Parallel Memory

"Hah… Hah…"

I sat down after going through that heavy battle. My whole body was covered in blood.

After killing those 4 Brutal Lions, I still needed to kill 11 more Brutal Lions.

One after another, the Brutal Lions escaped from the ice.

I was not planning to wait for Brutal Lions to regroup, so I took the chance when they were unaware of the situation, and I attacked them.

-SLASH! -SLASH! -STAB!

Facing 11 Brutal Lions, I could not hold back my power. Using just my arms covered in Ice, I attacked the Brutal Lions.

-ROAR!

Brutal Lions were obviously not going to make it any easier for me.

-GRRR!

The Brutal struck at Zero from behind though the Ice armor managed to withstand the attack. Zero continued to focus on taking out the Brutal Lion rather than dodging.

With 4 Brutal Lions surrounding him, it was impossible for him to dodge their attack especially since the Brutal Lions were not slow either.

He relied on his Ice armor to protect himself as he concentrated entirely on killing the Brutal Lion without much regard for his defense.

He needed to reduce the number of his enemies more than anything.

-SLASH!

His gamble paid off and he was able to heavily injure one of the Brutal Lions. Although he had to endure the attacks of three Brutal Lions.

His Ice Armor could not block against the consecutive attacks of three Rank-D + Elite monsters and he was severely injured in his right arm.

However, Zero didn't retreat. He could not give Brutal Lions an opportunity to group together.

He moved towards his next target. Right now Zero's appearance was reminiscent of that of a grim reaper.

He was covered in blood and still viciously attacked the Brutal Lions. If other people saw Zero right now, they would have thought that a mad man was going on a rampage.

-SLASH! -SLASH!

The other Brutal Lions made their way to Zero and joined forces with other Brutal Lions to overwhelm Zero with their numbers.

[ "Ice Shard" ]

Although the Ice Shard was not very powerful, but with Brutal Lions in close proximity to each other, they had less space to dodge.

-STAB! -STAB!

The Brutal Lions who had a quick reaction quickly deployed their shield. While those who were close to Zero didn't have the time to deploy their shield and were heavily injured by Ice Shard.

Zero took this chance to take down another Brutal Lion. It continued for quite a few minutes with Zero sustaining more injuries than ever. Blood was oozing out of every part of Zero.

"Huff…Puff…"

"...They were better than I expected."

Zero didn't underestimate the Brutal Lions but the battle was more challenging than he expected. While he didn't use all the moves he had at his disposal, Zero did use some of his most powerful skills.

And more than killing the Brutal Lions, he was learning to fight with a large number of enemies. If it was just overpowering them with Art, Zero was more than capable of ending their life in a minute.

However, he wanted to learn to fight more efficiently against many enemies without just relying on power. It proved more difficult and he was heavily injured as a result.

Zero took a couple of health and mana potions before collecting the bodies of Brutal Lions.

"I need more practice."

Zero realized he lacked the experience of fighting with a large number of enemies right now. Before setting out to challenge the dungeon boss, he attempted to find other groups of Brutal Lions.

On this day, Explorers of The Lair of the Brutal Lions could occasionally hear the voice of Brutal Lions crying.

Zero didn't stop until he hunted 6 packs of Brutal Lions.

With each fight, Zero grew more accustomed to fighting with a large group as well as Brutal Lions.

In the last fight, he barely got injured. Rather than using Ground Freeze to trap the Brutal Lions, Zero used condensed Ice Shard to take out the majority of Brutal Lions, followed by the Ground Freeze.

After that, he engaged in a series of fights using his sharp arm. It became very easy compared to the difficult fight he had with the first group of Brutal Lion.

"Time for the Dungeon Boss."

Zero was confident in taking out the Dungeon Boss. After fighting with 6 packs of Brutal Lions, he knew the most effective way for him to reduce the number of Brutal Lions before the Spectral Lion showed up.

He just needed to deploy the same tactics and take out Spectral Lions' guards before facing off with Spectral Lion alone. Spectral Lion alone was not a very difficult opponent, more so since Zero had the elemental advantage.

He followed the route indicated on the map. He could finally see the cave which is marked as the home of the Spectral Lion. Guarding the cave were four Brutal Lions.

There were also other Brutal Lions surrounding the area. It could easily be over 25 Brutal Lions.

[ "Dual Art: Dark Ice Embodiment"]

I wasn't going to hold back when the Brutal Lion's number was twice what I faced previously. And I had to take them out before Spectral Lion made its appearance.

Previously as a practice, it was okay to hold back but right now my life could be in danger if I let down my guard.

[ "Dual Art: Dark Icy Surface" ]

With the power enhanced by Dark Ice Embodiment, the Brutal Lions caught in the skill were not only immobilized but also severely injured. Shadow spikes even caused some Brutal Lions to die inside the ice.

-ROAR!

The Brutal Lions guarding the cave immediately roared and alerted nearby Brutal Lions and also the Spectral Lion inside the cave.

[ "Dual Art: Glacier Shadow Slash" ]

Immediately shooting out several attacks, Zero beheaded a lot of Brutal Lions in one go. Almost all of the Brutal Lions were killed in an instant without getting any opportunity to retaliate.

Against Zero's full power, Brutal Lions no longer seem like the tough opponent that they were previously. In the face of absolute power, skill and experience were indeed secondary.

I was about to charge in and take care of the remaining Brutal Lions when there was a sudden outburst of mana from the cave.

-ROOOOAAAAARRRR!

The Spectral Lion charged out of the cave and roared towards the sky. The lion's mane which was distinct from Brutal Lion spread outwards, and its fur looked formidable with fire surrounding it.

Its size was almost twice the normal Brutal Lions with even more viciousness in its eyes. He glared dignifiedly at the intruder who had the audacity to disturb his rest.

The Spectral Lion didn't charge me immediately. He commanded other Brutal Lions which were about 8 in number, to attack me.

He was a commander commanding his subordinates to kill me.

-ROAR!

The Spectral Lion roared to signal the Brutal Lion to attack me.

They had launched themselves at me and attacked simultaneously while the other Brutal Lion maintained a good distance to help block my attacks.

-CLANG! -CLANG!

Honestly, with Spectral Lion as commander, the Brutal Lion showed incredible teamwork and it also seemed that Spectral Lion had some kind of group buff since the Brutal Lion was much stronger than what I had faced before.

I looked at Spectral Lion to see whether he would be taking any action.

Spectral Lion quietly surveyed the battle from above, whether it was to find an opportunity to strike at me or to demonstrate his absolute confidence in his subordinates.

( Indeed he was dungeon boss. )

He was calm and didn't behave aggressively like other monsters. However, did he think that someone who took care of his other 16 Brutal Lions is someone who can be stalled by his subordinates?

[ "Dual Art: Glacier Shadow Slash" ]

-SHHHUSH!

The Brutal Lion immediately set up a defensive layer to defend against the incoming attack. The 8 Brutal Lions work together to generate a strong wall of mana for defense.

They had already seen the power of this attack earlier, which resulted in many of their comrades dying. They had no intention of underestimating it again.

I watched as the Brutal Lion made an attempt to block my attack. Their skill was really admirable. It could be the strongest defensive skill under Rank-C but it was still not enough to block my attack.

-BOOM!

As a result of my attack, their defenses were shattered and they were directly hit. But their defense skill really paid off as they were still alive. Though they don't look like they will be able to fight again.

-ROOOAAAR!

The Spectral Lion who was observing roared angrily. However, his anger was not only directed at Zero but also at other Brutal Lions who could not finish off the intruder.

The Spectral Lion shot through the air towards Zero. The flames around its body rose as it furiously charged towards Zero.

-WHOOSH!

Zero stood there not a bit scared of Spectral Lion's momentum. The Spectral Lion's body was so hot that the surface he stepped on started to melt a little.

-RAWR!

[ "Ice Wall"]

Several ice walls stood between Zero and Spectral Lion. However, the beast kept on shattering the wall without much effort.

-BAM!

Spectral Lion with full power hit Zero directly. The Spectral Lion expected Zero to be burned, but that did not happen. Zero was perfectly fine holding his body in his hand.

"Didn't expect that, huh!"

I have never wanted to stop Spectral Lion with the Ice wall. I just needed it to cool down his flame and with the elemental advantage I have, it was easy for me to extinguish his flame.

I also had Ice Armor which is completely resistant to fires. With the Ice Armor, I was able to clash with Spectral Lion who was covered in flame though right now the fire is nowhere to be seen.

With me channeling the Ice energy on Spectral Lion's body, his skill vanished without a trace.

'!!!'

The Spectral Lion was confused by his flame going out. His flame was hot enough to melt the stones, but now it had been easily extinguished.

The Spectral Lion was angry at the human who took away his power and pride. Among the Brutal Lions, only those who have the ability to wield fire abilities have the chance to evolve into a Spectral Lion.

His flame was his pride. Now his pride has been snatched by a human.

However, his anger was short-lived as the face Zero showed had changed his anger to fear.

"Hehe… Shall I teach you about what pain feels like?"