Only I Am A Reader-Chapter 543: Shadow Cleansing

'It hurts!'

The young boy wanted to scream as he continued squeezing out every drop of Enigma he had as soon as it recovered. However, he held back in fear of punishment.

The crazy man who kidnapped him wasn't a fan of physical punishment, but his alternative methods were just as bad, if not worse.

Food deprivation was merely the tip of the iceberg. The young boy had once tried to strike out even at the cost of food, but that day, he didn't sleep a wink as the disheveled man forced a pair of headphones into his ears, streaming loud music that blew the sleep away.

'Mom, dad… Anyone, just do something!'

Ever since that day, the young boy's will to resist was completely drained. The only thing he could do every day as his body protested was pray for help.

Today, he also thought that things would end as usual, with him suffering to the end before silently crying himself to sleep. However, the answer to his prayer came sooner than expected.

"What about the very same Cassian that you spoke of?"

'Eh?'

The young boy didn't dare stop. Still, his eyes couldn't resist turning to look in the sudden voice's direction, but other than a very blurry image, he couldn't see anything.

"C-Cassian?"

The kidnapper could obviously see something, he even started conversing with this invisible ghost. The more the boy heard, the more hope he lost.

For a second, he thought that some kind of secret Hero had come to save him, but the disheveled man spoke as if he was recruiting the ghost. Considering how 'convincing' the evil man could be…

'I was the wrong one for getting my hopes up.'

"I'm sorry, this will be over soon."

However, against his most recent expectations, the invisible ghost stepped forward, revealing his jet-black outfit. Rather than being convinced, he completely ignored the evil man and nodded in the kids' direction.

'M-me?'

The boy's hope was reignited just by looking into the man's cold eyes, he couldn't help anticipating what cool ability he would use to take the villain down, but right in front of his eyes, the disheveled man just collapsed into the ghost's grasp!

'...'

The boy was so surprised that even his thoughts blanked out. This was…

'Cool!'

Seeing something magical was great, but defeating an enemy without even touching them was something the kind only read about in comic books. It was like he was meeting the Superhero of superheroes!

[ Plot Change confirmed. Unique Event occurrence has been detected. ]

[ You have hunted down an important Plot Villain. ]

[ You have received 499 Reading Points. ]

[ Repeatable Quest Bonus applied, you have received an additional 499 Reading Points. ]

'Not bad.'

Considering that all the trouble that he went through was tracking the guy rather than defeating him, Leo didn't really mind receiving any amount of Reading Points.

For this guy specifically, stopping him was worth more than the Villain Hunt reward. Especially since Leo had plenty of other targets that he could squeeze for points.

'Well…'

After storing the dead body, Leo now had to deal with the aftermath. With just the snap of his finger, he could deal with almost everything, but kidnapped kids were one of the few things excluded from this 'everything'.

"Are you okay?"

Leo turned to the kids with a calm expression, but there was a hint of worry in his heart. He hit the guy's most lethal point and ended the guy instantly for their sake. However, he wasn't exactly sure how to handle them.

'I should probably consider making a fake Hero ID.'

It was one of these moments where starting as a Hero would have been much more convenient. In the novel, Aurora was easily able to borrow the help of the authorities to return the boy to his family. As for the little girl…

'This is the one she took home, right?'

Considering that the Ability Eraser could have been replacing subjects with similar abilities, Leo wasn't as sure about the girl who appeared a lot around Aurora in the latter parts. That being said, her features did seem to match.

Unlike the little boy who appeared fascinated with what happened, the girl's eyes looked at Leo with a hint of scorn. Just like in the novel, she was deeply brainwashed, though she didn't turn stupid enough to attack Leo for the sake of revenge.

"S-saved us, you saved us!"

The boy finally spoke up with joy, and Leo responded with a smile. Unlike the cases where he had to deal with adults, Leo had no plans of putting on any pretenses when dealing with kids.

"Cass, Cassian. Your name's Cassian, right?"

First of all, there was no way that anyone would believe a punch of kids in regard to Cassian's behavior.

"Right, I did come here to save you among other things."

And even if they did hear or listen to them, the higher-ups were bound to make sure not to let something that contradicts their announcement spread about.

"The-"

"Listen here, you are a good b-... Man, right? I wouldn't mind making conversations a bit later, but for now, let me first try and help her."

For a second, Leo was thinking of just leaving like that, but looking at the girl again, he had another thought.

The so-called Gretel was in an even worse state when Aurora saved her, yet she managed to fix her. As for Leo…

'I can try using that.'

Although he lacked Aurora's light healing that could likely cure mental damage just the same as physical one, he had his own methods!

Approaching the girl just enough, Leo put his hand forward, only enough for his shadow to land on her head. At the same time, he focused everything else on the girl's shadow that was hitting the ground.

'This is just a nightmare.'

Letting his Enigma do its work, the shadow of his hand kept fluctuating around Gretel's forehead and so did the shadow on the ground. Once enough Enigma was invested…

"Ah!"

The girl let out a short cry as something suddenly started rising from her body. At the same time, the shadow on her forehead turned dead silent in response!

"L-Listen to M-me. Listen!"

The rising form was distorted but the very core of it was still the disheveled man, it even spoke out with the same voice.

'Gotcha.'

Leo wasn't playing around, once his target appeared, he didn't let it distort so much nor perform any task. Instead, sharp Shadow tendrils suddenly sprouted from the ground before closing on the nightmare like an iron trap!

"Woah!"

The boy was surprised by the scenes playing out in front of him. He couldn't help closing his eyes, expecting to get a few drops of blood on his body.

However, a destroyed Shadow Nightmare was nothing that no longer had any form. Its only end was exploding into intangible shadows before dissipating into nothingness.

"Hmmm?"

For a moment, Leo wasn't sure if it worked or not, but seeing the shine return to the girl's inquisitive eyes, another smile appeared on his face.

The method he had just used was just a little trick inspired by Clara's nightmare. Since it was basically pulling out a person's greatest nightmare, destroying it had to have some cleansing effect.

'Unless she is just playing a prank…'

And all he saw now proved that it worked. Exploring different ability directions during the last month was totally worth it!

"Now then, are you ready to leave this place?"