Tomb Raider King

[The rope's body is trying to change.]

[The rope's body is trying to change.]

Ju-Heon’s eyes opened wide at those messages.

‘It’s body is trying to change?’

Ju-Heon looked at the rope that was slapping him. Well, unlike how it usually slapped people, it was gentle with Ju-Heon and it only felt as if it was patting him with a sponge.

Anyway, the rope's condition was a bit weird. It was sparkling unlike usual.

Actually, this wasn't an unfamiliar sight. It was like this once when it upgraded to a B-Grade artifact and became a possession-type artifact.

The other time was when the rope upgraded to a S-Grade artifact. It showed the same signs during those times.

That gave Ju-Heon an idea.

‘Is it trying to upgrade again?’

But it was a bit odd.

Artifacts didn't change for no reason. They needed to meet some special conditions, meaning that the rope had to do something amazing.

That was how it had been the last two times as well.

‘It overcame another bastard’s Dominance to turn into a possession-type artifact and slapped the Supreme Leader to become a S-Grade artifact.’

It had not done anything out of the ordinary lately.

Ju-Heon found it odd before realizing something.

‘Was it perhaps the garlic and Korean wormwood?’

That’s right. The rope had continued to rub garlic and Korean wormwood on its body without stopping!

“You little punk, you still haven’t given up on that?!”

He felt as if he could smell the garlic and Korean wormwood once he said that.

He had not noticed because it usually absorbed it all into its body before coming over to him, but it must not have had time to do that today.

“You cruel bastard. You ground up your fellow artifact and rubbed it all over your body for 100 days……”

The shocked rope quickly shook its head.

[#$$&!]

I, it’s a replica! A replica!

Well, it didn’t matter. Ju-Heon had been full of expectations at first too. The Dangun myths talked about how the bear turned into a human and became Hwanung's companion.

Ju-Heon had been full of hope that the rope would show similar results, however……

‘It’s been a lot more than 100 days already.’

Was it because the rope was using a replica or because the artifacts had a different way of counting the days than humans did? Either way, Ju-Heon didn't see any changes right now. As Ju-Heon decided to ignore the message since nothing was happening…

Boom!

The path inside the tomb suddenly started to shrink.

Chhhhhh!

The area that looked like the bowels started to shrink to turn into a confined area!

[Warning. The Gu poison's trap has been activated.]

[Warning. The Gu poison's trap has been activated.]

It was obvious what this was. The tomb was sealing them in to make them have a battle royale.

That was probably the reason.

“Hey Kongming.”

Ju-Heon grabbed Julian by the collar and smiled brightly.

And then…

“Don’t die.”

“W, what?!”

Ju-Heon instantly started to throw the team members. He sent them flying toward a hole that wasn't closed yet!

It was just that…

“Aaaaaaaaaak!”

Ju-Heon was throwing them to a cliff where they couldn't see the end.

The team members couldn't help but foam at the mouth.

“Aaah! Seo Ju-Heon, you really!”

“Aaaaaaaaaak!”

Ju-Heon smiled.

‘They shouldn't die since I threw the rope with them.’

The Supreme Leader sneered at Ju-Heon.

[Do you really think you can get out of here because you threw your teammates out?]

A large spider arm fell from the ceiling. Ju-Heon's eyes flashed.

“This damn spider bastard talks so much.”

The spider’s aura and the Crow's aura clashed at that moment.

Boom!

The spider trembled as soon as it touched the Crow. Ju-Heon didn't care and started to smirk.

His black aura seemed to explode before it consumed the Supreme Leader's arm.

It had happened in an instant.

Crunch!

[You are absorbing a portion of the Supreme Leader's power.]

[You are absorbing a portion of the Supreme Leader's power.]

The anxious Supreme Leader quickly tried to pull its arm out but it had already been cut off.

The Supreme Leader was extremely angry. It was not just angry that its arm had been cut off.

[How dare this Crow bastard not recognize its true owner!]

It sounded as if it was angry that Ju-Heon was using the Crow. And then…

[Hand it over! That is not an artifact a bastard like you should use!]

Bang!

The Supreme Leader ruthlessly hooked Ju-Heon with its arm.

“Ugh!”

Ju-Heon groaned. It was so strong that his spine felt as if it might break.

But what hooked him was not its usual spider arm.

‘It’s a human arm.’

A human arm? Yes, the thing that came out of the wall and the ground was a rotten human arm! That large arm was hooking Ju-Heon as if to kill him.

The Supreme Leader was raging wildly.

[Hand over MY CROW right now!]

Boom! Boom!

The Supreme Leader started to go wild. Ju-Heon just scoffed.

That was to be expected.

“Did it just say my Crow?’

Was it perhaps the Crow's former master?

Ju-Heon couldn’t think for long as he groaned.

[You are being exposed to the Gu poison's power.]

He groaned because of an unfamiliar memory that came into his brain!

‘Fuck! That Crow bastard betrayed me! Why did it pick that inferior bastard over me?!’

‘Human, you become an artifact as well.’

It was probably the Spider Supreme Leader's memory. It was its memory of being eaten by an artifact.

The scene he saw was terrible.

Ju-Heon quickly came back to his senses and scoffed.

Why?

‘This bastard really was a human before!’

This was the truth. The Supreme Leader in that memory was human.

The Supreme Leader had been jealous of the person who ended up with the Crow. Whether he was envious of its power of predation or just wanted the Crow for himself…

That bastard used the artifact of gluttony from Greek mythology to emulate the Crow. He was then captured by those artifacts and reborn as the Gu poison artifact.

That was why it was interesting.

‘A human can turn into an artifact?’

But at that moment…

“Ugh.”

Ju-Heon coughed up some blood.

He had been poisoned, potentially because of the Supreme Leader's arm he ate earlier.

‘Fuck, it’s not like its a puffer fish or something.’

He probably would have died instantly if it wasn’t for his Tolerance.

The spider charged toward the stumbling Ju-Heon.

[Give me back my Crow! You thieving bastard!]

As the Crow opened its jaws and charged toward him…

“Get your damn filthy mouth out of here!”

They heard an extremely angry voice.

Ju-Heon's eyes opened wide after hearing this familiar voice.

‘This voice is?!’

Ju-Heon urgently stepped back before he could see the person's face.

That was to be expected.

[Artifacts are being destroyed!]

[Artifacts are being destroyed!]

Artifacts were starting to be destroyed by an extremely strong aura. The Supreme Leader’s legs stumbled as if it was paralyzed.

Who was this person? The person who appeared in front of Ju-Heon was actually Irene! She seemed so angry that her face was flushed red and she was huffing.

“How dare you try to eat Mr. Ju-Heon with your stinky and dirty mouth!”

Of course, the Monarch of Destitution's overwhelming power of disaster was making Ju-Heon's artifacts suffer as well.

Ju-Heon slowly backed away when Irene seemed to have realized it and grabbed Ju-Heon.

“Mr. Ju-Heon, I'm sorry! Are you okay?!”

Ju-Heon smiled at Irene.

Everything other than his artifacts were fine, but……

“Irene, why are you in this tomb?”

“Excuse me? It’s obviously because I was in the theatre as well…”

"The theatre? George told me that you would be in the cathedral all day today and tomorrow for Christmas……”

Irene seemed extremely flustered to hear that.

"A, ah. No, you see, that……!”

She couldn’t say that she snuck out of the cathedral while her brother wasn’t looking.

“I, I came out for a moment to have dinner with my family!”

“……In the middle of service?”

“I, it’s break time!”

“……Cathedrals have breaks too?”

“A, anyway! Mr. Ju-Heon! Aren’t the others in a trap? We need to hurry…!”

Ju-Heon chuckled at Irene’s statement.

‘That’s nothing to them.’

“My subordinates are not that useless.”

“Excuse me?”

“They should be about done now.”

Something happened as he smiled.

[Uggggggh!]

The Supreme Leader suddenly screamed.

The tomb started to shake as well.

It felt like an extremely strong earthquake.

“Kyaaaa!”

Irene stumbled and Ju-Heon just picked her up over his shoulder. He then smiled after seeing the messages that popped up.

[The artifacts that the Supreme Leader has consumed are starting to escape.]

[The artifacts that the Supreme Leader has consumed are starting to escape.]

There was an explosion in the tomb as well.

Boom!

The Supreme Leader became angry at what was happening in its tomb.

[You sons of bitches!]

It finally seemed to realize what had happened.

As it raged…

“Seo Ju-Heon, you really! How can you just hand Mammon over before pushing us off a cliff?!”

Julian was holding onto the rope and climbing up to the top of the cliff as he huffed in anger. Ju-Heon just smiled at him.

"Why are you being so petty? All that matters is that my intentions were delivered to you.”

To explain what happened… Ju-Heon had thrown Julian and the others to the cliff for a reason.

‘Clear the tomb.’

He would keep the Supreme Leader occupied so use that time to take care of things. It would be too obvious if he was moving around himself.

Ju-Heon had handed Julian Mammon and the rope in secret as well.

Why?

‘Mammon is a mining artifact.’

It seemed to have pretended to be an Archaeologist’s Artifact in the past on purpose, but it was an artifact mining devil.

‘And the Supreme Leader is an artifact of gluttony.’

Although both the Crow and the Spider were artifacts of predation, the base was different.

An easy comparison would be that the Crow puts all of the artifacts it consumes into a bag. On the other hand, the Supreme Leader was the Gu poison artifact. All of the artifacts it consumed until now was a part of it. That meant that…

‘Taking out the artifacts that make up its body will make it shrink!’

The tomb shook vigorously once more.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

[The devil of mining is mining the artifacts inside the stomach!]

[The devil of mining is mining the artifacts inside the stomach!]

[The consumed artifacts have regained their freedom!]

[The freed artifacts are starting to dig their way out of the tomb!]

This was definitely Mammon's doing. Mammon might not look like it but she was strong enough to be a Heirloom after all!

Boom!

The escaping artifacts finally managed to dig their way out of the Supreme Leader’s tomb. The Supreme Leader was in significant pain as if its guts had been ripped.

[Ugh, uuuugh! My body, my boooody!]

The Supreme Leader's appearance started to change.

It turned from the large spider to a toad, a snake, and many other forms.

The spider was slowly becoming smaller as the artifacts making up its body started to leave one by one.

[Damn it, how dare you use such a despicable method!]

The angry Supreme Leader released its aura. Julian urgently shouted.

"The Supreme Leader is forcibly gathering the artifacts that are escaping!”

Ju-Heon scoffed before shouting.

“Come out, Domus Aurea!”

Ju-Heon called for one of his possession-type artifacts that was outside the tomb.

Something shocking happened.

Boom!

[Nero's Domus Aurea has appeared.]

A golden palace in the shape of a tower was summoned outside the tomb.

The messages kept coming.

[The artifacts from the Tower of Pride are bursting out from inside.]

[The artifacts from the Tower of Pride are bursting out from inside.]

The residents of the Tower of Pride that he had stationed inside the Domus Aurea ran out.

Ju-Heon smiled as he shouted.

“Grab the escaping artifacts! Each one you grab will take off one month's rent!”

The artifacts chased after the escaping artifacts with crazed expressions on their faces.

[Chase them! My reeeeeeent!]

[Grab those bastards!]

The slightly weakened Supreme Leader foamed at the mouth.

[This bastard……!]

Ju-Heon glared at the Spider with a terrifying gaze.

“Kneel. You damn spider.”

Boom!

Ju-Heon’s Dominance exploded and the Spider started grinding its teeth as it flailed. Even an artifact that was originally human seemed to feel pain from strong levels of Dominance.

The pained Spider soon disappeared.

“The Spider!”

Irene was shocked to see Ju-Heon start walking.

“Mr. Ju-Heon?”

She wanted to know where he was going.

“I can’t get that bastard as things are right now.”

“?”

Ju-Heon was heading for a certain spot in the tomb.

But the place he was headed was unexpectedly not very far away.

He stopped in front of Zhen Cai Yuan.

“U, ugh.”

At a corner of the tomb… Zhen Cai Yuan was on the ground in pain, probably because she was contracted to the Supreme Leader.

“Huff, huff! Ju-Heon……!”

Ju-Heon looked at Zhen Cai Yuan as she groaned in pain.

He had weakened the Supreme Leader's power but the contract was still there. Basically, he needed to forcibly break the contract if he wanted to take the Supreme Leader artifact for himself.

Julian, who knew that was the case, started to speak.

“I guess you need to kill that woman to get the Supreme Leader artifact.”

Zhen Cai Yuan looked at Ju-Heon and smiled after hearing that.

“I'll have no regrets if I die by your hands. Please send me off without any pain.”

Ju-Heon pulled out a knife.

“Oh right, you asked me how I felt when you died.”

“……!”

The blade of the knife flashed as Ju-Heon continued to speak.