BXBX NOVEL Chapter 214: Hell Dive
Name: Cedric Stormrider
Age: 22
Race: Human IV
Classes: Luminous Sage (Main), Demon Slayer (2nd), Educator (Sub)
Level: Tier 6 Lv.1
Titles: Son of Heaven, Master Tamer (+6)...
System Authority: Lv.9
Companion Beast: Aurelion (Radiant Sunlion) T5 Lv.6
Aptitude Rank: EX+
[Skills]
Actives: Dispel (M), FTL Movement Lv.15, Meteor Slash (Elementary), Sunset Cut (Elementary), Heaven Extinction Sword (Elementary), Flashing Steel Sovereign (Intermediate), Solar Flare (Intermediate), Solaris Galatine (Intermediate),
Passives: CQC Mastery (M), Intermediate Sage Physique (U), Sage's Perception (U), Education Lv.150, Demon Lore (M), Slayer's Mark Lv.70, Sage Arts (M), Marksmanship (M), Sword Heart Lv.15
Sub-Class Skills: (Omitted...)
[Concept Laws]
Laws: Sword Law (Elementary), Fire Law (Elementary), Astral Law (Elementary)
Concepts: Slaughter Intent
[Law Traits]
Sword: Controlled Sharpness, Favored Enemy
Fire: Burning Heat, True Fire
Astral: Astral Genesis, Planetary Formation
Unique Trait: 『Aspect of the Sun (Mastered)』
[Domain]: None
[Equipment]
Weapon: Solaris Edge (T9 - Legendary/Growth)
Armor: Star Sage Set (T9 - Legendary/Growth)
[Mandatory Task:]
: Hell Dive - Survive the Endless Undead Horde for 8 hours twice.
: Rewards - 100% Demon Soul gain, Clearance Streak +1
: Punishment for Failure - Failure Streak +1.
: Record: Clear Streak - 37, Failure Streak - 0
Under the dark and depressing skies of Purgatory, Cedric - disguised as Derrek, the Sun Sage, stood tall and bathed in golden light.
He gripped the true form of Solaris Edge with his right hand, and a mane/cape of golden flames billowed behind him as he stood uphill waiting for the assault of the Endless Undead Horde.
This was the second time he's doing his Hell Dive this month, this time as Derrek. In this persona, Cedric openly announces his status as this generation's Sage...more specifically, the Sun Sage. He does this to get more attention as Derrek so that the Demon Race wouldn't pay attention to his real identity.
As soon as the countdown began, a swarm of dark masses erupted like a volcano all around him. The putrid scent of corruption and the foul smell of corpses assaulted his nose, nothing that he was not used to at this point.
Rotting flesh and dark amalgamations of Undead Creatures appeared in hordes around him. Their numbers were terrifying, one could easily count thousands of them, and this was just the first minute of the whole eight hours. The weakest undead creature around was Tier 5 at the very least.
What's more terrifying is the thought that every ten minutes, the horde grows larger in numbers and grows stronger as well.
Zombies, Ghouls, Corpse Raisers, Necromancers, Liches, Vengeful Spirits...this was just to name a few that could be seen within the horde. Each one could easily rip a human into shreds, all of them are marching towards Cedric with a mixture of hatred and fear.
Cedric glanced at the horde marching towards him with a relaxed and lazy gaze. He smirked and said:
"Okay, let's get this party started!"
He then promptly disappeared from his location and appeared right in front of the marching horde. The undead creatures couldn't even follow his movements, before they could do anything to him, Cedric already swung Solaris Edge down and dismantled the horde. Only a handful amongst the thousands were left, and the ones who remained weren't in good shape either.
Cedric then felt another wave of horde appearing nearby. Without any further ado, he slashed at the rising horde, sending a thick wave of golden projectile containing concentrated sunfire.
The wave sliced through the horde like a hot knife through butter. They dissipated into nothingness as soon as the Sunfire touched them.
What these undead creatures don't know is that Cedric was using another flame source aside from Sunfire. He's distracting them with it but in truth, that's not what's killing them, it's the Vivic Flames.
This was an experiment on Cedric's part. He wanted to see if Vivic Flames were just as effective in Purgatory Demon as much as it were for True Demons.
He could tell that the Vivic Flames were taking effect, but he couldn't feel the resonance with Acala. Usually, victims of the Vivic Flames would whet her appetite, but Cedric has yet to feel Acala's presence so something's not working here.
'Well, burning them like this doesn't give me Demon Souls, so I guess I should use Sunfire instead. It does the same job anyway.' Cedric mused to himself as he stopped his experiment.
Ten minutes have passed since the start of this task and the horde already evolved.
Thousands of undead creatures appeared at once, meaning that these numbers increased at this point. In response to this, Cedric raised Solaris Edge and shot pure sunfire and sunlight to the gloomy skies above.
This energy compressed and turned into a large golden orb that shone brilliantly amidst the depressing battlefield. It was a miniature sun, the true version of the one that Cedric formed during his time at the frontlines. After honing his skills incessantly, he had cut the time he needed to create this thing and it became deadlier.
The harsh glare of the miniature sun burned the corruption of the undead creatures, weakening them severely. Some even died as soon as the light touched them.
Cedric stood underneath this sun, holding his sword by the handle with two hands while its tip embedded into the ground. No, this move did not immobilize him, Cedric just didn't feel like moving too much for now since it was still very early into the task.
He had to slay undead creatures for eight hours straight. He might be a Superhuman, but moving constantly throughout the entirety of his task would certainly tire him out. This was one of the ways he could save his energy since all he had to do was to maintain this miniature sun, and he'd be untouchable for the next two hours or so.
Said two hours passed by quickly, and it was at this point that the first boss would appear. Before it showed up, Cedric snorted and mobilized his Astral Energy.
Huge chunks of land were ripped out of the ground. They instantly melted into lava and magma that rose to the sky and fused with the miniature sun that Cedric was maintaining.
The sun looked and felt more real because of this, the mystical power emanated from it came from Cedric's comprehension of Astral Laws.
The temperature rose severely, and any undead creatures that still remained were unable to endure the heat and the light, they died as soon as it was finished. This was around time when a massive undead appeared out of nowhere accompanied by a dark, swirling mass of corruption.
Cedric sneered. He raised his sword and pointed it at the giant undead.
"Solar Flare!"
Pshewww!!!!
The sun behind Cedric shot a pillar of concentrated sunfire and sunlight toward the boss, melting it into nothingness before it could even do anything.
Cedric received an alert that the first boss was slain. He dismissed this alert and stabbed his sword on the ground once more. He then closed his eyes and released more of Astral Energy. read-more-on-MVLeMpYr
Above him, the miniature sun experienced some changes. On its surface, a profound and mystical intersection of lines appeared. Each stroke contained a charm that causes one to be drawn towards it...granted that they're not demons because if they were, their eyes would immediately be burned into ashes upon gazing at it.
A large symbol appeared on the surface of the sun. It was none other than Cedric's Sagely Totem - the 『Aspect of the Sun』.
The already dangerously scalding sunburned even hotter when combined with the aspect. The same sigil also appeared beneath Cedric's foot, stretching up to a kilometer with him in the middle.
Cedric's disguised long red hair billowed with intensity. He felt the appearance of more and stronger undead around him but he didn't care. With a sneer of contempt, he uttered:
"Cruel Sun!"
At his declaration, the Sun above him began spewing arching shots of pure sunfire everywhere. Some caused a volcanic reaction upon making contact with the ground, some left large puddles of burning sunfire, some flew at the speed of light...etc.
'Cruel Sun' is an all-out bombardment skill he developed after perfecting the Aspect of the Sun. A volley of indiscriminate burning massacre. It didn't matter what manner of undead creature appeared, none were able to do much in the face of Cedric's sun.
So long as the sun remains above him, it will release a volley of burning destruction every 2 and a half minutes. Sufficed to say, every corner of the Purgatory was bathed in sunfire by now.
It was such a sight to see - Purgatory, a dark and repulsive place where Humans were sent to face their punishment, became a rather active warzone because of Cedric's skills.
Despite the indiscriminate bombardment, if one looked closely, the Purgatory doesn't look bad at all. As Cedric's sun hovered above, it illuminated the surroundings clearly, driving away the dark and depressing atmosphere of the Purgatory.
And this was just the beginning. Cedric has lofty goals but that's for the future. Right now, he should focus on maintaining this sun through the remaining hours of this task.