[Vol. 2] Chapter 23: Blue Flame Knight, Another Forgotten Land

 

As the former site of the Glory City, the Forgotten Land, based on the strength of the undead, was roughly divided by humans into three areas: the outer city, inner city, and central zone.

 

The undead also had a hierarchical system. For instance, weaker undead creatures like skeletons and zombies were only allowed to move in the outer city, which covered about seventy percent of the entire Forgotten Land.

 

These basic undead beings acted according to simple instincts or under the command of higher-ranking undead. Their strength varied widely, ranging from being weaker than ordinary people to, at most, being at the level of Obsidian Steel. They were typical cannon fodder monsters.

 

However, their numbers were the highest, and similar entities could be found in almost every corner of the outer city of the Forgotten Land. They would spontaneously gather and attack the living.

 

Humans could get tired. Even experts like those at the level of Earth or Sky rank, once surrounded by a large number of undead, could only end up bitterly, being gnawed until they were contaminated by the environment and became one of them.

 

That’s why Miss Edwina, the Earth-level adventurer from the Holy Empire, was extremely cautious. She only operated in areas with low undead density in the outer city and periodically changed her location.

 

Although she was an intrepid knight and an Earth-level adventurer of the temple, as a sacred being, Edwina was more effective against undead than ordinary warriors. However, this also attracted more hatred, and she could easily find herself surrounded by enemies if she wasn’t careful.

 

Moreover, if she happened to encounter the strange fluctuations that spread out periodically during the battle, Edwina would temporarily lose her combat power due to severe headaches, putting her in a crisis.

 

This is her current situation.

 

“Goo… Ha… Ha…”

 

The golden-haired lady knight knelt on the ground, half-supported by her sword. Her chest, encased in armor, heaved violently. Around her were shattered bone fragments and various corpses with green blood, all of which seemed to be beyond recovery.

 

Edwina’s left-arm armor had a cut, exposing a deep bite mark that went down to the bone marrow. Her right shin seemed to have been struck bluntly, showing slight bone fractures.

 

It was supposed to be a routine battle, but for some reason, the fluctuation arrived earlier than Edwina had anticipated. Although these undead were generally not strong, being immobilized for a dozen seconds was enough for them to break through the defense of the knight’s armor.

 

“I need to… quickly leave this place.”

 

The burst of holy light during the fight would soon attract new undead. Edwina also needed to address her injuries immediately. Most zombies carried corpse poison, so it was better to use a purification chant just to be safe.

 

Moreover, the sudden early arrival of that kind of fluctuation made the lady knight a bit uneasy.

 

Whether it was an illusion or not, the impact on herself seemed to be gradually deepening. Initially, it was just a few seconds of headache, but now it had exceeded ten seconds, and the frequency had increased.

 

Something was not quite right. It would be better to temporarily withdraw from the Forgotten Land, find a town to resupply, and take a break.

 

She remembered there was a town called Bavo a dozen kilometers away. She could head there first.

 

With these thoughts in mind, Edwina gritted her teeth against the pain and began to limp toward the outside.

 

The place she was in was very close to the exit of the Forgotten Land. Logically, it should take at most half an hour to get there.

 

Generally, undead without masters seemed to follow some kind of rule and would never leave a specific activity area. Here, the boundary was the gates of the once majestic city, the four ancient and dilapidated gates serving as the four exits of the Forgotten Land.

 

However…

 

“What…?”

 

Edwina stared in disbelief at the scattered corpses and bone fragments on the ground in front of her.

 

About half an hour had passed, and she still hadn’t seen the shadow of the city wall. She vaguely felt that something was wrong, but at that time, she thought it was just a result of her injured legs affecting her movement.

 

But…

 

The lady knight carefully observed the corpses in front of her.

 

There was no mistake, this was the location of the recent battle!

 

What’s going on?

 

Edwina was sure that she had been moving westward the entire time. Why did the straight path lead her back to the starting point?!

 

Illusion? Impossible. How could those low-level undead in the outer city area possess illusion magic powerful enough to deceive a Earth-level holy knight? Moreover, Edwina hadn’t felt any intrusion into her consciousness during the entire journey.

 

To achieve this level of protection under the family emblem, unless it’s an enemy at the Transcendent level with a specialization in soul abilities, it’s not even worth considering.

 

But how could there be such an existence in the outer city area of the Forgotten Land? Even if there were, they would undoubtedly stay in the core area, not to mention…

 

Wait a minute.

 

The core area…

 

Oh no.

 

The lady knight’s face suddenly turned very ugly. She just realized something very important.

 

Wasn’t that invisible fluctuation, the nature and essence of which Edwina still couldn’t comprehend, emanating from the depths of the Forgotten Land!

 

“I’ve been careless…”

 

Who said her mind hadn’t been invaded? Every time she was affected by that fluctuation, the intense headache that invariably accompanied it didn’t seem normal at all.

 

Could it be that illusion magic had been acting on her from the first occurrence of the fluctuation?

 

Damn it, what the hell is going on? People who came out of the Forgotten Land before never mentioned the existence of such a thing!

 

Edwina felt a bit at a loss. Although she had noticed that something was wrong, she didn’t know how to unravel it.

 

Possibly, venturing deep into the core area to slay the originator releasing illusion magic might be a solution, but Edwina doesn’t believe that she, a fearless knight at the Earth level, can accomplish such a task.

 

Moreover, those were just speculations, the actual situation might be more complicated than imagined.

 

The Forgotten Land is too dilapidated, making it challenging to find clear landmarks. However, during the process of moving toward the city gate, Edwina had a feeling…

 

Did she walk back in the latter half of her journey?

 

Rather than illusion magic, it seemed more like the direction of the world had been reversed.

 

However, the enemies did not give Edwina the luxury to continue pondering.

 

“Tsk, can’t catch a break.”

 

Because lingering in the same location for too long attracted the attention of the undead, a new batch of skeletal soldiers and undead dogs had surged up again.

 

Fortunately, they were just ordinary…

 

Wait, that’s it!

 

Miss Holy Knight’s pupils contracted, and among the swarming white bones, she actually saw a dark-armored warrior riding a tall bone horse, with a ghostly blue flame swirling around his body. In the hollow sockets of his eyes, crimson light flickered.

 

“The Blue Flame Spectral Knight… an Earth-level undead. Isn’t this something that should only appear in the inner city area? Why here…”

 

Edwina suddenly felt a bit confused. Since inexplicably returning to the original location and realizing the crisis, everything had started to go awry.

 

High-level undead and low-level undead mixed together, a mysterious illusion that seemed impossible to escape.

 

This had completely deviated from the information recorded about the Forgotten Land, and it seemed that she could no longer rely on her previous knowledge to cope.

 

Suddenly, a bizarre but strangely reasonable speculation flashed in the mind of the young Holy Knight.

 

Is this place really the “Forgotten Land”?