In her half-unconscious state, Lana couldn't understand what the burly skeleton was saying, but she knew that it definitely wasn't anything good.

Perhaps its sinister voice was able to somehow pierce through Lana's semi-conscious haze, but all of a sudden, her eyes sprang open with an enraged expression, and she forced herself awake.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Lana glowered at the burly skeleton before her, then drew upon all of the magic power in her body before releasing a fireball spell from her palm directly toward the skeleton's abdomen.

The burly skeleton was in the process of devouring Lana's memories, and it was rather taken aback by this, clearly not expecting Lana to be able to regain consciousness at a time like this. As a result, it was caught completely off guard.

A massive thump rang out, and even though the burly skeleton was already shielding its abdomen with its own hand, it was still forced back a few steps by the explosion.

It fell to one knee with one hand resting on its kneecap, while the other hand was supporting itself against the ground, and it was panting heavily, expelling many blue shards as it did so.

It was clear that it had suffered some severe injuries from Lana's attack.

All of a sudden, the burly skeleton threw its head back before chortling to the heavens in a thunderous, seemingly laughing at itself for allowing itself to be harmed by a mere human, or seemingly laughing at Lana, who was no different from a dead person in its eyes. Its terrifying laughter reverberated throughout the empty valley, and the two balls of blue flames in its eye sockets were dancing in a sinister manner.

Even from several valleys away, Perry could hear its master's laughter, and it was so frightened that it collapsed to the ground and threw its hands over its own head. It had been quite concerned about Lana's fate just a moment ago, but now, it could only worry about itself.

Lana wore a cold expression as she cast her gaze toward the burly skeleton, then pursed her lips in disdain.

All of a sudden, the skeleton sprang into action.

It was so fast that she had no time to react, particularly in her current physical condition. In fact, she was so weak and frail that she felt as if this skeleton were even faster than Aiden.

In the face of the skeleton's oncoming skeletal palm, Lana reflexively raised a hand to defend herself.

However, she was running extremely low on both physical energy and magic power at the moment, and there was naturally no way that she would be able to ward off the attack.

Thus, the burly skeleton was able to lock its hand around Lana's neck without much resistance, then dragged her several dozen feet through the snow.

Lana was grabbing onto the skeletal hand around her throat with all her might, and if it weren't for the gaps between the skeletal hand's fingers, she would've already passed out from asphyxiation.

Furthermore, the thick branches beneath the snow had sliced a series of gashes onto her delicate arms, but she had no time to address those injuries in this dire situation.

"Why... Why do I feel like I've forgotten many things?" Lana asked in a feeble voice as she glowered at the skeleton, and her lips were already completely devoid of color. "What did you do to me?"

"All I did was devour your memories." On this occasion, the skeleton was speaking in the human language, and its voice was filled with completely undisguised indifference, as if it were completely justified in its actions.

Lana was very surprised that this skeleton was able to speak in the human tongue, and it was clear to her that this skeleton wasn't a creature of the same level as the small skeleton from earlier.

"How does that benefit you?" Lana asked.

"I have no interest whatsoever in your bland past. It's just that through devouring your memories, I can learn the way that you use magic," the burly skeleton explained in a cold voice.

Lana was astonished to hear that such a way of enhancing one's own powers existed. It seemed that there was truly no end to the wonders that laid in the Terarody Mountain Ranges.

"Then what if I'm dead?"

"I am unable to devour the memories of the deceased."

Lana nodded in response, and a wry smile appeared on her face.

She then aimed the tip of her index finger toward her own heart.

She wanted to put an end to her own life. For her current self, nothing was more precious to her than her memories, and the last thing that she wanted to become was a blank slate that was completely devoid of memories.

In a novel, she had once read about a type of wine that could be drunk for one to forget their past, so they could essentially be reborn anew.

That was a concept that she had been rather disdainful of, as in her eyes, only the weak of will had to erase their own memories in order to have the courage to continue living.

She also sometimes suspected that her opinion on this matter was due to the fact that her looks, upbringing, and aptitude were all well above the average standard, so she didn't have any memories that she wanted to erase.

However, in this dire situation, she was looking back through her own life, and she discovered that her time spent with Erwin had been the most eventful part of her life, and she couldn't forget her no matter what.

In this situation, she was able to empathize with the people in the novel who chose to drink the wine of amnesia to forget about their past. Her fixation on remembering was no different from their fixation on forgetting.

However, at this point, she was already struggling to remember his appearance, and she had almost even forgotten his name.

The past experiences that they had shared together were becoming as indistinct as passing dreams.

She could vaguely recall that such a person existed, but as for exactly what experiences they had shared, she was unable to recollect them in their entirety.

Thus, she had to put an end to her own life before she forgot everything, and her determination was fueled by a sense of despair.

A final hint of longing and passion flashed through Lana's eyes, and she was content that she would at least be able to die smiling, even though he wouldn't be able to see her final smile.

However, what if he were to come and find her someday? She didn't want him to see her face twisted with anguish and pain, even in death.

Looking at the dazed look in Lana's eyes, the two balls of blue fire in the eye sockets of the burly skeleton were trembling incessantly.

It was as if the dam that was holding back all of his past memories had been shattered.

In its own mind, it was doing everything in its power to hold back the flood of memories, but all to no avail.

Images of the past were invading its mind like bolts of lightning that were crashing down with ferocious might.

A glimmer of light suddenly filtered down into the dim sea of memories in his mind, and the faint glimmer of light quickly transformed into a scintillating sun that illuminated the entire sea.

The emotions in the eyes of the woman before it were so familiar, to the point that its non-existent heart was throbbing with pain.

Before Lana's fingertip was able to come into contact with her own chest, the burly skeleton had already positioned one of its skeletal palms in front of it.

Lana cast a perplexed gaze toward the skeleton. She didn't know why it was stopping her, and she had even already forgotten why she was trying to kill herself.

A dazed look appeared in her eyes as she thought to herself, Why am I doing this?

She had a vague impression that she was doing this for something or someone, but her head was feeling impossibly foggy and heavy, and she couldn't recall anything.

What's the deal with this skeleton? Why am I here? What is this place? Who am I? qhwoitehqoewhtewqithewihtiwqehthweqhithewqtwqe

A series of questions were swirling around her mind, and she was so distracted that she didn't even notice that the burly skeleton had laid its other hand sneakily against her skull.

The glowing blue energy circling through its body continued to devour Lana's memories, but the look in its eyes had turned from greed and triumph into loneliness and loss.

"I don't see the appeal in reducing you to a completely braindead servant," the burly skeleton mused as it watched while Lana's consciousness slowly faded.

...

By the time Lana woke up again, she was already inside a cave.

At this point, it was already well into the night. Freezing winds were howling outside, while a constantly wavering blue flame was situated inside the cave. It was providing some warmth, but its color made it a peculiar sight to behold.

Lana was still feeling extremely dizzy, and she struggled to her feet before casting her gaze toward the strange fire in the cave with a dazed expression.

"You're awake!" Perry rushed over to her side in a joyful manner upon seeing her awakening from her unconscious state.

Lana shook her head to indicate that she couldn't understand it.

Perry hurriedly used the human language to extend another greeting toward Lana.

An intrigued look appeared in Lana's eyes as she cast her gaze toward the small skeleton, and she was amazed that it was able to speak the human language. She felt as if she had seen this creature somewhere before, but she couldn't recall where.

What was most surprising to her was that she didn't feel alarmed at all at the sight of this living skeleton that was capable of human speech. Under normal circumstances, she would've been shocked by such an astonishing sight, but she was somehow already accustomed to this.

"You must be starving, right?" Perry asked in a benevolent voice, but given its appearance, it was unable to physically display any benevolence.

Lana nodded in response.

Perry rushed deep into the cave, then quickly came back, and upon its return, it was carrying a pair of strange-looking birds, both of which had already had their feathers plucked. Furthermore, their skin was still dripping oil, indicating that they had just been freshly roasted.

Perry was very proud of itself as it handed over its culinary masterpieces to Lana.

Lana carefully inspected the pair of birds and identified them to be a type of magic beast known as the plumed finch.

After taking a whiff, she discovered that they smelled really good, particularly for her as she had already been starving for many days.

However, as soon as she took a bite into one of the birds, her expression immediately changed drastically, and hurriedly spat out everything.

A nauseating bloody taste was circulating in her oral cavity, and if there were anything in her stomach, she would've immediately thrown it all back up.

Perry frantically apologized as Lana dry heaved violently, and at the same time, it was feeling very disappointed and guilty. It didn't think that the food that it had roasted so painstakingly would be so disgusting.

Of course, it couldn't be blamed for this.

Neither it nor its master needed to ingest food for survival, so it had no experience when it came to cooking. As a result, it didn't know that animals had to be drained of blood before they were cooked, and it was also naturally also unaware of the existence of condiments.

Of course, when it came to the magic beasts in these mountain ranges, they couldn't be cooked through the use of normal cooking methods, and that only gave Perry an additional challenge.

Perry had never experienced the feeling of hunger before, and if it weren't for the fact that its master had told it that Lana was most likely starving, it wouldn't have even known what the word "hunger" meant, let alone understood what it felt like.

This was the first time in its life that it had ever cooked anything, and clearly, it had not been a successful endeavor.

Right at his moment, a cold voice rang out from deep within the cave. "Just make do with what you have. There are no delicacies for you to feast on in these mountain ranges."

Lana's brows furrowed slightly, and she cast a cold gaze toward the direction that the voice was coming from while taking a moment to regain her composure. "Who's there? Come out instead of hiding in the shadows like a coward!"

The burly skeleton emerged from the depths of the cave with a derisive look on its face as it declared, "I am your master. Make sure to remember that at all times."

After that, it pointed at the skeleton necklace around Lana's neck.

Only then did Lana notice that there was something around her neck. It was like a pair of crescent-shaped claws that were locked around her throat.

Even though she was unable to remember her own past, she was clearly very much unwilling to accept her identity as a servant.

"Have I signed a slave contract with you?" Lana asked as she looked up at the burly skeleton with a stunned expression. Many details of her own life had been forgotten, but she still had a clear recollection of the rules of this world.

"I don't need something like that," the burly skeleton said in a cold voice.

It then pointed a finger at Lana, and the skeletal necklace around her neck immediately began to constrict, soon leaving her unable to breathe.

She reflexively drew up her magic power to try and blast this accursed necklace into pieces, but as soon as she tried to do that, the magic power that she mustered up immediately vanished like a stone that had sunk into the ocean. At this moment, she was like an ordinary person, unable to unleash any magic.

"Don't bother. So long as I don't allow it, you won't be able to use any magic," the burly skeleton said in a derisive voice as it watched Lana's frantic yet futile efforts. Of course, it was only issuing Lana a warning and wasn't actually intending to kill her, so it quickly released her from the torment of the skeletal necklace.

Lana could no longer recall her own identity, but her pride was an integral part of her being, and there was no way that she could allow herself to be humiliated like this.

Her eyes were filled with unbridled killing intent, and a bone-chilling look had appeared on her face.

It seemed that another battle was about to ensue, and Perry was so frightened to see this that its knees were feeling weak.

It didn't know whether it should stop Lana or turn to its master and beg it to spare Lana.