The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 151: Glowing Orbs

Chapter 151: Glowing Orbs

Lane stood frozen in place, staring into the dark room.

Well, not exactly dark. The lights were off, by the orbs gathered there emitted a bluish glow. And as there were a lot of them...

But that was not the point. Lane blinked a few times, returning to reality, and stepped forward, taking one of the orbs in his hand. It was a bit like jelly, its form jiggling as he picked it up, but it still maintained its form.

The substance was unknown, but familiar. Resembling the Fertilizer produced by his team, with all the shells removed.

Except that far more potent.

And that amount...

Suddenly, everything clicked. Lane tossed the jelly orb to the side, and glanced at his phone again.

’Observe barrier.’ Could it refer to the Wall? It was called the ’Wall’ in his language, but the term could differ in a different one. A professional translator would have translated using the correct terminology, but that wasn’t necessarily the case with the offline app, which could easily misunderstand, and use the most common translation of the word, without taking context into consideration.

Then ’wave’ might mean the weird movement of the Wall, the one Lane observed back in the Eldenveil, before the Wall started receding.

Lane started pacing around, rubbing his chin in thought.

So the goal was to expand the dungeon, he was quite sure of it, based on all the clues that he had. That much was understandable, his and Molzen’s organizations’ goals overlapped to some extent, at least based on the intel that Lane had, so he had an idea of what Molzen might have hoped to achieve...

Except, what was with this amount? Using so much Fertilizer, even for an S-rank dungeon, was crazy! And Lane wasn’t even sure if this room was all that Molzen had brought...

On top of that, they were in the middle of the summit, with the Esper tournament taking place. There were plenty of high-rankers gathered in the dungeon, so if they all worked together...

Or maybe not. There were plenty of high-rankers, yes, but they were all gathered from around the world. They all spoke different languages, and were used to different protocols. And they weren’t even with their full teams! Having to deal with an unexpected emergency, it could all easily turn into chaos...

Not to mention, they didn’t know who was friend and who foe. Since Molzen was able to disable the cameras, his organization must have infiltrated deep into the summit’s management. There was no way that they would neglect to place their people among the crowds.

Alright, so fighting wasn’t really a viable option. But they could simply escape...

No.

Lane paused in his steps.

Escape?

His eyes snapped back to his phone.

’Obstruction start’ and ’activate portal’. Could it possibly... refer to the metal gates blocking the Gate?

Ah, Molzen was insane! He was really unhinged! What the hell was he going for?!

Lane tousled his hair violently, resuming his pacing, much faster now, his breathing growing shallow and uneven.

What to do, what to do?

The preliminaries were still going on, and everyone was distracted. At this rate, they won’t realize what was going on until the monsters - that is, the native monsters to this dungeon, that would reappear inside once again once the Wall receded - reached the Arena. And they would undoubtedly come, attracted by all the noise, blood, and Mana.

If that was in the Capital, Lane could find someone to make an announcement to evacuate, because an unusual Wall activity had been detected. But he was in country K. If he could contact someone outside, then maybe he’d find some connections, but there was no signal in the Forbidden Zone. Another option was to try to hypnotize the people in the control room... But he didn’t even know where it was, or if there were any S-rankers around, on whom his ability wouldn’t work.

Then he should at least tell Damien, right? Maybe together they would figure it out...

But what was he even going to say? He couldn’t tell Damien about Molzen’s secret identity. Nor about the Fertilizer. He would never be able to explain himself...

’Agrh, it’s not the time for that!’ Lane clicked his tongue, annoyed at himself, and rushed out of the room, not even bothering to close the door as he left.

’Just say anything, that I overheard it on my way to the toilet or whatever! ’Cause if Molzen succeeds...’

Lane’s steps involuntarily faltered, and he slowed down, until eventually he came to a full stop.

If Molzen succeeded. If there was a dungeon break here, that would lead to a large-scale Manaforming. Then, if Manaforming were to spread, with a little help from Fertilizer and other methods. If everything went well, in two, three, maybe four years, it would reach country H, and the mansion. And once the outside environment was full of Mana, Diana could...

Lane’s breath hitched.

No.

He shook his head, pushing the thought away.

Even if that came to be, she still couldn’t leave. Grandma wouldn’t be able to leave the dungeon, not until the Allens were dealt with. Because if they ever found out she was defenseless now, they would try to eliminate her for sure.

And Lane wasn’t confident he would be able to protect her well.

Besides, was Molzen’s goal even Manaforming? Unlikely, considering that he was trying to trap them all inside, if Lane understood the snippets of the conversations he had overheard correctly! Rather, he could be trying to deliver a blow to country K’s Awakened Agency, and cause them diplomatic issues to undermine their authority!

Once again, Lane resumed his running, speeding through the dark hallways, this time paying no mind to how loud his steps echoed within the empty walls. The cheers and fighting were still coming from the Arena, even more enthusiastic than before, as the preliminaries seemed to be reaching their climax...

But there was also another noise. Coming from the outside. Loud rumbling... Resembling heavy steps.

Very heavy steps. So heavy, that they made the ground shake.

’Oh, fuck.’