There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 469 - 462. Field of Ruin

"Haa..."

Dheera let out a heavy sigh the moment she walked past the wall of trees, looking in yearning at their small paradise from the gap in the door.

"If you’re going to be like this, you should have just stayed," Leehan rolled his eyes and lightly bonked the side of the girl’s head.

"Hey, it’s not that I want to stay behind," Dheera pursed her lips behind her mask. "I’m just sad about leaving the place, okay?"

Leehan glanced at the slowly closing wall as the last of the rearguards exited the dome. "Well...I can relate to that..."

"Right?"

"The next time you see it again," Zein put his arms around both conversing guides, "it’ll be either because you’re experiencing burnout, or performed an exceptional feat."

A quiet groan came out of the other four guides, and it almost felt like they were back on Trinity compound, during all of the hard training Zein imposed upon the kids.

"That’s not fun..."

"It’s not supposed to be fun," Zein chuckled and ruffled the two guides’ hair. "Anyway, you might be busy today, so pay attention."

"Yes, Captain."

Unlike before, the size of the squad had doubled, even with several people left behind inside the dome. The guides and support magicians were situated in the middle of the formation instead of the back, since attacks could come from anywhere once they passed the basin. The rock formations and dense forest provided a good hiding place for the beasts, and there were several levels of surface in and around the city ruin where any attack could come from. For that, the rearguard was no longer filled by defenders alone, but also by damage dealers.

In this way, the guides and supports became the central where everyone would keep coming back to if needed, aside from the added protection.

Perhaps that was why, Dheera felt even more at ease that day than before. Not only she had been granted ample rest, but there was also added protection. From what she experienced after going into the Deathzone, the espers were so good that they never let any attack come the guides’ way.

It was understandable though, considering these were Trinity’s two best squads--with three five-star espers, a bunch of four-stars, and a Saint-candidate guide.

A very reliable lineup comparable to black gate raids; what else could Dheera do but feel at ease?

Moreover, the terrain was way easier than the way to the core’s dome. The basin opened up to a valley with mostly flat terrain, and led to a wide field that they expected to be a farmland a long time ago. Some of it had turned into a marsh, according to the scouts, which they had to be the most careful of--since a lot of beasts liked to reside on the marsh, especially wights and lesser specters.

But once they passed through the treacherous land, they would arrive in a vast dry ground that was the city’s ruin. To be more precise, it would be the land on top of the city ruin, which was buried underground.

"Hey, hey--once we reclaim this whole place, we can pick some land for us, right?" Zhan, as usual, couldn’t stand the silence as they marched through the valley. Hagalaz used to proceed quietly since they were cautious by nature, but Anzus was so strong they didn’t care if they invited some beasts with their voice.

"You’ll have a priority to purchase the land and be freed of the property tax," Bassena replied. "Not that it will be given to you." freewebnoveℓ.com

"Whaaat?" Zhan clicked his tongue.

"You have no idea how great it is to be freed of property tax, huh?" Gus scoffed. "I’d rather be free of tax than be gifted a land."

"How would I know? I don’t have property," Zhan shrugged, cackling to himself.

It was so hard for someone like him to just stay in one place, since he got bored fast. He was hopping from one mission to another, and only stayed in Trinity dorm when he was in Althrea, or crashed at Gus’s place. All of his essentials were stored safely inside his storage ring, including his sweet ride, so he could go anywhere without worry.

"So why would someone like you even think about picking a land?"

"Hmm...because I’m starting to get old, I guess?" the Spearman smirked. "Besides, I know Commander will definitely buy a plot of land here. Or two."

Bassena just curled his lips at that, hearing a subtle chuckling sound from the center of the formation. Well...without realizing it, it had become a part of their carved future; to live in a place where they could watch the sea as much as they wanted.

But for that to be realized, they had to get rid of this darkness first.

"They’re not coming out, huh?" Bassena muttered, staring at the marsh that at a glance seemed to be perfectly quiet.

But that was why; it was too quiet. Even though they could feel pulses of miasma from beneath the murky water.

"They won’t move until they know they surround us," Ron said. "All we can do is keep walking."

"Can’t we just send a few people?"

"You can try, but..."

"They’re not that stupid," Bassena nodded. "I had been poking some places with my kids, but...they are so good at hiding in the mud. They won’t move until all of us in the middle of the marsh...probably."

"Let’s just try," Zhan shrugged. "If it’s not work, then the rest of you just come."

It was feasible, especially for Anzus, so Bassena had no objection. Even if those creatures under the marsh attacked the advancing group, they were good enough to take care of it until the rest of the troop followed.

And so, the two warriors move forward, along with Banner, Ron, and Hari to cast crowd control. As they walked further away, Naoya prepared a volley of arrow rain, this time with a lightning element imbued in each arrow. The moment the advance group stopped and gave a signal, Naoya released his arrows, and dozens of lightning struck the marsh. It wasn’t powerful, but a lot--and the murky water sizzled.

"Seems like it doesn’t work," Kei commented after the sizzling died down, and nothing was surfacing. Not even a corpse. "They must be in deep."

"Or have immunity," Bassena said. "Let’s go then. Focus the defense around the center."

"Yessir!"

With that signal, they advance carefully; stepping on the dry path. The guides and supports were locked inside the formation, with the warriors and the defenders staying at the edge of the formation.

Again, Zein reminded the guides to be vigilant, and again, the guides repeated the manual Zein always taught them; trust the espers, but shield on the ready. Right when they were only a few meters apart from the advanced group, when all of them were on the top of a single island of dry ground, a loud sound of splashing could heard.

No, it was just a regular splash--but it came from dozens of places all at once, so it almost sounded like a rumble. Zein pulled the guides to be closer to each other, and told them to activate the shields. Dheera looked up, and the sky was filled with giant frogs--or something like frogs and lizards meshed into one--jumping at them with weapons gleaming in their hands.

But just like before, none of them could reach her. A large, shimmering barrier was put around her and her colleagues. She heard the sounds of clanking weapons and exploding spells that had become so familiar for these past few days, and she took a deep breath of ease.

Yes, of course, they were reliable. Whether it was Anzus or Hagalaz, they were Trinity’s cream of the crops. Now that Hagalaz was here, they had more people with wide-area attacks; hails and storms shredded the battlefield, so much so that Dheera thought the shield was to protect her from friendly fire instead of the enemy’s attack.

Once--just once--a frogman managed to throw a javelin toward the guide, but it bounced off the shimmering barrier cast by Julian. Again, Dheera took a deep breath of relief.

It looked easy enough--the creatures weren’t very difficult, aside from the poison-laced weapon and immunity against lightning-type skills. That being said, there were a lot of them. A lot. It looked like several dozens at first, but when one fell, another jumped out of the marsh, as if they could spawn endlessly.

"Commander, it’s a bad place for a wide-area attack," Kei grumbled while looking around. Since they were in the middle of the battlefield, it was easy to have friendly fire. "We need to move."

"Hmm," Bassena nodded and created a huge scythe that sliced every beast in proximity. "Let’s move."

Before another batch of the endless frogmen could fill the surroundings again, someone doused the piling corpses with poison, and another one lit them on fire. Swiftly, they ran toward the field across the field. Bassena got the defenders to hold the guides and the supports so they could move faster, while all the scouts scanned the surroundings for the safest place to land.

"There--it’s empty there!" someone pointed at a spot in their two o’clock direction, and the other scouts checked on it--jumping over the frogmen and slaying them, using conjured dark platforms as steps.

It was a field that was mixed with concrete and wild plantation. The existence of solid pavement told them they were on the right track to the city ruin, so they gave the signal to the others.

Swiftly, the rest of the group moved while getting rid of the frogmen on the way. The guides--except for Zein who had an abundance of mana from guiding to help him move as fast as espers--tucked themselves as small as possible while covering their chest and head.

"Good job," Bassena patted the scouts’ shoulder as he turned around and continued the onslaught, making sure everyone reached the end of the marsh safely. "Rain in on them."

Now that there was no need to be cautious of stray bullets, the magicians and long-ranged dealer cast their massive skills on the marsh, killing the frogmen even before they finished surfacing to substitute the fallen ones. All the while, waves of soothing sensation kept their corrosion level at bay, helping their fire skills at ease.

"It looked more like a field of frogmen’s corpses than a marsh," Kei muttered, making sure she had a clear view of the cleaning.

"Can we rest here before continuing?" someone asked, panting.

"I think we had to," Kei nodded. "Some of you needed to be guided after all."

Ron stared at the marsh and the piles of corpses, and then at the groups. They looked tired, but also at ease, like they had just finished exercising. Some had injuries, but nothing serious--still at the level where Han Shim could heal them from afar.

"Hah..." he wanted to laugh. And not even a bitter one.

Ah...it felt really good, to be able to do everything like a normal dungeon raid. He let out a smile and chuckle and turned around to check the surroundings since it seemed like they would stay here for a bit to rest. This section of the field did seem empty, but who knew if there were burrows where underground beasts would surface--

Buzz.

He stopped, frowning at the slight vibration that he felt. He looked at his wrist, checking the commlink Trinity gave him for this mission--but it was dead.

Huh? It was dead?

Ron shook his wrist in front of him, and in the process, his fingers touched something in the air--like a curtain. An invisible curtain.

He flinched; the vibration, an invisible curtain...

Dreadfully, he looked up and forward, at the invisible curtain that was shed from his touch. In a field that was no longer empty, that had never been empty, he saw rows and rows of miasmic beasts--and a deep purple spear hurling at his face.