After the battle was over, each of the remnants of the Scourges of the Devil inside that mountain had been killed by the Diamond Monkeys and some humans from the Snow Kingdom.
On the other hand, Minos, Abby, and their group were still outside that area, finishing collecting the spatial rings there.
The Snow Kingdom forces had participated in this action. Still, as subordinates of the Black Plain, it was not their place to demand rewards.
On the other hand, many were there to avenge the Snow family and not plunder the Scourges of the Devil. So, many were not concerned with such a matter.
In any case, it was up to Minos to decide whether or not those people deserved payment for their efforts.
But after receiving those many spatial rings, he did not immediately check them all since there was still that organization's headquarters for them to pillage.
At most, Minos had spied the rings of the three Spiritual Emperors as they had demonstrated a fascinating and valuable technique for this man's forces.
And indeed, Minos found what he wanted there!
'Three Silver-grade techniques. Among them, one that has the description that fits with the technique they tried to use against me...' He smiled as he walked into the interior of that mountain beside Abby.
He had many Silver-grade techniques since even in Henricus Longus' time, many people were already capable of creating techniques of that quality. But King Stuart did not have any of those with the characteristic of that newly-obtained one, of merging attacks of people using the same technique.
And considering that he had always strived to improve the collective skills of his forces, this was a significant achievement for the Black Plain Army!
Thus, he was pleased!
"What? Why are you smiling?" Abby asked as she looked at Minos, smiling as well.
"We got three more Silver-grade techniques. One of them..." He then explained how interesting that thing was as the two entered that area, somewhat similar to the Immemorial Graves Sect headquarters.
The walls also glowed brightly, creating a well-lit setting that did not resemble what one would expect to find inside a mountain.
But while this feature of the place was similar to that of Laura's sect, the rest was completely different.
Instead of there being a giant hole after the entrance to that mountain, all that Minos and his group found was a completely white palace made of a special type of marble.
Such a building was at least five times larger than the government mansion of Dry City and had a gothic style of architecture.
But while that building drew the attention of the many humans arriving there who were following in Minos' footsteps, the Diamond Monkeys were sitting on the outskirts, resting amidst the corpses of their opponents.
"Young Minos, that was a good battle to participate in!" The leader of those beings called as he looked in the direction of that couple.
"Young Minos is truly impressive. He killed three Spiritual Emperors as if they were nothing!" He said this respectfully, sensing how much stronger King Stuart was than he had first believed.
And as a being who valued strength above everything else, that beast could not help but feel even greater respect for that human.
"Hmm, I'm glad you guys had a good time." Minos nodded to that being and then released them from their responsibilities. "Well, we won't be here long, so if you want to return with your group, we'll say goodbye here."
"But don't forget the previous offer. Now we have a small piece of the Endless Snow Mountain Range on the Black Plain. If you want to move, try talking to the Feathered Serpents in the Flooded Valley."
"They will arrange the situation for you."
"Oh? We'll do it!" That red-furred being said this without hesitation, just before he left that area alongside his tribe elders.
As for Minos and Abby, those two entered that large palace, curious to know that place, while their subordinates gathered whatever was in that place for them.
...
"God of Death, huh?" Minos stopped in front of the central statue of that palace, having just read a little about that fellow on a golden plaque next to the statue.
That was the first time he had heard about this supposed God. After all, he only knew things prior to Henricus Longus and what he had learned at the Spiritual Academy.
Even though the Spiritual Church recalled every single human God in the books used by spiritual academies across the continent, there was no information about such an individual.
Or at least not with that name.
Consequently, Minos knew nothing about such a God of Death worshipped by the perished Scourges of the Devil.
He then heard Abby's sweet voice, "It seems that such a place has much more history than the region thought..."
"We all always thought that the Scourges of the Devil were nothing but criminals who had tried to bring order to the chaos of their profession."
Minos shook his head in the negative and said. "Well, they were criminals. The ones who were a little different from that were the founders of this organization. But they are all dead now, and all that was here before our arrival was the high-level scums of this region."
"Anyway, it's fascinating to find out that there was more than just one group of assassins in this place." He laughed before circulating his energies through his defensive technique and feeling his physical features increase considerably.
After that, he pushed that giant statue, curious to know if there was any secret there.
Minos had not made this move without motivation, not even by coincidence. After analyzing the place for a few moments, he noticed that the statue was like some of those Henricus Longus had seen in his life.
But these statues that such a God saw were not only representations of people but also secret entrances!
With this in mind, he had lost no time in testing his hypothesis.
Crack!
As Abby opened her mouth in surprise at that metal statue falling to the ground, cracking sounds spread until a passage revealed itself in the middle of that circular area.
"What?" Abby asked in surprise while Minos laughed in satisfaction.
'Looks like the Scourges of the Devil didn't know about this place...'
Minos noticed some patterns in the high-level array that had opened such a path, an array he knew could not be reused without the use of high-level crystals.
As regional powers had no way of having enough crystals for that, Minos was sure nobody had discovered such a thing. Furthermore, if the Scourges of the Devil knew about that, that area would not be intact!
And indeed, that was the case. This place was formerly the headquarters of the organization destroyed by the founders of the Scourges of the Devil.
The founders of the Scourges of the Devil had no idea what the God of Death looked like when they started their faith. Therefore, at that time, they had only maintained the statue that already existed in this place.
However, later they came into contact with information about that being and used the statue of this building, having just changed it to be more assimilated to him.
In any case, they had not messed with the area in question and failed to discover that location!
"Let's see what's here!" He picked Abby up in his arms and then ran through that place, with several of his techniques activated in case there were traps in his path.
After running down a long dark tunnel, Minos and Abby finally reached a dark chamber, where there seemed to be nothing waiting for them.
However, after Minos spread his spiritual sense to the surroundings, a strange pattern appeared on each chamber's walls, with several bright lines appearing from these patterns.
Such bright lines ran along those walls, ceiling, and floor, directly following the one in front of Minos and Abby as if just pursuing a natural flow.
After that, a bright rectangular item emerged from that wall that seemed to have nothing earlier.
"What?"
"A map?" Minos said aloud, identifying that thing.
...
