There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 573

Chapter 573: Chapter 567. The Failed Experiment

The moment Zein felt no resistant force from the source, his heart sank.

He had wished and hoped that Naoya had mistaken the shape of a shard with a Fallen Star’s fragment. But the fragment never repelled anyone; if anything, it welcomed people to touch its corrosive surface. Even if the fragment created a repelling force to protect it, there was no reason to repel espers but allowed a guide--or rather, Zein--in. After all, for the fragment, Zein’s power was more destructive than the espers’.

Still, as he walked closer to the podium, he bore a hope that it was just a relic. A relic in the shape of a crystal, or a material coming out of a dungeon. Who knows; maybe in a dungeon somewhere, there was a stone or a crystal that could attract miasma? Maybe that material got transported during the process of a dungeon break.

At least, Zein still harbored that denial until the two shards--especially the one from the cavern--vibrated and sent him cries of lament. Instead of disgust or fear, what they felt was...sorrow.

Zein’s heart dropped even more. As he walked through the storm of miasma under the double protection of the shards, his hands were trembling.

But he couldn’t stop, not now. His stomach churned and his mouth felt like it was flooded with tar, but his feet kept on walking with the urging for the sorrowful shards accompanying him.

And finally, he reached the podium.

Like the eye of the storm, it was calm in the center. So Zein could see it clearly; a rhombus-shaped crystal crawled with sizzling miasma. A tiny, tiny portion of light shone behind the encroaching black, like a firefly in the depth of the night. It was from that minuscule light did the repelling force came from.

And it was from that minuscule light did Zein finally accepted that the thing in front of him was indeed, a shard.

Or it used to be.

The two shards’ lament was getting stronger, and as if hearing the voice of what used to be its kind, the corrupted one sob. The black shard trembled, as if trying to get away, but the crawling miasma shackled it in place. Zein gritted his teeth and reached out his hand, feeling the two shards’ energy flow to the tip of his fingers there as he touched the black shard.

And got flung away.

"Ugh--"

"Zein!"

Swiftly, Bassena caught Zein as soon as the guide’s body went past the force field. They skidded a few meters across the floor from the sheer throwing force. Fortunately, the two shards clung to Zein’s chest to protect his front while Bassena shielded him on the back, so the guide was left unscathed. The barrier was also intact, and spread automatically to Bassena during contact.

It couldn’t protect the mind, however.

"Zein?" Bassena grasped the guide’s face, peering into the blue eyes through the goggles. "Hey, talk to me!"

"...wait," Zein closed his eyes and grabbed his head as a flood of memories settled inside his brain. As his head continued to throb heavily even after half a minute had passed, he gritted his teeth and shook his head. "Get me out first."

Bassena did not waste time with questions. He immediately carried the guide and rushed out of ruin, even risking teleportation. But thanks to that, they got out of the field of fog in just three seconds, and Bassena swiftly brought Zein to the camp, where everyone was waiting with concern.

"What--" Han Shin widened his eyes when he looked at Zein curling in Bassena’s arm, clutching his head. Immediately, the healer pointed to the aid station. "There! Bring him to that tent!"

It was only fifteen minutes since Zein and Bassena came inside, so the dungeon group had yet to establish a camp. Thankfully, Naoya’s group had made a small camp with basic necessities like a kitchen and an aid station--which was optimal for someone who looked like he needed treatment right away.

The thing was...they had no idea what kind of treatment Zein could use. He wasn’t injured, but had been clutching his head in pain. Han Shin had tried to use a mental healing spell, but there was no change. All they could do was wait while the guide was writhing in agony. Even the shards couldn’t do anything; they circled around Zein, clinging to his side, and the guide still looked like he was dipped into a pool of agony.

Bassena almost went crazy witnessing all of this. All he could do was hold the guide while swallowing the curse he wanted to let out.

No one dared to ask what happened; after a while, no one was even in the aid station but Zein and Bassena. They waited outside while praying that whatever plagued Zein came to an end soon.

Twelve minutes went like that, which felt like twelve hours for those who waited.

For Zein, it felt like twelve years.

He didn’t know when, but in the middle of it, he could no longer cope by clutching his head and moving to clutch the nearest thing, his lover. When the pain finally subsided, Zein had slightly ripped Bassena’s shirt--that was how much pain he was in.