... where is this place?
In the darkness, Almark regained consciousness.
I should have opened my eyes, but I can't see anything.
Complete darkness.
From the sensation, it appears that Almark has fallen over something hard, like stone or rock.
Slowly wake up your torso.
Your body moves. There is no pain.
Explore the signs in the darkness.
There are no signs of beasts or monsters.
I don't feel magic or strong hostility.
I think it would be nice to speak up.
"Ain"
Almark whispers the name of a friend who should have been dragged into a book with him.
Ain, are you there?
"Almark."
The voice of Ain came from a distance.
"If you're here, I think I can turn on the lights."
Ain said so and used the magic of the lamp.
It was apparently in some cave that it was illuminated by a small flame.
The ceiling is too high for adults to reach, and the rock is peeling off at their feet.
Looks like they fell down in the cave somewhere like a narrow hallway.
There's nobody but the two of us.
Are you hurt?
Ain asks.
"Oh, no. You are."
"Neither do I."
"But it's weird."
Almark stood up.
"It's my body, not my body. It's kind of fluffy."
"... soul, huh?"
Ain murmured.
"Our real bodies must be lying on the library floor. Just like Ficke yesterday."
"I mean..."
Almark nodded.
"This is your body."
"Probably."
"You were right, Ain."
"It's not enough to read."
Ain shakes his head.
"However, if something pulls your soul out of it, I just thought the image of yourself at the moment it's pulled out is important."
"But thanks to your reading. I was worthy of going back to the dorm."
Almark puts his hand in his robe as he says.
And it was Almark's partner, the Dagger, who slowly took it out.
"It's not the same without this."
Almark pulls the dagger out of the sheath and confirms that there are no abnormalities.
"Did you bring it back?"
Ain nods when he says so.
"I saw it in your room."
As he said, he also put his hand in the robe and took out his wand.
Just in case, today, the two of them had each one of their specialties in the robe.
It became an image of my body, and just like the robe I was wearing, it remained with both of us even now that it became a soul.
"I was surprised when you caught that book."
Ain said, moving the flame above his hand to the tip of his staff.
"Was that manipulated?"
"Yeah, probably. I'm sorry."
"That's fine. It just happened to be you, and I might have been manipulated."
Almark shook his head to comfort Ain.
"No, I feel like I've been set up."
"Is it set up?
Ain looked at Almark in suspicion.
A ring of snakes that cut through Almark's head. It stinks.
Copper and silver sorcerer.
I feel like I already have all the pieces of answers, but they still don't tie together well.
"I'll tell you more later. Rather, we need to find Fike."
"Oh, yeah."
Ain lifts his wand and illuminates the path with his lamp.
The passage continues straight until the light reaches.
Beyond that, darkness.
"I wonder if this is in that book."
Almark says Ain twists his neck.
"Well, I don't know for sure... if it's in a book, what's there?"
"If this is in the book, I have a clue."
"Huh?"
Look at Almark with eyes like Ain's.
"Now it's your turn. What did you notice?"
Somewhere interesting, the tone is the usual.
"Just before we got pulled in, the book would have opened by itself."
Ah.
Can you read what was written there?
"No."
Ain immediately denies it.
"That's right, I couldn't afford to read a letter in that situation.... can't you read it?"
Almark nods at Ain's words.
"What's in your eyes?"
Ain shakes his head with a bitter smile.
"That's right. My body was being manipulated. Is that your courage?"
"It's not that big."
Almark slowly remembers the sentence in his eyes.
It was written about monsters.
"Monster"
Ain frowned.
"What?"
"It looks like a giant cow or rhinoceros. Hard armor and sharp corners. Tooth that bites everything. An evil force filled with limbs."
Almark talks about fragments of the sentence.
The ominous words line up.
"It's a dark beast. As far as I know, it's nothing but the Dark Beast Eldane."
"Eldane"
Ain repeats.
"I have read in a book. He said he was a family of darkness alongside Durgan and Volapa."
"Yeah, I've only met once in the North."
At that time, I couldn't defeat him.
I see. If what you see is correct. "
Ain looks into the darkness at the end of the aisle.
Maybe he's in this cave.
With new information, Ain's brain starts spinning again.
"Then maybe this is the application of prison magic. I saw the book itself as a magical prison. Then there must be a condition. If you get caught in jail, you can't leave unless you meet the set conditions. There are some sort of conditions here."
If so, look at Almark.
"That's what you call it. Perhaps we can get out of here if we take down the Eldane."
What if I take him down?
Almark had a face that didn't float.
"Eldane is a dark beast. It's not like ordinary monsters like Mordo and Jalanon."
"You mean strong?"
Almark nods at Ain's words.
"Strong. Very strong. I don't want to fight if I can."
While saying that, I continued indifferently.
"But if that's the only way, we'll have to do something about it. Either way, if we run into Eldane or something, we'll have to live or die."
Ain looked a little puzzled in his sad, sarcastic tone.
"Live or die."
Ain repeated Almark's words in his mouth and then shook his head.
"I can say such a word lightly in such a situation. And I'm actually ready for that. That's how you grew up."
When Almark didn't answer, Ain smiled.
"But now it's comfortable."