Perhaps this is where it all began? Perhaps this was the first time someone helped me and I ran away? Maybe…The last time I had faced this situation… I ran away… I was scared… I was horrified and terrified, so I somehow managed to do it. As for Clair, I heard she was brutally killed by the monsters. After the aftermath, only her crushed hand and her sword were left behind.
...…..
Zero saw that an attack was going to take place, and he clenched his hand and bit down on himself as hard as he could and then screamed in his mind,
'ALL PORES OPEN AND ABSORB, FORCE HYDRATION'
"AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!"
-BOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!
His scream was drowned out by the attack's voice as he fell down. He was temporarily and partially healed as he looked forward to another chance.
The rain poured on his face down to his body as he looked at that battle without even once blinking. Soon another chance came, and the attack was made. His skin pores, which normally are tightly bound as it should be, opened up a little and the water that was present just ahead of the skin entered into his body. Before the body's fundamental activity could be disturbed, his body evaporated all that water and channelled it throughout the body in an instant. Most of the heat was converted into energy and used for healing… what was left was…
-BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"
It's as if thousands of burning needles were pricking through each and every part of Zero's body. If not for the fact that he already had been through pain similar to this one, he might have died the first time he pulled this.
Bracing himself, Zero found himself half healed, and now he could just barely stand on his own. It was much better compared to his previous sorry state where he couldn't even move.
-BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
"AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
"Cough cough… cough cough blegh…" Zero vomits blood violently as he stumbles down on his knees. Looking up again, he observes Clair struggling against the monster, though her eyes still had the same fire when she started the fight.
Zero then looked around and sighed before taking a proper position as he prepared to dash towards Clair.
'It's about time,' he thought as he looked at the fight in front of him.
Clair jumped in the air as she saw a chance to win against the monster. Her eyes were finally taking a break as she saw a chance to end this fight. Then… she noticed something moving towards her… there were more of them… 3 more frog monsters jumping towards her from all sides.
Her eyes widened as she finally realised that she had been entrapped. 'How could… an E grade monster create a trap?' She couldn't comprehend it.
'Oh well… looks like this was it,' she thought as she continued her attack,' At least I will take one with me. Young boy… looks like-
-Whoosh
Something happened… the scenery changed…
-BOOOM
The frogs collapsed into each other. Tracing the sound, Clair looked behind to find the frogs crashed into each other and the distance between her and the frogs was increasing with each passing moment.
'Who?' Wondering who protected her, she looked at her saviour. What she saw next shocked her even more. It was the same white-haired boy who was lying almost lifeless in the corner before. He was carrying her away from the monster with his full force. His face looked really concentrated and desperate at the moment.
'System Check' She used her system to check the young boy's system, wondering what his power level was. However….
Nothing happened… even after waiting for another few moments, nothing came up. Thinking she must have done something wrong, she once again tried to check his system, but the result was the same. There was no answer from the system.
-Croak Croak
-Croak Croak
Sound of croaking began coming from all the sides. Hearing the sound, Clair pushed the thought about the system at the back for now. She looked back, only to find the frog monsters still chasing them. Not only that, but now there were more of their species chasing them.
'Based on the sound, it looks like we are more or less surrounded,' she thought as she smiled with a sad expression as she recalled the emergency signal she shot right before coming to this location. Right now, it was as if fate itself wanted to kill them.
Zero kept running ahead, with only the thoughts of surviving, away from the monsters. His feet were hurting from overexerting himself as he kept running without a break. With each step, the injury was growing worse, but still he couldn't bear to run on his own.
The more pain he got, the more he recalled every time he ran away whenever people helped him. Every time someone sacrificed themselves to help him survive… he wanted to change that… he did not want to run away from anyone again. He did not wish for people to die because of him. He had to do something…
'I don't have much time left… it's not for the best… but I guess this is the only path left. I wonder if this is even the right way… Clair Redfield… I hope you can forgive me… but I must ensure everyone's survival… so please bear with me…' Zero thought as he looked at Clair and then spoke.
"I am going to pass out in the next 2 minutes. I need you to survive after that. Keep me and yourself alive. That is all you need to do. I don't care what condition… just keep us alive!! Do you understand?!" Zero shouted at Clair with all his might as he ran away from there. His eyes drooped down as he grew more and more exhausted. Clair didn't understand everything, but still nodded.
After 2 minutes passed, Clair took over and started carrying Zero away as she dodged the attacks of the frogs.
After another 2 minutes, she was surrounded by the frogs from all sides with nowhere to run. She was standing with her sword pointed in front and Zero was lying unconscious right behind her.