In the blink of an eye, 15 days had passed since the moment Minos and Maida departed the Flooded Valley.
In that time, they had traveled quietly through the Kingdom of the Waves, having followed a slightly different path than the one used by Minos and Abby on that trip years ago.
And coupling that distinctive route with Maida's speed, young Stuart had already crossed almost half of this state in just half a month, which had previously taken almost two months when he and his girlfriend had traveled with Ebba.
In any case, they had not faced any problems so far, as they were powerful by regional standards and had also spent very little time in cities.
At most, Minos would stop every few days in some country town to just buy some primary resources. Other than that, he and his beast companion had spent all the time they had to rest in temporary camps along the way.
Minos' face was not necessarily familiar to the people of this region since the portraits propagated by the regional periodicals were not exactly realistic to the point where he became unmistakable.
But even so, this young man had avoided unnecessary contact, staying as little time as possible in the localities he had passed through.
And with that, his and Maida's adventures had been reduced to flying northward, which was what they had been doing most, besides resting and training in their few spare hours.
In particular, this beast had been training with young Stuart since their departure from the Flooded Valley.
At first, Minos had proposed this to gain the cooperation of that beast.
Such a Winged Tiger did not read the regional journals, and as a being that did not know Minos until that first meeting of theirs, Maida did not know how strong this young man could be.
Hearing from Virtus that Minos was impressive was the minimum for her to at least accept that order. Still, it was not enough for her to be happy to serve as a mount for a human weaker than her.
For that, from the moment they had left the Flooded Valley, this tigress had been in a bad mood!
But Minos had not been oblivious to any of this. On the contrary, as someone who was minimally empathetic and knowledgeable about the various races of beasts in the Spiritual World, he had noticed it all from the beginning.
And knowing the pride that many of these beasts had, Minos had made a point of proposing training with Maida to train his skills and gain the respect of this being.
So, he and that tigress had been doing this for the past few days, significantly improving their relationship.
After all, for these beings who were proud of their own strength, having the excuse of carrying others even stronger than themselves was perfect!
Not only was it not an embarrassment, but she still had the opportunity to train alongside someone powerful enough to press her weak points.
Consequently, Maida was no longer grumpy. The opposite of that, she was now very respectful of young Stuart, and their journey was developing perfectly.
...
Somewhere in the central mountains of the Kingdom of the Waves, there was a green area mixed with the exposed rocks, from where waterfalls hundreds of meters high created a magnificent view.
The small animals made sounds typical of such places. The water droplets helped to create beautiful rainbows here and there. Everything there seemed to conform to the beautiful harmony that hermits sought.
And the current weather did not hinder this atmosphere at all. On the contrary, the midday sun illuminated this beautiful part of the kingdom. At the same time, no clouds marred the bluish local sky.
At the same time, the atmospheric pressure in the surroundings of that area was simply perfect, creating a good flow of air that would cool those in the heat without it becoming a nuisance.
And just in this beautiful and peaceful area, there were a human and a spiritual beast fighting on top of one of the many hills there.
This place was a gray rock that looked like a giant chicken egg, which blended in with the mosses and leaves of the side plants, while a small spring trickled its crystal clear water into a stream not far away.
And in the flattened part of that 'great chicken egg,' a beast of the size of a tiny human house was constantly swinging its enormous wings, creating winds to defend itself.
On the other hand, the human fighting such a beast was standing in one place, with one of her hands raised perpendicular to her body, while a small 'sphere of mercury' appeared below her hand.
This thing constantly changed shape, as if it were some kind of living tissue in the form of a silvery liquid.
And after each change, attacks of different shapes flew from there toward the opponent of such a red-haired woman, who now was wearing green female armor.
Boom!
Swooish!
But while this woman was fighting her level 59 beast, one of her many attacks went straight through that place, going in a particular direction.
A few seconds later, a man's cry of pain resounded through that area, alerting the two fighting around there.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"What?" The beautiful woman with wavy red hair and light green eyes cried out in surprise, feeling that this could be her fault.
...
A few moments earlier...
Minos and Maida had just finished a training session in the vicinity of a hill in that beautiful region full of waterfalls and natural beauty.
After both had cultivated for a few minutes and finally recovered from their previous energy expenditure, they devoured something before heading towards an area just in front of them.
They had trained in an area of closed forest, where there was no space for them to take off towards the north.
However, from where they had been before, the two had seen that just ahead was an ideal place to take off, from where they could see the sky without difficulty.
With that, they had headed towards that area.
However, while Minos was riding on Maida's back, suddenly, a silver arrow came straight toward him at a breakneck speed.
Upon seeing this, Minos' eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he felt a power slightly higher than peak level 59 cultivators.
'Shit!' He thought about it quickly as he circled his Indestructible Body, and one of his swords appeared in his hands.
He then used most of what he had to jump off Maida's back while making an attacking motion with his sword, trying to lessen the power of that attack somehow.
It would be more recommended for him to try to send a long-range attack. Still, since such an arrow did not give him the time or space to do such a thing, Minos had proceeded with the plan that could bring him the most financial loss but with the slightest chance of causing him serious harm.
Swooish!
His sword then cut through the air rapidly, making a distinctive sound that had been somewhat suppressed by the sharp sound of that sharp, small arrow.
Crack!
After those two items collided, as Minos felt the muscles in his hands and arms aching, the metal blade of that sword began to crack.
Crack!
However, such a moment did not last long. As the cracking sounds became more and more distinct, the weapon's blade broke into two large and infinitely small pieces.
At that instant, Minos' pupils contracted so much to the point that they became so small in diameter that even an ordinary needle would be considered thick.
"Shit!" He shouted in anger and shock before that arrow headed toward his right shoulder.
Instantly after that, Minos' defenses held up until the remaining power of that attack had been diminished to 5% of the original, something similar to the full attack of a level 42 regional cultivator with noble origin.
And since his defenses had already been lost at this point, Minos felt the unexpected attack slowly penetrating his skin as waves of pain surged through his body.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed with all his breath, not only because it hurt quite a bit, but much more because he had just lost one of his few medium-level grade-2 weapons.
The pain from the wound in his right shoulder was not enough for him to scream so loudly!
Without the use of techniques, his body alone could withstand the all-out attacks of regional cultivators of noble origin that were at level 41. In this way, he had only suffered a cut that had stopped after half a centimeter of depth, which was insufficient for such a commotion.
But still, losing one of his favorite weapons had increased young Stuart's pain, having caused him to scream with all the strength of his being at this tragic event.
'Who was the bastard?' He wondered in his mind as he looked around angrily.
'He attacked me by surprise and even destroyed my fucking sword!'
'Son of a bitch!'
...
