Building An Empire Starting From The Labor Camp In Exile-Chapter 260: speaking with his voice?

"Why are you late?" Vorath growled. His sword slammed into Terrix’s own, and the force sent the man back.

Terrix’s feet were covered in golden light that made him hover in the air. He held a slender sword of light in his hand and parried the next few attacks from Vorath, each one pushing him farther back.

"Why am I late? What a silly question. The better question should be, why should I be here in the first place? You call yourself one of the strongest in the Untamed Lands, and yet you were rendered weak by what? A Master Knight and an Errant Knight?"

That only made Vorath angrier, but this time he didn’t lash out. Instead, he kept his calm, his face rippling with hidden anger. The sword in his hand disappeared. "Are you speaking with Lord Thrain Soryu’s voice?"

But there were differences, and the lines between the two would determine what Vorath was going to do next.

Terrix shook his head. "Of course not. I even came to help, but they ran off before I could reach here. What a cowardly move."

"Not cowardly. It is something expected," Vorath said as he began to float down toward his army. This wasn’t the first time they had to deal with a surprise attack, but this was the first time they didn’t get the chance to properly fight back.

The ground was filled with dead bodies that were either completely burned or half-burned. The air smelled of charred meat, ash, and fire.

"Warlord Vorath, do you wish to return the favor?" Terrix Choxa asked.

Vorath’s hand tightened. "Yes, but it’s impossible right now. They will expect my attack and be ready. Their Errant Knights will be at the front, and we won’t be able to sneak around them. The best chance was to trap them here."

He didn’t try to hide the accusations in his voice, but he was being wary as well. This was the first time he was dealing with the Hinterlands, and he was finding out that they could be as brutal as the Untamed Lands, but in a more subtle way.

Initially, he had wanted to make a base in the south and then open a way across the chasms, but things weren’t looking good as it stood. He had thought Thrain would accept him immediately after he turned his back on Atrox, but the man was more cautious than he expected.

With that, he ignored Terrix and swooped down to help his men. He saw that the damage was more than he had initially thought, and the men had lost some of their courage.

It was something to be expected after they were played with by a single man inside a tower.

☆☆☆☆

When Atrox returned home that night, he was in a much happier mood than when he had left. Things had gone much better than he anticipated, and instead of returning to his own army, he decided to stay with the Rikon.

"Are you worried that they will come and fight back?" Eamon asked. He couldn’t hide his worried expression when he heard what had happened, what they did back at the place.

Atrox shrugged. He was seated at the dinner table together with Takoda and his companions. His mood had improved enough to allow him to eat. After what happened that morning, he hadn’t had anything to eat.

"They won’t come. Thrain is probably happy that I cut the warlord down to a smaller size. I’m assuming the plan was for Vorath to actually cause damage behind our lines, making us collapse from within while he swooped down on us. But all that failed when I sent him to the front.

"But we were supposed to fight each other. This way, Vorath’s forces and power would have been greatly reduced as well instead of being at full capacity as he is right now before we attack. Now I’ve saved Thrain the trouble."

Eamon’s eyes widened as he listened to Atrox’s analysis. "You know your brother far too well."

Atrox paused, his hand tightening on the fork he was holding. He shook his head. "No, I don’t. I don’t know him like I should. If I did, then I would have been able to know that Vorath’s plan wouldn’t work."

Eamon flinched, even though he wasn’t the one Atrox was talking to. But the man knew his efforts were one of the reasons that Vorath was in their army, now a bone in their throat.

"Forget it, Commander," Takoda smiled. "We all thought he would be a cheap way to swell our numbers. Nobody ever thought that he’d be working for your brother or how they even contacted each other. Come, let’s drink!"

And so Atrox drank—to honor those who had fallen and as a promise to not let the same happen again.

☆☆☆☆

The next day, work began again. Atrox didn’t want to sit still anymore, so he had his main army combine with Rikon. By the same move, he’d shrunk the need for the Master Knights to be split. Now they all would be guarding the same army.

The moving and combining took two days, and for all that time, Thrain didn’t do anything. He seemed content with just occupying his position.

That suited Atrox just fine, as he used the period of no conflict to move his forces as he wished. But then, a week after that, Thrain broke the peace.

Like Atrox, he had absorbed Vorath’s forces, and now he began to move forward again, steadily but surely. It seemed the man was hurrying for an all-out clash. And Atrox was only too ready to meet him.

Throughout the frontlines, there were small clashes as the small units sent to gather information and check for traps entered into short but intense battles.

But the first real engagement between the two would happen two days after Thrain began moving again. The man split his main forces. He broke off a small crumb and sent them west, having them move faster and curve.

Atrox would have ignored such a move, but then the one leading them was a Master Knight. Atrox understood what Thrain was trying to do.

He was trying to split his Master Knights.