Blockbuster/Heroes of Maple

Heroes of Maple is the second blockbuster in Korean MapleStory, and the third overall. After Gelimer's defeat, the Black Mage recruits Damien to further his goals, and it is up to the Heroes of Maple to stop him.

Act 0 - Freud, The Last Record
After the Black Mage was sealed, Afrien who had taken the curse was left in a snowy island, which was later known as Slumbering Dragon Island. In his seemingly last moments with Freud before the curse takes over, both made a pact with each other that they will always be together and their descendants will meet him the the future. However, Freud had a future vision of the approaching danger. He then leave the future to his friends and successor.

Act 1 - Slumbering Dragon Island
The Demon Army was present in Slumbering Dragon Island, guarding it from intruders. Evan and his Onyx Dragon Mir managed to avoid the guards and continue their journey to find Afrien. Along the way, he noticed that the creatures on the island were brainwashed by someone. He also encountered one of the penguins, a companion of Lilin who managed to escape and agreed to save her. After braving through the snowy terrain, they spotted masses of the Demon Army on the island.

Along the way, both are blocked by a huge spider. Evan provoked it to come down to fight, only to enrage it and cause the ice floor to collapse and Evan fell to another location, separated from Mir. Somehow, Aran and Shade had witnessed Evan's action behind the scenes. Aran fights the Demon army to free her companion Lilin, only for Evan to awkwardly enter the fray. After dealing with the rest of the Demon army, one of them still held Lilin as hostage. Luckily Shade saves Lilin and Mir reunites with the group. It was revealed that Shade and Aran are training at one point heard about the news of Lilin being kidnapped by the Demon Army.

Both advance forward and have to deal with the spider, the same one that blocks Evan's path. Using Shade's ability to drag the spider down the cave ceiling and attack it when they have the chance, all 3 succeeded in defeating it. They finally managed to find Afrien, frozen but still alive and fighting Damien's infection. Evan then met Freud's spirit, whom he had earlier set his consciousness within Afrien and both he and Mir converse with their ancestors. Through them, he learned about the upcoming threat: the commander of the Black Mage will soon swallow the World Tree. Freud assured Evan that he will not be alone in the quest and his new friends will help him. However, it was interrupted by the arrival of Damien, the commander that was predicted to be the main threat. Aran have a brief scuffle with Damien but was knocked back by his blade. Afrien uses the last of his strength to get the group to safety, proud to see Mir's growth and kept Freud's promise.

Though Evan and Mir were upset about Afrien's sacrifice, they have to save the mourning for later as the craven was about to collapse. All of them managed to escape the craven in time before the entrance was blocked. Despite the loss of Afrien, which upsets Evan and Mir the most, they have to move forward and fight the approaching danger.

Act 1.5 - Reunion of Heroes
In order to gain strength to defeat Damien, Evan and Mir decides to visit the other 3 heroes, who were currently having their normal lives.

Demon and Damien
Demon encountered his brother Damien again the first time after several years. Learning about the true events that happened years ago, Demon tries to convince Damien to stop his meaningless actions, only to be struck down by Damien.

Act 2: Abraxas: The prophecy’s sanctum
Evan and Mir were waiting for the other heroes in the proposed meeting place; Nihal Desert, though they were running late. A flashback shows after escaping the ice cave in Slumbering Dragon Island, Aran have to catch up with Evan later as Maha had taken damage from Damien's attack. Shade decides to go with her to help and heal Maha, promising to meet him later.

Evan was disappointed by the fact that the other heroes have not arrived yet, lamenting at the fact that he was not good enough to be Freud's successor. During their search for the ancient ruins, Evan fell in a sinkhole (close to the situation when he fell in the ice cave). Surprised by the fact that the ruins were in the undergrounds of the desert, Evan explain the brief history of the ruins and the god Abraxas before continuing their exploration. He was blocked by the guardian of the ruins and Mercedes joins the battle. Evan ask for permission to pass, much to Mercedes annoyance. The guardian gave Evan a riddle 'What is long in the morning, short in the afternoon, and long again at night?' (Answer: A shadow), in which Evan answers correctly and gets a free pass.

Mercedes was still fuming over Evan's attitude, commenting that he was still a long way to be as same as Freud, though Evan have no hard feelings towards her. Accidentally activating a trap, Evan, Mir and Mercedes fell into a net trap. Luminous and Phantom made their arrival, even though they were bickering over who has taken out the most monsters. Walking through the ruins, they encountered some murals, which shows the recorded history of the world and the Black Mage. In one of the murals they found, it was about the heroes sealing the Black Mage. Phantom and Mercedes complained that the murals does not look like them and noticed the bottom right part of it was erased (which actually depicts Shade). The last ruins they discovered was the prediction Freud had saw "When the battle of the end approaches, the wolf that is released from its shackles will devour the World Tree.".

The group ended up in another trap. Making use of the riddle that the gatekeeper have asked, Evan instructed Luminous to make a shadow from a statue, with Phantom copying his skill to form another one, which reveals a hidden stairway for them to escape. They finally made it to the ancient relic, with a timely arrival of Shade and Aran to complete the group. Evan starts up the airship with his magic and escape from the Demon Army. Their efforts to recover the airship "Abraxas" was worth it as Freud, in form of his memories and conscious appears within the airship. He explains the plans he set in the past, the airship and welcomes Shade back to the team. The heroes decided to make Evan their new leader, making Evan nervous about his new position but resolved to do what he could.

Act 3: Unfamiliar World
Through the airship, the heroes minus Shade made it to the other world, where the Transcendence stone was located. Mercedes and Phantom disguised themselves as visitors and attends a private party in an art museum. In the air vents of the museum, Luminous was called as a standby to help Mercedes and Phantom when needed. He also disguised himself as a visitor of the museum. Phantom got the information about the exhibition and the stone during the party. Through the presentation about the stone by one of the professors who found it, they were able to confirm that it was the Transcendence stone they were looking for. Evan gave instructions to Mercedes and Phantom to get the access cards to the exhibit. Once successful, Evan commands Luminous to temporarily shut down the lights to make an opening for Mercedes and Luminous to get to the other room unnoticed. Unfortunately, the trio got spotted by another visitor who was following Phantom as she was attracted to his good looks, making Mercedes to take drastic measures by revealing and pointing her bow guns, much to the shock of the other two. Due to this, the alarm was sounded and the trio have to fight the security robots to get to the stone.

Once they found the seal stone in one of the exhibit halls, Luminous felt a negative effect of the stone due to it resonating with the power of the Black Mage that was residing within him.