Ball of Nothing

"Help has arrived! Duck!"

Truen barely had time to register the words but his body moved automatically when he sensed a flashing light from behind. The archer was glad that he dodged that in time because Zero didn't understand the meaning of moderation.

In five seconds, all twelve golems that Truen had trouble stalling were decommissioned. The metal ones that his arrows were useless against were sizzling and the stone ones that kept regenerating were now ordinary piles of rocks.

"What did you do?" he asked and Zero grinned. The angel wings and halo set looked slightly odd on his current vessel but Zero didn't mind it too much. Practicality over aesthetics, they gave him flight ability although he would very much prefer mounting Bob for a good first appearance. Riding a dragon would never fail to impress people according to the novels Zero secretly stayed up to read at night.

"Just deconstructed the alchemy arrays and blew the fuse in the circuitry. The gnomes must be real geniuses if they managed to create broken golems like these. I've never seen metal golems before. Even Robo Mike is made from stone imbued with Merlin's mana."

Truen cringed. He struggled a lot with those golems because their metal exterior was very sturdy like an impenetrable shield. Not to mention, magic had absolutely no effect on them when Truen tried. Fire magic heated the metal to a glowing red but that was about it. Truen couldn't get them off his heel until Zero swooped in like a battle angel.

"What now? Wait, where's the girl?"

Zero grinned. Initially, he thought that Truen and Jermine didn't get along but look at this tough guy worrying about her now.

"Don't worry," the doctor smiled knowingly. Truen could act all tough and uncaring but Zero knew better than anyone else how kind and selfless the archer can be. "She's safe. I told her to hold onto En's bag and not lose it because our dinner is inside. Also, I layered a deca-spell so nothing should harm her. If it gets attacked, I will know. Let's clear the rest of the golems now. You act as the decoy while I smash them from the top again."

Truen heaved a sigh hearing that Jermine was in a Zero-made fortress. The girl was in the safest place now so they should try to clear the second trial before they retrieved her.

"Ok. Let's hurry. I want to quickly clear the trial before we get her. The third trial might be more dangerous than this."

Zero considered it and agreed with Truen. If the ruin master was truly behind this golem attack, Zero didn't trust that person even though they had a deal. It was a very good thing Truen was able to shoot people with truth-telling arrows. When they caught the sneaky b*stard Zero was going to make him spill everything about the gnomes. If he didn't know anything and was only lying to try and kill them, Zero was going to harvest his soul and tell Enma to send it to work for Baal. Eternal work sounded like a good enough punishment.

With a perfect combination and attack pattern, all the eighty-nine golems left behind by the gnomes to protect Gnaway were decommissioned. The process didn't take more than twenty minutes and Zero sneezed when they were done.

"Are you alright?"

Zero sniffed and rubbed his nose. "Must be the dust. Let's get Jermine, I think it's rather safe now. We destroyed most of the traps in the process too."

Truen thought about it and agreed. However, just to be sure, he fired a few arrows in different directions to scout the area. Once it was safe, the boys went back to the hut.

Zero panicked when he didn't see Jermine where he left her.

"Jermine? Where are you?! That damned b*stard! I'm going to sell his soul to Mammon instead!" Zero swore when a black furry head with a strange pink nose appeared from the dirt.

"Zero?" the girl asked. Truen and Zero looked at her in disbelief as she dug her way out quickly.

"Thank goodness you are alright! Truen too... I was so afraid that you've either lost your way back after relieving yourself or that the monsters have gotten you!"

Truen raised a brow and Zero coughed suspiciously to disguise his laugh. "I had to do a number two and walk a little further away because of the smell. Didn't mean to worry you. Is our dinner supply safe?"

Happily, Jermine handed the responsibility of guarding the dinner bag back to Zero. The trio walked a little longer in the labyrinth and spit up to try and locate the library. Yet, despite their efforts, the library remained unfound.

"Where would a library usually be located in a city as big as this?" Zero asked.

Truen stopped to think for a while. Normally, libraries were huge buildings with many books. It shouldn't be that difficult to find.

Jermine blinked. Normally, a library would be easy to locate because it was a place for learning, made accessible to as many people as possible. It should be a huge building so they couldn't miss it. Then, she remembered that although Zero and Truen walked the entire labyrinth here, they had yet to explore underground.

"What about underground?" she asked. "There are a few huge rooms we didn't visit, only passed them by while we were looking."

Zero blinked. "There is an underground level?"

Truen was equally stunned. His area detection arrows didn't pick that out. Judging by Zero's expression, Mii didn't manage to find it either. The mini-map function was almost as limited as his Area Detection spell with the exception of the real-time feedback of enemy movements. Thankfully, Zero made the right decision of bringing Jermine along. He doubted that they would be able to think of this so quickly if they switched Jermine with Bob.

"There are three huge places underground that could be the library," Jermine said and pointed out their general direction. Zero asked the mole beast girl to lead them to the nearest spot.

They followed Jermine until she stopped in the middle of what used to be a palace.

"Here is one spot," Jermine explained. "There are many passages and rooms."

Truen shook his head. "Not this spot," he said. "Those are most likely dungeons and emergency escape routes. Where's the next location?"

Jermine walked them to a new place in the centre of the marketplace that was now reduced to dust. Truen liked it better and Zero had a question.

"Why would libraries be built underground?"

This time, Truen knew better. "Most likely because the conditions of preserving the quality of books are better underground. Either that or we're not looking for an ordinary library."

Zero agreed and Jermine got to work at once, digging downwards and making a passageway with Truen and Zero following behind.

From a hidden place in Gnaway, the ruin master was very nervous. Once they found the secret library, there would only be one more trial before he had to admit that Zero was indeed worthy. Actually, he refused to admit it but Zero might be overqualified. The way he deconstructed the alchemy array on the stone golems told him everything he needed to know about the elf's capabilities. He was simply being stubborn at this point.

He waited for them as they got closer and prepared himself mentally. After coming such a long way, the djinn was finally ready to reveal himself. It was only a matter of formality now to pass that third test.