There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 545 - 538. Healing Scar

Chapter 545: Chapter 538. Healing Scar

"Is it just me, or is this getting easier?" Naoya hummed after releasing his last arrow to knock down a fleeing beast.

That was the last one in the plains. From the look of it, most of the beasts came from dungeons instead of a preexisting organized horde. They also didn’t find any Fragments, and concluded that the one wandering there was probably the one who attacked the castle.

As a result, it wasn’t just the archer who thought it was easier. Even the guides said the cleansing was lighter.

But then again, it was a natural result since they had already gone through a hard battle that not even high-ranking espers out there had experienced. At this point, a simple dungeon raid was like a warm-up to them.

But still, it was hard to feel at ease in a place like the Deathzone--even after spending more than two years there.

"That sounds like a jinx," Banner muttered cautiously, to which Naoya replied by waving his hand dismissively.

"I’m not Zhan so it’s alright."

"Hey!" the Spearman pursed his lips in protest, but he couldn’t say anything because he already had a reputation as a jinxer.

But perhaps Naoya was right because they met no difficulties while clearing the plains. No ambush or unexpected event was happening--which was both good and bad.

It was good because everything went smoothly without casualties, and it served as a warm-up after the rest they had post-desert.

But it also meant there was no shard there, which was rather disappointing.

The last shard they found was the one in this area too--the one found by Zhan--and it had been several months already. Not that they were in a hurry, but finding nothing on this side meant the rest of them were located beyond the desert.

An area they still feel apprehensive to tackle.

Which was why they were focusing on clearing the plains and the jungle bordering it first.

"I think Zhan will spend much of his time here, so let’s just put him in charge," Bassena said while glancing at the spearman who was enjoying his rides after working hard cleaving the beast earlier.

The cleaning was done and a beacon was erected, and with the excuse of patrolling, the spearman took out his beloved bike and rode around joyfully.

"In charge, huh..." Kei muttered dubiously.

"I’ll give him a good deputy," Bassena chuckled in understanding. The spearman did feel like an overgrown kid sometimes, so the concern was understandable. But it wasn’t like the man didn’t know how to lead--he just needed someone to rein himself for a bit, and similarly excitable subordinates.

"A sacrificial lamb?"

Bassena shook his head. "Helios should be able to handle him," he said. "And let’s put the energetic younglings. They can be as wild as they can here."

"Ah," Kei nodded. It was an area with a wide plain and a thick jungle with a constant rate of dungeon gates appearance. It would be good for people who seem to always ride on adrenaline. "Understood. I’ll draw the team right now."

Kei returned to the base then, while Bassena and Zein continued their observation from the cliff so they could watch the water too.

"Hmm..." Zein looked around the area, and as he cast a gaze into the wide ravine, he muttered. "So Anzus had to be scattered in the end."

"Well, we are a ’special’ squad in the first place," Bassena shrugged, instinctively holding the guide’s hand as they stood on the bridge to look at the ravine better. "We had more individual or unit quests than a group one."

"I see..."

Now that he thought about it, Zein remembered that Anzus only gathered if there was a black gate before, and each of them had their own work outside of Althrea. They were also people who Radia and Bassena personally recruited as excellent individuals, instead of through annual ’auditions’.

"Well, I don’t think there’s anything concerning over there," Bassena laughed at the spearman who was happily making stunts with his bike and using the beast corpses as an obstacle course. "It’s bordering the south side, away from the sea."

"Yeah, seeing the last battlefield, it’s beyond the desert that we should worry about."

"Mm," Bassena nodded.

They were quiet for a while; the inevitable looming over their head. "So...it’s time?" Zein turned their head to the other side.

"Yes," Bassena followed the guide’s gaze. "After building the watchtower here, we’ll try to cross the desert."

* * *

"They said it’s not much out there," Kei read the report that the ship sent them. "Most enemies came from the water and the sky, but they didn’t seem like spies--just regular beasts...oh, they encountered a dungeon gate above the water."

"So it’s almost like the plains side," Bassena nodded. "How’s the path?"

"They are sending a new map."

Kei put the map of the ravine on the main screen and combined it with the one that was sent a few days ago. From it, they could see that the river had been a single main channel so far, with only two little branches that were even smaller than the first river they saw in the Deathzone.

"Alright, tell them to not let their guard down, and keep installing the beacons on the bank," Bassena nodded and tapped on the table quietly for a while. "I think it’s going to be quite some time until we can receive any progress, so let’s not stall and cross the desert in the meantime."

Most of them agreed, including the executives in charge of the other bases. Surprisingly, a slight opposition came from Han Shin, who almost always went with the flow--unless it had something to do with worms.

"Wouldn’t it be better if we waited for more reinforcement first?" the healer asked worriedly.

Perhaps because he had a cheerful and cheeky disposition, but people sometimes forget that healers often had the deepest scars. They were the ones who had to see all kinds of injuries and face the screaming, wailing, and agonizing sounds of the wounded.

Han Shin was not an exception to that.

Moreover, as the highest-ranked healer, he always got the worst patients. Severed limbs or chomped-out organs...the ones coming to him were those who were inches away from death.

Thankfully for him, he had a good mental fortitude. But when his rarely wounded best friend came in all bloody and messed up inside, even someone like him would get shaken up. Being good at covering it on the surface did not change the fact.

"No, we’re just going to scout anyway," Bassena was adamant. They had decided to not waste too much time in spreading their territory and locating the Fallen Star, so they couldn’t just stay idle without doing anything. "The reinforcement is here for the real battle in the first place, not reconnaissance."

"So...you won’t suddenly attack by yourself, right?" Han Shin asked after fiddling with his coat worriedly for a few seconds.

"I’m not, so hold the fort well," Bassena smirked while patting the healer’s head, cosplaying the big brother.

They expected Han Shin to grumble at the obvious provocation, but the healer only mumbled vaguely. "Okay..."

Naturally, the others were surprised at this meek response that didn’t even come out when Han Joon was there. No one was as surprised as Bassena though.

"You are strangely obedient today," the esper blinked, bordering shock and dread at the weirdness.

But Han Shin just shrugged in response. "Since it’s your day."

Belatedly, Bassena exclaimed in a daze. "Ah..."

"Did you forget your own birthday, now?" the healer raised his brow, before glancing at Zein who still had no interest in his own birthday(s)--even if he had two of them.

"I guess..."

"Huh..." Han Shin was just saying it in jest, but...really? He looked at Bassena curiously while adding with a careful tone. "Last month you were also..."

Bassena tilted his head. "What?"

Han Shin stared at the genuine confusion in Bassena’s face. He wanted to say a lot of things, but in the end, decided not to. "...no," he shook his head.

Well, it was a good thing if Bassena truly didn’t remember. Not about his birthday, but something that happened not too far before that.

But eventually, in about ten seconds, Bassena remembered. "Ah..."

Right. In the past, he usually got depressed a month before his birthday. They were all busy the last two years, so he had no leeway to feel like that, but this year...

Logically, with the death under his watch and everything else, Bassena would have sunk even deeper. But...that didn’t happen even while he was more or less being idle.

Bassena blinked in surprise of himself; of the fact that he was no longer affected by his mother’s death anniversary.

Zein smiled at this bizarre exchange. "Isn’t it a good thing?"

"Right?" Bassena grinned, sneaking his hand around the guide’s waist. "Also, rather than my birthday, I remembered it more as our anniversary."

He kissed Zein quickly before Han Shin could even protest, grinning joyfully. Right--he could care less about his birthday. It was the day he could officially call Zein his ’boyfriend’ for the first time after the rather tumultuous day before that.

Under the twinkling amber gaze, Zein replied blankly. "Ah, right..."

"Ah...right?" Bassena’s eye twitched at the rather bland reaction.

Was this really the reaction of someone who just said he couldn’t stay away from Bassena not too long ago?

"...I’m not the type to remember that kind of thing," was Zein’s nonchalant defense.

"..."

"Ouch?" Zhan commented from the sideline.

"Ouch," Han Shin nodded solemnly, clasping his hands in prayer with a little smile on his lips.

"Ah...so cold..." Dheera shuddered behind the spearman. "Must be because it’s almost winter outside."