Free Web NovelChapter 10: The Hidden Curveture
Atlas fell.
The shattered floor disappeared above him almost immediately, and darkness closed around his body as broken stone fragments dropped alongside him. Cold air rushed past his face, and for one short moment, he could not tell whether he was falling straight down or spinning through the inner space of the ruin.
The Codex followed him.
Its crimson glow was faint but enough to show pieces of the tunnel walls rushing past. The walls were made of black stone, layered with cracks that pulsed briefly whenever the Codex drifted too close. This path did not look like a normal collapse. It looked like another hidden section of the Eternal Ruin had opened beneath him after Spirit entered his body.
Atlas tried to twist midair.
His body responded too strongly.
Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Spirit had all been forced into him within a short time. The attributes were real, but his control was terrible. A simple adjustment became too violent, and he slammed shoulder-first into a protruding wall.
"Ghh—!"
Pain ran through his side.
But the wall broke.
Stone fragments burst apart from the impact, and Atlas bounced away from the shattered surface. His eyes widened slightly despite the fall.
’My body’s still not stabilized...’
That conclusion came quickly.
His strength had risen too fast. His agility had improved too fast. Spirit had changed something even deeper, and Atlas still did not understand what had happened to his body. He was stronger than before, but power without control could kill him just as easily as weakness.
Then the ground appeared beneath him.
Atlas’s pupils contracted.
He forced his body to twist again, this time using less strength and trying to control the angle instead of simply reacting. He barely adjusted his posture before impact.
BOOOOOOM!
The underground chamber trembled. freёwebnovel.com
Atlas crashed into the black stone floor and formed a shallow crater beneath him. Cracks spread outward from the impact point, and dust exploded in every direction, briefly covering the dim crimson light of the Codex.
For several seconds, nothing moved.
Then Atlas coughed.
"...Kheugh..."
He pushed himself up slowly while fragments of broken stone slid from his back and shoulders. His entire body ached, but compared to the Spirit awakening earlier, the fall barely felt important. That alone told him how much his body had changed.
He inhaled.
Then froze.
The growls were gone.
Only silence.
Atlas narrowed his eyes and stood carefully this time. He controlled each movement, keeping his weight steady and avoiding another accidental burst of strength. The Codex floated beside him, and its crimson glow spread across the underground space.
Only then did Atlas see where he had fallen.
"...What is this place?"
His voice echoed through the chamber.
This underground area was different from the ruin above. There were no monster corpses, no barren battlefield, and no signs of recent movement. Massive black pillars stretched upward into darkness, arranged in symmetrical rows like the remains of an ancient sanctuary. Symbols were carved into each pillar, and they glowed faintly whenever the Codex drifted near them.
Atlas stepped forward slowly.
His footsteps echoed.
The air here felt denser than above, but calmer. It was still part of the ruin, yet it felt separated from the upper layers. Not abandoned by accident. Hidden deliberately.
Then his eyes stopped on something ahead.
At the center of the chamber stood a massive circular distortion.
Atlas’s gaze sharpened.
It did not look exactly like a gate. Reality itself seemed twisted there, spiraling inward while silver lines curved endlessly around each other. Faint particles drifted near its surface and vanished whenever they touched the distorted space.
Even the air around it bent slightly.
Atlas stared at it for several seconds before a term surfaced in his mind.
"...The Hidden Curvature."
His voice became quieter.
He had heard about it before, but only through rumors. Drunken Explorers in Ormolio had spoken of ruins where some people escaped without clearing the Boss. They called those escape points Hidden Curvatures: spatial flaws buried deep inside a ruin, incomplete bends in the internal structure that could throw someone outside if they found them.
Most people treated those stories like lies made by survivors who wanted attention.
A faint laugh escaped him.
"Heh..."
His exhausted eyes remained fixed on the spiraling distortion.
"So it actually exists..."
The Codex pulsed faintly beside him.
Almost as if confirming it.
Atlas instinctively thought of hiding the relic before approaching the Hidden Curvature. If the distortion brought him outside, then there was no telling who might be nearby. The Codex could not remain visible.
Before he could properly form the thought, a word left his mouth.
"Terminate."
The Codex snapped shut.
The Sanguis Stylus attached itself to the side of the book, and both dissolved into his chest as crimson light.
Atlas’s eyes widened slightly.
’Another word again...?’
He did not know where it came from. It was not a command he had learned before, yet saying it felt natural, as if the Codex had placed the function inside his mind through their connection.
For several seconds, Atlas stood still.
Then he shook his head lightly.
"...I’ll think about it later."
Right now, escape mattered more.
Atlas approached the Hidden Curvature.
The closer he moved, the stronger the spatial distortion became. The air twisted faintly around the spiral, and silver particles moved across its surface like dust caught in water. If this was truly an exit, then it was his only realistic chance to survive the Eternal Ruin without facing the Boss.
Then Atlas stopped.
Because the reality of what had happened finally settled in.
A few hours ago, he had been a powerless commoner thrown into an Eternal Ruin as bait. Now Strength surged through his body, Spirit flowed faintly through expanded channels beneath his skin, and the Bloodbound Codex was hidden inside him. A relic capable of rewriting attributes with blood had chosen him, accepted him, or at least attached itself to him.
Atlas lowered his gaze toward his hands.
They were no longer trembling from weakness.
They were trembling because everything had changed too fast.
"Heh..."
Another dry laugh left him.
"If those nobles knew I survived..."
His eyes sharpened faintly.
"...they’d hunt me to the ends of the continent."
That was not paranoia.
It was fact.
The Codex alone was enough for Royal Families to wage war. Even one of its functions could overturn the value of relics, training, bloodlines, and noble inheritance. And he, a commoner from Ormolio’s outer slums, possessed it.
Atlas looked toward the Hidden Curvature again.
He did not say anything more.
There was no point.
The first rule after escaping was simple: no one could know about the Codex. The second rule was just as important: he had to learn how to control his new body before another monster or human enemy exposed him.
Atlas stepped forward.
The moment his body touched the distortion, space twisted violently.
The underground sanctuary vanished.
Silver light exploded across his vision and swallowed him whole. For one brief moment, Atlas felt weightless, as if his body had been pulled out of the ruin and dragged through a folded section of space.
Then cold wind struck his face.
Atlas stumbled out of the distortion and landed in a dense forest.
Moonlight filtered through the tall trees above. Cold night air entered his lungs for the first time since he entered the Eternal Ruin. The forest around him was quiet. No growls. No suffocating ruin pressure. No endless darkness pressing against his skin.
Only wind - Real wind.
Atlas stood completely still for several seconds.
Then he slowly lifted his head toward the night sky visible between the branches.
"...I’m finally out..."
His voice came out hoarse.
He had escaped the Eternal Ruin.
