The sun went down the horizon and disappeared completely.
And now it was time to start the mission against the bandits of Yellow City!
In one of the two entrances of the city, about 30 bandits were watching the place while they were engaged in a conversation and drinking.
Near that place was a two-story building which served as a checkpoint for the visitors arriving in the city.
However, the third and fourth group of soldiers under Minos had not completely avoided passing through any of the official entrances to Yellow City. This was because the city had a large area, and the bandits could not monitor all the locations in the city, so Minos and his remaining teams had entered through the isolated regions to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.
Simultaneously, the two groups that were responsible for attacking the bandits stationed at the western and eastern entrances had also concealed themselves in those regions.
Meanwhile, at one of the city's entrances, the criminals were quietly passing the time, as they usually would on any other day, ever since they took command of this town.
"Hey, Don! Don! Wake up, man. You're always sleeping when we're on duty," complained one of the bandits to a companion sitting on a sofa inside the control building.
"Haha, Oliver, don't worry about it. This guy has always been like this, but it won't make a difference whether he's awake or not," another thug, holding a bottle of alcohol, chimed in, smiling.
Meanwhile, the ten soldiers of Minos, who were tasked with attacking this post slowly approached the enemy group.
"Guys, the enemy group has 30 cultivators. And of them, only six are in the 5th stage. Their strength ranges between levels 40 and 41. The others are also between levels 34 and 38. We must attack quickly without giving space for them from grouping against us," said one of the soldiers, who was at level 40.
"Alright, whoever finishes first should help your teammates to finish off the remaining enemies faster. That will increase our speed. Let's begin!" declared another soldier of the Sergeant rank in this group.
It didn't take long, and the group initiated the assault on that checkpoint.
At that moment, about eight bandits were patrolling the place outside the building, and when they noticed the group of ten people slowly approaching them, a bandit called out loud.
"You guys, standing there! It is not allowed to enter or leave Yellow City at night!"
However, just when he had expected that the group of ten people would stop their movements, a sharp edge of a war hammer swiftly approached his head.
Noticing this, the bandit frowned and attempted to defend himself against this sudden attack.
"Ahh!"
At the same time, another bandit screamed as he felt a sharp spear impaling him through his abdomen! 'Damn it! How can this guy be so fast?' the bandit cursed as he started spewing large amounts of blood.
Soon, the sounds of battle reverberated outside the building as Minos' ten soldiers massacred their adversaries.
Almost simultaneously, one of the bandits who had been quietly drinking in one of the rooms in that place abruptly stood up from his chair and exclaimed aloud.
"Did you hear that noise? It looks like something's amiss out there," he said, wearing a strange expression on his face.
Another thug in the same room burst into laughter and remarked, "Haha, some fools seem to have decided to challenge us. Hmph, but that's a good change. From the time we took this city, we haven't had a good fight!"
"Dexter, go and check what's going on," another thug ordered while eyeing the man who was laughing.
"Alright, boss."
"I'll join too! We haven't had any entertainment around this place for a while!" added another thug, as they started following in Dexter's footsteps.
However, even before they could leave the building, the group's complexion slowly started to grow pale.
The moment Dexter passed through the exit door, a powerful attack was swiftly swept over his neck, leaving the unprepared fellow with no time to defend himself!
Swooish!
Dexter's head was nimbly separated from the rest of his body and the next instant blood started pouring down his neck while the head spun through the air before finally landing on the ground.
Things had happened in such a short time that the guy had not even been able to see what killed him!
Witnessing this before their eyes, all the men who were planning to leave the building took a step back in horror. The sudden turn of events just now had left them deeply shocked, to the point that someone could even hear their loudly beating hearts!
Not just that, if they were to take a closer look at the exit door, they could notice several bodies strewn on the floor across that street!
"Enemy attack!!" someone finally shouted with all his might.
It didn't take long before more than 15 bandits appeared at the scene while heading towards Minos' ten soldiers, who were hiding at the entrance to the building.
One of the bandits, who had already reached level 40, asked with a grim expression, "Who are you? Why are you attacking us? Do you think our group can't handle a small group like yours?"
"Hmph, the dead don't need to know anything!" one of the soldiers snorted before activating his attack technique against the enemy.
"You wretches, all of you will be annihilated when our reinforcements arrive!" another thug bellowed trying to intimidate them.
Boom!
In no time, an intense battle broke out at the checkpoint, leaving mutilated bodies in its wake with each passing second. At the same time, all the other bandits that remained in the building also came to join the fray.
Zum!
"Ahhh!"
"Use all your strength and kill those bastards!" the bandit leader hoarsely shouted.
Whoosh!
However, shortly after, an air blade sliced towards him. 'Damn it! I won't be able to dodge,' he thought while preparing to activate his defensive technique with everything he got.
Clang!
"Ahhh!"
The air blade collided with the thug's arms, slicing through his flesh and halting at his bones.
He barely managed to defend himself!
"How can this be? I am obviously stronger than these people!" he murmured while blood trickled from his lips.
By that time, Minos' group of soldiers had already slain over 20 bandits; that was when the leader of the enemy band was finally killed on the spot.
'It can't be. The boss is dead!' one of the subordinates thought as he defended himself against the incoming attacks.
"Please don't kill me. I will surrender!" one of them pleaded in a weak voice.
"I'm sorry, but for the sake of our force, all of you must die!" a soldier replied without any sense of pity before slashing his blade towards the bandit's neck who had just begged for mercy.
He was simply following Minos' orders, which were to leave no enemies alive!
As to why Minos had given such an order, the reason was pretty simple. If any one of these bandits escaped or were to be released, they would likely bring problems to the Black Plain sooner or later. And at this point, the region governed by Minos didn't have the capacity to face certain adversaries, and because of that, they couldn't afford to take unnecessary risks.
Regarding the alternative ways of keeping these criminals silent, there were only two possibilities apart from death. One was slavery, and the other was imprisonment. However, Minos was utterly opposed to the thought of enslaving people, even if they were scum from society. As for the second option, imprisoning them was not possible since the Black Plain lacked the required infrastructure and personnel to do so.
Currently, the Black Plain needs all of its people to ensure things work well. Therefore, Minos held no interest in sacrificing a portion of his people for the sake of these criminals. And from his perspective, these people should have known that their actions would eventually lead them to their demise, so he felt no pity.
After a few more minutes, the entire group of bandits responsible for that entrance was wiped out. Minos' soldiers also took the opportunity to gather all the valuables that those bandits possessed.
Minos had previously declared that, apart from the techniques of Black-grade, everything else could be divided among the group of soldiers who were attacking those posts.
"We are heading towards the center of the city. The other groups are likely to be almost done with their attacks as well. Come on," one of the level 40 soldiers said after the group had finished collecting the enemies' belongings.
...
While that entrance to the city was being attacked, a similar situation was taking place on the other side of the town as well. In fact, the fight was even more intense due to the large number of opponents.
However, Minos' group of soldiers still prevailed and defeated the bandits after almost half an hour of battle.
Of course, the numerical advantage of the opponents did not affect the soldiers of the Black Plain Army, as they all possessed Black-grade techniques, while the bandits rarely had one like that!
Because of this, despite having to work harder than the attack group at the other entrance, the soldiers still managed to have a good victory!
Afterward, it didn't take long for the group from this entrance to join the others while headed towards the central part of Yellow City, where the two main battles were taking place.