Grotto Exploration — 2
I lit the torch I'd prepared and stepped into the cave. The cave itself ended before we'd gone more than a dozen paces.
"Hmm. A secret grotto… is this the entrance?"
"Yeah. Looking at it now, it seems a little suspicious, doesn't it?"
"It really does."
When a flat stone face about the size of a full-length mirror stood at the deepest point of a cave, it was bound to look suspicious. Black Cat was already running her hands over the stone surface with curious little motions.
"Hmm. Tapping it doesn't do anything… is it all right if I try to open it myself?"
"Go ahead."
I nodded and stepped back.
The reason I'd deliberately chosen this particular grotto to bring Black Cat along was simple: of all the secret caves out there, this one had a form perfectly designed to stoke curiosity. If we were going to go fortune-hunting together from here on out, I needed to plant a sense of anticipation for these kinds of discoveries.
Black Cat groped around for a mechanism, pounded on the walls, and even poured internal energy into the stone for a long while — but in the end she just tilted her head and withdrew.
"Hmm. No idea."
"Well, it's simple."
I understood why she couldn't open it. A flat rectangular stone face, smooth as a mirror, with rounded edges. To a modern person, the shape would instantly call to mind something they couldn't go a day without. Black Cat wasn't a modern person, so of course the resemblance wouldn't register.
I brushed my fingers across the wall, then slid my hand to the side.
Krrrrrrumble.
The method for opening the entrance to the grotto.
It was Slide to Unlock.
"Ho— Senior Ho, you look like you already know something about this grotto?"
"I've never been here myself. I just came across some records about it."
Even as I answered Black Cat's question, I ratcheted up my tension. Back in the game days, Hyeoncheonja's Grotto had been a regular haunt I'd run through more times than I could count. But this was my first time in reality. Raising my guard was only natural.
"Hoo."
Fortunately, a familiar stone tablet greeted me.
O seeker! This old man is called Hyeoncheonja! From my youth I possessed a gift for crafting, and with the wealth earned from selling my skill in mechanisms and formations I fashioned all manner of things — yet though I made them, I never found their rightful masters. Thus I shall test your abilities and bestow these treasures upon you.
I mean to examine both your martial skill and your wisdom. Let any seeker of spirit pass the trials of the First through Third Gates, and receive a treasure befitting their worth!
But know this: those who fail Hyeoncheonja's trials shall never set foot in this grotto again.
"Oh, that last line is a little scary. Does it mean he'll kill anyone who fails, to silence them?"
In truth, you just got kicked out. You simply couldn't open the grotto door again. Force the entrance open and the natural cave mouth would collapse, flooding the interior with poison gas — and that would kill you.
Black Cat's voice had brightened a little; she seemed genuinely excited by the words Hyeoncheonja had left behind.
"Senior, do you know anything about this Hyeoncheonja?"
"Only what I picked up while learning about this grotto."
Hyeoncheonja's Grotto wasn't the kind of fortune where the cave itself was especially hard — it was the kind where simply finding it was the real challenge. You followed scattered traces, got tangled up in various incidents, and eventually arrived here. Along the way, stories about Hyeoncheonja came up more than once.
"Hyeoncheonja is a figure who lives on in myth and legend. He's said to have built the mechanisms of the Imperial Palace, and even immortals supposedly struggled inside the formations he laid. His craftsmanship truly reached the heavens. There's even a tale that the celestial realm sent him rare materials so he could forge all kinds of precious artifacts."
"Is that so?"
"I wonder whether this person really is Hyeoncheonja… or just someone posing as him."
Rumble— clang!
The moment we entered the First Gate, the door locked shut behind us. Even knowing it was coming, the noise startled me — and Black Cat flinched, dropping into a low stance.
I carefully raised the torch and found another stone tablet.
"There's a tablet here too."
O seeker, each gate grants only three attempts.
Stand upon the platform and, without suffering a single hit amid the Asura statue's assault, strike the marked points upon the statue ten times — and you shall pass the gate.
Should you meet the Asura's weapons head-on, openings have been designed to reveal themselves. Bear this well in mind.
Furthermore, if you are struck yet refuse to leave the platform, the statue's attacks will grow ferociously strong. Do not be stubborn.
"Hmm."
The moment Black Cat approached the Asura statue, its six arms twitched through a single motion.
Shwish-shwish-shwish!
Fast enough that even my eyes caught only a pale blur. Black Cat committed the speed to memory and nodded.
The instant she stepped onto the platform, the Asura's arms moved. She deflected a diagonal downward strike once. When the other arms showed no sign of moving, she hesitated only a moment before thrusting a palm strike straight at the statue.
One of the Asura's ten eyes lit up.
Immediately came the second and third strikes.
Tak, tak!
Black Cat blocked the second and met the third head-on. The second arm, bent back unnaturally, slowly returned to its place.
"Ah — so that's the pattern!"
Thud!
Having taken the fourth and fifth strikes, Black Cat drove another palm into the Asura statue. Two of its ten eyes now burned with light.
By the time seven eyes were lit, all six arms were attacking her entire body in perfect coordination.
Ta-da-da-da-da-da-dak!
"Hah!"
From six onward it clearly wasn't easy — Black Cat had been purely on the defensive until she finally pushed forward. Whether she'd read the statue's rhythm or not, she stretched out her hands without hesitation and knocked aside all six weapons.
Eight eyes lit up.
At the still greater speed, Black Cat's body swayed. Deciding it wouldn't work, Palm Shadow bloomed from her hands. As the Palm Shadow blocked one or two of the incoming strikes, the Asura's arms began folding back one by one. Their recovery speed dropped to about half — but she didn't need to fold every arm in the first place.
Once three arms were bent back, Black Cat raised her Palm Shadow to stop the remaining two hands' attacks and struck the Asura with her free hand.
Chwarararak!
And in that instant, every bent arm of the Asura gathered together.
"Hey — that's cheap!"
Regardless of Black Cat's indignant cry, six arms now took turns guarding the strike point while the remaining five attacked at the same speed as before.
"Black Cat! You have to fold the arm that's next in line to guard — that's how you create an opening!"
Shwish-shwish-shish!
Ta-da-da-dak!
Even with one arm sealed into defense, Black Cat's hands found no more room to breathe — because now, even a clean hit only bought a fleeting gap before the folded arm snapped back into place.
"Hah!"
Black Cat went all in.
She blocked two hands' attacks with Palm Shadow and knocked aside two more with a twin-palm strike. The fifth hand was dropping to cover the target point; the fourth was leaving it and driving in for an attack of its own.
For the first time, Black Cat twisted her body to slip the fourth hand's strike — and at the same moment, her leg shot out.
It was her knee that struck the fifth hand as it moved to cover the vital point. The fifth hand rebounded — but the two attacks she'd stopped with Palm Shadow were already coming in!
The statue's arms would reach her before she could hit the statue. That much was obvious.
Do I have to let this hard-won chance slip away?
That thought, and a flash of frustration, crossed my mind —
— and Black Cat's knee straightened.
Thud!
Her final move was a kick. A linked attack flowing straight from the knee into a full kick.
The Asura statue's frenzied assault froze right where it stood.
"Hoo…"
"Whoa… well done."
I gave Black Cat a thumbs-up. I'd never seen her use foot techniques before, so I'd taken that last knee strike for pure improvisation — and I'd never expected it to chain straight into a kick from that position. I'd gotten pretty invested.
The fact that she hadn't used aura even under pressure told me she definitely wasn't Super-Peak Realm.
"Not an easy opponent."
Black Cat gave the statue's arms a couple of taps, but unlike before, the Asura's limbs didn't so much as twitch.
Kugugugugu!
With a racket every bit as loud as before, the path to the Second Gate began to open.
"I'll give it this much — as a mechanical construct, it was worthy of someone calling himself Hyeoncheonja. There'll be more of these in the next gates, right? Heh. I'm rather looking forward to it."
Yeah — Hyeoncheonja's Grotto did have plenty of fun things in it.
O seeker, congratulations on passing the First Gate.
If the First Gate tested your martial skill, the Second Gate shall test your mind.
O seeker, do you see the wooden panels set into the floor? Within them lie twenty bombs. Identify the position of every last bomb without detonating a single one, and you shall pass.
Bear in mind: all work must be finished before the Asura statue's weapons touch the ground.
Open a panel and you will find a number. That number indicates how many bombs lie among the eight surrounding panels.
Through the connections among the numbers you reveal, you shall be able to pin down every bomb's location. Ponder well!
"Hmm… what is this even saying?"
"In other words…"
It was telling us to play Minesweeper.