The Inverted Pyramid and the Sphinx (2)
Yes!
“Well, now it’s time to perform the blessing ritual!”
“Whoa!”
Seok Dong-mi deciphered the hieroglyphs and began pressing the outer surface of the Painted Pottery of Blessing in a specific sequence.
Instantly, the ancient symbols on the large pottery glowed brighter in various places, and one sentence formed.
“What does it mean?”
“It’s an old Egyptian proverb. Translating it roughly…”
“Love may depart, but memories remain. Even if the curse is broken, the scars stay.”
“Perfect! You can’t fully recover your original youth, huh? Still, let’s activate it right away!”
“Okay.”
At that moment.
Drurrrk~
The completed Painted Pottery of Blessing suddenly spun at high speed. Sand began surging from inside, completely burying Yoo Ji-min and Ki Ju-hye in it.
It was kind of funny. The thought of a giant mixer came to mind.
The two old ladies being ground up inside like sand in a blender.
After a little while, the pottery stopped spinning.
Soon the two girls pulled their heads out of the sand, opened their mouths, and started spitting sand everywhere.
“Aah, pu-pu-puff~”
“Tchaa~ tch~”
The pottery clearly had some miraculous property.
Looking at Yoo Ji-min and Ki Ju-hye’s faces, arms, and legs that had protruded from the sand, their skin had definitely returned to its original twenties.
At that moment, Ki Ju-hye shouted.
“W-where are we?”
Yoo Ji-min’s expression was just as bewildered.
“Why… why am I here?”
Both seemed to have forgotten everything about the curse.
Just as I was about to explain the whole situation, a massive commotion erupted outside the underground chamber.
Kwarrrung~
Pang~ Pwoong~
Uhhak-
Hwahak-
Powerful blast waves exploded, and the sounds of thousands of mummies being torn apart echoed.
High-rank hunters from the Jeguk Guild had arrived.
I shouted.
“Save the explanation for later! Professor! Open the portal to the second floor right now!”
“Then you all should come inside the pottery. The pottery will become the portal soon.”
“Yes!”
I immediately jumped into the pottery. At that moment, the mysterious stone and his subordinate, who had been watching me warily, also leaped in.
Thud-
The barricade of the underground chamber collapsed, and a woman rushed in. It was Jang Pomi, the beautiful woman with a vicious face.
Seeing me, Seok Dong-mi, and the finished pottery, she immediately grasped what had happened.
“You crazy bitch! You dared to betray me twice!”
Seok Dong-mi hesitated for a moment, then immediately activated the pottery. It began spinning just like before.
===
The Painted Pottery of Blessing has opened a portal to the second floor!
===
At that moment, Jang Pomi, who had sensed our escape to the second floor, leaped upward. She came toward us and tried to stop the spinning pottery.
Destroying the pottery with long-range attacks would have been the best solution, but since she also wanted to clear the pyramid, she avoided directly attacking the portal.
At that moment, Seok Dong-mi shouted.
“Everyone! Forgive me!”
She rushed at Jang Pomi as if she were going to die together with her. But Jang Pomi easily suppressed her, choked her throat, and with one hand grabbed the spinning pottery.
Kiiieek~
Whether she was using item acceleration or not, Jang Pomi was still a B-class hunter.
Even while holding it, the pottery that had been spinning at high speed came to a halt.
Moreover, she exerted superhuman strength and pulled the pottery toward her.
“Uwaaaak!”
I, along with everyone else inside, lost our balance and tumbled together with the pottery.
Kung-
But the turn of events that Jang Pomi had not anticipated unfolded.
Thaang~
As soon as she let go of her grip, the pottery resumed high-speed spinning and crashed to the ground. Then, with ferocious momentum, it leaped up again and flipped upside down in mid-air.
Due to the mysterious power, the pottery directly covered Jang Pomi and Seok Dong-mi.
Tong-
“Aaaah!”
“Ugh!”
“Aah!”
“Ayaah!”
“Shit!”
===
The Painted Pottery of Blessing has inverted!
An inverse pyramid has been generated!
===
What?
Jiiieeng~
Instantly, a portal opened inside the pottery, and I felt a weightless sensation similar to activating the jet drop.
It was not just the feeling of falling.
Meanwhile, the pottery continued spinning at high speed.
Jang Pomi, Yoo Ji-min, Ki Ju-hye, Seok Dong-mi… the four women, along with me and the three men, had completely mixed together.
“Aaaah!”
“Uwaa!”
“Kyah!”
“Sibaal!”
“What the hell is this!”
Everyone’s bodies had stretched long like rubber bands, wrapping around each other’s bodies.
After a moment, our bodies relaxed, and we spilled out onto the floor along with the sand.
Puck- Uddangtang- Thuruk-
“Tchaaee~ Tuttu- Pufu-”
“Uweeek~ Uuwek~”
The spilled people were spitting out sand, causing a huge ruckus.
I was the first to regain my senses and stood up from the sand.
Quickly, I pulled out the adamantium pickaxe and prepared to swing it down.
The target was the crown of Jang Pomi, who was sitting and tilting her head while shaking sand out of her ears!
Now or never!
Here… definitely…
At that moment, Jang Pomi, without looking at me, sighed and opened her mouth.
“Huu, shit. I thought you were pretty smart, but you’re an idiot?”
Damn. She had already noticed.
After all, she was a B-class. She possessed not only vitality, mana, and resistance, but also stats a full step above that. It seemed unlikely that the me of now could take her down with a sneak attack.
As I hesitated and tried to put away the pickaxe, she stood up, dusting off the sand, and said in a small voice with caution.
“It seems the most dangerous beast here right now isn’t me, right?”
I looked at the direction she was pointing with her chin.
In the meantime, Yoo Ji-min, Ki Ju-hye, Seok Dong-mi, and Shin Gi-seok, who had regained their senses, were now staring quietly in that direction with both hands covering their mouths.
Next to where we had fallen, there was a large hole.
And something was visible inside that hole.
I bent my waist, focused my eyes, and stared.
There was something.
An unknown, enormous thing…
30 meters? 40? 50?
Of course, I had fought ultra-giant monsters that transcended imagination—Megahone, Ultrafly, Periodmantis, and so on.
But those were all insects.
On the other hand, the thing down below looked unmistakably like a mammal covered in fur all over its body.
Then, a different layer of fear rose up.
Just imagining the insane power from that colossal weight, I already felt overwhelmed.
Luckily, the thing seemed to be sleeping.
Its belly area was slowly expanding and contracting, but there were no other movements.
At that moment, Ki Ju-hye said in a lowered voice.
“W-what is it? Is it a giant lion?”
At that moment, a gigantic snake with a thickness that defied belief slithered across the body of the beast.
Damn.
“Th-that, what is that giant snake? Are there two monsters?”
I shook my head.
“No. One.”
“A snake and something lion-like, but you say one?”
“Yes. It’s definitely one. And from now on, we’re going to have to all work together to solve the riddle this beast poses.”
Coincidentally, the status window appeared.
===
The Pyramid 2nd Floor Trial has begun!
Challenge: Cooperate with everyone to find a way to the next floor of the pyramid.
Required: Cooperate with everyone to solve the Sphinx’s riddle.
Optional: Open the secret door to the pyramid leading to the tower.
★ Reward ★: ??
===
As expected.
The identity of the monster sleeping below was the Sphinx.
Human female face.
Lion body.
Snake tail.
And wings on its back.
This monster was famous for posing riddles to humans it met; if wrong, it would devour them.
We had encountered this Sphinx face-to-face in the basement of the pyramid.
Soon, as if we had made a silent pact, we moved far away from the location of the monster.
No one had told them to, yet everyone’s souls were in sync.
After some distance, Jang Pomi spoke first.
“Seok Dong-mi! You betrayed me twice, didn’t you?”
“……”
Seok Dong-mi looked down with a deeply dejected expression.
“But… I won’t kill you.”
After saying that, she looked at me.
“Hwang Geumpa! You cheated me out of my items, didn’t you?”
I stared at her calmly.
Jang Pomi smirked and said.
“But… I won’t kill you either.”
“……”
“The reason is simple. Right now, I find it a bit regrettable that I haven’t used Seok Dong-mi’s archaeological knowledge and your trivial ability, Hwang Geumpa.”
After saying that, Jang Pomi suddenly held out both hands and lifted the necks of Yoo Ji-min and Ki Ju-hye up.
“Kehek~”
“Kuk~”
Yoo Ji-min and Ki Ju-hye barely grabbed Jang Pomi’s wrists with both hands while floating in the air, struggling. If left like that, they would both die of suffocation in just a few seconds.
“…By the way. Seok Dong-mi, Hwang Geumpa. You two, explain. Why do I have to keep these useless two around? Huh? Why?”
I said calmly without panicking.
“You think we cleared the first floor with just Professor Seok’s knowledge and my ability?”
Jang Pomi increased the pressure on her choking hands and said.
“Then? What can they do?”
At that moment, Seok Dong-mi spoke.
“One has the ability of a bard, and the other can smell the scent of relics. Of course, they might seem insignificant, but at a critical moment, they could be very useful.”
Jang Pomi snorted and threw the two girls away.
“Puhuk~ Puhuhuk~”
“Cough~ cough~ Huwuu~”
Then, she grabbed Shin Gi-seok and his subordinate.
“Kheuk~”
“Cough~”
“Then, what about these kids?”
Seok Dong-mi said.
“They are specialists in archaeology. If we’re inside the pyramid, they will definitely be useful.”
Jang Pomi released the two boys with a half-doubtful expression.
Immediately after, she asked Seok Dong-mi.
“Why are we going down instead of up? First, explain that phenomenon!”
Then Seok Dong-mi said.
“…As seen in the status window earlier, the ‘inverse pyramid’ has been generated.”
Jang Pomi, in her early twenties, and Seok Dong-mi in her early thirties, so there was about a ten-year age difference. However, since Jang Pomi had become used to acting tyrannical, and Seok Dong-mi was suppressing it, the switch between honorifics and casual speech was not particularly strange.
“So, what exactly is an ‘inverse pyramid’?”
“It’s a phenomenon where a pyramid inverts due to some action. An inverse pyramid has much stronger monsters and traps than a normal pyramid. Of course, the rewards when clearing it are even greater.”
“Why did this suddenly happen?”
“When we opened the portal with the Painted Pottery of Blessing earlier, as the pottery inverted… some action occurred. By the way, you know that each floor of the pyramid is connected to the tower’s floors, right?”
“Yes.”
“When the inverse pyramid phenomenon occurs, the pyramid inverts like it was upside down. Like last time in Brussels, Belgium, when a 5th-floor pyramid appeared on the 14th floor and inverted, bringing it down to 13, 12, 11, and 10th floors.”
“Then, if this pyramid on the first floor inverts…?”
“Yes. The tower’s 0th floor will connect to the pyramid’s 2nd floor. We don’t know what happens from the 3rd floor of the pyramid. The tower has no basement.”
“Can we go back and forth between the first floor here?”
“Impossible. The moment the inverse pyramid is generated, transportation with the previous floors is cut off.”
The pottery we had been riding on was rolling around by itself.
I maintained a poker face.
Everyone here, including Jang Pomi, the women, had only guessed that I had some mysterious ability and knew nothing about entering the basement. So they all seemed to believe that the 0th floor was the final chance for escape.
Jang Pomi said.
“Probably the Jeguk Guild is desperately trying to enter the pyramid through the lobby now, realizing the inverse pyramid phenomenon. For you all, you should hope it’s as delayed as possible.”
That was right.
If the Jeguk Guild entered here, we would all be dead at that moment.
However, I was quite relieved.
Because I saw that one side wall of the pyramid was composed of the absolute object ‘adamantium’ that made up the Centipede Cave.
This meant that the secret door connecting the pyramid’s 2nd floor and the tower’s 0th floor was not on the ‘lobby’ side, but on the ‘Centipede Cave’ side.
At that moment, Jang Pomi continued.
“Do any of you know about the Sphinx’s riddle?”
Seok Dong-mi answered Jang Pomi’s question.
“…Apart from the one everyone already knows, I don’t know it.”
At that moment, Ki Ju-hye rubbed her arms with both hands and said.
“It gives me chills. I feel like someone is watching us.”
Then Yoo Ji-min said.
“It’s because of those eyes. Since earlier, it felt like they were staring at us, giving me a creepy feeling.”
When we all turned, there were indeed wall paintings lining up on the dark stone wall, and in the middle, there were eyes that looked like human eyes. Just facing something over 1 meter in size was enough to give me goosebumps.
Flick.
At that moment, the eyes suddenly blinked.
“Kiiiaaaaaaak!”
Kuhoooooang~
Simultaneously with Ki Ju-hye’s scream, the stone wall where the eyes were drawn collapsed, sending up clouds of dust.
And suddenly, a massive human head protruded toward us.
For a moment, I felt a terror like my heart was dropping.
What emerged was a human woman’s head!
And it was a whopping 4 meters tall!
Anyone would feel that way if they suddenly saw something that big in front of their eyes.