The Rise of the Black Plain

After four minutes of rushing to the base of the hill where the Firestone Mines portal had once stood, Minos looked back to see confirmation of his target's destruction. Stopping far enough from the top of the mountain to avoid being caught in the explosion that burned the outskirts of the peak, he summoned some sort of capture artifact from his spatial ring.

'Almost all of them are dead...'

Minos thought as he saw the enemies who had tried to follow them instead of disarming the bombs dealing with their own problems because they had been too close to the explosion at the moment of detonation.

Unlike the three level 114 Sovereigns, who no one in the area could tell if they were alive, the people who were supposed to chase them were alive. However, after being hit by various aftereffects of the explosion, some of them were disoriented, their ears bleeding while they could barely walk. Others had their bodies on fire, and some had suffered from the strong winds and objects thrown about by the blast.

Two beings had stones or sticks piercing their bodies and were in no condition to continue the chase they had started seconds ago.

"I'll send you two back to the guild. I should be fine on my own." Minos said to the three corpses beside him, both of them looking in the direction of the destruction.

"Good luck."

"This problem is more complicated than it looks."

They all had smiles on their faces, but their words were more serious than their expressions of satisfaction at today's battle gave way.

"I know," Minos said. The three of them entered their coffins and disappeared. Moments later, they were teleported back to the faction's cave.

After gathering the evidence he needed to collect his merit points, Minos left the area with enough evidence to show the guild how his mission had been misjudged and to request a change in the merit points he should receive.

He headed back the way he had come, his cultivation returning to level 105, while none of his former allies were anywhere near him.

...

As Minos and his allies fled, one of the least injured survivors of the explosion a few moments ago was now at the edge of a stream, finally extinguishing the flames that had reached his body.

While his face wrinkled at the situation he found himself in, his limbs convulsed, his deep burns making him feel the inferno in his own flesh.

Even after extinguishing the searing flames that had struck him, the burns on 60% of his body didn't seem to have changed at all.

Still, he struggled to reach the device in his storage item and used what little energy he had left to send a signal to his force.

His communication device, a purple crystal the size of a human hand, glowed for a moment before a voice came from it.

"This is Outer Elder Pruncol. What's your status?"

"We lost the portal. The entire group has been killed," the alien said. He tried not to show his pain in his voice.

"All right, I'll send reinforcements."

"Forget it. The enemies have already fled and there's no chance for me to survive." Said the creature, determined to complete his mission. "Armhands, Aspiring Thugs, Bitter Predators, and Ebonbrows attacked us. They are responsible for this incident."

"Oh? Are they allied?" The voice on the other end of the line asked, not caring what had happened, but who had done it.

"I can't say. However, it is a fact that a member of the Armhands led the attack. This person—"

"Guardian? Senior, what were you going to say?" The crystal's voice asked as the device fell from the burned being's hands while his eyes lost all light.

...

Days later, in the heart of the Firestone Mines territory...

In one of the five major cities in the central area of Oqia, about three months away from Examire, the beautiful headquarters of this sect was embedded in the middle of an old mining area, in a mountainous area.

In this place, in a stone castle with shapes that were difficult to understand, there was a hall where half a dozen high-level creatures were gathered.

"So Armhands, Aspiring Thugs, Bitter Predators, and Ebonbrows..." Said one of these creatures, a being with a huge beaver's body and blood-red eyes.

The others nearby smiled, their gazes full of meaning and depth, each of them looking toward this beaver with its skeletal body, white fur, and monstrous teeth.

"It's time to put the leader's plans into action."

"We are finally starting! It's time to confront those old demons and put them in their place!"

"Elder, are you ready?"

The great beaver opened his mouth, forming a mischievous smile as he narrowed his enormous eyes. "Prepare our troops. We will attack The Blue Field in response to this aggression!"

Each of the Supremes there rose from their seats, bowed their heads, and promised to return with good news.

"Our next target will be the Aspiring Thuns. In the meantime, prepare our allies to deal with the Bitter Predators and Ebonbrowns."

"Yes, Elder. We'll do our best!"

When he was alone, the big beaver looked out over the balcony of the hall and smiled as he thought of the outstanding leader of Firestone Mines.

'What can you do now, old friends? It's time to return to the worlds you came from. Let's rid our planet of these pests!'

...

The days flew by, and soon Minos returned to the guild after his recent long journey.

However, as soon as he arrived in the city, he noticed a change in the general atmosphere of the area, a tension in the air that made the normally lively and bustling area more cold and apathetic.

As he passed the guild entrance, he realized something had happened during his absence and rushed to check on his people.

Before going to the Missions Hall to complain that the level of the quest he was about to complete was much higher than the sector expected, he went to his faction's cave.

Luckily, when he arrived there, everything seemed to be fine, and the members of his party were there to relieve him of any immediate group problems.

However, that didn't mean that the guild was fine.

"Although the guild is fine, while you were away, we received news of an attack on The Blue Field, Father. I think enemies of the guild are moving against us!" Kendrick told his father what little he knew.