After the death of the leader of the mercenaries, only two of the six individuals who had initially surrounded young Stuart remained in that location.
However, since the numbers had diminished considerably, Minos was now much more comfortable than at the beginning of the fight. Because of this, it did not take long for this young man to abandon that corpse and move toward the remaining targets.
Spatial Sword!
Swooish!
Then, as his opponents tried to flee that area in desperation, Minos took advantage of the enemy's mistakes and quickly used everything to end the battle.
"Ahhhh!"
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
While one of the two was screaming desperately, feeling his previous injuries getting even more painful, the other was cursing the people who had hired them.
They had come to this place for a sure profit, but they had only found ruin at the end of the day!
It was genuinely frustrating!
However, this was the gamble they had taken. They had mistakenly accepted a mission that looked easy, that had unusual potential earnings.
But they had been naive to think that high profitability would not be related to high cost!
And for such a failure, they had paid with their lives, losing all that was most valuable to them!
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
And amid the screams of both, it was not long before Minos finished the battle, first destroying the heart of the stronger there and then slicing the second.
...
"Sigh..."
"I finally finished with those foreigners!" Minos said in a low voice as he felt his body sweating, his heart beating rapidly, and a feeling of thirst rising in his throat.
Fighting so many high-level opponents was very costly for Minos. After all, he was only at level 52, and his physical stamina was not adequate to fight against so many experts like those.
And since those people had slightly better techniques than his enemies in this region, things had been a bit more demanding for Minos today.
However, as much as he was pretty tired and almost exhausted, the most injuries he received in this battle were a few scratches and minor muscle bruises.
Therefore, after drinking the contents of a water bottle he had picked up from his spatial ring, Minos sighed deeply, feeling a little better.
'Let's see what these guys have brought for me...' So, he thought about it as he walked around the surroundings, where those corpses were.
In a few seconds, Minos gathered all those pieces of meat and made a fire. Then, as he watched the flames growing, he began to analyze the contents of the six collected spatial rings.
'5 million low-grade crystals, 70 thousand medium-grade ones, and 200 high-grade crystals!' Minos realized this in surprise, seeing for the first time a crystal of that quality other than those left by Henricus Longus.
But as he thought about those high-grade crystals for a few moments, it did not take long for him to understand how those people could have something so valuable. 'They certainly didn't trade lower-grade crystals just to get those... After all, none of them would be able to use such a thing.'
'So, they probably killed someone who had those crystals...'
"Hmm, they probably had the luck or bad luck to kill some noble from that state." He muttered as he looked at that fire.
High-grade crystals were the most valuable currency in the Spiritual World, usually used in grade-3 and grade-4 arrays, and for the strongest people in that world to cultivate.
Therefore, Minos had pondered how individuals of such low levels could have crystals of that quality, even in small quantities.
In any case, thinking about this curiosity, he was even more eager to check out the rest of the contents of those storage items.
'50 copies of Blue-grade techniques, 190 of Black-grade, and a Silver-grade one!' He continued as he remembered the opposing technique used against him earlier in the fight.
'Grade-2 items, mostly... A few grade-1 items... And six grade-3 items!'
'Looks like they had truly killed someone of rich origin!' Minos' eyes sparkled as he felt that there were two pills of that quality, a weapon, and three arrays of different types.
'Good! Good!'
'The Black Plain has just gained a few tens of millions of low-grade crystals!' He smiled as he estimated the total value of the items left behind by those six.
After that, he looked at the surroundings, where only ashes remained of those six humans who were here earlier, fighting for their lives.
"Well, those individuals have tired me out quite a bit... So, I'll return to Dry City to cultivate for a day or two!" He made up his mind before looking in the direction of where the enemies he was pursuing had already disappeared.
Minos was eliminating groups of enemies to lessen the burden of war on his weaker soldiers. But doing so was not his role nor long-term goal. After all, his advances were far more relevant!
With that, since he had reached his limit after the previous fight, he promptly decided to return to Dry City, to rest, cultivate some more, and only after that, return to the battlefield!
...
While Minos was returning to Dry City, a few hundred kilometers northeast of where he had fought was the main enemy camp on the Black Plain.
At that location, the level 59 Spiritual Kings in the Brown Kingdom now were commanding operations while avoiding going out onto the battlefield.
Minos was too dangerous for them, and it would still be some time before more reinforcements arrived. As such, they could only stay in that area, cultivating, sometimes training, worrying about the region's fate.
But while Thomas, Linette, and another assassin who had recently arrived in this place, went about their monotonous business, two young men had just passed the entrance to this camp.
One of them had red hair and a face with soft contours, while the other had a sharp look and black hair.
These were obviously Ford and Troy, the two young men who had found out about the impressive recent history of the northern region of the Central Continent, totally influenced by Minos' actions.
After arriving in the Cromwell Kingdom, they had soon decided to make their way to the Black Plain, where not only Minos was, but also important people to them.
So, after weeks of traveling, these two had reached this place.
Anyway, after going their separate ways in that camp, Troy had gone towards the place where his father, General Newman, was, while Ford had gone towards his mother.
...
"Mom?" Ford said as he entered a sizeable luxurious tent, where a woman with red and white hair was sitting on a cushion, meditating.
Ford and Kara were children of King Carline, but they had different mothers. This young man was Linette's son, and that young woman was the daughter of the queen of the Kingdom of the End, the other level 59 cultivator in that state.
Anyway, upon hearing the voice of her only son, Linette opened her eyes. She looked in the direction of the handsome and strong youth, Ford, full of love in her eyes.
"Ford!" She said a little excitedly as a smile appeared on her face.
After that, she promptly got up from where she was standing and went to hug her son, a young man she had not seen in years.
"Mom, what's going on? Is all this true? I can hardly believe what I've heard since I arrived in the area." Ford said doubtfully, still feeling that that person on the Black Plain could not possibly be Minos.
After all, Minos was supposed to be someone with no worldly interests, who had even refused to go to one of the empire's sects...
Linette almost lost her smile and joy at seeing this young man upon hearing her beloved son's question.
"I don't know what you heard, but it's probably almost all true." She answered honestly.
"So, he truly did kill King Cromwell?" Ford asked in surprise. "You fought him?"
"Yes, it's true. One blow from that boy killed James, and I fought him in that fight..." She replied without giving details of how Minos had humiliatingly defeated her.
Upon hearing this, Ford's eyes fluttered. He felt some insecurity as if sensing the instability his family was experiencing.
"So..."
"We can talk about it later." She said, massaging her son's shoulders. "Now, let's talk about your time in the empire..."
"How were things there? Did you have contact with your sister? Any new company..."
And then, they began to talk about their time away.
