The Rise of the Black Plain

Arriving at the place where the doctors and alchemists had been, Minos' group encountered two members of his crew exploring the area, a robot and a native of the Spiritual World.

That was the group that had split off from the team that had dealt with the group's ship earlier. By separating from that team, they had come to this place where it all began.

They had escaped dying with their comrades near the spaceship, but when the plant-infected individuals from this place returned to this place a few minutes ago in search of them, they fought for their lives.

As a result, the two of them were quite tired and had signs of battle all over their bodies, having lost their companion who had come to this place with them.

Fortunately, they were able to spot the enemies before they were surprised by their roots, and so they were able to eliminate some of the individuals who had attacked them.

Two of them escaped and made their way to the camp, where they eventually died at the hands of Minos and Maximilian.

Anyway, after the escape of those two, these two crewmates from the group that had just arrived at that location stayed behind, too exhausted to return to the group.

Not having much to do other than look around while waiting for help, they began to explore the surroundings of this area.

"Your Majesty..." The robot saw Minos' group approaching and immediately stopped what he was doing to look at the humans in his group.

He and the human next to him looked closely at Minos' group, searching for injured people.

"When we got separated from our companions and came here to see what happened, we were attacked by people from our own group..." The human next to the robot was about to speak when Ruth finished.

"With strange powers in the form of roots? Yes, we've dealt with some of those as well."

The badly damaged robot that had alerted Minos' group earlier said, "My group was on its way here, but we encountered those monsters before we got here. All my companions died, and I tried to return to His Majesty's group."

"It looks like we lost several of our companions..." The other robot sighed when he saw that 15 to 20 members of the party had died in their first few minutes on this world.

The level 98 robot looked at the metallic fellow and asked. "Did you find the remains of our companion who was here with the group of doctors and alchemists?"

The robot nodded. "Yes. It was destroyed. Some parts of it can be reassembled and accessed or even used as spare parts for us. But not even His Majesty's power could bring it back to life. The damned roots in this area destroyed crucial parts of its body."

Minos saw the shattered metal body not far from where the two survivors were and ordered. "I want the robots to concentrate on recovering the memory of your dead colleague. If we can understand how it all began, we can find a solution to the problem and prevent it from happening again."

"One of our men must have done something that triggered the reaction of the natives in this area," Maximilian said as he crouched down next to the destroyed ground in this area, where the bodies of some of the natives of the Spiritual World were still lying around, their parts so scattered that it was difficult to tell whose body they were.

The sight of the area made it very clear to the newly arrived group what had happened there. For some reason, roots had emerged from the ground and attacked the men there. The same roots had probably infected some of the natives of the Spiritual World, causing them to behave as they did.

The key point was what had caused this reaction. It couldn't have been their mere presence there since they hadn't been attacked before or now. Something had to have triggered it!

The robots immediately began dismantling their dead companion while the Demigods of Minos' group positioned themselves in the area, paying attention to practically everything in the vicinity.

Only Minos, Maximillian, and Ruth moved around casually, analyzing the bodies of their companions and what they had in their spatial rings.

"It looks like they collected resources and water from this place," Ruth said as she found some containers with indications that they were resources native to this planet. "I wonder if that's what caused the reaction of the plant beings in this area." Minos looked around with his Bright Eyes and saw a complex living structure underground in this area, something he could only compare to the spiritual roots of his homeworld.

Ignoring Ruth's question, he said to Maximillian. "Two kilometers below us, there's a creature that looks like a spiritual root. But it's a bit strange. It seems to be a level 100 sentient being."

"Oh?" Maximilian turned his attention to the depths of the area he was in and soon found the organism Minos had just noticed. "That seems to be the case. But it seems to be a bit afraid of u... Me?" He smiled as he noticed the shrunken roots of the creature.

Minos looked at Ruth and motioned for her to hand him the spatial ring she had just scanned.

Using the device, Minos summoned its resources while observing the root's behavior.

When he showed the water collected by one of the dead in the area, the strongest robot there shouted. "Stop!"

Everyone looked at the metallic being while the other robots understood what had happened. "The first of our men to be attacked was exploring one of the natural resources in the area. I imagine that the sentient being among us acted because of this attitude. I can't tell if it didn't want to be spied on or if it just felt disrespected. But I think we'll be fine as long as we don't do the same." The level 98 robot said.

Minos pondered for a moment while his eyes narrowed.

"I wonder..." He murmured, attracting Maximillian's attention.

"What do you have in mind?" Maximillian asked.

Minos revealed his thoughts. "Think about it: our wounded companions were affected by something that took over and turned them into enemies. That makes me think that maybe, just maybe, this creature has left parts of itself in the resources of the area to infect those who use those resources."

The strongest people there opened their eyes and imagined that this made sense. By trying to analyze an infected resource, the alchemist from earlier had discovered the enemy's plan and provoked the creature's wrath.

"Oh?" Maximilian pointed a hand at the resources floating in front of Minos and drew them to himself. "Let's see if that's the case." He said as he uncovered the resources, not hesitating to use his divine energy to search them for something similar to what had infected his companions.