Chapter 1743: Shadow of Ancient Egypt
I knew why it was written in Egyptian hieroglyphs: it was to use an Ancient Egyptian Curse. I fell right into it.
Now the bracelet can’t be removed, and my arm remains in the Wind Spirit Claws state, unable to revert. Worse, it’s slowly mutating at an incredibly slow pace. If this continues, I’ll be transformed into an elemental creature, a Sylph.
Older Brother Jayad tried to use Purification on me, but it was useless. Although the Egyptian Curse seems bizarre and full of evil energy, it’s actually a Divine Spell from a True God, so it cannot be purified.
“Tsk! This is really troublesome! Brother, help me chop off my arm along with the bracelet. At worst, I can use Holy Light and healing potions to restore a new arm!” I said bravely, lifting my hand. It’s just a drastic measure, I’m not afraid!
“Parul, calm down. It hasn’t gotten so bad that we need to chop off your arm. What if the curse isn’t removed even after cutting it off?” Jayad said.
I hesitated again. Older Brother Jayad was right. Cutting off my arm might not lift the curse. The curse’s source isn’t the bracelet; the bracelet is just a medium. If it were that easy to resolve, Ancient Egyptian Curses wouldn’t be so renowned.
“Yes, Miss Witch. For Ancient Egyptian Curses, there are usually ways to resolve them. Generally, you just need to kill the caster, return to the ritual site where the curse was cast to make a sacrifice and pray for its removal, or find a substitute to transfer the curse,” the Gravedigger also advised.
He had some knowledge of Ancient Egyptian curses, as grave robbing was his profession. For a typical professional like him, it was essential to seriously study and research well-known curses like those from Ancient Egypt. The methods he mentioned were common ways to resolve Ancient Egyptian Curses.
I gave up the idea of chopping off my hand and calmed down to consider my current situation. Another major characteristic of Ancient Egyptian Curses is that they aren’t usually too urgent. They typically follow a process and give a timeframe, such as death within ten days.
I observed the speed of my arm’s mutation. It was extremely slow, and it would take at least seven days to transform me into an elemental creature.
Even considering the possibility of it being irreversible, it would take about one to two days for the infection to spread to my body. If I still couldn’t resolve it by then, cutting off my arm wouldn’t be too late. It would be chopped off whether I did it now or later, so let’s see if there’s a way to remove the curse first.
The Gravedigger scoured the mimic chest and confirmed that there were no instructions for curse removal written on it. He was very glad he had been cautious and used a Dragon Bone Soldier to open the chest, and hadn’t touched it himself, otherwise, he would have been the curse target.
Of course, he couldn’t be sure at which step the curse trigger began. Perhaps it was triggered when the mimic’s form was changed by Transfiguration, or maybe it was when the bracelet was put on. He couldn’t be certain.
“There’s no other way. It seems we can only move forward. Finding the tomb master should provide a way to force him to lift the curse,” I said, standing up.
There shouldn’t be anything else useful in the room. Although it was evident that this place was once quite luxurious, all the furniture had rotted away.
We’ll leave the mimic chest here for now. It’s also one of the curse mediums, and I’m afraid killing it might have negative consequences. Anyway, after using Transfiguration, it can’t attack on its own.
“Right, since I took this bracelet, I’ll give you the shapeshifter hunter’s skin.” I suddenly thought about the distribution of loot. Older Brother Jayad gave the skin to the Gravedigger without a word.
“Huh? Do we need to distribute this so soon?” The Gravedigger was very surprised, holding the skin, which looked like a soft rubber suit.
“Yes. We agreed on a three-seven split before. The value of this skin might not even be thirty percent of the Sylph bracelet, but let’s split it for now. If it’s not equal later, we can compensate each other,” I said.
“But I don’t know how to use this skin even if I get it. I can’t wear it,” the Gravedigger said with a wry smile.
This skin had a huge limitation: although it could change a person’s appearance, it couldn’t change their body shape or posture.
If someone like the Gravedigger, who was burly but stooped, wore it, he would turn into a large, stooped beautiful girl, which would look very strange.
With this body type, Older Brother Jayad would actually be more suitable. This mimicry was of a well-developed beautiful girl, and Brother, being slightly taller than other beautiful girls his age, was just the right fit.
“If you can’t wear it, you can give it to your Skeleton Mage. Doesn’t it also have the function of increasing defense?” I suggested.
“Uh, can it do that?” The Gravedigger felt his imagination was lacking. He could indeed let the Skeleton Mage wear it and immediately wanted to try.
So, the Skeleton Mage took the skin and applied it to itself. The dissolving gel quickly covered its bones, spreading across its entire body, and soon it began to take on the texture of human skin.
In a short while, a beautiful girl holding a bone staff stood before us. Compared to the voluptuous and alluring “wall girl” from before, the Skeleton Mage was slimmer and thinner, practically a bony beauty.
Moreover, she was very quiet and expressionless, just standing there holding her bone staff. The Gravedigger tried using the small bone sculpture to control the Skeleton Mage to perform a few actions, and all controls were normal.
Then, the Gravedigger attempted to have the Skeleton Mage indirectly control the Dragon Bone Soldiers to scout ahead, and there were no problems either. It could be said that apart from the change in external appearance, there was no difference from before.
However, the Gravedigger was very unaccustomed to the Skeleton Mage, which was originally somewhat ferocious, turning into a naked beautiful girl. He felt the skeletal form was more reliable.
After thinking for a moment, he had the Skeleton Mage pick up a tattered piece of red curtain and wrap it around itself, making it look like a robe. This made it feel a little better.
“Not bad. I wonder if it’s fun to use like this. It would be even better if it had a bit more expression and reaction. Hmm, body temperature might also be an issue.” I looked at the moving beautiful girl. Although she was essentially a Skeleton Mage, the alluring aura was still subtle.
The Gravedigger looked at me strangely and could only say, “Let’s go. You’re still cursed, and we need to enter the main tomb to find out how to lift your curse.”
So, he had three Dragon Bone Soldiers scout ahead, and we entered the next corridor. However, this time there were no low-level traps, but rather a very open display. In front of a stone door engraved with ancient script, two over two meters tall statues, with wolf heads and human bodies, adorned in gorgeous gold and green, stood on either side. Their arms were crossed, holding curved blade-like stone scythes.
In my eyes, these statues were hollow, and their external materials were not stone but a more flexible Spiritual material.
“Hiss! Usharbit! We’re in big trouble. This tomb master is indeed related to Egypt!” The Gravedigger’s face turned green upon seeing the two statues.
