Only I Am A Reader

The 79th stage was as calm as every other. At the very least, Leo was able to confirm that it wasn't a maze stage.

Whether he met his prey or not, this Gate was bound to end soon. Only 3 more if the number had stayed the same.

Had Leo actually chosen to dispose of one or two members beforehand, the number alone would have surpassed the requirement.

However, considering that the challenges would get more complicated, this current situation was still the most optimal. Leo didn't want to try the hybrid mazes that appeared in the .

[ Challenge 48: Kill all monsters. ]

'An annihilation challenge.'

Despite the abundance of monster-hunting challenges, this kind of challenge was something that Leo had only encountered twice so far.

Rather than being rare for its difficulty like the maze, this challenge was rare for being too easy. Compared to indiscriminate killing, specific hunting challenges cost more time and energy.

That was especially the case for Leo who could just let the Shadow Nightmares go wild and finish the job. Nonetheless, he didn't immediately do so just yet.

'Almost only 20 more challenges are left, so I have to be careful.'

In short, the chances of falling onto a stage that was already occupied by other challengers were very high. Leo didn't have any expectations, but he was being careful just in case. He could afford to do so considering his crazy clearing speed.

'Let's see.'

Once Leo stepped into the open area, he did another deep scan after releasing a small stream of Enigma. He was trying to act as bait to suss out the monsters' locations.

'No way…'

The abundant monster movement showed that the Gate wasn't near being cleared. However, unlike the majority of the active shadows, there were two that showed little to no movement!

'Was this why I ended up in that maze?'

Once he focused on them, Leo could already sense a familiar Enigma Signal, but just in case, he started moving towards them while keeping his disguise.

Woosh!

However, before Leo grew close enough to completely confirm his suspicion, he was met by an arrow flying towards his face!

Swish!

In response, Leo unsheathed his sword. The shining light barely manifested as he struck the arrow down before it dissipated into nothingness.

Further confirmation was no longer needed, this energy arrow could only be produced by one person.

'So the ranger is here.'

Although Aurora's team was mostly composed of girls, there was another man in the team aside from Ken. He was yet another member like Miyu who wasn't completely useless.

If anything, the Imaginary Archer actually had some fame before he joined the team.

'Did they decide to mindlessly attack anyone?'

Nevertheless, none of that mattered to Leo. What he was really interested in was this pair's approach to surviving this Gate.

Considering that they had yet to clear this challenge despite being clearly capable of doing so, they had to have either a smart plan or a very dumb one.

In any case, Leo wasn't planning to take the attack lying down. He had to quickly respond unless he wanted to appear more suspicious than he already was.

Thud!

Taking quick strides in the pair's direction, he took a deep breath before announcing his arrival.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

As a warrior of justice, he had to feel extremely indignant about the attempt that was made on his life.

'A little trick that I learned from the Martial Artists of the Just Path.'

"Oh, it's you?"

A man standing in a bow-drawing stance maintained his form as he looked at Leo in surprise. From the looks of it, he wasn't actually stupid enough to target the rest of the team, he just didn't expect anyone else to arrive here.

'If so, then what are they waiting for?'

"Sorry, my arrows were set to get rid of anything with a heartbeat, I thought you were another monster."

The archer's handsome smile shined as he scratched the back of his head. He truly seemed to be oblivious to the matter

The others were acting on the assumption that the Aurora Bus would reach them eventually, but for some reason, this pair was just camping it out with no end in sight.

'Don't tell me… Are they waiting for the full clear?'

From the looks of it, they were hoping for an even more lazy carry!

Not to mention absolute trust in Aurora, this was an attitude that only someone who knew the future like Leo could adopt.

Of course, Leo didn't pay that thought any heed. Instead, he had a guess as to who the Imaginary Archer's partner was.

"Eh, it seems like people can really move between areas."

'As expected.'

The one who spoke from the side was none other than the brown-haired girl, Jane. Not only was she the laziest person on the team, but aside from Aurora, her ability was also the most unique.

'The lazy cheat.'

By seeking a specific location or object, she could receive hints regarding her surroundings or the object itself.

Although that didn't sound very self-explanatory, her ability description was just as blurry in the .

The ability sounded like the foundation of a cheat character, but thanks to Jane's lazy nature, she didn't use it much once she joined Aurora's team. Though related to it, her combat method didn't rely on the ability itself.

"Did you already clear one of these?"

Since a proper explanation was given, Leo sheathed his sword and calmed his expression before questioning the source of Jane's information.

After all, during the introduction, only Jane's combat skills were mentioned.

"Well… Something like that. It looks like you already tried more than once."

Despite actually exerting the effort to use her ability in this special Gate, all that Jane needed to know before going into lazy mode was that she could leave without doing anything.

"Ah, yes. Why didn't you get rid of the remaining monsters though?"

"I don't know, just because? It doesn't really matter. Rather, why don't you join us and get some rest instead?"