The Rise of the Black Plain

Five days later...

After Celeste and Angela had returned to Dry City, Minos had finally left his headquarters to continue his journey through the northern region of the Central Continent.

During this period, he had given his last orders to the principal warriors that would be responsible for protecting Dry City from enemies after his departure. But this had only been a casual conversation in which he had reminded his allies and subordinates of a few points to be careful about.

They were not likely to be attacked soon after his departure, but they needed to be careful!

On the other hand, the battles around the Black Plain should continue because if his territory fell into enemy hands in the meantime, Minos' efforts to solve the problem of the enemy leaders would be futile.

Consequently, the war would not stop just because of his absence. On the contrary, it had to get even more brutal. With that, this territory could take advantage of whatever Minos would do in the coming months!

And with these conversations, Minos had moved away from the war on his territory.

After that, before leaving for his trip, this sovereign had taken a whole day off to spend with his girlfriend since she could not go with him on this trip.

Not only because she was needed in the battles on the Black Plain, but because, in a sense, if she went with him, Abby would not be of much use.

After all, as much as she could defend herself against regional peak cultivators, she wouldn't be able to fight them!

And that would be a problem if she accompanied Minos!

On the other hand, while she could stay in the Spatial Kingdom and keep Minos' company, her utility on the Black Plain was more important to them.

They both wanted to win the war as soon as possible. But they also wanted to win the war in one piece!

Minos was sure that he could go to the Spatial Kingdom, cultivate for a couple of years, and then come back to settle everything if he lost the war now.

But in such a situation, he would lose all the human and material work that had been built up until then!

That he did not want, and the same was true for Abby!

Consequently, having maximum power on the Black Plain while Minos traveled was the best for them.

And with that, Minos had left his city two days ago, having departed alongside only the Feathered Serpent, who had been serving as his mount in recent times.

Anyway, the purpose of Minos' new journey was simple. He wanted to travel through enemy kingdoms, threatening the royal families of the states he passed through to lessen the pressure on his territory.

That would not solve all problems since even frightened enemies would not wholly give up their hopes. But at least this could significantly increase the potential for diminution of enemy troops on the Black Plain.

Any result above this would be profitable for him!

And to begin with, Minos would pass through the Kingdom of the Waves, where he wanted to kidnap Charles Walker, someone this young man had long wished to kill.

Charles had ordered an assassination attempt on Abby when the couple had incidentally been involved in that prince's conflict with one of his older brothers.

But Minos, a person incapable of forgiveness, could not forget what had happened that day, even if a few years had passed and his strength had grown exponentially.

So, he would start by kidnapping such a person, someone he planned to execute in Dry City.

That was not just his revenge, much less something to satisfy his beautiful girlfriend. No, this was also a way to pressure that kingdom to withdraw from the war on the Black Plain.

After all, without Charles, a new heir would have to be chosen, and this person would already ascend the throne, fearing what Minos might do to him in the future.

After that, this young man intended to quickly pass through the Snow Kingdom to 'meet' Kara's family and help the revenge of one of his female soldiers...

Next, he intended to go to the Snow Kingdom, where people from the Snow family held the information about the Scourges of the Devil for him...

Finally, he would return to the Black Plain.

As for the Brown Kingdom and the Cromwell Kingdom, this young man had already killed the king of one of them, and the other monarch definitely would not escape him.

After all, King Brown was the one with the slightest chance of giving up this fight!

Hence, these two states were probably the ones with the slightest chance of getting out of the war since they were by far the most affected by it so far.

So, Minos would not invest his time in these two places for the time being, at least not on this trip!

...

After leaving Dry City with that 6th stage serpent, Minos and this temporary mount had been traveling for about two days.

They had been traveling almost the entire time in those two days, having made only one stop after leaving the region where the conflict, enemy camps, were.

The main point of this start of their journey was that they would leave the Black Plain without alerting the enemies. Therefore, it had been essential for the two not to make any stops in an area that went from Dry City to a few hundred kilometers north of Yellow City.

In any case, they had managed to get through this part of the trip smoothly, only having had to fly at high altitudes, which in a way had been more difficult for the two of them.

That's because of the lower concentration of gases in the air.

As living beings that relied on such gases to survive and beings that were too weak to withstand more adverse conditions, the two had been forced to travel in worse conditions, exhausting much more than they should have in that stretch.

But luckily, the two had enough to at least get out of that area safely and finally make the final part of their journey to the Flooded Valley at altitudes more suitable for their physical condition.

That was Minos' first destination!

As planned earlier, Minos did not intend to use any Feathered Serpents as mounts on his journey. After all, this would attract too much attention to him and negatively affect the Black Plain.

Thus, he was planning to change mounts upon arriving in the Flooded Valley, a place full of beasts of all kinds, where he could find a good helper.

So, man and beast quickly flew through that forested region, descending towards the central region of that place, where a sizeable flooded area was located.

...

After a few minutes, Minos finally descended from the top of that serpent after entering a flooded area full of smaller serpents.

Some of them seemed to be just lying in the mud, enjoying the pleasures of serpent life. But, on the other hand, some seemed to be working, carrying things in their tails or mouths as they crawled around the area.

Most of the members of this tribe could not fly, something only achieved at the 5th stage.

So, seeing those many low-level serpents crawling around the area, Minos had not found it the least bit strange. He just made his way towards the most impressive spiritual fluctuation in that place while waving to a few serpents in his way.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Looks like you guys have increased in numbers, huh?"

"Good to see you too!"

And finally, after speaking briefly with some of the stronger serpents he had seen on his way, Minos and that temporary mount arrived at the place where the leader of the tribe was.

Upon arriving at what looked like a giant clay temple, Minos immediately looked up at the largest of all those beasts, the first of those serpents to come into contact with him when he was traveling with Abby years ago.

"Elder Virtus!" Minos said loudly, smiling at the tribe chief, that, although still at level 58, was very close to a breakthrough.

"Young Minos, you have finally come to our home!"

"Hahaha, it's good to welcome you here!" That great serpent said in his husky voice, pleased to see the impressive development of this young man.

...