Volume 2 Chapter 44 Library Dungeon
I'm here at the Forbidden Archive of the Sage Emperor.
Heading toward the book I need to find, the towering bookshelves appeared like walls, forming what seemed to be a dungeon.
"Let's see, [Mana Crystal Research Report by Julius von Carlyle] should be... over this way."
'What!? Wait, how do you know the name of the book you're looking for!?'
Lilinne, the fairy librarian, widened her eyes and shouted.
"There's a magic tool over there that lets you search the collection. I used that to look it up."
Lilinne, as the librarian, seems to have memorized the location of every book, but she isn't very cooperative with me.
So, I searched for it myself.
I figured a library would have a magic device for searching.
'No way! That thing's been broken for ages! Plus, it's an ancient artifact──no one should know how to fix it!'
"With the Hand of God, I could pinpoint the malfunction instantly and repair it."
'What is with that hand of yours!? Being able to fix anything is so unfair! It's like a literal divine hand!'
I found the location of the bookshelf, but the path was complex, riddled with traps meant for intruders.
For instance, as I walked between the shelves, a dictionary suddenly fell from above.
With a thud, it opened, and its pages began to glow.
Before I realized it, I was no longer in the same space──I now stood in a grassland.
'How's that!? It's a trap that locks you inside the book's world! Once you're caught, you can't leave until the librarian grants permission!'
I scanned my surroundings and swung my holy sword toward a particular point.
Zwoo...!
Like slicing through melted butter with a knife, the space tore apart.
"Alright."
'Whaaaaattt!?'
As I returned to the outside world, Lilinne stared at me in shock, her face a picture of disbelief.
'How?! How did you escape without permission!? It's supposed to be impossible!'
"Everything has a weak spot. I just identified it and severed the space."
I found the weak point of the barrier separating worlds and simply cut through it.
'No way... Slicing through space isn't something a human can do... it's incredible...'
"I've put the book back."
Traps like these are set up all over the place.
But I was mostly able to clear them somehow.
"Aren't these traps way too sloppy? I can get through them easily."
'No, that's just you! This trap is so powerful it hasn't been breached in centuries! Argh! You're just ridiculously strong!'
"Is that so? If you wanna increase the difficulty of the traps, I can help."
'If I make these traps any tougher, I won't be able to control them!'
After some time...
We arrived at the library lounge.
It was circular in design, with bookshelves lining the outer walls.
"It should be around here somewhere..."
Suddenly, thud, thud, thud!
A massive number of books fell from the shelves.
The books piled up and transformed into a giant.
'Behold! The Book Goliath! The ultimate golem crafted by connecting countless books together! Now, try attacking it! But be careful, or the book you're after might just get destroyed!'
"Are you even allowed to treat books that roughly as a librarian?"
'Ugh...! S-shut up! To protect the books from intruders, even Lord Anti would surely forgive me! Attack!'
The Book Goliath raised its arm.
The massive limb, like a tree trunk, swung down toward me.
I jumped to dodge the attack.
The giant's blow shook the ground, leaving a crater.
'So what will you do now?! Slash it? Burn it? If you do, you'll lose the knowledge you sought forever!'
"It's no problem."
I had already found its weak point.
The book I was searching for rested right between the Goliath's eyebrows.
I leapt and pulled the book free.
'H-how's that possible?! Out of all these books, how did you know which one to grab?!'
"In my line of work, finding something specific in a body is second nature."
Take, for instance, removing a tumor.
A doctor identifies the irregularity in an instant and performs surgery.
Compared to that, pinpointing a book and retrieving it is a straightforward task.
'D-destroy him! Crush him to pieces!'
Under Lilinne's command, the Book Goliath raised both its arms.
"You're already too late. The attack is over."
With a whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... countless books crumbled to the ground.
'W-what just happened...?'
"I used the Paralyze skill on it."
"I-impossibleee! There's no way Paralyze would work on a book, let alone someone using a skill in that split second...!"
Lilinne says to me, trembling, as I grab the book I was aiming for.
'You... are you a god?'
"No, just a beast veterinarian."
"There's nooo waaaay someone like you is just an ordinary doctorrrrrr!"
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