Chapter 43: Kill them

At first, Zephyr had only been pretending to be unconscious to avoid being questioned.

But after being brought out of the dungeon and feeling his body being placed onto a stretcher, he eventually fell asleep for real.

Maybe it was because Zephyr had gone through too much in such a short span of time, but his sleep was unusually deep—so deep that even after he was rushed to the hospital and several doctors examined him for injuries, he didn’t stir. Even the combined efforts of two Espers using their powerful healing abilities on him failed to wake him.

It was almost as if he were in a coma.

It wasn’t until six days later that Zephyr finally woke up, feeling a flicker of pain.

The soft, rhythmic beeping of the monitor beside his bed stirred his senses, and his eyelashes twitched before his eyes slowly opened. He could vaguely feel numerous wires and thin tubes attached to his body.

A cold light flickered through his empty gaze for a moment before receding as he took in the familiar gray world around him that had become all too familiar to him.

It took Zephyr a second to blink away the haze clouding his mind and piece together what had happened before he fell asleep.

His lips unconsciously curled into a faint, satisfied smile as he remembered kissing Lucien—so deeply and intimately at that.

He savored the memory for a moment.

But as his thoughts gradually settled, he became aware of the voices around him.

Some were filled with disdain, others with irritation and a trace of anger, while a few carried indifference—as though they were discussing an object rather than a person.

"His data shows nothing abnormal once again. He’s really just a useless B-rank."

"Then how is his compatibility with every Guide a hundred percent? I don’t get it."

"Tsk, I don’t either. The Association wants answers, but even after all these days, we haven’t found anything useful. I have to say, sending a useless Esper to the lab this time was a waste of our precious time."

Suddenly, an old voice gave an order.

"His readings are just too stable. Increase the neural load. I want to see how his body responds in grave danger. Because there’s something in his body that is healing him; we just can’t see it. Record every change."

A hesitant voice spoke up.

"Doctor, that could be dangerous—"

Before the speaker could finish his words, Zephyr, who had somewhat grasped what was going on around him, spoke hoarsely.

"Who’s around me?"

Instantly, silence filled the room, broken only by the faint sounds of machines and the steady beeping of instruments silently monitoring every change in his condition.

All eyes turned toward Zephyr.

The old voice that had spoken earlier was the first to break the silence. The old man leaned closer, studying Zephyr’s unblinking eyes as they remained fixed on the ceiling.

"You are finally awake."

Zephyr frowned when he sensed a person leaning toward him. A dark lump suddenly appeared within his gray vision. It was the first time since losing his sight that he had seen the outline of an individual so clearly against the endless emptiness. There was something deeply eerie about it, the figure seemingly woven from thick dark threads.

Zephyr shifted uncomfortably, instinctively trying to move back, only to freeze when he felt the restraints holding his limbs in place.

Unable to see anything surrounding him, Zephyr could only rely on his other senses as he clenched his hands and struggled.

As if amused by his struggle, the person leaning over him let out a low chuckle. A moment later, Zephyr felt a hand settle on his shoulder and give it a tight squeeze.

"Don’t move around. We work for the Association. They sent you here."

The short, elderly man, dressed in a long white lab coat and wearing a pair of finely framed glasses, spoke in a calm, almost reassuring tone. Yet there was something deeply unsettling about the way he spoke.

"You’re only here for a few tests."

He paused before continuing.

"As for your earlier question, there are renowned researchers around you."

Zephyr frowned.

But his struggles stopped when the faint pain he had been feeling since waking up suddenly intensified a hundredfold. He felt something cold enter his body through the tubes connected to his forehead. The veins along his neck stood out prominently as a strained hiss instinctively escaped his lips.

"What are you doing?!"

Zephyr demanded, his voice trembling.

Another chuckle echoed near him.

"It’s only a test. Don’t make a fuss."

Zephyr was so angry he almost laughed.

Part of his rage stemmed from what had happened before he had fallen asleep. He had used his Gaya Skill, and its side effects hadn’t completely vanished yet, fueling the anger that had just ignited within him.

He had no idea how many people were around him right now, but judging from the mix of different voices, there were plenty.

His eyes narrowed. A wisp of pitch-black darkness began gathering in his palms.

He would make these people pay!

Suddenly, an ominous thought surfaced quietly in Zephyr’s mind, cold and insistent.

Kill them.

It whispered again.

They are causing you pain.

They deserve it.

Kill them.

A hint of crimson crept into Zephyr’s gray eyes. But just as he was about to lose all control, a familiar voice suddenly rang out amid the amused chatter surrounding him.

"Stop all this immediately!"

Zephyr finally blinked.

His nerves immediately calmed down as his mind supplied to him: Lucien was here.

Tilting his head—the only part of his body he could still move—Zephyr turned toward the voice. Although he could see nothing beyond a few barely discernible lumps of darkness that nearly blended into the gray background, he knew exactly where Lucien was. His mana had instinctively moved on its own, quickly enveloping Lucien before Zephyr even realized what had happened.

He stopped moving, breathing raggedly.

Meanwhile, Lucien, who had practically barged into the lab in search of Zephyr the moment he was finally granted permission to meet Zephyr, almost felt his heart stop when he saw Zephyr’s current condition.

Five days. It had been five agonizing days since Lucien had woken up, only to learn that Zephyr had been sent to the Lab for experiments while he was unconscious!

The same powerful SSS-Rank Esper who had single-handedly cleared a formidable Disaster-Level Dungeon—one that could have destroyed the entire M City in Erick’s absence—had been sent to the Lab to be treated as a mere experimental subject!

Panic and anxiety had consumed him.

He had nearly pulled his hair out trying to find a way to reach Zephyr, but he couldn’t leave immediately. For two days straight, Lucien had been confined to a room and interrogated by Sylvia and several others about what had happened in the dungeon where he and Zephyr had been dragged.

How had they survived? Where had the monster that took them gone? What had happened after they were pulled inside?

Lucien had eventually fabricated a story just convincing enough to get them off his back and secure his freedom. He claimed that Zephyr possessed a healing skill and had used it to heal him. As for the monster that had dragged them into the dungeon, he claimed that it had been killed shortly after they were dragged inside, though he never saw what actually killed it. Beyond that, he genuinely had no idea what had happened.

It was the only explanation he could give without exposing the truth about Zephyr.

Sylvia had wanted to use more extreme methods, openly admitting that she didn’t believe his story. But Lucien, despite being abandoned by his father, was still the son of one of the heads of the Association. In the end, Sylvia could only restrain herself, just as everyone else who had come to interrogate Lucien had been forced to do.

During those two days, he also heard that the dungeon classified as a Disaster-Level Dungeon in the novel had vanished on the second day after its appearance. Well, after learning that no one had been able to find a single monster or any other living creature inside it, Lucien quickly understood why.

Zephyr had probably lost control of his mana during the life-or-death struggle and somehow annihilated the entire dungeon.

Without any monsters left inside it, how could the dungeon continue to exist?

Still, this realization left Lucien shaken.

Although he knew Zephyr was a powerful SSS-Rank, Lucien had never imagined that the power Zephyr possessed could be this terrifying—especially when Zephyr wasn’t even aware that he was an SSS-Rank Esper.

Of course, Lucien was simply filling in the blanks with everything he could still recall, unknowingly piecing together a completely different explanation from reality. After all, to him, Zephyr was just a pitiful Esper who knew nothing about the treacherous world.

He had even forgotten how this supposedly pitiful Esper had kissed him deeply enough to make his legs weak—not once, but twice.

Anyway, after finally securing his freedom, Lucien had stormed into his father’s office and made a big scene, demanding to know Zephyr’s whereabouts. He had practically turned the old man’s office upside down, even going as far as threatening to jump from the window if he refused to tell him.

Only then did Lucien finally learn where Zephyr had been sent. However, knowing his location didn’t mean Lucien could just rush in and save him. It took several days before the Awakened Association finally granted him permission to see Zephyr.

The Association had its own reasons for finally allowing him in. They also wanted to question Zephyr about what had happened inside the Dungeon. In the end, Lucien and Jake were dispatched to handle the matter.

Lucien was only included because he had become a headache. The Association had nearly wanted to lock him up just to keep him from causing any more trouble, but he was an A-Rank guide—one they could easily put to good use. Thus, sending him along with Jake seemed like the easier solution.

However, even though Lucien had done everything in his power to reach Zephyr as soon as possible, it seemed he was still a little too late. The sight of veins standing out along Zephyr’s neck, coupled with the way he stared at him through red-rimmed, aggrieved eyes, made that painfully clear.

A vein throbbed at Lucien’s temple.

In an instant, Lucien rushed forward and hauled the short, smiling old man closest to Zephyr up by the collar. Lucien moved so abruptly that Jake and the other two Espers accompanying him barely had time to react, let alone stop him, before his clenched fist slammed squarely into the old man’s face.

"You fucking expired piece of shit!"

Immediately, the old man cried out as he reeled backward, blood spilling from his nose as his glasses were knocked askew.