Abe was currently in the vicinity of Dry City, about 40 kilometers from the core of the Black Plain Empire.
At the place where he and his mercenaries were waiting for the signal indicating that Minos was fighting the Flaming Empire, 150 people were hiding in a secret tunnel.
Such a place had been built by people from this terrorist group over the past months due to one of Abe's alternative plans for Dry City.
That former crown prince of Vogel had several plans in mind to overthrow Minos and complete his revenge against those who contributed to his downfall years ago.
Among these plans was to invade Dry City underground, infiltrating Minos' headquarters and causing chaos in such a place.
But his plans had been changed due to the communication from the Saints Killing Sect, which had shown Abe a new possibility.
So this fellow who was using multiple strategies, just like his opponent, was currently inside the tunnel under construction, waiting for the message from his men in the Flaming Empire.
In that place that was so big that four adult humans could walk side by side, dozens of people were doing their daily activities.
Some were cultivating, others guarding the entrances and exits of the tunnel. In contrast, others ate, meditated, and did various activities while waiting for their moment to act.
Abe was one of these meditating ones, who, when the message he had been waiting for came, was startled by the shouts of the person responsible for receiving such communications.
"Minos Stuart is fighting in the Flaming Empire!"
"Get ready, everyone! The enemy leader is not in Dry City!" A woman's voice reached the farthest reaches of that tunnel, alerting the 150 people there of this fact they had been expecting for weeks!
Abe looked in the direction of that woman and smiled not long before he stood up and began to prepare to go to war.
"Get ready! We're leaving in 5 minutes!" He said for all the people there to hear him, eager to get his hands dirty with the blood of Minos' friends and family.
'You bastard, today you will pay! I will deal with one of those wives of yours so you can feel the weight of defeat!' Abe thought about this as he laughed, wondering how Minos would look if he lost one of these women.
His goal was simple. Do as much damage to the Black Plain as possible. To do this, he had to affect Minos' mindset somehow, which would be easier to accomplish by targeting one of those women.
So this guy from the Vogel family was targeting one of the most critical people in Minos' life, not just the local forces!
Shortly after the previous shouts, all 150 individuals in that secret tunnel were armed and ready for battle.
Then, they set off toward their opponents, returning to the surface!
...
On the outer sides of Dry City's belt of cities, the soldiers watching their surroundings had just noticed a change on the horizon.
"Alert!"
"Enemies ahead!" One of them fired the sound arrays, sending signals to alert everyone to the onset of the enemy attack.
When the signals were repeated throughout that urban area, the many soldiers and allies hiding underground in the Dry City and belt of cities came out to the surface within minutes.
Both sides hid underground but had no means of attacking the opponent through their secret tunnels. These places served only as temporary hiding places. Once it was time to fight, both sides would show everything they had, as was happening at the present moment.
So, soon legions began to form in the skies above Dry City's area of influence, with Abby, Ruth, and Gloria leading their respective groups.
In one were the envoys from the Spiritual Church. In another were most of the members from the Gray Clouds Sect, and those coming from the Vogel area in the third group.
This group in question had the most people with angry faces since many had suffered a lot in different ways because of Abe's actions.
For example, there were nobles in Vogel who were beginning to develop and have meaningful relationships with royalty that could give them a great future. But by the time they were experiencing such opportunities, Abe had destroyed their dreams by leading that family toward its own demise.
Because of this, families thriving before House Vogel's fall had totally lost their advantages, as since Minos took over Vogel, the strongest had been more privileged.
Before, the royal family distributed power as it wished, favoring its interests only. But now, the Assembly of Vogel distributed power proportionally to the number of specialists, which favored the strongest, although it gave openings to lesser powers.
So in a much more complex scenario for them to develop, these people who disliked Minos, but hated Abe much more, were there full of hate to confront such a person.
They wanted revenge so badly that they would agree to help Minos if it meant harming Abe!
And soon, this fellow from the old Vogel kingdom saw the hateful expressions of the opposing group amid the long-range attacks of the Dry City forces.
Many cannons were being fired in the direction of the enemy group, which was flying towards the core of that city.
But they had enough to protect themselves for the moment, so even someone at Abe's level could get a little distracted in this early combat without incurring significant risks.
'Those damn traitors are here...' Abe saw faces he knew from his time as Crown Prince of Vogel, remembering how many of them were his supporters in the past but were now fighting against him.
"Good! Good that the traitors are here to pay for their crimes!" He said aloud, showing his people these enemies who needed to die along with the people of Minos.
While these people of Vogel were estranged, looking hatefully at each other, Gloria and her harem sisters were adjusting their plans considering the opposing force.
'Two level 78 enemies; five level 77; seven level 75; and seventeen low-level Spiritual Saints...' Gloria pondered as she noted the strength of her opponents.
With her Golden-grade techniques, she could take on some of the strongest of these individuals, but she would have a tough time and probably would not be able to beat them on her own. Thus, upon noticing the number of high-level opponents, this level 71 redhead could not help but realize that this would be a difficult battle.
'But maybe that individual can do a lot of damage...' She looked in the direction of Gavin, who she knew was one of the strongest in the Black Plain.
Such a person did not have Golden-grade techniques like the core members of the Stuart family. But he had a compelling bloodline ability.
It was not for nothing that his visual bloodline was called Eyes of Destruction!
It really could destroy and threaten the world!
Considering this, Gloria was hopeful that such an individual would lessen the burden of the situation for her and her allies.
And just like that, the battle began!
...
