Titan King: Ascension of the Giant

"Cool…these weird buildings have some real intrigue. Should we snag them for ourselves?"

"So, who's gonna do it, you or me?"

While Leonidas was speaking, Arthas was already guiding his bone dragon to land on the ground. Stay connected with My Virtual Library Empire

Arthas tossed out three peculiar creatures in safety helmets. They had mechanical arms and bodies shaped like metal barrels.

The three oddball creatures landed with a thud and rushed straight for those special buildings.

After a series of loud metallic clanging, they pried the structures open and pulled out miniature versions of the buildings inside.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa—Boney McBoneface—if you see something, you share it, right? You know the rules?"

"Quit nagging and get our troops teleported here ASAP. We're gonna turn this central region into our lair in no time."

"Got it!"

As Leonidas spoke, he spat a scroll out of his mouth and tore it apart.

Moments later, Gollum City was enveloped by a teleportation array, and countless undead skeletons and monstrous beasts were beamed onto the scene.

"So where is this World Tree you mentioned? Don't see it anywhere."

Arthas took the special building from one of those strange creatures, frowning a bit. Then he put it away, scanned the area, and asked again.

"That's the World Tree. Even if it's dead, we wouldn't be able to sense it, not with our usual methods!"

"The World Tree lies underground. I only found out through…special means!"

"Woof!"

Leonidas howled, issued a string of orders, then took off with Arthas, heading deep into Gollum City.

…

Meanwhile, on the eastern front, the battle had begun.

Orion was now invading the territory of Goblin Murktooth.

Watching the hundred-thousand-plus undead thralls charging at the very front made Orion's scalp tingle.

Even though he was a lord, a mighty being who wielded transcendent power, the sight of those undead mobs, utterly ignoring pain, destruction, or friendly fire in their onslaught, left him deeply shaken.

And if Orion felt that way, how could Lilith, Lysinthia, Onyx, and the others not be rattled as well?

"My Lord, are we dreaming or what?"

That was Slagor talking. The guy's terrified of dying, and his face was twisted in horror.

"They're just lower-tier rotting corpses, nothing worth freaking out over!"

It was Lilith, not Orion, who answered Slagor.

"In the Abyss, even on its outskirts, you'd see hordes of corpses way nastier than these," she said.

Succubi are, after all, a race born of the Abyss, so this kind of undead horde doesn't scare them.

"Sure, they're numerous, which can make them tricky to control. But that skeleton general is definitely tough."

Thundar, riding on his Dark Fiend, stared at Rumbold with a grim expression.

He used to be the chieftain of the Ironbone Tribe, had trained in the Abyss, and had come across mass swarms of undead corpses before. But those didn't even begin to compare with what he saw now.

"There are tons of formidable beings across these other worlds. We're just not there yet."

Onyx, who was handling the shock more rationally than the rest, felt his determination grow stronger—he was resolved to keep powering up.

"Lord Orion, your subordinates sure have some nerve—quite commendable!"

Thundar and Lilith's conversation had caught Rumbold's attention. He threw Orion a glance and praised Lilith and the others.

Yet in that "praise," Orion still heard an undercurrent of smugness.

Orion didn't respond. His focus stayed on the battlefield. Behind those hundred thousand plus undead thralls skittered a massive wave of cave spiders.

Honestly, Orion was worried those thralls might mistakenly hurt his precious little spiders.

Whether or not they actually could do harm was one thing, but the worry still ate at him.

"Lord Orion, rest assured, your spiders are currently controlled by me and my skeleton warriors. In principle, they won't strike your side by accident!"

Orion whipped around to glare at Rumbold, a hint of lethal intent in his eyes.

"Lord Orion, I believe you've misunderstood."

"We often collaborate with other races—naturally we've learned a few of our allies' concerns!"

The flicker of killing intent in Orion's gaze vanished, but he felt his guard go up.

Rumbold was probably telling the truth, but Orion couldn't be sure there wasn't some hidden ability in play—like mind control.

"Let's hope so."

For the first time, Orion spoke to Rumbold in a tone that was noticeably stark, laced with caution.

Rumbold let out a dry laugh, apparently unfazed. In truth, whenever he laughed, his face was totally blank—only a slight tremor in his body hinted at it, something most people wouldn't catch.

The mood was tense. Both Orion and Rumbold fell silent.

In the distance, more and more Goblins and Night Elves were getting slaughtered, and even the newly raised undead were toppling over.

Corpses lay piled everywhere on the ground. Steeped in black blood, they exuded a dark, ominous vibe.

Yet the invasion was hardly done.

The undead surged like a tidal wave, unstoppable in their assault.

Before long, sizable hillocks of bodies formed, scattered across this nameless city.

"Lord Orion, as for your little spiders—if they want to feast, they'll have to wait a bit longer."

Skeleton General Rumbold raised his weapon, prompting a chant from a hundred thousand skeleton warriors. They began summoning the fallen Goblins.

Orion watched wordlessly.

They didn't have enough thralls yet, and once the thralls got destroyed during an invasion, they couldn't just be re-summoned.

In other words, if they wanted to let these undead snowball into a bigger horde, they needed time and constant slaughter.

Narrowing his eyes, Orion realized after these two invasions that the undead army had two big drawbacks:

First, to field a large horde of undead thralls, you need sacrificial bodies or there's nothing to summon.

Second, once a thrall is crushed, it can't be summoned again.

If you exploit these weaknesses properly and strike swiftly, there's still a shot at beating the undead in battle.

Inside the city, the slaughter of Goblins went on.

Orion never caught the name of the Goblin Leader stationed here—Earthshaker had already dragged him off to bleed him dry.

"Lord Orion, that arch lord must've sensed us by now!"

"So, do you want to deal with him, or should I?"

Rumbold halted his chanting. He'd picked up on a Legendary-level presence closing in on the region.

Orion shot Rumbold a quick glance and responded calmly, "You've spent quite a bit of energy. I'll handle it."

"Besides, that arch lord isn't going to show up for at least half a day."

Rumbold nodded and said nothing more.

The fact that Orion could so precisely state that Goblin King Murktooth wouldn't arrive for another half-day caught Rumbold off guard. That meant Orion's perception range was huge—definitely bigger than Rumbold's.