-Whooosh.

Golden sand swirled behind Nirva who stood with his hands behind his back.

A desert storm began to form in the empty space.

-Woooong.

The first to react was the Library Keepers.

With a black body and golden circuits, those non-threatening figures turned their face-like parts toward Nirva.

-Slash!

The Library Keepers spread their wings wide.

When folded, it wasn't noticeable, but when fully spread, it resembled nothing less than an eagle.

Is this what a winged cocoon would look like?

Golden lasers shot from the face of the airborne Library Keepers toward Nirva.

Their sole purpose was to protect this sacred library.

They didn't care at all about Nirva being the ruler of Dreamland or an apostle.

But Nirva remained unharmed despite the Library Keepers attacks.

This was because the golden sand rotating rapidly in a dome shape around him deflected all incoming lasers.

If Nirva standing still inside was visible, the density of the golden sand wasn't that high.

Nevertheless, the Library Keepers attacks couldn't even touch a hair on him.

This demonstrated how powerful the dream sand that Nirva controlled with his power was.

"Hmm. This is why it's inconvenient to deal with things that move without a will."

The Library Keepers were different from other Dreamland creatures.

Rather than being a living entity, they were more like embodied systems.

Their role was to protect the library and organize its bookshelves and studies.

In human body terms, they functioned as both red and white blood cells simultaneously.

But here, the most terrible virus had infiltrated.

A demon stronger than cancer cells and more devastating than radiation.

Nirva slightly flicked his finger.

The torrent of dream sand swirling around him surged high into the sky, targeting the Library Keepers.

Some Library Keepers demonstrated evasive maneuvers, but others were swept away by the dream sand, turning into black mud and disappearing.

The scene lacked reality - Library Keepers flying from all directions shooting lasers, and Nirva subduing them with ease.

This was true even being aware that this was a dream world.

One Library Keeper crashed and fell near Seridan.

The shattered Library Keeper reverted to mud form.

"No! I wanted to research it!"

"You're saying that in this situation?!"

Hans shouted in horror at Seridan, who wanted to capture and dissect a Library Keeper even in this chaos.

First Bellaruna, now this girl - what's wrong with these women?

Thinking about it, the Library Keepers here were systems created by the environment of the middle layer's lower section.

In some sense, they resembled high-tech automatons.

It was understandable that Seridan would be curious about their structure and movement.

"But is this okay? They seem to be fighting well enough."

Hans felt some hope watching the Library Keepers swarming in.

Nothing could be more reassuring than having someone else fight the demon directly.

But Zantman and Rudger felt differently.

"It might look even now, but it's just a matter of time."

"Right. That old man is clearly not using even a fraction of his power."

Nirva, who was just flicking one finger, looked leisurely and playful, as if he'd gone out for a stroll rather than a fight.

Even during the battle, his gaze remained fixed on Rudger, never moving.

It meant that the Library Keepers attacks weren't even worth paying attention to.

As if to prove this, when Nirva snapped his fingers, sand spread in all directions and swallowed the Library Keepers.

No matter how much the Library Keepers struggled, the dream sand stuck to their bodies like honey, refusing to come off.

The gradually accumulating sand eventually trapped the Library Keepers in cocoons.

There were over 500 of them.

Hans closed his mouth at the sight of Nirva subduing the Library Keepers in an instant.

"Did you enjoy your last entertainment before death?"

Nirva's eyes gleamed ominously.

Just meeting his gaze, with dream sand surging in his pupils, felt like being caught in a storm, unable to move.

It was at that moment when Nirva raised his hand, aiming at Rudger.

-Ziiing!

From inside some of the sand cocoons, yellow beams burst out with a strange noise.

"Hmph."

Nirva turned his head to look at the Library Keepers escaping from the cocoons.

He thought he'd dealt with all of them, but he didn't expect some to break free on their own.

However their reaction was a bit strange.

Unlike the indiscriminate attacks he expected, they just prowled around, as if gauging their opponent's abilities.

"Why did they suddenly become docile?"

"Because they gauged the opponent's level."

Rudger discovered a pattern in the Library Keepers' movements.

"They 'learned' that the intruder is much stronger."

The human body works similarly.

When immune responses occur, simple white blood cells aren't the only defense.

Depending on the threat, stronger immune responses are activated.

The Library Keepers were the same.

Several floating in the air gathered in one place and greatly increased their size.

The mud-like bodies of the Library Keepers easily merged and integrated.

About 30 of them combined to form a giant Library Keeper.

The yellow eye in its massive head charged with intense energy.

"Oh my."

Nirva muttered but his expression showed no sign of trouble.

-Whoosh!

A massive laser reminiscent of a dragon's breath from the Elven Forest shot toward Nirva.

Its power was worlds apart from what the previous Library Keepers had fired.

Sensing this couldn't be blocked by simply surrounding himself with dream sand, Nirva moved his entire hand this time, not just a finger.

As he extended his gloved palm, dream sand gathered.

Compressed and condensed with a smooth surface, it could no longer be called sand but rather a rock.

A golden octagonal shield with beautiful patterns engraved on it faced the laser.

The powerful laser struck the shield, but Nirva's shield didn't budge.

Instead, as Nirva pushed his palm forward more forcefully, the shield began to advance slowly.

At this rate, even the giant Library Keeper would be overwhelmed.

In that moment, a sharp magical arrow was shot toward Nirva's temple.

"Joining a fight without invitation. Quite poor manners."

Without even turning his head, Nirva raised his other hand and caught the magical arrow.

However, after catching it, Nirva couldn't help but raise the corner of his mouth in admiration.

"Well, well, this is..."

-Bang!

The magical arrow in his hand exploded.

As if anticipating this from the beginning, the final part of the spell had been embedded with a mana dispersion function.

Though a small explosion, the damage would be significant at such close range.

But Nirva, who took it head-on, remained unscathed without even a scratch.

"Everyone, push forward."

As soon as Rudger's order dropped, Sedina, who had regained her senses, activated her magic.

She closed her eyes and concentrated.

As the Green Mage, Sedina Roschen could freely control any plant but this was the dream world.

Real plants don't grow here. However, that didn't mean there was no way at all.

Since this was the dream world, couldn't she just imagine it in her mind?

Sedina placed both hands on the floor.

Various spots on the library floor, reminiscent of the night sky, bulged upward.

-Whoosh!

Green stems burst through the floor, swaying like burning flames.

At the end of each stem was a giant maw with sharp teeth.

It was a gigantic Venus flytrap, found in the deepest parts of the southern jungle, said to devour not just insects but beasts as well.

Those sharp teeth bit into various parts of Nirva's body as he was in a power struggle with the Library Keeper.

"Ticklish."

Nirva made a light gesture, as if brushing dust off his clothes.

The Venus flytraps were shredded as if torn by claws and disappeared.

When Nirva tried to take a step forward, he realized his legs wouldn't move.

Looking down at his feet, he saw sundews holding his soles.

It was an attack that would only buy about a second of time but that second was enough for Rudger to deploy magic several times.

-Whoosh!

The surrounding temperature instantly dropped below zero.

Nirva slightly raised his head and muttered.

"This won't be ticklish."

-Bang!

With a huge whistle sound, an ice-made ship fell onto Nirva's crown.

The ship, crashing into the ground, shattered and scattered ice fragments in all directions, forming an iceberg with a massive explosion.

The sand shield dissolved, and the giant beam shot by the Library Keeper penetrated the iceberg and hit its center.

-Crack!

Immediately after, the iceberg split exactly vertically.

The same happened to the laser fired by the Library Keeper, and beyond it, the Library Keeper's body was also split like chopped firewood.

Nirva, who emerged unharmed from inside the iceberg, brushed off the frost stuck to his clothes with his gloved hand.

"With books of such value here, using such magic recklessly. One should always maintain silence in a library."

Instead of answering, Rudger immediately deployed his next magic.

-Rumble.

The sound of thunder was heard from the ceiling where sunlight was coming in.

It wasn't an illusion.

Thunderclouds formed there, with purple currents crackling and sparking.

Each strand of purple lightning transformed into giant blades targeting Nirva's life.

The number was as many as ten thousand.

The spectacle of ten thousand lightning blades pouring down like rain was magnificent but Nirva stood still, even after seeing this.

Dust clouds arose from the pouring lightning storm, obscuring visibility but they couldn't feel relieved.

Demons are creatures with vitality so strong it's astonishing.

They had felt this desperately when fighting Basara.

Once they gained momentum, they had to keep pressing to avoid breaking the flow.

"Seridan! Get ready!"

"Okay!"

Seridan scattered the bombs she had prepared, as if she'd been waiting.

"Maximum firepower, special bombs away!"

The bombs dropped into the dust cloud created by the lightning storm exploded simultaneously.

With a blinding light, the dust cloud tore apart as red explosions spread.

"Sedina!"

"Yes!"

Rudger and Sedina deployed magic simultaneously.

The rock barrier created by Rudger quickly surrounded the explosion, forming a kiln.

Vines summoned by Sedina densely intertwined above, making the kiln even more solid.

The explosion from the bombs whirled inside the kiln without spreading outward produced heat that could instantly turn steel into molten metal and even vaporize it.

Rudger gradually reduced the size of the massive rock forming the kiln.

The prison containing the explosive thermal energy inside created tremendous pressure as it contracted.

Sedina also helped Rudger by adding the power of trees.

The massive kiln quickly reduced to the size of a coffin just big enough for one person.

Ultra-high temperature.

Ultra-high pressure.

Conditions so extreme that inserting graphite would instantly create diamond ore.

An environment harsher than the mantle 500km below ground.

Only the Earth's Elemental Lord could survive here.

"I'll help too."

Zantman placed dots in the empty dragon's eyes.

The dream energy he created transformed into sharp needles in the air.

A total of 100 green needles stuck into the coffin, making it look like a hedgehog with its spines fully raised.

It was an attack that would have killed even a Master-level knight hundreds of times over but this was Dreamland.

Nirva, the effective ruler of this place, would not fall to such attacks.

"That was an enjoyable struggle."

Those were Nirva's words as he broke out of the compressed prison.

The clothes he wore were full of scorched marks, but that was it.

Sedina's lips trembled at the hopeless sight.

At that moment, yellow energy curved from a distance and poured like rain onto Nirva.

It was newly reinforced Library Keepers.

Instead of flying around and attacking like before, they had changed their method to calculate Nirva's coordinates and attack from a distance.

Nirva easily blocked these attacks with his dream sand shield.

The Library Keepers' attacks showed no sign of ending.

As Rudger tried to make another move at that timing, Nirva's patience was beginning to reach its limit.

"Too many nuisances. I originally planned to end this earlier, but at this rate, the fight will become excessively prolonged."

Nirva's goal was to wake the sleeping goddess.

He couldn't spend too much time here, not knowing what that Zero Order guy might be secretly plotting.

But even as the ruler of Dreamland, he couldn't completely control this environment at will.

The system of the middle layer's lower section rejecting him was proof of that.

"I need to change location. Me, and all of you too."

Nirva snapped his fingers again.

The ground beneath Rudger and the others rippled and then sank.

The group instantly sank up to their thighs, beyond their ankles.

"Is there any need to fight in a place advantageous to the opponent?"

With Nirva's final words, Rudger and the others sank completely under the quicksand.

A flash of light illuminated their vision in the pitch-black darkness where no light entered.

And so Rudger fell to the bottom of Dreamland, to the depths of that abyss.