Chapter Summaries

The Demon King and the Yellow Book killed Kallen and Norris, then took their souls, while Linden’s allies arrived too late to save them. After Linden arranged a shared burial for their bodies, he entered the Seat of Navigation and found Link waiting instead of the Demon King.

• Kallen freed Norris, transformed into a giant werewolf, and attacked the Demon King, while Norris turned back to help her.
• The Yellow Book charmed Norris and admitted it had chosen the path most likely to secure its goal; the Demon King then mortally wounded Norris and Kallen and stored their souls in two new pages.
• Louisa and her squad arrived at the destroyed Fungal Carpet, and Puji deduced that the Demon King had escaped detection by hiding inside the seal in the Dwarves’ Molten Dungeon.
• Linden teleported Kallen and Norris’s bodies to Puji Dungeon and buried them together beside a stone monument.
• Linden activated Spirituality and entered the Seat of Navigation, where he found Link, the former Hero, waiting at the end of the corridor.

Link tried to persuade Linden to join the Demon King’s plan to remake Ark World, but Linden refused to trust them and proposed creating a new world himself. After the talks failed, the Demon King and Link located the Shared Dream Project and teleported to Puji Dungeon’s Eighth Floor, near Linden’s mushroom body.

• Link explained to Linden that the gods used wars to generate negative emotions and that accumulated Aether burdened souls until they sank into the Abyss.
• Link asked Linden to help restart Ark World, but Linden questioned the plan and refused because the Demon King and Link did not trust him.
• Linden proposed that Link and the Demon King help him create a new world, but Link rejected the idea because Linden might be carrying something left by the God of Death.
• The Demon King emerged from the door to the Shared Dream Project and told Link it had been located, then both left the Seat of Navigation.
• Dvalin’s Dwarf legion detected a powerful magical disturbance near the core beyond the Lava Lake and learned it had been a teleportation.
• The Demon King and Link arrived on Puji Dungeon’s Eighth Floor, two floors away from Linden’s mushroom body.

The Demon King and Link fought through Linden’s defenses as Linden drained the Deep Zone’s magic and sent waves of self-destructing Puji after them. The old Werewolves mistook the approaching Demon King for the figure they had awaited, but a Puji blast swallowed their leader before he could greet him.

• The Demon King and Link entered the Ninth Floor and found a barren region filled with Panels labeled Discarded Drafts.
• Linden revealed himself through a Voice Puji, warned them to turn back, and began transferring while Link stomped the mushroom flat.
• Link charged through the Discarded Drafts as the Demon King followed, while Linden drained the Deep Zone’s magic and sent Puji armies toward the Tenth Floor.
• The Puji swarmed the Tenth Floor, frightening the Werewolves and forcing other Monsters into hiding.
• The old Werewolves recognized the Demon King as the figure from their stone tablet, but a Puji explosion swallowed their leader as he ran to greet him.

Link and the Demon King fought through Linden’s ambush of D-Rank prisoners and reached the heart of the cave, where Linden revealed a force of elite warriors waiting to stop them. The chapter ended with Linden asking how they intended to defeat the entire world.

• Orcas tried to recruit a Blood Clan newcomer, while the D-Rank prisoners gathered to earn freedom by injuring the invaders.
• Duke Levi attacked Link with Blood Manipulation, but Link killed him and fought through the D-Rank battle group.
• The Demon King arrived and faced Darean, who accused him of abandoning the Empire; they fought amid the cave’s collapse.
• Link and the Demon King emerged from the rubble with minor injuries and encountered Linden, who declared that they had reached their limit.
• Linden summoned Baduo, Echo, Alama, and other elite Human, Dwarf, and Elf warriors, then challenged Link and the Demon King to defeat the entire world.

Link and the Demon King fought their way toward the Fungal Lord, but its controlled forces and champions intercepted them. Link faced Sword Saint Puji while the Demon King was held back by Number Ten, and a hidden Cyan Mushroom watched for an opening.

• The human, Elf, and Dwarf forces attacked Link and the Demon King, while the Demon King redirected their spells and Link estimated their chance of victory at less than twenty percent.
• Link charged into the Dwarf formation, struck Baduo down, and was wounded by Echo’s curved blade while Thunderbolt attacked him.
• The Demon King used Ice Ring to freeze the battlefield, allowing Link to break through and attack Echo, but Fifteen intervened and Sword Saint Puji blocked Link’s strike.
• Link and Sword Saint Puji began battling with their swords as Number Ten confronted the Demon King, while a Cyan Mushroom monitored their Panels from the Dungeon’s shadows.

Fifteen joined the Sword Saint Puji and Link’s battle, enduring grave injuries until he awakened [Ultimate Sword]. As the three fought, the Demon King targeted Inanna, and both Elemental Lords were pulled into the Binding Ring.

• Number Nine tried to pull Fifteen away from the swordfight, but Fifteen approached Link and the Sword Saint instead.
• Fifteen charged Link and lost his left arm, then attacked again until his sword remained intact and he awakened [Ultimate Sword].
• The Sword Saint accepted Fifteen as his partner in battle, creating an unprecedented clash between three users of [Ultimate Sword].
• The Demon King fired a light arrow at Inanna, whose Water Mirror Refraction shattered before it could stop the attack.
• A greatsword-wielding figure shielded Inanna as demonic light burst out, while the Fire Elemental Lord and Frost Elemental Lord vanished into the Binding Ring.

Link and the Demon King defeated the defenders of Puji Dungeon and reached Linden’s true form, an ordinary Cyan Mushroom. Linden transformed into a giant Mycelium creature and prepared to fight them.

• The Demon King trapped Number Ten, while Link shattered his weaponless enemies by unleashing his full strength and Elwin sacrificed part of his body to knock Fifteen away.
• The Demon King used Ah Huang to collect the dead souls, including Elwin’s, then urged Link to leave before Dungeon Thunderbolt broke free.
• Link and the Demon King crossed the battlefield and passed through Cave Seven after the Demon King used Chaos and Obscurity to bypass its self-destruct defense.
• In Puji Dungeon’s deepest cave, Link discovered Linden’s true form was a Cyan Mushroom surrounded by Royal Guard Pujis.
• Linden rejected the Demon King’s attack by transforming into a giant covered in Mycelium and Royal Guard Pujis, then gathered magic power to strike.

Link and the Demon King nearly destroyed the Mycelial Giant, but Linden used a spatial trick to separate Link from them and reveal that the Cyan Mushroom was only a split body. Link was stranded in a forest as Piggy and Ming plunged toward him.

• The Mycelial Giant overwhelmed Link and the Demon King with regenerating tentacles and Dragon Breath while the Demon King prepared a powerful spell.
• The Demon King froze the battlefield and used Aurora to destroy most of the giant, exposing Marshal Puji and its wrapped core.
• Linden reactivated the battlefield from beyond the frozen area, and Link seized the Cyan Mushroom from Marshal Puji’s ruined body.
• A spatial rift separated Link from the Demon King, and Linden revealed that the mushroom Link held was a Fungal Lord split body.
• Voice Pujis emerged across the forest as Piggy carried Ming toward Link from above.

Linden’s plan trapped the Demon King between Leviathan’s Self-Destruct and an ambush in the Far North, where Little Black and the Ji God Soldier weakened him. The Yellow Book betrayed the Demon King for the chance to gain a soul, and Linden captured the Demon King’s soul with Soul Touch.

• Link escaped through the Spatial Rift as Cave Seven’s Self-Destruct devastated the caves and left the Demon King nearly drained of magic.
• The Demon King teleported away, but spatial distortion sent him to an ice field in the Far North, where the Ji God Soldier and snow-white Puji awaited him.
• The Yellow Book’s mental field distracted the Demon King, allowing Little Black to ambush him and drive him into the path of the Ultimate Resonance Cannon.
• Little Black escaped with the Yellow Book as the cannon struck, leaving the Demon King badly injured but alive because of his Undying ability.
• The Yellow Book revealed that it had betrayed the Demon King for a chance at a soul, and Marshal Puji used Soul Touch to capture him.
• Linden confirmed that he had calculated the attacks and gained the Demon King’s dimmed [Honesty].

Link and Piggy's trap severely wounded him and damaged the Divine Tree, but Link kept fighting against the surrounding Puji. As Linden's forces closed in, Link awakened the Virtue of Valor title and prepared to continue his battle.

• Louisa and Ming attacked Link, and Ming's physical immunity and Dragon Breath disrupted him while Piggy wounded him and bound him with Blood Threads.
• The Divine Tree fired the Life-Seeking Wood Core at Link, but Link split the blast and severed the tree with a sword strike, leaving himself gravely injured.
• Marshal Puji Linden surrounded Link with Puji armies and sent them to attack as Link continued fighting despite his failing body.
• The Computing Furnace began its harvesting phase, and Link obtained the Virtue of Valor title, which converted lost life into attributes and let his will keep his body moving.
• Link switched his sword into his withered right hand and declared that it was not over.

Link fought on despite his injuries, but a Puji struck his unprotected soul and defeated him. As the three races celebrated the war’s end, Inanna asked Linden whether Alama could be revived, and Linden said he could.

• Link summoned Cave Four, then cut down the Giant Puji before Cave Four could attack.
• Link shattered Sophia’s [Star Eye] and kept fighting, but a Puji emerging from his shadow shattered his soul; Link warned them to watch out for the God of Death before falling.
• Inanna mourned Alama while Lorenzo comforted her, and the Mycelium Network showed Marshal Puji standing over Link and a mushroom banner planted in slime.
• The warriors realized the war was over and celebrated, while Inanna asked Linden if he could revive Alama.
• Linden told Inanna that he could revive Alama.

After restoring Norris and Kallen as Pujis, Linden gathered the remaining Virtues and Great Sins and gained temporary administrative authority over the Ark. Nephrela urged him to sacrifice himself to extend the world’s life, but Linden pretended to agree while secretly planning to learn how to seize greater control.

• Marshal Puji used the Yellow Book’s pages to restore Norris and Kallen, whose souls Linden had linked to his own.
• Linden found Tanaka and Vesalius, took [Sloth] from Tanaka, and recovered [Pride] from the genuine seal in Puji Dungeon; Vera and Sophia returned [sacrifice] and [Mercy].
• Linden assembled all thirteen Virtues and Great Sins, entered the Computing Furnace, and acquired temporary Ark administrative authority by opening the gate before the Seat of Navigation.
• Linden learned that the Demon King and Link had planned to seize the Ark’s master control with controlled souls, and discovered that the Ark’s framework included three other worlds obscured by mist.
• Nephrela asked Linden to use Ether Compression Technology to extend Ark World’s life by becoming a filter for its souls, but Linden only pretended to agree and walked away to investigate the Ark’s authority.
• Nephrela saw that [sacrifice] remained dim on Linden’s Panel and quietly accepted that he would not agree with her.

More than two years after the Fungal Lord vanished, the world entered a peaceful age while the Mushroom Race fought its first war over who would inherit the Fungal Lord’s will. As Number One was paraded through the streets, Linden realized the God of Death had trapped his consciousness in slowed time and began to resist.

• Inanna wondered what had happened to Boss while the Mushroom Race continued to revive through the Mycelium Network, though no new members could transform into Mushrooms.
• Sirian, Vera, Feiling, and Feiyin watched Number Two’s Puji army besiege the Elf Royal Palace, where Number One refused to surrender.
• Number Two defeated Number One, whose supporters included nearly every Mushroom Race member, and paraded him through the city on a mobile gallows.
• Number One’s anguished cries resonated through the Mushroom Race and reached Linden inside Ark’s Computing Furnace.
• Linden realized the God of Death had slowed time within the Seat of Navigation and, empowered by [Pride], broke free and refused to be trapped.

After returning, Linden restored the Mushroom Race’s growth and built a prosperous world before completing his effort to copy the memories of every remaining soul. At the end of the millennium celebration, he erased all living beings, absorbed the Yellow Book’s data, and entered the Computing Furnace with their souls as Ark administrator.

• Marshal Puji found Number One and Number Two, and the Mushroom Race learned that the Fungal Lord had returned.
• Linden expanded the Yellow Book and Mycelium Network while defending the flourishing world from the mist.
• Linden told Sirian he had finished copying the memories of every soul after three years of work.
• The continent celebrated Mushroom Garden’s first millennium, and Marshal Puji urged everyone to enjoy the festivities before a new fate arrived.
• At dawn, Linden used Spore Bloom to return all living beings to Fungal Soil, absorbed the Yellow Book’s data, and entered the Computing Furnace.
• Linden acquired Ark Administrator permissions.

Linden left the Ark to search for the God of Light and found Ixion’s copied personality beside the nearly extinguished soul crystal of the original Ixion. He learned that a distant observer was keeping the Old World from perishing, and chose to burn the Ark’s remaining souls to reach it.

• Linden used his Administrator authority to leave the Ark and examined the soul-crystal records, discovering that Little Black had become an idiot after her soul was damaged.
• Linden followed a pull from his soul through the endless rows of crystals and found a dust-covered mechanical body containing Ixion’s copied personality.
• The copy led Linden to Ixion’s nearly extinguished soul crystal and explained that the original body had discovered a distant observer was preventing the Old World from completely perishing.
• Linden decided to burn nearly all the remaining souls to reach the observer, surprising Ixion’s copied personality.

Vera, Feiling, Feiyin, and Sirian awoke in a new world as humans, with their former abilities gone. Elsewhere, Linden finished a performance in Heaven, while the Yellow Book arrived in the new world and hoped to gain a soul.

• Vera, Feiling, and Feiyin woke in a grassland with human bodies and no access to their old abilities, then wondered where they were and searched for Sirian.
• Vera, Feiling, and Feiyin found Sirian rolling in the grass and begging someone to stop singing; Vera froze after touching his chest.
• Linden conducted thirteen members of the Mushroom Race in a chaotic performance, crossed out a record of Old Deng criticizing his voice, and stored a recording of the performance.
• The Yellow Book arrived in the new world, wondered whether it was truly itself, and resolved to find a soul while calling for help.

Louisa gathered Mushroom Garden’s core members to investigate the Boss’s month-long disappearance and assigned teams to search several dangerous locations. The searchers set out, while the Boss’s identity remained unknown to most of them.

• Louisa convened a delayed council meeting using the Empire’s unreliable Image Projection Crystals and announced that the Boss had been unreachable for a month.
• Louisa assigned the Sword Saint to search Scarecrow Abyss, Cave Seven and Little Black to search Dragon Cliff Dungeon, and Norris to investigate Puji Dungeon’s forbidden depths.
• The core members speculated about the Boss’s race, but none had evidence that could help identify or locate him.
• Inanna knew the Boss was named Linden, but that information offered no help to those searching without a Panel.
• Little Black took Cave Seven to Dragon Cliff, the Sword Saint entered Scarecrow Abyss with Number Nine and Fifteen, and Norris and Kallen reached the forbidden passage in Puji Dungeon.

Norris and Kallen searched the restricted areas of the Fungal Fortress for the missing Boss, with Thirteen guiding them through Paradise and its petrified prisoners. Norris discovered a hidden chamber full of Recording Crystals and a standby Marshal Puji, then began looking for clues in the recordings.

• Norris and Kallen entered the restricted area, found a forest of petrified people, and were captured by Thirteen before persuading him that the Core Council had sent them to search for the Boss.
• Thirteen led Norris and Kallen through Paradise, where they saw D-Rank prisoners and watched Thirteen order an escaping Lizardman to be petrified.
• Thirteen left Norris and Kallen at an area beyond his authority, and the two Pujis split up to search its silent caves.
• Norris found powerful standby Pujis in battle armor, then discovered a concealed underground passage leading to a chamber lined with Recording Crystals.
• Norris mistook a standby Marshal Puji wearing a red cape for the Boss, repositioned it after it fell over, and turned to search the recordings for clues.

Norris searched the secret chamber for clues about Boss and discovered recordings of horrifying experiments, the Sword Saint’s humiliating moments, and Louisa’s private embarrassment. He found a crystal that appeared to show Boss’s past, but it marked him as a thief; years later, Boss returned and Norris fainted after Boss revealed he knew about the secret chamber.

• Norris watched a recording of Pujis torturing Julian Hayes and decided not to view more experiment records.
• Norris watched recordings of Sephiria tormenting the Sword Saint over a marking seal, then saw Louisa recite a silly line for Boss.
• Norris found Marshal Puji’s book of annoyance ratings and discovered his own name among its entries.
• Norris activated an unlabelled crystal showing a child creating Pujis and suspected the child was Boss, but the image marked Norris’s soul before the crystal shattered.
• Norris told Louisa about the secret chamber, and the Bloodrage Marshal sealed the forbidden area after the core members failed to find Boss.
• Years later, Boss returned after Number One’s defeat in the Puji War, and Norris fainted when Boss asked whether he had enjoyed the secret chamber.