Copy Skills with Affinity!

Chapter 29

Ghost Knight

The development of the Ghost Knight incident was simpler than expected.

Spiritual bodies poured out through the fractured rift. And those spirits physically damaged the capital.

As could be seen from Meyer’s earlier example, spiritual bodies weren’t entities capable of exerting such powerful influence over the material world. Even a continent-level hero like the Knight of Dawn couldn’t subdue one in a single blow.

So even if a mass of spiritual bodies poured out, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. Normally, that is.

However.

“This is no ordinary matter.”

Just because it was simple didn’t mean it was light.

Noel looked up at the sky and spoke in a hard voice.

“If a rift of this scale has opened, the entire capital will be within its range.”

“…You seem rather familiar with this?”

Aiden knowing how this would unfold thanks to his knowledge of the original work made sense, but Noel also seemed quite familiar with this kind of situation.

“It’s one of the tactics used during the Allied War.”

After saying that, Noel paused briefly before continuing.

Her gaze was sharp. Unusually for her, hostility intense enough to feel like it was ripping through her skin lingered in her expression.

“…It’s a method the Magic Kingdom often employed.”

Just that statement was enough to immediately understand her reaction.

The battle in which the Warden of the Realm had died was also one fought against the Magic Kingdom. She clearly didn’t have any fond memories of them.

And it was just as clear that her hostility wasn’t solely due to those past events.

“Aiden. Please get out of here with Stella as quickly as possible.”

Noel spoke with a serious look and drew her sword.

Pure white qi flowed along the blade, clearly visible. It was the same battle-ready posture I’d seen before. The kind she had shown when confronting Katya.

In other words, this situation was just as grave as that one.

“It’s going to be a rough task. To seal a rift of this size… I’ll have to stake quite a bit.”

Her voice carried a strong resolve. Even Stella, who had been carrying Aiden on her back, briefly changed her expression.

“My lady. Are you planning to handle this alone?”

“I need to find and rip out all the ‘roots’ causing the rift.”

By ‘roots,’ she meant the structures embedded with the source of a mage’s mana.

Unless each of those was found and destroyed one by one, there would be no way to close the rift. And the only one here with the necessary speed and agility was Noel.

“It’s dangerous. No matter how skilled you are, if anything goes wrong, you could be seriously injured!”

“Hey, hold on a moment—”

“It’s not that hard to do. I just need to find them and break them.”

“But the rift is about to open in full. If you go in there without knowing where the roots are, you’ll be caught directly in the blast when it does—”

“Hold on, could you just—”

“Stella.”

Noel responded to Stella’s words with a serene smile.

“The title of ‘Knight’ isn’t something you receive so you can run away in moments like this, right?”

“Please, just for a moment—”

“There are citizens over there. So I need to go and protect them.”

“……”

“But, milady…!”

Stella called out to Noel in desperation.

It was as if she couldn’t understand why Noel insisted on making such a sacrifice alone. Her eyes swirled with an emotion that seemed to ask why she always tried to shoulder everything by herself.

It was a moment you could call heartrending. And Noel answered it with the expression of a knight carrying a sacred mission.

“If you understand, then get out of here, Stella. Protecting Aiden comes first—”

“Would you please just listen to someone for once—!”

“……”

“……”

Both knights fell silent at Aiden’s emphatic interruption.

It was probably the first time either of them had seen Aiden shout with a vein practically bulging on his forehead...

“Sorry to interrupt your very serious conversation, but for now—”

As he said that, Aiden pulled something out from inside his coat.

It was one of the wooden stakes that Stella had been diligently driving in earlier. The difference was that this one was clearly marked.

Unlike the others, this one unmistakably had a ‘function.’

“You should be more worried about something else than closing the rift, you know?”

“Aiden? What do you—”

Noel tilted her head, about to ask a question, but before she could finish, holy energy began to rise from Aiden’s body.

The stake Aiden now held was a kind of ignition switch.

It allowed him to release the supernatural powers stored in the other stakes at his desired timing.

As that power naturally infused into the stake in his hand, a window floated before his eyes.

-System Message

▶ ‘Holy Flame’ has been imbued into the target ‘wooden stake.’

▶ The effect of ‘Holy Flame Operation: Delayed Release’ is activated.

▶ The same type of supernatural power is imbued into all connected objects!

As those system messages flowed out in a stream, colorless flames ignited all around.

They erupted simultaneously from the spots where Aiden and Stella had spent all night planting stakes.

And from where that light spread, dark and jagged structures shattered all at once and crumbled into ash.

They were the very ‘roots’ of the rift that Noel had spoken of.

…It had all happened exactly where Aiden had instructed Stella to drive the stakes.

In the original story, the roots of the rift always emerged from fixed locations. It wasn’t for nothing that he’d flown around all night planting them in various spots.

“……”

“……”

Noel and Stella both tightly shut their mouths and watched the rift stitch itself shut against the night sky.

Next to them, Aiden was still huffing, throwing the stake he’d just used down onto the ground.

“All that fuss over something so simple…!”

“…Aiden.”

“Yes?”

“I was fully prepared to risk my life, you know.”

“……”

Aiden scratched his cheek under Noel’s oddly resentful gaze.

“Well, isn’t it a good thing you didn’t have to, then?”

“…I suppose so.”

Yes, that was true.

It was true, but still…

“……”

“……”

…Well.

Let bygones be bygones.

Regardless of Noel’s embarrassment, Aiden had originally prepared all of this precisely for a situation like this.

Still, even now, he didn’t let his guard down and continued to stare at the rift.

From the looks of it, this could’ve been resolved easily.

But if that had been the end of it, Aiden wouldn’t have prepared this thoroughly to begin with.

“Actually, like I said earlier, the real part we need to brace for is starting now.”

“Yes?”

“This wasn’t the main event.”

The logic was simple when you thought about it.

The world he was currently living in was based on the original ‘game,’ and that meant the story was structured into episodes like Act I, Chapter 1—so there were certain essential components that couldn’t be left out.

The ‘Boss Fight.’

Of course it had to happen. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Just as Aiden thought of that word with a bitter smile, ectoplasm began gathering ominously near the rift just before it fully closed.

‘Was it the Ghost Knight—?’

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

The ectoplasm descended from the sky and gathered on the ground, taking on a shape that clearly resembled a knight in armor.

“-”

Aiden took a deep breath and focused his mind.

Of course, since this was Act I, Chapter 1—the very first event—he didn’t expect it to be overly difficult. But fighting for his life still wasn’t something he was used to.

‘My options—’

Three Skill Copy tickets from Noel, and one Skill Mimicry ticket from the Prince.

He had already memorized all the available skills. If he used them wisely based on the situation, he should be able to manage.

If he could just make it through this using them—

[I am…steel—]

—or so he thought.

Until the knight, formed of ectoplasm, suddenly spoke.

“-?”

A chill of dread slid down Aiden’s spine.

Unless it was something as overwhelmingly powerful as the Knight of Dawn, spiritual entities shouldn’t be able to retain “consciousness” or act like a person.

In other words, what was over there—

Most likely shouldn’t be something that appeared in Act I, Chapter 1.

—Something

was seriously wrong.

[I am the blade—]

Then, with those words—

Supernatural energy surged around the spirit.

Qi.

Pure white in color.

…Exactly the same as the kind Noel used.

[I am the scales.]

The gathered power soon formed into a single slash.

It was a stance he’d seen before. The same stance Noel had used when she launched her "projected slash" at Katya.

-System Message

[‘Skill: Analysis’ has recognized the target.]

[The target’s combat form and current stance match the characteristics of the combat style ‘Single Sword Strike.’]

[Combat adjustments will be applied.]

…Just as he thought.

The Ghost Knight was using the same combat form Aiden had copied from Noel: Single Sword Strike.

And as the knight, whose slash had manifested in the air, looked directly at Aiden—

The moment their gazes met,

Holy Flame burst out from near Aiden’s body, rushing to protect him.

Honestly, that alone could help him survive most encounters.

But everything that followed happened on instinct, not reason.

-System Message

[‘Qi Operation: Defensive Barrier’ has been copied.]

[‘Qi Operation: Hardening Enhancement’ has been copied.]

[‘Qi Operation: Instant Generation’ has been copied.]

Under normal circumstances, this would’ve been a completely wasteful combination. Noel had far more valuable skills than these.

But now, Aiden had burned through all of his copy tickets just to strengthen the “barrier” that could block a single blow.

And yet.

His entire body screamed that if he didn’t go that far, he would die right then and there.

[People of the Empire, do not fear—]

And he was absolutely right.

[—For I have come.]

The next moment, as a pure white veil formed before Aiden’s eyes—

His body flew through the air.

By the time he realized it, the slash had already reached him and struck, sending him soaring.

‘What the…!’

Even if he hadn’t seen the strike coming, the triple-reinforced barrier—now torn to shreds—was proof of its power.

If he hadn’t burned all his copy tickets, he’d be dead right now…!

‘What the hell is this…!’

It was like—

He was facing Noel herself.

And it wasn’t just a feeling.

That figure was wielding the same pure white qi Noel used, employing the same combat form, and with nearly identical power.

Probably, only one person in the world could do something like this.

That is—if you excluded one other person.

“…Teresa?”

With a cracked voice,

Noel spoke the name of the Warden of the Realm.