Recaps

Xilǐ'er led the advance party through the caverns while following a suspicious Blood Corpse that seemed to be guiding them. It brought them to the Rotting Corpse Dark Lake, where the party encountered a vast horde and a figure who unexpectedly asked who they were.

• A squire warned Xilǐ'er that a Blood Corpse had dodged Tim's arrow, and Xilǐ'er agreed it was unusual.
• Xilǐ'er led the advance party after the Blood Corpse, warning everyone to watch for traps and ambushes.
• The Blood Corpse repeatedly stayed ahead of the party, and Xilǐ'er continued following it for more than a day despite seeing no attack.
• Xilǐ'er and the advance party heard water and discovered the Rotting Corpse Dark Lake, filled with countless Blood Corpses.
• A figure in the lake looked at Xilǐ'er in shock and asked who they were.

Xilǐ'er’s advance party encountered Second Holy See players disguised as Blood Corpses in Klaf City, and both groups argued over access to the area. The confrontation paused when the players said they would respect Xilǐ'er, who then revealed his identity.

• Xilǐ'er realized the apparent Blood Corpses were not actually Blood Corpses and identified their group as the Second Holy See’s Klaf City exploration team.
• The players gathered and told Xilǐ'er’s party to leave, saying they had claimed the area while searching for the sealed grand duke.
• Tim challenged [Retreat Drum Player], and the two nearly came to blows before Xilǐ'er intervened.
• Xilǐ'er explained that a rational Blood Corpse had led his party to the area, and [Retreat Drum Player] told them to leave but said he would respect Xilǐ'er.
• Xilǐ'er stunned the group by admitting that he was Xilǐ'er.

Adelaide recalled how he had endured his deteriorating seal and built a vast Blood Corpse army while waiting to escape. After sensing Antos being attacked and hearing him beg for help, Adelaide chose to pretend to be dead.

• Adelaide realized the seal was weakening from age, not because of his efforts, and patiently waited for it to break further.
• Adelaide recounted deceiving people into joining his bloodline and capturing Klaf City with his Blood Corpse army.
• Adelaide remembered the hatred he held for the Short-Eared Elves who had attacked a vampire alliance meeting.
• Adelaide sensed Antos nearby and later felt a powerful group heading for the city lord's residence.
• Adelaide heard Antos scream and beg him for help, then decided to play dead.

Adelaide realized two hostile groups had entered Klaf City and devised a plan to use their conflict to escape his seal and gather blood for his resurrection. Just as the groups met near his hiding place, he saw them lower their weapons and realized they knew each other.

• After Antos was taken away, Adelaide continued his resurrection plan while Blood Corpses and monsters roamed Klaf City.
• Adelaide identified one group as the Tree Worship Church Theocracy, whose members he blamed for killing his offspring Oliver Adelaide, and suspected the other group was connected to the Eternal Domain.
• As both groups searched Klaf City for him, Adelaide began controlling Blood Corpses and planned to exploit their hostility to break free and collect the blood of the dead.
• When the Tree Worship Church people headed toward his seal, Adelaide guided the Eternal Domain team there, and the groups came face to face.
• As Adelaide expected a fight to begin, Xilǐ'er announced herself, the groups lowered their weapons, and Adelaide realized they knew each other.

Xilǐ'er reunited with the players at Adelaide's sealing site and learned that the Second Holy See had already found the seal. He chose to return to the Eternal Domain to report the discovery, while [Retreat Drum Player] challenged him to race for the third sealed grand duke.

• The players confirmed that the armored man was Xilǐ'er after he removed his helmet and [Howling Pothos] verified details from their earlier encounter.
• [Howling Pothos] told Xilǐ'er that Adelaide was sealed beneath a stone pillar about a hundred meters away and explained why they had concealed the Second Holy See's combat methods.
• Xilǐ'er warned the Soul Returners not to underestimate a grand duke and decided to return to the Eternal Domain to assemble an expeditionary force.
• Xilǐ'er told Tim that the Second Holy See deserved the credit for finding Adelaide first, and Tim accepted the lesson about a knight's honor.
• [Retreat Drum Player] challenged Xilǐ'er to see who would find the third sealed grand duke first, and Xilǐ'er accepted before leading his group away.

Xilǐ'er and the Eternal Domain players faced two vampire dukes inside the tomb and prepared to hold them off while the Soul Returners activated a temporary Symbiotic Tree. The chapter ended with Howling Pothos using nearly fifty Soul Returner corpses to make the sapling grow rapidly.

• Adelaide ordered the Blood Corpses to keep the intruders in the tomb, and Cuiske appeared to block their retreat.
• Margaret revealed herself behind the players, leaving Xilǐ'er and the group facing two dukes.
• Xilǐ'er and the player captains formed a defensive circle and learned that activating the temporary Symbiotic Tree would take up to two minutes.
• Howling Pothos insisted he could grow the tree in one minute by using corpses, and Xilǐ'er agreed to buy him that time.
• Xilǐ'er mounted Radish and prepared to fight while Tim turned to coordinate defenses and saw the Soul Returners had become a pile of corpses beneath a rapidly growing sapling.

Xilǐ'er and Tim faced Cuiske and Duchess Margaret as the Twin Kings descended to aid their knights. The Immortal King took over Xilǐ'er’s body, while the other king’s power slowed Margaret and her attack to a halt.

• Margaret approached Tim on spider-like legs and taunted him, while Tim called her ugly and readied his sword.
• Cuiske attacked Xilǐ'er with root spikes, and Xilǐ'er asked Radish to dodge while he prayed to the Twin Kings.
• The Twin Kings answered the prayers and descended into the underground lake beneath Klaf City.
• Radish accidentally entered Cuiske’s trap, but the Immortal King took over Xilǐ'er and used his lance to break through Cuiske’s barriers.
• Cuiske dodged the lance and struck Radish, while Margaret’s web stopped in midair before the king-possessed knight, who remarked on her recovery.

Tim’s body, controlled by a powerful being, faced Margaret and her swarming Blood Corpses at Rotting Corpse Dark Lake. After Margaret’s abilities drew the horde toward him, he shattered his sword into a glowing, whip-like blade and prepared to strike.

• Tim’s attacker crumbled Margaret’s webbing and challenged her to use something living.
• Margaret revealed her spider body and used Mortal Enmity, weakening Tim while the ability destroyed one of her eyes.
• Margaret used The Whole World Is an Enemy, turning the Blood Corpses against Tim and sending them charging at him.
• Tim flooded his sword with psionic energy, shattered it into glowing fragments, and formed them into a whip-like blade over ten meters long.
• Tim leaped above the oncoming Blood Corpses and swung the fragmented blade.

Xilǐ'er fought Cuiske in the cavern, using Radish and a transformed lance to nearly destroy the apostate. Cuiske regenerated with willow branches and recognized that Xilǐ'er's time as the Progenitor of Domination was running out, leaving the duel poised to continue through the mist.

• Xilǐ'er deflected Cuiske's barrage of mutated plants and challenged him about serving Adelaide, while Cuiske taunted him over his hidden identity.
• Xilǐ'er threw a short spear to draw out Cuiske's defenses, then mounted the resurrected Radish and charged with his lance.
• Xilǐ'er struck Cuiske with the lance and nearly destroyed the right half of his body.
• Cuiske noticed the dwindling countdown on Xilǐ'er's chest and rebuilt his body with willow branches.
• Cuiske filled the cavern with mist and locked his gaze onto Xilǐ'er as the knight prepared to use another trump card.

Ed arrived at the Rotting Corpse Dark Lake and faced attacks from Cuiske and Margaret while the battles around him continued. He summoned a growing force of players, temporarily reached high-tier power, and began an assault on Cuiske.

• Ed emerged from a Cocoon as Xilǐ'er and Cuiske fought on one side of the lake and Golden Tim and Margaret fought on the other.
• Cuiske sent spindle darts at Ed while Margaret hurled corrosive venom at him, but Ed stopped the darts and deflected the venom onto the Blood Corpses.
• Ed activated the Teleportation Tree, which released nearly a hundred armed players and continued bringing more people into the cavern.
• Ed combined Duma's, Seraphina's, and Rosalind's powers to temporarily reach high-tier strength, then dismissed Cuiske's taunt about his pseudo tier.
• Ed grabbed Cuiske's morning glory, accelerated downward, and slashed through the air before calling out to Seraphina.

Ed summoned Seraphina to burn away Cuiske’s mist and attack him, while Xilǐ'er bound Cuiske and escaped. Cuiske survived the dragon breath, and Ed questioned him about his identity and connection to the Tree Worship Church.

• Ed asked Seraphina to locate Cuiske, but she could not pinpoint him inside the mist.
• Ed summoned Seraphina through a spatial rift, and she used dragon breath to burn away Cuiske’s mist.
• Xilǐ'er restrained Cuiske with chains made from shattered metal and rode Radish out of the mist.
• Ed directed Seraphina’s dragon breath across the cavern, forcing Tim to retreat from the Blood Corpses as the dark lake heated up.
• Seraphina charged Ed one thousand gold coins for the summoning and explained that Cuiske had not been killed.
• Cuiske’s charred body began to recover, and he asked Ed who he was before Ed questioned why he had never heard of Cuiske in the Tree Worship Church.

Ed negotiated with the Twin Kings, who offered to make his pseudo-high-tier power permanent in exchange for Adelaide, but he refused. As both sides prepared to fight over Adelaide, a voice from deep underground ordered Cuiske to undo the seal.

• Xilǐ'er and Tim revealed themselves as vessels for the King of Domination and the Immortal King, and Ed recognized them as enemies seeking Adelaide.
• Tim repaired his and Xilǐ'er's failing vessels and offered to make Ed a true high tier if he handed over Adelaide.
• Ed refused the deal, and the Twin Kings agreed to compete with Ed's side for Adelaide.
• Cuiske completed his resurrection as players gathered behind Ed and Margaret surveyed the battlefield from the cavern ceiling.
• A voice from deeper underground ordered Cuiske to undo the seal.

Cuiske raised a wall to protect Adelaide while the allied high tiers faced the prospect of his revival. Ed led the Soul Returners through a breach in the wall, but Margaret attacked the crowded players with venom as the King of Domination and the Immortal King considered their options.

• Adelaide ordered Cuiske to undo his seal, and Cuiske raised a wooden wall before retreating to him while Margaret stayed behind to hold off the allied forces.
• Ed blasted a hole through the wall with dragon breath and asked the King of Domination whether she knew how Adelaide planned to revive.
• Ed urged the Soul Returners to charge through the breach and stop Adelaide, while the Twin Kings discussed waiting and preparing to leave empty-handed.
• Margaret sprayed poisonous slime into the tightly packed players, corroding one player's leg and prompting him to warn the others before respawning.

Ed fought through the Blood Corpses while trying to stop Cuiske from beginning Adelaide’s resurrection, and the players struggled to cross Margaret’s acid rain and Cuiske’s spike attacks. After [Easily Soluble in Water] sought help from the seemingly idle Xilǐ'er, the King of Domination agreed to prepare a way to delay Margaret.

• Margaret bombarded the players outside the wooden walls with acid rain while Ed led the fight against Blood Corpses inside.
• Ed reasoned that Adelaide could not revive through the Blood Corpses’ blood and charged toward Cuiske to stop him.
• Cuiske attacked Ed with a ground spike that burst into a storm of smaller spikes, while [Easily Soluble in Water] was killed by the same kind of attack.
• [Easily Soluble in Water] respawned far from the battlefield and ran through Margaret’s acid rain again to reach Xilǐ'er.
• The King of Domination, controlling Xilǐ'er's body, agreed to prepare to delay Margaret, then asked Tim whether they should seize the opportunity.

Ed and Seraphina pursued Cuiske through the Blood Corpse horde, discovering that the Oathbreaking Cardinal could shed his skin and reassemble himself from parasitized victims. Cuiske weakened Ed and struck while he was adjusting to the debuff, but a voice intervened just as the blow descended.

• Xilǐ'er and Tim prepared to throw a spear while Margaret continued harvesting heads and Ed chased Cuiske through the horde.
• Ed and Seraphina trapped Cuiske in dragon claws, but he escaped by shedding his skin and scattering willow twigs.
• Cuiske invaded a vampire marquis, and Ed cut down the marquis as he began transforming into willow twigs.
• Cuiske gathered his remaining pieces into a towering four-armed willow-twig body and weakened Ed with the Adelaide Lineage's power.
• Cuiske swung a massive fist at Ed while he struggled to adjust to the debuff, and a voice cried out, "You brazen villain! Harm not my lord!"

Zhongde’s Half-Treant Aggregate and a second player-controlled aggregate attacked Cuiske’s wicker man, revealing that the humans could create multiple middle-tier giants. Cuiske spotted a third aggregate forming, but focused on the fight as the two giants closed in.

• Zhongde controlled a Half-Treant Aggregate that struck Cuiske’s wicker man, but Cuiske shattered six of its hearts with willow branches.
• A second Half-Treant Aggregate, controlled by a boxing coach, dropped into the battle and attacked Cuiske.
• Cuiske realized the appearance of two aggregates meant more could follow, and spotted an ordinary-looking man handing orange segments to newcomers as a third aggregate formed behind him.
• The two aggregates advanced together, and Cuiske recognized that one had sword-shaped fists before preparing to fight.

Ed realized Adelaide’s revival plan depended on blood from the expedition filling the dry riverbed above the Rotting Corpse Dark Lake, and understood that Margaret’s position on the cavern ceiling was part of the plan. The Twin Kings’ blessed lance flew toward Margaret before Ed could stop them.

• Players formed Half-Treant Aggregates and attacked Cuiske, but their efforts had not damaged him.
• Ed suspected Cuiske and Margaret were deliberately following Adelaide’s revival plan and studied the dungeon map.
• Ed realized the blood left by the expedition’s slain Antos Lineage Blood Corpses was filling the dry riverbed above the Rotting Corpse Dark Lake.
• Ed shouted for the Twin Kings to stop as their blessed lance flew toward Margaret, but it was too late.

Margaret’s plan drew the Twin Kings into hurling a lance at her, but Ed realized the strike would also smash through the cavern ceiling and release the blood and corpses of the Antos Lineage. The lance destroyed Margaret and blasted open the ceiling, leaving Antos blood pouring into the cavern.

• Margaret hung from the ceiling, confident that she and Cuiske had lured the Twin Kings into breaking through the rock themselves.
• Ed warned Xilǐ'er and Tim that Antos blood and corpses lay above them and urged them to recall the lance, but the Twin Kings said it was locked onto Margaret and would strike three times.
• In the Twin Kings Palace, the Immortal King and the King of Domination discussed how the growing chaos might give them another chance to obtain Adelaide intact.
• The lance’s wind pulverized Margaret before it struck the ceiling and shattered in a massive explosion.
• The blast deafened everyone in the cavern as blood from the Antos Lineage cascaded through the shattered ceiling.

Ed disrupted the flood of blood feeding Adelaide after realizing he could not rely on the Twin Kings to stop Cuiske. The seal was nearly gone, but Ed’s wooden stopper blocked most of the blood from reaching Adelaide, leaving the grand duke hungry.

• Cuiske absorbed a half-treant body, then struck a stone pillar to weaken the structure suppressing Adelaide’s true body.
• The Twin Kings watched Cuiske’s actions and wondered why he had stopped moving.
• Ed considered using Seraphina’s dragon breath to turn the blood into spicy blood curd stew, then noticed his clone beneath Klaf City.
• Ed transferred his consciousness to the clone, broke out of the ancient castle, and found a breach where blood was rushing toward the cavern.
• Ed transformed into a giant wooden stopper and wedged himself into the breach, absorbing blood and blocking most of it from flowing down to Adelaide.
• As Adelaide’s seal nearly failed and the stone pillar began collapsing, the grand duke noticed that less blood was reaching him.

Adelaide emerged from the shattered seal fused with Cuiske’s giant plant body and unleashed a devastating gaze across the cavern. After wiping out the low-tier fighters, he used his blood to revive Margaret as a giant spider, leaving the Twin Kings and Ed facing the transformed threat.

• Cuiske destroyed the stone pillar, and Ed used the blood and Blood Corpses to strengthen the Resurrection Trees and hasten the players’ revival.
• Cuiske rose as a towering, six-armed plant giant with Adelaide standing on his joined palms.
• The King of Domination recognized Adelaide, who opened his eyes and revealed a void eye that inflicted rapidly worsening debuffs on everyone caught in its gaze.
• Adelaide’s attack killed or incapacitated the low-tier players and the Twin Kings’ knight retainers.
• Adelaide flicked a drop of blood onto Margaret’s shattered remains, which reassembled into an enormous spider.

Adelaide revived in his true form and challenged Ed and the other high-tiers, prompting Ed to send battlefield instructions and call in reinforcements. Willow deployed the upgraded alchemical golem and Muller to the fight as the battle against Adelaide escalated.

• Adelaide asked the King of Domination possessing Xilǐ'er whether Antos was alive, and “Xilǐ'er” answered that Antos was dead.
• Ed sent players a temporary announcement advising those below middle tier to revive as half-treant aggregates and outlining three ways to form them.
• Ed contacted Willow and Duma through the Root Network and ordered them to execute the contingency plan.
• Willow relayed Ed’s message to Muller, who fell through a spatial rift into blood and heard his father order him to eat it all.
• Willow teleported the upgraded Seretima Type I golem to the battlefield and remotely controlled it into a stylish landing before Adelaide.

Duma sent a message requesting reinforcements for the battle in Klaf City, while a real-world elite unit received an urgent briefing to deploy to another world. At the Rotting Corpse Dark Lake, Ed managed the three-way battle and ordered Muller to keep eating Blood Corpses, then began draining Muller's vitality with a Devouring ability.

• Duma told a Soul Returner to request immediate reinforcements at the Rotting Corpse Dark Lake in Klaf City.
• An elite unit in the real world received an urgent alarm and learned it was being sent on a reinforcement mission connected to the Son of God.
• At the Rotting Corpse Dark Lake, the Twin Kings sent two knights to fight Adelaide, while Ed used the opening to manage the battlefield.
• Muller, overwhelmed by the blood and Blood Corpses, told Ed that he was full, but Ed ordered him to keep eating.
• Ed asked whether draining Muller's nutrients would make him hungry again, then pierced him with spikes that began stealing his vitality through the Rosalind Lineage's Devouring ability.

Ed used the nutrients pumped from Muller to summon the first wave of player-controlled Half-Treant Aggregates into the battle at Rotting Corpse Dark Lake. The players emerged in varied forms and charged into the fight, while Adelaide and the others faced a new threat.

• Muller kept eating nutrients under Ed’s orders as the battle at Rotting Corpse Dark Lake continued.
• Cuiske fought Willow’s alchemical golem, Margaret confronted the Immortal King, and Adelaide battled Xilǐ'er while the King of Domination challenged him.
• The King of Domination asked Ed to use his tricks or retreat, and Ed summoned the Soul Returners using nutrients extracted from Muller.
• Resurrection Trees produced giant cocoons, and dozens of players emerged as Half-Treant Aggregates with different builds and forms.
• A player whose aggregate looked like a beast with man-eating flowers on its back charged at Cuiske and the alchemical golem.

Ed faced Cuiske as more player-controlled giants joined the battle, while the Blue Dragon revealed health bars for Cuiske, Margaret, and Adelaide. Ed planned to let the players fight Cuiske while he sought the vitality of a high-tier opponent to complete his own advancement, and asked Noya about their earlier discussion.

• The players cheered when the Blue Dragon displayed health bars for Cuiske, Margaret, and Adelaide.
• Cuiske panicked at the appearance of more giants and demanded to know who Ed's teachers or father were.
• Ed mocked Cuiske for seeking a powerful father, then suggested he might claim a blood relationship with three elders himself.
• Cuiske recognized the Stained Ones Project and declared that he was Cuiske Adelaide, a vampire duke, with no ties to the Tree Worship Church.
• Ed moved behind the player giants and prepared to let them fight Cuiske while he chose a high-tier being whose vitality could complete his advancement.
• Ed asked Noya how their earlier discussion was progressing.

Ed prepared to summon Noya from the Root Network while Cuiske rushed to stop him. Noya emerged as a huge emerald dragon, knocked Cuiske off balance, and sent the Eye of the Void falling from his grasp.

• Ed persuaded the battle-shy Noya to fight, promising her a reward and asking her to warn him if she fled.
• Ed drove the knight's sword into the ground and channeled nutrients from the Root Network to trigger Noya's emergence.
• Cuiske spotted Ed, killed the half-treants in his path, and charged while holding the Eye of the Void.
• Ed called on Noya, and she burst through the rock as a giant emerald dragon despite Cuiske's barrage of projectiles.
• Noya grabbed Cuiske by the shoulders and shoved him backward, making him drop the Eye of the Void.