Chapter 63: Night of the Hunt
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 63: Night of the Hunt
“Are you going camping or something?”
Katya asked, taking in the gear strapped all over Aiden’s body.
“I’m going hunting.”
To be precise, he planned to head out early and set up camp at the entrance to the Void Zone—the very spot where demonic beasts would pour out first if a raid occurred.
Katya tilted her head. “So you are camping out?”
“…”
Fair enough. Ropes, a tent, a hammer, and iron stakes. These were all supplies he had requested from Grand Duke Aslan, but looking at the assortment, it was easy to see why she made the mistake.
“Well, this is enough.”
And it really was. After all, Aiden’s primary objective wasn’t to kill the beasts.
“Really? Well, if you say so…”
Katya shrugged. Noel, meanwhile, naturally stepped up to Aiden and took some of the heavy supplies from his hands. It was simple courtesy—helping carry a heavy load. She clearly wasn’t trying to make a show of it.
“…”
Watching this in silence, Katya narrowed her eyes. It was the look of someone realizing they’d just been beaten to the punch.
“…Give me some too.”
“Pardon?”
“I said give me some too. I’ll help carry them.”
“No, there’s no need for that—”
Without waiting for Aiden to finish, Katya pouted, marched forward, and snatched a few items from his grasp.
Instantly, her body lurched sideways.
Unlike Noel, Katya had never carried field gear before. She clearly hadn’t anticipated the sheer weight. Stumbling back a few steps, she stomped her foot down hard, barely managing to regain her balance.
Her face flushed bright red.
“Those are pretty heav—”
“Shut up.”
“Just give them back. I’ll carry them.”
“Forget it.”
Watching quietly, Noel covered her mouth with her hand. She was visibly holding back a laugh.
“…Why bother doing something you’re not used to? Just hand them to me. I’ll help Aiden.”
“I said I’m carrying them! Try taking them and I’ll burn you.”
Katya glared furiously. Noel just turned away with a smirk.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Noel spoke up. “By the way, Aiden. Wouldn’t it be better to request some personnel support from the Aslan House?”
The Aslan Grand Ducal House was the premier martial family in the Empire. Whatever Aiden was planning, they surely had people available to assist him.
“No. The three of us are enough,” Aiden stated firmly.
Noel rubbed the bridge of her nose. She clearly suspected he was planning something absurd again.
However, Aiden had a very clear reason for refusing backup. In fact, it was exactly the kind of reason Noel suspected.
How could I possibly let anyone see me farming Affinity from demonic beasts?
He was dead serious.
Aiden’s plan was to rip skills right off the monsters. Given that, his actions would look completely incomprehensible to any ordinary human.
Fortunately, he already had everything he needed. Namely, the two Skill Copy Tickets he had received from Grand Duke Aslan.
— System Message
▶ Copying ‘Skill: Enemy Detection’.
▶ Copying ‘Skill: Instinct of the Iron Man’.
— Skill Info
◆ Enemy Detection
By combining clues and environmental factors related to the target you wish to track, you can deduce information about the desired target. As long as there are traces, it can be used on any target regardless of type.
◆ Instinct of the Iron Man
A human who has survived on the battlefield for a long time possesses quicker situational judgment than anyone else. The closer a critical, life-or-death moment approaches, the faster their reflexes become.
The greatest appeal of stealing someone else’s skill was, of course, the ability to copy supernatural powers that unleashed explosive force in combat. But another massive advantage was the ability to copy “skills built up and internalized through experience.”
For Aiden to learn such techniques on his own, he would have had to spend decades risking his life tussling with demonic beasts. But now that Grand Duke Aslan favored him so highly, he could freely pocket top-tier skills like these.
…In a way, this might be even more helpful than a supernatural ability.
While they lacked grand or flashy effects, they were undeniably powerful tools for strategy and survival.
And in this specific situation…
“Dame Noel, could you follow me for a moment?”
“Pardon?”
“There’s something I need to set up.”
In a situation like this, these skills were bound to be far more useful than any raw firepower.
* * *
“…Dame Noel.”
“Yes.”
“Why have you been staring at me like that for a while now?”
“I’m just thinking that you always seem to enjoy doing peculiar things.”
“…”
He only brought it up because she kept narrowing her eyes and sighing, but honestly, Aiden had no words to refute her.
After all, he was currently performing the highly suspicious act of tying a rope to the edge of a cliff, rappelling down, and hammering iron stakes into the rocky crevices. Explaining the logic behind this was hard enough as it was.
Noel had offered to help a few times, but he had waved her off, insisting he had to do it himself. Naturally, it made it awkward for her to press the issue.
“…”
“…”
In the heavy silence, only the sharp clink of Aiden’s hammer echoed through the air.
However, watching him work, Noel didn’t feel entirely at ease either.
…He always works so hard.
Although she constantly harbored doubts about his “true identity,” the fact remained that until recently, this man had been living the life of an ordinary swindler. Wasn’t he someone whose entire life trajectory had been derailed because she forcibly dragged him along?
Not long ago, she had even met his family. Seeing how deeply they missed him had forced her to repeatedly reflect on her actions.
And yet, she was still digging into his background—actively doing so even now. Aiden never showed any particular reaction to her probing, but every time Noel thought about it, her chest burned with guilt.
“Aiden.”
“Yes, Dame Noel.”
Bringing up such a strange question out of the blue… was an impulsive move, even for her.
“Did you… become unhappy because of me?”
Hearing her serious tone, Aiden paused his hammering.
“…Pardon?”
At his flustered response, Noel suddenly snapped back to her senses and looked down at him over the edge of the cliff.
“…A-Ah, no, please forget I said anything. I just suddenly said something strange—”
“I’m not unhappy.”
Her body froze stiff at his immediate reply.
“…”
“I’m not unhappy, Dame Noel. I consider myself fortunate to have met you.”
“…”
“If I hadn’t, things would have turned out terribly.”
Well.
Unhappy, huh?
There was a time when I thought so.
Not being able to see his family was still a lingering source of discomfort. However, in a world without a protagonist, he was the only one who knew the future. If Noel hadn’t forcibly dragged him into the main scenario, there would have been absolutely no one to stop the apocalyptic events steadily unfolding in the shadows.
In that regard, calling himself fortunate was his sincere, undeniable truth.
“Fortunate…”
“Yes. I think it was fortunate.”
“Fortunate…”
“…Yes. That’s what I said.”
“That, well, fortunate… yes…”
“…”
“Hee… ehe, ehehehe…”
Watching Noel giggle endlessly, repeating the word like a broken record, made him feel a bit dizzy. Aiden let out a sigh and prepared to resume his work—but abruptly stopped.
Seeing him freeze, Noel tilted her head and called down over the cliff. “Aiden? Is something wrong?”
Aiden tilted his head in confusion. “No. I just felt some kind of vibration all of a sudden.”
It was strange. He had thoroughly inspected his equipment before coming out.
“A vibration… you say? I didn’t feel anything at all.”
“It’s probably just my imagination. More importantly, Dame Noel, I’d appreciate it if you could keep a sharp lookout.”
That was the primary reason he had brought her here in the first place.
“Lookout duty… well, I doubt it would be hard to notice a demonic beast approaching.”
“That thing can probably use optical camouflage or something similar.”
“…”
“If it approaches while invisible and strikes a vital spot, anyone would be in danger.”
“…”
At Aiden’s firm warning, Noel fell quiet for a moment. True, she had no experience fighting demonic beasts. Still, even so…
“…Optical camouflage?”
“Yes.”
“…Are you saying it turns invisible?”
“Yes.”
“How could a demonic beast possibly do such a thing? It’s not like they can use supernatural abilities…”
“They aren’t creatures of natural evolution; they were created under the influence of Demonic Energy. Since their existence defies science, trying to measure them by evolutionary standards is impossible in the first place.”
If this demonic beast was an intelligent entity, as Grand Duke Aslan surmised, it was a given that it possessed unimaginable characteristics.
And according to the creature’s ecology—which Aiden had been analyzing on the walk over using his ‘Enemy Detection’ skill—the system had already concluded there was a high probability of invisibility. This deduction was based on examining several carcasses of lesser demonic beasts that had been “hunted” without ever realizing a predator was approaching.
Aiden slightly turned his head to look at the ‘Enemy Detection’ panel, which hovered like a small appendage next to the main System Window.
…Speaking of this skill.
It was proving far more useful than he’d expected. Analyzing the surrounding environment in real-time, gathering clues, and synthesizing information—it felt like having an exceptionally brilliant private detective whispering in his ear.
As these thoughts crossed his mind, Aiden frowned. The rope was trembling again.
What was going on? Had he really messed up his equipment inspection? There didn’t seem to be any defects in the material…
“It’s expected to be quite large, but it still gives off several signals. If we utilize its characteristics, spotting it isn’t entirely impossible.”
“Signals… you say?”
“The primary example would be echolocation. Some creatures pinpoint a target’s location not through sight, but through vibrations in the air. Think of bats, and it’s easy to understand.”
“Aiden.” Noel’s voice was filled with disbelief. “How do you know all of these things?”
“…”
“…I studied hard.”
He said that, but it was entirely thanks to the skill. Even while standing perfectly still, information about the demonic beast likely roaming nearby streamed into his mind in real-time, all courtesy of Enemy Detection.
In truth, he didn’t even know what echolocation was. He was merely reciting the sentences appearing on the System Window to Noel like a parrot.
So there are creatures in the world that detect objects through vibration.
If anything, his general knowledge had just expanded. Knowledge spoon-fed to him by the System Window…
And as he digested that fact…
His hands froze.
Seeing the rope securing him tremble unnaturally, his expression hardened. This time, a piece of scientific knowledge he already knew—without the System Window needing to tell him—flashed through his mind.
When cold air and warm air meet, sound refracts toward the cold air. That’s why during the day, when the sun is up and the ground is warm, sound dissipates upward. Conversely, at night, sound stays low to the ground.
It was currently night.
Which meant that if any vibration existed, Aiden—hanging down the cliff face—would feel it far more sensitively than Noel up top.
Glancing slightly at the System Window… the speed at which the target’s ‘information’ updated via the Enemy Detection skill was terrifying. It was noticeably faster than before.
“…”
A chilling hypothesis rapidly surfaced in his mind. To confirm it, he asked a question in a trembling voice—a question based on one of the sentences currently flashing on the System Window.
“…Say, Dame Noel.”
“Yes?”
“By any chance, do you see something like a white powder right now?”
“How did you know? It keeps falling near me right now.”
A chill that felt as though his very blood was freezing over surged through Aiden’s veins.
He quickly looked around. The vibrations running down the rope were growing increasingly intense. If that was the case…
“Dame Noel. There is something I must tell you.”
At his suddenly grave demeanor, Noel tilted her head and looked down at him. “…Aiden? What’s going on all of a sudden…?”
“Actually, there’s another characteristic.”
Drawing a knife from his waist, he carefully scanned the structure of the rope with his eyes. He was looking for a way. A way for both him and Noel to survive and get out alive.
“It has something like an attack signal. Especially in the case of the bastard I just mentioned.”
“An attack signal… you say?”
Aiden took a deep breath and raised the knife.
…Ah.
A heavy sigh involuntarily escaped his lips. Because right now, he had to do something he thought he would never have to do in his entire life.
“In the case of the creature I’ve been talking about, whenever it prepares to hunt someone, a white, dust-like powder sheds from its body.”
“…What?”
“Meaning.”
One second. Noel’s brain comprehended the meaning of the sentence.
Two seconds. She tilted her head, her expression scrunching as if three question marks were embedded between her brows.
Three seconds. Her face turned dead pale.
Four seconds.
“Jump. Right now.”
The moment those words left his mouth—
ROOOOOOOAR!
A deafening roar that seemed to tear the entire forest apart burst forth from above the cliff.