Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

BOOOM!!

Under the cold and sanguine gleam of a red moon and the looming dark clouds, a vast and desolate battlefield lit up with all manner of explosions.

On a distinct spot in the field, a sea of fire could be seen, and it's also the origin of these explosions. Despite the scalding heat of those bright orange flames, however, a ceaseless horde of undead marched towards it fearlessly, seemingly not minding the incinerated fate that would befall them once the flames touched them.

At the center of the sea of flames was a young man whose face was pale with visible exhaustion. He was sweating buckets, and his breaths were labored as he supported his body using his sword.

There's a visible strain on his face, yet his eyes remain cold. He stared fearlessly at the all-consuming horde of the undead marching towards him. He was undettered by this scalp-tingling sight, but his body couldn't lie. He was approaching his limits, and it shows.

The only thing that's keeping him alive is the sea of flames surrounding him. It gave him a momentary respite from the unceasing spawn of undead creatures all around him. Even so, maintaining this skill was taxing for him.

Releasing a turbid breath, the young man straightened his back and wiped the sweat pouring down his face. He reached into his belt and took out a vial of red potion. He didn't even glance at it before downing all of the contents of the vial while his eyes remained focused on the growing undead horde.

"Haaah..."

The young man released a sigh of comfort. He repeated his action; this time, he consumed a vial of blue potion and threw the empty vial towards the nearest burning undead approaching him. The throw has enough force to scatter the ashes of the undead.

His health and energy were being restored thanks to the potion; anybody who's at least a little bit sensitive to energy could sense that. That said, with the overwhelming wave of undead creatures still spawning all over the battlefield, it's debatable if this was helpful at all.

Since there were too many undead swarming the sea of flames where the young man was, it's obvious that he wouldn't be able to tell everything that's happening around him.

Even if a handful of undead creatures behave abnormally, he wouldn't know since he's got his hands full trying to stay alive until the allotted time for this hellish trial is up.

He wouldn't know that there were a few undead creatures who weren't doing anything other than staring at him. They're not marching along with the rest to willingly throw themselves into the sea of flames. They just stood there, staring at the struggling young man with sinister and disdainful expressions on their faces.

It's obvious that they're spying on him. These undeads were possessed by the consciousness of stronger demons; it's the method they use to gauge the strength of humanity to see if there were any troublesome people they had to get rid of early.

However, judging by the scene in front of these spies, they were worried for nothing.

This young man was strong; there's no doubting that. After all, he's still standing, even with thousands of demons swarming towards him. That said, he's barely keeping up with this trial. He needs to rely on luck and trickery to pass this cruel mission, and if one of the elements doesn't side with him, he's done for.

He might be strong, but he's not a threat at all. There's truly no need to be wary of him.

The spies sent signals to each other in silent communication. After nodding to each other, the bodies they possessed turned slack and dropped like sacks of potatoes. Shortly after, they rose like nothing happened and finally joined their comrades to throw themselves into that sea of flames.

'Looks like they're gone...' the young man sighed inwardly.

This young man was none other than Cedric. And with the disappearance of the spies, he could finally relax.

He didn't do much, though. He just increased the output of the flames, allowing it to spread further but not by a lot. He increased the heat as well. Other than that, he remained in position and still pretended that he was struggling to keep up.

'There's three fewer spies this time.' He muttered inwardly as he recalled the number of spies he discovered. 'It's getting less and less; this means that they're close to writing me off their assassination list.'

If it weren't for the sudden activity on the frontlines, Cedric would've been forgotten by the spies entirely at this point. However, for some reason, since the recent activities of the Demon Race spiking, he discovered that he's being watched closely again.

He guessed that the spies must be running through their list of 'potential troubles, and he was included in that list. It started two months ago, but every month after that, the number of spies decreased.

It was troublesome to keep up appearances, but it's necessary. However, that doesn't mean he's not irritated.

Cedric was planning to use this time to experiment some more. Since he's way too strong to fail his Hell Dives, he's using his time inside the trial to perform experiments that could be replicated in real life. This was how the misdirection formation and the conversion rune were discovered. It's also how the Origin Reversion Array was invented.

Obviously, Cedric can't perform his experiments when some perverts are spying on him. He has to put on an act—a scene of desperation and futile resistance—to fool the spies watching him. He wanted demons to forget about Cedric Stormrider to give him more freedom in doing things. It's the entire reason why he created 'Derrek' in the first place.

Although the spies have already left, Cedric can't drop his guard just yet. There have been times when the spies decided to return for some reason, perhaps just to be sure. No matter what, what's important is that he was nearly caught once, and he doesn't intend to experience it a second time. That's why, even though he's itching to try out his ideas, he can't do it right now.

'...speak of the god damn devil...' Cedric groaned mentally as he felt another interference around him.

The consciousness of the spies descended once more. There are two this time. They possessed the bodies of a pair of distant undead. Cedric already lowered the output of his flames the moment he felt the hint of interference around Purgatory, and he also put on the mask of exhaustion and crisis again.

With his absurd sensory range, he could tell that they were watching him closely. It hasn't even been an hour since the previous batch of spies left.

Cedric wasn't limited to an absurd vision; his other senses are just as sharp as his vision was. Therefore, he could hear them talking even though they're using sound transmission.

"I told you, you're thinking too much. Look, he's barely keeping up with the horde. Judging by the surging energy within him, he probably consumed another pair of potions just now. This is a waste of time."

"Sorry, but I just can't help it. I just feel extremely jittery whenever I look at him for some reason, and I really don't know why."

"Everybody makes you feel like that. If you're scared, just say that. No need to beat around the bush."

"You're the scared one! Your entire family is the scaredy cat!"

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. Are we done here? If so, then let's leave. There's nothing to see here other than the sad and desperate sight of that so-called genius."

"Yeah, it is sad. Let's go. I'm feeling hungry as well."

Sensing them leaving after mocking him, Cedric's lips twitched in mild irritation. He maintained his discipline, though. Anyway, this wasn't the first time that Demons mocked him; it's not going to be the last. He can't afford to lose his temper just because of their trash talk.

But this is exactly the reason why he can't drop his guard. He's fortunate that he could sense the first sign of interference; otherwise, he would've exposed himself by now.

Typically, there wouldn't be a third time. But just to be sure, Cedric remained cautious. He attacked here and there, but he mostly stayed within the sea of flames, letting it do the work for him.

He kept his senses sharp for any signs of interference as time trickled down. Eventually, the full eight-hour time period was up, and the undead creatures swarming him disappeared.

Cedric sighed in relief, but he knew that this wasn't over yet.

"That's the first one," he muttered as he sat on the dirty ground, wiping his sweat with a towel. "I need to clear this for the second time to clear this month's mission."

"And to keep up appearances, I have to clear the second attempt using my alter ego."

"Those perverts will return." He sighed. "Not only that, they would even harass me verbally like they always do. They've been testing Derrek's patience, and they're not seeing any hopes of guaging him completely, so I'm afraid that they'd escalate things."

"Aw man, I'm really not looking forward to this."