Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 391: Claiming the prize

Chapter 391: Claiming the prize

He awoke to find himself in a well-furnished room with a man or rather, a Beastman, seated in a corner.

"You are awake," Alejandro remarked as he leaned forward in his chair, his gaze trained on Alex’s resting figure.

"What happened?" Alex inquired, quickly noting the hoarseness in his tone.

"You tell me. What did you do?"

Alex pursed his lips before attempting to sit upright only to fall on his right side causing him to realize that where his right hand once persisted was now empty.

"That bad, huh..." Alex muttered softly, thankful that he hadn’t experienced the pain of it getting cut.

Alejandro remarked. "Most of your arm turned to stone and if I hadn’t cut it off, it would have continued to spread. It was the only way to save your life."

"Thank you and don’t worry, it should be fine."

"So mind telling me what exactly you did that caused you to nearly become a statue?"

"Didn’t you see it?"

"I did but I find it hard to believe. Aether has never been utilized in such a manner before, yet you dared to do so without considering the dangers."

"I did consider the danger, I just didn’t realize that it would be this bad."

Alejandro sighed. "You are driven, I’ll give you that."

"How’s Andre’s son?"

"Currently recuperating. Though your attack was quite heavy and was enough to leave him with some trauma, he will live."

"That’s good." Alex let out a sigh of relief as he’d gotten worried that the blow was too heavy, resulting in Amelio’s death, a circumstance that would impact his chances of getting what he needed from Andre.

Anyway, knowing that the Beastman wasn’t dead, Alex moved on to more pressing matters. "What about Andre?... I presume he has started working on my request?"

"He has, though he was quite intrigued by the miracle you managed to perform."

"It isn’t a miracle, more like a death sentence."

"Either way you prove yourself a resourceful man. It’s a pity you already have a purpose pushing you forward. You would have made a fine Beastman."

"Even with my deceitful nature?"

"We can come to a compromise."

Chuckling, Alex made to stand again, this time utilizing his left hand to prop himself up.

"I doubt it would be easy adapting to only one hand," Alejandro commented with Alex shaking his head.

"All hope isn’t lost, at least, not yet. I’ll return for now."

"Alright, take care."

With those words, Alex snapped before his figure was enveloped by black and white light, disappearing a moment later.

***

Knowing fully well the reactions of his subordinates should he reveal his current state to them, Alex opted to appear directly in the meeting hall for Constellations before dragging his weary body to the black pool with white lights situated at the center of the hall.

Taking a deep breath, he fell in, allowing himself to get submerged by the waters as he closed his eyes.

It took an untold amount of time before he emerged, his body drenched in the black waters of the pool.

He had entered one-handed but his emergence saw him leaving with two.

Alex raised his right hand or at least tried to do so.

It seemed the lingering effects of what made him lose the arm persisted in some form.

His arm remained quite stiff, proving difficult for him to maneuver easily.

It would take some work to get it back to normal but for the time being, he’d have to manage the stiff arm.

He wiggled his fingers, finding them slower than he intended.

Letting out a sigh, he first checked on the others with Nadia sharing the good news that the locket Princess Berenice mentioned, had been found.

Ana, on the other hand, was still stuck along with Victoria, searching for the blueprints used in the creation of the Archives.

With that in mind, Alex snapped, quickly returning to Aragon for his prize.

***

Alex emerged in Andre’s workshop to find Douglas working hard on inscribing a sigil on a piece of metal.

However, he seemed to have noticed Alex’s presence as he whirled around to meet Alex’s gaze for a moment before dropping the engraver he held.

"How..."

Douglas didn’t allow him to finish as he rushed forward instinctively, wrapping Alex in a bear hug.

Alex was taken aback and for good reason but found himself unwilling to break the embrace immediately.

A few seconds passed before Douglas broke it off himself, an awkward expression on his face as his lips parted, revealing his intention to say something.

In the end, he remained silent and that was when Andre pushed the door open, revealing his incredibly large physique.

"I thought you’d take a few days off to recuperate." He commented as his gaze shifted to Alex’s right hand.

Alex shrugged. "I’ve recuperated enough. I believe you have something for me."

"Unfortunately so. This way."

Andre turned and left with Alex following closely behind, leaving Douglas to ponder why he had done what he did.

Needless to say, he couldn’t quite figure it out.

***

Andre’s workshop was incredibly large, large enough to fit almost three hundred people with ease with the building broken into different sections to accommodate different things ranging from apprentices to weapons, both engraved and unengraved.

However, they didn’t enter those sections, instead making their way into the deepest part of the building which Alex deduced to be the building’s basement.

Temperatures here were enough to leave Alex drenched in sweat as a red light illuminated the entirety of the basement.

It soon became clear that the source of the red light was lava in its purest form as it flowed unimpeded around the room through a series of circuits most likely built to ensure it didn’t burn the entire area.

"Watch your step," Andre commented as he crossed the lava flow.

Once at the center of the basement, Alex was forced to take off his shirt, revealing his toned abs underneath.

A table was before him and Andre with several pieces of equipment currently on it.

"I didn’t know what you wanted so judging from your physique and your fighting style, I decided to improvise." Andre began as he pointed out each of the equipment he’d inscribed the Entropy runes on.

There was a breastplate, along with metal braces, knee guards, a pair of boots, and a belt as well.

Apart from that, there was also a sword, a staff, and a pair of knives set aside as well.

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