Warning: Suicidal content at the end of the chapter!
With that, he released a torrent of lightning bolts that arced through the air, striking each ghost with pinpoint accuracy and obliterating them one by one.
As the last of the ghostly creatures dissipated into nothingness, a sudden hush fell over the once tumultuous landscape.
The silence was a stark contrast to the eerie whispers and howling wind that had preceded it.
『Ding!』
A sharp chime pierced through the silence, ringing in Roy's ears and demanding his attention.
『You have slain 25 low-level malevolent spirits.』
『Gained 250 points of dark soul energy.』
He couldn't use dark soul energy.
Thus he converted the 260 points of dark soul energy to mental energy. He gained 26 units of mental energy. Although he couldn't use them either, they might become useful when he gains a method to manipulate mental energy.
"Good job." Delilah returned to him and gave him a big thumbs up.
"It's too soon to say that. Our adventure is far from over."
Roy was aware that the goblin grotto was located at the very center of the Ghost Forest, but he had no clear idea of their current location. Were they still on the outskirts, or had they made significant progress towards their destination? He was keeping note of the time. Twenty minutes have passed since they entered the Ashen Land. Less than 2 hours were left before the sun would rise in the west. They needed to return home early in the morning so as not to worry their family.
To make matters worse, only a cursory account of the Armored Knight's life was provided in the original book, with no detailed descriptions of his journey through the Ashen Land, let alone the Ghost Forest.
Thus, Roy didn't know what else besides Phantoms was waiting for him in this forest. He would have to experience its mysteries firsthand.
Roy and Delilah trudged forward, their path taking them deeper into the bowels of the Ghost Forest. A while later, it felt as if they had entered Hell. There was the smell of sulfur in the air, and the gnarled trees around them were twisted and warped in ways that defied the laws of nature. Except for that, there were strange, malformed plants sprouting from the ground like ominous sentinels.
Dark, sunflower-shaped flora stretched out towards the sky. Their gaping, blackened petals were jagged and menacing, no less than a haunting sight.
"I think we should turn back," Delilah said.
"No," Roy said resolutely. "We have come too far to back off."
Delilah was left with no choice. Either she could stick with him or return by herself. Both choices didn't seem good, but the former was better than the latter in her eyes as she felt safe in Roy's presence and liked to be around him.
Despite the unnerving atmosphere, the pair pressed on.
However, as they walked, the darkness around them seemed to seep in, devouring the light and leaving them in a murky haze.
Roy glanced around, his confusion growing with each passing moment. What was happening to him? He had always been able to see in the dark, but now it was as though a veil had been thrown over his senses. Even with his draconian eyes, he wasn't able to see a thing.
Suddenly, he found himself alone in the darkness.
Panic set in as he realized he had lost Delilah.
"Delilah?" he called out, his voice echoing faintly through the darkness.
But there was no response and no sign of his companion.
He tried to seek her out using his skills, but the results he got were devastating. His sixth sense proved to be useless as he failed to sense her, and the darkness was so complete that he couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face with his X-ray skill!
"Let's use fire magic to illuminate the dark."
The thought of using fire magic flickered in Roy's mind, but as quickly as it had come, it was gone.
He forgot that he wanted to summon his level 9 magic fire!
His brow furrowed in confusion, his mind struggling to recall what he had just thought of doing. But the memory loss only worsened from there.
He forgot his past life!
Then every moment, every memory of his life as Roy Badulf Baldwin seemed to slip away from his hippocampus like sand through one's fingers.
First, he forgot Arlo. This person was like a father figure he never had. His place was the highest in his heart, and suddenly forgetting everything about him pained him.
Roy didn't know that he had lost his memory of Arlo. He only felt as if a piece of his heart had been eaten, causing him to grab his chest in confusion.
After that, he forgot that there was a maid that served him wholeheartedly or that he had a wife waiting for him back home patiently. He forgot the first friend he had made in this life. He got the half-elvish twins, his cousin, Yulran and Tevenlor.
He even forgot Delilah.
The loss was too much. But he failed to notice until it was too late.
"Why...why am I forgetting everything?!" he muttered to himself, his anger at his own weakness mounting with each passing moment.
Nonetheless, even as he tried to cling to his memories, they slipped further and further away from him until he was left with nothing. No memory of his quest for the soul shard, no memory of Delilah, no memory of the Ghost Forest or the Goblin Grotto. Just a deep, abiding confusion that left him stumbling through the darkness like a lost child.
He forgot everything about his past and present. That left him feeling disoriented and vulnerable.
"Who am I?" he cried out into the void, his voice trembling with fear and desperation. "What am I doing here? How did I get here?"
But there was no answer, no respite from the all-encompassing confusion that had taken hold of him.
The darkness consumed his sanity, and his own haunting thought became a dagger that came to pierce his heart.
Ultimately, he didn't know when, but his hands had found their way to his throat, and they were squeezing it.
