There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 525

Chapter 525: Chapter 518. The Eye of the Storm

"What happ--"

Han Shin was about to turn his head to the sudden commotion from the northwest, but Banner whom he was healing grabbed his face and turned it back to the esper. "Nothing, Shin. Just look at me and focus on healing us, alright?" the defender said seriously. "Just focus. Whatever you’re hearing, just focus on the healing."

Han Shin blinked in confusion even more, because the other injured espers in the aid station were staring at whatever it was happening behind him with widened eyes.

But whatever it was, it must have been something so gruesome that Banner was worried it would disturb his healing. Ugh...it only made him even more confused, but--

"Fuck!" Banner got up before Han Shin could finish healing him. "Shin, close your eyes."

"Huh? But I still need to--"

"Close your eyes!" the man yelled and Shin closed his eyes in reflex; feeling surprised since Banner had never sounded this aggressive before.

To fuel the confusion even more, the still-injured tank grabbed and hauled him over the shoulder just as he heard Kei shouting from a slightly elevated field used as a command base.

"Retreat! Get back!"

And then Banner started running, as well as the other people in the aid station. The support team helped those with heavier injuries and those who couldn’t run to move, while the guides activated their guard while retreating, some still while holding the esper they were guiding. Some, just like Shin, were being carried while guiding.

"Cohen, don’t worry about the corrosion level."

With Zein’s order, Cohen yanked his shield and kicked the ground, jumping toward the middle of the third lane; between the northwest chaos and the fleeing supports. In front of the three giant worms that immediately rushed toward the running humans, Cohen slammed his shield to the ground.

[Iron Sanctuary] _{freēwēbnovel.com}

The air rippled as iron pillars raised from the ground, surrounding the three Stone Eaters. From each pillar, metal rods sprouted, connecting each pillar into one huge cage. Thick mana walls filled the gap between the rods as well as the ground and the ceiling to create one unpenetrable enclosure.

Normally, the ’cage’ was used as protection from the outside, but it was more effective to be used as a cage in this case, since the humans were scattered all over the place amidst the chaos.

"Supports--stop retreating and resume the healing!" Kei ordered through the speaker before exhaling harshly, turning to Zein, and asking quietly. "How long can he keep it up?"

[Thirteen minutes] the answer came from Zein’s earpiece.

"Counting down," Kei pressed a timer on the corner of her screen. "Support team, go and help Specter Team four; Team four, casualty report, please."

Meanwhile, the espers who were getting hit by the Stone Eater’s surfacing were scrambling up to grab their injured friend before retreating, but some were still stuck around the first Stone Eater.

"Gacy!" an esper screamed as his partner disappeared inside the Stone Eater’s mouth. He kept screaming as the other espers dragged him out.

"Snap out of it! You can’t do anything if you get eaten too!"

"Forget the Specter--Glen, got back! Retreat! Chen, use taunt!" the team leader shouted while pulling the other espers and shoving them back. "Suppressing fire!"

The marksmen--not just the ones from the team, but also the ones available around, immediately released a hail of bullets and arrows toward the squirming, shrieking giant worm.

"No--don’t aim the body! Gacy!"

"Fuck--shut up, man!" the other espers hissed in frustration but still yelled at the marksmen. "The head--please aim for the head!"

Bassena, who heard all of the chaos from his earpiece, couldn’t help but glance back while shouting to the speaker. "Senia! Got your ass back and deal with the Stone Eater!"

It took him two seconds to give an order, but it was enough for a tentacle to hit his side and propel him to the right. "Ugh--" he groaned and hissed in pain as the impact rattled his bone. It was already seventy percent reduced by the armor, but the impact still hurt like hell.

To make matters worse, he got a warning from his children and a second later, a warning from Zein. [Bas, it comes to you!]

"Fuck!"

He had no time to create a stake to pierce the eye, so he could only cross his arms in front of his body and make a cocoon around himself again, just in time for the energy blast to crash against him. The cocoon, along with Bassena, got smacked to the ground. For the next ten seconds, which seemed like forever, he had to recreate more and more layers of the destroyed cocoon before the energy finally stopped.

"Cough--" Bassena hacked and wheezed--both from the back-to-back impact and the rapid decrease of his mana.

[Bas?]

"Just..." he coughed again, before continuing while wiping the red seeping from the corner of his lips. "Just focus on the situation over there."

[Bas, are you--]

For the first time, Bassena cut off the communication line.

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