Night draped the city in silence. Neon signs flickered across high towers, guild banners casting their symbols onto the skyline. Hunters celebrated victories in their lavish halls, drinking, laughing, boasting.
But in the alleys below, whispers spread.
"Orders from Captain Hale."
"The librarian dies tonight."
"No survivors."
Five figures moved in the shadows, clad in crimson leather. The Crimson Fangs' assassins—trained hunters specialized not for monsters, but for people.
---
The Ambush
Elias walked home through the quiet streets, his satchel slung across his shoulder. He kept to himself as always, but now he could feel eyes on him. The Codex pulsed faintly at his side.
He turned into a narrow alley.
The assassins struck.
A dagger flew toward his spine. A crossbow string twanged. Boots thundered across cobblestones.
But Elias did not panic.
The Codex burst open, pages spiraling around him.
> [Manifestation: Iron Guard]
A shimmering shield unfolded before his back, intercepting the dagger with a spark. Another page twisted into runes midair, transforming into a paper-spear that shot backward, skewering the crossbow bolt.
The assassins froze, startled.
Elias turned slowly, adjusting his cracked glasses. His voice was calm. "Guild dogs. Figures."
The leader snarled. "You're a threat to the balance. Captain's orders. Nothing personal."
They lunged.
Elias moved like ink across a page. A page unfolded into a blade—Breaker's Sword. His swings were silent, perfect. The assassins' daggers clashed, but each impact met his shield before it could touch him.
He sidestepped, countered, dismantled them piece by piece.
When one assassin tried to flank, Elias flicked a page.
> [Annotation: Fractured March → Disarray March]
Their formation collapsed instantly. The assassins stumbled, their rhythm broken, opening themselves to his strikes.
One by one, they fell, blue runes shattering where the Codex branded them. Elias stood amidst the wreckage, his glasses glowing faintly with reflected light.
He exhaled slowly. "Humans or monsters… makes no difference. You're all just pages in the same book."
The last assassin, bleeding, tried to crawl away. "Y-you don't understand… the guilds… they'll never let you live."
Elias crouched, his gaze cold. "Then let's see how many chapters I can fill before they try."
He stood, leaving the bodies behind.
---
The Next Dungeon
The next day, headlines screamed across every holo-feed:
ASSASSINS SLAUGHTERED IN THE STREETS. RUMORS POINT TO THE GUILDLESS LIBRARIAN.
Guilds denied involvement, of course. But whispers grew louder. Elias Crowe was dangerous. Unpredictable. Uncontrollable.
And Elias himself? He didn't care.
He stood before the gates of a new dungeon, its entrance pulsing with crimson light. Hunters clustered nearby, whispering as he approached.
"That's him…"
"The one who cleared the Archive alone."
"Why's he here without a guild? Is he insane?"
Elias ignored them. The Codex floated at his shoulder, pages fluttering eagerly.
> [Dungeon Detected: Crimson Depths]
Class: A-rank.
Boss: Lava Serpent.
He stepped inside.
---
Trial by Fire
Heat slammed into him immediately, the cavern glowing red with molten rivers. The ground shook as the Lava Serpent emerged—its body coiled, scales glowing like magma, eyes burning with hatred.
Hunters who had followed Elias gasped and retreated. "He's going to die!"
Elias adjusted his glasses. The Codex flared.
Pages scattered like a storm.
> [Manifestation: Flame Breath, Silent Inferno, Reflective Guard]
[Annotation: Flame Breath + Wing Burst → Infernal Tempest]
Wings of paper unfolded from his back, igniting in invisible fire. Elias launched skyward as the Serpent roared, spewing molten streams across the cavern.
He answered with Infernal Tempest. His wings beat once, unleashing a storm of invisible flames that seared the Serpent's scales. The beast writhed, hissing in agony as fire consumed it from within.
It lunged. Elias spun, pages forming spears midair. They pierced its joints, its eyes, its open maw. The Serpent thrashed, molten blood raining across stone.
Then Elias raised his shield.
The Serpent's tail crashed down—only to rebound as Reflective Guard activated. The shockwave traveled back into the beast's body, snapping bones with explosive force.
Elias closed the Codex with a whisper. "The end."
Pages folded into a massive blade, glowing with all his recorded power. He dove, cutting clean through the Serpent's neck.
Its body convulsed, then collapsed, molten blood spilling into rivers below.
The dungeon shook—then stilled.
> [Dungeon Clear: Success]
[Footnote Unlocked]
"The Serpents were not born. They were written. By an Author who feared fire's spread."
Elias landed softly, sword dissolving into fragments.
The hunters outside stared as he emerged from the glowing gate, unscathed, pages orbiting him like silent guardians.
One whispered, voice trembling. "He's… unstoppable."
Elias walked past them without a word.
---
The World Reacts
That night, guild leaders convened again. Roderick Hale slammed his fist against the table, cracking it. "He's already cleared another dungeon. If he keeps growing unchecked—"
"—he'll be beyond us all," Lyra finished calmly, her violet eyes gleaming.
The Spirewatch master growled. "Then we kill him now."
Lyra smiled faintly. "Or… we watch. A story like his is too interesting to cut short."
The guilds fell silent, unease thick in the air.
Because for the first time in history, they realized:
The world no longer belonged only to the guilds.
It belonged to a librarian.