The Rise of the Black Plain

Chapter 2694  End of the Sea Voyage

For the next three months, Minos' group continued with their previous plans.

Finding out that the Sea Serpent, the strongest creature in the Violent Sea, had discovered Minos' aura and was going to hunt them down from now on was terrible. Everyone in the group was worried, whether about their arrival in Uzira or their eventual return to Oqia.

One day, they intended to complete their missions and return to the guild to receive their awards, help the Elders go to the continent to strengthen their positions, etc. Some of them had families, friends and allies in Oqia who wanted to return and help, so knowing their leader would be pursued by the strongest sea beasts in the sea was worrying.

However, there was nothing they could do in the short term. About to arrive in Uzira and already with no option but to move on, they left the problems of the future to the future.

As Walkas and Wenni had said, it would be a while before the problems caused by Minos' failure to keep himself hidden caused consequences. At least until they reached Uzira and began to experience the continent, they shouldn't face too much of this problem.

The group continued with their previous plans, moving on to explore opportunities in this last part of the journey, letting go of all the tension they had been dealing with since then as their companions made new advances.

...

Only a month to go until they reached Oqia—what Walkas had told Minos the night before—the group was sailing at half the maximum speed of their vessel at the moment.

The start of another day was beginning as the ship headed west, leaving behind the dangerous part of the sea and entering the coastal area of Uzira.

It would still take a while for them to reach the mainland, but at this point where they were sailing now, the dangers were minimal compared to everything they had already faced since leaving Oqia.

Powerful sea beasts didn't get very close to the mainland, while the natives of the mainland kept to their territory without going deep into the sea. Consequently, the remaining stretch of sea to be completed by the group was quite calm.

So, the scarred vessel, with several inoperative devices, weapons and defensive items out of position, continued on its way, with Minos' companions in their positions, following the same shifts as when they began this journey.

The big difference from back then was that now some of them were much stronger, at new levels or stages.

When they started this journey, the team had only 4 Supremes. Now, about 7 years later, 11 Supremes were on the ship, including Diret, who had advanced last month with Minos' help.

Of the other crew members, all of them had previously been Sovereigns between levels 113 and 114, except for Minos and his wives. Now that same group no longer had any level 113 Sovereigns, with all of them having reached level 114.

Abby, Minos and Gloria had already improved previously and, finally, after many attempts, Ruth had achieved her advancement, reaching level 112!

In this state, the group was thinking more and more about Leger and the other allies they would have when they reached Uzira, if those people had succeeded in their journey, of course.

The dangers of the Violent Sea were receding into the background, but the dangers of Uzira were only getting closer to the group. Further ahead, they would have to face even stranger and more dangerous things than they had dealt with in recent years.

If they wanted to complete their goal of getting more of the black liquid and eventually creating a Celestial corpse, they would have to constantly deal with things capable of killing them. Thus, the entire crew was solemnly experiencing their last days at sea.

Amid this, Diret was thinking about the future of his group, while he had Minos by his side.

"What will we do when we arrive in Uzira?" He asked, having only been hired to help cross the North Sea. His job was not to subordinate himself to Minos' group and live with the members of Armhands.

Minos looked at his navigator and said. "That will be up to you and your people. If you want to join us, you're welcome to. We're arriving on a new continent, where none of us know much about the place, where we'll have to deal with immense dangers right from the start of our journey. So having a few extra hands will be good.

But if you prefer to go it alone, that's fine. You don't have to accept the dangers that will surely come after me."

Diret had already given this a lot of thought over the last few months, considering the pros and cons of staying with Minos' group, as well as going his separate way. And he had already made up his mind when he questioned the crew leader, having started this conversation to make his point.

"I thank you for the opportunity and also for everything you've done for my group so far. I can't guarantee that all my men will choose to accept my decision, so you may have to wait for their position. But I don't intend to move forward with you." Diret got straight to the point, before justifying himself, even though it wasn't necessary.

"I've already achieved something I never dreamed of before. I don't intend to take any more risks to achieve more than I already have. But I'm at your disposal, Minos. If you need a navigator to return to Oqia in the future with a group you're not part of, I'll be ready to venture across this sea again."

Minos smiled at the man, welcoming the old sailor's decision. "In that case, take care of my ship. I'll leave you and the men in your crew who want to stay by your side with our ship. In the future, I'll send a group to travel alongside you back to Oqia.

Will you continue sailing through this area until then?" Minos asked, having already thought about the possibility of leaving a group sailing in this 'safe' stretch of sea between Uzira and the Violent Sea.

"Hmm, yes, maybe occasionally go to the coast to sort out quick matters and then return..." Diret sighed as he answered Minos, liking how things would work out for them.

"Then talk to your men and see if any of them will decide to stay by my side."

"I'll do that."