Only I Am A Reader

"That should do it."

Only a few more minutes had passed, but Ken was already knocked out on the ground.

For someone who enjoyed the feeling of superiority like Ken, taking away their Special Ability was equal to torturing him for the rest of his life. That being said, Leo made sure to add some pummeling for good measure.

Although he also broke some bones as a finishing touch, Leo made sure they were clean breaks that wouldn't leave permanent damage if treated properly. If he went any further, killing Ken would have been a far more merciful choice.

Naturally, Leo didn't enjoy beating down helpless people. However, he needed to do enough so that a helpless case like Ken could get the message and go the other way.

Leo also wanted to directly spill it out for him, but unfortunately, this wasn't a one-sided play. He couldn't just tell his victims that he was doing all of this to help Aurora, or that he was punishing them for exploiting her.

After all, he still had to put on a whole performance for Aurora herself. Leaving the scammers with a trauma that could only be solved by realizing their mistakes was a more reasonable option in Leo's current situation.

'It was surprisingly easy.'

Of course, having already decided on what he would do, Leo wasn't overly worried about it. Rather, his mind was more occupied by the specifics of the procedure that he did for Ken.

Just by relying on the knowledge he received from reading the novel, Leo expected that taking away an Awakened's Special Ability would be more complicated than crippling a Martial Artist's Dantian, but it was just as simple!

Since everyone was occupied by getting more and more Ability Users and suppressing all opponents through brute force, no one had really gotten into exploring that field of practice.

There was only a single Villain who had specifically researched it and for a good reason. The naturally evil Awakened possessed unrivaled Enigma but an underwhelmingly weak ability.

His case was almost the only one of its kind, but all that eventually led him to discover that someone with superior Enigma could dominate any Ability User as long as they got close enough.

'I will also have to take care of that guy.'

Leo had just tested that part and it was an accurate discovery, very dangerously so.

Normally, an Ability User's Enigma Stone would only turn dim the moment they died, making it impossible to exploit human Awakened for resources.

However, using strong Enigma to invade an Ability User's Enigma Stone seemed capable of mimicking the same results.

'It's like fishing it away.'

Leo wasn't sure if what he experienced was unique to him or Ken, but once his Shadow Enigma slipped in, Ken's Enigma somehow assimilated with his.

When Leo pulled his Enigma back, that additional Enigma followed. Although he didn't end up actually absorbing Ken's ability, he was still able to practically whisk it away from him.

Without any Enigma to sustain the Stone in Ken's chest, it became nothing more than a useless accessory.

'I should start finding my way around here.'

In any case, Leo's fascination with this simple yet cruel process didn't take priority, even disciplining the scammers was only a side task. His true purpose for entering this Gate was to clear it!

Just like Aurora was probably already rushing to finish as many stages as possible, Leo had to do the same from the other end. With true powerhouses working on this consecutive challenge Gate, perhaps the first step toward fixing the ending could be taken!

'Speaking of which…'

In the novel where only 9 entrants had gone in, Aurora ended up being the unpaired one. However, with Leo's addition as a variable, it was very likely that she had a burden stuck to her from the very start. In which case…

'She might be down even further.'

Aurora's initial solo play had given her a head start in the novel before her pace deteriorated once she met a pair of teammates. Now that she started with a slug, her speed might as well be compared to one.

'It doesn't really matter.'

Of course, with Leo in charge, he had no problems finishing all 100 challenges on his own. He just had to be efficient about it, and it all started by clearing the very stage that he was currently in.

Wrapping the unconscious Ken with his Shadow and dragging him along, Leo went ahead to find the challenge's goal.

The current place he was in wasn't as vast as his very first one, but it wasn't a damp, tight cave either. Going through the short tunnel in front of him, Leo found another incomprehensible scratching at its end.

However, once he looked at it…

{ Challenge 8: Kill 10 monsters. }

The same voice that had spoken earlier was now back in Leo's ears, telling him what to do to advance to the next challenge. That was just how systematic this Gate was.

It didn't go as far as to provide something like a player system, and the aura it released at the beginning wasn't that friendly to visitors, but once they stepped it, it gave its visitors a fair chance at clearing it!

After exiting the tunnel, Leo found himself in front of a larger space, one that wasn't so much different from an arena. At the same time, figures rushed out from the other end of it.

Rawrrrr!

'Were… Cheetahs?'

The monsters that appeared in front of Leo weren't as creepy as the deformed gargoyles or the horrifying monstrosity, but they definitely looked peculiar. 𝒃𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝒍．𝒏𝒆𝒕

They looked just like cheetahs, yet had humanoid bodies like a Were-creature. Considering that these challenges were completely random and that this monster hadn't appeared in the novel either, Leo couldn't help wondering who was behind these 'creative' monster designs.

'Well, no matter.'

Without hurting his brain too much, Leo conjured the spear that he wanted to use so much and slayed exactly ten such monsters.

There were still a few more monsters around, but once the portal suddenly appeared in the middle of the arena, Leo collected the corpses using Shadow Pocket before stepping into it.

A speed run was the key to properly clearing this Gate!