The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 326: Worse Than Zombie Apocalypse

Chapter 326: Worse Than Zombie Apocalypse

In the end, it was Lane who took it upon himself to eliminate all the infected. Damien, Hallie, and Arlo were just too soft for it... Even when they were almost infected themselves, they still couldn’t bring themselves to do it.

Although, it seemed that they hadn’t even noticed it themselves. If it wasn’t for the fact that he still had his Mana Scan active, Lane also might have missed it... But when Hallie and Arlo came close to the affected, the parasite wanted to jump onto them, finding them to be more suitable hosts. If Lane hadn’t seen it in time, and sent his Wind Blades, precisely striking the microscopic monster worms, they would have lost two team members.

Which meant that the monsters weren’t a joke. Not only were they tiny and tricky to deal with, but they were at least an A-rank.

Naturally, Lane and Damien were still fine.

Well... At least physically. When Damien looked around the street, his frown deepened so much that it seemed almost impossible to have a frown so deep...

In just a few moments, the place had turned into a bloodbath. The corpses of civilians were spread everywhere, dismembered and beheaded... All fallen under Lane’s blades.

Some were still struggling. Although their bodies were in a state that no human being, Awakened or not, could survive, they were still moving. Especially those few that still had their heads partially attached. They were wiggling around like worms... As for the heads that had long parted with their bodies, they were moving their facial muscles and flapping their tongues...

It was truly a grotesque sight. Anyone with weaker nerves might throw up... Even Hallie and Arlo, who had already seen people die violently from monsters’ attacks, couldn’t help but avert their eyes.

Only Lane was unmoved. He quickly walked around the street, approaching every twitching corpse part, and stabbing through the worm hidden inside. It wasn’t the most effective way to deal with the parasites, but since he was currently restricted to his ’air manipulation’ abilities...

"Lane." Damien approached the man, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don’t... Don’t you think you’ve done enough?"

Out of the four people here, he was probably the most uneasy. After all, it was his boyfriend who had just slaughtered a group of civilians... Parasite-infected civilians, but still. No matter what happened next, he might face some scorn. If not for ’killing’ the civilians, then for his ruthlessness. Even if his decision was justified, other people might not think so. And if it later turned out that those people could still be saved...

Lane lifted his eyes from the corpse in front of him, the azure glow in his eyes dissipating. "I’m just cleaning up," he explained calmly. "We need to exterminate the parasites. Otherwise, when someone passes by, they might get infected... The monsters are at least A-ranks, after all!"

Damien went silent for a moment, not quite knowing what to say. Lane’s reasoning... made sense. And it wasn’t that Damien didn’t trust his judgment - he knew about Lane’s Mana Scan ability, so he knew that the man wasn’t just randomly guessing. Analyzing the situation logically, exterminating the parasites was the best course of action, regardless of the cost, it was just that according to the protocol...

It was worse than a zombie apocalypse. On one hand, they had a parasite that could easily infect the vast majority of the population. They had to give it their all in fighting against the infected, or else the parasite would spread. On the other, whether they could be saved or not, the infected weren’t classified as ’undead’, at least not yet, not officially. Thus, as civil servants, they weren’t allowed to harm them, not until new orders were given...

There wasn’t any time for Damien to ponder over it, though. While Lane had dealt with the first wave, they were still in the middle of a dungeon break. They haven’t even gotten to the site of the Gate yet. And now, with all the noise, they had attracted more of the people infected with the monster parasites... They didn’t run at them yet, just approaching carefully, but from their odd behavior, everyone could tell that they were no longer human. The moment they got close, they would surely attack.

"If it’s all clear, then let’s move on," Damien commanded. "Carry on as earlier..."

Even though he knew that Lane’s solution was most likely the correct one, he couldn’t exactly order his subordinates to ’kill’ civilians, now could he?

They were about to engage in a fight with the second wave of infected, when Lane stopped them. "Actually," he said, glancing at the two B-rankers, "Hallie and Arlo should stay back, only using long-distance attacks. From what I’ve seen, the parasites seem particularly interested in them..."

Arlo involuntarily shuddered, while Hallie’s face darkened. They both understood what Lane meant - because they were lower ranking, they were potential targets for the parasitic monsters... Although they hadn’t noticed the tiny worms that tried to pass onto them - they were too busy defending themselves, and it all happened too fast - it was only natural that they were in more danger. Not to mention, now that they thought about it, the infected swarmed to them more than to Lane and Damien. Perhaps it was because they were suitable hosts...

So, they only glanced at Damien, and when they saw that the Team Leader had no intention of correcting Lane, they took it as an agreement to follow this plan.

Lane also looked over at Damien, considering something for a moment. "You should stay back as well," he said. "Just focus on defending, I’ll take them out myself..."

It was all said out of consideration for Damien, since Lane knew that it would be hard for the man to take human lives, regardless of the circumstances. However...

How could Damien let his boyfriend shoulder all of the burden? He furrowed his brows, and lifted his hand, activating his ice ability...

And a few nearest parasite-infected humans turned into ice sculptures.

It still wasn’t enough, though. Although the infected stopped moving, Damien could sense that there was still some wavelength activity inside of them. Once they broke out of the ice, they would probably be unaffected, and most slowed down a bit ...

So, he clenched his fists, intensifying his ability. His heart felt even colder than the ice he was creating, but he didn’t stop. If that’s what had to be done...

The cold seeped through all the cells in the bodies of infected humans, until it was too much for the parasitic monsters to endure. They died, together with their hosts.