Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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The commotion was startling and it got him curious.

Cedric's eyes flashed suddenly as he immediately investigated what's happening.

Surrounded by his fellow passengers were two men glaring at each other. One of them was a short green-skinned fellow with sharp ears and snake-like eyes. His back was curved slightly forward, making him look like a hunchback. He's wearing some brown cloth shirt and pants with pointed shoes.

On the other side was a tall fellow with a large head and a single eye. His body was muscular, and he's got two pairs of arms; one pair was crossed on his chest, while the other was spread open, ready to receive any incoming attacks.

Both of them were injured. The short green-skinned fellow had a cut under his eyes oozing with green-ish blood while the single-eyed fellow sported claw wounds all over all four of his arms.

"What's wrong, midget? That's all you can do? Huh?" The single-eyed fellow snarled in provocation.

"Shut your trap, you one-eyed freak! Come at me if you dare!"

"Grrr!!"

The fight resumed after this. The single-eyed fellow was strong; his physique was robust, and he hits hard. He's sufficiently fast, but the green-skinned man was light on his foot and incredibly flexible. The shorter man effortlessly weaves through the attacks, causing the single-eyed fellow to snarl in frustration because he couldn't hit him.

But despite not being hit, the green-skinned fellow couldn't do any real damage. Sure, he leaves scratches on the skin of the single-eyed fellow, but that's just it: scratches. The physique of the single-eyed big man was so strong that his earlier wounds were already healing.

The single-eyed fellow must be thinking that if he could only land a single hit, this fight will be over. He's clear about his advantages, and he's just waiting for the shorter man to make a mistake. However, the green-skinned fellow was also aware of this, and knowing it, how could he possibly give him the satisfaction? He already knew that the enemy was stronger than him physically and that his advantages lie in his agility, so why would he stand there and let the big guy hit him?

And thus, this fight turned into a battle of attrition. If this goes longer, the winner will certainly be the one that has better stamina and endurance.

'But why are they fighting, though? And is it really that serious? '

That's what Cedric was confused about. As far as he's aware, all passengers like him only met each other recently. It might've been days or weeks, but it's certainly not that long. How could a conflict arise that quickly? Is this one of those times where 'enemies-meet-on-a-narrow road' type of thing?

"Ah, hello there." Cedric heard a voice next to him. "You must be the last passenger then?"

The speaker was someone from the beast race. He's a turtle standing on its hind legs. His skin was gray and had a leathery texture, and he had a huge disc-shaped shell attached to his back. His body was muscular even under the armor-like protection of his shell. His voice was deep, and he talks a bit slowly, but he radiates a friendly vibe.

"Ah, yes. Sorry for staring. I am Dawnbringer; nice to meet you." He replied with a polite nod.

"It's fine. Nice to meet you too, Dawnbringer. My name is Stoic, and I come from the Dragon Turtle Clan."

Now that got Cedric's attention...

One must know that a clan or race simply can't attach the word 'Dragon' to their race without any legitimate reason. Otherwise, the Wise Dragon Clan will take it as offense to their name and punish them heavily.

Despite the gentleness that Stoic exudes, he emits a certain degree of pride after revealing his race. This tells Cedric that the Dragon Turtle Clan must be acknowledged by the Wise Dragons, allowing them share of this name.

Cedric smiled at this; he didn't plan on asking too much because he didn't want to pry. Moreover, he honestly couldn't care less. His eyes then returned to the heated fight of his fellow passengers, and he asked:

"Do you know the story behind that?"

"Ah, well. It's actually silly." Stoic chuckled before sitting down on the floor next to Cedric. He didn't sit on the chair since he's too big and too heavy, so he just sat down on the floor instead.

"The one-eyed fellow is called Grunt, and the green-skinned guy is called Gunther."

"Grunt, despite his brutish appearance and behavior, is actually a celestial, and he's one of bad kind; the bunch that looks down on others simply because they're part of 'The Six'. Gunther, if I recall correctly, comes from the Goblin Tribe."

"Not many are aware of this, but the Celestials and the Goblins share a little bit of history. The Goblins love treasures; greed is in their blood, and they just can't help it. They're hoarders too. And depending on how obsessed they are, they can go through extreme lengths just to acquire the treasure they wanted."

"According to the history, someone from the Goblin Tribe stole something from a Celestial. Now, the Celestial Race are rich. It is said that they have way too many wordly possessions that even they can't count them all. So, losing one or two shouldn't have been a problem."

At this point on his story, Stoic smiled wryly before continuing: "Well, that shouldn't be the case, but apparently, the stolen 'treasure' was the favorite undergarment of the Celestial. And uh...well, I think you can imagine what happened next."

Cedric had a strange look on his face upon hearing this. It's obvious that this was the first time he's hearing that, and a huge part of him didn't want to believe that this story was real.

"Well, neither Grunt nor Gunther were the Celestial and the Goblin from the story. But it has become some sort of a legend between the races."

"Who could've expected the two of them meeting each other in this ship?" Stoic sighed. "Nobody expected this either; it should've been a big deal since, despite the connection, it really has nothing to do with either of them."

"But like I said, Grunt was one of the 'bad apples' of the Celestial Race. He thinks everybody is a lesser being than him, and seeing Gunther breathing the same air as him must've been offensive to him in some way, which led to... well, that." Stoic gestured to the fight happening between them.

Cedric really didn't expect that. He's not really surprised to learn about the 'bad apples' of the Celestial Race. Hell, no matter what race you're from, there will always be 'bad apples' in the bunch. Even members of 'The Six' aren't immune to that.

What he didn't expect is the pettiness behind it. Frankly, the root cause of the fight was so stupid. How can they fall for it?

"Oh well, let them be. I'm pretty sure that they'd mellow up once we're at the camp." Stoic snorted before pulling out something from his shell.

Cedric blinked as he watched him. He fought so hard to not show any bewilderment on his face as he asked:

"Is that...milk tea with boba?"

"Oh, you know of it?" Stoic was pleasantly surprised; Cedric even saw a pleased glint in his eyes as he spoke. "But...boba? What's that?"

"Uh, well...the uh...black pearls on the drink? Isn't that boba?"

"They are?" Stoic tilted his head, painting a rather uncanny picture due to the surprising flexibility of his neck. "I thought they were...what's this called again...caviars, I think."

"..."

"..."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"...you know what? Yeah, sure. Caviars, awesome. Milk tea with... Caviars, great."

"They are, aren't they?" Stoic, completely unaware of the sarcasm behind Cedric's words, hummed in delight. "There's more over there if you want some. Honestly, I want to learn the recipe so that I can make it myself. Such a good drink."

'Uh huh, a giant humanoid turtle that can speak falls in love with milk tea, thinking that the boba pearls in it were caviars. Honestly, who would believe me if I told them this? '

Cedric has entirely ignored the fight between Grunt and Gunther. He also excused himself from Stoic, saying that he'd grab a meal and return to his room first since, inwardly, he couldn't stand to look at the giant turtle thinking about drinking milk tea and unborn fish eggs.

Well, as expected, there was nothing here that's palatable to him. Most of the available dishes were just a bunch of ingredients thrown haphazardly together. It's also unforgivable that most of them were labelled salads. Cedric had the urge to topple everything here because of that, but he endured it.

Instead, he grabbed several ingredients for himself and took them back to his room without looking back. He couldn't care less about who won the fight between those celestial cyclops and that goblin. It wouldn't matter in the long run anyway.

Cedric also didn't feel like socializing any further for the time being. He didn't know if he could hold his mouth back once he found another strange scene like that giant turtle drinking milk tea.

He thought that it'd be wiser of him to just...stay in his room until they reach the nearest Border Patrol camp.