Appearing in a different part of the imperial palace than the one he had left, Minos immediately saw that there were fewer people in the surrounding area compared to minutes ago.
But the princesses, the queen, and some of the most powerful eunuchs were there, eagerly awaiting him for the start of the most important challenge to this state in centuries.
When Minos returned to the side of that high-level Spiritual Sage, everyone stopped what they were doing to pay attention to him.
Meanwhile, he saw Ella standing there, noticing that this woman wanted to see him perform.
He smiled and shifted his gaze in Princess Adele's direction, feeling that he had better start this challenge immediately. "I am here to follow through with Your Majesty's plans for Your Highnesses... Will you challenge me simultaneously or one at a time?"
"Arrogance!"
"Tsk! He is saying big words before his final moment..."
"Typical!"
"Your Majesty Minos Stuart must be joking. We would never challenge you simultaneously." The third princess said, making room for her younger sister to challenge Minos.
She had a feeling that her sister would have a hard time beating Minos, so she was already mentally preparing herself for the day when she would have the chance to challenge him.
'When I defeat him, I will have a beautiful and talented daughter with him...' She thought quietly, making room for Adele to make the challenge.
The queen's youngest daughter then stepped forward and challenged Minos. "I, Adele Mcbride..."
She made the challenge, and Minos readily accepted it, looking at that level 76 woman, who should be the strongest at that level of all his opponents.
'Adele is at level 76 and has at least 5 Golden-grade techniques. The rest are Silver-grade techniques. So her strength should be similar to level 80 adversaries with Silver-grade techniques.
Hmmm, she is stronger than Mortimer.' His eyes narrowed. 'But the biggest difference between the two is that he had one more technique and could manipulate space.
Despite the quality of her techniques, Adele doesn't have those two advantages.'
He pondered the slight chance he could beat Adele without using his fusions.
'It would be impossible to beat without something like that.' Minos came to that conclusion.
But that was only for a simple confrontation, where one would fight the other. The women of the Flowers Kingdom usually made fair challenges for the level of their opponents, so there were alternatives other than head-to-head combat.
Direct combat was just how Minos could most easily solve his problems with these women and achieve Oswald and Harold's freedom if he won.
So first of all, Minos didn't move, waiting to see what kind of challenge that woman would propose. He was willing to try if it was something he thought easier than a fight against her.
In any case, from that moment on, no woman of this state could interfere in this fight in Adele's favor. Otherwise, she would lose the challenge to outside interference. So Minos was sure no one else would act against him, and he focused only on that woman.
"Minos, how do you want to dance with me? Will you do as you did with several of my cousins and try to use your fists to defeat me?" Adele asked with a teasing smile, already distant from other people nearby.
She knew of Minos' abilities and would not allow her opponent to simply become stronger through the few 8th-stage women in the vicinity.
"If you're going to fight me, you'll have to do it without your annoying skill." Adele laughed.
She had prepared herself for this challenge. In fact, her older sister had as well and would not simply allow women weak enough for Minos to steal their cultivation levels to stay within his range.
That would be dumb!
Minos frowned, feeling that winning would be harder if that was the case. 'I can't go into the Spatial Kingdom to get people to lose their levels to me... If I can't use one of those people, I'll have problems!'
He then asked. "What option do I have other than that?"
The first princess explained. "We in the Flowers Kingdom are very fond of games and challenges. So besides beating me in a battle, you can defeat me in a game.
For example, we can travel to my kingdom's border with the Marine Empire and enter a giant coral reef. Whoever gets through a reef first will become the winner of the challenge.
Another option is a simpler game, like an arm wrestling match. We can play three times and more easily determine the winner."
Minos saw that no one said anything to contradict the princess, noting that arm wrestling could even decide something as important as the fate of a Spiritual Sage.
'Things in this place are really peculiar...' He looked at the queen and saw this woman smiling. 'What do I do? I don't know much about the characteristics of either of these two women.' He looked at Adele and the third princess. 'Either of the two may have a skill capable of far outdoing me in some games...
If I pick something I'm unsure about, I could lose easily!'
Minos was confident in his abilities. If Adele were at the same level as him, he would accept any challenge from her and be sure he would win. But the situation was quite different, and he did not want to risk his own life or his freedom.
'If I simplify everything and create a black hole, I can cultivate inside it or even go to the Spatial Kingdom and bring someone with me...
No, that would be bad. The queen might realize I have a dimension capable of supporting living beings!' He clenched his fists.
Dimensions capable of doing such a thing could only be produced by Gods, meaning they were Spatial Kingdoms!
Hence, acting in such a way would risk handing this information to Hannah on a platter.
He then asked the queen. "Does the challenge have a time limit? By the way, if I beat Adele, who can guarantee me that the third princess won't change her mind and give up challenging me? I don't want to show off my skills and then have no choice but to leave my grandfather or Harold behind."
That woman saw that Minos wanted to prolong the situation and said. "The challenge has no rules that harm the challenged side. So you have all the time you can stand or remain undefeated within the challenge.
When it comes to your last question, don't worry; you will be challenged.
And even if Bridget doesn't challenge you, you would still get the liberation of those two if you could defeat Adele and make Bridget quit."
"I'm glad to hear that." Minos smiled, just before making his aura more oppressive, ready to begin. "Well, so be it. I will not challenge you to games that give you the upper hand, Adele Mcbride. Instead, I will make you give up in a battle with our powers under test."
...
