Parallel Memory

"Hah…Hah…"

My body ached terribly as I ran even though my internal organs were facing catastrophe.

Taking potions will only worsen the condition, so right now all I could do was grit my teeth and hope that the pain will subside by itself.

-THUD! -THUD!

As I moved on, my condition became better as my body started to absorb the energy from the Claxettle flower. The violent energy started calming down, and my body was no longer hurt by the violent energy.

-BOOM! -BANG! -BOOM!

As I got closer to the place where the battle between Professor Mia and Ice Griffin was taking place, the sound of them fighting got louder and louder.

"Huff…Puff…"

The energy in the body was completely absorbed after some time. It looks like the effect of Claxettle Flower was complete.

[ "Status" ]

( I hope at least one of my stats has increased. If not all of my suffering will be for nothing. )

===Status===

Name: Zero Elea

Rank: D +

Strength: C -

Speed: C -

Stamina: C -

Mana: B -

Luck: B +

Charm: B

- - > Skill:

[ Rank SS: Parallel Memory ]

A skill that enables the user to get memories of their alternative self from another world.

Side Effect: The user may sometimes be overwhelmed by the emotion and personality of the alternative self.

- - > Art:

[ LVL 3: Shadow Style proficiency: Proficient ]

Art that enables the user to use the sword as if the sword is a shadow. The sword slash will be faster and stronger than a normal swing. After mastering the Shadow Style, the user will be able to move and attack using the shadow.

[ LVL 9: Cryomancy: Proficient ]

Magic Art is said to have been made by the strongest Ice mage in history after fighting the Ice dragon. The user will be able to use ice magic to freeze the enemy to death. The Ice related skill will be twice effective and the user will gain tolerance to Cold. After mastering the Cryomancy, the user may be able to freeze the world.

[LVL 6: Dual Art: Practitioner]

A unique Art created by Zero. The Art combines two Art into one. The power and effect depend on the Art that has been combined.

= = = = = = = =

"Lucky!"

As soon as I saw my stat, I became cheerful and forgot the pain that I had to endure a little while ago. Not one but two of my stats have increased. My incredible luck stat has once again shown its power.

Out of all the stats, it was the mana stat that was increased. Like I said before, increasing mana stat was extremely difficult among other stats.

Looking at the mana stat, I thought that I might have been born to be a mage.

Another stat that increased was stamina. It has jumped from Rank-D + to Rank-C -.

Now, all my stats were in Rank-C - and above. My mana stat even exceeded the threshold of Rank-C and reached Rank-B -.

Comparatively, my status was quite high compared to other D+s. It has even surpassed the stat that Hiro had when he was Rank-D+ in the novel. Though I can't say the same about the Zero of this world.

However, even with all the increase in strength that I had, the opponent that I was going to face was still someone who I couldn't beat. It might be impossible even if my stats were two times more.

But I didn't have to defeat Ice Griffin. All I needed to do was create some kind of distraction so that Professor Mia could attack him when he had his attention on me.

*****

-CLANG! -CLANG!

"Hah...Hah…"

Professor Mia breathed heavily. Even with her superior stamina stat, she was getting tired of fighting with the Ice Griffin.

Though the same can be said about Ice Griffin. Ice Griffin also deployed countless skills at Professor Mia and his mana was also running low.

It was only a matter of time before one of them collapsed. Having said that, it was more likely for Professor Mia to be the first one to collapse.

-SCREECH!

Ice Griffin howled angrily. He was mad that a small creature could survive against him for so long. However, he noticed that the intruder was getting exhausted.

He wanted to finish off his opponent completely this time. He spread his wings showing many Ice Feather under his wings.

-SCREECH!

The Ice feather began vibrating as if it were trying to break free from the wings. One by one, Ice feathers came out and started making their way toward Professor Mia.

!!!

Professor Mia became absolutely alert when she saw the Ice Griffin launching this attack.

The skill that Ice Griffin used was a one-time move that Ice Griffin could use once a year. The Ice Feather under Ice Griffins' wings takes years to completely form. It is the result of the accumulation of Ice energy from Ice Griffin.

It was a deadly skill that could be executed only once a year.

The Ice Feather was as strong as Ice Griffins' claws. So getting attacked by this skill was the same as getting attacked by Ice Griffins' claws simultaneously thousands of times.

Professor Mia knew that the Ice Griffin was trying to annihilate her at all costs when she saw Ice Griffin use this skill.

Actually, it would have been a smart move if Professor Mia retreated after she got exhausted but she could not do that.

There will be no more chances after she retreats today. Her potion was almost exhausted, she would not be able to fight against Ice Griffin anymore after today.

And she knows that her student would not last more than two days as the potions were getting less and less. She needed to finish off Ice Griffin even if it cost her life.

She has been thinking about whether sacrificing her life was worth it for Zero since she decided to confront this calamity.

He was just her student like many others, and she was willing to help her student to a certain extent. Be that as it may be, It didn't mean she would sacrifice her life for every student.

However, she did think that Zero was worth it. There were many reasons but ultimately it was her feelings. She felt she would regret it if she did not save Zero.

Professor Mia had exhausted almost all her mana using the Stellar Annihilation wave and maintaining the Primordial Ice Palace skill.

Now, she had to defend against something like an Icy Featherless Dance. However, she would not give up. After using Icy Featherless Dance, Ice Griffin would be weaker.

As the name implies, the Ice Griffin would lose his Ice Feather and those Ice feathers contain the Ice energy of the Ice Griffin. Losing them means that his Ice energy would decrease quite considerably.

That was the moment that she needed to attack the Ice Griffin. She would win as long as the Stellar Annihilation Wave strikes the Ice Griffin.

Thousands of Ice Griffin's Ice feathers made their way toward her.

Professor Mia quickly channeled her mana into the Staff and positioned herself.

[ "Stellar Annihilation Wave" ]

Professor Mia wanted to use her own attack to destroy the incoming Ice Feathers.

-BOOM!

Stellar Annihilation Wave was indeed a Rank-S skill. It destroyed hundreds of Ice Feather before it vanished. Almost half of the Ice Feathers were stopped by Stellar Annihilation, but more than half were still coming at her.

Professor Mia didn't give up. She needed some time before she could use the Stellar Annihilation Wave again.

However, she still had 12 Ice Pillars from the Primordial Ice Palace. She raised her staff and commanded the Ice Pillars.

They immediately lined up in front of her to block the Ice Feathers.

-CRACK! -BANG! -CRACK! -BANG! -CRACK! -BANG!...

The Ice Pillars started to break, though it managed to stop a couple of Ice Feathers. In the end, it was Ice feathers vs. her body.

The same situation happened when she faced the Icy Wind Storm. She was left to defend herself with her body. But this was different, Ice Feathers did not only contain Ice energy but also were sharp enough to cut Rank-A artifacts.

While she was wearing Rank-S defensive armor, she didn't know when the Ice Feathers would pierce them.

She deployed a barrier to protect herself, but it crumbled to pieces as if it didn't exist. Countless Ice feathers were hitting her body at the same time so she could not dodge all the attacks even though she tried.

First, her arms, then her stomach, and more attacks hit her. She gritted her teeth as she tried to withstand those attacks.

"Hah…Hah…"

Professor Mia survived the onslaught of Ice Griffins' fierce attack. However, Professor Mia was in no state to fight back at all.

Her whole body was covered in blood. All her limbs were barely responding to her will. Many deep cuts could be seen on her body. She was barely standing.

"Not... yet..."

Professor Mia spoke with a weak voice.

She could not fall until she had completed her final task. She had to attack the Ice Griffin while it was in its weakest state.

!!!

-PHUI!

However, before she could see where the Ice Griffin was, Ice Griffin's claw had pierced her stomach. The Ice Griffin has attacked her from behind.

A proud creature opted for a sneak attack. Looks like he was terrified of Professor Mia's retaliation and decided to hold back his pride and use a sneak attack.

There was a large hole in Professor Mia's stomach.

"So…this…is…it"

It seems that the final moment of her life would be a lonely one. To die inside Gates and dungeons was lonely. Her body would just be devoured by the monster, not making it back to her family. She would die, being forgotten by everyone.

At the end of her life, her only regret was not being able to save the life of the boy that she swore to save.

Never did she think he would be the last person she would think of when she first met him.

A Flirt! Playboy! Slacker! Sweet Mouth! Rude! These were things she thought when she first met him.

Among many hard-working students, only one seemed to have come to Ace Academy to chase after girls.

As time passed on, her initial image of Zero started to change though she still thinks that Zero is a flirt.

She became his mentor for the Tournament of Academies. She wanted to help and make Zero the strongest. However, at the end of the day, it was her who endangered Zero's life.

All she had was regret for bringing Zero to Agora Town. If she chose a different place, this might not happen. She thought Zero would have risen to Rank-S in a few years and would have been able to overwhelm everything by himself.

She took a bright future from a promising youth who helped her when she was in trouble.

She had destroyed one of the pillars of humanity's peace.

She regretted, regretted that she could do nothing else for Zero. When she was having her last thought, she heard a voice.

"Pro..fessor…M i a"