Copy Skills with Affinity! - Chapter 29

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

◈ Copy Skills with Affinity! ◈

Chapter 29: Ghost Knight

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The Ghost Knight Incident unfolds more simply than expected.

Spirits pour out of the torn rift. Then they cause physical damage within the Imperial Capital.

As the example with Meyer had shown before, spirits were not beings capable of exerting such a powerful influence on the material world.

Even a hero famed across the continent like the Dawn Knight had not been able to subdue Aiden all at once.

So even if spirits poured out, it should not have been such a major problem.

Normally.

However.

"This is no ordinary matter."

Simple did not mean harmless.

Noel looked up at the sky and spoke stiffly.

"If a rift this large has formed, the entire Imperial Capital will be within its range."

"... You seem strangely familiar with this."

It made sense for Aiden, who knew how this would play out from the original story. But Noel also seemed somewhat used to situations like this.

"It was one of the tactics used during the Coalition War."

Noel paused briefly before continuing.

Her eyes narrowed. A rare hostility, sharp enough to feel like it could tear skin, filled her expression.

"... The Magic Kingdom used this method often."

Aiden immediately understood why she was reacting this way.

The battle in which the Lord Protector died had also been fought against the Magic Kingdom. There was no way Noel could have good feelings toward them.

And it was clear that her hostility was not born from that reason alone.

"Mr. Aiden. Would you leave this place with Stella as quickly as possible?"

Noel spoke seriously as she drew her sword.

Pure White Ki flowed openly along the blade. It was the stance she had taken before when preparing for battle, one he had only seen when she faced Katia.

In other words, this situation was as serious as that one.

"It will be difficult work. To close a rift of this size... I'll have to put quite a lot on the line."

Her voice sounded as though she had prepared herself for something terrible. Even Stella, who was carrying Aiden, briefly changed expression.

"My lady. Are you planning to handle this alone?"

"We need to find and pull out every 'root' causing the rift."

A root was a structure installed by a mage to contain the source of their mana.

There was no way to close the rift without locating and destroying them one by one, and Noel was the only one here quick and agile enough to do it.

"It's dangerous. Even for you, my lady, one mistake could leave you seriously injured!"

"Um, hold on-"

"Doing it isn't especially difficult. I just need to find them and destroy them."

"But the rift will soon open fully. If you go in there without even knowing where the roots are, you'll be directly hit by the backlash when it opens-"

"Will you listen to me for a moment-"

"Stella."

Noel answered with a clear smile.

"A knight was not given that title so they could run away at a time like this, right?"

"Please listen to me for a moment-"

"There are citizens over there. So we go and protect them."

"..."

"But, my lady...!"

Stella called Noel's name desperately.

Her eyes swirled with sorrow, as though asking why Noel had to make that sacrifice alone, why she always tried to shoulder everything herself.

It was a scene that could have been called heartbreaking. Noel answered with the expression of a knight carrying out a noble duty.

"If you understand, leave this place, Stella. Protecting Mr. Aiden is the highest pri-"

"Will you two listen when someone's talking?!"

"..."

Both knights fell silent at Aiden's furious interruption.

It was probably the first time either of them had seen Aiden shout hard enough for veins to stand out on his forehead.

"Sorry to interrupt such a serious conversation, but first..."

Aiden pulled something from his coat.

It was one of the stakes Stella had spent all night driving into the ground. The difference was that this one had a clear marking on it.

As though it had a definite function unlike the others.

"You should be worrying about something other than closing the rift."

"Mr. Aiden? What do you mean-"

Noel tilted her head and began to ask, but Divine Power rose from Aiden's body before she could finish.

The stake in Aiden's hand was a sort of activation switch.

It could command the abilities stored in the other stakes to release at the timing he wanted.

As the ability settled naturally into the stake in his hand, a window appeared before him.

-System Message

▶ You imbue target "wooden stake" with "Divine Power."

▶ The effect of "Divine Power Manipulation: Delayed Release" activates.

▶ All objects connected to the target are granted the same type of ability!

As those lines appeared, colorless flames rose all around them.

They rose at every location where Aiden and Stella had spent the entire night flying about and driving stakes into the ground.

Then, where the light spread, dark structures crumbled into ash with a crackle.

They were the rift's roots Noel had mentioned.

... And this was happening precisely where Aiden had ordered Stella to drive the stakes.

The rift roots always appeared in fixed locations in the original story. He had not spent the night running around and setting up stakes for no reason.

"..."

Noel and Stella simultaneously snapped their mouths shut and stared at the rift closing as though it were being sewn shut across the night sky.

Beside them, Aiden huffed and threw the stake he had just used onto the ground.

"Making such a fuss over nothing...!"

"... Mr. Aiden."

"Yes?"

"I had just steeled myself to risk my life."

"..."

Aiden scratched his cheek under Noel's oddly aggrieved stare.

"Then isn't it good that you don't need to do that anymore?"

"... It is."

It was.

But still...

"..."

Well.

A good outcome was a good outcome.

Noel's embarrassment aside, Aiden had prepared all this precisely so things would go this way.

Still, he did not let down his guard as he watched the rift.

At a glance, it seemed as though they could get through this easily.

But if that were all there was to it, Aiden would not have prepared so thoroughly.

"Actually, like I said earlier, the real time to be nervous starts now."

"Pardon?"

"Because this isn't the main event."

The principle was simple.

The world Aiden now lived in was based on the original game. That meant a story divided into episodes, like Act 1 and Chapter 1, needed one essential element.

'The boss battle.'

It could not be left out.

As Aiden smiled bitterly at the thought, ectoplasm began gathering around the rift with a terrifying presence just before it closed.

'Ghost Knight, was it?'

The event itself was called the Ghost Knight Incident. Some kind of knight-related enemy was bound to appear.

The form taken by the ectoplasm descending from the sky was not much different.

A knight clad in armor.

"-"

Aiden took a deep breath and focused himself.

It was the first event of Act 1, Chapter 1, so it should not be that difficult. Still, fighting for his life was not something he had become used to.

'The means I have are-'

Three of Noel's skill copy tickets, and one skill imitation ticket from the Prince.

He had already memorized every skill available to him. He only needed to copy and use the right ones for the situation.

If he used them well and somehow overcame this-

[I am, steel-]

That was what he had thought.

Until the knight formed from ectoplasm suddenly began to speak.

"-?"

A sense of dread slid down Aiden's spine.

Unless it was an exceptionally powerful being like the Dawn Knight, it was impossible for a spirit to maintain consciousness and act like a person.

Which meant the thing before him...

Had a very high chance of not being something that belonged in Act 1, Chapter 1.

Something was going badly wrong.

[I am, blade-]

Then, with those words,

an ability surged around the spirit.

Ki.

Pure white Ki.

... Exactly the same as the Ki Noel wielded.

[I am, balance.]

The gathered ability soon took the shape of a single slash.

It was a stance Aiden had seen before. It was the same stance Noel had used when sending a slash toward Katia.

-System Message

[ "Skill: Analysis" recognizes the target. ]

[ The school used by the target matches the characteristics of your Combat Path, "One Sword, One Arrival." ]

[ You receive combat bonuses. ]

Just as he expected.

The school used by the Ghost Knight was exactly the same as the Combat Path Aiden had copied from Noel.

Then the Ghost Knight, its slash suspended in the air, looked directly at Aiden.

The instant their eyes met,

Divine Power leaped out around Aiden protectively, sensing danger before anything else.

That alone would normally be enough to keep him alive in most situations.

But everything he did the next moment came not from reason, but instinct.

-System Message

[ You copy "Ki Control: Defensive barrier field." ]

[ You copy "Ki Control: Hardness Enhancement." ]

[ You copy "Ki Control: Swift Generation." ]

It was a skill combination he would never normally use. Noel had skills far more valuable than these.

He was spending all his copy tickets just to reinforce a barrier that would block one attack.

However.

The certainty that he would die immediately if he did not do this raced through his entire body.

[Citizens of the Empire, do not fear-]

And that certainty was absolutely correct.

[-I have come.]

The next moment, a pure white curtain appeared before Aiden's eyes.

And his body flew through the air.

The slash had already reached the space directly before him and struck him before he could even realize it.

'What...?!'

He had not even seen the attack coming, but worse, the defensive barrier field he had reinforced three times was now tattered like rags from that single blow.

If he had not used every copy ticket just now, he would certainly have died...!

'What the hell is this...?'

It felt like

he was facing Noel herself.

And it was no surprise.

The enemy wielded the same Pure White Ki as Noel, used the same school as Noel, and possessed nearly the same power.

Probably, Noel was the only person in the world capable of doing something like this.

Except for one person.

"... Teresa?"

In a cracking voice,

Noel spoke the Lord Protector's name.

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