Chapter 369: The Majesty's Ascension 3

His smile seemed to be asking how Ju-Heon could say something like that with a straight face.

“Which bastard is a super nice guy?”

“Who else? Me. I am as gentle as silk.”

Ju-Heon and the corpse made eye contact.

There were no visible eyes but it wasn’t hard to read the bastard's emotions through the empty holes.

This bastard was laughing. He seemed quite pleased. Was he amused that he was seeing another human of a later generation? Or was he laughing that Ju-Heon had noticed him?

The bastard who was sitting in quite an awkward position started smiling.

"When did you find out?”

Ju-Heon nonchalantly responded to the bastard’s question.

“It was obvious. I could tell from the first time I saw you.”

He seemed to be talking about when he first saw the throne. Others just thought that he was a mummified corpse but Ju-Heon had been able to tell.

‘He feels alive.’

It might have been his natural instincts. His animal-like instincts he had developed facing life and death situations in tombs in addition to the detection ability given to him by the Crow made him very sure of it.

Well, his ability to detect things had been severely decreased after the Crow disappeared, but it was still enough.

“So what is it? Are you acting out a scene in a horror movie where a soul can't depart this world because it has some grudges? I don't care so move your ass out of there.”

The corpse just laughed.

“Unfortunately, I cannot get up from this spot.”

"What's wrong? Did your muscles turn into rubber because you've been sitting on your ass for so long?”

The corpse seemed shocked for a moment before it started smiling viciously.

“Shut up. I mean that I cannot hand this position over to you.”

Chaotic aura started bursting out of his body.

‘!’

It was surprisingly the same kind of evil aura that could be felt from evil god artifacts.

[!]

However, he truly deserved to be called the Majesty as his powers were unbelievably strong. He was a corpse now but the base power left in his body was still this strong.

The artifacts became anxious.

[Wait, hold on, something’s off!]

This was too different from the former Majesty’s power they knew about. The Crow was the first to notice this difference.

A message window burst up.

[Warning. It looks like you will have to destroy this corpse.]

It was being wary of its former master as the enemy. The Crow's savage aura burst out of its body. The doggies started foaming at the mouth as well.

[Master! This isn’t the former Majesty!]

[Yes! That guy was a damn pushover! He wouldn't be like this!]

[That’s right! That bastard was like Yoo Jaeha!]

‘Wow, he must have been a real pushover for them to compare him to Jaeha.’

“I thought that I might be able to get some information about the Cradle, but oh well.”

The final Treasure, the < Cradle >, was the base artifact for Un-known. It was Chaos, the ultimate artifact responsible for birth and destruction. This artifact was probably not affected by Chaos from the Greek mythologies alone.

The beginning of most myths that start with dust, darkness, and space…

The different methods passed down through the stories…

It probably encompassed all theories of the creation of the world.

“I thought that you of all people might know where it is!”

Ju-Heon hit something as he said that. It was something that was invisible!

[!]

What Ju-Heon batted away was the corpse’s attack! Ju-Heon then summoned Gungnir and sent it flying.

However…

STOP!

Gungnir surprisingly stopped right in front of the corpse. It had not stopped on its own accord.

“You seem to be pointing at the wrong target.”

It looked as if it could not move forward because of an invisible force.

And then…

“Go stab one of your master’s friends.”

Messages popped up as he said that.

[The opponent is intruding into the Akashic records.]

[Gungnir's ability has changed.]

[Gungnir's ability has changed from ‘until it hits the opponent’s vital point’ to ‘until it kills Ju-Heon's team member.’]

‘This bastard.’

Gungnir roared and started flying again. Ju-Heon reached his hand out and tried to grab Gungnir, however…

[#$$#&!]

Ahhhhhhh, save me!

The spear of destruction slipped between Ju-Heon’s fingers.

‘!’

Ju-Heon barely missed the spear.

Shhhhhhh!

Gungnir was crying about how it didn't want to go as it flew out of the fortress.

The target was probably one of Ju-Heon’s team members!

Ju-Heon tried to resummon Gungnir but it didn't work.

‘Did he take the ownership away?’

No, that wasn’t it. The bastard had just infiltrated the Akashic records and changed the ability!

The Akashic records seemed anxious as well. It might have let its guard down after meeting the former Majesty again. It probably blanked out like the Crow did.

The Akashic records seemed to have snapped out of it quickly as it started speaking.

[Fixing the information forcibly changed by external forces.]

Ju-Heon nonchalantly responded.

"Just let it be. It probably won't change anyway.”

[……!]

It was as Ju-Heon had said.

The Akashic records was temporarily sealed.

‘He definitely used some sort of trick.’

The doggies started chiming in.

[Is that really okay? Master, one of your human slave bastards might die.]

‘Who cares if they get stabbed to death?”

Ju-Heon waved his hand around as if he was annoyed.

“I can just grind them up and sell them if they die.”

[?!]

Did he mean for them to take care of themselves if they didn’t want a hole in their stomach from Gungnir?

Ju-Heon wasn’t very worried. He knew those bastards wouldn't die so easily.

And then…

“I just need to chop your head off before that happens!”

Ju-Heon viciously kicked off the ground and jumped up. He couldn’t even touch this bastard before he contracted with the Crow, but things were different this time.

He was the new Majesty, an energetic living being who was at the same level, if not higher level, than this bastard. He was able to attack this damn corpse now.

The corpse just tapped the throne with its finger.

But at that moment…

[Consuming the former Majesty’s savage aura.]

[Consuming the former Majesty’s savage aura.]

[Stopping the former Majesty’s attack.]

The Crow must have anticipated the corpse’s attack as it quickly consumed the former Majesty’s aura. The corpse’s aura quickly disappeared, as if it had been sucked away.

‘!’

The former Majesty turned toward the Crow.

The smile had disappeared from his face. Was he considering this to be a betrayal?

“Is that guy the one you choose as your master in the end?”

[……!]

The Crow flinched at his angry tone. However, it did not stop sucking in the aura.

It had no plans on going back to the former Majesty.

The former Majesty angrily launched even stronger attacks.

Bang! Babababang!

They were extremely powerful. The power of his aura was intense even though he wasn’t an artifact. Furthermore, this oddly violent power of the former Majesty was something the artifacts had never seen before.

That was why they were all so anxious.

[Hold on, this power really is……!]

[It really is the power of an artifact!]

[This is not a human's power!]

Ju-Heon started to frown.

‘Artifact? Perhaps?’

Ju-Heon disappeared in the blink of an eye. He had activated Chi You’s mask so quickly that it was almost impossible to see.

Ju-Heon was different now that he had become the Majesty. He was more efficient, stronger, and faster.

He looked like a black thunderbolt now. He was gone before anybody had noticed.

Crack!

Ju-Heon truly had a god's body now that he could use 100 percent of Chi You's powers!

People were said to have considered natural phenomenons to be the work of gods from a long time ago. The black thunderbolt reappeared right in front of the corpse!

Ju-Heon was aiming for this bastard with his Artifact Destruction skill. He had not been using it because it doesn't work on humans!

‘Artifact Destruction!’

Something shocking happened as he smacked the bastard with his hand.

Bang!

That sturdy arm of the former Majesty was completely destroyed the moment Ju-Heon’s hand touched it.

Crack!

This was definitely the reaction for Artifact Destruction!

‘No way, right?’

Ju-Heon frowned after noticing something and flicked his finger. The observant rope's eyes flashed as it stretched its long body out of the window.

Screams could be heard from somewhere a bit later.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

The scream started to get closer.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

And then…

Bang!

[#$&!]

This is the one, right? Right?

The rope had dragged Julian over. It looked as if it was fishing for humans.

Julian, who had been dragged up 30+ floors after suddenly being bound by the rope felt as if he was going to die. He felt as if it was a miracle that he was still alive.

Logically speaking, how could it handle a person like this?!

“You damn ignorant punk! I've told you over and over, you…!”

“Ah get lost. You’re so damn loud. Just shut the hell up. Check out that bastard.”

“W, what?”

The randomly dragged over Julian was about to get angry but decided to do as he was asked first.

“What the hell? I already analyzed that corpse last time…huh?”

Julian’s jaw dropped.

He could see into the former Majesty’s body because it was destroyed.

“It's an Un-known!”

“As I expected.”

That was right. This thing they had believed was a corpse was actually an Un-known. Basically, this bastard had already been turned into an artifact.

The difference between him and the other Un-knowns were that…

‘He was turned into an artifact while still alive.’

Julian became anxious.

“Hold on, the former Majesty is an Un-known? Who turned him into one? Was it Merlin? Or maybe…”

It was at that moment.

“An apocalypse artifact.”

The corpse was the one to respond.

Julian and even the artifacts there were shocked.

“An apocalypse artifact?”

“To be more specific, Merlin was trying to use the apocalypse artifacts. Those bastards were the ones who told her how to create Un-known.”

“!”

The bastard said something unexpected.

“That Monarch of Fate bastard apparently made that kind of prophecy. Artifacts would appear and the world will go through four different changes that will make things extremely different.”

“That…!”

The first change was the appearance of the artifacts with the Great Tomb Appearance, the second was the battle for the Heirlooms to select the Monarchs, the third moment was the appearance of the Majesty.

And finally, the fourth moment…

“The apocalypse artifacts are the fourth.”

The corpse looked up to the sky as it said that. There were weird phenomena going on in the sky as if the heavens were opening up similar to what had happened at the creation of the world.

A vicious aura started to reach out of it. The corpse stopped trying to attack Ju-Heon after seeing this. Maybe he had no intentions of killing Ju-Heon from the beginning.

He was probably just testing Ju-Heon.

He sounded a bit urgent after looking at the sky.

“Seo Ju-Heon, listen carefully. I was an incomplete Majesty.”

“Oh I'm sure, you were pushed around by the artifacts and then got fucked.”

“………”

The corpse frowned as if it was not pleased with what Ju-Heon had said, but it continued to speak.

“T…that is true, but it was because there were artifacts I could not control even once I became the King of the Artifacts.”

Those were the apocalypse artifacts. These artifacts were ones that could destroy the world.

These bastards were appearing again with the birth of the new Majesty.

This was always going to happen like this. It had been the same during his time as well.

"Those bastards do not want a human king either. They want to mess with and destroy all humans. The only difference between them and the other artifacts is that these bastards try to kill other artifacts as well.”

“!”

The corpse was saying something unexpected.

"The apocalypse artifacts are not just simple disaster artifacts. Artifacts are born from stories passed down by humans. But history is always recorded by the victors.”

“……!”

“Records that were not able to be passed down. Records erased by the victors. The apocalypse artifacts are artifacts that were buried because they were unable to be remembered after being left out of history.”

“Then…!”

“There are disaster artifacts among them, but that is the foundation of how they came to be. They want to bury the rest of the artifacts similar to what had happened to them. They want others to face the same misfortune they faced and die together.”

That wasn’t all.

“Have you ever put much thought into why artifacts have the nature of harming and killing humans?”

Julian jumped in shock.

“Then are you saying?!”

“Yes, it is quite contradictory, isn’t it? Artifacts that cannot be born or survive without humans want to kill them?”

That was true.

“That is not the artifacts’ original natures. There are evil and fallen artifacts…but they messed with the natures of the artifacts. The apocalypse artifacts’ plan is to get rid of the Majesty, the humans, and finally, the artifacts. You will probably fail as I had failed…”

It was at that moment.

[Aigoo, I guess you're being a good old timer and teaching him about the succession process.]

[It’s useless no matter what you try.]

“!”

The apocalypse artifacts finally appeared. These bastards that were trying to destroy the world were sneering at the Majesties.

[We thought we might be able to use this new Majesty bastard as a scarecrow as well, but…]

[Not this bastard. He has too much attitude.]

[My goodness, what the hell is up with his Dominance?]

Even the mighty apocalypse artifacts seemed to be wary of Ju-Heon's overbearing Dominance.

[Are you the new Majesty, you bastard?]

Ju-Heon and Julian were grabbed as soon as they said that.

‘!’

Julian coughed up blood, potentially because of the terrible aura of the apocalypse artifacts.

[You are unable to escape.]

As Ju-Heon frowned and tried to suppress the apocalypse artifacts… He suddenly pulled his hand back.

[The extremely heinous aura is trying to dye the Treasures with darkness.]

[These heinous artifacts are unable to be suppressed with regular artifacts.]

‘These punks.’

It was at that moment.

‘Okay, things are going as planned.’

Merlin, who was in the shit water, had been waiting for this moment.

‘The fourth cataclysm was talking about these apocalypse artifacts.’

She believed that this was an extremely beneficial opportunity for her.

‘Those apocalypse artifacts will try to kill the Majesty.’

In some aspects, these bastards loathed and treated humans like bugs even more than the Spider, Prometheus, or any Divine-Grade artifacts. And they were strong enough to suppress the Majesty.

That was why the former Majesty was unable to make them submit and was basically a puppet for them.

‘Only the true Supreme Leader of the artifacts, the < Majesty's Cradle > is able to make these bastards submit.’

Chaos. The Cradle that was responsible for the birth of all artifacts and could destroy all artifacts was the only thing that could destroy these apocalypse artifacts. However, this was a mysterious Treasure that no Majesty had been able to submit or even locate where it was.

But Merlin was laughing. She couldn't help it.

‘Yoo Jaeha’s Un-known definitely remembered the Cradle.’

Merlin was very familiar with Louie’s whereabouts from the beginning until now.

‘We should be able to locate the Cradle if we backtrack his steps.’

Basically, Merlin was trying to find the Cradle to control the apocalypse artifacts.

It was the greatest Treasure that even the Majesties couldn't control, but… Merlin had an ace up her sleeve that could make even the Cradle submit.

That was why Merlin was just waiting for the right moment.

‘I will be able to go back to being a human soon and Seo Ju-Heon will end up the same as the former Majesty.’

The Monarch of Fate’s prophesized four changes.

The final change was prophesizing the certain death of the Majesty.

Merlin mentally urged the apocalypse artifacts to get to it.

‘Hurry up and get rid of Seo Ju-Heon! Turn him into an Un-known like the former Majesty!’

And then….

[Man, it’s not like we can kill him since he's the Majesty.]

[Should we turn him into an Un-known?]

[We could do that, but this bastard is such a headache that we won’t be able to control him even if we did that.]

[That’s true. Let’s make him face something more painful.]

[Let’s just send his mind off to eternal bondage so that we can watch him be in pain forever.]

[We need to teach such arrogant human bastards a lesson.]

A bright light flashed as soon as they said that. Some messages then popped up.

[Warning. The Time and Space artifact of the apocalypse artifacts is using its powers.]

[Warning. The apocalypse artifacts are also using Ouroboros's eternal bondage.]

An aura that was stronger than anything anybody could have imagined struck down.

Boom!

Whether it was because of their grudges or because their abilities were set around the end of the world, all of these apocalypse artifacts were much stronger than SS-Grade artifacts.

They were all at least SSS-Grade! This was not something that a human could control.

Because of that…

Crunch.

The Treasures in Ju-Heon's possession instantly cracked. Ju-Heon could sense it at that moment.

Death.

It was the same feeling he had felt at the Crow's tomb in the past. This feeling he was feeling once again was……!

[Human, disappear to a dimension from which you will never be able to make it back.]

[How dare a mere human make artifacts submit.]

[This is the most suitable punishment for an arrogant and proud bastard who doesn't know his place.]

[That is a world with nothing, a place where you will feel emptiness forever.]

[Suffer forever in that world of nothingness!]

Ju-Heon’s consciousness was instantly cut. He only felt pain after that.

How long had he been in pain for? Ju-Heon gasped amidst the pain.

‘Did these bastards really send me to the world of nothingness…?!’

However, the pain he felt in his chest was oddly familiar for being in this world for the first time…

‘Wait, it's familiar?’

Ju-Heon opened his eyes.

“Ahh!”

He was staring at a company ceiling. This was actually the TKBM building.

[The aura of a strong artifact can be felt.]

[It is an extremely strong artifact.]

He could see the date on the calendar along with those messages.

< August 25, 2032 >

There was also a name plate that said < Department Head Seo Ju-Heon >. This was when he was in his thirties.

He was back to a time he knew very well.

‘Fuck those sons of bitches. Is this what they meant when they said that my mind will be in eternal pain?’

But an interesting message popped up.

[The aura of the Majesty’s Cradle can be felt in this world.]