Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

Atlas stepped forward and touched the lower center of the massive double door, his palm fully open as he pushed a small amount of Spirit into it.

The moment he did, a deep Drrrr... Drrrr... sound spread from beneath the ground as the floor shook slowly. Tremors travelled across the entire surface of the double door from the exact point where Atlas’s palm touched it, and after a few moments both sides of the massive door slowly started parting while the same heavy sound echoed throughout the surroundings.

Atlas only watched the phenomenon with his usual nonchalant expression as he stored the permit back into his pocket, the Spirit Bag remained hanging behind his back.

A few moments later the entrance had opened wide enough for him to enter, without wasting any more time, Atlas stepped inside the Ruin.

The moment he crossed the threshold, he sensed a presence rushing from his left side. Though it was only a B-rank presence, its speed was enough to reach within an inch of him in an instant. Atlas didn’t even turn his head to look at what had attacked him, time almost seemed to slow from his perspective as he slightly lowered his body. The monster’s claw swept through the air where his head had been just a moment earlier, completely missing its target.

In that seemingly slowed moment, Atlas’s right fist rose from below in a clean upward punch. The speed behind that single movement was so great that even in that slowed perception it looked unbelievably fast. The next instant his fist landed directly on the monster’s stomach.

"KHRRRRRUKKKKKK!!!"

The monster let out a painful roar as time seemed to return to normal. Its body was launched straight upward toward the ceiling, and the next second—

CRAAACK!

The roof fractured from the impact as the monster’s body became embedded inside it, leaving behind a small crater.

Atlas slowly straightened his posture before lifting his gaze toward the monster lodged in the ceiling. He observed it for a long moment before speaking, "A B-rank Monster...but what is its name? There wasn’t any mention of a humanoid-type monster in the permit."

The monster clearly possessed a humanoid body, yet its appearance was different from the ones Atlas had seen before. Thick black fur covered almost its entire body while its muscles looked denser and far more developed than those of an ordinary B-rank monster. Long, slightly curved claws extended from both of its hands, the same claws it had used to attack him just moments ago.

Purple blood slowly dripped from the hole in its stomach where Atlas’s punch had landed, the force behind that single punch had destroyed everything inside its abdomen, leaving almost nothing intact. As the drops of blood landed on the floor beside him, Atlas thought, ’Its Trait probably isn’t useful either. It most likely has something related to claws, but I already possess a claw-related Trait, so there is no point taking it.’

After that, Atlas shifted his attention away from the dying monster and looked around the chamber. Unlike the previous Ruins he had explored, this chamber no longer appeared dark to him.

His perception now extended throughout the entire Ruin, allowing him to sense every chamber and every presence inside it. Before the entrance had opened, however, even he had been unable to perceive anything beyond the sealed door. Now that he had stepped inside, the entire structure of the Cataclysm-rank Ruin had become completely clear within his perception.

As his perception covered the entire structure of the Ruin, Atlas narrowed his eyes as he both sensed and perceived something at the same time. "There he is...the Boss." He spoke calmly while looking in that direction. "Its Spirit Energy reserves are massive, that means the Trait it carries should be much better than what these low-rank monsters have to offer."

His voice remained completely normal, there wasn’t the slightest amusement or excitement on his face, nor did any grin appear. He had merely stated the most logical conclusion from his perspective after sensing the Boss’s Spirit Energy.

After saying that, Atlas stepped forward again. He already knew the entrance to the next chamber was just ahead on the right side, and there were no more monsters left inside this first chamber. He had confirmed that the moment he killed the humanoid monster, since his perception now covered the entire Ruin.

While observing the structure, he also noticed another difference. This first chamber was completely empty. There were no pillars, statues, or any other structures like the ones he had seen inside the Abyss-rank Ruins. As he thought about that, another question surfaced in his mind. ’Hmm...this Ruin is different from the others but...how does a Ruin even mutate? Like the one in Ormolio that changed from Abyss-rank to Cataclysm-rank?’

’Maybe the Guild has information about it...’

With that thought in mind, Atlas finally arrived at the entrance of the second chamber. This time, however, he didn’t enter immediately like before. Instead, he stopped and slowly took a stance. His left leg slid back by about a foot while he lowered his center of gravity slightly. After preparing himself, one final thought crossed his mind.

’Let’s test my speed at its fullest first...’

"Hoooh..."

Atlas slowly released a breath through his mouth as he lowered his body a little further. His lean yet muscular frame remained completely relaxed, but the posture itself made it clear what he was about to do.

The next instant, he disappeared from where he stood.

No, he hadn’t used Mu-ho, nor had he activated Shadow Shift. He had simply started running at his full speed, his physical speed alone had already surpassed the speed of sound by multiple folds. It wasn’t Spirit enhanced, nor was it a movement technique. It was nothing more than the raw physical speed his body had reached after continuously increasing his Attributes through the Codex.

The moment he moved...he appeared throughout the entire second chamber, Hundreds of B-rank monsters and a couple of A-rank monsters filled the enormous chamber, their total number well exceeding several hundred and almost...nearing a thousand.

Atlas reached every one of them before any could even react, he controlled the streAngth behind each punch with precision. Some monsters received a punch directly to the stomach, some to the face, while others were struck in their limbs. As he moved through the chamber at that unbelievable speed, another thought passed through his mind.

’The question is...why are there so many monsters inside a Cataclysm-rank Ruin? The mutated Cataclysm-rank Ruin in Ormolio only had around a hundred monsters in total and just two A-ranks, i still need to learn much more about Ruins.’

That entire thought finished in less than a millisecond while his body continued moving. Atlas never slowed down. Five seconds later, he finally came to a stop at the opposite end of the chamber. His breathing remained perfectly steady, and not a single change could be sensed in his Spirit Energy because he hadn’t used any Spirit at all. Everything had been accomplished through nothing but his physical body.

Only after Atlas stopped did the sounds begin echoing behind him.

"KRUUHHHHHKKK!"

"GUAAHHHHHH!"

"KRRUKKK!!!"

The monsters’ screams filled the entire chamber as the pain finally registered throughout their bodies a second after Atlas’s punches had landed. His speed had been so overwhelming that their bodies reacted first, while their nerves only caught up afterward.

Atlas paid no attention to the screams behind him. Instead, he calmly spoke a single word.

"Originate."

And just like before, the Bloodbound Codex emerged from Atlas’s chest with a slow humming sound. Atlas took the Sangius Stylus from the side of the Codex, but the moment it sensed the blood flowing from the monsters behind him, it reacted on its own.

It slipped out of Atlas’s hand and flew toward the monsters that were still writhing on the chamber floor while blood continuously poured out from their wounds.

The Stylus showed no hesitation, or perhaps it simply didn’t know what mercy was, its sharp tip pierced directly into the nearest half-dead monster and immediately began drawing out its blood. Atlas slowly turned around and watched the scene with widened eyes. ’It can extract blood while the monster is still alive?...What in the world?!’ he thought while observing the strange phenomenon.

Within moments, every drop of blood inside that monster had been drained. Its body quickly dried until nothing remained except skin stretched over its bones. What surprised Atlas even more, however, was that the inside of the Stylus still looked completely empty despite absorbing all that blood, it showed no sign that anything had entered it.

The Stylus didn’t stop there, it immediately moved to the next monster, then the next, piercing every half-dead body and draining every last drop of blood from them. One after another, the monsters dried up until only lifeless bodies remained scattered throughout the chamber.

Nearly half an hour later, the process finally came to an end, and only then did the stylus looked somewhat filled, Atlas watched the Sangius Stylus slowly return toward him. Even before it reached his hand, he had already opened the Codex and flipped to the second page where the Traits were recorded, he was curious to see how many traits he had got just now.

The moment his eyes landed on the page, he noticed something changing. The very first Trait he had ever seen inside the Codex, the same mysterious Trait that had always appeared as "???", suddenly began glitching. The unknown symbols distorted repeatedly before slowly disappearing, and for the first time, its true name surfaced.

Atlas’s eyes widened.

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