Chapter Summaries

Marba revised the legion’s plan after the enemy’s delaying attack threatened to erase their advantage. He divided the force between blocking rebel reinforcements and striking the rebels’ core near Valhalla, then demonstrated how the officers could use symbiotic plants at a cost.

• Marba assessed the officers’ ranks and asked which of them could withstand the poisonous mists and irritating gases.
• Marba explained that the enemy’s interference had delayed the legion and ordered a revised plan to attack the rebels’ core before their advantage disappeared.
• Marba assigned a trusted grand knight commander to lead the soldiers back to Aduolin Province and block rebel reinforcements, while the other officers would follow him toward Valhalla.
• Marba assured the officers that the weakened enemy could not defeat them and said their attack on the rebels’ core would succeed.
• Marba distributed seeds from his Life-Claiming Camphor and Nasen’s symbiotic plant, then fused Nasen’s seed with his palm to demonstrate its use.

Marba implanted a second symbiotic plant to carry out Lord Sailesi’s mission, knowingly beginning an irreversible countdown to his death, while the players continued battling through Fir City. The players widened their tunnel and shifted their attack toward the city walls, where Holy Crusaders remained.

• Marba explained the benefits and dangers of Symbiotic Trees, including that a second plant would inevitably drain its host, and revealed he had planted one in his palm.
• Marba told his soldiers that they did not have to plant the seeds and ordered everyone but Gorn to leave and prepare for a forced march.
• Treant Hunters fought players in Fir City’s alleys as the players used their numbers and immortality to push into the city.
• Zhong Lele organized players to widen the tunnel by carrying out soil, making it broad enough for two people to walk abreast.
• Zhongde ordered players to capture the city wall near the tunnel and directed them to attack the Holy Crusaders there instead of focusing on the Treant Hunters.

[Zhongde] led players to capture a section of Fir City’s wall after the Holy Crusaders abandoned their defense. Meanwhile, Antiya Lisi trapped the soldiers and several curious citizens inside root-wrapped pupae in the cathedral, then prepared to fight the rebels on his own terms.

• [Zhongde] led players to attack the Holy Crusaders firing from the walls and fought them for control of the stone staircase.
• The Holy Crusaders withdrew from the staircase, and the players secured the wall above their tunnel exit.
• Antiya Lisi summoned the Holy Crusaders gathered in the cathedral and used roots to bind them into pupa-like shells.
• Roots captured local residents who entered the cathedral after hearing the soldiers’ cries, turning them into more pupae.
• Antiya Lisi rejected his church duties and resolved to fight the rebels in a fair battle.

Antiya Lisi turned the Holy Crusaders in Fir City’s cathedral into half-treants and led them into battle, while players fought Treant Hunters in southern Fir City. Enzo, an intelligent Treant Hunter aiding the players, helped capture one and said [Howling Pothos] was likely wherever the fighting was most dangerous.

• Antiya Lisi transformed nearly a thousand Holy Crusaders into half-treants and led them out of the cathedral to attack.
• Players used their numerical advantage to fight Treant Hunters in southern Fir City.
• A player nearly lost control of a Treant Hunter after his teammates were killed, but Enzo bound the enemy with his own branches.
• Enzo told the player that [Howling Pothos] had asked him to help rescue the Treant Hunters.
• When asked where [Howling Pothos] was, Enzo said he should be wherever it was most dangerous.

Howling Pothos prepared to confront Antiya Lisi and discover the secret of his Symbiotic Tree, seeking help through a Blood Corpse transformation. Meanwhile, Willow Seretima briefly buffed the players in Fir City before slipping away from her assignment.

• Howling Pothos searched the ruined cathedral for Clear Soup Master's bundle of Blood Corpse teeth and nails, which he planned to use for his confrontation with Antiya Lisi.
• Howling Pothos considered summoning Adelaide or Antos but chose one random Blood Corpse nail, hoping to receive a grand duke's aid and a Blood Corpse Transformation buff.
• Howling Pothos set off toward the southern tunnel with the crystal formed from the Blood Corpse nail.
• Willow Seretima appeared among the players in the western tunnel, cast a group buff on them, and immediately vanished.
• Willow had been traveling between towns to buff players for Ed, but she realized one psionic formula worked on them all and devised a more efficient solution.

Willow traced an unknown Psionic Energy mark from Fir City toward Valhalla and warned Ed that its caster was approaching. After reconnecting to the Root Network in the Verdant Corridor, she learned the Hive Will had spotted the caster and Ed asked her about someone.

• Willow set up an array at Fir City's tunnel entrance to automatically cast buffs, then resumed investigating the strange Psionic Energy.
• Willow traced the energy to a half-charred tent in the former Second Order of Knights' camp and used her Psionic Energy vision to follow the caster's trail toward the eastern gate.
• Willow left Fir City and followed the trail north toward the Verdant Corridor, where she greeted a worker bee and reconnected to the Root Network.
• Willow warned Ed that the caster was likely heading to Valhalla, and Ed told her the Hive Will had spotted them and that battle traces lay ahead.
• Ed asked Willow about someone, and Willow agreed to answer.

Ed investigated a suspicious unregistered figure named Duma and learned from Willow that he was a legendary demon commander who later vanished. Meanwhile, Ed summoned Motley from Valhalla’s premium charcoal processing plant, where players were role-playing as prison guards, and Motley revealed that he had received a system-like quest.

• Ed found Duma in players’ recorded perspectives and asked Willow about him.
• Willow explained that Duma had led the united demons against humanity, later stirred up conflict between factions, and disappeared after the Demonic Tide erupted.
• Ed concluded that Duma was long-lived and novelty-seeking, and said they might meet him soon.
• Two players dressed as prison guards summoned Motley from the cafeteria at Valhalla’s premium charcoal processing plant.
• Motley told the guards that the Son of God’s voice had recently spoken to him, revealing that the NPC had received what players would recognize as a system quest.

Motley accepted Ed as the Tree God and learned that his next mission involved giving up his symbiotic plant. After his Disorder Collar was removed and his Resilient Beechwood seed was returned, he prepared to take the iron birch from his neck.

• Motley recalled how Ed’s influence had convinced him that Ed was the Tree God, and he had accepted his punishment as a Stained One.
• Ed had used Motley as a source of information about Fir City, though Motley knew little about Antiya Lisi’s Symbiotic Tree.
• Two prison guards escorted Motley through a special passage and removed his Disorder Collar.
• A guard gave Motley the seed of his Resilient Beechwood, which had separated from him without causing harm.
• Motley thanked Ed and reached for the iron birch attached to his neck.

Motley recovered his strength after removing the Symbiotic Tree and planting a Resilient Beechwood seed in his wound, then met the Stained Ones Ed had assigned to him. The Stained Ones had endured months of repeated deaths fighting Soul Returners in altered churches before accepting Ed’s offer to earn a month of work at the High-Quality Charcoal Processing Plant for repelling the invaders.

• Motley pulled the Symbiotic Tree from his flesh, planted a Resilient Beechwood seed in the wound, and regained much of his strength.
• Motley left the prison and approached more than a hundred clerics gathered outside the High-Quality Charcoal Processing Plant.
• Ed had selected the clerics as Stained Ones, including former church officials who had committed cruel experiments and other crimes.
• The Stained Ones recounted how Soul Returners repeatedly invaded their altered churches, killed them, and returned to fight again while the clerics were pieced back together.
• After months trapped in cycles of battle and death, the Stained Ones accepted Ed’s offer to repel invaders in exchange for a month of work at the High-Quality Charcoal Processing Plant.

Motley led the clerics assembled as Wild Hunt into battle against Marba’s raiding force. The fight began with Motley charging through the Holy Crusaders’ opening volley and crashing into their defensive line.

• Ed sent resentful Stained Ones to the production line where clerics had been tormented, and Motley named their army Wild Hunt.
• Six hours earlier, Marba led his special forces through the forest into Tree Worship Church territory, following a Psionic Energy marker toward a suspended castle spire.
• Marba’s force encountered Motley and Wild Hunt at a clearing, and several officers recognized Motley as the supposedly dead grand knight commander from Fir City.
• Motley charged at Marba as the officers organized their forces, while Duma, disguised as Marba, prepared to fight using a symbiotic plant.
• Marba and other Holy Crusaders fired projectiles at Motley, who blocked the volley with his forearm and charged into their defensive line.

Marba fought Motley while his forces battled the Wild Hunt, but he was distracted by enemies who endured fatal wounds and appeared to thank their comrades for killing them. He saw rootlets drag one enemy’s severed corpse underground, leaving him baffled before he refocused on defeating Motley and leading his troops onward.

• Marba used his transformed shotgun and mace to fight Motley while the squad leaders held back the Wild Hunt soldiers.
• Marba taunted Motley, who challenged him to look at the battlefield, where an enemy riddled with grapeshot wounds continued fighting.
• Marba watched enemy soldiers kill their apparently unkillable comrade, who seemed grateful and mouthed that he could finally die.
• Marba noticed tiny rootlets drag the severed enemy’s corpse underground and wondered whether the soldiers could be resurrected.
• Marba resumed fighting seriously, realizing he had to defeat Motley and take command of his troops.

Marba defeated Motley and used his Life-Claiming Camphor to poison him while directing the Holy Crusaders against the Wild Hunt. From the old castle, Ed continued testing his expanded Parasitic Boston Ivy ability by resurrecting dead clerics, who were driven to despair by the cycle.

• Marba struck Motley with a powerful hammer blow, then shot him in the head with his finger-barrel launcher.
• Motley formed a faceplate with his Symbiotic Tree, but the blast fractured his facial bones and knocked him unconscious.
• Marba pinned Motley to the ground with a Life-Claiming Camphor spike, then gave precise orders to the Holy Crusaders.
• Ed watched the battle and reflected that the Wild Hunt clerics lacked the training of regular Holy Crusaders.
• Ed used Parasitic Boston Ivy to drag a dead cleric underground and reassemble him, leaving the cleric begging to die.

Ed confirmed that the enemy commander was Duma and prepared to reveal a new choice to the Soul Returners. Meanwhile, [Medieval Evangelion] finished a time-limited investigation quest in Fir City and chose to die so he could teleport out and claim its reward.

• Ed used the Wild Hunt members’ perspectives to identify Marba as Duma after the commander glanced toward the castle.
• Little Green delivered the data Ed had requested, and Ed ordered an announcement to be posted.
• [Medieval Evangelion] investigated the deserted Holy Crusader barracks in Fir City and realized his random quest was time-limited.
• [Medieval Evangelion] found that the usual escape routes were unavailable and decided to kill himself to revive at the nearest teleportation tree.

[Medieval Evangelion] completed a lucrative timed mission, allowing Ed to use his report to launch emergency missions against the Fir City forces attacking Valhalla. Marba’s Holy Crusaders reached the brightly lit settlement and charged toward the Shattered Castle as players received warnings of their approach.

• [Medieval Evangelion] revived outside the teleportation tree, collected his mission reward, and headed back toward Fir City.
• Little Green relayed [Medieval Evangelion]’s mission information to Ed, who announced missions to reinforce Valhalla, hunt scattered Holy Crusaders, and attack weakened Fir City.
• Marba’s Holy Crusaders defeated the last Wild Hunt warrior and advanced toward Valhalla under cover of darkness.
• Marba’s force entered Valhalla and found its busy, brightly lit streets filled with players and local vendors.
• Marba ordered the Holy Crusaders to charge toward the Shattered Castle, while red enemy markers appeared on the minimaps of players who had accepted the Reinforce mission.

The Holy Crusaders fled through the streets as Soul Returners and locals chased them, then tried to escape through [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop]’s Greenhouse. Mutated plants picked off the stragglers, and a three-story mobile fortress struck the only squad leader who made it through.

• Marba led the Holy Crusaders through the streets while cowboys, bodybuilders, and other pursuers joined the chase.
• The pursuers stopped at the fence around the Greenhouse, where mutated plants seized and dragged away the squad leaders at the rear.
• One agile squad leader escaped the plants, crossed the far fence, and was hit by a mobile fortress emerging from the darkness.
• The injured squad leader landed back inside the farm, where young Strangler Figs approached him.

Marba led his men toward the Shattered Castle as players and the Antasia joined the pursuit. Ed held back Seraphina, planning to let the pursuers witness Marba reveal his true form before she fought him.

• Marba continued charging toward the Shattered Castle while the players followed behind him.
• On the Antasia, [Shit Appraisal Master] reassured Gray and Nora that the person the ship had struck was likely a Soul Returner and would not truly die.
• After learning that the first group ahead were enemies, [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] urged the Antasia to chase them, and Bennett restarted the Blood Corpse engine.
• Marba noticed the altered rules around the Shattered Castle and realized he could leap inside using physical strength alone.
• Ed refused Seraphina's offer to act immediately, saying he would let his Soul Returners see the spectacle before she fought Marba.
• Seraphina pressed Ed about her final payment, and Ed promised to pay after the job was done.

Ed used Willow’s lich abilities to restore his shattered castle as Marba and the Holy Crusaders approached. After a Holy Crusader officer charged inside and was knocked back by an alchemical golem, Ed ordered the Soul Returners to attack.

• Seraphina told Ed that a red dragon’s flame was the hottest fire in the world and prepared to face Marba if necessary.
• Ed invoked Willow’s abilities, transforming toward a lich and gaining powerful psionic vision and control.
• Ed used his psionic power to reassemble the shattered castle in midair and set it back onto its foundations.
• A Holy Crusader officer entered the castle and fired at an alchemical golem, which struck him and sent him flying into the Soul Returners.
• Ed stood on the golem’s shoulder and ordered the Soul Returners to attack the Holy Crusaders.

Ed used his upgraded alchemical golem to repel Marba's attacks while Marba tried to hold back the pursuing players. Marba raised a wall of mutated camphor trees, but one player slipped through and challenged him with a poisoned dagger.

• Marba sensed pure psionic energy from Ed and ordered the Holy Crusaders to attack.
• Ed activated the alchemical golem's defense, transforming the incoming projectiles into harmless materials.
• Marba planted enchanted seeds that rapidly grew into a wall of Life-Claiming Camphors to block the pursuing players.
• A player rushed through the closing trees and faced Marba with a dagger, claiming it was poisoned.
• Marba revealed his own blade and laughed that the two weapons had something in common.

The players outside Valhalla tried to break through the Life-Claiming Camphor wall after a Holy Crusader decapitated one of their companions. After the poisonous trees killed players who climbed them, [Disorder Idea King] urged the others to form a human ladder and climb over.

• A Holy Crusader threw a severed player's head outside the tree wall, enraging the players while Marba pretended not to know what had happened.
• A mountaineering enthusiast climbed the Life-Claiming Camphor wall, but its poison corroded his Alienation-made climbing tools and killed him.
• Dozens of players who climbed after him also died, and the survivors realized that wounds exposing the trees' inner tissues caused the deadly poisoning.
• [Disorder Idea King] proposed making a human ladder, then shouted for the players to pile forward and climb like in World War Z.

The players used a makeshift human pyramid to scale the tree wall until [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] showed [Disorder Idea King] a shortcut through the Antasia. Gray and Nora opened the way as the players poured into the battlefield, leaving the Blood Corpse count terrified of what they would do next.

• [Disorder Idea King] sparked a chaotic player climb up the tree wall, then got trapped in the crowd and climbed with them.
• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] reached the treetop from the Antasia and revealed that the fortress owner had allowed the players to use it as a shortcut.
• [Disorder Idea King] urged the players toward the Antasia, but Marba shot his head apart from inside the wall.
• Gray cleared a passage through the fortress and opened its doors after Nora finished reinforcing the route.
• The players rushed across the Antasia's upper deck and retractable platform, dropping into the battlefield as Nora and Gray watched beside the frightened Blood Corpse count.