Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

Atlas stared at the massive world below him, and its sheer size alone made him feel slightly overwhelmed. His attention soon shifted toward the enormous layers of water covering the entire planet, and he realized that there wasn’t a single visible landmass anywhere on its surface.

’This must be why she has scales like a fish...’ He concluded that the fish-like traits of the Mermaid race were most likely something they had inherited naturally from their environment and bloodline rather than merely being an appearance they had developed over time.

From the outside, Frostars looked completely normal and showed no obvious signs of the problem Melina had mentioned earlier. However, Atlas understood that the situation hadn’t spread far enough to affect the outer surface of the world yet, which explained why everything still appeared peaceful from their current position.

Melina suddenly spoke from beside him, ”We should go now, Sir Atlas, there are dangerous people roaming around the galaxy. If they detect someone floating in empty space, they will immediately attack and try to rob us.”

Atlas twitched his eyebrows slightly as he heard her words. ’It’s the same everywhere, the strong eats the weak.’ He had already understood that the Galaxy wasn’t some peaceful place simply because it was larger than Eliomor.

There would always be people willing to take advantage of those weaker than themselves, especially in a place where entire Worlds could apparently be treated as resources. Atlas nodded toward Melina, and the two immediately vanished from their positions as he followed her through the Logic Alteration of Guiding.

The next moment, both of them appeared in a completely different location.

They were inside the depths of the water.

Atlas immediately altered the Logic of Breathing around himself, allowing his body to function normally despite being submerged beneath an enormous amount of water. Melina, however, naturally possessed the ability to breathe underwater, so she didn’t need to do anything.

Atlas turned toward her after adjusting his own body, but the moment he saw her expression, his brows furrowed slightly. She was staring toward something in front of them with an expression of shock and fear that was impossible to hide.

Atlas followed her gaze.

A massive landmass was floating above the water without any visible anchor supporting it. At its center stood an enormous silver-colored palace that appeared even larger than many of the grand palaces Atlas had seen throughout Eliomor.

Around the palace were countless smaller structures built from strange materials, each one decorated with different types of fish scales and unfamiliar designs. Despite sharing the same general aquatic theme, every building possessed its own appearance, making the entire place look completely different from the cities Atlas was familiar with.

The floating landmass itself stretched for more than a hundred kilometers, making it large enough to resemble an entire region rather than a simple settlement. However, that wasn’t all. Five other floating landmasses existed around it, each connected to the others by enormous floating chains that formed bridges between them.

The arrangement made it clear that this wasn’t merely a single palace or settlement, but a massive central area where a significant portion of Frostars’ civilization had been established.

Yet none of those things were what had shocked Melina.

Atlas noticed her expression and followed her gaze upward, where a massive ship was slowly descending toward the central landmass. Its enormous size alone made him frown, but Melina seemed far more terrified by its arrival than he was.

She stared at the approaching vessel before muttering in disbelief, ”N-No... T-They are here to take our planet from us while it’s weak.”

Atlas finally understood that something was wrong, although one part of her statement immediately caught his attention.

’They?’

He turned toward her and asked, ”Who are they?”

Melina’s body trembled as she looked at Atlas. ”They are a group of people who go around the Galaxy conquering Worlds and taking their Cores when they are at their weakest.”

Her voice became quieter as she continued, ”They go by the name ’Weimbrons.’”

Atlas turned his attention back toward the massive ship above the central landmass. Its size was enormous, easily surpassing the combined area of all five floating landmasses below it. ’I think this ship itself could cover an entire continent in Eliomor.’ Atlas thought as he carefully observed its structure, already memorizing every detail he could perceive.

Before he could examine it further, a figure suddenly appeared in front of the massive ship.

The man possessed features similar to Melina. Fish-like scales covered his hands and legs, while additional scales extended across his chest and abdomen. He held a massive trident in one hand and stood with his upper body completely bare, allowing the strange aquatic features of his body to remain clearly visible.

Melina immediately recognized the man, and the moment she did, her expression changed completely. She covered her mouth with one hand as her eyes widened in fear. ”F-Father? N-No! Is he planning to retaliate against them?!”

Atlas remained focused on the man as he saw that the man slowly spun the trident in his hand. The man seemed completely prepared to confront the enormous ship above Frostars, and the atmosphere around him gradually changed as Aether Energy began gathering around his body.

The man’s voice suddenly echoed throughout the depths of the water, reaching every part of the surrounding area. ”Weimbrons, I would have liked to ask you to return peacefully, but you would not do that even if I asked. So, without meaningless chatter, let’s decide who gets to live and who conquers whom.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he took a stance and pulled the trident behind him, his grip tightening around the weapon. Aether Energy immediately began gathering around the trident, becoming denser with every passing moment until even the surrounding space began reacting to the concentration of energy.

Atlas’s eyes widened slightly when he saw a massive translucent trident suddenly forming around the original weapon, its enormous size eventually reaching a scale capable of covering hundreds of kilometers.

Atlas could immediately feel the amount of energy concentrated within that attack. ’He’s concentrating the energy this much? It’s even bending the space!’ He carefully observed the phenomenon without looking away, registering every change in the energy and the surrounding space.

The way the Aether was gathering, the distortion forming around the weapon, and the connection between the original trident and its enormous translucent counterpart were all completely different from anything he had witnessed before. He continued observing every detail, trying to understand the principle behind the technique before it was even released.

Before Atlas or anyone else could think further, the man finally spoke.

”Formless Trident — Dawn of the World.”

The massive trident was thrown toward the ship, but instead of simply traveling through the water toward its target, the space directly in front of it suddenly bent inward. The enormous translucent weapon disappeared into the distortion almost immediately, leaving Atlas staring at the empty space where it had been only a moment earlier.

’What just happened?’ He barely had time to process the phenomenon before the space directly above the massive ship began bending in exactly the same manner.

The next instant, the enormous translucent trident emerged from the distorted space above the ship. Atlas’s eyes widened as he immediately understood what had happened.

’So that’s how it works...’ His attention became even more focused as he carefully registered the relationship between the point where the attack disappeared and the location where it reappeared. He still didn’t know the exact principle behind the technique, but it was clear that the trident had used the distortion of space to change its point of emergence, allowing the attack to bypass the distance between itself and the target.

WHOOOSSSHH!

The massive trident shot downward toward the ship from above, forcing the surrounding water away from its path as it descended. The enormous weapon carried enough force to tear through the ship and destroy it completely, while its entire power remained concentrated toward the vessel below.

Just as the translucent trident was only an inch away from reaching the ship, however, a sweet feminine voice suddenly came from somewhere within the massive vessel.

”That won’t do, we were here to ’talk’ things out, you know? Only then would we have taken your World. Now that you have initiated the battle, I guess we can’t avoid it, can we? Fufu~.”

The moment her voice fell, the enormous translucent trident suddenly disappeared without leaving behind even a trace of its previous form. Only the original trident remained, falling downward and landing heavily on the deck of the massive ship.