While Mes and Mr. Herman were looking around with surprised expressions, Walter was standing a little distance away from the skeletons. There was nothing disturbing, there is no blood or decayed bodies but Walter still found this sight disturbing. When he heard that the missing people they were looking for were also there, he turned his eyes in that direction for the first time.
"Is the student also dead?" he asked.
"No, she isn't. She is there. In that thing," Arsh said, pointing to the enormous globe surrounded by trees.
"Let's look at it," Bera said, and together they moved in that direction, passing over the tree roots and jumping over the information desk.
Arsh went under the globe. There was a metal pipe extending inward there, holding the globe up above. Arsh bent down and looked into the hole, but it was too narrow for him to enter. He moved closer to the hole and began to speak.
"Hey Mary Lowe, are you there? Can you come out? Don't worry, there's nothing to be afraid of here right now."
"W-who are you? D-did you come to help?"
"Yes, we came to help. We came here to take you home… can you come out of there?"
After a few sniffing sounds, Arsh saw a head hanging down from the hole.
"Let me help you."
While Arsh was helping the girl out of the globe, the others gathered around them. The girl sniffed again; she was about to cry. She was only around fifteen, a short-haired, petite girl. She looked extremely scared and as pale as the skeletons behind them.
She slowly got out of the hole and looked at the others. When she saw the piles of skeletons, she turned her head to the other side. Arsh saw a few drops of tears falling from her eyes.
"Did you kill that beast?" she asked in a trembling voice.
"No, we didn't. But we will. Can you tell us what happened to you, how you escaped from the beast?" said Mr. Herman in a gentle voice. He looked at the girl kindly, trying to calm her down and make her feel safe.
"I came to the library for an assignment. It was close to closing time, and I was getting ready to pack up and leave. It was already dark, and I was alone inside. Then I heard a strange scream. I was scared, so I quickly left the study hall and tried to go toward the exit. But I found myself in the inner parts of the library. No matter what I did, no matter which way I turned, I couldn't get out."
Then, without looking in that direction, she pointed at the pile of skeletons.
"I met Mr. Heather. We looked for an exit together, but no matter what we did, we couldn't find the exit door. Then we saw the woman Mr. Heather. He called her as Mrs. Davies. She was running away from the beast. We couldn't help her. The beast was very fast. Then… then after it caught the woman, suddenly her flesh shredded and pulled toward that thing's mouth. Only her skeleton was left. It was very… very horrible."
The girl was about to cry again.
Mr. Herman held the girl by her shoulders and tried to calm her down.
"Mr. Heather said the beast was sensitive to sound. Then… then we followed the beast quietly from a distance. It came and threw what was left of the woman here. When the beast left, we tried to open the door... We tried to open the door, but when we did, the only thing we saw was another part of the library. Everything in the library keeps changing places, but the restrooms and the staff cafeteria are here. Their locations never changed. So we stayed here."
She pulled the bag she was tightly holding a little closer to herself.
"Mr. Heather… I'm not sure, but I think about a day ago he left here to look around. He told me to hide here, because since we came here, the monster never came back here. Thanks to him, I survived. But he didn't come back… until the monster came here again and threw his…."
This time she couldn't hold back her sobs anymore. She continued speaking through her tears.
"How long have I been here?"
"One week," Mr. Herman replied.
She didn't talk much after that.
They sat under the trees and started making a plan again. This time they said that Mary, Mes, and Arsh should stay here, but Walter's condition didn't look very good either.
"I am sorry. I haven't had any chance to rest for hours. I used all my strength when I faced that creature," he said.
"How long can your strength last?"
Walter looked at Mes and Mary beside him.
"I think I can carry both of them and pass through the walls one more time. But it would be best if you take Arsh with you. He can sense whether we are in danger and understand where we are. Also, Mr. Herman's ability is not useful right now. He is only relatively strong physically. And Bera's condition is only slightly better than Mr. Herman's."
Mary did not fully understand what was being discussed, but she silently agreed with what was said. For her, these people who had suddenly appeared were the only way to survive.
Bera and Mr. Herman reluctantly agreed this time. Walter was right in what he said. Arsh, however, thought this plan was meaningless. He still did not believe they could kill the creature.
"If there were a way to kill it, wouldn't that be easier than capturing and imprisoning it?" Arsh said.
"In case we can't kill it, we need to be prepared. I think we should go back to the exhibition hall and find the bronze chest. We need to understand how it escaped from it and how we can seal it back inside."
"I think Arsh is right," Mes agreed.
"Then let's go to the exhibition hall first and get the chest… Arsh," Herman said.
Arsh knew what he had to do. He closed his eyes and focused on the bronze chest. When he opened them again, the place where the golden threads led was no longer the exhibition hall—it was right beside them.
"There," he said. At that, everyone turned their eyes back to the pile of skeletons.
"Right underneath."
Except for Walter and Mary, the others helped move the skeletons. Since they barely weighed anything, it didn't take long to clear them aside, and soon they found the bronze chest beneath, lying there with its lid open. Bera picked up the box and carried it over to Mes.
"How do you think it escaped from this?"
Mes tried to take the box, but it was heavy. They put it on the floor. Mes closed its lid and look it carefully for a while. Then pointed at the seams where the parts joined together.
"Look at these edges. I think they were used to seal the chest. But the seal has somehow worn away. Bronze is durable, but compared to other materials it wears down relatively easily. The information plaque said it was found in a shipwreck. My guess is that they wanted to get rid of this box and threw it into the sea. But in the ship this chest was probably somehow damaged, and Limos escaped from inside. Since the ship was made of wood, it became a suitable hunting ground for it."
He walked over to the skeletons and picked up a necklace.
"This is a symbol used by Yulos sailors. It was believed to help protect them from storms at sea. Most likely, the reason the ship sank was that everyone on board was hunted by Apeirolimos . When it was retrieved from the wreck and brought here again, it found a new habitat for itself… At least, that's how I see it."
"Then how on earth are we supposed to shove it back?" Mr. Herman asked.
"I don't know. The seals are too worn. Otherwise, a small repair might have been enough," Mes said.
Just then, Arsh noticed that the golden threads wavering in the air suddenly began to shudder. Apeirolimos was rapidly approaching their position.
"It's coming this way," Arsh said anxiously.
"Walter, take Mes and the girl and hide. While we distract it, retreat further into the library and stay hidden. Arsh, which way is it coming from?" Mr. Herman shouted.
Arsh pointed to one of the corridors on the opposite side.
"How close is it?"
"Not far. It'll be here in about twenty seconds."
Everyone spread out, each taking cover behind a different tree. Mes and the others ran in the opposite direction, heading down a corridor.
Arsh began counting down in his head.
'4…3…2…1'
A horrifying shriek tore through the air as Apeirolimos burst into the hall. At that moment, Bera and Herman opened fire on it from both sides. Arsh, however, held Mes's pocket pistol in his hand and chose to watch instead of shooting.
Just as he had expected, the bullets did not harm the creature; they only made it step back for a second or two before it lunged again toward the source of the sound. Once they ran out of bullets, there would be nothing left they could do. Arsh grabbed the bronze chest from the ground and started running toward the information desk. A single idea had come to his mind, and he wanted to try it.
Unfortunately, his timing was terrible. In the silence left behind by the empty guns of Herman and Bera, the only sound was the noise of his own footsteps as he ran. He had drawn all of Limos's attention to himself. He saw the creature lunge toward him at full speed.
'I can't escape from this… Am I going to die like this?' he thought, forcing himself to run as fast as he could.
At that moment, a deep, muffled roar echoed through the space. The threatening sound triggered an instinctive fear in Arsh, freezing him in place. Then he saw it—a massive black shadow leaping right over him.