Parallel Memory

Looking at the monster core, I felt extremely happy. It was my reward for all the hard work I had put in.

Spectral Lion without his commanding abilities and with his fire ability suppressed by my ice energy, was just like the other Brutal Lion, only a little stronger.

Facing an opponent who could completely suppress his fire abilities, Spectral Lion trembled, not to mention the scary face that Zero had.

It is not that fire energy cannot fight with Ice energy but Zero practiced level 9 Ice Art, an absolute Art that was comparable to an Ice Elemental Dragon skill. His profound Ice energy could easily suppress the fire wielded by the Spectral Lion.

Zero threw the lion up in the sky after catching the Spectral Lion's head in his hand. Zero continued to tor… I mean fight with Spectral Lion mercilessly until Spectral Lion stopped moving.

Zero felt Spectral Lion was too easy not knowing how hard it is to solo this dungeon. The main difficulty of this dungeon is the number and teamwork that monsters have but Zero easily destroyed those things with his power.

However, since Zero took care of most of the Brutal Lions before Spectral Lion made its appearance, he effectively made killing Spectral Lion much easier.

Spectral Lion could not show his full power due to the lack of Brutal Lion he commands.

After taking potions, as usual he checked for the monster core in the bodies of the monsters.

He didn't expect much as he would never seem to get one even though he had killed almost a hundred monsters by now.

But this time he unexpectedly got a monster core from the Spectral Lion's corpse. This was the first time he had ever gotten a monster core from a monster.

Though the monetary value of this thing could only be a speck of dust in the eyes of Zero, you need certain luck to get one of those. Akin to people winning a lottery even if one is very rich, Zero felt very happy.

He stared at the shiny red monster core which was a little bigger than the average size of the monster core.

Storing the monster core along with other Brutal Lions' bodies in the spatial ring, Zero left the area and made preparations to leave the dungeon.

"Congratulations on defeating the Spectral Lion."

Appearing out of nowhere was Professor Mia.

( Ah! She was here. I completely forgot! )

Zero was so engrossed in the fighting in the dungeon that he even forgot that professor Mia entered the dungeon with him and was observing him.

He even forgot the fact that his training here was all arranged by Professor Mia.

"Let's go out together!"

Professor Mia said.

She chose to leave the dungeon with Zero since he had accomplished the training objective to defeat the dungeon boss.

This was because she wanted to tell him what she observed about him and what to work on.

Though she will train and make sure he gets rid of his flaws, Zero needed to know his own flaw and also work on it himself.

And there was something she needed to take care of before going out of the dungeon.

*****

"Are you sure the boy is in this area?"

A domineering voice asked in an irritated voice.

"Yes, BOSS! We already surveyed the nearby places and we are sure he had gone to challenge the dungeon boss right now."

Mitchell answered. He has already traced the whereabouts of Zero before the boss and other gang members arrived.

"It better be worth it. I bought 20 of my lackeys for this."

Boss said in an annoying voice. He didn't like to wait and he had already spent hours hiding to ambush the boy.

He would not have been hiding so meticulously if not for Dale telling him again and again about how sharp the boy's senses are.

Only the wealth he would gain from robbing the boy would make him endure the uncomfortable situation.

He knew from Mitchel estimates that the boy possesses a valuable item worth more than a hundred thousand Ethan, and he believes that if he asked the parent for ransom, he could easily make at least one million Ethan.

It was only for this operation that he ordered 20 men from his Blackstorm gang, and he personally came to help Dave and his team.

The gang members were all Rank-D and above and they had spent years in this dungeon robbing and killing the Explorers. They were the rulers of this place.

He, himself was Rank-C. There was no way the boy could escape from their grasp.

( Hmph! Challenging the boss of this dungeon? He might be looking for death. )

The Blackstorm gang had defeated Spectral Lion before but at the cost of many lives and he, the boss, also suffered heavy injuries from it.

Half of his face was burned to the point that it could not be healed back by low-level potions or middle-level potions.

Although they managed to kill the Spectral Lion in the end, it was a tough battle for him.

He didn't believe that the boy would be able to defeat the Spectral Lion and would come wailing soon.

"Boss, we have spotted the boy."

"!!!"

A scout immediately spotted the people they were waiting for. They had been waiting for this moment for hours.

"Get Ready! Try not to kill the boy. His parents must be loaded to give him those artifacts."

The boss reminded his men. His men were all brutal and would always try to kill, so he needed to remind them once again.

"Boss, there is someone else with the target."

"How many?"

"One."

"Nothing of concern. We will get them together."

One or two does not make any difference. He just needs to add another person to their killing list.

*****

Walking down the road, I noticed a presence of people ahead.

I was about to use my skill to test whether my perception was wrong or not when Professor Mia held my hands and stopped me.

"Shhh… Act like you never noticed them."

Professor Mia whispered as she walked casually, as if she didn't know what was going on.

I nodded. With Professor Mia's perception, she must have already noticed them. As long as she was with me, I didn't have to worry about dangers in the dungeon.

-WHOOSH!

Jumping out of their hiding places, the ambushers revealed themselves when we got too close to them. The number of ambushers was close to 25.

"Hehe… I suggest you surrender yourself if you don't want to die."

The one who seemed to be the boss spoke as he showed off his blade.

"Hehe… I didn't expect to meet such a gorgeous woman. Hey woman, if you can serve me well, I might spare you. …Haha…"

"Boss, you should give her to us after you are done playing with her. Hehe…"

The other ambusher also joined their boss and laughed like a hyena.

-SIGH!

( They are dead! )

I don't know who gave them the guts to say such things to the Ice Enchantress. I almost pity those guys who are going to be in hell a lot of pain. Even God can't save them now.

Is it because those guys spend their entire time in the dungeon that they don't recognize Professor Mia's face or is it because the dungeon is dark right now? Either way, they would be dead for not being cautious.

Professor Mia raised her right hand and aimed at them.

Professor Mia's eyes turned cold as an inexplicable mana aura started to emanate from her body.

Upon sensing Professor Mia's aura, the ambusher's expression immediately changed to horror. They knew they had touched a hornet nest from the suppression that they felt.

"ARGHHH!"

As soon as the ambusher sensed danger, they immediately released their defensive skills.

Following the release of her aura, cold mana started being exerted from her hand, instantly turning the surrounding air to becoming freezing cold.

[ "Ice Nova" ]

She used the skill she had used against me when she was fighting with me. But unlike the training, she was not holding back against them and using the real power of the skill.

"The crazy woman is using a dangerous skill. Quickly use all your power to block it."

The boss of the Blackstorm gang immediately displayed his strongest skill as he prepared himself to resist the incoming attack.

From his perspective, he could not discern the rank of Professor Mia, just felt that she was a lot more powerful than Spectral Lion.

He didn't know that the attack that was released by Professor Mia is ranked A+.

Some ambushers attempted to cancel the attack with their own attack while others had barriers around them. Some even used their defensive artifact feeling that the incoming attack was too powerful.

However, when their attack made contact with Professor Mia's skill, it immediately froze and continued to make its way toward them, freezing everything in its path.

As soon as Professor Mia's skill hit them, regardless of the skill and artifact that they were using, they all felt an immense, frigid chill coming from below.

Then their vision started to blur. While they could still think, their skill, artifact, body, and mana were all frozen in Ice.

It was an instant defeat for the Blackstorm gang. As expected of Rank-A, one attack was all it needed to take out those people.

Professor Mia turned around nonchalantly and said.

"Let's go!"