Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 3) - Chapter 43 - Vengeance (Patreon)

Xavier stood over the dead bodies of the final two D Grade party members. He felt… reinvigorated, and not just because of the levels, and the attributes along with them, that he’d gained from their deaths.

The tank had been tough to kill—not that he’d put up much of a fight, but rather his health had been incredibly high, and his defences strong. Stronger than anything Xavier had ever encountered, actually.

But he had died in the end, just as the other three had died. Xavier felt a knot in his stomach untie itself at the sight of them all. He’d succeeded. He’d come up against four D Grade Denizens, each a higher level than the Lord of the Endless Horde had been, and he’d defeated them all.

With relative ease, I might add. Even if it was touch and go a few times there…

He cast Soul Step—or tried to. A notification appeared, telling him he still had thirty-four seconds until he’d be able to teleport.

And travel through a portal. Better make my way down to one.

He stripped the corpses of their Storage Rings, hoping they weren’t protected like the Lord of the Endless Horde’s had been. Each of them had two Storage Rings, nowhere near as much as the lord had. It was strange to think how that man had been the master of an entire sector, and these four were just… pawns.

How different things are on different worlds, in different sectors…

He ran up the stairs to the fortress he had left after arriving in this place. He did not want to spend any more time out here than he needed to. On his way, he ripped the rods of the Subspace Communications Area Blackout Array from the ground. He didn’t want to leave it behind.

He also took a moment to look at his level notifications. He’d felt the levels he’d gained, but he’d ignored them in the moment.

You have defeated a Level 220 Human Dust Bringer Mage!

You have gained 300 Mastery Points (D Grade).

Congratulations, you have reached Level 103!

…

Congratulations, you have reached Level 104!

…

You have defeated a Level 215 Human Mistress of the Bow!

You have gained 280 Mastery Points (D Grade).

Congratulations, you have reached Level 105!

You have defeated a Level 210 Human Walking Fortress!

You have gained 260 Mastery Points (D Grade).

Congratulations, you have reached Level 106

Your health has been regenerated by 70%!

Your Spirit Energy (E Grade) limit has increased by 30!

You have received +10 Strength, +10 Toughness, +10 speed, +15 Intelligence, +15 Willpower, and +20 Spirit.

You have received +40 free stat points!

All your spells have refreshed and are no longer on cooldown!

Xavier stumbled to a stop. He’d felt the levels come, and he’d known he’d gained ranks… but had he really gained four levels from killing three D Grades? He cursed the fact that the first D Grade he’d killed, he hadn’t gotten any notification for, as he’d made that silver-robed mage do the actual killing.

The System isn’t holding any Mastery Points back from me, not when I face D Grades.

There was a shift in the air. Something he’d grown familiar with. A portal opening.

Xavier turned around.

Five portals had opened.

Through each of them, a party stepped.

Xavier hastily scanned them all—every single one of them was D Grade.

There was still twenty seconds left until he could leave this world, and he knew just as well as anyone… That could be a very long time.

Xavier’s soul keeping threshold was full once more, but he had exhausted the souls from every single dead body around the battlefield.

As the five parties of D Grades stepped out of the portals, a shiver of fear ran up his spine. He’d just proved that he could defeat D Grades—a whole party of them, in fact.

But this… this was worse. Five times worse.

These Denizens did not pause to chat. They attacked him. Arrows and spells were launched his way. There was no hesitation, just unbridled ferocity. Xavier had killed a D Grade party already, and these people must have known that.

Something told him the only reason a C Grade hadn’t turned up was because it would be beneath them to deal with someone as “weak” as him—and he was thankful for that.

Xavier ran, throwing up Soul Blocks as he did. He hadn’t even had a chance to go over all of his notifications, all he’d looked at were the level notifications—he’d gained more ranks in Willpower Infusion, Core Burn, and Spirit Break as he’d killed the last three party members, and the levels he’d just gained had broken him through yet another threshold, bringing his Intelligence over six thousand.

As he evaded the attacks coming his way, he knew he only had one true option. A trump card that he’d been waiting until he desperately needed it to play.

And right now, he needed it.

Before casting the spell, he did some quick mental math and dumped 111 of his newly acquired 160 attribute points straight into Spirit, bringing it all the way 9,002. Then he placed 24 points into Speed and 25 points into Willpower.

Power surged through him. He felt it in his very soul. And not just there—in every inch of him, as Spiritual Trifecta was always reinforcing his body, mind, and magic. Spirit had always been his strongest attribute, and now… now it was on an entirely new level.

Speed and Willpower had been incredibly valuable to him while he’d been fighting against the previous party of D Grades. Without them, he would not have been able to evade their attacks near as swiftly.

Evasion has reached Rank 26!

Evasion has reached Rank 27!

It’s still getting stronger and stronger.

Xavier grinned as he ducked and dodged attacks.

Willpower, as well, had saved his life. If not for being able to control three out of four of the Denizens he’d faced, things… would have gone differently.

Still, there’s no way I can control, or even evade, all these people.

As though to prove his point, an arrow slammed into his leg, locking it up. He’d dealt with an arrow similar to this when facing the archers shooting through that portal-mage’s portals. But those had been E Grade attacks—this was something far stronger.

His leg felt as though it had become a giant block of lead. No. Worse than that.

Much worse.

It was as though it weighed several tons. His ability to evade their attacks had been significantly hampered—and that was putting it lightly.

He could still move. As heavy as the leg was, Xavier had super strength, but everything felt off.

Then a spell hit him in his upper back. His shoulders turned to ice. There was pain. A cold pain. The feeling swept from his back down his arms.

They were trying to incapacitate him.

Xavier cast Soul Block behind him, but it wasn’t enough. He couldn’t cast it swiftly enough to block everything that came. He was locked up, barely able to move his arms, one of his legs dragging along the stone platform in front of the entrance to the fortress.

“Surrender!” a powerful voice boomed. “You have proven yourself, and now you shall be judged by His Imperial Highness, God Emperor Draga!”

That doesn’t sound good. Also, who’s so up themselves that they take the name God Emperor?

Xavier grinned, his back to the five parties. It might be that he was going to die. Or get dragged to be judged by this God Emperor. He didn’t know. But he wasn’t going to take this lying down.

Now or never.

For the second time since he’d gained the spell, and for the first time in battle, Xavier cast Summon Otherworldly Spirit.

Everything froze. The slight breeze coming from the open portals died down to nothing. The sounds of the men and women behind him disappeared. Colour drained from the world, making it look like he was in an old movie.

A humming sounded. He remembered it from the last time he’d cast this spell. He didn’t know what the noise meant, only what it was doing.

Calling forth a spirit—making a connection to the Otherworld.

You have successfully connected to the Otherworld.

What kind of Spirit do you wish to summon?

1.    Spirit of Protection

2.   Spirit of Vengeance

3.   Spirit of Time

The cooldown for this spell varies significantly depending upon the spirit you summon.

Xavier had known which spirit he wanted to someone before he’d even come to this world. He’d had this plan from the beginning.

It wasn’t protection that he needed. Nor did he want to turn back time—if that was indeed what the Spirit of Time did.

He’d come here for vengeance.

Xavier summoned the spirit.

He narrowed his eyes as he knew what to expect—or, at least, he knew what had happened when he’d summoned the Spirit of Protection.

A burst of bright light bloomed into reality ten feet away from him. Brighter than staring straight up at twin suns. The light obscured whatever was inside of it. That light dimmed, dulling until a shape was revealed.

The Spirit of Protection had been humanoid in shape. It had worn full-plate armour, its face hidden behind a cowl. Xavier had been expecting this spirit to look similar.

He had been wrong. The Spirit of Vengeance was altogether different.

Xavier’s eyes widened as he stared up at it. His brain was struggling with what he was currently seeing, as it didn’t make any sense to him.

He was looking at a dragon. A dragon the size of a large, three-storey house. It shouldn’t have fit in the spot that it had been summoned, yet somehow it did. The dragon’s skin wasn’t solid, but translucent, and it appeared to bleed energy like smoke from a flame, whisps entering the air and drifting away despite the lack of wind. Half of its massive body was obscured, hidden within the fortress, as walls didn’t seem to bother the beast.

The dragon raised its head. Its eyes glowed a menacing red as it examined the field of battle, then those red eyes fell on Xavier.

I sense great potential in you, Denizen. The massive beast tilted its long head to the side. It released a breath from its nostrils, a puff of smoke-like energy that wafted over him, bringing with it a strange mixture of warmth and cold that he’d never before experienced. What vengeance do you wish me to inflict?

Xavier recalled that the last spirit had been able to read his thoughts, and so he thought his response, This world has attacked mine. I intend to make them pay for it, dearly, so they know never to attack it again.

The sides of the dragon’s mouth ticked upward, revealing sharp teeth longer than swords.

Was the beast… smiling? Xavier was glad the dragon was on his side.

Yes, I can do this. A statement, written in death and pain. Vengeance for lives taken. Vengeance for territory stepped upon. I will rip their heads from their bodies and feast on their bones. I will burn through their skin and melt their muscles and organs. I will make them wish they were never born until they greet their death and can no longer wish anything. My wings shall drum the beat of their demise.

Xavier blinked, taking in the words the Spirit of Vengeance—the dragon—had spoken.

Ah, yeah. That’s good. Do that.

He’d been taken off-guard by the level of bloodlust the dragon possessed, but with a name like Spirit of Vengeance, perhaps he shouldn’t have been.

In twenty seconds, I can be free of this world as long as I make it to the portal at the bottom of the fortress behind you. Can you give me that time?

I will buy you time with the blood of your enemies as I cook them with my flames and feast on their entrails. As my teeth rip through the vermin that would dare offend you. You have summoned me for vengeance and vengeance is what I shall commit.

I like you, Spirit of Vengeance. A little intense, but at least you’ve got pride in your work.

The dragon grunted several times, its lips curling up, head tilting back in a consistent rhythm. It took a moment for Xavier to realise that the dragon was laughing.

He tried his best to keep his thoughts to himself.

Time will began moving forward once more. Are you ready, young one?

The tone of the dragon’s voice shifted, there was a hint of protectiveness within it that he would not have expected.

Xavier nodded. I’m ready.

Colour quickly returned to the world. Sounds came next.

“I said surrend—” The voice was cut off. “What the hell is that?”

Xavier ran. The Spirit of Vengeance was already in motion, flying toward the enemy. The dragon’s facial expressions were alien, strange, and yet he could understand them intuitively.

The expression on the dragon’s face was that of pure, unadulterated rage. As though the D Grades behind Xavier had been directly responsible for crushing its eggs, or killing otherwise killing its young. Xavier, bolting for the door, tried to teleport.

There was still eighteen seconds remaining. God, time moved slow when he was this damned fast.

He remembered the route down to the portal. It wouldn’t take him that long to get down there—five seconds, at the most. If he left now, he would have to defend himself if any of these D Grades got past the dragon, and his mobility would be severely limited.

Better to stand and fight. At least for the next few seconds.

Xavier turned around. His eyes became saucers as he watched spells and arrows launched at the dragon simply pass through it like it wasn’t there at all.

Is it completely incorporeal, like one of my soul apparitions? Or are these attacks simply not strong enough?

He received part of his answer when the dragon reached the first enemy. A rogue-looking man wearing leather armour, a hood, and wielding two long, curved daggers.

The rogue tried to teleport away, slipping back into his shadow. But the dragon reached him, swooping down to grab his head between its teeth. Somehow, the dragon was able to interrupt the teleportation—at least, part of it.

The body disappeared, reappearing without its head directly beside Xavier. The man fell to the ground in a heap.

A kill notification appeared in Xavier’s vision.

You have defeated a Level 220 Human Blade of Shadow!

You have gained 300 Mastery Points (D Grade).

Holy crap.

One hit. The Spirit of Vengeance had taken out a Level 220 in one attack.

That’s insane.

Not only that, Xavier had gotten a full kill, despite that he hadn’t touched the enemy.

Xavier checked—he had exactly 99 D Grade Mastery Points left until he gained his next level. He was in a precarious position. Without the Spirit of Vengeance’s help, he knew he wouldn’t be able to defeat these enemies. Not on his own. Not yet.

There were simply too many of them.

But for as long as the Spirit of Vengeance remained here…

Xavier burst into action.