NOVGO.NET Chapter 669: Harbor’s Tenacious Life
Chapter 669: Chapter 669: Harbor’s Tenacious Life
Although the destruction of Withered Tree Fortress killed most of the fighters around it, a few strong ones like Azka and Connell still managed to survive.
Some of the survivors chose to flee at once.
But most stayed behind in the ruins of the fortress to keep fighting. These were people who would never give up so easily.
Deep within the ruins, Julian slowly opened his eyes.
He had been waiting inside the fortress for Harbor’s final victory.
When the destructive shockwave came, he didn’t even have the chance to defend himself.
He took the full hit of the blast, which drained nearly all his strength and shattered his body.
If not for him pulling the last bits of life from his mystical beasts into himself at the final moment, he would have died right then.
Even so, his condition now was extremely bad.
“What is going on? Whose power was that strong?”
Julian muttered as he struggled out from the rubble, frowning in thought.
Since the fortress had collapsed into ruins, there was no way he could leave by his own strength.
His only hope now was that Harbor had won in the end.
But soon after he crawled free of the ruins, heavy footsteps sounded not far away.
A figure appeared suddenly in front of Julian.
“I didn’t expect you to still be alive.”
Charles looked at the battered Julian with a smile.
“Seems like you’re in terrible shape. Must hurt a lot, right? But don’t worry, you’ll be free soon.”
As he spoke, Charles raised the black gold long knife and slashed straight at Julian.
Julian only stood there, glaring at Charles with venom in his eyes.
He didn’t try to dodge. At this point, dodging meant nothing anyway.
The black gold long knife swung fast toward his head.
But just before it could strike, a small stone suddenly shot in from the distance.
The stone hit the blade and knocked it aside.
Charles saw this scene, but his face didn’t change at all.
Still smiling, he said, “You people from the Ancient Academy really are like cockroaches. You survived the destruction of Withered Tree Fortress, and Harbor managed to live even after taking a full strike from the Dark Demigod head-on.”
Charles said this while staring straight at Julian.
Hearing these words, a faint smile of relief appeared on Julian’s face.
At the same time, he began scanning the area, trying to spot where Harbor might be.
“Stop wasting your time. Even I couldn’t find him–how could you possibly do better?” Charles mocked him.
Julian, of course, ignored the taunt.
Instead, he grew even more desperate in his search for Harbor.
Charles didn’t stop him, because he also wanted to know if Harbor could be found.
A few minutes later, Charles finally sighed in disappointment.
“So you really are like cockroaches. Not only stubborn in life, but always hiding in the shadows. But do you really think you’re perfectly hidden?”
With a faint smirk, Charles spoke while still looking at Julian.
The moment his words fell, the Two-Winged Savage Gold-Eater Beast burst out from underground.
While Charles was speaking, it had been using its metal-sense to detect Harbor’s possible location.
It had already locked onto the spot where Harbor was most likely hiding.
The massive mystical beast then charged straight into a hidden corner.
With a thunderous crash, the ruins of the fortress collapsed even further.
But Harbor still didn’t show himself.
“Looks like you really don’t plan on coming out. Fine then, goodbye.”
With that, Charles dissolved into smoke and vanished.
Julian stood frozen, completely lost.
Harbor hadn’t appeared, and on his own there was no way for him to escape.
Charles’s departure only confirmed what Julian feared–Harbor wasn’t here anymore.
“What am I supposed to do? Am I really going to dig my way out from the depths of this ruin with my bare hands?” Julian muttered in panic.
All of his mystical beasts were already dead.
And without them, a Beast Master was nothing but fragile.
Just as Julian stood in helpless despair, a phantom-like shadow drifted into view before him.
“Come with me.”
The phantom shadow spoke with Harbor’s voice.
Right after, the shadow opened a passage through the ruins, and light glowed faintly at the end of it.
Julian saw hope and rushed into the passage.
The phantom had shaped the entire tunnel to be smooth and flat, so Julian barely struggled as he moved closer and closer to the light.
Sunlight finally hit his face.
At last, he allowed himself a smile, the smile of someone who had survived disaster.
But then, an arrow full of power struck him straight in the neck.
It was clear this arrow came from the Chasing the Moon Bow.
Charles had never left. He had only pretended to go, secretly watching Julian’s every move.
“I knew you would never abandon Julian. Stop hiding. I already know where you are.”
As he spoke, he lifted the Chasing the Moon Bow and loosed another arrow toward the shadows.
But on its way, the arrow was crushed by some overwhelming force.
Slowly, Harbor’s figure emerged from the darkness.
He no longer carried the calm he once had.
His clothes were torn to shreds, scarred by the marks of dark erosion. His face was cut and bleeding, and his left eye was completely swallowed by the dark power.
“You really think you can kill me here?”
Harbor’s voice rasped.
Even his vocal cords had been eaten away by the darkness, so every word he spoke made the corruption worse.
Charles let out a cold laugh.
“What else? Look at you. In this state, you think you can win? I say you can’t even run. Julian’s fate will be yours too.”
He shoved the half-standing Julian back down to the ground.
Charles wanted Harbor to understand–this fight was already over.
Everything that followed now was just his revenge.
Of course, Harbor understood that too.
So he didn’t waste more words. He summoned his last mystical beast.
All his other beasts had been destroyed in the Dark Demigod’s strike, leaving him with only this final one for a desperate struggle.
From deep within the ruins came a sudden, thunderous noise.
Moments later, a massive emerald-green python crawled out from the rubble.
This emerald python was Harbor’s last mystical beast, and also one of his strongest– the Venomous Serpent King.
The Venomous Serpent King locked its eyes tightly on Charles.
From its mouth, two enormous fangs released a steady stream of purple gas.
That purple gas was pure poison.
Anyone who touched it would be poisoned instantly.
Even though the Venomous Serpent King showed the stance of fighting to the death, it didn’t strike at Charles right away.
“I don’t plan to fight you to the bitter end.”
Harbor’s voice grew even harsher and more broken.
In just the past few minutes, his vocal cords had clearly been eaten away even more by the dark power.
“You don’t have many mystical beasts left that can still fight, do you? And this ruin is a brutal place to battle. If we keep fighting, you won’t end up any better than me.”
Charles listened calmly to Harbor’s words.
When the other man finished, he asked,
“So what are you saying?”
“We each take a step back. I’ll leave the Atacama Desert and stop working with the Stellar Empire. And in return, you let me go.”
Charles suddenly let out a cold laugh.
“You really think everyone else in this world is an idiot except you? Do you think I’d trust that promise? If I let you walk now, the moment you recover, you’ll come straight back for revenge.”
“Never! We can make a contract!”
Harbor broke into a fit of harsh coughing before forcing out the words.
Then he pulled a sheet of white paper glowing with golden light from his pocket.
“As long as we write the terms on this contract, neither of us can break it. You should know what this item is.”
He coughed violently again after speaking.
Of course Charles knew what Harbor had taken out.
That glowing paper was a contract template blessed by the power of light.
Once the deal was written on it, both sides would be bound by the force of light.
And because light power was strong and profound by nature, anyone who broke the contract would suffer its punishment.
For a moment, Charles couldn’t decide.
Letting him go would surely cause trouble later. But fighting Harbor to the death here carried huge risks too.
Now Charles had no mystical beasts left to command, except for the Two-Winged Savage Gold-Eater Beast.
And its strength was actually below that of the Venomous Serpent King.