Building An Empire Starting From The Labor Camp In Exile-Chapter 241: send someone better

Atrox called his Warden.

The smaller Warden was now a giant that wore a helmet and red armor. It carried a long axe and stood beside the tower. Atrox felt mild intelligence radiating from it.

"...Come to think of it... this is the first time I’m using the technique with the tower... to think it would bring about this much change..."

He decided to think about it another time because right now, he was focused on killing the monster in front of him. The monster lifted itself entirely free of the portal.

Atrox gasped when he saw it. "What the..."

The monster had no lower body. The rest of its form was made of bones, different shapes and types. It was like a slime, but unlike normal ones, this was made of bones with five giant skulls.

Atrox was glad then that the Rift Lord he fought before wasn’t like that.

He saw the Necro Knight beside the monster.

And a thought came to Atrox. "...The monster is probably suckling that bastard dry, but he won’t leave it because it’s powerful... tough... that’s why he wanted my body... agh... thinking about that... I should focus on the fight..."

Atrox decided then that he wouldn’t hold anything back.

Five skulls opened as one and let out a howling roar. Unlike the previous one, this wasn’t an attack. It was just a roar of command.

The ground ripped, and the portal spread as the monster tried to expand its influence on the prison, but Atrox had a firm will, and he wouldn’t be pushed about.

Undead skeletons rose up from the ground. Hundreds of them reached out from the blackened earth and rushed forward.

The Warden grunted and took a step forward, but Atrox stopped it. "Wait. Forget about the skeletons and focus on the Knight. I will bring you back again and again. Go!"

There was no reason not to use the same strategy he had used for the doll woman. It worked then. It should work again. As the Warden ran forward, its form began to shrink, and by the time it reached the first wave of skeletons, it was the same size as a human.

Before the two could engage, Atrox shouted, "Dominion!"

A shockwave of rippling light and heat blasted out of the tower. It lit up the darkness, and part of the monster’s control over the prison fell. The skeletons were wiped away in one go.

When the light cleared, an orb remained at the battlements of the tower. Atrox shot it. The orb lifted into the air and smashed into the heads of the monster before exploding.

This time there was damage. Two of the monster’s heads collapsed, bones cracking against the ground. The monster didn’t stop, though. It began to push forward.

Atrox frowned. "...Wait... this thing..."

His eyes widened as he began to understand, somewhat. The monster wasn’t as powerful as it looked. Sure, it must have been a powerhouse when it was alive, but it was a different matter entirely now.

And the Necro Knight must even be struggling to control it.

"...No wonder it tried to intimidate me before anything else..."

Atrox narrowed his eyes. He began to create fireballs and bind them around him, building his strongest attack. "You bastard. How dare you try to fight with something you don’t have full control over! You’re going to destroy the town."

The Knight’s voice came from somewhere behind the monster, where he was fighting the Warden. "Why are you so concerned about the lowlife humans? They are nothing! You’ll see their kind everywhere. I’m most concerned with you, Atrox. Your body, that power...!"

By this time, Atrox was done. His control over his fire had grown so much, not to mention that it was amplified by the tower.

His tower glowed like molten metal, radiating an intense wave of heat that seared the air around him. The walls of the prison trembled. Atrox had used almost all the power in him. It was too much, but he bound it with his Pactbinding power.

The monster sensed it and reared up. The bone sludge that formed its lower body lifted it higher into the air. The three remaining skulls opened, green fire glowing within.

They fired at the same time. All the heat and fire surrounding the tower drained upward toward the tip of the battlements.

It flashed with red light, blinking once, twice. And then—

Bam!

It was more than a beam. The attack spread like a mist, faster than a thunderbolt, and covered the distance in a blink. When the attack hit the monster, it... disappeared into ashes.

The black corruption that had been spreading vanished with it, and the portal it came from closed. The prison itself shook and trembled as if it would snap at any moment.

His Warden was caught in it and vanished as well—but so did the Necro Knight. Half of his body was gone, and the other half, his upper body, was trying to crawl away from Atrox.

The tower shrank, and Atrox stepped down. He swayed slightly because of the energy he had used, but he still had a little left—unlike the time he completely burned his core in the Rift.

He walked toward the Knight. "That was disappointing. I expected something more. Why don’t the Master Knights who gave you the monster come themselves? They’ve put up much more interesting fights."

Atrox was bragging, but he didn’t care. They had disturbed his sleep and almost wrecked his town.

He reached the crawling man and slammed his foot into the man’s hand, crushing his fingers. The Knight cried out in pain and lashed out with a weak bolt of energy that Atrox slapped away.

He had enough essence to craft his sword, and he brought the needles on it straight into the man’s back. At first, he didn’t react, but then he jerked, his mouth opening in a blood-curdling scream.

Atrox smiled. "Let’s see what you know and how you came to be inside my town."

It was the same as the other assassin. They were hired to kill him, and while it was done through a secondary person, it all came from his brother.

But what made him most curious was that his brother wasn’t taking things very seriously. Why not send an assassin at the Master Knight rank and finish things once and for all?