Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion - Chapter 36 - I’d Like To Have A Chat With Whoever Came Up With This Whole Thing In The First Place

Xavier thought about it and… he couldn’t leave the others behind. Dragging them along would no doubt mean losing any chance at getting a spot in the top 100, but chances were they would still be able to clear this floor before anyone else in their tower, especially since he was already so far ahead.

And he could still get the solo title, as long as he didn’t let any of the others contribute to the fight.

He wasn’t going to let the others get hurt or killed just because of his pursuit for power. Besides, if they did end up face-to-face with the final boss of this place, they would likely try and fight it. Even if they did end up dead, their contribution would be on record, and he’d lose out on that solo title.

Xavier blinked, a little worried about where his thoughts had gone. Am I really thinking that cold and practically? He shrugged the thought away. It wasn’t worth delving into right now.

“We need to keep moving.” Xavier turned to the new tunnel that had opened. “I don’t know how we’re going to get out of here, but nothing will get done standing still.” His next words made him feel like a jerk, but he saw no way around them—they were in a rush, after all. “Just try to keep up. Shout if you’re in trouble.”

He jogged through the tunnel. Heard the others following him. He didn’t look back—didn’t want to see what expression they had on their faces. Should I have left them in the Staging Room?

That rumbling sounded again, this time off to the left. The tunnel opened onto one he wasn’t sure if he’d been in before. It was empty of enemies. Not a single one of those Giant Mole Rats. But as he passed through, he noticed there was blood on the wall.

I must have passed through here already, and the others stored the bodies in their Storage Rings, that’s why it’s empty.

Howard was right. This place was a bloody maze. And worse, it was a maze that changed itself as they went through it, making it even more impossible to navigate. Wonderful.

Xavier had to slow his jog considerably as the others trailed farther and farther behind. It took them another ten minutes before they encountered more Giant Mole Rats.

Xavier had them dead in less than a second, their bodies smashing into the rock wall, the crunch and crack of their bones making the others flinch. He hadn’t tempered his power that time. The walls didn’t shift. No dirt fell from the ceiling. It was never me causing this. It was always… whatever is tunnelling through these walls. I couldn’t cause this place to collapse even if I tried.

He still struggled to imagine that the tunnels were made by a beast. They didn’t have any sort of uniformity. He imagined some giant rock worm slithering through, making tunnels… but they wouldn’t look like this. The size was too varied, wasn’t it?

I wouldn’t be a worm, anyway. It’s probably a really big Giant Mole Rat. Like, some Rat Prime of Rat King thing.

The very thought made him shudder, though he doubted it would be all that formidable. He’d taken down the Puma Prime easily enough, and that was before the titles he’d gained for clearing the floor.

He took down about thirty more of the Giant Mole Rat beasts. Now that he was running even slower, to the point where it barely felt like running at all, this series of tunnels and beasts was beginning to feel far too monotonous.

And the fact that the tunnels kept on shifting on them wasn’t making things easier.

Xavier paused in one of the caverns, checking how long he had until he would reach the next level.

Mastery Points until next level: 84200/100000

He blinked, a little surprised. Only fifteen more kills. But it wasn’t reaching the next level that he was worried about. Having slowed down for a moment, it gave the others a chance to finally catch up. Howard was bent over, hands on knees, breathing deeply. “You don’t know how to slow down, do you?”

Justin looked like he’d faired a bit better, though he was still a bit out of breath. He glanced around the cavern. “Why are we stopping? Are we getting close to the boss?”

Siobhan’s cheeks were flushed, making them redder than usual, even under the moss-green glowing light. She put a hand to the wall. It took a moment for Xavier to realise it wasn’t for support. “I can still feel the vibrations. But I think it’s farther away than it was before.”

Xavier frowned. “I don’t think it’s going to appear until I’ve killed enough of the normal Giant Mole Rats. The tunnels shifting… it’s probably just to make it harder for us to escape this place.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Though why they’d want to make this place hard to escape, I don’t understand.”

“So people can’t farm as easily?” Siobhan asked.

“Maybe,” Xavier muttered.

“That doesn’t seem very…” Justin trailed off. They all knew the next word out of his mouth was going to be fair.

And they all knew the System that had integrated them into the Greater Universe wasn’t fair from the moment they’d been pulled from their lives and forced to fight someone else who’d chosen Champion.

“So what do we do, then?” Howard asked. “Just keep running and killing until we come upon the enemy we’re after? I’ve noticed the enemies are thinning. Getting harder to find.”

Siobhan leant her staff against the wall and crossed her arms, resting her chin on a hand. “It is strange the System would make it more difficult to farm here, especially when it’s clearly designed the option for farming into the tower. Otherwise, why let us leave the floor in the first place?” She cocked an eyebrow. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Howard rested with his back against the wall. “Since when does any of this make any sense, eh?” He shook his head. “The System. The Greater Universe. Pulling us from our lives and throwing us into this madness. Tearing us from our familiars.” His knuckles turned white as he clutched the hilt of his sword ever tighter. “I’d like to have a chat with whoever came up with this whole thing in the first place.”

Xavier considered the man’s words—the man’s anger. Should I feel angry for what’s happened?He feared for what might happen to the people of Earth. He worried for all those who’d already died. He felt guilt for what had happened to the Navy Seal he’d faced, the one who’d died at the hand of the System. The one who’d died in his place.

But… fighting monsters? Gaining power? Being thrown into a magical fantasy universe where the fate of his world rested on his shoulders? It’s everything I ever wanted from all those books I read, all those books I tried to write.

He wasn’t angry about it. He was… excited.

Xavier didn’t respond to Howard’s words. He didn’t really know how to. “All right, we’ve stood still long enough. Let’s keep moving.” He pushed on, through the next tunnel. To the next cavern. Hoping his theory was correct—that all he needed to do was kill a few more of these rat beasties, then the final boss would show itself.

I’ve killed maybe ninety of these things. Definitely more enemies than the first level.

Contemplating the boss, he wondered if it would have guards—giant, rat-cronies—like the first-floor boss he’d faced. I’d bet on that being the case.

Though Xavier was excited to face the final boss and finally clear this stupid maze of a floor, he did worry about the others. The boss—and its guards—could come out from any side of a cavern. Up through the ground, sideways through a wall, down from the ceiling.

The odds of it attacking him first were only one out of four. And that’s just the boss. If it had two or more guards… it would be difficult—very difficult—to keep the others out of danger. He would have to gain all of the enemies’ aggression right away, and he couldn’t very well use Heavy Telekinesis on a Giant Mole Rat that was right next to one of them.

He’d send one of his party members flying into a wall. Probably kill them in one hit.

Xavier glanced back at Howard. Hopefully that tower shield of his stops any attacks getting to him without him having to strike back. The man had been a cop. Xavier had to trust that he would protect the others when it counted.

They ran for a good ten minutes without encountering a single enemy. Xavier could hear the others struggling behind him. Howard’s breathing was the heaviest. The man must be specialising in Toughness and Strength, not Speed.

The rumbling in the walls grew louder and louder as they ran. The ground shook, more and more, until it felt like an earthquake. He kept glancing at the ceiling, hoping the rocks wouldn’t begin to fall down on them.

That would be a great way to go. Dying in a bloody mine collapse. Or is it a tunnel collapse, because this isn’t a mine? Though he suspected he wouldn’t die from being crushed. Not with his Toughness as high as it was.

The others… he wasn’t so sure about.

When the rumbling became louder then ever, and they still hadn’t come upon any more beasts, Xavier made them stop. Howard once again bent at the waist, resting on his knees as he sucked in air. Siobhan was breathing heavy, face even more flushed. Justin still looked mostly okay, considering.

“Why… did… we… stop?” Howard said between gasping breaths. “Not… that… complaining…”

Xavier came to stand in the middle of the cavern. It’s the largest one that he’d found. “Because I think we’re not the ones hunting anymore.”

A rock fell from the ceiling, missing Siobhan’s head by a hairbreadth and slamming into her shoulder instead. A massive, mole-rat head stuck out from a hole where the rock had been.

Its giant maw opened in a screeching scream that had Howard, Siobhan and Justin all falling to their knees.