Red-Demon Territory
- English
Tirnog
To the Red Demon Territory
After reconvening after their expedition to Pruinaum Outskirts, Noah relays the news about Henir's Order's base being in the Demon Realm and the group discuss their next stop, the Red Demon Territory, Asella and Baryon providing fair warning of the region's alluring treachery.
Village of Demons of Dreams
Upon reaching the Magmelia, the group were greeted by Diana who shows them the venues they have to offer. The group enjoy themselves in the amusement park. Split up, the group learn of the village and that the Dream Demons have a new Queen. Diana and Vasili eventually gather that the group are the same ones that had slain Karis. During this time, Ara and Ain encounter a mysterious Roamer passing through the Red Demon Territory headed toward the White-Ghost Land. Diana and Vasili then plot behind the scene to enact their revenge against the El Search Party.
Trickster's House
The El Search Party, still enjoying their stay in the amusement park then go together to the Tricky House. The group were split up and mislead by illusionary voices. As kept losing track of one another, the group sought a way to break free from the house of trickery and manage to get Mr. Hat to surrender by threatening one of his Rabbits. However, in the process, they'd lost track of Elsword, Aisha, Chung, and Ara. Mr. Hat directs them toward a painting which he reveals is where the others had be taken to.
Strange Theater
Inside the painting, the group all find themselves in a theater. The missing party members were already present conversing amongst themselves. Before they could warn the others not to sit, the remaining party members take their seats and were trapped in their chairs, forced to listened to a looping narration of a story of Five Magicians. When the actual play begins, Elsword, Aisha, Rena, Ain, Raven, Eve, Elesis, Chung, Add, and Ara are strung onto the stage by an invisible force and are forced to partake in a crude reenactment of their adventure in Sander. After the play concludes, the group face the Puppet Master and manage to defeat it, waking up outside the Tricky House. The group attempt to leave the Magmelia but are suddenly met with the realization as chains materialize around them.
Queen's Concert
Following the chains that bind them to the village, they are led to a large concert stage with a packed crowd of Dream Demons. The Dream Demon's new Queen, Vanessa, appears center stage and initiates her concert, which is also a ritual to turn the El Search Party into Dream Demons. The group fight desperately to stop the ritual but are trapped amongst the audience. Using some clever tactics, they manage to storm the stage but fail to stop the ritual in time. Though they failed to stop ritual, Vanessa saw their strong determination and realized that even if she'd turn them to Dream Demons, their convictions would've still taken them down their own path all the same. Though the night was still young, the concert continued till daybreak. Once the crowds left, Vanessa answers a few question about Ran before Diana shows them where his castle it.
Shadow Earl's Castle
The El Search Party make the journey to the Shadow Earl's Castle where they find the place suspiciously vacant. They encounter Ran but the Shadow Earl remained evasive. Pursuing and meeting him in combat, shadows joined the fray as Ara and Ran dueled one on one. The two converse as they crossed blades, but as they did, Ara recognized each movement, realizing that she was not fighting Ran, but her brother, Aren. The fighting stopped, Aren laments the ruins he brought due to his actions, but Ara is determined to console her brother.
Ominous Red Demon Territory
The entire group convene to speak with Aren. Aren reveals to them everything he knew about Ran and his motivations, that Ran used the Mystic Stones to regain his strength and eventually discarded Aren as a vessel to pursue his next goal. Aren and Ara have a heart to heart as the night draws to an end. In the cover of night, Aren attempts to leave the castle on his own, not wanting to burden his sister's journey. The older brother is stopped by Chung who was on lookout. Chung inquires about his father, learning from Aren that Helputt has too broken free from Ran's grasps, having fled alongside another of Ran's subordinates. Chung accepts Aren's plea to set out.
Abyss
To Abyss
Returning from Ran's Castle, the group encounter the Abyss and swiftly return to Magmelia where they meet with the Dream Demons as well as Tir who were discussing the phenomenon. The group plan on trying to leave the Red Demon Territory but the Abyss and surrounding factions impeded their path. Upon Tir revealing Ran is the likely culprit for the Abyss's expansion and Chung's pointing toward it, the group decided to delve in with Vasili and Tir's eyes.
Entrance to Abyss
The group descend into the Abyss, entering a layer filled with the ruins of buildings lost to the gaping hole. The group are trailed by the Abyss Worshippers they try to fight them off but the Abyss's ability to rejuvenate the worshippers proved too great. They manage to ward them off with light as they try to flee their grasp. Following Vasili's trail, they find gap which lead deeper down into the depths.
Split Path
Descending downwards they enter a new layer which was alien to what was above, vibrant caves of luminous elements and plants. They continue to follow Vasili's trail till Ain starts feeling energy similar to the Dark El encountered in Feita and Velder. Eve, Zero, and Add attempt to scan the area to suspicious but inconclusive results. They also find that the marks left behind by Vasili had suddenly turned chaotic as if there were a struggle. The group decide to split up, one pursuing the signs of Dark El while the others sought Vasili.
Terrarium in Abyss
Elsword, Rena, Eve, Ara, Rose, Zero, Ain, and Noah follow the readings of El energy. They find the remnants of the fake El made of Mystic Stones Ran used to regain his strength. A Myuriconus hatchling was latched onto the false El, absorbing the stone's energy. The hatchling awakens and begins to panic due to being enclosed. The group manage to defeat and subdue to the Myuriconus and instruct Zero to take the beast out of the Abyss. Once they were sure Zero was on pace to leave the Abyss, the group heads to rendezvous with the others.
Backtracking Guide
Aisha, Raven, Chung, Elesis, Add, Lu, Ciel, and Laby following Vasili's trail, discovering him in a manic aggressive state. Vasili succumbed to the Abyss's energy and returned back to his violent ways under the Torta Brothers. The group battle fiercely until Diana managed to communicate through the rabbit doll Add has taken from Mr. Hat. Diana snaps Vasili out of his manic rage but he is quickly consumed with fear and traps everybody in a cradle of dreams. Diana manages to break everybody free from their slumber and conforts Vasili.
Gathered Again
The two groups reconvene with Vasili in tow. The Dream Demon leads them to the door to the Birth of Origin, the place where Ran is. Using his powers, Vasili opens the door to let the group through for their final encounter with the Shadow Earl.
Elsewhere outside the Abyss, Aren finds Lilith analyzing a corpse of another Henir's Order member who was slain by Ran. Deducing the connections, Aren decides to venture into the Abyss.
King of Abyss
The El Search Party encounter Ran, after calmly answer some of their questions about the past and declares his intent of stepping up to the position of Demon King by harnessing the power of the Abyss. Half the group engage Ran in a fight while the others notice he was doing something with the Seed of Life. Noah attempted to destroy the seed and managed to damage it while Ran was distracted with the others. Before being able to shatter it, Ran called upon its power and transformed into distorted Henir beast infused with the abyssal energy. They aren't able to defeat him head on so they split their attention on the damaged Seed of Life and attempting to collapse the Abyss by destroying its Heart Core. Aren shows up and aid them in their search for the Heart Core. They managed to destroy the Heart Core which destabilized the Abyss, whilst Ran was distracted by the turn of events, Elsword went in to strike the Seed of Life, damaging it before Chung and Ara managed the final blow.
Collapsing Abyss
The Abyss has been destabilized and begins to fall apart around them. Ara and Aren decides they would hold off Ran while the group secure the escape route. They ascend the Abyss and find thousands of Abyss Worshippers swarming the area, but they ignored them, passing further downwards. The group reach the surface and reunite with the Dream Demons followed by Ara and Aren returning. Ran's form kept changes as he attempted to also escape, but the Abyss Worshippers latched onto him and dragged him back down into the depths as the Abyss shrunk to a small hole in the ground. Back from their exhausting trial, the group rest in Magmelia.
Monaterra
Suspicious Invite
The El Search Party reconvene in Magmelia to recover from their Abyssal inflictions and discuss their next move to seek out Henir's Order. Diana then gives them a couple of letters addressed to them from the Medovine and Torta territories. A commission request from Medovine and an ominous wordless note with fifteen tally marks. After some deliberation they decide to take on Medovine's request in search of more information regarding the Dark El and the state of the Land of Steel. Before they departed the village, the Dream Demons gave Elsword a picture frame to hold on to. On the way Lu tells them about her original rise to power in the era before the original Demon King.
Queen of Gold Medovine
They group arrive to the Palace of Gold Medovine, but as they'd heard, the place was completely vacant. Rena feels force similar to a Holy Beast. Walking through the palace they spotted Medovine outside and she goes to greet her visitors. She reveals herself to be a collector and requests the El Search Party to resolve some things which have gotten out of hand in her collection due to her evacuating her servants in light of the Abyss's appearance. Half of the El Search Party went to deal with the Plant Overlords and whist there, Laby gets an odd whiff and manages to uncover one of Medovine's Golden Apples. Chung, Ara, Lu, & Ciel entertain Medovine, trying to get information but are unable to obtain any concrete leads on the Dark El. Ciel and Raven ask about the Land of Steel, she tells them about the state of chaos befalling the Land of Steel and the contamination spreading from it, even corroding the water supply of her land. She reveals her true current nature as a plant like organism that is withering away due to the contamination. When the rest of the party return, Medovine is shocked to see Laby had found the Golden Apple containing her next vessel. Medovine pleas that they help resolve the issue of the Land of Steel which Lu gladly accepts, Medovine tips off that the Tortas may know a way to get them into the Land of Steel. Before the El Search Party could depart, Medovine felt it not right to let them go on the task purely on trust, and wishes to keep hostages to ensure the deed is done. Taken by surprise, the El Search Party were unprepared but fortunately the picture frame the Magmelia Dream Demons had given Elsword warped them away and back to the village.
Story of the Past
Back in Magmelia, Lu picks up telling the group her story. They agree to head to Torta on Medovine tip off, during this time, Raven reveals he had been having his dreams invaded by the Torta King since the Abyss and wishes to settle the score.
Underground Den
Guided by a former Torta Eris. They reach the entrance to the Hunter's Hideout but are denied access because they forgot to bring the invitation. Eris manages to talk up the gatekeeper and let the El Search Party enter as fighters. They pass through the tunnel of toxic water until they encounter Shaddie who wants to test them. After defeating her, she scampers away and sets Jecky the Jabberwock as their last test. The group devise their plan of action once they encounter the King of Torta, deciding to have Raven challenge him to a 1 on 1 as per Eris's recommendation. They run into and defeat Jecky and make their way to the end of the tunnel.
Hunters' Canyon
The El Search Party arrived to the Torta Arena and immediately spark the King of the Tortas, Ricardo's attention. Lu attempts to assert herself as the Steel Queen but is immediately dismissed as being one of many fakers. Ricardo chooses Raven to face Torta's Champion and then set up a match against Ciel. Ricardo, pleased with their performance announced to all the Torta's goal to conquer the Land of Steel, and decides the El Search Party will be their trump card to this end. Raven then provokes a duel, one the Torta King eagerly accepts. Raven and Ricardo duke it out while the others probe Shaddie for any info about the Great Steel Wall. She tells them the massive wall is seemingly impenetrable from ground level and any attempts they've seen of people trying to fly over were swiftly followed by sounds of some type of defense system out of sight. In the midst of their brawl, Ricardo switches up the terms of their fight, the loyalty of the losers and raises the arena to the surface, giving the El Search Party their first look at the truly massive Great Steel Wall. Raven pulls through and bests the Torta King. As the two combatants exchanged cordialities, Lilith suddenly intrudes and strikes Raven unconscious. She gives warning that their plans to infiltrate the Steel Wall will gain the ire of the lord of the Land of Steel. Add tries to demand answer from the mysterious Nasod, but Lilith was unauthorized to divulge any addition information barring her creator residing atop the wall. Just as soon as she appeared, she departed the arena. After Laby helped heal Raven, the Tortas now saw him as their new boss and they show the El Search Party a route connected to the arena which will let them scale the wall undetected. They provide any insight and maps they have on the wall. Elsword asks Eris to contact some people with more experience with Demon Realm technology and the El Search Party set off on their way.
The Great Steel Wall
The El Search Party ascend and make it to the top of the Great Steel Wall, however are immediately detected upon doing so. Add detects Lilith's signal and decided to scout ahead with some of the team trailing him. The rest of the El Search Party stayed behind to distract the security system. Eve managed to confirm the machines present were all derivative of Nasod origin and there must be a central AI. The areas transforms into a airship and captures Lu. The rest of the present group commandeer an abandoned airship and give chase.
Add finds Friedrich and attempted a sneak attack which was quickly foiled. The two converse with Friedrich already having manipulated Add's Nasod Ruler Code with dummy data to restrain Add. Friedrich figures out Add is Grace's child and almost activates Add's dormant weapon code when the group trailing Add catch up. They corner Friedrich but it is quickly revealed Friedrich is still in complete control of the area. He admits to being sponsored by Henir's Order, and providing them technology, but admits to not having many deals with them for some time. He wished to keep them from going forward to learn more from the El Search Party, however saw it unneeded to prevent them further. With little resistance, Friedrich departed, bidding farewell to his nephew.
The group pursuing Lu found themselves in the midst of a firefight, as missile from the main island above rained down on them. Lu, still captured by a rogue airship managed to damage the airship enough to force it to land. They reunite with Lu and the other party manage to catch up soon after. Lu becomes increasingly unsure who or for what purpose the wall was build, losing suspicion that Barkat has any involvement. The group approach the edge of the wall overlooking the Land of Steel and are greeted with a truly desolate sight. Unable to progress forward with the land in this state, they set their sights on the Sky Fortress looming above.
