Chapter 144 Come With Me, My Adorable Soldiers!

"MOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

As though responding to my taunt, the beast within its abode gave a bone-chilling declaration of war.

>BOOOOOOMMMM!!!<

The ceiling and surrounding rocks of his cave flew in various directions—reduced to nothing less than debris—as he rushed out in rage.

'Ah, that's a mess you're making, Minotaur King.'

I was certain its subordinates—sorry, previous subordinates—were the ones who were expected to clean it up and even rebuild it's cave-like home.

Unfortunately for the ruler, no one was permitted to act according to its whims. Soon enough, even it would meet the same fate.

"MOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Steam proceeded from its nose as its crimson eyes gleamed with the pure and primal instinct of destruction.

I sensed bloodlust emanate from its dangerously huge physique—larger than any I had seen thus far.

"It's over ten meters tall. That's crazy..." I whispered in excitement.

The bigger the better, right?

The Minotaur King was pure black in color, and its body was finely toned and muscled, putting the other monsters to shame. It was no wonder they all obeyed someone like this.

Heck, even I would lose all dignity before someone like this if I was a Minotaur.

It held a club made of polished stone. Its dark surface matched the Minotaur King's skin color, and I sensed a concentrated amount of Mana surging from it.

'I see. It's a type of Mana Crystal. From its black color, I can tell that its loaded with tons of power.'

Unfortunately, with no Rune or mechanism of any kind, the Mana would be uselessly trapped within the club.

'It's almost sad to see something this valuable being used as a mere club. I made the right decision to come here.'

I wiped my tears, happy to be granted the opportunity to correct such a tragedy.

"HUR HUR HUR." The Minotaur King started chuckling as it proudly approached me.

Did it think I was crying because I was scared? Wow, that was one weird interpretation... but it made sense.

'In any case, I better end this. I don't have all day.'

There were still many more Levels to explore, and other monsters to meet.

I squarely stared at the arrogant beast and stretched my hand toward him. I could use my Skill without moving, but it added to the aesthetic if I did it this way.

With my cool stance already established, and my epic expression settled, I narrowed my eyes and deepened my voice.

"Come to me... [Domination]."

>SHWUUUU<

Instantly, my power radiated throughout the cave, generating a pressure that sent all the Minotaurs behind me to kneel in subservience.

"M-M...moooo..." The Minotaur King was no exception.

In only a few seconds, it was already done for. The evil gleam of violence in its eyes died out, and it crumbled to its knees.

"It is done. You all... are mine now." A smirk naturally formed as I congratulated myself for a job well executed.

'I give it a 9/10. It would have been better if I killed one or two as examples, but I can't afford that. Every soldier counts.'

With that thought, I closed the curtain of this rather short chapter.

The System, as expected, gave me my reward.

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"A-amazing! The Legendary Dragon Slayer is beyond amazing!" Asa beamed.

She wasn't the only one, though. Practically everyone was excitedly chattering among one other about how awesome I was.

'I can hear you all, you know?' My thoughts trailed.

That didn't mean I had to stop them, though. I believed in freedom of speech, after all.

'Hehe...'

Currently, we were harvesting the Mana Crystals, Mana Chalk, Special Ores, and Mercury that were situated within the Minotaur territory.

Of course, the monsters were helping out, to make the work faster.

'It's great how they can do anything as long as I give specific commands.'

The effects of [Domination] was golden in this regard. It filled the gap that its counterpart, [The One Who Unifies] couldn't achieve.

While the latter worked on all races, its effects didn't apply to monsters.

Unlike Demons and other Races, monsters were not registered as intelligent life forms—even though some of them could display some form of intelligence.

Lower Class Demons were akin to monsters, but their membership in the Demon Race granted them special privileges that made them separate. Besides, a few Lower Class Demons had the capacity to lead and reason with the rest of their kind.

Plus, since Lower Class Demons were capable of sensible decisions such as retreat or strategic means of attack—even listening to instructions without the need of a mind-control ability—they couldn't be classified as Monsters.

That was why my Title [The One Who Unifies] worked on Lower Class Demons and not Monsters.

Besides, while both the respective Skill and Title allowed me to somewhat control the behavior and decisions of my targets, they functioned differently.

[Domination] came from a place of superiority and forceful usurpation of one's will. That meant I had to either have a higher Level than my target, or my Stats had to be greater than my opponent's Stat at the time of use.

'I initially wanted to resort to [Domination] when fighting Adu back then, but I found it impossible to ensure his Stat was lower than mine...'

In the end, [Domination] was very useful in gathering mindless slaves who did one's bidding by virtue of being inferior.

As for [The One Who Unifies], it was a Title that made my audience succeptable to my charisma. It was more like a suggestive hypnosis or brainwashing.

As a general rule, I couldn't brainwash what didn't have a brain. That was why monsters were exempt from the Title's effects.

'In any case, this is good. The experiment turned out to be successful...'

After realizing the disparity between my army and the opponent's forces in the first round, I knew we needed more manpower.

That was when it struck me!

The monsters within this Labyrinth would make for good soldiers if competently controlled.

They were the solution to our problem all along.