Chapter 51: Memory Crystal
Just as that thought surfaced inside his mind...
A deafening whistle suddenly tore through the air.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Dozens...
No.
Hundreds of arrows burst from every direction.
The black shafts streaked across the sky like a torrential downpour of steel, each one carrying terrifying momentum. They moved so quickly that the naked eye could barely follow them, leaving behind countless blurred afterimages as they completely swallowed the space around Cole.
The entire street disappeared beneath the rain of arrows.
Every possible path of retreat...
Every angle of escape...
Every blind spot...
Had been perfectly sealed.
The assassins clearly had no intention of giving him even the slightest chance to survive.
"Damn..."
Cole’s pupils shrank.
His muscles instinctively tensed.
Lightning exploded beneath his feet as he forced his body to move.
One arrow grazed past his shoulder.
Another skimmed across his ribs, slicing open his clothes before embedding itself deeply into the ground.
A third narrowly missed his throat by less than an inch.
Even after his body had undergone a complete transformation through the Thunder Worm Leviathan bloodline...
Even after stepping into the Moon Knight Realm...
He still found himself struggling against this relentless barrage.
The attacks simply came too fast.
Too densely.
Too perfectly coordinated.
As though every arrow had been calculated to leave him with nowhere to dodge.
To make matters worse...
The strange black earth beneath his feet continued writhing like living flesh.
Every step felt as though he were sinking knee-deep into an endless swamp.
The viscous ground desperately clung to his boots.
Each movement required tremendous effort.
His muscles bulged violently as he struggled against the terrifying adhesive force.
What normally required almost no effort...
Now demanded nearly his full strength.
Simply taking a single step forward felt like dragging an entire mountain behind him.
Despite being trapped in such a desperate situation...
Cole’s expression remained astonishingly calm.
His heartbeat never accelerated.
His breathing remained steady.
Inside his mind...
Countless possibilities flashed by at breathtaking speed.
Like countless bolts of lightning illuminating the darkness...
One plan after another was created...
Rejected...Improved...Until finally...
His eyes flashed.
"A.I. Chip..."
His voice remained calm despite the arrows continuously screaming past him.
"Scan the surroundings."
"Identify every hidden target."
The response came instantly.
[Processing request...]
The world around Cole seemed to freeze.
The A.I. Chip immediately began analyzing everything within its detection range.
Minute mana fluctuations.
Residual body heat, heartbeat frequencies, airflow disturbances.
Even the slightest vibration caused by breathing.
Nothing escaped its calculations.
Barely a second later...
[Scanning complete.]
[Ten hostile entities identified.]
[Nascent Tempered Realm.]
The next instant...
Cole’s vision completely changed.
Seven crimson markers suddenly appeared throughout the surrounding streets.
Some hovered atop rooftops.
Others hid behind broken walls.
Several concealed themselves within the shadows of nearby buildings.
To ordinary people...The assassins remained perfectly hidden.
To Cole...
They now resembled blazing beacons burning within complete darkness.
The corners of his lips slowly curled upward.
"So..."
A dangerous smile gradually appeared on his face.
"There you are."
The reason he had remained on the defensive wasn’t because these assassins were stronger than him.
It was because they had hidden themselves too well.
Every attack originated from a different direction.
Every ambush came from an unexpected angle.
He had been forced to react blindly.
But now...
The battlefield had changed.
Every hidden assassin had become nothing more than prey waiting to be harvested.
Thunder roared.
Crack!
Blue-white lightning violently erupted beneath Cole’s feet.
The terrifying electrical current instantly spread through his muscles, causing every fiber within his body to explode with power.
The viscous ground that had restrained him only moments ago was forcibly torn apart.
His figure blurred.
Then vanished.
Only a violent burst of lightning remained where he had been standing.
The nearest assassin had barely realized something was wrong.
Hidden atop a collapsed rooftop, he calmly drew another arrow and placed it against the bowstring.
His eyes remained fixed on the empty street below.
Where did he...
A flash of blue suddenly illuminated his vision.
His pupils violently contracted.
Impossible!
Before his brain could even process what had happened...
Cole had already appeared directly before him.
The terrifying speed distorted the surrounding air, causing a violent shockwave to erupt across the rooftop.
The assassin instinctively tried to retreat.
Too late.
Cole didn’t draw a weapon.
Nor did he use any martial technique.
He simply clenched his fist.
Every muscle within his arm expanded.
Electricity wrapped around his forearm like countless raging serpents.
Then...
He punched.
BOOM!
The fist struck the assassin’s head squarely.
There wasn’t even time for a scream.
His skull exploded like a watermelon struck by a siege hammer.
Blood...
Bone fragments...
Brain matter...
Everything scattered violently across the rooftop.
The headless corpse remained standing for the briefest moment before collapsing limply onto the broken tiles.
Cole had already disappeared.
Crack!
Another burst of lightning flashed through the streets.
The second assassin suddenly felt the hairs across his body stand upright.
He instinctively turned around.
A shadow filled his vision.
Cole’s knee slammed directly into his chest.
Crunch!
The sound of ribs shattering echoed loudly.
The assassin’s chest visibly caved inward before his entire body shot backward like a cannonball.
He smashed through two stone walls without slowing down.
Only after crashing into a third building did his broken body finally stop moving.
He never breathed again.
Crack!
Lightning exploded once more.
The third assassin frantically tried to escape after noticing the first two deaths.
His feet had barely left the rooftop...
When a hand suddenly grabbed the back of his neck.
Cold.
Unyielding.
Like an iron vise.
The assassin’s eyes widened in horror.
Cole didn’t say a single word.
He simply tightened his grip.
Crack!
The man’s cervical spine snapped instantly.
His lifeless body was casually thrown from the rooftop, crashing heavily into the street below.
Like a god of thunder descending upon the battlefield...
Cole moved from one crimson marker to another.
Each flash of lightning marked another death.
Each thunderous explosion announced another assassin’s end.
The hunters who had confidently surrounded their prey only moments earlier...
Were now being hunted themselves.
In the span of a single breath...
Silence reclaimed the alley.
The deafening explosions.
The screams.
The clash of steel.
The crackling thunder.
Everything disappeared as abruptly as it had begun.
Only the metallic scent of fresh blood lingered in the air, so thick that every breath carried the taste of iron. Crimson streams quietly flowed along the uneven stone pavement, gathering into small pools that reflected the flickering flames consuming the shattered buildings nearby.
The narrow alley had transformed into a slaughterhouse.
Mangled corpses lay scattered in every direction.
Some had caved-in chests.
Some had shattered skulls.
Others remained frozen with expressions of disbelief, their lifeless eyes staring blankly into the endless night sky, unable to comprehend how the prey they had surrounded had become the executioner.
Amidst the sea of bodies...
Cole stood motionless.
The dancing firelight illuminated his solitary figure, casting a long shadow across the blood-soaked ground.
His clothes had long lost their original color.
Dark crimson blood stained almost every inch of them.
Fresh droplets slowly trickled down the sleeves of his coat before falling one after another onto the stone beneath his feet.
Drip.
Drip.
His fists remained loosely clenched.
They were completely drenched in blood.
Fragments of flesh still clung stubbornly to his knuckles, while tiny pieces of shattered bone remained lodged between his fingers.
Yet...
Cole’s expression remained astonishingly calm.
It was as though none of the blood belonged to him.
As though the ten lives that had just vanished beneath his fists meant nothing at all.
Only the faint rise and fall of his chest revealed that he had expended a tremendous amount of strength.
Countless thoughts quietly flowed through his mind.
Slowly...
Cole lifted one hand and pressed it firmly against his chest.
The instant his palm touched his body...
A powerful heartbeat echoed through his senses.
Badum!
Badum!
Badum!
Each beat resembled a war drum reverberating throughout his entire body.
His blood surged violently through his veins.
Residual lightning still danced beneath his skin, releasing tiny arcs of electricity that crackled softly around his fingertips before disappearing into the darkness.
Closing his eyes, Cole replayed the battle inside his mind.
Every dodge.
Every punch.
Every movement.
Every tiny mistake.
Like an experienced researcher reviewing the results of an experiment, he carefully analyzed every second.
Soon...
He quietly frowned.
I pushed myself too hard...
Although the battle had ended in overwhelming victory...
Its shortcomings had become painfully obvious.
His body possessed enough strength.
His reactions were fast enough.
Even his perception had undergone a complete transformation after fusing with the Thunder Worm Leviathan.
Yet...
His attacks remained crude.
Every enemy had been defeated through overwhelming physical strength alone.
There had been no technique.
No efficiency.
No elegance.
Just raw violence.
Cole slowly exhaled.
"Even with my current strength..."
He muttered softly.
"...dealing with opponents at this level still wastes too much time."
His gaze drifted toward the shattered corpses.
"If I possessed proper killing techniques..."
"...this fight would’ve ended much sooner."
The thought quietly settled within his heart.
A decision naturally followed.
Once the Saint Family matter was resolved...
Learning combat techniques would become his highest priority.
Previously...
He had intentionally refrained from cultivating martial techniques.
His bloodline remained unstable then.
Every day brought new changes to his body.
Learning techniques before the fusion was complete would have been meaningless.
But now...
Everything had changed.
The perfect fusion had stabilized every aspect of his body.
His foundation had become unimaginably solid.
Only now...
Could he truly begin cultivating techniques without worrying about them becoming obsolete halfway through.
Cole slowly shook his head.
There would be time to think about that later.
Right now...
There was someone waiting.
Trish’s situation remained completely unknown.
Every additional second he delayed...
Might push her closer to death.
His eyes immediately sharpened.
Just as he was about to leave...
His footsteps suddenly stopped.
"...Hm?"
His gaze unconsciously shifted toward the scattered corpses.
More specifically...
Toward the black metallic masks covering their faces.
Under the flickering firelight...
The masks emitted a faint metallic sheen.
Cole narrowed his eyes.
Something...
Didn’t feel right.
These masks...
He slowly crouched beside the nearest corpse.
Running his fingers across the cold black metal, he carefully observed every tiny engraving covering its surface.
No family emblem.
No guild insignia.
No identifying marks whatsoever.
Everything had been deliberately erased.
Professional.
Far too professional.
A thoughtful expression slowly appeared on his face.
These weren’t ordinary assassins.
Every detail suggested meticulous preparation.
Every trace that might reveal their identities had already been removed beforehand.
Silence filled the alley once again.
After several moments...
Cole slowly stood back up.
A strange thought quietly surfaced.
If I truly intend to sever all ties with the Saint Family...
Then...
I should start preparing immediately.
His eyes gradually became resolute.
Cultivation required resources.
Bloodline research required even more.
Mana crystals.
Rare herbs.
Monster blood.
Ancient materials.
Every future experiment would burn through unimaginable amounts of wealth.
The Saint Family’s support...
Would soon disappear.
That meant...
He would have to secure his own source of resources.
His gaze slowly swept across the ten corpses.
A faint smile suddenly appeared.
Since you’ve already come to kill me...
You shouldn’t mind leaving behind a little compensation.
Without another word...
Cole immediately began searching every corpse.
One after another...
He carefully examined every robe.
Every hidden pocket.
Every belt.
Every spatial pouch.
Unfortunately...
The further he searched...
The darker his expression became.
Apart from ordinary weapons and a few worthless personal belongings...
There wasn’t a single valuable item.
Cole couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth.
"For people dressed so extravagantly..."
He muttered with obvious dissatisfaction.
"...you’re surprisingly poor."
"They’re nothing but a bunch of misers."
He almost gave up.
Just as he was about to stand...
His fingers suddenly brushed against something hard hidden beneath the robes of the final corpse.
The masked leader.
Cole’s movements immediately paused.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
He slowly pulled the object free.
It was a perfectly smooth crystal roughly the size of a thumb.
Its surface resembled polished white jade, yet countless tiny strands of light quietly flowed within it like drifting clouds.
The moment it appeared...
A faint wave of spiritual energy spread into the surroundings.
Cole’s pupils contracted slightly.
"A Memory Crystal..."
A hint of surprise flashed across his face.
Unlike ordinary storage items...
Memory Crystals were considerably rarer.
They were specifically used to preserve information, battle records, cultivation insights, or secret instructions.
Without wasting another moment...
Cole gently infused a strand of mana into the crystal.
The white pearl instantly began glowing.
A dazzling light burst forth.
The next moment...
An enormous torrent of unfamiliar memories and information flooded directly into his mind.