'Really? Doing this right after we're leaving?'
Leonhart lingered his gaze for a moment, almost stopping the urge to face palm and slap her for trying to ruin everyone's mood.
"Look here, ma'am. I understand your concern, but this library remains a crisis for us. Who knows, we might make a breakthrough by finding the path that will lead us outside."
Leonhart tried to be as honest as possible with Caelix, but it seemed that something bothered her about his words, as her expression changed to something sour.
She clicked her tongue and replied. "Outside? Nothing good comes from interacting in Outer, which is filled with endless monsters. Believe me, kid. Staying here is the best you could do."
Caelix strongly believed that the outside would bring nothing but hopelessness, but instead of getting through Leonhart, he stubbornly walked up to her, coming close to her face, only a few inches until they almost kissed.
No one backed down.
One face was annoyed while the other was annoyed as well but worse. Leonhart was latter.
"You're a coward."
Caelix remained silent as Leonhart continued speaking.
"Whatever you experienced probably made you that way, but I don't think being cowardly is bad. After all, it is a skill as well. But there's a clear difference between being that way and giving up. To me, you're the one who grew hopeless after encountering 333 crisis."
He paused. "However, we're not giving up yet. Well, at least some of us who wanted to leave this place."
Caelix continued to remain quiet, but the way her eyes looked changed when she saw Leonhart slightly bowing his head to give respect.
"I'm not forcing you to leave this place but please, for our sake, I want to borrow your strength so that some of us can finish this crisis. Please."
Leonhart didn't even remember the time he had bowed down to some stranger or even say please twice, but if he had to lower his ego, he would definitely do it.
'Ma'am, I heard you're exceptionally good. According to Yuri, Mark, and Aldi, you are outstandingly skilled in related to hunting. So please, please, please come with us! We need skilled fighters, and you fit the criteria!'
When Leonhart approached Caelix, two things were revolving around his mind.
Either he would slap and shit talk Caelix in hopes she would understand or smooth-talk his way out, lowering his pride so that their journey towards the center would resume.
Obviously, the choice wasn't to slap her and trash-talk.
'If she says some bullshit, I might just do it.' Leonhart added inwardly.
Caelix didn't seem fully convinced of Leonhart, but her face softened as a defeated sigh escaped her lips. Her gaze moved to the people around the room before landing on Leonhart's grandparents.
"Are they your grandparents? If so, they are just going to be baggage in the journey. I advise you to make them wait once we find the exit."
Leonhart raised his head and absolutely gets annoyed as veins popped from his forehead, not liking the word "baggage" that described his grandparents.
It was okay for him to be disrespected as long as the situation demanded it, but he couldn't allow any of that to happen to his grandparents.
"Huh?! The fuck—"
Just as he was about to speak, Lloyd approached Leonhart and interrupted him.
If one knows the instances where Leonhart would show his outbursts, it was definitely Lloyd and Sarah.
"I agree with Caelix-nim." Sarah spoke calmly, looking at Caelix with an awkward smile before directing her gaze at Leonhart and silently pinching him on the side. "Don't worry about us, Leon. We'll definitely be safe here."
Leonhart wanted to retort and wanted to make it clear to his grandparents is not something to be considered as a burden, but objectively speaking, Caelix was right.
The only reason he was making such a decision was that he got his feelings mixed up on it.
Leonhart bit his lips as he wanted to argue so badly, but stopped when Lloyd slapped his back.
Lloyd then caressed them and told them affably. "Go, Leon. We'll be just right here, waiting for you."
Leonhart felt helpless of being unable to watch and protect them. However, in the end, he agreed to Caelix's suggestion.
The preparation resumed, clearing things with Caelix while making hard decisions, such as Leonhart leaving his grandparents for a while.
…
A fully equipped army was assembled at the very far edge safe area that the librarians currently held within their hands. Accumulating over 25 people, 9 nine of them consisting of librarians and the rest from the guests that came to this library, the group was greeted by the rest of the people who didn't join them.
There were Leonhart's grandparents, Aldi's group of firefighters, Mark's co-teachers, and Yuri's men, whose job is to watch over their own group's safety.
Leonhart's gaze lingered on the grandparents for a brief moment before it moved towards Amira, who was crossing her arms and shaking her head.
Obviously, the author wasn't happy that Leonhart made this move since it was different from her plan to stay alive for a week.
Leonhart quickly ignored her and focused on his job since Amira would be worshipping him once he found the exit after his plans succeeded.
'Watch me get ahead, author.' Leonhart mused inwardly, giving her an arrogant smirk.
The very vanguard of the army, Caelix, started moving on the front that signaled the rest of the men to follow her trail.
Entering the hallways towards the center of the library, Caelix led the army, going through a route that was used by the previous challengers of the library, who also tried to find their way out inside.
Their steps that were walking at first gradually increased their pace until they were jogging. A few minutes had already passed, and the distance between the marks they put in their maps came close to the point where monsters would crawl their way out any second.
Soon, their predictions came through.
"Everyone, halt."
The group eventually stopped as all their gazes moved to the front, where they saw a pair of glowing eyes staring at them in the distance.
"I'll handle it."
Caelix slowly walked towards the monster with a calm gait. She grabbed a sword out of thin air as its blade began to burn.
Then she dashed forward.
The monster with four legs from the shadows lunged forward, jumping into the air. The monster revealed its hideous body and its bloodshot, glowing eyes.
It was intimidating enough that group, even Leonhart, couldn't help but watch in awe as Caelix neatly defeated it with one clean slash.
There was no wasted movement or hesitation.
Caelix stared at the monster she had killed, used her librarian's clothes to clean the blood from her blade, before returning it into the thin air where she had just grabbed it.
Then, she once again hugged the book, which she hangs from her chain around her waist, before turning around towards the group with a calm expression.
"We're lucky that it wasn't joined with a group, or we'll take longer than we should've." Caelix paused and nodded. "Let's go. There's no time to waste."
With Caelix acting as their vanguard and leader, the group was reassured and had their chances of survival increase tenfold.