The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 236: Inferno

They moved fast through the fields, Lane barely bothering to take out a few monsters - and most certainly not to clean his mess - before moving forward. There was no point sticking too long in one place. After all, they weren’t there to hunt, and most certainly not to clear the Zone - Would that even be possible? Probably not. Otherwise, Forbidden Zones wouldn’t exist at all - but rather for Lane to show off the range of his abilities, so they could choose what to report. That’s all.

And what was a better way to do that than fighting different types of monsters in various kinds of environments?

"...This place seems suitable," Lane muttered to himself, as he carried Damien through yet another Gate, seventh already.

"Suitable for what?"

"To show you the full extent of my fire ability," he explained, as he took a quick look around, and headed toward the cliff towering over the vast fields. There was a family of scaly, winged bear monsters hanging around on the soft grassy top, enjoying the sun (or whatever star passed for the sun in his world), but their peaceful leisure was brutally interrupted the moment Lane descended. He put Damien down carefully in a safe spot like a precious, fragile treasure, before charging at the monsters with twin daggers in his hands, and slaughtering the pack in mere seconds.

"Alright, where were we?" he smiled, his eyes curving into crescents as he returned to Damien’s side. His happy, innocent smile looked kind of creepy when Lane was practically drenched in monsters’ blood from head to toe, but Damien was already kind of used to this side of his boyfriend.

And as long as what Lane slaughtered were the monsters, not people, then he didn’t mind. If that was what Lane enjoyed...

"The fire ability," he answered. "But haven’t you shown it already?"

"Well, not in full. Back then, it was only about B-rank level of strength, I think?" Lane explained. "I couldn’t exactly go full on out next to the bunker where my car was. I’m not sure if it was built to withstand... this much."

He walked over to the edge of the cliff and lifted his hands above the fields stretching below him, with lush greenery and flowers, and a river passing through...

And then, in the blink of an eye, this idyllic scenery turned into an inferno, a sea of black fire raging on.

"I have really bad luck when it comes to fire abilities," he spoke slowly, looking at the black flames rising high above the ground, consuming everything around them, and even turning the lively river into a steaming hell. "I hate fire abilities the most, but I encounter them the most frequently... And I tend to be weirdly compatible with Espers who have them."

"Ah, by compatible, I mean that our wavelengths are somewhat alike. It doesn’t have much effect on my ability, not long-term, at least. The only difference is in how fast I can fully master the ability I plunder. But it is useful when choosing an Esper to possess... Because when our wavelengths are alike, then our compatibility with the Guides is also similar, so no one would notice something odd, as there wouldn’t be much of a difference in matching rates... This is why I picked Xavier to possess back then, because of how similar our wavelengths were. Oh, and it wasn’t the same with Oscar, but I was in a bit of a rush, but I didn’t stay long enough in the Guild for anyone to notice..."

"Well, anyway, what I mean is that I possessed... a few fire-type Espers in the past. So with all of their abilities combined, fire manipulation is now my strongest ability, aside from my own, of course. It’s a solid S, I think? But anyway..."

Damien listened to Lane’s rambling in silence. Although he couldn’t see his expression well, as they were still wearing the masks that covered up most of their faces, he could still tell from the tone of Lane’s voice that the man wasn’t quite alright. Not ’overused abilities and on the verge of a rampage’ kind of not alright, but rather... emotionally disturbed.

Well, it wasn’t hard to figure out why. Fire manipulation was Lane’s father’s specialty, after all.

He slowly approached the man, and embraced him from behind, hugging him tightly to his chest. "It looks powerful, but you shouldn’t use it," he said softly, giving Lane a light peck on the head. "I’m an ice user, after all. You can’t get on my team if our abilities are so incompatible."

"...Right." Lane exhaled softly, relaxing into Damien’s arms. "It would be stupid to report myself as a fire user, when I’m doing it to join you, no?"

"Yes, that wouldn’t work out well." Damien thought about it for a moment, before he suggested, "How about we go with the wind, then?"

"The wind? But I don’t have wind manipulation..."

"No, but we can combine some of your other abilities somehow. Sky Step, Wind Blades, telekinesis, and that invisible shield."

"Hmm," Lane hummed lightly under his nose. The abilities Damien had listed didn’t have much to do with the wind, aside from Wind Blades, but if they were to frame it nicely...

And the wind was nice. Wind was like Diana’s ability. Lane certainly wouldn’t mind going with that.

"Let’s leave the dungeon first," Damien said, once he noticed that Lane had calmed down. "It’s a bit too hot here, and there’s too much smoke. It’s already past noon, we should find a quiet place to have some lunch."

"Right, good idea. What do you say about roasted bear meat?" Lane suggested, pointing at the winged bear monsters with his chin, but Damien instantly shot down the idea.

"There’s no need for that. I have packed us some lunch. And dessert."

At the word ’dessert’, Lane instantly perked up. "Alright, then!" He wrapped his arm around Damien’s waist, and before the man could even react, they were already up in the air, charging toward the Gate.

They crossed back to the other side, and landed on the soft grass. It was quiet and peaceful around, so Damien pulled out a blanket from his spatial bag, and started setting up a picnic...

Before they could even take a bite of the food he prepared, though, a group of ten or so people suddenly emerged from behind the trees not far away from them.

And they didn’t quite look as if they came with any good intentions.