I Reincarnated as a Support Character with an S-Rank Harem, So What?

The translucent system window blinked right in front of Ryan’s eyes, updating his interface immediately at the exact instant he stopped the Abyssal demon’s strike.

[You have unlocked a new Unique Skill for the class: Templar]

[Mana Fortress]

[Description: Creates a temporary mana shield around the user that absorbs all incoming physical and magical damage. The total resistance of the shield depends directly on the amount of the user’s Psyche stat.]

’How interesting.’ Ryan thought, scanning the blue text at a superhuman speed while he was still holding onto the demon’s fist.

’In other words, it would be a magical barrier.’

”I suspected something like this would happen,” Ryan muttered to himself in a low voice, using an analytical tone.

”Are you underestimating me, you damn human scum?!” The Abyssal roared, his face twisting with fury upon feeling humiliated by his opponent’s lazy attitude.

The demon probably thought the human was talking about him, referring to how predictable or weak his attack was, but Ryan had actually commented on it alluding to the mechanics of his new class.

It was logical, because when he obtained the Templar rank, several locked skills were revealed.

The system would grant him an ultimate skill sooner or later.

”Of course not,” Ryan pronounced, suddenly letting go of the Abyssal’s fist.

Freed from the grip, Badilus threw his body backward in a quick and evasive leap to reposition himself.

But just while the demon was in mid-air, mere centimeters away from touching the ground to stabilize himself.

”Debt Collapse,” Ryan pronounced with a frigid voice.

An overwhelming and invisible compressive force fell upon the Abyssal demon’s mind. Badilus, unable to bear the sudden weight of that skill’s burden.

Fell abruptly, bending his knees until he crashed against the black stone floor, letting out a muffled groan as he tried to support himself with both hands so as not to kiss the ground.

But the effect was not limited to a single target. The area of impact had expanded drastically.

The invisible shockwave of pressure reached the position where the Infernal twins were standing. Having stats far inferior to those of an Abyssal, they could not resist for even a second.

Both of them collapsed face-first onto the ground in a spectacular fashion, ending up completely crushed against the red carpet, complaining and letting out grunts of pain from the sheer force, although neither of them lost consciousness.

Even the second Abyssal and the other two Infernals who until now had remained in neutral positions near the stairs, took a step forward, deeply disturbed by the anomaly.

The Abyssal guarding the staircase changed his arrogant expression to one of total alert, as if he finally recognized that Ryan was a genuine danger.

Immediately, he took a couple of steps closer toward the throne, interposing himself in the line of sight to protect his queen.

Ryan glanced out of the corner of his eye at the twins who were trying to breathe on the floor, evaluating the collateral damage of his skill.

’As expected after breaking the limit to the SS rank, these hidden debt skills have become much more powerful and their area of effect is far more unstable.’ Ryan analyzed, keeping his posture entirely intact.

’Even though I am glad to have tested the power in a real environment, I think I went a bit overboard by unnecessarily involving the other demons in the blast radius.’

He raised his gaze and looked directly at Ophelia.

The Demon Queen remained in her exact spot, keeping the same bored and elegant posture. Her face did not show any alteration or trace of discomfort from the pressure filling the room.

This was probably due to her immense mana reserve, but also to the fact that Ryan had already used that very same skill against her in the past, inside the sky dungeon.

Although back then, when Ryan was barely an S-rank, the collapse effect was the equivalent of a simple and passing migraine to her.

’I am sure that Ophelia and her elite guard will plan a countermeasure now that they know the scale of my skills. I must make sure that the next time I use this skill, it is solely and exclusively against enemies that I will not leave alive.’

After the duration of the Debt Collapse’s effect ended abruptly.

The pressure disappeared from the hall. The Infernal twins took a huge gulp of air and stumbled back to their feet, nervously dusting off their clothes.

”What the hell was that?!” The male twin exclaimed, bringing a hand to his chest. ”I felt as if I were cursed a thousand times all at once.”

”Me too, brother. That was very strange and oppressive... Could it be our lady punishing us?” The female twin asked, looking toward the throne with fear.

”No, idiot, it must have been the work of that human’s magic,” he replied, pointing a finger toward the elite demon. ”Just look at how he is doing.”

Badilus, the powerful Abyssal, was slowly getting back on his feet. His breathing was heavy, and a thick drop of cold sweat ran down his temple.

The humiliation of having been forced to kneel in front of his queen was completely consuming him.

”Yeah, yeah... I told you, Badilus is going to lose this fight at the end of the day,” the twin murmured, recovering a bit of her mocking attitude to hide her shock.

The Abyssal heard the mockery and his face contorted into a mask of pure murderous fury. He became even more pissed off, but this time, his pride yielded to the reality of the threat.

”Fine... I admit it.” Badilus pronounced, his voice becoming deeper and more guttural.

”You have quite interesting and annoying tricks, damn human. I cannot defeat you with my bare hands. So... prepare yourself.”

The Abyssal demon raised his right hand and made a sharp movement with his pinky finger. The dark silver ring he was wearing, a rare spatial artifact, suddenly glowed with an intense violet light.

As if the very fabric of reality were tearing apart, a small black hole the size of an arm opened up, floating right in front of his chest.

Badilus stuck his hand into the spatial distortion and pulled on something heavy. He pulled out an enormous and lethal war staff forged from dark metal, possessing a highly intricate shape, which culminated in an immense purple gem embedded at the tip that throbbed with demonic energy.

Badilus struck the base of the staff against the floor, echoing throughout the entire hall, and a dense magical mist began to surround his body.

”Now I will get serious.” The demon sentenced, pointing the weapon straight at Ryan.