The Inverted Pyramid and the Sphinx (3)
“Aaaah!”
I and Jang Pomi were the only ones who didn’t scream, but the rest of us were so shocked we dropped to our asses and scrambled backward on all fours, desperately fleeing.
Shiiiiiiik~
But the moment I turned at the mysterious sound behind us, we realized there was no safety behind us either.
A snake thicker than an anaconda!
The monster had blocked our rear with its tongue flicking wildly.
[Kkakkkakkkak~]
The Sphinx’s great female face suddenly burst into laughter.
Then it began chanting in some ancient tongue that made the inside of the pyramid echo like thunder, impossible to understand at first.
Luckily the status window was translating it for us.
[Mortals!]
[I am the Great Sphinx!]
[If you solve my riddle, I’ll spare you, but if you fail, I’ll eat you!]
[Are you ready to answer my riddle?]
I nodded as if I were perfectly calm.
“Watch this!”
The Sphinx grinned, eyes sparkling with interest, and spoke.
[Hmm.]
[A bold mortal!]
[Oh-ho?]
[It was your power that overturned this massive pyramid!]
[Such strength… after so long!]
I asked curiously.
“What power do you sense from me?”
The Sphinx chuckled.
[You’re full of yourself.]
[Something’s changed.]
[I ask the questions!]
[You just answer!]
[That’s the rule!]
She finally revealed her true colors and began the riddle.
[Four thousand five hundred years ago, a being terrified all of Egypt existed.]
[It was me—the Sphinx.]
[Countless warriors challenged me, but they all died.]
[Even the Pharaoh’s army.]
[A young Pharaoh who had just risen to the throne—Kufu—asked the goddess of wisdom, Isis, for help and built a great temple on Phile Island.]
[Isis answered immediately.]
[She gave the young Pharaoh an enormous gift.]
[My riddle is exactly that gift.]
[What was the gift Isis bestowed upon Pharaoh Kufu?]
Who should I ask first?
The Sphinx looked at each of us one by one.
Since no one knew the answer, we were all on edge in front of that monster.
I felt the same chill that crawled over my skin when our eyes met.
“You!”
“Answer me!”
The Sphinx pointed at the junior from Rune Stone.
“M-me? Why? Why me?”
[Just because you look tastiest. Kkak.]
[Answer quickly!]
[Hurry!]
The poor guy panicked, glancing between us.
“I’m going crazy! Shit, why me! Hic… Anyone know the answer? Please, please!”
Everyone’s eyes turned to Seok Dong-mi.
She was the only one who might have a clue.
But she seemed just as lost.
“I’ll give you a hint,”
“Yes, please!”
[Fufu. Back then the Pharaoh used this to stack his giant pyramid.]
The junior’s face lit up with hope.
“Oh! I remember! Slope! The slope technique, right? If it weren’t for the slope, King Kufu’s Great Pyramid could never have been built!”
The Sphinx’s expression instantly froze.
The junior beamed.
But then the Sphinx smirked wickedly.
[Wrong! Kkak.]
Instantly the great lion’s arm shot out and slammed into the junior’s body like lightning.
Thud—
“Aaaah!”
Crushed by that monstrous arm, the guy screamed, but the scream was swallowed by the Sphinx’s maw.
Shiiiick—
Plop—
Human skin tore and a spine snapped with a horrific sound.
The Sphinx’s great head bowed and devoured the upper half of the junior’s body on the floor.
The lower half remained untouched, still beneath the beast’s claws.
While the demonic Sphinx chewed the upper body, its tail slithered over and swallowed the lower half whole.
Chomp-chomp—the wet sounds echoed loudly through the towering space.
Once the Sphinx finished devouring everything, it spoke.
[Four thousand five hundred years ago, I fell in love with a man.]
[He wore armor so beautiful and dazzling it blinded the eye.]
[And that man begged me.]
[Stop eating flesh.]
[I swore I would stop loving him.]
[But I couldn’t.]
[Human flesh tasted too good.]
The Sphinx smacked its lips.
[So I made a vow instead.]
[I would never eat more than one person per meal.]
[So think carefully until my next meal.]
[About the answer to my riddle just now.]
The Sphinx stared at each of us in turn, clearly marking the next victim.
I stepped forward and asked,
“How many meals do you eat per day?”
The Sphinx grinned.
[Clever.]
[Ordinary humans don’t even ask that.]
[You’re interesting after all.]
I yelled,
“Shit, how many meals?!”
[I already told you.]
[I ask, you answer!]
Then the guy backed away into the darkness with surprisingly agile movements for its size.
“Ughh… hah…”
“Heh~”
“Waaah!”
“Aaaah!”
As soon as the Sphinx vanished, Ki Ju-hye burst into the first laugh she’d been holding back, followed by Yoo Ji-min, Seok Dong-mi, and Rune Stone, who all collapsed from exhaustion.
Rune Stone looked especially shaken, having watched his junior vanish in an instant.
But Jang Pomi was different.
Even amid the chaos she still turned to me and asked,
“How about it? Can you draw aggro?”
“…”
“If you just hold out for five minutes, I can pour damage and finish it off…”
I shook my head.
“No. I can’t last five minutes.”
It was true.
I was growing unnaturally fast.
Combined with insane stamina and the stat-point buff from Gaeggul, I was far stronger than any normal E-class hunter.
But that didn’t mean I could easily fight a legendary monster like the Sphinx.
Even if Jang Pomi bragged, she wouldn’t dare claim she could kill it in five minutes.
And if I drew aggro for her, was it really smart?
If the Sphinx fell now, Jang Pomi would become the mountain wolf without a tiger and slaughter us without mercy.
So we couldn’t afford to forget we were using the Sphinx as leverage right now.
Then Jang Pomi kicked Seok Dong-mi, who was crouching with hands on her head, and said,
“Shit, then archaeologist, think of the answer! What was the gift Isis gave the Pharaoh?”
“I… don’t know. There’s no record of it anywhere.”
“Ugh! Shit, this useless thing!”
Jang Pomi’s face flushed with rage and she raised her arm to smash Seok Dong-mi.
I said coolly,
“Every time you kill someone, the Sphinx loses one meal. That means the next person’s turn comes sooner. So die carefully!”
Jang Pomi couldn’t swing. She slammed her fist into a pillar instead and grunted while calming herself.
Behind her the pillar cracked and collapsed with a bang.
That demonstrated once again how dangerous Jang Pomi was—on par with the Sphinx.
“I’ll scout the exit to the first floor and come back. Until then you must find the riddle’s answer. If you fail, I’ll cut your stinking lives short and fight the Sphinx to the death, understand?”
With that Jang Pomi vanished.
Everyone stared around in a daze.
I told them all,
“Come on! Gather your strength and solve the riddle quickly!”
Ki Ju-hye grumbled,
“How are we supposed to guess? There are no hints!”
I pulled out the Titanium Spade and slammed it into the ground.
“Hints? They’re everywhere! Wait, you’re all archaeologists, right? When did archaeologists ever get hints from science experiments? Or from documents?”
Plop—
Chirririr~
I flung a shovelful of dirt and shouted,
“Let’s dig! Archaeologists always find hints underground!”
Seok Dong-mi and Rune Stone shot up at once. Yoo Ji-min and Ki Ju-hye looked ready to help too.
I said to Seok Dong-mi,
“Professor, lead the excavation!”
Seok Dong-mi snapped to attention and asked Ki Ju-hye first.
“Ju-hye, which direction does the smell seem to be coming from?”
Ki Ju-hye sniffed the ground.
“I’m not sure. It’s coming from every direction.”
“Good! If we can’t pinpoint the tunnel, divide the area into grids and start digging pits! The Sphinx probably eats three or more meals a day, so time is short. Everyone, hurry!”
Under Seok Dong-mi’s direction we divided the area and everyone began digging their assigned pits.
I glanced at the Luck Compass.
And started digging where it pointed.
Plop—
I poured every ounce of strength into the shovel without holding back, the ground shaking violently.
Kwakkwakkwakkwakkwakkwakkwak—
As I passed level 20, I fully unlocked the power of Shovel of Passion from Rune Stone and could dig five times faster. Plus the Titanium Spade had a 100% speed option, and my work boots—gifted by Han Yejin’s father—added another 20%.
Combined, that meant I could dig twelve times faster than an ordinary person.
Of course that was before factoring my overwhelming strength and stamina.
Considering them, my actual speed was closer to twenty times normal.
People stared in shock as I carved through the ground like it was light speed.
Kwakkwakkwakkwakkwakkwakkwakkwak—
One meter, two meters, three meters…
I soon began digging deep underground.
Ting—
Then something grabbed the first thing in my pit.
“Something’s here!”
I pulled it out, brushed off the dirt, and saw it was a golden mask.
A mask that called to mind Tutankhamun’s own.
Everyone crowded around as I lifted the golden mask out of the hole.
“What is this?”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Is this the gift the goddess gave Pharaoh?”
“You mean this is what built King Kufu’s Great Pyramid? What is it?”
“Use it already!”
Just then Jang Pomi, who had been circling around watching, snatched the mask from my hand.
I sighed.
“Why not just hand it to the professor? You don’t even know how to use it anyway.”
Jang Pomi tried everything—putting it on, waving it, etc.—but nothing happened. In the end she handed it to Seok Dong-mi.
Seok Dong-mi studied the hieroglyphs on the back and said,
“‘…This mask can only be put to sleep or woken by the scent of the most precious substance in the world—gold.’ That’s what it says.”
Yoo Ji-min stepped forward and placed her gold ring under the mask’s nose.
—Sniff.
Suddenly the mask’s nose twitched and began smelling.
Then the mask opened its eyes and spoke in bizarre, outdated Korean.
—W-where am I?
Seok Dong-mi answered,
“Inside the inverted pyramid.”
The mask paused, then said,
—Sphinx? Has the Sphinx died?
Seok Dong-mi shook her head.
“No. It’s coming back soon to eat us.”
—Ah! So that monster isn’t dead either?
In a hurry I asked directly,
“How do we kill the Sphinx?”
The mask replied,
—That’s too simple. Just put me on your face and turn into a golden golem and fight it.