Chereads / Crafter in Another World / Chapter 4 - Chapter 4: First Encounter

Chapter 4 - Chapter 4: First Encounter

I've been in this hallway for twenty minutes. I tried to open the doors, but they were all locked. The pavement is cold and clean under my feet, there's not even a crap of dust. And I still can't see the end of the hallway! The candlesticks light up by themselves as I pass. It's really a strange place.

When I finally find an open door, I am so surprised that I hesitate to enter. I pull myself together and enter the room. It is very dark but I can see quite well. I don't forget my horror movie basics and use a chair to prevent the door from closing behind me.

It's a library. I can see dozens of shelves filled with books, but I can't see the bottom of the room, which looks huge. The shelves are almost twice as high as me, and the ceiling is even higher. When I look towards the sides of the wall, I don't see any doors, while there are many in the hallway.

What a ridiculous place! It's both impressive and annoying. What am I even supposed to do now? It's not like I can read any of these! How come the first place I find here is a huge library full of books I can't even understand...

For the first time since I woke up in this world, I feel a chill down my back. My instinct tells me that something dangerous is here. An omnious feeling for sure. A little further, I see the shadow moving. It is as if it has a substance, and it takes a strange shape with two heads. Although this beast is made of shadows, I can hear its growl very well, and the pawing it gives on the shelf leaves big scratch marks.

There is no doubt that I am his target. I can't see it's eyes, but I feel the weight of it's gaze on me, trying to paralyze me. I instinctively let the electricity flow in my body get stronger to fight the freezing cold that is slowly paralyzing me. I try to send it a bolt of electricity. I have make the first move and take the initiative, otherwise I don't know how I'll get out of this! My arm is covered with a golden lightning, which I have more and more difficulty to contain. I reach out to the shadow beast. It's going to taste the results of my training!

The lightning leaves my hand and hits the beast.

My aim was perfect here, what an incredible stroke of luck! Now the beast is... totally fine! It seems completely unfazed by my best and coolest move!

Time to run!

....

My safety chair is gone and the door is locked! What the hell!

I hear a rustle of air behind me, and I hurry away from the door. Just in time! The beast crashes against the door and disappears. But it is already starting to reform! Crap. What can I do? My life is in serious danger here! And I don't even know if I possess some useful skill or magic.

All there is left for me is to run like hell!

I head towards the bottom of the library. It really looks like a university library with tables and chairs between each row, sofas and armchairs sometimes. But nothing that can be used as a weapon!

I am quickly out of breath. Suddenly, I shift into the alley to my left by reflex. I feel the wind move my hair and the shadow lands exactly where I would have been standing if I hadn't moved.

Is this my animal instincts kicking in? In any case, that was way too close!

I run in the alley, wrecking off my brain. I need an idea! I'm totally gonna get killed at this rate. Or eaten and killed. Or killed and eaten!

Those stupid thought aren't getting me anywhere. I won't be able to run much longer.

It is thanks to the fact that the beast is sort of non corporal and needs to reform that it hasn't caught up with me yet.

As I come to an intersection, a flash of light catches my eye to my left. It's an alleyway going back towards the door.

I dodge an attack once again by the skin of my teeth. These claws may be made of shadow, but I have the feeling that they would have chopped my head off without any problem.

For lack of a better thing to do, I turn left and head towards the light (hopefully not metaphorically)

I ran farther than I thought I had. It will take me a few minutes to get there. The shadow beast doesn't seem to like that I'm heading in that direction because I hear it growl louder and it attacks me again, faster this time. I can't avoid it completely, and its claws plunge deep into my left shoulder.

I stumble and hold on on a shelf. Was this filthy creature merely toying with me so far?

In any case, it seems more eager to kill me than before. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I run back while the beast is reforming.

I finally reach the wall! There is like a shelve on the wall, and a fluorescent green orb on it. It looks like the one that was on the door and that had sucked my mana. Without really knowing what it can do, I try to grab it. If it glows from the inside, it must be charged with mana! Maybe it can be used as a bomb or something.

But when I reach out my right hand to take it, I am blocked by an invisible wall. Desperate, I turn around to see where the beast is... just in time to see it bite my forearm between its jaws.

The pain is terrible, I have never felt such pain in my life. My blood is flowing. The shadow particles of the beast disperse, but the wound does not disappear. Unfair! How can an non corporal creature inflict such an awful wound on me!

Despite the pain, I finally realize that the attack has pushed my arm beyond the invisible wall, and my hand touches the orb. My blood flows on it and its green color changes little by little, until it becomes blue. In the meantime, the beast has completely decomposed, finally letting go of my arm, which is now literally chewed meat.

The shadow is slowly forming again, but not with its deformed two-headed appearance but with that of... a bird. Placed on the ground, it no longer gives off this aggressive and dangerous aura, and stands there looking at me.

What the hell just happened here?

As I look at it, stunned, I faint from the shock.