Titan King: Ascension of the Giant

At dawn the next day, as the beast tide began its assault on Blackstone City, the two millipede centipedes crawled out of the Bottomless Abyss.

The first to receive the report was, of course, Elder of Stewardship Delilah, who commanded the Sentinel Corps.

At that moment, Orion was already riding his thunderhawk, soaring through the skies to oversee and scout the incoming enemies.

Delilah acted decisively, taking charge of the situation in Orion's absence.

"Send the order: Warden Lilith and Elder of Prophecy Onyx are to head to the underground fissure immediately to provide support."

Currently, only Spider Queen Lorelia and Warden Rockwell were stationed at the underground fissure.

The monsters emerging from the Bottomless Abyss were two in number, and their strength was undoubtedly greater than that of Lorelia and Rockwell. This much was certain.

Thus, reinforcements had to be sent to the underground fissure quickly.

If anything happened to Lorelia or Rockwell, it would be a significant loss for the horde—and a personal failure for Delilah.

Delilah's judgment was correct. At that moment, Rockwell was being overwhelmed by the two millipede centipedes, and the battle was not going well.

Boom!

The male millipede centipede ignored the small spiders clinging to its body, curling itself into a fiery wheel and slamming into Rockwell with devastating force.

Rockwell was sent flying, coughing up blood. Strange runes flickered across his body—these were the symbols of a petrification spell.

The Spider Queen continued commanding her small spiders to attack the two millipede centipedes, but their efforts were largely ineffective.

Rockwell felt frustrated and helpless. Lorelia always had four hero-level cave spiders guarding her at all times.

If Lorelia had sent even one of those spiders to help hold off one of the millipede centipedes, the battle wouldn't have reached this dire state.

But Spider Queen Lorelia followed Orion's orders to the letter.

Orion had once instructed Lorelia that, aside from herself, she didn't need to concern herself with the survival of anyone else in the horde.

It was a harsh and somewhat absurd directive, but Lorelia, who valued her own life above all else, had no hesitation in carrying it out.

Bang!

Rockwell was struck again, this time by the female millipede centipede.

The impact was so powerful that Rockwell's bone armor shattered into pieces.

Splat!

Lorelia wasn't entirely without offensive capabilities. She fired a bolt from her crossbow, which was enveloped in green flames, striking the female millipede centipede in the neck.

Sizzle!

The poisoned bolt hit its mark, and the sound of corrosive sizzling filled the air, alerting the female millipede centipede to the danger.

The creature ignored Rockwell and turned its furious gaze toward Spider Queen Lorelia.

Lorelia, ever cunning, immediately commanded her small spiders to block the area in front of her, creating a dense barrier.

She then raised her crossbow and fired another bolt as a show of defiance.

As a fellow broodmother, the female millipede centipede was enraged by this provocation. It lashed out with its many legs, charging forward like a speeding train.

"Whirlwind Strike!"

At the critical moment, reinforcements arrived. Onyx, seeing Rockwell injured and Lorelia under attack, immediately unleashed his only charging skill.

Onyx spun like a tornado, his stone axe tearing through the air with sparks, colliding head-on with the female millipede centipede.

Boom! Find your next adventure on empire

Both Onyx and the female millipede centipede were knocked back. One of the centipede's front claws, which had been reaching for Lorelia, was severed cleanly at the base.

"Rockwell, are you okay?"

Onyx steadied himself and, instead of checking his own condition, immediately turned his attention to Rockwell.

"Prophet, I'm fine. Just a minor injury!"

Splat!

Before Rockwell could finish speaking, he coughed up a mouthful of black blood.

"Lorelia, use your spiders to cover Rockwell!"

"Understood!"

Onyx raised his stone axe, his aura surging as he prepared to face the female millipede centipede again.

At the same time, a unique song accompanied by a beautiful melody echoed through the underground fissure—Lilith had arrived just in time.

The battle's outcome was still undecided, and the fight raged on.

---

Above Blackstone City, the sky was filled with the cries of eagles.

Orion looked down at the seemingly endless beast tide, his expression slightly grim.

Sensing the auras of Onyx and Lilith moving toward the underground fissure only deepened his concern.

"With the beast tide surging toward the city, for Prophet and Lilith to leave the frontlines, there must be a serious problem at the underground fissure."

The fissure was already guarded by Lorelia and Rockwell. If they still needed reinforcements, the enemy must be both powerful and numerous—at least two strong opponents.

"Rayden, fly toward the underground fissure!"

"As you command!"

With no flying beasts threatening them, Thunderhawk Rayden exuded an air of invincibility, as if declaring itself the undisputed king of the skies.

"Can you sense the enemies' presence?"

"Master, I can sense them, but the underground fissure is blocked. I can't see them."

"How many enemies are there?"

"Two distinct auras!"

Hearing this, Orion let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Four against two—Onyx and the others were sure to prevail.

"Change direction. Fly toward the densest part of the beast tide!"

"And keep an eye on the fiend serpent swarm. Look for anything unusual among them."

Orion's orders were precise. His primary focus was the fiend serpents.

Although the beast tide was massive, Orion's side had plenty of strong fighters.

With the Abyssal Dragon, Thundar, Rendall, and Delilah holding the line, as long as no Alpha-level beasts appeared, the city walls would remain secure.

The Stoneheart Horde was indeed at its peak strength. They had cannon fodder, elite warriors, and even cave spiders assisting in the defense.

Orion was confident in their chances.

Riding the thunderhawk high above the battlefield, Orion served as both a symbol of reassurance for the bloodline warriors and a deterrent to potential threats like Ridi—or even Lord Gareth.

The appearance of the fiend serpent swarm had put Orion on high alert. He couldn't quite decipher Gareth's intentions.

"Rayden, any discoveries?"

"Master, nothing yet. The ground is just full of those 'chips' you mentioned!"

Orion didn't respond immediately. After a moment of silence, he said:

"Lower our altitude and keep searching. Include the weaker 'chips' as potential targets for surveillance."

"Understood!"

Orion felt increasingly uneasy. The longer he and the thunderhawk failed to locate the mastermind behind the fiend serpent swarm, the more his anxiety grew.

This could mean that Lord Gareth herself was coming to Blackstone City.

Perhaps Gareth was arriving in person to eliminate Orion, whom she saw as a significant threat.

Or perhaps it was just a will projection, sent to test the waters.

Either way, it wasn't good news. Orion wasn't yet at the legendary level, and he wasn't ready to face Lord Gareth directly.

---

Caw! Caw! Caw!

As the beast tide crashed against Blackstone City, Orion never expected the broadskull ravens to return.

From the western horizon, a dense swarm of broadskull ravens flew back, their ominous cries echoing like funeral dirges.

"Rayden!"

Orion called out to his thunderhawk, urging it to climb higher and fly toward the incoming ravens.

Tridents and lightning flashed in succession, and broadskull ravens fell one after another.

"Rayden, can you locate the leader of the broadskull ravens?"

"Master, I can't!"

Orion hurled another trident, killing a reckless broadskull raven that had flown directly toward him.

"Something's not right!"

It was strange. As the two sides closed the distance, the broadskull ravens showed no intention of surrounding or attacking the thunderhawk and Orion.

Instead, whenever the ravens encountered the thunderhawk, they either veered away or changed direction entirely, continuing their flight toward Blackstone City.

"Rayden, return to Blackstone City!"

The unusual behavior of the broadskull ravens left Orion puzzled. He decided to head back to Blackstone City to see what the ravens were up to.

---

On the ground, amidst the fiend serpent horde, Ridi had transformed into an ordinary fiend serpent, hiding among them.

Watching the thunderhawk chase after the broadskull ravens, Ridi couldn't help but laugh.

"Hahaha… Those ravens came back! Great, the heavens are helping me!"

"Now's the time—launch the assault!"

With that, Ridi drove the beast tide forward, intensifying the attack on Blackstone City.

---

Above Blackstone City, Orion was stunned by the scene before him.

The broadskull ravens weren't attacking the warriors on the walls or the people inside the city. They weren't even lowering their altitude.

Instead, they were defecating.

Countless streams of green bird droppings rained down from the sky, splattering all over Blackstone City.

The absurdity of the scene was beyond belief. If Orion hadn't witnessed it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed it.

"So… this is the broadskull ravens' attack?"

Orion muttered to himself, finding the attack symbolic at best and largely ineffective.

He knew the broadskull ravens were vengeful creatures, but he never imagined that their method of revenge would involve… bird droppings.

After finishing their "attack," the broadskull ravens didn't linger. They turned and flew back west without hesitation.

"Master, these ravens are disgusting!"

Thunderhawk Rayden was furious. Even its favorite perch on a nearby hill had been defiled by the ravens' droppings—a humiliation it couldn't tolerate.

"Ignore them for now. As long as they're not attacking, focus your attention below!"

"Keep searching for any suspicious beasts!"

Thunderhawk Rayden let out an eagle cry and stopped paying attention to the broadskull ravens.

In truth, there were simply too many ravens for Orion and the thunderhawk to deal with.

---

In the underground fissure, the battle raged on.

With Onyx and Lilith joining the fight, the situation had improved significantly.

Under the influence of Lilith's [Illusions: Mind Confusion], the female millipede centipede suffered repeated heavy blows, and much of the armor on its segmented body had been shattered.

However, the millipede centipedes were incredibly resilient.

Despite its injuries, the female millipede centipede continued to roar, its aura still strong.

On the other side, with countless small spiders distracting the male millipede centipede, Warden Rockwell was gaining the upper hand and finally venting his frustration.

The male millipede centipede had also lost much of its armor under Rockwell's relentless attacks.

Additionally, Spider Queen Lorelia frequently fired poisoned bolts from the sidelines, corroding much of the male centipede's armor.

Chitter! Chitter!

The female millipede centipede let out a series of sharp cries, summoning the male centipede.

Hearing the call, the male millipede centipede went berserk, thrashing its body as it charged toward the female.

Seizing the opportunity, Rockwell raised his stone axe and severed an entire row of the centipede's legs, significantly slowing its movement.

"Prophet, watch out!"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Lilith cried out in alarm, warning Onyx as the male millipede centipede barreled toward him.

Onyx swung his stone axe in a wide arc, knocking the female millipede centipede aside before retreating a short distance.

By sheer coincidence, the male and female millipede centipedes ended up side by side.

To everyone's astonishment, the two centipedes intertwined, head to tail, forming a circular ring once again.

The ring began to roll, crushing the small spiders beneath it like a massive tank tread, as it attempted to escape back toward the Bottomless Abyss.

"This isn't good—they're trying to escape!"

Onyx was the first to react, charging forward with his stone axe.

Spider Queen Lorelia was quick to respond as well, commanding countless small spiders to swarm and block the centipedes' path.

The first wave of spiders was completely crushed, their bodies reduced to pulp.

But as more and more spiders piled up like a living barricade, they finally managed to halt the centipedes' advance.

"Rockwell, attack with me! Focus on killing one of them first!"

Onyx's ability to assess the situation was impressive.

Hearing his command, Rockwell hefted his stone axe and joined the attack.

In the next moment, Onyx and Rockwell spun their stone axes like whirlwinds, launching a coordinated assault on the two millipede centipedes.

---

Back in Blackstone City, the broadskull ravens had left as quickly as they had come.

After defecating all over the city, they flew back west without lowering their altitude or launching any real attacks.

Since the ravens posed no immediate threat, Orion chose to ignore them.

Instead, he focused on finding the hidden enemy, instructing Thunderhawk Rayden to lower its altitude and conduct a thorough search of the surrounding areas.

It didn't take long for Thunderhawk Rayden to make a discovery.

"Master, something's off about the area we just flew over!"

"What's off?"

To be honest, Orion's nerves were on edge. The moment the thunderhawk mentioned something unusual, his heart skipped a beat.

"There's a chip down there—it's emitting a strange, powerful energy!"

"Chip" was their code for fiend serpent.

If it was radiating strong energy, it meant the fiend serpent was highly powerful. This serpent was most likely Ridi, or perhaps the will projection of Lord Gareth.

"Rayden, let's go back and find that chip with the abnormal energy!"