There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 338

Chapter 338: Chapter 330. The Missing Thread Found Its Way

"Miasma?" Darleon frowned, still clutching his son tight. "But he’s not in a high level of corrosion, how could--"

"No," Zein glanced at Radia, and then at someplace they couldn’t see. "The energy structure is different from accumulated miasma in Esper’s body, but it feels familiar."

Radia raised his brow, following the direction Zein looked at. "The Specter’s core?"

Han Shin gasped, and Bassena frowned deeply. Darleon, however, had removed himself from the frontline so much that he was rather out of touch with what was happening in the Sentinel community. The stuff about Specter, while it was unknown to civilians, had been circulating among espers since Trinity released the black gate anomaly recording--the one in which the squad, including Zein, was getting transported to the Deathzone, allegedly.

So the old man just looked at them in confusion. "W-what is that? What do you mean?"

It would be too long to explain everything right now, so Radia just took the important thing. "It’s a force from the Deathzone," he said, before shifting his gaze toward Zein. "I don’t think you mean a specter core is manifesting there, so I presumed you’re talking about the thing influencing him had something to do with the core or the Deathzone."

Zein nodded and then looked back at Varion. The man was mumbling things like he had to use all espers to attack Trinity and kidnap him over and over again. It was disturbing to hear it up close--no wonder Bassena told him to stay away.

But knowing that the man’s condition had something to do with the Deathzone made everything else seem unimportant right now.

"Zein, do you think it happened because he touched a Specter core?" Radia asked, a deep line formed in his forehead.

"What?!"

The implication of that question was big--bigger than they thought it could be. To the public’s knowledge, there was no Specter core being brought out from the dungeon or the Deathzone. Only a select few knew about the cores in Mortix’s high-security vault, and Radia’s information network told him no one else had one or ever attempted an incursion into the Deathzone.

At least, not in the past ten years or so.

Of course, this included Varion himself. If he did touch a Specter core, it would mean there was an unaccounted core near him.

"I don’t know for sure, but...the core does attack your mind if you touch it," Zein replied, taking a deep breath as a memory he didn’t want to recall surfaced.

"How do you know?" Darleon finally focused his attention on the guide in front of Varion.

"Because I did it once," Zein replied briefly, because he needed time to think.

Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one who racked their brain. "Belthera, Celestia never made a venture to the Deathzone, right?"

"No--at least, not when I was the Guildmaster," the old man shook his head. "But I don’t think they ever did in the past four years."

"What about House Horin?"

The old man stiffened, and so were the others. But it wasn’t from shock; it was because things finally felt like they clicked in place.

"You did suspect that the clan did something to him, didn’t you?" Radia rubbed his lips as he looked at the mumbling man. "I have no idea if it’s from touching a core or something else, but the fact remains that it has something to do with the Deathzone."

"Which means the clan either has a Specter core, or..." Bassena muttered, looking at Radia grimmly.

"Or they worked together with the force of Deathzone."

"What nonsense is that?!" Darleon looked up with a deep furrow and glaring eyes. "How could someone cooperate with that vile place?!"

Indeed, it didn’t make sense. At least, for people with common sense, working with a force that harmed humanity was unbelievable. Zein would think like that too, had he not attended the annual meeting. That event told them about the possible existence of a cult, which they still couldn’t find to this day, but...

What if it wasn’t just a cult? What if it was a clan instead? And Old House at that...

"Well, people do unthinkable things all the time, Belthera," Radia said nonchalantly. "But if they indeed have some connection with the Deathzone, it would explain why they want to take Zein so much."

At first, they thought that the Golden Viper, or their sponsor, wanted the vessel of Setnath to gain the power of a Celestial Being for themselves. But if their conjecture was right, there might be another reason altogether.

"Why?" Darleon asked in confusion. What would make his clan want this guide? It couldn’t be for the man’s beauty--however ethereal he might look--nor because he was a Saint candidate, since that would make them get in trouble with the Temples.

"Because Zein’s power is a liability to the Deathzone’s force," Radia answered solemnly. "He could end the existence of the Deathzone itself."