Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

Chapter 403: Leaving the Virtual Asura Plane

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The exit point looked like a beacon of light. It's appearance was a sharp contrast to the gloomy and bloody atmosphere of this place, which is why it was also unmistakable.

That, and it's accompanied by a deafening sound that notifies everybody that it has appeared.

Cedric witnessed how quickly everybody's priority changed the moment the exit beacon appeared. If the fight was already hectic before, it went crazy now.

He saw how they used their Trump cards one by one; some made them impervious to any physical damage, some shoved everybody aside, some released a domain that had various effects, while others just watched and bid their time to strike.

Cedric could feel their desperation. He guessed that some of them had been trapped for longer than they initially expected and wanted to get out. After all, the exit beacon was the only way they could leave this place.

Being trapped here was one of the risks everybody must realize and face if they want to be here because it was possible for them to be trapped here for a really, really long time. And since nobody had the capacity to show even an ounce of mercy in this place, they could only rely on themselves to escape.

'Should I...?' Cedric wondered to himself.

Truthfully, he still has some fight left and doesn't really need to leave right away. But then again, he doesn't know when the next exit beacon will appear, so he might put his earnings at risk if he didn't take this one now.

That, and he's a bit tired of this place too.

'I guess I should, huh?' Cedric sighed.

He earned a respectable amount of blood crystals already. Not bad for his first time here. It's nowhere near enough to upgrade his social status, but it's decent for a first time, and it's definitely greater than what others like him could earn this early in their membership.

And so, having decided on what to do next, Cedric took action.

Fwoosh!!

His flames billowed with a surprising intensity, much hotter than what he had been displaying before. Its temperature was so high that the blood sea visibly evaporated because of it.

Cedric almost turned into an actual sun marching towards the exit point. Those who were close to him were forced to retreat due to the scalding temperature he's releasing; some of the unlucky ones were incinerated to death. There were also some brave ones who tried confronting his flames, but their ending was an excruciating one. Cedric certainly had no mercy for those who didn't have any for him.

He was untouchable and unapproachable. Whether it was spells or skills, anything that was sent his way was burned into nothingness by his flames, and thus, any attempts to stop him or slow him down were useless.

Some of his fellow participants became afraid of him; others, especially those who were competing for the exit beacon, were mad because he appeared. But no matter what they felt, none of it stopped Cedric from marching towards his goal, so they could only glare at him hatefully.

With his practical invincibility, Cedric arrived at the exit beacon much to everybody's dismay. But he also noticed that even though he's already here, there are still people who're making their way here. This puzzled him, but not for long.

On the surface of the exit beacon, he saw a number that says: 1/10, followed by a countdown timer of 30 minutes.

'Ah, so 10 people could occupy the exit beacon at the same time, and it will only stay for 30 minutes.'

'I'm guessing that the beacon will leave once all seats are occupied or once the countdown is up.'

He initially thought that only one person could use the exit beacon; that's why he was a little overbearing with his march. But it turns out that 10 people could use it at the same time, so he dismissed his flames to let others compete for the other spots. He only released enough flames to secure his position since he's not sure if somebody could still take it away from him even when he's already here.

'Something like that isn't beneath them. If anything, I should expect it at a place like this. It's better to be safe than sorry.'

Of course he didn't forget to watch how others struggled to fight for the rest of the spots at the beacon. He personally witnessed the horrors and madness of the people who got stuck here for a long time.

They fought dirty and sinisterly. Truly, no holds barred. They used every means necessary to achieve their goals, no matter how morally dubious or offensive their methods were.

Seeing this made Cedric wonder about the real Asura Plane. If it's already like this in the virtual world, just how utterly depraved and horrifying could the real one get?

Cédric shuddered to think about it. That place should be at least 10 times scarier than its virtual world counterpart. After all, it's truly do or die there. Plus, there will inevitably be monsters lurking in the depths of that place.

There were actually rumors that a few of the wanted criminals of the Scarlet Dust Alliance were hiding in the real Asura World. How they got there was a mystery, but it is said that they had no desire to leave that place. Some rumors said that they actually made that place their home; some said that they even want to steal the Asura Plane and make it their personal property.

Obviously, Cedric could neither confirm nor deny these claims. He's never been there after all, and he could forget about it since if he could help it, he wouldn't want to be there either, even though there are missions to that place that offers extravagant rewards.

Swoosh! Ting! Boom!

Somebody must've been observing Cedric closely, and when they saw that, he got momentarily distracted and attacked him when he seemingly lowered down his guard.

A fool, truly. As if Cedric hasn't noticed them. Fortunately, Cedric knew that somebody would definitely try something, so he never really lowered his guard. He baited them actually; after all, who was he to refuse any additional blood crystals?

While it's true that he got immersed in his thoughts, it doesn't mean that he stopped paying attention to his surroundings.

Whoever attacked him stabbed his sword and was vaporized by his flames. It happened so fast that they didn't even see it coming.

Those who managed to take the remaining spots within the beacon saw this happening and swallowed nervously. No, this isn't the first time they saw someone trying to drag somebody out of the beacon to replace them; it also wasn't their first time seeing this kind of backstabbing fail either.

The source of their nervousness came from the man who seemingly took all of this so casually. It was painfully clear that this golden-haired and golden-eyed man never took any of them seriously before.

They thought that he was skilled, yes. After all, most of them fought him before and experienced how tricky he was to deal with. They didn't know how much he's holding back though, and with what they witnessed so far, it seems that he's holding back a lot.

Which meant that he's not on the same level as them. And this made some of them realize that this guy must be new here, but that just makes him scarier.

The fact that he could go this far on his first time at a sinister place like this was something alright. Most of them had to experience several deaths in a row to learn their lesson and to get their bearings, but this one was taking everything like it's some sort of educational trip.

They got curious about his background, but not to the point where they'd ask him. Especially not now when they knew that he's watching all of them closely, and one wrong move of theirs would result in their end.

The tense atmosphere continued, even for those who had already made it to the exit point. Eventually, the last person managed to crawl inside the beacon, earning the last remaining spot.

That defeaning sound rung once more, and the beacon suddenly emitting a strong and blinding brilliance. The extraction was just fast; by the time Cedric became aware of his surroundings, he discovered that he had returned to the V-hub of the communal world.

'Well, at least I returned clean.' He thought to himself as he inspected his clothes.

The blood stains disappeared, and so did the bits and pieces of flesh that got stuck on the fabric of his clothes. He didn't smell bad either.

He wasn't that tired, even though he had been fighting for a long time. Even as he stood there, he was already recovering his energy.

Knowing that he's in a safe space now, though, Cedric could finally relax and lower his guard. He felt somewhat satisified about his first trip to the Asura Plane. He got what he wanted out of it—a decent exercise and blood crystals, which made him pleased.

'Now, let's see how much I've earned in total.'