Two days later...
A giant Feathered Serpent followed the avenues of the Dry City core and was soon in front of the imperial palace.
Since this being, Gaia, level 63, was an acquaintance of the imperial guards there, she did not even need to introduce herself, quickly gaining access to the inside of the palace.
Thus, in a matter of seconds, she was in the part of the throne hall that was made for beasts, where Minos was working right now.
"Your Majesty, I bring bad news." She said in a saddened tone, laden with melancholy and grief.
Minos heard that, and all the people in the surrounding area, be they guards or other members of his forces, fell silent and looked at this grand serpent.
They then heard the terrible news she had. "One of our groups was defeated by the enemy, and the tribe leader was killed in battle!"
"What?"
"It can't be..."
"Elder Virtus was killed?"
Several people brought their hands to their mouths, barely able to believe that one of the strongest beings of the Black Plain, level 66, had died in battle.
Minos had known Virtus for many years and had been helped by that Feathered Serpent in some situations. So upon hearing this, he could not help but feel bad, mourning this significant loss. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure," Gaia said sincerely. "My group arrived at their location just after the enemy left, and we only found our companions already dead."
She paused and looked up at the sky, feeling terrible about how their enemies treated Virtus.
She was a spiritual beast, used to the chaotic results of confrontations like the current one. Thus, the death of her leader was not the end of the world for her. However, even spiritual beasts had their feelings and were extremely angry when one of their own suffered what Virtus suffered.
"They not only killed our leader, but they also devoured his body after the battle."
"Unbelievable!"
"Savages!"
"Damn terrorists!"
The local government members muttered similar things among themselves while Minos got a gruesome expression on his face.
He could understand when one or another of his people died in combat since it was inevitable to fight for this world without suffering any harm. So even though he was someone who tried to protect and avenge his own as much as possible, he understood that in war, a confrontation like the present one, deaths happened.
But in the present situation, to have one of his own devoured by his enemies, even more so considering that he liked Virtus, was a great insult to him and the Black Plain!
How could he accept his allies or subordinates being devoured by the enemies? That was a terrible sign! He could not accept such a thing!
As such, upon hearing Gaia's account, Minos felt his blood heat up, feeling such a thing as if it were a personal attack on him.
"Did they truly do that?" He asked in a deeply indignant tone.
"Yes, unfortunately..." Gaia replied in her spiritual voice, very sad that her tribe had lost someone like Virtus this way.
Minos then looked to where Gavin was standing and said to this man. "Go investigate the matter. I want to know where that group is."
Gavin listened to Minos and was surprised. "Are you sure about that? If I move..."
"You will just go investigate. I will move." Minos stopped that man from saying anything more.
He ignored the uncertain expression on that Spiritual Saint's face and looked at Lizzie, his secretary. "Order the Light As Air and her people to spread their 'eyes' to the weaker areas of the empire. Enemies will probably move through those areas."
Peter's sister nodded and left to take care of the matter.
Minos had made a deal with one of these sentient plant beings years ago when he was passing through Vogel along with his women.
On that occasion, he had promised one of these beings to give an area between floats for her to live. Because of this, that little plant accepted Minos' proposal and had part of its body planted on the Black Plain years later.
But it would still take some time before it would have the promise fulfilled since there were still no floating islands on the Black Plain.
In any case, that plant that Minos had talked to years ago had not been dissatisfied since she had noticed that this territory of his was getting stronger.
Due to the Black Plain's potential and being on the same side as Minos, that being helped him get more sentient organisms to his side.
Since he had also become the king of Vogel, Minos had easily managed to make agreements with these plants and bring parts of them into his main territory.
Because of this, several of these organisms already inhabited the main territory of the Black Plain, with agreements to help Minos and his forces guard this territory.
But at the moment, they were not yet in the weakest areas or close to the borders, so Minos was only now giving the order for them to move towards these places.
However, since they could share their awareness with every part of their bodies, they were able to immediately begin monitoring new regions despite having little time to do so!
In this way, Minos' order served to increase the number of 'eyes' throughout his territory to make it easier to spot enemy groups.
The people in the surrounding areas noticed this and noted how determined Minos was to give this order.
There were risks for these beings in sending parts of their bodies to places with few advantages. After all, it was only worth taking risks like sending parts of themselves that could affect the main body if they could reap good rewards from doing so.
But Minos' order would not bear good fruit for these beings, being only to meet their enemies more easily.
'Bastards! Now you have crossed the line!' He clenched one of his fists, feeling the need to show the regional watchers once again what happened to those who disrespected the Black Plain.
Meanwhile, Gaia felt warmed by Minos' behavior, feeling a sense of being protected, that if something terrible happened to her, she would be avenged.
Cultivators knew they could die at any time, and generally, they were not afraid of death. But they were frightened by unexpected, cruel, or even unjust deaths. So it was extremely comforting to be part of a vengeful group, extremely true to their belief of scaring to be respected.
Many might find the actions of the Black Plain Army extreme. Still, it was because of this that soldiers of this organization were rarely disrespected or challenged.
Minos acted so that his own people would feel protected, but not only that, he acted cruelly against some so that he would not have to act against the many idiots that existed in the world.
Cruelly punishes a few so as not to have to deal with thousands, not to put his men at unnecessary risk.
Hence, Gaia was happy with Emperor Stuart's orders, and everyone in that imperial throne room was comfortable being part of that organization!
Little Sarah saw all this with her big eyes as she lay on Ruth's lap, standing there next to Minos.
'Daddy is so cool...'
