There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 182

Chapter 182: Chapter 176. Spirit Crystal

"Did you see them?" Han Shin whispered.

Abe, who was sitting atop one of the tents squinted to look into the distance. "Yeah."

"What are they doing?"

Below, Julian made a disapproving scowl while scrubbing his shield. "Isn’t this peeping?"

"Sush!"

"They’re talking--ah, he put his hand on the Commander’s neck...I think he’s guiding," Abe reported religiously from above.

"Zein guiding through something other than hand?" Han Shin widened his eyes, before whispering sharply. "Scandalous."

"Huh? Commander is...oh--"

"What?" excited, curious heads shot up to give the archer a united eager look, only to have the man sliding down, almost stumbling as he took a seat beside Julian.

"Oh..." his fair cheeks were suddenly smeared with a flush. "I don’t think it’s right to peek anymore..."

"You don’t think it’s wrong from the start?" Julian rolled his eyes, before going back to his scrubbing.

Han Shin clicked his tongue in disappointment, but offered a defense for the archer. "To be fair, they did it in the open..." he shrugged before pausing for a bit, cooking up a scenario of what those two were doing that made the archer blush like that before continuing, "...whatever it is they’re doing right now."

"What are you talking about?" their little peeping--ahem, discussion--club suddenly got additional members as Zhan and Banner joined the circle after getting back from escorting the surveyor and the porters, scavenging some materials in the vicinity.

Han Shin and Gus gladly filled in the newcomers with the juicy event that happened over the boulder in the distance. The two espers raised their brows before crouching closer to the group.

"So...like...are they really an item?" Zhan asked in a whisper, just like how his sisters did when they were gossiping about celebrities during family meetings.

"Not officially," Han Shin shrugged in response.

"How do you know?"

"Because Bas wouldn’t stop mentioning it if they are," the healer scoffed. Knowing Bassena, and how much Han Shin had teased him about his stagnant relationship, the Saint-class would shove it in his face if he really had permission to call Zein his ’boyfriend’.

Gus curled his lips upward as he recalled the scene he saw during the meeting a few days ago; the tender exchange of gazes, the intimate gesture. "For something that’s not official, they sure act like one," he commented with a chuckle.

"Eh, it’s good," Kei, who had the honor of meeting them during what was supposed to be Bassena’s worst week, remembered how calm Bassena was at that time. She was surprised because during the three years she worked with Bassena, the esper had always acted like a ticking time bomb during that time of the year. "Commander seems more stable now."

"Yup!" Han Shin replied with a nod and a wide grin. But the gaze he gave to the rest of the people was a serious one. "So we do try to not meddle too much with them."

"I heard..."

"Yeah?" they turned toward Nadine, who had been listening quietly before. She bit her lips in contemplation before finally speaking again, low enough for a whisper.

"I heard from the Chief that the reason why Trinity has a better support system for guides is probably because of Captain."

They raised their head and looked at Han Shin swiftly, eyes demanding confirmation. _{freёwebnoѵel.com}

"Well, here’s what I know; Bas had been looking for a certain guide since...four--five?--years ago; he’s the one that drafted the guidelines for the guide department when we established the guild," the healer shrugged. "You do the math."

They were silent for a while before Gus let out a small laugh. "You know, I thought Commander never cares for others’ advances because he’s just as weird and wayward as we are..."

"But it’s actually because his heart is already set on someone, huh?" Kei finished the sentence while nodding.

"Maybe not this much at first, but..." Han Shin smirked as he recalled their early days in the Deathzone. "He definitely falling deeper after they spend more time together."

They nodded in agreement, because they could clearly see the possessive tendency in Bassena--even discounting an esper’s attachment to their favorite guide.

"Bas is not the weird one though. I am actually more intrigued as to how Zein is giving away more and more every--"

"They’re coming back," Abe warned them quietly.

"Oh, shoot--" Han Shin flailed his hand to break their suspicious circle. "Act normal, act normal!"

When Zein and Bassena arrived at the camp, they had busied themselves with whatever--polishing weapons, talking strategies, munching on rations...Han Shin grinned at them and Bassena gave him a narrowed, side-eye glance.

If he knew they were talking about him and Zein, he didn’t say anything about it for the rest of the raid.

* * *

"Tsk...this is the worst..." Kei muttered dejectedly as she came back to where the squad was hiding, two hundred meters from the wall.

Following Carra’s words, the rest of the groups turned their head to look at Bassena.

The spirit crystal did not attack randomly. It possessed the biggest threat in the group. And it made that person attack the others in that group. And it was easy for them to see who would be considered as the biggest threat. This was one of the reasons why they thought it was such a pain in the ass.

"Should we just like...restraining you from the start?" even the ever-relaxed Gus suddenly looked tired. "I feel like you’re going to attack me first."

"You should," Bassena responded with a chuckle. Another observed pattern was that the possessed person would attack people in the order of who they disliked the most. "I’m the one who has crowd control though, aside from Carra, but she has to be ready for the isolation barrier."

"We can use my [gravity pull] and Banner’s [provoke]," Julian said. "It should be enough to at least make you stay still for a few seconds, so Shin can use dispel curse."

"Sure, let’s do that," Bassena nodded. "Just knocked me out instantly if you can," he said to Zhan and Gus.

"Really? You won’t take revenge later, right?" the spearman grinned, not exactly opposed to the idea of incapacitating the Saint-class.

"If you can," Bassena replied with a smirk. They talked about the details some more before he turned toward the guides and the additional members--the surveyor and porters, as well as their guard. "Stay in the back, but don’t go too far. Please be wary of ambush from the other beasts while we are busy with the spirit."

"Yes, Sir."

After watching them disperse, Bassena turned toward the man who had been keeping his silence for a while now. Although he couldn’t see half the face hidden behind the mask, Bassena could already see it from the hard gaze and slightly furrowed brows.

"Why? Are you worried about me?" he asked teasingly, but Zein shot him a fierce stare and Bassena pressed his lips, although the corner of his mouth still twitching in delight. "Don’t worry. These guys had been working with me for a few years already. We’ve sparred a lot, so they know all my habits and movement. They can handle me."

Zein chewed the inside of his cheek and took a deep breath. "They better do," he said with a frown. He paused for a few seconds before continuing with a question. "And after they get rid of the spirit, will you be alright?"

"It’ll drain a lot of stamina, and depending on how long it’ll take to force it out, I might end up unconscious for a while. But there shouldn’t be any ongoing effect after that," Bassena answered with a smile. Despite the circumstances, there was confidence in his voice that came from his faith in the squad member. "We’ll stop and make a camp to rest either way, before we proceed further."

Zein stared into the calm, warm eyes and felt the dread he had been feeling along his neck subside. "Alright," he nodded, "Just...be careful," he added, before joining the group that would stay at the back.

After they got ready, they carefully approached the wall and the spirit crystal. The rear group kept their distance, and let the espers advance with Bassena at the center, flanked by the tanks and the others ready to subdue him from some distance.

They had no idea when the spirit crystal would attack, because it could move to instantly possess someone as long as they were in its active range. That being said, there was no way to predict a spirit crystal’s active range; it could be as little as ten meters and as big as a hundred meters. So they just kept on walking closer until someone, or rather Bassena, would stop and freeze for a second--the sign of the spirit’s attack.

But even after walking for a while, and getting as close as a few meters away from the huge crystal, nothing was happening. They looked at each other and in tacit agreement, decided to stop on their track.

Before they could open their mouth to discuss this anomaly, they heard a shout from Nadine. "Sir Vaski! It’s Captain!"

And as Bassena turned around in dread, what he saw was dimmed, blank blue eyes, and a raised pitch-black dagger plunging straight into Zein’s throat.