Parallel Memory

Zero brandishes his sword as he silently moves toward the Mountain Crushing Gorilla. It was easier for Zero to get near the Mountain Crushing Gorilla because the monster was currently focused on killing Misha.

-SWISH!

Misha struggled against the Mountain Crushing Gorilla. Though she would probably win, it was exhausting her strength.

As she was thinking about getting out of the situation, Zero appeared beside the Mountain Crushing face with a sword ready to attack.

-SLASH!

-THUD!

The head of the Mountain Crushing Gorilla fell down.

She stared in astonishment at the person who was seemingly helping her. Even so, she did not forget to be alert as she wasn’t sure whether the person was an ally or an enemy.

“Misha, what a coincidence! We meet again!”

Misha heard a familiar voice and she involuntarily let her guard down.

-WHOOSH!

Zero jumped off the Mountain Crushing Gorilla body as it began to fall down.

-THUD!

Zero landed just before Misha.

Misha was too stunned by what happened that she forgot to respond to Zero’s question. She knew that Zero was strong but to think that he could instantly kill the monster which was troubling her so easily.

She underestimated Zero’s power even though she thought that she was always overestimating it.

“Hey! Are you okay?”

Zero asked. Misha’s unresponsiveness had him worried. He thought that Misha might have sustained some injuries.

“Umm! I am fine. Thank you for your help!”

Misha thanked Zero.

“No need to mention that! You could have handled the monster anyway. I hope you are not angry at me for killing the monster.”

Zero said.

Although Zero had helped Misha with good intentions, he was worried that Misha might not like it. Some people have pride which prevents them from owing others anything.

“No, No! You saved me there!”

Misha said. She was not trying to be humble or anything, Zero had saved her there. If not for Zero, her journey in the tournament might have come to an end there.

Without teammates, getting exhausted or having injuries could be very dangerous. She was almost thinking about escaping and Zero killing the monster had greatly helped her.

And about Zero taking the kill? Who cares as killing the monster had no merit in the tournament. It might have been different if killing monsters was the main objective of the tournament.

“So you didn’t come across any students of Ace Academy either?

Zero asked even though the answer was obvious. If she had met a teammate, she would not be alone here.

“None so far. But I heard from some students that they had spotted some students wearing Ace Academy uniforms in the east.”

Misha shared what she knew with Zero.

When encountering students from the same school, one rule was established naturally. Those who are stronger would be the leader of that group and others would listen to them.

Right now, between Misha and Zero, Zero was stronger. Misha acknowledges those facts and was more than willing to listen to any arrangement made by him.

Zero pondered for a while. Zero was also told that there were many students in the east, so he believed that some of those students must be from Ace Academy.

“What is your plan? Want to go to the east together with me?”

Zero asked.

Even though Professor Mia had asked them to team up, he needed to get permission from those students. He would not force the students to follow him if they were not willing to.

“Yes! It is better if we help each other!”

Misha said.

She almost blushed after realizing what she had just said. Zero was weak enough to need help from her and she was only a burden to Zero.

She thought it was arrogant to say that she could help Zero. She was embarrassed by those thoughts.

“Okay then, I will be in your care!”

Zero believed that having Misha with him would be a great help. You never know when you might get into a problem that cannot be solved by a single person. Having someone he could trust like Misha was a blessing here.

“Let’s go!”

-WHOOSH!

Misha and Zero sprinted towards the east.

Along the way, Zero asked Misha various things like how many monsters she encountered? How many monsters were Rank-D and above?

He needed to know these things to know the general idea about the place that he was in. He thought he was in the same place as stated in the novel but he met three Rank-D monsters which made him doubt his thoughts.

It was also normal for the place of the tournament to change since he had been changing many things in the world and had brought a lot of changes which could result in the place of the tournament changing.

Misha’s answer was as he expected which confused him more. Misha said that she didn’t encounter many monsters and the Mountain Crushing Gorilla is the only monster in Rank-D that she met.

From Misha’s words, Zero knew that the place of the tournament was still the same as in the novel. He thought it was just his bad luck that he encountered so many monsters, including three monsters that were in Rank-D.

“How many tokens do you have? Did you get the required tokens?”

Misha shook her head.

“No, I have a long way to go before I can collect 10 tokens. Right now, I have only 3 tokens.”

Misha said.

Misha was surprised when Zero asked whether she had collected all the required tokens which were 10. She barely got two other tokens from Rank-E + participants.

She thought that Zero was making fun of her by saying that.

However, then she thought of something.

“Zero, you already have 10 tokens?”

Misha asked excitedly.

She anticipated that with Zero’s strength he would have no problem getting 10 tokens. With Zero’s strength, she thought that he would not worry about getting beaten and could easily steal from anyone he encounters.

If she had Zero’s strength, she would have also jumped in to fight with other students to get the tokens as soon as possible.

“No, I don’t have the required tokens. I need another 4 tokens to pass the round.”

Zero said disappointedly.

It was not like he could not handle other participants, it was just that he didn’t get an opportunity to steal tokens from a group other than Fiay Zaio.

“Oh!”

Misha was shocked. She thought that Zero would have annihilated his opponent and gotten all the tokens.

Misha and Zero had a conservation with each other as they sprinted through the forest.