Old Records, the Ossuary of Letters. (2)
<Grlk! Grrrrlk-!>
<Scrrkrrrkrrrk!>
Sentinels rushed in from every direction.
Golems made of books and shelves charged at us in swarms.
They were all different in size and shape, but they seemed to share one purpose: eliminate the intruder.
"Hoo...!"
Dense mana pressed down heavily on my shoulders.
This preserved space from ancient times, and the librarians guarding this vast archive were no easy opponents.
"I know...!"
Shelves poured down from above.
At my signal, Carmilla deployed Blood Manipulation.
-Blandir-Style Blood Manipulation, Seventh Form-
'Crimson Canopy'
"Bloom!"
Shwaaaaak-!
With the short chant, a blood-red barrier covered the two of us.
The red dome blocked the falling shelves.
At the same time, it ground up every golem that touched it.
Kwaaaaaak-!
<Grrrk, grlk!>
<Rrrkrrrkglglgl!>
They crumbled into powder with dying cries.
Ink and torn pages spilled out where guts should have been.
Kuuuuung-!
"I'm going!"
"I'll support you!"
Tak-!
Between collapsing shelves, I kicked off the ground hard.
My body shot forward like an arrow, straight at the golems.
Violent wind lashed at the hem of my robe.
Shweaaaaak-!
"Viktor!"
"Yes!"
Right on cue, red tiles spread across the floor.
It was Carmilla's Blood Manipulation.
Tuwoong-!
The moment I stepped on it, my body launched high into the air.
As I rose, my eyes met several especially massive golems.
I gripped my scythe and aimed.
"Hup...!"
The scythe rose like a black crescent moon.
When I swung deep, the towering shelves were beheaded.
Sskk, sk-!
A heavy slicing sensation ran up through my fingertips.
Then the towers of knowledge, tall enough to touch the ceiling, collapsed.
Kugung, kugugugu...
"Ugh..."
I staggered in midair.
My momentum died, and I started to fall.
As I dropped helplessly, I saw a golem below with its mouth wide open.
<Geeeeeeewakwakwakwak!>
It was a huge mouth.
I didn't hesitate and dove straight into the sentinel's mouth.
Gulp-.
It swallowed me whole in one bite.
Sliding down its throat, I muttered,
"Ignition. Thorn."
Puhwaaaak-!
Spikes burst out explosively from inside its throat.
The golem trembled violently, then soon collapsed in place.
"Ignition. Scissors."
Buuuuuk-!
I tore through its book-like hide and climbed out.
Maybe it had gotten rough. Black ink stains were splattered across my shirt.
'Good thing I came in this instead of my uniform.'
Ink stains were hard to remove.
I took a deep breath and brushed back my hair.
The fight outside must have continued, because sentinel remains were scattered everywhere.
"Viktor."
"...Ah, Princess-nim."
The princess stood between the shelves.
Most of the smaller golems that had swarmed in were already dealt with.
"Looks like it's mostly cleaned up."
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Not even a scratch."
Field, Raziel's Library.
As I'd seen earlier, it was a hidden space with an unusual gimmick.
They said an ancient sage had created this subspace to preserve his knowledge.
Countless sentinels guarded it, but with Carmilla and me, it was manageable enough to break through.
'Well... both Carmilla and I are strong enough to rank near the top of Class A anyway.'
I lightly dusted off my hands.
My gaze stayed fixed past the shelves, up at the high ceiling.
'It should be coming out around now.'
Most of the minor mobs were already cleaned up.
It was about time for the leader to show itself.
Kuuuuung-!
As expected.
The moment I thought that, the entire archive shook.
Before long, broken sentinel debris floated up.
Books and fragments flew around wildly, as if being sucked into a single point.
Charrarrark-!
"V-Viktor? This is..."
"Perfect timing."
Scraps of paper layered over each other.
Torn pages became wings, bent spines became a beak.
Shattered shelf fragments became claws, and each book cover became feathers.
"A... bird?"
It had the shape of a bird.
Its size was grand enough to fill the ceiling.
With its wings spread, it looked about as big as a small apartment unit.
A deep scent of old books drifted through the air.
[Name: Sentinel of the Highest Knowledge (Sentinel of the Highest Knowledge)]
-Race: Golem (Paper)
-Category: Boss Monster
-Description: A librarian that has guarded these ancient texts for a long time. A golem crafted by the ancient sage 'Raziel,' modeled after the phoenix he raised. It can be killed, but it cannot be erased. Even if the sentinel dies, it will be born again in the Ossuary of Letters.
-Possessed Passive: Raziel's Blessing
It looked magnificent.
Just a few flaps of its wings were enough to whip up a storm inside the archive.
Carmilla's silver hair whipped around as she frowned.
"Something like that is a golem? Just how high was its creator's level...?"
"Don't worry. Its creator isn't in this world."
"Even so, that thing alone is already overwhelming."
"Hehe, leave it to me."
Smirk-.
The corners of the mask's eyes curved into a thin smile.
I absently toyed with the scythe in my hand.
A few days before the school trip, I had asked Javert to pre-charge an attack for me.
"Princess-nim."
"Hm?"
"It could be dangerous. Would you come into my arms?"
"Understood."
When I held out my hand, Carmilla changed into bat form without hesitation.
She flew over and slipped right into my shirt pocket.
Only then did I grip the scythe and look up.
<Kiiiiiik-!>
The giant paper bird stared down at me.
It lowered its beak and dove, like it meant to crush me.
'Good.'
The angle was perfect.
Its face closed in instantly.
I raised my scythe and recited the trigger word without hesitation.
"Release."
Ding-!
[Exclusive weapon 'Black Mist' Skill 2 is activated.]
[Skill Name: Predation]
-Stores damage applied to the user as is.
-Can release stored damage.
A message flashed for just a moment.
Right after, a merciless flash engulfed the ancient archive.
-----!
White erased everything in my sight.
Shelves were swept away, and massive fan-shaped scorch marks spread out.
The wing-flapping sentinel couldn't even resist. It was swallowed by that overwhelming surge and torn apart.
The power was as absurd as ever.
<...!>
A faint cry from something.
The chain of exploding flashes erased even that.
Ding-!
[Item 'Evil God's Mask' has been activated.]
-Remaining charges: 2/3
-Time until charge recovery: 49 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds
The brutal recoil consumed one stock from the mask.
By the time the light faded and my whitened vision returned to normal...
"Hoo..."
I stood at the center of a scorched landscape.
About thirty percent of the vast archive had been completely erased.
The sentinel that had been flying near the ceiling was nowhere in sight.
A light notification rang.
Ding-!
[Boss monster 'Sentinel of the Highest Knowledge' has been defeated.]
One-shot.
As expected, combining Javert's strike with the double-counting bug gave outstanding results.
'Told you. This is good.'
Lua's Unique Skill 2.
The strongest card I had.
If there was a flaw, it was the insanely long cooldown.
Ding-!
[Unique Skill 2 'Predation' has been activated.]
-Time remaining until reuse: 6 days 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds
After one use, I had to wait almost a full week.
And with power like this, it came with plenty of restrictions.
It had to be charged by someone else, and even I, the caster, got swept up in the backlash.
Its target range was broad too, so I couldn't use it when people were nearby.
'If there were civilians around...'
It would be a complete disaster.
The stronger it was, the harder it was to handle.
While I was briefly lost in thought, the princess had already returned to human form and looked around.
"No matter how many times I see it, it's overwhelming. That huge golem, in one blow..."
"Let's move. Even if it looked erased, it'll revive in a few hours."
We needed to finish what we came for and leave before that.
We crossed the stacks side by side.
The roaring echoes were gone, and silence settled back into the archive.
Inside the endless shelves, millions of books were packed in rows.
'The problem is... how do I find the exact book I need in here?'
There was no time to search everything one by one.
At this scale, it would take decades.
Just as I was sinking into that thought, a message arrived from the status window.
Ding-!
[Tip. Follow the white thread.]
A white thread?
Before the question even finished forming, a trace flickered in my vision.
A softly glowing line.
It stretched between shelves.
As if it had been assigned to guide the way.
"...Oh-ho."
Yeah, this was right.
No way they were seriously expecting me to search this entire place.
I moved deeper into the archive with Carmilla and Lua.
"..."
A long corridor.
Signs and writing were posted in places, likely indicating book categories.
I managed to parse some of the ancient script.
'Theology...?'
Theology.
That was the category on the shelf we were heading toward.
To find information tied to ■■■, we suddenly had to look through theology books.
'What the hell is it?'
My doubts only grew.
Soon the thread stopped, pointing to one specific spot.
A shelf set all the way at the far edge of this vast archive.
As I arrived, the shortened thread connected to a book in the lowest compartment, where eyes rarely reached.
'That one.'
I bent down and pulled it out.
Unlike the others, this one was thick with dust.
Tap tap-.
I brushed it off lightly.
There was no title at all, only black and white on the cover.
Not understanding anything yet, I flipped it open and found only one line on the first page.
[Can humans live again?]
And then,
A name written under that sentence.
[From Delkirn.]
Delkirn.
I stared blankly at the name.
That part was glowing, like a white thread.
'Three syllables.'
■■■.
This was probably the identity behind the mosaic.
But even after learning the name, I still couldn't identify who it was.
'Who is Delkirn...?'
I turned the page, hoping for an answer on the next one.
That guess was right.
And the moment I read it, I froze.
Only three sentences were written there in rough ancient script.
[Delkirn.]
[A term organized by earlier sages, a shortened name for the Evil God 'Delkirnos'.]
[However, to erase the horror of that name, all mention was forbidden in that era.]
"..."
I could only stare at those lines in silence.
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