Chapter Summaries

Jose learned that the God of Light and Justice had watched over him through a divine golden diamond, then welcomed Tilly as his apprentice and found a path to a special fire-mage class. A year later, Luna Bloodfeather successfully transformed into a Star Elf and gained a Storm Raven form, becoming a Legendary combatant for the Sussex Kingdom.

• The Elf King told Jose that the God of Light and Justice had observed him and that the Church of Justice had protected him; Jose realized he had taken the god’s golden diamond from an altar at the Red Nest.
• Jose brought Tilly to the Magic Tower as his apprentice and read the Elf King’s instructions for reaching a fire-mage class inheritance site in the Endless Abyss, which would open in ten years.
• A year later, Jose supervised Luna Bloodfeather’s attempts to trace her bloodline back to its source, and her fourth attempt transformed her into a Star Elf.
• Luna discovered she could switch between her Star Elf body and Storm Raven form, gaining control of lightning and storms and reaching Legendary strength.
• Jose counted Luna among the Sussex Kingdom’s Legendary forces and gave her the new surname Starfeather.

Two years after Luna Starfeather began studying her ancestral reversion, the Eternal Night Monarch killed the Elf King and unleashed an undead invasion on Gloomy Forest. Jose rushed to confront him and reached the heart of the forest, where the Eternal Night Monarch awaited him.

• Jose told Luna Starfeather that her transformation was an exceptional case and urged her to study her new body to help the Harpy Clan.
• The Eternal Night Monarch appeared before the dying Elf King, killed him, and refused his plea to spare innocent civilians.
• The Eternal Night Monarch spread Necromantic Energy through the forest, raising the dead elf guards and turning the land into Withered Soil.
• Jose sensed the eruption from Moduo Peak Forest, flew to Gloomy Forest, and burned undead attacking fleeing elves while leaving the elves unharmed.
• Jose activated his combat enhancements and found the Eternal Night Monarch half-kneeling near the ice-sealed tree.

Jose fought the Eternal Night Monarch alongside Moorlin and the Sun Elf King, but the Monarch’s armor withstood their combined attack. As an evil god tried to enter Tydanore, Savannah ambushed him and then seized the chance to return to the plane.

• Jose recognized the Eternal Night Monarch and attacked to stop him from cursing Gloomy Forest and harming the frozen Moon Elf King.
• Jose harassed the Eternal Night Monarch with Fireballs and swallowed his wraiths with Taotie's Maw, delaying him until Moorlin and the Sun Elf King arrived.
• Jose, Moorlin, and the Sun Elf King launched a coordinated assault, but the Eternal Night Monarch’s Star's Sigh armor blocked their attacks.
• Jose sensed an evil god forcing entry into Tydanore and identified it as an ally of the Eternal Night Monarch and the Salvation Church.
• Savannah ambushed and injured the evil god beyond the Plane Barrier, then entered Tydanore to claim the vacant demigod place.

The Red Nest Matriarch returned to Tydanore, fought Moorlin, the Sun Elf King, and the Eternal Night Monarch, then withdrew as the continent’s balance of power shifted. Back at the Dragon Worship Cult’s headquarters, Savannah took command, expelled Kandar, and ordered an invasion of the Sussex Kingdom, seeing Jose’s trade network as a route to conquer the continent.

• Savannah descended into Tydanore and fought a day-and-night battle against the Eternal Night Monarch, Moorlin, and the Sun Elf King until the Mermaid Empress intervened; the Eternal Night Monarch fled and Savannah withdrew.
• Jose rescued the frozen Moon Elf corpse, returned it to Sussex, and witnessed Lifya become the new ruler of the Gloomy Forest elves, who effectively became vassals of the Sussex Kingdom.
• Savannah returned to the Dragon Worship Cult’s headquarters, ordered the army to march to the Karakoram Mountains, and asked Kandar about Jose’s rapid growth.
• Savannah changed her plans and ordered the Dragon Worship Cult to conquer the Sussex Kingdom before rebuilding the Red Nest; she expelled Kandar from the Tydanore plane after he warned her about the peace agreement.
• Savannah studied intelligence on the Sussex Kingdom and its trade routes, then decided Jose’s infrastructure could help her advance into the Four Northern Kingdoms and conquer the continent.

Jose and the Sussex Kingdom prepared for Savannah’s invasion while weighing surrender, southern aid, and resistance. Three days later, the Red Nest army met the Sussex forces at the Triangle Plains border, and the battle began.

• Jose told the gathered leaders that Savannah had restored the Red Nest and ordered an attack on the Sussex Kingdom.
• Ergou assessed the armies’ strengths, while Jose explained that he could hold off Savannah only with the Magic Tower’s support, leaving much of the Triangle Plains exposed.
• Jose revealed his plan to threaten a nominal surrender and alliance with Red Nest unless Moorlin intervened, but rejected Moorlin’s harsh contract and ordered preparations for war.
• Jose considered seeking the Earth Heart but abandoned the idea because it could draw the Red Nest Matriarch and other demigods toward the Sussex Kingdom.
• Three days later, Savannah’s 300,000–400,000-strong army faced the Sussex Kingdom’s fortified troops at the Triangle Plains border.
• The armies charged into battle, with Red Nest shamans empowering their forces and Sussex soldiers readying their shield wall and explosive weapons.

The Sussex Kingdom’s disciplined army overwhelmed Red Nest’s forces with War Boars, shield formations, catapults, poison gas, and sharpshooters. As the Red Nest Matriarch, Savannah, descended toward the battlefield to claim the Sussex army, her dragon roar halted the fighting.

• Hogger Riverclaw ordered the War Boars released, and they clashed with Red Nest’s berserk Ogres in a roughly even first exchange.
• Red Nest’s monster army charged the Sussex Kingdom’s shield wall, while catapults and sharpshooters devastated its ranks and suppressed its spellcasters.
• The Ogre shield guards crushed the Goblin and Kobold cannon fodder, and the Sussex Kingdom sent its Boarman heavy cavalry and Gnoll light cavalry into battle.
• Savannah watched Red Nest’s defeat from the Karakoram Mountains, decided to recruit the Sussex Kingdom’s army, and glided toward the Three Rivers Plain.
• Savannah’s dragon roar reached the battlefield and brought the fighting to a halt.

Jose gathered ten Legendary combatants to face Savannah, the Red Nest Matriarch, and wagered that she could not break through his defenses in three attacks. He survived all three, but Savannah revealed that she had been hiding her true name, leaving the outcome uncertain.

• Jose summoned Christie, Honasde, Monk Flame Howl, and his other allies, assembling ten Legendary combatants for the coming battle.
• Savannah met Jose in the air, praised his achievements, and offered to let him serve as her second-in-command if he helped conquer the continent; Jose refused.
• Jose wagered that Savannah could not break his defenses in three attacks, with the Sussex Kingdom's submission or Savannah's withdrawal as the stakes, and both swore binding oaths.
• Jose flew higher above the battlefield and reinforced his Fire Elemental Barrier, while Savannah launched three attacks that the shield ultimately withstood.
• Savannah praised Jose for surpassing her at his age, then revealed that Savannah was not her true name.

Jose fought the Red Nest Matriarch after discovering that Savannah was a false name, and his fire-based defenses let him withstand her demigod power. The Matriarch proposed joining forces to conquer Tydanore, but Jose distrusted her while her move to block outside observers threatened relations between the Sussex Kingdom and the southern powers.

• The Red Nest Matriarch revealed that Savannah was not her real name, and Jose realized her oaths under that name had been meaningless.
• The Red Nest Matriarch attacked Jose with fire magic, but his Fire Elemental Barrier and Phoenix Heart absorbed the flames and restored his energy.
• The armies and Legendary combatants fought below as Jose and the Red Nest Matriarch battled in the sky, with neither dragon gaining a decisive advantage.
• Jose used his resistance to fire to hold his own in close combat, then urged the Matriarch to stop fighting and leave their kingdoms alone.
• The Red Nest Matriarch proposed that they conquer Tydanore together and blocked the southern powers led by the Pompeii Empire from observing them, while Jose suspected her offer was a trap.

After the Sussex Kingdom repelled Savannah’s invasion, Red Nest withdrew to rebuild and strengthen itself, while the continent’s powers reconsidered the balance of power. Jose negotiated with Moorlin and agreed that the Sussex Kingdom would take the Via Kingdom and Duchy of Norn, leaving the Odyssey Kingdom and Dana Kingdom under human control.

• Jose stopped the Sussex Kingdom army from pursuing Savannah and learned that 154 soldiers had died and 1,003 had been wounded.
• Powers across Tydanore accepted that Savannah had been defeated and watched for her next move; she returned to the Karakoram Mountains to rebuild Red Nest and develop its strength.
• Jose learned that Wings of Havoc had returned and, fearing Red Nest’s growing power, met with Moorlin to discuss cooperation.
• Moorlin proposed giving the Sussex Kingdom the Four Northern Kingdoms, but Jose countered that it would take only the Via Kingdom and Duchy of Norn.
• Jose and Moorlin agreed to a tripartite balance among the southern powers, the Sussex Kingdom, and Red Nest, while Moorlin said he would call for the northern kingdoms’ residents to relocate.

As the Red Nest Matriarch’s return prompted the Pompeii Empire to rally the continent’s forces for a Northern Expedition, Jose considered how to relocate the northern kingdoms and whether the Northern Witch Council would cooperate. Across the continent, veterans and allies answered the call to prepare for war.

• Jose considered the Northern Witch Council’s likely response to the plan to move Via Kingdom’s citizens west, while Pompeii Empire envoys negotiated with the Four Northern Kingdoms over relocation and power-sharing.
• Old Vic emptied his tavern’s wine cellar to treat his neighbors, then retrieved his enchanted axe and a recruitment order, determined not to flee the Red Nest Matriarch again.
• A young nobleman brought a recruitment order to his father, and the Tuke family viscount prepared his ancestral armor and reminded his heir that slaying evil dragons was their duty.
• An armored middle-aged warrior swore at his father’s grave to fight the returning Red Nest Matriarch, while his half-elf companion remembered having fought beside the deceased eighty years earlier.
• Sunset Dwarf craftsmen forged crossbows and dragon-hunting ballistae for the war, and Master Taylerdan inspected the weapons on behalf of the king.
• Tiratel found Great Druid Napson transformed into a Howling Moon Demon Bear and roused him by telling him that the Red Nest Matriarch had returned; Napson regained his sanity and asked about the years he had lost.

Jose received Belden, King of the Duchy of Norn, and formally brought Norn under the Sussex Kingdom by transforming him into Dragonkin. The Sussex Kingdom’s influence now extended into human territory and the Four Northern Kingdoms, leaving Jose poised to enter the continent’s conflicts.

• Belden arrived at Red Fort with Legendary Warrior Ulasan and met Jose before the Sussex Kingdom’s ministers.
• Jose warned Belden about southern armies massing near the northern borderlands and increasingly frequent raids from the Karakoram Mountains.
• Belden and Jose staged negotiations over Norn’s submission, then Belden accepted a Dragon Vein transformation and became Jose’s dependent.
• Jose recognized that Norn’s submission gave the Sussex Kingdom an acknowledged sphere of influence among the Four Northern Kingdoms.

Jose planned to destroy the Northern Witch Council and expand the Sussex Kingdom’s influence, but its coastal headquarters’ defenses frustrated his first attack plan. As he searched for another way to breach its Magic Tower, Kashi arrived at Red Fort.

• Jose dismissed condemnations from human rulers, learned that the Via Kingdom’s nobles were divided, and ordered Ergou to list those who wanted to join the Sussex Kingdom.
• Jose decided to destroy the Northern Witch Council, explained the balance of power among the demigods, and ordered Magic Towers built in the kingdom’s major cities.
• Jose studied the Northern Witch Council’s headquarters and found that its Magic Tower could draw on the sea’s power and resist other attacks, so he abandoned his initial plans.
• Kashi arrived at Red Fort and called out to Jose.

Kashi broke through to Legendary level, and Jose gave him powerful equipment before the brothers set out to destroy the Northern Witch Council. As a storm and tornado reached the coast, Kashi used the Black Sea to approach the Council’s Magic Tower, where Murphysalina detected an enemy attack.

• Kashi arrived at Red Fort after breaking through to Legendary level, and Jose assessed his strength and taught him how to proceed.
• Jose explained his plan to destroy the Northern Witch Council, and Kashi agreed to help.
• After the political situation in Tydanore settled into a fragile three-way balance, Jose gave Kashi a Legendary magical sphere suited to him.
• The brothers flew to the Northern Witch Council headquarters, where Kashi plunged into the Black Sea and Jose waited for a tornado.
• As the tornado approached the coast, Murphysalina detected abnormal magical energy beneath it and realized the headquarters was under attack.

Jose and Kashi launched a coordinated assault on the Northern Witch Council headquarters, using a tornado, five tsunamis, and a wave of frost to weaken its defenses. As Jose began casting the ancient Earth Cataclysm spell, Taelrica counterattacked with Frostfall, leaving the two powerful spells poised to collide.

• Taelrica ordered Murphysalina to counter the ice tornado and Emile to operate the Magic Crystal Cannon.
• Kashi used the ice tornado to damage the mountains' enchantments, exposing the Northern Witch Council headquarters when its Concealment Magic Array failed.
• Kashi activated five Tidal Surge scrolls, sending successive tsunamis toward the magic tower while its witches blasted gaps through the waves.
• After the final tsunami flooded the tower, Jose froze the seawater and much of the mountainside, disrupting the tower's magic circulation.
• Jose began casting Earth Cataclysm by linking his magic to the lava beneath the earth, and Taelrica launched Frostfall at him.

Jose destroyed the Northern Witch Council headquarters with a volcanic eruption, while Taelrica sacrificed herself and the Magic Tower to let the survivors escape. With the Council gone, Jose moved to bring the Via Kingdom under his influence and prepared to face the Red Nest and Southern Allied Forces.

• Jose used Earth Cataclysm to unleash lava against the Northern Witch Council's headquarters, overwhelming Taelrica's magical hail attack.
• Taelrica ordered Murphysalina and the remaining witches to escape, then forcefully activated and detonated the Magic Tower's Elemental Pool.
• Jose survived the Magic Tower's explosion and declared the Northern Witch Council destroyed before flying away with the White Dragon.
• Jose ordered Belden, king of the Norn Kingdom, to bring the Via Kingdom under his grasp.
• The Northern Witch Council's survivors fled south, and southern human factions condemned the Sussex Kingdom without taking action.

Jose tried to counter the southern nations’ trade boycott by selling poison bombs to Red Nest and antidotes to the south, while arranging construction of a Magic Tower in Thorn City. Unable to buy a high-grade Tower Spirit Core in the Astral Plane, he agreed to help Queen Yugglace raid the Abyssal home of her enemy Murphysack in exchange for one.

• Jose ordered Ergou to offer Alchemical Poison Bombs to Red Nest and sell scarce antidote potions to the southern nations, hoping to pressure them into easing the boycott.
• Jose told Ergou to begin building Thorn City’s Magic Tower and traveled to the Astral Plane to acquire the missing core materials and a high-grade Tower Spirit Core.
• Jose failed to buy a suitable Tower Spirit Core in more than twenty Astral Plane cities and sought advice from Queen Yugglace aboard the Wanderer.
• Queen Yugglace offered to trade Jose a Tower Spirit Core for helping her raid the home of Murphysack, a Balor Flame Demon Lord absent from the 365th layer of the Abyss during the Blood War.
• Jose revealed he had inherited a grudge against Murphysack and agreed to accompany Queen Yugglace on the raid.

Jose and Queen Yugglace traveled to the 365th layer of the Bottomless Abyss to raid Murphysack’s Wrath Volcano, where they learned that Murphysack and Yugglace shared a grudge dating back to a battle over the Land of Inheritance. Finding Murphysack away at the Blood War Battlefield, they split up so Yugglace could infiltrate the volcano while Jose drew out its defenders.

• Jose and Queen Yugglace arrived on the 365th layer of the Abyss, questioned a Low-level Devil, and learned they were on the Blackthorn Plain ruled by Synklar, an ally of Murphysack.
• Jose and Queen Yugglace flew west toward Wrath Volcano, and Yugglace explained that Murphysack had betrayed her during a battle two hundred years earlier over a magically protected place.
• Jose connected Yugglace’s account to the Moon Elf King and the Land of Inheritance, which was due to open in six years.
• Jose and Queen Yugglace discovered that Murphysack had taken most of his elite forces to the Blood War Battlefield, leaving only one Balor and three Legendary Devils at Wrath Volcano.
• Jose proposed drawing out the remaining defenders while Queen Yugglace secretly looted the volcano, and she agreed to the plan.
• Queen Yugglace infiltrated Wrath Volcano as Jose revealed himself and challenged its defenders, claiming to be Lord Dirgero and demanding the volcano.

Jose and Queen Yugglace raided Murphysack’s lair while Dirgero infiltrated Wrath Volcano, but a trapped treasure alerted the Balor Flame Demon Lord and trapped all three in a fiery barrier. Jose escaped with Queen Yugglace, leaving Dirgero behind and mistakenly blaming the devil for the trouble.

• Jose lured Rupertki and three Legendary Devils away from Wrath Volcano while Dirgero and Queen Yugglace independently looted the lair.
• Dirgero triggered a magical trap, alerting Murphysack, who teleported back and sealed the area in flames.
• Jose activated Phoenix Heart and killed Rupertki and two other demons, while Queen Yugglace and Dirgero fled the volcano.
• Murphysack trapped Jose, Queen Yugglace, and Dirgero in a fiery barrier, and Jose proposed that they cooperate to escape.
• Jose swallowed Queen Yugglace and flew through the flames using Phoenix Heart and a Fire Elemental Barrier, leaving Dirgero behind.
• Jose shouted that Lord Dirgero would punish Murphysack, and the abandoned devil revealed that he was Dirgero.

After escaping the Abyss, Jose secured Tower Spirit Cores, expanded his kingdom’s Magic Tower network, and spent a year strengthening his rule and magic. With the territory under his control and the towers linked, he announced that he would proclaim the Sussex Empire at the Imperial Ceremony eight months later.

• Jose and Queen Yugglace escaped the Abyss, divided their spoils, and she gave him three Tower Spirit Cores in gratitude for saving her.
• Ergou reported that the Red Nest Matriarch had destroyed several cities with Alchemical Bombs before Moorlin stopped her, ending the Southern Allied Forces’ large-scale offensive.
• Jose ordered two Magic Towers built at once and planned additional towers in Gloomy Forest and Via Kingdom, declaring that the Sussex Kingdom would become the Sussex Empire once its territory was secured.
• After a year of study, Jose linked the four subsidiary Magic Towers to the main tower beneath Oka City and surveyed the network protecting his expanded realm.
• Jose summoned his familiars and ministers to Red Fort and announced that the Imperial Ceremony would take place on National Day, eight months later.

Jose gathered his retainers to plan for the Imperial Ceremony, which would begin in three months, and address threats to its success. He ordered an expedition against the Salvation Church and prepared to provoke an early war with Red Nest before the ceremony.

• Ergou reported that nearly every major power in Tydanore had agreed to send representatives to the Imperial Ceremony.
• VanCleef revealed that Red Dagger had located the Salvation Church’s lair on a hidden island in the Black Sea, and Jose ordered Kashi to lead an expedition with Ergou, Grem, and Luna Starfeather supporting him.
• Jose and his retainers discussed the risk that the Red Nest Matriarch would attack during the Imperial Ceremony, after Red Nest monsters began considering defection to the Sussex Kingdom.
• Jose said a true dragon serving the Red Nest Matriarch had offered to defect, but he had told the dragon to wait until after the ceremony.
• Jose proposed sabotaging Red Nest’s food supply during winter to provoke a war before the Imperial Ceremony and weaken the Red Nest Matriarch in advance.