As she recovered and turned to look behind her, horror curled in her stomach. An inferno raged through the room. The fire was swiftly spreading, igniting the tables and flames leaping to the nearby walls and furniture. Tendrils of fire were already lapping at the woodwork of the ceiling, threatening to ignite the whole structure. The heat was so intense near the center of the hall that the orbs along the ceiling had begun to burst, raining a multicolored stream of energy down on the raging inferno.
“What the hell was that?” Emma snapped at the rogue as she massaged her shoulder.
The rest of the group just looked at Melissa in shock, their expressions warring between confusion and outrage as they witnessed the maelstrom of flame. Over the ringing in her ears, Riley thought she could hear something that sounded remarkably like an alarm blaring in the background.
Melissa folded her arms defensively at their accusing expressions. “I was moving this show along. I can’t stand all this talking.”
Then she glanced at Clarence, and a familiar gleam entered her eyes. “I notice there has been an explosion… and, well, there’s some fire too. I think you need to show us the way to the upper floors before we’re harmed by the flames. Unless, of course, you want me to turn someone into a chicken too. Cecil might have a crystal for that.”
The librarian didn’t manage a response. He just looked back and forth between the raging inferno that was spreading through the room and Melissa’s smirk. His mouth hung ajar, and Riley could have sworn she saw a glint of fear in his normally placid eyes as he looked at the rogue. Not that she could blame him.
Chapter 23 - Harried
“You’re insane!” Cecil yelled at the rogue as the group sprinted up the stairs to the Great Hall. Melissa was practically dragging Clarence behind her. The man seemed stunned by the sudden turn of events and was struggling to keep his feet under him.
“I think you mean brilliant. We have a librarian to help navigate the stacks now, and the fire should keep the rest of them busy for a while,” the rogue said as they neared the top of the stairs.
“Except you run the risk of burning down the whole library,” Marie retorted as she ran up the steps. “And people may die down there. What happened to not killing anyone?”
“No one is dead… yet,” Melissa huffed.
The rogue abruptly reached the top of the stairs. With a heave, she shouldered the door open, the hinges splintering from the force of the blow. Then she tossed the librarian into the room. Massive bookshelves towered nearly fifty feet into the air, dozens of books flapping excitedly between them. Even on this level, the library’s alarms were blaring, the sound echoing over the bookshelves and drowning out the sound of scraping paper.
As the group filtered into the room, the red-haired rogue grabbed Clarence. Smacking him hard across the face, she barked, “Snap out of it. We need you to guide us to the stairs to the next level.”
The librarian’s gaze refocused on the rogue, his expression still uncertain but regaining some clarity. “Y-yes, ma’am. It’s on the northern edge of the room,” he managed to stutter. “We’ll have to go through the stacks.”
“Then, by all means, lead the way,” Melissa urged, pulling him to his feet and giving him a shove toward the shelves. “I suggest moving quickly. We probably only have a few minutes until the blaze spreads to this level.”
The group moved at a light jog through the shelves, Clarence taking point. Riley didn’t exactly agree with Melissa’s actions, but she had to admit that it was an effective strategy – assuming, of course, that they could trust Clarence.
“I should warn you,” the librarian mentioned over his shoulder. “Now that the library’s alarms have been sounded, its defense systems will engage automatically. The system doesn’t distinguish between various types of emergencies well.”
“Oh shit,” Cecil muttered as he trotted along beside Riley.
“What?” she asked the enchanter. “What does that mean?”
He didn’t need to answer. As the group darted through a hole in the bookshelves, they found themselves face-to-face with one of the paper golems that Riley had seen earlier. Before she could react, Melissa was already racing toward the creature. As she approached it, the rogue leapt forward, her blades ripping through the parchment that made up its face. Her daggers shredded through the paper, neatly severing the creature’s head. The papers and books that made up its body promptly tumbled to the ground, scattering in every direction.
Melissa turned back to the Cecil. “That wasn’t so bad. What’s the problem?”
The enchanter just shook his head and started jogging down the row of shelves in the other direction, pushing the librarian to keep moving. “It’s not dead. You better keep running.”
Riley heard the rustle and scrape of paper and whirled around, her eyes widening. The parchment strewn along the ground behind the rogue began to piece itself back together, the body of the golem quickly retaking its original shape. Most importantly, it was no longer missing its head. The creature then turned to the group – its void-like eyes fixed on them.
A flurry of paper peeled away from the golem and swiftly folded into several shapes that eerily resembled spears. The projectiles then rocketed toward the group. Riley dove to the side into a roll, narrowly dodging the missiles that whistled past her head.
As she jumped back to her feet, she could see that Ethan had shielded Lucas and Emma. However, a spear was embedded in Cecil’s leg, blood pouring from the wound. “God damn it that hurts,” he hissed.
Melissa looked at the small man and then back at the paper golem. “Um, so maybe we should keep running…”
“No kidding,” Cecil shouted at her as he ripped the spear from his leg.
“Ethan, grab Cecil. Emma, heal up his leg,” Riley ordered, taking control of the situation as she backed away from the golem.
The burly warrior grabbed the small man, throwing him over his shoulder as multiple flashes of light struck his body. Cecil’s curses were drowned out by the sound of crunching paper and the obnoxious alarm. Meanwhile, the group began darting away from the golem even as another barrage of spears were forming in the air around the golem. Riley pulled her bow from her back, nocking an arrow and channeling a new Void Arrow.
As the dark energy reached a climax, she jumped forward, pivoting on her heel at the same time. Riley twisted in the air and fired simultaneously before landing lightly on the ground and continuing her sprint. She spared a glance behind her and saw the missile strike the golem, malignant obsidian energy lashing out in all directions. Her arrow created a vortex that sucked in the paper spears, destroying the projectiles before the golem could fire them. However, she didn’t seem to have caused any lasting damage to the creature.
“How do you kill the golems?” Riley shouted at Cecil over the blaring alarm.
The enchanter glanced at her sourly from where he rested on Ethan’s shoulder. “You can’t. Golems are entirely magic creations. They don’t have health like normal creatures; they are sustained solely by mana. These golems are tapping into the library’s mana crystals. Which means that they will continue to reform as long as the library is still standing.”
“We will just have to slow them down,” Marie huffed. “Perhaps fire would be the most efficient way to destroy the paper?”
“That would be a great plan,” Cecil groused. “Except some idiot rogue used all of my fire crystals. My apologies. Some brilliant rogue,” he added sarcastically.
“It was still a good idea,” Melissa muttered as she sprinted along beside them.
The group was approaching an intersection in the bookcases, halls branching off in several directions. Riley could see two golems shambling toward them down one of the hallways. Her eyes widened as she saw their bodies transform, the paper folding and compressing at a lightning fast pace. Soon she was looking at two large origami wolves, replete with foot-long paper fangs. This form was clearly much nimbler than the regular golems, and the wolves raced to
ward the group.
“Which way?” Melissa demanded, shaking Clarence as she eyed the approaching wolves. The librarian was also staring at the transformed golems with a look of dread on his face.
“Umm, left,” he managed, pointing away from the wolves. Melissa didn’t hesitate, sprinting down the hallway with the group behind her.
“You get the one on the right, Lucas. A regular lightning bolt should do the trick,” Riley ordered as they ran, already nocking another arrow and drawing her bow. They might not be able to destroy the golems, but they needed to slow them down.
The air mage nodded, lightning crackling along his staff as his free hand moved through a frantic series of gestures. Meanwhile, dark mana curled and coiled along Riley’s bow. At her nod, the pair turned and fired simultaneously. A dark missile and blinding blast of lightning slammed into the two paper wolves racing toward them. The wolves promptly burst apart in a cloud of paper, seared parchment scattering everywhere.
With a glance over her shoulder, Riley could see the wolves were already beginning to reform. The whirlwinds of paper were swiftly knitting themselves back together. Each of their strikes would only buy them a few seconds.
A scream echoed ahead of them. Riley turned to find Emma on the ground ahead of her. She was being assaulted by a group of books, and her health was dropping fast. The pages of the books had been transformed into needle-like lances, easily piercing through the mage’s robes and skin. Even as Riley watched, a book flapping above the nearby shelves dropped into a steep dive, its lance pointed at the helpless light mage.
At the last moment, Ethan batted the book aside with his shield, turning to the mage and offering her some cover as he dragged her back to her feet. “We need to keep moving,” he shouted, pushing her forward. “Heal yourself as we run and then keep healing the group.”
The others were faring better than Emma. Melissa and Marie tossed throwing knives at the incoming books without slowing their headlong sprint. The missiles knocked the creatures off course and caused the books to crash into the nearby shelves. Even as new books tumbled from the stacks, they began flapping airborne – adding to the pack. Lucas and Riley sprinted to catch back up to the group. She silently counted down in her head, preparing to fire off the next round at the wolves behind them.
“We’re almost there,” Clarence cried ahead of the group. Riley was a bit surprised by how nimble the librarian could be when he was being chased by a horde of animated books. Some people just needed the right incentive.
They hit another crossroads among the shelves, and Clarence darted to the right, sprinting down the new hallway with the group hot on his heels. The horde of books was growing as they ran, with bird-like novels joining the growing mass. Riley could see another two massive, origami wolves joining the throng, sprinting down the adjacent hallways.
She fired another frantic shot behind her, and a deafening crack of lightning echoed down the hallway. Riley could see a doorway approaching down the corridor, her heart beating hard in her chest. Her stamina was nearly depleted, and she expected the others weren’t faring much better, but they might still be able to make it.
“The door ahead leads to the stairwell,” Clarence yelled over his shoulder.
It was at that moment that the shelves beside them exploded in a whirlwind of books and paper. A wooden piece of shelving slammed into Riley, knocking her back against the bookshelf beside her and shaving off a decent chunk of her health. A dull pain throbbed from her shoulder down through her elbow and a quick look at her combat log confirmed that her arm was broken. The unexpected blast had also knocked most of the group off their feet, scattering them across the hallway.
As the other shrapnel and debris blew past Riley, her Dodge skill activated and time seemed to slow momentarily. That was how she caught sight of the massive creature that had barreled through the bookshelves in an eruption of books and scrolls. The creature’s head and body gradually became visible through the cloud of parchment.
A full-fledged dragon made of paper and books rested its enormous forelegs on the ruined shelving. It must have been nearly thirty feet tall, only its upper body visible through the hole it had carved in the bookshelves. Graceful, folded horns jutted from its head as its empty eye sockets scanned the hallway, quickly honing in on the group that was struggling to regain their feet.
“Oh shit,” Ethan muttered beside Riley. She grabbed Lucas and pulled him to his feet as the warrior helped Emma. To make matters worse, the pack of book-birds and wolves were closing on them from behind.
“Don’t stop moving,” Riley shouted as she held her injured arm. “Fucking run!”
The group didn’t need any encouragement, sprinting toward the door at the end of the hallway. However, the paper dragon wasn’t willing to part with its new prey that easily. Its chest heaved, and it craned its neck. Its massive maw opened wide and revealed rows of jagged teeth. Instead of a torrent of flame, a veritable flood of razor-sharp paper spewed forth, rolling down the hallway and quickly consuming the other parchment-creatures that barreled toward the group.
Riley spared a frantic glance over her shoulder, her eyes widening at the sight of the tidal wave of paper crashing toward them. Her legs pumped frantically as she sped toward the door on the heels of her group. The edge of the wall of paper inched closer, threatening to overtake her.
Then she fell through the doorway, landing heavily on her side as a thick metal door slammed shut behind her. She could hear the massive crunch of paper cascading against the door, and the entire wall trembled, dust cascading from the mortar between the enormous blocks of rock that made up the wall.
Each member of the group lay or sat at the bottom of the service staircase. A quick glance confirmed that they were all there, albeit heavily injured. Emma’s health was red lining, and red blotches stained her white robe. She was frantically trying to heal herself. The others nursed their injuries, pulling potions from their packs and bandaging their wounds.
Melissa sat up and stretched, throwing her arms wide. Then she looked at the group as they recovered from their injuries, their expressions dazed. A giant grin was painted on her face. “So that was a blast. What did you all think?”
Chapter 24- Experimental
It took a few minutes for the group to heal their injuries and regroup. Even inside the stairwell, Riley could hear the alarms blaring. They probably didn’t have long before the librarians put out the fires in the dormitory and made their way through the Great Hall. Assuming they didn’t inadvertently burn down the whole building, of course.
Cecil had done something to the door, painting brightly-colored substances around the frame. He insisted that his concoction wouldn’t kill anyone, but it would slow down anyone who tried to catch up to the group or used this particular staircase. He also seemed a little worried that the paper creatures might eventually make it through the door. The scraping and banging on the other side of the wall certainly hadn’t stopped so he might have a point.
“We need to get moving,” Riley said once she noticed that the group had recovered.
Ethan rubbed at his neck. “I’m not sure I can handle another explosion or fire or massive chase by an army of animated origami.” He glanced at Melissa as he said this, which only earned him a shit-eating grin.
“That does raise a good point,” Marie interjected as the group started up the staircase. “What defenses are installed on this next level?”
All eyes turned to Clarence as she posed this question. The librarian looked a bit flustered by recent events but managed to squeak out, “This next floor is relatively safe, even during an emergency. The Headmaster decided that it was too dangerous to install safeguards given the somewhat volatile ingredients and creatures in the labs.”
“Wait, rewind to that last part,” Ethan said. “Volatile ingredients and creatures?”
Clarence nodded. “Yes. The library purchases and stores quite a few rare specimens. This area is intended to allow our more est
eemed guests the opportunity to study and experiment in a safe place. Before the creation of the library, mages tended to perform their studies in their homes or guild halls. The results were less than optimal.”
“What he means is that they destroyed entire city blocks by accident or created monster hybrids that would ravage a disc and take weeks to capture or kill,” Cecil grumbled. “The Council outlawed private experimentation some time ago.”
“But this stuff is safely contained upstairs, right?” Ethan pressed. “It isn’t running through the hallways or likely to pounce on us from around a corner? Or explode or somehow change into a dragon? You know, hypothetically.”
“Most ingredients and creatures are stored in specialized containment cells and rooms along the southern part of the second floor. Although the more popular specimens are often housed inside the lab rooms immediately above us,” Clarence explained patiently, seemingly oblivious to the warrior’s sarcasm. “There haven’t been any issues with a monster escaping in some time.”
“That’s not exactly the same as never,” Ethan grumbled.
The group lapsed into silence as they arrived at the library’s second floor. With the height of the massive Great Hall, they had to travel up several flights of stairs to make it to the top-level. Another solid metal door barred their entry.
“Show us which room is being used to store the undead before we leave the stairwell,” Riley said, gesturing at Clarence. The young man stared at her dumbly. “What’s wrong? Just project your map and show us where we need to go.”
“The librarians’ complete lack of magic has some unfortunate side effects,” Cecil offered for the flustered librarian. “One is that they aren’t able to easily use maps the way we can. Technically, most maps – even those handed out to novice travelers – require some small magical aptitude.”
Awaken Online: Retribution (Side Quest) Page 18
