This library is really annoying to navigate. Every room looks exactly the same. On this little adventure the shadow snake has followed. It never really said anything other than the rare how are you feeling, but I found it to be a great listener. It made the search rather bearable. Regardless, I eventually started to hear sounds of thrashing a-and... is that muffled screams? What the hell? Wasn't the monkey, the monster, and I the only thing in the library? Even though they're muffled, the pain in the screams are enough to meke even me wince. What in Vil'anth's name am I fighting?

Putting aside my growing anxiety, I pressed on. Peaking into the entrance of a certain room, I saw it. A hulking mass of shadows protruding from the floor. The shadows form into the shape of the top half of a minator, except the head was shaped more like a bull skull rather than a fully fleshed bovine head. I watched stupefied as it's head split vertically and several tendrils, like lines of runny black ink, came out from the gap and smashed a bookshelf. The tendrils then collected all the fallen books, only to swallow them all one by one. A painful shriek was heard after each book was consumed.

"Oh, so that's what I'm fighting."

 A part of me feels like I should be horrified or disturbed, but I'm just not. Don't get me wrong I certainly have questions, like why are the books screaming  and why does the skull split open to eat, but I'm kinda desensitized to horrors at this point. Do you know how many corrupted kolanbs I've had to face up to this point? The Centaklacks were also pretty bad. Then there was those agents of the wire leviathan, and while I like them Vil'anth's true form isn't exactly easy on the eyes. I mean really compared to them this is kinda like a squirrel to me.

While I was reflecting on my current state of apathy towards this blob, it turned and started to look directly at me. After a few seconds of awkward eye contact, or rather eye on eye socket contact, its mass swelled. The mass rose up and formed 8 horse legs. Ohhh this thing is gonna charge at me, isn't it.

 I brace myself by casting some body reinforcement and formed a red flame in my hand. The flame grows and forms the shape of a rectangle. Of course to be my muleta. In my other hand I form my standard titanium sword. Considering I'm fighting a bull like creature, I may as well do it like a matador.

With my preparations complete it charges. I rotate my body in such a way that the creature is lined of with my cape of fire while also showing me its flank. As it charges pass me, I take a moment to cut its side with my sword. For a few seconds I can see a blue fluid leak from the wound, but not for long as its almost immediately cauterized by my magically made muleta. The fact it bleeds is a good sign, the fire also seemed to hurt it as well. If I keep this up it'll eventually wear it down.

And so I do. Its the same game over and over. It charges, I dodge and slash, the shadow gets burned. It seems that despite eating so many books, it hasn't gained any intelligence. Suppose that makes sense, since most of the books here are gibberish. 

Despite this strategy working, It's taking forever and tiring me out as well. The shelves in the room are also in rough shape because the shadowy mass would constantly slam into them after I dodge. This results in hundreds of books falling on the floor which makes finding proper footing rather difficult. I need a change of plans. 

Looking around at the disheveled room a plan comes to mind. I de-summon my sword and cape and put my back to the railing of the hole every room has. I take a low stance and prepare myself. The shadow charges at me one last time, but instead of dodging I go under. I grab the under side of the shadow and german suplex it over the railing and into the hole that I can't see the bottom of. 

Unsure of when it'll reach the bottom, I use wind magic to try and pick up the sound of the splat. I wait, and I wait, and I wait, but... I never hear the sound. I consider jumping down after it and breaking my fall with wind magic to check the body, but as I'm about to jump I see the blob fall from a floor higher than I dropped it.

That's when I realized that the hole is literally bottomless. An object that falls will eventually wrap around to the top. Considering this new piece of information, I just wait for the blob to reach terminal velocity before making a metal spike for it to be skewered by.

It took awhile, but I finally killed the thing and got my rewards that I asked for from the monkey.