Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 2) - Chapter 47 - At Least I Made the Bastard Flinch

Xavier burst into action before the Lord of the Endless Horde could make the first move. His soulkeeping reserve was full with almost two thousand souls, but there was no one around him that he could easily kill—the alleyway was deserted.

Part of him wanted to drop a fully infused Soul Strike at his D Grade enemy, but if that wasn’t enough he wouldn’t be able to use Soul Block.

Several things happened all at once.

Xavier sprinted to the left, straight toward the wall of the tall skyscraper—the alleyway he’d run into had been a dead end, not providing much space to move. He had no idea what the Lord of the Endless Horde was capable of, but as the man wielded a sword, the last thing he wanted to do was face him in a close-up, melee fight.

As he moved, he cast Spiritual Trifecta on himself and Spirit Infusion into Soultaker. His Spirit attribute was currently at 4,687 points, and the power that rolled over him felt absolutely insane.

Not only that, his body moved so much faster that he wondered if his friends back at the castle would even be able to perceive his movements. Still, he knew it likely wasn’t fast enough. He needed better mobility—a way to get out of this alley.

Heavy Telekinesis! Spirit Break! Willpower Infusion! Soul Strike!

Each spell was cast with incredible speed and precision. His enemy hadn’t moved from where he stood. The man’s gaze simply tracked Xavier’s movements, a single eyebrow raised, the corner of his mouth twitching upward in amusement.

Then the first spell hit the man.

The Lord of the Endless Horde was pushed back two feet. His eyes widened. The amused smirk fell away. The raised eyebrow dropped. A look of wild confusion replaced it.

Yes! Xavier shouted in his mind. He’d half-expected the spell to do absolutely nothing. He may have been able to mow down E grade enemies while he was F Grade, but he’d been a strong F Grade.

He had no idea where he stood now. He just had to hope that this sector was as weak as it seemed. That it lacked the advantages of others.

None of the enemies I faced were unique.

If they’d possessed titles, they’d been incredibly basic. And no one in this sector was old enough to be a Progenitor, for the System had been here long before any of them had been born, and the strongest Denizens in the sector ended up leaving to find power elsewhere.

Yet the Lord of the Endless Horde had remained.

He likes being the strongest here. I suppose I can’t blame him. Or maybe he feels he’s too weak to survive outside this sector.

Spirit Break hit next. Xavier wasn’t sure what to expect from that. He certainly didn’t think it would break his enemy’s body, mind, and magic.

Fwoooom.

The spell slammed into a barrier, one that had sprang up the instant after Heavy Telekinesis had hit. It made the Lord of the Endless Horde glow golden.

Xavier, still running off to the side, watched the man as closely as he could, and saw the slightest hint of pain alight on his face. The barrier clearly offered some sort of magical defence. But the defence wasn’t completely impenetrable.

At least I made the bastard flinch.

Though Xavier admitted that wasn’t very promising.

The purple mist from Willpower Infusion was the spell Xavier was least confident in, especially now that damned golden barrier had been raised. Xavier held his breath as the mist reached his enemy.

It seeped through the barrier.

The magical defence is useless against mental attacks!

If Xavier could get a hold of his enemy’s mind, all would—

A mental block stronger than anything he’d ever encountered snapped up. For a split second, Xavier had almost been able to feel his enemy’s mind. Now, it was as though a wall of reinforced steel a mile long had materialised.

Xavier pushed against it, as hard as he could. He was able to pull upon more mental strength than ever before now he’d advanced.

It wasn’t enough. He saw no possible way he could break through the man’s mental defences, not while they were this strong.

Finally, Xavier’s final and most powerful spell hit—Soul Strike.

Xavier had infused one hundred souls into the spell, trying to be conservative to test the man’s defences. The apparitions sprang into life. A hundred of the man’s dead soldiers materialised at the end of pure white bolts of lightning, surging toward their former master.

The Lord of the Endless Horde gazed at the apparitions. He still had not drawn his sword. He tilted his head to the side as they came for him, clearly seeing them for what they were.

His lips twitched upward as the apparitions slammed into his golden barrier. The golden barrier flickered—briefly—but didn’t falter. It solidified a moment later. The attacks hadn’t harmed the man in the slightest.

When the four spells had all been cast, Xavier reached the left wall. All this had happened in one small moment. He’d not had anywhere to go when he began his run—he’d simply wanted to be on the move. Though his enemy wielded a sword, there was a chance the man had ranged spells. Better he be moving, more able to dodge them if they came.

The Lord of the Endless Horde chuckled, shaking his head slightly. Finally, he pulled his slender sword free of its jade scabbard with a slight scrape, his gaze on Xavier. “Is that truly all you have to offer?” He cracked his neck. “I’ll admit, that first spell took me by surprise.” He looked at the stone ground. “I hadn’t expected to be moved backward by someone as weak as you.”

He took a step forward.

“But those other things you had to offer?” He made a tsk, tsk noise with his tongue. “Very disappointing. That final attack of yours, oh, it looked flashy, but if that is the limits of your power? Well… I’m surprised you managed to get this far in the first place.”

Xavier had stopped running. Apparently, he hadn’t needed to. This D Grade bastard seemed happy enough to toy with him—to treat him as though he wasn’t a threat. Xavier had expected the man to come at him right away, yet he’d just stood there, taking every spell he had to throw.

Now he was running his mouth, monologuing like some lame movie villain.

Not the first time I’ve found myself in this situation…

The question was, how in the hell could he use this to his advantage? Though the Lord of the Endless Horde was running his mouth, the D Grade bastard had a point. As strong as Xavier had become—as much as he’d been able to accomplish—he was still nothing compared with this man.

How could he possibly change that?

There wasn’t time enough for him to upgrade to his next class. The process would take too long. His test of Soul Strike, using only one hundred souls, had been somewhat effective—it had made that golden barrier flicker. Maybe, if he used enough souls, it would break the damned thing completely.

But now he had to wait over a minute for the spell to reach the end of its cooldown. Something protested within his mind at that thought. His assertion had a feeling of wrongness about it.

Standing there, watching the Lord of the Endless Horde smirk at him, Xavier looked at the cooldown for Soul Strike.

Soul Strike has a varied cooldown, dependent on how many souls are infused into the spell. It cannot be used for another 45 seconds.

What? Xavier thought, thinking his eyes must be deceiving him. It had been a few seconds since he’d cast the spell, but the cooldown remaining was half of what it should have been.

What else has changed?

This was a definite boon, though forty-five seconds was still a very long time. Especially in a fight like this, where every split-second no doubt counted.

I wish I had another way to refresh my spells besides levelling up.

That would certainly solve a lot of his problems.

I just have to keep him talking.

“If I am so below you, why do you demean yourself by fighting me?” Xavier asked. His grip on Soultaker with strong, tight. He let out a silent breath and relaxed it. His high Willpower made keeping his emotions in check very easy, as long as he was aware of them.

The Lord of the Endless Horde didn’t look at Xavier. His eyes were on his sword. He held it up, let the light catch the side of the blade. He still looked mostly bored. “If I did not allow myself to fight those below me, I would never have anyone to fight.”

Xavier raised his chin. He saw a way to infuriate the man. To goad him. But that didn’t seem like a wise approach. There was still forty seconds on his Soul Strike.

How long will I last when he attacks me? How foolish was I, to think I could go up against a D Grade?

Xavier steeled himself, realising something—he wasbeing a fool. But not because he’d gotten himself into this mess. He was being a fool because he’d lost his confidence at the time when it should have been at its highest.

He forced himself to think of all that he’d just accomplished. Of everything that he’d just done in the last day and a half, let alone the last few weeks since the integration. He had achieved feats that literally no one in the Greater Universe had ever achieved. He’d somehow attracted the attention of powerful Denizens without having even finished the first ten floors of the Tower of Champions. Powerful Denizens that observed him in ways that shouldn’t be possible, because they saw his potential.

He had an unmatched title for becoming the fastest Denizen to ever reach E Grade.

And he was standing there, trying to make his opponent talk because he was afraid to face the man before his cooldown ended? Was that truly how he wished to face his enemies?

So goad him, then. Change the damned game.

Xavier smiled. As he did so, he felt his teeth—slightly pointed—dig into his lower lip, and he knew what he needed to do to get more powerful. “That’s why you’ve remained here, in this sector.” He paced across the alleyway. He let go of Soultaker with one hand, placing that hand on his mouth and shaking his head, as though embarrassed for the man.

He slipped something into his mouth, swallowed imperceptibly.

“You’re afraid of facing someone on your level. Afraid of a true challenge.” Xavier made a tsk, tsk, sound identical to the one the Lord of the Endless Horde had made. “How long have you been like this, stagnating in your power? No wonder the System holds your Horde back so much. No wonder it places so many restrictions on this sector.” He stopped pacing, looking up. “It doesn’t tolerate cowards.”