There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 512

Chapter 512: Chapter 505. An Empty Dungeon

"Is this the same dungeon they saw before?" Bassena asked the guide as they stood in front of the dungeon gate.

Zein nodded while watching the twins circling the dungeon gate curiously. "They said they don’t feel threatened anymore, unlike before. Something about...the intensity lessened? It’s not scary anymore for them."

"Wait--you mean this dungeon had been here for...how long? Years? Decades?" Han Shin raised his brows high, before looking at the gate with widened eyes. "Is this...an eternal dungeon?"

"That’s the only explanation, isn’t it?"

With that new realization, they looked at the dungeon gate with renewed interest. Eternal dungeons were usually low in miasma because they were rich in magic resources; mana crystals, magical herbs, and all kinds of magic minerals. Especially after getting rid of the beasts inside, the gate color would change into a lower-level one. So, seeing a high-level eternal dungeon was a first for them.

"Maybe because of the environment?" Han Shin pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. "And it’s probably never been cleared, right?"

"Well...there’s only one way to find out, no?"

They looked at each other and Zein called the twin shards back. "Hmm...do you think they can enter the dungeon?"

"If the Fallen Star could, I think they should be...right?" Bassena leaned down and whispered. "I mean, you can."

"That’s true," Zein nodded and held the twins close to his chest. "Stay with me, okay?"

If shards could nod, they would. But since they couldn’t, they only vibrated softly and ducked inside Zein’s embrace. Definitely, they became even more clingy than the other young guides like Dheera.

"I’m going to enter first," Senan announced, moving his shield to the front.

"Shouldn’t we just enter together? What if it’s an anomaly and we got separated?"

Senan blinked and Han Shin cautious thoughts, before finally nodding. "You’re right, Sir Han."

Bassena chuckled and tapped his right foot to the ground, binding their shadow together. "This is why a small squad is nice. Let’s go."

With Senan and the Jock’a subordinate--a quiet lady called Jiu--at the front, they entered the dungeon together in two lines. It had been more than a year since they entered one, so it was a rather weird sensation. The disparity of pressure made their body shudder involuntarily.

The twins also felt the same, it seemed, because they buzzed in Zein’s embrace even after a few seconds of arriving inside the dungeon. It must have been the first time they came inside the dungeon, and after living inside the darkness for a long time, Zein could feel their fascination with the dungeon.

Because there was a blue sky there. Blue sky, lush forest, glittering river--or what used to be. The sky was still somewhat blue, but the forest looked a bit dry, and the river only had a shallow, slightly muddy water. However, they could see that the place used to be brimming with life force.

"It’s mana deficiency," Han Shin crouched and rubbed the dirt he just scooped between his fingers.

"Something absorbing it?" Bassena glanced at Zein, who had just let the shards go.

Like balloons, the twin shards floated and flew around in wonder to satiate their curiosity. A part of what made them so innocent and childlike was the lack of Setnath’s--or Lucre’s--memory inside them. They were almost a pair of blank slates; not knowing anything aside from the place they were thrown into. Even this almost dried-up place was a wonder for them.

"It’s like the area leading to a red-zone," Zein commented. Still better, however, seeing that plants other than red grass could still survive.

"Let’s try heading further," Bassena decided, and this time, Senan did take the vanguard, with his shield at the ready.

Zein let the shards freely hover up, but also told them to maintain a close distance. He didn’t have to, however, since the twins hated to be away from him. They still had a leftover fear from the previous incident.

The group crossed the meadow, and the scout told them the dungeon seemed to consist of this vast meadow and sparse forest in between--a completely flat land. Indeed, they couldn’t see high ground--a hill or a mountain--or any building, for that matter.

What they also didn’t see was...beasts.

"So...peaceful?" Han Shin laughed awkwardly at the fact that they hadn’t encountered any beasts. It felt suspicious, and the healer was filled with worry that the beasts would come from the ground--and he wasn’t in a good relationship with underground beasts.

"It’s like an eternal dungeon after a thorough clean-up," the scout said.

"Do your kids see anything?" Zein asked Bassena, who had been sending his children of darkness forward the moment they stepped inside the dungeon.

"Not really," Bassena looked up and around. "Perhaps this really is just used as a resting place in the past..."

And then he paused and stopped in his tracks, causing everyone to halt.

Floating on top of Bassena’s platform and inside the shards’ sturdy barrier, they saw the landscape shifting and writhing as if nature was in wrath. "I think...it’s not an exposed core," Han Shin laughed nervously. "I think we are inside the Specter."