There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 498 - 491. Dawnbreak

Chapter 498: Chapter 491. Dawnbreak

When Ashur first realized the black sheet inside the box in the command center was destroyed, it was dawn. He had been compiling the weekly reports to be submitted to the Guildmaster, but he never thought that the report he submitted later would be wholly different.

For a full minute, he just stood there, feeling his blood freeze as he convinced himself again and again that he wasn’t hallucinating.

But the black sheet was still gone; the remaining ash pooling inside the box as a reality check.

He remembered how they tore the sheet in jest, talking about the end of the world and whatnot should this black sheet be truly destroyed. But what is this? It was only the beginning of the fourth day since Trinity’s best squad made their way, but a catastrophe already befell them.

With a pounding heart, Ashur allowed himself time to take a deep breath and calm himself. Only after he could raise his hand without trembling did he call his deputy, Iore.

"What is it?" Iore asked with a frown as soon as she entered the command tent, completely alarmed. Ashur didn’t say much in the text, but she had worked with the man enough to know that a summon at the break of dawn spelled an emergency.

Wordlessly, Ashur pushed the box containing the ashes of the black sheet into view. Funnily enough, Iore had the same reaction to him; a total stun, followed by a deep breath.

"W-what..." she took a seat and blinked her eyes repeatedly to shake her dazed mind. "What do you think happened?"

"I don’t know, but we can’t think of that now," Ashur shook his head. "I had been trying to contact their commlink, but nothing comes through."

"So they are out of range," Iore nodded. "Either they had no time to set up a beacon, or they are in a place where the signal couldn’t reach."

Ashur rubbed his face and exhaled slowly, heavily. He closed his eyes for a bit before standing up and walking toward the command board. "As planned, we will enact Protocol Iron Turtle," he said with a sharp gaze; the dread in his face had vanished like a lie. "I leave the guides and support magicians to you."

"Yessir," Iore stood up and straightened her back as Ashur made a call to Althrea.

It was dawn in the Deathzone, but it was even earlier in Althrea. That being said, the call was instantly received by the Guildmaster himself, who didn’t even look like he had any sleep. Ashur forgo all courtesy and went straight to the matter.

"The flare paper was lit ten minutes ago."

The crimson eyes behind the screen closed for a few seconds. [Last communication entry?]

"At the start of the second day, the report stated they were entering a desert region," Ashur typed on the keyboard to send the last daily report to the Guildmaster. "Nothing since."

[So you lost contact for two days before the flare was lit] Radia rubbed his lips. [Based on the plan, they should reach the shard’s location already, no?]

"If it went smoothly," Ashur nodded. "With the timing, it’s possible that they encounter a crisis when they find the shards."

[Shards?]

"Zein said there are two of them."

The Guildmaster leaned back and patted his fingers together in contemplation. His face remained calm, however, which strangely made Ashur breathe a bit easier. [Do the shards still communicate?]

Ashur blinked at the unexpected question. "I...am not sure, Sir."

[Get the interpreter machine over there; perhaps you can learn what really happened] Radia said. If the mana wave the shards let out was still the same, then they should be able to translate it into some context, just like how they did it in the Mortix lab.

Ashur inhaled sharply, feeling so stupid for not thinking about that. "What about the protocol, Sir?"

[Get on with it; I’ll prepare some countermeasures. Keep me updated]

"Yes, Sir."

Ashur closed the connection so he could turn on the base warning system. Typing a series of commands he had remembered so much, he punched the confirm button while letting out a deep sigh. As an alarm rang throughout the base and an icon of a black turtle showed up in everyone’s commlink, he called Iore.

"Get Chief Han’s deputy to come to the command tent," he said briefly, before calling the Captain of the guard division as well. He took another deep breath and exhaled sharply. "Haa...let’s go," he chanted for himself. "Let’s hold on."

* * *

How many hours had it been? Zein hadn’t looked at his commlink for a while, since he thought doing so would just make him anxious. Instead, he kept looking at the red sheet, making sure it was still intact.

All the while, the shards kept themselves closer to Zein, as if he was their protector--even though Zein knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything if Bassena couldn’t handle the Fragment. But a little lie wouldn’t hurt for now, because the feeling of relief strengthened the shards’ power, thickening the barrier that had been abused by the Fragment since yesterday.

Zein had no idea how long he’d been there, but he reckoned it should be the fourth day since their departure from the base. They must have been wondering what had happened with the loss of communication, and Zein just hoped Senan wouldn’t get blinded and make the risky move of looking for him.

He did warn the old man to follow Trinity’s protocol, but Iron Brigade wasn’t part of Trinity in the first place, and Senan could rival Bassena in the overprotective category.

Talking about Bassena though...

Zein stared at the dome of darkness that persistently produced shattering noises from time to time. He could only imagine what kind of fight happened inside. The fact that it took so long made him worry, but they had promised that Bassena would retreat if he entered the high-red stage of corrosion.

Yeah; Zein didn’t worry about the esper’s prowess. It was just...he had a disadvantage here, with the increasing rate of corrosion. For this, Zein had lent the bracelet from his little Saintess friend to suppress the miasma around Bassena, but still...he had no idea how effective it would be in battle.

Another loud pounding could be heard from the dome, and the shards flinched again, scurrying inside Zein’s coat to hide.

Compared to the core and the first shard, these twins felt like children, and they were rather adorable. But it also made Zein wonder if he could deploy them into a second base. They seemed like they were traumatized enough to be left alone again, and they had been following him everywhere he moved inside the small chamber--including the time he checked on the barrier and looked at Bassena’s domain closer.

"It’s fine," Zein smiled and patted the trembling shards again. "Our guardian is very strong, you know."

The shards peeked out of his coat again then, although they still hovered and stuck close to him. Well...Zein said that, but he also got more anxious the more time passed. The memory of the bloody esper surrounded by a thick cluster of miasma came to his mind again from time to time.

Perhaps...the assurance he said to the shards was actually for himself.

"Yeah...he would be alright," Zein nodded.

For now, he had regenerated some mana with the golden needle, and used the last few hours to rest his body and replenish some nutrition. The red sheet was also still intact, which means the other team was still alright. All they had to do now was wait for Bassena’s fight to--

CRACK

Zein stood up and took out his daggers as a reflex. That wasn’t the sound the dome usually made if Bassena released his domain. As he dreaded, the dome shattered instead of dissolving, and something flew toward the barrier. Zein clenched his teeth and got ready for an attack, but the incoming black figure passed through the barrier seamlessly.

Again, the shards flinched and ran around in panic for the breach before hiding behind Zein. The guide, however, instantly approached the black figure. "Bas!"

Bassena sat up and wobbled a little bit; his whole skin was filled with the hard black scale that made the shards mistake him for the Fragment. Slowly, the scales retreated as he let go of the skill.

"Oof--" the esper took a deep breath, eyes narrowed at the huge figure hissing and crawling out of the cracked dome. "Fucking regeneration..."

"Are you alright?" Zein grasped the esper’s cheeks, staring down at his whole body. Everything seemed to be intact, at least.

"I’m fine," Bassena said, leaning back to catch some breath. "But you told me to come out when I’m high red."

Zein nodded in relief. "Yeah...yeah, good job."

"It’s not over yet," Bassena grasped the guide’s hand, glancing at the squirming shadow crawling toward the barrier.

After throwing out a handful of beasts, the Fragment had eaten the rest to enlarge itself. The tentacles grew to fill Bassena’s dome of darkness, so much that there was not much room for his field of weapons to materialize. But he couldn’t release his domain for fear that the massive tentacles would smash into the shards’ barrier and destroy it. He hacked into the tentacles and swallowed the chopped part with his sea of darkness, but the limbs kept regenerating and attacking him with force and poison that he also needed to activate his defensive scales.

It became a battle of attrition at that point, and they kept at it for hours until Bassena’s corrosion stacked up. He managed to exhaust the Fragment too, but the damn thing protected its core--the fragment--with a hard shell, and Bassena was running out of time.

"It seems the size corresponds to the power," Bassena said, definitely feeling more pressure than his previous fight. "I can definitely destroy it with Jormungard, but..."

It would send him straight to eruption.

Zein turned toward the shards who were still hiding behind his back. "Can you be good and hold on for a bit while I heal him?" he patted the shards. "Just make sure the barrier holds like you’ve been doing, okay? We promise it’ll end soon--right?"

"Of course," Bassena nodded. "I just need a little cleansing."

The shards buzzed strongly and hovered a bit higher, staying close together to defend the barrier. After nodding proudly, Zein grasped the esper’s cheeks again and straddled the man, trying to ignore the blasting of poisonous tentacles against the barriers.

"Now, let’s do a rapid service one," he said, before covering the esper’s lips with his own.