Chapter Summaries

The Dog Demon Clan attacked the Nirat Walled Settlement with Hellfire and charged into battle, while Oduoka led the Nirat Clan’s defense. The fighting left the Nirat Cyclopses at a disadvantage because their Swelling Yellow Light drove the already-frenzied Dog Demons into an even more dangerous rage.

• The Nirat Clan sounded the alarm when more than two hundred Dog Demons gathered outside the settlement, and Oduoka mounted his Deinonychus to investigate.
• The Dog Demon Clan bombarded the settlement with Hellfire Balls, setting its buildings and walls ablaze.
• The Dog Demon leader ordered an all-out assault, and the Nirat Clan fired its magic ballistae before the Dog Demons scaled the walls and joined the fighting.
• Oduoka killed four Dog Demons with his spiked club, while the Dog Demon leader attacked Cyclopses with his jaws and Hellfire Balls.
• Oduoka realized the Nirat Clan’s Swelling Yellow Light made the Dog Demons more dangerous instead of weakening them.

Gustavo secretly tipped the battle at the Nirat Clan settlement in the Dog Demon Clan’s favor, helping the attackers overwhelm the defenders. As the slaughter continued, a Brooks Mercenary Corps squad watched from the jungle and prepared to take on a new task.

• Oduoka fought the Dog Demon leader in a fierce battle that remained deadlocked with the help of Oduoka’s Deinonychus mount.
• Gustavo sneaked into the settlement and used hidden silk to disrupt the Nirat Clan’s defenders while pursuing his mission to kill ninety percent of them.
• Gustavo’s interference helped two Dog Demons kill Jia’er and the other Cyclopes fighting beside him.
• Gustavo continued sabotaging the Cyclopes’ battles, allowing the Dog Demon Clan to gain an overwhelming numerical advantage and slaughter the Nirat clansmen and their young.
• An invisible sprite observed the battle and relayed images to Tula and the Brooks Mercenary Corps squad, whose captain announced they had another task.

Oduoka and the dog demon chief fought fiercely after the Dog Demon Clan broke through the core district, but Gustavo arrived and attacked Oduoka with his empowered spider claws. Oduoka escaped Gustavo’s Shred Max, though he was left badly mangled and bleeding.

• A Deinonychus rider told Oduoka that the Dog Demon Clan had breached the core district, and Oduoka attacked the dog demon chief with Giant’s Wrath.
• Oduoka and the dog demon chief exchanged powerful attacks, while the surrounding battle turned decisively in the dog demons’ favor.
• Gustavo arrived, chose Oduoka as his prey, and activated Blood Qi Berserk, Muscle Berserk, and Mental Resonance.
• Gustavo wrapped all eight spider claws around Oduoka and used Shred Max to crush and tear at him.
• Oduoka forced Gustavo’s claws apart and jumped free, but Gustavo stripped away much of his skin and left him covered in blood.

Gustavo killed the wounded Oduoka and confronted a group of human mercenaries who intended to capture him. Their leader, Rig, transformed into a werewolf as the team moved to attack.

• Gustavo suppressed the hound demon leader with his bloodline and attacked the injured Oduoka using gravity and a web of energy silk.
• Gustavo slaughtered Oduoka and ate his eye.
• Gustavo sensed humans disturbing his warning threads and called them out.
• Rig led his mercenaries into view and ordered Tula and Margaret to capture Gustavo while he fought the hound demon leader.
• Rig transformed into a werewolf beneath the moonlight.

Gustavo used a second explosive ability to escape the mercenaries’ coordinated assault. Tula gave the group spells to speed their pursuit as they chased Gustavo.

• Rig transformed into a werewolf and attacked the Dog Demon leader while Gustavo joked about his approach.
• Tula divided the mercenaries into teams, then led Margaret and ten others in surrounding Gustavo as he leaped into the air.
• The mercenaries attacked Gustavo with arrows, Mithril chains, melee strikes, fire magic, and a curse while Tula boosted their abilities.
• Gustavo activated Furious Roar, endured the arrows, and used his webs and increased speed to vanish from the mercenaries’ sight.
• Tula cast Boots of the Gale and Wings of Freedom on the mercenaries, drank a restorative potion, and followed them in pursuit of Gustavo.

Gustavo lured the pursuing mercenary squad into a valley and used concealed underground spider silk to trap them after their visible traps were destroyed. He left the squad immobilized in a field of intensified gravity and thickened air as poisonous fog spread over them.

• Gustavo recognized the mercenaries as an elite squad and led them toward a valley where he had prepared traps.
• Margaret sensed danger, and Tula used a detection device to reveal Gustavo’s visible spider silk and traps.
• Tula burned the valley with a powerful spell scroll, destroying the visible traps while Gustavo watched from a cave and relied on his concealed underground webs.
• The mercenaries entered the valley in formation, and Gustavo released the hidden webs around them.
• Gustavo increased gravity fivefold, used Air-Stasis Corridor to hinder the squad’s movements, and detonated a poisonous pellet above them.

Gustavo trapped the Brooks Mercenary Corps in a spiderweb cage and poisoned the mercenaries with a toxin that bypassed their mana shields. Tula admitted defeat as only he, Margaret, and the curse-type caster remained alive, with Margaret unconscious and near death.

• Tula tried to disperse the poisonous mist, but he realized Gustavo could control gravity rather than merely create a gravity field.
• Margaret recognized Gustavo as a threat and vowed the Brooks Mercenary Corps could not let him live.
• Gustavo’s toxin seeped through the mercenaries’ pores and eroded their mana shields, killing them one by one.
• Margaret cut her wrist to drain the poisoned blood, but Gustavo gathered toxin around her wound and worsened her condition.
• Tula led the survivors toward the cage’s exit, but the poison and Gustavo’s restrictions left only three mercenaries alive.
• Tula sat down and conceded defeat as Margaret lay unconscious and the curse-type caster lay helpless on the ground.

Gustavo outlasted Tula’s poison and killed the remaining mercenaries, then hid the spoils before returning to the aftermath of the battle at the Nirat Walled Settlement. After discovering that Margaret, Tula, and the others had died in the valley, Rig ordered his surviving mercenaries to withdraw with their gathered loot.

• Gustavo waited for Tula to succumb to the poison, then used webbing to behead him and the other poisoned mercenaries.
• Gustavo condensed the remaining poisonous fog into a pellet, stripped the corpses of their valuables, and hid the loot in an underground cave.
• Rig’s mercenaries killed the remaining Dog Demons and Cyclopes, then killed the Dog Demon leader, losing seven members in the fighting.
• Rig considered the value of the materials and wondered whether Tula and Margaret had captured Gustavo, but grew concerned when they did not return.
• Rig searched the valley, found Margaret, Tula, and the others dead from poison, and ordered his mercenaries to gather their supplies and withdraw.

Rig’s mercenaries struggled toward Night City after the spider monster killed several of them with razor-thin silk and poison. Gustavo, nearly recovered and tracking them, decided to make one final attack before withdrawing near the city.

• Rig’s mercenaries recalled how the spider monster had killed their companions with silk and poison, leaving the survivors exhausted and afraid.
• A mercenary blamed Rig for pursuing the key, while Fermi defended their captain and reminded the others that they had agreed to the risk.
• Rig promised the mercenaries they would be safe once they reached Night City, though he wondered whether the spider monster would let them go.
• Gustavo watched the surviving mercenaries after replenishing his strength by hunting and devouring creatures.
• Gustavo judged that the group was nearing Night City’s outskirts and decided to attack once more before withdrawing.

Gustavo ambushed Rig and his mercenaries, then used his abilities to steal Rig’s backpack and escape. He found a treasure map inside, while Rig pursued him to get it back.

• Gustavo attacked the mercenaries, and Rig transformed into a werewolf and charged toward him.
• Rig retreated from Gustavo, who chased him through the forest before turning to attack Fermi.
• Rig used Moon Step to rush back and fight Gustavo, who slowed him with Gravity Control and Air-Stasis Corridor.
• Gustavo snatched Rig’s backpack and fled while Rig pursued him.
• Gustavo opened the backpack and found a treasure map inside.

Gustavo escaped Rig with a guiding key and returned to Spider Mom Index with the N ilat leader’s skull. He learned the Gene Warehouse spell and set his next goals as cultivating a soul talent and raising Gravity Control to level 10.

• Gustavo escaped Rig by using traps and identified the parchment he took as a guiding key that could open a spatial tunnel.
• Gustavo offered Index the N ilat leader’s skull, and she praised him for killing the Tier Seven creature.
• Index asked about Gustavo’s mutated Predator talent, then taught him the Gene Warehouse spell from the clan’s inherited memory.
• Index decided to hunt a creature with a soul talent and left through a spatial vortex to visit the Northern Plains.
• Gustavo learned that Gene Warehouse could store and direct gene fragments, and he resolved to cultivate a soul talent and raise Gravity Control to level 10.

Spider Mom gave Gustavo a dimensional bag filled with Dark Nightmare Beasts, including a legendary one, and he asked Index to keep the dangerous creature for him. After Index went to sleep, Gustavo refused Mora’s demand for a beast, and she turned her frustration toward Bradley.

• Spider Mom delivered a bag holding more than a hundred slumbering Dark Nightmare Beasts, including a legendary life-form, and Gustavo worried the restraints might fail.
• Gustavo pulled the legendary Dark Nightmare Beast from the bag and asked Index to store it because he could not survive its attack.
• Index praised Gustavo’s caution, shrank the beast into her shoulder storage space, and agreed to keep it until he needed it.
• Index went to sleep after telling Gustavo, Mora, and Bradley to hunt their own food.
• Mora demanded one of Gustavo’s Dark Nightmare Beasts, but he refused and taunted her; when she did not attack him, she snapped at Bradley.

Brooks decided to ask Diwoer to locate the spider monster after learning about its abilities and obtaining its silk. Meanwhile, Lancelot and the special training camp arrived in Bolake City for the Joint Entrance Examination preliminaries, which began the next day, and Lancelot prepared to push his Flow Method toward its next level.

• Elia tried to kill Rig over Tula's death, but Brooks stopped her and ordered her to seek revenge only after learning more about the spider monster.
• Rig urged Brooks to eliminate the spider monster and recounted the encounter; after examining its silk, Brooks contacted Diwoer for help locating it.
• Lancelot, Burke, Rui, Cole, and the other trainees arrived in Bolake City and learned that 82,759 people had registered for the Kahn Province preliminaries.
• The trainees worried about the competition for the top three thousand places as they traveled from the airport to their hotel.
• Lancelot rested before the preliminaries, reflecting on his recent gains and planning to raise his Flow Method to level 21 through mental training and combat.

Lancelot entered the Supernatural Joint Entrance Examination, won every match in the first two rounds of the arena competition, and drew growing attention from the crowd. His rising fame brought him closer to his goal of earning money and equipment, while Walmart remained the leading contender for first place.

• Burke worried about the qualifiers, and Cole and Rui teased him while Lancelot prepared calmly with his friends.
• The contestants entered the qualifiers, and everyone in Lancelot's squad passed.
• Lancelot bet the maximum amount on himself taking first place and resolved to win the province's two-star Legend-grade equipment.
• Lancelot drew contestant number 1022 and defeated his first opponent in under five seconds.
• Lancelot won all ten matches in the first arena round and continued sweeping his opponents in the second round as his following grew.

Lancelot continued through the preliminary test, defeating Xilaisao and Grace while training his Flow Method and preserving his strength. By the fifth day, he had reached the top five, though he was badly wounded and only four contestants remained.

• Lancelot used Flash Step to evade Xilaisao’s bullets, anticipated his Thunder Prison, and forced the mechanical fighter to surrender.
• Lancelot drank the rest of his potion, then learned that Burke and Rui had failed to reach the top 3,000 while Cole described his own dangerous match.
• Lancelot fought Grace, endured her sound-wave attack, broke off her nails, and defeated her after she conceded.
• On the fifth day, Lancelot defeated another opponent but was left wounded and exhausted as the field narrowed to four contestants.
• The big screen showed Lancelot Terraria with 58 points and a rank in the top five.

After recovering from his top-five preliminary match, Lancelot studied his remaining opponents and prepared for the next round. He drew Mark, whose Weakening Aura rapidly reduced Lancelot’s attributes, but Lancelot realized the effect might help train his will.

• Lancelot healed in a treatment pod, then ate a large supply of nutrition bars and quickly returned to peak condition.
• Lancelot reviewed information about Mark, Walmart, Devin, and Kant, and meditated to advance his Flow Method.
• The five contestants drew lots, and Devin received a bye; Kant faced Walmart while Lancelot drew Mark.
• Mark covered the arena in weakening auras that reduced Lancelot’s attributes and sapped his desire to fight.
• Lancelot recognized that resisting Mark’s aura might help him train his will.

Lancelot fought Mark under the weakening effects of Mark’s Weakening Aura, using the pressure to break through part of the Flow Method’s restraint and awaken a powerful force of will. After defeating Mark, Lancelot left the arena and encountered Walmart, his next formidable rival.

• Mark used Weakening Aura to suppress Lancelot’s body and will, then attacked him, expecting his physical advantage to secure victory.
• Lancelot endured Mark’s attacks to temper his will, then forced Mark onto the defensive with Hadoken and a series of powerful strikes.
• As Mark’s aura weakened him further, Lancelot’s will ignited, partially breaking the Flow Method’s restraint and resisting the aura’s effects.
• Lancelot’s strength recovered enough for him to overwhelm Mark, knock him out of the arena, and win the match.
• Lancelot’s supporters and Leite City officials celebrated his victory and considered his chances of taking first place in the preliminary round.
• Walmart praised Lancelot’s fighting skills and told him to use his remaining treatment pod; he briefly acknowledged her and walked past.

After recovering from his fight with Mark, Lancelot used Natural Rhythm to accelerate his Flow Method training before facing Walmart in the preliminary examination. As Walmart’s Power of Disintegration wore him down, Lancelot reached Absolute Focus and activated Cell Liberation, leaving the fight poised to turn.

• Lancelot recovered from his injuries, drank Natural Rhythm, and meditated to hasten his Flow Method breakthrough, but ran out of time before mastering Absolute Focus.
• Walmart and Lancelot drew no bye, so Devin received the remaining bye and the two contestants entered the arena to fight.
• Walmart attacked with her Power of Disintegration, which bypassed Lancelot’s defenses and rapidly reduced his health as he retreated to stall.
• Walmart advanced while bombarding Lancelot, confident in her damage-reflecting thorn armor, until Lancelot’s Flow Method reached Lv21 and he mastered Absolute Focus.
• Lancelot perceived the battlefield with heightened clarity and gained microscopic control of his body, then used Extreme Path Style: Cell Liberation with 47% health remaining.

Lancelot used Cell Liberation to defeat Walmart in the tournament, though the fight left him gravely injured and nearly out of health. After recovering in a treatment pod, he devoured a huge amount of food and was still only eight-tenths full as the final match approached.

• Lancelot unleashed Cell Liberation, grew to over three meters tall, and deflected most of Walmart's energy attacks as he charged her.
• Lancelot shattered Walmart's thorn armor with a powerful punch, and the referees intervened before he could fatally strike her.
• Warren declared Lancelot the winner, while he and Vera carried the injured contestants from the arena.
• The crowd celebrated Lancelot's victory, while Mark and Bill argued over whether his injuries would weaken him in the next fight.
• Lancelot emerged from the treatment pod after an hour and devoured three boxes of nutrition bars brought by Cole and Windsor.
• Lancelot stopped eating when the final match was about to begin and said he was barely eight-tenths full.

Lancelot won the preliminary championship, drew the attention of Department head Mona Wiggins, and revealed that he had been reborn from the Astral Realm. Mona confirmed he was telling the truth and let him go, leaving their relationship on friendly terms.

• Lancelot defeated Devin in the final showdown after dodging his laser attacks and breaking through his defensive network, while Vera stopped his finishing punch.
• Lancelot was declared the preliminary champion, and Mona Wiggins reviewed his file and summoned him to meet her.
• Mona asked Lancelot about his future path and the source of his secret martial techniques, so he revealed that he was an Epic martial artist in his previous life.
• Mona used her Sanctuary domain to ensure Lancelot told the truth, then learned that only his consciousness and memories had been reborn from the Astral Realm.
• Mona withdrew her domain and assured Lancelot that she would not punish him, and he offered to owe her a favor.