Chapter 239: Hidden Attack

"Frank, go to the back and switch positions with Yulia. Petra, stay with Frank and heal him while you’re there, and Yulia, come forward and take Frank’s position," Alex commanded.

Frank hesitated for a moment, clearly unwilling to leave the front while the others were still fighting, but Emma immediately shouted, "Frank! Listen to Alex!"

Frank gritted his teeth before finally nodding and moving toward the back while Yulia stepped forward to take his place.

Yulia was terrifying in combat.

Unlike Tina, who relied on speed and power as a Warrior, Yulia seemed to have abandoned speed almost entirely. Her fighting style was brutally simple, as she rushed straight toward her enemies and ruthlessly pummeled them without bothering to dodge unless an attack was truly dangerous, even when doing so caused her own fists to break.

’Her punching power has increased dramatically after rank up,’ Alex noticed.

He created a Mana Shuriken and immediately launched it toward the group surrounding Sarah. The construct spun rapidly as it crossed the battlefield, and when it reached the monsters, it cleaved through three badgers almost instantly, relieving the pressure on his teammate.

Alex created another Mana Shuriken, but this time he changed its structure. He made the inside hollow and began filling the empty space with a large amount of Fire Element Mana before firing the projectile toward the remaining monsters.

The elastic mana gave the Mana Shuriken tremendous initial speed as soon as it left his hand. A moment later, the unstable Fire Element Mana inside the hollow construct exploded, and the flames erupted from the open side of the blades, giving the Mana Shuriken an even stronger spin.

The projectile struck the last Warrior Badger before it could react.

The spinning blades cut through the monster with almost no resistance, and the Warrior Badger collapsed to the ground. Alex stared at the corpse for a moment, slightly surprised that the attack had killed a Warrior Badger so easily.

He hadn’t even added enough Fire Element Mana because doing so might have caused the construct to explode near his teammates. Even without that extra destructive power, the increased speed and spinning force had been enough to kill the monster, which made Alex feel satisfied with the result.

He was about to finish the last two badgers when a desperate shout suddenly echoed through the dungeon.

"Petra!"

It was Emma’s voice.

Alex’s gaze immediately snapped toward the source. Joseph was on his knees, breathing heavily as blood poured from a hole in his abdomen, and the wound looked as if a projectile had punched straight through his body.

However, Joseph wasn’t the only one who made Alex’s expression change.

Petra was pinned against the wall behind him, with a black spear pierced through her chest and embedded in the stone behind her. The weapon was almost identical to the black spear Alex had blocked earlier.

Blood covered Petra’s clothes as her body trembled weakly.

Petra was dying.

Alex immediately understood what had happened. The hidden monster had attacked Petra with another black spear. Joseph must’ve tried to defend Petra, but the projectile had passed through his body and continued toward Petra, striking her before anyone could react.

The spear was too dangerous to block normally because of its ability to destabilize energy, and Joseph had apparently been unable to block it. Petra had been standing behind him, leaving her almost no chance to escape.

Alex should have been stunned by what he was seeing, but his Advanced Battle Instinct Spell immediately suppressed the panic trying to rise inside him. His mind remained focused on the situation, allowing him to move before anyone else could fully react.

He dashed across the battlefield and appeared in front of Emma just as another badger lunged toward her. Emma was still staring at Petra in shock and hadn’t noticed the monster approaching, so Alex kicked the badger with enough force to send it crashing into the wall.

The impact finally snapped Emma out of her stupor.

"Emma, Yulia, Sarah, deal with these monsters! Frank, bring Joseph toward Petra’s location!" Alex shouted before immediately rushing toward Petra.

He didn’t hesitate once he reached her.

Alex grabbed the black spear and pulled it out of her chest as quickly as possible. There was a possibility that leaving the weapon inside her would cause even more damage, as it might be poisoned. and he couldn’t afford to waste time wondering whether removing it was the correct choice.

Petra screamed as the spear came free.

Her face had become extremely pale, and her body trembled violently from the pain. Alex caught her before she fell and gently lowered her onto the ground while immediately pouring mana into her body.

He focused on the wound in her chest and began using his mana to close the damaged tissue. The gaping hole slowly started shrinking, but Petra’s condition was far worse than the external wound suggested, and her unstable Will made it difficult for Alex to control his mana inside her body.

Alex poured more mana into his soul and used the Will generated from it to strengthen his control. He carefully forced the mana through Petra’s body, clearing the blood that had begun clogging her internal organs, but it did little to solve the real problem.

Her lung had been severely damaged, and simply closing the external wound couldn’t restore her ability to breathe. Alex immediately tried using his Minor Heal Spell, but the healing effect was far too weak to repair such extensive damage in time.

’Compressing Life Element Mana won’t work either.’

Alex knew what would happen if he recklessly compressed Life Element Mana inside Petra’s body. The increase in healing power would come at the cost of uncontrolled cell growth, which could cause cancer rather than save her life.

There was another problem as well.

As a Priest, Petra’s body naturally absorbed Will from the surroundings. Her Will absorption ability was much stronger inside her body, and because she was unconscious and unable to control herself properly, she was also continuously disrupting Alex’s control over his own mana.

Priests also had terrible healing efficiency when using their abilities on themselves, so Petra couldn’t simply wake up and heal the injury herself. Alex’s mind raced as he searched for another solution, but before he could think of one, Frank’s voice came from behind him.

"Alex!"

Alex looked over and saw Frank carrying Joseph toward them. Frank carefully lowered Joseph beside Petra before stepping back, allowing Alex to see the man’s condition more clearly.

Joseph groaned as he tried to breathe. Blood continued leaking from the hole in his abdomen, and unlike Alex, he didn’t seem to have enough mana control to seal the wound.

That was understandable, considering the amount of pain he must have been experiencing. Alex was about to use his mana to plug Joseph’s wound as well when Joseph suddenly spoke.

"D-Don’t worry about me. Save the little girl first."

Alex’s expression became serious as he looked at Joseph. The man’s face was pale, and he was clearly struggling to remain conscious, yet his gaze remained fixed on Petra as if he had already accepted that his own injuries could wait.

..

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