Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 6) - Chapter 20 - Well, This Isn’t Good

[Author note: Bonus Chapter]

Xavier’s wings slowly flapped as he stared down at the Demon of the Depths crawling out of the once-frozen river of ice.

The Thirty-First Descent was proving to be far more difficult than he’d imagined. The only exit—as far as he knew, it wasn’t as though he’d gotten a chance to test it—was inside of that tower. That was where he had seen the mist that had teleported him to this world.

He bit his lip. He could place his portal close enough. Manipulate it to make it smaller. And fly straight through that window. He had to imagine he would be able to leave the descent even if he hadn’t completed it yet.

That had been the case for every other descent on Thazamar.

But did he truly want to give up fighting this thing?

Xavier had used his most powerful spell on the beast—Soul Strike, exhausting everything from his soulkeeping reserve in the process. It had done an amazing amount of damage.

But now, he wouldn’t be able to use that spell again in this fight.

He’d been this close to killing the Demon of the Depths—until the damned thing had healed itself.

Xavier rubbed his ears and felt them pop just as they’d finished healing.

Sounds returned to him in a rush. For a moment, it was a little overwhelming. He shook his head, and focused.

As the Demon of the Depths emerged from the pool below the tower at the mountain’s peak, Xavier noticed something he hadn’t before.

The second the ice had broken Xavier had been able to see the beast in full with his Farscope ability—but that didn’t mean he’d taken in every detail of it.

There was something that he’d missed.

There were protrusions on the sides of the demon’s bulbous body. protrusions he had at first thought were strange kind of arms, with weird layers of extra skin on them. He hadn’t questioned those layers, given the fact that these damned demons always looked so much stranger than normal beasts.

He should have paid more attention.

The odd flaps of skin began to unfurl, almost like a ship’s sail, until they formed giant wings. Xavier stared at the wings in disbelief. They were huge, but the size of the demon, the weight of it—he couldn’t imagine the wings being enough to enable it to fly.

And yet it was.

Those giant wings flapped. The Demon of the Depths surged into the air with a speed that belied its massive bulk. Xavier could only gulp in surprise at the sight of the damned thing practically shooting in the air like a cannonball.

Well, this isn’t good.

Xavier could manipulate his portal to a size large enough to encompass this beast. Maybe he could trap it halfway in. Have the portal constrict around it and cause that damage-over-time effect he’d so recently discovered.

His preference would have been casting Portal for a second time and creating half-dozen portals that could slice off the tentacle-mouths that were streaming toward him.

Xavier began flying in the other direction. At the same time, he altered his portal, growing it in size. He had to drag the portal upward in the air and put it between himself and his enemy. That took a lot more mental effort than he’d expected, as he’d never moved a portal as big as this one before—hell, he wasn’t even sure if he’d made a portal as big as this one before.

The Demon of the Depths didn’t alter its trajectory. It was a mere hundred feet away from the portal. Xavier held his breath as he flew. He had a plan for if the beast moved—he just needed to ensure he was fast enough.

That was when something unexpected happened. The Demon of the Depths and glowed brightly. This wasn’t the white glow that had happened previously. This was something else. A bright, purple glow, the likes of which Xavier had never seen before.

A beam of purple energy blasted straight for the portal. It didn’t go through the portal, as Xavier would have anticipated. Instead, this beam of purple energy struck the portal.

The energy engulfed the entirety of it, electrifying it.

The portal snapped shut—its twin doing the same.

Xavier blinked. He couldn’t recall anyone—anything—ever destroying one of his portals.

He kept flying through the air, but he was quickly realising that the Demon the Depths was faster than him. It was catching up, and soon it would have him its clutches.

I need to change tactics. I need to do something.

With his Farscope, Xavier could still see the tower far down below. A part of him still wanted to get through that mist, travel back to the Hell Moon, and try this floor with a clear head. He already knew how he would approach this differently—he wouldn’t fly over that ice in the same way. He wouldn’t ensure that he had certain spells in his arsenal. Spells that weren’t in cooldown.

But he couldn’t get back. Just as he was having these thoughts, the option was taken from him. When the Demon of the Depths had emerged from the ice, something else had happened. Xavier had been so focused on the fact that this thing had wings that he hadn’t even noticed.

The tower had locked itself down.

The window at the very top of that tower was bricked over, where before it had been wide open. The entrance at the bottom of the tower was also shut—there was simply no way for him to get in—and something told him he wouldn’t be able to break in.

I suppose I didn’t really want to leave.

Xavier considered the spells still at his disposal. There weren’t very many. It would still be a little while before he could use Time Alteration again. The same for portal, Soul Shatter, and Soul Strike.

Body Cultivation was always available to him.

He barely had any more truly offensive spells. He had his mind control spells… Though he doubted those would actually work on this thing.

Still, he had to try.

Xavier shifted the Lost Bone of a Dead God into a scythe-staff. Gripping the haft of the scythe tightly in his curled fingers, he cast Spirit Break. The spell slammed into the Demon of the Depths. He was only a few hundred feet away, and the demon was catching on him fast. Soon, Xavier would have to take it head on.

Spirit Break didn’t even make the thing flinch.

That doesn’t bode well.

Next, Xavier cast Chronomantic Mindforge. Time froze around him. Xavier and the Demon of the Depths were both stopped in the air. Xavier stole as much energy from his enemy as he could manage. As he did, a connection was formed, and he could feel not only a part of the demon’s mind, but the depths of this being’s power.

It was immense.

The elemental dragon had had but a fraction of the power of this beast.

Xavier was fast wondering what exactly he had gotten himself into when he’d been teleported to this world.

Xavier was only able to steal a small fraction of the Demon’s power. He felt the beast’s mind. God, this thing strong. He knew without even having attempted to take control of its mind that it would have mental blocks far more powerful than he would ever be able to break.

Still, he had to try…

Xavier cast his next spell, Willpower Infusion, the moment he could.

Purple mist flowed from him, heading straight for the Demon of the Depths. Xavier wondered if the beam of energy the beast had just shot at his portal to destroy it had been a Willpower-based spell—was that why it had been purple?

The mist flowed into the beast, into almost every single one of its hundreds of disgusting mouths.

And the spell, as he’d suspected, didn’t do a damned thing. He simply hit that massive mental block he knew he would encounter.

How could anything penetrate that?

Xavier shifted the Lost Bone of a Dead God into a sword. A very long, broad, sharp sword. It looked absolutely comical in appearance, but it was exactly what he needed in this moment.

The damned tentacle-mouths were on him again, and he could no longer simply get out of their way. That wasn’t all—now that the portal had disappeared, the Demon of the Depths was able to fire projectiles at Xavier without worry.

It seemed to realise that in this moment.

A stream of ice projectiles shot toward him. Xavier almost cast Soul Block—but he couldn’t. Or rather, he shouldn’t. The moment he did, he wouldn’t be able to cast it again.

Xavier was beginning to wonder if this fight was too much—if it was simply more than he could handle.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt something like that. He wasn’t about to back down, however—he didn’t even know if he could even if he wanted to.

There was nowhere to go. No where to run.

And so, Xavier turned around. His wings enclosed about him. Shielding him from the bulk of the projectiles that came. At least, shielding him as best as they could manage—he felt the power, the force, of those ice-shards and ice-spears pierce the skin of his wings. Some impaled his wings so deep that they hit his armour, but their momentum had been slowed enough by his wings that those didn’t manage to pierce his armour too.

Xavier’s throat constricted at the pain. But he could handle pain.

His sword flashed this way and that, deflecting the projectiles that his wings could not catch.

And he took the fight to the enemy.

With his oddly long sword, he slashed straight through the head of one of the tentacle-mouths. The blade, much to Xavier’s delight, was able to sever the thing in two. The tentacle-mouth fell uselessly to the ground. There was a small shriek of pain from the Demon of the Depths—though Xavier knew it would be but a fraction of the pain he was feeling himself.

That was when Xavier cast a spell he hadn’t used since coming to the Hell Moon—Summon Otherworldly Spirit.

Three choices appeared before him, though one of those choices was greyed out. He still was not in a position to summon the Spirit of Time again.

Colour bled from the world. Time stopped for him and him alone.

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 grinned as he looked at the different options. In the past, he would have eagerly selected the Spirit of Vengeance. He hadn’t done that since bringing Volkarin to the moral realm and providing him with a vessel.

That meant Xavier didn’t know what the spirit vengeance would be.

But who the Spirit of Vengeance would be was irrelevant, for that wasn’t who he wished to summon this day.

No, Xavier was here to summon the Spirit of Protection.

His health was already dipping fast. Too fast. He needed protection he wasn’t able to provide to himself.

In an instant, there was a flash of light. Xavier’s vision was easily able to pierce that light.

He saw exactly what he’d been expecting to see—the same full-plate armoured spirit of a human that he’d encountered every other time he had used this spell.

Admittedly, Xavier had never needed the help of the Spirit of Protection. Not truly. He vividly remembered the first time he had summoned the spirit, back when he’d been facing the Stone Bear.—well, technically the second time he’d summoned it, as the first time had been a simple test that hadn’t gone so well.

The Spirit of Protection raised his chin as the light dissipated. Xavier Collins.

Xavier inclined his head in a small bow. Spirit of Protection.

The spirit turned to look at the Demon of the Depths. For a moment, he simply stared at it. Then, he looked at Xavier. An eyebrow could be seen rising through the open visor of the man’s helm. Perhaps you truly need my protection this time.

Xavier smiled weakly. Yes, I very much think that I do. Is the same list of spells available to me as it usually is?

The Spirit of Protection nodded. Of course. No new spells have been added at this time. Though the spells will be significantly more powerful than before. Again, he glanced at the Demon of the Depths. May I offer a recommendation?

Xavier hadn’t been expecting that, but he wasn’t about to say no. Of course. What is it?

You should flee. This demon is far too powerful for the likes of you—even if you have gotten significantly stronger since the last time I saw you. The spirit blinked. Rather significantly. I didn’t think that much time had passed in this particular universe…

Xavier smiled. A lot has happened in a short time.

Indeed. That much is clear.

Time wasn’t frozen like it had been when he’d used the Spirit of Protection while fighting the Stone Bear back in its cave—back then, he’d had Time Alteration active. He knew that he would only have a certain number of minutes before the spells the spirit provided to him would be unavailable.

He’d gained a lot of points in his Spirit attribute recently, but he didn’t think that would affect the number of minutes he could use the spells for.

Time began to move forward. Slowly, at first, then all at once.

Xavier, still in midair above the Demon of the Depths, prepared himself.

The instant he was able, he brought up the different spells that were available to him now that he had the Spirit of Protection summoned.