Chapter 1535: So... You Come Here Often?
I peeked out of the elevator, looking around what looked like the interior of a public library that seemed to stretch on forever with multiple floors above us.
The guy who had introduced himself as Grant gave me a worried look, "Umm... So... You’re not a monster, are you?"
I turned to give him a deadpan look, "I don’t believe I am?"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I mean... I don’t know if you would see me as a monster or not. All I can say is that I walked through some kind of portal to end up here and I’m not a local of this place."
He stared at me for another moment before shrugging, "Ehh... Good enough for me I guess. So what’s this place?"
"Looks like... A library. Have you been here before?"
"Definitely not. I’ve been stuck on that pool floor for quite a long time already. The last place I was wandering around before that was some place with spiral staircases. That was pretty trippy... But at least there were vending machines I could get supplies from."
I turned to him, "Supplies? What do you mean?"
He looked at me like I had just asked him if he was human, "You know? Supplies? How else do you survive here? Actually... You’re keeping your supplies in that rock, are you? Do you need anything? I’ve got some almond water on me if you need any."
I then only realised he was carrying a sling bag which he shifted to unzip, revealing several bottles of water and packets of food inside it.
Ah... Right... I got my ideas about this place from games and stuff but if this was a real place with real consequences, the people who get stuck here would definitely need sustenance to survive.
Unlike me, they probably have to wander around the floors for several days or weeks or even months before they could find the exit to the next floor because they can’t just beat the monster into leading them to the next floor like I can.
I shook my head at him, "I’m good, thanks for the offer."
He shrugged and zipped up his back again before slinging it on his back once more.
We went back to looking around the massive library space, the rows of bookshelves that seemed to be filled with books acting as walls of a maze and there were stairs dotted around that led to the higher floors above us.
"So... Errr... Seeing that you’re the veteran here, what’s the plan?" I asked.
He turned back to me again, this time in surprise, "Huh? Me? The veteran? I’m pretty sure you’re the veteran here since you look so calm and everything like you’ve done this before."
"Hmm... Not exactly, more like I’ve been through worse things so... This isn’t really anything big to me."
"Worse? What floor were you on before the pool one?"
I pretended to think, "Hmm... It was the school one. Not sure if you know what it is?"
His eyes widened, "Oh damn, the school one? The one with the creatures that will only move if you don’t look at them?"
I nodded, "That’s the one. You’ve been there?"
"Nope. But I’ve come across other people who have been there and none of them have any good things to say about that place."
That caught me by surprise as I swivelled towards him, "Wait... You’ve met other people here too?!"
He raised an eyebrow, "Yes? Have you not? There’s quite a lot of people stuck in here it seems..."
"You’re actually the first person I’ve seen aside from myself here so far... And... Why are you alone then?"
"That’s a surprise... And as for why I’m alone... There’s times where my companions just get whisked away to another floor because they opened a door and got pulled into another floor or... Well... Or they’re dead."
Well... Fair enough...
He turned back to look at the rest of the library, "So... Back to this, I guess... If I had to guess... The exit for this place has something to do with the books or something. And if there is a creature here... It would probably be related to the library as well."
"What kind of creature would even be related to the library? Flying books that eat your face or something?"
He shuddered, "I actually wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case... I’ve seen and heard about all kinds of weird things happening in this--"
He didn’t get to finish his words before a loud shriek came from somewhere within the library.
Both of us froze, though for me it was more out of curiosity and interest at what made the sound while Grant was obviously out of fear.
He quickly tugged at my arm and started pulling me away, moving us towards the side before motioning me to squat down with him.
I didn’t question him and did as he asked, lowering myself beside him as he watched the space we had been talking at with trepidation.
The reason why he pulled me here became clear as a rather large sized creature with what looked to be a radar dish for a head appeared. Its body was rather mangled, like a large sized human suddenly started growing out metal rods and struts that were just permanently stuck to its body and forced it to lumber along.
It reached the place we had been at and lashed out its arm that had a giant metal beam stuck to it, hitting nothing but empty air.
It then stayed there, as though satisfied that it had whacked that place and made a really weird breathing sound before it slowly turned away and trudged back the way it came, completely ignoring us despite the fact that we were in full view of it.
Grant waited until the radar monster was gone before turning to me, his eyes wide with fear as he made a cross with his two index fingers and placed it on his mouth.
Ah... He’s telling me that the monster here most likely relied on sound to find us and it could not see us at all.
Hmm... Just to make sure...
I pulled out a book from the bookshelf behind me, lifting it up and bracing myself in a throwing motion before turning to look at Grant.
He understood that I was going to test his theory with the book and gave me a curt nod.
I tossed the book away from us, watching it spin through the air and smack against the wall with a loud thud.
Almost instantly, the same shrieking sound echoed around the us and the creature soon returned and smashed the book with its arm, leaving the broken cover and scattered pages behind.
It then just stood there for a while, staring at the wall where the book had hit and just... Stayed there.
I looked at Grant and he motioned for me to follow him so we got ready to stand up to start sneaking away.
At least... That was the plan...
When Grant stood up... His knees made the popping sound and both of us stared at each other the moment the sound appeared.
The radar creatures immediately spun around and let out a screech in our direction and we immediately started running.
Obviously there was no way we could be silent about our running so the monster chased after the sound of our footsteps.
Well... I could hide it, obviously, but I don’t know whether this guy knows about magic so I’ll just play along with my ’helpless’ human act for now.
The creature chased after us with its arms outstretched, clearly intending on smashing us into meat paste.
I decided to try and see if I could distract it by snatching one of the books from the shelf to toss it directly at the creature.
I watched in satisfaction as the book ended up smacking against the radar dish of the creature, knocking it hard enough to force it into a grinding halt.
I grabbed the guy to stop running before shoving him in between two bookshelves, hiding us from the creature and hoping that it was still distracted by the book smacking into its face to notice we had changed directions.
That seemed to have worked as the creature needed another moment before it recovered and started looking-- Ahem... Listening out for us.
I took the chance to grab another book off the shelf to toss it further down the hall, the smack of the book prompting the creature to run off in that direction and into the maze of bookshelves.
The both of us held our breath and only relaxed after it had disappeared behind the shelves.
𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
"That... Was intense..." He whispered, careful not to be too loud.
I looked at Grant who was still staring in the direction of where the creature had disappeared, "So... We just have to be really quiet... While we look for the way out?"
He nodded, "The sooner the better... This is not a safe floor after all..."
Oh well... I can be quiet if I want to so no big deal~