10 Chapter 9. The Suicidal Monk

When the world first see portals and dungeons generating, humanity had no means to defend against it. It was one of the celestial beings, Setnath, that urged the others to send their aid as responsibility.

Even then, the world had already been covered in miasma from the dungeon breaks. The beasts roamed free, preying on the remaining colonies of survivors, painting the world in dark miasmas that brought nothing but death to the living.

The towers came down at these desperate times, like a holy beacon that purified the miasma around it, and gave birth to the awakening of humanity's dormant power. With the help of the tower's purifying effect, and humanity's new powers, humans slowly regained their territory and rebuild the civilization.

But there was a limit to the towers' influence. And in the place where it didn't reach, was the land where the miasma persisted, and the beasts reigned as kings. An uncharted territory where the very air was poisonous, and the ground was painted black.

A land where the only thing that was thriving was death.

Despite humanity's advancement, there was always a risk of attack from the Deathzone; rampaging beasts that were driven out from their territory and seeking to corrupt the land of the living; the dark phantom wraith born from the accumulation of miasma; the undead rising from the living being that consumed by the miasma.

For that, the Borderland was set.

The grey between the black of deathzone and the colorful zone of the living; was how it looked on the map.

The Eastern Federation's Deathzone encompassed a huge portion of the continent's eastern coastal line, and the Borderland stood before a wide marsh bubbling with black water, and a dark jungle filled with monstrous plants. A tall concrete wall stood between the marsh and the borderland, with watchtowers standing every few kilometers. These watchtowers were being used to determine the borderland's section, with each section being tended by a main Unit.

Among all units, Section 04-2 was the one bordering the closest to the deathzone, where the miasma was denser. The people who were stationed there were either the toughest or the unluckiest. The battle maniac Captain from the Border Defense Force, the money-hungry mercenary groups, and the 'community worker' convicts.

It was the section with the most breach, and the one that was always tasked with collecting sample material from inside the deathzone for research purposes. As much as the borderland was full of action, no place was as busy as Section 04-2. Espers were always on missions, and guides were always in high demand.

And this Unit that seemed to never knew the word 'rest' was suddenly getting even busier. Not the ordinary members, but the Watchtower's master—the battle-maniac Captain—and one of the mercenary guild's leaders.

The borderland was a place that the higher-up loathed to come to, especially those that resided within the green-zone. It wasn't due to the danger, but rather because of the suffocating air inside the area. Even to espers whose skin was immune to miasma, the air of borderland was akin to a place full of pollution. It was nasty and unbearable, especially for people who had used to breathing the fresh air of purification.

But today, Section 04-2 received a sudden transmission that a group of rather influential people was coming there. It was accompanied by quite a large sum of hush money that was enough to fill the logistic warehouse for the whole year, and a promise of new equipment once the business was over.

"Isn't this too good to be true?" the mercenary leader, Ron, muttered while staring at the coded transmission.

The Captain, Agni, shook his head. "You might think this is a lot, but it might as well just a chump change for a company like Mortix,"

The transmission was telling them that a team from Mortix, the leading company on dungeon technology, would come to Section 04-2 for a direct excursion to the deathzone. Rather than commissioning the Unit, they would conduct the expedition themselves. All they asked was for them to keep the expedition a secret, as well as to provide a Guide and a pathfinder.

"So we don't have to put ourselves in danger, and we got the money," Ron chuckled. "Just like the people sitting in the green-zone."

Agni grinned, and shrugged his shoulder. "All we gotta do is turn a blind eye."

"Sweet," the mercenary narrowed his eyes. "So sweet that it's suspicious."

"It's not like our lives could get any worse," the middle-aged Captain smirked, and craned his head towards the door. "Let's go, I heard the vehicle already."

"Ah, yes, the sound of expensive fuel," Ron closed his eyes with a mocking blissed expression, before following the Captain outside.

The complex only ever heard the sound of a vehicle on supply days, from the truck bringing the logistics, or when a new batch of 'volunteer' workers came to be stationed there. And those vehicles definitely weren't the type that ran smoothly, nor the slick and sturdy type.

"How much shield generator do you think we could buy with that van's price?" Ron whispered to the older man, and Agni just chuckled as they walked towards the van to welcome the guests.

The Captain thought that if they wanted to be discreet, they shouldn't come in such luxurious looking, obviously non-inconspicuous vehicle. Fortunately, he had an iron grip on his Unit, so if he give an order, no one would open their mouth carelessly.

From the opened door, the team from Mortix alighted one by one. A woman in business attire, who Agni recognized as Mortix's representative for Area 13, which was directly connected to Sections 04 to 08, got out first, immediately scrunching her face to the murky air.

Following her was a sharpshooter esper, Point Blank Sierra Aldus, the new rising star of Trinity, Mortix's affiliated guild. Two people that looked like researchers came afterward, wearing a typical white trench coat that really shouldn't be worn in this kind of place. They immediately clutched their hands over the filtering mask they had worn beforehand, seemingly shocked at the heaviness of the air.

After the researchers got down, there was a bright-looking young man in his early twenties with black hair and black eyes, who was instantly got busy looking around in amusement, as if he was on a casual stroll around his neighborhood. It was this man that had Agni and Ron stopped on their track, staring dumbfounded at the team.

"Isn't that...Trinity's Han Shin?" Ron asked in a whisper. "I know Trinity is formed by Mortix, but to send their Chief Researcher?"

"Well, he is a researcher," Agni muttered back, although he was also in shock. Not so much because Han Shin was Trinity's executive, but because he was a 5-star healer-class esper.

The borderland's 4-star espers could be counted with only two hands, including Agni and Ron. Seeing a 5-star esper in the flesh was definitely something that might not happen again in their entire life.

The last person coming out of the van was the driver, who was also acted as the bodyguard, since he was a defender-class esper. At that time, Mortix's representative arrived in front of Agni and Ron to greet them.

"Long time no see, Captain. Can we move indoors immediately? I'm afraid our researchers need to rest for a bit."

Agni craned his neck towards the Unit's headquarter while glancing at the two normies. "They have to addapt quickly if they want to step inside the deathzone," he commented. If they got pressured in borderline, there was no way they could survive something worse.

"Don't worry about that, we'll put on the specially made uniform during the expedition, so the effect should be minimal," the representative, a stern-looking woman in her thirties named Naomi, gave the Captain reassurance.

"Will you come too, Miss?" Ron asked, leading the contingent toward the door.

"No, I won't. I will be stationed here to relay the expedition's update to the HQ," she shook her head without any loose strand of hair could be seen.

At that, the Captain and the mercenary leader stopped, and looked at them with raised brows. "Huh? Wouldn't that mean you'll go with only the sharpshooter as the attack force?"

If Naomi, the magician, stayed here, that would mean the team only went with a sharpshooter, a tank, and a healer, plus two normal persons. After all, they only requested guides and a pathfinder from the Unit. For a general dungeon excursion, this composition was far from enough, much less for a deathzone. Even if they had 5-star esper, Han Shin was a healer. They couldn't possibly put it all on the sharpshooter, could they?

The young man, Han Shin, who walked right behind them, tilted his head. "What do you mean? We have a proper attacker with us."

"...yes?"

"Hmm? Why do you look confused? Can't you see—"

"Chief," Sierra called out to Han Shin, smiling awkwardly. "The vice guildmaster is gone..."

The healer blinked in confusion. He looked back, and upon only finding the normies and the defender, immediately cursed. "What the hell? Damn simp didn't even inform me?!"

The Captain and the mercenary leader looked at each other, with the same widened eyes and open mouths.

"By vice guildmaster..." Agni stared at Naomi with unblinking, shocked eyes, who nodded calmly.

"Yes, we come with the Serpent Lord," she spoke with a solemn confidence. "Sir Bassena Vaski."

***

Unless they were on watch duty, the borderland workers generally didn't like spending time on the outpost. It was the outermost sentry box, station outside the wall to watch over the marsh.

Most of the time, guard duty was boring. But in the borderland, or what they called the grey zone sometimes, guard duty was full of tension. They had to stay vigilant, because beasts' attack was a daily occurrence. Sometimes, the dense miasma even conjured up phantom-like monsters from the accumulated corrosion.

Two espers in the minimum would always be stationed in each guard duty. But on a day when the reading on the value of accumulating miasma was high, a guide would be stationed as an auxiliary to prepare for a high-frequency attack, to prevent the espers stationed from accumulating corrosion.

Despite Section 04-2's adequate number of guides, however, most never stepped foot inside the outpost. Guides, the weakest members within the borderland, avoid sentry duty like a plague. After all, what sane person would willingly be exposed to a more life-threatening situation, as if they weren't in enough danger as it was? In that kind of condition, Section 04-2 was lucky that there was a guide who willingly volunteer every time.

After some time, it was already a routine, and the Unit's management never bother asking the other guides anymore. Anytime the unlucky day occurred, they just automatically assigned the man. It helped that he never left the borderland in the four years since he arrived there.

To the point that people called him 'Suicidal Monk'.

And that man was now staring at the marsh, as the espers made their round patrolling along the wall. The usual protocol stated that one of the espers should stay in the outpost all the time, but theirs had some unique circumstances. Even without the espers, should an attack occur, they believed that the guide could at least stall the beasts until the espers came.

After all, there was a reason why he was called a 'monk'.

No, it wasn't because he was adhering to ancient religious practice or something like that. In the Eastern Federation, 'monk' was used as a type of esper's class; the hand-to-hand combatant that uses their magic to amplify their physical abilities. It was weird that the phrase was being used to call a guide, but no one who had faced the man would refute that moniker.

Because despite being a guide, the man possessed power like an esper, although they had no idea how or why.

It was started from hazing, which escalated to a conflict, and then to (attempted) sexual assault—a frequent occurrence, sadly, for a guide. It led to a fight, in which the esper involved ended up as the losing side, beaten black and blue, much to people's surprise. Since then, that guide would often do some sparring with intrigued espers, mostly done in hand-to-hand combat—or rather, a brawl. No one messed with the guide ever since, and he got the moniker.

The Suicidal Monk Zein.

So, him staying alone inside the sentry box was an acceptable protocol too. It was safer for the espers to patrol together anyway.

"Isn't it boring, just watching an empty field like that?"

Zein froze, and turned his head. He had trained his senses so much during his seventeen years of career to the point that it was as sharp as a regular esper. But even then, he couldn't sense this person's presence at all.

When he looked at the source of the voice, Zein became even more dumbfounded.

'Who the hell is this guy?'

Because he was sure that this man, who suddenly appear in the outpost, was not someone from the Unit.

There, leaning on one of the outpost's pillars, was a man in a three-piece suit that had no business being worn in a damnable place like the deathzone.

There, staring straight at Zein was a pair of amber eyes.