CHAPTER 167: BEYOND ANY EXPECTATIONS

Wang Yu reacted immediately upon seeing Daniel appear. Whatever had taken over his body, it was clearly hostile.

Without any hesitation, he swiftly drew Fury of the Forge from his waist, then raised the gun and fired. This was his most powerful attack. No matter the opponent's intentions, shooting first was the best course of action. [1]

A scarlet beam of light tore through space, poised to strike the elderly figure crawling out of the rift in Daniel's chest. However, the explosion that Wang Yu had anticipated never materialized. The explosive bullet, filled with a massive amount of magic and energy, suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

"Using such a little toy against me—don't you think you're underestimating me a little? Breaking through Samuel's barrier did cost me some power, but do you really think this pitiful attack could harm me?"

The elderly figure leisurely expanded the rift in Daniel's chest as he crawled out. His movements were slow, as befitting his aged appearance, but that was precisely why Wang Yu didn't dare underestimate him. Was he manipulating... time?

Around the elder, an invisible spherical field took shape. Wang Yu could perceive its presence only due to the dust falling in the library.

The dust demarcated a spherical domain around the elder, freezing on its surface as if time itself had stopped. But Wang Yu knew better: the dust was still moving.

His own bullet was struggling to make progress toward the elder, crawling through the field at an agonizingly slow pace as if it were playing in slow motion.

This was the effect of the sixth-tier magic, Temporal Slow.

"Instantly casting sixth-tier magic—just who the hell is this guy? A grand wizard? It can't be. Even a grand wizard would struggle to instantly cast a sixth-tier spell. He must be a legend..."

Wang Yu felt a chill. He recognized this spell, which slowed time down for everything within its range, except the caster, by dozens or even hundreds of times. It was a powerful defensive spell and a terrifying means of control.

"I'll return this toy to you." The elder fully emerged from Daniel's rift. Without even glancing back, he allowed Daniel's body to collapse inward and vanish into the void. He then walked up to the bullet, still inching forward at a snail's pace, and grasped it casually.

The moment his hand touched the bullet, the powerful projectile disappeared without a trace, as if it had been completely erased from existence.

"Wang Yu, watch out!" Avia cried out. She quickly marshaled her magic as she locked onto an abnormal fluctuation in space.

She was trying to disrupt the spatial rift that was forming, but she was too slow—and the elder too fast.

"Damn it!" Wang Yu's ripples barely registered the anomaly a heartbeat later. The bullet that had just disappeared suddenly tore through space as it approached the back of his head.

Avia tried to erase the forming rift with her fledgling spatial magic, to no avail. She was simply too slow. The bullet shot straight at Wang Yu's skull.

The elder had moved with incredible economy of motion. When he raised his hand, the bullet disappeared. When he lowered it, it re-emerged, tearing through space toward Wang Yu's head, its trajectory redirected effortlessly.

The charged shot from Fury of the Forge was Wang Yu's strongest attack. Even a grand knight would take significant damage from it, let alone Wang Yu's unprotected skull. No matter how formidable his regeneration, he couldn't fix an exploded head.

No one could react. Avia's spellcasting was simply too slow. Wang Yu had detected the bullet with his ripples, but had no means of dodging it himself.

Just one exchange had left Wang Yu on the verge of death.

But while no human could react, someone whose existence went beyond that of a human could. Before the bullet could reach Wang Yu, and before his own Barrier—which stood a laughable chance against that bullet—could activate, Samuel acted.

In an instant, Wang Yu's vision blurred. He found himself at a different location, his spatial coordinates swapped. The bullet pierced nothing but air as it slammed into the floor of the library in an explosion that left a charred crater behind.

"Be more careful, kid. I'd rather not have my last visitor blow his own head off with his own attack."

Samuel's calm voice sounded in Wang Yu's ears. His tone was seemingly composed, yet Wang Yu could sense guarded tension in his words. Samuel wasn't as relaxed as he appeared.

"Thank you, Mr. Librarian."

Wang Yu offered his thanks, now fully aware that the elder before him was not someone he could possibly handle. A legendary wizard could kill him with a single thought.

"You dare disturb my slumber...? I welcome visitors, but I will show no mercy against an uninvited guest like you."

Samuel made his stance clear. He had moved Wang Yu next to Avia to keep him out of harm's way. This entire library was his domain. He glared at the elder, his expression dark.

"Old friend, I'd rather not fight you. Just leave behind Roland's possessions—the Dark Ritual codex and the key—and I'll leave you to your slumber. Even among us all back then, only you could have made such a noble choice. I have no desire to ruin what you've wrought, Samuel."

The elder smiled slightly, his gaze leisurely sweeping over Wang Yu, Avia, and Samuel. He spoke as if engaging in a casual conversation with an old friend.

"Yule... If you truly considered me a friend, you wouldn't have come to disrupt my slumber at this moment."

Sammuel's voice was tinged with anger. He utterly rejected any pretense at camaraderie.

"Ah, but if I didn't show up at this instant when you're on the verge of slumber, I wouldn't stand a chance of taking you down, you 'Flamewarden.' And I don't like the name Yule anymore. I prefer Mr. Roland. If you don't mind, please call me that."

The elder's voice remained light-hearted, but the malice and obsession deep within were impossible to ignore. Both Wang Yu and Avia could sense it intimately.

"You've gone mad, Yale. You want to become Roland? I won't let you harm my guests, and nor will I let the Dark Ritual codex fall into your hands."

Samuel's voice was resolute, unwavering.

"Perhaps I am mad. Anyone who lingers in the void too long goes mad eventually. But you—you're still Samuel. Always so noble, protecting knowledge, sheltering the innocent... How disgusting."

Roland's expression twisted, his previously amused tone turning cold, bitter.

"Very well, then. I broke through your barrier for this precise moment. Let's see how much strength you have left before your slumber."

With a wave of Yule's hand, the space around them fractured. The once void-resistant library was suddenly invaded by the presence of the void.

The wooden floor and ceiling were torn apart, revealing the endless, starlit abyss beyond.

Then, from the abyss, monstrosities emerged, twisted beyond comprehension—writhing flesh, unnatural protrusions of bone, multiplying eyes, grasping tendrils—void horrors unlike anything from the Font of Life. They poured forth, unleashing waves of mind-rending corruption as they surged toward Samuel.

"You've become utterly despicable, Yule."

Samuel wasn't focused on the creatures. His gaze darkened as he looked at his ruined library—the destroyed books, the lost knowledge.

Samuel raised his arm, previously concealed beneath his robe, and casually snapped his fingers. The crisp sound echoed through the library as the entire space underwent a dramatic transformation.

The floor fractured into cubic segments and the surrounding bookshelves disassembled and reassembled. In the blink of an eye, the entire library shifted as if the stars themselves were realigning.

The void rifts that had once torn through the floor and ceiling appeared in mid-air, in empty space. Wang Yu saw the endless staircase he had encountered on his first visit to the library manifest once more.

The void rift had been relocated to the sky above the endless staircase, causing the void creatures that continuously emerged from it to plummet into the abyss at the center of the spiral stairs.

This staircase had no end—neither upward nor downward. As Wang Yu watched the void creatures spill forth from the rift, they began their eternal fall into the unending depths below.

"As expected, when it comes to manipulating space, you hold the advantage in your own domain. Overlapping portals, the creation of a pseudo-infinite spatial prison... These void creatures are completely powerless against you. Even on the verge of dormancy, you remain the one closest to Roland in strength."

The elder's voice was icy as he watched his void creatures fall, their assault effortlessly neutralized.

"If you already knew this was futile, why disturb my dormancy? And to make such a mess before I rest—it's utterly infuriating. Get out of my sight."

Samuel's tone mirrored the one he had used when he suspected Fang had sent Wang Yu to seize the Dark Ritual codex.

With a wave of his hand, the towering bookshelves began to move. They surged toward the elder at high speed.

The shelves collided, instantly burying the elder beneath a mountain of collapsing bookshelves.

Dust filled the air, pages scattered, and the massive pile of bookshelves continued to compact inward, exerting immense pressure on its interior. The wooden structures cracked and shattered under the force, their fragments filling the gaps between shelves, the whole conglomeration compressing together more and more tightly.

Under such extreme pressure, even the wood itself underwent a startling transformation and surpassed its natural hardness. Heat began to build. Smoke and sparks emerged, an inferno born from sheer force. One could only imagine the crushing weight the elder endured at the core of this devastation.

"So this... is power..."

Awe and dread took root in the hearts of Wang Yu and Avia. This was far beyond their reach—more overwhelming than when they had faced the colossal hand descending from the clouds.

Back then, they had been mere spectators—but now, they were caught in the very eye of the storm, where even a stray shockwave could annihilate them, leaving nary a trace behind.

"One of his targets is you," Samuel said, turning toward Avia. "I will do my best to send you both away—it shouldn't be a problem. As for the Dark Ritual codex, I cannot give it to you. Unfortunately, it will have to join me in dormancy."

Samuel remained tense, his tone grave and unwavering.

"Thank you."

"Much appreciated, Mr. Samuel."

The two sincerely expressed their gratitude. Without Samuel's protection, they would have perished in an instant.

They exchanged glances. Wang Yu tightened his grip on Avia's hand—no matter what they faced, he would stand as her shield until the very last moment.

"Using bookshelves—vessels of your knowledge—as blunt weapons? A crude yet formidable method. If I were a knight, I'd be dead already. But alas, I am a wizard." A cold, detached voice resonated from beneath the debris. "To think that you, of all people, would use your most treasured knowledge as mere blunt force—you've undergone a far more severe decline than I expected, Samuel!"

The mountainous heap of bookshelves began to shift. A crack appeared, and the elder emerged from within—calm and composed, seemingly utterly unscathed.

Purple arcs of energy crackled around him. Wang Yu immediately recognized it as gravity magic. The elder had reversed the force acting upon him, rendering even the hellish pressure suffocating him meaningless. That was wizardry: a manipulation of rules, an arsenal of unfathomable methods. A legendary wizard's foes would inevitably suffer.

Samuel remained silent. Once again, space began to distort. The library's floor shifted, and the elder—along with the bookshelves and ceiling around him—was rapidly pulled away into the distance.

Though Samuel and Wang Yu hadn't moved from their positions, the space between them and the elder expanded at an extreme pace.

"What's happening?!"

"I wasn't done reading!"

"Why is the ground moving?!"

"That's the librarian!"

"And Avia! And that other guy with special access! What the hell is going on?!"

A chorus of bewildered voices arose from the students scattered across the library. As space continued to shift, some students were carried along with moving sections of the floor straight toward Samuel.

Wang Yu quickly understood what Samuel was doing. He was gathering the students together and preparing to send them all out at once—a true librarian.

"I will open a door leading outside and send you all away."

Samuel's voice rang in everyone's ears—firm, decisive, and unusually fast-paced, as if he was racing against time, as if something were forcing his hand.

The elderly figure had been teleported so far away that he was no longer visible. Yet, in the very next instant, he attacked.

A pitch-black spear shot forth at lightning speed, aimed directly at Samuel. Wang Yu recognized it immediately—solidified void energy.

This spear radiated a terrifying purity, its simple form belying its catastrophic power.

The ground tore apart, bookshelves were flung into the air, the ceiling crumbled—like a tidal wave, the very matter of the library surged to block the oncoming spear.

"Where is your power, Samuel? Where is your magic? Were you not the most skilled among us in wizardry? Where are your forbidden spells—the knowledge you dug up from the annals of history to surpass the limits of this era? Are you only capable of using the very things you disdain—these rootless, drifting fragments—to stop me?"

The elder's words rang out as the void spear tore through everything, twisting its surroundings into an amalgamation of flesh, energy, and chaotic formlessness.

Though the library's matter was effortlessly destroyed, the sheer volume of it was insurmountable. Even if the spear could pierce through anything, it couldn't do so without cost. The void energy that had formed it was steadily being depleted.

Just before it could vanish entirely, the spear suddenly shifted—transforming into the elder himself. He now floated just a short distance away from Samuel, the space behind him still unraveling from the void rift's destruction.

"You cannot escape. I—"

The world turned black and white. The elder's voice froze. Time itself... stopped.

Samuel stood alone, the undisputed ruler of this moment.

"You wanted to see a forbidden spell? Very well." This was an eighth-tier spell, the upgraded version of the sixth-tier one the elder had used: Temporal Stasis. All but Samuel were frozen in time. The ticking of an invisible clock reverberated through the silent void.

"Not much power left... The space of this library has been sealed, but I have one last spell left."

The stasis would last for one minute. In that sole minute, Samuel could accomplish everything he wanted to, uninterrupted.

In five seconds, he completed his incantation for his second forbidden spell: the eighth-tier spell Gate.

Brilliant sigils of light appeared on the bodies of Wang Yu, Avia, and the students. This was a spell at the pinnacle of spatial magic, absolute and unbreakable.

It could target any object and any location bypassing all manner of restrictions. This was the spell that Samuel had prepared to send Wang Yu and the others out of the library.

When the temporal stasis ended, Gate would transport the students away, including the girl possessing the "key" that the elder sought.

Frozen time slowly flowed forward as the temporal stasis ended. However, at that very moment, another layer of time spread outward from the elder: Time Lock.

Once again, time began to slow. This power was hardly as overwhelming or absolute as Samuel's forbidden spell. Still, it was enough to temporarily disrupt Gate's teleportation.

Samuel remained unaffected. Within this library, he still possessed near-absolute authority.

"It's useless. The portal cannot be interrupted. Even if you temporarily imprison time, it won't affect those marked by the portal's spatial signature. The moment Time Lock expires, they will vanish."

Samuel remained calm. The last two spells at his disposal had already sealed off all possible escape routes for the elder.

"Perhaps. However, you've still fallen into my trap. If you had used your remaining strength to attack me with a forbidden spell, I might not have had time to stop you. But now, you've lost—and for good.

"You're still the same as before. Ever since you became like this, your personality ceased to change—you still despise violence. Now, let me show you Roland's power..."

The elder's words were like icy daggers piercing Samuel's mind. A sinking feeling arose—he knew the elder was right. Ever since he had assumed this form, certain aspects of his nature had become rigid. He had indeed been outmaneuvered.

Cracks appeared in the space around the elder, from which emerged twelve skeletal heads. Within them burned souls of the dead—the remnants of the twelve keys that the elder had transformed into undead.

"Did you know? The keys are naturally drawn to one another. The moment I gathered all twelve, I could sense that the remaining one was within this space. And the keys left behind by Roland, once activated through a specific method, will forcefully attract any other that remains. Furthermore, that door...

"Roland was truly remarkable. The power of the compulsion is enough to bypass even the pinnacle of spatial magic, Gate. Watch closely, Samuel."

The elder's gaze fell upon Avia, who remained frozen in time.

As Samuel stood in shock, Time Lock unraveled. At the elder's command, the twelve skulls unleashed the full power of the keys. An invisible chain extended toward Samuel, forcefully wrenching the Dark Ritual codex from him.

"And now, for you—the final key!" Laughing madly, the elder watched as another chain shot out, shattering the portal's spatial mark on its target in an unseen dimension.

The chain extended toward the sole individual left behind by the disrupted portal process, Avia—no. The individual who had been left behind was... Wang Yu.

"Hm?"

"What?"

Both the elder and Samuel exclaimed in surprise.

"A key? Me? Heh, well, why not?"

Wang Yu had overheard the elder's reason for forcibly halting the teleportation—it was all for the sake of this supposed key. Though he didn't know why he had been the one targeted by the elder's spell, it didn't matter. As long as Avia had escaped, that was enough. As for himself—when had Wang Yu ever been afraid of death?

1. Hmm... ☜