Chapter 140: Secrets Of Dungeon

Alex repeatedly used Mana Sense Spell while they searched. He wanted to make certain there were no monsters hiding inside the headquarters, and this doubled as training. Once he was satisfied that the area outside was safe, he entered the building ahead of everyone else.

His Mana Sense Spell could only scan in one dimension, so he had to tilt the mana rings before expanding them, making the process time-consuming. Even so, he soon confirmed that there were no monsters inside.

There were only corpses.

There were far too many of them, along with large amounts of blood covering the floors and walls. Outside, the monsters had eaten many of the corpses, but inside the headquarters, everything had remained mostly untouched, making the aftermath of the battle even more difficult to look at.

Alex gave the place one last glance before walking back outside.

"There are no monsters inside, so you can go in and check for supplies," he said.

The group began entering the headquarters, but Alex stopped Ophelia and Zach before they followed the others. He looked at them for a moment before asking, "What are you going to do now?"

Honestly, Alex had originally planned to ask them to stay with him. The police headquarter being destroyed was good news for him. However, it did not make him happy. If the building had remained intact, the police could potentially have protected Zach and Ophelia’s family.

The area ahead was likely controlled by the Wild Orcs, which meant bringing people who could not fight would only make things more dangerous. Alex wouldn’t have been surprised if Zach and Ophelia wanted to leave their family in the police headquarters.

In fact, he had already been considering asking his team who wanted to stay behind, as Wild Orcs were dangerous, and leave them behind and returning for them later, but the destruction of the headquarters had changed the situation.

"We... will come with you," Ophelia said after a moment.

"Even if the area ahead is controlled by the Wild Orcs?" Alex asked.

"Everywhere is dangerous now. At least with you, we can grow stronger while having some protection. I don’t want to keep hoping that someone else will protect me and my daughter forever. I want to become strong enough to protect her myself," Ophelia replied, her expression slowly becoming determined.

Alex nodded after hearing her answer. He then turned toward Zach, whose expression was more complicated.

"If you want, I can take your family and have them stay at Stefan’s camp. We’ve already cleared that place, so it should be relatively safe for them," Alex said.

Zach was silent for a moment before saying, "Don’t you want to move ahead quickly? Going back would waste too much of your time."

Anyone could tell that what Alex had suggested was what Zach actually wanted, but he seemed reluctant to ask for it himself. Alex understood his concern and shook his head.

"I’ll make the trip quickly, so you don’t have to worry about delaying me," Alex said.

Zach fell silent again, apparently unsure of what to say.

Alex knew the man needed time. He patted his shoulder, and said, "Take your time deciding. Everyone will probably be searching for supplies for a while, so you have enough time to think about it before we leave."

Alex could tell that Zach was worried about his family’s safety, and he understood why. Leaving them with Stefan’s group was not exactly safe either, because monsters could appear at any moment, and there was no guarantee that Stefan’s faction would protect Zach’s family the way Alex would.

The group eventually came out of the police headquarters after finishing their search. Alex was about to look around when he had to take a second look at the guns Rae was carrying, because the elderly woman had somehow collected an impressive number of firearms.

What caught Alex’s attention even more was the faint smile on Rae’s face as she gently caressed the sniper rifle in her hands. It was the first time Alex had seen her look genuinely happy about something, and apparently, guns were one of the few things that could bring out that expression.

She had even made Sophia hold a few guns while placing the rest in her wheelchair. Alex gave Sophia a questioning stare, silently asking why they had collected so many, but Sophia only blushed and looked away.

Alex was about to say something when his Mana Sense Spell suddenly detected a monster nearby. Soon, the atmosphere around the group changed, as everyone sensed the ground shaking.

"It’s a Wild Orc. Everyone, get inside," Alex said.

The group quickly moved back into the destroyed police headquarters and used the damaged building as cover. Alex remained outside in cover for a moment, repeatedly using Mana Sense Spell and sending his mana pulses while adjusting their angles to estimate the monster’s position and size.

His brows slowly furrowed.

The Wild Orc was approaching from the side rather than from the direction where the leader of the Wild Orcs had previously been located. That meant either the leader had relocated, or this Wild Orc was simply roaming around the area without being specifically sent after them.

’Why didn’t the leader send any attacks or Wild Orcs after I destroyed its spear?If it wanted to prevent us from absorbing the Gene Potentials, then it should have been careful enough to kill us before we became stronger, especially after seeing now we can block its spear,’ Alex wondered.

Something about the situation felt wrong.

Alex also thought about the Wild Orc near Jaelo Supermart. He had already suspected that the monster was circling the area because of the Origin Energy leaking from the dungeon, and that led him to another possibility about how these dungeons worked.

Dungeons seemed to be places where Origin Energy was concentrated for some reason. Monsters appeared to value these locations, and perhaps they could absorb the Origin Energy released by the dungeon, which would explain why they were willing to remain near them.

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