Accidental Champion of Earth - Chapter 12: I Can’t Fight For This World If I’m Dead

Xavier lay on his back in the university courtyard, ready to greet his death, eight goblins striking down at him with swords and axes, blood gushing from who knew how many wounds in his legs, his satchel—filled with purses, his laptop and his phone—digging into his back beneath him.

When one of the swords was an inch away from his face, Heavy Telekinesis reached the end of its cooldown. He felt it click in his mind. In the same instant, he thrust his hands up in the air—he didn’t have his staff, though the short sword was still clutched in his right fist.

He didn’t know if not having the staff would make his spell less powerful. He supposed it didn’t matter.

The spell was cast. He pushed it all around him. In his mind, he could feel how the spell worked. Could feel it stretching to push every one of the enemies away in a wave emanating outward, instead of in one direction. Could feel how that diluted the spell and made it less powerful.

But it didn’t need to kill any of the goblins—as much as he would have liked the spell to kill all of them—it just needed to get them the hell out of the way.

He saw the goblins thrown off their feet. They didn’t fly forty strides away. More like twenty. But it was enough. Not having my staff, and diluting the spell, plus not having Spiritual Trifecta active, made it much weaker.

Xavier wanted to stand, but his legs were in so much pain. He looked down and found them covered in gashes and soaked in blood. Far more blood than before. He felt weaker than ever.

Your health is at 10%.

Honestly, he was surprised his health wasn’t even lower than it was. He forced himself so sit up and saw his staff lying on the ground a few feet from him. The goblins were already making their way back to their feet. Eight still living, though a few of them were beaten up after from being thrown. Their movements looked sluggish and painful.

He crawled toward his staff, gasping in pain until he was close enough to reach out and grab it. The moment his fingers wrapped around the staff’s shaft he felt Spiritual Trifecta ready to be used again.

Maybe I can get out of this.

Xavier wished he had a health potion or was closer to his next level up. He wanted to cast Spiritual Trifecta right away. Wanted to use it to help him get back to his feet—that was assuming he could even stand while he was in this condition. But he knew that wasn’t an option. If he did that, the spell would probably run out before the goblins even got to him, then he would be hit by a wave of exhaustion while heavily injured.

He would fall straight to the ground and be in the same damned position as before he’d cast Heavy Telekinesis.

I wish I could use that spell again. Not that wishing would do a damned thing.

Xavier let go of the short sword and gripped the staff in both hands. He moved it until he had the butt of the staff on the concrete, then pushed with all his might, pushed himself all the way up to his knees, letting out a yell of pain as his legs scrapped along the ground.

I can do this. I have to do this. He could hear the goblins. Their little feet reminded him of the pitter-patter of children running. But it wasn’t children that were running toward him.

It was monsters from another world that wanted him dead.

I chose Champion because I wanted to defend Earth. I wanted to fight.

He pulled himself up the staff, one hand over the other, using every ounce of willpower that he had. Every ounce of energy.

I can’t fight for this world if I’m dead!

His legs shook. Blood was still pouring from a half-dozen wounds or more. But somehow, they held him up. Somehow, he was on his feet.

I can do this!

He couldn’t run. Probably couldn’t even walk. He couldn’t rest with his weight on his staff, not when his enemies reached him.

But he could swing his staff and knock some heads.

Just the effort of standing threatened to drain him of everything he had. He pulled the staff of the ground and swayed, steadied himself. Steeled himself.

Heavy Telekinesis has a cooldown of 29 seconds. It cannot be used for another 20 seconds.

Xavier waited. Waited until the last possible moment, just like he had the last time. Then he cast Spiritual Trifecta. A silver light enveloped his entire body. Infused his muscles. Infused his mind. Energy poured into him. His grip around his staff tightened. His legs had been shaking keeping him up, now they felt strong. Stable. Immovable.

He yelled. In anger or in pain, he wasn’t sure. Maybe both. His staff slammed into the skull of a goblin running right at him. The kill notification came instantly.

Another sprinted at him. Went down, blood splattering onto his already soaked robes.

He swung his staff. Clocked two more. For perhaps the third time that fight, he could a notification telling him he’d reached the limit of his Spirit Energy. He’d killed four of the little bastard beasts when the spell wore off. That didn’t feel like three seconds!

The weakness was the first thing to hit him. His legs felt like they didn’t have any bones. Like they were made of jelly and nothing was holding them up. The pain came next, as though he were being stabbed all over again. He had to flick his gaze down to his legs just to make sure.

The wave of exhaustion was the worst he’d ever felt. Like he hadn’t slept in a week. Like he’d been on a forced march for three days straight.

He legs wobbled. Threatened to make him fall. Threatened to take him back to the ground.

Your health is at 9%.

I’m losing blood. Losing health.

He couldn’t fall. If he did, he would get stabbed. And die. There were still four goblins left. Four goblins that he needed to kill. He might regenerate health naturally over time, but even if the goblins—by some miracle—decided to run away, he doubted he would be able to bind his wounds in time.

Which meant they would keep bleeding, and he would keep losing health. And die.

He needed to kill these last four goblins. Not only to complete the quest, but to get to the next level and regenerate his health.

For the first time during the fight, Xavier could finally see the fear in these goblins’ eyes. The trepidation in their posture. He’d killed ten of their friends before he’d hit the concrete, then he’d taken out four more when he shouldn’t even be able to stand.

I can’t stand. Not for much longer. Now he was no longer swinging it, he leant heavily on his staff to keep his balance, glad that his arms hadn’t taken any damage.

The goblins stared at him, then glanced back at the portal. Are they waiting for someone? The thought had occurred to him earlier. But something else occurred to him now. What if they want to run? Xavier didn’t know if that would mean he would complete this quest. Technically, he would have protected the settlement…

It doesn’t matter if them escaping lets me complete this quest if it ends in my death.

These little beasts were cowards, and now that they had seen what he was capable of, and their superior numbers continued to dwindle, that cowardice was coming to the fore.

I need to appear weak. He laughed out loud at the thought. Even his laugh startled the goblins. One of them looked like they were about to make a run for it. He coughed as he laughed, almost expected blood to come out of his mouth and was glad when it didn’t. Okay, I need to appear even weaker.

Right now, his enemies’ hesitation was a good thing. He needed to stall them long enough for his Heavy Telekinesis and Spiritual Trifecta spells to reach the ends of their cooldowns again.

Spiritual Trifecta was already almost there. Thank god it has such a short cooldown. Though nine seconds felt like an age in a fight like this. And Heavy Telekinesis was not too far behind.

Appear weak… appear weak…

He wondered if these little green bastards would understand him. “Please, leave me alone!” He motioned toward the portal, as though encouraging them to leave. “Just… just go home!” It was a gamble, but he was pretty sure he could tell two things from their hesitation.

One, they were afraid of attacking him—which, of course, was the most obvious. And two, they were afraid of returning home defeated. Xavier could imagine some sort of goblin lord awaiting them on their home world. He didn’t think their boss would be impressed that they let a single human kill so many of them then scare off those left standing.

He tried to think about this as though it were a story he was writing. How would I make the character look as vulnerable as possible? He wanted them to come to him. He just didn’t want them to come too quickly.

Spiritual Trifecta reached the end of its cooldown and he let out a sigh of relief. In the same breath, he noticed his health had fallen down to 7%. One of his legs trembled, the muscle spasming in pain. It made him itch and ache to use the spell right away. The power it would bring him would help him stand and instantly ease his pain.

That would ruin the plan, and probably end in my death.

He checked on Heavy Telekinesis.

Heavy Telekinesis has a cooldown of 29 seconds. It cannot be used for another 4 seconds.

Not much longer now. I need them to attack me. Which meant he needed to fall. At least that won’t be hard. Xavier took a sharp breath in, tightened his grip on his staff so he wouldn’t lose it, then let his legs buckle.

He fell to the left. Saw the concrete come up to greet him. With his hands gripping the staff, he couldn’t slow his fall or halt it in anyway. His shoulder slammed straight into the ground, make his head snap to the side. The pain in his legs seemed to double.

Xavier was jolted, disorientated—he hadn’t anticipated how much this would throw him off. For a moment, he couldn’t focus. Didn’t know what was happening at all.

Heavy Telekinesis has a cooldown of 29 seconds. It cannot be used for another 2 seconds.

Almost there. He blinked. Tried to get a read on what was going on. Something was tugging at his gut. He felt… cold, as though it were the middle of winter and he’d walked outside only wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Something was draining from him.

Your health is at 2%.

The fall… it hurt me more than I thought!

He heard the pitter-patter of little feet running. Sprinting. Away or toward me? he wondered. Toward me! Just like he planned. He gritted his teeth. Heavy Telekinesis hadn’t snapped out of its cooldown yet, but it would be there in less than a second.

He cast Spiritual Trifecta. Its power infused his entire body and mind, but the weakness he felt from being so low in health remained, buried behind the spell’s power by a paper-thin layer.

The silver glow engulfed his entire body just as he could use Heavy Telekinesis again. He gazed up, saw all four of the remaining goblins heading straight at him.

Your health is at 1%.

As they got close, he grinned and cast the spell. He didn’t know if it would work. Didn’t know if it would be enough to kill them. All he could do was hope it wasn’t his last action on this world.

But if he was going to die, he would take as many of these little green bastards with him as he could.

The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was four goblins being thrown straight off their feet and high into the air.