Chapter 234: Innovating Mana Sense Spell [POWER STONE BONUS]

Splitting the team was not an option either. Alex was smart enough to not divide his group while they were inside a dungeon filled with Mid-rank Species, especially after seeing how dangerous even one high-level badger could be.

Alex thought about the situation for a moment before coming up with a better solution. Rather than choosing one of the tunnels and potentially walking into an ambush, he could make the monsters come to them.

"Let’s lure the monsters out," Alex said.

A smile appeared on Joseph’s face when he heard those words. He looked at Alex with an amused expression before speaking.

"I was starting to think everyone had mistaken you for a Marine, but to come up with the perfect situation to match the tools we have available, you really must be a Marine."

Alex looked back at Joseph with a strange expression. They were still on this Marine thing? More importantly, why the hell did Joseph also "know" he was a Marine? After thinking a bit, he concluded it must have been Emma who told him that.

"I’m not a Marine," Alex said.

"Mhm?" Joseph blinked, looking genuinely surprised. "If you aren’t a Marine, then how are you such a good fighter and team leader while staying calm in almost every situation? Your situational awareness is also very good. Are in some other forces?"

"No, I’m a normal college student. The things you just mentioned are because of my spells," Alex replied.

Joseph looked at Alex for several seconds, clearly not believing him. Alex could tell from his expression that his explanation had only made things more suspicious.

Emma suddenly joined the conversation. "Maybe he’s some sort of special-ops soldier or a secret special-forces operative from the Marines. He might not have permission to reveal his identity."

"That makes sense. I’ve heard about units that train children from a young age. Apparently, all of them are great combatants, with some becoming the best in their respective fields," Joseph said, nodding.

Joseph’s gaze toward Alex changed after that. There was a mixture of respect and pity in his eyes, while Yulia was also looking at Alex with pity, and Emma had an expression of admiration and awe.

The others had similar expressions, and Alex could only groan inwardly. He had been ignoring the Marine misunderstanding since the beginning, but now that he had finally said he was not a Marine, he had somehow become a secret special-operations soldier who had supposedly been trained from childhood.

’I should have just stayed silent.’

"So, why did you say Alex’s idea was good?" Sarah asked, bringing the conversation back to the matter at hand.

Alex looked at her with a thankful gaze, and she gave him a small nod before turning back toward Joseph. At least someone had finally decided to save him from this ridiculous misunderstanding.

Joseph explained to everyone why entering one tunnel could be dangerous. If the badgers were already alert, monsters from the other tunnels could move around them and attack from behind, potentially trapping the group between several groups of enemies.

"Then, if the monsters are prepared for us, isn’t it possible that monsters from all three tunnels will come out while we’re trying to lure them from only one?" Sarah asked.

"In that case, we can still run away because the exit is behind us. But if we enter one tunnel, the monsters coming from the other tunnels could circle around us and block our way back, leaving us trapped," Joseph explained.

The others considered his explanation and slowly understood why staying near the junction was safer. If they remained there, they could control their retreat, while entering one of the tunnels would give the monsters more opportunities to surround them.

Alex did not tell them that he had another option if things went badly. If several groups of monsters came from different directions, he could use his Fire Bullets to collapse two of the tunnels and prevent them from running over the group with numbers.

However, that would only be a last resort. The tunnels were likely connected to the rest of the dungeon, and collapsing them could cause a much larger section to cave in and bury them alive, so Alex had no intention of using such a dangerous method unless there was absolutely no other choice.

For now, their plan was simple. They would lure the monsters toward them, fight near the junction, and retreat toward the entrance if the situation became too dangerous.

Alex looked toward the three tunnels again while thinking about how to attract the badgers. They could sense his mana pulses, so he could use it.

The question was how many monsters would come out once they realized there were intruders nearby. If the badgers were already fighting other monsters because of the rising water, Alex suspected they would be especially aggressive toward anything that entered their territory.

Alex slowly raised his hand and prepared to release another mana pulse. However, a problem quickly presented itself when he noticed that the walls of the tunnels were fused with a huge amount of Origin Energy, which blocked his mana pulses from passing through them.

Normally, this would have been an advantage because it meant his mana pulses would not pass through the walls and accidentally reach another tunnel. Unfortunately, the tunnels had several turns, which meant his mana pulse could not travel very far into any of them.

Alex could not simply walk into one of the tunnels and release the pulse from farther inside. Doing that would mean separating from his team, and he was not willing to split the group when they could be surrounded by Mid-rank Species in the next second.

He thought about the problem for a moment before an idea came to him. Alex created a Mana Bullet and focused on its tip, where he formed a small, condensed ring of mana pulse before pulling it taut with elastic mana.

He then used his Will to harden the elastic mana. Normally, elastic mana could not be forced into a shape for long durations, but after obtaining the Elastic Trap Spell from his Talent, Alex had gained enough understanding to know how to temporarily stabilize it. He still could not create an actual Elastic Trap because of the size and complexity involved, but what he was doing now was much simpler. All he needed was to keep the condensed mana pulse inside the Mana Bullet until it reached the right location.

After locking the mana pulse inside the projectile, Alex fired it into the rightmost tunnel. The Mana Bullet flew forward and struck the wall, causing the shell at its front to explode, while the Will maintaining the holding the elastic mana in taut shape finally loosened at almost the same time.

The taut elastic mana expanded rapidly, releasing the condensed mana pulse into the tunnel. The pulse spread through the passage and began sensing everything within its range, allowing Alex to detect the area without actually entering the tunnel.

Alex smiled faintly. He had succeeded, effectively creating a remote sensor.

..

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