There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 595 - 589. The Bridge to Hell

Chapter 595: Chapter 589. The Bridge to Hell

"We’re going to the lake," Radia turned toward the Eastern Sun, who had been waiting eagerly.

She had been doing nothing ever since dropping that meteor in the lake, so she had been kind of bored. Every time she wanted to ask if there was something she could do, the whole troops were doing so well that she couldn’t say anything.

Actually, she didn’t even understand why she was there at all. They seemed to be capable of handling everything.

Unknowingly, after resting because of injury, she was starving for some action. Perhaps that was why, unlike the Iron Mountain, she never retired even after passing her peak.

"Okay, okay--do you want me to drop some fire on the lake again?" she asked rather enthusiastically, but Radia swiftly rejected the idea.

"No, we can’t afford to heat the water again."

As the Eastern Sun arched her brow, the assassin that had disappeared at the start of the battle suddenly emerged from thin air beside her, prompting the Eastern Sun and her assistant to flinch subconsciously. That man truly could kill them anytime if he wanted.

Fortunately, Han Joon didn’t even look at them. He went straight to his husband to report. "The temperature has gone down now; we can’t initiate the swapping."

The Easter Sun blinked. Temperature...has gone down?

"...wait," her eyes widened. "Did you make me drop that meteor at the start so the water will be cooled down by the time the troops reach the lake?"

"Why else would I do that?"

"Uhh...I thought it was a surprise element,"

"That’s a bonus," Radia shrugged.

It didn’t matter what kind of attack they used; as long as they could pull the Fallen Star’s attention, it was a success. Rather than killing the beasts, Radia wanted to lower the water level more so the bridge could be installed securely later.

"Oh..." the Eastern Sun said dumbfoundedly.

Well, that attack did diminish the underwater beasts and planted a strong presence to be noticed by the Fallen Star, so that was truly a nice bonus. Still, he had no intention to let the Easter Sun feel satisfied with herself--not yet, anyway.

He smiled and turned toward her. "Please only attack the Kraken; make sure not to let your skills touch the water."

"Oh, fine," she waved her hand at the annoying business smile and beckoned for her assistant. "Let’s go, Syl."

"Yes, Ma’am!"

With her red coat fluttering behind, the Eastern Sun flew away toward the lake, leaving the chuckling Iron Mountain and a smiling Radia.

Han Joon smirked and waved the token that would be used as a medium for the swap. "I’ll go ahead and place the item."

"We’ll be right behind," Radia nodded and, after Han Joon disappeared again like a ghost, turned toward Tian Yu and Kei. "Let’s go."

As they moved toward the lakeside, the Eastern Sun let out the stuffy feeling in her heart by firing out magic after magic. It didn’t even matter if a water beast was strong against fire-type magic, she bombarded the Kraken enough that it started to look like a cooked octopus. The flailing tentacles were sliced by fiery sickles; the cut instantly burned and prevented from regenerating. The ones that managed to avoid the sickles struck the flaming barrier around her and burned even more fiercely.

Just out of a little spite, the Eastern Sun also shot down the other underwater beasts, making sure none of her magic dropped to the lake and reheated the water. She scoffed at the minion floating motionless around the Kraken, feeling her frustration of doing nothing before dissipating away.

Whatever her motivation was, the espers in charge of cleaning the lake just felt grateful. In a war like this, survival mattered more than individual achievement, so anything that would reduce their usage of skills--and thus increase their corrosion level--was welcomed.

And like that, the center of the lake and the area around the shortest line between the lakeside and the island were cleared up quickly. Han Joon, still invisible, moved on top of his wire to the center of the line to put the token he brought and activated a protective barrier.

[It’s placed] he reported through the communication channel.

Radia, standing on the hill overlooking the lake, nodded at the old man beside him. "Sir Tian Yu,"

"Don’t let anyone or any beast come near the token," the old man said while stretching out both hands toward the lake and rousing his mana.

"Rina, ice wall along the line I marked."

[Roger!]

Five seconds later, two hard ice barriers stretched out between the lakeside and the island, flanking a five-meter area marked on the map. They timely shielded the area from the projectiles that the persistent Kraken still throwing around, and the swift commander-class that was swimming toward the token underwater.

"Here I go," the old man let out a soft breath, and the small token floating between two giant ice walls glowed brightly. So bright it almost felt like the Eastern Sun was about to drop another meteor.

In the next second, the loud battlecry on the field and the lake were drowned by a deafening thumping sound. Tall splashes and clouds of dust entered the battlefield, and when they diminished, an eight-hundred-meter-long and five-meter-wide bridge appeared out of thin air. Drones controlled by the scouts flew in and secured the bridge to the bed of the lake as the old man exhaled harshly and the troops cheered.

"The path is open," Radia announced through the main communication channel. "Captain Iddina, start crossing from Team 1."

[Yes, Sir!]

* * *

"Two down!" Agni shouted while shoving two hissing fragment cores inside a reinforced sealed tube.

But the demise of their kin made the five fragments more vigilant. They focused all of their attention on getting back to the rampaging Chimera, so much so that even the defender’s taunting skill did not affect them anymore. Both Cohen and Agni immediately tackled the closest two and locked them in combat.

"Sierra--threw those three back here!" the berserker shouted, and Sierra swiftly changed the direction of her muzzle.

She canceled her piercing skill and charged up a new bullet before pulling the trigger. It was a heavy blow that got her slid back from the recoil, but the same result could also be seen on the other end. The bullet struck the fragments and sent them flying back in a knockback effect.

Unfortunately, one of the fragments sprouted a pair of wings right away and jumped off before it could touch the ground, while another one planted its limbs on the ground and stopped the force. While their kin was flung back, the two fragments resumed their effort to get back to their creator.

"Mister Zhan!"

"I’ll chase it--oof!" the fragment with four limbs scaling the ground threw a poisonous dust that halted the spearman’s steps for a second. "Like that’ll stop me!"

Zhan charged into the poisonous dust and stepped on the ground Fragment, using its hardened body as a stepping platform to jump up and snatch the flying Fragment, slamming it to crash onto the ground One.

"This doofus--Hari, poison barrier!" Han Shin ran closer to the spearman while throwing a ball of healing mana toward him.

Zhan didn’t even seem like he was affected by both the poison and the healing, however, even though his skin was visibly melted and mended by the second as two energies danced for domination over the surface of his skin. He just moved his arms and slashed his halberd around, thrusting the pointy tip and holding the two fragments down. He ripped the wings of the flying Fragment while dozens of phantom spears slammed down and pierced the ground fragment.

"This is it!" the spearman laughed--to Han Shin’s exasperation. Thankfully, the poison barrier had settled in and he was finally close enough to give more substantial healing.

Thanks to that, Zhan’s movement became faster and fiercer, and the two fragments started to fall down without being able to do anything but defend.

"Hahaha!" Zhan jumped to the sky and raised his halberd high, swirling it over his head. A storm of wind and lightning gathered above his swinging halberd, ready to be unleashed. "Just die!"

The spearman swung his arms down, bringing forth the force of a hurricane to the two Fragments. That was when a bunch of tentacle-like vines sprouted beneath the Fragments and covered them. The halberd struck the tentacle and the hurricane scattered by a repeling energy.

Zhan landed on the ground and cursed as the tentacles flew at him. He pulled his halberd and swung it to stave off the lashing vines. "Oh, fuck! I thought that was a worm!"

"Worm?! Where?!" Han Shin, who couldn’t see well because of the dust, looked around in panic.

"No where," Zhan laughed while jumping back and dragging the healer away from the tentacles’ line of fire.

"What the fuck? Ugh--"

Zhan dropped Han Shin at a safe distance and immediately ran back to the fragments. Except that...nothing was there anymore.

"Wait..." he stopped and stared at the gaping hole beneath the tentacle dome earlier. He blinked and turned to look at Han Shin. "They’re gone."

"What?!"

Han Shin was just about to stand up when he felt the ground shake again and the Chimera roared. Roared in joy as it munched on two snacks snatched from within Zhan’s barrage of attacks just a few seconds ago.

"Uhh..." Han Shin gulped as a stream of corrupted cosmic energy ran across the Chimera’s veins, and a blast of dark purple wind shoved the Giant Serpent back. "Shit?"