Copy Skills with Affinity!

Chapter 139

Underwater (2)Milene let out a sigh and pulled in the student beside her. From her perspective, possessing exceptional combat ability even among the royal family, the current situation wasn’t particularly threatening, but it was obvious that ordinary civilians with no special abilities would feel very differently.

‘……Especially that thing is the problem.’

With her armor clanking, Milene looked at the enormous pillar that the people around her were staring at with their mouths agape.

They called it a pillar, but to Milene it looked like one of the ‘legs’ of a gigantic soft-bodied creature.

If that alone was about the size of the dragon that had thrown the surroundings into chaos before, she couldn’t even begin to estimate the scale of the main body.

“…….”

Of course, regardless of that, it was obvious that what she could do right now was limited.

A dark, murky divine power rose around her body. Among divine powers, already known for being the most destructive among supernatural abilities, the black flames especially specialized in laying waste to the surroundings, sharply raising the temperature around them.

Heat intense enough to make the surface of the sea bubble surged outward, and the barrage of flames pouring forth was soon fired toward the massive creature.

“Phew—”

Noel and several other monstrous humans were nearby, but at least when it came to dealing with a single creature, Milene’s divine power could be called unparalleled.

Twisted black divine power. The moment it touched the creature, it spread violently in all directions as if the entire surface had been coated in oil.

Milene’s divine power had several characteristics, but the most notable one was this.

A flame that would never extinguish until the target it touched was completely reduced to ashes, leaving nothing left to burn.

Also known as hellfire.

It was also the fundamental reason the other royals feared her.

Once something like that had latched on, whether the creature regenerated or not, the battle could normally be considered already decided.

Near the leg that had caught fire, another leg that looked like a massive pillar shot upward.

And that leg—

Tightly coiled around the base far below the burning section, as if violently squeezing it.

Soon after,

With a crunching sound—

The leg tore away from the main body.

As if it had quickly torn it off before the fire could spread to the main body.

“-?!”

Even Milene could not help but freeze momentarily at such bizarre behavior.

‘……Ridiculous.’

Seeing that the torn-off leg regenerated in an instant, Milene groaned inwardly.

Since the main body was positioned deep underwater, she had no means of striking it directly, so the only method was to spread the fire starting from the legs. But if it responded like that, even she had no solution.

‘……Then, if I just boil this entire area—’

As that thought crossed her mind, she pulsed divine power through her body once again.

She didn’t know if it would be possible, but if she spread the flames throughout this entire area first, wouldn’t she at least be able to deal some effective damage somehow—

“Stop.”

And then someone suddenly grabbed her wrist.

When she turned to see who it was, it was Katya Heinkel Craven.

“-”

Milene’s head tilted slightly.

In truth, she had never personally interacted with this one before.

At most, they occasionally passed by each other and merely acknowledged each other’s existence like a cow looking at a chicken.

So they were clearly not close enough for someone to directly interfere and stop her like this—

“If you do that, everyone nearby will burn to death.”

“…….”

At that remark, Milene snapped back to her senses and looked at the commoner student trembling beside her.

…A valid point. She had nearly caused a massacre if she had been careless.

“And more importantly.”

Before Milene could even mumble that she understood, Katya’s words cut in again.

“If he ran out saying he’d handle it himself, then we can just watch for now.”

“……?”

“See that?”

“…………?”

As Katya spoke and pointed with her finger, Milene’s gaze followed.

And her mouth slowly fell open.

Because Aiden was there, having taken off his upper clothing and stretching his body as he warmed up.

“……What is that supposed to……?”

“He said he’ll go inside and deal with it.”

“…….”

“So everyone’s supposed to just protect themselves.”

Milene reflexively looked toward the sea.

…Even the normally clear seawater looked dark, because an absurd number of creatures were lurking beneath it.

Every single one of them had jaws powerful enough to tear apart a human with ease.

And he planned to dive toward the main body that was producing all of them.

Hmm.

“……That man, is he insane?”

“He gets angry if you call him that.”

“…….”

As Milene fell silent at that response,

Aiden was already plunging into the sea with a splash—into waters filled with countless unknown creatures resembling merfolk.

His movement was so casual that to an onlooker it almost looked like he was simply practicing swimming.

“He’s always like that.”

“…….”

“You’ll get used to it faster.”

…Just what kind of impression did that man usually give to the people around him?

▣

As always, the difference between a suicidal act and a bold plan was only about the thickness of a sheet of paper.

Whether it succeeded or failed.

And when it came to matters like that, Aiden considered himself someone who at least moved with clear justification.

To others, it might look like he was charging a rock with an egg without thinking, but thoroughly checking the means he had first was the very first step of that confidence.

Swimming slowly down into the depths of the sea, Aiden scanned the gigantic creature that filled his entire field of vision.

Along with the translucent window floating between the creature and himself.

-Skill Info

◆ First Vow: Modification

◆ Sanctified Body

◆ Primal Power

◆ Beastification

Among the skills he possessed, he selected the basic set first.

Their common trait was that all of them greatly helped with “not dying when injured.”

Even in ordinary times he constantly felt the need for them, but what Aiden needed right now was a level of “tenacious vitality” comparable to Katya’s.

‘……What I should enhance further.’

He checked the remaining points in the Point Shop.

Since he had also secured a stable source of points from the ducal territory before, quite a considerable amount had accumulated.

At the very least, he had enough to scrape together and purchase several potions related to “vitality enhancement.”

He probably wouldn’t be able to use the Point Shop at all for a while afterward, but if it let him overcome the immediate crisis, it wouldn’t be a wasteful investment at all—

-System Message

▶ !Warning!

▶ Enhancement agents from the Point Shop may cause side effects if too large an amount is administered.

▶ Temporary changes in emotions or personality may occur.

“…….”

Hmm.

A window that was slightly concerning briefly appeared before his eyes, but instead of focusing on it, he casually pushed it aside.

As he had said, overcoming the immediate crisis was what mattered.

‘……Changes in emotions or personality?’

Now that he thought about it, when Noel first drank something he had bought from the Point Shop before, hadn’t he displayed behavior that was completely unimaginable for his usual self?

It felt like Aiden himself might end up doing the same thing now.

‘……Will it really be that bad?’

It seemed likely that it would end with nothing more than his self-control weakening slightly and committing a few odd acts. Well, it would probably just be a little embarrassing at most.

More importantly.

-System Message

▶ Copying ‘Holy Flame Operation: Hellfire’ from target ‘Milene’.

-Skill Info

◆ Holy Flame Operation: Hellfire

Creates divine flames that will never extinguish once they latch onto a body. Compared to other divine powers, it requires more than double the output, and if one attempts to produce divine power beyond their output, it will also consume the user’s vitality.

…The effect written down was clean and brutally powerful, but the usage conditions attached afterward were truly terrifying.

Perhaps the reason Milene wore that bizarre armor all day long also stemmed from this.

But still.

If he didn’t use even something like this, dealing with ‘that thing’ would clearly be impossible.

‘……The God of Death, huh.’

“That’s quite a grand nickname.”

Though in truth, it was merely a name borrowed directly from the scriptures.

Deep underwater where even light barely reached, a yellow-green iris, large enough that someone might mistake it for a massive natural structure, flickered as it locked onto Aiden.

Judging by size alone, it was almost on par with what he had seen in the Otherworld when he entered it with Noel before.

Anyone with thalassophobia would probably faint on the spot and start foaming at the mouth if they saw it, but Aiden calmly examined the gaping maw with steady eyes.

He knew the word used to refer to this.

‘……It’s a kraken.’

Come to think of it, because cephalopods were believed to feed on the corpses of people who drowned at sea, they were treated as messengers of death in some cultures.

From Aiden’s perspective, that honestly felt like a rather unfair misunderstanding.

After all, when sliced up and eaten raw, it tasted incredibly good.

“…….”

The creature before him, several buildings in size, opened its mouth wide as it approached to swallow him whole, and even Aiden had to acknowledge that thinking about such things at a time like this meant he probably wasn’t quite sane either.

Of course, regardless of that.

After seeing a dragon earlier and now something like this, he was starting to feel like he could finally grasp what kind of bastard was orchestrating the situation he was currently caught in.

The dragon as well. And this thing too.

From beginning to end, instead of truly existing creatures appearing, wasn’t it more like creatures from “stories” were being similarly “reproduced”?

And certainly.

He had made a vow before.

If someone ever tried to pull that kind of trick on him again, he wouldn’t let it slide.

“…….”

Divine power flared around Aiden’s body, and bubbles began rising everywhere.

If he poured out every divine-related skill he possessed and unleashed them at maximum output, he could create a massive fireball that refused to go out even in a place completely filled with water like this.

At the very least, the set of skills he had diligently copied until now was armed with enough power to make that kind of miracle possible.

The absurd output caused the merfolk approaching nearby to suddenly stop in shock. Even though they were clearly creatures moving on nothing but instinct, that very instinct must have been screaming at them not to go any closer.

And into that output mixed the skill he had just copied from Milene. Beneath the water, pitch-black flames that would never extinguish billowed upward.

‘……I’ll be using this in a rather horrifying way, Princess.’

Aiden offered her a brief apology in his mind.

Probably.

Even Milene herself would stare at him in shock if she knew what he was about to do.

And what he was about to do with this terrifying divine power was—

‘The God of Death, huh…….’

He muttered the same words in his mind as before.

‘Then how many times have you died?’

Most likely.

This was a fight taking place in a field he could call his specialty.

One that would deal quite a blow not only to this creature, but also to the human beyond it who had summoned it.