At the 40-minute mark, the Horde evolved to its next level.
3 Mutated Zombie spawns each minute, surrounded by 150 Ordinary Zombies at minimum. The Mutated Zombies became stronger, from what he noticed, they should be Lv.3 at the minimum.
Cedric was starting to try harder at this point. Obviously, he needs to, or else the pressure will crush him. His killing speed was slightly affected but not to a concerning degree just yet.
At the 50-minute mark, another evolution occurred. The number of ordinary zombie spawns reached 200 at minimum. The amount of Mutated Zombies that spawned with them didn't increase but they became even stronger.
The sharp increase in difficulty was starting to wear Cedric down. With the zombies being more aggressive than before, he needed to put more effort into killing them. At this point, his entire body was already covered in sweat.
However, thanks to his 『Breathing』 and 『Recovery』 skills working overtime, his body was able to support his energy consumption. Without these two skills, it would utterly be impossible for him to last this long, much less even hope of clearing this whole task.
When the clock hits the first hour of his Hell Dive though, something surprising occurred.
In gaming terms, a BOSS fight occurred.
A giant zombie, which was a bigger and meaner version of a 'Brute', showed up on the battlefield.
The good thing about this was that all the other zombies disappeared. Both ordinary and mutated zombies were gone, only the Boss was around so Cedric suddenly had a wide room to play with.
That being said, fighting against a BOSS Brute was still challenging. Unlike other zombies he fought so far, the BOSS showed signs of consciousness. Cedric has proven this by trying to target the weak point of the BOSS only for it to deliberately hide and protect it.
It took Cedric a whole minute to slay that BOSS and was visibly spent after doing it.
The good news is, that he had been given time to rest after killing the BOSS.
He had been given a 15-minute rest. Cedric was of course puzzled by that sudden information but he didn't dare to dally. He took it in stride and didn't question it.
Cedric immediately sat down, drank several bottles of water, and ate some protein bars. After that, he regulated his breathing and allowed his passive skills to do the rest for him. He meditated and relaxed his mind, silently waiting for the timer to run out.
With the gracious rest period spent wisely, Cedric stood up at the last second to welcome the next wave of zombies.
The fight against the horde then continued...
There weren't tons of changes after that. The trend of the horde's evolution remained the same as far as he was concerned. They evolved every 10 minutes, making his life significantly harder than the last.
At the 1hr and 10 minute mark, two hundred and fifty Lv.3 Ordinary Zombies spawned including three Lv.4 Mutated Zombies.
Reaching the 01:20:00 mark, the ordinary zombies leveled up to Lv.4 while the rest remained the same.
01:30:00, the number of ordinary zombie spawn increased to 300 at minimum. The mutated zombies were now at Lv.4 as well.
01:40:00, the number of Mutated Zombie spawns increased to 4 per minute, along with ordinary zombies. With their increased numbers and strength, Cedric was starting to unleash his entire strength to keep up with his killing rate.
01:50:00 - the ordinary zombies leveled up to Lv.5.
At 02:00:00, Cedric faced yet another BOSS. This time, it's a BOSS Wailer. It spawned with twenty Lv.5 Mutated Zombies.
Since Wailers were essentially the 'Support' class of the Zombies, the BOSS Wailer turned into a complete nuisance along with its minions. The giant Wailer turned its minions into crazed and positively murderous zombies who did not care for anything else other than ripping Cedric to shreds.
Cedric decided to take care of the ads first before turning his attention to the BOSS. It took him a solid five minutes to kill all of them. Afterward, he looked visibly exhausted.
At this point, it's already a miracle that he could still stand. Anybody who was in his position would've died by now, he's certain of that. This task was just that cruel. He couldn't really think of any reason as to why Acala would give this kind of task to humans.
Still, he had no time to think much about that. After killing the second boss, he was given a 30-minute rest. Cedric would be a fool to not take advantage of that.
Once again, he ate and drank before proceeding to let his passive skills work their magic. Since his resting time was increased, he managed to recover even further, allowing his confidence to rise once more.
Alert and ready, Cedric stood up and embraced the approach of the final hour. In his mind, this was it, the last stretch. If he could see through the end of this, then he would've achieved something that should be completely impossible to do for those at his level.
It would be quite an achievement, but most importantly, it would a proof that all of his efforts weren't wasted. It would signify that the miraculous gift he received was meant to be for him.
If he could survive this, then his life would turn for the better. It's almost within reach, and Cedric was determined to see this through.
When the clock started moving once more, Cedric immediately blasted to action. His killing spree continued as his mind focused on the changes of the horde.
02:10:00 - the horde became larger. There's a minimum of 300 Lv.5 Ordinary Zombies spawning at each minute, accompanied by four Lv.4 Mutated Zombies.
02:20:00 - Mutated Zombies became stronger, reaching Lv.5, putting them at the same level as the rest. But since they're mutated, they're inherently more dangerous than ordinary zombies.
02:30:00 - the number of Mutated Zombie spawn increased to five at a time. They became stronger too but their levels didn't increase.
02:40:00 - Ordinary Zombie spawn increased to 500 at once, accompanied by 5 Mutated Zombies each minute. Cedric wasn't saving his strength anymore. He was finally being pushed to his limits since his enemies were becoming more and more determined to kill him.
02:50:00 - this is where the challenge rose sharply for Cedric. At this very instant, the levels of the zombies skyrocketed. Ordinary Zombies were at Lv.8, while the Mutated Zombies were at Lv.9
It was such an insane difficulty spike. And since they spawn in clusters each minute that passes, Cedric was swarmed.
Even so, he fought valiantly against them. His skills were being honed to their limits due to the sheer pressure he was facing. His senses were being used to their utmost degree and limits. Yet, with how immersed Cedric was in his task, this wasn't any of his concern.
He killed and killed. His sword turned into a mere blur with how fast he was swinging it. His eyes were strained to their limits, sensing, reading, and processing information at speeds that far surpassed what his current body could handle.
Cedric was so attuned in his battle that he failed to notice that he wasn't breathing through his nose or his mouth anymore. Instead, it was his entire body that was breathing now. He wasn't just taking air anymore, he was breathing in energy from his surroundings. His entire body was converting them into something that it could use to fuel his energy expenditure.
He had unlocked the pinnacle achievement for his 『Breathing』 skill, allowing him to unlock his 'Inner Breath'.
But that's none of his concern right now. Because the moment that the clock reached 02:59:00, everything disappeared.
When it transitioned to 03:00:00, another BOSS appeared. This one was a Scavenger, but not just any BOSS Scavenger either.
It was a Tier 2 Lv.1 BOSS Scavenger.
Cedric didn't even have the time to complain, not even to catch his breath either. The moment the BOSS appeared, the battle already started.
There wasn't any room for hesitation here. Cedric was primed from all the fighting he's been doing.
As expected, the BOSS was something that he couldn't easily handle even if it was alone. He's tired and he knows it too, but like what was mentioned, he didn't have the luxury to even entertain the thought itself.
The Tier 2 BOSS was fast and strong. Even his sharpened senses were struggling to keep up with it. The Scavenger was relentless in its attacks. It's positively feral and determined to reduce him to shreds.
Cedric got injured in this fight. Within the first minute of encountering the BOSS his entire body was covered with bruises and cuts. Still, Cedric remained steadfast and focused on his goal.
He pushed himself to the absolute limit. He employed his 『Footwork』 to an extensive degree just to match the speed and ferocity of the BOSS.
Eventually, his efforts paid off. All it took was one careless mistake from the BOSS and Cedric capitalized on it.
Cedric lodged his sword to its temples, even kicking it hard enough to make sure that it destroyed what it was meant to destroy.
As the body of the BOSS dissipated into specks of light which fused to his body. Cedric only had the energy to see the congratulatory message of the System before he lost consciousness.