There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 607 - 601. Falling Star

Chapter 607: Chapter 601. Falling Star

The moment Bassena ripped the layers of tendrils away, a loud shriek blasted outward; angry, desperate, and meant to hurt.

Bassena ignored the pain and let his eardrum bust instead, but the other espers couldn’t just do that. They groaned and covered their ears, repressing the shook assaulting their nerves. It prompted their attacks to stop, and some even staggered back, hanging by a thread of consciousness.

Even the Eastern Sun could not avoid this, although she fared way better than the others thanks to her position in the back and her high mana constitution. While she was still pressing her palm over her ear, someone grabbed her arm.

"Go!" the guide who looked as if he couldn’t move just a few seconds earlier looked at her fiercely. "The others are compromised right now--you need to take over the attack until they recover!"

Because of the shriek, the attacks keeping the tendrils busy had stopped, and they were lashing out at Bassena. The esper was either too focused on his effort to dig inside the slits or had a really good biological armor, but he did not give any reaction.

Still, it would certainly become dangerous if no one were to keep those tendrils away.

"Shit--" she was about to dash forward, but paused to look back at Zein. "Wait--you’re fine?"

"Yes, hurry!"

Zein just replied briefly while running toward where the supports were. "Shin!" he snatched the wincing healer’s arm, snapping him awake with a short bout of guiding. "Shin, you need to heal them!"

"H-huh?" Han Shin shook his head in a daze.

"Declare sanctuary!" Zein barked and swiftly moved toward Senan. Just like before, he snatched the defender’s shoulder and shocked Senan awake with a short guiding. It burdened his body more, but there was no leeway of being calculating at this point. "Senan, go protect Shin. He wouldn’t be able to move during the spell."

Senan was startled and looked at Zein with widened eyes, but the guide cut him before the middle-aged man could protest. "I’m fine--all the guides are fine since that power does not work for us. But if the others aren’t healed, we’ll be in trouble," he paused and added with words he didn’t really like to use. "This is an order."

"Urk--"

Senan glanced at the other guides, who were crouching behind their shield but otherwise looked fine. He gritted his teeth hard before closing his eyes tightly and took his fallen shield. "Let’s go, Sir Han."

"Zein, be careful!" Han Shin shouted before running closer to the frontline.

He had to be in a distance that could reach all the espers simultaneously. He stopped about thirty meters away from the main body and kneeled down, intertwining his fingers in a praying position. A glowing magic circle spread from beneath his knees, reaching all the way to where the espers were struggling.

Physical and mental healing flew from the magic circle while shooting stars rained down the tendrils, keeping them away from the struggling espers and Bassena. The dizziness gradually went away, and the ones who already had their bearing immediately gripped their weapons and dashed toward the tendrils again.

At that moment, Bassena roared and pulled out something from inside the slits. Immediately, another shriek came from the Fallen Star, and the tentacle suddenly lashed out harder than before, as if entering a berserk state.

The espers gripped their weapons to avoid dropping them and gritted their teeth. They stopped in their tracks to defend themselves from the attacking tendrils and let Han Shin’s magic heal them. The Easter Sun reached out two hands and two fire giants roared from the flame on the ground, accepting the attacks and pushing the tendrils away from Bassena.

Inside the black-armored fist was a dimly glowing crystal, still wrapped in a thin dark purple energy.

But perhaps because of the force he used while pulling it out, the shard slipped out of his hand and propelled quite high up. "Fuck!" he reached out his hand to catch the shard, but two tendrils shot from either side to fight him for it. "No, no, no--"

Was it because of his desperation? The tendrils crashed against each other and missed the shard. He grabbed the tendrils and burned them, but when he climbed up to catch the floating shard, a tendril wrapped around his ankle and dragged him down.

"Gah--" he gripped another tendril that was shooting up to reach the falling shard, and instead of catching it, the whipping motion of the tip hit the shard like a baseball bat. "Shit!"

Bassena twisted his body to try and jump toward the shard, but at that moment, the Fallen Star shrieked loudly again and the tendrils became even wilder than before. Several dozen more sprouted from its eyes, and some wrapped around Bassena to hold him while the rest were pursuing the shard, which was now propelled in the pier direction.

In the humans’ direction.

Flame giants rose and gripped some of the tendrils, but the other espers had to face the Fallen Star’s outrage. The tendrils whipped around and struck anything; the ground, the debris, the humans. The devastated ground got minced even more, and some espers received the force of a freight truck running down the hill hitting them.

No one seemed to have any chance to snatch the shard--including the Eastern Sun who had to be stationary while the flame giants were summoned. At that moment, Bassena caught sight of Zein, pointing at him and punching an invisible enemy in the air, while running toward the falling shard.

Focus and kill it!

Bassena couldn’t hear and couldn’t read Zein’s mask-covered mouth, but he understood. The shard didn’t matter--as long as he killed the Fallen Star, it wouldn’t be able to do anything to the shard.

With that thought, Bassena gripped the tendrils wrapping around him and burned them with a roar. A deafening scream he couldn’t hear filled the port city as he ripped the tendrils and twisted his body to attack the main body with his burning hands. Once again, he yanked the tendrils off the slits and reached down for the dark purple nucleus.

The tendrils went berserk; some sprouting thorns all over their body, some splurting acid, and some letting out poisonous gas. As hell broke loose and the espers were struggling against the tendrils, Zein dashed across devastated land and jumped over debris and building foundations.

After telling Bassena to focus on the Fallen Star, Zein shifted his gaze to the shard and the shard only. He tapped into Setnath’s power to fuel his body and maneuver his movement. Thanks to that, he could go through the field without stumbling even though his body was screaming in exhaustion.

What did exhaustion matter anyway? Everyone was exhausted; everyone was injured. And Zein, as someone who was not injured and had a power that allowed him to ignore that damn ravaging shriek, felt the need to move.

Just catch it. He gritted his teeth and moved his legs. All he had to do was catch it and store it safely inside the sealed ring.

The shard had started to fall after getting swatted into the air. Several tendrils pursued it aggressively, stretching out of the Fallen Star’s thrashing body. Zein put mana into his legs and climbed a surviving foundation pillar before leaping in the direction of the shard. His arm stretched and a shield formed in the air.

Crash!

The pursuing tendrils clashed against the mana shield from his bracelet as he clutched the poor shard in his chest. A shattering sound told him that the Paladin’s Tear was shattered, but it was enough to repel the tendrils. Zein hissed as he landed harshly and had to roll against the debris digging into his uniform, swallowing the groan of pain.

But the shard was in his hand.

Zein pushed himself up and summoned his white knife, throwing it toward the incoming tendrils. Thanks to Setnath’s trait, the knife sliced all of the tendrils, slowing their movement. He pushed his heels against the ground and dashed away. Swiping his thumb across his ring, Zein quickly secured the shard inside the ring--

And ducked as a tendril swept past where his head used to be. He swerved to the left, using a big debris to dodge the pursuing tendril and started to run as fast as he could. His muscles were screaming, and his legs felt sluggish. He had no idea if he was running faster or slower, but he saw the guides crouching behind their shield and knew he would get out of the Fallen Star’s reach soon.

Stab!

Stab!

Stab!

Bassena gripped the burning stake in his hand and brought it down.

Stab!

Stab!

There was nothing in his head but destroying the pulsing nucleus inside the screaming husk.

Stab!

The stake, full of cosmic energy and undying fire, struck the dark purple nucleus. A crack finally appeared, and a hissing fume with a corrupted essence seeped out, blasting in Bassena’s face.

But he didn’t budge, didn’t flinch. His hand kept slamming down, down, down, and the crack across the nucleus got bigger and bigger and bigger.

Khrieeee!!

Crash!

A loud scream and a shattering soul. Corrupted energy blasted for the last time, shaking the ground and sending vibrations in the air. The whipping tendrils tensed and trembled before slumping down, lifeless.

Bassena, still clutching the stake tightly, glared at the hissing smoke of a shattered core. He waited one second, two seconds, trying to sense a trace of life from the Fallen Star.

Nothing. He let out his held breath and probed with his senses again. Nothing.

Relieved washed over the pain his body belatedly felt from the poison seeping inside him. Didn’t matter--he could heal it later. Shedding his black armor, Bassena turned around with blood dripping from his ears but a smile blooming on his lips.

And yet, why he couldn’t see the other espers?

Why they were running toward the rear and why did the Eastern Sun drag him by his arm?

Why did Han Shin look hysterical and why did...

Why did Zein lay in the ground with a hole in his chest?