Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion - Chapter 49 - Stop Trying To Hit Me And Hit Me!

Xavier, Howard, Siobhan and Justin were engulfed in a white light and transported to the head of the elven army.

Xavier wasn’t sure how this would go. He’d just slaughtered this army and their summoned Champion, the Cerotri Infernum, basically torturing the poor hell beast as he ranked-up his Spirit Break spell.

Now, he was going to be fighting on their side? It seemed almost perverse. But… here the army was, all of them alive again. To his eyes, it looked like the same army. Which means the human army will be exactly the same, and I’ll be killing Sergeant Bradley along with other human soldiers who had just been protecting me.

It was a strange thing to think about. He wondered how the floors worked. Did the System create them each time? Or were they time-looped chambers that restarted whenever someone entered them? Like a never-ending stream of alternate universes?

He shook his head. Not the time to figure out how the System and the Greater Universe function, assuming such a thing is even possible at all.

One of the elves ran forward, then stopped about six feet away from them. The woman looked exceptionally regal. She was tall and slender—perhaps an inch or two taller than Justin—and the picture of an elven beauty.

She wore ringmail armour that clung to her figure as best it could. Like the human soldiers at the front line of the opposing army, she carried a long spear and large shield, though somehow she managed to do it with far more grace. Her flaxen hair was braided into a fancy bun at the top of her head.

Flaxen hair? Justin thought, chiding himself. Really? Can’t I just call it blonde?

He shook his head, tearing his gaze away from her gorgeous blue eyes, reminding himself why they were here—and about the fact that he would have killed this very same elven woman in the last instance of the floor.

This is weird.

Xavier was glad they weren’t going to farm this floor more than one more time. He couldn’t imagine what it might feel like, slaughtering these same soldiers over and over. It might be an effective way to gain Mastery Points and Lesser Spirit Coins, but it still… didn’t feel right.

“Hail, Champions!” The woman’s voice carried far, just like Sergeant Bradley’s had, but her face was blank. Serene. She nodded to each of them. “We are honoured that you have accepted our call, though—” She faltered, cleared her throat. “We weren’t expecting humans to come to our aid.” She gestured toward her army. “However, you should not fear, for we elves are a noble race, and we will follow your orders to the word.” She bowed her head. “Great Champions.”

Xavier didn’t let Howard step in this time. He spoke first, giving near the same orders as he had the last time, getting them to secure the trapdoor to the Staging Room—not that it would be difficult to reach, when he was done with the other army. He added in the order of keeping several humans alive for “questioning,” figuring it was better to get that in early.

He asked for an honour guard, just as he had the last time. This time, however, he wanted to test something. With the honour guard in place—twenty tall, proud elven soldiers wielding long spears and massive shields—Xavier spoke to Siobhan.

When they’d briefly spoken of the progress each of them had made, she’d told him that her Heal Other spell had reached its second rank, while her Summon spell had reached its third.

Though Xavier wanted to clear this floor fast, he didn’t want to pass up an opportunity. When he’d taken an arrow in the shoulder, it had done 1% of damage to him, so he knew he could take a good beating from the enemy soldiers as long as he had an escape route, especially if Spiritual Trifecta was active.

Xavier was proud of getting his Magical Potency skill all the way to Rank 8, but his other skills were lagging behind. If he wanted a class that blended physical combat with magical combat, he knew he needed to up those skills while he could.

Staff Mastery, Physical Resistance, Magical Resistance, and Physical Damage. There’s one surefire way I can help boost all four of them.

He explained his plan to Siobhan.

“You want to fight the enemies with just your staff?” Siobhan asked, her eyes widening.

Xavier rubbed the back of his head and gave a sheepish nod. “Yeah, basically. I think it will really help me rank up my other skills. But if my health gets down to a quarter, I want you to Summon me to you and heal me.”

“How will I know when that happens?”

“I’ll use Heavy Telekinesis on the enemy. That’ll be the sign.”

Howard, on Xavier’s left, leaned in. “Do you need me by your side?”

Xavier shook his head. “No. I’ll be right in the thick of things this time around. I don’t want you in too much danger. Stick with the others. Fight as a team.”

Siobhan nodded. “All right. I… I think your plan will work. I’ll make sure to summon you back.” She winced. “You know this is going to hurt, right?”

Xavier had considered that, but it didn’t really bother him. His Willpower was at an effective 88, and if he’d learnt anything by this point it was that he could withstand physical pain. “I know. But I have to do this.”

He didn’t want to get hurt, but this seemed like the best way. Besides, considering all the pain he’d caused, he could take a little in return. It only seemed fair, after all.

This time, unlike the last, he didn’t stay behind the honour guard. Didn’t remain behind their shield wall or beneath Howard’s Bulwark. Xavier made a hole through the honour guard and stepped right into the open, feeling like an utter fool.

This is exactly the type of risk I’m not supposed to take.

Except this time, it wasn’t a risk. He knew that. He had support behind him. Siobhan could summon him out of danger. He wouldn’t take one hundred hits all at once. He could probably run faster than they could hit him with their arrows and spells, anyway.

Especially with Spiritual Trifecta active.

He kept that spell inactive for now, let out a breath, and sprinted straight for the five hundred soldiers that comprised the human army, gripping his staff tightly in hand.

Time to wreak some havoc.

Xavier’s actions seemed to take the enemy army by surprise. He hardly thought they would have expected a single person to be sprinting across the great expanse of purple grassland.

The whish, whish, whish of the grass sounded on every stride as his legs ate up the distance between the two armies faster than ever. This was the first time he’d sprinted since he’d gained the titles from the second floor.

God, he was fast.

The arrows and spells began to come his way. He could take a good few of them if he needed to, but he was running too fast for them, and almost all of the projectiles fell short as the long-range fighters had to launch their attacks over the line of melee fighters at the front of their army, so they weren’t loosing their arrows or firing their spells at him straight-on.

An arrow struck him in the leg, and he thought he’d be stopped completely. The pain hit him hard… but not that hard, and it didn’t slow his run at all. Checking his health, he noticed he had taken 2% damage, but he wasn’t worried.

That’s just because I haven’t activated Spiritual Trifecta yet.

A fireball struck him full on in the chest. Again, it barely hurt him. He would need more than that if he was going to rank-up his skills.

“Come on!” he shouted at the enemy. “Stop trying to hit me and hit me!” He blinked. Did I just quote Morpheus in the Matrix?

His voice boomed, carrying across the field. Another voice sounded out, responding to him in turn, and he recognised who it was.

“Kill the bastard traitor! A human fighting with knife-ears? Honestly! Give him everything we’ve got!” Sergeant Bradley bellowed back.

A barrage of arrows and spells came straight for him. More than the first time, and Xavier wondered if this had been such a great idea…

Figuring he was seconds away from reaching the first line of soldiers running as fast as he was, Xavier activated Spiritual Trifecta, held his breath, and braced himself.

Siobhan can get me out of here if need be.

With the speed of his eyes and the speed of his thought, he counted roughly forty attacks that would actually hit him if he stopped running.

That won’t be enough to kill me.

Xavier stopped running. Gripping his staff in his right hand, he opened up his arms. He looked like a man welcoming death, when that was the last thing he would ever do.

The arrows and spells fell. Arrows with flaming tips. Arrows glowing purple and green and blue. Fireballs, lightning and ice shards too.

The constant barrage slammed into him, making him take one, two, three steps back. The pain was… the pain was…

Bearable.

He’d endured worse, and so he knew he could endure this.

Magical Resistance has reached rank 2!

Physical Resistance has reached rank 3!

Magical Resistance has reached rank 3!

Physical Resistance has reached rank 4!

Xavier did perhaps the last thing anyone observing might have expected him to.

He laughed. He threw his head back and laughed, loud and fully. He was… enjoying this. How could he be enjoying this?

Don’t question it.

Having paused for a couple of seconds to take all those hits, he began sprinting again, checking his health.

Your health is at 56%.

I just took that many hits, and it brought me down by less than half?

Even though that’s what he’d been expecting—that’s what the math had told him would happen—it was still a surprise. Part of him thought he would need to be Summoned straight back to Siobhan after taking those hits, even if that didn’t logically make sense when adding up the attacks coming his way.

Still, it surprised him how strong he had become.

He did something he hadn’t done before. He willed the health notification to remain in his vision, just as he had with the timer back on the first floor. It remained up in the top-right corner of his vision, so he could glance at it whenever he needed to.

Why didn’t I ever think to do this before?

Finally, Xavier reached the army, his Spirit Staff of Might gripped tightly in both hands, the silver sheen of Spiritual Trifecta glowing about his body, strengthening both his physical damage and his physical defence.

It strengthened his magic, too, of course. But right now, that wasn’t relevant.

It’s time to bash in some heads.