The Rise of the Black Plain

After some time fighting, the advantage that the group of spies previously had was utterly lost. Of the five individuals from before, three of them had already died, and only two remained.

Those who were still breathing were severely injured, with bodies covered in bruises, cuts, and a thick layer of blood all over their clothes.

As the two survivors stared at each other, their unfocused gaze began to dim, and a buzzing noise disturbed what little concentration they had.

One was the Spiritual King with whom Minos was still fighting, while the other was a level 49 opponent, whom Abby was battling.

In the time that had passed since the start of the fight, Abby had fought side by side with the two bodyguards, facing those opponents who weren't fighting Minos. And from that, even though this young woman was struggling to her limit, she had managed to eliminate two threats successfully!

As for Eduard and Ernest, despite being stronger than Abby in terms of fighting proficiency, both were extremely tired, so they had played a more supportive role for Minos' girlfriend. But that was enough. After all, the enemy group was also not 100% of their condition when the couple had joined the fight.

Consequently, although disputed, the fight had been controlled by Abby the entire time, until this very moment, when she was using her attack technique to trap that man in an ice 'prison'!

"Ahhh!" He screamed in pain as he felt the cold penetrate his body, burning deep into his insides!

At the same time, Mick was already panting as his body oscillated in that spot. Not only was he covered in blood, but several parts of his body were missing, such as one of his hands, one of his ears, and one of his legs.

Minos could fight and defeat a level 50 individual with relative ease with his current strength. But he didn't want to spend too much of his energy and end up vulnerable in the middle of this forest!

So, as soon as he had wounded this opponent for the first time, young Stuart had switched swords and taken a low-level grade-2 one in his spatial ring. Such a thing was enough for him to finish this opponent without having to expend much of his energy just to be able to manipulate that other sword.

That's because he would only have full abilities to use it effortlessly after reaching level 49, the minimum cultivation for that use that item. As for before that, at present, young Stuart couldn't use it in sequence for even one whole minute!

Finally, after seeing that his opponent could no longer dodge his attacks, Minos once again slashed the air with his extra sword, creating a large blade that flew towards that man.

Swooish!

"Damn…" Mick muttered, feeling he couldn't do anything to save his life.

That was the end for him, a nobleman who had just reached level 50 after so many years of training...

In an instant, his expectations were destroyed by the blade that slashed diagonally across his body, from his right shoulder to his left leg.

"Ahhhh!"

And while Abby's opponent screamed in pain, Minos finally confirmed his opponent's death.

He let out a sigh of relief and then muttered something. "Hah, let's see what these people know..."

After that, he approached where Abby was holding that opponent and asked her to act, using her ability on that individual.

At the same time, Minos threw some pills in the direction of those two bodyguards, indicating for them to start recovering and leave to talk at another time.

"Okay. You can ask your questions." Abby said at the same time that her chest rose and fell because of her intense heart rate right now.

"Hmm, thank you…." When he said that, Minos didn't take long and soon looked into the eyes of that individual and started asking his questions. "Why were you attacking these two men?"

"Our superiors gave us the order to kidnap and interrogate at least one of these bodyguards so that we could find out the location of Elen Nash."

"Why do you want to know about this?"

"The elders want to take over the Nash family business, dealing directly with that girl's business partner." The man responded without hesitation, occasionally spitting out bloody mouths and shaking vigorously.

"What if this doesn't work?"

"Cough, ehh, then we'll get into a trade war with the Nash family, and we'll do our best to mess up that girl's business."

And such a thing would be inevitable...

That's because these two families were rivals for a long time and had already fought countless battles in the past.

Today they lived in relative peace because of the balance of power that existed between the two organizations.

Because of this background, if the Nash family could take this opportunity with peace, then the biggest loser would be the Allen family.

Not only for the loss of millions of crystals per year but also for the possibility that Elen's side could surpass the Allen family's achievements in a few decades!

This organization had taken over half of the Nash family's business with one of the western Central Continent kingdoms just a few centuries ago. Such a thing had been complicated for the power behind Elen back then. Even today, people have bad memories about it.

Some individuals had lost everything they had because of that Allen family action. For this reason, the hatred of these individuals was not small...

They would certainly want to get their rightful items back if they got any advantage against their rivals!

Hence, the Allen family was already prepared to take measures to avoid the worst.

Anyway, after some time, Minos finally ended that person's suffering, soon after having heard some more helpful information. 'Ahh, I have to make some changes regarding the agreement with Elen... Maybe if we can use one of those families who want me as an ally...'

...

And after a while, Minos put those thoughts aside when he realized that the other people in that place had already recovered from much of their damage. In addition, he had already destroyed the corpses left behind in that forest and collected the belongings left behind.

He had counted the winnings, but there was nothing impressive. In fact, in addition to the 20 Black-grade techniques, all that was there were everyday items from late 5th stage cultivators.

Nothing comparable to what Minos had gained from those 7 Spiritual Kings he had 'inherited' their belongings...

And that was to be expected, after all, even if there were some nobles in this enemy group, that didn't mean there would be treasures with them!

In the Spiritual World, not all nobles would be equals!

Of course, there were the more important ones, like Elen, Abby, and there were those who would go out on missions like this, like the Silva family investigator killed in the Dry City, Sarah Silva, and some of those spies.

Consequently, nobles of lesser status, as in the case of these people, would not have such good wealth and were, in general, only a little better than that of subordinates!

"Let's leave this place. We can talk while we ride our beasts..." Minos commented to the group just before they started moving through that place, heading towards the southwest.

"Mr. Minos, thank you for saving us... If it weren't for you, we would both have died here in this forest." Eduard was the first to speak, while Ernest was finally beginning to understand who these people were.

'So, he's Ms. Elena's ally?' He thought for a moment as he listened to Minos speak.

"Hmm, we were all lucky. If you guys got caught in this place, it wouldn't be good for me either… You never know what kind of skill the enemy side has." He commented as he massaged Abby's stomach with a slight smile on his face.

"But anyway, since we've solved the problem of these spies, I think it would be better if you two didn't return to Stone Island."

"Why don't you guys come to the Dry City? There you can take the opportunity to join my forces!"

....