Sometime later;
"So, this is just one of the entrances to the temple of Horus? Even from far away, it looks magnificent and better in person compared to the pictures on the internet." Han Sungjun stared at the vast entryway outside the portal, adorned with stunning high-relief carvings of falcon heads with bodies of humans.
But, soon, his eyes fell on a couple of military personnel at the gate who put restrictions on even entering this dungeon, and turned his head to look at the old man who looked in his late 60s and was standing beside him, "Captain Qin, are you sure we are on a government mission? I feel like we are robbers."
Qin Sheng replied in a serious tone, "You can stay away from this operation if you are too afraid to enter, kiddo. But it isn't a risky mission either. We won't have to fight the monsters. For some unknown reason, from 21st hour to 3rd hour, all the monsters inside the dungeon turn to statues. We just snatch the Cursed music box of Horus and then escape through the secret tunnel I discovered. It would be a walk in the park,"
In response, Han Sungjun complained in a mumble, "As if I would believe anything that comes of your mouth…"
"Hmm? Did you say something?" The old man narrowed his eyes and stared at his mentee. Li Wei shook his head, "nothing."
Soon, both of them strode forward in the darkness. Upon reaching the two guards without making any sound, Han Sungjun unleashed a skill of his while jumping right in front of them.
The two guards were alerted by the sudden movement of Sungjun and raised their assault rifles. One of them warned, "Stop right there. State your iden..."
Before he was even finished, Sungjun's eyes changed from aquamarine to navy blue, and the two guards fell into a trance without being able to resist the effect of Hypnosis as soon as their eyes met the young man's eyes.
"Sleep," Han Sungjun gave an order to both of them. The guards closed their eyes and fell to the floor right away, falling asleep. On the other hand, Sungjun's reserves became empty.
"Here, kiddo." The old man handed him a vial of green-colored liquid. He then patted the young man's shoulder, "Good job."
"Thanks." Han Sungjun felt happy upon being praised and drank the liquid, finishing half of the vial in one go. His Mana energy was instantly restored.
Both of them then stepped inside the portal and entered the dungeon.
For a while, Sungjun, who was there for the first time, was just in awe as he looked at the pillars and walls filled with carvings of either images or characters of some unknown ancient language. "Wow, it's been more than 3000 years since this was built? The ancient people are indeed amazing."
Everything awed him, from the black granite statues of the mythical god Horus to the sandstone blocks of the ancient rulers of Vashia when it was a large Empire for thousands of years, spreading over five million sq. km when it was at its peak.
They passed through the great courtyard, located in the northeast, where 64 pillars line three sides of an open space that would once have been used for religious ceremonies.
More reliefs decorate the walls of the courtyard, with one of particular interest showing the annual meeting of Horus and his wife.
Passing through the great courtyard, which has three paths leading to three different destinations, Qin Sheng took the right entrance that leads into the outer and inner halls, which were supported by dozens more pillars each.
Upon reaching the inner hall, Sungjun saw the life-like statues of the wolves instead of live beasts everywhere, as Qin Sheng told him.
"I wonder how strong these were that no hunter ever managed to come out alive…" He murmured under his breath as he followed his mentor.
Eventually, they went deep into the temple, passing through a lengthy corridor, they reached the center of the temple, the altar, where a 200ft giant statue of Falcon-headed Horus was installed. Unlike with the others, this one is just a statue.
Same as the inner hall, there were numerous statues of werewolves around here too. However, some of them appeared to be special.
These special statues of wolves are quite bigger compared to others, and they were standing on two feet just like humans instead of four legs with each of them reaching 14-15 feet in height.
As the young man was busy calming his nerves, hoping that these will never come out alive, Qin Sheng brought him to the reality, "kiddo, hurry up. What are you being dazed for?"
Han Sungjun threw away his thoughts and paid attention to his mentor. He walked forward and reached the 25ft big werewolf statue that was right in front of the statue of Horus. The statue appeared to be holding some kind of box, which was also in the form of a stone.
"Don't tell me that this is the thing we are looking for," said Sungjun upon reaching the old man.
"Nope. What we want is sitting inside that thing…" Qin Sheng shook his head, and then pointed at the giant statue of Horus.
"Kiddo, this is where your eyes will be helpful." Qin Sheng asked the intern to look for something unusual in the statue, which will be a clue to opening the secret entrance to the treasury.
Sungjun then activated his passive ability, 'Heightened vision', and observed the statue from all sides. His vision easily penetrated through the statue and found rusty armor and treasure boxes placed at different levels from top to bottom.
"Wow, these emperors are clever. They hid the treasures in a place where no one would even think of stealing." As Sungjun admired those ingenious plans of the builders of the temple, Qin Sheng's voice rang out, bringing him to reality. "kiddo, did you find the entrance?"
"Ah, Yes. I believe we can enter from there." Sungjun pointed his finger at the beak of the falcon head. "The switch is in the left nare. Based on the chains attached to it from inside, I think we should just push it."
"From there?" Qin Sheng stared at the beak for a brief amount of time and then asked, "Any traps?"
"Not sure, I can't see any obvious booby traps," replied Sungjun with his gaze fixed on the beak.
"Okay, good." Qin Sheng nodded and then lightly stomped on the floor a few times to check its hardness before nodding to himself, "Okay, then, here we go…"
He crouched down and pushed his feet against the ground with all of his strength, landing on the beak in a single jump. The beak was at the height of like 170 or 180ft from the ground. So, it is an amazing feat for a 67-year-old man to make it in one go when that guy looked more like a sick person who lost a lot of weight.
Han Sungjun looked at him in admiration, "Wow, that's an S-rank Hunter for you."
Meanwhile, Qin Sheng carefully crawled on the beak because of how curvy and smooth it was.
Soon, the old man managed to push the switch as Sungjun suggested and viola, the entire falcon head split itself vertically into two, revealing the treasure inside. Meanwhile, Qin Sheng landed beside his mentee.
"Yes, you did it. Congratulations, Captain." As Sungjun was all smiles, Qin Sheng tried to maintain his coolness and patted the young man's shoulder, "No, you are the one that made it possible, kiddo. Or else, who knows how long we would have taken just to find that switch. Anyway, let's get inside."