There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Chapter 23. Where Doubt Arises

The expedition continued after the researchers had done collecting the data. They went as far as intentionally driving a beast toward the safe zone to test the barrier, and testing the water for drinkability, with the poor tank as a test subject.

Fortunately, and amazingly, Balduz seemed to be alright and they decided to continue going further, walking along the body of water. The further they go, the brook went deeper and larger, forming a considerable stream that gave life to the surrounding terrain.

If it could be called that.

True to Ron's description, the further they went, the more bizarre the plants were. Instead of blackish, dying leaves, the plants further seemed to be more vibrant and alive, with thick leaves and robust figures. But they also looked more sinister; barbed vines, thorny leaves, pulsing red stalks as if they were made of beating hearts...

It pulled the researchers' curiosity, but also the espers' vigilance. They tried not to come close to those eerie vegetations, although it being a jungle didn't help, obviously.

That being said, the journey itself could be considered smooth. The terrain wasn't so hard since they went along the riverside. The only elevation was a mere two meters steep hill that they easily overcome. Except for the water creatures, the other beasts had been eliminated by Bassena before they could approach them, and the leftover water creatures were being taken care of by Sierra and Ron.

And with that, they soon arrived at the end of the charted area.

Here, the stream split into two directions—a small stream going down, and a bigger one going up the hill. The small one wasn't going far, however, and disappeared underground a few hundred meters away. So the real path leading further would be by following the bigger stream.

The problem lay with the fact that they were standing on the side of the smaller stream, and the other side of the small stream was a cliff full of barbed and poisonous vines. So they would have to cross the river first to be able to proceed.

"This is it," Ron looked ahead with a hard face. "We hadn't managed to get further..." his voice was trailing and bitter.

It was easy to understand why. They had lost a few espers trying to go further, in which two of them were members of Ron's mercenary group.

The other side of the river which they needed to cross was a narrow path flanked by a ravine. The problem lay with the beasts hiding within the bush and the trees that ambushed the team before, and the water creatures that cut their retreat. Those that were sent to cross the river had been gravely injured when they got back and two died on the way.

Zein was there too, but as a guide, he was obviously not in the front. But one of the gravely injured espers was also near eruption, and he had to guide the man just so the esper could die as a human, at the very least.

It was the second time for Zein, to receive a thank you from a dying man.

He hated that. He had no idea why someone who would die would send gratitude for someone who stayed alive.

Like his younger brother.

"So we just have to cross this point, right?" Bassena narrowed his eyes, spotting hidden red eyes between shrubs and leaves. "Sierra,"

With a short command, he ordered the sharpshooter to eliminate the hiding beasts across the river. Perhaps because they had been continuously dispatching the water creatures, there was none to be spotted here. And the rest of the beasts who were on their side of the river and a few who dared to fly close in the sky, all vanished from the countless stakes made of darkness.

And just like that, all the variables that had made the Unit surrender in the past were taken care of. It seemed so easy that Ron almost wanted to burst out laughing and crying at the same time.

"Ron..." Zein whispered from behind, seeing the shaking eyes of the scout.

But the older man quickly regained his composure by taking a deep breath. "I'm okay," he cracked a smile, and added after a slight pause. "Well...those two were the ones who wanted to chart the area even more than me, so, doing it in their stead would honor their death, don't you think?"

Ron walked toward Bassena then, leaving Zein stiffened, staring blankly into the stream.

Honor their death...

The words swirled around inside his mind like hovering bees, cracking something inside his heart; a defensive vault he'd been built all this time.

Meanwhile, Ron had jumped over the stream together with Sierra to make sure all the beasts had been taken care of. They cleared a rather spacious area for Balduz to land while carrying the two researchers, the sound of his force made ripples along the black water.

"What about you?" Bassena asked Han Shin with a smirk, obviously challenging the healer.

"Hmph!" with a scoff, Han Shin jumped over the ledge, using a stone in the middle of the stream to land before making another jump across.

The healer landed on the other side while flipping his friend, as Bassena chuckled and turned around to face Zein. "And what of our mister guide?"

They were the last ones to cross the water, but Zein was still standing still without any response. Bassena lowered his head, peering into the goggle covering the guide's eyes.

"Zein?" The guide flinched, and they stared at each other for a few seconds. "Let's go cross the river now—"

Bassena was about to offer his hand, but the guide wordlessly walked past him. Magic energy coursed through his legs and in a swift, trained movement, he made the same jump as Han Shin, using the stone as a transition.

Bassena could only look at the guide, flabbergasted not by the movement, but by getting blatantly ignored. "Ha!" he almost laughed, and in the next second, already appeared beside Zein on the other side of the river.

"That's disappointing," he muttered behind the guide.

"What is?"

"I had hoped I can carry you across," Bassena said with a smile. "Make it seems romantic..." he shamelessly whispered to the guide as they walked further from the edge of the river.

"Deathzone is not supposed to be romantic," Zein frowned.

Perhaps because he was just remembering unpleasant things, perhaps because his defense had been crumbling, or perhaps because of all of these suffocating miasma and eerie darkness, but Zein felt he was in a bad mood right now.

And perhaps because of that, he spat out coldly. "There's no such thing as love in a place like this."

* * *

They continued the expedition with the previous formation, except that now Bassena stood in the forefront. Since it was an uncharted area, they moved into a more quiet, solemn atmosphere.

For a while, the team walked through the narrow pathway between the stream and the ravine, and this time, their enemies came from the sky rather than the ground. But they came with a sharpshooter and a magician, so their journey was as smooth as it could be.

At one point, the pathway opened up to a small clearing filled with black grass, and they decided to stop there and rest for the day. They had come into uncharted territory, and while the danger of the beasts was being quelled quite easily, the tension of unknown danger finally seeped into their mind and bones, especially the two researchers.

The two researchers had never come to places like this before, since they hadn't even stepped inside a dungeon. Although their clothes provided them with energy to propel their stamina and speed, they still took a toll on their muscle.

But the bigger problem was people's mental state. Deathzone was dangerous not just because it was teeming with beasts, but also because the miasma was everywhere. It was a substance that corrupted the environment, but most of all, it corrupted the mind.

They didn't feel it right away, but after hours of walking, it became apparent. The suffocating air, the sticky feeling hovering around them, the darkness that blurred their concept of time...

Along the way, the team became quiet. Not even Han Shin uttered anything, and there were frowns on every face. Scowl. It was a feeling that was bound to surface when people were put in a prolonged uncomfortable situation.

And the suffocating air of the Deathzone was definitely an uncomfortable situation.

So when they saw a clearing, Bassena asked if they wanted to call it a rest for the day, and Han Shin replied enthusiastically, with severe nods from the researchers, and a more reserved one from the rest.

So their first day of the expedition ended there, and Zein lay witness to the convenience of modern technology once again.

Rather than manually built tents, these people came with compact tents compressed to a palm size capsule. With just a button, the ordinary-looking capsule expanded to form a sturdy, comfortable-looking tent, complete with bedding, blankets, and pillows. It was basically an instant house more than a tent, made with a material that could withstand the beast's attack to some degree.

They erected three tents, and while the three attackers got rid of nearby beasts, the researchers got the terminal working again, and Zein helped Balduz establish an impromptu kitchen in the middle.

Zein had come to every Deathzone expedition that required the presence of a guide in the four years he spent on the borderland. Most of them never last overnight, since even the crazies of the Unit weren't 'that' crazy to spend the night in this treacherous land. But even on the occasion that they needed to rest and spend the night there, it mainly consisted of taking turns in sleeping and eating dried provisions in a hurry, with eyes opened wide and tension cranked up.

There was no such thing as building a tent to sleep on, because who would have the time to do that with miasmic beasts around them? Just finding a secluded place to lay their bodies and sleep for a bit was already considered a luxury.

So this was the first for Zein, leisurely preparing a fire and chopping up ingredients, listening to people chatting while doing so. Truly, it felt like they were on a camping trip rather than traversing a dangerous field.

But it was good to relieve the tension that had been building up. The pulsing device that absorbed the miasma around them was like a beacon of warmth, giving out heat even more than the fire they used for cooking. The mundane stuff of chatting and preparing a meal shoved the eerie, negative thoughts away. Even Zein's bad mood which made him act colder than usual seemed to be melted down with each slice of the ingredient he cut.

The barrier got established at the same time the three espers came back. The pale face of Sierra, and her trembling fingers told the rest that she probably had just gone through a rigorous training session. This guess was strengthened by the awkward smile on Ron's face.

The poor sharpshooter almost slumped down in front of her meal, devouring it with abandon while Han Shin healed her with a grin. She didn't try to keep her image or her politeness anymore, and no one told her to anyway. It was clear that she used a lot of energy today, so Zein guided her right after she finished her dinner before she passed out in one of the tents.

Since he was already guiding anyway, Zein did one for Ron too, and went to look for the one who expended the most energy today.