There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 558 - 552. Looking For Coal to Find Diamond

Chapter 558: Chapter 552. Looking For Coal to Find Diamond

After building their camp and using it for just an hour, they abandoned it right away.

Leaving only the purification device and a marker behind, the group immediately followed Ashur in the direction he came from before. The warrior didn’t even have the time to sit down before he had to go again while explaining on the way.

"I saw a group of lizardmen on my way and pursued them. They stay on a riverbank, and after taking care of them, I looked around for a dungeon, because they didn’t look like the mutated horde," Ashur told the group about his finding. "Well, I couldn’t find the dungeon, but I found a strange place."

"Strange how?"

"Hmm...I can’t describe it well, just..." the warrior frowned. "It was covered in vines--the entrance, I mean--and the vines felt...younger? Less grotesque?"

Ashur scratched his neck and shrugged. "Anyway, I felt off when I saw it, so I tried to probe around. You’ll know what I mean when you see it later."

"About the lizardmen," Jock looked around the path they took. "They could come from the dungeon we came from, don’t you think?"

"Ah, it was a swamp!" Han Shin clapped his hand. "Maybe they got away because they lost in the hierarchy?"

"Who knows--ah, we’re almost there," Ashur slowed down his run, and pointed into a pile of grilled lizardmen on the side, still with smoke rising from it.

As expected from Ashur Iddina; even the clean-up was thorough.

"This way," the warrior steered from the path and led them to the riverside.

The river reminded them of the first one they used as a basecamp back in the day; not too wide, not too deep--just like a countryside river where children could play around. They walked along the river for a few minutes, until the river seemed to stop against a stone cliff.

"The river continues down there," Ashur pointed to the bottom of the cliff.

After looking at it keenly, they could see plants crawling along the bottom of the cliff; black and stiff, almost looking like crisscrossing metal rods.

Except for those above the water.

Like proper plants, they swayed, and although still looked black in color, they were more...alive--for a lack of better description. Ashur was right; the difference was clear when they saw it themselves.

"There’s a tunnel behind the vines," Ashur said while going into the river. He approached the vines, cut a small section, and came back to the group waiting on the riverside. "Here--the inside is green."

"Huh..." Bassena rubbed the shedding black bark and glanced at Zein. It reminded them of the vines--a part of a Specter--they found in the cave leading to the core shard. "Did you venture inside?"

"A bit," Ashur nodded. "No Specter inside, but I didn’t go far, since you gave out a signal to gather."

Bassena looked at Zein, who nodded firmly. However small it was, they needed to follow any trace of a shard. Actually, at this point, they needed to follow any trace they could find about anything--shards, dungeons, Fallen Star...even a stray Specter.

Seeing that they were likely to go inside, Han Shin stared at the black water. "You come through this?"

Ashur shrugged. "Naturally."

"Eww..."

"You silver spoon brat," the warrior scoffed.

"Thanks to my hyung who raised me carefully?!" Han Shin’s bragging ended in an undignified shriek followed by a splash as his body plunged into the water with the help of someone’s push. "Aaack!"

He gasped as he found his balance, staring down at his wet clothes before looking up dumbfoundedly at his older brother, who gave him a nice, charming smile.

"Dear, oh dear," Han Joon entered the river with a relaxed smile as if he hadn’t just shoved his younger brother into the river. "It’s okay, baby boy~" he ruffled the stunned healer’s hair. "You can get a little dirty from time to time."

"Hyuung!"

Amidst Han Shin’s whine and protest, Zein chuckled while going into the river together with Bassena. "I see now where Han Shin got his cheeky side."

Bassena smirked and shook his head--well, it was good that they could have fun even in this situation. Jock helped Eleanor into the water, and Cohen went last after storing his shield, looking back to make sure nothing was around to ambush them from the commotion.

Following Ashur, they approached the cliff--or rather, the vines covering an opening behind them. The vines itself was so dense that they wouldn’t be able to see the hollow space if it wasn’t for their keen senses. Instead of cutting the vines, Ashur put mana into his arms and parted the vines to make a gap, allowing the others to come inside.

"Hey, this is..." Han Shin, who was acting like he was allergic to the water, looked down with widened eyes after waddling inside the opening for a few meters. He scooped the water and brought his palm closer, despite his earlier aversion.

"Right," Ashur nodded from the entrance. "That’s what made me think there’s a shard here."

The water cupped in Han Shin’s palms was clear as if the black liquid outside went through magical filtering.

"I see..." Zein trailed his hand along the surface. "This one is very good at hiding, not even giving out any signal."

He looked up and around, looking for another opening. The shard worked very hard, but it still couldn’t diminish its natural purification effect. Still, it tried to close off any path leading to its location. Even Zein didn’t think he would be able to identify the exact location--if it was him before the war.

But he had the Saint’s staff in his possession, and that alone gave him enhanced senses. He walked a bit further away and touched a section of an inconspicuous wall.

Like a sand wall sprayed with water, the wall melted and revealed a tunnel, along with a soft breeze bearing fresh air and a stronger presence.

"Eureka!" Han Shin clapped his hands.

"And here we go," Bassena turned back--a shriek could be heard from afar, and they could feel turbulence through the water. "Seems like someone else smells that."

He looked pretty nonchalant, however, and he turned toward Zein, pointing at the tunnel with his chin. "Go ahead."

Well, a Specter was just a mild disturbance at this point, so Zein nodded and started to climb the tunnel.

"Do you need me, Sir?" Cohen asked.

"Your duty is to protect Zein, isn’t it?" Bassena shrugged.

"Hmm...I’m going to do some cleanup around here--in case there are some beasts," Ashur said.

"In that case, I’ll do a bit of mapping and marking," Jock added.

The perk of having experienced espers was that work got distributed before it existed. Eleanor waved her staff and put buff as well as anti-poison at the three espers, while Han Shin snapped his fingers to give them healing and rejuvenation before following Zein into the tunnel.

With Cohen at the front and Han Joon at the back, Zein continued heading further into the tunnel. It wasn’t very wide, enough for two average people--but it was tall, almost as if the tunnel was a narrow passage between two cliffs. They walked for about a hundred meters until they arrived at a wider cavern crawled with thick ivies.

"Let’s see..." Zein walked around the cavern and touched a section again. The ivies wriggled and moved away, exposing another path behind--this one with a lower ceiling but a wider passage.

"It’s like exploring a secret passage in a ruin or something," Han Shin giggled, already forgetting about the journey through the black water. While he didn’t like caves because of the high possibility of worm beasts, he was sure none existed within a shard’s domain.

"Guided by a guide," Han Joon chuckled before entering the new passage. The place was still dark, but the air was comparably fresher; a clear sign of purification.

This time, Zein stopped after only walking about fifty meters, not even at the end of the passage. He tilted his head, and then looked down and crouched.

"It’s down this time?"

Zein placed his palm on the ground and sent his intention down, to the pulsing familiarity. Rather than crumbling, the ground shifted into a crude stair leading down for about five meters.

"Whoa...it’s like a show!" Han Shin clapped again. "This is why Ashur came back, huh? He already couldn’t find the first wall."

"To be fair, I don’t think anyone could find the path except for Zein," Han Joon said. "Well then, after you Mister Guide."

Zein shrugged and jumped down, with Cohen following him. The stairs, instead of dry ground, ended up in the middle of a creek. This was where they finally received some light. Looking up, Zein could see a bright cavern at the end of the creek, with a small lake where the water came from.

From where they were, it was as if sunlight poured down from a hole above. But of course, they knew it was impossible in the Deathzone. That being said, they also couldn’t find any shard in the cavern ahead.

"Do we have to go further?" Han Shin tilted his head. "Is there any more hidden passage?"

Zein narrowed his eyes and stared at the calm water, before raising his hand. "Please wait here," he said, leaving the espers as he walked closer to the bright cavern. "I think this one is shy and cautious."

Alone, he approached the small lake, and after judging that it was a shallow one, Zein stepped further. "Come," he said gently, softly, the way he talked to the twin shard. "Don’t be afraid. You know me, don’t you? Come now, don’t be shy."

Nothing happened for around a minute, but Zein waited patiently in the middle of the lake, sending his own mana into the water. Slowly, the water rippled, centering on a spot about a meter in front of Zein. Like a rabbit peeking out of its burrow, a pointy translucent crystal popped slightly above the water, and Zein welcomed it with a smile.

"There you go."

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