Chapter 20: Coyotes

It was dawn in the Dry City, while a group of 3 carriages were heading west of the Black Plain territory. It was very early, and the sun was still rising on the horizon, forming an excellent view to see. The group slowly passed through the crops that were planted on this side of the territory, leaving the city behind little by little. In the second carriage, Minos was enjoying the early morning while traveling. He really liked the feeling of the wind on his face, which he felt right now outside his carriage. The temperature was very pleasant, there was a beautiful view in front of him, and only the sounds of the beasts pushing the carriages were heard. Time slowly passed when Corporal Pyke approached Minos and said. "Young master, it will take us about 2 days to reach Maritime City. Since there is no other city until we get there, we will have to camp overnight." "Hmm, I know. Tell me about this Maritime City." Minos said curiously. After that, Pyke started to say everything he knew. "The Maritime City is a place within the Black Plain, where all the deals made between the Brown Kingdom and the Stone Island must pass." "This is because the Black Plain covers the entire coastline of the kingdom, so the Maritime City was established there, thousands of years ago, to provide a good structure for traders who come from that island, along with their items and also those who leave the kingdom for travel to there." "But even though this city is within the Black Plain, it is managed directly by the capital, the City of the Setting Sun." After a while, Pyke continued to speak. "Because of this, this city is much stronger than our Dry City. In it, there is always at least one Spiritual King guarding the city for the kingdom!" "Hmm, but wouldn't that be too bad for someone at this level to be in such a poor region?" Asked Minos with a curious look. "It would be, but the kingdom gives a lot of importance to this place. That is why the capital made a major investment in arrays to improve the spiritual concentration of that city." "And those guardians who stay in the Maritime City are always replaced from time to time. So, it's not such a bad thing for them." After talking for a while, Minos already understood basically about this place that they would have to pass. However, this place could certainly disrupt Minos' plans. If the Brown Kingdom found out about the Black Plain business, then the noble families would try to get a slice. But Minos had no intention of letting others reap the rewards of his labor. Therefore, there were two paths to follow: establishing his own port city, and the other was to take the Maritime City. However, he would be becoming a rebel within the kingdom for this second alternative. And as a rebel… He would have to fight an entire kingdom! He also didn't have the strength to do that for years to come! Only the guardian in the Maritime City could wipe out all of Minos' forces! 'Hmm, we have to build our own port at a considerable distance from the Maritime City.' Minos thought as he calculated his next steps. This would at least delay the kingdom from laying its eyes on the Black Plain. ... Time passed, and the night was finally falling. The ten soldiers had already set up a small camp. Minos was cultivating with his spiritual crystals in his tent, as it wouldn't be good if he disappeared in the middle of nowhere when a shout was suddenly heard from one of the soldiers. "Ahhh!" Everyone hurried to see what had happened. When they saw one of the soldiers with a sword in his hand, as he faced a group of 30 coyotes in front of him! Each of these spiritual beasts had incredibly red eyes while a string of drool dripped from their mouths. It seemed that this group of coyotes had found their dinner after a long time without food… All of them were in the 4th stage of cultivation, with the majority at the lowest levels and some close to the summit. Spiritual beasts in the Spiritual World also had the same ranks of cultivation as humans. The difference was that they couldn't learn techniques. They just had ridiculously high physical strength. But some of them could have strange abilities… Therefore, beasts from the same cultivation stage as humans were normally stronger. That's why the soldier shouted before, as seeing such a large group of these beasts scared him a lot! "Are you okay, Nedo?" Asked one of the soldiers who had first arrived at the scene. "Hmmm, I was just a little scared." He said as he continued to stare at the beasts. Minos then arrived at the scene after a few seconds. After seeing the group of coyotes, he smiled and said. "Everyone, calm down. This group may be large, but…" 'Hehe, this is going to be perfect for testing my new technique.' Minos thought as he wore a wild smile on his face. As for this technique, he was referring to. It was the technique he had chosen when he reached level 30. It was called the Devouring Art, Golden-grade classification, 8 phases. When activated, if the enemy's power is not greater than up to 100% than the user's power, then the enemy's energy is continually sucked by this technique within a certain area. This technique would also use some absorbed energy to trigger user attacks. This technique was limited to a radius of up to 50 meters from the user and a conversion factor of 20% in lower phases. In the final realization of the technique, the conversion factor would be 100%, and the area would be up to 50 kilometers! This meant that, in the initial phase, if 100 spiritual power had been devoured, then 20 would become the power for the user of the technique to use, as long as the technique was activated. The only disadvantage of this divine technique was that Minos could not absorb this spiritual power to increase his level! Minos then activated the Devouring Art and told the soldiers. "Follow me, let's kill them all. This is good training." A circumference then formed within a radius of 50 meters. It looked like a black ring with a black fog inside. All the soldiers felt as if they had seen a technique coming straight from hell being activated. Zumm! A noise started as soon as the technique was activated. At this stage, Minos was unable to limit who he would absorb spiritual power from, so if the soldiers were inside the affected area, they would suffer too! "All of you, do not enter this space. Use your techniques to send long-range attacks." Said Minos as he prepared to activate his other two techniques. After that, each soldier began to release their attack techniques in the direction of the beasts. Boom! Boom! Explosion noises sounded, and Minos, who had already activated the Spatial Sword and Indestructible Body at the same time, was now sealing the movements of ten beasts. The space around these ten coyotes froze, and after another split second, Minos made several sword attacks. Each movement looked like a dance and was performed in a way that seemed excellent to the eye of the beholder. Swooish! Swooish! Sounds of air being cut were heard, and a second later, ten bodies fell to the ground without their heads. Blood then began to spill from the neck of the coyotes killed by Minos, spilling large amounts of blood on the ground. It was a magnificent scene to see! Not only were the soldiers amazed at how skillful this young man was in killing, but even the beasts that were defending themselves from the soldiers' other attacks, were frightened. When one of the strongest beasts attacked Minos with a bloody expression! Grrr!! However, such an attack did not affect Minos, who had his Indestructible Body activated for the next 8 seconds. Vuuup! Another sword stroke sounded as the beast was hurled away. It was unknown whether it was alive or dead, but it certainly would have no further action in this attack. Time passed slowly, and the number of beasts dropped to less than 10. Minos' soldiers were killing each of them in the meantime, reaching this result. Some beasts were trying to escape, but continually losing their energy to Minos and having to dodge the soldiers' continuous attacks was very exhausting for these beasts. Soon they all died! "Hmm, very well, guys. You can collect the corpses and sell when we get to Maritime City." "As the value is not high, you can divide the crystals earned between you." Said Minos as he headed back to his hut. After hearing this, each of the soldiers was pleased. After all, even if they were not very valuable to Minos, they could still yield more than 1,000 spiritual crystals for each of these soldiers. That was more than 200% of what they earned monthly, as Corporals of the Black Plain Army. … The night quickly passed, and the group prepared to leave this temporary camp as soon as the sun started to rise on the horizon. Tonight they would finally arrive in the Maritime City!