Chapter 63: A Tomb Raider’s Methods, Step 1 (1)
Translator: miraclerifle
“You’re going to show me how to raid a tomb?”
Yoo Jaeha looked toward Ju-Heon in shock.
“Is that possible?”
Yoo Jaeha questioned Ju-Heon.
He was someone who had an extremely twisted and negative personality because of Richard. He was much brighter than before now, probably because his original personality was coming out after finding his dream again, but old habits die hard in situations like this.
“How the hell can you get past that field of bullets?”
Ju-Heon started to laugh.
A field of bullets?
He had seen plenty of those in the past while going around to tombs.
Bullets were actually easy to deal with!
He had to handle mines, bioterrorism, and more. Ju-Heon who was quite infamous had even had someone try to assassinate him while he was sleeping. While these all seem like made-up stories, they were true.
That was how fierce the battle for the tombs would end up becoming.
‘Every damn excavation team in the world tried to get me.’
The reason Ju-Heon was still able to collect so many artifacts was because his team was a tomb raiding team and not an excavation team.
There were people who considered tombs to be < Places of Trials > and sincerely tried to complete the tests the artifacts gave them, but those fools were the first to die.
‘Tombs are no places of trials.’
Tombs were just the stage that artifacts created to have fun tormenting and killing humans!
Ju-Heon did not waste time in the tombs because he had realized that.
Staying inside the tombs longer and being dragged around by the artifacts was what those bastards wanted.
That was why he thoroughly figured out a tomb's terrain, got rid of competitors, and even tricked people at times to swindle artifacts out of tombs.
Of course, all of that was only possible because of the Archaeologist's Artifact’s abilities.
But he did not have that Archaeologist's Artifact now.
However, he had the Tomb Raider system that the crow had given him to make up for it.
“Now then, I guess it’s time to do some stretching for the first time in a long while.”
The wicked Tomb Raider started to smile.
“Umm, Captain-nim? May I ask what you are doing right now?”
Yoo Jaeha could not close his mouth in astonishment. It made sense as Ju-Heon didn't seem like he was planning on coming out of the restroom.
Furthermore, it was the women’s restroom.
‘This person, he worked in the women’s restroom last time with Vivian too.’
Thankfully, there was nobody else nearby. But Yoo Jaeha kept peeking outside as he had no idea when someone might show up.
He didn’t want to get arrested because they thought he was installing hidden cameras in the women’s restroom or something.
Ju-Heon didn't care what Yoo Jaeha had to say as he continued to decipher the Toombglyphs on the restroom wall.
That wasn’t the only thing.
He was also tapping on the wall or touching it as if he was confirming something.
Yoo Jaeha could not hold back anymore and started to shout.
“Excuse me! Can't you see Irene looks anxious too?!”
But Irene responded at that moment.
“Excuse me? No. I'm not very anxious.”
“................Excuse me? Even while looking at that?”
“Mm, I'm sure Mr. Ju-Heon has a plan.”
Irene seemed to trust Ju-Heon quite a bit that Jaeha felt embarrassed about shouting. Ju-Heon didn't look like a person who deserved anybody's trust, so she might just be an innocent girl who trusts people easily.
Ju-Heon chuckled at Yoo Jaeha and responded.
“Just shut up and watch if you don’t know what I am doing.”
Ju-Heon was not trying to do something perverted in the women's restroom. He was just looking for the spot where the aura was the weakest.
Why?
He was going to create an opening to infiltrate the tomb.
“I call it the back door.”
“Back door?”
People were bound to gather at a tomb’s entrance. It was because the entrance was the only way into the tombs.
However, there would only be blood in a spot where people gathered like ants. Why would he want to join in the bloody chaos?
He just had to leisurely walk in through a back way and swipe the artifact.
That was why Ju-Heon started to smile.
“Tomb Appearances always have a shabby blind spot where the aura cannot reach.”
The places where tombs appear were always discovered by other artifacts because of the aura barrier it casts. However, there was a spot that even the artifact that created the barrier would not be able to notice.
“That is why we will break through there and sneak in.”
Yoo Jaeha was shocked.
He didn’t know jack shit about tombs but it sounded as if Ju-Heon was saying they should go digging. But why would the soldiers just be sitting on their asses and sucking their thumbs if it was that easy?!
“Are you crazy? Is that really possible?”
Of course, it required a lot of physical strength and artifacts needed to be sacrificed. That was why Ju-Heon made the decision based on the type of artifact and the number of competitors every time.
In the past, Pandora had created all sorts of unbelievable regulations for ownership of tombs and rights of excavation. But Ju-Heon just casually committed illegal acts as if telling those laws to eat shit.
His team ended up being called a Tomb raiding team because he ignored the laws Pandora created and raided artifacts as he pleased.
“Anyway, this restroom is the blind spot where the aura does not reach. Right around here.”
Ju-Heon tapped on the wall.
“I thought the tomb was a dead tomb because the owner had left but surprisingly the Toombglyph and the aura are alive.”
“That means......”
“That the tomb is still functional. It is 50% destroyed but the other 50% is alive.”
He didn't know the reason behind it, but that meant that the tomb's traps were still active. It wouldn't hurt to be cautious.
“Anyway, step back a bit. You might get hurt.”
“Hurt?”
Ju-Heon checked his skill window instead of responding.
It was because he needed artifacts and his skill to create this back door.
[Tomb Excavation (Awakened)]
Level E-Rank
- Knowledge of spatial perception and terrain of tombs have increased
- Can dig, pierce, or destroy tomb-related terrains (Power increased by 20%)
Ju-Heon chuckled in satisfaction as he read that. This truly was identical to the Excavation ability he had received through the Archaeologist's Artifact in the past.
‘That crow bastard.’
Ju-Heon then took an artifact out of his pocket. It was a low-rank artifact he had stolen from Vivian.
‘This should be enough for a tomb like this.’
He had taken out a D-Grade artifact from a folktale known as < Brothers’ sweet potato >. Whoever ate it would fart well, but its abilities didn’t matter right now.
He was going to destroy this artifact anyway.
It would serve as a detonator for a low-level explosive!
And lo and behold.
Ju-Heon clenched the sweet potato artifact.
"Cover your ears!”
Yoo Jaeha and Irene quickly covered their ears as soon as Ju-Heon shouted. Ju-Heon then channeled a lot of dominance into the artifact.
It was the most overbearing and violent Dominance channeling he had done until now. It was as if he was a tyrant creating a hit list.
The artifact started to curse in serious pain.
[#$#$(#!]
What the hell are you doing, you motherf*cking human!
The artifact who felt as if it was beaten up for no reason, no, as if it was stabbed while sleeping, started to curse Jackal. However, Ju-Heon didn’t care and firmed his resolve to clench the artifact as tightly as possible.
It was because he was about to give such a scary command that going easy on it might end up with the artifact counter-attacking and harming him instead.
That command was...
“Hey, artifact bastard. Self-destruct.”
[#$##*#&!]
What?
Are you f*cking crazy?!
[#$##&(*!]
The artifact naturally resisted.
However...
“Artifact, self-destruct.”
This human gave an unbelievable command.
A significant amount of aura is released the moment an artifact self-destructs. Ju-Heon was trying to use that energy.
“Self-destruct!”
Waaaaaaaaaaah, why are you doing this to me?!
The pained artifact could not defeat Ju-Heon’s Dominance and released a large amount of aura. A D-Grade artifact had no chance of resisting against Ju-Heon's Dominance.
Ju-Heon activated his skill as soon as the artifact released a strong light.
He activated Tomb Excavation, one of his Tomb Raider skills!
The aura that was strong enough to make the artifact self-destruct combined with Ju-Heon’s skill to create a violent tomb-destroying bomb.
Ju-Heon then slammed that sweet potato bomb against the wall.
A large explosion soon occurred.
Bang!
“Kyaaaa!”
A large explosion happened in the women's restroom. People might confuse it for a terrorist incident, but it was completely different than most terrorist incidents.
Why?
Most terrorist incidents would destroy nearby buildings or objects. However, surprisingly, there was a large pit in front of them but everything around it was fine.
The coward Yoo Jaeha whose heart was beating wildly and Irene had plopped down on the ground.
"W, what is this?”
’What else? This is Tomb Destruction, no, Tomb Excavation.
Ju-Heon’s Tomb Excavation skill was something that allowed him to dig, cut, or destroy a tomb. But its unique trait was that it only responded to aura, so he could only use it in a Tomb Appearance region and could not damage any modern buildings.
That was why the restroom was fine and only the underground area that was part of the Tomb Appearance as well as the surface connected to the underground area had a giant hole.
Of course, the sweet potato artifact that had helped make this happened had followed its fate and exploded.
But Ju-Heon didn't care whether an artifact suffered or not and calmly looked inside the diagonal pit and started to smile.
“Looks like the hole was created properly.”
The hole was heading in the direction of Midas's tomb. It seemed to be at least hundreds of meters long. It wasn't as long as he had expected, but it was understandable.
The Tomb Excavation skill was for excavation, so the destructive power was low and he had only used a D-Grade artifact for it as well.
But the shocked Yoo Jaeha grabbed his wildly beating heart and started to scream. He was a young boy who could not even watch horror movies because they were too scary.
“Please tell me in advance! And what if people come this way?!”
His words seemed to have planted the seed as they started to hear mumbling in the distance. Some of the voices sounded like men who were part of the Turkish military or the US TSOF.
Irene looked outside and urgently started to shout.
“Mr. Ju-Heon, people are heading over!”
“Looks like we need to hurry.”
Ju-Heon told them to quickly follow him and entered into the tunnel. An anxious Yoo Jaeha and Irene had to quickly follow behind him. The tunnel was quite uneven and rough so Yoo Jaeha ended up falling on his way in.
As for Irene, Ju-Heon was taking care of her and even holding her hand.
historical
They started to run as soon as they entered the tunnel.
“Hurry. I used an artifact to cover the entrance for now but the TSOF are Keira's lackeys so I'm sure they have some artifacts on them.”
That was why it would be broken quickly even if he was using an artifact. But they were stopped by a wall after a few hundred meters.
“Damn it, it’s blocked!”
They became anxious but Ju-Heon chuckled.
He had expected this.
“It’s because it was a weak artifact. The aura energy it had is low so this much destructive power is its limit.”
“Then what are we going to do?!”
“What’s the issue?”
Ju-Heon chuckled and took another D-Grade artifact out of his pocket.
“We have so many artifacts!”
Yoo Jaeha foamed at the mouth after seeing what Ju-Heon was doing. He automatically started to swear.
“Stop destroying artifacts in front of a restorer! You damn Captain bastard!”
However, Yoo Jaeha became anxious after hearing soldiers approaching from the distance.
“Hurry up and destroy it! Hurry up!”
Ju-Heon chuckled and channeled his dominance into the artifact.
Another artifact started to scream inside the tunnel.
But thanks to that artifact's noble sacrifice, they were getting closer and closer to Midas’s Artifact.