Chapter 919 (2/2)

“Hank, you made it,” Mrs. Hamilton said warmly. “What took you so long?”

Hank sauntered into the room and pointed the greasy brown bag in his hand. “Peanuts. I didn’ think Rand would finish so quick.”

He politely offered the open bag to everyone in the room. Of them all, only Alana took a handful of peanuts and began methodically crushing the shells and popping the nuts into her mouth. Hank took the seat next to Alana, casually removing his holsters and slinging them across the chair back.

Isabella seemed annoyed at the interruption, but Pan looked intently at Hank. “...you…. Are the gunslinger right? I saw you fight once when you came to Donnyton chasing after the Undying Hero. Would you… uhh… sign this…?”

With a gesture, Pan summoned a repeater handgun from his interspatial ring. Alana immediately covered her mouth with a hand to hide her smile.

The gun was sparkling in the sunlight, clearly the recipient of frequent cleanings and polishings. In addition, the repeater itself was an Erickson Steel product, from the H-series of handguns that they produced. Which, Alana knew, were heavily influenced by Hank’s very high requirements for his guns. Compared to the average gun on the market, this model could handle an extremely dense and powerful amount of Mana within its bullets.

That quiet Pan was secretly a cowboy fanboy…? Alana thought with amusement.

Hank seemed surprised at first, but then his face split into a wide grin. He happily took the gun, spun it expertly, testing the weight with his hand. Then, with his finger glowing with concentrated Mana, he quickly scrawled “Hank Howard” across the barrel.

Pan accepted the gun back sheepishly, a rare smile across his face.

“Well anyway,” Isabella said, clearly irritated by both being told she was wrong and by her brother’s interruption, “Is Perception really that important? It just seems… wrong to say that is his greatest strength, when he has that evil-looking skeleton Skill…”

“...it wasn’t a Skill,” Alana said with a grimace. “I don’t have the same sort of ability of that secretary in the Refuge… but I can sense Mana and Stamina expenditure. That monster wasn’t a Skill. Using it… didn’t cost him anything at all.”

“So that was an image,” Mrs. Hamilton said wonderingly, looking out at the arena. All of the bodies had now been cleared, and a team trooped out to inspect the arena and repair any flaws. Very quickly, the arena rippled and shifted to form a whole surface.

“So what did y’all do to piss him off so much? He seems a mite heavy-handed,” Hank drawled.

Alana laughed aloud at that, glad that someone else shared her detached fascination with his attitude. “Ha! Well, I don’t think it was us. While Randidly was away… he saw something. Something dark. Can you feel that heaviness around him…?”

Hank’s eyes narrowed. Everyone in the box looked out toward Randidly Ghosthound. Helen was pacing in front of him, clearly infuriated by something. But Randidly himself was sitting quietly with his eyes closed. He seemed to be resting, gathering himself for the next fight.

Hank clicked his tongue. “I don’t suppose there’s any way I can join in this fight?”

“Afraid not,” Mrs. Hamilton said sardonically. “It’s against the rules.”

“Isn’t this a one-person fight?” Hank said sourly. He folded his arms. “Why does he get an assistant? An she’s as lovely as the wide sky, too.”

Mrs. Hamilton shook her head, but Alana privately agreed with Hank. From what Randidly said, Helen’s presence on Earth was due to his Soulskill and Domain. Therefore, they had allowed him to bring her to the Hound’s ladder. But it was a little bit against the spirit of the challenge to have two people taking part.

Still, even if she spent the equivalent of a few months in the Dungeons, can she really grow quickly enough to matter…? Alana wondered.

She had seen Helen fight previously. There was… something extremely odd about her style of fighting. Although Helen was quickly learning to cover for it, it was clear that something strange had happened to Helen.

Her body often jerked as it moved in an unpredictable manner. It was as though she was used to being much more powerful, and suddenly her body was restricted.

Her mind and body were not in sync. And as such, she couldn’t fight to her full strength. Likely, the extended time in the Dungeon was to address this. But even if you recover your unity, your strength shouldn’t be enough to change the outcome of this contest.

Alana’s hands clenched into fists. It was one thing to teach the Cortez siblings what they should look for in regard to Randidly. But the ugly truth was that Alana and Mrs. Hamilton were doing the same thing.

Because they were the final bosses waiting at the end of this series of challenges. And they needed to be ready for anything.