971 Conversation between old partners
Two more days later-- On top of a mountain near Jura City--
*Step* *Step*
"Huuu~" Hulak stopped to catch his breath, then continued climbing the mountain with one full arm, while the other one in only complete until above the elbow.
The shadow sword behind him offered to help, "Do you want a push?"
His question was normal but a bit sarcastic, if Hulak couldn't do something, who could help him? In fact, he was indeed mocking him, it's true that the mountain was 4,000 meters high, but it was nothing for even saints, while martial emperors could reach the top in a few jumps if they didn't want to fly, and Hulak was walking and climbing like a mortal!
But unusually, Hulak didn't answer arrogantly, in fact, he didn't seem to mind at all, he just smiled, "No thanks." And continued up.
His journey didn't take long, he quickly pulled his hand one last time, "Huh!" The scene in front of him changed.
The mountaintop wasn't as pointed and full of rocks as expected, but rather smooth and level as the tiles in the imperial palace, but Hulak had seen such a sight before when he first met Robin so he didn't seem surprised in the slightest, his interest was more focused on what was on top of the mountaintop.
*Grrrr…*
"More energy pearls here!"
"Has the fifth field hospital arrived yet?"
A gentle smile appeared on his face, Hulak took a few steps through what seemed like a busy hive of bees, everyone who saw him backed away in fear but calmed down again when they saw the Shadow Sword behind him.
In the end, Hulak stormed through the field hospital arrays one by one.
*Growling* Crixus lifted his head with difficulty when he felt the life force inside the arrays grow weaker and head towards someone else, but when he saw the newcomer, he rested his head again on his arm and closed his eyes again.
Seein his attitude, Hulak gave a chuckle and patted the Shadow Sword behind him twice, before continuing his way forward.
When the Shadow Sword saw that a personal conversation was about to take place, he signaled to the Rune Masters and the Sky Openeing Tower researchers to follow him, then they all descended from the mountaintop, not going far, but enough to give the two of them some personal space.
"...You look in a pitiful state, partner, The last time you got in a similar state was after I kicked the crab out of you." Hulak smiled when he was sure everyone had left, then sat down in front of his old friend.
Crixus' condition was really bad, otherwise he wouldn't have spent several days inside several field hospital arrays, each of them working at full capacity!
Not only did he get beaten up by the three greats of the True Beginning Empire: Caesar, Sakaar, and Richard, but he was already injured when he reached Planet Jura.
The distance he traveled from the Northern Edge Mountain until he reached the portal in the western region was teeming with demi-snakes, and throughout his journey, he was shot with countless cannonballs. But all those apparent injuries were nothing, the three greats did not mean to hurt him, and cannonballs could not take his life, what really hurt him was that he had to burn his own life energy and the core that made him the king of beasts in order to increase his speed and reach the portal quickly before Hulak takes his last breath...
"Thank you, and you look like a fresh piece of shit yourself." Crixus wasn't kind either, the sight of Hulaak tumbling with one arm was painful to watch for Crixus. Hulak is strong, very strong, his body has reached the physical limit for a human, but this also makes it difficult for him to replace his severed limbs, even with the help of field hospitals that convert the energy from the pearls into pure life energy, it will take him quite a while to regain an arm that is equivalent to the old one's strength. After several seconds of silence Hulak looked at the ground, "…I heard about what you did for me."
"You're not here to thank me, are you?" Crixus opened his eyes and looked at his friend in surprise.
"Hehe no no, their no need to thanks between us, that ship has sailed long ago." Hulak reached out and patted Crixus' paw forcefully, "When your wing is cut off, I'll help you too."
*Bash* Crixus' head hit the ground helplessly, "No thanks, I have someone to help me now, as for you... Keep pushing your way forward by yourself, like you always do."
"...My way? What way is this..." Hulak smiled as he looked at the ground, "I'm thousands of years old, and yet I spent the past two days thinking about what I've done with my life, I found nothing."
"....." Crixus raised his head and sent a glance to the side, this was the first time he heard Hulak speak in this way.
He fought this monster for hundreds of years and spent thousands of years with him, Hulak isn't the type to worry about the future, he just wants to feel like he's the strongest, then he can live the simplest life possible like he used to live before... What has he done with his life? Nothing, he was just satisfying his ego. "That gray ray... no, that incarnate death, it made me think... if I die today will I make a difference in someone's life, or will I be forgotten before the sun sets? Frustration seeped into my heart when I knew for sure that the answer was the second, my death would have no effect, on the contrary, many would be happy about it." Hulak smiled with a broken eye.
Then his smile widened a little and raised his bright face towards Crixus, "You can't imagine how happy I was when I learned what you did for me, not because I was happy that I was alive, no no, I was happy that someone cared about me one day... I won't thank you for saving me, but let me thank you for giving me some hope that my life was not totally uselss."
"...You talk like a human sissy." The beast looked away.
"Hehe, I guess I am." Hulak finally laughed.
Crixus asked after a long silence, "...What do you intend now? I won't let you return to Nahari without a plan. As for me, I will stay here until I pay my debt, it wouldn't be a bad idea if you stayed with me, you can take a high position in the True Beginning Empire."
"....I don't know about that, but I'm not that stupid, I know that my return to Nahari is no longer possible under these circumstances, I have to place there..." Hulak stood up and looked towards the distant sun disk.
"...Hmm?" While he was silently contemplating the horizon, his eyes fell on the city of Jura. His sharp eyes caught sight of the space portal there, which suddenly activated and a person on the verge of death came out of it.