Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 2) - Chapter 43 - An Absolute Massacre

Corpses littered the ground around Xavier. In minutes, he’d killed several hundred thousand enemies. His levels had ticked up, and up, and up with every strike. At first, he gained three levels per Soul Strike, then two, until finally each strike garnered him only one.

Only.

The very thought of a single spell “only” gaining him one level almost made him chuckle, but chuckling in this specific situation would probably make him look somewhat insane.

He was more overpowered than he’d ever imagined he could be, though he knew a scenario like this—a slaughter like this—was unlikely to ever happen again.

Every wave he’d defeated. Every moment of doubt. Every near-death battle he’d pushed through. Every new threshold of power, new skill, new spell… It was all, finally, becoming worth it.

A thousand times he’d regretted and doubted his goal of destroying the Endless Horde. A thousand times he’d pushed past those feelings and kept on moving forward.

All for this.

Somewhere along the way, as his levels kept rising, he broke through another threshold—the 2,000-point threshold for Willpower.

He felt as though he could do anything. Endure anything.

Congratulations, you have reached level 99!

…

Xavier walked through the carnage, stepping over corpses everywhere he went. Soul Strike was different to other spells. Different to other methods of delivering death. It did not deal any physical damage whatsoever. It did not dent armour or rend flesh, nor did it burn bodies to ash.

It left his enemies pristine, the apparitions flowing through their bodies and inflicting nothing but soul damage.

The dead around him looked eerie. Untouched. As though they were sleeping. But that was merely an illusion. He drew in a deep breath, released it slowly. The hunger inside of him had not subsided. Nor had the primal ferocity. Both had melded together, taking over. He could push them back—he had more than enough Willpower to perform such a task—but he did not want his mind to be clear. Not completely.

If his mind were clear, he might see the devastation he’d caused in a different light.

I have performed an absolute massacre.

He looked at the countdown.

Degeneration Countdown Timer: 13 hours 29 minutes and 18 seconds.

Good. He still had time. Far more than he’d imagined he would. And only one more level to attain. The seven mages he’d made into thralls still hovered in the sky. Were still under his control. He sent a mental command, willing them to kill each other.

But the rest of the battlefield was quiet.

No. Not a battlefield. This is a city. The army had been lining up, but beyond that are just people… going about their lives.

In the midst of the devastation he’d caused, the Denizens beyond the initial army had fled. There were still some stragglers—he sent out single, one-infused bursts of Soul Strike to take them out. He almost felt guilt about killing opponents that were running away.

Though he did have to remember why he was here, that the Endless Horde had attacked Alastea’s Queendom, provoked generations ago by one of her ancestors. And what provocation could cause such a response? Such destruction of innocent lives? And how could they be held responsible for something none of them had even done, something done far in the past?

The Endless Horde are bullies. Tyrants. They deserve what I’ve given them. But maybe I should turn back. Return through the portal. There’s nothing left here.

God, he was so close to the next level—so close to hitting E Grade. He could feel it. Taste it.

I can head through another portal. Do the same thing again.

Though he didn’t know if that would be possible. There’d been something different about this portal. With how large it had been. How it had glowed blood red. Maybe he wouldn’t find the same level of enemies through the other ones.

But only civilians seemed to remain here. He’d already devastated the army.

Something caught his gaze, flying down at him from on high.

Airships. Sails and all. Not civilians.

Ten ships flew toward him. They were larger than the first that had come. Far larger. Each was a three-masted vessel that looked as though it could hold hundreds of soldiers—sailors?—aboard it.

Xavier tilted his head side-to-side, making it crack satisfyingly. He didn’t know if the ship contained enough enemies for him to gain the next level, but if they were coming after him, he might as well take them down.

A System prompt shoved itself in front of his vision. It looked familiar. Through the chaos of him entering this place, he couldn’t recall if anything had shown up. He’d been too busy fighting for his life, then gaining vast amounts of levels to notice.

But this notification was flashing across his vision, demanding his undivided attention. No notification had ever done such a thing before.

You have entered the Endless Horde’s home world and angered its Lord.

The Lord of the Endless Horde has locked the portal to Queen Alastea’s castle, barring your exit from his domain.

You may no longer return to the fifth floor Safe Zone.

You may no longer safely exit to the Staging Area.

To return to the Tower of Champions, you must face the Lord of the Endless Horde and win.

The Lord of the Endless Horde will arrive in 4 minutes and 43 seconds.

Xavier stared at the notification for far too long. He read it three times, then looked over his shoulder. The blood red portal still stood. Its glowing light bathed the corpses littering the ground in a way that almost made them look as though they were on fire.

The portal was locked to him. He couldn’t return through it.

What does this truly change? I was always going to face the Lord of the Endless Horde.

Though this did bring his deadline to reaching E Grade down to minutes, instead of hours. And he remembered what Adviser Kalren had told him—that the transformation itself could take several minutes.

Even if I get this last level in the next few minutes, when the Lord of the Endless Horde arrives to kill me, I’ll be in the middle of the transformation.

There wasn’t time to think. He had barely four and a half minutes. There was only time to act.

Xavier cast several spells simultaneously. He sent a sixty-infused Soul Strike at one of the ten vessels, a Heavy Telekinesis at another, then cast Willpower Infusion on a third. Part of him wanted to devastate the entire fleet, but he couldn’t know if that would be enough for him to gain his next level.

He needed to be sure he’d have something left in the tank if destroying these vessels didn’t gain him enough Mastery Points for the next level.

God, he hoped advancing to E Grade would be a simple process. He’d already unlocked his secondary core. All he needed now was one more level.

At least, I bloody well hope that’s all I need.

The moment the soul apparitions slammed into that first ship, its trajectory changed. Whoever was piloting it must have died instantly. It veered down, heading straight for the ground. Mastery Points and Spirit Energy flooded into him from the kills.

That’s one down.

The second vessel was absolutely crushed by the Heavy Telekinesis spell, but those onboard were not killed. They came flying off the deck just like the seven mages had. The Denizens didn’t look near as powerful as those mages, however.

When he’d seen the ships on their way, he’d thought he’d be facing more powerful enemies. That some sort of elites had been summoned to take him on. But these were not elites. They were nothing.

The purple mist enveloped the third ship, enthralling the minds of those aboard it.

Ram, Xavier thought, sending a mental command to them.

The ship rammed straight into the one beside it.

With a minute still remaining on Soul Strike’s cooldown, Xavier cast Heavy Telekinesis again and again.

Boom.

Crash.

Creeeeeeeeeeak.

To a weaker being the sounds would have been deafening. Several Denizens were crushed during the onslaught. The ships slid and fell to the ground. The fall alone wasn’t enough to kill the majority of the Denizens, however.

Xavier sprinted toward them. Hundreds of soldiers had leapt down onto the ground, landing in graceful crouches. These soldiers looked entirely different to the ones he’d been facing previously. Their weapons and armour were significantly more varied.

Maybe these aren’t soldiers. But they came after me.

Before Soul Strike finished its cooldown, every Denizen from all ten ships met their demise.

He glanced at his Mastery Points.

Not enough. I need more.

Xavier gazed up and smiled.

More ships were heading his way. Clearly, they hadn’t seen what he was capable of. He’d spread fear into every soldier on the ground. Seen them flee after he’d devastated the army. Yet more enemies were coming toward him?

That made him wonder about what might have happened to the soldiers that had fled. Made him remember the words of that sergeant from the third floor: The System doesn’t stand cowards.

He realised what must be happening. All the Denizens in the area… they must have gotten a System notification, maybe a new quest, tasking them to kill him.

Xavier could only imagine what kind of reward the System must have offered for something like that.

Certainly, these Denizens thought it was enough to risk their lives. A part of him pitied them. Felt bad for them. But that was a very small part. The System may have prompted them to do this, but it was their own decision to come after him.

At least, he hoped it was.

Too much thinking.

He blocked out his thoughts and leapt straight into the air, heading for one of the newer vessels. His Soul Strike spell was still cooling down. Heavy Telekinesis would take out the ships, but he’d need to get up close and personal if he wanted to take out those aboard.

Attacks streamed toward him. Arrows, spells, even massive ballistae bolts. His Soul Block apparitions were more than enough to absorb the impact, though he wished he had better mobility while in the air, enough to dodge these kinds of attacks.

His leap had him landing on one of the decks to shocked faces. Fear seized those in front of him, but it didn’t stop them from acting.

Xavier tore through every Denizen aboard, then leapt straight to the next ship.

He’d taken down sixteen more ships in two minutes and fifty seconds by the time the notification finally came.

Congratulations, you have reached level 100!

Your health has been regenerated by 70%!

Your Spirit Energy limit has increased by 200!

You have received +2 Strength, +2 Toughness, +2 speed, +3 Intelligence, +3 Willpower, and +8 Spirit!

You have received +20 free stat points!

All your spells have refreshed and are no longer on cooldown!

By reaching Level 100, you are now able to activate the advancement from F Grade to E Grade and upgrade your class. This can only happen while you are outside of combat.

You will not receive any further Mastery Points until you have advanced to E Grade.

However, you can still upgrade spells, skills and gain attributes while in this state.