Parallel Memory

"She is late…"

Maybe I should also lecture her on not keeping someone waiting. Just joking. Maybe only those who don't care about their own life might criticize the Ice Enchantress.

But it was very unlikely for her to be that late. Maybe something serious happened?

I didn't even have the time to wonder as I got my answer soon.

'WARNING! There has been a dungeon outburst in Rank-B Catacomb of the Forbidden Marsh. People of Agora Town, don't panic and calmly evacuate the town. Several Explorers have been dispatched to keep you safe from the monster."

(??? Dungeon Outburst? )

Dungeon Outburst happens when the monster inside the dungeon overflows. But that rarely happens to the dungeon that had already been conquered.

The Catacomb of the Forbidden Marsh has already been conquered a long time back but to reach the point that Dungeon Outburst happens, it could mean the guild presiding the dungeon is irresponsible or it must be done intentionally by them.

Anyway, the Rank-B Dungeon Outburst was really dangerous, not to mention Catacomb of the Forbidden Marsh is an incredibly high-ranking dungeon among the other Rank-B.

Monsters such as Minotaur and LigerFang roam in those dungeons. With their strength, they could easily bring down a huge building with a single strike from them.

If even one of them reaches this town, it would be enough to raze the whole town to ground, ensuring countless casualties.

This might be the reason why Professor Mia is late. She must have gone there to help the other people in stopping the monster.

"Let's run! We need to get out of this place as soon as possible."

"What is happening today? Why is there a dungeon Outburst in an already conquered dungeon? The Explorers are becoming more irresponsible as time passes by."

"Grandpa, don't just stand there and evacuate quickly."

"Hoho… Don't worry, child. Heroes will soon arrive and save the town in time."

The people who are young and have hardly faced such a situation panicked at hearing the warning. They were scared that the monster would reach that place soon since the dungeon was quite near Agora Town.

However, older people who had multiple experiences were calm. They had faced such situations countless times in their life. Many undiscovered dungeons would lead to dungeon Outburst, and this was the reason why many places became inhabitable due to many monsters rampaging and occupying those places.

Though humans have managed to preserve some land for themselves, however, the world was mostly filled with countless monsters.

They would occupy those areas where they had Dungeon Outburst but they did not seem too keen on expanding their territory which is a fortunate thing for humanity.

Humans have tried many ways to get back the lost land but only a small part of the land was recovered. The monster that has come out of the dungeon would reproduce quickly and become so large in number that we humans can't kill them all.

Good thing is that monsters don't get along with other species of monsters, so they kill each other, keeping the number to a certain extent. If not, the world would be overflowing with monsters.

I also got ready to move out of the town. Monsters are likely to attack places which have a large human population. And since Agora Town is the nearest town to the dungeon, the monsters will inevitably be attracted to Agora Town.

-CLANG! -CLANG! -BOOM!

A few minutes into the warning, I could actually hear people fighting with the monster. Though, I doubt it is Minotaur and LigerFang since if they were to fight, buildings would be crashing down.

"It must be the low-rank monster of Catacomb of the Forbidden Marsh."

High-rank dungeon does not mean that all the monsters present there would have high ranks.

A rank-B dungeon is so huge that it takes weeks for a veteran Explorer to defeat the dungeon boss. It would contain Rank-E monsters to Rank-B monsters. Though low-rank monsters are only food for other high-rank monsters.

However, low-level monsters such as Goblin and Orc have a very high reproductivity that even if they reduce to only two or three in numbers, they will become hundreds in a matter of weeks.

Anyway, it must be such a monster that has arrived first. High-rank monsters must be held off by the high-ranking humans in that place.

-WHOOSH!

Turning my direction towards the place where the sound of fighting was, I immediately set off to check the situation.

They would not need my assistant but who knows what is happening there unless I go and check out.

-CLANG! -CLANG!

"Hey, these monsters are endless. When are they sending the reinforcement?"

"...I don't know. They must be busy with the high-rank monsters right now."

"F**K! Do they not care about what will happen if we die? There are countless people who can't fight with these low-rank monsters. They will just end up becoming food for these monsters"

The man said angrily. It has been quite some time since they requested The Authority to send in other Explorers who are in the area. NO one showed up and they only had five people fighting against 20 or 30 Orc by themselves.

-STAB!

Arriving at the scene, I saw a small team of Explorers currently fighting with Orcs, one of the low-rank monsters in Catacomb of the Forbidden Marsh.

The team consisted mainly of Rank-D with Rank-C captain. They would have been fine if it was one-on-one but the monsters outnumber them by too much. And they don't seem to have a mage who could take out a large number of monsters instantly.

It is understandable since mage are rare as Magic Art are several times rare and precious than other Art, plus you need your mana stat to be higher than many other stats.

It seems they are struggling against them. I don't see any reinforcement in sight either.

It looks like I need to assist them or else they will be killed by these Orcs.

[ "Ground Freeze" ]

Rank-D Orcs no matter the number were no match for me since they would be frozen if they are near me anyway.

-FFSSSSTTT!

Instantly, all the Orc present there had turned into Ice. The fierce battlefield had come to a complete halt.

"I think they can take care of them now."

I instantly turned around and went away. Since the Orcs have all turned into ice, all they had to do was give a finishing blow.

"Huh?"

"What happened? Who helped us?"

The team fighting with Orcs was dumbfounded when they saw the Orcs turn into Ice.

They were struggling against them for so long but someone instantly took care of it in a second.

"Did reinforcement arrive?"

"No response from the headquarters. It might be someone strong passing by."

"Who could be so strong to turn so many Orcs into Ice? Co-Could it be the Ice Enchantress?"

The man became excited at the prospect of the mysterious helper being Ice Enchantress.

"Most Likely. She is well known for her strong Ice Magic. And I heard she was there to stop high-ranking monsters in the entrance of the dungeon. She must have completed her mission there and came to help here."

The number of Mages was already low and those who can wield strong Ice magic like this were even smaller, most notably being Mia Frostine. They naturally thought it was Mia Frostine since the skill was extremely powerful.

"Now, let's stop chit-chatting and finish these monsters. They are still alive."

They could still feel Orc resisting inside the Ice. They move on to kill the Orc. They know that once the Ice that is trapping them is broken, Orcs will attack them again.

*****

I moved from the roof of one building to another, carefully observing the situation of the town. It seems that the low-level monster had escaped from the dungeon area and reached this town.

I could also see some Goblins though it didn't take a minute to kill them all. Their number was almost 50 which could have given some Explorer trouble though they were nothing but target practice for me.

I used Ice Shard to shoot at them and reduce their number to nothing.

I continued to observe as I moved through the route where people went for evacuation.

"KYYYYAAA!"

As I was moving through the road, I heard a scream. I immediately went to help the person.

As a student of Ace Academy, it was my duty to help powerless people. So, unlike the dungeon where it was okay to ignore someone in trouble because they themselves willingly came into the dungeon knowing the dangers, I had to help people in danger.

Rather than what someone taught me, I would like to follow my own rules. Like I have said before, as long as I don't have to risk my life, I would help someone who is in trouble.

Just don't let it be another scheme to trick other people.