Chapter 125: Strange Corpses [GOLDEN TICKET BONUS]

Alex could feel Ella’s gaze resting on him almost constantly. It was so focused that he almost felt as though she was trying to bore a hole through him with her eyes. He could tell she was becoming more shocked with every fight, but he found it a little strange.

For some reason, she seemed far more surprised by his current abilities than by the fact he had defeated a Wild Orc. After thinking a bit, Alex supposed it made sense. Watching something happen with your own eyes always left a stronger impression than hearing someone else talk about it.

He ignored the attention and focused on training his spells instead. The Advanced Battle Instinct Spell felt unbelievably close now, close enough that he could almost grasp it. Every battle sharpened that feeling a little more.

At first, discovering the spell had felt like staring at something hidden behind a thick steel wall. Now the wall had become paper-thin, allowing him to sense exactly what lay beyond it. Yet every time he tried to push through, something bounced him back as though the wall had turned into rubber instead.

It felt like he was missing one crucial piece. Whatever it was seemed incredibly simple, almost obvious, but he couldn’t identify it no matter how many times he examined his own understanding.

Surprisingly, the feeling didn’t frustrate him because solving the mystery related to mana and spells had become enjoyable in its own way.

His thoughts came to a stop when another corpse entered his Mana Sense. It was another Scorch Salamander lying across the floor, and just like the previous one, its neck was covered in deep claw marks. The wounds looked remarkably similar to those left behind by Netherclaw Prowlers.

Alex studied the corpse for a brief moment before continuing forward without saying much. The rest of the group quietly followed behind him as they moved deeper into the supermart. Before long, the aisles opened into a spacious section filled with checkout counters, scattered shopping carts, and rows of broken display shelves.

Alex slowed his pace as he felt the surrounding Origin Energy grow noticeably denser. It was the highest concentration he had sensed anywhere inside the building, making the area feel similar to the center of a dungeon. His Mana Sense swept across the room several times, but it detected nothing alive.

"Be careful. This feels like the place where a boss would normally appear, even if I think everything inside is already dead," Alex said while looking toward the large warehouse doors at the back of the area.

He pushed the heavy doors open and stepped inside. The room beyond was enormous, with storage racks lining both sides and scattered pallets covering the floor. As expected, there was no battle waiting for them.

Only bodies.

Dozens of Scorch Salamanders lay scattered across the warehouse, and every single one of them was dead.

Alex’s gaze swept across the area before stopping at the monsters lying near the back. Two unusually large Scorch Salamanders rested among the pile of corpses, each one likely around Level 9 or 10. Behind them was an even larger salamander whose body dwarfed everything else in the room. Judging from its size alone, it was probably the boss and a Mid-Rank species.

None of them had died cleanly. Deep claw marks covered many of the corpses, while others had their necks ripped apart or crushed by powerful bites. The wounds were far too savage to have been caused by a human.

Whoever had killed them was definitely a monster. No, a Beast. Alex had a feeling it was an ordinary animal that had awakened intelligence after being summoned to the Land of Origin rather than a monster.

His eyes slowly swept across the warehouse again, searching for anything unusual. After a few moments, he noticed that every Gene Potential was missing. The discovery made him frown as another question formed in his mind.

If the Beast had absorbed every Gene Potential here, it should have already reached the limit at Level 10. Beyond that, the Gene Potentials from Scorch Salamanders were useless as they were all below Level 10, yet it had still taken the remaining Gene Potentials instead of leaving them behind. Alex couldn’t think of a reason why it would do that unless... it wasn’t taking the Gene Potentials for itself.

"Look over there," Rae said as she pointed toward the floor.

Alex followed her finger and noticed a large paw print preserved in the dried blood. It was roughly the size of a Netherclaw Prowler’s paw, making it much larger than the footprint of any normal animal. Seeing it immediately weakened one of the theories that had been lingering in his mind.

Until now, Alex had secretly suspected Mia. Ever since he had returned to the Earth, she had seemed noticeably smarter than before, enough that he had begun wondering whether she had become a Beast herself.

He found from Charlotta that during his battle against the Wild Orc, Mia had disappeared without anyone noticing, and nobody knew where she had gone. He later confirmed with others that nobody had seen her during that time.

When Mia eventually returned, she carried a faint scent of blood. Strangely, there hadn’t been a single drop of blood on her fur, almost as though she had carefully cleaned herself before coming back. Combined with the claw marks on the Scorch Salamanders, it had led Alex to wonder whether the impossible had actually happened.

Now, however, that suspicion became much weaker. The paw print simply didn’t match Mia’s size, even if everything else pointed toward her. Alex wasn’t ready to dismiss the possibility entirely, but he couldn’t ignore the evidence in front of him either.

He took out his walkie-talkie and pressed the button. "This is Alex. We’ve cleared our section of the supermart, and we found something unusual that I’ll explain once we regroup."

"We’re almost done with our search as well," one of the other groups with Stefan replied after a few seconds.

Robert’s voice soon followed. "Everything is still quiet on our side, and we found another group of survivors hiding nearby. We’ll rescue them first before heading back."

Alex nodded. "We’re closest to Ben’s location, so we’ll go pick them up."

"Then we’ll head toward the other survivor groups. They’re closer to us than to anyone else," Stefan’s group answered.

"Understood. Stay alert and contact us if anything changes," Alex replied.

He clipped the walkie-talkie back onto his belt before looking at the bloody paw print one last time. Although it wasn’t Mia’s size, another possibility quietly crossed his mind. What if she could change her size whenever she wanted?

Alex trusted Mia completely. He spent hours years with her, and Mia had never shown the slightest sign of—dangerous—aggression toward anyone. Even so, if she really had become an Ascendant Beast and was deliberately hiding it from him, they needed to have a conversation.

Fortunately, the A-Rank Beast Collar around her neck should allow her to understand everything he said, even if she was not a Beast. Whether she chose to answer honestly was something Alex would find out later. For now, there were more important matters to deal with.

Just as the group prepared to leave, a notification appeared before Alex.

[Origin Energy: 0/10 → 1/10]

..

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