Tomb Raider King

“Ah fuck that king, that shitty old bastard!”

The Crow opened its eyes after hearing some noises. This was a valley with neither artifacts nor humans. It was a remote area to the west.

The Crow was here because it gave up its homeland to get some sleep in an unfamiliar place, but…

“You damn bastards, see if I trust any bastards with artifacts from now on!”

The Crow sighed after continuing to hear someone swear.

The time was at some point in the B.C., an era of war when the Hellenistic civilization was still present.

There were numerous people grinding their teeth in anger like this after being harmed by artifact users.

‘I finally found an ideal spot to enjoy a nice rest… I guess I can't sleep anymore.’

The dying human looked like a monster and he was quite chubby.

His clothes showed that he was a slave who was far from power or wealth.

Basically, this was not a human an artifact would find useful in this Battle of the Monarchs.

The Crow was tired of everything.

It was tired of the artifacts that had become accustomed to bothering and killing humans. It was tired of humans that continued to get brainwashed by artifacts without stopping.

‘That Crow goddess defended the humans until the end though.’

That was probably the reason.

[You're so damn loud.]

The Crow sighed.

[Human. This is not a good place for a human to die. You will be eaten by the artifacts. Go over there and die if you want to die.]

Well, it wasn’t like a human would understand it even if it talked.

But the slave ground his teeth even harder.

“Like hell I'm going to go. Shut the hell up if you're not going to move me yourself!”

[!]

The Crow's eyes opened wide after hearing the shout.

[You can hear my voice?]

Humans could not hear artifacts.

That was why it was said that humans and artifacts could not coexist.

However…

“Ah, you're so fucking loud! Hey you! Do you know of any Divine-Grade artifacts around here?”

The man could clearly hear the Crow. The man shouted in frustration as the Crow blankly sat there without saying anything.

“Are you deaf? I need to contract with the Divine-Grade artifact that is here!”

The Crow gently sighed.

[It will be useless. You won’t be able to contract with it.]

“What? Why?”

Why else?

The only Divine-Grade artifact around here was the Crow.

[I don’t have any plans to contract with a human. So go back before the artifacts pick up your scent and start coming.]

The slave scoffed as if it found the Crow ridiculous.

“What? What I need, ugh…is not a bird-brain like you but the snake god that is said to be here. I need that snake Heirloom or whatever in order to get rid of that motherfucking old bastard.”

[…….]

‘Ah, now that I think about it, a damn snake was said to have built its nest around here. I think it was a Western bastard called Naga.’

The Crow sighed again.

[Human. You've come to the wrong place if you're looking for that bastard. That bastard is not here but at the lake in the mountain over there……]

"Ah, I struggled so much to get here but all I see is this weak-looking bird brain. Where the hell is the snake?! That old lady better not have taken my money and scammed me. She said it would definitely be here!”

[I told you it is not here but at the lake in the mountain over there…!!]

The slave suspiciously frowned as the Crow raised its voice.

“The mountain over there? You better be sure. You are obviously a low-grade artifact bastard that goes around eating trash.”

‘Grr. What? Who is he calling a low-grade artifact?’

It didn't matter whether this human knew that it was a Divine-Grade artifact, but he couldn't even feel its aura that everybody else would be able to feel?

‘This guy must be an extremely low-grade artifact user.’

The Crow sighed. Someone at this level would probably die before he could get to Naga.

The slave didn't care and continued speaking.

“Anyway…okay! I want to pick you up too but I don’t need any low-grade artifacts. But I will tell you where the village dump is. Ah, the food scraps in there taste so good……”

‘Aigoo, I don’t care about any trash!’

The slave was extremely arrogant despite being close to death.

“Anyway, those artifact bastards are all dead once I get my hands on them. That snake Heirloom thing is probably a weakling too.”

The frustrated Crow opened its eyes wide.

[You stupid bastard who doesn’t even have the basic foundation!]

“W, what did you say?”

[Forget the Heirloom in the mountain over there, a bastard like you will be beaten to death by a low-grade (C-Grade) artifact!]

“Hmph, unbelievable. Why do I have to hear such things from a low-grade minion like you…?!”

[I am now a low-grade artifact! You bastard! I am stronger than that snake bastard! It’s just a stupid snake from the west!]

“Ow! That hurts! Stop pecking me! It hurts, I'm going to die! Hey!”

The Crow probably contracted the former majesty out of anger at that point.

Anyway, because of that…

The Crow's contractor could not use his beauty(?) since he was so fat that he could probably roll around, had no power or wealth, and his ability to handle artifacts was terrible.

The rest of the artifacts laughed while looking at the slave the Crow had chosen as its master.

[That Eastern Crow bastard. I guess it really is not interested in the position of king. It is going to gift someone a victory. Easy peasy.]

[No, it is smart. It picked a master like this in order to see its master suffer.]

However, the lowly slave that nobody expected would become the Majesty became a legend and confidently became the Majesty.

The War of Heirlooms for the Majesty position had taken fifteen years.

This was what the artifacts had said when that slave became the Majesty.

[It truly deserves its position as a Commander of the Corps. The reason it chose a human like this was because it purposely wanted a human who would be easy for it to control.]

[As expected of the elite Crow. I can see why the Major Gods approve of it too.]

[But isn't that Majesty bastard’s policy to be friendly with humans annoying?]

[Don’t worry. The Major Gods went to convince the Crow.]

[The Crow should take care of that idiot of a Majesty.]

However…

[Are you crazy? Do you know what you are doing right… ugh!]

[The Crow, the Crow has gone crazy!]

Odin was still shaking in anger while thinking about what had happened.

[The Crow consumed the Major Gods and Divine-Grade artifacts that went to convince it.]

Something landed on Odin’s shoulder at that moment.

This was one of Odin's ravens.

[That bastard even ate one of my siblings!]

Ju-Heon smiled as if he was interested and asked.

“What did the Major Gods go to convince the Crow to do?”

[Massacre the humans. We told the Majesty to leave the lowest amount of humans necessary and throw the rest into the fires of hell. We said that we would kill the Majesty and switch him for a new one if he rejected it.]

However, the Divine-Grade artifacts trying to kill the Majesty ended up being gobbled up.

That was before the artifact rebellion.

Bastards like Prometheus were happy that the Crow took care of those artifacts that had been thorns in their eyes, but….

‘That was all before the artifact rebellion.’

[Anyway, that Crow chose humans over its fellow artifacts!]

[A Divine-Grade artifact bastard chose the lowly humans.]

Ju-Heon snickered after hearing that.

He had a good idea as to the identity of the Crow now.

“So… You are saying it is trying to get rid of all artifacts from the world as revenge for killing the Majesty?”

[Yes. It believes that artifacts are harmful to humans! That is why it wants to get rid of all of us.]

[It seems to have forgotten the fact that it is also an artifact!]

Ju-Heon suddenly started laughing out loud.

“The Crow ain't bad. I guess I do need it.”

The artifacts gasped.

[Are you out of your fucking mind? If that bastard comes out, all of the artifacts you can use will disappear too!]

“Who knows? Based on what you guys just said… I can use the Crow to get rid of any bastard who doesn't listen to me. But I can leave the ones who do listen to me. Isn't that right?”

[This bastard……!]

“It will be extremely useful for me to rule with fear.”

Odin’s eyes opened wide with anger as if he didn't like Ju-Heon.

Odin had not thought much of the Majesty back then as well and thought that even if they didn't kill the Majesty, they needed to teach him a lesson.

[As expected. You give off the same filthy scent as that Majesty.]

The other artifacts chimed in after Odin as well.

[This human bastard contracted with the Crow, sir.]

[Of course they smell similar.]

But was that really the reason?

‘The Majesty’s Throne stopped activating about thirty or twenty five years ago…’

Odin had thought that it was because the soul of the former Majesty had left the corpse. Ju-Heon was right around that age as well.

But the two of them were not the same person.

‘His scent and aura are different.’

Most importantly, the former Majesty’s Affinity was overwhelming.

His abilities were great because he was the Majesty, but he was also a pushover.

Although Ju-Heon was purposely destroying his Affinity in this life, he had not been the same as the former Majesty in his past life either.

‘Most importantly, the way they use artifacts is completely different.’

It felt more as if Ju-Heon had developed on his own rather than receiving the former Majesty’s talents.

Anyway, Odin had a feeling.

‘The problem with the former Majesty was that he was too friendly but this bastard is going to end up a tyrant.’

That was why he would be more of a pain and more dangerous!

Furthermore, he seemed to have some basic level of humanity for other humans so it was making Odin swear even more.

Odin's choice was easy to make.

[I really need to get rid of you here. Hand over my artifacts too!]

“Get lost! You hand over your artifacts. Hand over the damn head!”

Ju-Heon then looked directly at something.

While that was going on…

“Haha, I finally found him.”

The Monarch of Evangelism managed to find Chairman Kwon again while Ju-Heon was going up against Odin.

He thought that he might not be able to find it after Ju-Heon moved it elsewhere, but he had been one of the Four Emperors in the past for a reason.

“Ugh…”

The Monarch of Evangelism chuckled after seeing Chairman Kwon who seemed to recognize him.

“I will heal you soon.”

He was wary of Ju-Heon's traps but nothing activated.

Actually, forget activating, the traps disappeared on their own.

‘Is Seo Ju-Heon letting him go on purpose?’

Ju-Heon didn’t seem to have any reasons to do that.

‘I don’t know what is going on, but this is a chance.’

The Monarch of Evangelism quickly used an artifact.

There was a bright light and Chairman Kwon's head was reattached to his body.

“U, ugh!”

Chairman Kwon took a deep breath as soon as his head was reattached. Of course, it wasn’t that the pain had disappeared.

He would not die now but the pain from losing his head was still there.

The Monarch of Evangelism then destroyed the operating table artifact that had made Chairman Kwon unable to move.

Crack!

Chairman Kwon was freed.

"Are you okay, Chairman Kwon?”

“You…!”

Chairman Kwon immediately became wary of the Monarch of Evangelism.

His reaction was to be expected. They were Four Emperors who fought against each other in the past for the Majesty position.

Similar to how Zhen Cai Yuan had looked at Keira as a bitter enemy, Chairman Kwon was no different. Furthermore, the current Chairman Kwon had memories of his past.

“You bastard, how dare you do that to my daughter…!”

The Monarch of Evangelism stopped him, saying that it was not the time for that right now.

“Yes yes, I understand that you have a grudge against me. But we need to take care of Seo Ju-Heon first.”

“!”

Seo Ju-Heon.

Chairman Kwon flinched after hearing his name. Now that his memories were back, Ju-Heon was both a figure of fear and loathing in his mind.

"The bastard might become the Majesty soon. Let’s go together. I have a way to get into the Great Prison.”

Chairman Kwon opened his eyes wide while shaking in anger.

He was full of anger toward Seo Ju-Heon and greed toward the Crow.

The Monarch of Evangelism laughed while looking at him.

“Haha. Well, we need to get out of this terrible trap of the underworld fir…”

But at that moment…

Flash!

The two of them disappeared.

As Chairman Kwon and the Monarch of Evangelism disappeared…

“!”

Ju-Heon, who was fighting against Odin, frowned.

‘That old bastard has been released.’

Something was weird. Why did his traps not activate?

He then saw something that might explain it.

Odin’s one eye was opened wide and he had a chilling smile on his face.

[You will never be able to get the Crow.]

That was right.

‘This bastard must have done it.’

Odin was a bastard who could use his sorcery as he wished in this prison. He probably immediately realized that Ju-Heon was controlling what was happening in the underworld.

Odin had released the traps around Chairman Kwon after noticing that.

And then…

[Now that I think about it, the former Majesty had a person he loathed as well.]

The person the former Majesty had loathed was the Emperor of an Empire. It was the bastard who failed in his quest to get the Crow and gobbled up artifacts until he turned into the Spider Supreme Leader.

[The former Majesty almost died by that bastard. You will end up walking the same path.]

Ju-Heon sneered at him.

“What did you say, you retard?”

Ju-Heon suddenly tightly clenched Odin’s shoulder. He then picked up the giant’s head!

This was Mímir's head.

Odin gasped as soon as he saw the head he had been hiding.

[Wait, that is!]

This was a trove of knowledge artifact that shared all sorts of wisdom of the world.

It would allow him to know where the Crow was and how to take care of the guards.

“Hahaha, thanks! Thanks a lot, you son of a bitch! I'm heading off to the Crow now!”

Odin became desperate.

[All of you stop that human! We must not let him get out of here!]

Odin opened the cell doors as soon as he said that. The Norse artifacts all rushed out and aimed for Ju-Heon.

That wasn’t all.

[Guards! Seo Ju-Heon is over here!]

They started calling the high-grade guards as well.

The guards quickly rushed over after hearing their shouts.

[Capture Seo Ju-Heon!]

Ju-Heon quickly activated Mímir's head.

Flash!

And at this moment… Ju-Heon shouted the true identity of the Crow.

“Okay! Tell me where the Three-legged Crow is located!”

The giant’s head easily obliged.

[Something like that is easy.]