Chapter 50: Arrival
Should I just walk away...?
The thought surfaced almost instinctively.
For a fleeting moment...
Cole’s footsteps slowed.
His gaze lowered toward the cold stone pavement beneath his feet as countless thoughts collided violently inside his mind.
Reason...Emotion...Survival...
Responsibility...
Every instinct born from both his lives urged him toward the same conclusion.
Leave.
Walk away.
Forget everything.
His current strength simply wasn’t enough.
Even after successfully fusing with the Thunder Worm Leviathan bloodline...
Even after stepping into the Moon Knight Realm...
He remained nothing more than a slightly stronger ant before the colossal Saint Family.
Charging back now...
Was no different from throwing himself into a tiger’s jaws.
If he remained patient...
If he continued growing stronger...
One day, he could return with overwhelming power and settle every debt at once.
That...
Was undoubtedly the rational choice.
Cole silently clenched his fists.
But...
How long would that take?
One year?
Five years?
Ten?
And by then...
Would Trish still be alive?
The answer quietly settled inside his heart before he even realized it.
No.
The dead...
Could never be brought back.
No amount of future strength could reverse that fact.
A long breath escaped Cole’s lips.
The hesitation within his eyes gradually disappeared.
Replacing it...
Was unwavering resolve.
"So what..."
He muttered quietly to himself.
"So what if I fail?"
His footsteps gradually became firmer.
"At least..."
"I’ll know I tried."
Running away today...
Would undoubtedly become a knot buried forever within his heart.
One that would continue haunting him every time he thought back to this moment.
He refused to carry such regret.
Whatever happened afterward...
He would accept it.
After all...
The Saint Family Estate...
Was still the place where he had grown up.
Although the relationship between him and Markovich had become colder than strangers...
Although the family elders regarded him as nothing more than a stain upon the Saint bloodline...
Cole still believed one thing.
That stern, emotionless man...
Would never truly stoop so low as to kill his own nephew.
Perhaps punishment.
Perhaps imprisonment.
Perhaps even crippling his cultivation.
But execution...
Cole simply couldn’t imagine Markovich crossing that final line.
Holding onto that final sliver of confidence...
He continued moving forward.
His thoughts remained completely occupied by Trish.
Completely unaware...
That danger had already quietly descended.
...
The bustling streets gradually became quieter.
Without realizing it...
Cole had unknowingly wandered into a far less populated district.
The sounds of merchants shouting.
The laughter of children.
The rumbling of passing carriages.
One after another...
They quietly disappeared.
A strange silence slowly descended upon the surroundings.
It wasn’t the peaceful silence of night.
Nor the comfortable quietness found in empty streets.
It was...
Oppressive.
As though the entire world had suddenly stopped breathing.
A cold breeze drifted past.
The hairs on the back of Cole’s neck instinctively stood upright.
Something...
Was wrong.
Before he could fully process that feeling...
Tiny distortions silently appeared throughout the surrounding darkness.
One...
Then another.
Like ghosts emerging from the abyss, dark figures detached themselves from the shadows of nearby buildings.
Not a single sound accompanied their movements.
Every step they took was silent.
Every breath they drew seemed to merge perfectly with the darkness itself.
One figure.
Three...Five...Eight.
More and more black silhouettes quietly emerged from every direction.
Each wore identical jet-black robes that completely concealed their bodies.
Their faces were hidden behind thick metallic masks forged from an unknown black alloy.
The masks possessed no expressions.
No features.
Only two narrow openings where pairs of icy eyes quietly stared toward Cole.
Without exchanging a single word...
The figures slowly spread apart.
Like experienced hunters surrounding wounded prey...
They quietly sealed every possible escape route.
Only then...
Did Cole finally notice.
His pupils contracted violently.
Ambush!
Almost simultaneously...
The ground beneath his feet suddenly trembled.
At first, it was barely noticeable.
A faint ripple.
Then another.
The stone pavement cracked apart.
The earth...
Began moving.
The hard ground beneath him abruptly softened, its surface bubbling violently like molten lava nearing eruption.
Yet...
Instead of blazing heat...
An eerie black substance slowly oozed upward through the countless cracks.
Sticky.
Viscous.
It resembled liquid tar mixed with living flesh.
The moment it surfaced...
It rapidly spread in every direction.
Within a single breath...
The solid street had transformed into a vast sea of dark sludge.
Cole instinctively stepped backward.
His boot had barely lifted...
When he suddenly felt an overwhelming resistance.
His foot...
Wouldn’t move.
He looked down.
The black substance had silently wrapped around his boots.
It stretched like countless living tendrils, clinging tightly to his legs.
Every attempt to pull free only caused it to bind even tighter.
It wasn’t merely sticky.
It was terrifyingly adhesive.
As though the earth itself had become a gigantic living trap...
Determined to drag every intruder into its depths forever.
At that very moment...
A cold realization flashed through Cole’s mind.
Formation.
He had unknowingly stepped...
Straight into a meticulously prepared killing formation.
Here’s a rewritten version that preserves your style while making the ambush feel far more cinematic and immersive. I slowed the pacing slightly so the danger escalates naturally rather than everything happening at once.
Cole only realized the gravity of his situation when the A.I. Chip abruptly issued a series of emergency warnings.
[Multiple hostile entities detected.]
[Warning! Hostile intent confirmed.]
[Danger Level: High.]
[Recommend immediate evacuation.]
One crimson warning after another flooded his vision, almost completely obscuring the street before him.
The mechanical voice, which was normally calm and emotionless, seemed to issue its reports at an unprecedented speed.
A faint chill immediately crawled up Cole’s spine.
His expression changed.
If even the A.I. Chip reacted so violently...
Then this wasn’t an ordinary ambush.
Without wasting another moment, his eyes rapidly swept across the surrounding darkness.
Only then did he notice them.
One...
Three...
Seven...
More than a dozen dark figures silently stood atop rooftops, behind walls, and within narrow alleyways.
Their auras were suppressed to the absolute limit.
If not for the A.I. Chip’s warning...
Even with his newly enhanced senses, Cole doubted he would have noticed their existence before it was too late.
Every one of them wore identical black robes.
Their faces remained hidden behind thick metallic masks that reflected no emotion whatsoever.
The only things visible were pairs of cold, lifeless eyes.
Watching him...
Like hunters observing trapped prey.
Just then...
An overwhelming sense of danger exploded inside Cole’s mind.
His instincts screamed.
Behind!
Without even thinking...
Without relying on conscious thought...
His body reacted purely on instinct.
His neck twisted sharply to the side.
Whoosh!
A sharp whistling sound sliced through the air.
Something cold brushed against his cheek, leaving behind a thin trail of blood.
Before Cole could even identify what had nearly killed him...
The projectile slammed directly into the stone wall several meters ahead.
BOOM!!
A deafening explosion erupted.
The entire street violently shook beneath his feet.
Countless chunks of stone exploded outward like cannonballs, tearing through nearby buildings.
A section of the thick concrete wall simply vanished.
The violent shockwave blasted dust in every direction.
Through the enormous hole...
Cole briefly caught sight of a family of four frozen around a dinner table.
A father.
A mother.
Two young children.
Their bowls remained suspended halfway toward their mouths, their terrified expressions perfectly frozen as they stared at the devastation only a few meters away.
For one horrifying second...
No one moved.
Then...
"AAAAAH!!"
Terrified screams erupted throughout the district.
Panic spread like wildfire.
Pedestrians fled in every direction.
Shops slammed their doors shut.
Children cried.
People pushed and trampled one another in desperate attempts to escape.
The peaceful street instantly descended into complete chaos.
Cole barely had enough time to process the explosion.
From the opposite side of the street...
The remaining attackers finally revealed themselves.
One after another...
Large figures stepped out from the surrounding shadows.
Heavy footsteps echoed across the shattered pavement.
These were clearly physical-path cultivators.
Every one of them possessed a sturdy, muscular physique that resembled walking fortresses.
Their bodies bulged beneath dark combat armor.
Massive iron hammers.
Tower shields.
Greatswords.
Axes taller than ordinary men.
Each weapon radiated an intimidating pressure.
Without uttering a single word...
They lowered their centers of gravity.
Then...
Charged.
The earth trembled beneath the synchronized assault.
Yet they weren’t alone.
Standing several dozen meters behind them...
Another formation quietly emerged.
Unlike the warriors...
These individuals wore deep-blue robes embroidered with intricate silver runes.
Each calmly removed a crystalline potion from their spatial pouch.
The transparent liquid inside glowed with an intense azure light.
Mana Potion.
Cole’s pupils shrank.
Without hesitation...
Every wizard simultaneously uncorked the bottles.
Pop.
The crisp sounds overlapped perfectly.
The next instant...
They tilted their heads back and swallowed every last drop.
The effects were immediate.
Thick veins instantly bulged beneath their skin.
Pure mana surged violently throughout their bodies like raging rivers.
The pressure radiating from each of them skyrocketed.
Ordinary people would have had their mana channels torn apart by such reckless consumption.
Yet...
Not a single one of them frowned.
Not a single muscle twitched.
Their expressions remained eerily emotionless.
As though they had rehearsed this countless times before.
The atmosphere suddenly became unbearably heavy.
Then...
The lead wizard slowly raised his hand.
The surrounding mana erupted.
A dozen staffs pointed toward Cole simultaneously.
An instant later...
The remaining wizards moved in perfect unison.
Their voices merged into one.
A deep chant echoed throughout the battlefield.
The surrounding temperature skyrocketed.
The air itself began to distort.
Heat waves rippled across the shattered street.
The moisture lingering in the atmosphere rapidly evaporated.
Above Cole’s head...
A gigantic crimson magic formation silently unfolded.
Its countless runes rotated one after another, radiating an oppressive aura capable of suffocating even seasoned awakeners.
The terrifying heat descending from above felt as though an entire volcano had awakened.
"Damn it..."
Cole gritted his teeth.
His heartbeat accelerated.
Just who are these people?
Their coordination...
Their discipline...
Their perfectly synchronized assault...
This wasn’t the work of ordinary assassins.
This was a professional killing squad.
One specifically assembled...
To ensure he never left this street alive.
Realizing this, Cole no longer hesitated.
Thunder crackled beneath his feet.
The power of the Thunder Worm Leviathan surged explosively through every muscle in his body.
With the earth beneath him still desperately trying to bind his legs...
Cole burst forward at his absolute fastest speed...