The three Tiger Claw Gang members exchanged looks before the burly man, clearly the leader, gave the order.
"Kill him!"
"Yes!" the subordinates shouted in unison.
"W-Wait!" Grey blurted out in panic. "Brothers, this is a misunderstanding! I'm actually part of the Tiger Claw Gang. The Boss sent me here to support you with… uh, your mission! He told me to assist if anything went wrong."
Hearing this, the leader sneered. "Who are you trying to fool, little brat?"
His tone turned ice-cold. "The Boss already made it clear—only the three of us were to be sent out for this mission. Besides, I've never seen your face before. Do you take me for a fool?"
"Yes—No! I mean, no!" Grey stammered in desperation.
His attempt at pretending to be an ally had failed miserably and considering the fact that all three of them were evolvers…
There was now only one thing left to do—beg.
"Please reconsider, brothers! I was just passing by! We can act like we never saw each other—I'll go my way, you'll go yours. How about that?"
"No." The burly man's voice was cold, his expression ruthless. "You've seen too much. You witnessed us creating the corruption field. If we let you go, wouldn't our secret be exposed?"
"Huh?" Grey froze, eyes narrowing. "Creating… corruption fields?"
The burly man didn't bother answering. Instead, he waved a hand at his subordinates. "Kill him. He's just a low-level worm, an ordinary mortal. Finish it quickly. We still need to collect the pure abyssal energy. It only appears during the creation stage, and time is short."
"Understood!"
The two men shot forward like arrows loosed from a bow.
Grey's pupils shrank. In the blink of an eye, the distance between them vanished.
A bone-deep chill surged through him.
No. I'm going to die!
His brain roared to life, neurons firing at full capacity. The world seemed to slow around him, every detail sharpening into brutal clarity.
Whoosh!
From the corner of his vision, blades materialized in the hands of the charging subordinates. They thrust toward his chest with killing intent.
"Instant Recoil Step!"
Slash!
Grey's body flickered. The sword whistled past him, missing his heart by a hair's breadth. If he had moved even a fraction of a second later, he would have been split in two.
"Hss!" He sucked in a sharp breath as pain ripped through his leg. His tendons tore under the explosive strain. He had pushed his body beyond its "Full" limits just to dodge that single strike.
However, the two subordinates didn't give him a chance to breathe. They rushed at him again, their speed unrelenting.
"Tch!" Grey grit his teeth, ignoring the pain in his legs as he forced his body to move. He flickered to the side and began running, narrowly slipping between the two attackers.
'This won't do…' His heart sank. 'They're both at the first level of the First Rank. With my current abilities, I can't even run from them!'
His Instant Recoil Step and perfect muscle control meant nothing against them. He simply couldn't keep dodging forever.
There's only one option left! Grey's eyes flashed with a cold light.
It was dangerous. If it failed, he would die here. But hesitation would only guarantee his death.
He had to form Nexus Energy and undergo metamorphosis right here!
While still running, Grey's hand flashed and a bundle of cosmic energy conversion diagrams appeared in his grip. He had already set a timer on them. In exactly ten seconds, they would activate.
With a sharp throw, he flung the bundle into the sky. The scrolls burst apart, scattering like falling papers, raining down diagrams glowing with cosmic light.
The leader's expression twisted in shock. "A formation?!"
"You two, fall back! That looks like a talisman formation, it might explode!"
The subordinates instantly halted their steps hearing his words and leapt back, widening the distance between themselves and Grey. Their eyes narrowed, wary of the strange formation talismans descending from the sky.
"Now's my chance!" Grey's mind churned amidst the confusion of his enemies. Immediately, the golden ratio pattern of Nexus Energy emerged in his mind, a pattern so precise that a single misplaced dot would cause it to crumble.
But for Grey, it was no issue. With his heaven-defying talent, he had already memorized the pattern.
Grey's breathing changed drastically, becoming unnatural and unique.
As soon as he began inhaling and exhaling in that specific pattern, the air around him started distorting violently.
The formations were activated!
It was so powerful that the distorted area started taking a deep blue color.
"This… what is happening?" The burly leader was stunned.
As an evolver, he could sense it: a dense surge of cosmic energy rushing toward this place like a tsunami.
No—toward the mortal brat!
Whoosh!
The energy around Grey grew even stronger, and his breathing became more and more unnatural.
For a split second, the world around Grey seemed to shatter and flash before his eyes, plunging everything into absolute pitch black.
Then, as if the darkness itself had been pierced, multicolored energy erupted into view, swirling and pulsing with life.
Brilliant blue strands of cosmic energy twisted and danced through the void, golden threads of spiritual energy shimmered like molten light, and vibrant green currents of life energy wove themselves into the darkness.
Gradually, the energies began to revolve, spinning slowly at first, then accelerating, twisting faster and faster. At the center of the vortex, a brilliant purple light ignited. The three energies collided, merged, and assimilated into the radiant purple core, radiating immense power.
Buzz!
Abruptly, the clear skies of the Outer Ring darkened, clouds swirling unnaturally above.
Buzzt! Buzzt!
"What is that?" The burly leader and his subordinates froze, eyes wide, unable to look away from the extraordinary sight.
Thunder rolled ominously as the dark clouds thickened, converging directly above Grey. Within them, a torrent of unnatural golden lightning churned violently, so intense and abundant that it was visible even from the ground below.
"W-What the hell?" The burly leader stared, bewildered by the unnatural phenomenon.
"Leader… what's happening?" His subordinates hurried to his side, their faces showing unease and fear.
A crushing, oppressive power radiated from above, so overwhelming that it nearly forced them to their knees—but they struggled to maintain their composure.
"T-This… could this be the legendary Heavenly Tribulation?" the burly leader stammered in disbelief.
At that moment, a surge of purple energy erupted from Grey's body, illuminating the darkened skies with a blinding brilliance.