Len and Rick cautiously made their way back into the main library area, their footsteps echoing softly against the damp stone floor. Water dripped steadily from the ceiling, creating small puddles that reflected the dim magical light emanating from Rick's new hammer.

  "Let's check out the other side," Len suggested, gesturing towards the far end of the floor.

  Rick nodded, gripping his new hammer tightly.

  They navigated around toppled bookshelves and scattered tomes.

  As they approached the opposite wall, Len spotted another large door hidden by shelves with a plaque above it.

  The wood had a different hue like that of the smithing door.

  The approached slowly.

  "Alchemy," Len said.

  "Tenebrook is gonna be one happy man," Rick muttered as he studied the door intently.

  Len moved to one side of the door, Rick grabbed his sleeve, sniffing the air.

  "You smell that?"

  Len smelled the air, picking up the damp wood and pages, a little rot, something cloying gathered in the back of his throat.

  He coughed, "Yeah, it's like... rotten eggs mixed with something metallic."

  "I'm going to grab some food from your pack," Rick said.

  Len kept watch as Rick opened his pack and pulled out a ration, he secured Len's bag closed again and then pulled out a piece of meat and threw it at the door.

  The meat started turning black and rotting. Rick looked at Len.

  "How badly does Tenebrook really need that information?" Len asked.

  Rick grimaced and shrugged, holding up his weapons limply.

  "Crap." Len studied the door again. The first one came out of the door.

  Len moved to a corner of the library, away from the ominous alchemy door, Rick following.

  He set down his weapons and took off his pack, rooting around to draw out two spare shirts from his pack.

  "What you thinking?" Rick asked.

  "I can enchant these to filter out gas," Len said. He formed a blueprint of the enchantment with mana. He held out a shirt and applied it. Threads moved into the patterns he'd created. The enchantment glowed faintly as he finished.

  "This won't last more than an hour," Len warned, his brow furrowed in concentration. "The gas will eventually eat through the enchantment."

  Rick grunted in acknowledgment, keeping watch as Len worked.

  As Len finished the first shirt, a loud creaking sound echoed through the library. Their heads snapped up to see the alchemy door slowly swinging open on its own. A sickly green gas began to seep out, creeping across the floor like a living fog.

  "Shit," Len muttered, he tossed Rick the first shirt and pulled out the second.

  The gas spread rapidly, tendrils of vapor reaching out towards them.

  Rick tied the arms around the back of his head, the enchantment activating as Len redoubling his efforts on the second shirt.

  "Hurry up, Len!"

  Len's fingers flew as he burned the last few runes into the fabric. It wouldn't last as long as the first. The gas was just two bookshelves away now, its acrid smell already stinging his nostrils despite the distance.

  He coughed as he finished the enchantment, wrapping it around his face.

  The alchemy gargoyle emerged from the doorway. It stood slightly taller than Rick and Len, its stone body veined with yellow and studded with glass vials filled with bubbling, glowing liquids. Its eyes glowed an eerie green, matching the noxious gas billowing out behind it.

  The creature's spindly wings unfurled, guiding the poisonous vapors through the library. Len's mind raced, realizing they couldn't risk using fire in this enclosed space filled with flammable books and unknown chemicals.

  Rick grabbed his hammer and ran towards the creature, it turned its head as Rick swung his hammer, still half a dozen meters away.

  A wave of wind threw back the cloud that was spreading through the library, shoving it back into the room.

  "The gas is coming from its body!" Len said as he grabbed his shield and broken sword.

  Len watched as the gargoyle's head swiveled towards Rick, its stone jaw opening in a ear-splitting screech. The sound reverberated through the library, making Len's teeth rattle.

  Rick closed the distance, swinging his hammer with all his might. The blow connected with the gargoyle's shoulder, sending cracks spider-webbing across its stone surface. But as the hammer struck, Len noticed several of the glass vials embedded in the creature's body crack and splinter.

  "Rick, watch out!" Len shouted, his voice muffled by the shirt. "The vials!"

  Even as he called out the warning, a purple smoke spread across the creature, frosting everything that it touched.

  Rick jumped up onto a bookshelf and then down a few as the purple smoke stopped spread.

  "Fu~uck!" Rick yelled.

  Yeah this is gonna be a tricky one.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  The gargoyle reached for one of the glowing vials embedded in its stone body. With surprising dexterity, it plucked the vial free and raised it to its jagged mouth. The creature tilted its head back, pouring the luminescent liquid down its throat.

  Its veins started to glow brighter before its eyes flared with the same yellow radiance. It opened its maw, and a stream of caustic liquid burst forth. The acidic spray arced through the air, sizzling as it made contact with nearby bookshelves and stone floors.

  "Oh, mother fucker!"

  Len peeked over his makeshift barrier, assessing the situation. The acid had eaten through several rows of books, leaving smoking holes in their wake. The air filled with the acrid smell of burning paper and stone.

  He glanced towards Rick, who had managed to duck behind a sturdy oak desk. His friend's eyes met his, a mix of determination and concern evident even through the makeshift mask.

  The gargoyle turned its head, searching for its targets.

  If he didn't worry about damage he could launch the broken sword and break its enchantments.

  Len abandoned his shield and sprint forward.

  As he ran, Len reached into his pack, fingers closing around a copy of the makeshift grenades he'd made at the Coiled Serpent.

  The gargoyle spotted his movement, it turned, opening its mouth, to unleash another stream of caustic liquid.

  Len dove to the side, rolling behind a fallen bookshelf as the acid sizzled past him.

  Heart pounding, he sprang back to his feet and zigzagged between the shelves. The creature's head swiveled to track him, its stone body creaking as it turned. Thankfully not just spraying constantly and ruining everything.

  Len was almost within range when the gargoyle opened its mouth to spray. He tried to dodge, but this time he wasn't quite fast enough.

  A splash of acid caught his left arm, eating through his sleeve and searing his skin.

  Len gritted his teeth against the pain, feeling the protective enchantment on his shirt-mask weakening from the acidic fumes.

  Len threw himself forward with mana, cutting the creature's knee. It let out a bellow as he cast a spell on the cannister, pumping it up with mana and shoved it in the creature's mouth.

  He created loops around the creature's head and jaw, empowering them with mana to close its maw before he kicked it in the chest, sending it back into the alchemy section it had come from, throwing gas out of the room.

  Len leapt to the side.

  Suddenly, a thunderous boom shook the library. Parts of the gargoyle's stone body flew out of the room, followed by a geyser of foam, filling the doorway and spilling into the main library area. It hissed and bubbled, expanding rapidly as it spread over everything in its path.

  Len scrambled backward, narrowly avoiding the advancing wall of foam. The substance seemed to have a mind of its own, changing colors as it spread – shifting from vibrant purple to electric blue to neon green.

  As the foam settled, Len took a moment to catch his breath. He glanced down at his acid-burned arm, wincing at the angry red flesh. Focusing his mana, he began the healing process, watching as new skin slowly knit itself over the wound.

  ===

  You have earned EXP

  ===

  "That was... unexpected," Len muttered to himself, flexing his newly healed arm.

  He heard footsteps approaching and turned to see Rick moving up to him.

  "You alright?" Rick called out.

  Len nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Healed the acid burn. But this..." He gestured at the foam-filled room. "This is new."

  "Nice work with that grenade." Rick said. "Was really hoping to use the hammer more." He hefted it in his hand.

  "I'm just hoping that blowing up the alchemy gargoyle didn't fuck up that section," Len said moving his arm around. The new skin was still tight but movable.

  "Good?" Rick asked.

  "Alive," Len said.

  Rick grunted "Looks like its going down, doesn't look like it messed anything."

  Len watched as the foam slowly dissipated, revealing the entrance to the alchemy room. He and Rick approached cautiously, weapons at the ready in case any surprises remained.

  Rick threw out some food from the ration in his pocket. The food stuck to the foam, but it didn't rot or burn away.

  Rick used the stub of his boot to poke the floor where the foam had been. "Nothing." He poked the foam and tried to pull back. "Sticky," He pulled his foot back, nearly stumbling as he planted his foot, it made a squelching noised as he lifted it and put it back down till the foam dissolved.

  "Once the foam goes it doesn't leave an effect behind," Rick said.

  "I'm going to get my gear," Len said.

  "I'll be followin' the foam," Rick said.

  Len secured the gear he'd dropped and returned to a humming Rick.

  He looked into the alchemy section of the library.

  The foam was retreating through the room revealing what lay within.

  The remains of the gargoyle lay scattered across the floor, shattered pieces of stone and glass intermingled with puddles of various colored liquids.

  The creature's head had been blown clean off, resting in a corner with its glowing eyes now dark and lifeless.

  Despite the chaos from their recent battle. Shelves enclosed in glass, the foam dissolving on their surface, lined the walls, filled with books.

  In the center of the room stood a large stone table, its surface etched with intricate runes and symbols. Miraculously, it had survived the blast mostly intact, though a few scorch marks marred its surface.

  Len's gaze was drawn to a series of complex apparatus set up on one side of the room. Glass tubes twisted and coiled, connecting various beakers and flasks. A faint, pulsing glow emanated from some of the liquids within.

  "Tenebrook would lose his mind in here," Len muttered, carefully stepping over a pile of debris.

  The foam revealed several leather-bound books scattered on the floor, their pages fluttering in the settling air. He bent down to examine one, its cover embossed with golden symbols he didn't recognize.

  'The Elixirist’s Codex.'

  "We should probably be careful about touching anything," Len warned Rick. "No telling what kind of alchemical substances might be lying around."

  "Yeah, lots of danger puddles," Rick agreed.

  "Did you just call the puddles of concoctions 'danger puddles'?"

  "Well they're dangerous and puddles!" Rick waved his hands at the room while still holding his hammer.

  Len grunted, a bag on a hook catching his eye. He studied it, reaching out a hand to Rick. "Gimme a piece of meat."

  Rick put a piece in his hand, Len rubbed it over the satchel to no reaction.

  Len examined the satchel more closely, his curiosity piqued. He carefully unhooked it from the wall and opened the flap. To his surprise, the interior seemed far more spacious than its exterior suggested.

  "Rick, come look at this," Len called out.

  Rick ambled over, still wary of the 'danger puddles' scattered across the floor.

  Len reached into the satchel, his arm disappearing up to the elbow despite the bag's modest size.

  "It's some kind of magical storage," Len explained, handing it out to Rick. "I can see some ingredients inside.

  Rick hefted the bag. "Doesn't seem to weigh anything extra even with the ingredients inside." He walked out of the room to a shelf and grabbed a book, putting it inside the satchel.

  "Doesn't change size like the ingredients and add weight," Rick said.

  "Must store ingredients only," Len said. "Try a potion."

  Rick took off one from his bandolier and put it into the satchel. "Those work too."

  Len nodded, already considering the possibilities. "We'll come back after we've cleared the place collect up everything. Should make it a bit easier."

  The library was vast, for being just a dungeon.

  "Does it work for food?" Len asked.

  Rick dropped the paper ration bag into the satchel. "Yeah it does."

  "Well I think we just found a way to keep our ingredients and food preserved. Just need to figure out how much it can store now," Len said. he glanced around the room. "Shall we check the next floor up?"

  "Sounds good," Rick took out the book he'd put into the satchel, putting it back on the shelf before he looped the satchel over his shoulder.