Only I Am A Reader

’Don’t look.’

Even as she continuously fought one Dragonoid after the other, all while keeping the rest attached to her, Aurora somehow still had the mental space to feel anxious about the situation on the frontline.

’I can’t look.’

Yet, she simply couldn’t afford to look back. While her brain was managing quite a few things together while doing her part, the moment she received any distracting shock, the delicate balance Aurora was keeping would immediately crumble!

’I needn’t look.’

Most importantly, she had received a promise that things would be fine, trusting that promise meant that she couldn’t even open any window for doubt; only then would the trust be mutual.

She might not have promised to do so, but Aurora concluded that Leo and Kara trusted her not to mess things up on her end; just the simple act of looking back was no different than losing faith in them, regardless of the consequences.

’I can reciprocate the trust, most definitely!’

By now, the Dragonoids she was dragging around had already been cut by half, and as such, their elimination process only kept getting easier and easier.

Rather than agonize over this, all that Aurora had to do was to efficiently eliminate these Dragonoids as soon as possible, and she would be able to turn around without any repercussions!

However...

Shiiing.

’No way!’

Just when she had used over a hundred miniature light punches to turn the internals of the fifth-to-last Dragonoid into mush, a bright light exploded out from the back.

’Really?! You couldn’t just wait one more minute?!’

The rebellious and irritable portion of Aurora’s mind was on fire. She was almost done! Why did this kind of explosive action have to take place just a little bit too early?!

’Screw it.’

At this point, there was no way that Aurora could possibly ignore what was happening and focus on the task at hand.

She had to look back!

’but first...’

Having saved her Enigma when dealing with the majority of the Dragonoids, after a quick mental calculation, Aurora simply decided to speedrun the process of dealing with the last four.

Splatt!

After all, no matter whether this change was a positive or a negative outcome, Aurora had no intention of throwing more variables into the chaos; these Dragonoids just had to go down way faster.

Splatt! Splatt! Splatt!

In a matter of seconds, Aurora’s blazing arms went through the four Dragonoids ’ chests and out the back, successfully extracting their beating hearts before popping them like balloons.

’Done.’

Casually forgiving herself for the little extra Enigma expenditure, Aurora turned around as she shook her arm with enough force to get rid of the blood.

’Whoa.’

Upon seeing Kara in all her starry glory, Aurora was genuinely flabbergasted.

This level of force and scope was unlike anything that Kara had shown in their prior Special Gate conquests; she appeared to be undergoing some sort of ascension!

Of course, it could have been that Kara had purposely hidden the limits of her Ability until now, but given how haphazard this overflowing release had been, this was quite likely a very special occasion linked to the nature of Kara’s Ability.

’It’s hard to believe she had this much hidden within her.’

Unlike Leo, who was still on the move in the midst of the starworks, Aurora stood in place, taking the scene in with zeal.

The number of enemy units was going down, and the castle was more secure than ever thanks to the strengthened starry curtain. This was quite the fascinating show to watch!

’As expected...’

Given that Aurora herself had experienced something quite similar recently, she didn’t feel the slightest bit doubtful.

Instead, she felt an even closer connection to Kara through this shared occurrence. This couldn’t have been a coincidence; they were truly meant to be peers, perhaps even actual friends!

’Oh, it’s going down... Wait, really?’

Feeling the Enigma signal of Kara being relatively stable, Aurora was somehow amazed a second time.

No matter how temporary it was, this free Enigma coupon was a phenomenal power-up!

"Way to go, Star!"

Knowing that she could no longer afford to stand still, Aurora launched herself back to the frontlines, stealing the final Dragonoid kill from Leo.

’Smells like a slacker.’

Although he had been mostly focused on Kara’s Star Burst and his very own task, Leo could have sworn that he caught Aurora enjoying the show at the tip of his eyes.

Even the diligent protagonist had her own slacking moments!

’You are on time anyway.’

"You handle the bats uptop, the hounds are mine."

While accidentally learning about Kara’s cheat buff was a pleasant surprise, the plan was still practically the same.

While her additional help made things go a bit faster, the third wave had to end as soon as possible with the lowest losses, and now that Aurora was back as an active player, things could go a lot easier.

"...Got it."

Aurora originally felt like she had a lot to say and more to discuss, but upon hearing Leo’s suggestion, she took a couple of steps back before raising both arms high toward the sky.

As light leaked out of her shining eyes, Aurora opened her palms next to each other as a flash of light was instantly sent out.

Thud!

Not waiting to see the results of her hand gestures, her arms only moved ever so slightly as three more flashes passed by. As a result...

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Four ’batmen’ immediately started dropping down at breakneck speed. However, the stunned state they were in didn’t last long, allowing them to barely break down their fall at the cost of damaging their wings... Just in time for Aurora’s follow-up!

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack...

Receiving Aurora’s hail of fists without any form of preparation, the first unfortunate vampire burst into a bubble of light, getting eliminated in a matter of seconds!

’Needs some fine-tuning.’

Using the same tactic she utilized with the Dragonoids, the light shining from Aurora’s fist dimmed down as she turned to her next target, all while still sending out a few sparks to harass the other two fallen vampires.

’Well done.’

Seeing Aurora adapting quicker to the battlefield situation, a subtle smile appeared on Leo’s face as he did his own thing.

Just as any reader would expect, receiving help from almost any protagonist was undeniably a great boon!