Chương 90: Chapter 89. Library of illusion

You have slain Arcspiders x7. You have contributed to slay Undead Lord x1. You have slain Undead x6. You have gained adequate experience. Skill Stealer Activated. +1 point in Agility. +2 points in Arcane. As Rayne expected, he hadn't gotten a lot of gains since entering the dungeon, as he had kept moving, not pausing to fight any prolonged battles. The strongest opponents he had faced had been arcspiders, and he guessed the Agility point was from them.

He felt disheartened that even killing seven of them hadn't given him more than a single stat point. But at least the undead had been more profitable. Points in Arcane were always a welcome sight. Once he checked over them, Rayne opened up his status screen in his mind.

Status (1/3) Name - Rayne Frayser (Human) Age - 21 Class - Soldier Rank - Common Soldier (Forsaken), Valeria Kingdom Level - 30 Health - 81% Mana - 57% Stamina - 71% Stats Strength - 63 Vitality - 23 Endurance - 59 Agility - 61 Arcane - 25 Titles - Bastard of the Fraysers The Tortured Child Soldier of Valeria Survivor of the Trolls Otherworlder Skills - General Skills Valerian Language Mastery (Basic) - Level 5 Lycarian Language Mastery (Basic) - Level 2 Foraging (Basic) - Level 2 Mathematics (Basic) - Level 3 Toughened Physique (Uncommon) - Level 3 Footwork (Basic) - Level 3 Unarmed Mastery (Basic) - Level 2 Pain Tolerance (Uncommon) - Level 3 Class Skills (2/10) Sword Mastery (Basic) - Level 3 Formation Knowledge (Basic) - Level 1 Danger Sense (Basic) - Level 1 Unique Skills (5/10) Skill Stealer (???) - Max Goblin Tongue (Uncommon) - Level 1 Umbral Sight (Uncommon) - Level 1 Lesser Regeneration (Rare) - Level 2 Death Strike (Rare) - Level 1 He looked all over it with a smile. Most of his stats had grown well, and he had a feeling that by the end of the dungeon, his Arcane stat might even touch 30. That was the best scenario he could imagine, other than his class upgrade. Despite being Level 30, Rayne didn't really feel a wall in front of him.

He only sensed that he was still quite a bit away from the next level, but once he got the required experience, he would be breaking through and getting a new class. And hopefully, it would be one based around mana. If he wanted to survive long in this world, mana skills were necessary. Rayne didn't keep his focus on the translucent screens hovering in his mind for long. He pushed the notifications aside and returned his attention to the march.

The warband moved through a maze of curved pathways, the dungeon walls bending and sloping in ways that made it hard to judge distance or direction. The stone here looked older than what he had seen in the rest of the dungeon, and the air was different too. It was cleaner. Rayne noticed it almost immediately. There was very little death mana here. It was faint enough that he had to consciously reach for it, rather than feel it pressing against his skin like earlier.

If his instincts were right—and they usually were about these things—then this part of the dungeon hadn't been touched much by the necromancer. That thought unsettled him. Why leave an entire section untouched? Was it a trap, and were they simply walking into their doom? Or maybe he was overthinking it. The dungeon was massive. They'd been inside for more than half a day now, and as far as he could tell, they were still on the first level.

The scale of it was staggering, and he doubted the master necromancer would have ventured everywhere to leave traps. It was better to focus on the straight path that the rest of the army had taken to lay traps. The warband kept moving. Despite the lack of combat, the tension never fully left them. Shields stayed strapped, weapons remained close, but fatigue was beginning to show. Rayne spotted it in the way shoulders slumped slightly, and some men slowed their pace.

Even Kesh took frequent sips from his canteen, jaw tight as he forced himself to keep pace. Captain Edran probably noticed it too, but didn't take a break. He pushed them forward relentlessly at a steady pace. Rayne could understand why, as unlike the main army, their goal was to reach the core chamber. And that would mean moving through the whole dungeon. Rayne doubted they'd be getting proper rest anytime soon. And he was proven right. For the next three hours, they did nothing but walk.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Two short breaks—barely five minutes each—were all they were given. Enough time to drink, adjust armor, and catch their breath before Captain Edran waved them forward again. It was almost worse than fighting. When undead were charging, exhaustion took a backseat. Adrenaline was a powerful drug that could instantly make the mind sharper. But just walking was clearly wearing everyone down.

Rayne felt slight exhaustion too, though he kept it buried. With his stats, a half-day march was not a big deal. Then, finally, the monotony broke. Scouts returned at a jog from ahead, and Captain Edran raised a hand, halting the column instantly. The warband slowed to a stop, and all of them stared ahead. Bran moved to the front without hesitation.

"We've found a chamber ahead, Captain Edran," he said, his voice calm. A ripple of attention passed through the ranks. A few soldiers visibly straightened, hope flickering in tired eyes. Edran studied Bran.

"Is it safe?" Bran shrugged slightly.

"Looks empty. No monsters that we could see, and no visible traps." He paused.

"But it doesn't look like a typical dungeon chamber." That earned him a raised eyebrow from the captain.

"You should see for yourself, Captain," Bran added. Captain Edran nodded, and the scouts led them as the warband moved again. The corridor opened up slightly as they got closer to the chamber, and after half an hour, it finally came into view. The door to it was already open, and beyond it, Rayne could see inside clearly. But he hadn't expected it to be a library, of all things. It was massive, almost half the size of the gas-filled chamber.

Tall bookshelves lined the walls in neat rows, stretching high toward the ceiling, packed tightly together as if someone had once cared deeply about organizing them. Wide aisles ran between the shelves, cleanly laid out, forming a deliberate pattern. And yet, it was empty. He could see no undead or elementals. Not even any other type of monster sitting and waiting for them to enter. Just shelves, books, and silence. Rayne moved ahead a few steps instinctively, eyes scanning the far end of the chamber.

He frowned slightly. There was no visible exit—no doorway, no archway, not even a hidden slope or passage along the back wall. After nearly two minutes of careful observation, Captain Edran turned his head slightly toward Bran.

"None of the scouts sensed any traps?" Bran shook his head.

"Nothing from the outside, Captain. We need to enter to take a better look." He paused for two seconds, then added, "But if this follows normal dungeon rules… there should be a monster hiding somewhere." Captain Edran nodded slowly, eyes never leaving the chamber. He glanced briefly at Casper, who met his gaze without comment. Then he turned back to the warband.

"I'll go in first," he said calmly.

"If anything drops on me, I'll keep its attention. You'll circle around and strike from behind." The squad leaders nodded at once. Without hesitation, Captain Edran stepped through the threshold and into the library. He moved slowly and deliberately, choosing a path that kept him in clear view of the doorway at all times. His sword remained loose in his grip, but he didn't raise it. Step by step, he crossed deeper into the chamber. Nothing happened.

Rayne watched intently as Edran reached the middle of the library, then continued onward, passing shelf after shelf. He almost expected something to drop on top of him, but he kept walking. The captain's brows furrowed. He stopped beside one of the bookshelves and ran a hand along its edge. Then he pulled out a book, inspected it briefly, and set it aside. He knocked against the shelf, then the wall behind it. Still nothing.

Edran moved from shelf to shelf, tugging books free, checking behind them, even pressing his palm against the stone walls as if expecting something to give way. Ten long minutes passed. Finally, his voice echoed back toward the entrance.

"Get inside. We need to search the room thoroughly." The order broke the tension immediately. Squads entered one by one. Axel's squad went in third, Rayne moving with them as his eyes took in the details he'd missed from outside. Dust coated everything. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, their metal dulled with age. Comfortable-looking sofas were arranged in small clusters, accompanied by low tables and study desks. Some desks still had inkpots and quills resting neatly in place.

It looked less like a dungeon chamber and more like a forgotten noble study. Kesh muttered under his breath, "Who'd have thought there'd be a library in a dungeon?" Axel, already inspecting a shelf, snorted.

"Dungeons saturated with mana can do a lot of strange things," he said gruffly.

"One of them is being able to look into the memory of anyone who died inside its walls. Sometimes the dungeons use those memories to materialize places like these." As if to prove his words, Axel reached out, pulled a book from the shelf, and flipped it open. The pages were blank.

"Solid illusion," Axel continued.

"The structure's real, but the details aren't. This library probably exists—or existed—somewhere else." Rayne slowly exhaled, eyes sweeping the chamber again. Other squads were already spreading out across the chamber, moving under the direction of their squad leaders. Soldiers checked behind shelves, under tables, along the walls—anywhere a hidden mechanism or passage might be concealed. The absence of an obvious exit gnawed at Rayne's thoughts.

If there truly was no way forward here, it meant backtracking all the way to the gas-filled chamber. And that would be hours wasted. Though Rayne didn't believe that was the case. There was no reason for a dungeon to materialize a library this large unless there was something hidden within it. Dungeons didn't waste mana on pointless decorations. Everything had a function, even illusions. So he moved with his party and began searching in earnest.

Heins and John checked the sofas and low tables, lifting cushions and tapping wood for hollow sounds. Nate crouched near the floor, methodically running his fingers across it as he searched for pressure plates or seams. Bran drifted between shelves and observed the spines. Rayne went straight for the books, thinking through what Axel had said and forming a hint of what might be the trick to get out of this chamber. He pulled one book free and flipped through the pages, but it was blank.

He slid it back and took another. Blank again. Like that, he moved through a few more books, but had no success. They had nothing but empty pages, as if the words had never existed in the first place. After the twelfth book, Nate glanced up from the floor and frowned.

"Why are you wasting time flipping through them?" he asked.

"All of them are empty. Just pull them out and put them back if nothing happens." Rayne didn't stop. He opened another book, pages fluttering uselessly.

"Remember what Axel said," he replied. Nate blinked.

"That it's all a solid illusion?"

"Before that," Rayne said calmly.

"He said the library might've been made from someone's memory." Nate stared at him for a moment, then slowly straightened. Rayne continued, still flipping pages.

"No one comes to a library and doesn't read. At least a few books here might be made from the same memory." Bran paused beside another shelf, book half-pulled free.

"So you think some of them aren't empty," he said. Rayne nodded. Nate groaned and got to his feet, brushing dust off his knees.

"You could've said that earlier," he muttered.

"I just dirtied my pants crawling around." He moved to a shelf and started yanking books free, flipping through them with far less care than Rayne. The rest of the squad followed suit, shifting their focus. Rayne didn't comment. He simply kept working as minutes passed. Even after they cleared a whole shelf, they found nothing. Around the chamber, there were murmurs of frustration. Other squads hadn't found anything either. Some soldiers began checking the walls again, others looking toward the ceiling.

Rayne felt doubt creep into his mind about his approach, but he could think of nothing else. He moved to the next shelf. This one was taller than the last. Rayne reached up, stretching slightly, and pulled a book from the very top. Dust puffed into the air as it came free. He flipped it open— And froze. Words stared back at him. Ink etched cleanly across the page. Rayne felt a grin spread across his face.

"I found it." His squad snapped toward him instantly. But before Rayne could read the book—or call out to Captain Edran about his discovery—the ground trembled. The center of the chamber shifted with a deep, grinding sound. Soldiers near the middle barely had time to react. Wood cracked violently as the floor split apart, planks collapsing inward. A dark hole yawned open where solid ground had been seconds earlier, dust and debris raining down into the darkness below.

Men leapt back, shouting warnings as the gap widened. The entire chamber went silent. Captain Edran strode toward the disturbance at once, eyes narrowed.

"What happened?" he demanded. Rayne stepped toward the gap and opened his mouth— A low, chilling growl rolled up from the hole. The sound crawled along Rayne's spine as he stared into the darkness. Then something launched upward from below.

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