Souls That Must Not Be Forgotten

She had been circling Serengeti without rest.

She said nothing, yet her actions made her intent unmistakably clear.

Still, something about it struck me as odd.

"That is the soul of someone named Banyan."

"Pardon? …Banyan?"

"Is the name familiar to you?"

"…It is the name of a man who once served in the Knights of the Round Table. It could simply be a coincidence, but…"

I made a show of ignorance, and Serengeti played along, accepting the pretense. I could not afford to reveal to everyone here that I was both Randolph and Wilhelm.

"Then I will bestow that soul upon you."

"…Ah—understood."

Serengeti nodded, tense. I took Banyan's soul in hand and drove it straight into her.

In that instant—

Serengeti's form trembled finely. She shook her head, then—

"Ah…"

Tears spilled down her cheeks. After a moment she looked at me and spoke.

"It isn't only Banyan. Every member of the Knights of the Round Table—except Lord Wilhelm—is here."

Damn it.

The worst possibility had proven true. Exactly as she said, exactly as I had feared—they were all here.

"…Why are they here?"

I could not understand it. Why would the Knights of the Round Table be in this place?

Serengeti drew a deep, shuddering breath and answered.

"The Forgotten Gods summon the souls of the forgotten. The countless Forgotten Gods dwelling here have forcibly gathered the Souls of Forgotten Knights."

"So the Knights of the Round Table were forgotten as a group?"

"…I believe they wished to be forgotten."

"Why?"

"Because their true natures… would have brought harm to Lord Wilhelm…"

I furrowed my brow. What?

Seeing my eyes, Serengeti squeezed hers shut and forced the words out.

"The Knights of the Round Table—everyone except myself and Lord Wilhelm—are all…"

She trailed off. But I already knew what she had been about to say. I murmured it under my breath.

The Knights of the Round Table. Their true identities—

"…are those who broke the taboos."

Beings that should never have been allowed to exist.

I would not leave them that way.

Taboo. Acts that must never be done; rules that must never be violated. Most of the Knights of the Round Table were composed of those who had broken such taboos. They so disliked even having their names spoken that they were routinely addressed by numbers instead. The ranking was simple: line them up by raw combat strength, strongest to weakest. It was convenient for me as well. Our interests aligned perfectly.

But the revelation that they had sought to be forgotten even in death was something of a shock. Then again… the taboos they had broken had never been of their own choosing.

Experimental subjects forcibly hybridized and cultivated by the Cults of the Evil Gods.

The Cults of the Evil Gods. A collective term for the religions that follow the four most powerful Evil Gods: Balakgas, Angra Mainyu, Gaz, and Diablo. They operate in secret, hidden in the dark, almost never revealing themselves openly—because they continuously conduct every kind of shameless experiment in their efforts to summon the Evil Gods into the world. Most of the Knights of the Round Table had been experimental subjects created for that very purpose.

The secret mining city where Isaac first opened his eyes, the experiments of the Desert Queen carried out in the desert city of Kramdel that Isabella endured, and the countless other facts I learned through survival runs…

Through more than a thousand survival runs, I had come to know them—the cultists of the Evil Gods who continued their experiments in the shadows. Playing as Wilhelm, I had tracked them down, purged them, and raided countless laboratories. In the process I had rescued eleven experimental subjects. Those subjects became the foundation of the Knights of the Round Table.

Children of taboo, born of black magic and hybridization experiments that violated every prohibition.

At first I thought they were simply special NPCs…

In the course of attacking the cults of the Evil Gods, the experimental subjects voluntarily chose to follow me and began growing at a terrifying rate. Watching them, I had honestly been envious. Their growth speed was absurd, and the gap in their base abilities was extreme. And that was not all. Even in the most dangerous moments, they never fled. When given an order, they always carried it out. I became certain that if I bound them into a proper knight order and raised them correctly, they would rise to become the strongest force on the continent.

Inducting Serengeti as the thirteenth member had been a kind of screen. By placing her—infinitely pure and upright, the Pure White Knight—as the face of the order, I could prevent the true natures of the other members from becoming known. If word got out that they were knights born of the Evil Gods' taboos, the very existence of the Knights of the Round Table would become a liability.

…But in the end, every last one of them died in the Great Expedition.

Mamon, the Third Lord who commanded the Primeval Spirits, and Basara, the Seventh Lord who stood at the pinnacle of martial arts. Defeating those two demanded the greatest sacrifices of all.

The Lords of Hell. When they remain within their own hells, their power defies imagination. Even Ahram, the First ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Lord and King of the Dead, and Isera, the Second Lord of the Scorching Hell, had been formidable enough. But from the Third Lord onward, the difficulty became utterly unreasonable. The Knights of the Round Table suffered their heaviest losses against the Third and Seventh Lords. They first met crushing defeat before Mamon's ever-shifting Primeval Spirits, and by the time they reached Basara, the Seventh Lord, I had wanted nothing more than to simply give up. Without the sacrifices of the Round Table, we would never have reached the Demon King.

And even so… they wished to be forgotten of their own accord?

My heart was heavy. Knights who, despite never having chosen to break the taboos themselves, had elected the path of self-erasure under the weight of the world's prejudice and perception. Knights who chose to be wiped away entirely rather than bring shame upon Wilhelm. As a result they had become wandering spirits adrift across the nine heavens, until the Forgotten Gods drew them here.

…To be forgotten means to lose one's name, to wander without rest, and never to receive salvation. It means no one calls for you, you are never called, and so you are erased.

Knights infinitely honorable, who nonetheless believed themselves unworthy of honor. Such were the ones gathered in this place. The Knights of the Round Table were no different.

"That is not all. The Souls of Forgotten Knights appear to be connected to the Evil Gods in some way."

"…What kind of connection?"

At Serengeti's additional remark I pressed further. She swallowed hard and answered.

"Knight orders and knights who died fighting the Evil Gods since the most distant ages past. They were forcibly 'forgotten.' And it seems they were drawn here."

"What do the Forgotten Gods intend to do by drawing in such souls?"

One soul obtained for every Mysterious Achievement resolved. The existence of three hundred seventy Mysterious Achievements meant, in other words, three hundred seventy souls. But just earlier, the Forgotten God had demanded that all the souls we had gained be surrendered in exchange for advancing to the next floor. I had been intensely curious as to why.

"I am sorry. I do not know that far."

Serengeti bit her lip and shook her head. Then Saintess Seia spoke up from beside her.

"…The souls of great knights, forgotten again and again. Perhaps they are gathering those souls in order to 'resurrect'?"

"Resurrection. You mean reclaiming their names?"

Albino asked back. Saintess Seia shook her head once more.

"I think they mean to be reborn entirely as different gods. I can sense a will to start anew—with new names, new qualifications, new authorities."

"So that is why they were so twisted."

"Most likely… the more souls they gather, the more aggressively the Forgotten Gods will come after us."

They intended to be born completely anew. The Forgotten Gods. Perhaps they too were gods who had been forgotten while contending with the Evil Gods. We would only know by pressing deeper into the dungeon, but one thing was certain: this place held the souls of some three hundred seventy great warriors ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who had once stood against the Evil Gods. The Knights of the Round Table, likewise, were beings intimately connected to the Evil Gods. And the more souls we collected by breaking Mysterious Achievements, the fiercer the Forgotten Gods' interference would become—that much seemed beyond doubt.

The appearance of the seven knight orders was the trigger.

The arrival of seven knight orders that would break achievements and gather souls. The ninety-one challengers who entered the dungeon had awakened the long-dormant will of the Forgotten Gods. This might not be merely a competition among knight orders. What if a knight order that had amassed many souls were defeated by a Forgotten God? Or if they simply handed the souls over?

Would we then have to face a resurrected Forgotten God?

…It was still only speculation. So I did not voice it aloud. There was no need to deliberately sow anxiety.

"We should start moving."

Even so, we could not simply stand still. If anything, we needed to break achievements even faster. Above all… I could not bear to leave the Knights of the Round Table abandoned here. I wanted to save every last one of their souls. Number Twelve, Banyan. If his soul was here, then the others would all be here as well.

I wanted to tell them—

You must never be forgotten. I will not allow it.

…So wait for me.

With this, it became clear. The division between Park Hyunmyung and Randolph. The reason their inclinations of good and evil had been so cleanly split. I thought I understood the connecting thread that had led me to open the Primal Dungeon here, in the World Tree of Honor. That all of this was the destiny left to me for having played Wilhelm. And I now clearly understood what I had to do going forward.

The Forgotten Gods? If they stand in my way, I will smash them all.

All that remained now was action.

All of you—wait for me.

I crossed the threshold without delay. And then—

Three branching paths appeared. Of course, there was no need to deliberate.

…I had expected an actual boss to appear just because it was called a Boss Room. I never anticipated we would end ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up dueling another knight order.

It meant the other side had also chosen the Boss Room—and that they were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠equally confident in their own strength. And the opponents who appeared were none other than the Giant of Evil Annihilation and the Star Guardians.

"The Star Guardian group, is it…"

"So we just need to take down the Giant of Evil Annihilation?"

"Conversely, that means we only need to protect our captain."

Everyone muttered as they read the rules that had appeared. The Giant of Evil Annihilation. And the Star Guardians. Their power was nothing to take lightly. In particular, the Giant of Evil Annihilation was a monster among monsters—one who had single-handedly beaten Ahram, the King of the Dead, to a pulp.

"I will protect you."

"Leave it to me!"

Hudson and Serengeti. In an instant the two of them pressed tightly against my sides.

…What is this?

Was I imagining it? This was how a mother bird might shield her fledgling. Their eyes were filled with an excessive, almost frantic concern for my safety.

One-hour time limit. We have to settle this within that window.

I shrugged my shoulders and turned my thoughts to the trial ahead.

The Land of Stars.