For a brief period, during which my body was overwhelmed by immense pain, my vision became blurry and I found myself unable to hear anything other than that irritating buzzing endlessly echoing inside my head.
"Agh… it hurts…"
For a moment, I think I was just about to pass out. It was fortunate that I had been biting my lip the whole time, otherwise I probably would have.
"Agh… Olivia…"
I called out my companion's name, hoping she would answer me, she had to, right? She was with me when this entire disaster began, right after she shared her insecurities with me and we agreed to support each other.
"Olivia… are you there?"
At first, I wanted to ask for help, and I believed she could give it to me, but when I received no response, the only thing I wanted was for her to be safe.
I was terrified. I couldn't see, nor could I hear properly, which meant I had no idea where I was, nor what was happening around me. That already sounds terrible enough, I know, but I think the worst part came when my hearing returned.
"AAAAAAGH!"
And that was because…
BOOM!
At that moment, the only things I could hear were desperate screams and deafening explosions.
"Eeeh… what's happening…?"
And then, after what felt like endless seconds wrapped in fear and panic, during which I couldn't even see what was right in front of me, my vision finally began to clear.
That could have been good news, something worth smiling about, but unfortunately, I wasn't in any position to do so, because the very first thing I saw once my vision cleared was a threatening fist rapidly approaching my face.
"....AH! Shit!"
I barely reacted in time, but thanks to that, I managed to block the punch with my forearm.
"!...Ek!"
But the force behind that blow was far greater than I expected.
BOOM!
The impact created a violent air explosion that launched me a considerable distance away until I finally crashed against the ground.
CRASH!
"Shit!"
I cursed while clutching my arm, which hurt like hell.
"AAAAAAH!"
"Huh?"
"Help, please!"
BOOM!
CRASH!
The sounds of explosions made me raise my head, and what I saw was people all around me fighting each other.
"W-wait, please!"
But the way they were doing it…
"NOOO!"
It was horrifying.
This wasn't some ordinary conflict, they were literally beating each other to death.
CRASH!
Right now, only a few meters away from me, a man had just driven his thumbs into another person's eye sockets while applying even more force to crush his skull.
"What is happening…?"
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Those footsteps, growing closer and closer, awakened fear inside me.
It was that dead-eyed man, the same one who had beaten an innocent person to death not long ago. That terrifying man, the one behind all this madness, was coming for me.
"H-hey!"
"What the hell are you doing?!"
I demanded answers from him, but he didn't respond.
".....What do you want?"
I asked while forcing myself back onto my feet.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
But once again, the man said absolutely nothing. He simply kept walking toward me, as though he were some kind of machine whose only objective was to kill me.
"Wait, please…"
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The silent man clenched his fist tightly as he advanced, preparing himself to strike me the moment I entered his range.
"Fine then…"
As for me, I prepared myself in the same way, tightening my fists as I waited for an opening.
"…!"
Fiiiiiiiuuuuussssh!
Suddenly, that lunatic shot toward me at incredible speed.
He raised his threatening fist and swung it viciously.
BOOM!
His punch generated a massive air explosion that shook the ground around us.
That would've hurt like hell if it had connected.
It only took receiving one of his punches for me to realize that this guy's strength wasn't something I could afford to ignore. That was why I decided to dodge every single one of his attacks and only strike when an opportunity presented itself, like right now.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Taking advantage of his opening, I landed three consecutive blows on his left side.
"..."
Even though I put all my strength into each punch, the guy didn't even seem to care.
BOOM!
He kept attacking. This time, he threw his left fist directly at my face, but I dodged by dropping to my knees, letting the punch pass over my head.
"AAAAAAAH!"
Using the momentum of a jump, I delivered a clean uppercut to his chin.
BOOM!
Even if it didn't deal serious damage, the hit stunned him long enough for me to target his weak points.
-If I hit his neck, I might knock him out.
Following that thought, I threw a left hook at full force toward the side of his neck.
Fiiiuuussssh!
But to my surprise, the man shocked me once again with his speed. He had dodged my attack by stepping backward at the exact moment my fist came within centimeters of his neck.
"No… damn it!"
I couldn't let that lunatic recover. I had to keep attacking before he snapped out of his daze.
This time, I opted for a fast and direct punch with the goal of blinding him. I launched my fist as quickly as my arm allowed.
Boom!
But my punch never reached his face. Instead, his hand caught it.
"Ek!...."
I tried to break free, but his grip didn't weaken, so I attempted to surprise him with my left arm.
But as though he could read my mind, the man anticipated my attack.
Tak!
With a powerful strike from his palm, he disabled my arm just before I could throw the punch.
"Agh!"
Then he grabbed me by the neck and slammed me down.
CRASH!
The force of the impact shattered the ground and sent up a massive cloud of dust.
"Ac… aaagh…"
With the weight of his body pressing down on mine, that lunatic pinned me to the ground, strangling me with both hands and crushing every attempt I made to breathe.
"Aaaagg…"
-No… damn it, what do I do now?
I couldn't throw him off me, nor could I free myself from his grip.
-Damn it!
At this point, the only option I had left was…
-Please… Dran, focus…
I had to use magic… something I didn't really know how to do, or well… sort of…
-Focus, Dran…
I begged internally, praying for my magical core to react to the danger I was in.
Babump… Babump…
The beating of my heart slowed as my mind focused on igniting that fire deep within me… eeem, I think that was how a magical core was activated… or at least, that's how they taught me.
"Aaaag… come on…"
-Turn on already! Stupid sphere!
At that exact moment, when my mind became completely focused on unleashing all the power hidden inside my body, I felt a sudden tingling sensation spread throughout my entire body until it reached my right hand.
-Now!
BOOOOM!!!
I threw a punch, perhaps the strongest one I had ever delivered. It unleashed a massive sonic explosion that devastated everything around us.
CRAAAACK…!
As for the man, half of his face was completely destroyed. That punch hadn't just shattered his jaw, it had also torn away the flesh around his left cheek, exposing the nerves and muscles of nearly half his face.
"Aaagg…. agh!"
But… despite the horrifying damage he had clearly suffered, that bastard still didn't let go, nor did his grip loosen.
-No… no…. seriously…. am I really going to die in such a pathetic way?
I was never good at holding my breath. That was why it didn't take long before my body finally gave out.
I had exhausted every last drop of my energy. In this state, my consciousness was already beginning to leave my body.
....
....
…..
..
.
-Is this really all you could do?
And as it happened, an old memory replayed itself before my eyes…
-You're pathetic.
That girl's voice.
-It's disgraceful to share a surname with someone as pathetic as you.
Every single one of her words echoed inside my brain without mercy, as though they were some kind of punishment.
-You damned half-breed...
...….
CRASH!
"..."
I wasn't sure what had happened, but when I snapped out of that trance, my face was covered in a crimson liquid.
"E…Eh…."
It was blood, but contrary to what I first thought, it wasn't mine.
"....."
When I looked up, I saw that my attacker's head was gone. In its place remained a mangled neck pouring out enormous amounts of blood.
I was being drenched in liters and liters of that liquid, but I did nothing to stop it, not immediately anyway, because my mind was still trying to process everything.
"Ek… aaag…"
But then my body reacted once it realized I still wasn't breathing.
"Aaag… aaaah…"
I quickly shoved the corpse off me and focused on breathing again.
"Aaaaah…. cough… cough."
".....What a relief."
As I struggled to regain my breath, a voice, soft like a sweet melody, echoed from behind me.
Even in my exhausted state, I tried to move my body, just enough to see the face of the person I believed had saved me, and I succeeded. From the corner of my eye, I could see her.
She was a beautiful woman with black hair.
"Everything will be alright now."
The way she looked at me, with that radiant smile and those shining black eyes, left me completely captivated.
"Eru'v….."
What did she say?
I couldn't hear it clearly… How did she call me…?
Agh, whatever. This time, I'm definitely passing out.
"Aaa… aa…"
-I couldn't even thank her…
I thought, just before drifting into a long sleep.
***
"ROOOOAAAAAAAAG!!!"
I hadn't realized it until now, but…
SLASH!
I think I've been forgetting a couple of things…
CLANCK!
I'm not sure what the reason behind this apparent loss of memories might be, especially since they feel important somehow. But strangely enough, the more I thought about it, the more my mind kept generating questions without answers, questions that led nowhere satisfying. It was as if my own consciousness was trying to stop me from thinking about them. At the same time, though, I could feel my heart aching as it longed to uncover the secret behind that mystery and, above all else, desperately wished to recover those memories.
-Why is this happening? Why do I feel so empty…?
Those were only a few of the questions I kept asking myself internally, questions that confused me just by thinking about them.
"…"
"...Mom."
Child, wake up…
Before I could fully sink into the depths of my own consciousness, where a mountain of doubts and questions awaited me and would probably keep me trapped in thought for a long while longer, a voice dragged me back to that horrible reality.
"Huh?"
The moment I came back, the first thing I felt was a powerful tingling sensation running through every part of my body.
"What's happening…?"
"!"
-I'm a fucking idiot…
That was the very first thought that crossed my mind when I realized I was about to be rammed by a creature that looked like it had been born from crossing a bull with a bear.
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
"ROOOOAAAAAAAAG!!!"
It's surprising how reality can sometimes be even more confusing than a distorted consciousness.
"SWORD!"
I didn't even have to think about it. The weapon I needed at that moment was none other than the massive broken-bladed sword, not because it was the strongest weapon in the cube's arsenal, but because, with the entity standing so close to me, I didn't have enough space or time to attack. Instead, it was the best option to use as a shield.
I gripped the sword in such a way that its flat side covered almost my entire body at the exact moment the entity was just about to drive its horns through me.
CLANCK!
The entity's horns slammed against the steel of the sword with such force that the collision produced a savage metallic roar.
ROOOOAAAAR!
"!...ek..!"
Despite the immense pressure exerted by the entity, it failed to inflict any damage whatsoever upon the sword's steel, and its horns couldn't even leave the slightest scratch on its structure. It seemed that this beast was incapable of damaging necronian steel, even using all of its strength.
But as for me…
"Ek….Huaaagg!"
I was completely unable to withstand the force of its charge, and as a result, my body was hurled several meters backward through the air.
CRASH!
In the process, I smashed straight through a wall.
CRASH!
Correction, two walls.
CRASH!
I'm not sure what that last thing was, but it definitely wasn't a wall, since its structure felt far less resistant compared to the others I had just broken through.
BAAAM!
After that final impact, my body finally hit the ground again as I violently crashed into it.
"Brruuugg…!"
I spat out a small stream of blood the exact moment I tried to stand back up.
[2 ribs have been fractured.]
Looking at it from a certain perspective, I was actually pretty lucky. Sure, my body was being broken apart piece by piece, but at least I couldn't feel pain. That's a good thing, right?
"Brrruuaaag…!"
That was quite the downfall.
The specter spoke from the depths of my mind.
"It was just a small setback… I can keep going."
Robert… if you hesitate like that again, they'll kill you.
"Haaa… right…"
I answered while simultaneously struggling to regain my breath.
I forced my mind to reconnect with the desires hidden within my heart.
"….."
Sigh.
-I'll win…
When my mind and heart finally aligned under the same selfish desire, my body seemed to receive some sort of boost, as though I had been recharged with a massive amount of energy that allowed me to stand once more.
"Alright…!"
I took up a combat stance, waiting for the entity to appear from beyond the multiple walls I had just crashed through… and also that bookshelf… wait, a bookshelf?
"…A bookshelf full of books."
I immediately realized that was what my body had crashed into before hitting the floor, but I also noticed something else.
"This place is…."
I turned my head from left to right, trying to understand more about the place I had ended up in. That was when I realized I was surrounded by countless massive bookshelves packed with an enormous number of neatly organized books.
"….the library."
The place looked exactly like the library on the first floor. It even had the same hole in the ceiling.
"Hey, cube, we're still on the third floor, right?"
[You are currently located on Floor 3, Sublevel 2.]
"If that's the case…"
[It appears this building has a library large enough to span more than two floors.]
"It's that huge?"
[There is a high probability that the upper floors also contain sections similar to this one.]
"What kind of office building even needs a library this large?"
I asked with a faint trace of irritation in my voice.
"A single computer could store more than half the information contained in this section of the library."
I couldn't help sounding annoyed while saying all of that. Hearing the cube's words made me picture the architects who designed this skyscraper convincing themselves that wasting so much space to store a few tons of old books was somehow a brilliant idea.
[….Yes.]
"….."
"Sorry, I think I overreacted."
[It's fine.]
"Mmm..?"
It lasted only a second, but while observing the books scattered across the floor, my gaze focused on one of them. That old, worn-out book with its grayish-blue cover and golden letters forming its title caught my attention. By pure instinct, I ended up reading it.
The title consisted of a strange word, yet I felt like I had heard it before…
"Eru'valdriz…?"
-What is that…? And why does it sound so familiar?
Those were some of the questions running through my mind.
"I've heard it before..... someone…. someone said it to me."
[Mr. Ronsbnusbhibsiycvdfss….ao9jhnvfauijnfcsjojms]
"Cu..cube?"
[01000101 01110010 01110101 00100111 01110110 01100001 01101100 01100100 01110010 01101001 01111010]
"….What the hell is happening?"
I asked, my voice filled with genuine concern.
"Cube?"
But I received no response from it.
-Eru'valdriz….
"!"
It was like an echo. A mysterious voice had just spoken the title of that old book.
"WHO'S THERE?!"
I shouted in alarm, thinking it might be some trick from a cunning entity.
"….."
Silence seemed to flood the entire library, to the point where I could hear the wind dragging pages torn mercilessly from their books.
-Eru'valdriz…. Eru'valdriz…
I heard it again, but when I tried tracing its origin, I found nothing but rubble and barely-standing shelves.
"Where..?"
That voice, as soft as the wind itself, sounded so clear it felt like a faint whisper spoken right beside my ear.
"No… no… something's wrong."
An intense chill ran through my body, and soon that chill transformed into total paralysis. In an instant, I became unable to move even the smallest muscle.
"That voice… it isn't coming from anywhere…"
I realized it too late. I had fallen victim to something I couldn't fully understand.
"It's inside my head."
-Eru'valdriz… Eru'valdriz…. Eru'valdriz…
During the few seconds I remained trapped within that trance, I felt my consciousness being violently dragged into an abyss devoid of even the faintest trace of light, a place where the only thing I could hear were doubts endlessly echoing inside my own mind.
Se'ser'sel… Leval'try…
"!"
And just like déjà vu, the specter saved me once again.
"Aaag.. what was that?"
I asked.
Eru'valdriz is nothing more than an empty word. Only you give it power within this dimension, so do not allow your mind to destroy itself by its own hand.
"...An empty word."
"!"
-Alright… that felt horrible.
"Thank you very much… Mr. Specter…"
BEEP
"Huh?"
[ERROR NUMBER 37 DETECTED]
BEEP
[INITIATING RESTART]
"Restart?"
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
[RESTART COMPLETE]
"…."
[Is something wrong? Mr. Robert.]
"Uhhh… cube, are you alright?"
[Yes. I merely required a restart to correct a minor system error.]
"Ah.. I see."
Beep
[I have detected something. There is a large accumulation of dimensional energy directly in front of you.]
"In front of me?"
"!"
Behind the broken bookshelf and through the hole in the wall, a pair of glowing yellow eyes stared at me with savage rage.
GRRRRROOAARR….
I almost forgot. The reason I had returned to the library was because of him. After everything I had gone through so far, after defeating the substance and taking down two other entities with surprising ease, I ended up encountering this beast: a horrifying amalgamation of a bear and a bull. The monstrosity retained traits from both creatures, such as a bear's claws and maw, while also possessing sharp horns and the hooves of a bull on its hind legs.
GRRROOAAARR….!
The entity stood upright on its hooves, doing nothing but staring at me while constantly growling.
"….Mmm."
-I don't think this thing is waiting for me out of courtesy.
I thought.
-What do you think, cube?
[This entity's behavior is… peculiar.]
-Yeah… I agree. It's almost like it's afraid of coming here.
[Entities are incapable of understanding fear or any other emotion.]
[However, they are capable of perceiving danger.]
-Danger? What kind of danger could possibly exist in this library? I'm the only one here, right?
For a brief moment, I actually considered the possibility that I myself was the danger keeping the entity at bay. But the idea sounded far too optimistic to believe, so I discarded it almost immediately.
"Scanner."
BEEP
[No lifeforms detected within this library.]
"Maybe another entity…"
BEEP
[No traces of interdimensional energy other than the entity in front of you have been detected.]
"Then why…?"
Throughout all this time I spent speaking with the cube, I never stopped watching the entity for even a second… or at least, not until now.
For less than a second, I slightly turned my head, glancing at what lay behind me from the corner of my eye.
There, I saw a long path lined with multiple bookshelves on both sides, extending all the way toward what looked like a balcony.
RRRROOOOAAAAAAGG….!!!
Suddenly, a savage roar made me snap my gaze back toward the entity, which had just crossed nearly five meters in the span of a miserable second.
"Eeeek…!"
CLANCK!
I barely reacted in time, once again using the sword to block its horn attack.
RRROOOAAARRG!
But this time, the entity's attack took a completely different turn. Instead of merely attacking with its horns, it bit down on the edge of the blade with terrifying force.
"Aaac…!"
And then the worst part began. The entity started pulling on the weapon, and I, trapped by my own stupidity, refused to let go, believing this would somehow be a good opportunity to attack.
"AXE…!"
I stretched out my hand, expecting the weapon to appear in response to my call.
[I do not have it.]
"Huh?"
[You lost it a few minutes ago.]
"….Huh?"
[When the entity attacked, you blocked its claws using the axe, but the weapon could not withstand the force of the blow. It fell somewhere in the hallway just before you drew the sword.]
"...….WHAAAAT?!"
GGGRRRRROOOOAAAAARRR!!!
Without warning, the entity began violently shaking the sword, and I, still gripping its handle with all my strength, was tossed around like a flag desperately clinging to its pole in the middle of a storm.
"No… oh no."
And since I was holding it with only one hand… I didn't last very long.
"Shit!"
My grip on the handle weakened rapidly until I finally couldn't hold on anymore and my hand slipped free. As a result, I was launched through the air.
"AAAAAAH!"
My body flew through rows of bookshelves before crashing against the balcony.
"AAAAC…!"
The impact knocked the breath out of me, and just before I could recover…
CRACK!
The very balcony I was using to support myself began creaking.
"….Damn it."
CRACK!!!
And then it broke.
"AAAAAAH!"
I fell for… I don't even know how many meters, but it must have been a lot, because the fall was… yeah, insanely loud.
BAAAAM!!!
And the impact sounded just as brutal.
Beep.
[That is another fractured rib.]
"….Wonderful…"
At this point, with this many broken bones, the fact that I can still stand up like nothing happened is completely insane.
-Bless adrenaline.
Once my vision cleared, I confirmed that I had crashed onto a table. Fortunately, the table remained perfectly intact without a single scratch. Besides that, the place looked rather… empty. Despite the large amount of space, there were far fewer bookshelves than upstairs and only a handful of tables, which made me think:
-Maybe… people used to walk through here, or perhaps they moved things around to make enough room for something important, like a meeting, presentation, or sale…
Nothing relevant. My brain still hadn't recovered from the fall, which was why it started overthinking everything around me just to stay awake and stop me from passing out.
CLAP!
But I couldn't allow myself to get distracted. I needed to focus, so I slapped myself across the face a couple of times.
"Don't get distracted… focus…"
And then I saw it…
"!"
Roughly twenty meters in front of me, I saw the floor splitting apart until it formed a massive hole, far larger than the one in the ceiling.
"What the hell?"
And the closer I got, the more I felt there was something wrong surrounding it.
"Cube, scanner."
BEEP
[Nothing abnormal detected.]
"You sure?"
[There are no traces of interdimensional energy on this floor other than the entity behind you.]
There wasn't the slightest doubt in the cube's voice, which made me feel somewhat paranoid as I kept staring at that hole. By the way, I also took a brief glance at the entity. It remained upstairs on the balcony, glaring at me with those same murderous eyes while growling continuously. Even so, for some reason, it still refused to come down after me. Once again, something seemed to be warning it… some danger I couldn't see… or maybe I could.
"I'm going to test it."
[Test what?]
"Give me the dagger, please."
[As you command…]
Unlike the axe, the weapon appeared in my hands without any problems.
"….."
I knelt down and carefully brought the dagger closer to the hole, still feeling that strange sensation screaming at me that something would go terribly wrong.
"Here goes…"
Gathering all my determination, I drove the dagger's tip into the floor, piercing the wood right at the edge of the hole.
CRACK…!
"….."
I swear that after doing so, for a couple of seconds the entire library was swallowed by a deep silence. But I don't mean ordinary silence, like the absence of sound. No, this silence was different. It felt almost absolute, as though the entire universe had fallen silent before something unimaginably terrifying.
Vrrrrrmmmm.
And then, the silence vanished completely as a violent vibration suddenly echoed throughout the entire area.
FFFFUUUUAAAAAAAASSSSSH!
Immediately afterward, the hole in the floor began shining so brightly that it became impossible to see through it anymore.
-What the hell is this?
[No… this cannot be possible.]
"What's happening now?!"
[This was not supposed to happen.]
"What thing?! Stop being mysterious and tell me already!"
Fffffuuuaaaaaasssh!
Soon, the immense light gradually dimmed until it finally became possible to see clearly again.
"….."
But when I did, I was left speechless. The hole I had been staring at had transformed into something resembling a mirror or a screen made entirely of light, shining so brightly that it made the cube's flashlight look pathetic in comparison.
[I do not understand how my scanners failed to detect it.]
"What is this…?"
I asked, but the cube didn't answer me. At least, not immediately.
[It is the rift…]
"The rift…!"
BEEP
[Assigned missions
Code: 78956129999
-Detect the dimensional rift deforming the space surrounding the building: Completed.]
"Ha…."
The moment I read the word "completed" on the cube's screen, I couldn't stop myself from grinning from ear to ear. I had just fulfilled one of the mission's requirements, which meant I was one step closer to completing the main objective and escaping this place.
"Haha….. Awesome."
Just thinking about it filled me with such satisfaction that I nearly forgot the kind of situation I was currently in.
RRROOOAAAAARRRRG!!!
CRASH!
Suddenly, violent noises erupted behind me, forcing me to spin around and raise my guard.
RRROOOAAAAARG!
It was the entity, which had just leapt down from the balcony and landed on top of a table, shattering it in the process.
"Cube, could you stop acting like an idiot and explain things properly for once?"
Beep.
[Mr. Robert, what lies behind you is the rift through which all these entities emerged.]
"I see…."
The entities I had fought, and the ones devouring the hero, came from there. And on top of that, the same rift was responsible for the entire building floating in absolute nothingness.
"I just need to defeat this entity and then…"
[One more thing.]
The cube interrupted me.
[This is extremely important, so listen carefully.]
"Alright."
Naturally, I didn't object. If the cube had something important to say, then I would listen as though its words belonged to a prophet.
[What lies behind you is known as "The Forgetting." It is the opposite side from where all the entities roaming this building originated.]
"And why is that important?"
[If you fall into The Forgetting, you will be forgotten.]
"Speak clearly, please."
[You will die instantly.]
"Oh…"
[However, it is painless.]
[That is a good thing, correct?]
"Yeah…."
-Alright then. In that case, the plan is to defeat the entity and seal the rift without falling into The Forgetting and without wasting any more time than necessary.
[It is a good plan.]
[You are already becoming familiar with the job. Congratulations.]
"….Great."
I said with noticeable disdain.
RRROOOOAAAAR!
The entity… continued stalking me, though it still maintained a considerable distance between us, at least fifteen meters.
"Mmm…."
As I stared at it, I couldn't help but wonder:
-What the hell is wrong with it?
There's something dangerous here frightening it, and I think I already know what it is.
"By any chance, what would happen to an entity if it fell into The Forgetting?"
Beep
[If an entity were to fall into The Forgetting, its physical form would be destroyed until nothing remained of it. However, it would recover within a matter of hours.]
"Good… that sounds perfect…"
I was already starting to figure out what I needed to do next.
"Revolver!"
But as always, the real problem was execution.
"If it won't come to me, then I'll go to it."
RRROOOOAAAAAAR!
The entity roared as it rose onto its hind legs, ready to welcome me with open arms, while I charged toward it carrying nothing more than a small dagger and an unloaded revolver and, as always, hoping I wouldn't die in the process.