"Hey~ what's your name?" The naked lady asked with the same creepy smile, making Abium's blood run cold.
'I can't pick up any sign of life from her body, kid. She is not an evil spirit, nor does she have a soul. Strange, what is she?' Azolla's voice echoed inside his head. At that moment, Abium felt a numb sensation on his right hand's index finger. He quickly lowered his gaze and saw his index finger becoming transparent.
'What the f*ck?!' His whole body stiffened up as he saw that strange phenomenon.
'Answer her question immediately and get the hell out of here.' Azolla also felt something was off about the whole situation and quickly warned him.
"I'm Abium," Abium said without hiding his true identity and soon noticed his transparent finger returned to normal!
'What the hell is happening? Ghost?'
Meanwhile, the naked lady gave a slight nod and stood up. Afterward, she tilted her head a bit and looked at his face with the same creepy smile.
'Damn it, I have to leave this forest quickly.'
Without any delay, Abium quickly left the cave and soon noticed that the naked ghost lady was following him quietly.
'Don't look at her. Run to the outer region.' Azolla spoke in his head.
Nodding, Abium took a step forward and dashed towards that forest's outer area.
It was early morning, and the chirping, humming sounds pleasant fell in his ears from the surrounding woods.
While hearing those melodic sounds, Abium didn't feel any relaxed feeling at all. Instead, he felt something was wrong with this forest and thought about those rumors from those roaming mages.
'Memory loss. Yes, all of them experienced memory loss when walking out and didn't know what had happened inside. Hmm, I think I will also experience the same thing. But what is really hidden in this forest? Also, who is this naked lady who is stalking me?' Multiple thoughts crossed his mind as he was warily glancing back at the creepy smiling lady.
'Maybe, she has some power to manipulate others' memories.' Abium thought to himself and soon shifted his gaze towards the surrounding dense trees and shrubs.
'Tsk, I don't even know which direction I should take now.' What made him more anxious was that Azolla's map function was also not working properly.
With no other choice, he chose a random path and continued to walk while avoiding the poisonous vines and shrubs. A few minutes later, Abium finally saw open space and ran towards it.
But as he walked out of the dense forest area, he couldn't help but stiffen up.
What appeared in front of his eyes was not some grassland but a small cavern surrounded by shrubs and vines.
It was the same cave he chose to construct his second spell model earlier!
'Did I get lost in this forest?' Abium knitted his brows and fell into deep thoughts. Meanwhile, the naked lady also followed him silently while maintaining a two-meter distance and didn't ask any strange questions.
'Azolla, what is happening here?' Abium quickly asked Azolla.
'I don't know, kid. It's like we are in some type of loop.' Azolla said with a serious tone and went silent.
After hearing her reply, Abium sighed heavily and quickly shifted his gaze towards that lady who stood a few feet away from him.
Although he hesitated a little, he soon made up his mind and asked a question to the creepy ghost lady.
"Where is this place? W-" Abium suddenly turned mute and soon noticed some invisible force was blocking him from speaking.
'What the hell?!' He was deeply frightened by this unusual situation and stared at that transparent lady with wide eyes.
"He~he~ You are in the castle of Bidora~" She winked at Abium and replied with a strange smile.
'Castle of Bidora? Eh? What the-' Abium's thought abruptly froze as he saw his surroundings start to break like a mirror. The next instant, Abium found himself standing in a small gloomy room and even noticed candles on the four corners of that room.
"~What do you like?~" A melodic voice came from his back as Abium abruptly turned around and saw the same lady leaning her back against that wall. But unlike before, Abium saw a beautiful woman.
Her physical appearance looked more real, and she wore a black colored home gown. She had black hair, a pale face, and white eyes, which seemed to have deep secrets.
'Azolla?' Abium soon called for help and took two steps backward. But soon, he felt something was odd.
He didn't hear Azolla's reply at all!
'Azolla? Are you there?' Abium started to feel restless inside and started to check her basic functions. To his surprise, no blue screen appeared in front of his eyes.
Slowly, Abium lowered his gaze and looked at his own body as he sensed a strange sensation.
It was a feeling of lightness.
Instantly, his eyes went wide open. At that moment, he noticed that his whole body started becoming transparent and disappearing slowly!
"What the-?!"
'Wait a minute! She asked me a question earlier. I have to answer.' Abium recalled that and responded quickly.
"I like exploring." Abium quickly responded and soon noticed that his original form began to reappear.
Alas, no reply came from Azolla, which made him more anxious!
This time he didn't ask any questions and directly moved towards the metallic door on his right side.
But a moment later, Abium frowned as he noticed there was no key to open it. Quickly, he thought of taking out his sword from his spatial ring and cutting the door with brute force.
But he soon realized that his spatial ring was also nowhere to be seen!
'When did I lose my spatial ring?' Abium grimaced as he soon conjured a fire orb and threw it at the metallic door.
Bang!
Alas, the fire orb did no damage to the metallic door.
'Should I cast the [Fireball] spell?' Abium nodded inwardly and instantly conjured his first-tier spell. Immense fire-elemental energy gathered around his palm in a split second and formed into a one-meter radius ball of fire.
'I think it will be overkill.' Abium muttered and threw the giant ball of fire towards the door.
BANG!
Once the one-meter radius ball of fire touched the metallic door, a large explosion echoed, and the shockwave threw him backward. Abium crashed onto the black wall and fell while groaning.
Slowly, he lifted his face and shifted his gaze towards the metallic door. But a second later, he was deeply astounded as he saw no scratch on the door!
'Wow! Even a first-tier spell did no damage to this door.' Abium felt puzzled. Slowly, he stood up and started walking closer to the metallic door.
'What are those? Words?' Abium knitted his eyebrows and soon noticed that the metallic door was inscribed with runic words.
'Maybe a secret code to open the door?'
He thought to himself and started to read.
"There are 5 Mansions in five different colors.
In each mansion lives a person from a different family.
These five members drink a certain type of potion, cast a certain unique spell, and keep a certain contracted pet.
No members have the same contracted pet, cast a certain unique spell, or drink the same potion.
The question is: Who owns the Serpent?"
'Heh, it appears to be some kind of puzzle.' Abium nodded in enlightenment and soon shifted his gaze below to read further.
"Hints:
The [Lockridge] lives in the [Red Mansion].
The [Gilster] keeps [Silver Wolf] as a pet.
The [Meader] drinks [Rath] potion.
The [Green Mansion] is on the left of the [White Mansion].
The [Green Mansion] 's owner drinks the [Kurunji] potion.
The person who cast the [Meteorite Shower] unique spell keeps [Redbird].
The [Yellow Mansion]'s owner casts the [Domain Shaker] spell.
The man living in the [Center Mansion] drinks [Ghost's Blood] Potion.
The [Ollim] live in the [First Mansion].
The man who casts the [Water devourer] spell lives next to the one who keeps a [Cat].
The man who keeps [Unicorn] lives next to the man who casts the [Domain Shaker] spell.
The owner who cast the [Eternal Darkness] spell drinks [Dark Tears] potion.
The [Howgett] casts the [Wind Storm] spell.
The [Ollim] lives next to the [Blue Mansion].
The man who casts [Water Devourer] has a neighbor who drinks [Manal] potion."
As Abium read the puzzle, he abruptly froze.
'What kind of puzzle is this? Do I have to solve this if I want to get out?' Abium furrowed his eyebrows and slowly heard a tik-tik sound from behind.
As he turned around, he saw the black-haired lady who had kept observing him all this time, taking a timer out of nowhere and holding it with both hands.
Moreover, the numbers started to reduce from 100 to 99 then to 98 and so on!
'Timer? Do I have to finish this puzzle before the time limit?' Abium hurriedly returned to his senses and shifted his gaze to reread the puzzle.