Chapter 22. Where Dangers Abound

At Bassena's words, the rest of the espers took their position, and the researcher scooted back. But there was no fear or panic, just a rightfully places tension.

Balduz took the equipment and moved away from the brook, along with the researchers. He positioned himself behind the two civilians, eyes vigilantly observing the surrounding. Han Shin put himself in front of the researchers; even as a healer, his constitution was still way higher than a normal person, not to mention that his equipment was all focused on boosting defense.

As the outsiders, Ron and Zein positioned themselves to flank the researchers, effectively putting the civilians inside a close-knit defense. Logically, Zein should be inside this protection too, but they already knew about Zein's extraordinary strength.

In the meantime, Bassena stood at the edge of the brook and peered down without making any movement. "Sierra, take care of this," he said in a firm, commanding voice.

"Yes, Sir!" the sharpshooter climbed into a rock that was as tall as Bassena, and took out her gun.

Without looking at the sharpshooter, Bassena threw her a question. "Can you see it?"

Zein looked at the man who stared at the water with an easy smile. His question sounded more like a test in Zein's ear.

"Yes Sir," Sierra answered readily, eyes gleaming and focused at the depth. It would be a disgrace for a sharpshooter if she wasn't able to see that much. The vice guildmaster would probably send her to the training camp again if she failed this.

"Can you kill it in one shot?" Bassena asked in a casual tone, armed crossed like an instructor waiting for his student's answer.

It wasn't a question to test Sierra's strength. Otherwise, he would just tell her to shoot it dead. Instead, he carried on a conversation as if they were in a simulation training module, so it was clear that the one he gauged was the sharpshooter's judgment.

And true to someone who passed Trinity's test course, she answered without hesitation. "No, Sir."

It wasn't an answer to show that she wasn't confident. It was her objective judgment based on the target's property and her own prowess. She was a sharpshooter who excelled in rapid fire, not the sniper type that could do big damage. It mattered not whether she could achieve big damage—it was more important to have a correct grasp of one's own ability.

"Then, what should you do?"

"I should bring it out of its domain," she paused for a bit, and when Bassena said nothing, she continued. "I should lure it out so everyone got a visual on it. Also, I will be able to spot and exploit its weak point."

"And how will you guarantee it will come out?"

In terrain like water, beasts that live underwater were troublesome because if they weren't killed in one shot, they could easily run away. And then they could come back after, bringing a pack of other beasts as if they wanted to enact revenge.

Then, the only way to make sure they didn't run was—

"Aggravate,"

—by pulling aggro. Something like this was usually done by a tank type like Balduz, but that didn't always work for water creatures. So another way had to be done.

However, Bassena turned his head, and Sierra almost pulled a trigger from flinching. "How can you pull an aggro of a B-class scale-beast with your damage?" the casual voice turned sharp and cold, and even Zein could see the sharpshooter trembling.

"Your strength is rapid-fire, Sierra," Bassena looked at the water again. "Utilize that. Only shoot at it at the beginning, and then shoot at the water. You know where, don't you?"

Sierra stilled for a full second, before her eyes came back to stare at the water with a new blaze. She fixed her position and trained her gun on the brook again.

'Shoot at the water in the direction of its head, where it most likely will run off to,' she drew the trajectory plan. 'Make it thinks that there's nowhere to run off to except the ground,'

She drew her mana, and heard the voice of her vice guildmaster—no, the strike commander. "Lure it out. If you fail, you'll go back to the camp next month."

"Yes, Sir!"

Zein looked at this exchange with interest, as Sierra put her plan into action and Bassena only watched from the side with crossed arms. He looked at the researchers, who still set up their equipment as if they were in the middle of the lab instead of the Deathzone, and at Han Shin who looked ahead with an easy expression.

"Is he using this as a training course?" he decided to lower his tension since everyone seemed to be at ease, although his hand never left the hilt of the Black Pearl.

Han Shin turned his head toward Zein and smirked. "You feel weird, don't you?"

Zein just shrugged as an answer, and the healer looked forward again with his explanation. "He might look like a rude, selfish asshole—no, wait..." Han Shin corrected himself. "He might be rude and a selfish asshole, but he is still in charge of our guild's strike division, and he does his job properly; training the strike squad member is one of them."

Hmm...Zein tilted his head. Honestly, Bassena never really struck him as rude or selfish. He acted conceited, but then he also got skill, so Zein found no fault in that. For someone like Zein who lived in a hellhole all his life, the way Bassena talked or acted was considered mild at best. And compared to people who had been coming at him so strongly it bordered in assault—or just went full assault—Bassena's advance actually could be called...considerate.

Well...he might have a low standard to begin with, with the way he lived so far, so Zein also had no intention to rebuke Han Shin's description.

But he had to admit that this put the esper in a new light. At least, he wasn't just the type who glorified his own power and thought of those below him as unsalvagable trash.

Zein had met many espers with that kind of mindset before, especially in the red-zone—those who were strong in front of the weak and weak in front of the strong.

"But why people don't like him?" he muttered softly to himself, but Han Shin gave him an answer.

"Because he doesn't move the way people want," the healer laughed. "And because people get jealous easily at successful young men who can't be shaken by anything."

Zein had no idea what it felt like to be a successful young man, but he knew how it was when people got jealous of him. Even someone like him, who barely had anything but skill, had people feeling jealous and spreading bad rumors.

So what would it be like for someone like Bassena?

During their talk, Sierra had successfully driven the beast out of the water. Her bullet couldn't pierce the hard scale of the beast, however, and Bassena had to step up and killed it, as well as other, smaller beasts that running and scattering around after the big one got eliminated.

But the task Bassena gave her was only to lure it out, and she breathed out in relief when the Saint-class did not admonish her.

"I'll give you a pass for now," Bassena remarked shortly, as she came down from the stone.

"T-thank you, Sir!" she almost bowed then, clutching her gun.

Since the battle seemed to be over, the others broke their formation and walked closer to the water. Han Shin approached the sharpshooter with a laugh and patted her shoulder. "Gratz for avoiding the camp,"

"C-chief..." she looked at the healer with glistening eyes. But her touched expression turned rigid with Bassena's cold words.

"What are you putting down your guard for? Why are you abandoning your position?"

Sierra straightened her back in reflex, like a soldier being scolded by her commander.

"The safe zone hadn't been established yet, why are you relaxing instead of securing the perimeter?"

"I-I'm sorry! I'll go straight away!"

The Sharpshooter scurried away almost comically, climbing an even higher stone overlooking the land across the brook, while Han Shin laughed quietly. The healer turned his head and grinned at Bassena.

"You're not being hard on her just because she met him before you do, right?"

Bassena rolled his eyes, and flicked the grin off the healer's face. "I'm not that petty."

"Yea, you are! Stop trying to fix your image here—agh stop flicking me!"

"She's an asset with a usable skill, I have to make sure she has what it takes to survive," he glanced at Sierra who just arrived on top of the stone. "Or else Radia will nag me about losing investment,"

At Bassena's words, the researchers and Han Shin made groaning sounds that prompted Ron and Zein to stare at them in surprise.

"Those words!" Han Shin crouched down with hands covering his head. "I had nightmares because of those words!"

"What happened?" Ron asked in a hurry. He'd been watching the area further ahead and crosschecking his map, so he had thought they fell ill or something.

But Bassena waved his hand to tell him there was nothing to worry about. "Just some triggering trauma,"

"I remembered the time I had to revise my research proposal eight times before Sir Mallarc put his seal on it..." the male researcher, Eugene, looked blankly at the far darkness.

"My canceled fund..." even the quiet Anise made a soft whimpering sound.

"Sometimes...I feel like Radia just saying that to me because he hated my Hyung..." the voice that Han Shin used was the same as the time he was distressed about losing sleep because of a bad quality bed. "Mister Eugene, let's just set this up, or else I'll go depressed again..."

Zein watched this display of some high-zone elite's despair in amusement. Talking about losing funds and whatnot...a place who always lacked funds like the borderland Unit could not relate.

The guide turned at the smirking esper who caused this lamentation moment and asked; "Who's that?"

"Hmm?" Bassena turned to him, the smirk replaced with a smile. "Radia Mallarc? He's our Guildmaster, as well as the Mortix Group chairman, so he's also these two's boss."

It wasn't rare for a big company to create a guild, or for guilds to have affiliation with companies as sponsors. But Radia Mallarc was the only one who headed both his company and the guild at the same time. It was possible because he was an overly competent individual who seemed to be loved by heaven, seeing as the man also had the time and ability to attain a 5-star ranking.

But someone like that wouldn't be able to survive without having a few of his screws loose.

"Seemed like a demanding boss," Zein commented briefly.

"I would say he's rather strict. He looked at everything, including people, based on how beneficial their existence is. That triggering phrase is something he uses frequently to indicate failure," Bassena explained further, pointing at the gloomy researchers and Han Shin. "People who work in the research and development division probably hear that the most, since research often had many trials and errors before succeeding."

"Hmm..."

"Don't be too interested in him, though," the esper leaned down to whisper in Zein's ear. "Be interested in me instead,"

Zein just gave the younger man a sideway cold glance as the esper laughed and waved his hand.

"You're leaving?"

"Patrol," Bassena replied with a smile, "so our guide won't be too tense," he winked and disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

It took a little bit over half an hour until a shimmering barrier was being deployed around them. It was a fascinating process that left Zein astonished and paid attention.

They had set the equipment at the shallow end of the brook, and the terminal sent out a ripple of energy that slowly sucked in the miasma around. It was a slow process that would bore other people, but Zein, who could feel the gradual process, was watching it keenly.

'It really feels like a guiding process' he crouched near the equipment as the researchers collected nearby substance samples.

The device absorbed the miasma from the ground, the water, and even the air, and purify it. The purified energy was being stored inside a storage that acted like a battery. Once the indicator inside the 'battery' had reached a certain level, they could deploy barriers to make a safe zone.

Zein stared at the 'battery' indication and his hand subconsciously moved toward his nape, below the lower end of the mask. It was always covered by high collars and hoods, but there was something like a stigma there. It looked like a tattoo on normal days, but it would glow when Zein filled his magic energy reserve from the purified miasma.

Exactly like that 'battery' indicator.

'It felt the same...this process...'

"Are you alright?" perhaps because Zein made a troubled expression, Eugene asked him in worry.

Shaking his head, Zein just put out his hand to tell the researcher that he was alright. But the voice of worry had been spreading to the other's ears, and they were all focused on him.

"Are you really okay? You seem to be, but as I thought, guiding Bas to that level must have been hard, right?" Han Shin stared at him with a frown.

"Not really..." Zein answered truthfully, but the other espers were nodding their head as if sympathizing with Zein's nonexistent problem.

"Yeah, it must be hard," Han Shin nodded severely, looking like a grave doctor examining his patient. "And you only did it through hand-to-hand...I mean, I know it'll probably be awkward doing more with someone you just met, but—"

"Zen strictly uses the hand-to-hand method, though," Ron cut in, joining the group now that the mini safe zone was almost completed.

Han Shin raised his brow and stared at Ron, before shifting his gaze toward the guide. "You never use any other method?"

"I never have to resort to that," Zein shrugged.

"Never ever?" Han Shin widened his eyes, face leaning to the guide. "Neck? Face? No kiss?"

Hand-to-hand was the most basic, traditional method. And as the most basic, the absorption rate was also the lowest. Touching the veins, like in the wrist and neck was the most common method a guide would use, especially by the one working in the government-owned Guide Center. More intimate methods, like touching faces and pressing their forehead together, are usually used by guides in the guild, which had built trust and made close relationships with the guild's espers.

But further methodology, like kissing, wasn't uncommon too nowadays. And just like the borderline's guide station, providing a bed for sexual guidance had slowly become the norm.

So someone who strictly used hand-to-hand guiding like Zein was actually the rare one.

This also made Han Shin wonder: what kind of method this guide used to bewitch Bassena. Was Zein really making his friend obsessed for four years just by a mere hand-to-hand guiding?

Honestly, he was a bit skeptical. So the healer pushed on. "No sex?"

Zein, in the meantime, frowned at Han Shin's barraging inquiry. But the healer's question managed to jog a buried memory inside his messed-up brain. "...well, once, I think..."

A memory of dim, closed space.

A memory of sorrow, and fear, and bitter things that he'd been buried, along with the red-zone outbreak incident.

But amidst his attempt to draw out the memory, his answer, albeit reluctant, was eliciting a bigger response from Han Shin and Ron, who was surprised by this revelation.

"What? Once? When?" they looked like a schoolgirl ready to gulp some tea, looking at Zein with widened, curious eyes.

Zein frowned, feeling annoyed. "It's an emergency, but—" he didn't know whether he was annoyed at their inquiry or at his inability to recall the scene fully.

"But...?" Han Shin pushed on, but Zein already stood up and left the disappointed crowd.

That's right—he remembered he did it once; a sexual guiding. In a dark space, in a suffocating air. But who? He couldn't remembered.

He just remembered he had tried to bury the memory from that era in the depth, because everything related to the red-zone incident and his pilgrimage to the borderland proved to be too hurtful sometimes.

Zein sighed, walking aimlessly toward the border of the newly created barrier, head swirling with the muddy, blurry scenes.

He had never faced the need to interact with those buried memories before, but now he was curious about the identity of the esper.

Perhaps because of the sense of deja vu he'd been having these days.

Zein stared hard at the ground without even looking, and it made him trip over a stone. Before he even managed to balance himself, however, two sturdy hands already hold his upper arms.

"You're the one who warns me to be cautious," the low voice of Bassena Vaski tickled Zein's ears and he looked up at the smirking face. "What are you doing wandering without care like this by yourself?"

Or perhaps, because there was an esper he couldn't remember meeting before in front of him.