With careful and calculated steps, the knight guided his legs and upper body, to utilize most of the sword. At the very last turn, when his movements accumulated a lot of the mana around him, the knight monster pushed forward with all of his might.
As though it touched some sort of a boundary, a fuse was made from the mana at the tip, the energy exploding forward together with the powerful thrust, directly at Conall.
Like a breath coming from a dragon, the concentrated energy blast ripped the corridor behind to shreds and bits, completely annihilating the carpet and wooden parts of the walls before they restored themselves.
Conall stared at the monster a bit dumbfounded. Standing behind a mana barrier made by Lorine at the perfect moment, he was unscathed, but he didn’t think a monster like this would be able to remember a skill from its past life.
Right then, a magic missile came from the front, exploding right in the center of the monster and splattering its insides around the place.
“Thank you, Lorine.”
“You’re welcome.”
He didn’t want to use up his Rune of Invincibility for some random monster, so it was better that he didn’t try anymore, at least with that specific ghoul knight.
Coming closer to the doors that the ghouls guarded, Lorine said interestingly.
“We haven’t encountered a single door yet.”
“There were also four guards instead of two. And they seemed more talented.”
Nodding at his statement, she quickly opened the doors, only to see a spacious, white room filled with countless culinary furniture and equipment, fit for a royal family.
However, more than a complete one, it looked like the kitchen of a mansion still being built, lacking almost every important detail.
Going through every cupboard and shelf, all of them were empty. Even the disposable mana stove was stolen, as it was made from a highly conductive mana metal.
There wasn’t even a single toothpick left, not to mention metal cutlery.
Already uninterested, she was looking at the exit, but someone made her stop.
“What’s that?”
He said suddenly, pointing at the pure, white wall. Confused, she furrowed her brows ever so slightly, still unable to witness anything.
“What do you see?”
Coming closer to a specific part of the wall, a few meters away from the chefs’ table, she watched him touch it with aura, looking for a certain part.
Finally, after a few seconds, his index finger stopped and pinpointed at a completely random spot in the wall.
“Here. Could you please pour some mana inside here?”
“Sure, I guess?”
Unclear what he was thinking about, she still agreed, giving off mana to the wall, not expecting lines that instantly spread out from the part Conall was pointing at.
Giving a light smile while seeing this, he followed the blue lines, which quickly covered the whole wall. Finally, square shapes were enlightened inside the walls before opening, revealing actual things that hadn’t been stolen yet.
Looking at the light blue, metal pans and pots, as well as other cooking utensils, great curiosity struck Lorine once she looked at the very middle of the pile.
Although it was basically an enormous pot, it looked more like a cauldron, and the metal it was made from wasn't cheap. For a witch like her, it was almost like flaunting candy near a child.
“Can I?”
Even though she asked, Lorine was already moving forward to touch the cauldron and inspect it.
“It's all yours.”
Storing all of the equipment inside his ring, he saw her taking out the cauldron, which reached her stomach in height while being wider than the two of them standing side by side.
Spreading her mana throughout the cauldron, she inspected the item before muttering.
“It’s made from actual taes. Only the high nobles in the Witch Tower were able to possess one.”
Although not as rare as compared to meranh, it was only created within the elven lands, obtained through a specific, complex recipe.
“Could you store it for me? I don’t have too much space left inside my ring.”
Nodding his head, there wasn’t anything left to do in the kitchen, so they swiftly quit the room and moved forward, with Conall having a specific location in mind. Deliberately omitting the pathway towards the stairs leading to the first floor, he first led Lorine to the place they would both thoroughly enjoy.
…
“Were they having a birthday party or something?”
As they ran through the corridor, there was a hint of irritation clinging to her voice. It was understandable, after all, about one hundred different monsters were running after them.
On their way to the Great Library of Kreon, they needed to go through a ballroom that was filled with dancing undead, all wearing reasonable, not too extravagant dresses and suits.
Once they saw the humans, however, their happy expressions changed all of a sudden, charging at them, who were rapidly leaving the ball.
Rushing directly through the next, egregiously long corridor that was connected to it, Lorine released her magic at them, but they skillfully dodged the attacks using their dance moves. As odd as it was, their moves were sophisticated yet to the point, despite them being undead.
“I have no idea, but can you see those large doors?”
Nodding her head, she used mana sense from time to time, checking if any of the enemies released a sneak attack.
“Can you barricade them from inside?”
Hearing the idea, something lit up in her head. Glancing at the red-haired boy, she replied.
“I think so.”
“Good, prepare yourself.”
A few seconds later, Conall charged at the ornate, gold-decorated double doors with his shoulder, vehemently entering the vast expanse beheld inside.
At the same time, once they closed on their own, Lorine’s mana flowed through her veins, already knowing what it was going to be when it came to the world.
A magic circle instantly appeared on the large doors, covering half of it. The metal latch inside quickly snapping inside and locking the doors.
Seconds later, they heard and saw as they started to move, threatening to tear off from the frames, however, before they could, the banging quickly stopped and the witch exclaimed.
“I’m guessing they aren’t allowed to go into other rooms.”
“Good to know if that’s the case.”
“Let’s just forget about them. Do you see this?”
She said, making him turn around and look at the room. Everything here screamed that they were made by grandmasters of their own craft, designed and created solely for pleasing the king.
Looking at the library made from the most sought-after wood, enchanted by the elven prodigies, Conall couldn’t help but admire the library that didn’t seem to end.
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From the circular middle that spread into five sections, the bookshelves didn’t seem like they ever stopped going upwards, only the ceiling forcefully restraining their ascent.
Both of them had the same thought in mind. They had immediately understood where the Laufiel library took inspiration from. From the very layout to the fine materials, it seemed more of a copy, but they didn’t really care. The Kreon library looked outstanding, so an homage of that sort was welcomed by them.
“I heard great things about the library, but this is beyond everything.”
Her eyes glimmered, even though the face remained still, almost unimpressed. But, it was anything instead of that. She had trouble showing emotion, but the excitement Conall saw in her eyes was indescribable.
Though, it slightly extinguished itself once she realized the many, empty bookshelves riddled with dust. Any potential knowledge that might have been here was emptied, stolen by the previous delvers.
He couldn’t help but look at the pouty eyes, almost guilty that he wouldn’t reveal the secret inside here yet.
‘It’s a good thing that all the important books are sealed away from the prying eyes.’
Though first, they needed to deal with the mini boss here.
Without waiting any further, they started moving. In search of potential, overlooked books, Lorine scoured through almost every shelf there was, looking at every nook and cranny. Well, it only seemed as though she looked at every part.
No matter how long they spent in one section, going forward, there didn’t seem to be an end. No matter what, the shelves were always empty.
After going in direction for about two hours, only then did they finally reach the end of the section. And, surprisingly, they actually found something. Standing on a pedestal right after the bookshelves ended, there was a certain book.
Quickly going up to it, Lorine touched and opened it, both disappointing and intriguing. Blank pages filled the book, with nothing but old, mellow paper inside.
However, it only sparked curiosity inside Lorine. What if there was something hidden inside it? What if there had been an inscribed, magical scripture on the paper that could be unveiled?
Quickly storing the book in her inventory ring, Lorine turned to Conall, saying something before immediately stopping.
“Other sections must also-”
She was interrupted by a strong feeling the duo felt on their bodies. An ominous, eerie presence surrounded them as they began to feel heavier.
Lorine wasn’t able to do anything as her ring had been interfered with, and the book came out on its own, being quickly placed back on the pedestal. The feeling associated with the stealing didn’t disappear despite the fact.
They had angered the bookkeeper, but instead of backing down, it only inspired the girl even further. Just the fact that the books were so well protected must have meant something.
Smirking at her resolution, Conall didn’t think that she was wrong in any way, though it was slightly different.
“Shall we go for the next one?”
He asked, to which she nodded after confirming that the pedestal and its content wouldn’t budge whatsoever.
Moving out of the section, they went around it, instead of going back to the beginning. The building was a sphere and the outer walls were also filled with empty bookshelves, connecting all of the five sections together.
Roughly fifteen minutes was all they needed after jogging to the second section. Despite the heavy, baleful feeling that associated them, the duo didn’t hesitate to insolently steal the second book from another pedestal.
A few seconds later, as the book was transported out of the ring, they heard shrieks coming out from nowhere.
The cries that reverberated inside their heads intensified the closer they went towards another book on the pedestal, but they didn’t care about that, especially Lorine.
Quickly ‘stealing’ the third piece, the witch and the boy felt a hand placed on their shoulder, trying to push them back where they came from. Still, the womanly hand couldn’t defeat their curiosity, which led many previous delvers to oblivion.
When they stored the fourth one, not only a feeling, but the sight of an eye on the beautiful, painted ceiling observing them appeared. Closely observing the duo, the woman shrieked ever so loud, without trying to save her voice.
Just as they stored the fifth book, everything stopped, while the book itself didn’t disappear from Lorine’s ring. Instead, a slightly different, but familiar sensation spread throughout them.
The witch heard loud bangs in the far distance, coming closer at lightning speed.
It was at that time that Lorine finally saw the incoming threat. Making the bookshelves fall over, the flying monster sped through the section, right where she and Conall had been.
With a loud, ear-piercing shriek, the unnaturally long body of the undead woman flowed through the air like a kite, stopping just a few tens meters away from them. Like a flock of flies, countless paper sheets quickly appeared from behind her, to which Lorine instinctively prepared a mana shield on both her and Conall.
Just barely able to see them, the sheets started to have something written onto them. In an instant, the hundreds of papers folded themselves into a flock of birds before flying after the humans. Near the rotted bookkeeper with golden glasses, a certain, hefty book glowed white light, and something surrounding the paper birds changed.
Glowing blue light from within, almost instantly, the papers perished whilst hundreds of different, lethal spells attacked. A grim look appeared on Conall’s face as he began to prepare his sword while Lorine moved her mana, multiple magical barriers appearing in front of her.
With solemn eyes on her emotionless face, she faced the hundreds of mid Grade B attacks. A second followed and mayhem surrounded the library.
Explosions of countless elements vibrated through the many layers of the barrier threatening to break, but Lorine poured more mana into them, watching the cracks quickly render back into a solid state.
After what felt like fifteen seconds, the barrage of elemental attacks finally stopped, only for the duo to see countless more papers already flying around the monster.
Breaking apart her own barrier, she rapidly thought of something before pouring out mana from her body, throwing magic circles at the undead woman.
While the papers were being inscribed and turning into a new flock of birds, the magic circles stopped in the air and began working. As they started flying, a spark was ignited, prompting them to burn up into ash.
With a thunderous scream, the flying bookkeeper released her anger, however, she needed to act quickly, as Lorine was already charging at the mini boss with a new magic circle around her hand.
A new series of papers appeared around her, quickly being inscribed with certain words. Between the bookshelves, a wall had been established, closing the girl off before she could do anything.
Nonetheless, to her surprise, Lorine used her monstrous strength to jump over the wall. Although she may not have been a giant in the soul, she still had the genes of a giant.
Leaving Conall to himself, she went after the flying bookkeeper. However, what they both didn’t expect was the sudden change of the paper wall. From being sturdy, it fell into a pile before the words on the paper lit up, transforming from the original.
The look on his face changed as the boy understood what was happening. Seeing the papers gather up into a mass resembling a large eagle, he quickly ran up to it to break it up, but it was too late.
Flopping its old, rough wings, the monster focused on him, who stood below it.
A feeling lit up in the back of his head as he felt danger engulf him. Preparing his muscles and body to move, he witnessed the attack.
With a sudden thrust of its wings, the eagle released sharp, paper feathers that aimed at the boy, who skillfully dodged them before they could hit. Cutting through the wooden planks and the carpet on top of it like butter, Conall concentrated as he watched Lorine take the mini boss away from him.
The paper monster in front of him was of Grade B, so it wasn’t time to play around. Pouring out his aura, Conall faced the eagle, who whistled so loud and high he felt his bones shake up. Closely observing the bird, he moved at the same time as the monster.
Flying down with its tough and sharp beak pointed at him, it soon felt the sharp blade, further enhanced by his spirit.
The knight grit his teeth as he withstood the attack charging directly into his blade. Slowly sliding back with his feet planted into the carpet, he could only slightly knick at the bird’s beak, but that was immediately resolved once the eagle went away while flopping its paper wings high above him in the air.
Although there was a medium gash at its beak, the paper was quickly filled out, closing the wound off while the bird lost a miniscule amount of mass. At that moment, the papers making up its feathers lit up with words, and wind mana surrounded the bird to its will.
With another flap, both the sharp feathers along with the wind mana came at him, swirling in a chaotic tornado that sent out deadly slashes even faster than before.
Relying on his battle sense, Conall changed his surroundings any time he felt death approaching. In spite of that, it was still hellishly hard evading the papers, as his body felt it.
Two attacks landed at him, one at the right shoulder, and the other barely missing his face, nicking his right cheek while completely negating the mana shield Lorine had cast.
Seeing the bird send out a second tornado of the sort, the boy moved quickly, and with power. Covering his legs with aura, his capabilities became enhanced quickly, similar to that of overfilling one’s body with mana.
Waiting for the perfect moment, he timed his attack. Once the bird started moving its wings for the third tornado, Conall jumped to the side before bouncing off the bookshelves, catching the eagle off-guard.
It wanted to move away at the last second, but the abandonment of its spell left the human with plenty of time. Slashing with all he had to offer, he felt resistance once the eagle defended with its wings.
Slicing through to the middle of them, he sent the monster flying down at its own spells, which couldn’t aim upwards. With momentum high enough to disperse the winds, it released a shriek once feeling the hard ground hit its back.
Falling down directly at the monster, Conall readied his sword to pierce through it. The tip of the blade was just about to touch the papers, however, the eagle released a large mass of wind mana at him.
Immediately hitting the bookshelves with his back, the boy released a few coughs on the floor while his enemy regenerated itself at the sake of some of its body.
Grunting while going up, his gaze never left the monster. Once again, the body lit up in countless marks, words made up from letters he couldn’t understand since it wasn’t calypian.
Although the wounds made it just a bit smaller, it didn’t matter. The whole body lit up as the monster’s body changed its composition. In the second that he was getting up, a salamander appeared on the library’s carpet, climbing onto bookshelves before breathing fire at the human.
Letting out a tired sigh, Conall quickly moved away from the fire’s path before reorganizing his battle plans.