Chapter 133
Chapter 133
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 133
Chapter Title: The Crystal Scroll
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How much time had passed like that?
“Ah!”
With a gasp of surprise and admiration, a stone structure began rising from the water’s surface where the waterfall had been pouring moments before.
Apparently, the structure had pressure sensors that detected the waterfall’s absence, setting gears in motion to lift it up. I had no idea about the exact mechanism.
“…So that’s how it was. If it was buried underground, detection magic wouldn’t have found it, of course. Even if it did, it would’ve just seemed like a regular rock.”
Minerva murmured softly. Detection magic scanned surfaces much like a scan of objects, so it couldn’t possibly pick up something buried in the earth.
On top of that, the massive waterfall would’ve thoroughly blocked any attempts to spot it. Magic in this world was far from omnipotent.
The person next to me used it almost like it was, but she was the exception.
“To think it was in a place like this…”
Minerva’s expression was one of utter daze.
She wasn’t reacting even when I waved my hand in front of her face, so I flicked her forehead. With the Crystal Scroll right there, I’d let this slide.
“…Ow?”
“Let’s go in, Lady Minerva. Are you just going to stand there staring? Even with the Crystal Scroll down below?”
“No, child. Of course not. Yes, let’s hurry inside.”
I followed behind Minerva as she hurriedly stepped forward, shouting after her.
“Watch out for traps, Lady Minerva!”
The moment Minerva, barely registering my words, set foot on the structure—
—Crunch!
Spikes shot up right beside her, smashing against her defensive barrier. Hearing that vicious sound snapped her back to reality, and she looked around warily.
Dungeons came in types where monsters swarmed endlessly, but others were packed with diabolical traps like this.
The Rune Dungeon with the rock centipedes was monster-only, while this Crystal Scroll dungeon used traps and layout to substitute for monsters.
But.
“Just keep going, child?”
Before overwhelming power, mere traps were no issue at all.
‘Having Minerva makes this nice.’
I leisurely surveyed the wingless nightmare, trailing behind her.
I just had to point out trap locations occasionally, and she’d handle them. Who knew this place could be tackled so comfortably?
Since trap dungeons like this had only one path, I didn’t need to lead. Maze-like dungeons came later elsewhere.
“Stepping in the middle triggers arrows from the left. Careful.”
“Got it.”
Minerva strode forward, casually demolishing the traps densely packed here—traps tempered to the brim with modders’ malice in mod mode.
Like the one just now: after my warning, she collapsed the ground near a switch that launched about ten arrows. In vanilla, it was only three.
Or like now: on a narrow straight bridge, seven axe-blade pendulums swung back and forth, with arrow switches along the path.
In the game, you had to time jumps perfectly from start to finish without stopping. Minerva just shattered the pendulums and crumbled the arrow-loaded walls.
“We still have farther to go, child?”
“Almost there. Just a few more sections.”
Even in the game, clearing took ages, and scaling up in reality meant hours wouldn’t be surprising.
But thanks to Minerva, we reached the final trap area in under an hour. It felt less like breaching a trap-filled dungeon and more like strolling through a building.
‘Even a monster-filled one would’ve been the same.’
Unless it was a boss or mid-boss, nothing could withstand her magic. Trash mobs would’ve been swept away by a casual spell.
Just a few traps left now. After cleanly clearing them and walking a bit, a vast open plaza appeared. Ankle-deep water covered the entire floor.
Its size matched the training grounds of the Silver Dawn Knights’ castle, but the walls were neatly stacked bricks, unlike the rough stone piles before.
Aside from the ankle-deep water, it was empty. I pointed to a large door directly opposite our passage.
“There. See that door? The Crystal Scroll’s behind it.”
“Ah, finally…”
“Wait. Not yet.”
I stopped Minerva, who was tearing up and heading there. From beyond the wall behind, clanking sounds of something loading echoed.
“Why, child? Is there more?”
Minerva turned to me with an urgent expression.
“Yes. One last trap back there. We need to deal with it.”
No sooner had I finished than—
—Thwoom!
Something launched. Minerva frowned at the sound too.
—Boom!
A blast shook the entire area from beyond the wall. The ground trembled slightly.
The explosions didn’t stop at one. Seven more earth-shattering roars followed, like splitting a mountain. Only then did silence fall.
“…That’s it, huh.”
“Yes.”
The quiet was brief. Clanks resumed. In that moment, using detection magic to identify it, Minerva spoke irritably.
“It’s a bit grandiose to call that a mere trap.”
I agreed.
Yeah. “Trap” didn’t do it justice.
It was a colossal cannon where every firing procedure was fully automated, shells reloaded themselves, and it even auto-tracked targets within seconds.
The automation, infinite ammo, and targeting alone were astonishing, but it fired in bursts of four.
In a game with mostly medieval tech, slamming in overkill tech like this as a trap? But the Brenir series devs did it, so what can you do.
By the way, mod mode adds another identical cannon next door. That’s why eight impacts hit the back wall.
“We just handle that trap too, right, child?”
“One more thing first.”
I looked around. Mountain-splitting booms erupted from behind again.
“Lady Minerva. Can you lure its fire? Probably by making a human shape.”
“Lure its fire? Hmm… Hold on.”
Minerva swung her staff. A mana orb floated in the air. She waited, confirmed the cannon ignored it, then swung again.
The orb reshaped into a human form. Hair grew, clothes formed, limbs extended, colors turned lifelike.
At least outwardly, a perfect human—Minerva herself.
The mana Minerva clutched a staff like her creator and strolled leisurely.
—Boom!
Soon, a man-sized metal slug from afar shattered it. The mana dispersed blue into the air.
“Done.”
“Yeah. Perfect.”
Good we didn’t need plan B. If that failed, one of us would’ve had to bait shells personally.
Teleportation meant no rolling and dodging like in the game, though.
“Now what?”
“See that wall? Different color from the surroundings.”
Minerva nodded at my pointed spot. Most walls were black-brown mixes, but that was grayish.
“Make a clone like before in front of it.”
Tap. Her staff touched the floor lightly. Blue mana gathered before the wall, shifting colors into human shape. Not Minerva this time.
Ceres—pre-magic bust enhancement, utterly flat.
Even a mana fake, seeing herself smashed probably irked her. Petty revenge on the side.
“…”
Mana Ceres took a shell to the face seconds later, exploding spectacularly. It scattered blue like before.
The shell wasn’t satisfied with a mana human. Boom! It slammed the wall I’d indicated. The impact shook it.
“One more.”
Another Ceres formed, smashed again.
This time, the wall couldn’t hold. The first hit barely withstood, but the second collapsed with a roar.
“Child, that’s…”
Minerva looked surprised at the space beyond. This was the puzzle using the trap.
As always in Brenir, ignoring the color difference meant no hints—people despaired over the door, got shelled, and perished.
Even knowing, positioning mattered; you died plenty clearing it.
“It’s to open that door.”
I said flatly.
“Three left.”
“All set?”
“Yeah. Done.”
I gazed fondly at the wrecked pair of quadruple cannons. So satisfying. No way to destroy them in-game, but now was different.
‘…Though Minerva could’ve just smashed the wall.’
Didn’t occur in-game, so it slipped my mind. Only after six Cereses shattered and cannons broke.
Minerva and I took gems from behind the ruined wall, slotted them into the door’s recesses, and solved the puzzle as always—thousands of times.
In-game, the damn cannons forced slot one, dash, return slot more, repeat.
Now, leisurely.
“This is the last.”
Pushing the green gem diagonally left, the door shuddered and parted slowly. Minerva stared dazedly upward.
“Is it… really done, child…?”
“Yes. There it is. Can’t you see it, Lady Minerva?”
I pointed to the box atop a square altar-like structure far off. Seeing it, Minerva convulsed.
The tremors didn’t stop even at the box. If anything, worsening. I caught her mid-stumble once.
“This is… the Crystal Scroll…”
She murmured through trembling lips. The box, fitting for housing a “crystal” scroll, glittered with gems. My torso-sized, no visible lock.
Minus extra flashiness, it matched the game’s.
“It really… was…”
Minerva shook so pitifully I felt bad.
‘Not entirely incomprehensible…’
From original NPC Minerva—Arcana’s dialogue.
Overwhelming talent let her master all magic, but paradoxically, that talent bored her with life.
She’d learned everything learnable. Now just flipping memorized grimoires or tweaking spells endlessly.
Hundreds of years of the same, yet imperial mages raved identically. To her, rotting alive.
Enduring over a century on duty alone, she found the long-lost Crystal Scroll.
A rare learning chance; her eyes couldn’t not spin.
‘Worse in person.’
In-game, Arcana’s ornate words? Basically, “I mastered all magic, so boring I wanna die.”
But for Minerva, dead serious. I’d ask other scrolls’ locations later.
No exaggeration: trade info for her body, she’d spread legs gladly.
‘Not planning that.’
“Ahh…”
Minerva flung open the box with shaking hands.