Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 612: The Library

Chapter 612: The Library

Poor thing.

Dhuhtia began as He slowly approached the chained Asura whose eyes were currently closed.

She claimed You to be Her brother but didn’t hesitate to seal You as well the moment She ascended. A hateful one indeed. She is undeserving of that throne on which She sits. But I cannot reclaim it, not now. So You will help Me slay Her. Put an end to Khanna once and for all!

His divine voice seemed to rouse the sleeping blue giant from His slumber as his multiple eyes flickered open before focusing on Dhuhtia’s minuscule form.

Silence followed before the Asura began to trash line a maniac, His mind far gone to be capable of forming coherent sentences.

But even in His madness, he radiated an aura strong enough to suppress Dhuhtia completely.

If not for the chains that held Him down, the Asura would have already ended Dhuhtia’s life.

But even as He knew this, Dhuhtia did not hesitate to approach the first chain and with all His might, strike it with the incomplete GodKiller in his grasp.

There was a resounding echo as metal struck metal, sending Dhuhtia back a few steps while a crack appeared on the chain.

Satisfied with this, Dhuhtia didn’t stop there, instead moving on to the other chains, striking each one until they were all damaged.

Then He circled back to the first one he had struck.

At this point, the Asura had already begun to thrash around wildly, straining the chains to their limit.

Raising the sword, Dhuhtia struck down with reckless abandon, resulting in yet another resounding echo followed by the shattering of brass.

Before he could celebrate this, a giant palm suddenly reached out and grabbed him.

Then, in the most cruel way possible, Dhuhtia, the God of Blacksmithing, was crushed.

Asura didn’t stop there as He tossed the crushed metal body aside and broke free of His other bindings.

Free!... Free!... Hate... Sister... Khanna!!!

The entire space trembled as the Asura manifested weapons covered in blood out of thin air, each one brimming with purple energy that seemed to represent slaughter.

And then, He looked up and jumped, quickly disappearing from the pseudo-divine kingdom.

Seconds passed before the crushed iron disappeared, only to be replaced by a Dhuhtia that was completely fine.

At the same time, the divinity within Dhuhtia seemed to undergo a drastic transformation as it fell from Yang to Yin, quickly transforming him from a False Deity to an Evil one.

Of course, this did not recover his dwindling strength and instead, seemed to sap even more of his strength, with his body switching between physical and ethereal.

The only thing keeping him as a Demigod were the dwarves of Iron Keep but he could not take them with him, nor could he go back for them.

So, quite aware of what would happen now that things had devolved to this extent, Dhuhtia began to prepare for the worst.

Manifesting an entire smithy from nothing, he placed the incomplete GodKiller on the anvil and raised his hand, creating a hammer which he struck the blade with, resulting in a satisfying echo.

***

Just as the Mantle of Darkness had the Labyrinth of Dread, a dimension forged of shadows and filled with dread, and Ashtyx had the False World, a dimension that served as a replica of the real world with cartoonish representations, the Fountain of Knowledge had the Library.

It was a brightly lit space with towering shelves reaching into clouds above that held books of various sizes, it appeared as heaven to all knowledge seekers.

Alex had expected something related to water, considering the Branch was regarded as a Fountain, but it didn’t bother him too much, or at least, that aspect didn’t bother him too much.

The fact that he would have to search for the Fountain in such a vast space though seemed quite troublesome.

His expression turned slightly sour as he stared at the books on the shelves, each one seemingly calling out to him, asking him to pick them up and read.

His curiosity nearly won him over but caution helped to keep him grounded as he understood that such spaces were not to be underestimated.

Taking a deep breath, he glanced back to find that Ana and Ulysses were taken in by the sight as well, though none dared to touch any of the books.

The fact that the books seemed to call out to them was already enough reason not to make any moves.

"What now?" Ulysses asked after a prolonged bout of silence while turning his gaze away to better fight against the desire gnawing at him to pick up a book.

Alex replied. "I’m not sure, but this library isn’t safe for us."

"A rare kind of corruption." Ana mouthed with slight intrigue before adding with slight amusement. "To think that reading could be dangerous."

"Anything can be dangerous if done in excess." Alex pointed out before looking around for any clues on where the Fountain would be.

Just then, they all felt a gaze zero in on them causing everyone to raise their guards with Ulysses pulling out a card while Alex prepared to snap and Ana was a moment away from exerting her Will.

They turned at the same time to face the source of the gaze only to freeze at the incredible sight.

A six meter black and white feathered owl stood before them, its incredibly large eyes regarding them with interest.

"Uhmm... what is that?" Ana muttered while scrutinizing the creature.

"I have no idea." Ulysses replied with a slight frown.

"It doesn’t seem dangerous." Alex intoned. "But be careful."

"Do we ask it for directions?"

"I have a feeling it might not be able to speak human language."

And what gave you that idea?

A deafening silence followed as the trio stared at the owl while trying to figure out who or what had just spoken.

"Uhmm... who said that?" Ulysses broke the silence only for a response to quickly arrive.

That would be me.

Indeed, the owl had spoken.