New Weapon – 6

“Alright! It’s all done! I really put some effort into it after a long time!”

Ceres, with a beaming smile on her face, approached me. Her entire body was drenched in sweat. Her skin glistened under the light, and black soot was smeared everywhere.

In her hand, she held a sharp sword. Ceres held the sword upside down and extended the hilt towards me.

“Tell me if it feels uncomfortable. I’ll adjust it for you. I tried to get the feel of it by eye, but to properly check, you’ll have to hold it yourself.”

I took the hilt from her and gripped it.

The sword was entirely jet-black. The hilt was perfectly black, and at the end, a counterweight with an ornate pattern was attached to help balance the weight.

Above the crossguard, which extended straight out to the left and right, something triangular was engraved, running up the center of the blade. The thin, patterned triangle ended at about one-third of the sword’s length.

I gripped the sword’s hilt with both hands and raised it vertically in front of my chest, pointing the tip towards the ceiling. Seeing me like that, Ceres grinned.

“Do you like it? Is there anything uncomfortable? You can swing it once here. Just don’t break any of the household items. No, wait. If it’s you, I’ll let you break one or two. Just don’t touch anything too expensive.”

“……It seems there isn’t.”

I let Ceres’s excited chatter go in one ear and out the other, slowly observing the blade’s surface.

My reflection appeared on the grayish blade’s surface. It was so smooth and polished that it could be used as a mirror. Probably, with proper care, it would maintain this smoothness for a lifetime.

The edge was also incredibly sharp. Even I, who had only ever handled kitchen knives, utility knives, and carving knives before possessing a body in Brightest Darkness 4, could immediately notice that fact.

“Seeing that there’s nothing uncomfortable, my touch hasn’t died yet. Oh, there’s one more thing. That sword, I made it back when I was obsessed with swords, so it has an extra function. What it is- huh?”

Before Ceres could finish speaking, I gripped the hilt tightly and infused it with my ‘will’. Then, the grayish blade instantly turned blue, like mana.

“What? How did you know?”

I quietly closed my mouth and gripped the hilt again, infusing it with my will once more. The blue blade changed, with the left side turning gold and the right side silver, precisely from the center.

“……You know that too? What in the world are you? How did you know?”

“Well, I don’t know either. Perhaps the sword itself told me.”

“Since when was something I made an ego sword?”

I had only done what the original NPC of Ceres in the game had explained, but I couldn’t reveal that, so I just brazenly brushed it off. Ceres had an incredulous expression.

When I gripped the hilt tightly again, the blade regained its original grayish hue. The faint white light that had illuminated the surroundings faded.

I slid the sword into the scabbard Ceres handed me. With a satisfying *click*, the sword and scabbard fit together perfectly, without an inch of error. I fastened the scabbard to the belt at my waist.

‘The day has finally come for me to obtain this.’

This was the sword known as ‘Wingless Nightmare’ in the game.

It was the best and strongest one-handed sword, possessing overwhelmingly overpowered specs among all weapons in Brightest Darkness 4.

Despite being a one-handed sword, its reach was as long as a greatsword, its attack hitbox was incredibly good, its special ability granted overwhelming super armor that could withstand all attacks in Brightest Darkness 4, its attack power scaling was excellent, its base stats were outstanding, the attack power increase from enhancements was superb, it was lightweight, its attack speed was fast, only slightly slower than a dagger, the damage from its special abilities was immense while consuming little mana, there were three types of special abilities depending on the attribute, there was no chance of damage being reduced due to monster attributes, and it even allowed free enchanting with a built-in function to amplify enchantment multipliers.

With just this one weapon, one could inflict physical damage, magic damage, and holy damage. Just like changing the sword’s attribute a moment ago.

It was a weapon that met every single condition to be called overpowered.

To put such an absurdly overpowered weapon in a sub-quest line that couldn’t even be discovered through normal means, and to require successfully completing that damn holy water delivery quest while doing so, the developers’ intention was obvious.

If a delivery quest with such dog-shit conditions was mandatory, the bastards who made Brightest Darkness 4 would have deserved to be thrown to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean long ago.

“It’s exactly what I wanted. Thank you, Ceres-ssi.”

“Thank me for what? I should be thanking you more. It’s all thanks to you guys.”

Ceres smiled brightly and subtly pulled her arms together, emphasizing her chest. Beneath the underboob crop top she wore for blacksmithing, truly enormous breasts gathered.

They were breasts that rivaled or perhaps even surpassed those of the Popes by a few sizes, truly deserving the moniker of ‘explosive milk’. Beads of sweat on her cleavage traced curves along the large mounds and slid down.

All her original clothes no longer fit, so she had no choice but to gather suitable scraps of fabric and make temporary clothing. As a result, even covering her nipples was a precarious affair.

“Ah, but there is one slight inconvenience. It’s hard to do blacksmithing ‘because my breasts are too big’.”

Ceres, who deliberately emphasized a certain phrase, kept smiling. As if she didn’t care about my gaze, or rather, as if she wanted me to fully appreciate them, she even kneaded her own breasts.

As soon as Ceres drank the elixir she had completed, she saw her breasts grow to a size larger than her head. She didn’t care that her top was completely torn, exposing her nipples; she kneaded them and rejoiced as if she could jump for joy.

If Minerva, unable to bear the sight, hadn’t told her to put some clothes on, she would surely have been kneading her jiggling breasts and running all over the place for a long time.

After barely coming to her senses, she had holed herself up in the workshop a few hours ago, saying she couldn’t just give me the weapon and would pour her very soul into improving it.

Outside the window, the sun was already slowly setting, creating a sky ablaze with twilight.

“You’ll continue to be uncomfortable in the future, so you should get used to it.”

“I know. It will be uncomfortable ‘because my breasts are too big’. But what can I do? It’s all because my breasts are big, so I have to accept it.”

I recalled an NPC who used to laugh heartily, saying, ‘If your hair is too thick, it’s hard to wash.’ I offered a slightly subtle smile. Fortunately, Ceres didn’t seem to notice my expression.

“Then we will be taking our leave now.”

“Oh? Are you leaving already? I was planning to open some alcohol after a long time. You can have some and then go. I won’t ask for money.”

“We still have things to do. We will visit again someday when we have time.”

Minerva, who had been puffing out her cheeks for a while, was tugging at my sleeve. It was about time to go look for the Crystal Scroll.

If we delayed any longer, it felt like she would abandon all pretense of being a great mage, lie on the floor, and squirm, demanding we go find the scroll quickly.

“You guys can drop by anytime, so don’t worry and just come whenever!”

Ceres came out of the house to see us off as we walked away. Every time she waved her hands vigorously, her breasts, larger than her head, jiggled with overwhelming presence.

After confirming that they were far enough away, Minerva opened her mouth.

“It’s fortunate that she didn’t notice the child’s expression.”

“……Indeed.”

I let out a slight sigh.

“The effect isn’t permanent, is it?”

Minerva seemed to have deduced the correct answer just from my expression. I nodded with a bitter smile.

Even in the game, Ceres’s original NPC, who developed a hair growth potion and gained very abundant hair, would create the weapon chosen by the player with a very happy smile.

However, the problem was that the effect was not permanent.

If you went back to her after defeating the final boss of each route and clearing all main stories, you would find the NPC, all her hair gone, frustrated and drinking only alcohol.

So Ceres’s fate was obvious. Someday, she would return to that desperate state, without even a hint of curve except for her nipples.

That was also why I couldn’t bring myself to laugh along with her. Because I knew the ultimate fate of those breasts.

“Are we going to look for the Crystal Scroll now, child?”

“We’ve already obtained the weapon, so shouldn’t we?”

I snapped out of my thoughts, unfolded the map, and fumbled through my memories to find the location of the Crystal Scroll. Minerva was looking at me with an anxious expression.

“This is the place.”

I pointed my finger somewhere. It was a valley located deep within the mountains. As soon as Minerva confirmed the coordinates, she immediately raised her staff and used teleportation.

And then, we were literally transported to the location I had pointed to in the blink of an eye. While I was dumbfounded by the changed surroundings, Minerva urged me on.

“Tell me what we should do here.”

“Uh… first, please find a waterfall for me. A tremendously large one.”

Minerva immediately unleashed a mana wave. She closed her eyes and concentrated for a long time, then swung her staff. Once again, the surrounding scenery changed in the blink of an eye.

Right nearby, the tremendous sound of a waterfall, *Kwaaaaaaah-*, could be heard.

‘……This is bigger than in the game too.’

I stared blankly up at the waterfall, which was easily the height of a 20-story apartment building and seemed no different from magic.

It was a waterfall where an entire large river plunged down a cliff, and the cliff itself was so incredibly high that it was scattering water like a torrential downpour.

If it weren’t for the barrier Minerva had cast, I would surely have ended up looking like a drenched rat.

-Is this it, child? Don’t worry, you can just speak. I can understand everything.

A voice echoed directly in my mind. It was Minerva’s voice.

“Yes. This is the place.”

-But this waterfall is a place that investigation teams have looked over several times before, isn’t it? The conclusion that there was nothing here was reached a long time ago.

I knew that. It was written in documents found within the game that this place had been investigated multiple times.

A waterfall this large, didn’t it look like there must be something behind it? Mages obsessed with ancient scrolls would surely have investigated here.

The idea that there was something here was correct.

However, the location was wrong.

“It’s not behind the waterfall, but below it.”

I pointed to where the waterfall poured down. The sheer volume of water was so immense that not only was spray flying everywhere, but whirlpools were also raging.

“Would you please divert the water from that waterfall elsewhere for a moment, Minerva-nim? You just need to clear the spot where the water is falling now.”

Minerva immediately followed my words. Her staff lightly tapped the ground. A mirror-like circular space opened, sucking in all the waterfall’s water and diverting it to a slightly distant location.

Water seeping in from the sides filled the empty space, but the sound of the waterfall was no longer heard. It was an utterly peculiar sight, as if a quiet pond had formed between the falling streams of water.

As the waterfall disappeared, the surroundings became quiet.

“It is done, child. Is there anything else left to do?”

“You just need to maintain the magic. It won’t take that long.”

I stood calmly in my spot. Minerva fidgeted, staying by my side. Thinking we were almost at the scroll, her patience seemed to be running out at an incredible speed.

How much time passed like that?

“Ah!”

With an exclamation mixed with surprise, a stone structure began to rise above the water’s surface from the spot where the waterfall had been pouring.

I heard that the structure itself had a pressure-sensing device, so when the waterfall disappeared, gears would turn, causing the structure to rise, but I don’t know the exact mechanism.

“……So that’s how it was. If it was buried underground, it naturally couldn’t be found with detection magic. Even if it were found, they would have just thought it was a rock.”

Minerva muttered in a low voice. The concept of detection magic was similar to scanning the surface of an object, so there was no way it could discover a structure buried deep within the ground.

Moreover, the waterfall, pouring down with immense volume, would have thoroughly obstructed the discovery of the structure. Magic was by no means omnipotent in this world.

Although the person next to me was using it almost omnipotently, she was closer to an exception.

“Truly, in a place like this……”

Minerva had an almost dazed expression.

Since there was no reaction even when I waved my hand in front of her, I lightly tapped her forehead. The Crystal Scroll was right in front of us, so she’d probably overlook this much.

“……Huh?”

“Let’s go in, Minerva-nim. Are you just going to keep staring like this? Even with the Crystal Scroll down there?”

“No, child. Of course not. Yes. Let’s hurry and go in.”

I followed behind Minerva, who was hastily moving her feet, and called out.

“You must be careful of traps, Minerva-nim!”

The moment Minerva, who seemed to half-hear my words, stepped onto the structure.

-*Kwajijik!*

Spikes that shot up right beside her crashed against Minerva’s defensive barrier and shattered. Hearing that chilling sound, Minerva seemed to come to her senses and looked around.

Among dungeon types, there were those where only monsters appeared, but there were also dungeons that deployed such utterly malicious traps.

The Rune Dungeon, where the rock centipedes were, could be considered a place with only monsters, but in the case of this Crystal Scroll Dungeon, traps and map structure served the role of monsters.

However.

“Can we keep going in, child?”

In the face of overwhelming power, mere traps posed no problem at all.