There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 470 - 463. Fragment of Fallen Star (1)

People said they could see fragments of their past when they were at the door of death, as if the film of their life became the curtain welcoming them to the afterlife.

Ron was always skeptical about this.

How did people know? Wouldn’t the people who experienced it were already dead? If someone didn’t die after looking at those fragments of their past, then that was simply a delusion their mind created to distract themselves from pain, and not the sign of someone who was about to die.

But let’s say that saying was true--in the split second when Ron stared at the giant spear hurled at him, he did not see his life flash by. Did that mean he wouldn’t die? Or those saying was false in the first place?

He had no idea, as the spear struck him in the chest.

And his body dispersed, like scattering smoke.

The impact as the scout’s body and the spear collided created a wave of vibration that reached the other squad members. They flinched and turned around, only to see the scout’s body explode into a scattering shadow, and a huge spear that had lost an obstacle in its way continued on its path, toward the unsuspecting crowds. ƒreewebɳovel.com

Kei widened her eyes in dread, but the first thing she said came from years of training and experience. "SHIELD!!"

The shout shook the whole troop, but in reflex, magic shields and barriers cast on top of each other in the direction of the spear--just in time for the spear to strike. The shield and barrier, which was hastily cast, couldn’t deflect the spear’s rush, although they did slow it down.

The delay of two seconds gave the defenders time to rush and place their physical shields in the spear’s trajectory. Mana rushed into the arms of the defenders as the spear broke the last layer of barrier and struck the shield with a deafening scratching sound. It drove them back with a single strike, leaving deep and long marks beneath their feet.

They didn’t even have the time to curse, as everything happened in seconds. Banner gritted his teeth as he poured more and more mana into his arms that held the mithril shield, wondering what kind of spear hit harder than Bassena’s giant serpent. Within his narrow vision, he could see countless beasts filling the other side of the field, probably all the way to the city ruin. But he couldn’t care less about that with this accursed spear in front of him, which refused to stop--

No--it stopped?

To be exact, something held the shaft of the spear; a wisp of shadow.

Gradually, the shadow--which had never left the field after the spear attack--materialized into a pair of hands holding the shaft tightly, and soon an arm, a shoulder, a scowling face, a torso, and tensed legs buried on the ground as an anchor.

"Good job".

Another scattering of darkness materialized beside the re-emerging scout, and Bassena grabbed the spear too. Even through his gloves, he could feel the sizzle of corrosion, as the poison latched on the shaft eating away at the material. Swiftly, with clenched jaws, Bassena and Ron pulled the spear sideways, filling the field with a screeching sound as the spear scrapped the metal shields. When the spear finally steered to the side, they let go of the shaft, and the huge spear shot toward a cliff on the far left.

With a loud sound that rang through the field and marsh, a chunk of the cliffside exploded; the shockwave could be felt by the surprised humans.

Everything happened in less than ten seconds; from Ron discovering the illusion barrier, to the spear destroying the cliff. Some of them hadn’t even realized what happened yet.

Swiftly, Bassena grabbed the scout and teleported back to the rank. "Maintain the Shield! All barriers up! It’s Code Red--I repeat, it’s Code Red--all personnel in defense formation!"

Code Red; an emergence of Specter-level entities while they are not prepared. A fatal ambush.

Dheera understood that much, but she didn’t understand why Ron was lying on the ground there, groaning with melted palms.

"Do you need painkillers?" Han Shin asked while holding the scout’s arms, sending healing magic into the half-mangle hands.

"No," Ron replied with bated breath. "Need...to be alert..."

"You can’t fight again anyway," Zein frowned at the scout while placing his palm on the burning forehead.

He knew Ron’s skillset--while the other guides didn’t see it, he saw the moment Ron materialized. It was the ability the scout had that could only be triggered by a mortal attack. The skill turned the scout into an immaterial shadow, giving him one second of invincibility against any physical attack. But it also used up all of his mana, which means he wouldn’t be able to participate in the upcoming fight.

"You have no mana, so even if we use serum--"

"Still have my eyes," Ron chuckled weakly, but his face no longer grimacing in pain. "Good thing it’s a physical attack, huh? I’d be a goner if it was magic."

"Shut up!" Zein clasped his hand on the scout’s mouth. Rather an uncommon way of guiding, but he didn’t want to think about what he should say to Agni if something happened to Ron.

"But damn..." Han Shin, who was unusually serious, stared at the troops on the other side of the field, just two hundred meters or so from them. "We’re falling into a trap, huh?"

Zein clicked his tongue. They had thought, with the elimination of the Specter in that city ruin, they wouldn’t have to be worried about illusion anymore, but...

No, it was different anyway. Zein recalled now--that Specter’s power was an isolation barrier, not an illusion one.

Zein took a deep breath and, while guiding Ron, looked at the guides who had been staring in dread at the scout’s injury--although it was already half-healed now, and looked like hands again.

"Do your job," Zein said, and the guides flinched, before nodding and scooting toward the espers.

This was the perfect time for guiding, when they were still safe enough behind the defenders’ layers of protection, and the enemies were still observing them in amusement.

They prioritized the long-ranged damage-dealers; the magicians and the archers. That was included in the guide that Zein wrote for them, in the case of large-scale battles where the enemies were still quite a distance from them. Zein himself, while guiding Ron, also sent cleansing waves to the defenders holding the frontline.

"It’s okay," Carra held Dheera’s trembling hand on hers, smiling. "It’ll be fine; we have two five-stars in the frontline, and even a five-star healer--look, Mister Ron’s hands are almost healed now."

Dheera looked at the scout, whose hands were back to their original state--except for the slightly reddish skin. She took a deep breath and nodded, concentrating back on the guiding, trying to get those lines of beasts at the other side of the field out of her head. The others did the same, since they weren’t as proficient as Zein yet, and they needed to concentrate to guide well.

"Phew," Ron shook his hands and stood up once the healing was done. It was truly a privilege to have a five-star esper.

"Here," Zein threw a small box at the scout, who caught it well as if his hands hadn’t just melted a minute ago. "Recover your mana."

Ron opened the box with a raised brow, and it arched higher when he saw a pack of golden needles and a lighter. "Look at you inhaling fancy stuff now," he smirked as he took out a stick. Never had he ever thought Zein would smoke someday--even though it wasn’t technically a cigarette.

Kei glanced at the chuckling scout and let out a breath of relief. "We owe him lots," she muttered. From the trajectory of that spear, it would hit them where it hurt the most--the guides and the support magicians.

"Make sure you put that in the report," Bassena said. "How’s our situation?"

"Shin had done with the healing, seven still in orange--the defenders too, but Zein is guiding them so it’ll go down soon. Exhaustion is another thing, however."

Bassena stared at the sea of beasts on the other side of the field. It was definitely bigger than the hordes sieging the fortress of trees or the seemingly endless frogmen. Which was a bad news.

But what even worse was the hovering entity shrouded in a cape, which looked almost similar to the Specter prisoning him for hours in the past--and it triggered some bad, bad memories.

And the worst of it all? This Specter was bigger and had denser miasma.

"How much time do we need?" Bassena asked while staring at his gloves. Thankfully, the poison wasn’t able to penetrate the dragon leather.

"...as much as you can buy us," Kei said with a sigh.

"Ashur--"

"Don’t worry, just focus on that nasty thing," the Hagalaz Captain said readily.

Bassena glanced back at the pair of blue eyes, and as soon as Zein gave him a nod, he disappeared.

The Specter, sensing the biggest mana clump on the other side moved, filled the field with a grating sound of cackling. The dark purple spear, which was buried beneath the rubble of the cliff, shot back into its stretched arm, just in time to block a dark scythe swinging to its chest.

Kikiki

The sound of laughter, which felt like an amalgamation of all the beasts’ sounds, assaulted Bassena’s ears. The amber eyes gleamed and a wisp of dark smoke started to come out of the esper, but the Specter let out a roaring sound and sent a shockwave through the spear, dispersing the darkness surrounding Bassena.

"Fuck--" Bassena gritted his teeth as he was flung hard into the air. It was the first time his attempt on [Nightfall] was thwarted.

But it wasn’t just that. During the collision, he could feel it;

The Specter knew how to use a domain too.

"Hah..." Bassena gripped the scythe and created a platform behind him. "You’re different, aren’t you?"

Vaguely, the black hole beneath the cloak stretched into a laughing slit, and Bassena kicked the platform, swinging his scythe once again.