There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 509 - 502. “Rest”

Chapter 509: Chapter 502. “Rest”

The seventh shard, however, only came to their possession after almost a year.

To be exact, it was ten months and three weeks.

Right after obtaining the sixth shard, they were focused on building the third base more than anything. But this time, they planned to make the base bigger than the mountain one. After looking at the location, Radia agreed to turn it into a hub to prepare for the future eastern expansion, which meant they had to clean a large area around the Castle enough for an assembly.

Most of their forces were thus concentrated in that area; sterilizing the area from any beasts, checking for dungeon appearances, and leveling the field around the Castle. They did it while waiting for the construction materials from the outside. Since they wanted to make a higher and bigger watchtower, more materials than usual were needed, and the transport time was getting longer.

This time, they even came with a proper construction worker and magic engineer. Familiar faces for Zein, since some of them were the people who built his lakehouse.

Thanks to the workers, the espers could focus on the ’hunting’. While the shards were hunting for some signal from other shards, the espers were hunting for more fragments. Han Shin had come back from his vacation with a truckload of newly developed uniforms by SavAsh. They were armed with a defense mechanism against the Fragments’ poison, so even those without bio-shields like Bassena could face the Fragments.

Naturally, the uniforms were in limited quantity, so the only ones who got them were the official hunting team consisting of chosen Trinity members, House Ishtera’s Iron Shield, and the House Mallarc’s agents.

With them focusing on the third base and Fragment hunting, the finding of the seventh shards was pushed away for months. Especially because none of the shards could detect anything. The fact that the shards got more clever in hiding meant that the other shards and Zein also found it harder to locate them.

Funnily enough, the one who found a hint for the shard’s location was Zhan; simply because he was getting too playful in the wide plains and rode his bike too far and...lost.

He lost and got further and further away, out of the beacon’s range. Luck had it that the spearman had a cautious friend who put a tracker on the bike. Gus realized the man was in trouble when the tracker beeped out of the radar and immediately called Kei and Naoya to drag the spearman back.

After looking for a while, they found the spearman on the edge of a jungle, fighting a Specter. And well...Specter usually stayed near a shard’s location. Kei, who held one of the compasses, saw the needle pointing deeper into the jungle behind the Specter and the rest was history.

When the third base was finally established and the seventh shard had been obtained, Senan reminded Zein of what he said about taking a rest and did not stop until he saw Zein’s name in the list of the second period’s returnees.

And so, Zein found himself breathing fresh air again in the summer, a year after marching into the Deathzone.

"Mm...it’s not too bad," he nodded as he looked at the blue sky and inhaled deeply.

And then he got to work.

"Shouldn’t we be on a vacation?" Bassena chuckled as he drove the guide across Rexon’s street.

"The fresh air and sunlight are enough for a vacation," Zein fresh. "If a rest is to put my mind at ease, then checking on my stuff is a rest."

Bassena could only laugh and take Zein around like the good boyfriend that he was; to the guide academy that had started to operate, to the bureau that the Temple established, and even a quick visit to the orphanage in the Araka. Senan would have such a long sigh if he knew what Zein was using his rest for.

But then again, the blue eyes did sparkle brighter after he found out everything was fine and running well. It would help him focus better on the operation in the Deathzone.

But of course, no home visit would be complete without a meeting with the Big Brother. It was a nice day when the sun wasn’t sweltering yet and the weather was very comfortable for an outdoor picnic. They had lunch in Radia’s mansion after Zein spent the morning talking to the Temple and Bassena had a nostalgic morning talk show in Rexon as a PR stunt.

"How disappointing--I thought you would stumble after almost two years of absence from showbiz," Radia smirked as he watched the recording.

"What’s so hard about it that would warrant a stumble?" Bassena shrugged smugly.

Zein scoffed and flicked the esper’s temple. It had been two years since he saw that fake, charming smile Bassena used for the general public, and he still hated it. "Is it not hard dancing around their question about ’key’ and ’creature’?"

"What’s so hard? It’s not like they knew about them from a reputable source," Bassena smirked. "Once I asked them about the source, they clammed up."

"And so, it kept swirling as a rumor," Radia curled his eyes. "Isn’t it perfect?"

"So you won’t let any journalist come for now?"

"No--not until we found a way through the desert," Radia tapped on his armrest in contemplation. "In the meantime, let’s clear the plains and jungle, as well as find a way through the mountain. I’ll send more materials to build the bridge."

Zein exhaled slowly, heavily; leaning back to stare at the blue sky. The progress was good and all but...he started to feel how much it slowed down. They went from finding three in three months, to one the next three, and another one in five. He knew they had come to a stall now since they couldn’t even sense the other shards anymore. Zein knew the rest was located far away, in the region they still had yet to breach.

"Do you know what a marathon is?" Radia tapped the end of his golden needle on the table after looking at the guide’s frustrated face.

"What we were doing in the underground system the first time?"

Radia chuckled and put the cigarette between his lips. "Sure," he nodded. "Isn’t it easy when you just start running? Your step feels light at the start since you’re brimming with energy. But you’ll slowly start to feel the stretch and what you should do at this point?"

"Pacing it well," Bassena shrugged.

Radia responded with a flick of his lighter. "A little slow is fine, as long as we keep moving forward. Hell, stopping to rest is fine too sometimes."

"Hmm..."

"Have you played a game, Zein?" Radia glanced at the guide. "That computer game Han Shin and Reina love to play."

Zein tilted his head to recall some vague memory of watching them during a sleepover. "Where they became a witch or a knight and fought against a demon king or something?"

"Yes. The game always made the played character go through a lot of missions and paths that will gradually make them stronger--gaining experience and stacking more skills along the way."

Zein narrowed his eyes as he mulled over the summoner’s deliberation. "You mean, we are now gaining experience and stacking skills before fighting the Demon King?"

Radia smiled and pointed the golden embers to the guide. "Exactly," he turned toward the window office which conveniently faced in the direction of the Tower far away. "Isn’t Gus and Zhan going into the Tower a proof of that? Many espers gained more proficiency in the skills they already have, and their battle reflexes hounded more with more confrontations."

"Well, you’re right about that," Bassena nodded.

"It wasn’t just about gaining strength, however," Radia took a deep drag of his golden needle and exhaled it slowly, punching the smoke with the golden ember. "It’s also to wittle the Demon King’s forces."

"Ah..."

Perhaps because there were too many things on his mind, but Zein totally forgot about it. Yes, his main role was to collect the shards; but one of their main objection was to get rid of the Fallen Star--the ’Demon King’. Culling the fragments and taking out a portion of the Fallen Star’s power was equally as important as finding the shards.

"We already have half of the shard, so let’s change some things for now," Radia decided.

"What change?"

"Let’s go on defense for now."

Zein and Bassena looked at each other before the esper asked. "You mean staying still?"

"I mean luring them to us," Radia smiled. "We have been in the offense so far, but we don’t have to always do that," he flicked a tall, snuffed candle in front of him. "Use one of the bases and let the shards send a random signal--anything to call forth the other fragments or even..."

"The dormant Fallen Star," Bassena rubbed his lips.

So far, they hadn’t felt any movement from the Fallen Star, even after they obtained half of the total shards out there and hunted several fragments already. They created a theory that the fragments weren’t communicating with each other, and that the Fallen Star couldn’t feel what happened to them, even though Zein had been destroying them.

That being said...

"Are we going to lure it this early?" Zein frowned.

"Just a jolt," Radia looked at Bassena--after all, the Fallen Star was the esper’s mission. "Only let the one in the Castle send a signal. It’s in a perfect place for bait after all."

It was in a field with no hiding place for ambusher, far enough from their main base to prevent total annihilation in an emergency, but close enough from the underground system for the personnel to run away. If the fastest espers moved, Zhan used his bike, and Bassena used his shadow steps, help could arrive in just a few hours.

"Can you do it?" Radia asked the esper.

The reply came without hesitation. "Is that a question?"

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