Only I Am A Reader

’Not yet.’

Looking at the turmoil on Aurora’s face, Leo felt thankful for Kara’s existence. Without her help, things would have gotten a lot more complicated.

Aurora’s help was the best way to keep the Encroachment rate to a minimum, but knowing when to deploy that help was the key to achieving that goal.

Splatt! Splatt!

That being said, the current state of the battlefield was far from bringing comfort to any of the defenders’ hearts.

Compared to the first wave made up of basic green skins, the second one was far more deadly.

’That’s it for the Nightmares...’

Although Shadow Nightmare was an extremely convenient ability, it wasn’t without flaws.

Depending on the amount of Enigma that Leo was willing to invest, the Nightmares’ creation could only follow one of two paths.

They could either have adequate strength in exchange for being few in numbers or have enough numbers to fill up a small army in exchange for their strength being a lot more moderate.

They could only have one advantage or the other. Of course, if he had to, Leo did indeed have the Ability to create Nightmares that were overwhelming in both numbers and strength. However...

’That would be against the point.’

The cost of doing so would not only leave Leo suffering from Enigma deprivation, but it would require double the amount of the Enigma Crystals that Leo spent making his preparations.

Naturally, since this was merely the prelude to the final battle, Leo had no intention of making such a gambit that would drain his supplies in addition to leaving him weakened for an unknown period of time.

Most unfortunately, the current stage just wasn’t an optimal one for nightmare deployment to begin with.

As one could tell from the name of the Ability, the Shadow Nightmares’ true strength lay in their psychological influence over their prey.

In a fight against actual living beings, that edge was enough to weaken their opponents and freeze them in place.

In certain cases, the Shadow Nightmares could even absorb the resulting negative emotions to increase their strength without the need to up the Enigma expenditure!

Facing the mindless clones that acted on basic instinct, the Shadow Nightmares could only mirror the same state, forcing their strength to remain at the exact basic threshold they were formed with.

However, despite knowing the likely result beforehand, Leo still chose to deploy these basic Shadow Nightmares to avoid a full-blown war of attrition.

Splatt!

Without any suspense, the last oversized Shadow Orc was soon bludgeoned to death, putting a quick end to Leo’s unextraordinary legion of shadows.

While their higher base strength was enough to overcome the numerical advantage that the basic green skins had, the second wave quickly denied their initial slight strength advantage.

Facing a horde of Minotaurs, Werewolves, as well as the green skins’ superiors, the trolls, the Nightmare Legion barely managed to cut down a fifth of the wave before rightfully perishing.

’Well fought.’

Rather than feeling any disappointment, Leo was satisfied with the results.

It might not have been the most efficient use of the Enigma Stones he had, but according to his calculations, it was definitely the most appropriate one!

Now...

"Go on, you have held back enough."

It was time to move on to the second act!

Bang!

Having been looking back and forth between the battlefield and Kara’s face, Aurora was quick to comply when she finally heard the words that she had been awaiting for the last few minutes.

Normally, the new her would be the one making the decisions, but given the turmoil that her emotions were in, she let Kara point out the most appropriate time for her to take action.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Dashing past the translucent barrier and throwing herself into the remainder of the second wave, large explosions of light spread throughout the desolate battlefield, annihilating a third of the monster army almost instantly.

If it wasn’t for the essentially fake nature of these monsters, then just sensing the boiling Enigma being thrown left and right would have been enough for them to flee with everything they had, let alone the terrifying expression on Aurora’s face.

"Try to hold back a little; this is just the appetizer."

Hearing Kara’s follow-up words, the light flashing out of Aurora’s pupils dimmed slightly as she gathered her composure.

A second later, the horrifying flare of her attacks was greatly reduced, but her opponents were being razed all the same.

’I can do this.’

Just now, as a result of suppressing tumultuous emotions and actions alike, Aurora couldn’t stop herself from wantonly releasing her Enigma to vent her frustration.

However, now that the steam accumulating inside of her had been let out, Aurora quickly came to her senses.

In a matter of seconds, the roiling Enigma was instantly reigned in, restrained to the bare minimum that Aurora needed to dispatch the monsters she targeted!

"Way to go!"

While Kara cheered from the side, things weren’t exactly perfect.

In order for Aurora to efficiently use her Enigma, the speed of her annihilating sweep was definitely affected, allowing half of the wave to freely rush towards the castle.

Seeing this, Aurora hesitated slightly, but through the gaps between the monsters, she could see Kara nodding at her, so she turned around and continued doing what she had to do.

’It’s okay!’

It was sad that she had only come to this realization very recently, but at last, Aurora was fully aware.

She didn’t have to do everything by herself!

The power she was granted came with the responsibility of fighting for the sake of the people, but that didn’t mean that this burden was entirely hers!

Regardless of whether it was a companion like Kara or even a mystery card like Leo, others were there to hold the sky alongside her.

If pulling out the puppet strings from her back was the first step to breaking her shackles, then, in parallel, recovering from the wounds they left on her was learning how to share the burden.

Boom!

Just as Aurora came infinitely close to restoring her inner peace, an explosion broke out right in front of the Castle!