There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 128

Chapter 128: Chapter 124. The Call of Light

"Get down!" Zein pushed the two guides to the ground, just as the surge of miasma blasted at them. The tanks and the magicians were erecting shields and barriers instantly, but Zein liked to be cautious. "Don’t let that touch you, ever. Use the mana shield to protect your head, and stayed behind the guards."

The two guides nodded frantically while activating the barrier on their bracelet and held their arms up.

"Shield, up front! Scout, give us a visual!" Ashur barked from the front while taking out a big javelin from his inventory, and putting his halberd on his back.

"Four hundred meters!" the scout informed them. "It’s..." he halted and blinked, before speaking confusedly. "I’m...not sure, Sir."

"What?!"

"I’ve never seen this too," the other scout said. "It’s like...a cyclone. Sir, it’s either a boss class using wind barrier or..."

"It’s a Spectre," Zein said from the back. He couldn’t see it like the scout, but he encountered enough Specters to know one when it made an attack. "It’s kind of like a corrupted elemental, but different," Zein paused while staring ahead, in the direction where the attack came. "Stronger."

There was a collective deep inhale among the espers. Ashur looked back with a slight frown and asked for confirmation. "It’s something from the Deathzone?"

"Yes," Zein answered briefly, raising his daggers in front of him just as the vice-Captain shouted.

"Incoming!"

Ashur shifted his gaze to the front again, pulling the javelin back while giving instructions. "Shield, cover! Evina, direction!"

Again, the surge of miasma came forward, this time in the shape of countless wind crescents. They crashed into the shields and barriers erected across the tunnel, which the defenders directed upward. Immediately after, the shield shifted for a bit to give way to the mana-loaded javelin of the raid Captain.

With the direction from the scout, Ashur took the gap after the Specter’s move to launch a counterattack. Wasting no time, the javelin, which crackled with electricity, traveled with the supporting wind from the magician, and a loud roaring sound reverberated throughout the field.

"Whoa, it sounds like a typhoon," someone commented.

"Vanguard, on me! We’ll break through this path!" Ashur shouted while taking back his halberd. "Rear guard, protect the guides and followed carefully!"

As the sound of roaring wind belting all over the place, the attacking squad ran forward while the Specter was still under the paralyzing effect of the javelin. Zein sent his daggers back to the storage and grabbed the two guides from their position on the ground and readied them to move.

"Steady. We’ll run, but don’t sprint," he stroked the back of their head and regulate their system, just like he always did to the exhausted guides during the training, and lowered his voice. "You’ll have to be ready to guide once we arrive there, so use the time to calm your mind."

The two guides nodded wordlessly, just staring straight and focused on Zein’s voice, so they didn’t have to battle with fear and anxiety as they tried to enter the state of guiding.

Seeing his kids ready, Zein looked up at the rearguard espers and nodded. They started to move at a jogging pace so the guides didn’t lose too much energy. Along the way, they could hear the sound of battles; clanking metals, explosions, shoutings. From time to time, wayward attacks from the Specter would reach them, but the tanker and barrier magician tasked with guarding the guides were ready to deflect everything coming from them.

But suddenly, Zein felt his nape getting hot and his spine getting cold, as goosebumps raised on his skin. With a swift movement that shouldn’t belong to a guide, he turned around and raised both his daggers in a cross position above his head.

*CLANG!*

The espers turned around with widened eyes, as a flying weasel with menacing sickle-like nails snarled and swat its other hand toward Zein. But the guide jumped back and immediately slashed the beast after coating the Blade of Acheron with mana. Before his feet even touched the ground, Zein threw the Black Pearl into the air, where it made a dull squelching sound and a gurgling screech. He landed at the same time as the invisible beast that got stabbed by the dagger.

Ah...two weapons were truly the best. Zein huffed as he straightened his back again. He looked at the two guides, who were each inside the protection of the rear guard’s arms while stretching his hand to call back the Black Pearl. "You’re okay?"

The two guides nodded frantically, eyes wide and hands pressed against their mask to prevent screaming sounds from coming out.

"And you? What about you?" the surveyor asked with a frown.

"As you can see," Zein shrugged, sweating the black dagger in the air to get rid of the beast’s blood. He looked at the two carcasses and muttered an afterthought. "Ah, right. They usually have minions..."

He forgot because Bassena took care of the minions too the last two times; whether it was the wood Specter’s offshoots in the many caves, or the bred beasts in the city ruin. The ones who get away were also being taken care of by Sierra and Ron, so he didn’t really need to fight after the first cave incident.

"I’m sorry, Sir Zein..." the shield warrior bowed his head and looked at the dark ground hard, feeling disappointed in himself for not only failing to detect an enemy, but even letting a guide do the protecting instead.

"It’s alright, let’s continue," Zein said, pulling the two guides on their feet again. "Just be more vigilant."

"How...how many Specters have you encountered this far, Sir?" the surveyor asked as they continued to march forward, looking at the sharp blue eyes that never seemed to falter even after almost getting stabbed to death.

"Hmm..." Zein pondered for a bit. "If it’s the one at this level then...three," he answered finally. "The weaker version is quite abundant in the Deathzone though."

At a loss for words, the group just continued to march in silence. The guarding espers became more vigilant now, as if wanted to prove that they could do their job properly. They fended off a few more minions, which moved like a deadly wind and sometimes rode the wayward attack from the Spectre. After getting through the barrage of deadly flying weasels for a while, they finally reach the end of the path.

It was a wide clearing that ended up with a cliff. On top of the cliff, a giant that seemed to be made of cyclones was roaring. It flailed its limb to swat the attacking espers, sending a series of harsh winds all over the clearing. Even the grotesque trees fell all over the place.

"Please stay here," the guarding espers stood in front of the guides and erected a wide range barrier.