A Secret Shrouded by the Passage of Time

Devoured by the enticing darkness that enveloped the narrow entrance to the underground room, the young man's feet safely landed on a stiff but slightly squeaky plane.

Perhaps since so much time had passed since the last farewell to the world, the support plane repeatedly squeaked, warning that fool above itself to calm his boiling spirit.

Unfortunately, Atlas acted like a degenerate. In fact, when he felt his feet touch the ground, he began to walk left and right.

"Where the hell am I? Damn, I can't see anything..."

The torch appeared in his hand, and an intense light illuminated that dark room.

The secrets hidden in the shadows resurfaced after many years, astonishing the young adventurer who was the first to discover it after who knows how many years.

"Amazing..."

Atlas's pupils shone, enchanted by the incredible discovery, particularly by the pile of precious stones and chests located in the center of the room.

"Hahaha... I knew it..."

Atlas laughed loudly at the discovery but soon shifted his gaze to the detailed frescoes covering the walls of the room. They were so vivid and still in perfect condition even after such a long time that they could dismay even the most ignorant.

"Geez... The creator of these paintings must have been an excellent artist... but what are those strange creatures portrayed in it?"

Atlas had seen many paintings and illustrations in historical books. Still, he could only remain incredulous in front of such splendid views and doubtful of seeing those humanoid creatures in the images.

The room was large and circular, with a floor composed mainly of wooden planks as thick as a dwarf's hammer.

Given the circular shape of the room, the wall was devoid of corners, forming a single long piece wholly covered with works of art.

Atlas discovered something interesting as his eyes satiate his mind with so much beauty.

One of the figures displayed in those paintings had a strange symbol on the palm of his hand.

At first, he hadn't given much weight to that little symbol hidden within that masterpiece, but when his gaze lingered for more than a brief moment on it, Atlas was shocked: "Mhm?! But that's the same scarlet stigma I have on myself... Could it be its previous owner? Nihilir... is this the previous owner of the stigma? Did you send me here for this?"

He hoped for an answer that could satiate his doubt, yet nothing came from that existence other than silence, driving the young man's attention back to those images. After all, there was more in them.

When viewed from a different angle, the young man noticed that it was not a single gigantic portrait but a succession of several paintings representing separate events.

In the first, there was a humanoid creature with a disturbing mask and that scarlet symbol on the back of his hand, followed by a giant armored green-skinned figure and an army of other creatures from the same race traveling through a wasteland.

In the second, the masked creature was sitting on a throne as black as obsidian, garnished with delicate golden hems and brilliant gems such as emeralds, rubies, and sapphires, making it a little masterpiece.

Of course, his loyal follower was at the side of the throne, covered with heavy armor and with a giant great sword on his back.

In the third, the ruler held his fist up as if proudly showing that macabre stigma on the back of his hand to the vast army kneeling in front of him.

Even that thug, who seemed the most powerful among them, bowed his head towards the one standing on the throne.

The fourth and fifth followed other depictions with that masked figure, but this time, his left hand was not displayed because, in those places, the painting was missing, as if the superficial layer of the wall had been removed.

The images stole another minute from the young man, and after carefully analyzing every little detail, Atlas advanced to the pile of treasures in the center of the room.

"Hahaha... Those gigantic crates may contain precious stones or other treasures..."

The calming effect of those paintings suddenly faded when the young man's gaze rested again on that inviting pile of treasures, awakening the dragon inside him.

Clearly, Atlas was excited and began fantasizing about how to spend that immense fortune, but when there were only four steps left from that earthly paradise, his body slammed into something.

"Ouch!! ... What the hell... A barrier?!... it was too good to be true."

A barrier blocked his advance, but Atlas did not give up and turned around the treasures, looking for a possible gap. Alas, the barrier was dome-shaped, preventing access from all sides.

"Impossible... there must be a way... and if it is not there, I will shatter it."

Forced to look at that fantastic treasure from afar, Atlas was enraged like a beast and started kicking and punching the protective layer. He even used the strange stigma, but nothing could break it. So Atlas took out Astra and threw its deadly tip at the barrier's surface, repeatedly hitting the layer, just as a woodpecker would do against the trunk of a tree.

Unfortunately, the barrier remained unperturbed even if the blows became more powerful.

That series of strikes helped the young man vent some of his anger, but the result did not change, leaving him with no other choices.

"Screw you!!!"

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Atlas had done well not to give up because, in the end, he had found what he was looking for. A bunch of treasures escaped even from the greedy hands of the cultivators who had visited that place before him.

However, that immense fortune was still far from his reach.

After a few minutes, the young man's mind returned lucid and quiet.

The obsession that had made him a beast had vanished, bringing back the best side of the adventurer.

"Dammit... Such a powerful formation can only be destroyed with a higher level of power than the creator. And if the creator is somehow connected to that underground place, it will take a long time... a very long time to reach that level..."

"Hmm... since brute force does not work, there must be another way. After all, those who created this protective barrier had a way to get in... But how can I do that??"

Before losing his temper, he had even tried with scarlet stigma. Unfortunately, he had not solved anything.

If there was a clue, he had to be inside the room, so Atlas immediately began scouring the area.

Unfortunately, the only things out of place were those two missing pieces in the paintings, precisely in the fourth and fifth paintings. They were the strangest because they did not depict the figure with the stigma as a ruler but in different scenarios.

In the fourth, the figure was surrounded by pieces of metal, crystals, and rocks shaped strangely. As for the fifth, the figure was standing in front of a peculiar flower surrounded by a thick layer of black mist.

"Maybe... the barrier will remain sealed until I find the two missing pieces. But, heck... who knows how much time has passed? Without any clue, finding them in such a vast world will be impossible..."

The young man came to that conclusion, but he could not have absolute certainty. 

The treasure he had dreamed of was there a few steps from him, imprisoned within an impenetrable dome. But, if he wanted to get all that wealth, Atlas had only two chances, to become powerful enough to shatter the barrier or maybe find the two missing pieces, hoping they would be the key to breaking that dome.

But between the two, the first took a long time, and the second was practically impossible.

"Too bad... leaving all these riches behind is a pain in the ass. But I can't stay here staring at them like a fool..."

After an intense look over the barrier, Atlas returned to the throne room and activated the mechanism to close the gap.

It was useless to search through the rubble, and returning to that strange underground kingdom was impossible without proper preparation first. Hence, the young adventurer crossed the outer walls and headed for the long passage that had led him underground.

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The expedition was almost concluded, but there were still goblins around the entrance, so Atlas acted cautiously once he left the stronghold.

Wrapped in the cover of those massive boulders all around the underground area, Atlas approached the entrance for the passage, and as he had predicted, he found five goblins feasting around a small hearth.

'Hmm, nothing special with my new powers.'

Atlas had reached a new stage, so it was a perfect opportunity to test the Ruthless Void Blade again.

Darkness had been one of the deadliest allies in this expedition, and Atlas wanted to exploit it for one last time, eliminating one of the goblins from the start.

Given his previous failures, Atlas did not aim at the agile creatures with two daggers and instead laid his ravenous gaze on one of the two goblins with the bow. So he went on the safe side, mowing down an enemy's head with a quick blow.

The first attack had been lightninging fast, so fast that not even the agile goblin couldn't react in time.

The enemies were shocked by the sudden death of a comrade, but they reacted immediately by intercepting the next lethal lunge.

One of the two goblins blocked Astra for a moment, giving the others time to prepare for battle, but Atlas had grown stronger and pushed down the blade, barely grazing his opponent's forehead.

The other goblin quickly blocked the second attack because Atlas held his faithful companion only with his right hand, leaving his left free.

Of course, this was one of Atlas's plans to quickly eliminate the deadliest goblin in the group.

"Hehehe… Nice try... Alas... Ruthless Void Blade!"

With a simple command, the sovereign dagger appeared out of nowhere and hurled itself toward the throat of the poor, defenseless goblin.

The assassin kept his gaze up, fixed on his opponent's eyes, and only when he heard something pierce his throat, he realized that he had been deceived.

The second enemy died shortly after, instilling fear in the inferior goblins a few steps away.

Atlas turned the body to the side and assaulted the frightened goblins one after the other.

In an instant, the heads of the three survivors flew high in the sky, ending that unbalanced battle.