While Minos was leading his state in Dry City, his enemies were moving across the borders of the Black Plain Empire, Rosser, Albano, and the Flaming Empire.
The terrorist groups acting against Minos were not only moving on one front but attacking several places simultaneously to confuse the enemies.
For this reason alone, up to the present moment, Minos and his allies could not block the adversary's actions with less vigorous attitudes like those he had just taken.
In any case, one of these groups was at the present moment between the borders of Rosser, Albano, and the Black Plain Empire, in a large forested area of this area southeast of Cromwell.
There, a dozen or so people, all of them low-level Spiritual Saints, were standing around a small temporary camp, some observing the area and others beside a small campfire.
It was late afternoon at the moment, so the clarity of the campfire would not draw any attention from living beings in the surrounding area. But, on the other hand, due to the dense plant life in the area, hardly anyone would be able to notice the smoke rising from that wood fire.
Anyway, while some of them were warming themselves by drinking broths, a level 72 individual there had a determined expression in his eyes. That was so remarkable that even if he wore a cloth mask, anyone who saw this person could tell his feelings just by his eyes.
"Boss, what do we do now? I don't think it will take longer for those people to show themselves to us." A level 71 individual, wearing neutral clothes, but showing a tattoo on his left hand, asked that.
That determined-eyed fellow, who had managed to hire these mercenaries in the Western Empire, stopped to think for a moment and said. "Our purpose is to kill Minos Stuart and destroy the main post of the Spiritual Church of Vogel. Then as soon as he shows himself, we will act against him and warn your leaders to act in the capital of that kingdom."
"Kingdom? You mean autonomous province..." Someone there commented on such a thing, correcting the speech of this fellow, who had not yet gotten used to the change brought about by Minos in these areas.
Hearing this, the level 72 individual leading this group clenched his hands tightly, feeling hatred for Minos, the person who had disfigured his former home.
'Wretch! I will destroy everything you have to get revenge for what you have done against me!' He thought about this once again, something he had been exercising daily for the past few years.
Meanwhile, the other individuals in that temporary camp could not help but think about the bold plan they had for dealing with the people of the Spiritual Church in the capital of Vogel.
'Sigh... I wish I could be in that place when our leaders are going to attack them.'
'It's going to be impressive... Their joint ability will create a bloodbath in that city.'
'But it's awe-inspiring.' One of the elders there, level 73, looked cautiously at the level 72 fellow leading them. 'Does he know that this will kill hundreds of thousands of innocents in that place? Does he not care about so many people from there dying like that?'
While these people there were thinking about different things related to what they had started a little over a year and a half ago, someone there shouted. "People are approaching. Let's flee."
"Come on, don't leave anything behind."
"Put out the fire and remove the ashes..."
"Where do we go now?"
"I don't know. Maybe destroy an animal farm..."
They talked amid their action and, in less than 10 seconds, finished removing their things from the area and getting out of there without leaving any trace that they had rested in the area.
...
At the same time, a spiritual plantation east of the Black Plain, near the border with Albano, was on fire as people ran away from there.
The cultivators in the Red Valley region where this place was located saw that from afar, noticing flames more than 60 meters high spreading over tens of square kilometers.
"Damn it!"
"The wretches are in the vicinity!" Soldiers from Minos' army shouted among themselves, not taking long to start running toward the places where the enemies were fleeing.
The terrorist group led by the level 72 individual not only had Spiritual Saints. In addition, many Spiritual Emperors were under their command, acting in different locations to harm the forces of Minos and the Spiritual Church.
Since they knew they did not need experts in each of their groups, even level 60 individuals were attacking the areas under the rule of Minos and his allies!
Thus, even soldiers from the Black Plain Army were brave enough to pursue these opponents, even considering that there were Spiritual Saints in some enemy groups.
"Sons of bitches!"
"It won't take long for you to be exterminated by our leaders!"
The soldiers in the area began saying things to scare the fleeing terrorists, once again going back to chasing outlaws around this area.
...
Simultaneously, in a forest near the area of the former Vogel capital, the most vital members of that young man's terrorist group were waiting for their moment.
Ten individuals were quietly meditating in nearby caves. At the same time, only two stood on guard, waiting for the signal from their group leader.
They had received a tempting offer to help a young man get revenge, so they were sparing no effort to be in this inferior state compared to where they came from.
"How long will it take us to solve this? We've been waiting six months already." One of the two individuals standing on guard in the area commented to his colleague, who was hundreds of meters away from him.
The other man, with white hair but a relatively young face, said. "Probably not much. I feel that movements on the borders of our areas of interest have already increased and are tenser."
"I believe the enemy soldiers already know that their states will soon be fighting against us, so they are demonstrating these tempers."
"It makes sense..." The other agreed. "It's just a shame we'll have to stay a few more months watching the area while one of our partners finishes cultivating." He looked in the direction of one of the high-level Spiritual Saints in that area cultivating.
The weakest was at level 77, and the strongest was at level 79. With this strength, they intended to attack the principal city of the Vogel territory, eliminate the people in the local post of the Spiritual Church, and even punish some local nobles.
For all this, even though they were powerful, they could not do anything so grand without something special.
But this mercenary group from the Western Empire had unique methods and techniques that could combine and use living sacrifices to give them the needed power.
Hence, even though they were only a few individuals, none worried about the hundreds of Spiritual Saints in this state that would go against them in a single day!
'But it's impressive the financial power of that young man... Where did he get so many resources to fund our group?' One of the two individuals, level 78, pondered silently, feeling that there was more to this story than meets the eye.
