Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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The troublesome thing about facing a Mechanoid is that they can only be killed by destroying their core, which is the Mecca Heart.

Even if one were to completely dismantle a mechanoid's shell, so long as the Mecca Heart pulses, the mechanoid lives. If they fail to destroy its heart, it will just flee, remembering this grudge, and will return stronger or with more of its kin to get revenge.

The problem of destroying the Mecca Heart, though, is that it's always moving. It doesn't just sit still at the center of the mechanoid's mass; it courses through its entire body in complicated ways. Some mechanoids even go as far as installing and running a program that will increase the survival chances of their heart.

These programs could either make the heart move faster, turn it invisible, give it another layer of protection from harm, etc. And as their heart was the most important part of them, anyone could expect that every mechanoid will not be stingy when it comes to protecting it.

Because again, so long as the Mecca Heart is alive, the Mechanoid lives.

The Toy Soldier (yes, that's what Cedric is calling it for now) was an Immortal King equivalent. It was quick, strong, and very aggressive.

It's easy to underestimate it since its movements looked clunky, but considering the intelligence of the Mechanoid, that might very well be on purpose.

In addition to its speed and decisiveness, the Toy Soldier also has some bag of tricks that can catch anybody off guard.

For example, its arm can morph into weapons it could use in attempts to kill its target. Its eyes can release a strong flare to blind the enemy. Even the steam coming whistling out of its body was dangerous because it's not only scaldingly hot, it also contains chemicals that could instantly melt someone's skin off.

Furthermore, the body of the toy soldier was very durable. The longer the fight went on, the more obvious it became why Mechanoids prefer rare and precious metals for their shells instead of flesh.

Anybody would seriously struggle with enemies like this. And to think that this was just the opening act for this area...

Unfortunately, though, this Toy Soldier in particular was facing Cedric.

Thump! Thunk! Clang!

Bits and pieces of its body flew out as the Toy Soldier endured the sharpness and heaviness of Cedric's blows. Cedric wasn't using a flying sword right now; he himself was holding a sword and engaging the mechanoid in a fierce melee.

His sword intent sung in glee and glory, cutting up pieces of the mechanoid's body like a hot knife through butter.

As his attacks were laced in sword intent, his attacks inherently restricted any form of regeneration. Meaning that it becomes more difficult for the Mechanoid to repair itself the longer it engages with him.

What's worse is that Cedric doesn't seem to be having a difficult time. In fact, he's having fun.

As intelligent and ruthless as the mechanoid was, it utterly failed to exert any real pressure on Cedric. Every move it made was read and responded to; it lost every clash and was punished for every mistake it made.

Even as the Mechanoid employed its intelligence, gathering as much data from its opponent as the fight went on, it still couldn't adjust or actually estimate just how strong its opponent was.

In fact, it's because it's trying to calculate Cedric's moves that it's having a difficult time. Prediction never worked on someone who could predict better.

The worst part about all of this is that Cedric could've ended this way earlier. There's absolutely no need for him to stay tangled with this machine for as long as he has been.

You see, Cedric can clearly see the mecha heart of this mechanoid. Not only that, but he could even predict its next course. All he needed to do was a well-timed stab, and he could end this once and for all.

This doesn't mean that the Mecca heart was vulnerable and exposed. In fact, it's quite well hidden. The heart has been turned invisible due to some program; even its flight path inside the shell was unpredictable.

Alas, it's up against someone who could see through what most people couldn't.

The only reason why Cedric allowed this fight to last for as long as it has was because he's confirmed his own intelligence and knowledge about Mechanoids.

This was, after all, his first time facing one in person.

'That should be enough,' he mused to himself. 'For this mechanoid type at least. If I want to learn more, I need firsthandexperience with other types, and that requires me to go to higher floors of this area.'

If Cedric's predictions were correct, then this and the next nine floors should only contain mechanoids. Each floor adds an additional enemy to face, making it more difficult to clear. Perhaps, it might even add more than one.

He'd never know unless he climbed, so it's about time he did just that.

Phew!

A sharp whistle was released from the tip of his sword as he stabbed forward. This attack pierced a hole through the mechanoid, and it just so happens that he hit the exact spot where the mecca heart of the mechanoid was about to appear next.

With the mecha heart destroyed, the mechanoid died. Its body dropped like a sack of potatoes, losing all of its luster and turning into rusted pieces of metal.

Seeing this, Cedric muttered, "A quick decay program that triggers upon death, clever."

The quick decay program makes it so that, upon the user's death, its shell will immediately decay into useless waste, preventing its slayer from benefiting from its remains.

Programs like these are common on mechanoids; there are different kinds too, providing variety for each mechanoid one faces and kills.

With the death of the Toy Soldier, Cedric found himself returning to the platform of cubes. The path to the 22nd floor was open, and he wasted no time entering it.

He didn't even rest because he just didn't need to.

Arriving at the same clockwork world, Cedric's assumptions were proven correct; he'd face another mechanoid. And like his predictions, he will indeed be facing two at the same time on this floor.

One was a toy soldier like the previous one, and the other was an android of some sort.

The android looked closer to what a human should be. Its body was more slick and looked closer to actual flesh instead of metal, at first glance, at least.

In Cedric's eyes, though, the android's components were more modern and complicated compared to the toy soldier. He could already assume that the android will be more complicated to face than the toy soldier.

And as if proving his assumptions to be true, once the android sensed his presence, it immediately held out both of its hands in front and opened its mouth wide.

Its hands changed from normal arms into an armada of artillery, and its mouth opened impossibly large, revealing a railgun hidden underneath. Every muzzle was aimed at Cedric, making him smile wryly.

'Damn, what a warm welcome.'

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The android rained hell upon him. Bullets, beams, and lasers, with varying speed and power, flew to him at all angles.

It didn't end there, though.

The Toy Soldier wasn't idle. While it couldn't rush over because of friendly fire, it instead morphed into a set of turrets that the android used to fire more shells and bullets at Cedric from a distance.

'Yo, nice teamwork, guys! ' Cedric sarcastically sneered inwardly.

Unfortunately for these two, their projectiles couldn't do any real damage to their target. In fact, none of it even actually touched him.

As soon as the carpet bombing began, Cedric released four flying swords that spun at incredible speeds, forming a barrier surrounding him. They spun like fan blades, grinding at every projectile that tried to reach their master.

The enemies saw this and understood that their efforts were wasted; however, they didn't stop. They continued firing to limit and suppress his movements while the android multi-tasked and did something new.

Its back opened up like a drawer, revealing its shiny spine composed of many complicated electronics. Listing what each one could do would take days to complete, but that's not really important.

What matters is that, with the Android doing this, it's clear that it's planning to do something big.

Cedric then watched as the android's spine began releasing a soft radiance. It then released something in the air that triggered a chain reaction. Everything was captured by his eyes, and it didn't take long before he realized what the android was trying to do.

"Trying to kill me with radiation, huh? How absurd," Cedric sneered.

Yes. The android's spine was releasing chemicals that turned the environment radioactive.

Of course, this wasn't a normal radioactivity. If it was, then anybody could easily treat it as polluted air at most.

No, this was more than just that. The process was more complicated, but the end result was the same. The difference is that this radioactivity can also affect life evolvers.

The more potent it becomes, the worse it will be for Cedric.