Chapter 23: Blue Flame Knight, Another Forgotten Land

As a former site of the Glorious City, the Forgotten Land has been roughly divided by humans into three areas based on the strength of the undead: the outer district, the inner district, and the central zone.

The dead also have a class system. For instance, weak skeletons, zombies, and other common undead creatures are only allowed to roam in the outer district, which occupies about seventy percent of the entire Forgotten Land.

These basic undead merely act on their simplest instincts or follow the commands of higher-tier undead, with varying degrees of strength, from weaker than a normal human to a maximum of Golden-level, making them typical fodder monsters.

However, their numbers are the highest, and you can find similar beings at almost every corner of the outer district of the Forgotten Land, gathering spontaneously to attack the living.

Humans do tire. Even masters of Ink Steel, or those at the Earth or Sky level, can ultimately succumb when surrounded by a horde of undead, being devoured until they are finally polluted by the environment and become one of them.

That is why Holy Knight Miss Edwina is extremely cautious, only operating in areas where the density of undead in the outer district is relatively low and repositioning every once in a while.

Although she is an unyielding knight of the temple and an Earth-level adventurer, as a holy practitioner, Edwina not only restrains the undead more effectively than a normal warrior but also attracts more hatred, making it easy for enemies to encircle her if she isn’t careful.

To make matters worse, if she encounters that unusual wave which spreads out at intervals, she would temporarily lose her combat ability due to severe headaches, falling into a crisis.

That is exactly her current situation.

“Ugh… Ha… Ha…”

The golden-haired Holy Knight knelt half-heartedly, leaning on her sword, her encased chest rising and falling heavily beside the scattered remnants of bones and various corpses leaking green blood, all apparently unable to rise again.

Edwina’s left arm armor was bitten through by something, leaving a deep bite mark down to the bone, and her right calf showed signs of a slight fracture, as if struck by something blunt.

What was supposed to be a normal fight has taken a turn; the wave had come earlier than Edwina anticipated. Although these undead weren’t particularly powerful, being stiff for just ten seconds was enough for them to breach the defenses of the Holy Knight’s armor.

“I need to… get out of here fast.”

The holy aura emitted during combat would soon attract new undead, and her injuries needed immediate attention. Most zombies carried corpse poison, so as a precaution, she would need to use purification spells.

In addition, the unexpectedly early wave made the Holy Knight uneasy.

Is it just an illusion? It seems that this thing is gradually affecting her more deeply. It started with only headaches lasting a few seconds, now it has already extended beyond ten seconds, and the interval has become shorter.

Something’s not right; I better withdraw from the Forgotten Land for now and find a town to resupply and rest.

I remember there is a small town called Bavo about ten kilometers away; I should head there first.

With that thought, Edwina forced herself to endure the pain and began to limp her way to the outside world.

She was very close to the exit of the Forgotten Land, and logically, she should be able to reach it in half an hour at most.

Generally speaking, the unclaimed undead seem to follow some rules, never straying from certain activity zones. Here, the boundaries were the ancient, crumbling city gates—the four ancient gates leading to the Forgotten Land’s exits.

But…

“What…?”

Edwina stared blankly at the ground littered with corpses and fragments of skeletons, her face incredulous.

After walking for nearly half an hour without seeing the shadow of the city wall, she felt something was off, but at the time, she thought it was just her legs being injured, causing her movement to falter.

But…

The Holy Knight closely examined the remains before her.

No doubt about it, this was the site where the previous battle took place!

What’s going on?

Edwina was certain she had been moving west all along. Why did the straight path end up returning to the starting point?!

Illusion? Impossible. Those low-level undead in the outer district would have no capacity to use illusions strong enough to confuse an Earth-level Holy Knight. Moreover, throughout her journey, Edwina had not felt any sense of her mind being invaded.

To achieve such a level beneath the protection of her family’s Holy Emblem would require an enemy that surpassed the level, specializing in soul manipulation. Otherwise, it was unthinkable.

But how could there be such beings in the outer district of the Forgotten Land? Even if there were, they would surely be in the core zone, not to mention…

Wait.

The core zone…

Oh no.

The Holy Knight’s expression turned serious; she suddenly grasped something important.

That intangible wave, whose effects and essence Edwina still couldn’t comprehend, wasn’t it spreading out from deep within the Forgotten Land?!

“Was I too careless…?”

Who said the mind wasn’t invaded? Every time she was affected by that wave, the severe headaches that ensued certainly didn’t feel normal.

Could it be that the illusion had already been acting on her since the first wave appeared?

Damn it, what’s happening? No one who came out of the Forgotten Land before mentioned anything about such a thing existing!

Edwina felt increasingly at a loss; although she had noticed something unusual, she didn’t know how to break free from it.

Perhaps delving into the core zone and slaying the originator of the illusion magic would be a way to resolve this, but she didn’t think she, an Earth-level unyielding knight, could do that.

Plus, those were just guesses. The real situation might not be as straightforward; perhaps it’s even more complicated than imagined.

The Forgotten Land is too dilapidated, making it hard to find prominent landmarks, but throughout her move toward the city gates, Edwina had an unsettling feeling…

Wasn’t she moving backward during the latter part of her journey?

Rather than an illusion… it felt more like the world’s direction had reversed.

However, the enemy wasn’t giving Edwina the luxury of further contemplation.

“Tsk, can’t let me catch a break.”

Having lingered too long in one location, the presence of the living drew the undead’s envy, and a new wave of skeleton soldiers and undead hounds surged forward once more.

Thank goodness they’re just ordinary…

Wait, what is that?!

The Holy Knight’s pupils contracted as she spotted a figure riding a towering skeletal horse among the swarm of bones, a warrior clad in black armor wreathed in ghostly blue flames, with hollow eye sockets gleaming red.

“The Blue Flame Wraith Knight… An Earth-level undead? Isn’t this supposed to only appear in the inner district? Why is it here…?”

Edwina suddenly felt a sense of chaos; ever since she inexplicably returned to her original spot and realized the crisis, everything had begun to fall apart.

High-tier undead mixed with low-tier ones, and a mysterious illusion where no matter how she tried, she couldn’t escape.

This had completely diverged from the information recorded about the Forgotten Land. It was likely that she could no longer rely on previous knowledge to cope with it.

Suddenly, a bizarre yet seemingly logical supposition floated into the Holy Knight’s mind.

Is this really still the “Forgotten Land”?

   

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