Chapter 491 - 484. Falling Down
"Commander...I’m...sorry..."
As they fell inside a hole that suddenly appeared, the shimmering cocoon around them shattered like a broken crystal. Zein and Carra gripped the exhausted defender as their body fell even faster. Turning his head to look at the other guides, Zein let out a breath of relief to see Zhan and Gus holding the guides tightly, even covering their head for protection.
"Hold on!"
Perhaps because they had been trained well, no one panicked even as they fell. They could feel Bassena’s mana around them, and knew he was doing something to mitigate the situation. Zein had no idea what Bassena was about to do because, at this point, the man wasn’t holding him as usual. But he trusted his man and they fell into what felt like a massive crisscross of bandages.
They bounced slightly and groaned at the impact, but there was no injury. Lying down at the makeshift safety net, they saw a dark canopy above them. Those with sharper vision could see a hole somewhere up there, but with the absence of light, it was barely visible.
Zein took a deep breath and tried to sit up, but it was rather hard to do it above a net. Before he tried again, he felt a gloved hand on his cheek and Bassena’s stern face entered his vision.
"Are you okay?" the esper asked in a strained voice; it seemed that not holding Zein while they were free-falling burdened his heart.
Zein raised his hand and patted the esper’s cheek. "I’m fine, so don’t make this face."
Bassena let out a breath of relief and pulled the guide into his arms. Not just for an embrace, but so he could carry Zein off the net. They landed on a hard surface shortly after, and Zein could see the entirety of Bassena’s net--made of thousands of ’bandages’ coiling into stone pillars or sticking onto the cave wall.
At least, it looked like a cave in Zein’s eyes; a large one, like the place Anzus and Hagalaz used for training before coming to the Deathzone.
"Get down," the others heard Bassena’s voice. "The ground is fine, about two meters down."