The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 48: The Perfect Opportunity

Soon enough, they arrived at the scene. They parked right by the beach, a safe distance of around one hundred feet away from the water. As they got out, they couldn’t help but pause, taken aback by the scene in front of them.

It most certainly wasn’t a typical dungeon break. There was no chaos, no screaming, no blood, no monsters roaming around... All that greeted them was silence. Everything was eerily still and silent.

There weren’t even many signs of frantic escape. There were some knocked-down cups and chairs in the restaurant right next to them, but that was all. Other than that, it was more as if people just disappeared. There were towels and bags spread around, but they were more or less neat and tidy. Not at all as if a crowd of people ran over them. The surface of the lake was also calm, only lightly wrinkled by the faint breeze, slow, gentle waves crashing softly on the shore, carrying driftwood, which oddly resembled fragments of boats...

"Ugh... It’s kind of creepy. I’m getting chills," one of the Guides complained, rubbing his arms. "Where are the Espers?"

"They are spread around. They need to secure the whole shoreline, including the river, after all. You’ve heard it at the briefing."

"Yeah, but I thought that at least one or two would be with us," the man continued to grumble.

"What do you need Espers for, when there are no monsters around?" The woman laughed, slapping his back. "Come on, sit down, and just chill out. Isn’t it good that it’s quiet?"

"Yeah, yeah... I guess you’re right..."

Was it really quiet though?

Lane narrowed his eyes, taking a good look around. Although he couldn’t hear or see anything, there was something in the air, getting under his skin. Without a doubt, there was a lot of Mana everywhere.

He briefly glanced back at his team, and once he was sure that no one was paying attention to him, he activated his Mana Scan.

And sure enough, aside from the lake, which shone in many different colors, with plenty of monsters hiding underneath the surface, there was also a smoke of sorts, wafting in the air, flowing towards the team, and gently wrapping around their bodies, caressing the skin.

"Hey? What are you... Where are you going?"

Hearing the call, Lane quickly canceled the ability, and looked back.

Four of the Guides, who had previously sat down on the restaurant’s terrace, stood up, and started walking toward the beach. Some of the others tried to hold them back, but soon enough, their eyes also started losing their shine, and they let go, and started to walk toward the water as well.

Lane wasn’t surprised. He had already seen the smoke. It was clearly a hypnotic type of ability. Probably an S-rank at that. Those low-ranking Guides had no chance against it. Two of the B-rank Guides, including the girl who was shaking on the bus earlier, were still holding on, but it was just a matter of time before they would also surrender to the spell.

And once it happened, it would be over for them, as they would willingly walk straight toward their doom.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Lane stepped forward, grabbing the nearest person and hitting them in the back of the neck. The hypnosis didn’t work on him, naturally, so he could easily save them all - all he had to do was to knock them all out, or tie them up, so that they couldn’t move. He moved on, catching the next person...

But then he paused.

Wasn’t that the perfect opportunity? If he ’fell under the spell’ and died here, nobody would find it suspicious. He would have to switch identities sooner or later anyway, and it would be much harder to do under Damien’s watchful eyes. And with this, Damien would lose his only lead on Lane’s identity and ability. All that Lane would have to do next, was to make sure he never gave Damien guiding ever again, and he would be free...

Yes, he shouldn’t let such a chance slip away.

He scooped out his phone from his pocket, and dialed Noah’s father.

"Beep... Beep... Beep..."

Just as Lane thought he wouldn’t pick up, the man answered, "Noah?"

"Dad? I’m sorry. I think I might not make it."

"...What? Noah, what do you mean? Where-"

"I’m sorry, I don’t have time to explain. I just wanted to ask you, can you make sure my body is cremated after my death? Don’t allow anyone, not the Association or anyone else, to conduct any research or anything on me, okay?"

Although Ava said they wouldn’t be able to discover anything, wouldn’t it be even better if they didn’t even get a chance to try?

"Noah, you-"

"I’m sorry," Lane interrupted the man once again. Listening to his breaking voice was deeply uncomfortable. The man was so disturbed by Lane’s words... He cared so much for his son...

Lane’s eyes twitched.

And yet the man hasn’t even realized that ’Noah’ was no longer his son anyway.

"Please remember what I said."

Lane ended the call and turned the phone off. All of the Guides with him were already under the spell, some already disappeared underneath the water’s surface. It was only a matter of time before someone realized that something was off, and dispatched help. So, Lane had to act fast.

Although there was no one around, there could still be cameras installed somewhere, for example by the restaurant. Therefore, Lane had to act as if he was under hypnosis, so that his behavior wouldn’t raise any suspicions. The hypnotized person’s movements felt incredibly slow, but he bore with it. Step by step, he got to the lake.

The water was cold. It sunk through his clothes, giving Lane goosebumps. His shoes were heavy, having absorbed all the water.

Still, he carried on. Such little discomforts were nothing. Just go a little bit further, and soon it would all be over.

Once the water reached close to his chest, something wrapped around his waist and legs. Thin tentacles, with stingers, that stabbed right through his skin.

Poisonous stingers, at that. Just a few seconds after Lane was pricked, his whole body started burning up. He grasped his chest, tugging at his shirt. He didn’t even have time to take a breath, before he was pulled forward, dragged deeper into the lake in an instant.

Perhaps it was because of the heat he felt inside, but the water seemed even colder now. Burning up from the inside, freezing from the outside, and drowning, desperate for air, his body instinctively started struggling.

But he couldn’t free himself, even if he wanted to. The tentacles kept him securely in place.

’Should I switch back now?’ Lane squinted his eyes, trying to see the monster in the dark. He had to ensure that this body was dead, but that didn’t mean he enjoyed his current predicament. He didn’t want to suffer any more than he had to. Once he could be certain he would be eaten, he could return to his real body...

All of a sudden, something fell into the water from above, in the accompaniment of countless bubbles. Some shapes moved ahead, and the water turned red, the scent of blood soon reaching Lane’s nose. The tentacles wrapped around Lane loosened, and something caught his arms instead, pulling him up. It all happened so fast, that in his half-conscious state, Lane couldn’t quite comprehend what was going on.

Until a moment later, he was already back on the shore, someone leaning over him, holding him in his arms. "Evan!"

"Team... Leader?" Lane’s eyes slowly focused. He still felt as if he was looking at Damien through a haze, but he could at least make out the man’s features.

Damien’s gaze was anxious and desperate. This time, Lane could tell it for sure. Damien was staring at him with his face twisted, droplets of lake water falling down from his messed-up dark brown hair, his emerald eyes reddened at the rims, and his uniform all bloody...

Lane’s eyes shook, and he paused, staring at Damien’s left shoulder.

It was all torn up. Terribly torn up. As if a monster bit right into it, and Damien forcefully pulled it out.

Did he... perhaps... get bitten just now? In Lane’s place?

Although many people got hurt because of Lane before, and he never cared, this time, for some reason, he felt a tinge of guilt.

He always wanted to see Damien all messed up and covered in blood, since the man was always so prim and proper, and Lane had a feeling he would be even hotter than he already was that way...

But he didn’t mean covered in his own blood.

And not with such an expression on his face.

...Perhaps he didn’t think it through. Maybe dying here... Wasn’t such a good idea after all.