There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 261

Chapter 261: Chapter 254. Orchids Bouquet

It happened so fast; the Saintess raised her hand and unleashed a bolt of condensed mana bullet, straight into the other guide’s face.

They were standing close to each other, merely three meters apart with a marble table between them. Even if Bassena made his move to pull the guide away, without his teleportation, he couldn’t arrive on time.

"Zein!"

What Bassena and the Saintess expected, however, did not happen. In a split second, the condensed mana bullet slammed into a barrier and reflected back to where it came from at an angle. It went past the side of the Saintess’s head and struck one of the pavilion’s pillars, chipping away the painted timber.

"What..."

Both Bassena and the Saintess froze, staring at Zein who casually waved his hand to get rid of the mana barrier in front of him.

Well, calling it a mana barrier was too much. It wasn’t anything refined like what Espers did. Technically, it was just a thick wall of mana that Zein generated to prevent the mana bullet from reaching him. Making it bounce back wasn’t in his calculation.

But well, he wouldn’t complain about it.

That fact alone told them that Zein actually letting out a bigger quantity of mana than the Saintess.

"Y-you--!" the Saintess opened her shocked, trembling mouth. "How can you do that?!"

Zein was also dumbfounded, actually. All this time, he thought he was the only anomaly for this ability to use mana, but...what if it wasn’t an anomaly at all? Seeing what the Saintess did, it was clear that she also could use mana.

Perhaps...it was an ability granted by the fragment of Setnath? The Saintess could use it because she was the ’one chosen by the Goddess’, so to speak, while Zein could do it because, well...he was the fragment of Setnath itself.

And from Bassena’s late, shocked reaction, it seemed like this ability was a guarded secret, that even Bassena, as someone ’favored’ by the Saintess, had no idea about it. That was why the esper couldn’t react on time, because who would think the Saintess could make such a move?

No wonder she was so confident in their presence, without putting any guards around the garden. Because here, in this sanctuary, the only people with power and authority was her, the Saintess. She could overpower even someone like Bassena if she wanted, with the esper’s magic being sealed.

"Answer me! How can you do that?! I’m supposed to be the only one who--" she paused her yelling, staring wide at the male guide while shaking her head frantically. "No...no, that can’t be. You can’t be a--"

"It doesn’t matter why I can do that," Zein cut the Saintess with a frown. "The question is why did you use it to attack someone."

Bassena, who could no longer stay still, grabbed Zein’s arm and pulled him back. "I don’t think it’s good for us to be here any longer," he whispered worriedly. In a situation where he couldn’t use his skill, Bassena really didn’t want to risk it.

It was one thing to let himself be a target, but he definitely didn’t want any chance for Zein to get hurt.

Zein, however, raised his arm and patted the esper’s chest lightly with the back of his hand. "Wait just a little bit,"

"But--"

Instead of listening to his esper, Zein was frowning and looking up, feeling a tingling on his nape. It was then that Bassena saw the mark on the guide’s nape glowing slightly.

Seeing the two completely ignore her despite the situation, the Saintess got even more furious. "Stop acting so superior in my territory!"

She screamed and moved the mana in the surrounding air all at once, condensing several mana bullets in just a second, all pointing into Zein and Bassena and ready to be released with just a single thought. The surrounding air got sucked with the condensing motion and made it harder to breathe for them.

"Ah, fuck--" Bassena couldn’t care less anymore and pulled Zein by the shoulder. He would throw the guide outside if he needed to, shield the man with his own body.

"You stole my esper!" the air vibrated with her thundering voice. "Now you’re trying to steal my position too?!"

"What is she even--" Bassena gritted his teeth, eyes watching the bullets to make sure he could drag Zein out of the trajectory. They seemed to be trembling as much as the one controlling them.

Eyes glowing in the darkening space, Valleria pointed her hand toward Zein with hatred and anger seeping into each vibration. "Don’t you think I’m just going to let--"

[Stop]

The condensed mana bullets around them suddenly shattered, the escaping mana blasted around them in the swirling wind. Bassena blinked at this sudden outcome, and much more the Saintess.

"What--why...?"

Zein, however, still looked up with furrowed brows and narrowed eyes. It got Bassena to recall the voice they heard just now. The voice came down like a thunderous roar and falling feather at the same time. So loud, and also so soft.

And while Bassena had never heard it before, he realized it was the voice of the patron deity;

The Goddess Mago.

But why...did the Saintess act like she couldn’t hear it?

She looked around, moving her hands as if she was trying to condense mana again, but nothing happened. Her face contorted as she fell into panic, before quivering in anger.

"You! What have you done?!" she glared at Zein again. "This must be your doing! What--"