After hearing Minos' question, Humbert took a breath and reported the findings of his group.
"From what we've found, Yellow City is being controlled by a group of criminals led by someone who calls himself Gul. He also seems to be the strongest person in the city, but ordinary citizens don't know what level he is at.
And almost all the soldiers in our group heard the same thing about what happened to the city. According to the people we spoke to, about three months ago, Gul led the group as he kidnapped and killed the former regent of this region.
After that, Gul and his group took control of the local government mansion by arresting all the guards who were under the former regent's command. We also found that there were around 50 guards, most of whom were at the 4th stage.
Not long after they took over the city, they kidnapped and robbed almost all the merchants who passed through the city. As a result, this helped many of the bandits to obtain resources to increase their forces to the 5th stage, which further increased the pressure of these criminals on the common population of this area," Humbert said without hiding anything.
Butler Dillian, who was standing next to Minos, suddenly asked, "And how many criminals are in this group led by this person?"
Humbert responded with an uncertain tone, "We do not have the exact number since it was not possible to know how much these criminals hide from the population. But while I was probing the city, I was able to feel at least 80 cultivators who were at the 5th stage, the strongest of which was at level 43.
But talking to the masses, we found out that these groups of criminals consist of around 200 to 300 members in total."
At that moment, Elen, who was listening to the report in the corner of the camp, exclaimed in disagreement, "There must be something wrong with this research. In my opinion, to cause as many problems as they have caused, this Gul should be at least a level 45 cultivator."
Minos agreed and said, "Hmm, it's true. Didn't you feel anyone who was stronger than that in the city?"
Humbert thought about it and then suddenly remembered something and immediately informed, "Ah! Yes, I felt someone with such strength, but they were leaving the city. In fact, just as we were entering Yellow City, a group of ten cultivators passed us, heading east.
From that group, I could feel that six cultivators among them were at level 44, three were at level 45, and one was at level 47. But since they were leaving the city at that time, I thought they were just passing merchants," Humbert said, recalling all that had happened.
"Well, these people are probably the leaders of this city. And that person who is at level 47 must be this Gul," Elen said with a solemn expression.
"But why would the strongest people in the city all go out together?" Butler Dillian wondered aloud.
Humbert replied with an uncertain expression. "The townspeople didn't say anything about this group, so we're also not sure about that."
"No matter what the reason, this is a good opportunity for us. We shall first destroy the group that is left in the Yellow City and then interrogate one of them, asking all that we need answers for," Minos said with a smile on his face.
He was very pleased to have arrived at this place just at the right time when the strongest individuals had left. With them being away, the fight would be much less complicated, thus resulting in a significant increase in their chances of winning the upcoming battle.
"Hmm, it is true. With their absence, our work will be immensely facilitated," Eduard agreed, supporting Minos' words.
Minos then inquired, "What about the places where these bandits are concentrated?"
Humbert promptly responded, "They are typically concentrated in four regions of the city. The first and the busiest one among all is the mansion at the center of the city. The second is a nightclub on the south side of the city. And the third and fourth are the western and eastern entrances to the city, respectively."
"Alight! Let's advance like this... We will divide ourselves into four groups as well and knowing the nature of these bandits, they are unlikely to be too concerned about guarding the city entrances, so it's likely that the strongest ones certainly won't be ordered to these posts.
With that being said, the first and second groups will simultaneously attack the western and eastern entrances to Yellow City, and each of these groups will consist of 10 soldiers, having four Sergeants and six Corporals in each.
The third group will be formed by 8 Sergeants and 10 Corporals. You are assigned the mission to attack these bandits in this nightclub on the south side of the city. Here I'm sending a comparatively larger group because there may be some formidable cultivators in this location, as this is probably the place where these outlaws find entertainment
As for the fourth group, it will consist of the rest of us. We are going to seize the local government's mansion. This will probably have the strongest cultivators that were left in the city, and they are also more in number, so we will need even greater strength to attack this place."
After saying that, Minos advised everyone, "And during fights, support your teammates as much as possible. Some of your enemies may have higher levels than you, but they certainly don't have techniques as refined as yours. So, fight as a team whenever you can, this will lessen the casualties."
After conveying all of his orders, Minos asked out aloud. "Did you all understand?"
"Yes, sir," the soldiers responded in unison.
After these orders were given, it didn't take long for the four teams to depart separately for Yellow City. And as a precautionary measure, they also decided to initiate the attacks simultaneously when the sun completely disappeared below the horizon.
...
Meanwhile, the group of ten men heading east from Yellow City had already covered more than half the distance to the cavern where the Nine-tailed Fox was spotted. As of now, they had stopped to decide to spend the night and chose to camp.
"Ya'll pay attention. Tomorrow, when we surround that spiritual beast, the two of you will not engage in a direct fight with her. Instead, your goal will be to capture her cub, and with that as our leverage, we will be able to subdue the mother with much ease," Chief Gul explained while he looked at two of his commanders, who were at level 44.
"Understood, Chief," the two commanders responded quickly.
Meanwhile, one of the three at level 45 asked curiously, "Why do you want to approach it this way?"
Gul smiled and explained to his subordinate, "Hehe, because it is better to have two beasts than just one! Think carefully! Even if she might be weakened, she will still be a lot of work for us if she gets desperate.
But if we have her cub, she will be more lenient. And after giving a good beating so that she doesn't cause any further problems, we can sell these two spiritual beasts instead of just one!"
Of course, the cub will fetch us a higher price in the market since it is more difficult to control a fully-grown beast. However, some people prefer such a beast too," Gul stated calmly.
It was easier to sell spiritual beasts that were still young due to their lack of intelligence, resulting in the children of any spiritual beast naturally being more valued in any part of the Central Continent.
As for adult spiritual beasts, such as the mother fox, since they had greater intelligence, it made them more challenging to tame. However, there was a problem with Gul's plan, which was regarding the intelligence of a 5th-stage beast.
That is because not everyone in the north of the Central Continent knew that a spiritual beast would be as intelligent as an adult human when it reached the 5th stage. In fact, at this stage, they were smart enough that they could even speak the human language!
And taming a beast with such intelligence was impossible!
As for why not all people were aware of this information, it was simply because there were not many spiritual beasts of such level in the north of the Central Continent.
And the few people who knew of their existence almost all belonged to those high-level families. Even if these families knew about it, it did not mean that they would disclose that information publicly. That's because, if the ordinary population were to know about it, they could decide to raise and nurture these better-ranked beasts instead of selling them.
This would lead these beasts to develop a sense of loyalty to these human companions, and even after reaching the 5th stage, they would still be very loyal to their human families. And that would undoubtedly diminish the influence of these great noble families as a part of their strength also relied on the spiritual beasts.
...
Time passed, and the sun was almost completely gone beyond the horizon.
Finally, it was time for the four groups of Minos to launch an attack on the criminals of Yellow City!
All four groups had already successfully infiltrated the city and were now simply waiting for the perfect moment for them to commence the attack!