Mummy Evolution
Chapter 144 - 144: Human Limit

[Evolving to Low Tier 3]

A spark was born deep in Sett's gut.

The instant he swallowed the Tomb Heart, the desert wind froze still.

The Monkey jolted. Zainah stiffened. Zarah stumbled back. Even Faceless, ever silent, felt it — a world-breaking change.

It was like the land itself was holding its breath.

The spark inside Sett grew — small, angry, blood-hot.

It seeped through his body, thick and slow, until every inch of him smoldered.

Sett groaned, a deep sound from the pit of his being.

His golden eyes cracked open — twin lines of searing light.

A grin — wide, savage, beautiful — split across his face.

Since the first dawn, humanity had one trait that crowned them kings.

It wasn't intelligence.

Even monkeys had that.

It wasn't strength.

Tigers had claws. Giants had muscle.

Sett rose to his full height, arms spread wide as if daring the gods to strike him down.

His clothes ripped apart like paper in a storm.

His body — all blood, sweat, and raw muscle — faced the burning world.

Other beasts had brains. Other beasts had fangs.

But it was man — the greedy, furious, unyielding man — who ruled the earth.

Man who hunted the T.Rex.

Man who tamed the jungles.

Man who turned the heavens into stepping stones.

Sett roared.

Because humans didn't survive by being smart.

They survived by refusing to die.

By wanting more.

His veins bulged like iron cables.

Then — the fire inside him turned a deep, furious red.

Flames, the color of blood, burst out of him — hotter than the desert sun.

The sands around him, already burning gold, turned crimson under his heat.

The desert itself seemed to bleed.

The very ground shimmered and cracked.

His skin boiled. His eyes melted into pure light.

The pain was savage. It shredded him apart from the inside.

It broke him harder than death could.

It burned louder than his mind could scream.

Sett laughed.

The fire chewed off his arms — ripping them away like meat from bone.

He laughed louder.

The fire swallowed his legs — until he was nothing but a screaming torch.

The desert winds fled before him.

The sands baked into glass around him.

Through it all — the flames, the agony, the death — Sett laughed.

The fire devoured his waist.

His chest.

His neck.

The desert was swallowed in a dome of blood-red fire.

Then, with one final burst of manic laughter, Sett's head burned away.

And he was gone.

Nothing remained but drifting red embers — floating above the blackened sand.

The world fell silent.

Zainah and Zarah bolted forward, breathless.

But there was no body.

No bones.

Not even ashes.

Only scorched earth…

Obliteration of a man who dared try surpass his limits.

The Monkey stood amidst the final bits of flaming embers that were also dying. His face slowly morphed into one full of complex emotions.

"What… is going on?" Zainah asked. Full of disbelief.

Zainah's face became stiff as well. "Sett was the one roaring just now, right?"

The monkey took a deep breath. "This is tribulation."

"Tribulation?"

"Any species has a limit set upon them by their very existence. Sett was trying to transcend it, but he was too eager. Too rushed. His body could not handle the fire of transcendence and burned itself without getting the chance to rebuild itself through that same fire."

More than that.

Why was that fire of transcendence so strong?

How much strength was Sett trying to gain?

Zainah stuttered. Then, asked, "You mean?"

The monkey did not speak.

Just as Zarah was about to scream, a figure slowly emerged from the distance. A cold, eerie aura assaulted them as well.

All of them looked up to see a man slowly walk closer, dark eyed, pale skinned. Tall, lanky. Thin lipped.

An unknown horror built up within all onlookers.

"Faceless, it has been a while."

"Lord Guardian, it has been a while."

Tier 5 Lord Guardian. Someone with more than 100 thousand tons of strength. Someone with unknown abilities. Someone truly dangerous.

The Monkey's hair stood on end. It shouted: "Faceless, take the women and run!"

Faceless did not heed the command.

Lord Guardian slowly walked towards the final burning embers and raised his foot. He crushed the fire under his foot.

Faceless did not move.

All the fire died.

"Faceless," the Lord Guardian said. "Your job is finished. You can stop acting. Kill the women, capture the monkey—it can be used. And then, give me your Life Vessel."

Faceless bowed. "As you command, my liege."

The Monkey's expression changed.

"TRAITOROUS SCUM!" Zarah shouted.

Faceless raised his arms, flinging it towards the girl. The monkey moved right in time to intercept—but that only ended up sending the monkey skidding through the sand. Bloody, face punctured with wounds.

Zainah asked: "How?"

The Lord Guardian moved slowly towards her, raising his hand to caress her cheek. "Sett Ramses was an interesting phenomenon. But my foresight surpassed him.

"I had long planted enslavement methods deep in Faceless' soul—no matter whether he dies or becomes another's slave, he is first and foremost my slave. He will remain my slave. With him on my side, it was easy to play around with Sett.

"But I was too curious to kill him too quickly. He had far too many secrets."

Now, it was over.

His hand stopped an inch away from Zainah's face.

The Lord Guardian frowned.

A hand pierced through his chest. It was none other than Faceless' hand.

From beside him, a calm faced person emerged—bathed in blood red flames. Calm golden eyes looked at the Lord Guardian, then ignored him to focus on Zainah.

Sett did not say anything, he just winked at her before sending her into the safety of his Inner Tomb. Then, he walked forward and send Zarah into the Inner Tomb as well.

"Hoho, what might this be?"

The Lord Guardian asked, not trying to remove Faceless' hand inside his chest.

Sett's face was cold.

They calmly stared at each other, the blood red flames once again coming to life around Sett's body.

It was only then that the Lord Guardian noticed that Sett was not in his normal form. In fact, the golden eyes that were staring at him was not on Sett's face—but on his hand.

Sett's face had no eyes.

A chill went down the Guardian's face.

"Did you remove all the slave marks I kept on Faceless?" The Guardian asked. "But according to my divination, you should not possess such skills. And you should be dead, why are you alive?"

Sett smiled.

"I have no death. And I do not have the habit of explaining my tricks to my enemies."

Of course, after becoming a Tomb Slave—there was no other loyalty to Faceless. His whole body had long become part of Sett's army—and in his army, disloyalty was not a question. It was not even a possibility.

Sett had anticipated the attack, in fact—when he burned up and vanished, he hadn't really vanished. He had just used Silver's help to become invisible.

Indeed, Silver, in his new True Form, could help others become invisible.

And why had Sett gone through all that trouble?

"Faceless, now!"

The Lord Guardian's face changed.

A vision of the future appeared in his mind—

Axiom of Dimensions—Dimensional Barrier Breaker.

BOOM.

Space cracked like glass around Faceless' hand and the area around his hand became no longer a part of the Kemet Tomb.

That part became part of the real world outside.

And the Lord Guardian ended up outside, vanishing due to being outside a Tomb.

What a fantastic trap!

He wants to use the fact that I am Tomb Born to kill me.

Sett, oh SETT!

Sett spat to the side. "A waste of Tomb Hearts."

Faceless shook his head. "Only you would think like that after killing a Tier 5 monster like the Lord Guardian, my liege."

Sett spread his arms wide apart.

Tier 5?

Stronger?

Smarter?

Better Axiom?

So what?

When had humans stopped themselves from hunting things stronger than them?

And just like that, without the protection of the Tomb—

The Lord Guardian died.

That was truly a possible reality.

The Lord Guardian came back to reality, then moved faster than the eye could blink. He crushed Faceless' hand into pieces, broke Faceless' neck, then send both Sett and Faceless crashing into the sand.

The trap was broken.

Sett laughed, removing the sand from his hair.

His face had been crushed, but it began to heal.

Meanwhile, the Lord Guardian's face suddenly cracked apart as if he had been hit badly.

Blood seeped through his skin.

Sett laughed even more.

Any attack that hurt him will hurt his enemies as well.

He stood up.

The final embers of red fire burned away from Sett. His body had been reforged through fire. The monkey was right. This fire was tribulation, and Sett's body was far from capable of handling its burning affect. He was too weak.

Yet, that had not happened with Sett.

Other people would have burned to death in this fire, but Deathless could not die—and in that form, Sett was truly unkillable even by fire made by heavens. And having survived hell, he had been reborn again.

Stronger.

Sett shifted his eyes to the status screen.

[Tomb Walker: Tier 3 Mid (4/18)]

[Approximate Strength: 17,740 tons.]

It was far from enough to survive an attack from a monster who could see the future and had the strength to crush his bones.

Yet, Sett was not one bit intimidated.

"You surprise me, Sett Ramses."

"I surprise myself as well."

"..."

"But for now, now that my plan to kill you have failed—bye bye, Lord Guardian. We will see soon. Faceless, let's leave."

"Not so easily!"

The Lord Guardian created a blinding light in his palm, throwing it at Sett with his full power.

Sett smiled, not dodging at all.

The light pierced through him.

His heart exploded, but the next moment, it grew back.

But the Lord Guardian's heart exploded as well.

Then, Faceless appeared beside the monkey, took it into his arms, then left with a teleportation. It appeared beside Sett, and left with another teleportation.

All of them vanished, leaving the area to a fair distance away.

After they were gone, a small smile grew on the Lord Guardian's face.

The Gods in Kemet will love this kid. He doesn't seem to have come in contact with the World of Gods yet, but he has enough talent to even terrify me.

Good.

An individual who has surpassed a Tribulation was special.

They were among the most talented beings on existence.

Not to mention all of Sett Ramses' other abilities.

The Axiom of Reincarnation, his unique Innate Pathway, and his mental fortitude. All his abilities, his personality, and now that he also had Faceless, he would also end up getting that Life Vessel. That means he would be an absolute monster the next time they met.

Yet, in the end, anyone who hasn't been to the God World is nothing but a frog in a well.

No matter how talented they were.