Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

That's the general consensus of the audience when they heard Garrick's battle cry.

He wasn't emitting any killing intent, just pure aggression, making a handful of people think that, at the very least, he still has a little bit of his sanity left. That said, just because there's no intent to kill, doesn't mean that there wasn't one to hurt.

...well, that's Garrick's goal at least...to hurt Cedric.

This is the first time that Garrick faced Cedric in a battle and he had been patiently waiting for this. Since the Entrance Exam, he already wants to fight him just for the sole reason of measuring the gap between the two of them.

Unlike Isabella, Garrick had no qualms about losing since he was used to it. He's always been like this... aggressive and brash, and it put him in numerous disadvantageous positions before so he's not a stranger to setbacks.

For Garrick, losing is part of life and one couldn't expect to escape it. He also couldn't imagine winning all the time since wouldn't that be boring? There's no thrill when there's nobody that dares to cross you anymore.

Garrick obviously knows that the gap between him and Cedric is just getting bigger with each passing day. However, this was no problem to him since he understands that there will always be someone better.

Frankly, facing someone of Cedric's caliber makes him excited because just like Isabella, he's usually the one who excels and receives praise because of his luck in the class and talent lottery.

But then, Cedric appeared. Compared to him, even the likes of Garrick looked ordinary. But instead of feeling vexed or stifled by the sheer difference between the two of them, Garrick was even more pumped by this challenge.

Boom!

Garrick crossed the distance between them in no time and with a mighty swing, he hacked Cedric with his great axe. But of course it's not going to be that easy.

Before he could even see what happened, Garrick already felt it. The sensation of hitting something extremely sturdy and solid. When the smoke cleared, he saw to his shock that Cedric received his blow with bare hands.

Gasps could be heard from the audience because of this ridiculous display but the contenders didn't pay any attention to it.

Garrick yanked his axe and was relieved to retrieve it. He wasn't fooled, of course, he knew that if Cedric truly wanted to, he could've held to the axe, effectively disarming him.

'Just like I thought...his control of his Ki was phenomenal. Even a simple reinforcement practically becomes a divine skill.' Garrick judged inwardly.

He knew what that display entailed, but again he wasn't deterred. He's already aware that Cedric's obscenely strong and he wasn't the slightest bit offended that the guy was taking it easy on him.

After retreating briefly, Garrick charged again at his top speed, performing an overhead strike at Cedric. At the peak of his strength, lightning struck his axe, empowering his attack and boosting its speed...

"Lightning Strike!"

Boom!

Despite the sudden increase in force and speed, Cedric wasn't affected. He calmly leaned to the side, causing the attack to completely miss. He then borrowed the momentum of his movement to spin and get into a striking distance towards Garrick.

Garrick obviously saw this coming but he already committed to his attack and was wide open to receive one. His instincts told him that he needed to dodge what was coming next so he let go of his axe to evade, however it was already too late.

Gahck!!

Cedric embedded his fist deep into his stomach. The force of his attack caused Garrick to be hefted a could inches off the ground.

Garrick felt this blow strongly despite his boasted Divine Physique. He even felt the oscillation of the force dispersing on his organs. This was when his instincts screamed at him again to dodge.

As it turns out, Cedric was about to launch another attack. This time, his target was his temples. Instead of dodging however, Garrick blocked it since he's already too late.

By doing this, he was able to cushion the impact of the blow. He still felt dizzy but he knows that this could've been worse if he failed to react to it.

Garrick retreated and took a deep breath without breaking eye contact with his enemy. Inwardly he thought:

'He could've ended the match right then and there.'

'This guy hasn't even combined his elemental excellence with his attacks, not to mention his sword. He allowed me to retreat, that's for sure. After all, if he truly didn't want to, he could've used his speed to wallop me nonstop and I wouldn't have been able to resist. He's faster than me after all, and not by a small margin too.

I imagine that he's already faster now after a month of diligent training.'

Cedric's diligence was one of the traits that Garrick liked about Cedric. Sure, he doesn't know everything that's going on in Cedric's life but he does know that Cedric hasn't slacked off ever since arriving here.

The guy leaves early and returns late during weekdays. Even then, he only returns to his dorm to rest or relax with his women for a bit before doing this all over again.

Cedric never boasted about his abilities nor threw his weight around. He silently trained and increased his strength, not bothering to waste his time on things that were not his priority.

The stomach-churning blow he received was still painful. It caused him to cough out blood but wasn't enough to put him down. Wiping the wisps of blood from his mouth, he held out his hand and called his axe to return to his hands, which it did.

His fighting strength then billowed once more, he slammed the edge of his axe on the arena's floor and a bright flash of light suddenly emerged from one end of the arena to the other.

"Earth Cleave!" Garrick roared as he gripped his axe and yanked it back forcefully.

It was then followed by a deep gash that almost split the arena in half and a large explosion.

"Tch." Garrick was unsatisfied.

Obviously, it's because that did nothing to Cedric - who simply hopped to the side, creating enough distance to not get hurt by his attack.

Hefting his axe, Garrick grunted before starting to spin. He carried great momentum which generated strong currents of wind to revolve around him. His spinning got faster and faster until he turned into a tornado that was quickly approaching Cedric.

This skill is called: 'Tornado Swing', a physically demanding skill that no ordinary Tier 3 could cast. Because of Garrick's Divine Physique though, he's able to learn it and attain some level of mastery over it.

Even as he was spinning so far, Garrick's senses could see Cedric clearly. He saw the guy getting into a horse stance with an open palm stretched out.

Garrick hated the fact that his instincts once again told him to dodge when he was fully committed to his attack. But before he could get distracted, Cedric already responded to his attack.

'Ballistic Fist.'

There was no extravagance or unnecessary glamour behind this technique. It was the simplest, most basic punch according to martial arts. However, due to Cedric's sheer mastery over the skill and phenomenal control over his strength and Ki, its effect reached a rather absurd level of strength.

Pow! Boom!

As Cedric's fist reached its full length, the force he accumulated exploded like a whip. It's as if he punched the sound barrier just then.

The force it generated completely and utterly neutralized all of the momentum that Garrick's Tornado Swing accumulated, rendering it useless. Garrick wasn't hurt, but the fact that an attack of that caliber was so easily neutralized by a simple punch was a little too jarring for the aggressive dude.

Gritting his teeth, Garrick was about to launch another attack but as he blinked, he was surprised to see that Cedric had already breached his space and was already in stance for another attack.

That moment, Garrick felt the world slowing down and he was included in it. He could only watch as Cedric held his breath and punched him five times in his stomach at the same spot without a millimeter of difference.

He did it so fast that Garrick almost thought that he must've been seeing things. But then, Cedric disappeared and was already back to where he was...

The next thing he knew, he was hurt...like really badly. He collapsed on the floor, feeling the sharp pain that made it difficult for him to breathe. He had to manually gasp to bring in air to his system.

His mind was spinning and he almost vomited. He felt the pain echoing on his entire body and the dizziness was becoming stronger. That's the last thing that Garrick felt before he lost consciousness and his defeat was announced.

As for the audience, the majority of them didn't know what happened. A small handful only saw Cedric's silhouette blinking and then his opponent collapsed in pain.

Cedric paid them no mind as he wasn't inclined to explain himself. What's clear is that he won this fight and he defended his position.

And since he was done here, there was no reason to stay so he left.