The Rise of the Black Plain

Minutes after Minos' decision, Artaud sensed his guests approaching Khiacot's hut and left the wooden building.

When he appeared in front of the hut with the body of this native, the target of Armhands, he smiled as he looked in the direction of Minos and the group of enemies coming towards him.

"Minos! Looks like you're really fearless!" said the creature when he saw Minos and the human's five companions coming from a distance.

Artaud was confident of Minos' need to win Khiacot's corpse. Without that body as proof, the Junior Officer giving him an ugly look would now not be free of the punishment handed down by the Chief Commander and would have problems gaining merit within the guild.

That's why Artaud had killed Khiacot and was now waiting for his target outside the hut where he had met this enemy of the guild a few days ago.

Minos stared at that peak Sovereign; the man was clearly confident he would win today.

Stopping a kilometer away from Artaud, on the edge of where the formation in that area would prevent them from leaving without a serious fight, Minos looked into the General's eyes and asked.

"General, is there really any need for you to stand against me? As far as I know, there are no old grudges between us. And any agreement you had with Jembei should have ended with his death." Artaud looked with interest at Minos, seeing the human wanted to talk before they fought.

He wouldn't move outside the area where his formation was already positioned, so he agreed to answer his target's questions.

"You're right. We don't have any old grudges. But that's not how this world works, Minos. Jembei died, but his successor promised me an even bigger payout than the one Jembei promised. So why wouldn't I act against you?"

"To preserve your life," Minos said coldly, his fists clenched while his allies were already in position.

"Oh? I'm afraid you don't have the ability to do that, even if these fools help you." Artaud looked at the five individuals, making a point of remembering their appearances.

"To you five, I have a proposition. Leave now, before my fight with Minos begins. If you don't, or if you join him, I will hunt each and every one of you down. Even if one of you manages to escape today, I will never forget of this act." His voice was as dark as his murderous intent toward Minos.

Those five felt in their souls the threat of a General, who could certainly oppress them inside and outside the guild in many different ways. But they had all agreed to join Minos in this battle, knowing that they would be threatened. More importantly, they were well were of the risks involved in the process.

None of them would retreat until, as Artaud looked at them with narrowed eyes, Minos made a series of seals, summoning 10 of his 18 high-level corpses to the area.

Artaud put aside the five opponents challenging him next to Minos and looked at the 10 coffins that emerged from the vacuum of space, before revealing three level 111 Sovereigns and seven level 110 men.

Seeing Jembei there, next to four of his five companions who had recently died on their last attempt, Artaud narrowed his eyes, not expecting to come across this guy again.

Jembei found himself in this place in the middle of the woods and soon spotted the enemy, understanding the situation he was in.

"The next one I'm going to eliminate is that damned woman behind such a nefarious ability. Individuals who resemble her should not be granted the right to continue their existence." Astaud said with flickering rage, emitting a murderous intent that made Minos a few steps darker.

As Minos' cultivation increased, he ordered his 15 allies over there. "Our goal here is to kill Artaud. Don't hesitate with anything else!"

With those words, he signaled the group to move forward, each of them activating their special powers as they flew towards the only enemy in their path, but one who, alone, could certainly impose a great challenge to them.

The moment they entered that space protected by the formation capable of blocking escapes for the next few minutes, they all felt the restrictive characteristics of the area showing themselves to the full.

From now on, their only way out was to survive for as long as the enemy's formation would stand!

Minos said to one of his level 110 men, 'Take Khiacot's body and keep it safe during the battle. I'll send you back to the faction cave as soon as the enemy formation stops working.'

'I'll do my best!' said this individual, as the cultivations of some of the strongest people there decreased and the strengths of the two giants and the two level 113 Sovereigns rose.

The giants let their great bodies grow to heights of between 20 and 25 meters. Their cultivations reached level 113, while Sender and the other level 113 individual felt their strength stabilizing at the beginning of level 114!

Astaud clenched his fists as he threw Khiacot's corpse aside, immediately raising his strength and activating his divine ability right at the start of the fight.

Despite the fact that these were weaker individuals and that he thought he could handle them alone, he wasn't arrogant enough to think that he could wipe out this entire group easily.

With this formation, Minos' group had power equivalent to that of four Sovereigns recently promoted to level 114, enough to pose a danger to him if he didn't dedicate himself 100% to this fight.

This impressed him, because even though he had heard rumors of Minos' powers, until now he hadn't thought his target was that capable!

Nevertheless, confident in himself and in what his powers could do, he looked at Minos and said before launching his first attack. "You shouldn't have come here. Your confidence is what's going to get you killed today!"

With those words, he moved against Minos, with a spatial blade forming towards the neck of the young human who was already at the peak of level 108 at this point.

Thus began the most important battle in Minos' life!