There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 453 - 446. The First Beacon

That morning, almost all of the Unit’s personnel came out of the dorm, even those who had just come back from the night shift. Some were lounging on the bench outside the mess hall, or congregated in the assembly yard, while some were peeking from the window of the command center.

Wherever they were, their eyes were focused in one direction; the gate leading to the Deathzone.

"Ah, it’s so sort..." one of the guides commented while looking out of the clinic’s window. "I still want to see Zen..."

"He should be here again from time to time, right? Like...during resupply or whatever? It’s not healthy to stay there for a long time, after all."

"Stuuupid," Yath said dryly, pursing his lips. "Don’t you know Zen at all? He will probably stay there until everything is over, unless there’s an emergency or something."

The guides let out a sigh, and just mumbled a silent prayer and a good luck to the masked man standing at the front of the group at the gate.

The target of their prayer, however, looked the most at ease among that group. Not without tension, but there was no nervousness or anxiety in his eyes, as if this was nothing but another job for him. Although, perhaps, it had something to do with the bracelet on his wrist that consistently changed colors from white to black to white again.

"I’m not going to say much," Radia said as he swept his gaze across the sharp-looking espers and guides in front of him. "It’s been a long road, and we’ve done what we could so far to prepare for this."

The crimson eyes stared at the two groups in front of him; one wielding their weapons at the ready, and the other one standing around a pile of dimensional storage chests. He could see the nervousness inside their eyes, and along with that, anticipation. Wry smiles, as well as excited ones, adorned their faces.

Each one of them bore a plethora of expression, but there was one thing that persisted behind everything; firm conviction. His gaze stopped at a reliable pair of ambers and sapphires, and he smiled.

There was only one thing left Radia could say at this point.

"I trust you."

* * *

"Are you alright up there?" Bassena peeked out of the hatch on top of the van they used to traverse through the wide marsh between the Unit’s headquarters and the Deathzone.

Crouching on the roof of the van was Kei, who watched the vast marsh with her sharp eyes, Naoya with his bow and arrow ready, as well as Julian and his magic shield ready to be deployed at any time. The three had been working together before the establishment of Anzus--even before Trinity itself. Within the squad, they had the best synergy for long-distance sniping, and it was their job now to clean the marsh from the wights and the lesser specters that would hinder the van.

Usually, things like this would be handled by the Unit, just like the excursion last year. And it wasn’t like Agni didn’t offer to do it, but taking over the marsh was one of the steps in this operation, and the team needed a warm-up before entering the real battlefield. The creatures coming up in the marsh were like a perfect introductory course for the squad, since they only existed here.

And those creatures would surface for sure, since Bassena was here. It was in their nature to get wilder when a Saint class esper was there--as Bassena had already proven last year.

"It’s kind of fun," Kei replied without looking away from the marsh. "Reminds me of the old days--you know, when we’re still running around the desert and jungle looking chasing rogue groups?"

Naoya and Julian responded with a chuckle. "It’s too bad that we can’t bring vehicles inside the dungeon, huh? Zhan would love it so much."

Except for Kei, they turned back to see the spearman riding on a trail motorcycle behind the van without a helmet like a hooligan. The excited grin on his face could be seen even from where they were. In this dull march under the gray sky, the only thing shining brightly was the tip of the halberd on the man’s back.

"Did you give him permission to ride his bike here so he can be a bait, Commander?" Julian asked curiously, to which Bassena just replied with a smirk.

"Eh--as long as he’s having fun."

Bassena laughed and decided to lounge there on the hatch to observe them some more. He didn’t need to wait long though, because Kei raised his hand slightly--a signal for Naoya to get ready.

"How many can you let loose?" the scout asked while watching several spots on the marsh wriggle and the air writhe, forming astral bodies.

Naoya glanced at Bassena, who gave him an okay sign to go all out. Such was the privilege of the scout with an honorary Saint in their midst.

"If I don’t need to reserve for anything then; twelve, thirty-six, and eighty-one."

"I don’t think we need the big gun yet," Bassena said, as someone who had already slain those creatures before. "Just a medium one is enough for the specters, and low for the wights. If it’s not enough, Zhan will have fun either way."

"Roger that," Naoya nodded and took out his bow. There was no arrow, however--not a physical one, at least. Mana came out of his fingers, which were pulling back the strings, as he raised his arms and directed the bow to the sky.

Eyes on the field, several screens hovered in front of the scout’s eyes, allowing her a precise calculation of every miasmic creature that showed up in five hundred meters radius. "Wait," she said, grabbing Naoya’s shoulder. The archer’s eyes glowed, and the information from Kei’s eyes entered his system in real-time. "Seven specters... twenty-eight wights--you riled them pretty hard, Commander."

"What? I’m just existing," Bassena shrugged. It was a lot more than when he was in the outpost last year. It could be because of the location, or...

Because he was getting stronger.

Bassena smiled deeply, just as Kei finally gave another signal. "Get ready."

The mana intensity coming out of the magic arrow fluctuated until it stabilized, adjusting to the number that the scout mentioned.

"Go."

Naoya released the magic arrow. With a whistling sound, the shining white arrows shot to the sky as if aiming for the grey cloud. It stopped after fifty meters in the sky and shattered into thirty-five balls of light like a firework.

Bassena looked at the white fireworks that bloomed beautifully in the grey sky and whistled. "Nice at always."

The fireworks’ ’sparks’ immediately fell to the ground; each one of them turned into the shape of an arrow and scattered in the direction of each creature. With the sound of the sharp wind, they accelerated and pierced through the specters and wights rushing toward the vans. All without a single one missing.

The marsh was immediately filled with the sound of pained shrieking as the creatures wriggled and dried up before scattering into miasmic dust.

"Precise as always," Bassena nodded and patted the archer’s back.

"Two of the specters persist," Naoya said, but there was no urgency in his voice, nor disappointment. He looked back and, without even telling him to, Zhan already had a halberd in his hand.

"Good job!" the spearman shouted before speeding up toward the specters; not even the uneven terrain slowed his advance.

"It’s hard to feel down when there’s a person who even feels happy about your failure," Naoya chuckled.

Bassena smirked and returned to the van. "We’ll reach the point soon, so get the device ready for now."

"It sounds fun out there," Gus commented while helping Han Shin take out a beacon and an older version of the purification device from one of the storage pouches. "Should I ride with Zhan once?"

"Don’t waste your mana just because Zein is here," Bassena narrowed his eyes.

"I know, geez..." Gus chuckled and got back to helping the healer.

It didn’t take long until the van reached a rather wide plot of dry land they had targeted before; the most suitable place to place the beacon and the purification device. It was only the older version with a lesser range, but enough to protect the beacon from the miasmic creatures until the Unit’s personnel could come and clean them.

Han Shin and Gus immediately brought the beacon and the purifying device to the center of the dry land, protected by Banner. The team on top of the van prepared for another attack, and Zhan actively moved around in his bike to slay any miasmic creatures surfacing again.

"They spawn faster if we’re stationary," Ron told them while watching the back side of the van.

"It seemed so," Bassena watched the field through his traveling darkness. He still didn’t make any move and stayed inside the van with the guides. Well, for something like this, the others were enough. If they struggled just from this, they wouldn’t be in Anzus. "Check your commlink to see if the beacon works."

Zein looked at his wrist, but the signal was still weak, meaning the only connection they had was with the beacon in the headquarters. "Not yet." freewebnøvel.com

"Seems like installing it in the ground is harder than we thought," Ron commented. "Ah--it stands up."

Zein looked at his commlink again. A minute later, which was filled with the sound of slashing and explosion--as well as Zhan’s laughter, eerily enough--the screen of his commlink blinked once, and a loading circle could be seen.

"Oh! It’s connected!" Dheera announced to the whole van.

Zein looked out of the window, and, not long after, the murky air around them was illuminated, as if a ray of sunlight suddenly poured just in their location.

"And that’s the purification device," Bassena smiled. "Shin is useful in times like this."

"...but he’s a healer, though? He’s always useful," Ron muttered, to which Zein just shook his head in resignation.

Bassena smirked and came up to the roof again, clapping his hand loudly. "Alright, good job! Now come back and let’s move again, we have a schedule!"

Zein chuckled and looked out again, at the slightly brighter part of the Borderland.

Yes, that’s right. This was just the first step--no, this couldn’t even be called a step, since they were still outside of the Deathzone. They were still standing in the foyer, getting ready to step into the outside world which was shrouded in darkness.

Even so, this first beacon was like the lamp of that foyer, which gave them a little courage to step out of the bright world. To give them a firm step inside the darkness, and to let the people still inside the bright world see them for the last time.

There, on the other side of the marsh, a pair of crimson eyes watch the first beacon with a smile.

"Yes," he muttered. "I trust you."