The Rise of the Black Plain

Upon encountering a glow coming from the last chamber on their way, Minos stopped his party and saw an opportunity just ahead.

"It looks like we have some artifacts right ahead." He remarked, not noticing any enemies at first glance but cautious, for this place was treacherous.

But there were more than just artifacts in this place. As they approached, Minos and the strongest of the group soon noticed the number of humanoid and bestial skeletons in this chamber.

"It seems that several beings who entered there died..." The weakest Demigod commented with a frown.

They continued with their Soul Avatars active, while the weaker ones followed in the middle of the group, seeing large pieces of shiny and metallic objects in that chamber.

As they passed the entrance to this area, Minos stopped in front of his group. "This place is hazardous. It's best if only Forrest and I go in there."

"Why?" Abby asked, interested in what the bodies in the area might have for them.

Forrest saw what was there and answered instead of Minos. "We are at the edge of this spatial pocket. Inside this chamber is a wall of spatial distortion. Anyone distracted and attacked by possible enemies in there could die without even realizing it."

This was the main danger of this place!

They had to be as careful as possible, or they would end up worse than falling into one of Minos' black holes!

Gulp!

Harold looked at this place and asked, "Is it worth the risk?"

Minos answered without hesitation. "Yes. I see 4 spatial rings on the fingers of some of these skeletons. Each is classified as medium-level grade-4, so we might find some good resources here."

In addition to these four spatial rings, the beast bodies also had valuable items on them, beastly armor, weapons, and adaptations of spiritual equipment for their bodies.

On one such skeleton, Minos and Forrest could see special footwear useful for birds that had long, sharp blades instead of the creature's claws, as well as special armor made for birds.

This was very valuable, even if it was only a low-level grade-4 item!

The two looked at each other and agreed, wasting no time to enter the room cautiously after leaving the group, ready to defend themselves against any possible trouble.

In the Ancient Dragon Spatial Kingdom, one would not only have problems with creatures from this place but also with the instability of this space itself.

At any moment, the gravity of this place could change, rising or falling, with earthquakes, spatial storms, and more.

Even though they had already cleared the traps in the part of the tunnel they were in, many problems could still catch up with them!

But as these 10 people nervously held their positions waiting for Minos and Forrest, they entered this chamber of over 30,000 square meters and 40 meters high to the ceiling.

There was not much in the way of buildings or vegetation. It looked like an ordinary underground cave with several unlit torches on the walls.

The whole place was very dark, but because of the Spiritual Sages' visual ability, they could see the place as clearly as if there was a sunny sky instead of a cave ceiling.

There were skeletons with dust-covered clothes and equipment in various places in this area, some closer to the spatial distortion wall and some farther away.

From how these bodies were distributed and the various items still on them, Minos and Forrest immediately came to the same conclusion.

'They must have died around the same time, fighting over each other.' They both thought about it and imagined that no one else had arrived at this place between the time these beings died and their arrival.

With every opening of the Ancient Dragon Spatial Kingdom, hundreds of beings from all parts of the Spiritual World tried their luck at this place. So it was not strange for some of them to meet and fight to the death for something in a place like this.

As he realized what had probably happened there, Minos looked to the side of the spatial distortion and frowned.

"This distortion is eating this Spatial Kingdom!"

Hearing this, Forrest sighed and said, "After the battle that damaged this Spatial Kingdom, it has been losing space bit by bit. In another 500,000 years, this place will be completely wiped out by the chaos of space."

This was something that the Spiritual Church was aware of, as several of their members were studying the results of groups from their organization that participated in this event whenever the portals of these space pockets opened around the Spiritual World.

The battle of long ago had not only severely damaged this space but had actually doomed it!

Minos did not know this, but after noticing how much it seemed to 'eat' space, he did not doubt Forrest's words.

Looking to the side of the distortion, near the distortion was the most valuable item in this place at first glance, a large medium-level grade-4 armor.

"How are we going to divide these things?" Minos asked, changing the subject.

"We will divide the rings equally. They're like a lottery, so whether they contain valuable items or not won't change our division afterward." Forrest suggested.

Seeing that Minos did not disagree, he continued. "As for the other items, we can negotiate later. For now, let's collect the skeleton near the distortion before something happens, and he touches it."

Minos agreed and asked Forrest to keep an eye on him. Soon after, he activated Chaotic Gravity and pulled the skeleton near the distortion.

But as the giant, heavy skeleton moved slowly, something moved in the cave's darkness and went into Minos' back.

Forrest felt the air shift around the chamber and immediately moved to defend his ally.

Seraphim's Domain!

A golden glow spread from his body, forming a golden sphere that covered him and Minos.

A moment later, several grunts of pain rang out in the area, but they still could not see the position of any of these opponents.

Minos frowned as he realized that he and Forrest were surrounded, but he could not see or even identify the position of these creatures.

But Forrest was much more experienced than Minos and soon realized the problem.

"It's not that we can't see them. It's just that they're extremely small!" The disciple of the Supreme Pontiff shouted as he felt the gaseous displacement in the surroundings of this chamber.

Hearing this, Minos let go of the large bestial skeleton he was pulling.

"Small? Small or large, you still have mass. Let's see what happens when you get crushed!"

...