Global Beast Mastery: Only I Can See the Hints - Chapter 645 645: Free Hunting

In the vast desert to the southwest of Withered Tree Fortress, Andrew was anxiously waiting for the arrival of an Ancient Academy prodigy.

This prodigy wasn’t just anyone. He was one of the few students that Everett held in high regard. He also had a very powerful mystical beast that could manipulate time. So, under normal circumstances, this prodigy would never be late.

But the agreed-upon time had passed an entire hour, and Andrew was growing more and more worried.

“Could something have happened to him? If he’s in trouble, should we even continue with the plan?” he muttered anxiously.

“What’s happened? Who’s in trouble?”

A cold voice came from behind Andrew. He quickly turned around, a smile on his face.

“You’ve finally arrived! I thought something happened to you,” he said, trying to flatter.

In front of him stood a young man dressed in white, with a pure white rabbit at his feet. This young man was Julian, one of the most important students of Everett, known by the nickname Time Monk.

“I’m not the type to get into trouble in the Atacama Desert. The only one here who could be a threat to me is Charles,” Julian said coldly.

Andrew immediately nodded eagerly.

“You’re right! I was overthinking it. How could anyone here possibly threaten you? In my eyes, even Charles wouldn’t be a match for you!”

Julian didn’t respond to Andrew’s praise. Instead, he coldly asked, “Is everything ready? Can we start the plan?”

Hearing this, Andrew’s face quickly showed a helpless expression.

“I’ve mostly prepared, but we still can’t start the plan just yet.”

“Why not? Is there something still unfinished with the Stellar Empire?” Julian asked.

In truth, Julian didn’t like working with the crown prince of the Stellar Empire. Partly because he didn’t think much of the prince’s character, and partnering with him could put Ancient Academy at a disadvantage. The other reason was that Julian wanted to defeat Charles on his own.

Though he had never met Charles, Julian had heard of his reputation. Everyone considered Charles the most talented Beast Master. For Julian, if he could defeat Charles, the title of the most gifted Beast Master would naturally belong to him.

Although Everett valued him highly now, he still couldn’t surpass the other prodigies ahead of him. So, he had to create extra opportunities for himself.

“The Stellar Empire hasn’t fully prepared yet, but the main issue is that we’ve encountered some problems on our side,” Andrew said, glancing nervously at Julian from the corner of his eye.

“How could there be a problem on our side?” Julian asked, already growing impatient. His tone became increasingly serious.

Andrew quickly replied, “According to the original plan, all the Ancient Academy members were supposed to gather at the designated location. But as far as I know, many of them have gone missing. I’ve tried to contact them, but I’ve had no success.”

Although Andrew wasn’t the strongest, he had been one of the first to arrive in the Atacama Desert. So, Ancient Academy had assigned him the task of contacting the others. At first, the task wasn’t very difficult. Andrew had managed to get in touch with many people. But starting yesterday, the situation changed dramatically. He could no longer reach anyone, and even those he had contacted had lost all communication with him. This made him deeply worried, which was why he had specifically arranged to meet Julian.

Normally, he would have completed all his tasks before meeting with Julian, but the circumstances were different now.

After hearing Andrew’s description, Julian also realized that something was wrong.

“Although we came to the Atacama Desert for training, I can’t allow too many Ancient Academy members to die. If too many people die, Everett will hold me accountable. I’ll contact the others directly. You don’t need to worry about this anymore. You should go to Gold Fortress and urge the Stellar Empire to hurry up and get ready!”

With that, Julian transformed into a cloud of white smoke and disappeared.

Andrew breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness, this place is too dangerous. Gold Fortress will be safer! I’d better head there quickly!”

He hurried off toward Gold Fortress.

Meanwhile, Julian continued searching the Atacama Desert for any sign of the missing Ancient Academy members.

Soon, he discovered a dead mystical beast lying on a sand dune. He recognized this mystical beast—it belonged to an Ancient Academy member he knew. The beast’s death meant its owner had also perished.

“Those people didn’t just lose contact with us. They’re all dead!” Julian gritted his teeth in fury.

He was extremely angry. It had been a long time since anyone had dared to kill so many Ancient Academy members.

Julian decided he would find the killer and take brutal revenge.

Following the scent left by the dead mystical beast, he quickly found the first clue the killer had left behind.

“This damn killer is hunting down the Ancient Academy members! He must have killed many of them!” Julian muttered angrily.

As he continued his investigation, Julian’s anger began to fade, replaced by growing fear. The killer’s strength had to be immense. Only someone that powerful could wipe out so many Ancient Academy members so quickly. And the killer had to be incredibly cruel—why else would he keep hunting the Academy members?

Julian didn’t believe that so many Ancient Academy members just happened to run into the killer by accident.

He started to hesitate. If the killer was really that strong, and he couldn’t defeat him, what would he do? If he was killed, then the whole mission for the Ancient Academy would be a complete failure.

After finding the body of the 47th Ancient Academy member, Julian finally decided to stop.

“The killer’s strength is too overwhelming. I can’t keep looking for him!” Julian muttered to himself. “I need to contact Dean Everett as soon as possible. Even if he can’t come himself, he should send someone stronger to help.”

Julian turned to leave, but just then, a bow glowing with blue light suddenly shot in front of him, blocking his way.

“Why the sudden turn? Weren’t you tracking me down all this time?” Charles’s calm voice came from nearby.

Julian slowly turned around. Although he hadn’t seen Charles in person before, he had watched Charles’s live streams.

“What’s wrong? Are you scared? Does Time Monk not even have the courage to fight me?” Charles said with a mocking smile.

He was actually hoping the other would agree to fight him. Only if they decided to face him in battle would he have a chance to completely eliminate them.

It was easy for Time Monk to run away. That’s why Charles had decided to provoke him into a fight.

Julian’s expression kept changing. He didn’t want to just leave like this, as it would mean he could never lift his head in front of Charles again. But the other’s strength was simply too much. He didn’t feel confident about winning.

As Julian hesitated, Charles continued.

“Even if you choose to leave, I’ll understand. After all, you Ancient Academy members are just prey. I’ve always been a free hunter, and what prey doesn’t fear its hunter?”

Charles’s words completely enraged Julian.

“You’re hunting us like prey?! The members of the Ancient Academy are not your targets! And Ancient Academy is not something you can insult at will!” Julian completely exploded.

He decided to test Charles’s strength personally.

“I want to see just how strong you really are!”

As soon as he finished speaking, he launched his attack.

The white rabbit immediately transformed into a clock shaped like a rabbit. The clock’s hands spun rapidly, causing the flow of time around them to twist.

Charles felt his movements slow down significantly, and he had no chance to block Julian’s first attack.

But he wasn’t panicking.

When he decided to face Julian, he had already anticipated what might happen. So, he was fully prepared to defend against the first wave of attacks.

Julian’s first strike wasn’t very strong.

He was just using a very ordinary mystical beast.

This beast was nothing compared to the rare mystical beasts Charles owned, and even when compared to others’ mystical beasts, it wasn’t particularly strong.

“Is this your attack? It seems a little weak, don’t you think? Or are you just testing me?” Charles said with a mocking tone.

“If you’re still testing me, you’re being naive. Since I’ve decided to face you here, I won’t hide my strength. I’ll show you just how strong I really am! Even without relying on a mystical beast, my own power alone can defeat you!”

Despite Charles’s taunts, Julian’s expression didn’t change.

Although his strength wasn’t as great as Charles’s, as a prodigy from Ancient Academy, he knew he had to keep his emotions in check during battle.