Tomb Raider King : End Line - Chapter 05

========== CHAPTER 5. DREAM (2) ==========

[You have selected ‘Slaughter’!]

[A wise choice!]

[I will grant you a special blessing befitting a merciless ruler♥]

[Buff 1: Butcher’s Efficiency]

– As you defeat enemies, the Majesty’s combat power increases cumulatively.

[Buff 2: Indomitability]

– Even if you sustain a fatal wound, you will immediately recover to a combat-ready state. Ignores death exactly once.

[Buff 3: Executioner’s Sentence]

– The target designated as an enemy by the Majesty will have their location exposed, no matter where they are in the world. They cannot escape.

[Buff 4: Shield]

– The world of Majesty 187487, who is in a cooperative relationship, becomes a target for basic protection from god-level artifacts.

Ju-heon checked the pouring buffs one by one.

‘Oh.’

It wasn’t bad.

No, to be honest, it was good.

‘Yeah, I was wondering what kind of perks would suit me.’

[Choosing the path of Slaughter instead of the position of Caretaker, that’s amazing. I highly value that audacity, so I’ll give you especially good buffs. It will be a great help for your future Slaughter policy direction.]

[Buff 5: Bulldozer]

– You become stronger the more you hear the words, “This is impossible.”

And he took everything he could get.

[Now, let’s start the removal!]

[Please select the target to delete♥]

“All artifact entities.”

[Excuse me?]

“If they touched my kid, they have to die.”

There was a moment of silence.

And-

[Artifacts are not targets for deletion!]

[Please select from among humanity!]

Red status windows popped up one after another as if asking if he was crazy.

Ju-heon smiled, as if he had intended this from the start.

“Wasn’t I the one who gets to choose what to remove?”

The corners of his mouth curled up menacingly.

“You said it was all up to me, right?”

The red status window replied, seemingly flustered.

It was true that they had lured Seo Ju-heon toward Slaughter, but this wasn’t it.

[That is impossible! How can a Majesty who is supposed to protect artifacts try to get rid of them!]

“Why. You told me to erase whatever I didn’t like.”

[That refers to humans!]

“You should write that clearly then. Where was that written?”

[This is unreasonable…!]

“You artifacts took my daughter. You should have been prepared for this.”

[!]

Ju-heon continued to proceed.

[Executing deletion.]

[Buff Bulldozer effect added.]

Kwang!!!

Artifacts in museums, tombs, and people’s arms all over the world began to scream in unison.

[Kuaak!!!]

[What is this!]

[The Majesty is attacking us!]

The red system window fell into a panic.

[Error! Error!]

[There is no precedent for this kind of usage!]

[Stop immediately! We will give you one more perk, so stop!]

Ju-heon said as if he had been waiting.

“Yeah. Good, good. I’ll swap it. Instead, add Majesty to the targets of the Shield buff.”

[Okay!]

[Modifying.]

[Buff 4: Shield]

Majesty 187487 and 187487’s world become targets for basic protection from god-level artifacts.

Ju-heon smiled, looking satisfied.

“Good. I’ll change the target.”

[Phew, I see now, you were a greedy Majesty. To even secure your own safety, Majesty 187487 is a master of negotiation. Then, that’s….]

“Deletion target, those who touched my kid.”

A moment of silence.

[Hey!]

Ju-heon smiled sinisterly.

“I will definitely erase them.”

A space in the dimensional rift.

Four god-level artifacts faced each other. First, Nüwa slowly raised her fingertips. Something was engraved in her palm.

It was definitely a ‘brand’. Yes, this is the brand of a bound artifact.

“The day our names changed from ‘God’ to ‘Item’. Remember?”

It was Enki who spoke first.

“Thanks to that, I am no longer the God of the Great Flood. I was just classified as a ‘Purification Attribute Artifact’.”

Ra laughed. Short but sharp.

“Gods are not immortal. But there is a cheeky bastard who made gods into tools forever.”

Then, as if everyone was thinking of one person, the gods held their breath.

“‘That guy’ who turned us into artifacts.”

Everything started from that damn ‘Artifact Creator’.

A heavy silence flowed for a while, and Nüwa spoke again.

“I was the one who molded humans. Because of that guy who turned us into artifacts, my hands that rebuilt heaven and earth are now stuffed as decorations.”

Then, the handsome man with long black hair, Ra, nodded bitterly.

“You have it better. I once had the sun rise and set in my name….”

Then, the mischievous-feeling male god, Enki, laughed, “Puhaha.”

“Why, did you become a clock with an alarm function?”

“…….”

Ra glared at Enki as if he was dumbfounded.

That’s right.

The day the gods became ‘artifacts’ because of ‘a single human’.

The eyes recalling that time rippled so loudly that several worlds seemed to be on the verge of destruction. It meant they had that much power.

Vishnu raised a hand quietly. Numerous multidimensional layers were revealed like glass.

“Look. ‘That world’ is the only one among countless dimensions where artifacts have succeeded in being ‘ruled’.”

“Is that where Seo Ju-heon is as Majesty?”

Enki let out a low breath.

They had tried to escape artifact-ization by sending allies to each world.

“Did other world lines succeed?”

At Enki’s question, Nüwa nodded quietly.

“Half succeeded in occupation, and half were wiped out.”

“As expected, the only problematic place is the world where Seo Ju-heon is.”

Once they became artifacts, they were also someone’s contractors. They couldn’t use direct force.

Vishnu said.

“Even so, the flow has already tilted. Now, with just a little more, we can return to being rulers. Not as functions, but as names; not as decorations, but as existences. The lost seats of the gods, we will take them back now.”

At those words, Ra rested his chin on his hand.

“Still, Seo Ju-heon. Since he is the Majesty who subdued Zeus, it would be nice if we succeeded in recruiting him. It would be perfect to seat him in the Caretaker position and use him as hands and feet.”

Enki giggled. His eyes were not smiling.

“Since we already gave him the Executor’s special privilege to recruit him, let’s wait a little.”

“Will it succeed?”

“No problem. Parents crumble when their children are touched. We made him feel fear and gave him an opportunity, so wouldn’t he think about the future calmly? Anyway, he’ll surrender soon like the other Majesties….”

But it was then.

Deudeuk!

Cracks appeared slightly on the bodies of the four top-tier god-rank artifacts.

“!”

[Removal of artifacts begins with the power of Slaughter.]

[Deletion target changed: Those who touched my kid]

[Location captured by the special privilege of Slaughter.]

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

The gods glared at Enki.

“Surrender?”

Enki rested his chin on his hand and smiled leisurely.

“……For a bug-like human, he’s got personality.”

Taking everything he can get and then stabbing them in the back, huh?

But it didn’t matter. Because they were Majesties, their weaknesses were clearer than anyone else’s, and they knew well what those kings wanted. Thanks to that, they had brought tears and despair to countless Majesties.

And-

“Since the negotiation with Seo Ju-heon has broken down, proceed with the scheduled scenario.”

Seo Ju-heon will eventually end up like that too.

After choosing Slaughter and targeting the god-level artifacts for removal. The red window message could not hide its anger.

[Since the negotiation with the Majesty has broken down, we will begin the destruction scenario as scheduled.]

[You will regret this.]

After that, the ability to remove targets disappeared, but the buffs remained.

So, he thought it was a good thing he chose Slaughter back then and stabbed them in the back.

The reason god-level artifacts couldn’t invade openly or come to kill him was probably thanks to the Shield in the buff rights.

‘In the end, to find my daughter, I have to go find those guys.’

Still, thanks to the Slaughter buff, Ju-heon found the location of the god-level artifacts.

[USA LA]

So he threw Odin’s artifact, Gungnir, which could track and pierce the target no matter where they were on Earth, but-

[Attack impossible. Does not exist in this world.]

[Must move.]

Wait, move?

They said it was in the US.

Does that mean there’s another America?

Ju-heon tapped his desk with his fingers as if in thought.

‘Majesty. 187487th.’

It felt strange from the moment he first saw that number.

Being the 187487th meant there were 1st through 187486th.

‘So that means either all the past Majesties died and I am the 187487th…, or there are currently 187487 Majesties existing.’

Which one is it?

It was then.

[Notification]

[A Majesty from another world line is attempting contact.]

[Will you accept?]

Ju-heon narrowed his brows.

‘Another world line?’

Could it be a parallel world?

Ju-heon stood up from his seat.

‘It’s worth meeting.’

There might be a way to find his daughter. That was why Ju-heon decided to cling to this.

“I accept.”

But it was then. A yellow system window popped up.

[Thank you for choosing to meet.]

[Then please choose the difficulty level for meeting me.]

[Easy Mode]

[Medium Mode]

[Hard Mode]

This bastard?

Are you kidding me?

‘You dare set a difficulty for a meeting?’

Ju-heon was dumbfounded, but soon understood.

This was definitely a test they were setting for him.

In short, a test asking Ju-heon if he was qualified to save his daughter.

‘Well, if I have to pick one, I’ll pick one.’

Ju-heon chose the mode without hesitation.

(To be continued in the next episode)

※ Author’s Note

– It has no effect while reading, but the that appeared in this episode is Gun, the protagonist of ‘Return of the Disaster-Class Hero’.