Chapter 32: Clash

Cedric slaughtered his way towards the Tiger Demon.

His silhouette blurred like a ghost as he moved from one kill to the other. By now, he's mildly convinced that some people already saw his actions, but told himself that he's gonna deal with that later since he had a target to neutralize.

The Tiger Demon sensed him immediately. As a Beast Demon, its instincts were primed. It knew that a challenger was making its way towards this place and the beast responded in kind.

It roared at Cedric's position, releasing a potent sound of aggression and terror, yet Cedric wasn't fazed. To him, the threatening roar of the beast was nothing more than hot air, a foul one at that.

When they saw each other, both disappeared from their previous positions. There was no need to size up or threaten the other party, they immediately kicked into a fight which resulted in shockwaves rocking the foundation of the facility.

The Tiger Demon's paw landed on one of the pillars supporting the building, shattering it with just raw power alone. Cedric wasn't caught though, he utilized his stature wisely, as well as his flexibility to stay out of its way.

'Tier 3 at least...somewhere around Lv.4 to Lv.6' Cedric mused inwardly as he analyzed his opponent's raw power.

For someone like him, who's a Tier 1 Lv.2 Swordsman, this goes above and beyond his pay grade. Anybody in his shoes wouldn't hesitate to retreat at the sight of this monstrosity. Not Cedric though...

He knows that he's outclassed in sheer power. Even with his upgraded Aptitude, there's no competing with a beast like this. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it's a hopeless battle.

From the moment he set eyes upon this beast, he already saw the flaws in its body. His mind already developed several methods to combat it effectively, all he needed to do was to apply them here, and that's why he was not afraid.

Evading the beast's attack, Cedric didn't hesitate to immediately launch a counterattack. Brandishing his sword, he made a deep cut into its flesh, on its outstretched arms specifically, invoking the beast's ire.

Another paw swiped in his direction but once again, Cedric evaded it with grace and calmness, completely unbothered and confident that it won't harm him.

Due to the nature of his dodge, it placed him closer to the beast's body, which Cedric capitalized on. He lifted his sword and poked its clavicle, earning a pained whine from the beast.

Cedric didn't stop there...

While the beast took some time to assess the damage done to itself, Cedric took out something from his Inventory. He then hopped to gain some elevation and pushed something into the beast's mouth.

Tick! Tick! Tick!

Before the beast knew it, it felt a strong blow on its chin, which caused the beast to swallow whatever Cedric fed to it. The ticking sound continued and after five seconds, an explosion—, well...it's more accurate to say that an implosion, rocked the beast's entire existence.

Another chance presented itself and once again, Cedric disable its other upper arm. With another injury like that, the Tiger Demon's lethality took a huge drop.

It was then that Cedric released his own killing intent, cowing the demon ever so slightly with a show of resolve. Cedric sent numerous shallow stabs on the demon's body, leaving it wounded and bleeding.

The Tiger Demon did its best to avoid his sword stabs but it failed miserably. Cedric's attacks were too quick and sharp to be evaded, especially in its current state.

Cedric seemingly fell into a frenzy as he did not stop stabbing the demon. His killing intent rose too high that the demon felt death beckoning to it.

That's when the demon realized its mortality. It could feel its demise coming quickly. The demon also realized that if it were to fall here, then its task would fail, and its comrades in the afterlife would certainly be disappointed.

So, fearing that would happen, the Tiger Demon stopped hesitating and fled as far as it possibly could, away from this scary human.

"Eh?"

And that's certainly surprised Cedric. He didn't understand what the demon was thinking and even if he could, he wouldn't have cared. He had no time for sympathies here since this was a battle, one that he simply couldn't lose.

So, Cedric immediately followed the fleeing demon. Which was honestly disorienting for him as a demon of that size and power was running away from him. He never knew something like this was even remotely possible but here we are...

Cedric's mind calculated the route of the Demon. He then figured out that the demon was heading towards the bunker in the basement, where most of his fellow convicts and wardens were hunkering down, which alerted him.

He had no idea why this demon was heading there, all he knew was that, whatever its goal was, it absolutely could not happen. So either by hook or by crook, he will kill this demon before it arrives there.

Pushing his footwork ever more, he was able to catch up with the beast. His determination to kill it was displayed in the way of numerous stabs on its back, leaving more bleeding wounds in the process.

The beast whined pitifully from pain but it didn't stop running. In desperation, it managed to reach its destination by punching a huge hole as a shortcut.

However, it didn't expect to spend all of its remaining longevity with that blow. As such, even though it managed to arrive at its target location, it died before even doing anything.

And just for extra insurance, Cedric stabbed it on the back of its head, driving his blade straight to its brain. The beast then fell, not being able to do its task as Cedric stood on top of its corpse.

He then looked at the bewildered stare of the crowd and muttered:

"He's not here either..."