Chapter 85

Chapter 85: The Crow's warning and gift

He heard the voice from around the bow of the ship .

Ju-Heon started to frown after hearing the voice . He couldn't help but recognize this voice .

‘That bastard is…’

As Ju-Heon expected, there was a crow the size of an adult’s head at the bow . The Crow was extremely relaxed as if it was in its own place .

But the problem was…

Boom!

“Ahhh!”

The haughty and overbearing aura coming from the Crow was quite strong .

‘He's at a different level . ’

Even Yoo Jaeha and Irene who had the talents to be Monarchs were finding it hard to breathe . In fact, they were all sweating and shaking .

“M, Mr . Ju-Heon . ”

“Captain-nim!”

“Shut up . Don’t get afraid of an artifact . Is that how I taught you?”

But they couldn’t help but be scared . However, Ju-Heon who was the only one that remained calm in this situation was even scarier!

The humans were not the only ones to be afraid . It seemed to be an Evil Divine-Grade artifact for a reason as the artifacts they possessed were extremely scared as well . Even the rope that was hanging around Ju-Heon was struggling as it wrapped around Ju-Heon's waist .

[#$#&*!]

But its ferocious true nature as an artifact seemed to remain, or maybe because it felt a need to protect its master, it was growling at the Crow .

It happened at that moment .

[#$&#!]

Get rid of that crazy crow bastard!

[#$&#&!]

Get rid of that traitorous bastard!

The artifacts could not hide their murderous intents anymore . Most of them were Yoo Jaeha and Irene's artifacts .

That wasn’t the only reaction .

Some people’s eyes rolled over and they were aiming for the Crow as strong Divine-Grade artifacts had a tendency to make people feel both awe and greed .

“That’s mine!”

“Move!”

“Hold on! Don't go near it!”

However, as they ignored Yoo Jaeha and Irene’s shouts and ran toward it!

[That human is the one I have business with . Do not get in the way, unrelated humans . ]

The Crow's devil-like red eyes flashed . That was all it did but the waves suddenly became rough and the ship tilted to the side .

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

“Aaaaaah!”

The people held onto the ship while the artifacts foamed at the mouth as their bodies started to be destroyed . Irene had to suppress the artifact of destitution that wanted to run wild .

Ju-Heon sternly responded as people screamed at this sudden hurricane-like disaster .

"Stop now . Or you will never be able to see me again . ”

The Crow seemed to lightly smile at that comment . But the wave started to calm down a bit . Ju-Heon started to smile while looking at it .

“Please don’t be scared . That thing is just a stalker . ”

“S, stalker?”

“It’s a perverted guy that pops up every time I'm about to forget about him . Ah, maybe it’s a perverted girl?”

The Crow scoffed in disbelief as it observed Ju-Heon .

[You are still the same . ]

The Crow started to speak once everyone else other than Ju-Heon went inside the ship . The Crow was as overbearing as it had been the first time they met .

[Human, I’ve been watching your actions . But it looks like you want to be a thief instead of a Tomb Raider . ]

Ju-Heon scoffed while still remaining wary of the Crow .

‘Look at this punk . ’

“Did you come here to say such useless crap? I’m out of here if that’s all you want to say . ”

The Crow started to speak again as if to stop him as Ju-Heon turned around without any hesitation .

[I came to see your face but also because I have something to tell you . ]

Ju-Heon started to smirk after hearing that .

‘Punk . You should have acted like that from the beginning . ’

“I'll listen . What is it?”

[There will be artifacts aiming for you . ]

“Artifacts don't choose specific people to aim for like that . Why me?”

[Because you are different from normal people . ]

“Oh?”

Ju-Heon scoffed but it was the truth .

[Artifacts try to trick humans . But forget listening when an artifact tries to make you a suggestion, you’re someone who would just tell it to stay in its lane and destroy it . You also have the skills to do that . ]

In simple terms, he was a thorn in their eyes .

Ju-Heon was excitedly making the artifacts work to do his bidding while most people were pampering artifacts .

[There are leaders among the artifacts . They are the ones who imprisoned me . They will truly hate someone like you who ignores the authority of the artifacts . ]

The Crow continued to speak .

[So, be careful . The artifacts’ movements seem serious lately . Tombs that go beyond your expectations will start to appear in the world . ]

“Tombs?”

[Yes . It’ll be good for you to train the Tomb Raiding skill properly . You must do it . ]

“Is that why you keep provoking me with those messages?”

The Crow laughed instead of responding to that . Ju-Heon scoffed at the fact that there will be artifacts aiming for him .

“Tombs or whatever shit they want to do, let them try all they want . How dare damn tools act so ridiculous . ”

The Crow seemed satisfied . It seemed to like Ju-Heon who was not swayed by damn artifacts .

Maybe that was the reason .

[I picked up something on the way here . I’ll give it to you since I don't need it . ]

“You picked up something? Did you bring something shiny for me?”

[It’ll help you out . ]

Ju-Heon wanted to ask something else but the Crow disappeared after saying that . Some large spheres fell in front of him at the same time .

[You have received ???? . ]

It was larger than a child and seemed to weigh at least 100kg . However, Ju-Heon looked confused as he looked at it .

It was because…

“…Gourds?”

The things in front of him looked like gourds from the Heungbu and Nolbu story .

However, Ju-Heon laughed with joy after seeing the three large gourds in front of him .

[Heungbu and Nolbu's Gourds that a Crow brought over instead of a Swallow (S-Grade – Consumable Artifact)]

Remaining Uses (1/1)

It truly were the gourds from the Heungbu and Nolbu story . These treasure chests were so precious that even the auctions sold them at extremely high costs .

The ones in his memory were B-Grade and lower in rank, but these were S-Grade! Ju-Heon was curious to know what amazing stuff would come out of it .

But he couldn’t help but worry .

‘This is an extremely great artifact but it is a random box of both wealth and disaster . ’

The chances were 50/50 .

Heungbu's gourd would give unbelievable wealth while Nolbu's gourd would give unimaginable disasters .

That was why Ju-Heon was happy but concerned .

He could safely sell it for a lot of money but it seemed like a waste to do that while he didn't want to make others do it either .

‘What should I do? Do I crack these open? Do I not?’

He could just leave it to Irene if she could use her power of wealth .

But at that moment…

Yoo Jaeha, Irene, and George Holten who came out after the crow’s aura disappeared dropped their jaws in shock .

“My goodness, what are those things?”

“What are they? The Crow dropped some precious gourds as it left . ”

“……Not a swallow?”

It happened as Ju-Heon laughed at that comment .

Irene, who was shocked by the size of the gourds, asked her brother for help .

“Bro, please move those to Mr . Ju-Heon’s penthouse . ”

“What? Why should I?”

George pouted but he submitted to Irene's gaze and said that he would do it . However, Ju-Heon waved him away saying it was unnecessary .

“No . I don’t need your help . ”

“W, what? Are you going to make that rope move it?”

The rope’s eyes seemed to sparkle after hearing its name but both Ju-Heon and Yoo Jaeha started to laugh with their hands over their stomachs .

“There's no need to use the rope for such a thing . ”

“Then how…”

“Hey number 1 . ”

“Yes sir . ”

Yoo Jaeha soon took a postcard out of his notebook . Then something shocking happened once he channeled a small amount of Dominance into it .

“Huh? That!”

A familiar painting appeared in front of Yoo Jaeha .

[Vincent van Gogh's incomplete painting (S-Grade: Legendary Hero Grade – Consumable Artifact)]

Remaining Uses (475/500)

It was van Gogh's incomplete painting they thought was burnt away after sucking in Keira’s group!

They couldn’t help but be shocked .

“Didn’t you say that you burned that thing?”

“Yes . It did burn completely . Well, the fake one did . ”

George Holten's jaw dropped after hearing that statement .

"What? It was a fake?”

Ju-Heon smiled disgustingly at that question .

"Do you really think I'm crazy enough to use the real thing to get rid of them? I'm not crazy enough to waste a S-Grade artifact like that . ”

“Ho…!”

It was true .

The artifact they had used against Keira was a fake that Yoo Jaeha had cleverly made . It was just a lesser version that was either A-Grade or B-Grade .

“That is why normally we would not have been able to suck Keira in with a fake . ”

Keira’s Dominance was quite high .

However, her Dominance was shaken because the TSOF bastards had shot her and they were able to take care of Keira with the fake .

They had earned this useful inventory just as Yoo Jaeha was complaining that it was hard to carry all the consumable artifacts around .

“Okay, I put them all away!”

But the rope artifact that wanted to be praised started to berate the S-Grade painting artifact once van Gogh’s artifact was used to store the gourds .

[#$&#&!]

Why did you steal my job! Why did you steal my job!

It seemed to have forgotten that it was just a C-Grade artifact .

It was at that moment .

“Oh, Mr . Ju-Heon, this came for you, but……”

The bikini-clad Irene handed him an international party invitation . It was a large party sponsored by the different governments of the world .

“I looked into it and global corporations, countries, and excavation teams are all gathering together . They said they’re gathering artifact users to entertain us, but…”

“But?”

“Chairman Kwon was the person who sent this invitation . ”

Yoo Jaeha gasped .

“Why is that old man sending you an invitation?! It’s a VIP invite at that!”

But Ju-Heon just laughed .

‘Look at this old man trying to use his head . ’

It wasn’t written on it but he was certain this was a party being sponsored by Pandora .

‘It’s because they ate so much shit trying to forcibly grab artifact users . ’

That was the only reason they were now using such a carrot type of method .

As for why he had received an invitation?

It was obvious . Chairman Kwon was saying they should be allies instead of enemies .

“So, will you go? It is a VVIP invite . ”

“Tell him to get lost . ”

Of course, it was a great opportunity . He could hire some people he met at this thing, but most importantly, the monopolizers of the past, the Monarch-grade individuals might show themselves .

‘It’s a great chance to go check up on the future hindrances, but…’

“I can understand getting an invitation but something feels iffy about the fact that he sent a VVIP invitation . It feels unlucky . ”

Ju-Heon was going to ignore it because it seemed like he was being openly invited to a trap .

But at that moment…

“Hmm?”

Ju-Heon who was about to rip the invitation couldn’t help but become wide-eyed .

The reason was simple .

‘What the hell, why is this punk here?’

He was looking at the schedule of events written on the invitation . The problem was that a familiar name of a person who used to be on his excavation team was on there .

He was an extremely important person in the future .

‘Unbelievable, is it someone with the same name……?’

“Captain-nim? What’s wrong?”

Ju-Heon thought for a moment before smiling wickedly instead of responding .

“Hey number 1, get ready to go . ”

“Excuse me?”

“I changed my mind . We are going to the party . ”

“What? Really?”

“Yes . We can’t turn down their generous offer for us to eat some fancy food . ”

Of course, the person who invited them might end up telling them to leave .

“You made sure to send the invitation to Seo Ju-Heon in Chairman Kwon’s name, right?”

“Yes, young master-nim . ”

The young man smiled in satisfaction at that response .

“But really, Keira that stupid woman . Why did she have to be taken out by such a weird little kid? I worked hard to get her up to that position . ”

Austin Rockefeller .

He was a person from the Rockefeller family that ended up making one of the future Four Emperors . He, the son of one of the wealthiest petroleum industry families in the world and someone who had a Divine-Grade artifact, was talking shit about Keira and Ju-Heon .

It was understandable as he was the one who had let that woman borrow van Gogh’s painting artifact .

“I let her borrow it because she said she was aiming for the Holten family, but that moron . ”

Not only did she lose someone else’s artifact, she couldn’t even finish the Holten family in the process .

“What the hell was Chairman Kwon doing? Why can’t he get rid of such bastards? I gave him a VVIP invitation this time so tell Chairman Kwon to take care of things properly this time . ”

Austin Rockefeller’s secretary looked upset at his annoyed expression .

“We worked so hard to get the Holten couple sick but it was all for nothing . ”

The Russian secretary who said that was surprisingly someone Ju-Heon had run into before .

She was George Holten’s servant, the same one who had massaged Ju-Heon on the Holten plane .

“We even planted you as a spy to George Holten to see what was going on in the Holten family . ”

This was the truth . One of the perpetrators who had gotten the Holten couple sick through the artifact was Austin Rockefeller .

The reason for it was simple .

‘I can’t let the Pandora system artifact choose the Holten family . ’

The Pandora system artifact was the core artifact that was supporting Pandora . That artifact was selecting wealthy families who would help grow the future Monarchs . Basically, it was choosing families to support it . It was telling them to create talented artifact users who would go on to be called the monopolizers in the future .

However…

‘We are enough to sponsor the artifact users . ’

They had to gobble up all the artifacts that the Pandora system artifact provided them .

“Anyway, it was my mistake . My apologies, sir . In the end, Seo Ju-Heon managed to save the Holten family…”

“It’s fine . Nostradamus prophesied the Holten family will be chosen as a supporting family as well so I was giving it a go…wait, what happened to the necklace artifact I gave you?”

The secretary then touched her neck and became anxious .

“That…I don’t know if it was stolen but I lost it . I think it disappeared when I was on the Holten family’s private plane……”

Austin was extremely shocked . Just who could have done it?

‘I made sure to hide the artifact’s aura thoroughly as well……!’

Just who could have done it?

It was at that moment .

Boom!

“Ow!”

“Ah, I’m sorry . ”

Someone had run into Rockefeller who was standing at the entrance before walking past him .

Rockefeller turned around to see what kind of crazy bastard this was to see Ju-Heon who was wearing a fancy suit lightly wave his hand before entering the party hall .

Austin Rockefeller quietly cursed .

“Stupid bitch, he should be looking where he’s walking . ”

Indeed, this was the international party hall sponsored by Pandora and Rockefeller was here at the Pandora party as one of the sponsors .

“This is the VVIP Caucasian only section . Why is a Mongoloid over here…!”

He was about to call the guards when the secretary stopped him in shock .

“Please wait, young master-nim! That person just now was Seo Ju-Heon! That person is the one who destroyed Pandora, revived the Holtens, and got rid of Keira…!”

“!”

Austin was completely shocked . Maybe it was because Ju-Heon had not been around for very long or because he didn’t have any clear pictures of him, but he had not recognized him .

“Why are you only telling me that now!”

He quickly ran into the party hall .