Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 6) - Chapter 69 - Into the Unknown

You have gained the spell: Territory Defence

Territory Defence – Rank 150

Warning: Territory Defence is one of the two main spells in the Defender line of classes. When used in conjunction with Unity Defence, the spells will severely hinder the procurement of Mastery Points at the cost of heightened power.

This effect does not come into play if the spells are used alone.

Territory Defence can be cast at anytime, anywhere, but the spell’s effects will only become active if the user is within a territory they are either pledged to, or that is in their control, whether that territory is a sector, a planet, or even a small, one-person dwelling such as a house or cave.

Territories can also be out in the open if a claim has been successfully made.

Territory Defence is a spell that increases every attribute of the user by a full 100%, doubling the user’s power. This spell also increases the damage the user can inflict and the user’s defences by 50%—this includes every type of damage of defence and is not limited to only physical or magical.

This spell cannot be cast on another being.

This spell can be cast only once per day and cannot be cast while still active.

This spell lasts for a single day.

Xavier frowned as he read the spell’s description. He was still sitting on the battlements of Eldaarn’s castle, the stones feeling almost cold after the time he’d spent sitting on the Bright City of Aethisa’s battlements.

He had just opened his eyes and read the Territory Defence spell’s description after having successfully drawn the pattern of runes for it within a room in his mind.

He felt a thrill at having once again learnt a spell of his choosing with this method. Being able to do something like this made him feel so free. It made the possibilities of what he could do seem as though they were completely endless.

The reason he was frowning instead of smiling was because he’d had King Elric read the spell’s description to him already. The man had the spell at Rank 150, like all the defenders here did, and yet his description was considerably more abbreviated than the ones Xavier had just read.

Did the System choose to give me more information, or was I given more information because of how I learnt the spell?

Xavier sighed, letting the frown fade away. A more detailed description could only be a good thing—however it came to him.

He did smile, then. He had another spell added to his arsenal, and its powers were exactly what he’d hoped they would be. It wouldn’t merely double his attributes; it would make his attacks stronger on top of that.

And if he could double stack with the spell pattern… Well, he would be at least three times more powerful—more, with the 50 percent damage boost—depending how the spell chose to work.

Three times stronger than I am in this moment… And I’ll be even stronger than I am now when I have to use this against the World Destroyer. That is, assuming I can secure the territory I need in order to make that happen.

Xavier’s mind felt tired after all that work. His head drooped a little. He didn’t really need to sleep these days, and he didn’t feel the need to do it in that moment. But sometimes, he could benefit from a short break.

Still within a time dilation field, he took some time to himself, letting all his concerns drift away—if only for a while.

Three mugs of coffee and three paperback fantasy novels read from start to finish later, and Xavier stood from the comfortable armchair he’d summoned, placing it back into his Storage Ring. The break from the intense mental labour and the constant thoughts of what to do next allowed a sense of calm to fall over him. Xavier was still surprised just how much taking time like this renewed him. His cup had been empty when he’d sat down. Now, it felt full.

His mind and body rejuvenated from the break, Xavier felt a renewed urge to push forward on this floor, and he knew exactly what his next step needed to be.

He had to travel to the Arakashinai home world.

Xavier already knew how he was going to accomplish this goal. He had done something similar to this in the past. When he’d taken the fight to the Lord of the Endless Horde on the fifth floor of the Tower of Champions, he’d entered one of the portals the enemies had been streaming out of to head to the source.

The Araks had to be arriving here somehow.

Even with his eyesight, Xavier couldn’t see any portals across the vast plains in front of Eldaarn’s castle. The area was absolutely packed with Araks, the insectoid, centaur-like race were so close together it must have been like moving through a crowd at a concert.

The army stretched and stretched, all the way to a set of mountains in the distance. Xavier narrowed his eyes, staring at the base of those mountains, at what looked to be the entrance to a cave.

Araks were flowing out of that cave. Not in that moment—time was still frozen around him—but he could see that was where they were coming from.

At least, that was one of the places they were coming from. Now that he’d noticed one cave entrance, he saw others dotted about the mountains, Araks coming out of those ones as well.

That’s where the portals must be. Inside those mountains.

Xavier was about to launch himself upward into the air when he hesitated, looking over at the frozen figure of King Elric. He’d told the man he would leave on this mission the moment he’d learnt the Territory Defence spell, but he still wished he could have some way of communicating with the king once he’d left this place. He didn’t have any spare sector-wide Communication Stones, however.

The king and his people would just have to wait this out and continue defending their castle, as they had for the past ten years.

Xavier looked away from the man.

No point lingering here.

His time dilation field wrapped around him, Xavier gave a mighty leap and flap of his wings, soaring toward the first cave entrance he’d seen in the far-off mountains.

As he passed over the countless Araks of the army beneath him, he once again couldn’t help but wonder how powerful the Arakashinai queen would be. The Araks themselves were high D Grade, which meant the queen was able to create an endless stream of D Grade drones.

If those back at the Eldaarn castle didn’t have the Defender line of classes, Xavier estimated they would need to be far stronger—likely high C Grade, based on his estimation—to defend against this constant barrage.

Even then, he wasn’t quite so sure, especially if they were the type of C Grades found on his side of the universe, not the true C Grades like those in the inner sectors such as Yarien and her party. The Arak drones might only be D Grade, and that might seem like they weren’t truly a threat—they certainly weren’t a threat to Xavier, though they would certainly be a nuisance—but the sheer number of them, and the fact they never stopped coming…

Even the Elemental Dragon he’d faced on the hundredth floor would be overwhelmed by them.

That made a hint of worry slither through his stomach. Initially, he’d thought the queen would be a powerful C Grade. The more he thought about it, however, the more he realised he might be pitting himself against something beyond that.

Only one way to find out.

Xavier reached the cave. The arch of the entrance was large enough that he could fly over the heads of the frozen Araks coming out of it. He’d been expecting to find a large chamber with a mass portal somewhere inside it. Instead, he flew down a long tunnel that stretched deep into the mountains. Occasionally the tunnel would ascend, occasionally it would descend. It was impossible to tell if it was going up the mountain or deeper into the earth.

The tunnel went for miles, until it became wider and he noticed the tunnel he’d flown through forked off from this larger one.

Covering every inch of the tunnel into the mountains were the Arak drones, more than he’d imagined there would be.

Eventually, the tunnel ended, and Xavier found that large chamber he’d first expected. Only it was even bigger than his imagination had conjured up. So massive that the Araks must have carved the space they needed for it.

This is far larger than the cavern where I faced those wyverns.

There was only one portal. It sat at the far edge of the cavernous chamber. Xavier had never seen a portal of this size before. Not even the Endless Horde’s portals had been this huge—though he supposed that shouldn’t be a surprise. The Endless Horde, and the Lord of the Endless Horde, still loomed in his mind as a larger threat than they actually were.

That man had only just reached D Grade… He would barely take a thought to crush now.

The portal stretched almost to the cave’s ceiling high above. Xavier took in the sight for a moment and considered what he was about to do, and whether it was the right thing. Stepping through that portal could have a lot of consequences he wasn’t intending. For one, there was a chance he could get stuck on the other side. If killing the queen—assuming he was able to accomplish his goal—didn’t instantly clear the floor, he might be stuck on her home world longer than he wished.

He hovered in the air for a long moment, wings gently flapping, just enough to keep him airborne.

There was still over two years until the World Destroyer would make it to the Silver River sector. Worst case scenario, Xavier got stuck on the Arakashinai home world and couldn’t defeat the queen, but couldn’t return to Eldaarn…

I can’t use my sector travel key for… Another ten months at least.

He’d only just recently used his Sector Travel Key back on the eightieth floor. Two months, and a few days, had passed since he’d done that. Those two months had been inside a time dilation field, but at least they still counted.

His Universal Travel Key, he could use sooner. But… That would be quite a loss.

But those concerns, he knew, wouldn’t come to pass. If the portal closed, the Araks would stop streaming to the Eldaarn castle. King Elric and his defenders would be able to tip the balance. The floor would clear, and Xavier would return to the Staging Room.

Killing the Arakashinai queen wouldn’t get him stuck there either. There was no way that action wouldn’t tip the balance.

No, the true risk wasn’t getting stuck on the other side of that portal. The true risk was facing off against an enemy he wasn’t ready for, all because he’d decided this was something he needed to do. He’d watched other versions of himself day doing something like this because they were too proud to step away. He’d stepped away from challenges himself, knowing that was the case.

He wasn’t as proud as he once was.

You don’t have to go through there, Bones said.

Xavier supposed the soul bound weapon could sense his apprehension. He frowned. The moment Bones had spoken in his mind, the sliver of doubt that had made him stop here disappeared, replaced with a stoney resolve.

Stepping into the unknown, facing impossible threats, it was what he did. He wasn’t about to shy away from this, especially when he didn’t even know how strong his enemy would be.

Besides, he’d told King Elric of his plans. That was as good as giving his word.

I know. But I will do it all the same.

Xavier flew through the portal, heading toward the Arakashinai home world.