Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

Atlas took his steps forward and reached near the massive door.

The purple-black entrance stood in front of him like a wall, and the closer he went, the more he could feel the difference between this place and the lower-ranked ruins he had entered before.

Atlas lifted his right hand while gripping the scythe with his left hand.

His palm touched the empty area of the door.

The moment his hand made contact, all the runes on the door glowed subtly. The glow was not bright enough to cover the entire area, but it spread through the carved lines one after another. The ground beneath Atlas’s boots shook slightly, and dust fell from some cracks around the entrance.

Atlas’s eyes narrowed beneath his hood.

’Hmm, this is way too different from Veil and Hollow...’

In the Veil and Hollow-Rank Ruins, the entrances had been worn and torn. like old and ancient doors. Even if they had Spirit pressure, it was weaker and much easier to understand. This one did not simply open because he had a permit or because he pushed it. It felt like the ruin had checked him first.

Then his focus changed again as the massive door slowly opened.

Drrrr...

The sound echoed through the place.

The gap widened little by little, and cold air flowed out from inside the ruin.

Finally, he entered.

The moment he passed through the entrance, the light from outside weakened behind him.

Atlas looked around for a few moments after entering, but there was almost nothing to look at properly. The whole entrance chamber was completely dark, and even the shape of the place was difficult to see with normal vision.

’Hmm... The monsters are not rushing at the entrance like in the lower-rank ruins.’

Atlas came to that conclusion because he could not sense any monsters close to him. In the lower-ranked ruins, some monsters wandered near the entrance or reacted quickly when someone entered. But here, everything remained quiet.

Atlas continued walking straight cautiously.

The darkness did not stop him much because his perception had become much sharper after his Spirit hit 30.

He could sense the jagged walls around him, the uneven ground beneath his boots.

He could sense the massive pillars stretching upward somewhere in the dark, though he could not see their full height. He could also sense several unknown statues standing along the walls, their shapes were broken.

After some time, he finally stopped.

His brows furrowed slightly.

He sensed many monsters around him at the same time.

They were not far away.

Actually, they were close enough that if this had been a normal fight, he should have sensed them earlier. The problem was that their presence had been hidden until now. It was not that they had appeared suddenly. They had already been there, but their bodies had blended into the dark chamber in a way that made them difficult to separate from the ruin’s background pressure.

’How could I not sense them when they were this close to me?’

The thought appeared in his mind, but it vanished quickly.

This was not the time to think deeply.

Atlas brought the scythe in front of him and lowered his back slightly.

Around him, many glowing eyes appeared in the darkness.

The eyes circled him from different angles, and their bodies slowly shifted in the shadows. Atlas could not see them clearly with normal sight, but his perception gave him enough of a shape.

’They are at least C-Rank each, and this is only the chamber right after the entrance...’

Abyss-Rank.

Even the first chamber had monsters that could match or exceed what beginner explorers would struggle against outside. If an ordinary C-Rank explorer entered this place alone, they might die before understanding how they were surrounded.

Atlas’s eyes remained calm.

’Let’s see their abilities and Traits first.’

He moved.

A burst of force pushed from under his boots, and his body shot toward the closest monster. The movement was not wild like before. Atlas did not leap too far or waste strength. His body leaned forward, his boots pushed at the right angle, and the scythe moved back into position as he closed the distance.

The monster in front of him trembled.

Atlas noticed it immediately.

Its body froze in place, and the fear in its movement was obvious.

It was looking at the scythe.

Atlas still could not see the monster’s details clearly, but through his senses, he formed its shape in his mind. It stood on two legs, but its back was bent forward. Its body was covered in rough fur, and both arms were long with sharp claws extending from each hand. Its mouth opened slightly, but no proper sound came out.

The moment Atlas closed the distance within a second, the monster did not even move.

Fear had reached it first.

Not just this one, the surrounding monsters were also trembling.

Their legs shook, and their eyes remained fixed on the scythe as if the weapon itself had pressed something into their instincts. Atlas did not understand why they reacted like this, but he did not stop to think about it. He was already moving, and inside a ruin, thinking too much during an opening was stupid.

His grip tightened on the handle.

The scythe came from behind him to the front in one clean motion.

The black blade moved with precision.

It sliced through the monster’s throat.

There was no resistance.

Atlas felt the blade pass through flesh and bone as if it had cut through soft cloth. The monster’s throat separated cleanly, and for a small moment, the body remained standing because it had not even registered death properly.

Then—

THUD.

The head dropped on the ground.

The sound echoed faintly across the dark chamber.

Atlas did not stop.

He twisted his ankle and turned his whole figure toward the right. The long handle of the scythe followed his movement, and the curved black blade cut through the next monster’s neck before it could step back. This time, Atlas noticed the weapon’s reach more clearly. He did not need to get as close as before. The scythe’s length allowed him to control the space around him.

A clawed monster tried to move from the side, but its legs were still trembling from the scythe’s presence. Its reaction was late by less than a second, but that was enough. Atlas stepped forward, lowered the handle slightly, then pulled the blade across with a short inward motion.

The third head fell.

Another monster finally forced itself to attack.

It lunged from behind with its claws spread wide.

Atlas sensed the movement.

He did not turn fully. He shifted his left foot and spun the scythe’s handle around his body, and used the back movement of the long weapon to bring the blade behind him. The curved edge passed through the monster’s neck mid-lunge.

Its body continued forward for a moment.

Then the head fell separately.

Atlas’s eyes sharpened slightly.

’The weapon’s range is different from fighting bare-handed.’

Before this, he had to rely on his body, Spirit Claw, Spirit Fang, Qield’s Horn, or direct movement to kill. Now, the scythe changed the distance. He could kill before the monster’s claws reached him. He could change directions with the handle and use the blade’s curve to pull attacks through space. The weapon was long, but it did not feel slow in his hands.

Atlas moved again.

One step, a turn and finally a sweep.

Another monster’s head rolled.

The monsters that had surrounded him could not even form a proper attack.

Some were frozen by fear, some tried to retreat and some tried to attack but before they could Atlas was already upon them.

Atlas killed them one after another.

Every time the blade moved, it passed through flesh without slowing him down. That lack of resistance was strange at first, but Atlas quickly adjusted to it.

Within mere seconds, not even a full minute, the chamber became quiet again.

Around twenty C-Rank monsters lay dead around him.

Heads rolled across the dark stone floor.

Atlas finally stopped.

He looked at his hands.

Then at his legs.

’My strength increased, that much is obvious...but my control also increased?’

His eyes narrowed slightly.

’How?’

This was different from before.

When his Attributes first increased, his body had been difficult to control. His strength caused damage he did not intend. But now, after reaching 30 and holding the scythe, his movements felt cleaner. He did not feel like his body was dragging him forward. He could stop, turn, and swing with more accuracy than expected.

Atlas did not know what caused this.

But he could not stand here thinking.

This was an Abyss-Rank Ruin.

If the first chamber already had C-Rank monsters, then the deeper areas would be worse. Letting his guard down because the first fight ended easily would be foolish.

He pushed that thought aside for later.

When he cleared the ruin or returned to a safe place, he could think about his control properly.

For now, he turned his attention back to the scythe.

’Were they...afraid of this weapon?’

He looked at the long black scythe in his hand.

The faint green lines inside the handle glowed softly for a moment, then became quiet again. The blade remained pure black, and no blood stayed on its edge. Either the blood had slid off too smoothly, or the scythe had not allowed it to remain there.

Atlas exhaled slowly.

’Damn it all, I am getting piled up by unknown things one after another...’

Atlas shifted his attention toward the bloodied monster bodies.

Then he called out.

”Originate.”

Crimson light emerged from his chest.

The Bloodbound Codex appeared as usual, floating in front of him. The Sanguis Stylus detached itself from the Codex almost immediately and moved toward the closest monster body before Atlas even gave any hint or permission.

Atlas watched it silently.

The Stylus pierced into the first body and began drinking the blood.

Then the next.

Then another.

The blood moved into the Sanguis Stylus in thin streams, and the corpses dried slightly as it passed from one monster to the next.

Atlas could only look at the phenomenon because he couldn’t do anything about this and he had already accepted that the Stylus acted on its own whenever useful blood or residue was nearby.

After it finished the last body, the Sanguis Stylus returned to the Codex’s side and attached itself again.

Atlas grabbed the Codex lightly with his free hand and opened the second page.

He wanted to know what type of monster this was.

He also wanted to know what Trait it would give him.

The moment the second page opened, words began forming across it.

Atlas’s eyes moved to the Trait name.

Then he became still.

His mouth slowly opened beneath the mask, and his eyes widened as he stared at the line on the page.