remarried; the chapter ended with Hero Sophia reaching the United Kingdom’s West Coast with shocking news for its leaders.

• Sam met Gavin at Puji House and asked whether Mycelium could control thoughts, but Gavin said it was only a tool for connecting to and controlling Puji.
• Evan reached toward Bianka while she worked, but another Puji stopped him and reminded him not to cause trouble or betray the Fungal Lord’s trust.
• Evan pleaded to stay near Bianka until the end of the day, and his companion agreed.
• That night, Evan’s companion explained that Evan’s wife had remarried and his daughter now belonged to another family.
• Hero Sophia arrived on the United Kingdom’s West Coast and brought its leaders shocking news.

Sophia told Duke Lorenzo that she had seen Sword Saint Elwin resurrected as a Puji, prompting him to change their destination to Inanna’s estate so Sophia could identify him. Linden learned they were coming and sent Elwin to meet them, while Duke Alama arrived to find Inanna kneading the Sword Saint Puji.

• Duke Lorenzo and Sophia discussed the Fungal Fortress’s attack on Kees, the mist’s advance, and the kingdom’s growing reliance on Puji.
• Sophia revealed that she had seen a four-sword-wielding Puji fighting Kees and believed it was the resurrected Sword Saint Elwin.
• Lorenzo changed their destination from Oath City to the Saint Clair Duke’s Mansion and secretly informed Alama.
• Linden realized Sophia’s group was heading toward Inanna and summoned Elwin, telling him to go there while Marco agreed to forge his swords.
• Elwin worried that Inanna might be in danger, and Alama entered the main hall to see Inanna happily kneading Sword Saint Puji.

Alama attacked Sword Saint Puji in the Duke's Mansion, then recognized him as his old friend Elwin. After embracing him and concealing his identity from Inanna, Alama invited Elwin to his study to hear what had happened over the past two years.

• Alama arrived armed and sent Inanna away before sealing the main hall with runes.
• Alama attacked Sword Saint Puji, who dodged and then cut Alama's ankles while trying to reach Inanna.
• Alama recognized the Sword Saint's swordsmanship and Moon Treading, and Elwin confirmed his identity with a nod.
• Alama embraced Elwin and claimed to Inanna that they had only sparred and damaged the hall by accident.
• Alama invited Elwin to his study for a drink and asked him to explain his return and his time in Inanna's arms.
• A Common Puji quietly collected four Recording Crystals from the wreckage and hid them in its stomach.

Linden decided to reveal his identity as the Fungal Lord to humanity’s leaders while keeping his true body hidden. After Sword Saint Puji explained his resurrection and alliance with Linden, Boss entered the meeting to answer questions directly.

• Linden reviewed his collection of memories in a hidden cave and resolved to stop concealing his identity, though he would protect his true body, Cyan Mushroom.
• Sword Saint Puji met with Sophia, Samuel, Alama, Lorenzo, and Inanna, who learned that Elwin had been resurrected as a Puji.
• Sword Saint Puji explained his alliance with Linden and said that the Pujis would not become humanity’s enemies.
• Alama asked whether the Fungal Lord Boss was reliable, and Sword Saint Puji suggested asking him directly.
• Boss entered the room, introduced himself, and greeted the human leaders.

Lorenzo, Alama, and Sophia discussed their alliance with the Fungal Fortress and planned to test public reaction before announcing it, while Linden prepared countermeasures against anti-Mycelium sentiment. In Norwid City, a merchant denounced Mycelium parasitism until a Puji revealed itself as his long-lost younger brother.

• Linden concluded talks with the humans, who agreed to oppose the Empire and resist the mist, while the Sword Saint withdrew to recover.
• Lorenzo, Alama, and Sophia agreed to spread rumors and gauge public opinion before formally announcing an alliance with the Fungal Fortress.
• In Norwid City, Albright warned the crowd that Mycelium parasitism caused mind control, citing alleged attacks and changes in Parasites’ dreams.
• Puji Masters and skeptical townspeople argued with Albright, and his claims raised concerns among the silent onlookers.
• A Puji approached Albright with a Telepathy Stone and called him brother, revealing itself as his younger brother who had disappeared four years earlier.