There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 374 - 366. Snake Nest

Chapter 374: Chapter 366. Snake Nest

"Stop fidgeting," Han Shin whispered.

"I can’t," Bassena grumbled, but he tucked his hands inside his leather coat so it wouldn’t be seen too much. "I sent my boyfriend face-to-face to the very person who wants to kidnap him. My legs are itching to move."

Han Shin rolled his eyes in response, but it wasn’t like he didn’t understand. He actually didn’t need to be there, because in this kind of blitz raid, bringing potions is more effective than seeking healers. But his limbs also itching, although for a different reason.

"Are you really alright joining this?" Ashur asked the healer carefully, peering into the dark eyes that had lost their light.

"I’m not," Han Shin replied dryly. He wasn’t alright. His father was dead, after trying to kill his brother and had been a part of a group that attempted to kill his friend. And now his brother was detained for who knows how long. He felt like shit. "But that’s why I need to do this," he said. "I need to vent some anger."

"Understandable," Bassena nodded. That anger and frustration was what he felt four years ago, when he destroyed his own clan. "So when can we move?"

He wanted to get this over with quickly and picked Zein up from Rexon. He wanted to at least smash that old man’s face before he got sentenced to whatever, but alas...his ability was needed somewhere else.

As Bassena mentioned it, they looked at Radia, who was listening to the meeting in silence. They--the squad members of Anzus and Hagalaz--had been standing by inside a warehouse near the Horin clan’s residence ever since the meeting happened in the Presidential Palace, while Radia sent Azure, Celestia, and Glasswing to watch the residence of the other two Houses, as well as a conglomerate residence. He even sent his own father to distract those conglomerates by holding a sudden high society soiree with Laurel in Althrea. House Apsoro’s guild, meanwhile, was acting as their network.

There were some people from FIC around the command table, perusing over the compound’s blueprint and the plan with Radia, while also listening to the meeting with the President’s permission. As the other guild members were wondering when they would move, Radia suddenly stood up and turned toward them.

"I’ll be moving first," he said, as one of his summons packed up the command table. "The agents will deliver the warrant, and most likely, they will bar entry."

"So? We’ll just smash through, right?" Gus grinned behind Bassena.

"There’s no need," Radia said while undoing the bandage around his neck. "You’ll be coming straight into their yard."

They raised their brows, either from the statement or from the brand-new scar on their guildmaster’s neck that got Han Shin to flinch. But their attention soon shifted to Radia’s finger, which pointed into an empty space beside them.

"The moment you see a portal generating there, you pass through ready to fight," he said. "Your job is the detainment of resisting personnel and preventing any attempt in evidence erasure. Search for the archive room immediately, including the secret chamber and the basement. Your priority is to seize the evidence about their connection to operation [Kronos] and find the Specter’s core."

"Just that?"

"For now," Radia chucked the bandage to the ground and undid his top button, addressing the dissatisfied faces with a deep smile. "We can’t risk you accidentally damaging evidence while rampaging."

They grinned sheepishly at the guildmaster’s remark. These two squads, after all, were filled with Trinity’s most destructive and resilient espers. Well, not just espers.

"Those people...are the ones who want to harm Captain, aren’t they?" Dean and Brisk, the guides of the Hagalaz squad, curled their hands into fists.

"Yes," Radia smiled, looking amusedly at the guides who had grown so loyal to Zein in just a few months. "You can do whatever after that."

"Ahem," one of the government agents cleared their throat.

"Well, do it within reason," he added nonchalantly, taking a leather glove from his summon. "Bas, don’t use your Nightfall, we still want to record things."

"What if they’re running away?"

Radia glanced at the group of espers he brought from the Mallarc; his family’s troop. "We have made sure to clear the area surrounding the residence. Two layers of containment have been deployed; unless they have better stealth skills than the Night Star, no one would be able to escape."

There was a rather delighted smile on Radia’s face as he put on mana regeneration earrings, which attracted the others’ interest. "Are you going to fight, Guildmaster?" Ashur asked with intrigue. Like many of them, he had never seen Radia fight, unless it was to restrict Bassena’s movement.

"I have a personal grudge," the summoner replied simply, before pausing to listen to the meeting through his earpiece and answering the order given from the other side while checking on a tablet containing the digital warrant. "Understood."

Radia gave the signal for them to get ready, stepping back to the teleportation circle that Senia just generated around the government agents. "We have received the warrant and the order. Trinity will move first."

Two seconds after he spoke, his vision changed from the inside of a warehouse to the big gate of Horin’s residential compound. He nodded toward the agents, and let them proceed with the warrant, stepping back while having Nyx prepare the portal.

As expected, the guards wouldn’t let them in. They called someone with more authority--Torodeo’s second son, who would become the next patriarch--and the man went into verbal argument calling the warrant bogus and the agents frauds. After yelling that they were all scammers with a pale face and a trembling voice, the heir slammed the gate shut.

"Just as you said, Sir Mallarc," the leader of the team sent for this investigation, a four-star esper called Nirmala Falls, turned toward Radia, who was smiling.

"Well, they’d want to stall for time until they could get rid of everything and hide that can’t be destroyed," Radia shrugged. "Once it’s done, they can just apologize, saying they were being too cautious before and thinking that you are a real scammer, and finally letting you investigate to find nothing--Nyx."

"Yes, Master."

"Anyway, they treated this like a search warrant from police," Radia chuckled. "This is a legal document signed by ten Houses," the crimson eyes narrowed and gleamed like a spark that started a whole fire. "We have the right to destroy and kill."

* * *

Baaleon Horin frantically gave the order to the other clan members for house cleaning. It was not even five minutes ago that his old man told him to prepare for the worst-case scenario--how could they already be here?!

"Put the illusion barrier on the door in the archive room and clean all traces of miasma in the training basement first. We can deal with the rest after tha--"

Before he could finish his order, his mouth was suddenly covered by something that felt like a thick bandage. "Now, now--that’s not something honest to do, don’t you think?"

The other clan members who were standing in the yard looked at the source of the voice and widened their eyes. "H--how?!"

Right in the middle of the yard, on top of a field of pebbles, was a portal that looked like a smaller dungeon gate. And emerging from that portal was a man with bronze skin and platinum blonde hair, flicking his fingers as more black tendrils shot out and restrained them.

The first thing they thought was how the hell is the Serpent Lord here?! And then, it occurred to Baaleon that the thief infiltrating their compound two nights ago probably used the same portal. Furiously, he roused his mana and tore the black substance covering his mouth.

"Snap out of it! Get ready for battle!" he cut off the black tendrils restraining the clan member with his blade and turned around swiftly to get away from the yard while turning on the alarm to notify the other members.

The clan members immediately took a fighting stance, brandishing their weapons toward the Serpent Lord. But their fear prevented them from making a move, just a threatening stance--at least until the high-ranking members were there.

And then, they saw more and more people emerging from the portal.

"You’re not going to catch that, Boss?" Zhan asked Bassena, cocking his head toward the retreating Baaleon.

"Then how will he lead us to the important place, stupid?" Gus smacked the spearman’s head. "Anyway, where’s the strong ones? You’re not going to pit us with these rats, right?"

"Rats have lots of diseases, you know," Han Shin whispered. "Wanna beat the guards instead? We still have to open the gate."

"Eh, sure," the two of them shrugged and walked away with the healer.

Ashur, who was just stepping out, regarded the yard and the compound for two seconds before speaking to Bassena. "I’ll take care of the outer layer, Commander. Please proceed with the search."

"Sure," Bassena nodded, ignoring the tensing clan members and walked in the direction that Baaleon had taken earlier. As he stretched his fingers to spread his children of darkness, he turned toward Naoya. "Look for the high ground, and give me eyes along the walls."

Just then, an enormous mana shield was erected above them and the portal, and a loud crashing sound filled the yard as the night was lit up by furious, blazing fire coming from something like a meteor. It broke and the smaller chunks fell to their surroundings, striking the little skirmishes happening between the clan members and the Hagalaz squad.

"Thank you, Julian."

"You bastard!"

The shout was accompanied by a horizontal fire tornado, coming straight into Bassena. Another shield was thrown in front of the Saint class, a physical one this time, deftly reflecting the blast of fire to the wall of the courtyard.

"Hey, you don’t get to attack the final boss right from the start," Banner walked to retrieve his tower shield as Bassena tilted his body to take a look at the attacker.

"You coward! Don’t hide behind the shield and come at me!"

A man in his early thirties who somewhat looked familiar pointed his staff to Bassena, the swirl of mana at the tip told him the man was preparing another spell.

"Huh? Are you related to that wind girl?"

The answer to that came through another blast of high-density flame, which again got deflected by the shield. This time though, the fire splintered and branched into five different directions, dodging the shield and homing into Bassena.

And vanished, as if being swallowed by the darkness of the night.

Bassena tilted his head, a smile on his lips. "Was she your sister? Would you like to meet her?"

"You curse--"

SLAM!

The man’s words got cut short when someone yanked him back, right before a halberd struck the ground where he was standing earlier.

"Oh, too bad," Zhan chuckled and pulled his halberd off the ground while watching the man and his helper jump back a few paces. "You don’t think you can take on the final boss without facing his heavenly knights first, do you?"

"What heavenly knight," Gus rolled his eyes. "You’re just a minion."

"Hey!"

Ignoring his squadmate, Gus glanced at Bassena. "What should we do, Final Boss?"

What are they roleplaying for? Bassena shook his head and replied without any interest. "I don’t care about these hypocrites. Do whatever you want."

Bassena glanced toward the gate instead, and saw Radia for a second before the summoner disappeared. Just then, someone tugged on his sleeve, and he saw a man in a cloak, looking at him nervously. Bassena recognized him as the person who recorded the event in the temple secretly.

"Sir, I’ll lead you to the archive hall," he whispered.

Bassena smirked. So this is the ’thief’.

"Kei, come with me--you too, Ma’am," he called the scout, and then turned toward the team leader of the government agents who came with them. "Let’s dive into the snake nest."