There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 592 - 586. Barrage

Chapter 592: Chapter 586. Barrage

"Damn..." Ashur exclaimed unconsciously as he watched the big fireball, akin to a miniature sun, fall into the lake’s center.

It seemed like the Eastern Sun was faithful to her name.

Before the beasts could react to the sudden brightness, a loud, devastating explosion filled the field. Pillars of water sprouting into the sky like a cluster of geysers, and immediately turned into vapors that obstructed their vision.

But it did not obstruct the screams and shrieks filling the space. The people in the main formation, who were closest to the blast, could even hear the sound of bubbling water. The smell of burning flesh and boiling blood permeated their senses, waking them up from the awe of witnessing the three seconds of sun inside the Deathzone.

The sound and scent, however, had also woken up the stunned beasts on the lakeside. They started to stir, and the layer of defense near the meadow, consisting of a colony of blood crystal armadillos, created a wall by hardening themselves.

[Attack!] Without giving the beasts the chance to react, however, Ashur already shouted his order throughout the communication channel. [Main troops, break through the outer field]

"Shields! Push against the wall!" Rina ran forward and stomped her feet to the ground. Blasts of hard ice crystals clashed against the glowing red armor of the armadillo, shattering the beasts’ shells. "Only attack the wall and nothing more! Don’t feed blood to the armors!"

[Marksmen, take care of flying enemies--make sure to not kill them on top of the defense wall]

"Roger," Naoya scanned the sky and quickly typed on his commlink. "Archers, gunners, cover the sky territory you’ve been assigned to."

Before the vapors in the lake subsided, a fierce battle had ensued at the edge of the meadow. With the right wing’s guidance, the head of the formations made a concentrated attack to eliminate the blood armadillo before any support could come from the confused beasts.

It was a swift and coordinated action that ended before the other beasts even realized they were under attack. When they did, the main body formation had split into several balanced squads to receive the incoming beasts.

[Spike of energy from 17.33.21]

"A fragment incoming," Ashur summoned a claymore from his dimensional arsenal. "Naoya, suppressing fire until I arrived."

[Roger]

Back in front of the canyon, Radia monitored the battlefield through Kei’s many eyes. A dozen screens showing different places and angles of the battlefield surrounded the scout.

"It seems to be going smoothly, isn’t it?" the Eastern Sun peeked at the screen.

"It’s only cleaning out the pebble," Radia said. "How’s the fragment?"

"Only one so far; Ashur is taking care of it," Kei reported. "I don’t think a decent reaction will come unless we attack the lake again, Sir."

"We’ll go in once the vapor rece--"

"Something is coming from the lake," the Iron Mountain informed them suddenly, stretching his hands toward the lake. "Several things--something like projectiles."

His eyes flashed and several shields appeared in the air, greeting the ’projectiles’ and reflecting them to where they came from. "Haa--they threw the burning underwater beasts to the crowds."

"Pretty smart, honestly," Radia said. "It’s a Kraken, isn’t it?"

"Yes, Sir--" Kei turned to the screen showing the lake. "It’s clearing up!"

"Ashur,"

[Marksmen and magicians--attack the enemies coming out of the lake]

Radia turned toward the Eastern Sun. "Is your corrosion level good?"

"Of course?"

"Black cloaked figure might start popping up--please attack them when they do."

"Oh-ho!"

The attack, which had been physical so far, was now mixed with magic. A rain of lightning showered the lake and colorful magic skills flashed toward the lake mercilessly. Thanks to the Eastern Sun’s attack, the water level had been reduced significantly, exposing more underwater creatures. The Kraken and several commander-level beasts flailed around in fury while throwing corpse projectiles which futilely crashed into Tian Yu’s shield, but their existence itself was ignored by the attacking team.

"Ah, damn..." Rina stared at the shields appearing and disappearing in the air, catching the projectiles with precision. "Will I be able to do that someda--aack!"

CRACK!

Rina slid back as a barrier suddenly appeared on her side, and a massive force slammed into the barrier and sent her flying from the force. She balanced herself by creating two shields and slammed them on the ground as anchors.

[Rina!] Ashur’s concerned voice came from her private channel.

"I’m fine," she replied immediately, throwing a slab of ice shield toward an incoming beast. "More importantly, was that--"

[The Fallen Star is starting to attack] The Guildmaster’s voice came through the main channel. [Be mindful of your surroundings, but don’t think about it too much. You are under the protection of the Iron Mountain]

"Ah~isn’t it nice to be so reliable?" Rina laughed briefly before focusing on the battlefield again. "Well, well--let’s just clean this place quickly."

Just as predicted, more energy beams were fired out--all from the island. Not only that, there was no fixed interval like with the clone before. It seemingly fired randomly every minute in anger, sometimes more than once.

"So this was the real deal," Radia muttered as the old man, who was full of confidence before, grew pale when he had to shield three different areas with his best one.

Radia glanced at Nadine, signaling the guide to get ready for cleansing. He was worried that the old man’s corrosion level would spike past the red before the energy beams stopped, but then, suddenly, the attacks stopped.

The old man blinked and for a few minutes, they still waited vigilantly for more attacks. But even after five minutes, there was nothing. Not only that, the beasts started to go berserk and the fleeting fragment tried to get back to the island.

"They must have arrived," Radia glanced at the screen showing them the lake. "Let’s clean the lake quickly and move to the island."

* * *

In fact, the dungeon team had arrived earlier, around fifteen minutes before the Fallen Star realized their presence. The moment they stepped inside, the Spirit Queen covered them in a mirage to mask their presence--although the residents of the dungeon seemed to be too busy with what happening outside.

Which was good, because they could feel the heavy pressure of a fallen Celestial Being’s presence right away. If they were dropped right in the same room, it would be harder for them to react properly.

Zein took a deep breath at the energy that his body instinctively felt repulsing--even more than miasma. He fastened the cloak that Frejya sent through Radia, which could hide the presence of Celestial Being energy. Otherwise, he would become a brightly lit beacon blazing in the Fallen Star’s senses.

Just as Han Joon told them, they arrived at an empty field in the corner of the dungeon. They could see a plantation, and a little bit of forest, and Ron told them there was a castle in the middle where all the energy of the dungeon gathered.

"It seems like the type of dungeon where the boss stayed in the center," Ron said. "It’s fortunate that the back door isn’t located in the Castle, huh?"

"Since we have the chance, let’s scour the place first," Bassena said. "I don’t know how much time the Fallen Star will get distracted, but we should at least know the terrain and how many enemies we should take care of."

They nodded and split into two. Ron, along with Banner and Sierra, moved to scout the place stealthily while the rest of them moved carefully to where they could see the Castle clearly. They could see some dark purple figure hovering above the Castle, which they assumed to be fragments, but the original beast inhabitants were nonexistent.

"Good, we only need to focus on the fragments and the Fallen Star," Bassena exhaled in relief. "Let’s go with our initial plan once Ron is back and--"

Bassena stopped talking when the dungeon shook and Zein grabbed his arm tightly with pale cheeks. "That energy attack..." Zein whispered under his breath and Agni tensed up as he, as well as everyone else, thought that the attack was directed at the scouting team. "Wait--no, it was fired out of the dungeon."

Agni let out a relieved breath after knowing his husband was fine, before raising his brow. "Wait--Iy could do that?"

"Apparently," Bassena clicked his tongue, but pressed his lips soon after when another energy beam shook the dungeon.

They looked at each other, eyes slightly widened. "The real thing has no limit or something?" Han Shin cursed.

"But it means more energy being used," Zein narrowed his eyes. "What’s the chance of the Fallen Star feeling desperate?"

"If the Eastern Sun attacks and Grandpa Tian Yu defends?" Bassena smirked. "Highly likely--they must have sensed the presence of two Saint-classes. They are veterans too, so it’ll be fiercer than mine."

They cracked a smile for the first time since entering the dungeon--until several more vibrations shook the dungeon even more. The frequency of the attack grew worrying, even while knowing the greatest defender was out there protecting their friends.

"We can’t delay anymore," Bassena gritted his teeth. "We need to move now."

As if thinking of the same thing, the scout team came back panting and nauseous from all the vibrations while moving. "Hey...there are severn fragments--at least what’s visible. How is it? Is it doable?"

"Yes," Bassena looked at the others. "Let’s follow the plan."