Tomb Raider King : End Line - Chapter 09

========== CHAPTER 9. COCKY BASTARD (4) ==========

As Ju-heon countered with his Dominance, Majesty Yoo Jae-ha inwardly furrowed his brow.

Then, he soon shrugged his shoulders with a sly air.

“Oh, a rookie Majesty who hasn’t even awakened yet is holding out against this?”

With those words, the air cooled down. He had released his Dominance. While the team members caught their breath, Majesty Yoo Jae-ha brought up an unexpected topic.

“In your world, Prometheus and Gaia must have been the problem. My side was different.”

Julian showed interest.

“Then was there a Pandora there too? Where the monopolizers ruled….”

However, Majesty Yoo Jae-ha replied with a sneer.

“I wish it had been like that.”

“…What?”

“There are various Majesties in each worldline. Just as you created the Guardian, the methods of ruling with artifacts are all different. For example, there’s a world where the death penalty is decided by a national referendum.”

The death penalty by national referendum?

“Yeah. That exact show I showed you, Seo Ju-heon. You got angry, but what I showed you was just a taste.”

“!”

“Oh, right, there’s also a worldline where you, Seo Ju-heon, are a female Majesty. An ant-woman.”

“?!”

Wait, what did you just say?!

“Anyway, the goal of the god-level artifacts of the 4 Great Civilizations, which are the highest tier, is one thing. The destruction of the worldline, or its complete takeover.”

Julian frowned and asked.

“There’s something I don’t understand. Why do they antagonize humans to that extent?”

Majesty Yoo Jae-ha smiled coldly.

“God-level artifacts weren’t originally artifacts.”

Everyone froze.

“What do you mean by that.”

“God-level artifacts… were actually gods. Some ‘blacksmith’ turned them into ‘objects’.”

Majesty Yoo Jae-ha placed his hand on Ju-heon’s heart.

“And the Majesty’s heart isn’t an ordinary heart. This is what those bastards are aiming for. Majesties also submit to the artifacts because they don’t want to die with their hearts ripped out.”

“…….”

“Well, in the end, I also didn’t want to die, so I stole their dimension-traveling artifact and ran away… haa….”

He cast his gaze toward the sky.

“But they followed me all the way here?”

……What?

At that moment.

Space split open, and strange figures emerged.

[Majesty like a rat.]

[To think you’d run away to this worldline.]

[However, it actually worked out well.]

The highest-tier artifacts of the 4 Great Civilizations revealed themselves like grim reapers.

Majesty Yoo Jae-ha whispered quietly.

“The fact that the supreme gods have descended in person means someone is going to die here. You don’t want to die, right? If you come under my command, I’ll lend you the dimension artifact. Nice to meet you, subordinate?”

“…….”

I’m asking why you are the boss.

“You want to find your daughter.”

I’m asking what that has to do with anything.

“Your daughter must have been taken by those supreme god artifacts. You’ll need a dimension-traveling artifact to head to where those bastards are, right? If you come under my command, I’ll lend you that artifact.”

“Hah, seeing as you keep talking about slaves, I guess you get something if I submit?”

“You’re quick on the uptake.”

However, Ju-heon sneered.

“I don’t need your artifact. I have a dimension-traveling artifact on this side too.”

Then Majesty Yoo Jae-ha frowned as if disgusted.

“A dimension-traveling artifact, don’t tell me that’s a Chaos Artifact?”

“Hah, to think you know the artifact I possess. You’ve done a lot of research on me.”

“Chaos? Do you really want to fall into chaos? Why are you so barbaric? Are you saying you’ll charge into a cosmic black hole just to go to another world?”

Majesty Yoo Jae-ha shook his head.

“In the first place, you can’t even get there with Chaos.”

“What? Why?”

“‘Those bastards’ are hiding in a place no one can find. To avoid even the contractor’s orders.”

“What?”

“”

At that one word, Ju-heon’s eyes widened.

Amaterasu?

A myth popped into Ju-heon’s head.

[The sun goddess Amaterasu. She was enraged by her brother’s rampage and hid inside a cave. Because of that, the world was plunged into darkness, and the gods held a feast to lure her out.]

“Anyway, she’s famous for being a god who hides… don’t tell me.”

Yoo Jae-ha nodded.

“Yes. Only that goddess avoided being turned into an artifact. And that ‘cave’ where the god was hiding…… has become those bastards’ hideout. And-”

It was then.

“#(&*#…….”

“……?”

Ju-heon frowned.

Yoo Jae-ha’s voice was strange. It sounded like strange noise, like a mechanical sound, and then it became words that couldn’t be understood.

“What?”

“#$($#&!!”

“%$*$&&!!”

“???!!!”

It wasn’t just Yoo Jae-ha.

[The blockade of language begins.]

All the team members behind Ju-heon couldn’t understand each other’s words.

Ilya shouted, waving his hands as if angry. But that sound was not a human language.

However.

[It is okay.]

Crow!

[You can speak through the status window.]

Since they couldn’t communicate, Crow attempted to converse through the status window.

‘As expected of Crow.’

It was a good idea.

“More than that, a blockade of language? Don’t tell me-”

[That is correct. The Curse of the Tower of Babel, the blockade of language.]

As expected!

Ju-heon realized.

The Curse of the Tower of Babel.

Ancient civilization. Humans who wanted to surpass God built a tower, and God, considering it insolent, cast a curse. A curse that scattered humans by making their languages different.

In other words, this is the ‘blockade of language and understanding’.

Indeed, this curse spread across the world.

Kwajik!

Towers began to rise in various places.

Thousands of tongues rose and spewed out from various places on the ground.

“……!”

People opened their mouths, but words did not get through. The military lost command, and meetings became meaningless.

Ju-heon furrowed his brow.

‘Is this the work of those 4 Great Civilization artifacts?’

Sure enough, it was then.

Ting!

A massive book appeared in the middle of the sky.

‘A book?’

[Nice to meet you! This is the first time we’re meeting face-to-face instead of through messages, right? 187,487th Majesty?]

“!”

The book was looking at Ju-heon.

At the same time, Ju-heon realized the identity of that book.

“That red status window?”

Sure enough, the book giggled.

[My name is Rulebook. That’s right, I’m the one who offered you the [Obedience] [Slaughter] [Neglect] [Negotiation] proposals!]

[Of course! Our brilliant Majesty stabbed us in the back, though!]

The Rulebook, which had been opening its eyes menacingly, grinned.

[Well, it’s fine. You’re the one who refused when I gave you the chance, and we’re just proceeding according to the original plan.]

If it’s the original plan, does it mean that ?

At the same time, a card floated in the air.

It was none other than the Tower collapsing.

The image of the Tarot card where it’s destroyed by thunder and humans are falling. And following that, a strange, playful tone followed.

[That’s right. The Humanity Extinction Scenario begins!]

[The world returns to the silence before civilization♥]

[If you stop all the scenarios, a gift will be returned, but if you fail, humanity will be destroyed!]

[Will you be able to stop the scenario!]

At the same time, a red message window appeared in front of people all over the world.

People all over the world were stirred up.

[Time limit until humanity’s extinction 138:34:24]

Soon, a blue status window appeared in front of Ju-heon.

[The Curse of the Tower of Babel – Blockade of Language]

[It intends to cut off ‘understanding’ and ‘communication’ between humans.]

[All linguistic means such as conversation, commands, and communion are beginning to collapse.]

[Scope: Global]

“…Global?!”

The disaster isn’t limited to this area, but the whole world is the target?

For a moment, Ju-heon’s face turned deathly pale.

It’s understandable, because if it’s the whole world, it’s a problem. If this happens, regions at war, hospitals during surgery, many places will fall into chaos.

And-

‘……Control tower.’

Imagining the moment when thousands of airports responsible for air routes and those countless airplanes fall into communication errors, a chill went down his spine.

‘If they collide because they can’t talk right now……’

Ju-heon bit his lip.

Right now, communication must have collapsed in every control tower, military base, hospital, and airline across the world.

‘A catastrophe could happen at any moment.’

Must stop it.

The moment that thought hit him, a person entered Ju-heon’s field of vision.

“Ilya! Stop time!”

He called him almost as if shouting.

However, Ilya widened his eyes and shook his head.

“$##&!”

He didn’t understand Ju-heon’s words. The curse of language had already spread.

But would he give in to that?

“You’re just a book, are you playing games?”

Ju-heon immediately brought out a solution.

(Continued in the next episode)