Tomb Raider King

“Damn it…! These morons!”

Ju-Heon was grinding his teeth.

He had looted a hospital and managed to get his hands on a healing artifact, but…!

"Why did the number of idiots to heal increase by one?!”

Ju-Heon was going back and forth, taking turns using the healing artifact on Galina and Ilya.

‘Fuck, it won’t be enough because it is a B-Grade artifact.’

That was right.

He didn't know why, but he came back to find Galina bleeding as well.

To be more specific, there was a giant hole in her stomach. It probably started from her uterus.

There was something squirming inside her stomach.

This should be that Messiah artifact, however…

‘What the hell is this…?!’

This did not look human at all.

Was it because it was an artifact? Or was it because this was not the Messiah but a different monster?

He was sure about one thing.

‘This is an artifact that would change the world.’

It was an extremely strong artifact. It was not a normal Divine-Grade artifact.

This artifact's power would increase based on the level of faith and the level of awareness people had of Christianity.

It was the greatest religion-type artifact for a reason.

Although this dating system started in Europe, the birth of the Messiah was such a big event in human history that the years were divided into B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini).

‘This bastard is one that can swallow all of humanity.’

But it was nothing like the Messiah at all.

“This damn insect…!”

That was why Ju-Heon decided that he needed to get rid of this thing.

However…

“Ugh!”

[Move your hand away, you arrogant human!]

“This son of a bitch…!”

Ju-Heon was grinding his teeth after having his arm bitten and channeled his Dominance.

However…

[You can’t make me self-destruct with such a weak Dominance!]

The bastard cut Ju-Heon’s arm off.

“Ugh!”

Ju-Heon groaned from the terrible pain.

He was losing a ton of blood. However, the healing artifact did not stop working.

It was because he knew that both of them would lose their lives the moment he stopped using this artifact.

[Alright, next is your damn head…!]

It was at that moment.

Flash!

Ju-Heon’s eyes flashed red and the artifact started screaming.

[This bastard… wait… ugh!]

Ju-Heon’s Dominance was finally working. The artifact was in pain as it was being destroyed.

[Aaah! This human bastard!]

“You shitty son of a bitch!”

Craaaaaack!

Ju-Heon had a vicious look on his face as he destroyed the artifact.

That was when the priests barged in.

“You bastard!”

They knocked Ju-Heon down as soon as they entered. However, they gasped after seeing the artifact he destroyed.

"Fuck, the Messiah artifact was destroyed?!”

Was it because it was born premature? Or was it because of his unawakened skills that would allow him to be the Majesty in the future?

It wasn’t completely dead, but it was destroyed quite severely.

"Fuck, call a restorer!”"Excuse me?! There is no restorer in the world who can restore something like this……!”

This was long before the genius restorer, Yoo Jaeha, had appeared in the world.

A bishop quickly shouted.

"Then Galina, what about Galina?!”“She’s still alive!”“Okay, then we will take Galina with us as well. Who says she can’t conceive the Messiah once more?!”“Quickly patch up her stomach and take her!”“Even if she can't do that, the Saint Mary artifact is a SS-Grade artifact!”“Kill the other two bastards here!”

They quickly tried to drag the bloody Galina out.

Ju-Heon, who had a gun pointed at his head, urgently flailed around, but it was difficult.

‘Fuck, I don’t have any artifacts left…!’

But at that moment…

“Get your hands……off of her.”“!”

Ilya, who had been down on the ground, grabbed their legs.

“Fuck, this almost dead bastard!”

They shot Ilya in the body and in the head.

Tang tang!

“Ugh!”

But Ilya didn't die and broke their feet.

Craaaack!

“Aaah!”

Ju-Heon was shocked to see this. This strength and vitality were definitely coming from an artifact.

But Ju-Heon cursed after realizing something.

“Hey! Are you crazy? You used a fucking devil-type artifact?!”“!”

That was right.

The thing that was allowing Ilya to move right now was a devil-type artifact. It was the devil that had been possessing Galina.

[Human, I will make an exception and respond to your calling.]

Had Ilya offered it his life or something? The devil artifact had become curious and reached out to him.

But he was not controlling it. Nobody in the world knew how to use devil-type artifacts yet.

Ilya was the one being controlled.

‘I'm sure I’ll be swallowed by that devil artifact as soon as this is over.’

But it didn’t matter.

“I just need to kill these motherfuckers….!”

‘This crazy bastard!’

Veins were visible all over Ilya’s body.

His arteries finally exploded and his blood spurted out from his eyes, nose, and ears, as if he was being eaten alive by the devil from the inside.

The priests screamed at the same time.

The devil was going berserk, swallowing all of the priests.

“Aaah!”“Wait, stop! Aaah!”

Puuk!

Puuk!

The devil artifact instantly killed priests handling S-Grade and SS-Grade (Divine-Grade) artifacts.

It was showing overwhelming strength.

“Save me! Aaah!”"Stoooooop!”

The problem was that the vicious blades aimed for Galina and Ju-Heon as well. It was as if it was trying to eat up all human bastards in the area.

It was at that moment.

“This guy’s gone nuts!”

‘!’

Ju-Heon blocked Ilya’s attack. Of course, Ju-Heon had no artifacts left.

All of the artifacts he had on him were destroyed and the priests’ artifacts were destroyed by this damn devil.

However…

“Galina……?”

There was just one artifact left here.

There was this artifact called Galina. Ju-Heon was using the holy artifact that Galina had turned into.

Furthermore, this artifact was so miraculous that it even healed his arm that was cut off.

But Ilya, who regained consciousness for a moment, seemed anxious.

"Why is Galina…?!”“Hey idiot. It is the artifactification. She's turning into Saint Mary’s artifact!”“……!”“It’s probably because she is considered to have given birth to the Messiah. Mary’s artifact is that kind of artifact.”

Ju-Heon then used the SS-Grade Saint Mary artifact to suppress the devil.

Flash!

“Ugh!”

It wasn't hard to suppress it because holy artifacts and devil-type artifacts were incompatible with each other.

‘Well, this son of a bitch will die too if I take the devil out with this.’

That was the risk of being dominated by a devil artifact.

However…

“Ilya, please don’t cry. I hate seeing the person I love crying…”

Galina hugged Ilya while crying.

“Ilya, I am okay so send me off while I am still human.”“!”

Galina picked up a gun from the ground and put it in Ilya's hand. Ilya became anxious.

"Wait, Galina…! What are you doing?!”“Ah. I really wanted to make love to you at least once before I died.”"Galina!”

Ilya tried to cast the gun aside. But Ju-Heon tightly held it in his hand.

“Shoot her.”“……!”“You should be able to see it. You should be able to tell how she is right now. At least grant her her last request.”

Ilya clenched his eyes shut. Galina’s body was slowly turning into an artifact, slowly turning into a monster, from the leg up.

Galina would probably lose her personality and turn into a monster in a few seconds.

There was no way to save her.

He silently cried. She gently caressed Ilya’s face.

“Ilya. This should save you from being swallowed by the devil. You have to become a teacher like you wanted, okay? You must live a very long life.”“……!”

Ilya bit down on his lips after seeing the happy smile on Galina’s face.

Tang.

The gunshot echoed throughout the area.

“She was fated to die from the moment she conceived an artifact inside her.”

That was what Ju-Heon told Ilya.

Maybe he was trying to lessen the burden in Ilya’s heart.

“And the Vatican would have found Galina sooner or later. She did not end up a victim because of you.”

However, Ilya could not respond.

He just silently cried while holding the dead Galina’s body.

The devil wasn’t a problem anymore.

The devil that had tried to swallow Ilya was slammed around by Ilya’s Dominance the moment Galina died.

Killing a person you love… Galina must have known that that was the condition required to control a devil-type artifact.

A devil had been possessing her for a long time after all.

It was at that moment.

Flash!

Galina’s corpse started glowing and it turned into an artifact.

It was Saint Mary’s artifact, even though it could not be used anymore because the core was destroyed.

Ilya picked it up and handed it to Ju-Heon.

“Take it. You said you need to become a Monarch.”“……!”“……I'm not sure of it, but I have heard rumors. Apparently there is a genius restorer who can fix anything. Get this restored and use it. Galina won’t have a problem if it is you using it.”

Ju-Heon smacked his hand away.

“It’s fine. I don’t need something like this.”“What? …I thought you really needed to become a Monarch. You probably can't find a SS-Grade artifact other than this one.”“I said it’s fine.”

He didn't want to become a Monarch using this artifact.

“I'm going to find an even better artifact.”

Something felt off about this artifact.

He didn't know it at the time, but maybe Ju-Heon’s instincts were telling him that this was an artifact related to Un-knowns.

“It’s okay. There's still a SS-Grade artifact to aim for.”“Huh? Are you crazy? That’s an artifact in one of the 7 Great Tombs……”

Ilay turned around after hearing sirens in the distance.

“Pandora will be here soon. Hurry up and run.”“You’re not running?”“I’m sure they will keep chasing me even if I run. I killed my peers. I will face a religious hearing and an artifact hearing before they probably execute me.”“……!”

Ilya had made up his mind that he would soon follow her when he shot Galina.

“That is why…I can't be your errand boy even though I lost the bet.”

Ju-Heon was about to say something when Ilya activated the devil artifact.

"Goodbye. Seo Ju-Heon. Make sure you become a Monarch.”

That was the last Ju-Heon saw of Ilya.

“Ho, in some aspects, you were the very first to meet the Captain-nim.”“Pretty much.”

Ilya grumbled while drinking some more. He expected that to be the last time he saw Ju-Heon, but…

“Who knew I would see that son of a bitch again a few years later?”

That was right.

A few years after that incident… The two of them would meet again.

It was during a mission where TKBM was cooperating with Kwon Hyuk Soo.

‘The aftermath clean-up crew my little brother is looking after will be joining you for this task. Get along with them.’

Ju-Heon had taken his now larger team to the meeting location at Chairman Kwon's orders.

He saw it once he got there.

He saw that familiar face among the people who showed up as the aftermath clean-up crew.

Ju-Heon saw the silver hair… No, the once silver hair that was almost completely white now from the stress of handling a devil artifact, and grabbed the guy.

‘Wait. You’re Ilya Volgof, aren’t you?!’

‘C, Captain-nim? Do you know him?’

‘Your hair color is different, but… you're the guy I saw in the Vatican…!’

Ilya seemed to have realized something as he frowned and pushed Ju-Heon away.

‘Get lost. You got the wrong guy.’

‘Like hell I did, you son of a bitch. More importantly, why are you working for old man Kwon Hyuk Soo? Weren’t you dead?’

Ilya sighed while recalling the past.

“Pandora said they should keep me alive as the first devil artifact user and that motherfucking devil wouldn't let me commit suicide. Fuck. I then got my hands on a memory artifact. It was great that I got to use Freud's artifact, but it couldn't erase a person’s own memories. It was a waste. I just ended up being noticed by Kwon Hyuk Soo because of it. I guess I received Divine Punishment for trying to forget about Galina.”

Ilya then clenched his teeth.

It was because he remembered how Ju-Heon, whom he was seeing again for the first time in a few years, had become much stronger.

He really did get one of the 7 Great artifacts and had the strength equivalent to the Monarchs. He had been scouted by TKBM and had his own subordinates.

‘You were just a bum when we first met!’

Ju-Heon had snorted and said the following.

‘Whatever. Time for you to pay up.’

‘What?’

‘You’re alive so you have to be my errand boy now. Like hell I'm going to let you die. You're my shitty dog now.’

‘?! What did this motherfucker just say?’

“Well, I am still thankful to the Captain.”

Saint Mary’s artifact had been auctioned off while Ilya was being tried.

Ju-Heon had recovered that artifact, Galina, for him.

Ju-Heon had swiped it while the Monarch of Panhandling was selling it to Kwon Hyuk Soo. He even created a grave for her.

Ilya buried that artifact in the grave.

Chloe asked a question.

“Umm… shouldn't this scammer be able to restore that artifact? Then you might be able to meet Galina again…”“Oh, that’s right! I'll do you a favor and restore it for our little chick!”“No, Galina probably can't come back even if you restore it.”

Galina had already died at that time.

Only her corpse ended up as an artifact.

“Anyway, all of us ended up being dragged in by that damn Captain one by one.”“Yeah. But who would have known? That guy really ended up as the King of the Artifacts.”“But he’s such a motherfucker…”

It was at that moment.

“Oh? You shitheads gossiping since I'm not around?”“?!”

Everybody gasped in shock.

“C, Captain-nim!”

Ju-Heon, who had shown up at the bar at some point, was smiling viciously.

“You guys are so free that you have time to talk shit about me?”“N, no, that’s not the case!”

The screams of the team members echoed through the bar.

Some time after that…

It was time for Ju-Heon’s beautiful wedding.

There was also a suspicious dream(?) about having a baby.