While Erwin and Onean were engaged in an in-depth discussion, there was a trio of travelers making their way through the Terarody Mountain Ranges, and they weren't the most harmonious band of travelers.

Perry was constantly acting as mediator between Lana and the burly skeleton, so it was feeling particularly exhausted during the past few days.

"Where are we right now, and where are we going?" This was already the nth time that Lana had raised this question. Her hands were on her hips as she glared at the pair of skeletons, then stopped in her tracks as she asked once again in a disgruntled voice, "Where are you taking me?"

"Ms. Lana, I already explained this to you before. We're searching for an ice dragon," Perry replied with a fawning smile. At this point, Perry had already learned Lana's name from its master.

"What a joke! How does that have anything to do with me? Why are you taking me with you? It's not like I have any ties to that ice dragon," Lana protested as she glowered at the burly skeleton.

A hint of disdain appeared in the burly skeleton's pair of blue flames, and it countered in a mocking voice, "Alright, then let me ask you this: do you know what to do if you don't follow us?"

It was insulting openly insulting Lana for her memory loss.

The fury in Lana's eyes became even more pronounced upon hearing this. "Don't think that I've forgotten that you're the one who stole my memories!"

"So what if you remember that?" the burly skeleton asked in a cold voice. "Do you think you're a match for me right now?"

"I won't know until I try! Take off this damn necklace, and we'll have a battle to the death, fair and square!" Lana challenged with a provocative expression as she pointed at the bone claw necklace around her neck.

"You're not going to fool me so easily. You may be no match for me right now, but with your powers, you'll still be able to get away from me right under my nose if I take off that necklace," the burly skeleton replied.

"Spineless coward! If you don't dare to face me, then just say it! Don't go around making all those excuses," Lana scoffed with a disdainful purse of her lips. "Besides, do you even have a nose?"

The burly skeleton faltered slightly upon hearing this, clearly not expecting Lana to attack its appearance, and it was both enraged but also amused by this. It had been many years since it had last experienced this type of emotion.

"I certainly can't compare with your beloved Erwin in the looks department," the burly skeleton mocked.

"Erwin? Who's that?" Lana's heart jolted involuntarily upon hearing this name, and her brows furrowed tightly as she scrambled to think of who Erwin was, but she was unable to dig up any relevant memories no matter how hard she tried. However, she knew that she was definitely familiar with this person. In addition to that, he had to be extremely important to her. Just hearing his name alone was enough to evoke countless emotions in her heart, striking her with a sense of asphyxiation.

"What is it? You can't remember him?" the burly skeleton asked with a mocking sneer as it looked at Lana's distressed expression. "How unfortunate..."

"Give my memories back to me right now!" Lana roared in a furious voice as intense killing intent flashed through her eyes.

"Save your energy." The burly skeleton turned away from Lana as it raised a hand, and the bone claw necklace around Lana's neck instantly tightened, dispelling all of the magic power that she had just gathered within her body.

Even though Lana was unable to attack the burly skeleton, she still gave it a vicious glare as she vowed, "I'm going to kill you if it's the last thing I do!"

She then turned and departed from the two skeletons.

"Where are you going?" The burly skeleton rose up into the air, then descended in front of Lana in a wraith-like manner. "Need I remind you again that you are my slave?"

"I have no interest in serving as anyone's slave," Lana said with a cold expression. "Either kill me or let me go. I know you won't be able to do it."

Lana took a cold glance at the burly skeleton, then continued on her way without even waiting for a response from it.

"Who says I won't be able to do it?"

"Alright, then do it."

"Are you trying to goad me into killing you?" the burly skeleton asked.

"You can think what you want," Lana replied, displaying no intention to stop in her tracks.

Perry had heard conversations like this take place on many occasions during the past few days, and initially, it had been rather concerned, but it quickly came to realize that its master wasn't actually going to kill Lana.

This was something that Perry had actually always been quite perplexed about. Why was it that its master was unable to kill this human woman? In the past, anyone who had dared to commit even the slightest transgression against its master had been killed on the spot.

Only the burly skeleton itself was aware of its reasons for being so lenient with Lana. Its fascination with Lana didn't stem from her memories. Instead, it was the fact that her memories were able to evoke its own memories, which had been sealed away for a very long time. It knew that it was playing with fire, and that this woman was a dangerous key that could open up the terrifying vault of memories in its heart, but it was unable to resist the temptation.

It was unable to suppress the curiosity and yearning in its heart, and this yearning for danger had already begun to subtly affect its decision-making from the moment it devoured Lana's memories. It could even be said that it had been regretting devouring Lana's memories during these past few days. If it had put an end to her life on the spot, then it wouldn't have had to suffer through such a dilemma. Unfortunately, it was already too late to correct its mistake, and it was no longer able to bring itself to kill Lana.

The burly skeleton faltered slightly, then heaved a resigned sigh before descending in front of Lana once again. "Where are you going?"

Lana stood in her tracks, then turned to the burly skeleton with a serious expression as she replied, "I'm hungry, and I'm going to find something to eat."

This was the truth. She hadn't had even a single good meal these past few days. Of course, the pair of burned plumed finches didn't count as proper food.

"Do you know which direction you're going in?"

"That's not for you to worry about. I may have lost my memories, but I can still discern between north, south, east, and west."

The burly skeleton was clearly very displeased, but it really was unable to kill Lana.

Lana had naturally realized this as well, which was why she had been provoking the burly skeleton with increasing levels of impudence during the past few days. She could tell that the burly skeleton was reluctant to hurt her, so she was putting her unruly and unreasonable side on full display.

However, the main problem was that she had no idea where she was supposed to go. The Terarody Mountain Ranges were enormous, and she had no clue where she was situated within the mountain ranges. Furthermore, she really was furious at the fact that her memories had been stolen from her.

It was clear that the burly skeleton had also realized that there was no purpose in continuing these pointless arguments with Lana.

Thus, it grabbed onto Lana and tucked her under its arm, ignoring her surprised yelp as it flew toward the north.

Thankfully for Perry, it was able to react quickly and grab onto the burly skeleton's foot so it wasn't left behind.

This was clearly a very uncomfortable position for Lana. Tucked under the burly skeleton's arm, she could only grab onto the skeleton's freezing ribs to ensure that she didn't fall off.

At the same time, she was tugging with far more force than necessary to try and tear off the skeleton's ribs, but its body was far too sturdy for her to do anything to it.

"Where are we going?" Lana asked as she glowered at the burly skeleton with a cold expression.

The burly looked down to see Lana's tattered clothes flapping audibly in the freezing wind. It also saw the long gashes on her back, which had been inflicted upon her during their battle several days ago. However, no emotion surfaced in its eyes throughout this entire process.

Lana clearly also detected the burly skeleton's gaze, and she hurriedly pinched the collar of her clothes together as she said in a disgruntled voice, "What are you looking at? You did this to me."

The burly skeleton gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, then said in a disdainful voice, "Surely you don't think I'm actually interested in your body."

"Even if you were interested, you couldn't do anything to me anyway," Lana countered in a cold voice.

"No matter how sharp that tongue of yours is, it still can't make up for your lack of experience in certain areas."

Lana was stumped by this comeback and didn't know how to retaliate.

After a period of silence, she suddenly asked in a quiet voice, "Who is Erwin?"

"Someone you should forget about," the burly skeleton replied in an expressionless manner.

"That's not up to you to decide!" Lana countered with a furious expression.

"I'm doing this for your own good," the burly skeleton argued.

"Don't think that you know everything about someone's life just because you devoured their memories. You're just a monster who's living in the past," Lana said in a hateful voice, and unbeknownst to her, her statement really struck a chord in the burly skeleton's heart.

The burly skeleton faltered slightly upon hearing this, then mused, "That's a very interesting way to put it."

As it cast its gaze toward Lana again, it noticed that there were tears sliding down her cheeks, and the tears were shimmering amid this boundless world of snow and ice. All of the snow that had gathered here for the past thousands of years seemed to only exist as a backdrop for her tears.

Her long, red hair was dancing wildly in the wind as a wry smile appeared on her face, and the burly skeleton felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck its vault of memories upon seeing this.

All of a sudden, it found itself unable to suppress the urge to reminisce about the past.

...

After passing through a long stretch of dense forest, the trio arrived outside a small town by the name of Kenon. This was the closest place that the burly skeleton had been able to detect the auras of humans from.

"Shouldn't you two put on a disguise?" Lana asked as she turned to the pair of skeletons with an amused expression.

If these two skeletons were to simply walk into a town inhabited by humans, it would be an understatement to say that they would create a scene.

The burly skeleton raised a hand, and a dark grey vortex began to take shape above its palm. Energy then instantly flowed from the palm of its hand to its arm before quickly encompassing its entire body. In the blink of an eye, the burly skeleton was clothed in a dark grey robe. Even its head had been completely covered by a hood, while its face had been concealed behind a silver mask, leaving only a pair of blue "eyes" visible. If one were to peer through the eye holes on the mask, they would discover that those eyes didn't belong to a human at all. Instead, it was just a pair of blue flames, even though the burly skeleton had already made an effort to dim its own eyes as much as possible.

As for Perry, it had been handed a set of green servant's attire by the burly skeleton, and it was also wearing a mask, but the mask appeared to be a bronze artifact that had been buried under the earth for many years, and it was covered in azure rust.

Lana nodded with a pleased expression at the sight of the makeovers undergone by the pair of skeletons. "I'm sure everyone will think you're a pair of lackeys for me when they see you."

The burly skeleton turned to Lana with a displeased expression before tightening the necklace around her neck.

Lana's expression stiffened as she was struck by a sense of asphyxiation, but a hint of undisguised mockery appeared on her face as she scoffed, "That seems to be the only thing you can do."