There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 510 - 503. Family Talk

Chapter 510: Chapter 503. Family Talk

Between the black desert and the dark plains, it was an amalgamation of tens of thousands of acres of flat land. In this flat land, a tall structure pulled the attention of anyone visiting the area.

Tall was one thing; but the structure also looked intimidating. Turrets at the top with dozens of guns, and a glaring shining crystal at the tower’s spire that could be seen from miles away. Perhaps because the tower was built in a Castle, the walls were made of reinforced bricks rather than metal. Another discovery of the Stone Eater provided the builder with an indestructible coating, which turned the tower and the castle into a fortress.

It was in this fortress that the squad of Hagalaz and Ashur Iddina made their home. Along with them was a squad of House Mallarc’s agents and a mercenary group. In total, there were only twenty-four people staying permanently to man the Castle and the Tower.

That being said, as a hub for the plains, people were coming and going to the Tower frequently, especially those in charge of exploring the plains and the underground system that still only around seventy percent covered even after a year.

A while ago, the other hunting teams—especially House Ishtera’s Iron Shield—also visited the Tower frequently on their way. However, these days, all the members of the operation were stationary. Everyone was under the order of staying put as they ’lured’ their enemies to them.

It was a bit of respite in a way. Except during patrol duty, they stayed inside the base. After doing routine training under the watchful eyes of the tireless Commander, they had free time that they could use to rest--or, in Zhan’s case, look for people to battle out of boredom.

Bassena didn’t mind, since it kept the spearman out of trouble, and kept whoever fighting him in an alert condition.

It was also a rest for the guides, who could finally do the cleansing more leisurely. Despite being in the middle of luring dangerous entities toward them, the atmosphere was actually rather peaceful.

"Do you think it’ll work?" Zein asked as he stood on the Tower’s rooftop during their routine inspection.

"If it doesn’t work, there are two possibilities," Bassena narrowed his eyes. "It’s either because there is no fragment left in this whole region, or they found out what we are trying to do."

"The second one will be a cause for concern..."

"Indeed," Bassena glanced at the shining crystal above them. "What did you tell the shard should send out?"

Zein looked up and called the shard down onto his palm. "To call for the other shards in that direction," he pointed toward the void across the desert with his chin. "We can’t make it too obvious that it’s a bait, isn’t it? I told this one to make it as desperate as possible--even the other shard and the twins couching it."

Bassena chuckled in amusement. It still fascinated him--and everybody else--to see how Zein interacted with the shards like he was talking to a bunch of completely sentient beings. In fact, he talked to them like they were a bunch of sentient kids, no different from the way he talked to the guides.

Just then, the shards buzzed to tell Zein something, and the guide chuckled. "This one said it tries its best already, and that it’s not its fault if this stuff fails."

"I got it, I got it," Bassena laughed. "Thank you for the hard work."

Another buzz, and the shard hovered near Zein’s head as if whispering to the guide’s ear--even though no one could understand it except for Zein. This was why Bassena always thought the shards were kids. Perhaps because they were fragments of a fragment that were developing ego with limited knowledge and interaction around them. Zein, as the full fragment with a full, independent ego, became their big brother automatically.

"Huh? Is that so?" Zein raised his brow and looked at Bassena in surprise.

"What is it? Does it gossip about me?"

Zein chuckled and shook his head. "No, it’s about that river...ravine...whatever it is where it hid before," Zein shifted his gaze in the direction of the cliff. They could see the bridge that was still under construction even now. "It said the water might lead to the sea."

"What--really?" Bassena turned toward the ravine and narrowed his eyes even more, trying to see far. Naturally, it was futile.

"More precisely, it said ’a larger body of water’ so I could only think it’s a sea," Zein shrugged.

"Oh, fuck--" Bassena grabbed his head. "How couldn’t we think of this? How couldn’t we think about following the water flow?!"

Immediately, Bassena climbed down to call Kei in the main base’s command tent. Meanwhile, Zein caressed the shard to praise it before sending it back on top of the spire. When he followed Bassena to the Tower’s command room, the esper had been asking Kei to pull up the predictive map of the region. Ashur, who was listening, also pulled up an idea that their enemies might come from the water too.

On the other hand, Zein was wondering if there was a shard in the sea shore or the sea, on the shallow bed. Perhaps on a field of coral.

Perhaps he should talk more with the shards, doing some discussion rounds with everyone.

Zein told Bassena he was going to return to base, right when someone who was guarding the unfinished construction said they heard a small splashing sound from the water.

"A scout? A spy?"

"Probably," Bassena glanced at the shard sitting proudly on top of the Tower and smiled. "Let’s gather our forces. Zein, you’re returning?"

"Do you need me here?"

"Only for destroying the fragment," Bassena shrugged. "That’s if there really is one. I can just bring it back to the base anyway."

"How confident," Zein chuckled and held the esper’s nape before planting a soft kiss on the lips. He patted the bronze cheek and smirked. "I like that."

Putting on his mask again, Zein left the Tower with Senan while the other Iron Shield stayed to hunt the fragment together. After fourteen months and several hunts together, Zein no longer felt like he had to be there every time. They began to develop self-awareness and more precise calculations about whether or not a fight warranted the presence of a guide, or how much force they would need. Zein no longer got anxious about not being there when Bassena fought--especially after he cleansed the esper right before.

And so, he left the Tower casually. They had no idea when the attack would happen, or how long it would be. He could always come back if the fight got stretched or harder than they thought. The communication system had grown better and better so frequent reports were feasible between bases.

Zein, however, wanted to go back quickly to talk to the shards. He didn’t want to waste days waiting for the attack on the Tower. Immediately after arriving, he climbed to the top of the stadium and stood beneath the spire, calling for the shards.

Even before he called them, however, the twin shards had already shot toward him like a pair of eager puppies waiting for their owner. They circled around him and nuzzled Zein’s cheeks, whining about how Zein rarely visited them again despite staying in the same area.

The other shard, the more mature one that had stayed the longest with Zein, only scoffed at the twins and asked Zein right away if there was something the guide wanted from them.

Zein patted the twin shards and looked at them keenly. "You used to be on the surface of the desert, weren’t you?" the shards buzzed in affirmation that was mixed with confusion. "I know you sank yourselves underground to protect yourselves a long time ago, but it’s not because of the tornado, right?"

They were confused, so Zein sent them his memory of when Anzus was flung around by the tornado in the desert. The shards shook their body as if shaking their inexistence head, and gave Zein a flash of their own memory--not a vision. It wasn’t the tornado, but a dungeon. They felt threatened by the appearance of this dungeon which seemed to be something between red or black level, and so they sunk themselves underground and moved away to where they stayed when Zein found them. It was way before the Stone Eater made the underground system, which unluckily brought enough room for a Specter to grow and later on, for a fragment to visit.

"I see," Zein nodded. "Had you ever seen a tornado before the dungeon appeared?"

Again, the twins shook.

"No, huh..." Zein narrowed his eyes as he fell deep in thought.

The twins nudged the guide, wondering why the man suddenly stopped talking and moving, but the other shard chided them about disturbing their big brother. They circled the guide instead then, mimicking the tornado that Zein had just shown them.

"Do you think..." when the guide finally spoke, the twin shards flinched. "Do you think the tornado will defeat you?"

If shards could gasp, they would. The twins buzzed heavily as if offended by the thought, making Zein laugh and apologize in response. "In that case, can you protect me and a few others if we walk through the desert again?"

The shards stopped moving and turned to each other, before bumping their crystalline body against each other.

"Oh, you can?" Zein patted the twin shards who were buzzing proudly. "Then...would you like to go on an excursion with me?"

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