The hidden trial began and a system interface appeared Infront of me. I read the contents of the window very carefully.
[The Law 'Commandment' has been established.]
[First Law – Any participants with overall stats over 80 shall be greatly nerfed.]
[Second Law – All authorities of the participants shall be restricted until the librarian is defeated.]
[Third Law – Only skills below Level 5 can be used within the tenth floor.]
These were the laws the library keeper has established. They were completely unreasonable. This was the reason why Soo Jinyoung and Kang Jaewon lost to his psychopath.
"What's this nonsense?"
"We can't use the power of the constellations?"
"Let me try something."
The party members also experienced the same flow of information.
They were surprised. It was natural. It was the first time they were complete newbies. Maybe they found it absurd, they immediately activated their respective powers.
[Someone has activated an authority.]
[The divine authority has been cancelled.]
The party members tried to access the power of their support constellation, but sparks erupted from the air and hit them, causing them to tremble.
"Uwaak! W-What's happening?"
"Impossible? I can't feel the power of the goddess."
Angelica and Lee Suhye tried activating the power of their support constellation but there was a blockage. The connection between them and their support constellation has been blocked by a external source.
[A few constellations are complaining about the connection blockage.]
[The constellations are asking the difficulty of the trial.]
Yes, this was a fraudulent dungeon with an unrealistic difficulty.
"Tck!"
I clicked my tongue and cursed. We were going to have a hard time.
Slash!
The shadowy silhouettes launched their assault and I quickly moved the sword. The party members also moved and joined the battle.
Thud!
I cut one of the puppets and leaped towards the slender man. My stats was high enough so I was able to close the distance and swing the sword.
Yes, I closed the distance and swung the sword. However, the librarian was not cut. There was only the dull sound of the sword being reflected.
There was an impenetrable wall preventing me from reaching the librarian. I had to find a way to destory the wall somehow.
"Hey, everyone wake up! I need... Uwak!"
"Oops!"
Before I could speak, I felt a heavy impact on my torso and flew back powerlessly.
The librarian had struck me with a strong blow. The feeling was akin to being hit by a shotgun blast at close range.
Lee Suhye swiftly aimed barrel of the assault rifle at the library keeper. The slender man remained in place with his hands in his pockets as if unbothered. Lee Suhye must have mistaken this gesture as overconfidence and frowned.
I wanted to scream but there was no air in my lungs. I haven't recovered from the previous impact.
As I feared, she pulled the trigger without hesitation and the bullets accurately shot towards the librarian vital points. The bullets crossed the air with intense velocity as if excited.
"Useless!"
Unfazed, the Librarian stood silent and waited patiently.
Then it happened.
The bullets suddenly paused and floated in mid-air as if hitting an invisible wall. The bullets wriggled constantly as though they were attempting to break free from their restraints.
The slender man pulled out another needle and stabbed it into his neck like pressing a button. Then tossed the needle aside like trash and opened his mouth.
"Now, retreat at twice the speed you came. The target is the intruder that raised her weapon against me."
Lee Suhye froze like a statue. Instead of fear. Rather, she couldn't move.
When fired, the 5.56mm bullets of the assault rifle travelled at a terrifying speed of 3000 feet per second. That carried enough destructive power to penetrate the tough surface of a car and then fly out the other side. However, those destructive bullets were now reflected back at Lee Suhye at twice their original speed.
Puok! Puook! Puoookkkk!
With the sound of flesh being crushed, multiple bullets found their mark, puncturing various parts of her body.
Finally, a small tornado formed before me. It was moving towards me while destroying everything in its path. The man behind the tornado was unharmed as if the tornado could not detect him.
I slashed around and somehow managed to free the invisible rope. But there was no escape from the tornado; I had to endure it.
In an instant, the tornado swallowed me like the jaws of a beast and my skin was cut by the wind pressure. The pain was excruciating. If I didn't have the skill 'Indifference', I would have already lost consciousness.
[The Omniscient Wall has revealed a layer of information.]
The gateway opened and information flowed inside my head. There was a slight headache but it subsided shortly. Then information about this person started flowing into my head.
[Commandment. It's a power belonging to the Law series.]
[The Law of Commandment is established by one whose ultimate belief is in absolute order and obedience. Under this Law, reality is reshaped into a hierarchy where the will of the Commandment is the ultimate authority,]
[The Commandment's word is law. Whatever they decree must be followed by all including the world.]
It was something that I already knew but I couldn't figure out a way to win. Indeed, it was a complete unreasonable power. In fact, he possessed a 'Law', something only constellations should have.
The person who created the library keeper must be a big constellation. Perhaps a conceptual god embodying the concept of 'Order'.
... How could I win against such a person?
[You have consumed an elven forest essence.]
[Your Injuries will be closed at a gradual pace.]
My body glowed as the wounds began to heal. The white mask stared at me intensely. What was he thinking?
I was about to activate a skill but that person's mouth was one step faster.
"Hmm. How interesting. How do you keep doing that? Are you using a skill? Was it a skill that banishes anything that is not part of the word? Or is it the authority of a constellation?
It's a truly peculiar power if I must say."
Even so, the library keeper's voice still sounded confident. I was puzzled. Why was he so confident? Has he discovered a weakness that I don't know?
"But I wonder. Would it work against physical attacks or multiple attacks at once? Perhaps it will be difficult to counter several attacks simultaneously."
My body froze. This entire time, the white mask was experimenting to figure out my weakness.
As if mocking me, the librarian stabbed a needle into his neck and spoke with a calm voice.
"Engage invisible attacks from all sides. The mechanism is rapid firing. Fire at five times the speed of sound."
Swish!Swish!Swish!
Something crossed the air with a whistling sound.
There was no time to react. Before I could even blink, I was struck by 'something'. No, it felt like I was struck by a bunch of 'somethings'.
Simply, I was hit by something that I could not see. Something that hit me from all directions. In such a situation, It was impossible to defend even if I tried.
"Ugh... argh...!"
Blood spilled everywhere. I bounced away and crashed into the floor. Luckily, the attacks were not fatal but they drew blood.
Even so, it was futile. I already knew from the beginning but I desperately wanted to deny that cruel reality.
The library master was an opponent designed by <Fate> to be unbeatable. It was a cruel prank similar to a game developer from the development team creating a random side-boss to always block the players.
Was there really impossible? No, I refuse to accept such an ending. We have already come this far. It will be a bad story if we gave up now.
I still possessed a trump card up my sleeve. The World In The Pen... If I could activate that skill, I could easily make this person disappear from this world.
So I opened my mouth to banish the person infront of me into nothingness.
"Now disap...?"
My mouth suddenly stopped.
Abruptly, truly abruptly, something floated up in the back of my mind.
Could I really do it? Could I defeat this person with that command?
The memory of what happened to me when I used that skill for the first time resurfaced.
What if I used that skill and it backfired on me? What if I use that skill and my soul was suddenly ripped apart? What if I was sent to that place again?
It was a good skill but it was not an omnipotent skill. Was it possible to make the person infront disappear by just writing his sentence?
My body trembled. What if my soul was transferred to the white room and I encountered that person again? Impossible, I could return back there or else I would be ruined.
[Exclusive skill 'Zero One' has failed to activate.]
My eyes shook. I couldn't do it. I couldn't go back to that terrible place. The library keeper seemed to laugh at my weakness.
[YOU FOOL, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!]
I awakened my reverie and turned my head. I gazed at the person lying on the floor, who shouldn't have been able to move, let alone speak.
"... Soo Jinyoung?"