There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 322 - 314. Dome of Darkness

Chapter 322: Chapter 314. Dome of Darkness

It was a word that always sent chills to miasmic beasts and humans alike. No enemies came out of the dome of darkness--people said. It was the dome that enveloped the Vaski residence and the Golden Viper guild the night of their annihilation. It was the dome that ended the black gate anomaly.

And for the first time that night, the female esper lost her smile.

The dome of darkness was instantaneous, isolating the entire estate. The sky vanished, the lake blackened, and the only thing they could see was the small campfire, illuminating the pair of cold blue eyes. It was her first time experiencing the dome of darkness, and she had no idea what to expect.

That being said, darkness wasn’t so scary. She trained in darkness all the--

Crash! Stab!

She jumped as her inner alarm blared a massive warning, and after she activated heightened sight and senses, she could see dozens of weapons made of hissing darkness stabbing the place where she stood. Obviously, they would have stabbed her had she jumped a second too late.

Unfortunately, not everyone was as fortunate; shrieks and groans filled the field, the backyard of the otherwise beautiful and peaceful property. With a quick glance, she inferred that most three-star espers were nailed to the ground by these stakes of darkness, while the four-stars managed to get away with wounds on their limbs.

Limbs. She realized then that the stakes and the weapons accurately target their limbs. And while a lot of it was strewn around the area, nothing touched those Bassena Vaski considered as allies.

Was the man purposely avoiding their vital areas?

Why? Was he meant to take them alive, or he just wanted to play with them before ending their lives?

As she thought about it while dodging the endlessly coming stakes falling from the dome, she heard a loud groan, and saw her partner--the man who used to be a part of Golden Viper before Bassena Vaski wiped them out--getting dragged toward the deck. Stakes were jutting out of his legs, because even though he was a five-star, he was also wrapped in dark tendrils. The man crashed into the edge of the dock and one of the espers put on a mana-sealing cuff on his wrists.

Tsk--now she had to make sure he was dead.

And then she felt a shudder all of a sudden, as the amber eyes turned toward her. They were blazing, and yet they were cold. The lips below stretched, and a low, husky voice came out--not at her.

"Honey~"

It was eerie, to hear a sing-song tone inside this nightmarish darkness. And it was equally eerie how chilling the gleaming blue eyes were, as the guide replied nonchalantly.

"Go vent," the guide said calmly, not at all matching the merciless glint inside those glacier eyes. "But make sure my house stays intact."

What came after was laughter; a chuckle at first, which turned louder as more and more stakes rained on his enemies. The attacks came in such a way that she and the other espers that came with her were driven away from the house. They had to jump and run toward the forest and the lake, all while the trail of ambers chased after them.

* * *

The scene of Bassena chasing and attacking those espers almost looked like a child playing a violent brand of tag. The smile and laugh that hid a fury beneath seemed sinister to others, but not to Zein--the target of the operation--nor to the members of the Iron Shield company, who made an oath to protect him from a long time ago.

As the fight turned into the forest and even entered the water, Zein suddenly felt something tugged on his sleeve. When he looked down, he saw two shadows in the shape of small children, one was pouring a bottle of healing serum into his palm, and another one was pointing to the chair in front of the campfire.

"Hmm?" they tugged on him, and one of them patted the chair enthusiastically. "Alright, alright."

Zein laughed softly and took a seat on the camp chair. It wasn’t his first time interacting with Bassena’s [children of darkness], but it was the first time they looked very sentient. Perhaps because they received an upgrade after Bassena’s last trial, and they were inside the influence of [Nightfall].

Curiously, he watched as the shadow children started to recook the meat and vegetables that Bassena begrudgingly put aside earlier when their attacker came. The campfire blazing brighter, and the space was soon filled with a delicious aroma that got the members of the Iron Shield gulped. That being said, they were more interested in how Zein actually conversed with the sentient shadow.

"Can you eat?" the guide asked. The shadow vibrated slightly and made a few movements that the others couldn’t decipher. But Zein definitely could, because he didn’t have trouble replying. "No? Ah, his mana? Yeah, I know. It’s nice and warm, it’s peaceful, right?"

They looked up and around the dome of darkness. What was nice and warm and peaceful about this place?

The shadow diligently cooked the meat and piled them up on a plate, before delivering it to the guide. "Ah, thanks," Zein, who had been waiting hungrily for the meat before that attacker came, did not hesitate to eat them. He even glanced at the members of Iron Shield who were surrounding the dock like his personal security troop. "Do you want to eat some?" he asked casually while pointing at the griddle.

They stared at the meat--high-quality meat from a green-zone farm--and couldn’t help but salivate. That didn’t mean they had enough wit to just accept the offer made by the patriarch.

"Isn’t that for Sir Vaski’s, though?" Senan, as the most senior there, responded with a smile.

"There’s still a lot of them in that box," Zein cocked his head toward the big ice box that might as well function as a freezer. It looked more like logistics for a whole company rather than two people. "I mean, might as well have something while we spectate."

Senan looked at the box and the shadow that was actively taking out fresh meat from there. Clearly, the meat was prepared by Zein and Bassena for everyone, not just two people. "Well...who am I to reject Young Master’s offer?" Senan chuckled to ease the hesitation of the other members, and plopped himself on the dock beside Zein while the shadow continued to grill new meats.

"I told you to stop calling me that," Zein muttered, before putting another slice of meat in his mouth.

The old man stubbornly shook his head. "You can order me anything, Young Master, but that one is something that I could never do."

"Haa..." Zein sighed and chewed his meat without saying anything, just watching Bassena fly around throwing spears and daggers at the struggling espers in the distance. As the shadow children started to deliver meat to the Iron Shield members, he glanced at them and asked. "Is everyone alright? Is someone still injured?"

"Don’t worry, Young Master. We have healers, and you already gave us a lot of recovery serum," Senan replied with a smile. No matter how much Zein acted cold and aloof, the blue eyes couldn’t completely hide the concern in his heart.

"That’s good," Zein nodded.

"And it’s not like we did much," Cohen, the police officer, chimed in, taking a seat on the ground beside his uncle.

"That’s right, although I’m ashamed to say it," Senan sighed.

Yes, they were there to protect Zein during the small window when Bassena was getting trapped inside a dimensional space. But Senan knew that even without them, Zein would have been alright. The guide already had equipment capable of creating a barrier, and if things became dicey, he could just summon Bassena immediately.

Eventually, all they did was catch the scouts in the forest and make sure all the attackers gathered in one spot. That being said, [Nightfall] was big enough to encompass the whole estate, including the lake and the forest, so those people would have been trapped inside the dome either way.

If it came down to it, they were just there to fulfill their own selfishness, because they didn’t want to feel guilty for making their young master go through such a dangerous situation alone.

Still, the young master praised them. "You help me enough, thank you."

Senan lowered his head, staring at the plate in his hand with a heavy heart. It was hard for him to see the son of his Master facing dangers even to this day. And it was even harder facing the fact that there was almost nothing he could do. He wanted to stand beside his young master, the child he was supposed to raise and protect. But it didn’t seem like there was a way to do that.

Biting his lips, Senan felt his selfish desire bubbling up. He raised his head, gazing at the side profile that reminded him so much of his Master. "Young Master..."

"What?"

"Are you really not going to revive the clan?"