WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Copy Skills with Affinity! ◈
Chapter 111: Competition (4)
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The Competition was almost over.
It wasn’t meant to be a particularly long event in the first place. A day or two was considered a suitable length.
Considering that the rankings and points were decided by who held the most territory once every area had been claimed, it really should have taken longer than this.
But the Pontiff had set things up for them to kill one another from the start, so the number of eliminated contestants had grown at a frightening rate.
“...What I’m saying is!”
Aiden shouted at Milene from behind cover.
Explosions were going off all around them. If he didn’t shout, she wouldn’t hear him at all.
“Once we deal with those shameless bastards over there, we’re pretty much done!”
As he spoke, he pointed at the people holding their ground beyond the ridge.
Forming alliances wasn’t that unusual, but he hadn’t expected so many people who specialized in long-range bombardment to gather, build something like a fortress, and settle in.
Most people would have simply cursed them and moved on, but Aiden had a reason to poke that particular hornet’s nest.
‘Alester’s in first place, and Milene’s barely holding on to second...’
Julius was likely to surge ahead in the events following the Competition. With that in mind, helping Milene narrowly hold on to second place here was in Aiden’s interests too.
For the Succession Ceremony to follow the “original story” as closely as possible, it was best if no one pulled too far ahead. That would make it easier to eliminate variables.
“...That’s strange.”
“...Sorry?”
“You have time to think that much in a situation like this?”
She had a point.
Another arrow came flying toward them like an artillery shell, and Milene raised a barrier filled with black Divine Power.
The flaming arrow tore through the air with a sound like a scream, then struck the barrier and exploded.
Boom! Milene was almost engulfed in the blast of heat, but Aiden quickly grabbed her and threw himself to the side.
Having escaped the blast wave thanks to him, Milene nodded.
“Oh, tha... There’s another one.”
Before she could finish, another arrow flew in and exploded. Aiden had been about to answer, but instead, he bit his tongue.
Ublebleh!
He made a strange noise, tears springing to his eyes. The reaction was so raw that Milene couldn’t help letting out a small laugh beside him.
Of course, what followed was such obvious fury that even she was briefly taken aback.
“...Those bastards need to be taught a lesson.”
Aiden practically growled the words.
His eyes, which usually looked either dull or tired, gleamed fiercely. He must have been quite angry.
True, he liked ranged weapons himself, but being on the receiving end of a bombardment that practically screamed, “Stay away!” from that far off was enough to make him hate it...
“Princess, let’s split up. I’ll go in on my own, so please stay here and keep their attention.”
“Will you be all right? Even now, it looks like my barriers are barely holding them off.”
The only reason they could withstand the firepower pouring down from that fortress on the ridge was that Milene’s Divine Power was monstrous.
Aiden knew that too, of course.
“If we stay together, we’ll just both get caught in those area attacks. It’s better to split up, distract them, and take them down.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“I’ll go in there alone, beat up the people getting on my nerves, and come back.”
“...”
“Simple, right?”
“...I’m asking how you’re going to do that...”
“I’ll find a way!”
Milene fell silent, but Aiden clearly had every intention of going through with it. He immediately began explaining the method he had just come up with.
...And in fact, though Milene had initially looked at him as if he were insane, interest gradually filled her eyes.
‘...This man.’
He was more interesting than she had expected.
He had come up with it on the spot, but his plan was simple, efficient, and, above all, went straight to the heart of the problem.
‘There wasn’t anything special in his background, was there?’
According to the report her personal maid had brought her, he was a man with nothing particularly remarkable about him.
She had heard that he was Lionheart’s husband, but she had never heard anything special about him outside of that.
Yet now he was incredibly calm, as though he had stood on battlefields like this dozens of times.
And it was easy to say he would find a way because he was angry. Volunteering to face that deadly bombardment was another matter.
No ordinary person would even imagine taking that risk willingly. It proved that his nerve was anything but ordinary.
“...All right.”
That was probably a large part of why she readily nodded along with his plan.
▣
“...What?”
The word probably came from someone who had been happily putting together bombardment techniques at a distance.
They had been firing like mad at anyone foolish enough to come near this place, only for their targets’ presence to suddenly disappear.
Everyone taking part in the ceremony knew that the eccentric in heavy armor was Milene. They had all been excited at the chance to bring down someone so important with their own hands.
Where had she suddenly gone? What a letdown.
“Over there!”
Fortunately, it seemed she hadn’t vanished entirely. Someone soon spotted the moving suit of heavy armor and shouted.
It was in a completely different direction from before, but no one found that strange.
Which meant...
It was the perfect moment for someone waiting for an opening to move in.
Aiden took a deep breath and immediately kicked off the ground.
At his feet was a “platform” made from Aether.
As he stepped onto it, he immediately discharged his ability in the opposite direction.
Naturally, his body shot through the air at a terrifying speed, like a launched rocket.
‘So... over there.’
He checked his target while airborne.
One person was clearly commanding the group. As Aiden had experienced several times already, taking down the leader played a major role in this Competition.
Most of the participants operated in factions. Once their leader was gone, their resistance crumbled surprisingly quickly.
As he hurtled forward, he forced out his ability to form a barrier around himself. It was to prepare for the impact of landing.
-!
-!!
His body flew like a flash of light and slammed straight into the spot on the ridge he had picked out.
He reached his target in a headfirst slide. Krrrrsh. The earth crumpled like ice cream, piling up debris on either side.
“-What?!”
Aiden swept his eyes over the unknown royal who turned toward him in horror. Still lying on the ground, he twisted his body and lunged.
Of course, his opponent wasn’t completely useless. He reacted immediately.
An arrow flew straight at Aiden’s throat. It was an ordinary technique, not something formed by projecting anything particularly powerful. Anything too destructive would catch its user in the blast as well, so he must have fired it to keep Aiden in check.
Going straight for a vital spot instead of making even a halfhearted attempt to subdue him was rather nasty. Aiden wrapped his hand in Aether and struck the arrow down, driving it into the ground.
“That’s a bit harsh.”
Before he had even finished speaking, his opponent kicked off the ground to escape. Aiden stood and closed in.
As someone with the title of royalty, his opponent was reasonably skilled at close combat too.
But the fact that he had chosen ranged techniques as his main weapon made it clear that his close-combat skills weren’t exactly world-class.
Aiden caught an ankle as it left the ground and swung him at full force in the opposite direction.
Crack.
Judging by the feeling in his hand, the leg bones had shattered during the swing. The spine that had slammed into the ground probably wasn’t doing too well either.
“You’ll probably die if you move.”
Cough! His opponent spat out fresh blood instead of giving a proper answer.
Well, even now, the man was no pushover. He had been the leader of a fairly large group, so he probably wouldn’t die.
Though he really might if he moved, just as Aiden had warned.
Unfortunately, it was also clear that his opponent had no intention of listening.
Though a single blow had left him near death, he somehow circulated his Divine Power and inserted a “part” to serve in place of his broken leg bones. He seemed to be assessing the damage from the impact, checking which parts of his body still worked, and preparing to move again.
“-Heave-ho.”
Aiden caught the uninjured leg and swung him at full force in the opposite direction again.
The man felt the same pain as before, only seemingly twice as bad. He promptly vomited blood and passed out.
“...”
Hmm.
Well.
Aiden had definitely warned him. It was this man’s fault for not listening...
With that thought, he looked around. All the royals had gone pale and raised both hands.
Presumably, they were surrendering.
Fair enough.
Watching someone suddenly fly in and swing a person around like a toy was bound to give them all sorts of ideas.
‘...That takes care of them.’
He turned toward Milene, who was looking at him and clapping.
“That was cool.”
...He could hear her say it too.
He couldn’t be certain, but her eyes were probably sparkling inside that heavy armor...
-System Message
▶ The Affinity of target “Milene” increases.
▶ You can copy 1 skill!
...Apparently, her clapping and calling him cool with shining eyes hadn’t just been empty praise.
Aiden gave a wry smile and dismissed the status window that had appeared before him.
‘...One from Julius, and one from Milene...’
From the start, he had set his sights on their skills as his gains from the Competition. Now that he had actually secured them, he felt pretty good.
With these in hand, he felt he could manage even if some enormous variable appeared.
[-iden. Aiden, can you hear me?!]
And, really.
Perhaps there was a reason people said you shouldn’t tempt fate.
Aiden frowned at Noel’s voice ringing in his ear and covered one ear with his hand.
It was the communicator he had secretly smuggled in. Thanks to Ganesha, he had been able to bring it without even hiding it.
“My lady? What’s wrong?”
[The sky. Look at the sky!]
Sure enough.
The black energy spreading thickly across the sky was familiar to him too.
‘...A fragment of the Demon God?’
He couldn’t help remembering that dreadful thing he had seen in the Imperial Capital.
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