Ch 69. Forgotten Library
We were teleported to an enormous library with shelves that reached the ceiling at each side of us.
Indeed, the place was filled with them, making various corridors and a main path in the middle of the room that helped to reach the other end of this mysterious place. However, even more mysterious was the fact that there were almost no books on the shelves. Instead, the empty spots were filled with dust and cobwebs.
“This place gives me chills… Such a big place, but there's almost nothing inside.”
Echo followed Fluph’s words and reverberated through the room. Indeed, this was a really strange place.
“We might have escaped from our persecutors, but that doesn't mean we are out of danger. Stay alert!”
After saying that, everyone started looking around and came closer to each other in order to minimize our blind spots. In that kind of formation, we started walking through a room full of empty shelves.
“Even with that amount of cobwebs, I can't feel any life forms besides ours…”
“There's also no sign of sound, wind or any natural light source.”
Now that they mention it, there's a dim light filling the room, however, there's no signal of the source, but it is awfully clear that is not something natural. That's an obvious conclusion since there's no windows or skylights in this place.
“There are magic traces everywhere…”
Afallen said with a soft voice that I was barely able to hear. Just like the rest of us, there was a noticeable amount of worryness in those words.
“You need to be really strong to make a portal capable of warping this amount of Demons, I guess that's why.”
Both of them were also right. There are traces of mana everywhere, besides, being able to teleport this amount of Demons is… An uneasy feeling traveled through my body while thinking about it.
“Could this be a trap made by the Holy Church?!”
A little Demon that could be considered as a child (under Demon’ standards) talked. She was walking in the middle of the group, the safest place of our formation.
“Weren't they just a myth? Besides, if they wanted to get rid of us, they could have just simply obliterated us in that forest…”
Nero fastly denied that crazy idea. That's right, if this was something made by the Holy Church, we wouldn't have lasted this long, besides, there'll be no point in warping our entire group to a different place.
“Maybe it's a Demon Lord's doing?”
Everyone went quiet after hearing Phlum’s words.
That would make total sense, a Demon Lord saving us in order to grow their forces. However, are we really worthy of being saved? Maybe for a low rank Demon Lord, but not for someone who was able to warp our entire party to a different place. If this is some Demon Lord’s work, what could be their plan then?
We continued walking through the room until our watchman said something unbelievable.
“W-Wait! Is that food over there…?”
“Uh?!”
“W-What?!”
“There's no way…”
We increased our pace in order to reach the end of the room. It couldn't be avoided, we have had quite a few hard days in a row and we haven't properly eaten in a while. We are currently low in stamina, strengths, food, and even sanity. So again, there was no way of avoiding that sudden rush.
The corridor of the library suddenly turned into a big room. There were still shelves on every wall and a few books in each of them, but there were also windows covered with long and heavy purple curtains full of frills and golden luxurious details. But there was something even more important in the room, the thing that made us walk through that long corridor.
In the center of the room, there was a big table full of plates with food, sweets and drinks. There was also a small silver key right in the place where the main dish is supposed to be.
“Well… Shall we start eating then?”
Someone proposed something even more unbelievable than the current situation. Luckily, I'm not the only one thinking that way and Nero shouted back almost instantly.
“Huh?! Are you crazy?!”
“He is right… This is even more suspicious than a portal in the middle of a forest.”
“Maybe there's something to do with that key?”
“But there should be more than a thousand doors on those corridors! We’ll be here forever…”
We decided to move the curtains and let the light enter the room. Sadly, there were no windows behind them, so we couldn't use them to escape this place. However, there was a light of hope, because behind one of those windows, there was a weirdly shaped door whose latch looked strangely similar to the key that was in the center of the table.
“Seems like a trap…”
“That could be the case, but I can hear a breeze coming from the other side of the door. That courtan was blocking it somehow.”
“There's still a problem. The door is too small for us to fit through it…”
“Well, we could always break the wall.”
Well, I guess that's what you get when you are surrounded by Demons…