There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 320 - 312. Ambush

Chapter 320: Chapter 312. Ambush

"Sir, there’s a problem with Carreon district’s dungeon."

Varion looked up from his screen, a full scowl on his otherwise calm face. "Azure again?"

"Yes, Sir..." the employee replied hesitatingly. The Guildmaster had been on edge lately, starting from the time a few of their esper suddenly missing in action.

On paper, they were on indefinite paid leave, but it was too abrupt, and it had been a week. The management wouldn’t care too much if it was just low-star espers, since they could just expel them from the guild. and if it was high-star espers, they were rarely in the guild building unless there was a dungeon raid anyway.

But the espers in question were three and four-star, which was the busiest in Celestia. Not to mention, they were known to be the Guildmaster’s people.

"What should we do, Sir?" the employee, who was part of the external relations division, asked carefully.

"Just let the legal team handle it," Varion said in irritation. He still had to think about how he could take away that guide successfully--he had no time to squabble with another guild about a mere dungeon’s right.

"Sir...all members of the legal team are full with handling the other disputes and scand--"

The employee didn’t have time to finish his words before something flew and crashed into his face. He pressed his lips, and despite the throbbing on the side of his head, he was grateful it was only a pen holder and not something heavier--or sharper.

"Are you telling me this guild is so incompetent that we hire people who can’t work on more than one case?!" Varion fumed in a rare moment of outburst. The Guildmaster was usually cold even in his anger, which made him scary; the type who sent dismissal notice the same day if someone pissed him off.

The employee swallowed his sigh. It wasn’t that they had an inadequate number of legal teams--they had teams. But for the past few days, they were suddenly flooded with disputes over dungeon rights. Starting from Azure, other smaller guilds started to do it too, probably because they felt Azure would stand with them. The employee thought it might be karma, because it was Celestia who often pressured other guilds over dungeon rights--but he’d rather die than say such things out loud.

And then there was the scandal. Scandals. Their espers weren’t exactly clean; physical assault, sexual assault, illegal stuff...their PR teams were busy all the time. They just managed to hide it very well, from giving compensation to media play.

But some cases suddenly came up to the surface. It was clear that someone was targeting Celestia, either Azure or someone else.

But the employee had no leeway to think too deeply about it. His job was to make sure this Guildmaster did not get angrier at him. "Understood, Sir. I will tell the legal team to take care of it."

Varion cursed under his breath as the employee bowed low and retreated from his office. His hands itched so badly, and he grabbed the vase on his desk and threw it across the room.

"Fuck!" the word was drowned in the loud crashing sound.

He knew who it was who messed with them. It must have been that bastard Radia Mallarc. Why else would they meet in Althrea a few days ago?

Is this how they retaliate? Through petty tricks and media play? Varion scoffed. He had been wondering what they would do, but even if they brought the case to the authority or media, Varion wouldn’t be too worried about it. He only sent his people, and he had enough leverage over them to make sure no one spoke about him. The building they used had no connection with him or Celestia--at least in the paper. The building was purchased and managed through a third party, because there was a limit to an affiliate building a guild could own, and Varion needed a secret operational base since not everyone was on his side yet.

Worst case, all he had to do was cut the captured people--a bunch of useless pricks.

He started to laugh lowly. Oh...little did they know he didn’t care that much about Celestia. They could destroy the guild for all he cared; he was only using the guild to prove himself so he could become a part of the clan anyway.

But now, he had another way of doing it.

And just as he thought about it, his secretary--one of his people--came inside, bearing a piece of news that made him think the universe was really on his side.

"Sir, we have a sighting of the guide and the Serpent Lord," the secretary said.

"Where? What are they doing?" he perked up slightly, although his tone still showed caution.

"On a private lake in area-10," the secretary said, reading the report. "It seems like they are...camping?"

"...what?"

"Uh...they look like they are on a date--is what the report said, Sir."

Huh...Varion raised his brow. They must have thought that it was safe after the last attempt failed. Or the snake was just that cocky, thinking nothing would be able to harm his guide as long as he was there.

Sure. Let’s test that theory then.

"Tell the team there to keep watching them and send the coordinates of that place," he stood up and punched some numbers on his commlink to make a call. "Tell them to standby--I’ll send some people over."

"Understood."

Varion narrowed his eyes as he waited for the call to go through. Bassena Vaski’s existence was always tricky, but the fact that they were somewhere secluded was like a gift from above. Since there would be no one else to help, as long as they could isolate Bassena Vaski, the guide was up for grabs.

[Yes?] he finally heard an answer from the other side.

"You said you can handle the Serpent Lord, don’t you?" Varion said. "Then it’s time to move."

* * *

"No, give me the one with less fat," Zein narrowed his eyes at the piece of meat on his plate.

"But it’s good," Bassena argued.

"I don’t like them," Zein crossed his arms, and Bassena gave up, giving the guide a leaner piece of meat.

Bassena was happy though, seeing Zein being a little bit picky. The guide was so used to eating anything to survive, so the fact that he thought he had a choice now brought a smile to Bassena’s lips.

So he continued piling leaner meat on the griddle so Zein could eat a lot of them. Some veggies too, because they need a balanced meal.

"You’re grilling orange too?" Zein raised his brow.

"It’s nice," Bassena took them off the griddle and peeled one. It was hot, but what was the temperature for a high-star esper like him? He put the orange pieces in a bowl and gave it to Zein. "They’re warm."

Zein looked at the pieces of orange in interest. He didn’t know warmed fruit was a thing. And he didn’t know they were so good, especially eaten during the cold of the end of winter. He fed some to Bassena, who was busy grilling the meat, while watching the scenery.

The place was already beautiful during the day, but it was equally beautiful during the night. Without the countless city lights, they could see the sky clearer. The lake that was shimmering with sunlight during the day was now sparkling with stars in the night. For a while, Zein thought about sleeping right there on the dock rather than inside the tent, lying down while looking at the starry sky.

"I wonder why they took such a long time to make a move," Zein muttered. He wanted to get it over with quickly so they could turn this fake vacation thing into a real one.

"I know, right?" Bassena laughed. "Do you think they’ll come out if we offer them the barbeque?"

"We might," a voice replied from the darkness around the lake. "But you don’t need to offer it, we can simply take it from you."

Oh, fucking finally! Zein took a look around the lake once. It was seven during the day, and now it was ten--no, twelve if he counted the one still hiding in the hill. The one who spoke just now was a five-star; a woman in a leather jacket.

An improvement from the last batch, for sure.

"Is there a need for conversation?" another voice surfaced, coming out behind the house. It sounded like a grumble, and the man who said it did look annoyed. Another five-star; they were truly serious about this now.

"You knew any of them?" Zein asked the esper who was still busy grilling.

Bassena glanced at the two five-stars, shrugging. "No," he said. Not that Bassena remembered every espers out there, but five-stars were not that common, and the fact that he didn’t know them meant they were probably the same kind as the mysterious person who abducted Zein. "Hunting dogs, probably."

"My, my, what a sweet mouth you have there," the woman smirked with twitching eyes; either from being called a dog or because Bassena was practically ignoring them. "You’re as cocky as they said, huh?"

"It’s already general knowledge," Bassena remarked casually, sighing as he put the meat on the side of the grill. "Can’t you at least wait until we eat? It’s such a waste..."

The male five-stars who seemed to be perpetually annoyed clicked his tongue. "I told you there’s no need for conversation," he sighed and raised his hand slightly, and the rest of the eight espers hiding around the estate came out; three were four-stars, and the rest were three-stars. It was enough force for a red dungeon raid.

Well, after all, they would have to face someone who cleared a black dungeon alone.

But Bassena just cocked his head with a bored expression. "Just this much?" he said, intentionally making himself sound disappointed.

"Just this much--" the annoyed five-star esper vanished, and appeared right behind Bassena, grabbing the saint-class’s shoulder. "--is enough."

And before Zein could blink, both Bassena and the five-star esper vanished from his sight, as if being swallowed by the air.

"Well, now that the guard dog--oh, sorry, snake--is gone," the woman curled her lips while walking toward the lone guide on the deck, "would you like to have a date with me, pretty boy?"

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.