Tomb Raider King
chapter-8

Translator: miraclerifle

Boom!

The underground passage started to shake after Ju-Heon touched something in the darkness. The area around him started to shake at first before the shaking started to move down the corridor.

Linda and Abe who just got in through the entrance could not help but be shocked.

“W, what is that noise?”

Linda seemed to have detected danger as she quickly turned on a flashlight. She could see a cave that looked like a large serpent had slithered through.

There were many different paths as well. She was certain that these underground passages were created because of the Tomb Appearance. There were no stalactites as this was not a real cave.

Abe who was tense as he looked around started to laugh.

“Damn, the sound of water in the distance makes me think of a water park......”

However, Abe and Linda both started to frown at that point.

‘Hold on.

The sound of water?’

Kugugu.

It was not just the sound of water. The sound that was quiet at first was sounding more like a roaring waterfall now.

“W, what the hell is this?!”

Linda and Abe could not help but scream once the noise reached in front of them. A large tsunami-like wave was charging toward them.

“F*ck!”

“What is that?!”

They started to run as fast as they could with pale expressions but there was no way humans could outrun nature. Their screams as they got swept up in the wave echoed through the cave.

“Aaaaah!”

Ju-Heon started to laugh once the sound carried through the cave to where he was walking. He seemed to know what happened to them just by listening to the sound.

“Retards, who told you to follow behind me?”

Ju-Heon chuckled as he continued to walk to the center of the tomb. He had not done much. All he did was activate one of the traps in the ruins.

You may ask how he knows about traps that are in a tomb he's never entered before, but that was no issue for Ju-Heon.

He memorized pretty much all of the different types of traps inside the tombs, but even if he hadn't he would be able to tell as soon as he entered into one of these ruins.

Why?

Because there are Toombglyphs inside the tombs as well.

The text revealed itself as Ju-Heon pointed his lighter toward the wall. Ju-Heon started to laugh as they looked like something you would find in an ancient ruin or inside the tomb within a pyramid.

[The Toombglyph reading comprehension speed has increased due to your Linguistics skill.]

That was the reason. These texts gave brief descriptions about the tomb. It even provided useless information such as if the artifact in the tomb preferred men or women.

‘Based on the text, it looks like it is that artifact I know about.’

Ju-Heon continued to walk. The tomb did not look completely finished as it had not been long since it appeared, but it felt as if the smell of mold was getting worse as he got closer to the tomb’s central region, the core of the tomb where the artifact was located.

‘Tombs smell like shit no matter whose tomb it is.’

It happened as Ju-Heon walked down a slope.

“Ah.”

He arrived at an open area with a transparent pond. It resembled a basin at the bottom of a waterfall, too small to be a lake and quite large for a pond. It was bright even though Ju-Heon was in a dark cave because of the shining pond.

Ju-Heon smiled as he looked at the pond.

“I found it.”

He was certain. That artifact was here. Ju-Heon held up his Egyptian knife artifact.

He then did something that would make other people scream in shock.

Splash!

He threw that precious artifact into the pond. He had no hesitation as if he was throwing some food to some goldfish!

People like Abe or Linda who knew about artifacts would probably faint in shock.

However, something amazing started to happen.

Boom!

The ground started to shake again before a white monster jumped out from the pond. It looked large enough to swallow a person whole.

[Another poor soul seems to have dropped their item into the pond.]

What came out of the pond was a large white snake the size of a building. The completely white snake that showed up like a mountain spirit opened its mouth.

Inside the scary looking mouth were two artifacts that looked the same as the knife Ju-Heon threw into the pond. The only difference was that one was gold while the other was silver.

The snake looked at Ju-Heon as if it was inspecting him before it started to smile.

[Tell me. Is the gold knife yours or is the silver knife yours?]

Ju-Heon let out a loathing sigh as if he had been waiting for those words.

It's here. This arrogant artifact bastard.

‘Which of the two is mine?’

Ju-Heon was snorting internally at the snake’s question.

‘It’s asking such an obvious question.’

This tale was something any adult who knew traditional fairy tales had to know.

< The Gold Axe and the Silver Axe >

He was certain. The artifacts in this tomb were the gold axe and the silver axe. This current situation was a sort of test by that damn artifact bastard.

You needed to successfully pass some sort of test like this to earn the artifacts inside the tombs. This was the only way for an artifact to accept you as its master.

Ju-Heon started to calculate the value of this artifact as he knew that was the case. There were many times he almost died a dog’s death for an artifact that didn’t benefit him much at all.

‘Well, at least the gold axe and silver axe aren’t total trash.’

If he remembered correctly, the gold axe and silver axe were B-Grade (Rare-Grade). He should first take something at that level.

The snake urged Ju-Heon at that moment.

[So, which one is yours?]

Ju-Heon's gaze moved to the items.

The gold axe and the silver axe, no, gold knife and the silver knife. They definitely looked valuable. However, it wasn’t like Ju-Heon didn’t know the answer he needed to give.

“Neither of them are mine.”

The snake’s eyes curled up like a crescent moon before taking out a familiar knife this time.

[Then is this one yours?]

It was an iron knife. It was obviously his and anybody who knew about the tale of the gold axe and the silver axe would answer like this.

‘You're right. That one is mine.’

Then you would receive both the gold axe and silver axe for being honest. That was how you cleared this tomb. That was probably how those bastards from the US or Japan took this artifact in the past.

The gold axe silver axe was based on a quite famous story called < Hermes and the Honest Woodcutter > from Aesop’s Fables, with similar stories passed down in many countries.

However.

‘Those morons would have just taken it without knowing anything.’

That was why Ju-Heon asked the smiling snake a question.

“Can I confirm if it really is my knife?”

[Of course.]

Ju-Heon’s gaze turned cold as soon as he received the knife.

And then...

It happened in an instant.

Puuk!

[Gwaaaaaaaak!]

The snake started to scream as it coughed up blood. Ju-Heon had stabbed the Egyptian priest's knife into the snake’s body without even blinking his eyes.

The knife that cut through the slippery scales cut through the snake’s flesh as if he was slicing sashimi and cut through the organs.

Thud! Ju-Heon didn’t care even as blood splattered and he felt some bones at the tip of his knife.

Boom! Splash!

In the end, the snake’s bulky body slammed down on the ground. The bloodied snake was coughing up blood with eyes full of disgust.

[Just why......!]

“Why?”

[Both the gold axe and the silver axe would have been yours if you just answered honestly!]

The mountain spirit sounded as if he was dying but Ju-Heon who knew a lot about artifacts started to laugh with ridicule.

“Shut up. My philosophy is to not trust artifacts.”

[What?]

“Who knows if there is a curse on that artifact?”

[......!]

The snake started to shake as if it felt guilty. The gold and silver artifacts could be seen in the snake’s shaking eyes.

Ju-Heon sneered at the response as if he had expected this.

‘Of course that’s the case.’

That was the case.

The gold axe and silver axe took over 10,000 lives in the US in the past. Regular people turned into Jason and killed others with joy.

That was all a terrible joke from the gold axe and the silver axe. They had sent cursed fake artifacts as presents to do such terrible things.

It was the same with this bastard here.

“Who knows if I'll end up a crazed murderer if I take these presents from you.”

The snake’s eyes opened wide as if Ju-Heon's words stabbed him in the heart.

[Ugh! How does a mere human know about......!]

“How?”

The smiling Ju-Heon held the Egyptian priest’s knife as he walked toward the snake.

And then...

Puuk!

[Aaah!]

He stabbed the snake’s body once again. The snake who already had some of his flesh removed and now had another hole in his body started to shiver.

“Tools are made for humans to use. So, how would it make sense if a human could not read the tool's thoughts?”

Ju-Heon who had experienced the future knew about the despicable true nature of these artifact bastards.

People first thought artifacts were angels bringing wealth and luck, however, they eventually found that that was not the case.

‘You can’t open your hearts to these damn tools.’

Artifacts did give many abilities and wealth to people, however, their true nature was that of parasites.

If the three greatest human desires were for food, sex, and sleep, these bastards’ three greatest desires were to look down on humans, ridicule humans, and kill humans.

It was a sort of pay the price for our abilities and the wealth we gave you. These tiny devils seduced humans with amazing abilities before crippling and trying to kill their so-called masters.

‘That is why artifacts need to be taught a lesson.’

Humans started to suppress these arrogant bastards with a special ability that only humans possessed.

They used something called, < Dominance >.

“Hey artifact, be good and submit.”

Ju-Heon twisted the knife in the snake's body as he said that.

[Ack!]

Boom!

The white snake spurted blood as he flailed. He seemed to be in more pain because of Ju-Heon’s < Dominance > than the pain from the knife.

Boom boom!

[You human bastard!]

< Dominance > was an ability used to suppress artifacts, otherwise known as charisma. It was something every person had, but if their Dominance was low, forget touching an artifact, they would only be a low-grade user who would be controlled by the artifacts.

‘Well, the public announcement about Dominance won't come for a few years.’

The snake that was in pain from the dominance flailed wildly as it shouted.

[You think you can earn me like this?!]

Normally, you would need to pass the artifact's test to be accepted by them. You would become close to artifacts like that and have them approve of you.

However.

‘I can’t become ill again trying to be accepted by these bastards.’

Artifacts stealthily released some poisonous energy into their masters to make them ill as they got closer to them. It was similar to slowly poisoning someone's food. Then they would try to control their masters once the person got weaker.

By the time people had learned about the true nature of these artifacts, over two thirds of the world was suffering from an incurable illness with a 90% fatality rate, with Ju-Heon choosing to serve Chairman Kwon to get some healing artifacts for that same reason.

That was why he was going to do it differently from the beginning.

“I have no desire to complete your test and laugh along and be friendly with you bastards.”

[What did you say?]

The snake’s eyes opened wide by Ju-Heon started to sneer.

He just needed to loot the tomb’s artifact using force.

“Useless things that can't do anything without humans should just shut up and be controlled.”

[You!]

“Don’t submit if you don't want to. I have no problems destroying artifacts that won’t listen to me.”

Those words made the snake extremely anxious. This artifact could not understand Ju-Heon at all. Based on his short observation of Ju-Heon, this human was someone who was extremely greedy for artifacts. He seemed to be greedier for artifacts than most humans.

But such a human was talking about destroying artifacts? Was he crazy?!

[You crazy bastard!]

However, Ju-Heon glared with a cold and domineering gaze.

“Shut up, you tool.”

It was at that moment.

[Ugh!]

It seemed to have submitted to the pressure or maybe it really thought Ju-Heon was a crazy bastard who would destroy it, but the snake and the pond started to glow.