There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 418 - 411. Asserting Priority

Chapter 418: Chapter 411. Asserting Priority

Somewhere between Althrea and Neyta, there was an eternal dungeon that belonged to Trinity.

It was an underground terrain with a complex cave system that took Trinity a whole year to map out completely. As if to reward the explorers, the commodities coming out of this dungeon were magic stones; from mana stones to aetherite. As of now, only twenty percent of the dungeon’s terrain had been mined, and by the time they reached the farthest tunnel, the early ones would already regenerate more stones.

Naturally, it was considered as Trinity’s most precious dungeon. What they didn’t know was that the dungeon became precious not only because of the resources it brought but also because of its resilience. The terrain itself was made to absorb magic and vibration, so no matter what they did while mining, there was no fear of the cave system collapsing.

Which means, it was perfect for espers to go wild with their skills.

For this reason, the dungeon had been designated as the training place for the advance troops; the strike squads of [Anzus] and [Hagalaz]. The empty mines that had been excavated were now the home of rumbling sounds, blasting explosions, clanking weapons, and several curses for spice.

Their training was pretty simple; it was everyone against Bassena Vaski. Alternating between Hagalaz and Anzus, they treated the Saint-class as a boss monster--which, to be fair, was an overestimation on the boss’s part. After all, Bassena had already established himself to be stronger than even a black dungeon’s boss.

Lately, however, there has been an addition to the raid party; a prodigy who used to be groomed as Bassena Vaski’s replacement. Naturally, their firepower should be greater, but right now, as Zein watched the ’raid’ from a safe place, it looked chaotic.

"No--don’t go over yet! His children of darkness are still roaming around!"

"I told you to go left! LEFT!"

"I’m trying!"

"Don’t cover my line of sight, goddamnit!"

"DUCK!"

"Aargh!"

With just the addition of a new girl who had never cooperated with anyone before, the group who had solidly cleared high-level dungeon after high-level dungeon suddenly looked like a bunch of rookies.

"How chaotic," Zein commented as he peered down into the cavern that had become the hidden boss Bassena Vaski’s lair. The man himself was casually sitting on a boulder, fending off the attack without moving and with an exasperated frown on his face.

"Team play is a completely different skill, after all," Rina, who was in charge of the guides’ safety during this training, chuckled. "Only someone with overwhelming strength like the Commander can afford solo play."

"Because he’s strong in both offense and defense?"

"That," Rina smiled, pointing at the fleeting darkness all around the field. "And because he wasn’t completely alone."

Ever since the last trial, Bassena’s children of darkness had become more sentient, and could independently take action without Bassena needing to order them around. Even if Bassena was getting restrained, they could help free the esper.

’And still, he thinks it’s not enough,’ Zein mused inwardly.

It was admirable; this constant thirst for getting stronger. It was also adorable when the esper said he did it because Zein told him to be the best esper in the world. But Zein often thought that perhaps...Bassena strived to be strong because it was all he knew. It was all he had been taught of during his childhood; to be strong.

Ah, his sweet esper. Zein smiled as the training session ended in the raider’s total defeat. The guides came over to cleanse the exhausted and exasperated espers, but Bassena, who had been stationary all this while, immediately moved to approach Zein inside.

Was it because Senia also started to walk toward Zein? Who knew...

But Bassena immediately grabbed the guide’s cheek and kissed the man hard. Of course, it was guiding--but it was a guiding specially reserved for him. He couldn’t do something like that when Zein was still in his mask, and when Zein wasn’t wearing the mask anymore, everyone knew about their relationship already--so he didn’t need to ’assert dominance’ or anything.

And it wasn’t like he needed to do it now, but Bassena didn’t like more espers coveting his guide, so he had to show the newbie who the favorite in the room!

Still letting the esper consume his lips, Zein glanced past Bassena’s shoulder, toward the fallen princess who was puffing her lips. Chuckling at the childish display, he caressed Bassena’s nape and quickened the cleansing--although the man was barely corroded.

"So much for saying you’re going to stop acting like a brat," Zein whispered after the quick guiding.

"I’m just using my right," the esper cheekily replied while shrugging, leaning forward to kiss the guide again despite having nothing more to be cleansed.

"As the highest-rank esper?"

"As your boyfriend."

Zein stifled a laugh. "That’s hardly professional, Sir Vaski."

Bassena twisted his lips and tried to kiss his boyfriend again, but Zein patted his cheek and told the esper he still had others to guide. Swallowing his laugh at the way Bassena was sulking, he leaned closer to whisper. "Don’t worry; I won’t kiss them."

"Of course, you shouldn’t!"

This time, Zein audibly chuckled and left Bassena to fume by himself. Rather than the Saint class, the other members of Anzus were in a higher state of corrosion. After all, they had to exert more skill while Bassena was merely defending himself and attacking once or twice.

"How did you even end up with that kind of person?" Senia puffed her cheeks as she glanced at Bassena.

"What kind of person?" Zein replied amusedly while guiding the girl by the hand.

Senia looked at Bassena again, frowning. "Just...rude! And harsh! He’s so merciless!" she grumbled and continued to whine about Bassena, before her gaze returned to Zein. "And he’s so... possessive!"

"Posessive?" Zein raised his brow; his lips curled on their own. Well, perhaps Bassena did act possessive sometimes, but...he knew a couple who were even more possessive and obsessive about each other. Compared to them, Bassena was mild at best. Zein chuckled before replying. "Isn’t that cute of him?"

"Cu--what? What part of him is cute?!"

"Everything?" Zein shrugged, just to receive an incredulous look not just from Senia, but from the members of Anzus who were eavesdropping on their conversation. "Anyway, I’m going away for a few days, so halt your training for now."

The members of Anzus seemed to have heard it from Bassena, so they nodded without much fuss. Senia, however, was yet to be added to their group chat--so to speak.

"What? Why? Where are you going?"

"To Northern Alliance."

"What for?"

At the persistent inquiry, Zein just replied flatly. "None of your business."

Senia pressed her lips, brows furrowed in disappointment. Not because Zein was going away, but because she could sense that the guide did not trust her.

She sighed and looked around carefully. "What...what should I do, then? During that time?"

Zein tilted his head. Right--this girl was only here for her combat prowess, not to be integrated into the guild. Without any combat training, she would have nothing to do. Radia had decided to withhold information about Deathzone as much as they could, even if the girl was bound by the contract of secrecy.

For some reason...looking at this girl looking around awkwardly made her look rather pitiful.

But Zein wasn’t one to dwell too much on pity. "Use the time to reflect on yourself."

"...huh?"

"Reflect on your past self, on what you’ve been doing all this time," Zein continued. "Think about why you’re in this position; why you’re not able to stay in Celestia."

"That--ugh!"

Senia bit his lips as a flash of nauseating sensation assaulted her. She looked at Zein with a pair of careful, pleading eyes. "You already know," Zein said, easing the guiding to the initial soothing sensation. "You’re not that dumb; you already know what you did wrong--after all, weren’t you once on the other side too?"

The blue eyes were sharp and uncompromising, but Senia found it hard to avert his gaze.

"You know, so you should admit to it; that what you did is wrong."

Senia lowered her gaze and curled her free fingers. "What...what difference does it make?"

"Maybe nothing," Zein shrugged. After all, not everyone could change. "But you won’t know if you don’t try it first. You’re just going to be someone who ran away from her past without properly facing it, and you’ll forever be trapped in that unsolved past."

It might sound like a lecture, but it was something that Zein could say because he had gone through it himself. And he also knew how important the role of other people was in making him see that he had been living in stagnancy, refusing to go forward because he still couldn’t make peace with his past.

"Don’t expect your power to improve if your mind is still stuck in the mud."

Senia lifted her face; as expected, the notion of getting stronger pulled her up. Zein didn’t waste the chance, then.

"Face the wrong that you did, and seek proper forgiveness," he said, pulling his hand away. "That is your homework while I’m gone."

Zein had no idea whether Senia would be able to really do that--especially because the number of people she had harmed in the past could not be counted with only the fingers on her limbs. But he wouldn’t do anything more; he wasn’t her babysitter or her guardian. It wouldn’t matter anyway, if the girl herself didn’t want to do it without coercion.

With that thought, Zein and Bassena packed their bad, and on the next day, they were already on Radia’s private jet heading to the Temple of Frejya.

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