Only I Am A Reader

In return for having to put in more effort to deprive her, Miyu\'s expression was the worst one so far. Clara looked pained, but Miyu looked like she was watching her soul being pulled out of her.

Considering that she was the team\'s worst, Leo initially planned to keep her conscious during the bone alteration process.

However, she immediately passed out as soon as the process was complete, so Leo decided to spare her the additional pain. After all…

\'She should be helpful in her own ways.\'

Although he didn\'t necessarily need her to tell his story, Miyu\'s statement would do well to solidify the fake image that he was designing.

Besides, if she had indeed understood his false intentions, then he wouldn\'t have to worry about her grudge at all.

Since Cassian was too much of a target for her, Miyu was likely going to pour all her hatred on Aurora. Justifying these sentiments by claiming that grabbing the attention of a big-time Villain was her fault. Did she really have to be such a goody two shoes?

\'Not that she would be able to do much anyway.\'

Of course, her hatred could no longer do anything after the modifications that Leo did for her. If Miyu or any of his other targets were actually smart, then they would take that chance to spend the wealth that they scammed and find a peaceful place to retire.

\'Though that also would be short-lived if I don\'t get this over with as soon as possible.\'

The scammers only thought of Aurora as a gullible but trustworthy person, unlike Leo, they didn\'t know she was their world\'s protagonist.

Their blatant sabotage might have earned them a ton of money and kept them perfectly safe. In reality, however, their world was on the brink of crumbling if Aurora truly gave up her job.

…And how this Gate ended decided how much of a big step this world would take towards its own destruction.

\'Let\'s get this done with.\'

After adding one more cocoon to the group, Leo went back for Alice. Just from the situation, she had also fainted. It looked like the team\'s nicest scammer was also the one who had the faintest of hearts.

Just as he internally promised, Leo only went ahead and deprived her of her minor healing ability. He wasn\'t met with any resistance this time either, so unless Awakened with offensive abilities were different, it was likely that Miyu\'s ability was a special case.

\'It\'s going to be tight, but maybe I will be able to get the other two.\'

With four already in his grasp, Leo\'s inner perfectionist was awakened. His desire for completion was reignited!

The one who accompanied Aurora from the start was untouchable for the moment. The chance to encounter him or her was as good as the other pair, but Leo didn\'t want to meet him any quicker.

\'The timing would be wrong.\'

Although he could still handle Aurora, his show would be partially ruined unless he met her in the very final stage. If he had to choose between meeting both teams before the end of the 100 challenge marathon or not meeting any of them until the end…

\'I would rather not meet anyone.\'

That being said, Leo still hoped to get the last pair packaged and ready to make the final show as impeccable as it could be.

\'Maybe…\'

Stepping into the portal, Leo held his hopes high. Perhaps he could meet the last pair immediately?

\'...Or not.\'

Unfortunately, the 78th challenge was a complete disappointment. Leo wasn\'t sure if this was to balance the fact that he just managed to capture two more targets, but he ended up in yet another maze.

Although this one appeared to be smaller and slightly different in style from Leo\'s initial analysis, it was still the same time-sinker that he encountered not too long ago.

\'Well, this is alright.\'

Although the novel showed what happened when one reached the final stage too late, it didn\'t exactly pinpoint how early one had to be for the best results.

Compared to Aurora who took almost two weeks in the novel, Leo believed that he was doing a great job. Not even two days had passed yet.

Rather than being tricked into slowing down, Leo was forced to slack.

\'If she knew this Gate\'s identity, she would have probably picked up the slack as well.\'

Naturally, it was unfair to compare a reader to a protagonist who is confined to the plot, but what irritated Leo a little bit was Aurora\'s faulty responses… Though, in a way, that was also forced onto her.

\'Let\'s not mix things up.\'

Was it because he focused on hunting Geochin for so long? Leo felt that he might have developed negative emotions towards protagonists in general.

Back when his life was confined to the boring reality, Leo always hoped to achieve deeper and deeper immersion. However, now that he had gone far beyond that line, too much immersion had almost made him forget a reader\'s objectivity.

\'I need to rethink.\'

While sitting down and waiting for the Shadow Nightmare to finish the maze, Leo decided to re-examine the situation once again and try to maintain both perspectives.

Whether his task was to kill or save the protagonist, he had to be able to look at the situation as a character as well as a reader. His Role was the ultimate decider, but he had to have his own opinion as well.

"Good job."

As a repeat process with a smaller stage, the 78th challenge was done fairly quickly. In fact, Leo was barely out of his deep-thinking whirlwind by the time the Shadow Nightmare came back.

Since having any kind of expectation seemed to backfire, Leo entered the portal with a neutral expression. He was going to deal with whatever came his way.

Nonetheless, the result was still the same, his un-expectations were also broken.

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

A second maze was indeed one of the worst outcomes he could get, but in return, it was actually sandwiched by two target pairs!