Building An Empire Starting From The Labor Camp In Exile-Chapter 132: Deep fear of predators

Blue light washed over the room, accompanied by a wave of bitter cold that quickly began to spread frost over the ground, shelves, and equipment.

Atrox expected an attack to come at them next, but nothing happened except the light flaring and then dulling, flaring and dulling again. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Without saying anything, they began to walk toward the source of the light, doing their best not to make too much noise. The light grew brighter the closer they got, and the trail of solid blood thickened. Atrox readied his sword as they finally walked around the workbench and saw what was causing the light.

It was the Yeti—a dead Yeti. It was almost unrecognizable, its body torn into bloody, burnt rags, its torso completely gone, and its chest shattered.

But the monster had frozen all its wounds almost solid and then dragged itself here with its remaining mangled hand.

It was currently slumped over the source of the light. It must have drawn some kind of pentagon—angles within circles around more angles. At the center of it was not only the monster but also a strange oval glass object, part of its body dyed green and dripping like blood.

Atrox recoiled when he saw the green object, but he was also drawn to it. He took a step forward. His mark of Order itched to be shown, and the flesh on the back of his hand rippled.’What is this? It’s...familiar...almost like the Crimson Moon then...’

"A ritualistic formation," Serdan said, her voice tight. "We should get out of here."

"But we haven’t truly cleared the ruin. That’s the seed, right? Let’s destroy it," Dlodus said.

Manefor took a step back. "Let’s get out of here. Something is wrong. I don’t think that monster should be doing that kind of magic."

Tiber and Slya nodded as well, already moving back.

Then everyone glanced at Atrox. He hesitated. ’This is my chance to learn more about the Forbidden mark since this Rift seed is somehow related to it... Maybe they are connected?’

His heart skipped a beat. ’Or it’s an Inheritance as well?’

"We can stay..." he began, but suddenly the blue light flared and instantly turned sickly green. It throbbed like a wound, sending a splitting headache through their heads as it fell on them.

Nobody needed to be told twice—they began running.

The air vibrated and whined, a screeching sound following like metal tearing in two. Suddenly, the green light flared even brighter and slammed into them from behind.

The strength was sucked out of their limbs, and they fell. It was as if all the power and will within them had been crushed. Their vision darkened as shadows clouded their eyes. They went unconscious immediately.

Then, from Atrox’s hand, red light flared as a Crimson Moon with a purple band appeared on his right hand. The light fell on him and washed over his body.

His strength returned, but he didn’t immediately stand. He couldn’t trust his limbs to hold his weight. He was shaking.

’What is this? Why am I shaking? Is that green light causing sickness?’ Atrox was baffled. Then he heard more screeching from behind him, and his shaking intensified. It was then he understood. ’I’m afraid!’

It left him stunned. He froze. Whatever was coming from that ritualistic formation had unlocked an instinctive fear in him—the absolute fear that falls on prey when confronted by a predator so far above them.

’Impossible’ Atrox couldn’t remember the last time he felt fear like this. No, he had never felt anything comparable. The pale memory of his prison days seemed weak in comparison.

The red moon on his hand brightened again, and he took strength from it as it resisted the green aura. He flipped himself over, sat upright, and forced himself to watch what was going to happen.

Where the ritualistic formation had been now stood a portal of green and black. The portal flickered and rippled, churning like the surface of a wave.

’It’s unstable!’ Atrox thought with a hint of joy. ’Whatever is coming won’t make it. An unstable portal is dangerous after all..’

A hand ending in green claws reached out from inside the portal and gripped the edge as if touching a door.

Atrox swallowed dryly, his sword’s hilt biting into his palm from how tightly he gripped it. ’Oh...shit...oh...shit...the portal is stable!’

A figure outlined itself within the portal before gently stepping out, its left hand still holding the edge. The figure had a slightly narrowed face—a man with slitted green eyes and a black horn curling elegantly out of his dark hair.

’A monster...a monster that has the form of a man... An aberration... No... Riftborn Titan... Danger! Danger! Get out of here!’ his mind screamed at him, but his body refused to obey. That made him angry. ’Whatever this is, it’s terrifying, but why won’t my body move?! Damn me!’

His struggle must have caught the monster’s attention because it looked over. When it saw Atrox, it smiled, flashing its fangs. "Oh my... What a surprise. No wonder I can smell something familiar here."

The monster took a step forward and frowned at its hand holding the portal. It glanced at the room and the dead Yeti lying on the ground.

Its lips curled as it narrowed its eyes at Atrox, who felt his breath freeze.

"You humans have gotten here." The creature frowned, surveying the workshop, its sickly green eyes taking everything in. "You shouldn’t be here."

Atrox forced himself to breathe again, relaxing just enough to let his mind wander toward his mark of Order. He drew strength from the red light.

The monster smiled and scratched its chin with its right hand. "But I wonder... If I kill you, will I get THAT? Won’t that be ironic? Tututu... I wonder why the Old Man let you get this far out of his sight."

’What is he talking about? THAT? He knows about the Inheritance and the Forbidden mark? Old Man... Which Old Man?’

Different thoughts ran through Atrox’s mind, but he couldn’t understand what the monster was saying. One thing was clear, though—the monster definitely knew more than him!

"I’ll just kill you, then," the monster said casually, as if deciding what to have for lunch.