Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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Unable to stop his curiosity, Cedric slipped into the fabrics of space, almost becoming one with them, and began traveling towards the source of the commotion.

He wasn't the only one whose attention was caught, though...

The explosion and the scent weren't a quiet affair. It was loud and had a visual cue, and Cedric wasn't the only one who was smart enough to notice and locate it.

Thus, thousands of creatures began moving towards the source of the treasure in droves. In fact, some were already fighting before they even got there.

It was a wise move of him to travel in between the spaces, hiding his presence and tracks; otherwise, he would've been pulled into this conflict. He did see some of the old enemies he pissed off in some areas, after all.

After traveling for about an hour or so, which was about a couple of ten thousand miles from where he was previously, he was finally able to see where the source of the scent was.

Roar!!!

A soul-shaking roar is what greeted him at first. It came from another gigantic creature, snarling at the droves of strange creatures approaching its turf.

The creature looked like a massive ogre. It's about a thousand meters in length and has extremely muscular limbs. Its eyes were frenzied red, and it was holding a bone club, which seemed to be made out of its old victims.

Even from where he stood, Cedric could feel the ferocity of this ogre. Its killing intent was so dense that it has manifested into reality as a shadow behind it. As the ogre snarled, the shadow of killing intent snarled too. Both were trying to intimidate those who had been attracted by the treasure.

Speaking of the treasure, it was a tree. More specifically, that single fruit dangling on that tall tree.

It hung on the right side of the tree, connected by a single stem that looked fragile, as if any random breeze could cut it off. The fruit was round in shape and seemed to be born from a lotus blossom underneath it. It bathed in a gorgeous aurora and emitted a faint hymn and a delectable scent, which was the main reason everyone came here.

Any creature, be it human or not, instantly felt attracted to that fruit.

Cedric could attest to this because in the moment he laid eyes on it, his reason almost flew out of the window. He felt a powerful urge to seize that fruit immediately and consume it whole, killing anybody who stood in his way to do so.

It's his ironclad control over his motor skills and his astonishing willpower that stopped him from losing his mind. And even then, he was still frightened when he woke up from his stupor.

'What a terrifying attraction! 'He exclaimed to himself.

One of the achievements that Cedric has always been proud of was his willpower. He has been through a lot, which allowed him to be calm and reasonable in the face of many things that usually stumped others.

Yet this was shaken today by this fruit. Had he not caught himself before his instincts drove him forward, it would've been too late for him.

Boom!

Because the ogre certainly wasn't kind to anyone who tried to test their luck.

Cedric was able to retain his mental lucidity despite the attraction of the fruit. However, the same couldn't be said for other creatures, especially the young and weak ones.

Suffice it to say, those who went mad with desire had met a terrible end, courtesy of the ogre's bone club smashing them into blood mists.

From here, it's become clear that this ogre has claimed this tree and this fruit, and it certainly doesn't appreciate those who were trying to steal them from it.

But did that stop the creatures around it? Well, no. Not really.

If anything, it made them even more determined, it seems.

Cedric watched as, one by one, the strange creatures fell into some sort of an unsaid agreement.

They decided to kill the ogre first, then fight for the tree and the fruit afterwards.

And once this decision was made, it was action that followed.

All sorts of attacks fell on the ogre. Some were straightforward, while others were sneaky and sinister. The poor ogre could only continue to snarl in anger and panic because everybody was turning against it.

It even used its massive body to block the attacks that should've hit the tree to protect it, forcing it to accumulate more damage.

The myriad of strange creatures around surely didn't show it any mercy. If anything, the sight of its desperation spurred them into a killing frenzy.

'Kill the ogre, then fight for the treasure' is probably their universal thought right now.

Cedric didn't join in on the fun. Instead, he kept himself hidden. He made sure that not even a trace of his presence was leaked because a plan was brewing in his mind.

Meanwhile, the ogre seemed to have had enough. With a desperate and anger-filled roar, it raised its bone club and smashed the space around it.

Cedric watched with mild fascination as it poured all of its strength, killing intent, and rage into that blow. The force was enough to cause a visible spatial disturbance.

With a sickening crack, like the sound of a vase falling and breaking into several pieces, the bone club smashed into the empty space and caused a web of cracks to appear.

Then, with a loud bang, a storm happened.

It's like the apocalypse suddenly occurred. The ruins nearby exploded and were leveled. The surrounding area groaned painfully, and everything within several thousand miles around the ogre seemed to be collapsing.

The aftershock was deadly and frightening. Many of the strange creatures who had been bullying the ogre fled in terror because of what had happened. Some of the poor ones were killed directly in body, mind, and spirit, annihilated completely from existence without any hopes of revival.

But some of the stronger ones weren't scared. They dealt with the strong blow with their own means, and all of them came out unscathed by the indiscriminate destruction of the ogre.

And as if it never happened, they went back to bullying the poor ogre once more, clearly knowing that it couldn't possibly cause an attack that destructive again anytime soon.

Cedric pitied the poor ogre, but only for a little bit. Alas, this was the primitive universe. Even for strange creatures like them, it's the survival of the fittest. Having a treasure without the ability to protect it was no different from courting death.

The bullying continued, and the ogre tried its best to deal with them. It got close to killing one of its main bullies, but it fell a little short because the enemy retreated far enough that the ogre could only stop.

It couldn't leave the tree too long undefended. It knew that if it did, then all of its effort would be for naught.

If anybody's asking why the ogre didn't just consume the fruit to be done with it. The answer was simply because it's not the time yet.

Even though the flower had already blossomed and produced a fruit, in truth, the fruit itself wasn't ripe yet. This was instinctual knowledge every creature around knew, Cedric included.

The visual phenomenon it caused earlier was just a preliminary sign of its ripening, and it's not yet done.

Cedric has studied the appearance of fruit long enough to figure out what it was.

'It turns out to be the Sacred Light Tree.'

The Sacred Light Tree was a heavenly treasure, a very rare resource that even immortals would die for. It's a sensitive crop that has very strict requirements for its growth. But if one was actually able to raise it, its fruit was worth all the effort.

According to Cade's memories, a single Sacred Light Fruit could not only improve one's physical talent but also allow them to comprehend the Law of Light. And if one's qualification was enough, it could even raise their comprehension to the level of the Great Law after a single consumption.

Repeated consumption of the Sacred Light Fruit yields lesser effects. The talent enhancement only happens once, and the following consumption will only improve one's comprehension of Light Laws.

But even though this was the case, the Sacred Light Fruit was a highly sought-after treasure. One could hardly put a price tag on it because of how precious it was.

Cedric estimates that he could probably exchange a few solar systems or an entire galaxy with just a single fruit, and even that's considered a loss.

Not that he would sell something like this. He'd be a fool to do that.

Returning to the present, though...

The ogre was still fighting for its dear life and tree. It was forced to endure injuries and pain just to protect its treasures. Seconds seemingly stretched into years as it patiently waited until the fruit reached maturity.

Everybody was made aware of that when it happened, because the gorgeous aurora of light surrounding the fruit became more intense and the few remaining lotus petals underneath it melted as its final nourishment. The hymn of laws accompanying it became even louder.

These were all the signs that the fruit had matured. And it also marked the start of the real struggle.