BUILDING MY OWN EMPIRE - My Journey from Nothing to Overwhelming Power-Chapter 73 – You Are Not Alone

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"Your ability is control, then?" the leader of the Rock Fighters asked, while the old second-rank master seemed to struggle to remain standing.

The wind moved slowly across the red land between them, carrying dust and the faint scent of burned soil from battles that had taken place not long ago. The old man’s robe fluttered weakly around his thin frame. His body trembled slightly, not entirely from age but from the immense pressure hanging in the air.

A silence stretched between them.

The Rock Fighters behind their leader were frozen in place like statues, their bodies rigid, their eyes alive yet unable to move. Invisible lines seemed to connect them to the old master like the strings of a puppet show.

"Yes... as you can see," the old man whispered unsteadily. "I am not suited for direct combat like young men such as yourselves... my apologies."

The Rock Leader smiled faintly.

There was no mockery in the smile, only calm confidence. His eyes shifted toward his followers... they were trying to move, but to no avail.

Their muscles strained. Veins rose along their necks and arms as they fought against the invisible force binding them. Yet not a single step could be taken.

"It would have been extremely difficult if this had happened before the training," he murmured.

His voice carried across the silent battlefield.

The old man heard him as well... but the leader did not care.

The second-rank master narrowed his eyes slightly. The wrinkles on his face deepened as if he were trying to understand the meaning behind the leader’s words.

He extended his hand... closed his eyes... and recited:

"Break."

Suddenly...

The transparent threads that were controlling the followers...

Froze.

Their movement stopped... but they did not break.

All the soldiers stopped moving.

The invisible tension in the air changed.

For a moment it felt as though two unseen forces were pressing against one another—one trying to command, the other refusing to obey.

The old man extended his hand again... the soldiers were still unable to move.

He raised his voice.

"I have never seen a breaking ability of this kind before."

His voice echoed slightly over the empty field.

He tried again.

His threads were no longer able to control the soldiers.

The old master frowned.

This was not how control abilities usually behaved. Normally, if a control technique was broken, the connection would shatter entirely. But this...

This was something different.

He took out a new white thread from his hand... and launched it toward the soldiers once more.

Before reaching them, the thread split into thousands of delicate strands.

They spread across the air like drifting silk.

They stuck to the soldiers again...

And once more...

He was unable to move them.

The soldiers stood there like statues, breathing but motionless.

Suddenly...

"I have regained control of my body!"

One of the soldiers... had become free to move.

His voice broke the strange silence.

He flexed his fingers, then his arms, disbelief filling his face as sensation returned to his limbs.

"I see..." the old master whispered.

Then...

A thin white thread shot once again toward the freed soldier.

The second-rank master regained control of him.

His body stiffened instantly.

"Break," the Rock Leader whispered.

The soldier stopped moving.

And the master lost control again.

"It is not a complete breaking ability," the old man whispered. "He simply forces my ability to give only one command... stop."

The leader smiled and said,

"So you discovered it."

"Yes... it is a good trait as well. But if it is not a true breaking ability, then the matter is simple."

The old man answered.

His eyes glimmered faintly.

Then—

From nowhere...

He took out a small white pouch, curled in on itself.

The pouch looked ordinary at first glance, yet faint runic markings were embroidered along its edge. They glowed faintly with residual energy.

He put his hand inside it...

And pulled out several tiny black dots.

They rested in his palm like grains of dust.

"Seeds?" the Rock Leader whispered in surprise.

The old man threw a pile of the seeds onto the ground.

The moment they reached the soil...

Small green constructs—almost invisible—began to emerge from each seed.

They were tiny creatures formed from pure plant energy.

They dug into the earth beneath them, forming small holes.

Then the constructs pushed the seeds into the holes.

After a few moments...

Multiple small tremors began.

At first the ground merely vibrated.

Then...

The shaking increased.

Then increased again.

The soil cracked open in several places.

And in an instant—

Heads emerged... like yellow watermelons.

The ground opened further.

More than fifty round bodies with watermelon-like heads and long legs rose from the soil.

Their strange bodies wobbled slightly as they adjusted to the open air.

"Vegetable monsters?" the Rock Leader whispered.

The old man smiled in admiration.

"I am surprised you recognize them."

"I have seen them before," the Rock Leader replied. "They used to plow and farm the lands of the feudal lord who enslaved us."

A flicker of cold memory passed through his eyes.

"Yes... some people use them for that. But their true use..."

The old man raised his hand.

The hordes of vegetable monsters began moving toward the leader.

Meanwhile...

The old man took out another pouch from his hand.

This one was yellow.

"As a manipulator, you possess a great opportunity for power," the old man murmured. "But..."

He released another pile of seeds.

They were small as well, with a yellowish color.

"With power comes a weakness..."

He continued.

"Defense."

The hordes of round vegetable monsters arrived.

Their legs moved awkwardly but quickly, pushing their round bodies forward like rolling boulders.

Then—

One of them exploded.

From inside it burst a burning green powder.

It struck the leader.

A fierce burning sensation... and a sharp sting surged directly into him.

BOOOOM.

Another monster exploded.

BOOOOOOM.

BOOOOOOM.

The noise increased.

The explosions continued.

The battlefield filled with thick smoke and floating green dust that burned the air itself.

There was no sound except theirs.

"He is trying to endure," the old man whispered. "Young people possess strong spirits... if it were me, I would already be dead."

The strikes continued.

Each monster rushed forward to explode and add its own blast.

Meanwhile...

The leader remained silent.

Within the dust.

Then his voice appeared...

Only when all the monsters had exploded.

"An impressive attack."

His rough voice resounded.

The smoke slowly parted.

He stood from within the dust.

His body straightened.

He raised his club...

Then—

His body began to swell.

And expand.

His muscles bulged outward like rising stone.

His skin hardened into a darker tone.

His legs sank into the earth...

And his shoulders stretched wider.

He became ten times larger than before. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The red earth suddenly trembled.

The battlefield seemed too small for his towering frame.

Then—

The ground cracked.

The soil surged upward as if something massive was moving beneath it...

And in the next moment, several patches of earth burst open at once.

From beneath the soil...

The monsters emerged.

Tall creatures, each exceeding three meters in height...

Yet strangely thin, their bodies weak as if they were nothing but stretched skeletons.

Their skin was glossy and tight...

Resembling giant beans connected together, bulging slightly in some places and shrinking in others.

From those bodies...

Several long legs extended, touching the ground with sharp, broken movements.

As for their arms...

They were unnaturally long, ending in sharp spear-like tips that glimmered under the dim light.

One... two... ten...

Then dozens.

Within moments, more than fifty monsters emerged from the depths of the earth.

Their small heads moved rapidly...

Then all fixed in a single direction.

Toward the man.

He stood alone.

Massive in build... shoulders broad like a mountain of stone, his muscles tight as if carved from rock.

In his hand...

A massive club.

The leader of the Rock Fighters stood firmly, the club resting upon his shoulder... and a proud smile spread across his face.

He looked at the creatures charging toward him.

Then he said in a low voice, as if speaking to himself:

"Finally."

The monsters rushed forward.

More than fifty long bodies launched at once, their legs striking the ground at terrifying speed, their sharp arms rising like spears aimed to kill.

But—

The moment the first monster approached—

The man moved.

His massive body did not move as anyone would expect.

He was fast.

Fast in a way that completely contradicted his heavy build.

BOOM!

His club descended like lightning.

The first monster shattered instantly, its body exploding into pieces before it could even understand what happened.

The second leapt toward him—

But the club rose again.

CRACK!

Its sharp arms snapped apart...

Then its body was crushed beneath a violent sideways blow.

Third... fourth...

The monsters began pouring toward him from every direction.

Some climbed over others, their long arms lunging at him like a forest of spears.

But the man moved among them like a storm.

A sidestep—

BOOM!

A horizontal strike—

CRACK!

An upward swing—

A thunderous rumble!

Each blow of the club smashed a monster... or hurled it through the air.

The monsters flooded him in greater numbers, trying to surround him.

But whenever they drew close...

The Rock Man’s body moved with sudden speed, as if the earth itself pushed him forward.

The club spun in his hand like a cyclone.

Crushing...

Shattering...

Breaking.

The long bodies flew in every direction.

The monsters thickened around him, attempting to encircle him.

But within that chaos...

He remained standing.

Striking.

Suppressing.

Destroying.

And his smile...

Never disappeared.