Ch. 26 Silence Is The Best Response To The Ignorant
by AfuhfuihgsChapter 26 – Silence Is The Best Response To The Ignorant (2)
The library was quiet.
Not a sound could be heard.
The towering bookshelves, densely packed with countless books, the dust and darkness flowing between them.
Faint footprints were left on the floor, and the air was filled with the indescribable scent of old books.
I took a slow breath.
“Yes. This is it.”
This place always gave me what I wanted.
No, perhaps what the library wanted was the same as what I wanted.
After all, I had been communicating with this place for a long time.
I listened to the low, hoarse whispers of the ancient books and read the stories flowing through the breaths of turning pages.
The library handed me the book I wanted, Seok Ju-myeong’s book, and in return, I did what the library wanted.
And now, I had to fulfill what the library desired—something I knew but couldn’t speak of.
It was a fact I had come to realize at some point, and at the same time, it felt like an instinct, something I simply had to do.
And now, the time had come to realize the library’s wish.
It was simple.
To torment Tia until she died, just as the library desired.
*Scrape, scrape.*
Then, from the darkness, I heard the sound of something being gathered.
“······?”
*Swish—*
I slowly turned my head.
The floor was stained with dark red marks, broken bone fragments, and pieces of flesh.
They were once beings with form, alive and breathing.
Tia was picking up those remnants with her bare hands.
Cold, lifeless things.
Even as she felt the sticky texture of the red liquid flowing over her skin, she showed no hesitation.
Rather, her expression was one of acceptance.
As if everything was a predetermined sequence.
*Rustle—*
She opened a black plastic bag.
After tossing an empty liquor bottle into it, she quietly pushed the remains inside and muttered softly,
“I’ll… come back. Wait for me.”
Her voice echoed through the library, like the resonant tones of a church choir singing a hymn.
After placing the bag by the door, she stood in the shadows of the library, bathed in faint moonlight.
Though the library still glowed golden, it had allowed the moonlight to seep in for atmosphere, for her.
And her long silhouette melted into the darkness behind her.
“Haa······.”
At that moment, with Tia’s back turned as if something was creeping into the dark crevices, I turned to look at Shuji and Yu Hae at my desk.
I had to introduce those behind me.
“Shuji, Yu Hae.”
The shadows moved.
Shuji gripped her sword.
The silver blade gleamed in the darkness.
Her eyes were steady.
As if she had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
Yu Hae took a step back and slowly steadied his breathing.
He watched my gesture and quietly prepared himself.
I slowly raised my arm.
Like an actor lifting the curtain of a theater.
“These guests are from the United States of Greater America—Tia and her subordinates.”
Tia emerged from the darkness.
“······Nice to meet you.”
Her eyes burned fiercely even in the dark.
Anger and obsession flickered like red flames within her pupils.
She shook her body lightly, shedding the darkness.
“I came to retrieve a book. And to save Yaku.”
A moment of silence.
Then, a sharp sound.
A sword was drawn.
“They’re coming.”
Yu Hae spoke softly.
His voice was eerily calm.
“Ugh······.”
Shuji narrowed her eyes and stared at Tia.
Her long silver hair swayed.
The library remained quiet.
No, it seemed even quieter than before.
At that moment, Shuji looked at me.
“······You don’t plan to stop this, do you?”
I smiled.
“That’s right. As long as they’re not attacking me.”
Her gaze wasn’t one of resentment.
Just a hint of disappointment, wishing I had helped a little more.
But I already knew.
What the library wanted wasn’t just a battle.
It was thirsty and hungry, but ultimately, it sought to prove ■■■.
If successful, I would become ■■■, and the library would become a place where ■■■ lived.
So, would this be heaven or hell?
“Hey, you two.”
As I was lost in thought, Tia spoke.
She stepped forward, her subordinates following.
A bitter smile hung on her lips.
“They said if I defeat you, kill you, or whatever, they’ll save Yaku. How about it? Want to give it a shot for the sake of saving one person?”
She was surprisingly rational.
Her tone lacked tension, her movements light.
But within her was a cold, ruthless chill.
The demeanor of someone who accepts death calmly.
Shuji didn’t move.
“It’s just a fight.”
Yu Hae quietly drew his sword.
Tia was still smiling.
“Shuji, Yu Hae.”
She called their names, the ones I had called earlier, and took a step forward.
“You’re going to regret giving me this kind of shitty experience in a place like this.”
She slowly twisted her body.
Then, she turned her gaze to me.
Her eyes were filled with hatred.
“······In the end, I’ll kill you too. Understand?”
I smiled slowly.
“If you wish, the knowledge to kill me is also in this library. I can give it to you.”
“Then, I’ll have to win even more.”
In an instant, Tia’s eyes burned.
She gestured.
Her subordinates quickly scattered, beginning to take control of the library.
At that moment, a wind blew.
Though no one had opened a door, the bookshelves shook.
Dust rose, and the air grew sharp.
And in that moment, I slowly spoke.
“Welcome, Tia.”
She smiled, but the smile soon faded.
“I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
And the battle began.
*****
Someone cries out in hope, someone in despair, and it ends.
But she was different.
“······Cough!”
The sound of Tia vomiting blood echoed, and the library was filled with reverberations.
Dust and the smell of blood scattered between the bookshelves, and the dark red stains on the floor proved that this was no longer just a place of knowledge.
“Ugh······.”
“Ugh, ugh!”
Shuji and Yu Hae swallowed their nausea and looked around.
An unbelievable sight.
They had expected a fierce battle and were prepared to fight hard for victory.
But what they were granted was not a battle.
It was a one-sided slaughter.
“······What, what is this?”
Shuji muttered, brushing back her disheveled silver hair.
Yu Hae, too, was speechless, standing in a daze.
“Is something… unnatural, Shuji? Yu Hae?”
I tilted my head, looking at them as if asking if something was wrong.
“Th-that’s······.”
Shuji looked around in confusion.
The enemies who had tried to take over the library had disappeared without a trace.
No, they hadn’t disappeared.
Their forms still existed.
But could they even be called “existence”?
Severed limbs, twisted bodies, charred remains that were unrecognizable.
Some were even slowly disintegrating in midair, as if time itself had stopped.
Beings that had clearly existed were now crumbling, as if they would vanish even from memory.
And in the midst of it all stood “me”—the witch.
I took a step forward.
The sticky blood touched my shoes, but I passed by indifferently, as if it didn’t matter, and rubbed the strange flesh and liquids stuck to the soles of my shoes on the floor.
*Drip—*
A drop of blood from my fingertips fell to the floor.
“Gasp······.”
Shuji swallowed hard.
It must have been strange that I had not a single wound on my body.
Not even a trace of having fought.
Only my fingertips were stained with blood, and I knew whose blood it was without asking.
And in front of me, Tia lay collapsed.
“Gah… cough, ugh!?”
She was barely holding on to life.
Blood flowed from her split lips, and she had no strength to support herself, collapsing helplessly to the floor.
But her eyes were still alive.
Filled with hatred, despair, and endless anger.
“From the beginning… you never planned to help, did you? Right?”
“······You were too strong. And you touched me.”
A moment of silence.
“······And you brought up that artist······.”
I spoke slowly, languidly, and softly.
At the same time, the sound of my footsteps approaching her echoed strangely cheerfully through the library.
When my shadow covered Tia, she struggled to lift her head and spoke with difficulty.
“······Fine. I’ll admit it. You’re a real witch. But you don’t seem like a witch. You’re a monster… a monster.”
Her voice was barely audible.
But she wasn’t wrong.
“I won’t deny it.”
I didn’t deny her words.
I simply smiled softly with my small lips.
To ‘someone,’ it was beautiful, but to ‘someone else,’ it was cold and cruel.
And above all, it was not human.
“I told you not to attack me. Still, your courage was admirable. You almost pushed them to the edge. And you must have felt hope there.”
My voice was low and chilly, as if carrying a coldness, and Tia, touched by it, twisted into a smile.
Covered in blood, she glared at me with the last of her strength and muttered.
“Damn… I thought you weren’t much either, seeing those bastards’ abilities······.”
But before her words could finish, I reached out to her.
And lightly, ever so lightly, I placed my finger on her forehead.
In an instant, space distorted.
The air itself shook, the bookshelves trembled, and dust scattered.
Soon, the entire library twisted, unable to withstand the power emanating from my fingertips.
“Gasp!?”
“Ugh!”
Shuji and Yu Hae held their breath.
And Tia’s head exploded.
Without a sound, without a trace, as if it had never existed, her “head” disappeared.
Only an empty space remained, as if regretting leaving any trace of her presence.
“Uh, uh······.”
Shuji staggered back.
Yeohae’s expression didn’t change much, but his hands were trembling.
“It’s over. Prepare for the next guest.”
My work was done.
I gave them the time the library had allowed.
Time was infinite, and since it was they who had wasted it, I killed them.
AlucardLovesFish
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