The Rise of the Black Plain

As she felt Emperor Stuart's strength press her hand against the table in her first moment of weakness, Adrina realized that Minos would not allow her to win this challenge easily.

Physical strength was not the focus of mermaids. Even at level 91, their strength was equivalent to that of a level 90 mermen and would be equal to that of a maximum level nine-tailed fox. Therefore, even without raising his cultivation to level 85, Minos had a chance to fight with this mermaid after attacking her with Dragon's Eye.

But the mermaid's focus was on the mental part. Even though the Dragon's Gaze attack could significantly destabilize Demigods of her level, Adrina felt less dizzy than a human of her level or stronger than she would have felt in that situation.

If Forrest had received that mental attack from Minos, he would have lost the arm wrestling match, even though he was stronger in level than that mermaid!

However, Adrina was different, and using her special powers, she felt much less weight from Minos' mental attack. She managed to counter his move, preventing his right hand from touching the table.

Her arm trembled, and she activated her unique ability, Distraction, a mental ability capable of subtly distracting its targets.

It wasn't enough, for example, to make someone of similar strength to her move completely wrong and miss all their moves. But it was enough to make her target miss so badly that they could not seriously hurt her or even dodge her attacks.

This skill was especially useful during escapes when she could move quickly and make her target unaware of her movements.

Minos sensed this, and even with Dragon's Gaze activated, he suddenly realized that his hand and Adrina's had changed position and were at 90 degrees, the starting position.

'Oh? You did all that without me noticing?' He looked at her with wide eyes, impressed.

But Adrina was looking at him the same way because before she could even defeat him, he had managed to recover from her attack and was once again blocking her movement.

"You are so strong, Minos Stuart... I feel so hot fighting you." She stared at him while biting her lower lip, forming an extremely interesting seductive expression.

Considering how beautiful she was, Minos bit his tongue lightly to resist this woman's seduction, only to realize that he had weakened himself enough for her to advance 15 degrees and gain the upper hand for the first time in this fight.

"Please let me win... We can end this quickly and find a place of our own." She said in a melodious tone as a colorful glow shot out of her body and surrounded Minos.

Some of the nearby men weren't even Adrina's targets, but they were already hard as stone when they saw her expression and heard her voice. Minos was strong, but even he couldn't help but feel different during such difficult attacks.

As a man, he was much more vulnerable to this kind of being and its powers!

'Damn it!' He strained as he felt her advance another 15 degrees, trying not to lose to this mermaid so easily.

Even though his goal wasn't necessarily to defeat everyone who showed up to challenge him, and he didn't mind distributing the Saint Medicine to attract the public's attention, Minos didn't want to make it easy for his opponent.

His goal was to show everyone how capable he was, to the point where even a level 91 mermaid would be forced to use all of her tricks.

Whoever came with him could trust that they would have his support and even protection if necessary!

But even though he showed everyone how strong he was for his level, Minos still had less spiritual energy in his being than that level 91 mermaid.

Unable to use his innate ability to increase his cultivation temporarily, he slowly began to lose his strength, while Adrina had the same level of pressure as before.

Pow!

Less than a minute after Adrina's first attack, she smashed Minos' right hand into the table, marking the end of the match!

"In this match, the winner is Adrina, representing the mermaids!" The female referee announced the result, causing everyone in the area to silently leave their state to celebrate or discuss the match's outcome.

Even though this was an event that didn't affect the lives of most of the people there, it was always nice to see competitions, and the spectators usually chose their favorites.

When they saw the mermaid win the Saint Medicine contest, many began celebrating as the mermaid smiled and breathed more deeply.

Although she had defeated Minos, Adrina had spent more than 80% of her energy on this arm wrestling match and was still feeling the mental damage from her opponent's initial attack!

Considering how well he had done considering the level difference between them, she couldn't help but look at him differently, feeling respect for this opponent.

But before anyone in the area could question the Saint-grade medicine, Minos threw it into the hands of the mermaid in front of him.

"Congratulations on your victory. This is the promised prize." He told in a sighing tone, also breathing heavily, having exhausted himself trying to prevent his defeat.

With the medicine in her hands, Adrina looked at Minos and sighed. "You really gave me this... I didn't expect you to keep your promise so easily."

Minos smiled. "And I will keep every promise I've made here today. I swear to the heavens that I have no evil intentions and that all my words have been sincere. I will not promise anyone who cares to come with me that they will one day return home. That's out of my control.

But I will try my best to return from the North Sea with as many people as I can gather along the way."

Hearing this, the members of the Sea Folk agreed with Minos' words and felt he was the right person to follow. He didn't hide the dangers, but at the same time, he was truly willing to do anything for those who joined his group.

Even the mermaids and mermen in the area noticed this through their empathic abilities, giving Emperor Stuart an extra vote of confidence.

Adrina looked at him gravely and said. "You said you would stay here for two days, right? Very well, I'll think about joining your group and give you an answer by the time you leave."

When she said this, half a dozen people, including some mermen, did the same, saying that they were tempted to join Minos' group and would think about it in the next few days.

And so Minos achieved his goal of attracting the attention and interest of relevant members of this tribe!