The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 346: Camping

Chapter 346: Camping

The dark skies gradually grew even darker, as the evening came to the dungeon. The nights in the vast grassland seemed particularly dark, with nothing but plain grassy fields, with a few small hills somewhere in the distance, barely higher than the flatlands. The clouds hadn’t cleared up at all, hiding the stars and the moons, if there were any in these parts, Lane didn’t know. It was just a random C-rank dungeon, after all, Lane couldn’t possibly remember them all.

Although the sky was cloudy and the dungeon was dark, it was far from the worst conditions the team members had experienced. Just a while ago, Damien’s team had spent over a day trudging through a massive snowstorm, and his current team was much stronger than his old one. Normally, they would just put their headlights on, and carry on with their work...

However, after giving it some thought, Damien announced, "Let’s camp here for the night. We’ll start the inspection at dawn. Any objections?"

No one voiced any. A few people, particularly Easton Cruz and Hannah Jones, who also held the positions of Team Leaders - which were still valid, of course. While they had been temporarily assigned to Damien’s team due to the circumstances, that wasn’t a demotion, so their initial ranks still remained in place - but in the end, no one protested. It wasn’t against the protocol to arrange unplanned breaks or camps, the only reason why the Field Teams usually pressed on regardless of the conditions inside the dungeon where that their schedule was just too tight.

But things were different now. They were stuck inside the dungeon anyway because of the monsters outside, waiting for help to arrive. They should probably expect to wait at least a day, probably more, before they would be able to leave... And the dungeon they were in was just a C-rank. It wouldn’t take that long to inspect. Since they would have to sit around doing nothing anyway, did it really matter if they did it now or later? Might as well wait until daylight before doing their job.

Which was why Damien had ordered this camp in the first place. Otherwise, even with his boyfriend and his sister on his team, he would maintain his usual strict discipline, pushing everyone to work hard regardless of the hour or the weather.

By now, everyone on the team was awake and had been filled in on the situation. Some people had already made themselves comfortable even before Damien’s decision, with sleeping mats and blankets, whatever they had in their spatial bags. Which wasn’t much - the spatial bags that the Association members had, even the Field Agents, were usually low grade. They couldn’t store much, so people usually brought only the bare necessities - their weapons, some food, a change of clothes, first aid kits, perhaps blankets, mats, and sleeping bags for emergency camping... But unless they were going on a raid that was going to last long (which was extremely rare), they didn’t bring much equipment.

The lives of the Association members were hard. Because of a lack of funds, they couldn’t afford anything better, thus in an unexpected situation like they were in now, they weren’t sufficiently prepared.

...Of course, Lane was different. Aside from the medium-grade spatial bag that he had for show, he also had his highest-grade spatial bag on him, hidden well. He had all the equipment they needed and more...

But he only took out a thick sleeping mat, for himself and Damien to sit on. Nothing else.

Why would he reveal anything that might make him more suspicious? Even if Ethan and the Allens knew that he had the money (since the Allens themselves had sent him more than enough money to buy high-quality equipment over the years), he had allegedly only started working as an Esper recently. There wasn’t enough time for him to buy so much high-grade equipment, some of which was custom-made. Not to mention, all of it bore signs of use, and Lane obviously wouldn’t buy things second-hand...

Besides, without any equipment, he could squeeze next to Damien on the mat, cuddling to him for warmth - the night wind in the grasslands was so cold! - as they waited for the night to end.

It was supposed to be a peaceful night. Just waiting for dawn, so that they could walk around in the daylight.

But things wouldn’t quite go the way they wanted them to.

It was perhaps four or five hours after the night had fallen. Lane was dozing off, leaning against Damien’s shoulder. Not because he was tired, but simply because he was tired to death. There wasn’t much to do, no one in the team fun to talk to (besides Damien, but he was too focused on keeping the guard and observing the surroundings to entertain Lane), even the scenery around wasn’t interesting to look at. It was only natural that his eyes would eventually close on his own, his head dropping...

Until all of a sudden, something startled him awake.

At first moment, he couldn’t even tell what it was. There wasn’t any sound around, aside from a quiet chatter in their makeshift camp (if it could even be called a camp, when it was nothing more than people spread out on the ground!) and the rustling of the grass, disturbed by the wind. Nothing to see either, just endless fields...

Perhaps it was just instinct, developed after being active in the field for so many years. Even if the disturbance was still so faint that it had been barely picked up by his senses, too weak to be processed by his brain, his body reacted on its own, making him alerted. He stood up, and scanned their surroundings...

Still nothing.

Of course, he had only used his natural sight, without activating his Mana Scan, so...

He glanced around at his teammates... Unfortunately, Ethan was watching him. The damn Guide had only took a short nap, and now was up again, as if he couldn’t get some proper sleep, worried that he might miss an opportunity to cause Lane trouble!

Lane swore inwardly, but under Ethan’s vigilant gaze, he wouldn’t dare to activate his ability. His eyes would gain an azure glow then, which would be too easy to notice in this darkness... As great as this ability of his was, it sadly also had such an annoying defect. If he used it now, Ethan would notice, and Lane would have more explaining to do later...

So turned his eyes back to the dark horizon, but he still saw nothing. He focused his hearing, activating his hearing enhancement ability - which didn’t show in any way, and had no side effects, not when he was in his real body! - and tried to pick up on the sounds coming from the distance...

But still nothing.

Was he just overreacting?

But he was still oddly agitated, which was clearly unusual! And it couldn’t have anything to do with the Gate that was hanging in the air not far from them, nor with the word outside of it. Nothing ever passed through the Gate, no sound, no Mana. Even if you tried to use an ability, for example send a fireball through it, it would enter the Gate and dissipate, without appearing on the other side. Or, well, to be precise, it would dissipate as long as it was made out of Mana. If you grabbed a real object, for example a crumpled paper ball, and set it on fire with ability, then that would still work. The Gate didn’t affect the abilities that were already applied to physical objects...

At least that’s what Ava had said. And it must have been right, considering that Lane had entered dungeons multiple times in possessed bodies, and had never run into any issues.

Either way, the point was that no matter what was going on on the other side, it shouldn’t have any effect on Lane, or anyone else in the dungeon. Which made Lane even more confused, because the grasslands remained peaceful, while the odd feeling within him didn’t subside at all.

"Is everything alright?" Damien asked, furrowing his brows, as he watched his boyfriend trash around in place all of a sudden.

Lane paused for a moment, turning his gaze to Damien. "You don’t feel anything?"

"No..." Damien’s frown deepened. "What is it? What should I feel?"

Lane didn’t answer. He just thought about it for a moment longer... Before clicking his tongue and tousling his hair. "Ah, never mind. It’s nothing... I must have had a bad dream or something," he waved his hand dismissively, and plopped down back on the mat.

Damien also had greatly heightened senses, and his ability to sense and distinguish wavelengths was simply unreal. If he didn’t notice anything odd at all, then Lane must have truly been paranoid for some reason. Perhaps it was the presence of Ethan that disturbed him so much that he couldn’t help but feel alerted? He tossed the Guide a displeased glare, before snuggling up to Damien’s arm again...

But then it suddenly hit him.

Back when they were in Eldenveil... Right before the Wall started receding, there was this odd pulse. Damien already had his unbelievable wavelength sensitivity then, and yet, he had sensed the pulse later than Lane.

Because pulse was pure Mana, not wavelengths. Although the two were closely bound together, they were not the same. And as Damien’s rank was lower than Lane’s, his Mana sensitivity was also significantly lower.

And this dungeon... Was there any Fertilizer planted here? Honestly, Lane didn’t remember...

Following his suspicion, Lane reached out to Damien’s belt, grabbing the Mana fluctuation measuring device that was hanging there. Damien gave him a questioning gaze, but Lane didn’t even notice. He just pressed the button...

0.007493%.

That was... Below or above the approved levels? Honestly, Lane didn’t remember, but it didn’t matter. He pressed again.

0.014820%.

Once more.

0.027930%.

And again...

0.041739%...

He looked up from the device, meeting Damien’s gaze.

"I think we’re going to have a problem..."