Meetings filled with complaints and quarrels occupied the schedules of the higher-ups of the forces that shared the piece of Immortal Lands.
The Shandal Empire wanted to create a united front and disperse the threat of the winged beasts in one powerful offensive, but the other three countries couldn't allow it to lead the attack.
The Empire was the strongest organization in the Mortal Lands, its assets would secure the largest share of gains if the other nations let them lead the assault.
The Elbas family wanted to exploit its discoveries and obtain advantageous agreements before joining the united front.
The Utra nation had lost a lot of assets between the assault on the territories of the Empire, the ambushes of the Hive, and the loud cry.
Its desire to make up for those losses was understandable, as well as its intention to limit the gains of the Empire.
The Council shared that intention.
The Papral nation couldn't provide anything special to the united front, but it still pressed for an equal distribution of the profits.
That offer saw many enemies: The Empire would deploy more rank 6 assets, and the Elbas family had useful knowledge, they couldn't just neglect those advantages when sealing an agreement.
The Hive had remained silent during that period.
The Coral archipelago was aware that its power wasn't enough to influence the meeting, but Noah's return and his discoveries gave it some leverage.
The Empire and the Elbas family had formed a sort of privileged side in the matter since they were the forces that could provide more advantages so the front.
So, Chasing Demon decided to cooperate with the Council to balance the sides and seal an agreement that could avoid benefitting few countries in particular.
The Hive knew that it wasn't a match for the three big nations, they could only aim for an equal share of the profits even with Noah's information at hand.
The Royals found their advantage being taken away in a matter of days, and they felt forced to abandon their privileged position in the deal.
The Empire was then put against three forces that pressed for an equal share of the profits and could only give up to their requests.
The pack of winged beasts grew stronger with each passing week, and the Empire didn't have the power to defeat six rank 6 beings and one quasi-rank 7 creature alone, even in their weakened state.
Hesitating on forming a united front would only increase the losses during the offensive, which would render worthless any privilege that the Empire could obtain from the agreement.
Of course, just one word from the god of the Empire would have affected that impasse and silenced the other three countries.
However, the leader of the Empire couldn't be bothered with such trivial matters and wholly ignored the meeting.
In the end, the weeks spent quarreling and negotiating gave birth to an agreement that divided the central territories and the resources found during the assault equally.
Only the ownership of the corpse of the quasi-rank 7 creature was left out of that agreement since the four nations decided to give it to the cultivator that managed to kill it.
It was pointless to say that Chasing Demon had already given up on that corpse, but he was quite satisfied with those terms.
He would be the weakest rank 6 cultivator in the united front, but the organization behind him would still obtain the same resources as the others.
Also, the ownership of the leader of the pack would create conflicts between the assets of the other nations, and he was more than happy to avoid them.
The four nations began to prepare at that point.
The Utra nation received resources to finance the creation of inscribed items that could counter the mental capabilities of the winged beasts, and the Empire prepared the plan with the help of the other powerhouses.
The leaders of the pack would surely use as many rank 5 creatures as possible to stop the cultivators' offensive and resort to any plan that their intelligent minds could formulate.
The cultivators couldn't possibly fear the strategies of those beasts, but their ability to use their numbers to create powerful attacks was troublesome.
Yet, the Utra nation was the most advanced country of the Mortal Lands when it came to the inscriptions' field.
The Royals redirected all the experts in their ranks to the creations of items that could temporarily interrupt the capabilities of the horns of the winged beasts.
Even an army of thousands rank 5 creatures would just appear as a bunch of ants in the eyes of rank 6 beings if their ability to cooperate were taken away.
It took a few months to create and perfect items that could disrupt the mental waves of the rank 6 winged beasts, and the offensive of the four nations could finally begin at that point.
Chasing Demon, Great Elder Diana, King Elbas, God's Right Hand, and Gods' Left Hand gathered in the sky above the new continent and dived toward the mountain chain that occupied its central territories.
No one else could join their offensive, even peak rank 5 cultivators would be swept away in a battle that featured so many rank 6 existences.
The atmosphere in the group was tense, but they were confident in their abilities and their preparation.
Mental tremors began to accumulate around them as soon as they entered the domain of the winged beasts.
Their presence was immediately noticed by those creatures, which unleashed all the defensive measures that they had prepared in the months after their awakening.
Of course, such defensive measures were just basic plans that made use of the high number of specimens in the pack.
The cultivators could sense that hundreds of rank 5 magical beasts were fusing their mental attacks to create tremors that could affect their minds.
Those powerful creatures were hiding underground and using the mountain chain to cover their tracks, the powerhouses of the four countries couldn't pinpoint their location in that situation.
However, they had prepared for that eventuality.
King Elbas took a massive horn from his storage device and began to blew it.
That was a rank 6 inscribed item created with the horns of the rank 5 winged beasts hunted in the previous months and tuned so that it could transmit a cultivator's mental waves.
A silent vibration came out from the horn and spread through the mountain chain.
The mental tremors of the winged beasts dispersed when the soft shockwave invaded the domain of the pack.
Also, the mental waves contained in the horns of the creatures hidden underground scattered when the inaudible sound of the inscribed item swept them.
The defensive measure of the pack was easily countered, and the cultivators in the air could finally deploy their offensive.