Chapter 236: Rage

The first Warrior Badger reacted immediately and swung its claw toward the spinning projectile. However, the Mana Shuriken was still within Alex’s mana control range, allowing him to twist its trajectory and guide it around the monster’s swinging claw.

The spinning shuriken curved around the attack and dug into the Warrior Badger’s neck. It stopped only after entering almost halfway through the monster’s neck, but surprisingly, the badger did not die.

At that moment, the second Warrior Badger jumped toward Alex with both hands covered in dense Origin Energy. It swung one claw directly toward his face, but before the attack could reach him, a flying shield came from the side and slammed into the monster.

It was Frank’s shield.

The Warrior Badger was still airborne and had no way to change its position, so the impact sent it flying backward and threw it into the tunnel it had emerged from. Alex did not waste the opportunity and turned toward the three ordinary badgers that had already reached him.

He took a breath and swung his Mana Sword.

The first badger ducked beneath the blade before crouching and jumping toward Alex’s face. Its claw swung toward his neck, but a Mana Bullet appeared directly in front of Alex before the attack could connect.

The spell formed almost instantly, and because the badger was already airborne, it could not dodge in time. The Mana Bullet punched straight through its head and sent the monster crashing to the ground.

One of the remaining badgers was intercepted by Frank, who had already returned to the fight. Alex turned toward the injured Warrior Badger and created another Mana Shuriken, sending it directly toward the monster’s damaged neck.

The spinning projectile struck the same wound and finished what the previous attack had started. The Warrior Badger finally collapsed, and Alex turned toward the last ordinary badger.

Alex was about to attack when he suddenly sensed something approaching from the tunnel. Before he could react, a blur shot out of the darkness, and he immediately recognized the second Warrior Badger that had been thrown back into the tunnel.

The monster had returned.

Alex moved toward it and fired a Mana Shuriken, but the Warrior Badger’s speed was far greater than before, likely boosted by Origin Energy. It twisted its body to avoid the attack, curved around Alex without paying any attention to him, and rushed toward Frank as if Alex did not exist and Frank was the only person it could see.

Alex knew that none of his attacks could kill the monster before it reached Frank, so he quickly changed his target. He fired two Mana Bullets at the ordinary badgers Frank was fighting, striking them and severely impairing their movements.

The sudden reduction in pressure gave Frank enough time to react. He twisted his head backward just as the Warrior Badger’s claw swung toward him, narrowly avoiding the attack before the monster immediately swung again.

Frank raised his arm to block.

Alex did not see what happened next because he was already dealing with the two injured badgers in front of him. He fired two more Mana Bullets, and both projectiles struck their targets, killing them almost instantly.

Alex raised his head again and looked toward Frank, only to see that one of Frank’s arms had been nearly cut off. The Warrior Badger’s claw was still embedded in his flesh, and Frank gritted his teeth before suddenly grabbing the monster and smashing it against the wall.

The impact stunned the Warrior Badger for a moment, but Frank did not give it any chance to recover. He smashed it against the wall again, then a third time, each attack accompanied by a furious scream that made Alex realize something was seriously wrong.

Frank was not acting normally.

His movements seemed to be driven entirely by rage rather than his usual combat judgment, or fear of death. Alex frowned as he watched him, but before he could intervene, he noticed that Sarah, Emma, and Joseph had already finished dealing with the three badgers that had been injured during the first exchange.

The Warrior Badger eventually fell from Frank’s grasp and hit the ground. Frank immediately crouched down and began punching it repeatedly, his fists striking the monster’s head with increasing force.

The monster was still alive and managed to drive one of its claws deep into Frank’s abdomen, but Frank did not stop. Even with the claw buried in his body, he continued punching the Warrior Badger until its skull cracked and the monster finally stopped moving.

Frank continued hitting it even after it was dead.

Alex watched silently as the normally calm man repeatedly struck the corpse. Frank only stopped after nearly a minute had passed, and by then, his breathing was heavy while his hands trembled from exhaustion.

Then Frank began sobbing.

The entire group remained silent as they watched him. Nobody seemed to know what they could say after witnessing Frank suddenly lose control like that, and Alex was no exception.

As the group leader, Alex knew it was his responsibility to deal with situations like this. He was about to walk toward Frank and say something, but then he noticed something that immediately made him stop.

There were no notifications. The battle had ended yet.

Alex quickly swept his gaze across the battlefield and checked the corpses one by one. All eight badgers were dead, and there was no doubt about that, yet the notification he should have received for killing them had not appeared.

Alex’s expression became serious.

He checked the corpses again, making certain that none of the monsters were still alive. Just as he finished checking the last one, he suddenly heard a strange sound, as if something extremely fast had just cut through the air.

His instincts immediately screamed a warning, and Alex’s body tensed as he turned toward the source of the sound.

..

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