Tomb Raider King

“These motherfuckers.”

Ju-Heon usually never got this angry. But he was justified in his reaction.

It was because of the person who seemed to be sitting on the chair.

Actually, it seemed more like a taxidermied person. The skin was tan like a person but the body was completely dry. It might be best described as skin and bones sticking together.

Although he was basically skin and bones, his face had not crumbled as with most mummies.

The features on his ears, eyes, mouth, and nose were still visible and his thick eyebrows, hair, and even his eyelashes were still there.

He just had his eyes closed as if he fell asleep while in pain. He kind of looked like a doll.

That was why Ju-Heon was immediately able to tell who this was.

‘It’s the former Majesty.’

He was certain of it. This was the bastard he saw in the Supreme Leader's memories.

He was the former slave who managed to push aside the Supreme Leader who was a king and became the Majesty.

He had become the King of the Artifacts after being selected by the Crow, but…

‘He’s the dumbass who betrayed the Crow and listened to the ones who betrayed him.’

He was then murdered by the artifacts who wanted to get rid of their human king.

The artifacts started talking after recognizing the person.

[This is that bastard!]

[This motherfucking pushover bastard!]

Ju-Heon glared at the whispering artifacts and they quickly shut up.

They pretty much confirmed that this was the former Majesty.

There was an old spear artifact stabbed into his chest and it was stabbed so far that the spear had gone through him and into the throne itself.

This was probably how this bastard was murdered.

It was at that moment. The Crow's aura was shaking, probably because they were looking at the former Majesty.

Ju-Heon couldn't tell whether it was shaking in anger or sorrow.

Maybe it was because the great King that it had once served was taxidermied in such a pitiful way.

Ju-Heon then had a thought.

‘Did the Crow send me back to the past to save this bastard?’

Well, the Crow might also be shaking in anger after looking at the human that betrayed it. It didn’t matter.

“So… What is up with this corpse? Why did they leave it here in this state?”

The artifacts started whispering again after hearing Ju-Heon's question. He must have asked an extremely awkward question.

But while they were all shushing each other…

[Why else? We didn't like the human king but we needed the Majesty's power.]

[!]

Set was the one to respond. The artifacts foamed at the mouth.

[Eek! Are you crazy? Why would you tell him about that?!]

[That is the weakness of all artifacts!]

[Sir, if you tell him that…!]

[I know. That is all I am going to say as well.]

But Ju-Heon just started to smile wickedly.

“R-eeee-a-lly? Even after looking at this?”

Set flinched. Ju-Heon took something out of his pocket.

They were chicken exchange coupons!

“These are the newest items for each brand. There are 100 coupons. They all sent it to me saying that I was a VVIP customer. You can even try test products that will not end up on their menus. Only you will be able to taste it!”

Ju-Heon then took out a lighter.

"Well, I was going to give them to you but I guess they'll just turn to ashes.”

[Ah, aaaah! Don't be so wasteful!]

“Now then. I will give you 10 seconds. One……”

The artifacts sneered.

[Pfft, do you really think a Divine-Grade artifact would be swayed with som…]

[Huff huff! Master!]

Set was brought down in a single second.

Set recalled something that happened a long time ago. It was the time that humans called Ancient Times.

Monarchs with Heirlooms and numerous artifact users were quite active back then as well.

"Get them! The person who becomes the Majesty… The final victor will rule over the heavens and the earth!”

People were fighting for both territory and artifacts back then. It should have been expected since the king of a country or tribe were Monarchs.

Of course, the person who ended up becoming the Majesty was not the Emperor of a large Empire but the Emperor’s slave.

But that did not last long either.

[Hurray! That dirty human king is gone!]

[We no longer have to listen to those inferior human bastards!]

[We are freeeeee!]

The artifacts that were opposed to the human-centric laws revolted. However, they became anxious even after succeeding and getting their freedom.

[Can we really live without a Majesty?]

[Don't we need the Majesty in order to maintain our form?]

[Yes, we can survive.]

Someone had laughed while looking at the Majesty who was stabbed into the throne with the Spear of Mummification.

[The important thing is whether this Majesty’s Throne is empty or not.]

[!]

[If the throne is empty, it would be determined that the Majesty is absent and us artifacts will disappear. However, in this current condition, the throne will believe that the Majesty is here. Basically, the Majesty’s authority will continue and we will be able to live!]

They were going to keep the Majesty ‘alive’ and suck out whatever they could from him.

The Majesty could not die as long as his partner Heirloom that gave him the power of immortality, the Crow (crown) was not destroyed.

The artifacts had cheered. But at that moment…

[Supreme Leader-nim, this is bad!]

[What?]

[The Crow…! The Crow is headed this way!]

[What? Didn't we capture it?! How did that bastard?!]

[It…escaped…!]

[Stop it! Don’t let that useless bastard in here! It’s just trash that was thrown away by the king when he was still alive!]

As he said that…

Bang!

The Crow barged in despite being hindered by the artifacts. It was in its human form that had once been cherished by the Majesty. The Crow blanked out after seeing the Majesty’s condition.

[……!]

It was such a terrible sight. The Majesty who had shined so radiantly and had been kinder than anybody else ended up as a piece of meat on the throne.

Tears started dropping from the Crow's pretty face.

The artifacts witnessed a new hell at that moment.

The berserk Crow’s revolt. The Crow showed its vicious true nature and started to consume its fellow artifacts. Numerous artifacts were sacrificed in its rage.

The Crow was then framed.

[The Crow went crazy and killed the Majesty!]

[It is consuming its fellow artifacts now!]

The Egyptian doggie Divine-Grade and other artifacts tried to capture the Crow.

Eventually, they managed to catch the Crow and imprison it inside the Great Prison.

[Do not kill it! We can only use the Majesty if this bastard stays alive!]

[Our livelihood is on the line!]

They then shoved any other artifacts that didn’t listen to them into the Great Prison as well.

‘It was all possible because they had the Majesty’s powers.’

They all smiled wickedly.

Prometheus, Horus, and the other Divine-Grade artifacts had been the former Majesty’s personal artifacts. They had tricked the King to get a portion of the rights to control the artifacts. They claimed that they would act as the Majesty's proxy in times of emergency. That was how Prometheus was able to use the throne.

But after thousands of years…

While the artifacts had been living in paradise without any human interference… Something happened about 30 years before Ju-Heon's time.

[The Majesty’s power is getting weaker. The throne is going to stop working soon!]

They had all been shocked by Prometheus's unexpected declaration.

Had their trick to pretend that the Majesty was still there stopped working?

[How is the Crow?!]

[There are no changes. As it is a Treasure, it is unable to kill itself. All it can do is commit self-harm.]

[Fuck, then what the hell is going on?! This is bad! We will disappear if the throne stops working!]

[Not right away. There is still power gathered inside the corpse so it should last another 20 years or 30 if we really conserve it, but it's still dangerous.]

[In other words, it is time to select a new Majesty?]

The Divine-Grade artifacts became anxious after hearing that.

They had worked so hard to get the human king out but they had to select another human Majesty?!

[We can't choose another king who favors the humans!]

The Majesty was their king and the omnipotent record keeper who could maintain the records to prevent the artifacts from disappearing.

Basically, the fate of all artifacts was in their hands.

Why?

Artifacts were born from the human stories and traditions.

But they all disappear as time goes on, making the artifacts lose their powers and perish.

The Majesty was there to prevent that from happening.

They could use the Akashic records to stop stories from disappearing and fix any records that may have changed with time.

‘That is why one of the requirements of the Majesty is to have an excellent memory.’

Just the Majesty’s existence alone would give artifacts life. But the throne was about to stop working!

‘We need to hurry up and select a new king!’

‘We can’t turn into simple antiques!’

‘I'd rather turn into one of those exiled apocalypse artifacts!’

‘Are you an idiot?! You can never return to this side if you become one of those! You'll turn into a spirit!’

‘But choosing a human king will just be a repeat of what happened in the past. They will tell us to serve humans again!’

Prometheus had laughed at them.

‘Don’t worry. I have a way. We just need to choose a human king who is to our liking.’

That was when Prometheus approached the humans and Pandora appeared in the world.

Ju-Heon smiled as if he understood it better after Set’s explanation.

‘Prometheus used this to act as the Supreme Leader until now.’

He had been wondering how they were able to use the Majesty’s powers after killing him.

Set seemed to have recently learned about all of the Supreme Leader bastards’ evil deeds.

Well, it didn’t matter.

“C, crazy. That is really the former Majesty?”

Jaeha, who had rushed in behind Ju-Heon, gasped. He seemed to have gotten scared after seeing the corpse but he suddenly hit his forehead.

It was as if he figured out a super big secret!

“Wow, jackpot. I get it now! I know why that Crow bastard chose you, Captain-nim!”

“What? Why did it choose me?”

“Face!”

“?”

“That damn crow only cares about a person's looks!”

“?!”

Ju-Heon wondered what kind of bullshit he was talking about, but Jaeha seemed extremely certain.

“See! The former one has that kind of face and the new one has this kind of face! Wow, shit, this world is so unfair! Even artifacts discriminate based on looks!”

[?!]

The Crow's aura fluctuated after suddenly being verbally attacked.

‘T, that’s not it though?!’

It could be just a coincidence, but it was true that the two of them were both extremely handsome. The rest of the team started to think.

“Now that I think about it, this corpse does look oddly similar to you……”

Ju-Heon became upset.

“Do you want to get fucked up? Like hell we look similar. That’s just a damn corpse.”

“Haha. It’s just a slight resemblance.”

But while everybody was focused on the Majesty…

‘Okay, hurry up and put your hand on it. Be greedy for the throne.’

The few Knights of the Round Table who had been hiding were smirking. They were breathing quietly while looking at Ju-Heon’s hand.

‘This is our last chance.’

They had one way to use the throne to attack Seo Ju-Heon.

‘We set this trap in case the future Majesty didn’t listen to us.’

They were indeed that evil. They wanted to choose a Majesty who was to their liking.

But humans were fickle creatures. It’s like how you are willing to pay anything to go to the restroom if you really gotta go but feel different once you get to go. Even if the Majesty was to their liking prior to becoming the Majesty, that person might have changed their mind once they received the Majesty's authority.

Prometheus had put this on the throne for that possibility.

‘It’s a device that would turn the new Majesty into the same stuffed corpse like the former one.’

Basically, the former Majesty's power would activate and turn Ju-Heon into a similar taxidermied corpse if he tried to take the throne.

‘This might actually be for the better.’

They needed to pick a Majesty anyway. They were just trying to choose a Majesty they could work with so that things would be easier.

‘Taxiderming a living person comes with too many risks and costs too much to maintain, but…’

They had no other choice. They had no way to defeat Seo Ju-Heon by any other means right now. That was why they could only suck this bastard dry like they had done with the former Majesty.

They could get rid of Seo Ju-Heon that way and then gather new Monarchs and restart the process. That was the only method they had left at their disposal.

‘Alright! So hurry up and put your hand on the throne! Become a slave like the stupid former Majesty!’

The condition to trigger the trap was to have negative thoughts about Pandora. Ju-Heon would easily meet that condition.

‘Hurry up and get fucked!’

The trap on the throne looked like it would activate as Ju-Heon’s hand moved toward it.

But at that moment…

There was a bright flash of light.