There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 256

Chapter 256: Chapter 249. The Dim Corner of The Light

Bassena Vaski’s outrageously large mana core was already common knowledge ever since his first trial’s clear, and only became more cemented with his rapid tower climbing.

For espers, mana was like a battery. The bigger their mana core, the more mana they had, the longer they could fight. It translated to power, and then...misery.

Proportionate to their prowess was the disadvantage. The larger their mana core, the longer it took to clean the corrosion inside. And with Bassena, there was an added bonus.

His darkness.

The power bestowed upon him by the Snake Bearer, the power that brought him to the highest height, to become the youngest Saint-class. That power, which kept so many people safe, had kept many guides in nightmares.

Before, when he was still in the Golden Viper, this fact hadn’t been revealed. After all, the guild and the family never let their internal affair come to public. But once Bassena was active as a solo esper, and then later as Trinity, he had to start using regular guides. Guides with the freedom to talk.

And they talked. Whispers among guides who had experienced guiding Bassena. It was scary, it was exhausting, it was dreadful. Sure, the esper paid them higher than the usual rate, sometimes even double--but it came with nightmares, with them dreaming about drowning in vast darkness.

It was a natural side effect. When the esper’s soul was too strong, it would affect the guide, since their soul were practically connected during the guiding. The perpetual darkness inside Bassena’s mana core was bleeding into this guide’s soul, and it manifested through their dream.

They saw what Bassena dreamt about every night.

Soon, most regular guides were unable to keep up with the mental burden, and the rest were reluctant to experience it. The only person who could, unfortunately, was an unnamed guide he met in the middle of nowhere, who was so hard to find even while deploying the power and influence of the Mallarcs.

There was only one place left for him; the Temple.

What was special about the Temple was its state of safety. As the central beacon, the place boosted guiding effects, and kept mental burden to a minimum. There, the guiding could be done quicker than usual, and the fragment of Setnath would keep the guide from experiencing burnout.

Of course, the cost of using the Temple service was many times greater than the regular ones.

But Bassena wasn’t the kind of person to worry about cost. He was just tired of having guides trembling while cleansing him, looking at him as if he were a monster not unlike the beasts he had to slay in the dungeon. If a random guide in the middle of nowhere could cleanse him with no problem, the Temple should be able to, right?

Wrong.

Getting a service in the Temple wasn’t easy. They only guided for a limited number of esper per day, and the booking stretched for so long. The only reason Bassena could get immediate service was because of his Saint-class status. But even then, the guides still faced difficulty in front of the one favored by his patron deity. Not even the High Priest could fully cleanse him.

And so, he was assigned to the Saintess.

The guides chosen by the Temples’ patron Goddesses. Each Saint and Saintess was an individual who couldn’t just be ’booked’. People might request for services, but it was the Saint or Saintess who chose whom they might cleanse. So those who had the opportunity to receive these individuals’ guiding, treated the experience like a sacred event.

And it did feel sacred, for the guiding done by the Saint or Saintess would always be a wonderful experience. They were the chosen individuals, gifted with skills and beauty beyond compare. Most espers could only dream of being guided by the Saint and the Saintess, who almost never left their sanctuary.

And yet, Bassena felt underwhelmed. Not that it felt bad. Obviously, compared to other guides, the Saint and Saintess were superb.

But it didn’t feel better than the guiding he received inside that cave.

Granted, he was on the verge of eruption, and it was a sexual guiding. But the fact that he still remembered the sensation even while being dazed was a testament to the guide’s ability.

So, rather than acting like he wanted to worship the Saintess, he simply said thank you and got on his way after the guiding, paying the Temple an astronomical amount of money for the service. Well, at the very least, the Saintess didn’t go all trembling and scared in front of him, which was nice enough.

The Saintess, however, felt intrigued. Was her skill rusted? Was her guiding unsatisfactory? She thought Bassena Vaski, who had been troubled by the lack of guides able to guide him, would be elated by her performance.

Curious, the Saintess let Bassena receive her guiding regularly. And Bassena, with no other decent place, kept coming to the Temple.

Soon, it became apparent that the Saintess acted partial around the Serpent Lord. The curiosity turned into obsession. Why did this esper never seem to be satisfied by her guiding? How could it be, that there was an esper who didn’t look at her with reverence after receiving her guiding?

It hurt her pride, and turned into obsession; no matter what, she had to capture the esper’s heart. This obsession was so apparent that even the guides started gossiping about it. It got chalked up to a mere rumor, obviously, but those who got involved understood enough;

The Saintess desired the Serpent Lord.

Gradually, Bassena reduced his visit to the Temple. Obviously, he didn’t want to flame these rumors when his heart was already fixated on someone--even though he had yet to find that someone. The rumor stayed a rumor, and without further proof, it died down.

And finally--finally--he found his guide. His one and only guide. He stopped going to the Temple after getting back from the Deathzone, saying that he was afraid his mental condition would affect the Saintess.

His mental condition was at its peak; he had never been happier in his life.

And after that, he just stopped altogether, along with the other five-stars from Trinity. It was only later that the public and the Temple found out the cause; a new A-class guide who mysteriously came out of nowhere.

Luzein. An enigmatic guide that broke concepts left and right, even went so far as to go inside the dungeon. It was clear to the public that the blue-eyes guide held the Serpent Lord’s affection. Whispers could be heard in some corners;

The Saintess was being thrown away for this mysterious guide.

But weighing between Zein and any other thing in this world? Bassena wouldn’t even hesitate about his answer. _{freёwebnovel.com}