Copy Skills with Affinity! - Chapter 65

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

◈ Copy Skills with Affinity! ◈

Chapter 65: The Night of the Hunt (3)

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“So, it’s fine that you’re saying insane things again, but!”

“...”

Aiden’s expression crumpled at the insult casually hurled at him. Yet Noel, who was running while carrying both him and Katia, showed no sign of slowing the ruthless flow of words coming from her mouth.

“What is your insane plan for carrying out that insane idea?!”

“...I’m a person who can be hurt too, Lady Noel.”

Aiden grumbled timidly, but his eyes still swept across their surroundings.

In fact, even a little thought made it clear.

This situation was quite strange.

-Quest Info

♠ Main Quest

◈ Act 1, <Imperial Capital Rift>

- Chapter 2, <Night of the Hunt>

▶ The difficulty has skyrocketed due to outside interference.

▶ The original event, “Large-Scale Assault,” has been replaced with the subjugation of an “Apex Magical Beast”!

▶ Due to the difficulty change, the rewards upon quest completion will be enhanced!

Just looking at the quest window, they clearly were not supposed to be facing a monster like this yet.

There were not many creatures in the entire world that could swat away Noel and Katia’s attacks as if they were nothing more than an itch.

‘...Apex magical beasts normally never leave the Void Zone.’

Even within the Void Zone, where the environment itself was tailored for survival of the fittest, apex magical beasts stood at the top of the ecosystem. Normally, they hunted prey deeper inside and had no interest in the outside.

The reason was simple. Magical beasts existed to destroy and devour, and the depths were the ideal habitat for satisfying those urges.

For one of them to have come out here meant Puppeteer Rad had definitely pulled some trick before Aiden crushed them.

More specifically.

There was a good chance that the Berserk status affecting Soul Reaver right now was that trick.

It had reduced the thinking ability of a creature that would never leave its habitat to the level of a mere beast, then lured it outside.

If that was the case, then considering their current circumstances.

That magical beast, which normally had rational thought as one of its greatest strengths, could no longer think properly. And Aiden held two skill-copy tickets from the person who had reduced it to this state.

That meant there had to be a way out somehow. It had a clear weakness, and he had the means to exploit it.

For example.

It might have looked like they were simply running away, but while fleeing, they had managed to roughly drive every stick Aiden had brought into the ground.

Noel ran, Katia intercepted Soul Reaver, and Aiden pulled sticks from the luggage he had brought and threw them into the ground one by one.

It was obvious that doing something like that while fleeing meant he was planning something. But that magical beast, normally an intelligent entity, would not understand what the problem was with those things while under the effects of Berserk.

And Aiden had a way to make use of them.

He placed a hand on Noel’s shoulder as she ran as if her soles were on fire.

He tapped her shoulder twice, as though he had a suggestion.

“Lady Noel.”

“...No.”

“Lady Noel.”

“I don’t know what it is, but no.”

“...”

Aiden’s face fell. Noel glanced at him from the corner of her eye, then squeezed hers shut.

Nothing had gotten particularly worse, but she was painfully aware of her own condition.

After all, now that they had come this far, she would eventually follow whatever plan this man came up with.

Karba, why did You place such a hopeless man in my path...?

“...Fine. I’ll at least hear you out.”

“Let’s jump.”

At that obviously extraordinary instruction, Noel forced the curse about to burst from her throat back down.

If this had been a polite social gathering that observed common sense and etiquette, it was the sort of curse that would have earned her uncomfortable looks.

“Jump where?”

“Down there.”

Aiden pointed toward the cliff beside the slope they were running along.

It was the very spot where he had descended by rope earlier and driven sticks into place with a hammer.

“...”

Noel turned her gaze slightly and looked down.

...She could not see the bottom.

It was so high that a blade-like wind blew upward from below, striking her eardrums with a sound like human screams.

“...Down there?”

“Yes. Don’t worry. I have it all planned ou-”

Before he could finish, a curse that Noel could no longer hold back poured from her mouth.

This time, if this had been a polite social gathering that observed common sense and etiquette, it was the sort of curse that would have gotten her thoroughly beaten and thrown out.

Aiden was still wondering how he should feel about receiving the harshest insult he had heard in recent memory from his fiancée when Katia, who was repeatedly firing Divine Power at the menacingly pursuing Soul Reaver, tilted her head.

“We go down there?”

“Yes. We need to calm it down a little before we tame it.”

The question of whether calming it down and jumping to their deaths were not very different things rose to Noel’s chin.

She could not voice it because someone interrupted first.

“Really?”

That was why.

“Then let’s go.”

The moment Katia heard that, she fired Divine Power at the ground at maximum output. Like boosters blasting from an engine, the recoil sent their bodies floating upward.

Naturally.

Their bodies flew forward, then began plummeting toward the cliff due to the laws of physics.

“...I really, this damned, Aiden, Your Highness!”

“...”

How angry did she have to be for a title to slip into the middle of that sentence?

Once this was over, he should definitely apologize to Noel...

As Aiden made that resolution, Soul Reaver spotted them falling below the cliff and fixed its wild eyes on them.

Then.

It threw itself after them.

The primal killing intent in that movement, which did not spare a thought for its own safety, was enough to make everyone’s spine tingle.

Of course.

They still had to do what they had to do.

Aiden took the last stick from his backpack, drew a deep breath, and threw it.

It did not sink in deeply, but he clearly saw it lodge in a crack in the cliff as they fell.

“What have you been throwing around and driving into the ground this whole time?!”

It was a fair question. They were falling beneath a cliff, and an apex magical beast had jumped after them to tear them apart. Why was he calmly doing something like that?

...Though Noel was not exactly normal either, considering she still had enough presence of mind to ask such a question while free-falling.

“Blasting explosives.”

“...What?”

A trivial piece of knowledge about the Aslan Duchy.

This place was more famous for mining than one might expect.

That meant it was not difficult to acquire high-quality explosives developed for breaking rock and reshaping terrain.

And.

Even while running for their lives, they had driven enough blasting explosives into the ground to last a month at a fairly large mine.

“...Why did you plant that much of something like that all around us...?”

It would be faster to show her than explain.

Aiden pulled out spare rope from the backpack still slung over his shoulder. It was a special rope with a hook at the end.

He had checked it over and over for its strength. It could support several people without issue.

When he threw it, the hook caught on the canyon across from the cliff they had jumped from. Their endless fall abruptly changed.

With an anchor point, the group swung violently like a pendulum before slamming into the opposite cliff as though they had been driven into it.

The impact was violent enough that they barely avoided injury by creating a barrier with Radiant Brilliance. But there was someone else facing an even more violent collision.

If even a shred of intelligence had remained, Soul Reaver might have tried to stop its fall. But now, consumed by savage hostility, it simply thrashed its limbs toward them without a thought even as it free-fell.

Just watching it draw closer by flailing in midair was enough to leave them speechless at its absurd physical abilities. But the outcome had already been decided.

Whoooosh!

With terrifying acceleration, Soul Reaver crashed into the bottom of the cliff.

“...”

Noel and Katia silently watched.

Still hanging from the rope, Noel narrowed her eyes and glared at him.

“...Aiden.”

“...Yes.”

“From now on, if you’re going to do something, please at least discuss it with me first.”

“...”

“Do you understand?”

“...No one was hurt, right?”

When he refused to answer until the end, Noel glared at him with sharp eyes. Even so, Aiden only tried to avoid her gaze.

Well.

This was not over yet.

Aiden kept avoiding Noel’s eyes as he fumbled inside his clothes and pulled out a detonator.

“...What is that now?”

“We have to blow it up.”

The route where he had planted all those blasting explosives.

Had been designed to drop an entire cliff onto Soul Reaver after it fell below.

Beep.

The explosives planted in the cliff detonated one after another.

Amid thunderous blasts that seemed to shake the night sky apart, Katia muttered.

“You planned this from the beginning?”

“Of course.”

“...This?”

“...”

Lure in a magical beast that large.

Drop it beneath a cliff.

Then blow up the entire cliff and drop it on top of the beast.

He had planned all that from the start?

“...Aiden, what exactly do you think about while you go through life?”

As Noel spoke in a voice evenly mixed with exhaustion and disbelief, Katia added her own reaction.

“The more I watch you, the more dangerous your mindset seems.”

“...”

“Don’t you always think about blowing something up and killing it first?”

Aiden’s expression crumpled at Katia’s piercing remark as he pressed the button.

Hearing that from her of all people was certainly hurtful...

BOOM!

Whether he was hurt or not.

A massive explosion erupted, and the aftermath of a cataclysm powerful enough to reshape the terrain swallowed the surrounding landscape.

Hundreds of thousands of tons of rock fell directly onto Soul Reaver’s head.

▣

Dust rose everywhere, and only when the deafening roar that blanketed the area finally began to fade did Aiden let out a sigh and check the condition of the rope.

Well, then.

“...Lady Noel. You’re the heaviest right now, so if you don’t stay still, the rope will sna-”

He was hit.

“...I mean you’re the heaviest because you’re wearing the heaviest equipment right now-”

He was hit again.

“...”

No matter what, never tell a woman she is heavy. Mental note.

As he reflected on that bit of wisdom.

A chilling sound suddenly rose from below the cliff.

“...It’s still alive after all that?!”

Noel looked down and spoke in disbelief.

Soul Reaver was climbing toward them, driving its front paws into the cliff one after the other.

Of course, Soul Reaver was not uninjured. It was harder to find an intact part of its body than a wounded one.

It was astonishing enough that it was still alive after falling from a cliff this high and having the mass of a small mountain dropped on it.

“This is a complete disas-”

“No.”

But Aiden did not think so at all.

If it could die from something like that, it would not even deserve the name apex magical beast.

More importantly.

“It would be a problem if it died. I’m trying to tame it.”

Then.

Aiden immediately released the rope he was holding.

He dropped toward Soul Reaver as it climbed toward them.

Normally, doing something like this would have turned him into pulp the moment he entered its range. But attacks from a creature injured this badly were easy enough for him to handle.

Aiden blocked its swinging forepaw once with Radiant Brilliance, then landed directly on its head.

And here.

He copied the two skills Puppeteer had likely used to put Soul Reaver into this state.

-System Message

▶ You copy “Skill: Demonic Energy: Water Control.”

▶ You copy “Skill: Demonic Energy: Divine Command.”

-Skill Info

◆ Demonic Energy: Water Control

Analyzes the flow of energy controlled by a target that possesses demonic energy. You may use “Divine Command” on a target whose flow has been analyzed.

★ This skill was copied through “Mimicry.” It is weaker than the original!

◆ Demonic Energy: Divine Command

Invades the mind of an analyzed target and drives a “command” into it. A target affected by Divine Command will absolutely obey that command until another entity releases the command.

★ This skill was copied through “Mimicry.” It is weaker than the original!

As the lines rapidly passed by the corner of his eye, Aiden gave a small laugh and placed a hand on Soul Reaver’s head.

Perhaps because demonic energy itself was an ability derived from a sealed god, it was full of all sorts of sinister powers. These skills made that nature especially clear.

But for now.

Aiden had to be grateful for them.

Abilities like these could not be clearly measured in numbers when it came to power. Even if they were weaker than the original, the difference would barely be noticeable.

Above all.

-System Message

▶ You activate “Skill: Demonic Energy: Water Control.”

▶ Analyzing the flow of demonic energy within the target’s body!

▶ Analysis complete.

A black current pulsed through Soul Reaver’s body. Aiden identified where it was especially concentrated and reached out.

-System Message

▶ You activate “Skill: Demonic Energy: Divine Command.”

▶ A duplicate skill is already active on the target. Unable to use-

Before that message could continue.

Aiden brought out an ability that was perfect for a situation like this.

▶ “Ability: Purifier” deletes “Skill: Divine Command” embedded in the target.