Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion - Chapter 52 - This Will Bring Me Power

Xavier stared up at the three-headed Cerotri Infernum. Much of the human army lay dead around him. As he’d ordered, some soldiers had been taken prisoner—insurance, to make sure they didn’t accidentally clear this floor.

The Cerotri Infernum looked like a terrifying beast. Standing at thirty-five feet with those vicious horns jutting from each of its heads. The massive roar that mingled so many monstrous noises all at once.

It was roaring now, back on its hind legs like the first time Xavier had fought it. And for the life of him, Xavier couldn’t muster up even a single sliver of fear. He simply stared at the hell beast, tilting his head to the side.

My ears don’t sting from its roar anymore. They’re not even ringing.

He wrung his grip about his staff. He’d felt a bit guilty about how he’d treated the Cerotri Infernum last time. But this time… he knew what he had to do was necessary.

Xavier raised his staff. He cast Spirit Break, and the hell beast broke. It’s weird, rumbling roars turned into wailing moans. It was the first time Xavier had cast Spirit Break since it had reached its second rank.

He could have practiced the spell on the human soldiers he’d faced, but he’d had other plans for them.

Previously, when he’d cast Spirit Break, he’d had to focus on which aspect of the spell he wanted: mind, body, or soul. This time, all three of this things happened at once.

What he saw made Xavier take a step back, eyes wide, surprised by his own power.

Reared up as it was, the Cerotri Infernum’s hind legs snapped the wrong way and it slumped to the ground. It reminded Xavier of when he’d thrown Giant Mole Rats into the cave walls of the second floor—every bone in the hell beast’s body broke.

And its mind broke.

And its soul broke.

The hell beast was twisted two dozen different ways. Every one of its tree-trunk thick legs. Each of its three necks. Even its horns had broken when the spell had been cast.

And the pain in its eyes was almost unbearable to see, but Xavier did not turn away from it for he was the one who’d caused it. He swallowed, some of that guilt coming back.

This is necessary. This will bring me power.

Xavier cast Spirit Break ten more times on the moaning Cerotri Infernum. The cooldown had reduced down to 13 seconds, but it was still a long time to watch the beast writhe in agony.

Spirit Break (All) has taken a step forward on the path!

Spirit Break (All) is now a Rank 3 spell.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

Magical Potency has reached rank 10!

He was quite sure he gained ranks faster by using his spells on higher level enemies. And though this spell broke an enemy, it never seemed to kill it. Perhaps if he let the beast remain here for some time, it would eventually die.

But Xavier wasn’t so cruel as to let it remain in such a state.

When the notifications came, he instantly put the poor beast out of its misery, whispering a thank you like he had the first time before hitting one of its heads with Heavy Telekinesis, pushing straight down into the ground, even though he knew those two words would be worth nothing.

This beast will be alive once more, once we return. It will live a near infinite number of lives in a near infinite number of instances. It would have killed a trillion times and died a trillion more, and still it has more lives to live. And it will remember none of its lives and none of its deaths and none of the people its killed. It will remain, stuck reliving this instance for longer than I will ever live.

And it will not remember the pain I caused it.

When the beast died, Xavier and the others returned to the Staging Room once more.

The others seemed even quieter around him than they had been the last time he’d killed the hell beast. Xavier wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Perhaps they were simply quiet because they now, more than ever, were realising how powerful he was.

They watched me stand there and get pelted by arrows and spells and not take enough damage to need healing. They watched me tear through an army with nothing but my staff, then kill hundreds of soldiers in mere moments with but a few spells.

Do they fear me now?

He didn’t want that. He would never hurt any of them, after all.

But he knew having this much power, being capable of what he was, feeling responsible for the people of Earth… it was changing him.

The party sold their items at the System Shop, this time gaining 8,700 Lesser Spirit Coins, which they handed over to Xavier.

After, they arranged their loot boxes in an awkward circle, sitting on them like they were stools. Howard pulled some food from out of his Storage Ring. Bacon and eggs atop a plate balanced on his knees—food Xavier had taken from the cafeteria what already felt like an age ago. The others glanced at him.

“What?” the former cop said. “I’m starving.”

Siobhan shook her head. “I’m just wondering how you can eat, after…” Her gaze came to rest on Xavier, then slid away from him.

Xavier cleared his throat. They’d all been talking so easily before this. He didn’t want to sit around and let things fester. “You don’t like what I did to that hell beast, do you?”

Siobhan’s forehead creased. Her staff was in her Storage Ring, and she held her hands together in her lap. “You tortured that thing.”

Xavier lowered his head, that twinge of guilt coming back in full force, then he looked the redhead in the eye. “You know what’s at stake, don’t you?”

Siobhan frowned. “Of course I know what’s at stake.”

Xavier motioned to the door. “There could be armies like that back on Earth already. They could be rounding up our people, turning them into slaves, or…”

“Or slaughtering them in the streets,” Howard muttered.

Sobhan winced at that. “You don’t have to paint the picture.” Her hands clenched in her lap. “We all know what’s waiting for us back on Earth.”

Xavier continued, despite her protests. “The System that governs this Greater Universe is vicious. Unforgiving. Cold. It doesn’t believe in surrender, it believes in power. And all those races that are able to get to Earth? They grew up with that, maybe for countless generations. I didn’t wantto do what I did. But I need to get stronger, and it helped me move forward and rank up one of my spells. Could you imagine, one of those beasts loose on Earth? How many people do you think would die trying to take that down, people without the advantages we have?”

“The advantages you have,” Justin said, raising his head. “We wouldn’t have been able to take that thing. Maybe with the whole army behind us… and you didn’t even break a sweat.”

“I think that’s what he’s trying to say.” Howard’s food sat on his knees, still uneaten, his fork resting on the side of his plate. “I don’t like what he did, but if I were in his shoes, I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same. Sometimes the unpleasant is necessary.”

Siobhan shut her eyes. She let out a long breath. “I suppose you’re right. Just… this was all feeling like a video game. Like an adventure. I know what’s at stake. I know Earth is in trouble. I’ve just been trying not to think about that as best I can.” Siobhan opened her eyes, locked gazes with Xavier. “Watching what you did to that hell beast just brought that all into focus. I don’t know you very well, Xavier, but I know you’re here to protect Earth. And if you’re capable of that… then what must others, those who are against us, be capable of? What atrocities are occurring right now, as we sit around, unable to return to Earth until you clear more of these damned floors?”

“I don’t know,” Xavier said. “But that’s why we must do whatever we can to keep moving forward.” He raised his chin. “Speaking of, I’ve reached level 10.”

Siobhan’s eyes lit up, then. Her face had gone white as she’d been speaking of what Xavier had done, and of what might be happening on Earth. Now, the colour returned to her cheeks, and the ghost of a smile was on her lips. “You’ve reached level 10? Why didn’t you say so?” She stood. “What class options do you have? Have you seen them yet?”

Xavier chuckled, raised his hands in defence. “I haven’t looked yet. I wanted to… clear the air first. Besides, I still have 5 free stat points to allocate. Actually, about stats…” He told them about the barrier he’d broken through on attributes once he’d reached 100 in them. How that seemed to take him to a new level of power in each, mentioning that he’d done it for Toughness, Intelligence, Willpower and Spirit, but still needed to do it for Strength and Speed.

And he told them about the new skill he’d gotten—Assimilate Properties—and what it had done for him.

“Whoa,” Siobhan said. As he’d talked, telling them about how the metal from the arrowheads had fused into him and given him +10 Toughness, her eyes had widened and that smile she’d always seemed to wear had returned in full force. “That’s awesome! Like Wolverine from X-Men.” Her smile turned a little lopsided, her cheeks a little redder. “You’re a regular Hugh Jackman.”

Xavier rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feeling a little flushed himself. “Well, I don’t know about that…”

Howard had a knowing smirk on his face, an eyebrow raised as he ate his bacon and eggs.

Justin leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees, frowning. “So you haven’t looked at the class selection yet?”

“No.” Xavier tilted his head to the side. “Why?”

“Well, we’ve spoken about how what we do before gaining our class effects what class we can choose, and the notification said you could still gain rank-ups for your skills and spells, and gain attributes, right?”

Siobhan raised a finger, sitting straighter. Her gaze flicked over to Justin. “I think I know where you’re going with this!”

Xavier frowned at the two of them, then thought on what they’d been talking about and a had a lightbulb-moment of his own. “You think I should get Strength and Speed to 100 points before looking at what classes I can choose from?”

Justin and Siobhan both nodded.

Howard grunted. “Sounds smart.”

Xavier thought about that for a moment. He’d been incredibly eager to see what classes he would have available. The longer he waited, the more anxious he became to check.

His Strength was at an effective 92, his speed at 87, and he had 5 free stat points to use… but all he’d really need to do would be clear the third floor. Even if he didn’t get into the top 100—which was something he certainly couldn’t bet on—he would gain at least 15 stat points to eachof his attributes.

A smile popped onto his face. He wondered… how often was it someone got every one of their stats to 100 before gaining their second class?

Without any titles, assuming someone only gained 8 stats per level, they would need to be over level 70 to have 600 stats, and that’s if they were distributing their stats equally over all six attributes, which is incredibly unlikely.

He remembered what the System notification had said when it tried to expel the metal impurities from his body—that such a thing wasn’t possible for an F Grade Denizen, which meant hitting the Toughness upgrade of 100 points was probably incredibly rare for someone at his Grade, let alone level.

Though he still didn’t know what level he would need to be to upgrade to E Grade.

That’s something I’ll find out soon enough.

“All right.” He stood up, feeling a sudden burst of excitement at the prospect of what classes he would get after achieving something like this. There might even be a title for reaching 100 points in all six attributes. “Let’s clear the third floor.”