Chapter 65: The one who dominates the Hand of Gold (1)

Translator: miraclerifle

“I need you to strip naked.”

Both Irene and Yoo Jaeha could not help but gasp after hearing Ju-Heon calmly say that.

‘Wait, what did he just say?’

“Captain-nim, are you crazy?”

Ju-Heon glared at Yoo Jaeha and asked what the issue was.

“Why? What’s the problem?”

“Asking her to strip naked, what are you trying to make her do here?!”

Irene who was thinking about something nodded her head as if she understood.

"Ah, you mean take off my outer layers, right?”

But Ju-Heon completely destroyed that thought.

“No. Everything. Including your underwear.”

Irene and Yoo Jaeha both shouted at the same time.

“Wow, Captain-nim, I didn’t think you were like that!”

"What’s wrong? She said she would do as I told her to do.”

“You're asking to be cuffed!”

“What nonsense are you spewing? I'm telling her to wash herself.”

“...W, wash herself?”

Ju-Heon nodded his head.

"As I mentioned before, I believe your artifact is Midas's artifact. In order to wash the curse away, you probably need to bathe in the river as King Midas had done.”

Yoo Jaeha then sighed as if he was asking Ju-Heon to stop this habit of saying things in ways that could be misunderstood. Irene was still shocked and asked Ju-Heon a question.

“Umm, then wouldn’t it be okay to go in with my clothes on? Taking everything off including my underwear is a bit...”

Yoo Jaeha pervertedly laughed at that moment.

“She’s right. It would be fine to go in with her clothes even if they got wet. Are you trying to get a nice view in the process or something, Captain-nim?”

‘He pretended not to be interested in the busty noonims on the plane but he was aiming for more!’ Yoo Jaeha snickered as if Ju-Heon couldn't call him out for how he acted earlier.

“Why didn't you prepare a swimsuit for her?”

Ju-Heon started to click its tongue in annoyance.

“A swimsuit? You idiot. You'll land yourself in big trouble if you say things like that without knowing what you are saying.”

“Excuse me?”

Ju-Heon put his hand into the lake instead of responding. Something amazing then started to happen.

Siiiizzle.

His sleeve started to melt away as if it was a piece of meat that was placed on top of fire. In fact, the clothes caught on fire that both Yoo Jaeha and Irene started to shout.

“M, Mr. Ju-Heon! Your clothes!”

“Captain-nim! Fire, fire! You'll get burnt! Your hand, your hand!”

While they were overreacting, Ju-Heon just casually took his hand out and put the fire out. The fire went out but a bit of Ju-Heon's black jacket’s sleeve had burnt away.

“Y......your clothes.”

Yoo Jaeha who had made fun of Ju-Heon earlier seemed to be extremely shocked as he could not close his mouth. Ju-Heon asked if this was enough to answer their questions.

"This is what happens if you go in with your clothes on. Got it?”

“.....!”

The two of them nodded their heads without being able to say anything.

Of course, Ju-Heon had not expected all of this. He knew she would have to bathe, but he didn't expect the water to burn all material items away.

He had learned this from the Toombglyphs once they entered the tomb as well.

This lake considers everything tied to clothes as sources of greed. That was why it would melt everything away. Wealth-related artifacts such as the silver axe were all like this.

"That is why you will be safe if you go inside in your natural body, your birthday suit. That is what the text inside the tomb said.”

Irene and Yoo Jaeha were both at a loss for words.

‘Can he really read that nonsensical chicken scratch?’

However, the thoughts of Ju-Heon trying to rape her were gone after he explained like that. Of course, it was difficult to imagine Ju-Heon asking for something that might get him arrested in the first place.

Why?

‘The Captain-nim is an artifactphile.’

However, Ju-Heon seemed to have suddenly realized something and looked toward Irene with a serious expression.

“Ah. Hold on a minute.”

“E, excuse me?”

“I'm sorry, but are your boobs real?”

Yoo Jaeha almost choked after hearing that unexpected question while an embarrassed Irene looked down at her breasts and found it awkward to respond.

“Huh, t, that.”

“Ah.”

Ju-Heon seemed to have figured it out based on Irene’s response and clicked his tongue. He then raised his hand and said she didn't need to say anything.

“Ah. That’s okay. I understand. But if that is the case, they will melt in there so I will need to come up with a different method...”

Ju-Heon became serious. This was unexpected.

She would end up in a terrible mess if she went into the water with silicone. As Ju-Heon started to think...

Irene who realized there was a grave misunderstanding urgently started to shout.

“N, no! T, they’re natural! There’s no way they will melt!”

“Ah. Is that so? I'm relieved.”

Yoo Jaeha didn't know what he was relieved about, but he still facepalmed.

However, Ju-Heon was serious. He was worried that something he did not expect would be the reason they made it all the way here for no reason.

“Then please strip down and take a bath. We will look as least as possible.”

Irene nodded her head and it didn’t take long for her to strip down and enter the lake.

A few minutes later...

It was fine that Irene went into the lake, but Yoo Jaeha was judgingly looking at Ju-Heon.

It could not be helped.

“Excuse me. Captain-nim, why are you so openly looking while not letting me look?”

That was indeed the case.

Ju-Heon was sitting on a boulder and shamelessly watching Irene bathe. This was after he kicked Jaeha as soon as he turned his head as well!

“So, what is this?! You shouldn't be looking either, Captain-nim!”

Ju-Heon calmly responded as if he was confused.

“I need to be ready in case something happens.”

“...............”

‘Is this guy doing this on purpose?’

It happened as Irene started to wash her body.

“Kyaaaa!”

Irene suddenly screamed.

“What’s wrong?”

Irene urgently shouted after hearing Ju-Heon's voice.

“My arms and legs!”

Surprisingly, Irene’s body that was inside the water was slowly starting to turn into gold from the legs up. Something shocking happened at that moment.

A bright light flashed in the lake before they started to hear a weird voice.

[My other half, you are here.]

A message window popped up in front of Ju-Heon's eyes at the same time.

[The artifact that had been sleeping inside the lake has awakened.]

[The artifact of gold is releasing a chaotic aura.]

[Warning. Great fortune is headed away. Extremely strong luck can actually bring danger.]

Ju-Heon became anxious after reading those messages.

‘There’s another hidden artifact in a tomb without an owner?’

However, Ju-Heon and Yoo Jaeha had no choice but to scream at that moment. The water Irene was in was turning into gold and turning everything around it into gold as well.

“Captain-nim!”

Ju-Heon became desperate.

“Come out of the lake right now! You’ll die if you stay there!”

“But I can’t move because my body has turned stif...mmmmmph!”

The gold that had risen to her neck was trying to cover Irene’s mouth. Irene’s entire body would soon turn into gold and kill her.

That was why he ground his teeth and quickly ran toward the lake.

‘This is not a trap.’

This was the work of an artifact hiding inside the lake. The odd artifact hiding inside the lake was trying to gobble Irene up.

However, there was something weird about this.

Logically speaking, there was always one artifact inside a tomb. It was a different story in a Great Tomb Appearance involving multiple tombs, but the artifact from this tomb was already in Irene’s hands.

‘So why is there another artifact in here?!’

It was weird that the tomb was still alive even after its owner left and that it did not disappear.

Ju-Heon soon jumped into the golden water. Ju-Heon's clothes started to melt and his body started to turn into gold like Irene's starting with his hands.

Yoo Jaeha turned pale after seeing that.

“Captain-nim!”

An anxious Yoo Jaeha tried to jump in as well, but Ju-Heon sterly shouted.

“It’s fine! Don’t move. You'll get swept up in it as well.”

“But!”

Yoo Jaeha could only stomp his foot from the outside. Ju-Heon started to frown while heading toward Irene.

‘Think, Seo Ju-Heon. Think about how this could have happened.’

A tomb that had not disappeared and an unknown artifact that was charging toward Irene.

And then, the attribute of the Hand of Midas.

Why were all these things happening?

He needed to know the cause to find a solution.

However, Ju-Heon soon clicked his tongue after realizing something thanks to his vast experience and quick thinking.

‘Damn it, I see. Midas’s artifact has split into two.’

That was indeed the case.

The Hand of Midas was originally a hand of gold that brought forth wealth, but that ability ended up turning it into cursed hands.

It meant that the Monarch of Destitution’s artifact was an artifact with two abilities, wealth and destitution!

He didn't know what happened here, but the Monarch of Destitution's artifact had become unstable and split into two with the disaster-related portion getting stuck to Irene!

That was why she could only cause disasters even though she had the Hand of Gold.

She could also not control the artifact as she pleased because it was not complete.

Ju-Heon then started to smile.

‘At this point, there’s no need to remove the curse or anything.’

All he had to do was make Irene dominate the artifact and fuse it to become whole again! Then she would be able to dominate over a land of gold and a land of destitution as she pleased.

‘Then we can use Irene's powers right away without taking any big risks.’

Ju-Heon grabbed Irene's arm and channeled a lot of dominance into it.

Boom!

That made the artifact that was hiding inside the lake scream in anger.

[#$($(#(!)]

‘You arrogant bastard!’

The artifact resisted, but Ju-Heon seemed to have given it a strong enough blow as the speed of things turning into gold seemed to have slowed down. However, the artifact’s rank seemed to be quite high as he could not make it fully submit with his Dominance alone.

That was why Ju-Heon started to speak to Irene who was in pain.

“Suppress the artifact! This artifact is looking down on you right now!”

She should have enough Dominance to control this SS-Grade artifact. She should be able to dominate it and make it fuse with the parasitic artifact inside Irene’s arm.

“I taught you how to use your Dominance! Do as I taught you!”

Ju-Heon had definitely told her.

‘He said...

He said do it as if I was smacking a mosquito that was bothering me from sleeping!’

Irene who had slowly been losing consciousness opened her eyes wide.

"What happened to those bastards?!”

Keira was giving orders to her subordinates in Turkey over the phone. However, the information they gave was only enough to make her angry.

[We have determined that those bastards are still inside the tomb.]

[However, we have lost all contact with the others inside the tomb!]

That made Keira start to grind her teeth.

She wondered if it meant that all of her subordinates inside the tomb were dead. However, Keira could not lose these bastards again.

Keira debated for a while before giving an order to the TSOF who seemed to be stationed outside the tomb.

“Evacuate everyone. I am going to use my artifact.”

The TSOF members all gasped.

[Excuse me? General-nim, your artifact?]

He froze as if he just heard that someone was going to launch a nuclear weapon. But Keira just started to smile wickedly.

“Yes. I am going to use my artifact.”

Keira picked up a world map as soon as she said that.

She had not used this artifact because the risk was quite high, but this would make those bastards into rats stuck in a jar.

“I succeeded!”

Irene's excited voice echoed out of the golden lake. She must have successfully suppressed the artifact with her Dominance as her body that had turned into gold returned to its original clear color.

She looked toward Ju-Heon with an extremely happy expression.

"Does that mean I have dominated the artifact now?”

“Well, I believe so. I can't feel the aura of the artifact that was here anymore, so the chances it fused with your body is high. In simple terms, you can get rid of disasters based on your will now...ugh!”

Irene who was extremely happy to hear that tightly hugged Ju-Heon.

Of course, that made Irene’s soft and supple skin touch Ju-Heon's chest. They felt nice against his body. The sensation was amplified because both of their clothes had started to melt away so there were multiple spots where they were touching skin to skin.

Ju-Heon became anxious and pushed Irene away.

“Let’s head out first. More soldiers will come to chase us.”

It was as he said.

They got rid of the ones who had chased them earlier, but it was obvious the enemies would send more soldiers knowing they were still inside the tomb.

However...

Boom!

Something unexpected happened.

“C, Captain-nim!”

The tomb suddenly shook violently and started to crumble.

‘Is the tomb crumbling because Irene absorbed the artifact?’

No, that wasn’t it.

Irene would need to use the artifact and shout, ‘close’ for that to happen.

That meant that...

‘Someone did something from the outside.’

A message popped up in front of Ju-Heon.

[A violent goddess of destruction's slaughter is attacking the tomb.]

[All entrances and exits for the tomb have been destroyed by the goddess's power!]

[The violent goddess's curse is starting to seep into the tomb.]

[Warning. You are in danger of being buried alive once the tomb becomes completely destroyed. A defensive artifact is necessary.]

Ju-Heon clicked his tongue after seeing the message.

‘The Monarch of War did this.’

It was obvious.

The Monarch of War's artifact was focused on destruction and slaughter. The scary part was that she could use her powers remotely.

‘But I didn’t expect her to brave the risk and use her artifact.’

Yoo Jaeha urgently shouted at that moment as particles were falling from the ceiling that was breaking.

"The entrance and our tunnel are both blocked!”

All exits were blocked.

What could they do?

Ju-Heon debated for a moment before checking his skills.

There was one skill inside the skill window that caught his attention.

It was the [Tomb Restoration] skill.