Chapter 242: Shadow Element

Alex let out a sigh of relief when the notifications finally appeared in his mind. He didn’t look at them for long, because there was something more important to check, and his attention immediately returned to Petra.

The little girl’s injuries were slowly healing. Her trembling had stopped, but she was still pale and covered in sweat, and her breathing remained somewhat weak.

"Good job. You took that like a champ," Alex said as he gently patted Petra on the head.

Petra nodded weakly, and a little relief appeared on her face. She seemed to understand that the most dangerous part was finally over.

Joseph, who was lying nearby, looked toward Alex and spoke in a teasing voice. "What about me? I took a spear through my stomach too."

"You too. Good job," Alex replied seriously.

Joseph blinked when he realized Alex had actually taken his words seriously. After a moment, he chuckled, although the movement immediately caused him to wince because of the injury.

"Joseph! Petra!"

Yulia rushed toward the two injured members of the group. Alex gave Petra and Joseph one last check before standing up, making sure that neither of them was in immediate danger.

He looked around and noticed that Emma and Sarah were still watching the surroundings carefully. Just because the notifications had appeared didn’t mean that another attack couldn’t come, and they seemed to understand that as well.

There was also the possibility that more badgers were on their way. Alex doubted it, though, because they had already killed a large number of them, and he had a feeling they had killed most of the dungeon’s forces. These monsters were all Mid rank Species, so the dungeon had likely only a few of monsters compared other dungeons. That explained why even the children—Baby Badgers—had to go out to hunt their food, as the adults were not enough to fill everyone’s stomach.

Still, something bothered him. Why hadn’t the Boss Monster appeared?

The System seemed to mimic the rules of games, or perhaps the games had been created in the image of the System to prepare humanity for its arrival. However, that didn’t mean everything followed the same rules.

In games, most Boss Monsters couldn’t leave their designated areas, but that clearly wasn’t true here. If the Boss Monster was capable of moving around the dungeon, then why hadn’t it joined the badgers when they attacked?

’What is it doing?’

Alex couldn’t find an answer.

He felt that they should continue through the dungeon as soon as possible, but Petra and Joseph still needed time to recover. Alex decided to let everyone rest for a while and went around collecting the Gene Potentials, claws, and Soul Stones from the dead badgers with Frank.

Frank remained silent while they worked together. The man still hadn’t spoken much since he returned from Earth, and Alex eventually felt that he should say something.

"How did the situation on Earth go?" Alex asked.

Frank remained silent for a moment, and his hands stopped moving as he tried to gather his thoughts. His lips trembled slightly before he finally began speaking.

"I woke up in the same place where I lost consciousness. After that, I helped a few people gather together, and we kept saving as many people as possible while moving toward my house."

Frank’s voice became quieter as he continued. "Then I saw that a permanent portal had opened in the sky above my locality. Hundreds of monsters were coming out, and houses, walkways, shops, everything was being destroyed."

He paused and bit his lips before lowering his head. "I couldn’t even go there and search for my daughter."

Frank’s voice choked, and he began sobbing quietly. Alex stopped what he was doing and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder, not knowing what else he could say.

Everyone else had also fallen silent and was listening to Frank, although Frank didn’t seem to notice. His situation made Alex feel as if he had been hit by a punch to the stomach.

It was even worse because Alex could easily have ended up in the same situation.

If he had been unable to defeat the Wild Orc Leader, the portal would have connected to their world, and countless Wild Orcs could have invaded San Francisco. Thinking about that made Alex realize how much worse things could have become if he had failed.

"What are you planning to do now?" Alex asked.

Alex wasn’t good at giving people motivational speeches, and he didn’t want to say something careless that might offend Frank. Still, he knew the man needed something to focus on, because if Frank simply gave up, he might eventually stop fighting for his own survival.

"...I don’t know," Frank said.

Alex looked at him for a moment before standing up. "I see."

As he walked toward the Ninja Badger’s corpse, Alex continued speaking. "I’ll come to Los Angeles as soon as I’m done securing my city. Let’s wipe out those monsters that are trying to take over your city."

Frank suddenly stiffened and lifted his head to look at Alex. He opened and closed his mouth several times as though he wanted to say something, but eventually lowered his head again and returned to scavenging the claws of the badgers.

After a few seconds, Frank finally spoke. "Thank you."

"Mhm." Alex nodded slightly as he continued walking.

He then focused on the Ninja Badger and began extracting its Soul Stone. The stone was different from what he had expected, and Alex was slightly surprised when he saw its dark surface, and the notification above it.

It was a Shadow Elemental Stone.

Alex examined the stone for a moment before putting the thoughts about Earth and the Boss Monster aside. Since it was an elemental stone, the Ninja Badger was clearly capable of using Shadow Elemental Mana, which meant it was a Magae, and that absorbing its Gene Potential should be beneficial to him.

..

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