Building An Empire Starting From The Labor Camp In Exile-Chapter 298: Hail the Clan leader

The first thing Atrox did as he avoided Svenjar’s attempts in pulling him into a physical fight was break into a run. He leaped forward and blurred, appearing at the other end in a flash.

The speculators were surprised. What is the Clan leader doing? He’s running away? Isn’t... that too cowardly?

But Svenjar was different. He immediately became extremely wary as he watched him. Instead of rushing forward, he stopped and frowned. Just then, Atrox had shown how powerful he was, so why was he running?

It set Svenjar on edge, so he decided to wait and see.

From his place, Atrox looked at the stand where the enchantresses were standing and shouted, "Set the shield into the highest protection!"

They were surprised, but they did as he ordered. The shield flickered and then turned brighter, even though it was still translucent.

Atrox nodded in satisfaction, and then he raised his hand and made a fireball the size of his head.

"He wants to throw a fireball at me?" Svenjar muttered to himself.

Atrox concentrated on the fireball, and the next moment, thick black lines began to crawl forward, coiling around the ball and warping around it.

The black lines soon faded into it, and Atrox threw the fireball up to hang above his head. Then he began to push raw essence into it, turning it into raw fire.

In an instant, the fireball went from a flickering flame to a molten red orb. Heat rolled off it in waves, and yet Atrox was still putting more into it. He had opened his core and was pumping it full of essence.

Svenjar realized what Atrox was planning too late, but he didn’t seem that concerned. He shouted, "How much heat can you create to burn all my sands? Sands that I can regenerate with just a breath!

"It’s a good plan, but you are not the first opponent using fire that I’ve fought!" he shouted.

"Let’s find out together, young Master Svenjar," Atrox said and spread his arms wide.

The fireball flared into a deep red. The air turned heavy and gained a taint of red. The place that Atrox was standing on was melting into red liquid. The space around him distorted, and ripples of heat waves rolled off him.

At first, Svenjar stood where he was with his hands folded, but as the seconds began to count, he took a few steps backward. The platform had turned uncomfortably hot, so much so that the space was crawling with reddish heat waves as if they were standing directly above an active volcano.

Even the arena turned hot. People began to sweat, and the heat just kept climbing. The protective formation that covered the whole arena swung into motion and began to cool the heat.

The enchantresses began to fidget as they worried if their shield would hold at all. They began to write new formations, using enchanted tools to add layers.

Svenjar couldn’t keep it in anymore, and he shifted. He moved far away from Atrox, his back touching the wall of the shield. The melted stone beneath Atrox was spreading in a pool, slowly eating away at the other stone and melting it.

Atrox stood with his hands crossed and simply fed essence into the fireball, turning it into a small sun. "Are you ready to surrender now?"

He shouted across the platform.

Svenjar grimaced. His hand trembled slightly, and his whole body flickered as if the sand was an illusion that was wearing away. He could only maintain his sand form. He couldn’t even multiply his sand like before.

He shuddered as he came to the horrible realization that in the face of intense heat, his sand would melt. Even stones were melting, more or less sands.

Even though he had retreated to the very edge, the pool of redness was reaching him, slowly but surely. He understood what was going to happen, and so he forced his body to relax. He didn’t shed his sand layers, but he bowed.

"I surrender!" he shouted, the voice clear and sharp, and it shook the whole arena.

The speculators, whose hope had been on Svenjar, were struck dumb as the figures they bet flashed on their faces. For an instant, they were shocked before those who had their hopes on the Clan leader began to shout.

The shouting shook the arena, and the outside caught. And it was one word: "Hail the Clan leader!"

"Hail the Clan leader!"

"Hail the Clan leader!"

"Hail the Clan leader!"

The arena shook, and the people began to chant Atrox’s name when those who had the flag began to wave it. And when Atrox raised his hand, they went mad with cheering.

He stopped feeding essence to the fireball and even tried to forcefully cool it, but it was useless. The little fireball was too hot for simple wiping away.

The enchantresses had to come down and open a doorway for Atrox and Svenjar to leave the platform first before the platform sunk into the ground. They would be dealing with it underground where it wouldn’t affect the ordinary people. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Svenjar said, "Just how do you do it? How can you be so powerful? I thought... I thought I’m the strongest Errant Knight!"

Atrox shrugged. "I thought I was the weakest before I started on the path of Knighthood. So, since I defeated you, does that mean that I’m the strongest Errant Knight?"

Svenjar groaned. He felt as if he’d been cheated, but he couldn’t point out how. He’d been beaten so utterly that he knew even then that should they fight again, it would be the same result. But what really pained him was the fact that he was not beaten physically.

He surrendered because he was afraid of heat. The last time he tasted a defeat like that was when he fought one of his father’s sons.

It was a defeat that he bled from, but at least he knew he tried his best. But facing Atrox, he felt as if he didn’t try his best, and yet he knew his best wouldn’t even be close to doing anything.

So he turned an accusing finger at Atrox. "With that amount of power, you can beat me senseless. Why don’t you?"

Atrox shrugged. "A defeat is a defeat, just like when victory is victory."