Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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"You're cute, but I'm afraid you're a little too feral to be tamed, so you're going to have to go."

Cedric sighed as the giant feral saber-tooth levitated in the air as if lifted by an invisible hand. Then, with a snap of his fingers, a thin line appeared on its neck where blood gushed out like a fountain, ending the life of the poor beast.

"Besides, I already have Aurelion at home. He'd be jealous if I brought home another one."

Aurelion was the sunlion who became his familiar back in the day. He now serves as the guardian of his family.

With the death of the saber-tooth, the first floor was cleared. A floating message confirmed it so. Then, in a blink of an eye, Cedric was back to the platform made of cubes.

The golden light portal was still there; this time, though, the label on top of it changed from 1st floor to 2nd floor.

"Guess I have to enter it again."

And so, that's what he did. He entered the portal again; this time, it led him to a completely different place.

If there's anything similar to the first floor, it would be the fact that as soon as he appeared on the battlefield, the enemy he was supposed to confront was immediately upon him.

It's a giant python, this time. One that's hundreds of meters long. It's a constrictor and was already trying to swallow Cedric whole.

"Whoa, there! Let's not be hasty now."

The large python missed and was punched in the head by Cedric, embedding it deep into the ground. Then, with a wave of his hand, a sword flew out of the sword case and pierced its head, thereby ending its life and clearing another floor.

The same thing happened to every enemy he met within the first 10 floors. They were weaker than him, not by much, but he still ended up dealing with them just as easily. He didn't even need to rest at all.

As for the other participants, they too are sailing easily. Although not as easily as Cedric, their progress was just slightly slower than his.

The first shift in difficulty, though, begins at the 11th floor and above.

After passing through the first 10 floors, Cedric has returned to the platform of cubes. Then, to his surprise, he felt the platform moving up.

It rose until it broke through the dark and gloomy atmosphere, arriving at a new location within the spire.

The new location wasn't as different as the previous one, just slightly less dark and gloomy. It's still empty of life, but there's an improvement at the very least.

It was only after reaching this stage that a new portal appeared, leading to the 11th floor.

The portal was slightly different than before too. The golden hue was just a smidge deeper than the previous one. The opening was a little larger too.

These little changes didn't escape Cedric's eyes because he's been observing. He still couldn't let go of curiosity about this place, after all.

But the answers won't come to him easily. Besides, he had to continue his climb, so he entered the portal to the 11th floor.

As he did, he arrived at a spacious and grassy battlefield. He was primed to react to the enemy right away because that's what happened on the first 10 floors, but this time, there was a delay.

"A demon?" Cedric mused as he saw what his enemy was supposed to be.

Dirty red skin, large goat horns, muddy brown eyes, an overbite, and hooves for feet. A stereotypical image of what demons should look like. What really sold it was the infernal energy oozing out of its body. It's practically wearing it like a cloak.

This demon wasn't anything similar to the ones he faced when he was still a mortal. This is what demons looked like in the Primitive Universe. Cedric didn't feel a deep grudge with them since they aren't the ones he knew from his memory. That said, they're still the enemy of humanity even out here.

The demon only reacted when it saw him. But unlike the beasts who pounced on him as soon as they sensed him. The demon did something else.

It lifted its trident and stabbed it into the ground, instantly turning the spacious and grassy battlefield into its version of hell.

Hellfire burned all the grass, and the screams and wails of souls reverberated through the entire battlefield. In that instant, Cedric could feel the world turning hostile to him, specifically, and becoming biased towards his enemy.

It was only after this that the demon launched an attack. And of course, it was stronger than the beasts he faced on the previous floors.

'This is a proper Immortal Level opponent,' Cedric mused inwardly as he blandly parried the demon's attack.

Cedric had actually no idea how the power scaling of demons out here works. But he could gauge and compare the strength of this demon according to human standards, which is the most he's familiar with.

The beasts earlier, at best, were only as strong as half-step Immortals. This demon had the strength of an Immortal Warrior. Although the gap between realms was only a half-step difference, the actual gap between them was immense.

Therefore, although the increase of the enemy's realm looked small, in truth, it greatly spiked since the previous floor.

To others, this would've been a serious problem. The spike would certainly slow down their progress speed a lot, and it will only get worse from here.

However, this still wasn't enough to slow Cedric down. It's just a demon. Although it's stronger than the demons he knew from memory, it's not stronger than him, so he immediately took care of it.

Demons of the Primitive Universe were a pain in the ass to deal with because of their Infernal Energy.

Infernal Energy was hostile to everything except demons, making them the only creatures that could take full advantage of it.

Actually, humans could use Infernal Energy too, but they have to endure its maddening properties and be very careful that it doesn't turn them into a demon later on.

Additionally, demons are notorious for having strong physiques and converting everything around them into a hellscape through the use of infernal energy.

Fighting them in a place that has been turned into hell by Infernal Energy is a nightmare, because that place will be hostile to whoever the demon faces.

To defeat a demon, speed was necessary. The sooner you kill a demon, the better. Because once the battlefield has been converted into hell, the demon will only get stronger with time.

Of course, being so freakishly strong as to ignore whatever means the demon could use also works too. And this just happens to be Cedric's edge.

After he killed the demon, he was sent back to the platform of cubes. The portal was still there, and now, it says 12th floor.

At the 12th floor, Cedric now has to face two demons; one was barbaric, while the other was a shaman.

Cedric arrived at a place that had already been converted to hell by his enemies, so there goes the idea of preventing that from happening. And since it's been like this even before he arrived, his appearance here drew the ire of hell and demons. The place instantly turned hostile to him, and it tried to burn him using the uncomfortable hellfire.

When the demons saw him, the barbaric demon instantly launched itself towards him. Its infernal energy flared and formed a terrifying wave of force that struck like a storm. Its killing intent also manifested into a demonic shadow shrouding its body.

As for the demon shaman, it began to chant strings of ominous words that caused a terrifying force to ripple out of its body. The shaman's staff began glowing with a sanguinous light that warped the surroundings into something even more terrifying. Furthermore, it seems that whatever it was doing was also empowering the barbaric demon.

Swoosh!

Cedric didn't even look at the barbaric demon. He casually launched three flying swords to cripple and pin it to the ground, unable to move an inch. His focus was on the chanting shaman because he had never seen one in action before.

'It reminds me of magic back home,' he mused to himself.

Yes, everything that the demon shaman was doing reminded Cedric so much of magic, which is just another expression of conceptual laws. After a brief analysis and observation, Cedric manages to figure out that this is just their way of altering reality in their favor.

Seeing its partner crippled and immobilized, the shaman tried to heal and free it. Alas, Cedric's sword, as tiny and fragile as it looked, was really troublesome to solve. Even the spells that the shaman tried to use didn't work.

'Well, for nostalgia's sake, I'd end you two right away, painlessly.'

With that, Cedric decided that he had seen enough. With a snap of his fingers, he beheaded the two demons with a blinding speed that they didn't even know how it happened.

Just like that, Cedric cleared the 12th floor...