Chapter 16
The Library of Ajax
Tokiya continued to look around in awe.
"Ajax? I've heard that name before."
The blue haired man nodded.
"Of course you have. The Ajax I mentioned is the exact one you're both thinking of. Regarded as the smartest man in the world, founder of the Scholar's Society, inventor of regalia, and the one who helped the Hero Seigel save the world, this library is the regalia form of the Ajax Palamedes."
Berserker seemed genuinely impressed as he looked around the library.
"Wow, I can't believe I'm so close to a legend. I'm even more impressed Tokiya knew who Ajax was."
Tokiya kicked Berserker's leg, and in response, Berserker casually kicked Tokiya to the ground.
"Ow."
The blue haired man tried to ignore Berserker and Tokiya's interesting dynamic. Berserker turned to the man with the monocle.
"You speak about Ajax like he's a different person. Shouldn't this library belong to him and not you?"
"I am simply a part of this regalia just like the books on these shelves. I am a product of Ajax's soul while not being the same person. So, while, yes, this library does belong to Ajax, being a part of his soul, my whole purpose is to protect it while in regalia form, so I think it is fine if I claim at least some ownership."
Tokiya, who had now gotten up and began inspecting the bookshelves, asked a question.
"You mention this regalia form a lot. Are there other forms a regalia can take?"
The blue haired man walked over to Tokiya and stood over him as Tokiya crouched down to look at the bottom row of books.
"All regalia have two forms. Their base form is the form that looks like and functions like themselves when they were alive. For example, if Ajax were in his base form he would essentially just be a spirit version of himself. The regalia form of a regalia is the new form they gain whether that be a sword, shield, or in this case, a library. In this form they gain access to new abilities, like the books in this library."
Tokiya picked up the first book he saw. It was a plain blue book with simple black embroidery on the cover. On the front was black text reading "Seigel Aurehart." Tokiya immediately recognized the name as the one belonging to Seigel, the Hero. He opened the book and began reading.
Berserker walked over to the two.
"I don't think we ever got your name."
The blue haired man turned around to face Berserker.
"My name? I don't have one as I'm simply just a piece of this regalia. I suppose you could just call me the Librarian."
There was a bit of a somber tone in the Librarian's voice as he said this. Berserker found his choice of name odd, but he certainly couldn't speak when it came to odd names. If anything, Berserker was the only one who could really understand the Librarian.
Tokiya flipped through the book titled "Seigel Aurehart." The text in the book was incredibly small and condensed as if whoever wrote it was trying to fit a ton of information in a small container. He landed on a random page of the book that stood out for its odd format.
Seigel, tasked with killing ■■■■ made his way to the ■■■■■ of the ■■■■■ ■■■■. Once there, he engaged in a fierce battle with ■■■■, and almost managed to kill the ■■■. However, before dying, ■■■■ gave Seigel a warning. The ■■■ made Seigel wonder what ■■■■■■■■■■ true intentions were. If ■■■■ died there who would be able to stop her if she went rogue? This caused Seigel to-
Before even finishing reading the page, Tokiya flipped to another one towards the beginning to see if he missed something. Sure enough, the formatting was just as strange with even more blacked out words.
It was Ajax who created the Holy Sword for Seigel for the sole purpose of defeating ■■■■■■ and bringing peace back to the life of every human. Seigel was genuinely impressed by the genius of Ajax that allowed him to create such a powerful weapon. Although he hated that he felt such a way towards Ajax.
Tokiya, in a confused state, frantically flipped to the back of the book.
Seigel died in the arms of ■■■■■■■■.
That was the last line.
Tokiya looked up at the Librarian, swinging the book in front of him with one hand.
"What's wrong with this book? A bunch of words are censored, and it's practically unreadable."
Berserker snatched the book from Tokiya and began flipping through the pages. He raised his eyebrows.
"He's right. I can't understand a damn section of this thing."
The Librarian adjusted his monocle.
"In this library, access to information is extremely dependent on your rank in the Scholar's Society. With you two being only on the free trial, there's going to be a lot of information that is inaccessible to you. However, you can always agree to pay a monthly fee in order to-"
Ignoring the librarian's plot to extract money from them, Berserker handed the book to Tokiya who put it back on the shelf.
"Don't ignore me!"
Berserker turned to the Librarian.
"How long does this free trial ask anyways?"
The Librarian smirks.
"Six hours, of course."
Berserker frowned, starting to get a sense of the true nature of the Librarian and by extension, the legendary Ajax Palamedes.
"Some free trial that is."
"There's a lot of information one can consume in six hours. Anyways, once your free trial ends, you'll lose your right to even be in this library, so you might want to get moving towards the exit."
"How far up is the exit?"
"It's on the seventh floor, the very top one."
Berserker cracked his knuckles and yawned as if being trapped in an ancient library and attacked by wolves, a cultist, and a giant cyclops was boring to him.
"That shouldn't be too hard."
The Librarian adjusted his monocle and sighed.
"You'd be surprised. This place can be quite the maze."
Berserker took the Librarian's statement as a challenge and was filled with determination to make it out of the regalia before the free trial expired. He pushed the back of Tokiya's head.
"You ready to go?"
Tokiya was still crouched looking at more of the books. He put up one finger, silently telling Berserker to give him a bit more time. This time, he was reading an orange book with the same black embroidery from the Seigel book. In black text on the front was the word "Cars." Tokiya stared at the book in confusion.
"Is Cars another hero from the past? If so, they must've not done anything that important because I've never heard of them."
Tokiya opened the book and began reading, skeptical about the status of this "hero."
Invented in the year ■■■■, cars were the main mode of transportation for humans until the commercialization of teleportation magic. Created by Lark Bench, the first car was nothing compared to some of the cars that would come later and was barely functionable. It was only capable of storing enough fuel to drive 1.5 to 2 miles at a time and could only hold one person, the driver.
Tokiya skipped a bunch of pages.
The fastest car to ever exist was the Leones 1400 model X, and it was capable of traveling up to 400 miles per hour. Its speed made it by far the highest valued car.
Tokiya slammed the book shut.
"This is just fiction!"
The Librarian stared down at him. He raised his eyebrows.
"That is an orange book, so it is quite impossible for it to be fiction."
Tokiya stared at the book. As he had already observed, it was indeed orange.
"There's no way! A mode of transportation that can reach 400 miles per hour just doesn't exist."
The Librarian shrugged.
"Maybe not now, but this library holds all of the information in the universe, past, present, and even future, meaning that one day, maybe in your lifetime, such a thing will exist. Does it give a date anywhere?"
Tokiya was shocked by the revelation. It was almost comparable to Karasu telling him about his Divine Blessing. Tokiya noticed that people with large and unbelievable information had an irresistible urge to present it in the most casual ways.
"There is a date, but it's blacked out."
The Librarian smirked and his eyes glinted with greed.
"Ah, what a shame. Doesn't that just bug you so much? You know a tier one subscription is only-"
Tokiya put the book back on the shelf and stood up. He turned around to face the Librarian and Berserker.
"So, is everything in this library true?"
"Well, not everything. You see, depending on the color of the book, you can actually determine what type of information it will contain. For example, the book about Seigel was blue because it told the story about an actual person. The other colors are orange for objects, green for concepts, yellow for events, and red for places. The last color, purple, is a sort of catch all category for exact recordings of writing or conversations and miscellaneous things. If you find a purple book, it very well may be an exact copy of a piece of fiction that either exists or will exist."
Berserker raised his eyebrows.
"So, if this library has records of everyone in the world, does that mean there's a book for me?"
The Librarian nodded.
"That is correct."
Berserker slammed his hand onto Tokiya's shoulder, causing a shiver to be sent through his body. Tokiya wondered how he could still have so much strength in his state. Berserker smiled.
"We're going to look at our books."
"Huh?"
"You heard me. We're going to go look at our books and see our futures."
Tokiya was going to protest. After all, what was the point in living life if you knew everything that would happen? However, knowing your future would have its uses that outweighed the cons for some people. For Tokiya though, the uses of reading his book didn't come from the future, but from the past. Why did his parents abandon him? What was his relation to Karasu? These questions could be answered by reading the records of his past.
"F-fine. We can go look at our books, but we have to be quick. Remember, we only have one day to make it out of here."
Berserker waved him off.
"Yeah, yeah, it's only seven floors. We'll be fine."
The two men turned to the Librarian who was just standing there with his hands locked behind his back as if he was awaiting instructions. Berserker spoke first.
"Librarian, we want to see our books. Tell us how to find them."
The Librarian sighed and shook his head.
"I honestly don't think you've asked for anything politely this whole time."
Despite his clear distaste in Berserker's demeanor, the Librarian did not refuse his request. After all, it would be weird if one were to refuse the only thing they could do, have ever done, and were born to do. So, the Librarian nodded and agreed to the service.
"Follow me."
The Librarian walked into an aisle of books and the two men followed him. They were consumed by the towering shelves as they left the relatively open space surrounding the stairs. The colossal shelves carried an aura more intimidating than any monster they've faced. The only thing stronger than the brute force of a giant or the Temporis was all the knowledge in the universe.
Berserker, staring at the blue hair on the back of the Librarian's head, asked him a question.
"So, do you know where you're going, or are you just walking around hoping to find a book with our names on it. I'll tell you right now, you're not going to find a book titled Berserker."
The Librarian continued walking.
"I assure you, I don't intend on wasting your time. There are lookup stations scattered throughout the library that allow me to easily locate any book I desire."
The group stopped at a t-intersection between two aisles. The Librarian intensely pondered for a bit, looking both ways before deciding to go right.
Berserker scoffed.
"You'd think after being in this library for over 100 years, you'd be able to know how to navigate this library with ease."
The Librarian frowned although Berserker and Tokiya couldn't see it.
"I'll have you know that this library changes the layout of each floor every 12 hours, meaning that it's impossible for me to memorize the way to the lookup stations."
Tokiya asked in a calm voice with no edge unlike Berserker.
"Then how do you know where the stations are?"
"Because both I and the stations are linked to the regalia, I can actually sense where they are, allowing me to find them despite the randomized layout."
As they continued walking through the crooked paths and odd intersections the shelves formed, Tokiya felt less comfortable calling the regalia a library more than a maze. It felt almost purposely confusing as if to make it impossible to reach the exit within a reasonable time. Every once in a while, they would pass bins labeled return, which Tokiya assumed were for books.
Tokiya continued to look at the infinite number of books until his eyes landed on Berserker. He whispered.
"Hey, Berserker."
Berserker turned his head to Tokiya, and whispered in response.
"What's up?"
"Why do you want to look at your book? You don't really strike me as the type of person who wants to know their future."
Berserker didn't need to think about his response, nor did he hesitate to tell Tokiya his reasons.
"You're right. I'm not that type of person. Although I do think it would be cool to see a bit of my future, I'm not sure how I feel about reading everything. I think I might just read two pages of my book."
Tokiya smiled a bit after realizing Berserker thought the same as him. Berserker continued.
"However, the main reason I want to read our books is for you."
"For me?"
"Yeah, think about it. As Ubi demonstrated, the cult can attack us at any time. If it weren't for that lady with the purple hair, we would've died. What I'm trying to say is that if you have a cult chasing after you, reading your book is the best shot you have at avoiding them."
Tokiya honestly hadn't thought about that, but he still wasn't fond of the idea of reading into his future even if it could save his life.
"Why can't we just read your book for that instead?"
Berserker sighed and hesitated for a bit. This made Tokiya brace for what he was about to say.
"I know you're going to die, Tokiya. Gremory told me during that party the townspeople threw. Not even I could imagine how much mental stress you must be going through. You really are something else. I say all of this to say that reading your book might help you to beat death."
Tokiya really hadn't thought about it like that until Berserker mentioned it. Reading his book might be the definitive way for beating his fate. However, there was still a choice to be made. As for Berserker hiding the fact that he knew about Tokiya's fate, Tokiya did not mind which relieved Berserker.
The Librarian stopped and turned around to the men.
"Here we are."
The two men looked around him to see a small open space in the middle of the path. In the center of the space was a small podium that was up to the height of Tokiya's chest. They all walk up to the podium. Once close enough, the Librarian put his hand on the top of the podium, and once he did, neatly arranged magic boxes, each representing a letter of the alphabet appeared above the podium. To Tokiya, this looked far too advanced and not from his world.
"So, who wants to go first?"
Both men look at each other before Berserker volunteers.
"I'll go."
The Librarian turns to the boxes.
"Ok, I'll need your real name, the whole thing"
Berserker lightly pushes the Librarian out of the way.
"I'll type it in."
The Librarian sucked his teeth. Berserker awkwardly pressed the magic boxes until he had spelled out his name. Once he finished, he stepped back staring at what he spelled out. Tokiya didn't look though.
"What now?"
The Librarian stepped in and pressed one of the boxes that was offset from the others and contained the word enter. Once he did, a card came out from a small slit on the neck of the podium. The Librarian took the card and showed it to Berserker and Tokiya. Tokiya was careful enough to look at the card without seeing the name of the book.
"This card, while I'm holding it, will allow me to be directed to the book that it is assigned to. I can hold multiple at once, so I'll print yours out too, Tokiya. I assume you're not as touchy about your name as the brute over here."
Tokiya shook his head.
"I'm not. My full name is Tokiya Hara."
The Librarian skillfully pressed the magic buttons, and in only a couple seconds, he had spelt out Tokiya's full name. He tapped the enter box and waited. He waited more. They all waited.
"Would you mind telling me how to spell your name?"
Tokiya was looking at what the Librarian had spelt out and didn't see any mistakes. However, he spelt out his name to him anyway.
"T-o-k-i-y-a H-a-r-a."
The Librarian input the exact letters he was told and pressed the enter key again. Still nothing.
"Are you sure that you're giving me your real name? Only the name assigned to you at birth will do."
Tokiya thought about it.
"Tokiya is definitely my first name, but my last name could be different because Mr. Hara isn't my real dad. But now that I think about it, Mr. Hara said that my real dad was his brother, so shouldn't they have the same last name? Mr. Hara was never married, so there's no room for his last name to have been changed. Maybe I was given my mom's maiden name as my last name at birth. That's unlikely, though."
"If that's not my real name, then I don't know what is."
The Librarian simply shrugged.
"Well, it doesn't seem like much can be done, and I won't pry into your past and ask about it. After all, it seems like we all have unusual situations when it comes to our names."
The Librarian held up the card for Berserker's book.
"But for now I suppose we can go check this book out."
"Wait."
Berserker and the Librarian turned to Tokiya.
"If I can't find my book there is still another book I want to look into."
The Librarian prepared to enter in the title of another book.
"And what would the title of this book be?"
"Eien-"
Tokiya began to speak but interrupted himself because of one glaring issue with his request.
"I don't know Eien's last name! Dammit! It would've been great if I could've gotten information about him. Maybe I could try Karasu."
Tokiya frowned.
"I don't know her last name either! Damn it all. This is my one chance to get the answer to any question I want, and I can't even do anything with it. Come on. Think, think, think."
Tokiya looked down at his left arm and saw the mark of his Divine Blessing which was still a bit bloody from the encounter with the Gate Keeper.
"I got it!"
"I want to read the book of the World Tree."
"Very well then."
The Librarian adeptly typed in the title of the book. Luckily, a card came out this time. The Librarian accepted the card and held both out in front of him. He seemed to be in a deep focus, so both men stood there and waited. After a few seconds, the Librarian came to a verdict.
"It seems like the brute's book is closer. It's actually on the same floor, so follow me. We'll head there first."
The three men went back down the same path they came. Eventually, they started going down a different path. Tokiya found it odd that it bothered him, but he couldn't stop thinking about his name. It didn't bother him because it was deeply troubling, but because anyone would be curious to know what their real name was. However, he was also disappointed at not getting the chance to read the books of Eien and Karas-
Karasu! Tokiya was so preoccupied with everything in the Library of Ajax that he had completely forgotten that Karasu was outside fighting Ubi. While he was safe in a library, consuming the knowledge of the universe, Karasu was engaged in a fierce battle with her perfect counter for his sake. In Tokiya's defense, he did play a huge role in taking down the Gate Keeper, so he wasn't doing nothing.
"Good job me?"
Eventually, the Librarian stopped, causing Tokiya and Berserker to come to a halt too. The Librarian looked up and pointed.
"Your book is up there, Brute."
Berserker hit the Librarian on the head.
"My name is Berserker! Do you need me to spell it out? B-E-R-S-E-R-K-E-R!"
The Librarian rubbed his head. His eyes darted around the room as if this was a completely new experience for him. He could hardly believe someone had actually hit him and didn't really know how to react.
"Ow! Don't hit me! I can have you kicked out of the library for that!"
"Whatever, just get my book."
Berserker aggressively pointed up to the higher shelves. For the first time in his life, the Librarian felt like he'd rather die than do his job. However, he did it anyway.
Nearby was a huge ladder that the Librarian rolled over. Once he balanced it, the Librarian climbed it. Tokiya could imagine that if he were to fall, the blue haired man would certainly die. After all, he certainly didn't look strong enough to survive that fall. Tokiya shook his head.
"Here you go!"
As the Librarian called out from high on the ladder, something came flying down. The unidentified object crashed on Berserker's head. Tokiya couldn't help but imagine that being karma for all of his abusive ways. He snickered. Berserker, however, was not amused, and he looked up with furious eyes.
"What the hell!"
The Librarian began to climb down the ladder unapologetically. Tokiya and Berserker looked down to see what had fallen. It was a book. Tokiya inspected it and saw that the book was titled-
Berserker snatched the book away before Tokiya had time to fully process the title. From this defensive action, Tokiya was able to infer that this book was Berserker's. The Librarian's feet touched the ground.
"That's your book, Brute."
The Librarian remembered Berserker's hitting strength.
"I-I mean Berserker. Anyways, you're free to read it."
Berserker opened the book.
"Ok, let's see how real this thing is."
He flipped through the beginning section of the book. As he did his eyebrows raised.
"No way! This is like my whole life!"
"Wait, let me see."
Berserker clutched the book closer.
"Back off!"
"Fine."
Keeping the contents of the book hidden, Berserker continued to read. At some point, he began flipping the pages more slowly, being careful not to go too far.
"Now, let's see the first page of my future."
"..."
"..."
"You have got to be kidding me!"
Berserker slammed the book on the floor, and the Librarian instantly began scolding him.
"That's library property! You must be begging to get kicked out!"
"What the hell was that, huh? This library is useless!"
Tokiya picked up the book, which had landed upside down on the page that made Berserker so mad. His eyes widened.
■■■■ ■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■-
Tokiya looked up at the Librarian.
"It's all blacked out."
The blue haired man adjusted his monocle.
"Oh, so that's what you're so enraged about. It's to be expected. You're on a free trail and trying to see the future. However, if you were to-"
"Stop trying to advertise your stupid subscription! What good is this library if I can't even see one page into my future? Now, even if we were to find Tokiya's book it wouldn't be of any use."
The ground began to slightly rumble, and the sound of something large rubbing against the floor and bookshelves could be heard. Berserker began to say something, but the Librarian quickly shushed him. From the cross intersection at the end of the aisle, a giant worm peered its head around the corner. The worm wasn't as big as the bookshelves, but was still large, being about twice the height of Berserker. However, for a worm, it had an oddly snake like jaw.
The worm faced the group and even though it didn't have eyes, Tokiya and Berserker knew it was staring right at them. The Librarian stepped in between the men and the worm.
"This lad right here is another function of the library that serves as security, much like the Gate Keeper. The worms around here are meant to keep order around the whole library except the lobby which is the Gate Keeper's domain. They value their quiet, so I suggest you keep your voice down, Brute."
The Librarian walked up to the worm and tapped it, causing it to peacefully fade into magic particles. Tokiya stared uneasily.
"So, it won't attack us as long as we're quiet and don't break any rules?"
"Correct, although, I think that might be a tad too hard for the brute to do."
Berserker, about to prove the Librarian right, restrained himself from commenting on his remark. The Librarian clasped his hands together.
"Well, let's get going. We'll get a look at the World Tree book, and then I'll take you to the exit."
Berserker took his book from Tokiya and raised it in the air.
"Aren't you going to put the book back?"
The Librarian shook his head.
"There is no need. You will notice that there are bins labeled return scattered throughout the library. Just put the book in one of those, and it will be automatically reshelved."
As much as Tokiya and Berserker hated the exclusivity and sometimes hostile nature of Ajax's Library, they had to admit that its features and mechanics were quite impressive. The group walked throughout the labyrinth, and sure enough, there was a bin that Berserker was able to pop his book into and watch as it immediately disappeared. After a bit of walking, they reached a small spiral staircase only wide enough for a single file line to walk up it.
"The book we're looking for is on the third floor. An unfortunate feature of this library is that the stairs are almost never located next to each other, so once we go up these, there will be a bit more walking until we reach the third floor."
Berserker groaned.
"Yay, just what a severely injured man needs."
They all went up the stairs, and once on the second floor, continued their march.
"Hey, Tokiya."
Tokiya looked up at Berserker who was walking beside him.
"Yeah?"
"We should probably just head to the exit and skip the World Tree book. We have to get out of here as soon as possible, and there's no point in looking at the book if we can't read the future."
Tokiya adamantly shook his head.
"I have to read this book. Besides, what I want to read is the past, not the future."
"If I can read the past of the World Tree's book, I can uncover the history of the Divine Blessing and why it was given to me. It might also have details on how to master the Divine Root Blessing. I will read that book!"
Determination was building up inside of Tokiya, and Berserker could see it in the way he walked. His steps became faster and more forceful. Berserker smiled.
Eventually, the group made it to another spiral staircase and ascended it. Once on the third floor, with the group matching Tokiya's new pace, it didn't take long for them to reach the location of the book. The Librarian began to reach for the book, standing on the tips of his toes. Berserker, being taller, grabbed it and handed it to him.
"T-thank you."
The Librarian handed the book to Tokiya. It was a blue book. Tokiya raised an eyebrow. He checked to make sure this was the right book, and sure enough it was titled "World Tree."
"Why is it blue? I thought that color was for people."
The Librarian shrugged as he adjusted his monocle.
"That's a good question. Honestly, I don't know. Ajax was never really an expert on the World Tree."
Berserker scoffed.
"Some Librarian you are."
Tokiya took a deep breath as he prepared to open the book. Inside would be all of the answers needed to save him from his fated death. He opened it to the first page.
■■■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■. ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■ ■■■. ■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■■■■. ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■. ■■ ■■■. ■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■ ■■■■■. ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■. ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■ ■■■. ■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■■■■. ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■. ■■ ■■■. ■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■ ■■■■■. ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■. ■■■■ ■■■■ ■ ■■■. ■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■■■■. ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■. ■■ ■■■. ■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■ ■■■■■. ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■. ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■ ■■■. ■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■■■■. ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■. ■■ ■■■. ■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■ ■ ■■■■■.
Tokiya flipped to the next page.
■■■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■. ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■ ■■■. ■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■■■■. ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■. ■■ ■■■. ■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■ ■■■■■.
Tokiya flipped to the next page.
Black.
Next page.
Black.
Next page.
Black.
"No, no, no, no!"
"This can't be happening! My one chance to save myself. Wait. Berserker still has some money left. I can upgrade my tier to read it, right? Right? Yeah, I'll do that!"
"Librarian-"
Beep
The group looked up to see a magic message floating above them that read:
Library closed.
It changed.
Please leave library. 10
Tokiya and Berserker's hearts sank as the timer counted down and there was nothing they could do about it. They turned to the Librarian who simply stood there. Berserker grabbed his shoulders.
"Do something! Make it stop!"
The Librarian smiled, but it wasn't his normal greedy smile. It was a somber smile.
"I can't. I'm simply a function of this regalia, remember?"
Berserker's grip tightened.
"Dammit! You're a person with your own will, so do something!"
The Librarian shook his head.
"Get to the top floor and find the exit. I have a feeling you can do it."
Tokiya stared on in horror and dropped the book in his hands as he saw a giant worm slithering down the aisle. It opened its jaws and let out a deafening roar.
Invalid access. Summoning the Worm Colony.