Chapter Summaries

Gray and the Soul Returners raced toward Great Labyrinth City aboard the Antasia, but their speed still seemed insufficient to arrive before noon. An envoy from Satellite City No. 20 then tried to lure Gray into the city until after twelve, threatening to delay their journey.

• Collins identified the approaching Antasia and opened Satellite City No. 42’s gates so it could pass through at speed.
• Collins wished Gray luck, while scouts from Satellite Cities No. 20 and No. 21 reported the Antasia’s arrival to their city lords.
• Gray and Nora worried that the Antasia would not reach Great Labyrinth City before noon and that the Soul Returners would blame them.
• An envoy from Satellite City No. 20 grappled the Antasia and invited Gray to visit the city lord for a rest.
• Gray declined the invitation, but the envoy urged him to stay until after twelve noon.

Gray and the Soul Returners fought their way past a Graycast Corridor roadblock, and Gray committed to competing for Grand Foundry Master. As they continued toward Great Labyrinth City, they encountered another fortress blocking the road.

• A Soul Returner cut the reconnaissance fortress's grappling rope and jammed its wheel, sending it rolling into a roadside field.
• [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] asked Gray what force they could use, and Gray said they could cripple the Corridor's people but must not kill or deliberately torture them.
• Gray promised to do everything he could to compete for Grand Foundry Master.
• [Chocolate Ice Cream Scoop] explained that Soul Returners in Great Labyrinth City were preparing to teleport Gray and Nora there before noon.
• The Antasia encountered a large dark-gold fortress that moved into the middle of the road and blocked its path.

Gray and the players aboard the Antasia were trapped between two large fortresses, so [Zhongde] organized a plan to brace for impact and board them. After the Antasia was pinned by ropes and harpoons, the players prepared to attack.

• Gray ordered the Antasia to take another route, but a second fortress appeared behind them and boxed them in.
• [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] asked [Zhongde] to command the players, and [Zhongde] ordered them to prepare for boarding.
• The players released the Hoofed Beasts and scattered riders into the fields while the Antasia coasted toward the two fortresses.
• [Zhongde] told everyone to brace as the Antasia collided with both fortresses, cushioned by cork.
• The two fortresses fired rope-trailing iron spears into the Antasia, and the players cheered as they prepared to board.

Soul Returners climbed aboard the Corridor Guard’s fortress and began fighting its soldiers while another group of players approached from behind. The rear group reached the fortress and considered sneaking in through an observation window.

• Soul Returners climbed the fortress by ladders, planks, grappling hooks, and harpoons, then confronted the Corridor Guard soldiers.
• The fortress commander offered to let them return to their own fortress until noon, but ordered his squad to drive them off after they demanded compensation for lost merit.
• The players began close-quarters combat with the Corridor Guard soldiers, intending to beat them without killing them.
• Chocolate Ice Cream Scoop led a mounted group through sparse trees to approach Oreo from behind.
• Gill's Cuisine asked Western Sharpshooter to demonstrate his lasso skills, and Western Sharpshooter suggested squeezing through an observation window.

[Western Sharpshooter] and [Gill's Cuisine] found a way into the large fortress by unscrewing its observation window, then climbed inside and reached the fourth floor. They left a vine for the others to follow and prepared to explore the machinery-filled level.

• [Western Sharpshooter] suggested checking whether the observation window bars could be removed, and [Gill's Cuisine] held his Hoofed Beast while he climbed up the fortress wall.
• [Western Sharpshooter] discovered hex-socket screws holding the window frame in place and used Directed Alienation to make a wooden screwdriver, while [Gill's Cuisine] helped remove the screws.
• [Western Sharpshooter] and [Gill's Cuisine] removed the window frame, climbed through the opening, and secured a strong green vine for their teammates to use.
• [Gill's Cuisine] tied the vine to a hot metal pipe inside the fortress, and [Western Sharpshooter] lowered the unconscious guard and surveyed the fourth floor.

Aluode led the Soul Returners in a plan to split up, lock the Corridor Guard out of the fortress’s upper deck, and explore below. As players began retreating from the battle, the one-way door suddenly shut, leaving the Corridor Guard locked outside.

• Aluode proposed dividing the Soul Returners between sealing the upper-deck door and exploring the fortress’s lower levels, and Western Sharpshooter and Gill's Cuisine volunteered to lead the groups.
• The Corridor Guard and the players continued their nonlethal battle, with both sides using the fight to train and test tactics.
• Bread Knight was knocked into a near-death state and asked his friends to retrieve him so he could return to the fight.
• Players began tactical retreats to avoid losing access to the event, and the Corridor Guard mistook their withdrawal for a victory.
• The one-way door to the lower levels clicked shut, trapping the Corridor Guard on the upper deck.

[Aluode] triggered the battle fortress’s emergency defense mode, severing the Antasia and leaving the fortress exposed as the Soul Returners prepared to fight again. The rematch was interrupted when the fortress began spinning wildly, leaving both sides too dizzy to continue.

• [Aluode] used the fortress’s voice transmission system to announce himself and pull a prominent red lever.
• The fortress’s harpoon launchers reeled in their lines, detaching the Antasia, while emergency defense mode retracted the launchers and railings.
• A bloodied Soul Returner climbed back onto the fortress and challenged the Corridor Guard as the players reconnected the fortress with vines.
• The battle fortress spun in place while continuing forward, making the Soul Returners and Corridor Guard lose their balance and their will to fight.
• [Gill's Cuisine] shouted at [Aluode] for pulling the lever without checking what it did, and [Aluode] shouted back that he could not know without trying it.

As the battle fortress spun out of control, the Soul Returners and the Corridor Guard stopped fighting and agreed to break into it together. Inside, [Aluode] and [Gill's Cuisine] accidentally drove the fortress into a rampage before being killed by scalding steam, leaving everyone else to face the runaway machine.

• Two players accidentally saved a Corridor Guard soldier with vines, while the fortress owner rescued Soul Returner, and the two sides exchanged rescues without resuming their fight.
• [Ham Warrior] told the fortress owner that neither side could control the chaos inside, so the groups agreed to find a way in and stop the fortress.
• The Corridor Guard and the Soul Returners reached the one-way door, and the fortress owner ordered his people to tear it down.
• Two minutes earlier, [Aluode] and [Gill's Cuisine] argued over the control panel and pulled levers until the fortress entered its final rampage stage.
• A high-temperature gas pipe burst and steamed [Aluode] and [Gill's Cuisine] to death, after which they warned the group chat not to pull levers at random.

Players from the Antasia infiltrated the Golden Cup fortress and provoked its crew while manipulating its controls, as the battle spread through the fortresses. Meanwhile, Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop prepared Blood Corpses as Psionic Energy Ammo Packs, and the Machine Spirit declared it was ready to start and had never lost.

• The players boarded the fortress ahead of the Antasia, infiltrated through its observation windows, and tied up soldiers to learn what the controls did.
• The players accelerated the Golden Cup and taunted its crew over the communication pipes, provoking the Corridor Guard into a furious fight with the Soul Returners.
• Little Policeman First in the Line of Fire and Chocolate Ice Cream Scoop endured the rising heat in the rear fortress while waiting for the plan to succeed.
• Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop packed Blood Corpses into crates as Psionic Energy Ammo Packs and asked the Machine Spirit when they could set off.
• The Machine Spirit said it needed only twenty more Blood Corpses and insisted that it had never lost.

[Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] and the other Soul Returners prepared the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess for its mission to retrieve Gray and Nora, while Great Labyrinth City held its election for a new Grand Foundry Master. As voting began, machine-spirit users recalled the Soul Returners’ promise that Gray would return like lightning.

• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] packed blood corpses into ammunition bundles as the players filled the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess with supplies for its journey.
• [Do Some Farm Work] numbered the bundles, bringing the total to one thousand blood corpses, and the players used money from Liya to buy more supplies.
• The players reserved a small space aboard the fortress for Gray and Nora, though the rest of it was packed with ammunition.
• The people of the Graycast Corridor gathered in Great Labyrinth City to elect a new Grand Foundry Master after a year of campaigning had narrowed the candidates to three.
• As three candidates’ posters went up, machine-spirit users remembered the Soul Returners’ promise that Gray would return like lightning.

Grand Artisan Felix explained the Grand Foundry Master election rules and announced that Gray Gris had survived his latest journey and qualified as the fourth candidate. Gray was racing toward the Great Labyrinth City, and his candidacy would be recognized only if he reached the platform before noon.

• Grand Artisan Felix addressed the crowd and reviewed the weighted voting rules for the election.
• A spectator asked whether the fourth candidate existed, and Felix confirmed that Gray Gris was running.
• Felix recounted Gray Gris's trade missions, alliances, and repeated declarations of death after missed return deadlines.
• Felix announced that Gray had survived again and achieved enough to pass the third selection round.
• Felix said Gray had to reach the city and step onto the platform before noon, then asked the crowd to wait through the remaining five minutes.

Felix presented Gray Gris’s Machine Spirit discovery and role in locating Grand Duke Hall’s sealing site as credentials for Grand Foundry Master, stunning the Great Labyrinth City. A flash of light appeared at the square and at the Antasia’s distant battlefield, where the players’ prolonged assault had left both battle fortresses badly damaged.

• Felix said Gray had discovered Machine Spirits, a new form of intelligent life that could reduce the Graycast Corridor’s workload.
• Nuowa reminded the Soul Returners that she had told them about how she and Gray met.
• Felix announced that Gray had helped locate Grand Duke Hall’s sealing site, and explained that Hall’s lineage had been wiped out while the grand duke remained sealed in three parts.
• A brilliant white flash appeared in a cordoned area of the square, leaving several dust-covered figures standing there in confusion.
• At the Antasia, the players stopped fighting as the same flash appeared, while the rear fortress continued spinning and its trapped occupants had been badly burned by scalding steam.
• The Golden Cup’s propulsion system failed after the players drove it too hard, and they opened its one-way door to fight the Corridor Guard.

The Soul Returners dismantled the Golden Cup and escaped with Gray and Nora, who arrived at the Grand Foundry Master election just in time to take the stage. As Gray began introducing himself, Ed prepared popcorn for Seraphina to watch the election.

• The players defeated the Golden Cup's guards by demolishing the fortress, leaving its power compartment intact and trussing up its owner and guards.
• The machine spirit King of Fall Resistance, I Guess took Gray and Nora aboard its fortress and vanished with them as the players received their mission results.
• Felix introduced Rein Hansen, Suolaer Aoermo, and Luke Osborne at the election as the countdown approached noon.
• Gray and Nora arrived at the stage in the miniature fortress, and vines lifted them into their reserved places before Gray began his introduction.
• Ed asked Seraphina to roast his oversized corn, and popcorn buried the gathered spectators.

Ed livestreamed the Great Labyrinth City’s election for Grand Foundry Master to his allies as the candidates presented their visions. Rein Hansen and Suolaer made their cases, and Luke Osborne was speaking as a hardline candidate when the chapter ended.

• Ed used his Root Network and the players as relays to broadcast the election to his recruited elites, and Noya noted the psionic circuits built into the city.
• Rein Hansen criticized the engravers and demonstrated modular psionic circuits with a cube-like device, drawing cheers from the crowd.
• Suolaer proposed opening southern sea routes and cooperating with the Skeleton Alliance, prompting Seraphina to threaten to burn down the city if he built a rival commercial empire.
• Some awakened machine spirits suspected Suolaer had secretly defected to the Skeleton Alliance after hearing his speech.
• A four-armed, four-eyed greater demon in Valhalla praised Luke Osborne, whose hardline speech suggested he would turn the city’s production toward war and attack the Demon Realm and Eternal Domain.

Gray delivered his speech in the Great Labyrinth City’s Grand Foundry Master election while Ed watched and reflected on Gray’s ability to adapt under pressure. The King of Fall Resistance, I Guess demonstrated its own abilities during Gray’s speech, helping draw a huge response from the crowd as voting began.

• Luke showed open hostility toward Suolaer after taking his remarks about expanding toward the sea as a challenge.
• Gray began his election speech, and Ed recalled how quickly Gray had adapted in past dangerous situations.
• The King of Fall Resistance, I Guess awakened its intelligence and decided to help Gray by demonstrating its capabilities.
• The King dismantled and reassembled itself, replacing worn blades while the crowd watched.
• The crowd erupted in cheers, and Grand Artisan Felix announced that voting for Grand Foundry Master had begun.

The Short-Eared Elves, Nuowa and Liya, discussed how to divide their expected election profits while awaiting Graycast Corridor’s vote count. The Grand Foundry Master appeared before the results were revealed, announced his retirement, and asked Felix to stop the counting machine and reveal the votes.

• Nuowa and Liya debated how to divide their expected gambling winnings, and Nuowa insisted their separate money pouches kept public and private funds apart.
• Nuowa said he planned to use the money to recruit troops and buy horses before meeting the Son of God and comparing him with the prophecy.
• The election organizers fed ballots into a large counting machine as the four candidates’ vote totals began changing.
• The Grand Foundry Master appeared on the platform and received cheers from the people of Graycast Corridor.
• The Grand Foundry Master announced that he was retiring after eighty years and asked Felix to reveal the votes.

Gray Gris won the election for Grand Foundry Master by a narrow margin over Suolaer Aoermo. Suolaer fainted as the crowd celebrated Gray, while an enraged old man summoned Suolaer to the tower.

• Felix announced the adjusted totals for Rein Hansen, Suolaer Aoermo, and Luke Osborne, with Suolaer leading the three original candidates.
• Felix revealed that Gray Gris had won 510,010 votes, narrowly defeating Suolaer’s 509,278.
• Suolaer realized he had lost to Gray, collapsed, and was caught by his second mate as the crowd applauded Gray.
• An old man raged in a tower over the election result and ordered an apprentice to summon Suolaer.

Gray won the Grand Foundry Master election and prepared to take office as Balund brought him to the Corridor Library for the handover. Nuowa secured permission for several outsiders to observe, then told them something big was about to happen.

• The old man explained that machine spirits needed blood corpses as power sources, then angrily denied sending anyone to intercept Gray.
• Rein Hansen congratulated Gray, and Luke Osborne left the platform with his people after the election results were announced.
• Balund invited Gray to speak, and Gray declared that machine spirits would lead the Graycast Corridor into a new future.
• Balund announced the election’s conclusion and took Gray toward the Corridor Library for the handover; Gray asked for Nora to observe.
• Nuowa and the elven mage joined them, and the mage asked Gray to shut down underground casinos after cashing out his winnings.
• Nuowa arranged for [Do Some Farm Work] and four others to observe under psionic restrictions, then warned them that something big was about to happen.

Ed watched Nuowa take five Soul Returners to the ceremony for the handover of the Grand Foundry Master title. As they descended into an underground corridor, the Grand Foundry Master began telling Gray about Graycast Corridor’s history and asked what he had done there in the past.

• Ed realized Nuowa was letting him watch the ceremony and chose not to react.
• Nuowa teleported with the five Soul Returners to a hidden platform, where he temporarily took away their ability to speak and warned them not to discuss what they saw.
• The platform descended more than a hundred meters beneath Great Labyrinth City and opened onto a vast, circuit-lined passage.
• The Grand Foundry Master led Gray, Nora, and the Soul Returners through the passage, then explained that Graycast Corridor had once been the kingdom’s largest mining district.
• The Grand Foundry Master said Great Labyrinth City had stood atop a mountain of ore that took a century to mine away, then asked Gray what he himself had done back then.

The Grand Foundry Master told Gray how he and his younger brother were forced to mine as children, survived the Demonic Tide and a Blood Corpse siege, and were rescued by two powerful visitors. He revealed that those rescuers were Nuowa and the other Short-Eared Elf, explaining why Nuowa had come to bear witness.

• Gray guessed at the Grand Foundry Master's former status, and the old man revealed that he had been an ordinary miner who lost two fingers in a mining accident.
• The Grand Foundry Master recounted how the kingdom sent him, his younger brother, and villagers to the mines as punishment after a rebellion.
• He described the Demonic Tide, the nobles' flight, and the miners' attempt to defend themselves from Blood Corpses in the mine.
• The miners held out for nearly a month until two powerful people from the south killed the Blood Corpses and led them to farmland.
• The Grand Foundry Master identified the two rescuers as the Short-Eared Elves, and Nuowa proudly explained that this was why she had come to bear witness.