Chapter 55. The Ultimate Fan (3)
Chapter 55. The Ultimate Fan (3)
4
In any field, latecomers are at a disadvantage.
A red ocean already occupied by veterans.
The latecomer must throw themselves into it and prove their own worth. Like a low-ranking soldier struggling to climb a wall already taken by the enemy.
The Tower was no different in this regard.
"...Welcome!"
When the white light faded and I opened my eyes again.
What greeted us was not the voice of a goddess.
"Warriors who climb the Tower!"
It was a child who could have been a girl or a boy.
A single small child wore clothes with a loose, roomy fit.
At a glance, the clothes resembled traditional Eastern attire.
"This librarian has waited with the aching heart of one who feels three autumns in a single day!"
But upon closer inspection... it was completely different.
Aside from the long sleeves, it had nothing in common with Eastern ceremonial robes. No, actually, even the sleeves were extraordinary from the start. The sleeve hems were not merely long—they trailed a full five meters or more.
"But it is fine! Life is a journey that begins with meetings and ends with meetings. In the end, when you look back, is not the meaning of life simply whom you met? Waiting is like a seasoning that gives life a deeper flavor!"
They say the face completes the fashion. No matter how special the clothes, in the end it all depends on who wears them.
In that sense, that little child fluttering five-meter sleeves was certainly special.
"Allow me to once more offer my sincere greetings!"
Midair.
"Welcome to the Great Library of All Thoughts!"
The child was floating high in the air.
Looking down at us, who had been suddenly summoned.
[Shut-In Librarian welcomes you!]
A Constellation, Shut-In Librarian.
The one who governs floors 21 through 30.
The representative of this world spread both arms wide and smiled brightly.
But unfortunately, no one returned his greeting. Murmur, murmur. The hunters had not yet grasped the situation and looked around in bewilderment.
"Uh, uh......."
"What the hell, why were we suddenly teleported on our own?"
"Where is this?"
By rough estimate, several hundred people.
Those hunters muttered in confusion. The majority were those who had gathered in the plaza just moments ago and shouted the countdown together.
But there were also people who had been spending "personal time" somewhere other than the plaza.
"Kyaaaah!"
"D-don't look over here!"
Embarrassing screams burst out here and there.
A hunter summoned mid-shower. Lovers teleported while naked. Even people who had apparently been summoned while sleeping, glancing around with drowsy eyes. Hunters who had suffered sudden misfortune were appearing one after another.
"Oh my."
The Constellation Librarian giggled.
"This librarian was a bit lacking in consideration."
While the hunters floundered about, not knowing what to do, snap! The Librarian flicked his fingers. Then large bookcases flew in with a whoosh. Those bookcases, with holes cut for heads, arms, and legs, sought out the naked hunters on their own and slipped onto them.
"Ah......."
"Wh-what a relief."
The hunters who had been watching let out sighs of relief. I was also relieved, since I had been feeling rather awkward myself.
"Wh-what the hell is this getup......."
The people in question wore gloomy expressions, having been made to pull the large bookcases over themselves like Gundam suits made of cardboard, but that was the minority opinion.
And so a wave of embarrassment swept past us once. People finally regained their composure. One by one, they began to look up at the sky.
"...Who are you?"
The Witch spoke up on behalf of the hunters.
"And where is this......."
"Ah, this librarian is merely a nameless underling who manages a slightly large library, Black Witch. Compared to you, I am a being infinitely close to an extra. I would appreciate it if you treated me as a person who does not exist."
"......."
The Witch furrowed her brows.
An unknown opponent somehow knew her identity. She sensed an ominous sign in that fact.
That was understandable.
I had already grown somewhat accustomed to Constellations after taking the [Demon King of Fall Rain] and the [Goddess of Protection] under my command. But to other hunters, Constellations were still unknown beings.
"...A slightly large library, you say."
Seizing the moment when the Witch closed her lips, I spoke up this time.
"This seems a bit beyond "slightly large," doesn't it?"
The 21st-floor stage.
This place was one enormous library. Perhaps simply calling it enormous was insufficient. From right nearby to the distant horizon, from the floor beneath our feet to the ceiling far above, bookshelves packed with books stretched on endlessly.
It was closer to a "world made of a library."
"Oh-ho."
The master of this world looked at me.
Innocent eyes.
Pupils like those of an infinitely pure child sparkled.
"Indeed. So you are the Death King."
Hm.
"Ah, do not be so wary, everyone. This librarian is harmless. I truly wish only to welcome you. To me, you are no different from heroes in an epic."
Heroes in an epic.
I, who had regressed 4,000 days, knew what those words meant. Because this place was no ordinary library. But I deliberately pretended not to know and asked back.
"Heroes in an epic?"
"Like this."
Snap!
The Librarian flicked his fingers. Then two hardcover volumes were pulled from countless bookshelves. Floating gently. The hardcovers flew in and circled around the Librarian.
Titles were written on each cover.
+
[Chronicles of the Aegim Empire]
[Story of Ascending City]
+
The Librarian smiled softly.
"My hobby is reading books. However, the books that gather in my library are by no means ordinary records. They are your history. Books about the worlds where the Tower was built."
The Librarian stroked the spines of the books with slender fingers.
"You must be wondering why, out of so many warriors, only you were summoned. The reason is simple! Because in your world, only you possess names as 'characters.'"
"...Names as characters?"
"You call them aliases."
The Librarian smiled softly as he looked down at us.
"The 302 people gathered here. Every one of them is a warrior who possesses an alias."
The hunters murmured.
"Only hunters with aliases are summoned?"
"Th-then the others......."
"Wait. Don't tell me we have to clear the Tower with just us?"
Yes.
Not the real names used in the outside world, but the name wholly bestowed upon a hunter by the Tower. The alias. That was the admission ticket valid from the 21st floor onward.
'...That's why, before I regressed, I couldn't even set foot beyond the 20th floor.'
The frontrunners who possessed aliases.
The latecomers who had not received aliases.
'The gap between the two groups will only widen.'
I fiddled with the hilt of the dagger at my waist. It was a method I relied on when trying to calm my mind... and my own small ritual.
'The me of now is different from the me of before.'
The straggler who had neither skills nor an alias and could not so much as set a toe beyond the 20th floor was no longer here. There was only the hunter who had newly risen to rank 3.
'I won't be weeded out without even participating in the raid.'
However, there were few hunters besides me who maintained their composure.
The Witch was the same.
She muttered, unable to hide her bewilderment.
"This is absurd. Three hundred people—clearing the Tower with such a small number is......."
"Do not worry!"
The Librarian grabbed [Chronicles of the Aegim Empire]. And smiled.
"You defended the Aegim Empire with only three people. Three hundred is a full hundred times that! You will pass the stages this librarian has prepared with great ease. Have confidence!"
"......."
Most of the hunters looked at one another with uneasy expressions. In the middle of the great library stretching endlessly to the horizon, the roughly three hundred hunters looked like no more than a handful of sand.
Before the uneasy atmosphere could spread further, I took the initiative.
"Let's get on with it quickly, Librarian."
"Oh-ho?"
"I understand you're excited to meet living people for the first time in a while, but we want to climb the Tower quickly. We haven't even been given a quest yet. I request prompt progress."
"Oh-ho, oh-ho-ho."
The Librarian laughed quietly.
"Indeed! This librarian was so delighted that I failed to issue the quest. Hmm, however, explaining everything tediously in words is not in my nature......."
Thud!
Hundreds of books flew in.
The hardcovers circled around the Librarian.
"Let me see. Which work will resonate most clearly......? This Apocalypse is too dull, and this one's destruction is too quiet... Oh, yes! This one will be best."
The Librarian grabbed a single book.
"I warn you in advance."
And opened it.
White light poured from the book, which opened in two halves.
"It is only a sample, so do not be too startled."
Fwooosh!
A wave of light swept over us.
5
All of the hunters were teleported somewhere.
Even without knowing where, it was clear that this was not our world. Buildings of a style I had never seen before. Buildings that looked like termite mounds magnified hundreds of times formed a forest of towers.
Including me, the hunters were floating in the sky. We were high in the air, and far below our feet, on the distant ground, stretched buildings we had never heard of or seen before.
"Ee, eeeek!"
Someone screamed. Did they have acrophobia? Even though they were not falling in the slightest, the hunters instinctively grabbed at each other's sleeves.
Watching that spectacle, the Librarian laughed.
"I am a librarian. But as I said, the records that gather in my library are not ordinary history books or novels. They are of a somewhat higher—no, a far higher—caliber!"
The Great Library of All Thoughts.
A study where records of countless worlds gather.
There, worlds are stored in the form of books.
"This is the world you cleared."
The Librarian tapped the hardcover with [Chronicles of the Aegim Empire] written on its cover.
"And this is your own world!"
There was also a book titled [Story of Ascending City].
Besides those, hundreds of books flew around the Librarian. The Constellation with the appearance of a small child gazed at the books in his possession as if he found them unbearably adorable.
"There are many ways to refer to these books. Some call them epics. Others call them novels or chronicles. There are those who call them veritable records or sagas. Still, this librarian has a separate expression he prefers most."
The Librarian turned to look at us.
"Apocalypse."
The Constellation smiled.
Strange laughter echoed through the sky.
"Your Apocalypse is... I see. According to the term I favor, it is still being [serialized]. You have finished a long prologue and are only now climbing the Tower. One could say it is a section where the flavor of reading is gradually emerging."
That was when.
"However, not every Apocalypse is [serialized] as smoothly as your world."
Rumble-
Something began to descend from the sky. No. Saying it descended was far too tame. They were tearing the sky apart.
"Though it is a regrettable matter."
Meteorites.
"There are Apocalypses that have met with [Serialization Cancellation]."
Enormous chunks of rock blazed as they poured down.
The meteorites struck directly upon the buildings shaped like termite mounds. BOOOOM! A terrifying roar shook the world. Beneath the torn sky, even the earth split apart. The city where intelligent beings different from us must have lived was destroyed without a trace.
The hunters screamed.
The dust cloud that rose as the meteorites struck engulfed us in an instant.
"There is not merely one."
In the darkness where nothing could be seen, only the Constellation's lofty voice rang out.
"There are a great many."
Snap!
The sound of a book closing came from somewhere. At the same time, the dust cloud vanished. The destroyed city vanished. The split earth vanished, and the torn sky vanished.
Instead, new worlds unfolded beneath our feet.
"If the [reason for cancellation] of the Apocalypse just now was stone......."
A tidal wave.
"Then the [reason for cancellation] of this Apocalypse is water!"
A tidal wave that rose to the very base of the sky swallowed the city.
It was too enormous to be called a wave, and too violent to be called a tidal wave. It was a calamity. As the tidal wave surged right up to their noses, screams erupted among the hunters again.
"Ahh."
The Constellation sighed sorrowfully.
"What a sad tragedy, is it not?"
A world where disease spread and all of humanity died.
A world where sand covered the land and even the last drop of water dried up.
A world where volcanoes erupted and smoke and clouds hid the sky.
Even a world where a zombie virus ran rampant.
"Those people are the same humans as you. They were alive just the same. They were creating their own stories just the same. But before they could meet a proper conclusion, before they could produce a magnificent ending, everything ended for reasons utterly unjust."
The Librarian closed the book.
"This librarian calls it [Serialization Cancellation]......."
Hundreds of books still circled around that Constellation.
"You would simply call it 'destruction.'"
Before we knew it.
We had returned to the enormous library.
"Urp, urrrrp......."
"Bleeergh!"
The sound of vomiting came from all over. We had witnessed dozens of worlds being destroyed. Although their bodies were unharmed, many hunters had been pushed to the mental brink.
"The quest given to you is simple."
The Constellation looked down at us.
"Choose eight volumes from among the Apocalypses that suffered Serialization Cancellation."
Choose eight worlds from among the destroyed worlds.
"This librarian wishes to finish reading the Apocalypses whose serialization was canceled!"
He wanted to keep reading the stories of the destroyed worlds.
"Enter into the eight Apocalypses yourselves,"
Enter directly into the eight worlds.
"And save the Apocalypses from the crisis of serialization cancellation!"
Prevent the destruction.
"That is the quest this librarian issues to you all."
That was the quest for floors 22 through 29.
While the vomiting in the library did not cease, a voice rang in the hunters' heads.
[The 22nd-floor quest is issued.]
Letters floated up before my eyes.
+
[Remake the World. Volume 1]
Difficulty: Undetermined (未定)
Mission Objective: There are many worlds, and there are many destructions. The Constellation 'Shut-In Librarian' refers to this as serialization cancellation. Shut-In Librarian wishes for worlds that met with serialization cancellation for unjust reasons to continue their stories once more.
First, choose one volume from among the Apocalypses that suffered Serialization Cancellation!
If you succeed in saving the world, that world will be registered as your 22nd floor.
※However, if you fail the mission, the 22nd floor will not be opened.
+
Indeed.
That Constellation was none other than a bookworm obsessed with worlds.
"So......."
I slowly began to speak.
"Because you don't like the endings, you want us to write the books for you?"
"Exactly so!"
The Librarian giggled gleefully.
"Please, I hope you will satisfy my reading tastes!"
To [remake] the endings of worlds for this bibliomaniac.
That was our mission.