There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 63

Chapter 63: Chapter 62. Night Star

"First squad, prioritize the guild members’ rescue. Second squad, contain the boss for now," the black-haired esper that seemed to be the Captain gave out orders immediately.

The man didn’t speak loudly, but with the way the soldier carried themselves in full attention, his voice still rang clearly; firm and stern, as if he wouldn’t take any objection.

"Third squad, help secure the perimeter," he gave out the last order, and the soldiers immediately saluted before springing into action.

"Yes, Sir!"

Hand still on the near-erupt esper, Zein watched the black-uniformed espers jump into the gate one by one, as well as spreading out to the surrounding park. Three people came in Zein’s direction—or rather at where the guild members congregated. One of them was a guide, another a healer, and the last one was the owner of the commanding voice.

A tall man, probably slightly taller than Bassena, walked while fixing his gloves. The black monolid eyes stared keenly at Zein. And then, suddenly, the handsome face broke out a subtle smile, before the man turned toward the gate with a sturdy, disciplined gait. He gazed at Zein for the last time before jumping into the ominous red gate with a nonchalant smile.

Without even needing to ask, Zein already had an inkling as to who that man was.

The Captain of Mobius, and Han Shin’s older brother; Han Joon.

It was no wonder Zein felt the name Mobius was familiar. They had talked about the man briefly during the expedition, and how he had a bad relationship with Radia Mallarc. Was that why the man looked at Zein earlier? Because he was from Trinity?

While Zein wondering about the man, the Mobius healer knelt down beside the laid esper and looked curiously at Zein. "Is it okay if I started the healing? Or do you need to finish the guiding first?"

There were some guides who couldn’t be disturbed by anything during the process, including other esper’s intrusive mana. But certainly not Zein. "No, you can start. I’ve finished anyway," he let go of the guide’s neck and stood up.

"Huh? Already?" the guildmaster blinked, looking up at the guide.

"Yeah, that much is enough right?" Zein pointed at the esper who no longer had blackened skin. He could cleanse the man completely since he was only a 2-star anyway, but he didn’t know how many he needed to guide later, so Zein wanted to pace himself. "He should be yellow now," he added, as the Mobius’s guide measured the esper.

"He’s right," the Mobius female guide confirmed with a nod, to the other guild members’ astonishment.

Zein turned toward the two espers who came back from the dungeons too, asking. "What about you?"

"I-it’s okay, we didn’t even do much,"

"Please save it for the one who is still in the dungeon!" the other esper started to sob, pleading with a deep bow, while the other members calmed him down.

It was quite a solid guild, Zein thought. Small guilds usually have better bonds among the members, and this one seemed to be particularly close. What bad luck, to encounter an anomaly.

There were a few kinds of anomalies within the dungeons. One of them was the connecting dungeon where Bassena ended up four years ago. Another one was this changing gate, which suddenly roused in difficulty in the middle or end of the raid, or even the moment someone entered the gate.

In this case, the boss seemed to undergo a metamorphosis which resulted in a spike in the miasma level.

"If it’s just the boss, it won’t take long," the healer said after finishing her treatment. "Since the Captain took part himself."

Well...since it was a 5-star esper who Bassena Vaski talked about in a respectful manner, Zein had no doubt. From one of his conversations with Bassena, it seemed like the man used to train the young Serpent Lord back in the academy. Aside from Radia, he was one of the rare people who could tame Bassena Vaski. The moniker ’Dark Knight’ for Mobius actually originated from him, as a play of his signature skill; [dark night].

—a star in the dark night; was how Bassena described Han Joon. The man’s cloaking technique was arguably the best, even during the day. But at night, the only thing could be seen of the man was a flash of his dagger, like a glint of a single star in the dark night sky.

All of Bassena’s martial art and physical skill was taught by Han Joon, so the man was probably the only esper that got to beat the crap out of Bassena Vaski without any repercussion.

Not long after, the first squad came back with the rest of the guild members. Some were heavily injured, and two met an unfortunate fate. But they didn’t even have a leeway to mourn as one of them, the tanker, entered the blackening state too. This one even had red eyes already, reminding Zein of Bassena’s state inside that cave.

Zein wagged his hand and the soldiers brought the esper to him without hesitation. The billowing miasma was almost too thick for the Mobius guide to take care of it without a protection mask like Zein. They also needed at least two people to restrain the trashing esper.

So Zein grabbed the esper’s neck and pushed him to the ground, using his mana to pin the man further, as well as emptying his vessel at the same time. It took longer this time, since the corrosion had gone further and the core was bigger. Sadly, Zein didn’t think this one would leave unscathed unless he had an exceptionally strong mentality.

Zein looked up at the blue sky once the trashing had stopped, preventing himself to dive too deep into the esper’s system. There were quite a few reasons why guides were reluctant to guide someone on the brink of eruption—it was dangerous, it was exhausting, and above all, the esper’s mental trauma could get transferred toward the guide. It felt bitter, like poison, like tasting the miasma-riddled water in the red-zone.

Even for someone like Zein, whose guiding skill was already polished and exceptional, cleansing two cases of near-eruption still left a bitter aftertaste.

"Are you alright, Sir?" the agent who came to the park with Zein asked.

"It’s fine," Zein shifted his gaze from the sky, and looked around the park. The guide from Mobius was checking the condition of the other guild members and started guiding the high-risk ones, while the healer immediately worked hard from the critical one, leaving the ones with light external wounds to the hospital’s medics that came to help. "It’ll be nice if you can get me drinking water, though."

The agent nodded and swiftly went away. The one who brought Zein the water, however, was the guildmaster who looked like he aged a lot in the last hour. The sounds of sobs and wailing could be heard in the background, adding even more sorrow to the guildmaster’s shadowed face.

Zein looked at the two dead espers on the ground while drinking the bottled water with his free hand. He felt even weirder now, looking down at his chest.

He understood the sadness of losing someone important. And yet...he realized he didn’t feel anything now. All he thought at the scene of the tragedy was...nothing. That it was just a regular occurrence, so familiar and ordinary for him. Was he already numb to sorrow, or had he put human life as something trivial? Or was it because they were espers and not civilians?

Even after he finished guiding the tanker, and moved to guide the other espers, those that looked so frightened and dejected, slumping in grief, he couldn’t manage to feel anything other than ’oh, such a pity’.

In the end, he stood watching at the corner of the park, leaning into a swing. Wordlessly playing with the bead in his necklace, trying to figure out whether he had become too detached, or if it was just a case of cultural difference.

"Oh, here you are, Sir Guide!" the guildmaster suddenly came running toward Zein when he was lost in thought. "I was looking for you everywhere..."

"Yes?" why would this man look for him when he had his whole guild to worry about?

The guildmaster still looked distressed, but he forced a solemn smile as he looked at Zein. "I want to thank you, Sir. Please tell me your name and account, we will compensate you for today," _{freewēbnoveℓ.com}

"Hmm..." Zein glanced toward the center of the park, at the two lifeless bodies and the miserable guild members.

"We might not have much, but we’ll still try to pay you back properly," the man said firmly, seemingly perceiving Zein’s hesitation as doubt.