There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 474 - 467. The First Tower

"It’s...surfacing?" Zein stared at the city ruin, which was no longer underground.

Last year, they had to fall through a tower to reach the part of the city where they could walk around. Zein remembered the place felt like a dome, as if the city itself was built inside a cave.

But now, he could see the landscape of the city clearly; the leftover tall building covered with crawling vines and ivies. Remnant of houses that had been half-destroyed or crumbled entirely. He remembered then, how the city was originally in the vision of the shard. It was a nice decently decently-sized satellite town leading to a much bigger harbor city.

"I was surprised too," Bassena chuckled. "But I think, rather than surfacing, the ground just...collapse? Or the beasts were digging it up?"

"Or maybe, once we took the shards, the structure hiding it crumbled," Han Shin added.

"...it’s kind of weird hearing you saying something that makes sense."

"Hey!"

"Anyway," ignoring the scowling healer, Bassena turned toward Zein again. "I had sent my kids checking everywhere, and they didn’t find any beasts. Do you want to do it now, or should be check it again thoroughly to make sure?"

Zein looked at the group of people who looked like they could collapse anytime soon. An hour of rest at the edge of the battlefield naturally wasn’t enough after such an intense battle. Not to mention, some of them still had to do the cleaning, getting rid of the massive corpses so unwanted things wouldn’t appear.

"I don’t think anyone has any energy left to do a city sweeping," Zein shook his head. "It doesn’t matter. Even if there are some, they are probably just small beasts that you can easily take care of, right?"

"Of course," Bassena replied confidently. "And you? Do you have enough energy to do it?"

Zein shrugged nonchalantly. "Just take me to the center."

With a grin, Bassena held the guide’s waist and whisked them away from the city entrance where everyone was. They appeared two seconds later at a familiar place.

"This is..."

"Perfect, isn’t it?" Bassena smiled as he looked down; at a dry ground that a long time ago should have been filled with neat, green grass.

Zein stepped to the edge of the platform he stood at, staring at a section of a destroyed tribune that once became a Specter nest. It was the stadium where they found the Specter isolating Bassena, before they made a journey toward the shard.

The stadium itself was quite large, and the field in the middle felt like a perfect place for assembly. Perhaps because it was located near where the shard was, the condition of the building itself was still relatively good, just like the dorm they used to camp in last year. Not to mention, it was located on a slightly elevated ground, with spacious rooms around it. Meaning, it wouldn’t be too hard to turn this place into a command center.

And it certainly had a nostalgic value to it.

"Indeed, it’s perfect."

Zein smiled and poured his mana toward his little finger. With a crisp clicking sound, the seal of the ring opened, and a bright crystal floated in front of them.

"We’re here again," Zein said. "You remember this place, right?"

The shard buzzed in response, and Zein chuckled. "Yeah. As we had talked about before, you’ll be staying here until the time comes. That’s alright?"

The shard answered by buzzing hard and flying up. On top of the open stadium, there was some kind of tower--Zein had no idea what it was, but the shard flew to the top of the tower, and a bunch of metal frames shifted to make a pedestal--almost like the one made of roots for the core.

Slowly, the shard lowered itself to sit on its throne, and the moment it settled on the pedestal, threads of light crawled down the tower and spread to the entire stadium, as well as the area around it, illuminating the space like a beacon.

It wasn’t as big as the core’s dome, but it was certainly big enough, and more secure than the purification device. The light shone brightly in the middle of the city, acting as a lighthouse for the troops who were trudging forward through the ruin.

Instantly, the exhausted faces lit up with renewed energy, and even the traumatized guides seemed eager to run toward the light that reminded them of that paradise in the valley. With a sudden burst of energy, it didn’t take long for them to reach the stadium--not even the slight hike to the entrance of the building could deter their steps.

The first thing they saw was Zein, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the dry field while staring at the shard on top of the tower, humming. The guides, who regained their vigor, ran toward their Captain and hugged him, laughing as Zein grumbled at the added weight of four adult kids on his back.

"Where’s Bas?" Han Shin asked after he decided to join the guides in tackling Zein to the ground.

As an answer, Zein pointed to the sky. "Calculating position for the purification device."

Yes--despite having the shard already, they would still deploy purification devices in four corners of the area intended to be their headquarters. This ensured they would have a wide enough area for all members of the Operations to live in for the next few years, as well as to establish critical facilities like the command center and aid station.

Bassena came down not too long after, with a piece of paper bearing four lines of coordinate. He gave the paper to Kei, who immediately worked with the other scouts from Hagalaz to deploy the purification device. Bassena himself grabbed Han Shin, who blinked in surprise, and whisked the healer to the roof of the stadium near where the shard was to place and activate the main communication beacon.

"Alright, don’t dawdle," Ashur clapped his hands. "Let’s make our camp so we can truly rest."

The words ’truly rest’ motivated the tired people to scramble and set up their temporary living quarters before more equipment came from the dome.

"It’s the right decision to leave all the luggage back there," someone commented. "Otherwise, they might get damaged or lost during the battle."

"Honestly, I never thought we would face something like that right away," another replied, shaking their head as they prepared the tent one by one. "I thought it’d only be little skirmishes at first."

"I thought we had to be the one looking for the big monster, but they came at us by themselves," someone laughed.

"Several at once too."

They started to exchange stories while working, slipping in some jest and competition. But they could do it because they came victorious, without casualties, and were already in a safe place. When they were still in the dark, no one could say anything but breathing heavily from exhaustion. All they wanted was to rest, and pray that there wouldn’t be any more fighting until their stamina regenerated.

But now, they could at least jest and laugh at the experience, seeing it as something enriching. The guides too, gradually stopped trembling and could even set up their own tent.

"Rest plenty today," Zein said firmly. "You still have to do a lot of cleansing tomorrow."

"Yes, Captain!"

"Captain, where do you want to put your tent?"

"Obviously where Sir Vaski’s tent is up, duh."

Zein flicked Dheera for her mischievous words, although it was true. But for tonight...he couldn’t tell anyone where their tent would be. He helped the guides set up their tents instead, while observing their conditions.

They looked fine so far; they moved well, already smiling and poking fun at each other. But, they also avoid talking about what happened, and Zein knew some of them--if not all--would have a nightmare tonight.

That, however, was a necessary process. There would be more gruesome things they had to face in the future, and if they could get through this one okay, they would be able to face anything afterward.

"Hey, this ground isn’t as hard as I thought!" Brisk said while stomping on the soil. If they examined harder, they would be able to see the wriggling two millimeters of grasses in some spots, and struggling sprouts waiting for the ground to get softer.

"It’s slow," Zein raised his head toward the shard. "But this place will slowly heal."

The guides looked at the shard, and then at the ground, and gasped. "L-like inside the dome?!"

"No," Zein chuckled. "Not that much--regular shards like this had limited power. But...there will be grass, at least."

Tue guides gasped louder, and the espers around them looked over in intrigue. But before they could inquire about it, they were once again surprised by a sudden vibration from the shard. It pulsed once, twice, and then the light shone brighter--almost as bright as the core.

In the four coordinates Bassena gave the scouts earlier, four purification devices were activating at the same time. The system, which was developed from the researcher’s painstaking effort to study the shard, resonated with its source, creating a synergy that protected the area in a pyramid-shaped barrier.

The tower, which became the throne for the shard, would become the first flag of Operation Fallen Star.