Parallel Memory

The blinding light from the tower disappeared and Zero found himself in the middle of a forest. He was only teleported and didn't get time to make sense of his surroundings when a roar grated his ears.

-GRRRR!

With its paw and mouth full of blood, the bear looked at me with bloodthirsty eyes. Beside him was another monster body which was killed by the bear in front of me. It looks like someone has disturbed him during his lunchtime.

"Rank-D + monster, Alclad Bear!"

I was surprised at the monster which I met the moment I was teleported.

It was a monster that would be able to easily beat the average participants of the tournament. Not many participants would be able to face this monster.

Participants were actually teleported into this insanely difficult place by The Authority. Though I read in the novel that the location for the first round of the tournament was dangerous, upon experiencing it for myself, I had to agree that it was simply too much for an individual student.

They might only be safe if they form a group and cooperate with each other. If not for that then they would be instantly annihilated. Maybe only 30 students are capable of defeating Alclad Bear solo.

I know that there are heroes deployed by The Authority to secretly protect the students, but I can't help but curse at them. If another student was in my shoes, he/she might have already died.

But in reality, it seems that it is my luck that has run out. Alclad Bears are very rare, so for me to encounter one immediately after teleporting, I can only blame my luck.

-GRRRRR!

The Alclad Bear swiftly used his giant paw to strike at the intruder who had disturbed his meal time. The giant paw was right in his face, yet Zero didn't seem to be bothered by that.

Zero raised his hand and caught the giant paw with his bare hand.

The fierce bear paw came to a halt and the Alclad Bear was scared out of his mind as he stood dumbfounded, staring at his prey which looked like a devil.

"Aren't you too weak for a bear?"

Zero mockingly said.

Alaclad was a monster known for its devastating attacks, and this Alaclad was no exception. However, Zero's strength was abnormal and his strength stats were greater than this Alclad Bear's.

-BAM! BOOM! -BAM!

The Alaclad Bear ran away crying after Zero had taught him some lessons.

It was truly his fault for disturbing his meal but can that justify his intention to kill him? Zero had to teach him some lessons. Zero was already kind enough to not kill him.

The scaredy cat Bear ran away with all of his might as Zero watched. Even in the world of monsters, power was everything. As long as a person has enough power, even the savage monster would be scared witless.

With his strength, Zero was not afraid of the monster that might appear. So he walked in the forest as if he owned it. The place was not dangerous for Zero at all.

On the other hand, the dungeon was a nightmare for the other students, particularly for those who are in Rank-E +.

They had to be cautious of any monsters that might be attracted to them and also be careful of not falling into the ambush set by the other students. They could only move stealthily through the forest and search for their teammates.

Zero walked carefree through the forest trying to find any student that he could find. He was also surveying the area for any teammates that he might meet.

!!!

Zero sensed something coming towards him at a high speed. When the monster appeared before Zero with its savage eyes and baring its fangs, the atmosphere changed.

"Rank-D monster, Blood-Eyed Thunder Wolf!"

Zero frowned when he saw the monster.

( Another Rank-D? )

The monster seemed amused when he saw Zero frowning, thinking that he had scared the guy with his dynamic entrance.

-ROAR!

The beast pounced ready to shallow Zero Whole. He considered Zero a weak being who could not even react well in front of his presence.

-BAM!

Zero just raised his fist and punched the monster, shattering many of its teeth. The monster was stunned but quickly regained his composure and ran away seeing that Zero was deep in thought.

The proud beast quickly ran away with his tail tucked in between his legs. He had never met someone as strong as Zero and was scared but soon felt relieved seeing that no one was chasing him.

Zero was still in his thoughts. In contrast to what the monster thought, Zero frowned because he was thinking about how likely it was that he would meet two Rank-D's consecutively.

Blood-Eyed Thunder Wolf was a Rank-D monster, although weaker than Alclad Bear but it was still a threat to most participants. He met two Rank-D monsters only after a short period of time, although they should be rare.

It has not even been 10 minutes since he beat the Alclad Bear when he met with Blood-Eyed Thunder Wolf.

These encounters would have been a good thing if the tournament was about hunting down the beast, but since it was not, he could not feel good about such encounters.

That's why he let go of the two monsters because it was not worth the effort. Even if he could kill instantly, it would still attract other monsters with their blood, and both Alclad Bear and Blood-Eyed Thunder Wolf were not monsters that would go down easily without a fight.

Since his objective was not to kill the monster, he let them escape.

Zero continued to walk through the forest and met many monsters and he frowned as he could see that his encounter rate with monsters was very high. He imagined that he was in some monster's house where monsters kept coming at him one by one.

He had met many monsters but had yet to meet a single participant. Zero started to worry for a bit since he could not spot a single participant.

( Don't tell me I will fail the first round because of my bad luck? )