The Librarian Monster!

'Let's get started.' Felix said with a stern tone after spotting their enemies rushing up the staircase.

He knew that they had barely a minute or less before they arrived at the Silent Library.

'I am ready whenever you are.' Apollo replied as hepicked up a small, dusty tome from a nearby table, the weight of it surprisingly heavy in his hand.

With a final nod from Felix, Apollo let go of the book and it slammed on the ground akin to a gunshot in the overwhelming silence.

'Noise?! Who is stupid enough to make this kind of noise?!' Tempus Vey exclaimed in shock as he gazed at the origin of the thunderous echo.

Click Click...

Before his teammates could react, a chilling movement disturbed the nearest shelf next to them. They slowly raised their heads without daring to make any drastic movement.

With eyes engulfed in pure dread, they gazed at a hideous spider-like creature with eight long, wooden legs that clicked and clacked against the bookshelves as it crawled...

Its body was a combination of wood and paper, resembling a giant, bound tome, blending almost perfectly with its environment.

'The Librarian is right above us...Don't you dare make a single sound if you don't want to be placed on a shelf for eternity...' Tempus Vey stammered telepathically, feeling like his life was no longer in his hands.

His reaction was more than understandable. Based on the map's details, anyone caught by the Librarian Monster would have his entire being eaten and coughed out as a book!

Based on the provided memories, the book would have an entire story narration from the start to the end of the victim.

The worst part? The victims were trapped inside their own stories without any possibility of escaping the book!

Baaaam!!

Suddenly, the Library was engulfed in another booming noise, causing the Librarian monster to halt its movement towards the Chronowalkers' squad. It lifted its head and gazed with its crimson-red eyes at the direction of the noise.

Click Click...

Then, it crawled from one shelf to another at a breakneck speed, heading towards the noise source.

'That was a close call...' Tempus Vey sighed in relief while holding his agitated heart. As Chronowalker, he rarely got scared of anything due to his ability to manipulate time. But, those monsters in the Echoing Tower were immune to laws.

The Jungle Predator was just the start and all the floor guardians up next would get stronger and creepier.

This meant that the only way to leave those floors was to respect each floor's conditions and rules.

'Captain, do we take advantage of the opportunity to search for some treasures here?' One of the Chronowalkers suggested after the Librarian was no longer to be seen.

'I think this floor has some promising rewards. Most of those books have stories of ancient beings so as their belongings.' Another one endorsed it.

'Make it quick and be careful with noise.' Tempus Vey permitted, his eyes reflecting a hint of greed as he gazed at the thousands of books surrounding him.

He understood that some of those books were relics of the tower and while it would be extremely difficult to find them through the graveyard of captured souls, if they got lucky and landed on one, they could cut their journey short.

At this point, many squads desired to leave the tower after what occurred in the past floors. They knew that many things in the Echoing Tower made no sense, but to go against the floors' rules? That was a different story.

While the few surviving squads were either rushing to the exit or searching for treasures, the librarian monster had arrived above Felix and Apollo in almost no time.

Click Click Click...

Its clicking noise was absolutely terrifying in this frightening silence, but it was nowhere as scary as the next scene.

With terrifying slowness, it opened its torso, the spine of the book-like body unfolding to unveil a gruesome mouth!

Rows of razor-thin teeth shone in the dimness while emanating a foul, musty odor of decay and forgotten tales.

The sight was absolutely nightmarish, but Felix and Apollo held their ground.

As the Librarian monster overlooked above Felix and Apollo, its monstrous maw gaping wide like a black hole, a terrifying sucking force began to emanate from its depths!

Whoosh! Whoosh!...

Loose papers, smaller books, and even a couple of unanchored chairs began to hurtle toward the mouth, threatening to swallow everything in its vicinity!

In response, Felix released his sinister crimson mist, allowing it to stream towards the creature, seemingly consumed by the sucking force!

'Apollo, anchor us down.' Felix requested after noticing that the sucking force was growing stronger each second they kept resisting it!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

'On it.'

Apollo quickly conjured tendrils of darkness, solidifying them into strong, vine-like ropes that anchored them to the ground!

This was enough to keep them motionless as they waited for it to get demonized!

The Librarian Monster couldn't care less about the massive amount of crimson mist it was absorbing. All it wanted to do was consume those two invaders and turn them into books.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

With the sucking force reaching tenfold, even the anchored shelves began to fly into its massive frightening mouth!

In less than ten seconds, the entire area was cleared out of any piece of furniture, leaving behind only Felix and Apollo affixed on the ground akin to nails!

But, soon enough, the monster's movements began to slow, its sucking force faltering as the corruptive energy started its work.

Its wooden body creaked and groaned, the pages and bindings that composed its form starting to darken.

"Hold on just a bit longer," Felix shouted over the noise, his voice steady despite the chaos.

With a final concerted effort, Felix pushed more of the crimson energy into the monster until the demonization process finished and the connection between them was created.

The moment he succeeded, he ordered it to close its mouth shut. The monster listened to his commands obediently and brought peace back to the library.

"Your evil energy is truly a cheat code in the tower." Apollo remarked with a pleased tone as he stared at the new demonized version of the Librarian, kneeling before Felix.

Those were supposed to be invincible tower guardians that not even unigins could do anything against them.

After all, having immunity to all laws was something only celestials had, which put those creatures at the same rank as the three rulers inside the tower.

It would be a game over for anyone daring to step into the tower if it wasn't for their lack of intelligence.

"Let's see if our strategy will work." Felix wasn't in the mood for empty chatter and straightaway ordered the Librarian monster to devour him.

The Librarian monster opened its mouth widely and sucked Felix's in...This time, he didn't resist it.

The moment he went inside, Felix realized that he had been transported into a different dimensional space...His eyes widened in surprise at the sight of billions of book covers in the shape of gates.

Each cover was live, displaying the current ongoing scenes inside the book's story.

Felix and the tenants had no words to describe their emotions as they spectated some of those stories.

'How does this make any sense? Without the map, it is nearly impossible to reach this floor in one piece. Even if we consider that some of those people had entered the tower while the silent library floor was the topmost floor, it shouldn't have been able to have this many stories.' Thor remarked with a confused look.

The question had been on Felix's mind as well as the tenants. In their eyes, there were just too many stories to add up with the timeframe.

But this was not the time to think too deeply about this.

'What do you think, do we hide in our world or enter someone else's?' Felix said.

'Create your own, it will give you more freedom.'