Chapter 168: The Pharaoh's Curse 1

[Breaking news!]

[The Tomb Appearance at the Pentagon has extended past Washing D.C. And has reached Philadelphia, New York, and even Boston. It is continuing to extend throughout the East Coast…]

[Pandora believes that the tomb has turned into one of the 7 Great Tombs and is the Tomb of < Wrath >.]

[Furthermore, there is chaos as the famous Egyptian tourist attraction, the Valley of the Kings, has suddenly disappeared……]

The world was in chaos.

It was understandable because a tomb the size of the 7 Great Tombs had not appeared since Salieri's tomb.

[The civilians may be getting affected by the Tomb Appearance as they have suddenly become violent….]

[Many places are reporting arson and other violent crimes…]

[Just what is going on……]

Click.

The news anchor's voice flowing out of the artifact stopped.

The man who turned it off was General Hans of the United States.

“Do you understand? We don’t mind whether you turn over or destroy the tomb, but please keep something in mind. You must not touch any of the artifacts inside the tomb belonging to the United States! That is the most important thing!”

‘Actually, that’s not that important.’

Yoo Jaeha put his hand to his forehead after looking at this General who had gathered the excavation teams.

‘The important thing right now is that our Captain-nim has called the Monarch of Destitution.’

Yoo Jaeha groaned as he looked toward Irene.

She must have been nearby as she arrived quickly, but Yoo Jaeha was afraid of her.

Why?

Wasn’t the reasons obvious?

‘This is the tomb of pharaohs.’

What were pharaoh's tombs most famous for?

They were most famous for the curse of the pharaohs.

Well, there were many myths busted about the true nature of these curses, but…

These tombs and artifacts never cared about such historical truths.

Tombs and artifacts were created from human imagination.

It was certain that this tomb would focus on curses to kill people.

But Irene being here in such an environment?!

Have you heard about popcorn?! Have you heard about the snowball effect?!

‘Aigoo, I can't even imagine what kind of curses will pop up.’

Yoo Jaeha looked toward Ju-Heon, thinking that Ju-Heon was extremely cruel.

This greedy captain of his preferred to destroy all of the artifacts and turn them into dust rather than letting Chairman Kwon get his hands on it.

It was very admirable.

‘He’s fine with it since he won't be harmed at all.’

It was his subordinates who would be harmed!

Ju-Heon started to speak to the US General.

“Please don't worry. I'll definitely help you guys get your artifacts back.”

Sighs and scoffs of disbelief could be heard all around them.

They were shaking in anger staring at this scammer.

“Fuck, I'll stab a hole through my hands if this bastard gives them their artifacts back!”

“This damn Monarch of Plunder!”

“This damn son of the devil, scammer, trash bastard. This son of a bitch is like those bad artifacts that pop up every so often!”

“Exactly. Let’s go since we got information about the tomb from the US troops.”

People tried to scatter but Ju-Heon seemed to take these comments to heart as he was frowning.

‘Wait a minute. I don't care about the rest but I am not like an artifact.’

Ju-Heon slowly grabbed Irene's hand.

Irene gasped before her face turned red and something odd started to happen.

[The tomb's curse of destruction is creating synergy with the power of destitution!]

[The strength of the curse is exponentially rising!]

[The curse is extremely severe and can even change human DNA and cells!]

They started to hear screams as soon as Ju-Heon saw those messages.

“Uggggggh! My boooooooooooooody!”

The person who had compared Ju-Heon to an artifact was foaming at the mouth as he rolled on the floor.

Other people were shocked while looking at him.

“What the hell?!”

“My booooooody!”

The man who was rolling on the floor had fur rapidly growing out of his body.

The fur was growing so quickly that it made the man look like a gorilla.

“My body, my body!”

"What the hell, is this the curse of the tomb? Damn it!”

But that was not the end.

The curse of the tomb and Irene's power creating synergy had almost instantly increased its destructive power.

[The strength of the curse is exponentially rising!]

[The strength of the curse is exponentially rising!]

[The strength of the curse is exponentially rising!]

“Aaah! Why did you suddenly grow boobs?! Did you turn into a woman?!”

“Aaah! My hair!”

Yoo Jaeha was shaking in fear while watching this pandemonium.

‘It’s already this bad before we even made it inside! What the hell are we going to do?!’

What else?

“We're breaking through without looking back.”

"Damn it, I knew it!”

Ju-Heon calmly walked out of the pandemonium after sending his rivals off.

The other excavation teams were shocked as he was about to disappear.

“Huh, hurry up! Hurry up!”

“Find the entrance! We can’t let Seo Ju-Heon take the artifacts!”

But it didn’t matter that they were trying to chase after Ju-Heon’s group.

‘I can’t lose to the Monarch of Destitution as a member of the tomb raiding team.’

‘It’s the first time in a long while that Mr. Ju-Heon has asked for my help!’

There were fires in Lee Seol-A and Irene’s eyes as the area ended up scorched.

[The power of destitution is exploding!]

[The power of a vicious ghost has descended!]

Babang!

“Aaaaaaaaahh! All of my artifacts broke! What the hell just happened?!”

Babababang!

“Ahhh! Save me!”

“Hey! W, what just happened?! Don’t die! Hey!”

“Fuck, I can see my deceased grandmother! What the hell is going on?!”

“I, it’s a ghost!”

“Ahhhhh! What is this rope?!”

There was probably no greater pandemonium than this mess.

“Umm, Captain-nim, I was thinking about something.”

“No, just don’t think.”

‘This guy…’

“……Why don’t you just have Chairman Kwon get the things inside and then take it from him when he comes outside?”

“Your idea isn’t even worth listening to.”

Most importantly, Ju-Heon was concerned about how Chairman Kwon's Dominance had suddenly risen.

‘That old bastard’s Dominance suddenly shot up. What the hell did he do?’

There was something weird that happened in the past as well.

A person's Dominance was not something that could rise overnight. But this incident where someone’s Dominance suddenly shot up had happened in the past as well.

The one thing he was certain about was that Chairman Kwon did not do a good deed for it to rise.

‘I could analyze it if Julian was here.’

There were too many uncertainties to plunder a bastard who has done who knows what before coming here.

Furthermore…

‘I don’t want to have artifacts that that bastard has touched.’

Ju-Heon smiled viciously.

Ju-Heon arrived at a secluded stone wall after leaving his enemies behind.

“I found it. It’s over here.”

There were large cliffs in front of them with a suspicious cave in between them.

The path to it was a narrow pathway that only one person could fit through at a time.

This was the side entrance.

As they started to enter…

[Isn’t that bastard Seo Ju-Heon?]

“!”

They heard whispers inside the tomb.

There were artifacts talking.

[You’re right, it is Seo Ju-Heon. That’s the bastard who has been entangled with that Crow bitch.]

[Huh? Bitch? Isn't the Crow an old man?]

[What did you say? I heard it was an old woman?]

[I heard it was a middle-aged man!]

As they were talking like that…

[That’s not important! That bastard is the one who messed with Anubis-nim……!]

The artifacts were quite loud.

But at that moment…

“Shh.”

Ju-Heon suddenly made his group stop moving. He had felt someone's presence.

"Seol-A, search this area.”

Lee Seol-A nodded her head and sent her ghosts to scout.

She started to speak after a few moments.

“Captain-nim, TKBM, Julian Miller, CPP, and the Dominions excavation teams are on the other side of the wall.”

They were all top-tier excavation teams.

They were also dangerous people that Ju-Heon's tomb raiding team had run into many times in the past.

“What should we do? TKBM seems to have < Hunters > with them as well…”

“What do you mean by Hunters?”

Ju-Heon realized something as Yoo Jaeha and Irene asked with curiosity.

The people with memories of the past knew of this term, but……

“It’s jargon. They are the team of murderers that excavation teams always take with them.”

That was right.

They were human hunters.

They were similar to restorers. Their occupation was something that had only appeared with the appearance of artifacts.

They only killed artifact users.

As for how such an occupation came to be…

It was simple.

Humans would never just try to get the artifacts of the tomb.

They would try their hardest to steal artifacts from the people they met inside the tombs.

This was what gave birth to these hunters.

Hunters were people who focused on that specific aspect as their expertise.

They chose this path of wickedness because they did not have the money, brains, or skills to clear tombs.

That was why tombs were always bloody messes where you stole things or had things stolen from you.

‘That’s why the larger excavation teams all groomed their own Hunters.’

The mid-sized excavation teams hired professional Hunter organizations as mercenaries.

All of the large excavation teams always took Hunters for their safety.

‘That old bastard really seems to want to kill all of us.’

Tombs were under extraterritorial law and nothing was illegal.

“It’s fine as long as they’re about 100 meters away. It is smarter to save our stamina and fight after getting the artifacts.”

As they were about to start moving again…

Boom!

The tomb suddenly started to shake.

[Warning. The Pharaoh’s Warth is starting.]

[The Pharaoh's curse is attacking you.]

[Your age is starting to change.]

“!”

Yoo Jaeha started to scream as soon as Ju-Heon saw that message.

“M, my hand, m, my face!”

“!”

Ju-Heon was shocked after looking at Yoo Jaeha. Irene and Lee Seol-A were even more shocked.

‘M, Mr. Jaeha!”

“You…… You suddenly became a grandpa!”

“Damn it, what the hell is going on?! Why didn't the Captain-nim get old?!”

Ju-Heon looked at his reflection off a knife before responding in a serious tone.

“No, I did get older.”

“You don't look any different!”

“Look, I have a single wrinkle by my eye.”

“#$&$!”

Yoo Jaeha was angry.

‘It looks like my Tolerance prevented me from getting extremely old.’

However, at that moment…

“Kyaaaa!”

Irene and Lee Seol-A screamed this time.

Their bodies seemed to shrink before their clothes became extremely loose.

They ended up becoming little girls.

"M, my body!”

“It became small!”

The two of them were so pretty that they could be child models.

This must also be caused by the Pharaoh's curse. They were not the only ones to be affected by the Pharaoh's curse.

“Ahhhhh!”

“What the hell is going on?!”

"My leeeeeeeeg!”

“My johnsoooooooon!”

Screams soon echoed from all around.

These screams were pitiful to hear.

However, that was not the end of the Pharaoh's curse.

Booboboboooooooooom!

There were some other reactions as well.

[The Pharaoh's curse is becoming more violent!]

[The Pharaoh's curse is becoming more violent!]

Ju-Heon’s group was impacted by this as well.

“!”

Yoo Jaeha was the first to disappear.

Irene and Lee Seol-A then disappeared at the same time!

Finally, Ju-Heon’s view changed as well.

“Ugh!”

Ju-Heon came back to his senses to find himself in a dark area.

It was an extremely stuffy and suffocating place.

Yes, this was…

‘A coffin?!’

He was certain. This length and width was definitely a coffin!

He was probably inside a pharaoh's coffin!

‘These motherfucking artifacts! Am I an Egyptian king or something?!’

Lee Seol-A and Irene had fallen elsewhere together.

"W, where is this place?”

“What happened to Mr. Ju-Heon?!”

“C, Captain-nim!”

As for Yoo Jaeha……

“………You are?”

"Shit… I'm fucked.”