Only I Am A Reader

’Is this payback?’

Finding herself completely ignored by Leo, Aurora took a second to remember their latest interaction.

Back then, Leo was the one being friendly while she was the one glaring with hate, shock, and eventually confusion.

Of course, at that time, all of his words sounded like pure mockery, so such a reaction was only natural; in fact, it was rather tame, if anything.

However, now that she was the one being ignored, Aurora didn’t think that was the case anymore.

Sure, she was actually trying to help him, but at this point in time, Aurora did understand that he had already helped her back then.

’This feels uncomfortable...’

That being said, Aurora didn’t really think that Leo was actually petty enough to initiate this kind of meaningless punishment.

Still, the lack of response filled her with a hint of sadness coupled with a smidge of guilt that she felt upon reflecting on their past encounter.

’Regardless...’

Acknowledged or not, seeing the green tide rushing towards the castle, Aurora knew that she had to act in one way or another.

’I need to do something.’

It wasn’t as fancy as Leo’s ’teleportation’, but it only took Aurora a few super steps to reach the foot of the castle.

However, before she could even think about her next move...

"I don’t think we should act just yet."

Seeing the familiar hand resting on her shoulder, Aurora slightly tilted her head in confusion.

"He was already here earlier than us, that much is obvious. Most importantly, it looks like he has already made enough preparations to deal with this wave."

As soon as Kara laid out her reason, she didn’t even have to make her point; an army of oversized Shadows had already clashed with the green tide, causing Aurora’s tense body to instinctively enter a relaxed state.

"I’m just guessing here, but he probably got some kind of hint as the first one to arrive. The reason he didn’t seem keen on accepting our help is that there are likely more waves like this to come."

The words sounded so reasonable to Aurora that she didn’t even feel like questioning anything.

After all, the green skins represented only the monsters on the first thirty levels of the Multiversal Arena of Ascension.

Coupled with the announcement emphasising that this was the ’first’ encroachment wave, Aurora had already understood the situation with some certainty.

The only reason it took her this long to understand everything was the fact that her most recent battle had kept her on a high level of stress.

Her emotional state wasn’t helping with much either.

"Whether he likes it or not, we definitely do have to do something, but since none of us have infinite reserves, we should save it for later."

That being said, it wasn’t like Kara was really being quick on the uptake either; she was simply speaking based on the facts that Leo had already explained to her.

He had every intention of accepting their help, but being fully aware of the main structure of this Trial, a nuclear cannon like Aurora could not be wasted on the easiest and simplest first wave.

"Yeah."

Although she always acted like she had enough juice to go on forever, Aurora’s Enigma Reserves weren’t actually limitless.

The Light Ability itself could tap into a seemingly endless supply, but even if it was strengthened by her continuous use of Light Enigma, Aurora’s body could only handle so much.

Every single instance where she pushed herself would undoubtedly leave cracks on her vessel.

It was precisely because there were far too many such cracks that Aurora was quick to crumble when she came face to face with the invading terror.

’Can’t have her falling apart this early.’

Even back at the White Gate, Aurora’s long-lasting performance was only possible because she pushed herself enough to handle the entire thing on her own.

Having come to this conclusion with Leo based on the observations she reported to him, Kara was quick to help back then so she could minimize the amount of damage that Aurora’s vessel would sustain.

Similarly, the Thorn Sisters that thoroughly hastened this crumbling process in the original novel couldn’t be left to their own devices.

So, naturally, Leo’s instructions were clear for Kara. She couldn’t let Aurora overexert herself under any circumstances.

The Encroachment rate might be important, but it wasn’t the target of Leo’s main quest; saving Aurora was.

No matter how many causes of Aurora’s crumbling had been neutralized, a single instant of mishandling could be disastrous.

That was just how potent Aurora’s Light was!

’As expected of Master.’

Even as she played the role of a helpful friend, Kara’s starry eyes couldn’t stop sparkling.

Anyone else would have questioned Leo’s ability to speak of future events, but not Kara.

Whatever her Master claimed to be the truth had to be the truth; that was something she took for granted.

Even then, now that she was slowly witnessing everything he talked about become part of her bona fide reality, her skin was tingling, almost glowing from excitement.

Truly, such a glorious person didn’t become her Master for no reason; their small ’worlds’ were merely insignificant pieces on his chessboard.

"Here it comes."

While both young girls were lost in their own thoughts, the green tide was already wiped clean, restoring the white canvas of the battlefield. However...

{ Second Encroachment wave is being deployed! }

Colors stained the battlefield almost instantly after everything was cleared. This time, the shades weren’t the only thing that was different.

For the second wave, it was a mix of light brown and ash gray, accompanied by a reminiscent light green.

Additionally, the sizes were a lot different. The average combatant of this new wave was at least double the size of his first wave counterpart.

Splatt!

Immediately, the wave came face-to-face with the remnants of Leo’s Shadow Corp.

Unfortunately however...

Splatt! Splatt!

Their conquest wasn’t as smooth; their enemies was falling, but more shadows were being blown into smithereens in response!

’As expected.’

The first wave might have been a walk in the park, but right from the next one, the defensive war’s difficulty experienced an abnormal spike!