As Abby wondered what Minos was planning to do differently from the attack a few days ago, he began to make his move.
Minos withdrew his low-level grade-2 sword from his spatial ring, displaying its meter-long blade, which glowed a silvery color. He held it with both hands, getting into a fighting stance before activating his techniques.
Seeing this, some individuals who were there began to feel agitated, while the apprehension of what was to come did not fail to worry them.
"He's not using any other items besides the sword... Is he really serious?" Another young man who was among the pursuers, who had a thin body and black hair, questioned himself doubtfully.
Until now, many of them thought that the young Stuart would have some external means for them to get through the barrier of the low-level grade-2 array. However, contrary to their expectations, it looked like Minos would use his own abilities to break through that defense!
At least that's what he seemed to be doing...
At the same time, when Minos began to prepare to release his techniques, on the side of the guards at that base, the guards at the entrance gate there were also observing him.
They had known about these persecutors for days, as just like those people who wanted the Spring of Life, they were also doing a surveillance job.
As guards at a Chambers family's base, it was their duty to watch over people in the vicinity of this property. After all, it would be weird if people did not worry about strangers next to their house!
And because of that, those guards responsible for taking care of the entrance to this base understood that there was no Spiritual King in that group of persecutors.
Unless a huge coincidence occurred that a Spiritual King was passing through these areas, it would be improbable that nearby families would send forces so quickly.
In this case, none of them believed that there were powerful enemies among the ranks of those people who seemed to be trying to invade this property!
Finally, seeing that Minos was about to attack, the soldier who had received the message from earlier observed him for a moment, thinking of something. 'Exactly an hour ago...'
"Don't tell me they intend to attack us anyway?" He muttered under his breath, then immediately shook his head from side to side in denial, a slight smile on his face. "It can't be. This should just be an empty threat!"
And at that moment, little by little, a black ring began to ascend to the skies of that place, expanding until it reached the mark of 100 meters in radius, from the site where the young Stuart was.
Zum!
The ring seemed to carry a piece of the night with it, dimming even more luminosity in that place. At the same time, a strange noise began to vibrate, giving shivers to people who were close to that place, outside the area protected by the defensive array.
The ring circled at low speed in the sky in that region, as if it were trying to pull something...
And at that moment, the defensive array of that base finally went into full operation, making visible a barrier that looked like a dense, gray liquid.
Defensive spiritual arrays, as was the case of this one and that of the city of Hadia, worked all the time, as if it were a standard array of spiritual gathering, like those that existed in the city of Minos.
However, the defensive spiritual array would do nothing until something or someone started to attack the region protected by it. It worked as if it were in a standby mode. If large amounts of energy were released against the protected location, the array would sense it and fully activate, causing a barrier like the one before to appear!
This was also true for cultivators trying to break into the site for a different location than they could. In this case, it was common for array masters to prepare these items to work under the inputs of a given area. Only through those points could people circulate without being stopped by the array.
And obviously, there was another way to activate such a barrier, which was to do it manually with the array. And because of that, the group of Minos and those pursuers could not just sneak into that base to do whatever they wanted.
If they wanted to get into that place, there were only two ways. One was to invade the force, destroying the defensive array, and the other was to have the passage allowed by the guards of that place.
As the second was impossible for them, only the drastic way remained!
Zum!
Soon after activating the Devourer Art, young Stuart used both arms to deliver a vertical blow while slightly bending his knees and attempting to expend the least amount of spiritual energy possible.
He did not want to spend too much of his own energy to destroy that barrier. To do that, he wanted to make the most of the energy converted for his use through the Devourer Art!
This time, Minos was in the middle of an isolated region, where there were only the enemies he wanted to destroy and people joining the fight. With such a scenario, there was no reason for the young Stuart to want to rush things, as he had done in the city of Hadia.
And by doing that, he could save as much of his energy as possible so that he could fight to his fullest against the Spiritual King of that base!
Swooish!
Swooish!
Blades of air formed as the young Stuart made his sword moves, which were simultaneously quick and precise, demonstrating the prowess with the sword he had.
And quickly, the transparent blades cut the skies of that place, running towards the various parts of the defensive barrier.
Puff!
Puff!
Every time one of the blades sent by Minos touched that gray barrier, they fell apart completely, soon after leaving small marks behind.
...
Upon seeing the start of Minos' attack, his allies were utterly shocked at how the situation had unfolded.
Few of them would believe that Minos would be able to break through that barrier on his own before they saw what was happening. However, the reality showed something other than what they believed, and they were all perplexed by it.
"What a diabolical technique! It can absorb the spiritual energy of that grade-2 array!" One of the bodyguards who were in that place commented while he had his pupils wholly contracted.
It was not difficult for people who were already in the 5th stage of cultivation to understand the effects of an activated technique in their vicinity. With this, even if those people were not under the influence of the Devourer Art, they could feel the energy of the barrier decreasing much faster than it should!
As for the blades launched by Minos, they were not so impressed with it. They were just ordinary sword attacks without Spatial Sword support. This technique, in addition to its restrictive quality, also considerably increased the strength of sword attacks.
Anyway, the young Stuart was doing this to save himself while slowly destroying this barrier...
As to whether enemies would leave this base just because Minos was attacking them, well, this did not matter. They would fight anyhow, so if the guards at that place left, it would be even better...
...
Simultaneously, inside that area protected by the barrier, two girls, one of short stature and blond hair, and the other with a well-developed body and black hair, were attached to chains in a room. At the same time, they had only pieces of underwear covering their bodies...
They were lying on a bed while one of them was crying, and the other had a hateful look on her face. They had been 'washed and prepared' a few minutes ago, having been forced to dress in the shameful way they were in now.
They were both trembling in fear of what would happen next when they discovered that their 'owner,' Kevin, intended to start using them as cauldrons!
These were the two women that Peter had met on this journey from slavery that he, unfortunately, had to go through. One was Barbara, with whom he traveled for several days on Del's ship. The other was Robin, someone he had known better recently in Hadia.
And while the two of them were imprisoned in that room's chains, Kevin walked through the door with a wicked smile on his face, with a whip in one of his hands, ready for action.
"No! Please don't do this to us!" Robin screamed in despair as she saw that disgusting person approaching them.
Pa!
Hearing this, Kevin just ignored her when he used the whip in his hand to make a mark on Robin's left buttock!
"Ahh!"
And as he saw that young woman with an underdeveloped body scream in pain, Kevin smiled and then looked at Barbara, ready to start satisfying his desires. He liked first to show these women with whom he cultivated that they were just objects to him and had no rights...
That's what he intended to do with the two of them today, 'disciplining' them in a way they would never forget!
Woop! Woop!
Suddenly, just as the young Kevin was about to begin his actions, alarm sounds began to ring through that base, at the same time that a loud warning voice sounded in that place.
"Enemy attack!"