Chapter Summaries

Players confronted Marquis Muller of the Antos Lineage in the underground ruins, where Silvis took him on in a fierce duel. After Silvis wounded Muller, the players prepared to join the fight before Muller could regenerate.

• Muller identified himself as a Middle Tier marquis of the Antos Lineage and formed bone blades from his arms.
• Silvis entered his second form and attacked Muller with a powerful longsword strike.
• Muller met the sword with his bone blades, but Silvis followed with a kick that tore open Muller's abdomen.
• Muller retreated while his scattered flesh began gathering to regenerate, and Retreat Drum Player urged the players to attack together.
• Silvis barred the players with his longsword before they could rush in.

The players discovered that Marquis Muller’s flesh-eating worms had infected Silvis, forcing the old knight to sacrifice his right leg to survive. Silvis and [Ham Warrior] then realized Muller was not of the Antos Lineage and had concealed his surname, leaving his true identity uncertain.

• Silvis’s right leg became infested with rapidly growing flesh-eating worms, and he ordered the players to cut it off.
• [Howling Pothos] and [Elderly and Children Fly First] hacked through Silvis’s leg until he broke the bone and threw the infected limb away.
• Silvis warned the players that Muller was not of the Antos Lineage, while [Ham Warrior] realized Muller had never given his full name.
• The players recognized that Muller’s hidden lineage and strange abilities made his identity a mystery in Klaf City.

Muller overwhelmed the players with his regenerative body, worm swarm, and Shadow Traversal while demanding they guess which lord’s progeny he was. He killed [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] and [Easily Soluble in Water], leaving Silvis furious but unable to take his own life.

• Muller regenerated from his injuries and sent his worms toward the players, but [Easily Soluble in Water] burned them with an incendiary grenade.
• Muller used Shadow Traversal to threaten [Easily Soluble in Water] and [Traditional Eccentric Wheel], then challenged them to guess his lineage.
• [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] taunted Muller and was beheaded, while Silvis’s thrown sword failed to hit the vampire.
• Muller gave [Easily Soluble in Water] one minute to guess his lineage, and the player guessed the York Lineage.
• Muller declared the guess wrong and killed [Easily Soluble in Water], while Silvis cursed him and lowered his short blade without cutting himself.

Silvis sacrificed another life to resurrect after Muller killed players, while the survivors tried to identify the vampire marquis’s lineage. When one player guessed “Wens,” a mysterious figure appeared in the crypt and demanded to know who had said the name.

• Muller revealed his confidence that the players could not defeat him and taunted them to guess his lineage.
• [Retreat Drum Player] attacked Muller, whose power broke both of the player’s legs; the player guessed Adelaide’s lineage before Muller killed him.
• Silvis drew a dagger across his throat and began resurrecting, relieved that this was not his last life.
• The players guessed vampire grand-duke names to stall Muller, but he killed those who answered incorrectly.
• After [Elderly and Children Fly First] guessed “Wens,” a pale figure arrived in a flash of psionic energy and asked who had mentioned the name.

Ed and Willow watched the players battle a Blood Corpse named Muller and discovered that it could use multiple distinct abilities. Willow could not determine which lineage Muller belonged to, leaving the nature of its powers unresolved.

• Ed shared the players’ exploration footage with Willow after noticing a Blood Corpse’s flesh attacking their vine appendages.
• Willow identified the creature’s ability to reshape flesh as a technique associated with Antos’s lineage.
• Ed replayed Silvis’s fight with Muller and saw that Muller’s abdomen formed a mouth that swallowed Silvis’s leg, while flesh worms burrowed into Silvis’s armor.
• Willow said the autonomous flesh worms were unlikely to be Antos’s power, and she recognized Muller’s Shadow Traversal as an ability associated with the York lineage.
• Ed asked whether Muller belonged to the grand duke whose authority was devouring, but Willow said she could not be certain because every lineage could steal power from other Blood Corpses.

Ed decided to confront Muller after realizing the Blood Corpse was using several lineage powers, but Willow rushed ahead when she heard the name Wens. Willow identified Muller as a possible Wens Blood Corpse and attacked him with lightning, driving flesh-eating worms from the players’ shadows.

• Ed questioned how Muller could wield powers associated with both the York and Antos Lineages, while Silvis and the players remained trapped in the cave.
• Ed decided to teleport to Muller and planned to counter the worms and shadows with a fire-based Dragonblood Knight form.
• Willow reacted to hearing the name Wens, teleported away before Ed could join her, and left him behind.
• Willow arrived at the cavern and demanded to know who had mentioned Wens, while [Elderly and Children Fly First] accused Muller of belonging to the Wens Lineage.
• Muller taunted Willow and darted through the shadows, but Willow’s lightning spread across the cavern and forced scorched flesh worms out of the players’ shadows.

Muller tried to outlast Willow’s lightning attack and feed on a player’s corpse, but the players used Ed’s seed to summon a temporary teleportation and Resurrection Tree. Ed arrived and began restoring the fallen players, leaving Muller’s attempt to bite him interrupted.

• Muller dodged Willow’s lightning serpents and headed for a nearby player’s corpse to replenish his dwindling flesh.
• Pond Fish and Old Abyss planted Ed’s seed and used Nutrient-Rich Resin to speed its growth into a teleportation tree connected to the Root Network.
• Ed emerged from the tree, promised the advance party the highest-rate rewards, and began resurrecting the players.
• Ed restored players while Willow watched for Muller, and the players quickly recovered from their despair.
• Muller lunged for a corpse, but Ed pulled its halves apart; Muller then bit down on Ed’s arm.

Muller tore off Ed’s arm, but Ed regenerated it and revealed that Blood-Drinking Thornbushes had been growing inside Muller, leaving him badly wounded and exposed. Muller guessed Ed was a plant symbiote, but Ed rejected the guess as he prepared to attack.

• Muller bit off Ed’s arm and slipped into the shadows to absorb its flesh and blood.
• Ed regenerated his arm, while the thornbushes inside Muller caused him to vomit and tear out his own stomach to remove them.
• Muller struggled against the plants and the approaching lightning serpents, then demanded to know what power Ed used.
• Muller realized Ed had been watching the group and considered escaping to warn the grand duke.
• Muller guessed Ed was a plant symbiote, but Ed said he was wrong and formed a large fireball while his arm gained crimson scale armor.

Ed and Willow forced Muller into a series of shadow attacks, where Willow repeatedly crushed him with an alchemical golem’s iron fist. After Ed examined a blood worm that had grown from Muller’s flesh, he identified its source as Rosalind.

• Ed used a great fireball to change the cavern’s shadows and force Muller to reposition.
• Muller attacked a player from the shadows, but Willow protected the player and struck Muller with an alchemical golem’s iron fist.
• Willow repeatedly anticipated Muller’s attacks and battered him whenever he emerged from a shadow.
• Ed caught a drop of Muller’s blood, which grew into a worm that tried to burrow into his hand.
• Ed analyzed the blood worm with Little Green and identified it as Rosalind.

Ed identified Muller as a marquis under Rosalind, a vampire grand duke whose authority was Devouring, and realized Muller had gained abilities by consuming Blood Corpses in Klaf City. Ed sought to force Muller to reveal how he had reached the city, and the chapter ended as Muller attacked a player protected by three layers of psionic shielding.

• Little Green analyzed the worm’s blood and identified Rosalind as a vampire grand duke who wielded the authority of Devouring.
• Ed learned that Rosalind’s abilities depended on samples from her lineage’s progenitor and considered how Muller had acquired powers from several lineages.
• Ed concluded that Muller had likely eaten Blood Corpses in Klaf City and wondered how he had crossed the distance from the Demon Realm.
• Ed told the lich that Muller was not of Wens’s lineage, then sent new instructions while players quietly changed positions.
• Muller mistook the lack of an immediate golem strike for the lich running out of psionic energy and attacked a nearby player, only to find the player protected by three layers of shielding.

Ed drove Muller away from the scattered players while the guild captains reorganized their defenses and fallen players were resurrected. Muller replenished himself with Blood Corpse flesh, then prayed to Rosalind for help, and a mysterious drop of blood appeared above the wreckage.

• Ed forced Muller to flee through the connected shadows toward the wrecked Blood Corpse-powered locomotive, giving the players time to regroup.
• Ed revived a fallen player as the guild captains formed defensive lines, while newly arrived players waited for the apparent transformation cutscene to finish.
• Muller absorbed the flesh and blood in the wreckage and recovered, but decided he could not defeat Ed, Willow, and Silvis together.
• Muller resolved to injure or kill the enemies before escaping and prayed to Rosalind to stabilize his form.
• A drop of blood appeared above the wreckage, filling the cavern with the scent of food and making the players feel hungry.

After Muller absorbed Rosalind’s True Blood and transformed into a monstrous pseudo-duke, Ed and the players prepared to fight him and reclaim the blood. Silvis completed his resurrection and called on the warriors to charge.

• Ed realized Rosalind’s True Blood could help him reach High Tier, but Muller absorbed it before Ed could take it.
• An urgent quest tasked the players with helping Ed, Willow, and Silvis defeat Muller and recover the True Blood, offering free resurrections and a 150-gold prize pool.
• Muller transformed into a giant flesh-and-machinery worm with four insect legs, and a boss health bar identified him as a mutated pseudo-duke.
• [Howling Pothos] asked [Backstabbing Expert] for a boost and received an enhancement injection to prepare for combat.
• Silvis finished resurrecting, took up his sword, and urged the warriors to charge the monster.

Silvis and the players fought Muller in the cavern while Ed spread moss to recover their bodies and speed their respawns. Muller used salvaged war-machine parts to injure the players, then launched a spinning strike and spat a mass of worms toward the fallen.

• Silvis used his blessed longsword to launch a blade of psionic light at Muller, and the players charged while Willow shielded them.
• Ed spread moss across the cavern floor to support the players’ recovery and respawns.
• Silvis freed his sword from a timber lodged in Muller’s body and severed one of the worm’s insect legs.
• A dying player told [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] that Muller’s chainsaw-like wheel hubs hurt before moss dragged the corpse underground.
• [Retreat Drum Player] warned the players to dodge Muller’s spinning attack, but several were struck and killed when it shattered Willow’s barriers.
• Muller spat a ball of flesh toward the fallen players, and it burst into a rain of writhing worms.

Ed watched the players battle Muller while discussing with Willow how to capture the Middle Tier vampire alive. Willow borrowed Ed’s alchemical golem and began preparing a plan as Silvis pressed Muller in close combat, only to fall into the vampire’s trap.

• Muller released worms that devoured dead players and returned to him, restoring some of his strength.
• Ed asked Willow whether she could defeat Muller, and they agreed that she would try to capture him alive with help from Ed’s alchemical golem.
• Willow reasoned that Muller would replenish himself more slowly without nearby humans or animals.
• Willow protected Silvis with a shield and signaled for him to buy her time while she prepared a formation.
• Silvis attacked Muller’s abdomen, but Muller blocked him with his armored tail and revealed that the knight had fallen into his trap.

Muller attacked the Soul Returners with shadow-striking insect limbs while Ed and Willow discussed the limits of his lineage powers and prepared to contain him. As Muller fired a bone cannonball at Willow, a huge psionic teleportation array activated.

• Muller impaled Benevolent Father Above with a barbed insect leg, dragged him into the shadows, and swallowed him.
• Ed asked Willow why Muller could not enter the shadows completely, and she explained how his Rosalind lineage power limited his York abilities.
• Willow described two ways Blood Corpses could strengthen another lineage’s powers, then told Ed that no grand duke had ever died completely.
• Ed expanded the underground roots to block Muller’s escape while Silvis fought off his spinning saw-equipped insect limbs.
• Muller used the bones of two eaten players to fire a cannonball at Willow, but a vast psionic teleportation array activated.

Willow and her allies used an alchemical golem, plant-based psionic powers, and Silvis’s flying sword to defeat Muller. The sword pierced Muller from the inside and lodged in the cavern wall.

• Willow summoned an alchemical golem, which survived Muller’s bone cannonball and struck him with a powered fist.
• Muller recognized that the group had several middle-tier fighters and abandoned his plan to defeat them.
• Silvis hurled his knight’s sword at Muller while the young psionic warlock lifted Muller off the ground with plant powers.
• The alchemical golem seized Muller’s legs and turned him so Silvis’s sword could pierce his mouthparts and internal organs.
• Silvis’s sword shattered Muller’s tail armor from within before embedding itself in the rock wall.

Muller’s defenses broke under Silvis’s strike, letting the players and Willow press their attack. As the players surrounded him, Willow’s golem tore flesh from Muller’s tail and stuffed it into its headless neck, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Muller severed his four insect legs to escape the alchemical golem, but the golem punched him into a rock wall.
• Silvis’s strike damaged Muller’s defenses, and the players rushed in to attack him.
• Willow questioned the players’ battle slogan, then realized they had reversed her and Ed’s names in it.
• Muller struck off the alchemical golem’s head with a saw blade, but Willow kept controlling its body.
• Willow’s golem gripped Muller’s tail, tore off strips of flesh, and stuffed them into its hollow neck.

Silvis, Ed, Willow, and the Elite Warriors defeated Muller by carving up his bloated body and sealing it inside an alchemical golem. After the emergency quest ended, Silvis learned that the warriors could resurrect, and Ed mentioned seeing an Eternal Domain knight named Xilǐ'er do the same.

• Silvis pinned Muller’s wormlike body to the ground, allowing the players to slice him apart and feed the pieces to the alchemical golem.
• Willow solidified the golem and sent it through a portal to her laboratory in Valhalla, where defensive arrays immobilized it.
• The system confirmed that Muller Rosalind had been contained and ended the emergency quest, prompting the players to celebrate.
• Silvis thanked Ed and Willow for saving him, and Ed introduced himself and Willow as members of the Second Holy See.
• A resurrected Tree Worship Church warrior bragged about earning five gold coins, and Silvis asked Ed whether the young warriors could resurrect.
• Ed confirmed the Elite Warriors could resurrect and praised the Eternal Domain’s resurrection ability, recalling the knight Xilǐ'er.

Ed joined Silvis and Willow in Klaf City to collect the remaining pieces of Silvis’s armor and search for where Grand Duke Antos was sealed. After reclaiming the armor fragments from Blood Corpses and other enemies, Silvis regained much of his vigor as the final piece flew into place.

• Ed asked Silvis how many armor pieces remained, and Silvis said he needed a backplate, a gauntlet, and a flank plate.
• Ed decided to help Silvis find the armor and locate Grand Duke Antos, and Willow joined them to use her tracking spells.
• Willow located three nearby armor pieces, and Ed led the group deeper into Klaf City.
• The players reclaimed Silvis’s backplate from goblin Blood Corpses, then recovered the other pieces from a giant spider and an Adelaide count.
• Silvis summoned the final abdominal plate to his flank, completing his armor and restoring his vigor.

After restoring his armor, Silvis thanked the players and led them deeper into Klaf City toward Grand Duke Antos’s sealing site. He explained the city’s buried history, then revealed a vast heap of Blood Corpse remains beneath a bridge.

• Silvis’s armor repaired and reinforced itself, and he saluted the players for helping him recover it before promising to lead them to Antos’s sealing site.
• Silvis led the group through increasingly cold caves, and Ed asked whether they might be ambushed by enemies.
• Silvis said he had once fought Blood Corpses in the area for a month and had killed three newly revived marquises.
• Silvis explained that Klaf City had once been built around a river and that its lord’s residence stood on a fortified sandbar.
• At a stone bridge, Silvis revealed that he had dumped the Blood Corpse remains into the dried riverbed to keep other lineages from feeding on them.
• The players saw mountains of corpses and pools of blood filling the riverbed beneath the bridge.