The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 360: Lack of Practice

Chapter 360: Lack of Practice

With Lane and Damien working together, it didn’t take long before the eagle rain had ended. While the fighting had initially attracted more of the monster eagles, eventually, all the eagles that had been close enough to catch a whiff of the chaos were dealt with. With no more foes left to fight, the two men descended from the skies. Or, to be precise, Lane had descended, carrying Damien in his arms, as his ability was better suited for it. Only when they were closer to the ground, in a clear view of the team members, Lane let go of Damien, so that the man could land on his own, by creating a narrow ice slide for himself.

He still had the image of a Team Leader to uphold, after all. Being carried like a princess would be a liiittle bit too much, given the situation. Especially when he had the ability to descend himself, even if less convenient.

They were both splashed with blood - when fighting primarily in close quarters, with daggers and swords, it was pretty much inevitable - and Lane was still dirty from rolling around in the grass earlier...

But they were far from the dirtiest people around. After the sudden ’rainfall’ (or perhaps a bloodfall would be a better term?) everyone was SOAKED. Especially Ethan, who looked as if he had suffered from a whole marathon of crawling in bloody mud.

"Pfft!" Lane couldn’t help but laugh when he saw the poor Guide. "What has happened to you? Were you trying to hide from the monsters by rolling in the mud?"

Ethan didn’t answer. He just threw a dark glance...

At Damien.

Which surprised both men. Putting aside the fact that Ethan was trying to seduce Damien - which may or may not have been genuine, honestly, it was hard to tell - it was Lane who had just laughed at Ethan, so why was the man taking it out on Damien?

It was only when Clara spoke up, that the situation clarified a bit.

"That pillar of ice you used to go up was a bit unstable," she explained. "One of the falling monsters hit it, and it almost crashed onto the team..."

She didn’t say who the victim was, but it was easy to guess. Ethan must have been the person who almost got crushed, or at least one of the people.

How unfortunate... That he managed to dodge it.

Then again, this pillar of ice probably wouldn’t be enough to kill him, it would only leave him badly injured. And since that would be kind of Damien’s fault, the man would likely feel guilty for a veeeery long time because of it, so perhaps it was for the best that he had managed to escape the predicament.

Even now, when nothing bad had really happened, Damien was clearly guilty and uncomfortable.

"Oh... I’m so sorry about that..." he said, his face turning darker. "I had no idea that might happen..."

Of course he hadn’t. It was the first time he had created such a pillar. While he had used his ice ability to create a movement technique before, it was by creating an ice path to glide on. It was thin and narrow, and it easily melted and fell apart. Even if anyone got hit by a falling fragment, it wouldn’t even hurt, let alone cause any damage. But to climb up so high he needed a very high pillar. Although it wasn’t too thick, it was still a large mass of ice, quite unlike his usual path.

It all came down to the lack of practice. Although Damien had great control of his ability... He lacked experience. Being able to control the intensity and direction of ice wasn’t enough, some things only came with time, after using the ability again, and again, until you understood the ability down to the core, and knew exactly what to do without even thinking...

But Damien lacked practice. Not only did he not get many chances to use it - as a member of the Association, the opportunities to fight monsters were scarce, and training gyms left a lot to be desired - but even when a chance to use it DID arise... Damien didn’t. Unless he had no better option, Damien restrained himself from using his ice. During the fight just now as well, he had only used his ability to reach the monsters in the sky, and fought them with his sword, trying to move around by jumping from the back of one monster onto another.

It was such a shame, really. His ability was so powerful, and beautiful. Lane liked it very much. Partially because it was the complete opposite of the fire that he disliked, but also because it was quite versatile. Thanks to the nature of ice, a good, well-rounded ice manipulation ability, such as the one Damien had, could be used in many different ways. Long-range attacks, close-quarters fighting, area attacks, defense, movement, even organizing battlefield... Although it couldn’t compare to Lane’s ability - which honestly wasn’t a fair comparison. What ability could possibly measure up to Lane’s, when Plunder allowed him to steal any ability he wanted? - it was still one of the best abilities an Esper might get.

If only Damien stopped being so stubborn and started using his ability more...

However, Lane knew it wasn’t so simple. While they had never talked about it, he suspected that the reason Damien disliked using his ice... was because it was an ability he shared with his father.

And as someone who knew how it was like to have parental issues, Lane could relate. He also disliked using fire manipulation, even though his fire (plundered from a few different people) was different from Miles’. Not enough to refrain from actually using it when it was convenient, but still. An issue like that wasn’t solved easily...

As Lane stood on the side, rubbing his chin and staring at the fallen ice pillar wrapped in golden thread (so it was Clara who had saved Ethan. Lane would make sure to remember that!) as he pondered over the problem with Damien and his ice ability, Damien had turned to the rest of the team, bowing deeply.

"I apologize!" he said, his body still bent halfway. "Because of my incompetence, I put you all in danger..."

The camp when silent for a moment.

"There’s no need for that!" Ethan was the first to speak up. "Team Leader, you were the one who dealt with this monster wave. Thanks to you, the rest of us didn’t have to fight, and we could conserve our energy. It is only natural that you didn’t have time to secure the ice pillar to stop it from toppling over, it was our mistake that we didn’t assist you well enough!"

Lane turned his eyes from the ice pillar to the Guide, rendered speechless. Just a moment ago, Ethan had almost glared at Damien, and now he was back to sucking up? He sure didn’t mind sacrificing his pride and dignity for the sake of the mission!

Well, if he had, then he would have never accepted the job as the spy for the Allens in the first place... It’s not like he had to do this. After all, as a high-ranking Guide, he couldn’t possibly be strapped for cash. If he had agreed to it, the offer must have been very appealing. Compared to the benefits he must have been promised, what was a little unfortunate near-accident? That glare earlier was just in the heat of a moment, but now that he had cooled down, he remembered his priorities!

Once Ethan had broken the silence, the rest of the team soon joined.

"Don’t worry about it, Team Leader."

"We’re all fine, so it’s alright!"

"Thank you for your hard work!"

Even the other Team Leaders nodded their heads.

"It’s no big deal, everyone makes mistakes."

"Just be careful next time."

Of course, there were still people who didn’t agree... However, since the majority of the team members didn’t blame Damien, they chose to remain silent.

All things considered, it truly wasn’t Damien’s fault, not really. While the pillar had been unstable, the reason why it eventually toppled over was because it was hit by one of the falling monster carcasses... If a defense created by one of the Espers were to crumble because of the monster attacks and end up hurting the team members, said Esper wouldn’t be blamed for it either. Although the situation was different here - the pillar wasn’t a shield protecting anyone from the monsters, but just a way for Damien to climb - it could still be considered comparable. The only reason why Damien had created it was to hunt the monsters effectively...

Either way, it was hardly the right time to discuss whether Damien should be blamed for the near accident or not. They were still in the dungeon, and while the first wave of monsters had been defeated, there was no telling when the next wave might arrive...

And there were still no news from the outside. When Damien had stepped out of the Gate earlier, to report the gist of Lane and Clara’s findings to Section Leader White, the monsters in Lapis Lake had still been running rampant with their hypnotic ability...

At this rate, the team might be stuck in the dungeon for much longer than expected, defending the Gate (and themselves) from any monsters that might arrive in their proximity...

Taking advantage of a moment of peace, they quickly started moving the monster carcasses away from the camp. There was no need to keep so many around as a source of food, they would only act like a lure for more predatory monsters...

With everyone so busy, no one had any time to roast more meat. Hungry Ethan had no choice but to wait, even as his stomach loudly growled...