For a few hours, the team rested inside the area, seeing no threats in sight and Calliope seeing it as a suitable place to return to with the portal.
Oliver slept comfortably on the chair, accompanied by his sister with his head planted onto the wood table. Calliope sat just across, reading from a book.
The rest of the group also sat down on different tables. Talking loudly to each other, mostly on the mission they just went through. Even though they were seconds away from death, they're now laughing as if nothing had happened.
The place looked similar to the desk area they first arrived in, only lacking a librarian's desk.
Colton could see the shelves ahead of them. They were thicker and taller than the shelves behind him.
Remembering what Calliope had said before, he felt fearful.
'Are the foes ahead worse than what we already dealt with?' He thought. For now the best thing he could do was rest comfortably on a chair or just lie down on the table.
The place was eerily silent, with the voices of the others being the only things he could hear.
Colton joined in with the twins and Calliope, hoping to have a space to silently think to himself.
He sat next to Calliope, who was reading intently at her book, not heeding his presence.
The table felt calming, away from the chatter of their teammates, Colton had time to think more to himself while next to the only teammate he truly knew in the group.
As his mind started to wander, Calliope called to him.
She had closed her book and was now looking at Colton, seemingly about to ask a question.
"What are your assumptions of what we will face ahead?" Colton was shocked by her question, Calliope chuckled to herself in amusement, as if she expected it.
"Just like old times. When you gained a sufficient rank and we both deliberated around the table regarding security matters. Most of the time you seemed to have the better intuition in guessing the enemy. Or enemies." She chuckled.
"Thus, I found it possibly humorous to recall that for this situation. Though, I am genuinely curious as to what you believe we could face."
"Maybe similar to the ones from the books we fought earlier, but more armored." Colton replied.
"We'll see by then." After speaking, Calliope turned to the larger bookshelves behind her.
After a few moments, she signaled for Colton to follow her.
The two walked away from the table, approaching the silent and empty pathway. It was dustier than the pathway before, with more cobwebs and dust building up around them.
"Due to Oliver's lack of sufficient rest and the constant stress on him and Clarissa, we may need to stay here for around two to three more hours." She explained, as they neared the bookshelf, she pulled one of them out.
With a single blow, a cloud of dust flew off the cover. The book looked larger and had a thicker cover, and seemed to carry more pages than the books before.
"This one bears a marking, hopefully it contains information we may use." She took a brief look at it, but gripped onto the edges of the book, hoping to not accidentally open it.
"Perhaps we may awaken what lingers in here once Oliver wakes from his sleep." The book suddenly vanished from her hand, sent to her storage.
She stared at the other books stored on the shelf for a few more seconds before turning to Colton.
"Prepare yourself for it later, hopefully it will not end up like the tunnels." The two made their way back. The team was still busy talking to one another while the twins were resting. Colton only hoped Oliver won't be as tired anymore or faint while walking onward.
The two quickly returned to their seats, Calliope started to read from other books she had stored while Colton was left with his thoughts.
A few hours had passed, the chatter of Colton's teammates began dying down as they started to rest, with some even sleeping on top of tables like a makeshift bed.
Colton felt they were getting too comfortable in the new place, especially since they don't have any information on what could be hiding here. But with the lack of anything happening, his fears started to go down.
In the middle of their rest, Oliver began to move, slowly moving his head up. His face looked far less sleep deprived than before, and more energetic than earlier.
After looking around for a few seconds, he began to stretch his arms and yawn.
"How long was I out?" His voice had even changed, although still carrying the laid back tone, he didn't sound tired.
"Well, we allocated more time to rest in this spot, perhaps it may be used as another point we may return to via portal." Calliope explained.
"Oh, well at least we managed to find a suitable area to keep a hold off after missions, or simple a retreating area." She continued, Oliver only nodded at her explanation, barely understanding the words that came out of her mouth.
With Oliver awake and ready, Calliope stood up and began walking towards the rest of the team.
The book re appeared in her hands, still closed. Calliope raised it above her head, and once close enough to their table, began to speak.
"To gain more information, we will attempt to fight another foe, this time from a book in the other bookshelf." The three looked at her, understanding what they need to do.
Without another word, everyone stood up, readying their weapons.
"Please don't get as injured as before." Oiver meekly begged, but the others didn't reply.
The healers stood farther away with their staffs while Colton and the rest surrounded Calliope who was holding the book in her hands.
Everyone looked at her, ready for the fight ahead.
A few seconds later, Calliope slowly began to open the book. A purple glow burst out of it, causing her to drop the book and unsheathe her sword, moving back with the others while staring at what was about to form from the book.
A shadow began to form on top of the book, rapidly taking shape.
A ragged cloaked figure took form and hit the ground. In its hand was a worn longsword. Tied to different parts of his body were strips of long rope and cloth, as if he was tied to something.
"To the very top….We must trek…." The man muttered in a weak but determined voice.
Quill readied to fire her arrow at the man. But before she could release, the man suddenly turned towards her and swung his arm. Torn ropes flung through the air like a whip, slashing at Quill, sending her to the ground.
"What the-" Marcus looked in confusion, quickly learning how the enemy would fight.
The man quickly turned to the others, staring each one down, as if picking a target.
The battle slowly began as the team started moving closer to the target, putting their weapons in front of them in a bid to protect themselves from whatever he could do.
Calliope moved closer than the rest, with a shield pointed forward. As her sword neared the man's back, he quickly turned and tried to strike.
Soon, the battle descended into a brawl as the rest joined in, trying to overwhelm him as he swung torn ropes around and assaulted anyone near him with his sword. Sparks and fabric flew through the air, with the man taking in more and more hits.
The rest of the team though were only cut and slashed by the torn rope.
Colton swung his hammer straight at the man, as the hammer hit him, multiple strands of rope lashed out at parts of his body. But he managed to land a hit.
On the ground, the man started to mutter again.
"Above…Above…Where we can thrive…" He repeated over and over. His speed and attacks seemed to have slowed after the hammer hit, getting slashed and bashed by the others.
Even in a weakened state though, the man started lashing out again, the ropes tied across his body flung around, hitting anyone it could. Everyone began moving away as the man tried to regain his footing.
But before he could get up, an arrow landed in his chest. Forcing him to the ground. The man seemed to be close to death as he dropped the sword and the ropes fell lifeless around him.
"Towers…Let us to them…" He managed to whisper before his body fully vanished.
The battle had come to an end. Fortunately, everyone only suffered slashes and cuts. But the shock from the new enemy still rocked their minds.
The twins came over, immediately starting to heal everyone. Colton could see Oliver's satisfied face as he started healing the others, happy that they weren't in a worse state.
Calliope plucked up the book and began reading. Her eyes skimmed each page, rapidly gaining information from what was written inside them.