There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 567

Chapter 567: Chapter 561. What Should Be There

Funnily enough, Han Shin did possess the highest IQ among them. After all, being Trinity’s chief researcher wasn’t just for the sake of title.

"Okay, okay; you’re the smartest," eventually, the pursing lips turned into a sheepish grin at the big brother’s compliment. "Should we just dive in?"

"Yeah, but let’s be vigilant still," Bassena said. "The reading is still black after all."

They nodded and Eleanor showered them with buffs before entering as usual. The Spirit Queen had also proactively provided a barrier in the last couple of dungeons. Within this protection, they saw what Han Hoon had witnessed before.

A cliffside and a forest; swarms of minions around a black core with swirls of miasma coiling around. It was like a cult waiting for a resurrection. But that wasn’t what intrigued Zein.

"This..."

His eyes widened slightly at the sight of the minions. They looked...familiar. He promptly turned his head toward Ashur, who had the same reaction as him. When their eyes caught, they realized they were thinking of the same thing.

"Is this...that dungeon?" Ashur voiced it out.

"Huh? You mean the anomaly one?" Han Shin blinked, and when both Ashur and Zein nodded, he clasped his cheeks. "Are you sure? It’s not just...similar?"

"Well, I remember these minions because I killed some of them," Zein said as he watched the flying squirrel with scythes as hands that had been ignoring them even though the distance was only twenty-five meters.

Ashur stretched his neck to check the forest path they should be taking if they came from the normal gate. "Yep, the landscape looks similar too."

"Wow..." Han Shin blinked. "Wow!"

After exclaiming, he proceeded to busily jot notes in his commlink, while the others observed the strange cult in front of them. "Well, let’s just clear this place and think about it later," Bassena shrugged.

By Han Shin’s request for further research, they deliberately let the cultist alone. Those minions did not even flinch when they came closer, so they decided to clear the rest of the dungeon. It didn’t take a lot of time since the terrain wasn’t big in the first place.

"This is exactly how I remember it," Ashur said. This narrow path that did not let us go anywhere but to the Specter."

"But this time, there’s an exit," Zein said, looking at the swirling gate at the end of the path.

Last time, they were thrown into the gate without any exit. Zein didn’t even think they got out because of the Spectre. It could be...

Zein held his thoughts for himself for now. They continued to search the dungeon more thoroughly, looking at every nook and cranny, even between the trees. In the end, they came back to the boss’s area with nothing, where Han Shin was busy taking pictures of the weird cult and making various measurements on the black orb from five meters away.

"Well, at least one of us is having fun," Bassena shrugged.

"Oh, you’re back!" Han Shin exclaimed and pointed to the minions. "Look, they don’t react even if I’m this close."

Of course, he was only that confident to get into the range of the scythe because the Queen cast a barrier around him. He stepped back then and gestured at the warriors. "Quick, quick--try attacking the core!"

The espers replied casually to the enthusiastic request; Ashur took a javelin from his astral arsenal and lightly threw it at the core. When the tip of the spear touched the wisp of miasma surrounding the orb, the flying squirrels suddenly moved as if programmed automatically. They hissed and snarled as they turned and raised their scythe at the espers, only to be cut down in three parts with one move of Han Joon’s hand.

"Huh," Han Joon nodded while recalling his wires back; the invisible string dyed in black liquid. "Their only role is to protect the core."

"Ah, the minion’s level is too low for the dungeon rank, right?" Han Shin raised his index fingers and pointed at the core. "The black dungeon reading is basically coming solely from that orb."

He showed them the measurement device, which showed that the miasma level of the orb was only slightly lower than the overall dungeon.

"Do you have any conjecture?" Bassena asked.

"Hmm...if I have to make a guess," Han Shin tapped his chin in pondering. "The orb seems to be a recovering Specter core. There--if you look closely, you can see an imperfection, like it was chipped by something."

"So?"

"So, it’s probably the same dungeon you went before," Han Shin shrugged. "But you weren’t exactly ejected from the dungeon normally, right? So you don’t really know if the dungeon was truly destroyed or not."

Ashur tilted his head to recall. It had been...what? Four years? It was rather hazy, but it seemed like they suddenly got thrown out before they could properly assess the situation.

It’s not here! Why is it not here?!