There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 493 - 486. A Split

"What do you think?" Bassena asked.

They were at an intersection where two paths of different eras crossed. The path that the squad took was considerably older, since the walls were harder. The one crossing their path still hadn’t hardened completely, which meant it was easier to spot any trace.

After two days of nothing, they finally saw footsteps and what looked like scattered sands and dirt which probably came from the beasts passing through. All of them seemed to pointing at the path in front of them.

"It’s about a week old at least," Kei said. "I can’t be so sure, since I’m not a pathfinder like Ron."

"They all went in the same direction?"

"Yeah," Kei glanced at the compass. Thankfully, the arrow was pointing in another direction, around ten o’clock of their current position. "What are you going to do? Should we continue with the shards, or...?"

Bassena narrowed his eyes in contemplation. He had sent his kids again, and they found more traces from other crossings. They could go back and use the hole that led straight to the shards, but this movement was too suspicious to be left behind.

"Bas, let’s use this path," Zein gave his piece of mind with a frown on his face. "This place is a system, so any path could lead to the shards. What if these beasts’s direction is..."

Ah--Bassena and Kei looked at each other. Zein was right; while the compass was pointing in another direction, there was no guarantee the path these beats took would not end up in the shards’ chamber.

"We should hurry then," Bassena nodded. "I hope you guys have enough rest."

Bassena glanced back, but no one was whining. They could feel something might happen sooner or later anyway. It was still better than wondering why everything was so empty.

"We’ll go with pursuing formations--Banner, Julian; please make sure everyone keeps up."

"Yessir!"

And then they ran. They ran as much as the anxiety shown in Zein’s furrowed brows. At one point, Julian and Banner had to carry the exhausted guides, but they didn’t stop following the traces they found until they arrived in a huge chamber.

Bigger than the one they arrived at the first time, the chambers had about two dozen holes and thousands of traces. Bassena halted at the entrance of their path and told the other to stop. Not because there were beasts there, but because of the thick miasma swirling in the chamber. Thankfully, their path happened to be situated on higher ground, so the fume did not enter their path.

"We’re going to check on the other holes, so take a break here."

Bassena took Kei around the chamber, while Zein stayed on the edge of the path, peering down to the ground. Even with his inadequate vision, he could see the dirt and footprints, dragging traces and signs of damaged walls. Clearly, the thick miasma came from the beasts that were gathering here, probably just two or three days ago, seeing as it hadn’t dissipated yet. When Bassena and Kei came about thirty minutes later, they affirmed Zein’s conjecture.

"Of all the paths here, almost all the traces are pointing into this chamber, so we can conclude that this is a...meeting place of some sort," Bassena explained. "All except for two paths."

"Two..."

Kei pointed at two holes opposite of each other. "The traces on those two are pointing inside the path."

"You mean...they gathered here and then split into two forces?"

"More or less," the scout rubbed her lips in contemplation. "The split is not even, though. Most of them went through that one," she pointed at the hole in their right side. She would like to know how much was the split, but with hundreds and thousands of traces overlapping in two paths, it was hard to determine it without a pathfinder ability.

"And the rest was heading in that direction?" Zein looked at the hole in their left side, and then at the compass in his hand. "In the shards’ direction?"

"Yeah," Bassena held Zein’s shoulder, squeezing it a bit to calm the guide down. "Now, listen to me calmly."

The tone was calm, but they could see the firm amber eyes that only meant it was serious business. The rest of the squad members made a school circle around Bassena, who broke a piece of startling news.

"We know one of the holes leads to the shard, but we don’t know where the other hole leads to," the Saint class began. "However, we know something on the far end of that direction."

The one who caught up the quickest was Naoya. "No way--are you saying..."

"The base," Kei nodded. "If we go straight in that direction, we’ll reach our base."

The group was silent for a while, as all kinds of possibilities entered their mind. Han Shin, who had been tensed ever since they entered the Stone Eater’s system, laughed awkwardly.

"Haha...it couldn’t be, right? It’s so far, and..." he swallowed his saliva and felt his throat dry. "I mean...what are the chances? Do you think they would really dig all the way to the base...?"

"There’s a Specter..." Zein took a deep breath, staring at the chamber below. "And there’s a Fragment."

There was more silence for a few seconds. "What?!"

Zein couldn’t be sure about everything, but he was sure about those two facts. After all, he was the most sensitive to those creatures’ traces. "The Fragment went to the shards’ direction, and the Specter..."

"Is leading a horde?" Bassena exhaled heavily at his own conclusion.

"Bas--"

"Wait," Bassena raised his hand, head lowered and eyes closed as his brain whirred in action.

They were in an intersection, literally, and by the look of it, they had to play catch with time and miasmic creatures. Both a Fragment and a Specter did have the ability to control a horde, as they had experienced before. It was clear enough that the Fragment moved to pursue the shard, but the Specter’s objective was still unclear.

That being said...

"Let’s split," Bassena decided after taking a deep breath.

"What?"

"But Bas--"

"Commander, we still don’t know what--"

"We’ll split," Bassena repeated, and they all quieted down. "We don’t know what the Specter and the beasts are after, but that doesn’t change the fact that we still need to take care of them. Whether they traveled to a new random location, or went to the base, we still need to eradicate them. But--" he looked at them sternly. "But, if they really come for the base, and we don’t move quickly to warn them, it might become a problem. You do know that the shard protection is weaker on the ground, don’t you?" fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

"Ugh..."

"It’s good if it’s just a false alarm, but with our luck..."

For some reason, they all glanced at Zhan, and the spearman grumbled defensively. "I didn’t say anything today..."

"Anyway, it’s a battle with time, so we’ll split our force," Bassena pulled Zein to his side. "I’m going to the shards’ location with Zein, and the rest of you go pursue the Specter’s group."

"What?! Just the two of you?!" Han Shin widened his eyes. "Bas--"

"The fragment had fewer beasts," Bassena raised his hand again. "We’ll be fine with a supply of healing serum. But you..." he looked at the rest of them. "You’ll need to face a Specter by yourself, and we don’t even know how strong that one is."

"And how many," Kei chuckled wryly to hide her uneasiness, patting Naoya’s back. The archer didn’t groan in lament, however, keeping his woe to himself this time.

"Right," Bassena nodded. "Frankly, I think you’ll have it worse than us."

Han Shin bit his lips; no matter what, sending his two best friends alone made his heart sink. But he knew which side might receive more injury should a battle really happen.

"Ideally, I would want to send you to the surface so we can give an emergency signal to the base, but..."

"There’s no time," Kei shook her head. "We should pursue and obstruct. Maybe we’ll get lucky and receive some signal once we get close."

"However," Bassena raised his finger. "Only do that if you are sure they are indeed heading to the base. If they are actually heading somewhere totally different, like their...headquarters or something, and you don’t think you’ll be able to take them on, just fall back to this place and wait for us."

Of course, Bassena was sure his squad members, who were already on the verge of becoming 5-star espers, would be able to take care of a Specter if they worked together. That being said, who knew what was waiting on that path? The beasts could be gathering in a new place and accumulating more numbers in which...no matter how much Bassena believed in their prowess, would be nothing sort of suicidal.

He turned toward Kei then. "Do you still have it?"

"Of course," the scout took out a box and opened it. Inside, there were several rectangular sheets called flare paper.

It was a rare item they could find in dungeons that were used for emergency communication between two sides. They would rip the sheet in two, giving one to each side, and if one side destroyed the piece, the other one would get destroyed too.

"How many?"

"Let’s use two," Bassena said after thinking for a few seconds. Radia had tried to collect this paper as much as he could, but it wasn’t something common in the first place, so they needed to be stingy about it. "Don’t use it if you decide to retreat. If they chase you, get back here and bar the path."

He took one sheet in blue color and ripped it in two. "This is if you decide to confront them," and then a red one. "This is if you’re in a dire situation."

"What about you?" Han Shin frowned.

"If I’m in a dire situation, you should run," Bassena replied dryly. It might sound arrogant, but he was right. If it was another experienced five-star like Ashur, a rescue might be possible. But they were not at that level yet. "But we won’t be."

Kei scoffed and chuckled at the confidence. But that helped them feel better about this situation, and they all nodded with firm gaze.

"It’ll probably be one of the hardest battles you’ll have, but...I trust you," Bassena patted Kei’s shoulder. "I trust your judgment."

"Please take care of my kids," Zein looked at the espers, who raised their thumbs in affirmation. He turned toward the two guides and patted their head. "Just do as you trained, and we’ll see each other again soon."

They nodded wordlessly, too tensed to make a sound. But they had three months of practical experience already, so they had become more confident in their skills--including survival.

"Alright," Bassena nodded and looked at his squad members one by one. "Let’s meet again soon."