Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 2) - Chapter 13 - Cheesy Movie Villains

The thousandth wave boss looked like something from a nightmare.

It stood maybe twelve feet tall, nowhere near as large at the Giant Wolven, but terrifying nonetheless.

God, it looks like a bloody werewolf.And, considering Xavier wasn’t able to scan the damned thing, for all he knew it could be a werewolf. Xavier glanced up at the dark sky. Only one of this world’s two moons were full. Would a werewolf need them both?

He shook his head.

I can’t scan the beast. That mustmean it’s E Grade.

Xavier had never encountered an E Grade beast before. He took a hesitating step back, gripped his scythe-staff tight, feeling foolish.

None of the other wave bosses had even come close to being a challenge for him. He gritted his teeth. He should deal with this beast quickly, else he would barely have a couple of minutes before the next wave came. As he’d just used a 200-infused Soul Strike, it would still be another three minutes until he could use the spell again.

I intend to kill this beast before then.

The range on Xavier’s spells had increased dramatically as he’d ranked them up, so he didn’t need to be closer than he already was. He took a step forward and grinned as something came to mind.

Maybe I’ll get a title for this. The first person from my world to defeat an E Grade. Yeah, that could definitely happen.

The werewolf-looking beast lurched forward and began bounding across the battlefield. Though it could stand on two legs it ran on all four, leaping over the bodies of the fallen, kicking up ash as it went. Xavier didn’t hesitate. He cast Spirit Break.

The E Grade monster paused in its run. No… pause wasn’t the right word. A single one of its steps faltered, like one of its limbs couldn’t hold its weight, then it kept coming at him, showing no other signs of damage.

What? Xavier thought. This spell had always worked for him.

How could it be failing him now? It must have something to do with the fact that the enemy was E Grade.

Even when I’ve faced wave bosses with strong magical resistance, I’ve been able to defeat them easily…

In the first few hundred waves, he’d used the wave-bosses as opportunities to practice Spirit Break. That was how he’d ranked it up all the way to 50. How could it not be strong enough to work on this enemy?

He released a breath. He needn’t worry about this. He had other ways to defeat it.

Xavier cast Heavy Telekinesis on the werewolf-beast, aiming to pick it up and crush its body. Energy flowed from Xavier’s staff and the wave boss rose into the air. Xavier took a step forward, brow furrowed, eyes narrowed, jaw set. He tilted his head to the side and peered at his enemy, then crushed it.

Except… the enemy wasn’t crushed. The werewolf-like beast simply howled. It didn’t even sound like a howl of pain—more like a howl of anger. Xavier’s spell wore off and it fell to the ground, bounding toward him once more as though he hadn’t just cast two spells that should have taken the damned thing out of commission.

What the hell is going on here? Xavier thought. Are E Grades really that much stronger than F Grades?

Maybe the enemy simply had some sort of super-strong magical defence. If so, then it couldn’t last for long.

Xavier cast Heavy Telekinesis on the beast once more.

The beast had closed much of the distance quite effectively with its long, leaping bounds. Xavier sprinted forward as his spell raised it into the air once more. Just because the spell wasn’t able to harm the wave boss, didn’t mean it wasn’t helpful. Xavier could keep it in the air and slash his staff-scythe into it without risking any harm to himself—not that he expected this thing to be able to hurt him. Still, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little bit worried. This was the first time his spells had been so… ineffective against a beast since he’d been on the second floor facing the Rat King.

It also made him worry about what might come next. If he was facing E Grade wave bosses in this wave, the next waves would have them too. He didn’t doubt he’d be able to take them out, but if his spells weren’t as effective—or effective at all as the bosses grew even stronger—it would take him much longer and longer.

Which meant he would have even less time between waves than he already did.

And soon that time will shrink. Then I’ll be facing enemies from two different waves at once because I won’t have cleared the enemies from the previous wave.

He pushed those worries from his mind. He had to focus on what was in front of him.

Once again, the beast rose into the air. Except this time, it didn’t remain there for long.

The beast cocked its head and grinned wickedly. It shrugged, and then fell straight back to the ground. The force of its landing caused an ash cloud form up from the ground. Standing on two legs, the beast cracked its neck, threw its head back, and laughed. Xavier was still running toward it, tightly gripping Soultaker. He halted, skidded in the ash, and stared at the beast.

Did… did it just shrug off one of my attacks?

“Foolish human.” The beast walked forward. “Do you really expect to defeat me?”

It was perhaps twenty feet away from him now. It didn’t hold any weapons, nor wear any armour. Xavier hadn’t expected it to be able to talk. He wasn’t sure why. The Puma Prime and the Rat King had both been able to communicate with him. Not that they’d said anything important.

But despite how many enemies he’d faced during the past hundreds of waves, none of the humanoid denizens had tried talking to him. There had been humans, elves, demons—all sorts of different Denizens.

Maybe I never gave them a chance to speak before I, you know, killed them.

Xavier stared at the wolf-beast and raised an eyebrow. “What is it with you guys,” he said. “Do you all have to talk like cheesy movie villains?”

The wolf frowned. It opened its mouth, baring sharp teeth. “What is… a cheesy movie?”

Xavier sighed. Soultaker was already infused with Spirit, and Spiritual Trifecta glowed about him. He was still confident he could win this encounter. He just hoped it wouldn’t take long. As much as he would have loved exchanging insults with a beast who didn’t understand his references, he needed to move. Though another thing that worried him was the level of confidence this beast held in itself. It didn’t seem the least bit worried about the fact that Xavier had just destroyed an entire wave with ease. Or how many other waves he’d decimated before it. It had just stood there, watching him do it the entire time.

Xavier lunged forward, slashing at his enemy with the staff-scythe. The werewolf-beast was fast. Faster than Xavier expected—faster than it had been when bounding toward him. A green glow suddenly surrounded it.

Wait, is that… Speed Infusion?

The beast moved in to attack. Its claws elongated as it did.

The damned things looked like they were made from metal. The claws were long, ten-inch blades. Xavier cast Soul Block. He infused a single soul into the spell. He wanted to ensure he could cast it once per second, though from how fast this thing moved he doubted that would be quick enough.

The beast’s claws slammed into the soul apparition that appeared—a bus-sized Giant Wolven.

Then something insane happened. Something he’d never seen before.

The beast’s claws weren’t stopped as though they’d hit a brick wall like other attacks that hit Soul Block always were. No, instead, its claws slashed through the apparition. The beast’s arms were slowed, but its attack wasn’t stopped completely. Xavier, not expecting such a thing to happen, stumbled back and barely avoided a swipe to his neck. He swung his staff-scythe at the beast, three times in quick succession, sweeping it toward the werewolf-beast’s side, down at its head, then at its legs.

His swings were easily dodged. The beast’s wicked grin returned. It looked like the big bad wolf from Red Riding Hood with that grin, as though it were playing a joke and he was the foolish granddaughter.

Xavier took three rapid steps back, creating some distance. His eyes widened as he stared at the beast he couldn’t scan. It shouldn’t have been so much faster than him. Did that Speed Infusion spell really make such a strong difference? Or was it the fact the beast was E Grade? Both?

Xavier had assumed he would be strong enough to defeat an enemy at the low end of E Grade easily enough, considering how many titles he’d gained, but now he was beginning to worry he’d underestimated them.

But my attributes are so high, and I just discovered my secondary core. I’m on the peak of reaching E Grade. I’m a true Progenitor on the peak of reaching E Grade.

And this is just some random E Grade enemy.

It has to be over level 100. But how many levels over?

His future plans of destroying the entire E Grade horde crumbled each second this damned beast remained alive.

Adapt, he thought. Persevere and adapt.

Xavier gritted his teeth. Spirit Break and Heavy Telekinesis had each been barely effective, and a one-infused Soul Block had barely slowed down the beast’s strike.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t use those spells to his advantage. There would still be a couple of minutes until he could use Soul Strike again, and though he was sure he could kill this damned thing with a single 1,000 infused Soul Strike, he didn’t want to risk being without the spell when the next wave arrived.

After Xavier had taken those steps back, the grin on the beast had widened—something he hadn’t even realised was possible. It lurched forward and slashed at him once more with its elongated claws. It closed the distance he’d created far too swiftly.

Xavier cast Spirit Break as it lunged. The spell might not have much effect, but it did make the beast falter slightly. Then, before the strike could hit, he cast Heavy Telekinesis. He didn’t try and pick up the beast this time. He simply aimed downward.

It didn’t have the effect he truly wanted—crushing the beast straight into the ground and breaking all its bones—but it did make it stumble.

Which Xavier took full advantage of. He swept his blade toward the enemy’s neck. The strike hit dead on. A large gash opened up and blood spilled from the wound. The beast stumbled back two steps, put a hand to its neck. When its hand came away bloody, the beast didn’t widen its eyes in fear.

It laughed.

The wound healed, knitting itself back together.

“It looks as though you might pose a challenge after all,” the beast said.