Not Good Enough

Leonel internally felt relieved. The drain to his normal stamina was minimal, but using his King's Might like that left him feeling like his mind was being squeezed dry. It wasn't a joke to use his Dream Force and will to forcefully expand the influence of his Internal Sight and he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep it up without it affecting the rest of his performance.

Not long after experiencing this feeling, though, Leonel steeled himself. The truth was that he had no idea what was up ahead. Breathing sighs of relief now would make him sloppy. He had to prepare for every possibility.

'… That's not like me.'

Leonel frowned, his mind suddenly going on high alert. He never relaxed before getting to his goal like that, but he had almost done so just now.

The moment Leonel's mind sharpened, he honed in on his surroundings, soon finding that the violet of his King's Might had flecks of an abnormal pink within them. Without the slightest hesitation, his will clamped down, roaring out like a dragon and shattering the odd pink discolorations.

'Someone targeted me? What about?!'

Leonel's Internal Sight reached out to everyone in his group. They all had light smiles on their faces and their bodies were relaxed. There was nothing odd about this on the surface. After all, after Leonel took the brunt of the burden away from them, they had been able to replenish their Force at a faster rate and their previous helplessness was all but washed away.

However, there were too many oddities. For one, Elthor would definitely not be smiling right now. In fact, he should be pissed. Knowing him, he would want to fight, not rely on Leonel. But, he would also understand that he didn't have the strength to insist on this, so he would be infuriated with himself.

Then there was Arnold and Noah. These two were as stoic as they came, Leonel had yet to see something so benign leave them in a state of perpetual happiness like this.

Beyond this there was the likes of Rychard who was forced to be in a group with Leonel to begin with. He knew that if he tried to leave on his own, not only would it be a question of whether he even had the strength to survive, but it would also be a question of if it would be Leonel or the surrounding danger that would kill him first. He didn't dare to leave because he knew that Leonel would target him in the future even if he somehow survived, by then, he wouldn't even be able to take a single step forward in this place.

Even one of these individuals lightly smiling like this would have been an oddity, but the idea of all of them doing so was simply ridiculous on its face.

'Again?'

Leonel's brow furrowed deeply when his senses focused on Yuri. She was smiling just like everyone else, but Leonel could tell that it was fake. It didn't travel up to her eyes, which continuously darted back and forth as though looking for something.

What was most shocking was that Yuri's pupils, by Leonel's estimation, were focusing on regions dozens of meters away despite the dense fog. So, it was either she had an ability like Leonel's Snowy Star Owl eyes, or…

'Her Internal Sight can lock onto regions that far away? But then why would she bother moving her eyes at all, wouldn't that just be giving her away? Unless she wanted to give herself away…'

By now, Yuri would have already noticed Leonel's scrutiny, but she didn't even look toward him even after several seconds.

Leonel shook his head. 'Don't you think there should be some exceptions even when you don't want to talk to someone? This is a life and death situation, it isn't time to be tsundere.'

"HA!"

Leonel suddenly let out a low shout that almost sounded like an acute clap of thunder. Lacing his King's Might with his shout, Leonel's voice jarred the minds of everyone around him awake.

"Huh?"

A small sweep of confusion breezed through the group. But, no one seemed to understand what had happened. It was like they had just woken up from a dream but their memory of it had already been shattered.

"Yuri, what's the range of your Internal Sight?"

Yuri, who had lagged behind in her little act a bit, was stunned by Leonel's sudden question. After she composed herself, she, quite frankly, didn't want to answer. But, it wasn't long before both Savahn and Aina's gazes landed on her, causing her to bite her lip in unwillingness.

"… 100 meters."

Leonel didn't seem surprised by this answer at all despite the fact many others looked toward her as though they were gazing upon some kind of monster.

In truth, Leonel was pissed despite the fact it didn't show on his face. He was draining himself, drastically cutting down the chances of him succeeding in what would be the later Amethyst level trials, so that he could protect her and the others, when things would have been so much easier if she just explained this long ago. Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.

Leonel didn't hang onto this anger for long, though. There was no point. Not only would it not be helpful, even if it would be, it was still ultimately his fault that they were in this situation.

"Have you mastered a sensory sharing technique?"

Yuri frowned deeply. The answer was yes, but that didn't mean she wanted to use it, especially since she was certain that Leonel would be asking her to share with him.

There were many Internal Sight manipulation techniques, and among them, such sharing was a part. Among all those here, and maybe even among all those of their generation in the Human Domain, there was unlikely to be anyone who could match her in Internal Sight in Yuri's opinion.

"I can just tell you. There are two groups of people following us. 57 meters that way and 63 meters that way."

"Not good enough." Leonel left no room for debate. "Fuse your Internal Sight with mine."

[Important author's note below]