Only I Am A Reader
chapter-499

'Perfect.'

Seeing the half-transparent bubble being popped open, Leo smiled. His acting efforts had been rewarded with the convenience he sought.

The Impenetrable Bubble might have seemed invincible, but standing next to Leo's ability, it was nothing but a paper sheet.

Although Clara's ability was capable of blocking Enigma-powered attacks just like physical ones, it wasn't capable of isolating Enigma itself from entering, not when it had yet to transform into any kind of energy.

Naturally, Leo's ever-present Shadow Enigma could easily sneak in and utilize all his ability on her shadow.

'This makes things simple.'

The reason why Leo hadn't already attempted that was the fact that he had a much easier option, just as proven by the unprotected Clara in front of him.

If he had used Clara's shadow to knock her out, there was still a chance that her bubble wouldn't come off unless she ordered it to, and while Leo had more than a few ideas to solve that problem, it just wasn't worth trying unless the easier option failed.

After all, in order to perform a precise procedure like removing an Ability User's ability, Leo had to come into direct contact with the Enigma Stone, he couldn't do it from a distance.

There were also the options of wrapping the bubble with his shadow and dragging it along next to Ken, or even breaking it open using consecutive strong attacks.

'Being surrounded by infinite darkness might have broken her fast, but it still wouldn't be faster than this.'

In the end, however, Leo still preferred using his brain to deal with situations like this. It was the one tool he could depend on to come on top when he didn't have the leisure of being overpowered.

'Can't let this round spoil me rotten.'

The more he went through, the more advantages that Leo would have in his adventures, but he couldn't guarantee that he would have access to proper force that soon. If anything, his very first adventure was a great proof of that.

"What should we do now? Do we keep moving forward or do you want to get some rest to recover your strength?"

The portal to the next challenge had already opened the moment Leo had bisected the lion-faced monster. However, Leo had used his Shadow to hide it from Clara's sight.

In her eyes and mind, this was still one large Gate with Aurora and the rest spread around it. Just like Leo had managed to appear before her eyes, they just had to keep walking and they would eventually meet Aurora.

Once they were finally reunited, there would be no more things to worry about. Of course, having to explain what happened to the porter gave Clara a headache once she realized what Aurora would say, but anything was better than dying here!

"What else? You are coming with me, of course. I just need to do one little thing before we go."

Now that the turtle had left her shell, Leo had no reason to keep up the act. Just like the case with Ken, he didn't feel like he would be able to teach Clara a verbal lesson either, so what was left to be done wasn't much.

Clara just started getting relaxed, but before she could lose the stress that spread all over her body, a sense of foreboding rose in her heart as soon as Leo's tone changed.

She stepped backward and even attempted to release her bubble out of instinct. Unfortunately, her legs were already held in place by the tendrils that rose from her shadow, and she had just rendered her ability useless by canceling it.

'Just how did I trust him so fast?'

Receiving Leo's deep stare as he gripped her Enigma Stone, Clara's heart fell into her legs. Now that she looked at the last few minutes of her life, she felt incredibly stupid.

She thought she was smart by using the porter as a scapegoat, but she earned nothing by doing that. To make it worse, she messed up her priorities!

Even though he was a total stranger, Clara immediately trusted her savior and left her fate in his hands. All just because he was strong enough.

She wanted to blame it all on being emotionally unstable and under stress, but it was too late for that.

"Don't worry, I don't plan to do anything disrespectful."

Due to the Enigma Stone's position, Leo understood that he might have given a completely different impression. As such, he chose to reveal Cassian's face once more, something that generated simple primal fear!

"Ah-"

Clara was suddenly hit by realization. However, just as thoughts started to revolve in her head, she suddenly felt empty inside. A sense of loss completely overcame her as her mind automatically started to break down.

"Wha- What did you do?!"

A scream erupted from Clara's mouth. It came from very deep down as if she was trying to destroy her vocal cords, but Leo wasn't going to take any of that.

Tak!

"Shhhh. Just take a little nap and everything will be alright very soon."

He simply delivered a light blow to the back of her neck, rendering her unconscious. As a Martial Artist, knowing where to strike and the correct amount of force to use was very simple for Leo.

Of course, before he wrapped her up to go, he applied the same bone alterations that he did for Ken. Both of them were bad people and none of them deserved different treatment.

'Thankfully, there are only five more to go.'

As upsetting as it was for the porter to have ended like that, it did mean that Leo had almost contained half the team. Aside from Aurora's partner, only a couple more pairs were left!

'Dealing with the last one might be a bit tricky.'

That being said, Leo's main task was still clearing the challenges. Getting rid of the obstacles early on was good, but he was barely over a tenth of the way. He had yet to offset the number of challenges that he added!

'Let's go a bit faster.'

With hope that his next human encounter wouldn't be this soon, Leo walked into the disguised portal with determination. This speedrun needed a boost.