As Darell's group were in hot pursuit of them, currently Minos and his soldiers were standing on a mountain.
The site around the group was a vast rock formation with very little vegetation.
Other than the grasses in a few places where some soil was present and a waterfall not far from there, in it, the flow of water was not large, but it was still over 50 meters high.
Minos and his soldiers were preparing the ground to receive their 'GUESTS' who were on their way. They had chosen this place, as it would be more difficult for their enemies to escape from them.
After all, Minos could not allow even a single one of them to flee as that would reveal his current strength and might even reveal what has been happening in the Black Plain to the Silva family and other noble families of the Brown Kingdom.
And that would be terrible for the young Stuart since once others knew, they would definitely put Minos' territory in their sights.
While some powers could push him to join their forces, others, such as those responsible for the death of his father, Albert Stuart, could come after him.
Anyhow, the effects of even one of those people running away would never result in a good outcome for him and as such, Minos and his soldiers were preparing the ground near the waterfall to make even the slightest way of escape for their enemies even more challenging.
That is because some of them were undoubtedly stronger than the group of Minos. Consequently, if they were not careful enough, even if their opponent couldn't win, it didn't mean that these enemies couldn't escape.
And to prevent this, Minos and his group decided to bring the fight close to the waterfall.
This place was very treacherous, even if someone was at the 5th stage of cultivation, they would be seriously injured if they fell from a height of 50 meters. Minos and his group also made some minor changes to the surrounding terrain to facilitate the ambush.
In certain rocks of the terrain opposite the waterfall, the group spread a lubricating substance, something that would hinder the enemy's escape.
That is because someone from the General Spiritual stage couldn't fly, and when moving on slippery terrain, although they could use their great strength to move more easily, they would still be severely delayed if they were to run into such a place, resulting in giving the speed advantage to Minos' soldiers.
'This array that I bought had a huge area of influence, so I have to turn it on only after the enemy group is very close to us.' Minos thought as he took the array of his spatial ring.
After that, he placed 10,000 low-grade crystals, which was the limit of crystals that any high-level grade-1 array could use and then left it ready to get into operation as soon as he gave the signal to turn it on.
'But before starting the fight, I want to get some information from these people...' Minos thought to himself as he concealed the array behind a rock formation near the waterfall and waited for the arrival of their enemies.
With the array hidden and turned off, even the 5th stage cultivators would not be able to discover that there was such a thing hidden nearby.
That is because, although 5th stage's cultivators could feel the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, they could not sense an array that was not being used since there was no spiritual energy being used!
Of course, it was not completely impossible, when a cultivator reached the Spiritual Saint stage, they would be able to learn a soul technique at this level which would provide them with the ability to perform soul probes on someone.
That was because, at this stage, cultivators could basically live without a body, in the form of their soul for a limited period.
However, there was no such expert in the entire northern region of the Central Continent, and therefore it was not a concern for Minos.
At that moment, Minos, who was the only one in their group who was not wearing any armor or battle clothing, addressed the soldiers, "All of you, listen to this carefully. Stay on the sides of this terrain, but don't hide. The enemy is aware of our numbers. Hiding would only make the other side more vigilant, and we don't want that.
Set up a small camp, make a fire, and start cooking something. Let's pretend that we came here to hunt and enjoy the beautiful scenery and are not in the least wary.
Pay close attention to your surroundings, and when the fight starts, try to push the fight to the side of the waterfall as much as possible. But before that, pretend to be surprised when they arrive and put on an appearance of despair and anger before the fight. I want to see if I can get some information from these people." Minos said with a serious face as he looked at the group of people in front of him.
After that, they all nodded in agreement and started to carry out these last orders from Minos. Sergeant Pyke then approached him and asked.
"Young master, how will we fight if the enemy is much stronger than us?"
Minos shook his head and said reassuringly.
"Don't worry about it too. I'm pretty sure that the strongest on the enemy side doesn't reach level 46. So, if there are two people at this level and one at level 45, then the strategy would be to gather three soldiers to face each of these two stronger, while the rest will deal with the last.
With this, the four soldiers would quickly be able to kill the level 45 enemy and then return to help deal with the remaining two. After all, at level 46, anyone has slightly less than three times as much spiritual energy as someone at level 40, like you, would have. So, three soldiers would be enough to hold them for a while till the other group deals with the weaker side.
After that, it would be relatively easy to deal with the remaining two strongest ones. Another thing is that the enemies do not have techniques as well classified as ours. So, this will give us some advantage in the fight.
But be careful during the fight. Even a rabbit may bite when cornered!" Minos finished speaking, giving a cautioning look to all of them.
After hearing this, Pyke and the other soldiers were amazed at their young master's knowledge in both cultivation and fighting. They found it hard to believe just how someone so young and who rarely fought could possess so much knowledge and experience.
That alone made them even more confused and yet feel awe at this young man!
As to why Minos knew so much, well, that was also due to the inheritance he had received. With the amount of knowledge from someone who lived for thousands of years, Minos knew many valuable things for situations like this.
…
A few hours passed, while Minos and his group waited patiently near the waterfall for the arrival of the young master of the Silva family and his subordinates.
As they waited, a group of four people was approaching the direction in which Minos' group was.
They were the young Darell and his three subordinates.
"It looks like they went in that direction," Protector Philip pointed his finger in the direction of the waterfall, where Minos' group was.
Darell then smiled and then said with a look of contempt, "What an interesting group of guys, they must have gone hunting! Hahaha, how can you do such a leisurely thing when you have offended someone like me?"
Hearing this, one of the protectors laughed, "Kekeke, stupid people tend to behave like that, young master."
"Come on. I want to see the expressions of terror on their faces when they notice us, hahaha," replied Darell as he took the lead.
The group quickly made their way to the waterfall, where Minos and his group were camping.
There were wide smiles on their faces, after all, the enemy group only consisted of a few Spiritual Warriors...
And as far as they knew, even with the inheritance of a Spiritual King, like Albert, Minos should no longer have many crystals after having bought a low-level grade-2 sword.
As for these ten men who were with him, regardless of whether they were subordinates or profiteers, they had no way to advance to the next stage of cultivation without a large number of crystals.
And for those between levels 41 and 43, the General Spiritual stage, this was an easy fight. In fact, maybe even their young master alone was enough to kill the entire enemy group, and they didn't even have to do as much as to even lift their finger!
That is because, even though Darell Silva was still at level 38, being the son of the patriarch of the Silva family, all of his techniques were Black-grade. Consequently, fighting those at a higher level was easy for the young Darell, due to his techniques having superior energy efficiency.
…
It didn't take long before the four people from the Silva family arrived at the waterfall where they could see a total of 11 people in this place, just as it had been reported to them.
Minos' group seemed to be camping in this place.
In fact, they were eating right now. There was also a feeling of tranquility in the air passing by the beautiful landscape, with a waterfall only a few meters away from them.
And while the smell of roast meat spread around the place, Darell stepped forward with a smug face and said to the three protectors beside him, "Let's start, hehe."