Crystal Scroll

‘Having Minerva is great.’

I was leisurely surveying the winged nightmare as I walked behind Minerva.

It was a repetition of me telling Minerva the location of a trap, and her dealing with it. I thought to myself, ‘So this place could be cleared in such a comfortable way.’

Since it was a trap dungeon, there was only one path anyway, so there was no need for me to lead and guide. Dungeons with labyrinthine paths would appear elsewhere later.

“If you step on the middle, arrows will shoot out from the left. Be careful.”

“I understand.”

Minerva casually destroyed the numerous traps laid out here, traps that had been thoroughly tempered with the modders’ malice in Darkra Mode, and strode forward.

For example, there was a trap where, if you stepped on a switch, about 10 arrows would fly out, which Minerva, having just received my warning, collapsed the nearby ground to deal with. In vanilla, only 3 arrows would fly out.

Or, like now, there were seven axe-blade pendulums swinging in pendulum motion over a thin, straight bridge, and on the path, there was a switch that would shoot arrows if stepped on.

In the game, it was a section where you had to run non-stop from start to finish, timing it perfectly for a very brief moment, but Minerva simply dealt with it by destroying the pendulums and collapsing the walls where the arrows were loaded.

“Do we still have further to go, child?”

“We’re almost there. We just need to break through a few more spots.”

Even in the game, it took a long time to clear, and considering that the scale had become much larger after coming into reality, it wouldn’t be strange for it to take several hours.

But thanks to Minerva, we were able to arrive at the location with only the last trap remaining in less than an hour. It felt less like breaking through a dungeon full of traps and more like taking a stroll inside a building.

‘It would have been the same even if it were a dungeon filled with enemies.’

Unless it was a formidable boss-level or mid-boss-level enemy, there was no way they could withstand the magic Minerva unleashed. Any mediocre trash mobs would have been swept away with a single, casually cast spell.

Now, there were only a few traps left. After neatly dealing with them and walking a little further, a wide, open plaza appeared. It was a place where ankle-deep water covered everything.

The overall size was similar to the training grounds of the castle where the Silver Dawn Knights resided, and unlike the rubble walls seen so far, the walls were built with neatly cut bricks.

Aside from the ankle-deep water on the floor, it was empty. I pointed to a large door located directly opposite the passage we had come from.

“We’re done. Do you see that door? The Crystal Scroll is behind it.”

“Ah, finally…”

“Just a moment. You can’t go yet.”

I stopped Minerva, who was about to walk towards it, tears welling up in her eyes. From beyond the wall directly behind, the sound of something being loaded, *cheolkeok cheolkeok*, could be heard.

“Why are you doing that, child? Is there still something left to do?”

Minerva turned to look at me with a very urgent expression.

“Yes. There’s one last trap behind there, and we need to deal with that too.”

No sooner had I finished speaking than a *tuung-* sound was heard. It was the sound of something being fired. Minerva, too, seemed to have heard the sound and frowned deeply.

ㅡKwaaang!

From beyond the wall, a sound that shook the entire place echoed. The ground vibrated slightly.

The explosive sound didn’t stop at just one. A booming sound, as if splitting a mountain, continued for seven more consecutive times. Only after that did silence finally arrive.

“……So that’s what it is.”

“That’s right.”

The silence was short-lived. Again, the *cheolkeok, cheolkeok* sound echoed. Perhaps she had identified the trap’s nature using detection magic in that brief moment, as Minerva spoke with an annoyed voice.

“It’s a bit too grand to call it just a trap.”

I agreed with that statement.

Yes. It’s hard to properly describe that thing with a mere word like ‘trap.’

After all, it was a colossal cannon where all the procedures required for firing were completely automated, shells were replenished automatically, and it could even automatically track targets within a few seconds.

The fact that all procedures were automatic, shells were infinite, and it tracked targets on its own was already astonishing, but what’s more, it wasn’t a one-shot deal; it fired in a whopping 4-round burst.

In a game where most technological standards are set around the medieval era, one might wonder if it’s right to shove such over-technology in as a trap, but what can you do when the developers of the B-Dark series made it that way?

For reference, in Darkra Mode, there’s another cannon with the exact same specifications right next to it. That’s why the sound of something crashing into the wall behind was heard a total of eight times.

“Do we just need to deal with that trap too, child?”

“Before that, there’s one more favor I’d like to ask.”

I looked around. The *kwaang kwaang kwaang kwaang* sound, as if splitting a mountain, echoed again from behind.

“Minerva-nim. Would you perhaps be able to lure the firing of that trap? I think creating a human form would work.”

“Lure the firing? Hmm… Wait a moment.”

Minerva swung her staff. A mana orb floated gently in the air. Minerva waited for a moment in that state, then confirmed that the cannon wasn’t aiming at it, and swung her staff again.

The mana orb changed shape. It was a human form. Hair appeared, clothes were donned, arms and legs grew, and each part changed to a human-like color.

At least on the outside, it was Minerva’s own form, looking like a perfect human.

The mana-created form of Minerva, just like its creator, held a staff in one hand and strolled leisurely around.

ㅡKwaaang!

And, not long after, it was shattered by a human-sized chunk of metal that flew in from afar. The mana that had formed the human shape turned blue and scattered into the air.

“So it has become.”

“Indeed. It worked.”

It was fortunate that we didn’t have to use a backup plan. If that method hadn’t worked, one of us would have had to physically lure those cannonballs.

Of course, since we had teleportation, there wouldn’t have been a need to roll, deflect, and struggle to match the timing of the cannonballs flying in, like in the game.

“What should we do now?”

“Do you see the wall over there? Its color will be different from the surrounding walls.”

Minerva looked at the spot my finger pointed to and nodded. Most of the walls were a mix of black and brown, but that one was closer to gray.

“You just need to create a clone, like the one you just made, in front of it.”

*Tok*, the staff lightly tapped the floor. Blue mana gathered in front of the wall I pointed to, then changed colors here and there, taking on a human form. But this time, it wasn’t Minerva’s appearance.

It was Ceres’s appearance. And not just any Ceres, but Ceres before her chest grew larger from the Pungyu-hwan, the Ceres who had not even the slightest curve.

It seemed that even though it was a fake form made of mana, Minerva was quite displeased that her own likeness had been shattered. She was taking out a bit of her minor frustration at the same time.

“……”

The mana-formed Ceres was utterly shattered within seconds by a cannonball that flew in like lightning. The fragmented Ceres turned into blue light, just like before, and scattered.

The cannonball wasn’t satisfied with merely shattering a human made of mana. Kwaaang! A large chunk of metal collided with the wall I had pointed to. The wall swayed and shook from the impact.

“One more time, please.”

Immediately, Ceres’s form reappeared, and this time too, it was inevitably struck by the chunk of metal and shattered.

However, the wall behind it was also shattered. It barely withstood the first impact, but couldn’t endure the second. The wall, struck by the chunk of metal, collapsed with a loud noise.

“Child, that is…”

Minerva looked slightly surprised upon seeing the space that appeared behind the collapsed wall. This was the puzzle that required utilizing that trap.

As always with the B-Dark series, if you didn’t pay attention to the fact that the wall’s color was distinctly different, there were no other hints to figure it out. Many people would scream, “How do you open that door?!” only to get hit by a cannonball and meet Miss You Died.

Even if you knew, breaking that wall required very precise positioning, so you had to die many times during the clear process.

“This is the work required to open that door.”

I said calmly.

“Now three are left.”

“Are you done?”

“Yes. It’s finished.”

I looked with satisfaction at the pair of 4-round burst cannons that were utterly destroyed. It felt so refreshing. In the game, there was no way to destroy them, but now, the story was a bit different.

‘…Actually, I guess Minerva could have just broken the wall herself.’

Such a situation wouldn’t even occur in the game, so I hadn’t thought of it. It was only after the mana-generated Ceres had been shattered six times and even the cannons were destroyed that the thought finally occurred to me.

Minerva and I inserted the gem we had retrieved from behind the broken wall into the door’s groove. And as we had done thousands of times, we solved the puzzle by fitting the gems in order.

In the game, because of those damned cannons, we had to repeatedly fit one, then run away, come back to fit a little more, then run away again, and come back again.

Now that there was no such need, we could leisurely solve the puzzle.

“This is the last one.”

As I pushed the green gem diagonally to the left, the door trembled and slowly began to open left and right. Minerva looked up at the opening door with an almost dazed expression.

“Is it… all done, child…?”

“Yes. It’s right there. Can’t you see it too, Minerva-nim?”

I pointed to a box placed on a square structure resembling an altar, far away. Minerva’s body trembled upon seeing that box.

The trembling didn’t stop even after we arrived in front of the box. No, it felt like it was getting worse. I even had to catch her when she stumbled and almost fell.

“This is… the Crystal Scroll…”

A murmur escaped her lips. The box, befitting a container for the ‘Crystal’ Scroll, was decorated with all sorts of crystals. It was about the size of my upper body, and no particular locking mechanism was visible.

Aside from being more ornate, it was almost identical to the box in the game.

“It really… was it…”

Minerva trembled so much that I felt pity for her.

‘It’s not like I completely don’t understand that kind of reaction…’

This was information obtainable from conversations with Minerva’s original NPC, Arcana.

The Eternal Mage was someone who, possessing overwhelming talent, could master all sorts of magic, but paradoxically, lost interest in life precisely because of that overwhelming talent.

She had learned all the magic there was to learn. Now, she merely repeated the acts of flipping through spellbooks she had memorized centuries ago, or indiscriminately improving all sorts of magic.

She had been doing the same thing for hundreds of years, yet all the mages in the Empire were equally enthusiastic when they saw that ‘same thing.’ For Minerva, it was no different from rotting away alive.

While enduring for over a hundred years, improving magic purely out of a sense of duty, she discovered the Crystal Scroll, which was believed to have been lost long ago.

It was an opportunity to learn that had come after a truly long time, so she couldn’t help but be captivated.

‘Seeing it in person, it’s even worse.’

Honestly, when I heard Arcana’s words in the game, I just took it at face value.

Even though it was wrapped in various archaic words, in summary, it meant that she had learned all the magic there was because she was too brilliant, and thus became bored to the point of wanting to die, didn’t it?

But for Minerva, it seemed to be a matter far more serious than I could have imagined. I felt certain she would ask about the locations of other scrolls later.

Without exaggerating even a bit, if I were to tell her the locations of the remaining ancient scrolls, she might even happily spread her legs if I asked her to sell her body to me.

‘Though I have no intention of doing that.’

“Ah…”

Minerva, with trembling hands, opened the box.