Chapter Summaries

Gray and Nora locked Bennett in an unused storage room after Gray decided Antasia was a more reliable ally. Gray chose to trust Antasia, then asked it to tell him stories about his Master.

• Gray realized Antasia could replace Bennett as a way to control the Blood Corpses and began treating Bennett as expendable.
• Gray pushed Bennett’s wheelchair down the stairs into an unused storage room, where it crashed against the wall.
• Nora shut and locked the storage room after Bennett’s cries stopped.
• Gray told Nora he would trust Antasia, the mobile fortress left to him by his Master.
• Gray asked Antasia to tell him stories about his Master that he did not know.

[Death to Those Who Stop Updating] entertained Valhalla's players with a serialized tale about Silvis and earned tips, while [Western Sharpshooter] became an enthusiastic regular. He visited his friend [Ginseng Rooster], who was struggling to write a story about General Seraphina.

• [Death to Those Who Stop Updating] ended his latest installment of "Chronicles of Silvis" on a cliffhanger, prompting the crowd to tip him with coins and items.
• [Western Sharpshooter] cheered and tipped a silver coin, while [Gill's Cuisine] reminded him that he had once urged them to leave and catch Blood Corpses.
• [Gill's Cuisine] recalled how [Western Sharpshooter] had become a daily listener after hearing the first installment, and [Western Sharpshooter] compared the tale to stories told at his ancestor's tavern.
• [Death to Those Who Stop Updating] counted his earnings and went to visit his friend and fellow freelance contributor, [Ginseng Rooster].
• [Death to Those Who Stop Updating] saw that [Ginseng Rooster] was struggling with a manuscript titled "General Seraphina defeats the Demonic Tide vanguard with a huge fireball".

[Death to Those Who Stop Updating] helped [Ginseng Rooster] turn Seraphina’s history into a flattering article through selective storytelling, then logged off to seek more material. Beneath Klaf City, the players struggled to track Silvis through the complex underground ruins.

• [Death to Those Who Stop Updating] explained that they could describe the unknown Demonic Tide’s vanguard using real events framed as heroic victories.
• [Death to Those Who Stop Updating] reframed Seraphina’s century-long stay in her domain as withstanding a hundred years of Demonic Tide assaults.
• [Ginseng Rooster] adapted the approach to describe Seraphina rescuing Antasia as a heroic mission against the Demonic Tide’s lackeys.
• [Ginseng Rooster] wrote furiously while [Death to Those Who Stop Updating] logged off to seek stories from players exploring Klaf City.
• The players found Klaf City’s sunken underground levels difficult to navigate and struggled to follow Silvis, whose route through the ruins was unpredictable.

A party of thirteen descended into the underground ruins with Silvis to recover a missing piece of his armor, only to be attacked by a Blood Corpse troll. The players restrained the troll while Silvis killed it and reclaimed his ankle guard.

• The party used night vision to travel down the dark slope, fighting monsters only when they attacked.
• Silvis sensed a piece of his armor in the ruins, but a Blood Corpse troll roared and attacked the group.
• The players recognized the troll from the official bestiary and worked together to limit its movement so Silvis could strike.
• [Easily Soluble in Water] covered the troll in incendiary oil and set it alight, accidentally spreading the flames to [Read Without Replying] and making the pain-insensitive troll more dangerous.
• The players restrained the burning troll, allowing Silvis to slice through most of its head and kill it.
• Silvis cut the ankle guard from the troll's right thumb, and the armor fragment returned to his right ankle.

While Silvis's armor regenerated, [Easily Soluble in Water] argued that the party's progress through Klaf City was slowing and proposed calling in reinforcements. The others began considering how to expand their teams as they prepared to tackle the quest's harder final stretch.

• Silvis's armor regenerated to cover about forty percent of his body, and [Howling Pothos] wondered whether the knight and his armor were somehow one.
• [Easily Soluble in Water] warned that deeper parts of Klaf City would bring stronger enemies and could leave the party unable to recover armor fragments.
• [Easily Soluble in Water] proposed tripling the party's numbers by bringing in two additional squads.
• [Retreat Drum Player] raised concerns about how to organize reinforcements and divide the benefits.
• [Elderly and Children Fly First] accepted the proposal and considered transferring top players from the second echelon.

[Howling Pothos] recruited [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] as a potential reinforcement and learned that he was building a resurrection-capable troop carrier with [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] and [Shit Appraisal Master]. He arranged a combat commission that would also stress-test the unfinished vehicle, and [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] accepted.

• [Howling Pothos] chose [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] as a fighter to recruit while [Easily Soluble in Water] revealed that he had planted road signs for travelers.
• The captains logged off to call reinforcements, and [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] quickly agreed to help but explained that building a troop carrier would take about a week.
• [Howling Pothos] suggested testing the vehicle without its respawn function in the Wilderness of Chaos, where it could be put through heavy stress.
• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] logged back in after his blood poison cleared and told [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] that the Blood Corpses had been captured and neutralized.
• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] offered [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] a commission involving combat, experience, and testing the prototype’s limits, and [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] accepted.

[Traditional Eccentric Wheel] completed a battle vehicle powered by twenty Blood Corpses, but its uncontrollable power sent it crashing out of Valhalla with [Shit Appraisal Master] aboard. [Lion Hidden in the Eyes], [Dawn Ah], and [Backstabbing Expert] pursued as the vehicle headed toward Klaf City.

• [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] agreed to enlarge the prototype to fit twenty Blood Corpses and added a spiked front barrier and a plant-powered arrow launcher on [Lion Hidden in the Eyes]'s suggestions.
• Two days later, [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] started the finished vehicle for a crowd of players and drove it around the backyard of [Shit Appraisal Master]'s trading company.
• The Blood Corpses produced too much power for [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] to control, and the vehicle broke through the backyard wall as he called his friends for help.
• [Shit Appraisal Master] ran to the vehicle and climbed aboard before it reached the next intersection.
• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] sprinted after the vehicle with [Dawn Ah] and [Backstabbing Expert] following behind him.

The Sandwich Squad and [Soaring Clouds 3773] joined the team beneath Klaf City after failing to capture a vampire count and finding the dungeon too dangerous to explore alone. Meanwhile, [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] and the researchers raced toward Klaf City in their unreliable battle vehicle, enjoying the ride as they hoped to reach the other reinforcements soon.

• [Soaring Clouds 3773] and the Sandwich Squad arrived at Klaf City and entered the underground passage marked by [Easily Soluble in Water].
• The Sandwich Squad failed to gain the trust of an Adelaide Lineage vampire count, broke his seal, and fled after losing the fight, trapping him behind stone doors with Bruce the Vine Dog's lower half.
• The Sandwich Squad encountered giant insect monsters, decided their group was too small to explore safely, and received [Howling Pothos]'s message.
• The Sandwich Squad and [Soaring Clouds 3773] followed the signs and monster remains to join the others, filling five of [Howling Pothos]'s eight reinforcement slots.
• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes], [Traditional Eccentric Wheel], and the two researchers sped across the Wilderness of Chaos, launching their battle vehicle off a slope and cheering.

Five researchers crossed the weightlessness domain in a makeshift vehicle and then overclocked it toward Klaf City. Meanwhile, Gray and Nora joked aboard the fortress until it braked abruptly after encountering highway robbers.

• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] used experimental drugs to accelerate his metabolism, while [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] fashioned a scale-covered propeller and equipped the vehicle for travel through water.
• With help from the Blood Corpses, the five crossed the weightlessness domain and landed, leaving several parts behind and realizing they had neglected their frontline rescue mission.
• [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] overclocked the vehicle, and [Shit Appraisal Master] shouted that Klaf City’s conquerors had arrived.
• Gray and Nora traded jokes on the fortress’s upper deck until Antasia initiated an emergency braking procedure.
• Gray reached the control console and discovered that the fortress had encountered highway robbery.

Gray encountered a large group from the Eternal Domain blocking Antasia’s path and prepared to defend the fortress. The approaching winged knight revealed himself as an old acquaintance, greeting Gray warmly.

• Gray learned that Antasia had spotted nearly a hundred people ahead and asked whether they were bandits.
• Gray recognized the group’s four-legged horses and armored riders as people from the Eternal Domain.
• Gray ordered Antasia to cock the crossbows and braced himself as a heavily armed winged knight approached.
• The knight removed his helmet, revealed his tawny curls and thick beard, and greeted Gray as an old friend.

Gray recognized Xilǐ'er, a knight of the Eternal Domain who had once been only a suit of armor, and invited him into the Antasia to learn what had changed. As they drank, Xilǐ'er credited his new appearance and gleaming wings to a blessing from the Twin Kings, while Gray still could not get him to explain how he had gained flesh.

• Gray recognized Xilǐ'er and called out to him as the knight approached the Antasia.
• Gray invited Xilǐ'er aboard, introducing Nora as his wife while Antasia warned him to be careful.
• Nora stayed upstairs beside the room where Pokémon Bennett was kept, ready to release him if the meeting turned dangerous.
• Gray and Xilǐ'er drank together, and Xilǐ'er said the Twin Kings had blessed his armor after he did a few small things for them.
• Gray asked how Xilǐ'er had changed since the Second Holy See, but Xilǐ'er avoided explaining how he had gained flesh.

Gray told Xilǐ'er where he had encountered a horde of reviving Blood Corpses, and Xilǐ'er promised to report the threat after his mission near Klaf City. As Gray prepared to travel to the Second Holy See, Xilǐ'er entrusted him with a finely crafted knight's sword to deliver to Ed.

• Gray marked the Blood Corpses' location on a map, and Xilǐ'er said he would report it to Their Majesties after his clearing mission.
• Xilǐ'er told Gray that his group was heading north of Klaf City to investigate problems there, and Gray warned him to be careful.
• Gray said he planned to travel to the Second Holy See to buy replacement cargo and would visit Ed if he could.
• Xilǐ'er gave Gray his knight's sword as repayment for Ed saving his life and asked him to deliver it.
• After Xilǐ'er departed, Nora admired the sword, and Gray explained that machinery helped people without talent more than Psionic Energy did.

Xilǐ'er parted from the blue dragon and continued serving the Twin Kings, while the King of Domination and the Immortal King argued over his actions and the escaped remnant soul. After becoming a middle-tier campaigning knight and taking possession of a fief, Xilǐ'er heard a familiar but unexpected voice during practice.

• Xilǐ'er refused to leave with the blue dragon, and they said goodbye as he continued his duty to Their Majesties.
• The Immortal King confronted the King of Domination about Xilǐ'er’s ties to the blue dragon and merchants, but the King of Domination defended him and agreed to investigate a place marked by a traveling merchant.
• Xilǐ'er recalled awakening in the Twin Kings Palace and spending a day kneeling while his middle-tier power reshaped his armor and gave him metal wings.
• Xilǐ'er claimed a larger fief as a viscount, took the title of the “Dragon Blood” knight, and gathered knights, squires, and levies under his command.
• While practicing combat techniques at his fief, Xilǐ'er suddenly heard a familiar but unfamiliar voice.

After surviving the dragon hunt, the blue dragon transferred its soul into Xilǐ'er's sword and asked him to carry it out of the Eternal Domain. On the journey to Klaf City, the dragon spotted a mobile fortress and asked Xilǐ'er to bring the sword aboard.

• The blue dragon revealed that it had survived by absorbing Xilǐ'er's Psionic Energy and asked him to find it a vessel.
• Xilǐ'er let the dragon transfer its soul into a knight's sword, which the dragon inscribed with new circuits.
• The blue dragon asked Xilǐ'er to take the sword out of the Eternal Domain, and he agreed despite warning that Klaf City was dangerous.
• Xilǐ'er traveled north with his knights, squires, and private soldiers, while the blue dragon stayed silent inside the sword.
• The blue dragon spoke again when a mobile fortress appeared nearby and asked Xilǐ'er to get the sword onto it.

Ed updated Willow on the Soul Returners’ progress in Klaf City and asked her to develop a more reliable mobile respawn point using Psionic Energy. Willow then considered how many grand dukes had been sealed and how many might be in Klaf City.

• Ed reviewed his plans for new artificial creatures and spoke with Willow, who had come to ask for news about the Soul Returners.
• Ed told Willow that most Stability Anchors were safe, but the one in Klaf City had not activated because its owner was likely a sealed grand duke.
• Ed gave Willow a proposal for a mobile respawn point and asked her to use Psionic Energy to make its respawn process more reliable.
• Willow explained that teleportation and resurrection moved Soul Returners’ souls and assembled their bodies at the respawn point.
• Ed reported that the enlarged advance party was helping the old knight recover his armor before he led them to Antos’s sealed location.
• Willow asked how many grand dukes had been sealed and said two Short-Eared Elves had performed the sealing before Luoli saw them fighting Grand Duke Hall.

Ed discussed the sealed vampire grand dukes with Willow and considered how to learn more about them, then detected the dormant World Tree model aboard the Antasia reconnecting to the Root Network. He entered its mental space and found a blue dragon soul fighting a strange flesh-and-machine creature, but the two beings’ identities remained unclear.

• Ed and Willow concluded that Antos and Adelaide were likely in Klaf City, while Hall was sealed elsewhere, and noted that one grand duke was unaccounted for.
• Ed proposed asking the old knight for information about the vampire grand dukes, and Willow left his study with his plan.
• Little Green told Ed that a plant outside the Root Network had reconnected, and Ed identified it as the World Tree model aboard the Antasia.
• Ed entered the model’s mental space through the Root Network and found a translucent blue dragon fighting a humanoid creature of flesh and machinery.
• Little Green explained that Ed was seeing two concepts or souls clash in a form shaped by his thoughts, then corrected his monster-versus-mech reference to Pacific Rim.

Ed entered his consciousness space as a World Tree and stopped Antasia and Noya from fighting, learning that both were headed to the Second Holy See. Antasia believed Ed had caused her awakening, while Noya revealed she was the supposedly last blue dragon who had survived as a soul; Antasia continued toward the Second Holy See with Gray as her sword fell beside the World Tree ornament.

• Ed appeared in his consciousness space as a World Tree and ordered the blue dragon and the flesh-and-machinery monster to stop fighting.
• Antasia introduced herself as Gray's mobile fortress and told Ed that Gray was heading to the Second Holy See after Blood Corpses blocked the road back to the Graycast Corridor.
• Noya said she had sensed the aura of the Origin on Ed and had sought refuge aboard Antasia.
• Antasia said she believed Ed was connected to her awakening, while Noya revealed she was the blue dragon presumed to have died in the Demon Realm.
• Ed ordered Antasia and Noya to stop arguing and promised to arrange separate accommodations for them at the Second Holy See.
• Ed withdrew from the consciousness space as Antasia drove through the Wilderness of Chaos, where a knight's sword slipped off the World Tree ornament and clattered to the floor.

Ed sorted the vampire grand dukes by their suspected locations and powers, then sent players a quest to question Knight Silvis about them. In Klaf City, two players competed to interrogate Silvis, and one paralyzed a rival with concentrated Paralysis Flower extract.

• Ed classified Antos, Adelaide, and Hall as sealed, placed Wens and Rosalind in the Demon Realm, and considered York and Vanessa’s whereabouts unknown.
• Ed reviewed the grand dukes’ known powers and reasoned that defeating one vampire could let him gain control of its Blood Corpses and their abilities.
• Ed created a temporary quest offering up to five gold coins for information from Knight Silvis and sent it to players in Klaf City.
• Players rushed to question Silvis, but [Backstabbing Expert] injected a rival with concentrated Paralysis Flower extract so he and [Dawn Ah] could pursue the quest.

Silvis recounted how he rose from peasant to knight and described killing a vampire count whose shadow-based ability came from York’s lineage, giving Ed a key clue for his investigation. The players set out with Silvis deeper into Klaf City, where a figure suddenly appeared ahead.

• Silvis told the players that he had earned a place among the knights after killing four Blood Corpses and later rose to command mounted scouts.
• Silvis recalled killing a vampire count who moved through shadows and said his liege had linked the ability to York’s lineage and authority over darkness.
• Ed added darkness to York’s investigation chart and judged that the players might soon help Silvis defeat Antos before the Eternal Domain’s reinforcements arrived.
• After Silvis finished his story, he led the players onward and stood in the assault vehicle’s cargo bed, calling for the warriors to advance.
• The players’ vanguard drove deeper into Klaf City, where a figure appeared on the road ahead.

The players and Silvis ran down a talking Blood Corpse, but its remains disrupted their experimental assault vehicle and forced them to abandon it. The vehicle exploded, and a new humanoid creature rose from its wreckage to confront them.

• [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] accelerated the assault vehicle and ran over a red-eyed creature that ordered them to halt.
• [Shit Appraisal Master] realized the Blood Corpse’s flesh could devour the players’ vines and warned that it might belong to a new lineage.
• A Blood Corpse emerged through the vehicle’s shattered panel, and [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] killed it as the vehicle began breaking apart.
• [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] called for the players to abandon the vehicle, and everyone escaped before it crashed into a rock wall and exploded.
• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] pointed out that the Blood Corpse had bitten his mechanical hand, while Silvis warned that something was coming.
• A humanoid creature rose from the vehicle’s flesh and wreckage, opened its scarlet eyes, and ordered the players to halt.