Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

Don't be mistaken, this is still Cedric, only he's using his Alter Ego - Derrek, to complete his second clearance of his Hell Dive to satisfy this month's quota.

Aside from firing his guns, there were also at least five mini-suns hovering at a certain distance away from him. These stationary orbs fired projectiles of pure Sunfire at the speed of light toward the horde of the Undead.

The poor creatures, faced with their nemesis, could only groan/scream in agony as they felt the purifying qualities of Cedric's Sagely Aspect.

He wasn't just using his guns though. Cedric, as Derrek, would also use his sword to get up close and personal. Since he's using his Alter Ego, he didn't hold back in showcasing his Sage Arts. In fact, he's even using this place to hone his skills even more, making him deadlier against Demonfolk.

Cedric's already halfway through the timer, meaning he's been at it for two and a half hours straight. He was given a brief period of rest each time he took down a boss, which was more than enough to restore his strength.

As he displayed his arsenal as a Luminous Sage, he could distinctly feel the Purgatory writhing in pain. His golden flames powered with the attribute of true Sunfire and Sunlight were the antithesis of the corruption that plagued this land.

He could distinctly hear the heavy cries of souls being burned by the sunfire before turning into their purified version. But despite the insistent conflagration of his sunfire, the corruption of this land runs deep, no matter how long the land burns, the corruption refuses to go away.

Cedric has long noticed this. Unfortunately, even now he couldn't come up with a feasible solution for this other than making himself stronger. In fact, was it even possible to clear the Purgatory of its corruption?

At this point, only time will tell...

Continuing with his task, the 3rd-hour mark came. This meant that he was about to face another boss.

'Now, if memory serves me right, this should be— yep, it is...'

A powerful undead creature appeared after the disappearance of the zombies. It wore dark and tattered robes, holding onto an ancient book oozing with demonic might. Its eye-sockets flared with ghastly blue energy, causing anybody to look at it to feel a soul-chilling sensation.

It spat a cloud of violet miasma that brought rot and decay to anything it touched. And with a groan, it summoned a horde of undead - zombies, skeletons, and ghouls, ready to pounce on him.

The 3rd Boss was a Necromancer - a real one this time. Cedric faced the same one yesterday and managed to defeat it. However, since he restricted himself to let his ruse play out, the fight was challenging to him.

This time however, being Derrek the Young Sage, he shouldn't necessarily struggle against it.

"A Necromancer, huh? Let's see what you got!" Derrek sneered as he charged forward with his sword billowing with True Sunfire.

As soon as he moved, the Necromancer's summons responded in kind. They threw themselves at him uncaring of what might happen to them.

Seeing this, the Necromancer empowered his summons with a spell that increased their demonic might. It also tried Cursing him but got interrupted.

Cedric used the Luminous Arsenal - a skill from the Sage Arts that allowed him to extend the range and power of his strikes, to prevent the Necromancer from finishing his curse. Because of the Sun's attributes, the Necromancer snarled in pain after getting grazed by Cedric's attack.

"Tsk, tsk...only I, am allowed to cheat here." Cedric sneered as eradicated the rest of the Necromancer's summons in a single attack.

Seeing this, his foe was incensed. It tried to create distance but how could Cedric allow that?

While his 『Lightspeed』 was essentially stuck at Level 75 for whatever reason and refused to budge, the speed it gave to him was more than enough to catch up with the Necromancer.

Cedric's sword was empowered with his Sword Intent as well as True Sunfire. He grew skilled enough to fuse both of these elements to increase the lethality of his attacks even further.

As a result, when his attack landed on the poor Necromancer, it not only bisected it but also set it on fire. And because Sunfire was the nemesis of the Undead, the Necromancer experienced pain it had never experienced before.

Without the Sunfire, this creature could've recovered from this. Sure, the Sword Intent could hurt it badly but it wouldn't be enough to kill it. The Necromancer would just reassemble its body and continue creating distance until it has enough space to summor its minions again.

He would know, he experienced this after all.

Unfortunately for the Necromancer though, the Sunfire made this impossible. The pain clouded its reason and ability to recover. It burned all the Demonic Might and Corruption it had, causing it to be severely weakened until it died.

"One attack to interrupt, another to kill. Not bad if I do say so myself." Cedric shrugged as he sat down.

Since he killed the boss, he's given 30 minutes of rest. He was certain of its death since he received a confirmation from the System as well as the Purified Necromancer's Demon Soul.

'Just like yesterday, the 3rd Boss is at Tier 5.' Cedric mused inwardly as he closed his eyes to let his body rest. 'Right now, there's not much difference between Cedric's task and Derrek's task.'

'Fortunately, the Demons couldn't interfere much. They could monitor what's happening, yes. But I doubt that they would discover the ruse this early.'

'The System already clarified that this task isn't unique to me.' Cedric continued with his musings, 'And I'm not the only one alive who has this task. The Demon Race aren't able to interfere with the System so they wouldn't know the specific contents of our task. This means that the likelihood of them calling out my ruse is very unlikely.'

Cedric made this inquiry around three months ago. Because of his Lv.8 Authority, Acala could answer this for him. It's this information that made him feel more confident about continuing his ruse.

'Derrek will continue to grow stronger as Cedric starts to, slowly but surely, fall behind.'

'This way, their attention would be focused on Derrek. They will increase their vigilance against him and chase after his shadow in hopes of assassinating him before he becomes a real thorn in their side.'

'Meanwhile, as Cedric falls behind, they will start to lose interest in him. Eventually, he will be forgotten and their threat will disappear. Meaning I will have more room and freedom to develop under their radar.'

This plan is risky. It also needs a lot of time before it produces results.

The Demon Race could go ahead and chase after Derrek for as much as they want. But Cedric...he's in a more vulnerable position because of his public appearance.

Of course, he has plans of leading the Demons into a wild goose chase after Derrek. At some point in the future, Derrek needs to make a public appearance to solidify the idea that he's a real person, that way the ruse will be more effective. It's just that, for now, Cedric is in a more vulnerable position and currently, there are few options for him to take their attention away.

Thankfully, Cedric is under the protection of the Starlight Royal Academy. He could take shelter there for years as the ruse continues. By the time he graduates, he hopes that his ruse already bore results so that he could feel safer.

The rest period ended eventually and Cedric once again sensed the appearance of the Undead. Because of their periodic evolution, these ones are stronger than before, their numbers increased too.

Since he didn't struggle too much against the Necromancer, Cedric wasn't as drained unlike yesterday. He managed to recover all the energy he spent during that round so he's full of energy right now.

Because of this, his vigorous decimation of Undead Clusters remained as fierce as before.

He used 'Sunlit Stars' and summoned five mini-sun turrets around to make it easier for him. He switched between his guns and his sword as he demolished large undead clusters like nobody's business.

Time continued forth like this until he reached the Final Boss. And just like yesterday, he was faced with a Tier 7 Lich Demon.

Because this thing was 4 Tiers above him, it was definitely a challenging fight. Even with his Sage Arts, the Lich Demon was a troublesome opponent, especially since it could cast spells that could injure his soul directly.

Still, Cedric managed to defeat it, but only with too much difficulty. He collapsed on the ground, panting and extremely exhausted.

To his surprise though, he heard something that sent a chill down his spine.

"You better start counting your remaining days, Young Sage. We're coming for you."

On the outside, Cedric donning the mask of his Alter Ego only sneered in response. But inwardly, he couldn't help but curse because of this sudden development.

'Shit! Did they catch on?'