Chương 34: Young again

Kayle was upset and angry about the whole situation. In disbelief, she pushed Eric to the ground and started throwing fireballs everywhere.

"Are you mad?!" Flames lit up the stone beneath Eric's feet. His arms and legs were hurting from the intense anger spewing forth from the caster. He quickly got up and teleported a short distance away.

"We don't have time for this right now! Just trust me for once, okay?" More and more chunks of flying flesh rained down on them. The small demons that spawned vanished in fiery death and the occasional slice from Eric's blade, but the barrage was so much that the demons steadily approached. Disposing of the minor demons kept their attention, but the imminent clash with their furious maker was approaching. Ash swooped down and dropped the heavy tome beside the group.

It was sticky and dripping with ink, its pages holding back the liquid like a magnet. Eric took a quick glance.

"We need to get closer together. That book over there will help us," he teleported near Kayle and pointed at the old tome. He disappeared just a second later and snatched it. One less problem to solve right now. A steady stream of fire appeared from the hands of the cultist woman, and she directed it into the flying chunks before they turned into a cloud of smaller demons. With Eric's support, they could keep the swarm at bay, at least for now.

"How is this piece of junk going to help? You'll read a bedtime story?" Kayle said.

"Opening it towards the demons turns them back into ink. I still don't know if they can escape somehow," Eric sliced whatever escaped from the torrential fire in front of them.

"Your impending doom is near, servants of the false gods." An ominous, raspy voice thundered in Eric's head. Echoes layered the voice and bounced around his mind. He fell to the ground from the mind interference. Deep inside, that was the spark that ignited his hatred for the demon. A feeling of warmth rushed through his body as he looked forward. Get out of my head! I'll show you who the false god is… The pounding footsteps stopped for a moment, and the eerie silence of the library emerged once again.

Where did he go? We have unfinished business to…" Watch out!" Kayle took Eric by the hand and pulled him away. Suddenly, the silhouette of the demon materialized where they were. Seconds later, it crashed and formed a crater in the library floor.

"Fresh meat!" An empowered spectral throw crashed into the demon's head. It fractured into smaller green pieces, evaporating in the air.

"Worms! You're the reason evil lives on…" A barrage of fire missiles quickly halted the fiend's ever-growing anger. Kayle summoned another fire waved and both she and Eric surfed forward. The reaper acolyte conjured a giant phantom fist and punched the demon, launching it backward. That'll teach him. Getting up and cleaning the blood from its mouth, the hellspawn tore into its own flesh. This time, it left long, jagged cuts with its own gut spilling on the ground.

"Arise, my servants. Rid the world of the non-believers!" Gushing organs formed a large clump. Three sets of hands sprouted from all sides, giving the uniform ball the ability to lift itself off the floor. Tired, weeping faces appeared everywhere on the sphere and mixed with angry and happy ones. Eric saw a small child laughing in the ball of horrors, its face white and pristine. All of them talked in a language he couldn't understand, but they looked completely mad from their bewildering facial expressions.

The ball rolled forward with great speed. Screaming, the pile of faces raced towards Eric. In the meantime, Ash zipped down and caught the old book from Eric's hands. It threw it forward into the onslaught of arms and faces. A hand near an old woman picked up and tome and laughed hysterically as she opened it. Terror in the woman's eyes signaled to the other faces that she had made a dire mistake. The book opened and pulled everything into itself. The book's pull engulfed faces, screams, and arms.

Black clouds siphoned into the tome. Flesh tore apart. The blood sphere burst open and collapsed to the ground. Two of the hands closed the book before it swallowed everything whole. Eric lightly punched Kayle on the shoulder, amazed and a little terrified by the situation.

"See! I told you the book was going to help!" Kayle watched in dismay with her eyes wide open and her jaw hanging. Eric teleported forward and snatched the book again.

"Quick! Summon a surge so we can trap the demon!" Eric said. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Faster than lightning, a wave of fire appeared, and the duo got on top. The reaper disciple was standing in front, waiting for the moment to open the tome and exorcise his enemy. Dodging the flailing blob of hands and faces, Kayle directed the wave with ease and headed straight. She stopped casting the spell and gradually lowered to the ground.

Eric jumped from the wave and landed near the demon, clutching the tome in his hands. The demon opened his chest, and an old man with a beard almost fell through. He was barely conscious and looked at the cultist woman.

"No, please. I beg you," the old man whispered. Kayle walked over and took his hand.

"I… didn't want to trap you. The cult made me do it," she talked and evaded the man's eyes.

"Don't worry, my child. We all make mistakes… you can redeem yourself now." The last words from the old man echoed with the demon's voice. He grabbed Kayle and tried to pull her inside the prison of flesh that was the towering body of the demon. Eric summoned his sword and cut off the arms, dragging Kayle back to safety.

"No more games. It ends here," the reaper disciple said, holding the book. Opening it triggered a surge of power. Chunks of flesh flew from all over the library and slammed into the book. The demon's body drew itself in as the tome floated in the air. Screams and cries filled the air before silence returned to the library. THUMP! The book fell on the floor. Ink stained it, and its pages were completely black. The old man crawled on the ground.

"I'm so sorry. I couldn't overpower it. The presence was so strong."

"It's all right now. You're safe," Eric said, helping him to his feet.

"What happened?"

"The ritual… cultists promised more power, so I can protect the library. Now… everything is gone," the old man sighed. He looked around as his eyes filled with water.

"I failed." He went through a lot… Kayle looked down in shame.

"I couldn't save you back there. The Shattered and Amalia were in a pack, which I understood too late. My sacrifice was going to strengthen the demon even more…"

"I don't blame you. You were following orders," the old man said.

"I could've done something! We could've defeated them before everything began." Kayle spoke with anger in her voice.

"Oh, to be young again! Don't dwell on it. Regret only burdens the present."

"I'll try," she helped the elder get back on his feet. A long staff materialized in his hands, and he chuckled. He turned around and his shoulders dropped.

"I've lost a lot of knowledge… but I've gained good friends," the old man turned around and smiled.

"Now, how can I help you? As the keeper of knowledge here, I will try to guide you as much as I can. My library is yours."

"I need your bow," Eric didn't waste any time and got to the point.

"With it, I can break the illusion that is the sky and move forward. Grim sent me here."

"I haven't seen him in a long time. He's always working," the librarian scratched his chin. Yeah, I know. It's been ages since I last saw him.

"When were you captured? Do you know about the illusions here? Other floors?" The old man thought again, and he swirled his staff in the air. A screen appeared in front of them. /——————\ Initiating map of the Archives… Map loaded. Adding markers… Markers loaded. \——————/"There it is. You can look at the map and see where the bow is. You should be able to move freely through the library." A scroll rolled open on the screen, and several structures blinked.

One of them was the image of a bow and arrow; it glowed bright blue and flashed. Eric pressed the icon, and another window opened. /———————\ Librarian's Bow Place marker on the map? YES | NO \———————/"Come on! Don't be shy." The librarian moved Eric's hand out of the way and pressed on the icon himself. He lifts the mood a little. It's nice to have someone who is not dying, depressed, tortured, or involved in other obscure stuff. This map stuff would be helpful on other floors. I need to integrate it into my class.

"This will help us big time. I can't thank you enough." The old man chuckled and summoned a quiver in his hands. It possessed a single arrow, long and sturdy with a unique tip. The end of the arrow was golden and serrated.

"You've done enough for me. Accept this gift and use it when the time comes. You'll feel it." With a reassuring pat on the back, the librarian gave Eric the quiver.

"Where are you going? What will you do?" Eric accepted the quiver with both hands. The gesture caught him off guard. Ever since arriving in Purgatory, every gift had come with either a price, an impossible task, or a warning. Another surprise was Kayle's behavior. She carried a lot of guilt, but the librarian wasn't bothered. This signaled to Eric that even if the cult did something to her, she still had a part of her humanity left.

"I have an entire library to renovate. Don't think about me. I'll be somewhere here." The librarian hit the floor with his staff and disappeared into a puddle of ink. He disintegrated into the ground, and the library shelves nearby passed books to each other. Tomes were flying around and changing their places on the shelves, as if being moved by an invisible and extremely agile librarian. I didn't expect him to be this fast. Talk about customer service.

What caught Eric's attention next was the abundance of yellow experience orbs and silver essence ones from the fight with the demon. He tried walking over to them, but Ash stopped him dead in his tracks. The raven didn't caw or peck. It simply stood there, watching him closely.

"Ash!"

"Yeah, I thought so. I was going to do it anyway, I swear," Eric said. He sensed how the raven felt, and this gave him even more reassurance of what he was about to do. A quick glance at Kayle and a smile later, he was ready to reveal the surprise.

"Hey, do you see those orbs over there?" The reaper disciple teleported near the cultist woman and motioned at the pile of experience and essence. She still felt the impact of meeting the librarian.

"I do. You should take them before they expire. After all, you figured out how to use the book." Do I genuinely wish to do this? If I give her this experience, I might lose a level up, potential stats, skills, and probably something else that the system has in store for me. Why would I do this? Well… I want to help. I want to make her feel normal and safe. If she can trust me, maybe we can make a team and figure out this place. Greed won't help me in the long run…

"I wouldn't be able to do this if it weren't for your support. We can split the next." Eric smiled and let out a very obvious wink. Kayle looked at him and raised her eyebrow. She chuckled before heading out to the pile of floating orbs.

"Thank you. Just… never do that again. You look like a horse having a stroke."