Beep beep, beep beep!
At the sound of the loud alarm, Iberis opened his eyes wide as if waking from a dream. Almost simultaneously, Lucas stopped his actions. Their gazes met in mid-air.
“…”
Iberis and Lucas looked at each other with their lips still pressed together. The moment, brief yet feeling eternal, ended when Iberis spoke with ragged breath.
“I-I think the time’s up…”
“So it seems.”
Lucas finally replied in a tight voice. Interrupted at the height of pleasure, he frowned and glared at the phone on the table.
The average guiding session lasts 30 minutes, varying based on the severity of the Esper’s aftereffects and the stage of guiding. Considering time for assessing the Esper’s condition, chatting, and tidying up, the actual guiding usually takes about 20 minutes.
Iberis and Lucas had agreed on 30-minute sessions during work hours, as it was difficult to spare more time from their busy schedules. Living together allowed for natural guiding, and they could do additional sessions before bed if needed, so there hadn’t been any issues so far.
But Iberis felt somewhat reluctant to end it now. Perhaps, as Lucas put it, they had made more progress than before.
Feeling awkward about his strange reluctance, Iberis fidgeted with Lucas’s firm shoulder. His chest, recently bitten and sucked by Lucas, throbbed, and he was acutely aware of his hips still in Lucas’s grip.
“…I was 10 minutes late, so let’s continue a bit longer.”
“What?”
Iberis, who had been smoothing out Lucas’s jacket, widened his eyes at the unexpected words.
“We started the guiding later than usual because I went to help Cadet Denver, right? So we should still have time left.”
Lucas logically summarized the situation and reached out to turn off the noisy phone alarm. He immediately embraced Iberis again and pressed his lips to the reddened chest, leaving teeth marks.
“But still… Ngh!”
Iberis flinched at the piercing pain on his tender skin. Guiding was said to heighten the senses, but wasn’t it strange that this was harder to endure than injuries from monsters? He felt confused by his own hypersensitivity to Lucas’s skinship. Having no prior experience to compare it to made it even more frustrating.
“If we’re late, Brenda will… Hah, mm.”
“Major Cali won’t nag if you’re just 10 minutes late. She’d be more worried, thinking your condition must be bad enough to need longer guiding than usual.”
Lucas reassured him while licking the clearly visible teeth marks. He moved his lips lower, alternating between biting the soft skin and sucking hard.
“Don’t think about anything else, just focus on me. I’ll finish soon. We need to tidy up your clothes too…”
After leaving several marks on the pearl-like clear skin, Lucas raised his head and gently bit Iberis’s plump lower lip. He then pushed his tongue into the gap where warm breath escaped. Simultaneously, he rolled his thumb over the raised nub on Iberis’s chest.
“We really should only do a little more… Ah, nnh…”
Iberis shivered as he met the heat invading his mouth. With both his mouth and chest being stimulated, he could no longer continue his train of thought. He hugged Lucas back, feeling the mana gently enveloping his body like a spring breeze.
Their guiding session ended long after Lucas’s promised time.
* * *
“Iberis, I think this is as far as I go.”
“…What?”
Iberis, who had been staring at the boss room with a tense expression, turned his head at the faint voice from behind. He saw Ryan covered in blood and Brenda looking visibly exhausted.
Ah, this is a dream.
The moment Iberis saw his superior who couldn’t possibly be alive and a younger-looking Brenda, he realized he was in a dream.
“What are you saying, Team Leader? It’s almost over. We just have the boss room left…”
Despite Iberis’s consciousness recognizing this as a dream, he was shocked by Ryan’s words of death. It was their tenth day trapped in the hidden dungeon, with only Iberis, Ryan, and Brenda left as survivors.
“Yeah, if we clear the boss room, we can get out… *cough* But, *wheeze* I don’t think I can make it…”
Ryan smiled weakly as he coughed up dark red blood. He looked at Iberis with eyes full of pity and guilt. After fighting monsters for ten days while trapped in the rift, Iberis was in terrible shape too.
“I’m sorry, I stirred up a hornet’s nest, and now you and the others…”
Ryan lowered his head, remembering the teammates who had already passed away. In just ten days, he had lost all his team members except Iberis, with whom he had shared joys and sorrows for years.
“It’s not your fault, Team Leader. I should have done better… As an S-class Esper, I couldn’t even protect my teammates… I’m sorry.”
“What are you talking about? You did more than enough. If it weren’t for you, we would have been wiped out on the first day.”
Ryan reacted as if he’d heard nonsense. His words were true. It was thanks to Iberis that they had managed to hold out this long. Though it seemed they were at their limit now.
“*Cough!* The one who should apologize is me. If I had turned a blind eye to the Director’s corruption, or if I hadn’t mentioned it to you all, this wouldn’t have happened…”
Ryan coughed up blood again and blamed himself with a dark expression. If he had investigated Livio’s background alone, his team members wouldn’t have had to die.
“I’m truly sorry. Because of me…”
“No, it’s not your fault. You did the right thing, Team Leader. Major Logan is the bad one! And I volunteered to help.”
“Still… Ugh, *cough*!”
“Team Leader! Are you alright?”
“Huff, I’m fine. Haa… Anyway, it’s clearly my fault for not noticing this mission was suspicious. If I had been more cautious…”
Despite Iberis’s consolation, Ryan couldn’t stop blaming himself. After all, he had led his team into the rift with minimal preparation, despite knowing the potential danger of Livio’s actions, just because it was labeled as a B-rank rift.
Overconfident because of Iberis’s presence and expecting to finish in half a day, he hadn’t packed enough emergency rations or medical supplies. It was an unforgivable mistake for a team leader.
“That’s not your fault either. Who could have predicted that a suddenly appearing B-rank rift in the city was actually an A+ rank trap with a hidden dungeon? Only Major Logan who sent us here would have known… The lack of support and the blocked exit must be his doing too.”
Iberis gritted his teeth, thinking of Livio. Shortly after entering the rift, an earthquake blocked their path and cut off radio communication. With monsters endlessly pouring in, it was impossible to clear a path, so they had no choice but to continue progressing.
Some might call it speculation, but Iberis was certain. Livio had deliberately sent them into danger to cover up his corruption. He wanted to silence them by having them die in the line of duty, avoiding suspicion.
“Anyway, even if I don’t make it, you must survive.”
“Don’t say that. We should both live. I’ll quickly kill the boss and come back.”
“Wait, hold on.”
Ryan stopped Iberis, who looked ready to dash to the boss room. His vision was blurring, and his consciousness was becoming hazy. If he lost consciousness now, he knew he would never wake up again.
Sensing his impending death, he clenched his jaw. There were still words he needed to tell Iberis.
“Iberis, I have something to tell you.”
“If it’s a last will, I don’t want to hear it.”
“Come on, don’t be like that… Open your ears and listen carefully. It’s my last request.”
“Don’t say it’s your last!”
Iberis shouted irritably. Over the past ten days, he had seen too many deaths. He had to listen to numerous last words, being the person most likely to survive this place.
The only reason he hadn’t gone mad watching his teammates die every day was that there were still people alive. Iberis kept killing monsters, wanting to escape with them.
But even Iberis couldn’t stop all the monsters alone. He froze those he couldn’t protect with his ability, intending to take them out intact when they cleared the boss room and escaped.
After enduring so much, now even the last person was leaving him. Iberis couldn’t bear it. It was too much.
“If you’re gone too, Team Leader, I… I…”
“Oh, boy.”
Ryan sighed, seeing Iberis crying. He had wanted to leave his last words, but now he was about to die watching the kid cry.
“Don’t cry, man.”
“Y-you’re the one who, *sob*, made me cry. *Hic*”
“I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry. I can’t even hug you when you cry… *cough*. Ah, really…”
Ryan, coughing up blood, looked at Iberis helplessly. He really had no time left now.
