Chapter Summaries

The narrator used spells, arrows, and his familiars to attack the Ironborn army threatening House Mormont, killing or disabling hundreds but failing to break their formation at first. As the soldiers finally began to falter, an armored man charged through the flames and knocked the narrator off Lika.

• The narrator rode Lika toward the Ironborn and used Earth Clod spells and arrows to kill and wound their soldiers.
• The Ironborn adapted by forming shield walls, so Bo attacked them with Wind Bullet and Im killed soldiers from beneath the earth.
• After Bo ran out of mana and Im exhausted his venom, the narrator and his familiars used hit-and-run attacks to kill more soldiers.
• The narrator cast Burning Hands while charging through the Ironborn ranks, killing many and causing the army to lose formation.
• An armored man with a red shield bearing a skeletal hand charged out of the flames and struck Lika, throwing the narrator to the ground.

Donnel Drumm raided Bear Island and discovered that magic could not harm him, while the male lead suspected Donnel’s blood-red sword was a divine artifact. After Donnel overcame the male lead’s spells and pressed him to the ground, the male lead tried to escape into the earth as Donnel brought his sword down.

• Donnel Drumm attacked Bear Island and his men were struck by boulders and magic from an old man, a giant wolf, and a giant raven.
• Donnel found that the spells and flames parted around him, then charged through the fire and knocked the giant wolf down with his shield.
• The male lead attacked Donnel with Earth Shards, but the spell crumbled against Donnel’s shield, and the male lead suspected his blood-red sword held ancient magic.
• Donnel’s sword damaged the male lead’s blade, and he beat the male lead back despite the male lead’s use of Fog Cloud.
• The male lead tried to escape by merging with the earth, but dodged Donnel’s strike only to become trapped knee-deep as Donnel raised his sword again.

The narrator lost Lika when she sacrificed herself to save him, then unleashed hellfire and summoned a fire wolf that killed the Ironborn commander. After grieving for days, he was comforted by his familiars, who reminded him that Lika chose to give her life for him.

• The narrator's Earth Binding Spell failed, and Lika tackled the red-sword-wielding man before he killed her.
• Overcome with rage, the narrator broke through the red membrane and drew hellfire into his Magic Heart, burning the soldiers around him.
• The narrator offered Lika's corpse in a Sacrifice rune, and a miniature sun released a fire wolf that burned the commander to ash.
• The fire wolf and the narrator's other familiars fought off the remaining Ironborn, and the narrator passed out.
• The narrator woke in a cave, learned from Bo that Lika had died saving him, and mourned her for days.
• Bo, Yimu, Berus, Erebus, and Sith urged the narrator to honor Lika's choice and stop blaming himself.

Gerion Lannister and Paxter Redwyne faced coordinated Ironborn invasions at Lannisport and the Shield Islands. The chapter left both fleets under attack, with the Ironborn using fog and surprise to gain the upper hand.

• Gerion Lannister sent a raven for reinforcements after Ironborn ships emerged from the fog and attacked his fleet near Lannisport.
• Gerion recognized Victarion Greyjoy leading the assault and ordered his surviving ships to retreat and form a defensive line.
• Gerion saw a second Ironborn force led by Aeron Greyjoy approach from the west as Lannister reinforcements sailed out.
• Paxter Redwyne learned that the Ironborn had ravaged the Shield Islands and that Lord Hewett was trapped in his castle on Oakenshield.
• Paxter discovered that the Ironborn fleet was far larger than it appeared and watched it split into three groups to strike and board his ships.

One week after Lika's death, the protagonist examined a magical red sword and tested the new spells he had gained as a level-four Druid. He discovered the powers and limits of his fire, plant, elemental, and upgraded spells on Bear Island.

• The protagonist blamed himself for Lika's death and examined the rune-filled red sword that Bo had brought to him.
• The protagonist summoned a Wildfire Spirit, learned how it worked, and used its fire magic to form his fourth circle and raise his mana to 300.
• The protagonist demonstrated Wind Blade, Dwellers Below, Command Plants, Spore Ground, and Slowing Mud, noting their effects and limits.
• The protagonist summoned fire, earth, water, wind, and lightning elementals and tested their different attacks and abilities.
• The protagonist described how his upgraded spells, including Merge with the Earth, Plant Growth, Shapeshifting, Thorn Armor, and Water Walking, had grown stronger.

After the war devastated the western coasts, the narrator bonded with a bear cub named Artio and sent Berus to protect her while preparing to travel to Deepwood Motte. A flashback to Mormont Castle showed Maege and Jorah hearing a battle begin before expected reinforcements arrived.

• The narrator learned that the Lannister fleet had been destroyed, the Redwyne fleet had retreated, Euron Greyjoy had raided Oldtown, and the North had held Deepwood Motte.
• Lord Stark mustered fifteen thousand soldiers to march south, while the narrator set out for Deepwood Motte without a boat.
• The narrator captured a bear cub, bonded with her, named her Artio, and gained increased strength and stamina.
• The narrator ordered Berus to guard Artio and help her learn to speak while she grew up with her mother.
• A week earlier at Mormont Castle, Maege and Jorah heard fighting and thunder from the western side of Bear Island, and Maege went to investigate.

Maege Mormont witnessed Emre the Druid and his beasts destroy an Ironborn force, then watched them vanish into the forest. A week later, the male lead rode Sith across the sea toward Westeros, and a Stark watchman spotted them approaching the shore.

• Maege Mormont and her squad saw Emre the Druid, his giant wolf, and other beasts slaughter hundreds of Ironborn.
• A Drumm boy killed Emre's wolf, provoking Emre to unleash flames that killed the boy and many Ironborn.
• Emre collapsed, and his beasts carried him away on a Shadowcat as Maege's squad stayed behind.
• The male lead cast Water Walking on Sith and used wind magic to increase their speed across the sea.
• The male lead chose to land at a fishing village so witnesses would see him walking on the water.
• A coastal watchman of House Stark spotted Sith walking across the sea with a person riding her.

Mander Flint arrived after a costly battle and learned from Wayland to stop insulting Ser Drasil, who had become a Northern hero. Emre the Druid reached the shore on Sith, Aermir’s familiar, and Ser Drasil began treating the wounded before preparing a new healing ritual.

• Mander Flint complained that soldiers compared him unfavorably to Ser Drasil, and Wayland advised him to respect the knight and recognize his growing influence.
• A soldier summoned Mander Flint and Wayland to the shore, where they met Emre the Druid riding Sith, Aermir’s familiar.
• Emre explained that Aermir had lent him Sith after Emre was wounded defending Bear Island, and he offered to heal the wounded.
• Ser Drasil healed twenty critically injured people but exhausted his mana and realized weak healing could not prevent patients from dying of depleted energy.
• Ser Drasil decided to use his new Rite of Bestowal to heal as many as a hundred people in a day.

Emre the Druid treated wounded soldiers with magic and sacrificed livestock to power his healing steles, though twenty-seven soldiers still died. He then transformed into a golden eagle and flew across the region before returning to Caygan and Harrick, who discovered that Emre was Ser Drasil.

• The narrator raised two stone steles and demanded livestock from Mander to treat the wounded, rebuking him when he said the animals were reserved for nobles and knights.
• The narrator summoned a wildfire spirit, sacrificed a calf, and enchanted the steles to strengthen and warm the wounded soldiers.
• Over four days, the narrator performed the healing ritual five times daily, but twenty-seven soldiers died despite his efforts.
• Erebus brought the narrator a golden eagle, and the narrator used Figumorfus to transform into it and fly across the region.
• Caygan and Harrick trained while Ser Drasil was away, then watched a giant eagle transform into Emre the Druid.
• Emre revealed his familiar face beneath his mask, and Caygan recognized that he was Ser Drasil.

Caygan and Harrick received orders from Emre the Druid, who revealed his identity and sent them toward Lannisport. Aermir visited Bear Island, explained his role in the battle to Maege Mormont, and joined the Mormonts at a feast.

• Emre the Druid gave Caygan a sealed message for Jory Cassel and ordered him to take the soldiers under his command to Lannisport.
• Emre promised to bring Caygan and Harrick their armor after Mikken finished making it, then flew away as a large eagle.
• Aermir arrived at Bear Island and proved his identity to the guards with Lord Stark's seal.
• Maege Mormont challenged Aermir for staying on the island without notifying her, and he explained that he had been injured fighting the Ironborn.
• Aermir told Maege that Emre had saved and healed him, and Maege said the Ironborn ships would return in a day or two.
• Maege hosted a feast for Emre and Aermir, where Aermir told Jorah, Dacey, and Alysanne Mormont stories about the battle.

At a feast on Bear Island, Ser Drasil described the battle alongside Emre the Druid and explained his bond with Sith, his enormous Shadow Lynx familiar. Dacey persuaded Lady Mormont to let her join Jorah’s expedition to the Westerlands, and after the group reached the fishing village, Dacey finally saw Sith.

• Lady Mormont recounted how Emre the Druid’s familiars protected him, and Ser Drasil described joining the battle and revealed that he was a Warg.
• Ser Drasil explained that Sith was his Shadow Lynx, that Emre had used magic to ride her across the sea, and that Emre had lost his enormous white wolf in the battle.
• Dacey asked to accompany Jorah to the Westerlands, and Lady Mormont agreed on the condition that Dacey obey Jorah’s orders.
• The group disembarked at the fishing village, where Jory Cassel greeted Ser Drasil and said the villagers had seen Emre perform magic.
• Ser Drasil called Sith, and Dacey watched the Shadow Lynx emerge from the woods along the shoreline.

Ser Drasil introduced Dacey Mormont to Sith and discovered that Dacey possessed unusually high mana and an unknown magical nature. As House Mormont headed west to join the northern army, Drasil traveled separately toward Lannisport with new armor, using Sith and his eagle form to arrive ahead of his men.

• Dacey Mormont approached Sith, and Ser Drasil explained that the Shadow Lynx’s roar had been playful before Sith refused to let Dacey ride her.
• Mander Flint showed the Mormonts Emre the Druid’s sacred site and recounted how the druid had healed the sick and wounded before flying away as an eagle.
• Ser Drasil used Appraisal on Dacey and found that she had 45 mana points, then sensed that her magic differed from a Warg’s.
• House Mormont set out for the Westerlands while Ser Drasil went to Winterfell to collect armor for his men.
• Ser Drasil learned that Sith could carry limited inanimate objects when summoned and used her, his eagle form, and Buff to travel toward Lannisport, where he expected to arrive the next day.

Robert Baratheon learned that the Ironborn were attacking Seagard and ordered the Riverlands army to aid House Mallister. The protagonist diverted toward the besieged castle as Jason Mallister struggled to hold off Rodrik Greyjoy’s larger force.

• Hoster Tully accused Tywin Lannister of losing his fleet, while Gerion blamed the Ironborn’s attack on an extraordinary fog.
• Robert learned that the royal fleet was expected to arrive in a month and questioned Hoster about the Riverlands’ troop numbers.
• A messenger reported that the Ironborn were attacking Seagard, and Robert ordered the Riverlands army to send help.
• The protagonist heard about the attack while flying near Riverrun and changed course toward Seagard.
• Jason Mallister defended Seagard against Rodrik Greyjoy’s roughly six thousand Ironborn with only a thousand soldiers.
• After five hours of fighting, Jason’s forces had suffered about two hundred casualties, and he feared the Ironborn would soon scale the walls.

Jason Mallister’s defenders struggled to hold Seagard’s walls until Emre the Druid arrived and used his magic and familiars to slaughter the Ironborn. With the defenders pushing back, Jason killed Rodrik Greyjoy and announced his death.

• Jason Mallister watched the Ironborn overwhelm sections of Seagard’s walls, then saw an eagle attack an Ironborn and transform into Emre the Druid.
• Emre summoned his familiars and used magic to attack the Ironborn, while Jason ordered his men to regroup at the western wall.
• Emre told Jason to drive the Ironborn back while he and his familiars held their section of the wall.
• Jason recognized Rodrik Greyjoy among the attackers and fought him in close combat.
• Jason disarmed Rodrik, beheaded him, and shouted that Rodrik Greyjoy was dead.

Brynden Tully arrived at Seagard after Jason Mallister had repelled the Ironborn and heard Jason's account of Emre the Druid's supernatural aid. Emre flew toward the Sunset Sea, where his approach on Sith frightened the guards at the Lion's Mouth.

• Brynden Tully learned from a scout that Jason Mallister had defeated Rodrik Greyjoy and driven the Ironborn from Seagard.
• Brynden reached the burned town and heard Jason describe how Emre the Druid used magic to save the castle and heal its wounded.
• Jason told Brynden that Emre's familiars had helped kill or hold off thousands of Ironborn, and Brynden's men confirmed the witnesses' accounts.
• Emre paused on Sith to admire the Sunset Sea and approached the Lion's Mouth, frightening the sentries into shutting the gates.

Ser Aermir Drasil was stopped outside the castle because Ser Loren Lannister refused to admit him while he rode Sith. Eddard Stark intervened after receiving Aermir’s message, and Aermir was finally allowed inside, where he restrained his anger at Loren’s taunt.

• Ser Aermir Drasil told Ser Loren Lannister he had come to see Lord Stark, but Loren refused to admit Sith without chains.
• Sith roared when the men on the walls fired arrows, and Aermir calmed her.
• Eddard Stark received Aermir’s message by crow and asked Lord Tywin why his knight could not enter.
• Eddard explained that Aermir was a warg and that his animals would not become enraged unless provoked.
• After twenty minutes, Ser Loren let Aermir through the gate and warned him he would pay if Sith hurt anyone.
• Aermir controlled his anger at Loren and answered that he would do his utmost.

Eddard Stark defended Aermir Ser Drasil’s warging before the assembled lords, then they went to see Aermir arrive on his enormous shadowcat. Aermir reported that the Ironborn invasion had been defeated, with about a thousand northern casualties, and explained how scouting, ambushes, and Emre’s magic had limited their losses.

• Yohn Royce questioned whether a shadowcat could carry Aermir, and Eddard said the young knight’s mount was reportedly large enough.
• Mace Tyrell condemned Eddard for knighting a magic user, but Eddard defended northern wargs and told the southern lords to respect northern beliefs.
• Eddard explained that wargs possessed and controlled animals, and said Aermir had a shadowcat, two ravens, a snake, and a dog.
• Robert and the other lords went outside and saw Aermir arrive on a huge shadowcat, which stopped before them as Aermir dismounted and bowed.
• Aermir told Robert and Eddard that the Ironborn attackers had been killed or driven into the sea, with about a thousand northern men lost against an invading force of eight to ten thousand.
• Aermir explained to Tywin that aerial scouting, ambushes, and Emre the Druid’s magic had helped defeat the Ironborn and heal the wounded.

Tywin Lannister considered the newcomer and Sith threats to his plans, while the protagonist refused King Robert’s request to ride Sith. After Loren Lannister challenged the beast and was badly knocked aside, Robert accepted the refusal and praised the protagonist as a hero of the North.

• Tywin Lannister thought about recruiting or eliminating the protagonist and Sith to protect his plans for the Lannister dynasty.
• The protagonist introduced himself to the lords, noticed Tywin watching him hostilely, and stopped the Kingsguard from confronting Sith when King Robert approached her.
• The protagonist explained that Sith would not allow anyone but him to ride her, and Loren Lannister challenged her after the king entertained the idea of a fight.
• Sith charged Loren and sent him flying, then demonstrated her strength by carving deep claw marks into a tree at the protagonist’s command.
• King Robert laughed, accepted that he could not ride Sith, and praised the protagonist for defeating the Ironborn and becoming a hero of the North.

The protagonist defended keeping Red Rain after Lord Royce and Hoster Tully argued that the knightly code required its return to House Drumm. While the royal fleet was delayed, he expanded his magic and used bonded rats to investigate Casterly Rock, then encountered Joffrey Baratheon by the sea.

• The protagonist told the king that Emre the Druid had given him Red Rain, and he refused Lord Royce and Hoster Tully's demand to return the sword until after the war.
• Two months passed as the royal fleet approached after Stannis and Redwyne defeated Euron Greyjoy, who escaped; the protagonist's two remaining sons of Lord Drumm died in accidents.
• The protagonist learned to use his Buff on 20 people and bonded with Wannian and Jilim, whose rats searched Casterly Rock for information.
• The protagonist left the lords' discussions about the Ironborn and watched the sea with Sith until Joffrey Baratheon approached with a scarred man and an entourage.

Joffrey demanded Ser Drasil’s beast and mocked his knightly status, prompting Ser Drasil to sever a Lannister knight’s arm when the man insulted him. Sandor Clegane stopped the soldiers from attacking, but the beast killed another knight, leaving the others unwilling to fight while Joffrey watched in fascination.

• Joffrey ordered Ser Drasil to show his magic, and Ser Drasil demonstrated that he could see through a raven’s eyes.
• Joffrey demanded Sith, and Ser Drasil warned that he would challenge anyone who insulted him as a knight.
• A Lannister knight threatened Ser Drasil, so Ser Drasil cut off the man’s arm with Red Rain.
• Sandor Clegane told the soldiers to sheath their swords and struck a knight who refused his order.
• A knight charged Sith, and the beast killed and ate him while Joffrey watched with wonder.