Nightmare Mythos

After hours of being led around by Cedeit, if Cesar was basing the time he was experiencing in the Mansion on the same time from outside, it was over six to seven hours before he finally reached what seemed to be the heart of the library.

…well, two hearts if he was considering the 'current floor' and the 'current roof'.

During those hours of being careful of suddenly facing a behemoth in the likes of the Keeper and the Librarian, Guardian Shelves, and Nightmares while handling a few Corrupted Humans on his own, Cesar's little adventures have been very eventful at least for him.

'I'm so full…'

One eventful moment of his little adventures is the weird-looking books across the entirety of the shelves he went through the time. The things he thought were weird were in fact a very important asset for his survivability.

Cedeit was right that these books had one of many functions aside from being able to read them.

His hunger and thirst were satiated.

He picked up a book that appeared to be liquid at one point and he was able to use it as some sort of drink to avoid thirst. Cedeit, someone on his back who became active has been giving him opinions regarding everything that Cesar touched, felt, or seen to give him any prior knowledge.

He told Cesar that the books come in different sizes and appearances, and while some are meaningful and usable for the rest, most are very dangerous and can harm the person itself, and even Cedeit was wary of them.

If not for the fact that he had rich knowledge about the existence of these books, Cesar might've complained about food and water since he wouldn't do his bidding with an empty stomach when there's a solution for it not to be like that.

One thing he liked was the knowledge he got from Cedeit that one can know a book's expiration date if they based it on the pages the book had inside. Every tear of the book that Cesar managed to get is equivalent to minus a day regarding the library's day, which is so far, the same as the time when being outside.

Even so, their value is lost from time to time, hence Cedeit heavily recommended that he should not pick a book he didn't need to.

The only thing a book can survive in these harsh environments where there are constant battles happening is the bookshelves, as there are ways to keep them on potency while, if the books are eventually returned to their rightful places, they can replenish what they had before.

It's like a charger for any technology that needs it in case it was drained or exhausted through much use. If they got used too much, one can expect a devastating result as the books, whether they are bad or good, had bad results most of the time.

As for how the shelves are doing it, it's like they have a 'magic' where they can freeze the time that contains these books. However, it doesn't harm the user if they ever touch the shelves as the architect of the Mansion had done its research.

It's more like the hallways Cesar, the squad, and anyone that has to cross them, are merely a test to put the end yet good results to the library.

The Fluctuations, The whole mechanism of the Library, The Shelves and the Books… everything seemed to be connected.

That's why Cedeit said 'everything in the mansion leads to the library.'

And how does that affect Cesar? Absolutely nothing.

He got bored hearing the story about the bits of history of the library, and the reply he gave to the voice was a ridiculous sentence.

-If you can stop feeding me useless sentences that contain nothing to help me defeat the Librarian and the Keeper, that would be really appreciated.

Now, he was done rejoicing the taste of some of the books he had passed by and was full. All that was left was to ready himself to do the job that Cedeit had asked for him to accomplish.

For that to happen, he had to position himself in the heart of the library.

'Shit…'

The walls Cesar was currently observing were twice as large as the typical shelves he had seen before. These particular walls, located in the heart of the library, were encased in a circular or crescent-shaped line, giving the impression that they encircled the interior of this specific area, which resembled a maze from the inside.

"Whatever book you land upon, you should read it. We don't know how many hours, minutes, or seconds even before you go the Float Period starts. This is the heart of the library. You will end up discovering a thing or two here that likes of you would be lucky enough to read,"

Cesar carefully trod into the road available at the larger shelves in the heart of the library before finally entering.

Continue your saga on m|v-l'e -NovelBin.net

"Woah…"

The feeling of magnificence and grandness surrounding the walls was making Cesar overwhelmed. The paper ground was more durable. And because the structure inside had a maze-like design, it was impossible for him to peer through the other side of the maze unless he climbed onto those shelves.

But Cedeit firmly reminded him that 'climbing' the shelves was a definite no-go.

First, he would be easily exposed from above, making him vulnerable if they were indeed enemies, though it was better not to find out once he was already in their grasp.

Second, the Library held more traps on top of the shelves than below, making it far more dangerous to ascend.

Basically, one might get their hand chopped off if they were ever to touch a false bottom or pull a lever accidentally.

Cesar already had enough of losing an eye.

"Huh…"

As he roamed his eyes around the library walls, Cesar was able to easily spot the difference between the heart of the library and the rest outside.

The shelves here are empty. In the exterior part of the heart, Cesar couldn't land a single book to read.

The thing he did was roam a bit deeper while still keeping vigilant until finally, he went further and spotted a book.

Cesar felt gladdened and immediately closed by until he stopped halfway through and stared at the book menacingly.

"Hmm…"

Cesar grabbed his chipped dagger from his arsenal of weapons and threw it toward the book to test if that was just a mouse trap to bait him.

The chipped dagger hit the book, though it was left unscathed. Seeing that it didn't change into a hideous creature nor triggered a trap from somewhere that will cause to endanger his life, Cesar was half a hundred percent sure it was safe.

Walking a bit more, Cesar hesitantly reached out to the book that had no title on its front cover nor words encrypted at its book. It was a plain black book that almost resembled the Book Of Contents in his pocket.

"Oh, you got a nice book,"

Cedeit commented on the book he managed to get which Cesar found creepy. He knew he couldn't comprehend the same 'nice' Cedeit has to the 'nice' to human terms.

If it was 'nice' to him, Cesar knew it was bad.

But instead of running away or acting surprised like he always did, Cesar toughened up and opened the contents of the book.

He had to man up some times and not be a pussy.

The moment he opened the content, the last thing he knew was that he wasn't reading whatever content he saw inside but an entirely different view.

'What the… This is—!?'

Cesar shuddered as he found himself staring at the long, ancient stone table with chairs lining up on the side to at the far end of the opposite sides.

And what once empty chairs were filled with figures sitting on them.