Roughly 30 minutes passed away;
Both of them were searching the treasure boxes to find their objective. Sungjun couldn't help but stash diamonds, gold coins, rubies, and jewelry in his backpack while searching for the music box. After all, he was a government servant. Even though he was an A-rank Hunter and a Black Commando, he still only earned 7,000 credits per month. In comparison, in the current year, 1996, the average price of an apartment in a Tier-1 City is as high as 500,000 credits.
Sungjun came here with an emergency set of clothes and a dagger (for his protection), but now, the bag was more than 12 kilograms already, worth millions of credits. Qin Sheng didn't even know what his mentee was doing, as he was too busy on his mission.
Finally, in the sixth-floor treasure room, the young man found a noticeable brown rusty box in the corner which looked like it hasn't even been opened for ages. Its color clearly indicated that it is an iron-made one.
Could this be the all-important music box?
Usually, people would discard the thought away but Han Sungjun found it suspicious. After all, this place is supposed to be a secret treasury. Which idiotic emperor would keep an unimportant object in a place full of diamonds and gold ornaments?
He activated his heightened vision and observed the rusty old box, which was like 15 kilograms heavy, quite compact, indicating it was made from a heavy, dense metal and not simple iron. "Hmm?"
A trace of surprise appeared on his face as his vision couldn't penetrate the box. With all the rust around it, he couldn't find any opening with his naked eyes either.
"Whatever, if this is the object we will be looking for, then we will be done here. Not to mention, I have enough to last my lifetime. Before reporting to the HQ, I should put this away in a locker."
Filled with enthusiasm, he brought it to Qin Sheng ,who was in the seventh-floor treasure room, desperately searching for the item.
"Captain, I found something. It matches the description of the music box that you mentione,d but I'm not sure." Han Sungjun presented it to his mentor.
Qin Sheng immediately recognized the insignia that was barely visible on the top of the box. His eyes lit up and his hands shivered, "The three-eyed wolf with a horn on its head. This is it, the cursed music box of Horus."
Han Sungjun didn't understand why such an image is linked to the people of Vashia. After all, their presiding deity is Horus, right? Maybe, there is also a god with a wolf's head?
The ancient people of Vashia used to worship the gods with animal heads. As an atheist who doesn't believe in the old gods, Sungjun never bothered to research the mythologies of different nations, feeling that it was a waste of time. Hence, the knowledge of these myths was zero to him.
Whatever the case, Sungjun wants to quickly wrap up this mission and return, but destiny has something else planned for him.
After Qin Sheng took the music box in his hand, he tried to open it using strength but failed miserably.
He then looked at the young man, "Kiddo, I'll have to make sure that it is in working condition before we leave. I'll be removing this rust, and in the meantime, pass the news to HQ. Send an audio message. Tell them to send the backup. They will pick us up by a submarine."
Han Sungjun took out his smartphone. Luckily, there's a reception at the place. So, he managed to send an SOS to the Black Commando's Command Center, following the instructions given by his mentor.
After his job was done, as Sungjun started walking away from the place, Qin Sheng pushed out his Mana energy and cleansed away all the rust from the box.
*Click*
As Qin Sheng opened the music box, a powerful loud piece of music was spread out from it. The frequency was so high that it generated sonic booms and blasted away Sungjun and Qin Sheng.
Han Sungjun, with his weak physique, got injured heavily. Blood started trickling down his lips. And before he understood what went wrong, the giant werewolves' statues started to come back to life.
"No, no, no… the music box has dispelled the curse on them… kiddo, escape from here…" Qin Sheng shouted at the top of his lungs, throwing a smoke grenade on the floor. "Now…"
***
Back to the Present;
Sungjun, upon finishing his narration of the story to Cyro, then said, "After I managed to escape with grave injuries, I lost my consciousness and got picked up by Special Forces. The rest is known to everyone."
"Hmm, wait a second. You haven't told us about how you managed to escape the werewolf lord." The beautiful blue-eyed blonde, Xing Lin (codename: Aurora), who was also listening to his story curiously, voiced her opinion.
Sungjun took a glance at her and shrugged his shoulders, "I don't remember much. The memory is still hazy."
Sun Xiao narrowed her eyes and commented, "So, you originally belonged to Headquarters' finance department, but you followed your mentor, Qin Sheng, who was in the Special Forces, and ended up surviving while he died. Both of you basically intruded into the temple for this music box, but the purpose remains unknown. Moreover, not onlydoes your mentor know the secret tunnel ,but he also knows that there is a curse on werewolves too. And now, the curse is lifted? Feels like something is off about this story…"
As Sungjun stayed silent, not intending to explain as the complications would only force the truth out of him, Cyro stared at him for a while but simply nodded in understanding, "Alright. I believe you."
After three hours of flying, the transport helicopter landed on a large aircraft carrier sailing in the middle of the Sea.
Named after a Hunter who sacrificed to save thousands of people during a 9.4 magnitude earthquake, which eventually created a massive tsunami, the Captain Atomic Aircraft carrier is the third largest aircraft carrier in the world, with over 432 meters in length, a displacement of 170k tons, but still could move at a top speed of 58 knots (107km/hr).
It took 14 long years to build this nuclear-powered aircraft carrier for the country of Ospana, but it was leased to the Alsacian Federation so that all the remaining 17 fellow countries in the federation could use it for their missions.
Sungjun was completely impressed by the sheer size of the aircraft carrier, thousands of crew, dozens of aircraft on the outside, and the things inside, like a gym, a bank, an indoor sports area, grocery stores, a cafeteria, dining facilities,an excellent air-conditioning system, and sleeping cabins…
And the thing that shocked him the most was the bar. Isn't it quite dangerous to have liquor in this place? What if everyone just gets drunk and a war erupts outside? He couldn't help but wonder when he saw it.
With the number of villains rising, the world was never peaceful for a day. So, Sungjun was quite worried about this facility.
As for his teammates, it wasn't the first time for them to board this warship. Without bothering to admire their surroundings, the team of eleven proceeded to their respective sleeping cabins to rest until the lunch hours.
As soon as he entered the room, he locked the door and switched off the air conditioning, not wanting to fall asleep. Instead, he sat on the bed in a lotus position and closed his eyes, going into a state of meditation.
Soon, his deep bluish aura formed a layer over his body while the tremendous amount of natural energy from the sea started to rush toward him.
Compared to the desert and air, the waters of oceans and seas were very rich in natural energy, giving life to billions of aquatic living things. Adding on top of that, Sungjun was already near to the breakthrough to the next tier of this Mana Condensation he invented.
Hence, the absorption and spontaneous refining were quite faster and smoother.
Roughly after three hours, the door was knocked on, a few times, disturbing his concentration. He opened the door to find Sun Xiao standing outside.