Chapter 55
I floated several white fireballs in the air.
The dark space brightened up a bit.
I don't really need the light, but psychology is a thing. Looking at those safety guidelines, who knows what those damn elves did to this library. It'll work fine as a precaution.
So I was going to ignore the control room, but.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
From inside the darkened control room came a bell sound that really shouldn't be ringing.
"Oh fuck."
Should I just ignore it and keep going?
No. Ignoring shit like this is how everything goes to hell in an instant. Like having it ring all damn day.
When I turned the control room doorknob and went inside, what I saw were various colorful Magic Gears.
If Earth's Magic Gears are like phones, the elves' ones look more like computers.
Ding! Ding!
When someone provokes you, it's only natural to provoke back.
I activated the pink Magic Gear that was ringing.
"This is Yong-yong, head librarian of the Records Library. What's the matter?"
-This is Krak from Marita Fortress! The humans have betrayed us! They've conspired with the Demon Race to invade! Requesting reinforcements! Requesting reinforcements!
Oh. These guys are using our language. Or wait, is that just how I'm understanding it? Actually, more importantly...
"Why the fuck is this idiot requesting reinforcements from a library? Missing a brain?"
-It's urgent! If this place falls, the path to the royal capital will be open! Please send reinforcements!
"......"
This must be talking about the end of the Elf Kingdom.
Sadly, this is just the Records Library. These are probably just records. The support request record must have been abandoned here in the library.
Even if this was somehow connecting to a world where the elves hadn't fallen through space and time, there's nothing I could do to help.
So I turned off the Magic Gear without listening further.
Ding! Ding!
-Urgent reinforcement request! Please! If anyone receives this message, tell the Queen!
I threw the Magic Gear aside. I can't keep listening to this depressing conversation forever.
Actually, maybe I should take it with me just in case. Seems like it would work if I just supply it with Magic Power.
After ignoring the bell sound a few times, the calls finally stopped coming.
It's sad, but there's nothing I can do about it, and I need to focus on escaping from here myself.
"Akashic Record... is this just a record? Or an actual outside communication?"
[The Records Library itself contains many possibilities. It could simply be records of the fallen elves, or in another world, an elf named Krak may have actually requested reinforcements.]
In other words, this is another Schrödinger situation.
Either Krak's record was abandoned here in the archives before they fell, or there's a living Krak who accidentally called the library while trying to contact the capital for help.
Sad, but whatever. My own neck comes first. Let's focus on finding a way out of here.
Ding ding
This time a purple Magic Gear started ringing.
This one's definitely not going to be good. Answering will just be more weird shit.
-My body! My body is burning! My body... my body!
"When will your mouth burn up?"
I threw and smashed the Magic Gear. This control room itself seems pretty untrustworthy. A control room in what's basically being used as a trash dump couldn't possibly be working properly. These calls are probably just the creepy voices of those damn elves trying to get that 2-hour golden time mentioned in the safety guidelines.
The kind of bastards who'd write rules about shoving books up asses wouldn't have left the library untouched, right?
Still, I am interested in the books themselves. Those perverted bastards must have thought they were pretty amazing to consider shoving them up there.
"So you really can open and close different sections from the control room."
You can even control the back door's lock from here.
When I switched it to ON, I heard what sounded like a "Giiing!" noise from far away.
I also turned on the lights for each section so the whole library lit up decently bright.
No idea how big this place is to need sections like this. But that back door that keeps getting mentioned seems to be the exit.
The way I came in was a trap entrance, so that must have been the original entrance.
I checked the bookshelf layout map on the control room wall. Looking at it carefully, holy shit it's huge - there's even a map showing the route to the back door.
"What kind of library needs a damn map. This is insane."
Well, I guess it needs to be that elaborate to count as a trap.
"Let's see what kind of records they have here."
I picked up something random from the floor.
[Lewd Lizard Maid Vol. 1]
"What the fu- huh?"
The title's shit, but when I looked at the contents, a whole new world opened up before my eyes.
This might actually be pretty good. I should keep it.
The illustrations being lizard maids is garbage but just reading the content, it's actually a pretty solid work.
Those perverted bastards. This must be what they were shoving up there. Were they just digging through trash for porn?
The corridors were complex like the safety guidelines said. Even when going straight, each section had long winding corridors.
And of course these weren't just simple corridors.
They were passages between bookshelves, with the shelves themselves stretching up endlessly.
"This isn't as bad as I thought?"
It's not like I can't tell where I am. The corridors aren't so narrow that checking the map is hard. Actually the wide space makes it easy to navigate with this map.
Though those bookshelves reaching up to the ceiling I can't even see are a bit oppressive.
I'm not a bookworm, but bookworms would probably love this place.
Come to think of it, Reina always loved books too. I like them well enough, but Reina would read anything.
-What's "Hell Joseon"? Why are you reading that?
-A true intellectual doesn't discriminate between books.
During free time, Reina always had mountains of books piled up.
All kinds of books, Eastern and Western. Wait, does that mean Reina's a bookworm too?
If she came here she might end up making out with the bookshelves in some erotic pose.
"But I definitely wasn't expecting this."
Look at these piles of skeletons blocking the way. You know, those moving skeletons that show up all the time in fantasy games and novels.
"What are these things?"
Just looking at them, they give off that low-level monster vibe you'd find in any game.
Well, I had a feeling something was up when those weird calls started coming.
But they can't seriously think they can stop me with something like this, right? Elves are stupid. If they wanted to stop me they should have recruited some hotties.
I raised my hand slightly.
Snap!
Just spreading some Chaos should do it.
"Just snapping my fingers should make them fight each other... huh?"
But these skeletons aren't fighting each other.
That's weird? My Chaos is being blocked by some low-level monsters? The skeletons are actually marching forward with their swords raised.
This is kind of pissing me off. Are you telling me my Evil Dragon powers don't work on them?
"Wait, is it just that mental attacks don't work?"
Thinking about it, do these things even have a sense of self? If there's no mind to attack, my powers are meaningless.
Which means... punches and White Flame should work, right?
I kicked off the ground, charged at the skeletons and punched them.
"Gueeek!?"
Making some weird sound, the bones just shattered.
And since they were made of Magic Power originally, the bones disappeared completely instead of leaving remains.
"That was nothing?"
"Grooooooar!"
"What, these bastards come back? The Magic Power should have been destroyed?"
Monsters made of Magic Power disappear when their Magic Power is destroyed. I definitely confirmed the Magic Power vanished?
Let's try White Flame then.
I set the skeletons on fire with white flames. As they quickly spread, the skeletons start disappearing into the floor again.
But these bastards are pretty persistent.
They keep crawling back up from the floor without properly dying.
Only after I covered the floor in flames did they finally stop respawning and clear the path.
That's when I sensed a presence from somewhere.
"You can't kill them like that!"
"Huh? A real bookworm?"
"They came from books! You have to destroy the books themselves to make them disappear!"
Pointed ears and clean white skin. Platinum blonde hair. Huh? Feel like I've seen this before.
Reina? No, different vibe. While Reina's the typical tsundere elf, this elf has slightly gentler eyes. And unlike Reina, she's got small breasts. Though why does that make her look more erotic?
She looks a bit older than Reina.
Wait, my libido's been way too high lately. Gotta control myself. No way an elf in a place like this is normal.
Right. She's a bookworm.
Or since she's female, book-woman?
"What are you doing? Find the books they came from and burn them!"
As expected of a bookworm, the elf started frantically searching through the bookshelves.
Is there really a need to search? We're just giving the skeletons more time to move.
"Can't we just burn everything here?"
Just burn it all and be done with it.
The Akashic Record just said not to burn everything - a little should be fine.
There weren't any skeletons where I came in, then they suddenly appeared. That means the books must be right around here.
If we go further past the skeletons, they should disappear on their own.
Better to burn them now before dealing with other monsters.
"What are you suddenly-"
"Burn white. Hellfire."
With that cool incantation, all the nearby bookshelves started burning.
"Y-you're insane! Burning all the books!"
This elf is definitely a bookworm.
When the burning bookshelves collapsed, the skeletons finally disappeared completely.
Since they're book monsters, Chaos doesn't work on them. Wait, is this elf also some bookworm that came out of a book?
"Hey, even if these are discarded records, they're still knowledge right? What are you thinking burning them all at once?"
Her face really looks like what Reina would look like with an innocent expression.
To test if she's real or fake, I grabbed both her cheeks and pulled.
"Ow ow! That hurts! What are you doing?"
"Soft and chewy like mochi. Is this an elf thing?"
After pulling for a while before letting go, the skin texture was artistic. Feels very similar to touching Reina's cheeks.
"An elf thing? Aren't you an elf?"
"Uh, well about that..."
How do I explain? Dragon? Human?
Well my body itself is closer to human right? A human with Evil Dragon powers.
"Um, I'm human..."
"You damn Imperial bitch! So you were planning to infiltrate the records storage! That's how you fell down here! My name is Rachel Silverluke! As a proud member of the Elf Kingdom royal family, I'll kill you and satisfy my rage!"
Rachel Silverluke? Wait, royalty? Why is a royal here?
But this bookworm bitch clearly isn't planning to let me off. She suddenly drew her sword and charged at me.
"For fuck's sake, at least let me finish talking."
"Die!"
Seems this elf wasn't just a normal bookworm. The way she charged with her sword was seriously scary, like a crazy bitch going wild. Plus she's clearly a martial artist who's learned Physical Enhancement.
But who am I?
I'm the reincarnation of Azhi Dahaka, the strongest being in this world.
Right. An elf's swordsmanship is like a child attacking me.
Moreover, the one who gave me my swordsmanship skill machine was the God of War himself. Seeing an elf act up in front of me really pissed me off.
Thwack!
"Aaaagh!"
I hit her with a belly punch strong enough to stimulate her uterus.
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