Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

She was shocked by what she had just heard, but more than the shock itself, confusion quickly took over her mind, ’Revenge? Who could possibly want revenge against the entire Human Continent?’ Velmira couldn’t understand who this person could be, because even if it was someone from the Outer Villages who had been treated badly by the Nobles or the Royal Family and somehow developed hatred toward the entire continent, there was no way such a person could actually become a threat.

Those people were ordinary civilians, they weren’t Explorers who could cultivate Spirit Energy and reach powerful ranks, so there was no possible way for one of them to threaten the entire continent, let alone someone like the Dragon Emperor.

’Then who is it?’ Velmira narrowed her eyes as she continued staring at the floating spherical object, she knew Eliomor well enough to understand that it wouldn’t simply lie about something like this, especially when it had already agreed to help her and was now explaining something that could directly affect the future of the Human Continent, but the more she thought about that statement, the less sense it made to her, because there was simply no person she could think of who could carry enough hatred and strength to seek revenge against the entire Human Continent.

A brief silence passed through the darkness before the deep voice of the spherical object echoed again, ”It would be better to simply show you instead of explaining everything, but before that...”

Velmira’s eyes narrowed further as she immediately focused on its words, she had already learned that Eliomor rarely explained anything without a reason and whenever it chose to show something instead, there was usually information involved that couldn’t be properly explained through simple words, so she remained completely silent and waited for it to continue.

”Do you remember the commoner Azarion sent as a worthless fool to die inside that Eternal Ruin?”

The moment those words came out, Velmira’s expression changed slightly as she immediately remembered the person it was talking about, she had seen him before that incident and knew exactly how he had been sent there, one of the Noble Houses had used their butler to approach that commoner with a simple lie about receiving a huge reward, they had even prepared a contract that supposedly promised him a position among the Butlers of a Noble House if he entered the Eternal Ruin and completed what they asked of him.

Velmira had known from the beginning that the entire thing was nothing more than a method to send someone into the Ruin without anyone questioning it, the commoner had no strength, no proper background and no way of protecting himself, which made him the perfect person to throw away, especially when the Royal Family wanted someone inside that Ruin without attracting unnecessary attention.

She had wanted to interfere at that time, but the restrictions placed upon her soul by the Oath had prevented her from acting against the interests of the Human King and his family, even though she already knew what was going to happen to that commoner the moment he entered the Ruin.

When she later entered the Eternal Ruin together with the Revenants and saw the Boss waiting inside, her expectations had only been confirmed, that creature possessed strength far beyond what an ordinary commoner could even imagine and there was no possible way for someone without cultivation to survive against it, especially when even the Revenants had to be careful while dealing with the Boss.

’He should have died there...’

Velmira’s eyes remained fixed on the spherical object as that thought appeared in her mind, but now Eliomor was talking about that same person as the one who wanted revenge against the Human Continent, which created an even bigger contradiction in her mind.

’But why would Eliomor mention him?’

Her expression became more serious as another thought followed immediately, ’Could he somehow have survived?’ She almost rejected the thought as soon as it appeared, because she had personally judged the situation back then, there was no reason to believe a normal commoner could survive inside that Eternal Ruin, especially after facing a creature powerful enough to threaten even experienced cultivators.

But if he had actually survived, then why hadn’t anyone heard about him?

And more importantly, how could someone who had been nothing more than a powerless commoner suddenly become someone Eliomor considered a threat to the entire Human Continent?

Velmira’s thoughts continued to pile up one after another, making her expression change several times before she finally opened her mouth, ready to ask Eliomor directly, but she didn’t even get the chance.

”That person is the one who is seeking revenge,” Eliomor said, its voice remaining as calm as before, ”He returned alive from that Eternal Ruin.”

For a moment she didn’t even know what to say, her eyes remained fixed on the spherical object while her mind struggled to accept what it had just heard, because even though she had already suspected it after Eliomor mentioned him, hearing the confirmation directly was still different.

’He survived?’

She couldn’t understand how.

Eliomor continued before she could ask anything, ”As you already know, even I cannot see what happens inside a Ruin, despite the fact that these Ruins appear within my own world, their interiors are completely separated from my perception, which means I can only observe what happens inside them after someone returns from them.”

Velmira listened without interrupting, her expression becoming more focused as she understood that Eliomor was explaining something important about the reason it had only recently noticed that commoner.

”When he came out of the Ruin, only then did I see what had happened to him, at first I wasn’t concerned, because he was still a weak commoner and I assumed his survival was nothing more than luck, perhaps something inside the Ruin had allowed him to escape or the Boss had simply ignored him for some reason.”

The spherical object remained motionless for a moment before its deep voice continued, ”But that assumption didn’t remain for long.”

Velmira’s fingers tightened around the hilt of Marvilas as she waited for the next words, she could already feel that whatever Eliomor was about to show her was the reason it had brought up this commoner in the first place.

”Now...” The voice echoed through the darkness again, ”Let me show you what he has become.”

The moment those words ended, the spherical object suddenly moved upward.

Velmira immediately raised her head and followed it with her eyes as the glowing sphere continued ascending through the endless darkness, it moved higher and higher until it reached roughly a hundred meters above the ground, only then did it stop moving.

The intense light surrounding it increased for a brief moment before gradually spreading outward, thin lines of light began forming in the darkness around the sphere and slowly connected with one another, creating the outline of a transparent projection.

Velmira remained completely still as she watched the projection take shape.

At first there was nothing more than a faint image, but within several moments the scene became clearer and clearer, the darkness around her was still present, yet the area directly in front of her had now turned into something resembling a massive transparent screen.

A scene was being displayed through it.

Velmira’s eyes moved across the projection as she tried to understand what she was looking at, but the moment she recognized the person standing inside that scene, her expression changed.

It was the same commoner. The same person she had known to be the one to enter the Eternal Ruin with absolutely no chance of surviving.

Yet the person shown in front of her now was completely different.

The scene moved.

An SS-rank Angelic individual appeared within the projection, and before Velmira could properly understand what was happening, the figure in front of that Angelic individual moved.

There was no long battle, no exchange of techniques that allowed her to determine their respective strengths and no prolonged struggle between the two sides.

The Angelic individual simply died.

Velmira’s eyes widened as she watched the entire scene unfold with such speed that even she had trouble following the movements properly, the person responsible for killing that SS-rank wasn’t some hidden SSS-rank cultivator either.

He was an S-rank.

The same person who had once been nothing more than a powerless commoner.

For the first time since she entered this dark place, Velmira’s composure completely disappeared as her eyes widened in disbelief, her grip around Marvilas tightened without her even realizing it while she continued staring at the projection in complete silence.

’An S-rank... killed an SS-rank?’

She couldn’t accept what she had just seen, not because she didn’t believe the projection, but because she knew exactly how ridiculous the difference between those ranks was. And Eliomor had just shown her that the person she had already considered dead was now strong enough to kill an SS-rank Angelic individual with overwhelming speed.

The commoner had returned from the Eternal Ruin...and his strength was still being displayed through the projection.

- - -

[A/N: Do tell me if the reveals of Atlas’s strength to other people such as Azarion, Velmira and Dragon Emperor is becoming too many times, although I would consider showing these to you instead of just explaining later on, I would still like to know what you think about this.]