Chapter 742: Spire Ascension (XII)
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The horrors of ’The Horde’ were now on display.
Everybody watched as tens upon thousands...maybe even hundreds of thousands of Gnawers crawled and flew out of their carrier, all united in a single task, which is to devour Dawnbringer down to the last cell so that he may never exist again.
They tore through everything in their way, leaving not even a speck of dust behind. Everyone watched as the Gnawers quite literally erased everything they passed through from existence simply by eating it. And their appetite seems to be bottomless too.
The fact that Cedric stood there by his lonesome, brimming with vitality and the intent to stop them in their tracks, might’ve even whetted their appetites even more.
Many thought to themselves, ’How does one even stop this? ’
There were too many of them. They’re fast, frightening, and seemingly unstoppable? A lot of people already said that running away wasn’t a solution because ’The Horde’ will catch up; they always will.
But similarly, staying put to fight them sounds suicidal too. So what exactly must be done here?
Well, the answer to that is fight anyway. Because if you can already see ’The Horde,’ then it’s already too late. The best thing that can be done is to cull their numbers as much as possible and hope that it slows them down just a bit so that the others can run or call for backup.
Facing ’The Horde,’ one must always expect to be outnumbered. There’s just no solution to their absurd numbers. There will always be a lot of them.
Humans, being one of the competitors of ’The Horde’ for the hegemony of the chaos realms, actually implemented a plan to prepare themselves to fight The Horde subconsciously.
It was done through the combat techniques being created and spread around. It’s an unsaid rule that combat techniques must be able to deal with multiple targets as one. The council even subtly nods when they see combat techniques that could dish out a strength that could cull an entire planet’s population, because those combat techniques will prove to be useful when dealing with ’The Horde.’
Of course, not many people knew about this. Everybody just thought of it as the norm, and that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be.
It’s for this reason that humans are able to push out ’The Horde’ from the Heavenly Star Chaos Realm.
But that’s not really the point of this right now.
Cedric now faced ’The Horde’ for the first time. And in a situation where most would fold or flee, he, instead, wore a helpless smile as he gazed at the army of bugs heading his way.
"Man, I just can’t seem to run away from facing hordes, huh?"
And isn’t this the goddamn truth?
He’s been in this song and dance number before. Hell, he’s known it for so long that he’s already got it memorized by heart.
His entire being was literally raised from dealing with more enemies than he could count. It’s the reason why he was built differently in the first place!
And so, it’s back to the old routine for him.
Shing!!
"Let’s dance."
And thus, instead of retreating or simply staying grounded on the spot to hold his position, Cedric advanced instead.
He rushed forward with a sword in one hand and his sword case vomiting obscene amounts of swords right behind him.
For the opening act, Cedric held his sword with both hands, grunted, and swung it hard, drawing a clear and outrageous line that sliced through the horizon.
Everything caught in that line was severed; he even sliced through the long legs of the nest carrier like it was tofu.
His sword intent sung, and it was loud. It resonated with whatever remains of this world, bringing forth an undeniable presence and hope that somebody was still around and that this fight isn’t over yet.
But of course, it didn’t end there. It wouldn’t be that easy.
Despite slicing off the legs of the nest carrier, it did nothing to stop it from advancing. It just became shorter; it wasn’t dead or dysfunctional. If it truly wanted to, it could just grow back its legs, invalidating whatever Cedric just did.
As for gnawers, the amount Cedric just killed was negligible. They’re still pouring out of the nest carrier like a flood, unceasing and probably even more excited than before.
It matters not, though. Cedric wasn’t expecting it to be over with just that.
He then turns into a blur of motion. He went so fast that even Immortal Emperors were having a difficult time keeping track of where he was.
They could only somehow track him through the devastation he caused for his enemies. Every bug he passes through dies; not a single one is an exception. And with how many of them there were, it became somewhat clear where Cedric just went, because he leaves a clearing wherever he goes. However, that dissipates shortly after because the bugs will just move back and also eat the remains of their kin.
Of course, Cedric’s flying swords weren’t idle. It’s unknown just how many of them are flying around, but it’s clear that there are a lot. Each one flew like needles, piercing through multiple bugs along the way.
The audience noticed, or assumed, that Cedric was just throwing them off because he can. Like he’s giving each sword a set of instructions before moving on to the next one, which is why his flying swords fall to the ground after flying for a bit.
But that’s not really it. Cedric wouldn’t do such a waste of energy like this. He’d be ashamed to make such rookie mistakes for someone who was raised to deal with hordes.
It wasn’t until Cedric reappeared in the eyes of the audience again that his plans were revealed.
The display suddenly zoomed out from him, just in time for Cedric to raise his sword to the sky.
Sharp light blossomed from his sword and started resonating with the flying swords he left everywhere.
Then, before everybody’s awestruck faces, the resonance of his swords formed a massive formation that could’ve covered an entire planet or two, with him at the center.
Cedric’s silhouette rose to the skies, ascending like a god. The light emanating from his swords was comparable to the radiance of the sun, making him look incredibly solemn and divine.
As soon as the formation was unleashed, the grim situation was instantly reversed.
Boom!
A gigantic sword, capable of piercing a planet with its size, pinned the nest carrier down, stopping it from advancing.
Then, Cedric’s sword intent flooded every single corner of the formation. It was like Cedric’s body was a dam and his sword intent was the water.
The tsunami of sword intent overwhelmed the bugs, causing them to writhe around like they’re being burned alive. In hopes of alleviating the pain, the Gnawers began eating each other, because other than this, what else could they do? Eating and defecating is all they have known since their conception—nothing else.
Alas, no matter how much they ate, the pain still lingered. In their desperation, they tried eating Cedric’s swords; some even went after the sword intent itself, but as they did, the pain they felt became even more severe.
It’s like they’re chewing on shrapnel, and the metals are slicing their teeth, gums, and tongue, causing them to bleed from the mouth. Even vomiting them out won’t stop the pain because the sword’s intent lingers and goes through the small cracks and nooks to keep them in agonizing pain as soon as possible.
Cedric turned their sharpest weapons against themselves. A cruel and incredibly effective tactic.
Although not many understood what he did, those who did learned a lot from him. However, he does make it look easy.
Cedric also solved the problem of their seemingly endless numbers.
The gigantic sword that pinned the nest carrier down also worked as a conduit of his sword intent. Meaning that that gigantic sword had been pumping ridiculous amounts of sword intent into the nest carrier’s body.
All remaining bugs inside are also suffering the same way as the ones outside the nest. He’s destroying them from within. His sword intent also wormed its way to the most sensitive and vulnerable parts of the nest carrier, killing it from the inside.
And the formation? A cage, nothing more. He made one so large to keep up the illusion that they could flee when, in truth, they can’t. Once he caught them all inside, there’s no getting out. He will eradicate them right here and now, and they can’t expect any shred of mercy from him.
Come to think of it, didn’t he just turn this world into a pressure cooker, essentially?
Anyways...
Cedric and the audience get to watch as the Horde is dealt with.
They all saw as the very last one was shredded from within, not even leaving a single speck behind.
It was after this that Cedric used all the remaining energy left in the formation as an injection to revive the world he’s at.
Again, it’s a useless waste of his energy, but he didn’t care. He didn’t even stick around to see what comes out of this; he left and planned to move on to the next floor.