My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger - Chapter 388

Chapter 388: Chapter 389: Hail Unknown — The Unknown God
They moved deeper into the library, searching for the door—and hopefully, a way out.

Xander moved through the moon-bathed rows of shelves. The library almost reminded him of his older brother.

His brother had spent countless hours in places like this, studying war strategies to use in the demon wars. That is, when he wasn’t out on the training grounds.

Xander gritted his teeth. He had seen many horrors while trapped in the ruined city of Lysithara… but he couldn’t be sure if they compared to the horrors his brother had witnessed in war.

‘When he returned… he was no longer the man I remembered.’

His brother had looked hollow inside, like someone carrying a sin too heavy to confess—haunted, as though he feared someone would discover what he had done.

Xander was no longer a child. He’d seen his fair share of nightmares. Even so… he didn’t understand his brother.

That man—once the person Xander admired most—now did nothing but drink and shut himself away.

The wind drifted through the tall, arched windows lining the walls. Xander cast a glance toward them, then looked back at the others.

They were on a very high spire.

“Hey, why aren’t we jumping out the window?”

Damon sneered and gave a shrug.

“I don’t know, because we don’t want to die…?”

Xander narrowed his eyes in irritation.

“I can slow our fall, you know. I was asking why we aren’t using my ability to control gravity.”

The disembodied lips of Valarie Sunwarden smiled faintly.

“There are a few reasons, if you must ask… the library walls are warded, the internal space is disorganized, there are chaotic time streams in the area, monsters in the air, on the walls, and even more waiting on the way down… among other things.”

Damon snickered. “He’s too eager to die. How about you defenestrate yourself?”

Xander clicked his tongue. He’d practically invited Damon to pick on him.

He glanced at Evangeline, silently hoping she’d put Damon in his place before things escalated again.

She met Damon’s antics with a tired look, resting her hands on her hips.

“That’s enough. You’re doing too much.”

Damon scoffed but listened, walking ahead between Xander and Leona. He had several shades scattered forward, acting as his eyes in the shadows.

Thanks to them, they had avoided direct confrontations with any of the library’s monstrous inhabitants.

Still, the place was like so many they’d passed—it was unnerving.

Some of the books were cursed. Others were alive. They had even passed a shelf with actual eyeballs peering at them from the spines.

Apparently, it was always like this.

Damon was starting to understand why the people of Lysithara called it the Forbidden Library.

And yet… Damon would’ve risked it for a good book. Goddess knows Sylvia already had.

She’d ended up blasted into a wall by a warded shelf.

They’d learned from Valarie that the library was locked—the city’s Lord Key was required to access most of the library’s restricted knowledge, as well as other city functions.

Damon had to abandon any hopes of finding a cure for his sister here.

The knowledge to cure magic circuit cancer might still exist in this library… but it was out of reach.

Still, it wasn’t a wasted trip. The library was filled with ancient tomes, and after so many battles and the passage of time, some of the wards protecting the shelves had broken.

“Which means we could find some nice spell books, skill books, scrolls… heheh.”

“Or we could find something cursed and die…” Evangeline said flatly. Damon hadn’t realized he was thinking out loud.

He coughed awkwardly.

“Sorry about that. My love for material wealth almost got the best of me.”

Evangeline sneered. “At least you know.”

Damon nodded, almost taking the hit with grace—until Sylvia spoke, a teasing smile on her lips.

“Actually… cursed books sell for a great price. Especially if you auction them as relics found in the legendary Path of Kings—Lysithara.”

Damon’s love for money flared.

He couldn’t help but say playfully, “I love you, Sylvia. You’re the best.”

Sylvia’s face turned completely red. She lowered her head, flustered—even though she knew he was joking, her heart pounded.

Damon, already fantasizing about potential profits, began eyeing every broken shelf. He’d even sent his shades Futher shadows skimming around the library, looking for weak spots.

So far, they’d found nothing… even after traveling downward for hours.

It was roughly three hours before dawn when Valarie finally said they were close to the library’s exit.

The journey had been mostly uneventful, save for the occasional monster that caught sight of them—those didn’t last long.

They’d survived by sticking to the lower-class threats, thanks to Damon’s scouting. He called his shades back, letting them slither into the shadows and vanish beneath his feet without anyone noticing.

Soon, they arrived at a wide floor.

A plaque read:

History and Theology Wing.

Damon halted.

The open chamber made his skin crawl. Despite his danger sense, he didn’t feel any immediate threat.

He scanned the room—and saw it.

A massive, hooded librarian sat slumped on a chair.

Impaled by dozens of swords, wrapped in heavy chains, unmoving. He was massive—easily thirty meters tall. Covered in a cloak, face unseen.

Runes circled the floor around him.

It wasn’t the first corpse they’d seen, but something about this one made Damon uneasy.

Valarie made a small noise as she stared at the giant figure.

It looked… as if it were watching something.

When Damon followed the gaze, he saw it too: a mural. It bore the symbol of the Unknown God.

And beneath it, carved words.

Damon found himself reading them aloud.

All hail Unknown —

God of Names, Unmaker of All.

The Dreamer and the Void,

The Birth and the Silence.

Wielder of All Absolutes,

Bringer of Truth, Master of lies

Genesis Alpha — the First Light,

Nemesis Omega — the Last Breath.

He who is the Law, and He who denies it.

He who dreams reality and wakes into nothingness.

The End of Ends, the Origin of Origins.

God of Wrath. God of Resentment.

Praise to the God of the Damned.

Hail the Lord of Choice.

Unseen Sovereign.

The Silent Witness.

Discordia the Imperfect.

Hail the Paradox.

Hail the Abyss.

Hail Unknown, the Unknown God.

As he spoke the final words, a pulse ran through the air—so faint it could’ve been imagined. And yet… Damon swore the mural breathed.

“Hail… hail… hail…” a withered voice echoed from behind them.

Chains rattled.

The supposedly dead librarian lifted its head, eyes glowing faintly beneath the hood.

“I offer your souls to the Unknown God…”

Damon’s danger sense exploded.