Copy Skills with Affinity!

Chapter 76

Fire Spirit

"Alright, shall we start with the big one first?"

…Contrary to Aiden’s energetic declaration, both Noel and Katya looked utterly gloomy.

The main reason was, of course, that thing.

The fire spirit located within the scorching zone.

Among players, it was commonly referred to as the fire hound, a challenge boss monster. Judging by combat difficulty alone, it was one of the most headache-inducing enemies in the entire game.

The game even rewarded a trophy just for defeating it—enough said.

Well.

To list just a few of its characteristics:

Complete immunity to physical attacks.

Strong resistance to magic-based attacks.

Possesses powerful flame-generating abilities capable of triggering volcanic eruptions solo.

While its attack power was something they could just barely endure, the previously mentioned traits alone made one question whether this thing was really meant to be defeated. Its specs were downright unfair.

"…I did encounter something similar during the Allied War."

Noel spoke up, looking clearly troubled.

"It was a monster that created a scorched land all by itself, even in a country covered in snow. An entire order of knights charged at it before we barely managed to subjugate it."

And the fact that they were now about to hunt something like that again was clearly messing with her. Her face brimmed with unhideable concern.

"…To be honest, unless we call in reinforcements from the Mage Kingdom, trying to take it down by ourselves is just…"

The word "reckless" was likely knocking against her vocal cords.

Of course, that was beside the point.

It was clear that Aiden had something entirely different in mind.

"Reckless, huh."

"…"

"But there are times when, even knowing that, you still can't back down."

He was absolutely serious about taking it down right here and now.

Chapter 3 was right around the corner. No matter how fast they pushed for growth, it wouldn't be fast enough.

"Alright then…"

The resigned voice came from nearby as soon as he gave his answer without hesitation.

It was Katya, who’d already learned from experience that trying to stop him in this state was useless.

"Well, I figured you'd push through even if we said no…"

"…"

"You're kind of fundamentally dangerous in how you think."

…Even Noel nodded in agreement as she added that remark.

At this point, they looked like they were too tired to argue.

"So, what kind of insane plan do you have this time?"

"…"

Noel’s casual comment shot straight into Aiden’s heart like an arrow.

He was starting to give up on managing his image, but still, this felt a little too on the nose.

He had no intention of denying that his methods were unorthodox.

"…First, we need supplies."

"Supplies?"

And what was needed for that was…

"…"

"…"

"…"

As Aiden’s gaze lingered on her for a long time, Katya blinked blankly.

"…?"

Eventually, with a dazed expression, she raised a finger and pointed at herself.

"…Me?"

"…Yes."

"…I'm the supply?"

"…Yes."

Katya blinked in disbelief, as if wondering what kind of insane thing would require her to be used as a supply. Aiden let out a sigh and began to explain.

"Do you know what the hardest part of the body to train is?"

"…What?"

"The internal organs. The organs."

Of course, it was unreasonable to expect a creature like that, which could emit flames from its entire body, to have a normal biological structure.

But at the very least, it definitely possessed organs that served similar functions—vital components necessary to sustain life.

Inside its chest, there was a tiny ‘core’ that supplied it with mana. This was something all magical beasts had in common, but considering the enormous size of that fire hound, the assumption would be that its core was proportionally large.

‘…Though in reality, that’s not the case.’

Logically, one might think so, but the problem was that the fire spirit’s weak point had been designed to be absurdly small.

It almost felt deliberately malicious, like a trap laid out specifically to make sure no one could actually beat it…

Therefore, targeting it through normal means was virtually impossible.

But since Katya was here, it was something they could actually attempt.

"Katya."

"Yeah?"

"I haven’t really been giving you much attention lately, have I?"

"Right? I was starting to think you were being pretty heartless."

In this context, “not giving attention” meant he hadn’t shattered her to pieces in a way she could still feel.

…As catastrophic as that was, Katya had been persistently begging for it herself, so there wasn’t much he could do about it.

"Think of this as me making it up to you."

"…"

Katya’s face brightened, but Noel’s expression contorted almost instantly.

▣

"I always thought you were a weird one, but still."

Katya’s muffled voice leaked out indistinctly.

It was a result of her mouth being taped shut, which obviously made her words come out garbled.

"This is really creative, though."

"Ah, I almost forgot the most important part."

Thanks to her speaking up, Aiden realized that there was still some “empty space” left in her body.

He peeled off the tape and thoroughly packed the remaining “compound” into Katya’s mouth as well.

He had already slathered it all over her body and secured it in place using tape, but since there was still some left, it would’ve been a waste not to use it all…

It was similar to how he had previously imbued holiness into a wooden stake. These were liquids infused with mana, designed to “release with delay.”

In other words, it was like embedding a delayed detonator into a bomb.

The compound infused with mana arts itself wasn’t particularly effective—just a type of supernatural solvent with no inherent power. However, once it received another effect, it acted as a magnifier that could boost that power by more than double.

He stuffed in all the remaining compound until Katya’s cheeks were puffed out completely.

Then, he inserted the most important part—the remote signal device.

And resealed her mouth with tape.

"…"

While Katya tilted her head, cheeks puffed like a hamster, Noel spoke in a tone that carried the weight of the world.

"…Aiden."

"Yes?"

"I mean, I always try to support you, I really do."

"Yes."

"But are you seriously in your right mind…?"

"…"

Well.

That kind of comment was fair, honestly.

However—

"…Dame Noel."

"Yes?"

"I’ve done worse than this at His Highness’s request."

"…"

"It’s not like I want to do this, you know."

"…"

Noel’s expression turned strangely complex upon hearing Aiden’s sincere tone.

A sigh escaped her, loaded with the thought, "This man really suffers a lot, doesn’t he?"

At least she now clearly understood that he wasn’t doing this to torment Katya…

…Whether being viewed like that was a good or bad thing, even Aiden himself found hard to judge.

Well, in any case.

"Shall we begin?"

As he chanted the incantation beneath his breath, a brilliant light burst out around Aiden’s body.

The mana had to be concentrated into cores, and he deftly controlled it into three condensed spheres.

When he embedded those into the compound on Katya’s body, the color of the substance began to distort even more grotesquely.

It wasn’t a pleasant sight, but it was a clear indication that it had absorbed supernatural power.

According to the original system’s setting, elemental attributes interacted in a rock-paper-scissors fashion.

That’s why people with a main supernatural ability typically learned mana arts to further strengthen it—because doing so made their powers even stronger.

And in Aiden’s case, he was someone who could make use of that ‘main supernatural ability’ more efficiently than anyone else.

As he added the Guardian’s Flame into it, the solvent covering Katya’s body began to glow even more fiercely.

This was the ‘cold flame,’ a reversed form of the Guardian’s Flame.

Reversing an element through mana arts was certainly a difficult feat, but for Aiden, it wasn’t that hard.

More accurately—

‘…The solvent was top-grade to begin with.’

That liquid was the leftover ectoplasm—what remained after setting aside the portion to be given to Ganesha for equipment crafting. As a supernatural solvent nearly on par with star metal, it only took a bit of manipulation to pull off a trick like this.

"…Alright, here we go."

In response, Noel raised her spear.

"Hup!"

And judging by the speed at which the spear flew after she let it loose with a sharp cry, it was clear that her anticipation had been fully satisfied.

The spear shot through the air and scattered the body of the fire spirit, which was made entirely of flame.

The power behind the strike was overwhelming, but the fire spirit was completely immune to physical attacks.

It was clear that it had taken no damage at all, as the fire spirit turned toward them with blazing yellow eyes.

Under normal circumstances, this would be where a horrifically difficult battle began.

But they had prepared a finisher specifically for this monster.

"…Shall I?"

"Do it."

With those words, Noel threw Katya with all her strength.

Katya flew through the air at a speed not unlike the spear that had just flown before her.

"…"

"…"

Watching such a scene filled both Noel and Aiden with a strange sense of disillusionment, but once something like this had begun, it had to be seen through to the end.

Ignoring the atmosphere among those around him, Aiden raised his hand and began manipulating the flow of supernatural power with even more finesse.

As Katya reached the fire spirit—whose body had been "scattered" by the physical attack—he triggered the mana like an explosion.

There was a reason he’d smeared that compound all over Katya’s body and even inserted the remote signal device.

With just a little tuning, it could be used as a remote bomb.

The remote signal device that had been placed in Katya’s mouth acted as the detonator.

With a blast that started at her head, her body exploded outward, sending the mana-infused compound surging into the fire spirit’s entire form.

The compound, imbued with intense cold properties, scattered through the air with a chill sharp enough to freeze even the atmosphere itself.

"Whoa."

A spontaneous exclamation escaped his lips.

This was like throwing a tiny bomb laced with poison into someone’s internal organs.

No matter how absurdly powerful the fire spirit was, as long as it had a core serving as an organ, it couldn’t resist this kind of direct injection of cold.

The fire hound, which had been spewing intense flames all around it, collapsed in an instant. From the center of its chest, a flame-wrapped orb protruded—the ‘core’ Aiden had been aiming for. In other words, the spirit fragment.

"…Wow."

Next to him, Noel let out a gasp of awe.

Objectively speaking, what they’d done was an incredibly bizarre act, but seeing a spirit of that caliber burst apart in one blow made it a truly awe-inspiring sight.

"Hahahahahaha—! That was fun!"

"…"

"…"

It was hard to know how to react to Katya laughing gleefully as her body was torn apart and flung through the air.