There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 452 - 445. The Last Insurence

In contrast to the festive atmosphere the night before, the morning of the next was filled with a solemn mood.

The support team methodically made a hearty breakfast for the advanced troops who had already been wide awake since dawn. From the stiff expression on their face, it was clear that they couldn’t help but feel nervous. It was easy enough yesterday, when they departed from the bright green-zone. But sleeping in a place with a high level of miasma was not an easy thing, and waking up to a grey sky, gray hard soil, and grey everything just made everything even more depressing.

"Get used to it," Zein, who got woken up by his old biological alarm, patted his kids’ bed heads one by one inside the Operation’s mess hall. "It will be completely dark in the Deathzone, so you’ll have to get used to seeing things through goggles."

"Ugh--you mean...all the time, Captain?" Dheera whined as usual.

"Did you not listen during Captain’s lesson before?" Silva fixed her glasses--which she would need to substitute later. "We’ll be able to see normally for a bit once the purification device is placed. But the place outside of the purification range, including the sky, will still be dark."

"So what if I’m not good at theory..." Dheera pursed her lips and mumbled quietly.

Zein smirked. If they could exchange banter like this, they should be fine now. "Go and have some breakfast so your stomach can digest it before we go."

"Yessir!"

While his kids scurried toward the buffet, Zein came to the table where Hagalaz’s squad was having their breakfast while discussing the plan for later. While Anzus would move as the vanguard to open the way, Hagalaz would follow from behind while guarding the logistics needed to build their first relay base inside the Deathzone. So, essentially, they would move separately.

But that would also mean Zein couldn’t always be there to provide the squad leader with his guiding. Not until they met again during the first camp. So he had to cleanse Ashur before they departed.

"Oh, would you be okay for Commander later?" Ashur asked, although he couldn’t help but feel happy about it. Since Anzus would be the one to clear the path, however, he thought he wouldn’t have to use his power at this stage anyway.

"Don’t worry about it, I already cleansed him last night," Zein replied nonchalantly while reaching out his hand.

"Oh..."

The members of Hagalaz patted their leader in consolation. It didn’t need much thinking about what kind of ’cleansing’ an esper-guide couple would do during the night. Indeed, it was hard getting attached to someone who already had a lover.

"Ah, thank you," Ashur smiled wryly while taking Zein’s hand.

Honestly, Zein couldn’t do anything with Ashur’s attachment that didn’t wane even after Zein officially dated Bassena. That being said, Ashur had been professional enough about it, and never made any advances.

Well, perhaps that was why Radia had no problem sending Anzus and Hagalaz together. Zein just thought that it would be hard for Ashur to receive guiding from another guild if he kept this attachment to him.

Especially once Zein could no longer guide others...

"What about you guys?" Zein asked the other Hagalaz members.

"We received cleansing before coming here, and the guides properly checked on our condition after they came back from the outpost yesterday," the vice squad leader, Iore, replied with a smile. "Don’t worry, Sir. You have excellent kids."

"That’s good," Zein nodded. It was worth whipping them into shape and professional habit. He would have to leave three guides with Hagalaz, and another one in the headquarters for emergency. Knowing that they knew what to do even without his direct instruction put him more at ease.

He wondered if Dheera and Leehan also did their duty, and checked on Anzus members after he was done cleansing Ashur. Fortunately, they did, and Zein couldn’t be more proud that his problem child Dheera did a good job.

Around that time, a sleepy Bassena emerged from the tent and Zein finally had his breakfast with the just-awake Saint class while the support team was busy running around preparing and rechecking the equipment and the logistics that they would bring inside the Deathzone.

Storage magic was convenient, but there was a limit on the medium still. The new purification devices, which had reached a hundred meters wide of effect now, needed their own special chest storage. They would need to bring a whole warehouse of food, which took up the biggest dimensional storage the current technology could have. The dimensional storage bags to keep the equipment, tents, portable kitchens, and all the things needed to build their first base could be stacked on a car to the brim.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t bring a car there--at least, not until they successfully made a path, widened it, and created relay points along the way. That would be their second objective, right after they successfully made their first base in the ruined city.

"There’s no change in plan; we will follow the path the excursion team took the first time," Kei explained once again to the team in the middle of breakfast. "The only difference is that instead of using the underground river path through the cave--which is impossible now thanks to Commander collapsing the entrance..."

"Hey, that’s the Specter’s fault."

"Whatever. Anyway, we will make a detour to access the shard’s core from the surface," Kei dismissed Bassena’s defense. "Mister Ronan from the Unit, thankfully, had already charted a path so we won’t need to struggle--and that’s why he’ll come with us until we establish the base. Instead of me, we will treat him as the primary pathfinder until then, understood?"

The espers raised their glass and utensils in response since their mouths were busy eating.

"Have you all connected the commlink to the beacon?" Bassena asked.

As usual, they wouldn’t be able to connect their commlink to the link, so all they could do was make a local communication link through beacons that they would spread along the relay points. With that, they would be able to communicate with the temporary headquarters even from the Deathzone. The temporary headquarters, meanwhile, would relay the information here to Althrea, the command center.

And talking about the command center...

"He’ll come today?" Zein asked while tightening his combat boots.

"Yep," Bassena put on his dragon leather coat and took Zein’s drake one from the coat rack. "His summon needs to put a mark so he can create a portal."

"Can’t he just do the thing he did with the Horins? Using a marked item, I mean."

"That stuff is a one-time thing only," Bassena explained while helping Zein put on the coat. "He will need a more permanent one so he can visit the headquarters regularly. There’s a limit to communicating through a magic scroll."

"That’s true," Zein nodded. Right as he put on his gloves, he could hear the sound of propellers and belting wind outside. "Speak of the devil."

They came out just as the helicopter with Trinity’s symbol landed outside the headquarters. The familiar red hair which they saw last through a mere screen in the Southern Kingdom’s palace played in the wind as the man walked out with his trusted summons.

"As ready as I imagined," he commented while looking around casually.

"I almost thought you’d come wearing a suit," Zein said as a greeting, feeling kind of weird seeing Radia on battle gear--an enchanted shirt, a summoner robe, and a pair of combat boots.

The man didn’t even wear this during the Horin residence raid.

"One should dress appropriately for the occasion," Radia replied simply. "And it would be a waste of a good suit."

Zein chuckled and they walked together inside the headquarters compound where everyone had stood at the ready to welcome the Big Boss like the good workers that they were.

"Seems like everything’s in good condition," he commented while looking around the compound. "Looking nice enough."

The support team smiled in relief at the comment, and Radia swept his haze over the advance troop members. "Everyone seems ready," he smiled. "Looking tense enough."

They smiled wryly as the two Commanders chuckled. "Tension is good to build vigilance," Radia said as he passed through the assembly court. "Just do it enough so you don’t get frozen inside."

"Yessir!"

Radia nodded and Zein led the summoner toward the Unit’s headquarters while Bassena got everyone ready to start moving. "You should make the mark now, Nyx."

"Yes, Master."

The butler disappeared as Zein and Radia met Agni and Ron near the gate leading to the marsh between the Borderland and the Deathzone. Seeing the summoner, even the tough berserker felt rather nervous. After all, this was the one who held their future freedom in his entire hand.

"Captain Khan," Radia greeted the berserker with a nod and a stretched hand.

"Sir Mallarc," Agni gave a firm handshake, foregoing his usually easygoing persona.

Might have something to do with how he got so drunk last night too, who knows?

"I appreciate the cooperation."

"No; we also...have a personal interest in this," the Captain replied honestly.

"Good. Having something you want means you’ll cooperate until the end, wouldn’t you?" Radia smiled, and Agni felt weird that he got so unsettled by a man who was even younger than Ron. The crimson eyes made him feel like he couldn’t swindle this guy, ever. Thankfully, those eyes soon shifted toward the marsh. "That’s where we put our second beacon, isn’t it?"

"Yeah," Zein nodded. "Random lower specters and wrights appear there, so we’ll rely on the Borderland Unit to keep the beacon safe."

"Don’t worry," the Captain smirked. "I’ll do my worth." freeweɓnøvel.com

Radia stared keenly at the dark jungle, and his gaze shifted up, toward the looming darkness. That darkness would be his people’s home for the next few years, and no matter how confident he looked, his heart felt a bit stuffy.

He exhaled slowly, and his breath mingled with a murky air that was neither hot nor cold.

"I can’t do anything for a verdict that is already given," he suddenly said, prompting a confused look on the Captain and Zein. "But I can do something to clear your name of any false indictment."

Agni blinked, staring at the summoner blankly.

"I have that much influence now in the government and the military, so..." the crimson eyes return to the Captain; the gatekeeper of the Borderland. "Please take care of my people."

It was his last insurance before letting his troops traverse through the darkness.