There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 484 - 477. Tower Defense (1)

"What is this? A drill?"

The people on the base, both espers and guides, looked at the blinking orange light and the loud alarm sound.

"Is that orange? Not yellow?"

"That’s why I’m asking if it’s a drill."

The espers were engaging in a casual discussion still, seemingly nonchalant. But they still took out their weapons and fastened their gears. Bassena, who was in the command room until then, materialized behind his first priority; the guides--or rather, Zein.

"What happened?" Zein looked at the esper while giving a signal for the guides to prepare themselves.

"The system detects something coming from the direction of the mountain range."

"What?!" Zein turned around immediately--not only so he could look at Bassena properly, but also to prevent the other guides from looking at his expression. After all, the mountain range was the place he sent Dean to--with Senia and half of the Iron Brigade. But it had only been three days since they were gone. "Are they--"

"They’re fine--well, they’re alive," Bassena held his guide’s cheek. "They were running toward the base--I’ve sent a squad over, and I’m going there. I just want to tell you to be calm."

Zein might be good at keeping his composure, but that calmness would be thrown out of the window if it was about his people; his kids. Only after knowing they were safe that he would calm down again.

"Take Senan--"

"No," Bassena stared firmly at the blue eyes. "They are here to protect you."

Zein would have argued, but that would just waste some precious time. "Fine. I’ll stay here, so send anyone that needs to be guided."

"I’ll deal with it quickly," Bassena said, but seeing the anxiety in the blue eyes, he realized it was Zein’s way to keep his mind occupied rather than a precaution. "But alright--anything that’ll make you happy."

He stole a little peck before dispersing into a wisp of darkness. Well...the lighthearted attitude did ease Zein’s wariness a bit. He took a deep breath and turned to his awaiting kids. They were clearly curious about what happened, but they held themselves back until Zein told them himself.

But they had to wait for a bit more since another group of Espers came over. "Young Master!"

"Senan, did you hear anything from Cohen?" Zein asked immediately, before the middle-aged man even stopped in front of him.

"No, I think they didn’t have any time. But I received an emergency signal from Eldan right when the alarm went off," Senan replied immediately, showing the blinking SOS in his commlink. "I think the link signal and the radar’s detection range is the same."

Ah, right...Zein clicked his tongue. Of course--they couldn’t call anything because there was no beacon over there. He looked behind Senan then, and when he saw no one, he tilted his head slightly.

"I sent the others to pick them up with the squad Sir Bassena sent."

Zein nodded and let out a relieved breath. Senan must have understood what Zein wanted to do, and took action accordingly. It made his mind a bit more at ease, even though he knew nothing bad would happen if Bassena had moved.

"What are you going to do, Young Master?"

"I’m going to guide more people, just in case," he said, and saw some espers had already moved around.

The ones who were in the path clean-up team earlier also started to move toward the guiding tent where Zein and the guides were, so Zein turned to look at the guides and gave them the delayed explanation.

"I felt another shard’s presence in a mountain range toward the northeastern side," Zein walked toward the table in front of the guiding tent while taking off his gloves. "I sent my people over there to check it out, along with Senia," he paused for a bit as he took a deep breath. "And Dean to guide them, since I know it wouldn’t be a short excursion."

"Oh, so that’s why he was staying back," Dheera nodded, following Zein to the table. "Well, I understand. You sent him because a five-star esper is there."

Zein looked at Dheera, and then at the other guides who were following him to the table. "What are you doing?"

"Huh? Well...we’re going to guide too, obviously?"

"No, you’re not."

"Eeeh? Why?" Dheera puffed her cheeks, feeling a bit hurt by the cold response.

Instead of replying, Zein shifted his gaze to Brisk and Silva, who looked at each other before answering the question. "Umm...in a situation where we are inside a base and not everyone is fighting, the guides should work in shifts..."

"And at least one should always stay as an emergency Guide, unless the condition stated that every personnel in the base would be mobilized."

Zein looked back at Dheera, who bit her lips and put her gloves back on. "Uhh...alright..." she let out a sigh. "Well...sorry for being bad at remembering protocols..."

Zein sighed and patted the girl’s head. Belatedly, he realized that he had spoken too harshly in his anxiety. "You just came from a long excursion, so go take a rest for now. Digest what you have absorbed and be sure you’re empty to guide the ones who come back later."

"Okay," Dheera nodded. "Can I stay here, though? I want to watch your guiding."

"Sure."

"I’ll help measure and organize the espers," Leehan said, going inside the tent to take a measurement device.

The first one to come to be guided was Julian. The man had been using his barrier a lot as a stepping platform during construction. He also kept activating physical enhancement to do some heavy lifting.

"Do you know what’s attacking?" Zein asked the defender.

"Looks like a Specter, from the size of the miasma in the radar. I’m not really sure, but Naoya said it’s aggressive and noisy."

"Just one?"

"I think so? Well...the one that chased them, at least."

Zein hummed in contemplation before telling Leehan to prioritize the long-distance attackers--the mages and the marksmen. When he guided the second esper--a sniper from Hagalaz--someone from the shard tracking squad ran toward them. It was Eldan, who sent the emergency signal earlier.

"You’ve arrived? Everyone’s safe?" Senan asked immediately.

"Y-yeah--just some non-lethal injury, and Sir Han is treating them," Eldan replied while regulating his breath. "Sir Vaski said...you’ll want to hear for me...ASAP, so..."

"Good job," Senan patted the younger esper’s back. "Tell Young Master what happened."

As if he was in the military, the man straightened his back as he turned towards Zein. "The details can wait, just tell me what kind of Specter it is, and why are you running away like this?"

For all he knew, Senia and the Iron Brigade should be able to at least defeat one Specter and some minions--perhaps not unscathed, but they shouldn’t be so hopeless that they had to run away.

"Oh, that’s...it’s a Specter that’s like a ghost, Young Master--I mean...it can phase through solid things and disappear. We tried to track the core, but with the thick miasma around..."

Zein furrowed his brows. "That kind of Specter...shouldn’t they be weak against magic-type attack?"

"Yes, we thought so, but..." Eldan gritted his teeth and looked back in the direction where he came. "It has a shield that bounced off magic attack."

"What?!"

"And I don’t mean an anti-magic shield. It literally bounces off magic attacks, so Miss Azra’s spells were flying toward us afterward."

"Ah..."

In that case, Senia’s prowess became useless then--at least until they could destroy the shield. "And I reckoned the shield can only receive damage from melee attack?"

Eldan smiled wryly, and Zein nodded in understanding. He took a deep breath and kept guiding while tapping the table in deep contemplation.

It was his fault. He was too impatient to find this shard that he hastily put together a squad. He thought as long as there was a five-star esper and an A-class guide, it would be a doable excursion. After all, they only need to find a way, not to bring back the shard.

But while the members of the Iron Brigade weren’t bad, they weren’t exactly Anzus or Hagalaz. Senan was the only 4-star esper there, and the rest were 2 and 3-star espers. They wouldn’t have enough physical power to face a Specter if Senia was compromised. Not to mention, they were originally supposed to be a protection unit focused on defense.

Haa...he should have listened to Bassena and waited until the rest of the troop had arrived, so they could make a proper tracking squad.

Yeah...he had no one to blame but himself.

But seeing that vision made him anxious. Bassena did tell him it was in a dungeon, but he kept thinking about the worst-case scenario--because that was what he always did.

What if it was a shard? What if the Fallen Star had occupied a shard to absorb the cosmic mana of the Celestial Being’s fragment?

The core didn’t feel any of the shards got destroyed, but what if the Fallen Star was only waiting while absorbing the power of the shard until it was dry?

He knew it was just his feat eating up at him. He even had a suspicion that it was caused by destroying the fragment--just like how touching the Specter’s core affected his mental health.

He knew, but he still acted on it.

"Young Master," Senan touched Zein’s shoulder carefully, almost making the guide flinch. When Zein looked up, however, he could see Senan was smiling. "I think it’s about to be over soon," the middle-aged man said. "Cohen just told me that--"

As if in mockery of that smile, another alarm rang throughout the base.

This time, it was from the watchtower on the other side.