Chapter Summaries

After destroying Meteorite Wizard Academy’s Communication Tower, Richard escaped into the forest while the academy’s leaders assessed the damage and prepared for retaliation. Third-Ring Wizard Leicart hunted the fleeing wizards, forcing the unlucky Kayan to run straight toward Richard’s hiding place.

• Richard called his steel giants to join him, chose a distant hiding place, and left after seeing an explosion at Meteorite Wizard Academy.
• Chrispin raged over the Communication Tower’s destruction, while Zeke urged him to keep emotion out of the evacuation plans and arrange reliable couriers.
• Chrispin revealed that Leicart had gone after the intruders, and Zeke decided to warn him to restrain himself.
• Leicart searched the forest for Kayan, who stayed concealed even after the Third-Ring Wizard passed.
• After Leicart returned and began burning the forest, Kayan fled toward Richard’s hiding place.

Richard studied the unusually thick hide of a third-level beast while his Fire Lizards roasted it, unaware that the fleeing wizard Kayan was drawing a Third-Ring Wizard toward their camp. The Fire Lizards captured Kayan and defeated the pursuing wizard, declaring that Third-Ring Wizards were exactly what they beat.

• Richard and the Witch Hunting Squad returned with a giant boar, and Richard discovered its layered hide resisted his scalpel.
• Richard created a Magic Array to roast the boar while the Fire Lizards waited for it to cook.
• Makal spotted a wizard approaching and reported it to Richard, but Richard's recorded message led the Fire Lizards to decide to handle the threat themselves.
• Kayan fled from Leicart toward the smell of the roasting boar, while Leicart followed the distant blaze.
• A Fire Lizard steel giant captured Kayan and drove Demon Sealing Nails into him as Leicart arrived and challenged them.
• The Fire Lizards fought Leicart and mocked him, saying Third-Ring Wizards were exactly what they beat.

Richard dealt with the captured wizards Kayan and Leicart, then revealed his identity as the Richard Gerald Merchant Guild president and negotiated a ransom with Leicart. Leicart offered research materials on Yuris Black Crystal, a mineral that could serve as a stable energy source.

• Richard learned that Makal and the Fire Lizards had captured Kayan and Leicart after mistaking them for enemies, and freed Kayan from the Demon Sealing Nails.
• Richard questioned Leicart, who accused him of enslaving four Third-level Fire Lizards, but Richard explained that they were his private property and boasted that he had subdued them himself.
• Richard identified himself as Richard from the Richard Gerald Merchant Guild and proved it with a guild scroll bearing the Tower of Truth Mana Mark.
• Richard asked Leicart to pay a ransom, rejected his Tesla Model 7 Shield Guard Alchemy Puppet blueprint because he already had a Model 9 blueprint, and asked for knowledge about power sources.
• Leicart offered research materials on Yuris Black Crystal from the Black Mountain World, which could be processed into a stable energy source.

Richard forced Leicart to sign a Soul Contract after defeating him, then learned how Kayan had acquired his Curse of Misfortune and promised to investigate it. After Richard moved his camp, Zeke inferred that Richard had defeated Leicart with powerful slaves and vowed that Meteorite Academy would avenge the humiliation.

• Richard made Leicart sign a Soul Contract that barred him from attacking Black Tower Academy wizards or revealing information about Richard during the Academy War.
• While sharing a meal, Kayan told Richard that an illusory creature had cursed him with misfortune after he activated an ancient Magic Array.
• Richard promised to look into the creature and help Kayan if he could, and Kayan left after giving Richard a way to contact him.
• Richard burned down his cabin, packed up the Witch Hunting Squad, and moved to avoid discovery.
• Zeke deduced from Leicart's silence that Richard had defeated him with multiple powerful slaves, then told Leicart the Academy would avenge the defeat.

Meteorite Academy identified Richard as the wizard who captured Leicart and prepared a curse that would disable him rather than kill him. Richard settled into a hidden lakeside laboratory, but the completed curse left his fate uncertain.

• Chrispin’s wizards found a trace of Richard’s Mana Mark among the ruins of Leicart’s hiding place.
• After reading Zeke’s advice, Chrispin ordered the Curse Wizards not to kill Richard and only to make him unable to fight.
• Richard moved his laboratory to a mana-rich lake, where he and the Fire Lizards caught and grilled magic fish.
• Mishaen noticed signs of dragon-blood modifications in Richard and asked how he had acquired them.
• As Richard walked after eating, he suddenly froze when a sense of danger overwhelmed him.
• Thirty-one Curse Wizards used the gravel and a Curse Worm in a ritual, then declared the curse complete.

Richard was struck by Meteorite Academy’s Misty Cage curse and used a Substitute Doll and five Curse Magic Armor stakes to withstand it, leaving him immobilized while the Witch Hunting Squad guarded him. Years passed as the war worsened and then stalled, and the chapter ended with Heraen calling the squad over after finding something strange.

• Richard recognized the Misty Cage curse, transferred its effects to a Substitute Doll, and ordered Makal to protect him and avoid fighting Meteorite Academy wizards.
• Richard activated a concealed Magic Array and drove five Curse Magic Armor stakes into his body, weakening the curse enough to survive but leaving him motionless for decades.
• Makal and the Witch Hunting Squad guarded Richard, while Mishaen determined that she could not treat the Dragon Curse Master’s condition.
• Meteorite Academy’s rear sweeps failed to find Black Tower Wizard Academy’s hidden wizards, while its forces captured much of the Commercial District and residential area before the war reached a stalemate.
• Ten years later, the Witch Hunting Squad continued guarding Richard, and Heraen called them over after finding something strange.

A Demon Dwarf arrived with a straw effigy meant to free Richard from the Curse, and the Fire Lizards verified his High Priest’s divinations before allowing him to perform the ritual. Richard broke free and woke in his laboratory, surprised to find the dwarf there.

• Heraen captured a purple dwarf who said he needed to see the otherworldly powerhouse subdued by a wizard.
• The dwarf showed a blood portrait of Richard and explained that his High Priest had foreseen Richard’s imprisonment and sent an effigy to help free him.
• Makal questioned the dwarf about the Fire Lizards’ origins, names, and past identities, and the dwarf’s answers convinced them to trust him.
• Makal led the dwarf to Richard, where he used Richard’s blood and chants to draw the white mist of the Curse into the straw effigy.
• Richard sat up from the beast pelts and wondered why a Demon Dwarf was in his laboratory.

Richard learned that Pluto Ironfist had only temporarily transferred his Curse into a straw doll, so he traveled with the Witch Hunting Squad to the Demon Dwarf settlement to seek a permanent cure from its High Priest. As they climbed toward the Gem Palace, a blood-red, mutated Demon Dwarf attacked Pluto in the cave district.

• Makal told Richard that only ten years had passed and that Pluto Ironfist had temporarily taken on his Curse with a straw doll.
• Richard agreed to visit the Demon Dwarf settlement, since the transferred Curse let him leave the area restricted by his Soul Contract without violating it.
• Pluto guided Richard and the Witch Hunting Squad over a thousand kilometers to the Ironfist Tribe settlement and warned them not to fly over its defenses.
• Richard learned that a catastrophe five thousand years earlier had destroyed the Demon Dwarf Empire and drastically reduced its population.
• Richard met Pluto's brother Barn in the stone-house district, then followed Pluto into the cave district, where a grotesquely mutated Demon Dwarf attacked and Pluto struck it with his warhammer.

Richard and his companions reached the Gem Palace, where High Priest Aberich explained the Demon Dwarves’ history and the origin of the Aberrants. The chapter left Richard learning that Bruno, the Demon Dwarves’ revered king, had been corrupted by an evil entity and caused the flesh plague.

• Richard destroyed an Aberrant with a 1,700 Energy Level fireball after Pluto explained that sustained spells were more effective against it.
• Richard’s group reached the Gem Palace, and the guards argued with Pluto over whether his companions could enter until High Priest Aberich allowed them all inside.
• Aberich called Richard the foretold savior of the Demon Dwarves, though he admitted he did not know how Richard could defeat their great calamity.
• Aberich told Richard that Bruno, an unusually small dwarf who became king, had been chosen and corrupted by an evil entity sealed by a Truth Wizard.
• Aberich revealed that Bruno spread a flesh plague, and that he led twelve warriors to assassinate him before the plague-infected dwarves were killed.

Richard learned to use Faith Power from Bruno, the King of Demon Dwarves, and removed his Curse, attaining Heroic Spirit Rank. He agreed to help the Demon Dwarves fight Demon Bruno, whose weakening period would begin in seven days, while the High Priest vowed to guard the mountain depths until the sealed demon perished.

• The High Priest explained that Bruno had split from Demon Bruno before the demon could become a World Lord, and that Demon Bruno had repeatedly revived after being slain at the Bottom of the Mountains.
• The High Priest summoned Bruno, who struck Richard with his warhammer and taught him how to use Faith Power; Richard used it to remove his Curse.
• Ulysses recognized that Richard had gained Heroic Spirit Rank, and explained that divine ranks corresponded to different levels of power.
• The High Priest said Demon Bruno would weaken in seven days, when the Truth Wizard's seal would cut off the demon's connection to its outside body.
• Richard questioned whether killing Demon Bruno would be enough, and the High Priest vowed that the Demon Dwarves would guard the Bottom of the Mountains until the demon perished within the seal.

Richard gathered rare ores from the Demon Dwarves and crafted powerful flamethrower armor for the Witch Hunting Squad, preparing for the hunt for Demon Bruno. After testing the equipment, he offered to upgrade the weapons of Pluto’s chosen hunters as well.

• Richard learned that the Demon Dwarves had abandoned their old mine after sealing a demon beneath it and led Pluto to their mining district and ore warehouses.
• Richard selected rare minerals, forged a warhammer head for Pluto, and began designing flamethrower armor powered by magic essence and fueled by Incandescent Flame.
• Richard completed four sets of Flamethrower Magic Armor and installed them on the Witch Hunting Squad’s armor.
• Makal tested the flamethrower, unleashing a pillar of fire two hundred meters long, and Pluto praised its potential against aberrations.
• Pluto told Richard that the hunters had been chosen, and Richard offered to upgrade their equipment before they faced Demon Bruno.

Richard completed lighter, stronger armor and Flamethrower Magic Armor for the Demon Dwarves before joining their hunt for Demon Bruno. As the group descended toward the Bottom of the Mountains, Richard exposed a Mimic Monster and gave the dwarves Life Drain daggers, then took the lead through the tunnels.

• Richard modified Barn’s armor and gave him a hammer and Flamethrower Magic Armor, while the waiting Demon Dwarves lined up to receive their equipment.
• On the eighth day, the High Priest led twelve golden-armored dwarves and thirty-six warriors toward the Bottom of the Mountains, and Richard joined one of six teams with Pluto.
• Richard learned that demon minions could mimic ordinary boulders, then struck and exposed a Mimic Monster hidden in the tunnel floor.
• Richard studied the Mimic Monster’s camouflage skin and used his Life Drain staff to drain its Life Force.
• Richard crafted Life Drain daggers and distributed them to the Demon Dwarves, who tested them on the Mimic Monster and found them useful.
• Richard replaced his Adamantine Staff with a Mithril Staff and told the dwarves to give him the route so he could lead the way.

Richard led the Demon Dwarves and the Witch Hunting Squad into the abyss beneath the mines, where they burned away flesh-and-blood corruption and found a sleeping dwarf beside a sealed mass of flesh. Richard recognized the supposed fiend as the Cancer of Flesh and Blood, a failed experiment created by a Six-ring Great Wizard.

• Richard and Pluto descended through the mines, fighting numerous aberrations as Richard’s flames and the Demon Dwarves’ weapons cleared their path.
• Richard reached the abyss and released the Witch Hunting Squad, then waited as the Demon Dwarf teams assembled and prepared for the final battle.
• The High Priest’s final team arrived injured after purifying a fortress of corrupted dwarves, and Richard repaired their armor before the group descended into the abyss.
• At the bottom, the Demon Dwarves used flamethrowers to burn flesh-and-blood growths from the rocks as the group followed a lava river toward an awakening presence.
• Richard found a dwarf sleeping on a flesh-and-blood throne beside a sealed mass, identified it as the Cancer of Flesh and Blood, and said it was a failed experiment by a Six-ring Great Wizard.

Richard and the Demon Dwarves fought Demon Bruno and the mutated giant it created, while the dwarves’ ancestral heroes and Richard’s forces helped overcome the flesh monsters. The battle turned against Demon Bruno, and Richard ordered Makal and the other Fire Lizards to activate battle mode and finish the fight.

• Demon Bruno recognized Richard as a wizard and sent mutated monsters against the attacking Demon Dwarves, while the High Priest summoned fallen heroes to empower the dwarf warriors.
• Demon Bruno fused with a giant made from mutated monsters, whose heartbeat began disrupting the bodies of those nearby.
• Richard burned through the remaining monsters as the Demon Dwarves and Fire Lizards broke the giant’s wrist, severed an arm, and set its torso ablaze.
• Demon Bruno emerged from the giant and struck a dwarf warrior, but the improved armor kept the dwarf alive.
• Richard told Makal to help the others and finish the fight, and all four members of the Witch Hunting Squad activated battle mode.

Richard and the Demon Dwarves defeated Demon Bruno, whose true means of resurrection was a dark-red gem that invaded Richard’s soul. The Miracle Furnace refined Bruno inside Richard’s Soul Space, and Richard gained new insight into the Aberration and Soul Rules.

• Kava and the Witch Hunting Squad battered Demon Bruno with armored fists and flamethrowers, then the Demon Dwarves joined in and burned his body to charcoal.
• Richard found a dark-red gem in Bruno’s remains and realized it was responsible for the demon’s revivals after it dazed the nearby dwarves.
• The gem dissolved Richard’s seal, entered his body, and let Demon Bruno invade his Soul Space.
• Richard summoned the Miracle Furnace within his soul and refined Demon Bruno and the traces of his corruption.
• Richard devoured the multicolored light left behind and recognized the Aberration Rule and Soul Rule among his gains.

Richard emerged from a twenty-year cocooning transformation at the peak of the Second Ring, having gained the Devour Rule and the Cocooning ability. After helping the Demon Dwarves eliminate Demon Bruno’s aberrant monsters, he prepared to return to the Wizard World, but the High Priest asked him to take several Demon Dwarves there.

• Richard absorbed the cancerous flesh after Demon Bruno’s soul was destroyed, gained the Cocooning ability, and underwent a transformation that spread a vast white cocoon across the canyon.
• The High Priest consulted the King of Demon Dwarves and assured the others that Richard was safe and transforming beneficially.
• After twenty years, Richard emerged with his constitution at 199.9 and the ability to advance to the Third Ring, but chose to remain a Second-Ring Wizard to avoid a dangerous imbalance with his spiritual power.
• Richard confirmed Demon Bruno’s death, burned away the remaining white threads, and returned to the surface with the Witch Hunting Squad and Demon Dwarves.
• The Demon Dwarves continued purging aberrant monsters and planned to guard the Cancer of Flesh and Blood within its seal while reactivating ancient fortresses.
• The High Priest showed Richard a five-Tower of Truth scroll naming the Demon Dwarves a protected vassal race and asked him to take several of them to the Wizard World.

After returning from the Demon Dwarf settlement, Richard learned that Black Tower Wizard Academy was close to defeat and decided to infiltrate the war zone to reach its inner ring. He entered the ruined outer academy disguised as a Meteorite wizard and used Mind Guidance to pass himself off as a master alchemist.

• Richard accepted thirty Demon Dwarves from the High Priest, gave them false-death potions, and stored them in his Chimera Pouch.
• Richard found his old hiding place damaged, read thirty years of messages, and learned that Meteorite Wizard Academy had seized most of Black Tower Wizard Academy's outer ring.
• Richard observed the ruined academy, saw that Meteorite's forces were concentrated near the inner ring, and entered under a mask and the Cloak of Concealment.
• Richard used Mind Guidance to convince a First-Ring Wizard and his Second-Ring teacher that he was a Meteorite wizard.
• Richard bought the First-Ring Wizard's damaged Alchemy Puppet for two hundred magic crystals, rebuilt it as a four-legged puppet, and headed toward Meteorite's encampment.

Richard used Mind Guidance to infiltrate Meteorite Academy’s Position 219 under the identity of Master Makal, then learned about the war and its defenders from Peter. His deception nearly held until the real reinforcement arrived, leaving the wizard suspicious of the disguised Makal.

• Richard entered the academy’s rest area with Peter and Marcus, and Peter introduced him to the wizards as Master Makal, a Second-Ring Wizard replacing the fallen Lu Lun.
• Richard discussed the war with Peter, learned that a Shaping Wizard wielding Curse Flame had killed Lu Lun, and suspected the defender was one of Susanna’s students.
• Richard went to Lu Lun’s room, released the real Makal, and concealed him in individual armor with sealed mode activated.
• A second Second-Ring Wizard arrived at Position 219, and Richard used Mind Guidance to convince the others that he had come to the wrong position.
• As Richard left with Makal, the newly arrived wizard stared at Makal and said his Steel Golem looked familiar.

Richard escaped Meteorite Academy and returned to Black Tower Academy, where Gerald offered him a new contract. The Academy was preparing a counteroffensive and needed a spearhead to break through.

• Richard recognized that a Meteorite Academy wizard had identified him, then hurried toward the inner ring with Makal while the other wizards chose not to seriously pursue him.
• Richard crossed Meteorite Academy's territory under weak attacks and entered Black Tower Academy's Trap Zone, where Wan Jiali identified him and confirmed his return with Susanna.
• Wan Jiali explained that Meteorite Academy's wizards had let Richard pass because they feared the losses a real confrontation would cause.
• Richard met Gerald at the Central Black Tower and learned that his old contract could not be renewed, but Gerald offered an equivalent contract for the Academy's coming counteroffensive.

Richard learned that Black Tower Wizard Academy’s counterattack was a wager between the Dean and Meteorite Great Wizard, and he prepared his Witch Hunting Squad to spearhead the assault. At the appointed moment, Richard ordered the squad to attack Meteorite Academy’s defenses.

• Gerald explained the wager and its rewards, and Richard signed the Soul Contract agreeing to lead the counterattack.
• Richard showed Gerald Makal’s concealed armor and shield, prompting Gerald to warn that arming Alien Slaves could threaten First-Ring Wizards’ livelihoods.
• Gerald and Richard discussed the strength of Richard’s Third-level slaves, and Richard assured him that he had brought enough for the battle.
• Richard met his Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters and modified the Witch Hunting Squad’s armor for the coming fight.
• At twelve ten, after feint attacks drew Meteorite Academy’s defenders away, Richard ordered the Witch Hunting Squad to move.