--

The Wave Survival continued...

The struggles of the contestants against the increasingly tougher opponents were shown to the audience, displaying what it truly means to bear the title of a genius.

At this point, the number of eliminated people climbed past the 10,000 mark across all league brackets, and that's just within the first hour since the start of this round. Most of these people couldn't even make it past the first wave; some got by through sheer luck, and only a few truly had the skills to survive. Even then, with how spent they were, the five-minute grace period in between waves was nowhere near enough for them to recover to an optimal state to deal with the second wave.

Suffice it to say, things surely weren't looking good for them.

That said, their struggles and disappointment remained mostly hidden from the audience. After all, the hosts, Paul and Lisa, didn't focus on failures. They showed people who were performing well to generate more hype and attention for the livestream.

One by one, all of the popular figures and famous prodigies had their turn under the spotlight. They were introduced and shown to the audience, making them well known from now on.

Of course, the participants remained mostly unaware of this. They were, after all, focused on their own fights. They don't have the mental capacity to think about what's happening outside of the realm they're in. Especially not under the mounting pressure of monsters trying to tear them apart.

Because there were too many people to pay attention to, Cedric flew under the radar so far. He's one of the very few prodigies that have not been shown to the audience by the hosts just yet.

It's weird considering that he's not really hiding his identity right now, nor was he deliberately hiding his strength either. He participated under his codename, Dawnbringer, and he's just doing things in moderation. He wasn't in a hurry nor planned on falling behind.

Of course, Cedric had no idea of this. Even if he did, he probably wouldn't have cared too much. It's just fame, after all.

But of course, this doesn't mean that nobody noticed him. On the contrary, there were a lot of people who deliberately searched for him and had been watching him since the very beginning.

Philip was one of them. The Empyrean and Cruise CEO watched the tournament from the comfort of his own private chambers. His system displayed several windows of people who were fighting against the wave of enemies.

These people were the ones he sponsored. Yes, Cedric wasn't the only one. Philip invested in others too.

However, his attention was mostly focused on Cedric. And to his overwhelming surprise, it turns out that he hit the jackpot. He never imagined that he'd unknowingly be the sponsor of a rising star that is Dawnbringer.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that he could filter his search through organization, he wouldn't have seen Cedric at all nor figured out that he was Dawnbringer. The dude truly hid it well.

There's no mistake here; Philip had checked everything thoroughly. By filtering the search for participants tagged under the name of his company, Cedric and the rest of the people he invested in could be seen. Additionally, Cedric was also included under the Golden Bangle Group.

Cedric didn't hide his face. He was right there for everybody to see. And the skills he displayed so far couldn't be faked. He's the real deal.

As for why he hasn't been included on the list of people who were clearing the waves swiftly, honestly, Philip couldn't care less. All that mattered to him was that he hit the jackpot this time.

He could already smell the incoming waves of VIPs buying tickets to his cruise and hear money being stuffed into his bank account.

Philip was just one of the people who truly paid attention to Cedric, though. There were many more, and most of them were die-hard fans of Dawnbringer.

They admired his skills and dedication to the sword; they also respected his choice of not chasing after fame. And from what they'd seen so far, they weren't disappointed.

**

Clang!

Cedric smoothly and effortlessly parried a projectile coming his way, sending it back to whoever sent it his way. Following the momentum of his sword, he guided his blade with just enough force and incredible finesse, bisecting the nearest monster to him.

Boom!

A monster suddenly dove to the ground, crashing through Cedric with all of its weight and ferocity. Such an attack could've seriously injured any participant if it landed, but not Cedric.

He caught the monster, raising his sword at the exact time it made contact with him. The impact was strong, causing the ground beneath him to cave in because of it. Yet Cedric stood strong; he wasn't even forced back at all.

Pushing the monster just enough to draw some distance, Cedric's sword flashed and killed another one.

And many more followed...

Cedric was currently facing the 15th wave of monsters. He's facing five hundred genuine Immortal Warrior-level monsters who are all attacking him at the same time.

They were merciless and unforgiving. They don't play fair either. They would use every dirty trick and way if it meant taking him down; that's what made them difficult to deal with.

Unfortunately for them, Cedric was too experienced when it comes to dealing with hordes. He was practically raised to be a one-man army even before he discovered his place in the world.

This isn't the first time he has had to deal with hordes who will do everything in their power to tear him apart. Time and time again, Cedric survived and lived to tell the tale. He was no stranger to their dirty tricks.

That's why he's having a blast right now; he just doesn't show it.

To him, fighting a horde was nostalgic, not difficult. That's why he's taking his time. After all, meeting enemies whom he could truly play with was rare. Cedric didn't want to rush ahead and end his fun right away. He wanted to savor this more because he had no idea when he'd be able to experience it again.

The furthest participant in this Wave Survival was now fighting the 25th Wave, which meant that they were fighting against monsters who were as strong as peak Immortal Warriors.

At the 26th wave, they'd be facing half-step Immortal Lord equivalents; at the 50th wave, they'd be struggling against peak Immortal Lords. The enemies will continue to grow stronger and stronger the further they go; their numbers will increase too, and so will their intelligence.

From this arrangement, it's clear that the organizers weren't planning on having any participant clear the final wave. None of them were expecting it either. In their minds, this was an impossibility.

And so far, they are correct.

Even the 'strongest' participant was struggling already, and they just reached a quarter of the way through the total amount of waves. This made them confident that their expectations were correct...so far, at least.

And because of the mounting difficulty and numbers of the enemy, the further the participant goes, the slower their progress will be.

Juggling their survival means while also killing their enemies will become more and more difficult as they go. If they don't have any method to preserve their lives and energy, they'd fall in just a matter of time. The five-minute rest between waves was just nowhere near enough, after all.

This round tested many aspects of the participants. It wasn't just created to torture and eliminate people to reduce their numbers. There's a deeper meaning to it. One that many people missed due to their prejudice and incompetence.

And yet, as if to spite their initial expectations and their preconceived limitations of real genius, somebody was subverting their beliefs slowly and silently.

As time went on, more participants were eliminated. By now, somebody has already reached Wave 50, and the battle has turned into one of attrition.

Yet somehow, despite the odds, there was one participant who's cruising along just fine.

When others were desperately killing as many enemies as they could or stretching the round longer to take rests in between, this participant seemed to be following a schedule.

He cleared the first 25 waves in under an hour, taking rests in between. From that point onwards, it became a wave within an hour.

His performance wasn't explosive or fancy, but nobody could deny that he's efficient and really skilled with his sword. Moreover, unlike the rest of the participants who were desperately trying to not collapse under the pressure, he remained as fresh as when the round started.

He showed no pain, no struggle, or even mild irritation. Just pure indifference and ruthless efficiency when handling the horde.

People started noticing, and at some point, even Paul and Lisa couldn't ignore him anymore. That's when all of them learned of the name 'Dawnbringer.'

And this time, his brilliance could no longer be hidden. His name and reputation so far would spread across the entire chaos realm, forcing people to acknowledge and respect his existence and power.

The spotlight had become his.