Chapter 54: Was this... butterfly effect?

Erick’s jaw tensed. He didn’t look at Zephyr. Seeing his frightening eyes, the member of the emergency team who had just shouted for Erick’s team to gather hiccupped in fear.

Just as the hiccupping emergency team member began to question his own eyes, wondering how Erick—an Esper known for his friendly and easygoing nature despite his immense strength—could display such an expression, the hostility in Erick’s eyes suddenly vanished. A smile appeared on Erick’s face as he turned his head back for a moment, meeting Zephyr’s blank eyes.

Although Zephyr couldn’t see, Erick still didn’t want him to witness his dark side.

He didn’t know why...

Erick simply wanted to be the perfect version of himself around Zephyr.

So, despite wanting to snap at the dazed emergency team member and even beat him up, Erick kept his anger under control as he turned his attention back to him.

"Yes, Zephyr is a new member."

At that moment, Nana and Olivia, the two female members of his team, rushed out from behind the crowd to join him, with Jake and Nox following closely behind.

Nana hadn’t seen Erick since last night, after he left with Lucien O’Connell.

Her eyes were a bit swollen, a clear sign that she had cried in her room the night before. Still, she stood beside Erick with a smile on her face. But that smile twisted when he walked away from her and moved to stand beside that blind Esper, Zephyr!

The emergency team member finally snapped out of his stupor. As he tried to make sense of what had just happened, he told himself that he must have imagined the terrifying look in Erick’s eyes earlier.

With almost all of Erick’s team gathered, the emergency team member turned to the Esper with teleportation abilities and asked him to prepare to teleport them to B City.

In the rush, they had forgotten about Lucien. Erick didn’t remind them either.

It was Zephyr who frowned and spoke up.

"Lucien isn’t here yet."

Erick’s brow knitted in displeasure. Still, he raised his watch and sent Lucien an urgent notification, ordering him to come instantly.

But just as the message went through, Lucien stumbled out of the lift in the distance and hurried toward them. His hair and clothes were a mess, making it obvious that he had just woken up, thrown on whatever he could find, and rushed over.

Lucien asked between hurried breaths.

"What’s going on now?! I heard the emergency announcement earlier...!"

Nana couldn’t even be bothered with him.

Erick didn’t respond either.

Jake was the one who answered instead.

"A high-rank Dungeon Break. We’ll find out the rest later. We need to leave for now."

Hearing him, Lucien’s face was filled with nothing but question marks for a moment.

Standing beside Erick, Zephyr fumbled around. He wanted to pat Lucien’s back to help steady his breathing, but Lucien was too distracted to notice him. Besides, he was standing quite far away from Zephyr.

In the end, Zephyr failed to do what he had intended. His arm instead brushed against Erick, who immediately caught his arm and guided him a step back, his eyes softening.

"Stay back for a moment."

Watching Zephyr follow his words so obediently, Erick’s lips almost curled up.

But he suppressed the smile.

Thinking about what he was going to do next, he couldn’t help but secretly glance at Zephyr, feeling guilty and also distressed.

Then, he gave the Esper with teleportation abilities a nod to begin. Erick stepped onto the teleportation circle the Esper created, followed by Nana, Olivia, Jake, and Nox.

Lucien followed after them, cursing under his breath as his mind raced. Just which Dungeon Break had occurred this time?

According to the novel, after Erick and the Espers under his command had dealt with the first Disaster-Level Dungeon that had caused countless casualties, there hadn’t been any major Dungeon Breaks for a few months! So what was going on right now?

This time, Erick wasn’t even around when the first Disaster-Level Dungeon appeared!

It was handled by Zephyr alone!

Was this... the butterfly effect?

Did Zephyr’s presence cause this?

Damn it!

As the six people quickly stepped onto the teleportation circle, Erick, who stood at the front, glanced at Zephyr, who frowned when he realized he had been left behind. Zephyr immediately tried to follow; however, Erick reached out and pressed a hand against his chest, stopping him just outside the circle.

Erick’s voice was apologetic.

"I’m sorry. It’s too dangerous this time. I promise I’ll take you with us next time."

Before Zephyr could react, Erick turned to the Esper with the teleportation abilities.

"Start."

The Esper understood immediately.

Without wasting a moment, he released his mana and activated the teleportation circle.

Lucien finally came to his senses and realized what was happening.

He instinctively reached toward Zephyr, trying to pull him into the teleportation circle, panic flashing across his face.

"Wait—"

He barely got the word out before he vanished along with Erick and the others.

Zephyr stood frozen in place.

The members of the emergency announcement team gave him pitying looks, but they had no time to spare. They quickly turned their attention back to the situation, calling for the other available teams to gather and depart for B City.

The crowd of Espers and Guides behind Zephyr had also seen what had happened.

Just like the Esper with the teleportation abilities and the emergency announcement team, they quickly understood everything.

Although many of them had never seen Zephyr before, they had heard plenty about him in just the past week. After all, he had 100% compatibility with every Guide and had even been sent to the Research Lab.

With so much attention surrounding him, everyone who saw him earlier immediately recognized him as the blind B-Rank Esper Erick had brought back to the Association.

Now, seeing Zephyr standing frozen after being left behind, many couldn’t help but feel a little sympathy for him. Regardless, they could understand why Erick had made that choice and didn’t blame him for it. In their eyes, he had made the right decision.

Taking a blind person into a dangerous emergency situation would only put both Zephyr and the entire team at greater risk.