There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 600 - 594. The Sea Battle

Chapter 600: Chapter 594. The Sea Battle

At the edge of the Deathzone, on the only shoreline among the rows of cliffs on the Eastern side, a lone ship docked silently to a half-broken pier. It looked big in the gorge where it sailed from, but there, between the large port and the vast ocean, the ship looked like a lost kid with nowhere to go.

After spending days docking there without anything more to do, the personnel started to feel like a bunch of lost, abandoned kids.

Not to mention, the communication signal with the main base was whimsical. No one truly knew when it would sound clear and when it would be nothing but static. The thing they were looking for was nowhere to be seen, but there was also no order to return.

Sometimes, it felt like they were stranded at the edge of the world.

"Ugh, what are we doing here?" Senia grumbled on their way to patrol the port city ruin. "We should be over there fighting with the others!"

"We’re here because we need to wait for the shard to appear," Gus replied calmly. "And we can’t let any of that Fallen Star’s subordinates get to it first."

"But there had been nothing like that--no Fragments or anything!"

The situation was a bit dire when a lot of dungeons suddenly appeared in the region where they docked in, but after clearing all of them, they were just sitting there doing nothing.

Even this ’patrol’ was just an excuse to take a walk because they were bored. Otherwise, there was no reason for two five-star espers to do it together.

"Tsk--we should just go," Senia clicked her tongue and kicked a pebble in front of her.

Gus glanced at the pouting girl and smiled mischievously. "Wow, you don’t want to be just with me that much?"

Her hair swayed as she turned her head so quickly and smacked the swordsman’s back in annoyance. "This! Is! Not! The! Place!"

No matter how hard she did it though, a magician’s slap just felt like a tickle for a warrior, so Gus just laughed while the girl was fuming even more. But in the end, he calmed her down and put her arm across her shoulder. "Just be patient," he patted the girl’s back. "I’m sure they’ll call us once they cornered that Fallen Star."

Despite feeling annoyed before, Senia did not shrug off the arm and looked up. "You think so?"

"Well, we can just ask later once the main troops invade the island," the swordsman shrugged. "I’m sure Commander wouldn’t mind."

"Mm..."

That was how they consoled themselves for being away from the main stage--until a distressing conversation came out of the communication channel, along with the sound of an explosion.

"What happened?" the ship team looked at each other with a frown, and suddenly, they heard something even more worrying.

[Something comes out of the dungeon!]

[It’s the Fallen Star! It’s the Fallen Star!]

[Be careful--no, dungeons! Get away from the dungeon gate!]

[Dungeons! Dungeons are spawning again!]

"Dungeons!"

The accidental voice that came out of the communication channel overlapped with the shout of someone on guard duty. As they looked around, dozens of dungeon gates appeared around the port city, pulsing as if they were on the verge of breaking.

At that point, there was only one thing to do.

Gus snatched the speaker. "Announcement to all crew; get back to the ship. We will activate the barrier in two minutes," he said while signaling for the Captain to start charging the ship’s all-encompassing barrier. "I repeat, all personnel to go back to the ship. You have two minutes starting now."

He proceeded to send a timer to the crews, as well as the group that Bassena sent before. Those who were patrolling or just strolling around outside scampered to the ship immediately.

"We’re going to let them all break this time?" Senia asked to make sure.

"Yes, it’s better that way for us," he said. With the amount of personnel they had, clearing the dungeons would not be feasible. "Once the dungeons break, we will attack the beasts with the ship’s weapons first to save on mana and corrosion."

"Then, I shall prepare the turret," the first mate nodded and went to the weapon deck.

"Captain, please send an update to the main base."

"Yes, Sir!"

Gus exhaled slowly while watching the dungeon gates all around the city and the top of the cliffs. If it was an inhabited city, they would never be able to do this without having casualties and thinking about the damage cost. But even more than these dungeons, there seemed to be something more dangerous going on over there.

"Hey, did I hear that right?" Senia tugged on the swordsman’s hand. "That Fallen Star is getting out of the dungeon?"

"Yeah," Gus frowned. "It sounds pretty dire, but there’s nothing we can do with those dungeons in front of us."

Senia scooted closer and whispered carefully. "What if It escapes?"

Gus blinked and turned to look at the anxious face that was filled with...what? Expectation? He sighed and flicked the girl’s forehead. "Don’t even joke about it. There are three Saint class espers over there, how could--"

[Ship team, ship team; do you hear me?] The communication device lit up again, this time with Radia’s voice coming out of it. [There’s a possibility that the target moving in the East direction. Please prepare for a defensive battle. The Raid Team is on their way]

There was a dumbfounding silence in the control room for a few seconds. Gus turned toward the girl who looked at him with parted lips. "...did you get infected by Zhan’s jinx?"

Senia snapped and smacked him again. "Stop joking! The shards!"

"Oh, shit!"

Gus immediately ran to the deck and swiftly climbed the sail while shouting urgently. "Hey, you guys! Come down here, quick! Quick!"

The twin shards, who were just hovering around minding their own business, careened at the swordsman’s voice.

"Uhh..." Gus grunted as he landed on the eagle’s nest, wondering how he could relay the news. "The scary guys chasing you before are back! Come hide quick!"

The twins gasped and immediately followed the swordsman who jumped down again. They stuck to Gus as he opened the ship’s main vault and took out a container. "Here; stay here for now. It seems like Zein is also on his way, so hide your presence until he comes to get you, okay?"

They obediently entered the container, and Gus sealed it tight before closing the vault again. The alarm rang at that time, and the Captain made a headcount before activating the barrier.

"Report; two dungeons are breaking!" the camera operator shouted. "Three...four...they are chain breaking!"

"Haa...we’re right on time," Gus nodded in satisfaction after seeing all the personnel had safely arrived at the ship. "Alright, prepare yourself. We’ll have a difficult fight after this. Make sure you have basic serums on your person before we enter the battlefield."

"You think it will really come here?" Senia whispered again.

"We need to prepare for the worst either wa--"

"Sir Austin! The sea!" the Captain cut off Gus’s words and pointed at the sea behind them.

They had been so focused on watching the land that they forgot dungeons could also appear on the sea. Behind them, only three dungeon gates were hovering on the surface, but on the ship’s radar, there were at least twenty.

The problem was...

Fighting dungeon breaks in the sea was way harder than those in the land. Not to mention--

We are practically on the sea! Gus gritted his teeth and told the communication crew to try contacting Bassena’s team.

"For now, we will focus on the land since the ones on the sea are yet to be breaking--prepare the cannon!"

"What should I do?" Senia asked.

"Gather the spirits and get ready to defend us from the underwater beasts later," Gus said. He was about to leave when he suddenly turned and grasped the girl’s face. "Just defend, you hear me? Just eliminate those who come close, nothing more."

Senia twisted her lips and grumbled. "Fine, I get it--"

Her reply was cut short by a brief kiss before the perpetrator ran away to the deck, leaving her red in both embarrassment and annoyance. "I said this is not the place!"

Gus laughed before jumping into the weapon deck and examining the mana cannons. "How much longer can the barrier hold?"

"Fifteen minutes if we’re going all out on the weapons, Sir."

"We’ll turn it off at five and only use it for emergency later," Gus unsheathed his sword and pointed the tip at the port city. "Sporadic fire!"

With a whirring sound of the mana engine activating, mana cannons rapidly threw out bullets toward the beasts who had just come out of the breaking dungeon before they could be aware of the situation.

"Identify the bosses--use the railgun on them!"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Espers, on me!" Gus walked to the deck’s railing nearest to the pier. Some of the closest beasts had already regained their bearing and rushed toward the ship. "Defend the dock!"

Like a fortress getting sieged, the ship bombarded the encroaching beasts with mana cannons and mana railgun. Those swooping in through the sky were greeted by the gun and those who were rushing through the land were handled by the espers. The support magicians expertly boosted up ability and weakened the beasts, and the three guides were ready to cleanse the returning espers.

Despite getting attacked by a massive horde, everything seemed to be going on smoothly--at least, until the dungeons in the sea started to break one by one in the most unfortunate moment; when the mana weapons were in cooldown.

"Freeze!" Senia raised her hands and put a wall of ice on the east side, preventing the beasts from tackling the ship and capsizing it. "Do you think you’re the only one who can make the sea miserable?!"

She rarely used a staff, but she took out one this time, pointing it to the sky. The sky and the water churned; the wind spiraled down and the sea rose to the sky. A waterspout glid across the sea, lifting up the underwater beasts and shredding them.

Senia smirked--it was a new spell she created after studying Bassena’s Giant Serpent, and she was quite satisfied with it.

That was, until she felt her mana draining fast, and he realized controlling the force of nature as fierce as seawater needed a lot of mana--even with the help of the spirits. Even worse, she only got one waterspout, but the underwater beasts were coming from three different sides, filling a vastly bigger area than the port city. They rushed like a tidal wave, crashing against her ice wall.

And in the dark horizon, the bosses of the sea monsters started to move.

Senia started to panic.