Titan King: Ascension of the Giant-Chapter 806: A War of Attrition

Whoosh!

The impact sent Orion hurtling backward through the air.

Far below, on the slopes of the mountain range at the rear of the battlefield, Clymene witnessed the entire exchange.

"What power is that?" The voice of Desdemona, the succubus elder, echoed in the shared space of Clymene’s mind. "It repelled even My Lord’s attack! And he is an Archlord now!"

"The enemy is also an Archlord," came a second, more cautious voice. It was Vargrum. "We should not stare too long at such a terrifying being. His gaze might find us in the crowd."

"What is there to fear?" a third, bellicose voice boomed. Grendel, the most hot-tempered of the souls, scoffed. "My Lord is there! He won’t let that bastard in the sky get away with it."

The battle between Archlords raging in the heavens had cast a pall of fear over the entire battlefield. The Legendary-tier champions on both sides kept their distance, none daring to even fly at low altitudes, lest they be annihilated by the collateral fury.

"The enemy Archlord is Orion’s to handle," Clymene, the primary consciousness, asserted, forcing their shared body to pull its gaze away and focus on the tide of Skeletal Knights surging before them. "He is the King of Giants. We must have faith in him."

"The lady is right. The battle above is beyond our influence."

"Yes. Our task is to hunt the Silver-Eyed, to harvest more of their eyes for the Tribe."

"With those eyes, the very foundations of the Stoneheart Horde will grow deeper, stronger."

"My Lord, look ahead! The cavalry regiments are in danger! We must support them!"

Seven voices in total, speaking in rotation within one mind. Each with a different personality, a different tone, a different thought. It was the volatile but potent fusion of these seven souls that had allowed the body Clymene now controlled to ascend to the Legendary tier.

Be strong, Orion, Clymene thought, a fleeting, private prayer.

She then directed her legions of skeletal warriors forward, a tide of bone to screen the beleaguered cavalry.

High in the sky, the fight continued.

The failed assassination told Orion everything he needed to know: this opponent was trouble. Grand General Dorian was, without a doubt, the most formidable foe Orion had ever faced at a comparable level of power.

His ability was a near-perfect counter to Orion’s fighting style—and to almost any warrior who relied on close-quarters combat.

Was it a time stop? he wondered, his mind racing. No, not quite. I could feel the trident still moving, just... crawling.

A wave of pure fighting spirit flared to life around him, forming a psychic aegis. His Battle Will. He should have activated it sooner; that lapse had nearly allowed Dorian to bypass his defenses entirely.

With the immediate threat mitigated, Orion switched tactics. A storm of phantom tridents, the Eightfold Spear (Trident)Barrage, erupted into being, swarming Dorian and trapping him in a vortex of attacks.

It looked as if Orion had seized the offensive, but he knew the truth. He was the one on the back foot.

If a direct charge was impossible, he would have to fight from a distance. Fortunately, his skill with a thrown trident was second to none. By combining that with the suppressive fire of the Barrage, he was confident he could force a stalemate.

The plan was simple. If he couldn’t kill the Silver-Eyed General quickly, he would drag out the fight. He would wait for Leonidas to deal with the other Archlord. Surely, Leonidas would have a solution.

It wasn’t that Orion was without options. He had trump cards—the Rite of Blood Sacrifice, the Forbidden Curse Scroll—both of them killer moves of the highest order. But this wasn’t the moment to reveal his hand.

Perhaps when Leonidas returned, he would have a simpler, more elegant way to kill their foe.

Orion had that much faith in Leonidas. After all, that wily bastard had been a peak Archlord for years; the number of tricks hidden up his sleeve had to be staggering.

On the blood-soaked earth below, the allied forces and the army of the Silvermoon Empire had fully collided.

The Legendary champions on both sides exercised restraint, holding back from direct engagement and instead commanding their troops in a brutal war of attrition. Every lord, every commander, was waiting. They were all watching the sky, waiting for the Archlords to determine the course of the war. Their victory or defeat was paramount.

The armies of the Silvermoon Empire were terrifyingly effective. It wasn’t just their third-eye abilities; their equipment was of a superior make, and their discipline was ironclad.

Ranks of their cavalry, after weathering volley after volley from massive ballistae, would charge forth, systematically smashing through the front lines of skeleton soldiers.

They never overextended. The moment they gained an advantage, they would wheel about and retreat, a disciplined, intelligent, and deadly fighting force.

"Ugh, those cavalrymen are so slippery!" Spider Queen Lorelia clenched her fists, glaring at the retreating riders with undisguised fury. "Don’t let me get my hands on them, or I’ll grind their bones to dust."

She had been directing her swarms of smaller spiders, hidden amongst the skeletons, to lay traps of web and silk. It was a wasted effort. The enemy was too sharp, pulling back before the traps could be sprung. Only the occasional unlucky rider, whose mount stumbled or panicked, became a target for Lorelia’s wrath.

"Pull your children back, Lorelia," Soraya said with a gentle smile. She and Vexis flanked the Spider Queen, a protective cordon around her.

Over their time together, Lorelia had managed to earn the affection and trust of these twin engines of the ground war. "I’ve already buried a portion of my small scorpions in the earth. The next time they charge, they will not find it so easy to leave."

"Fine, Soraya," Lorelia pouted. "You have to catch them. Avenge our skeleton warriors for me. Vexis worked so hard to summon those beloved little toys, it’s a shame to see them broken."

Vexis merely glanced at Lorelia, saying nothing.

With Soraya taking over the bulk of command, Lorelia found herself free to gaze up at the celestial battlefield. The sky was filled with suspended, blood-red tridents, and the constant boom of distant explosions signaled the ferocity of the duel.

"Aah, poor, poor Lorelia!" she sighed dramatically. "The Master has already ascended to become an Archlord, a being for all to look up to. And what am I? Still stuck at the peak of the Alpha tier. It’s simply unbearable!"

Her faith in her master wasn’t just confidence; it was a burning, fanatic devotion. The possibility of Orion being defeated was a concept that her mind could not even formulate. In her eyes, Orion was the strongest, mightier even than a god.

"Lady Soraya, can you teach me your secrets for advancing to the Lord level?" Lorelia asked, her tone shifting to one of earnest pleading. "I truly want to advance. I want to be of use to the Master, and to both of you."

Soraya offered a wry, helpless smile. To be honest, she wasn’t entirely sure how she had broken through herself.

She just remembered a day when Orion had suddenly appeared and stuffed her hands with an endless stream of arcane resources. At one point, she’d had three distinct Essences of Legendary Souls in her possession at once, free to study and absorb their truths at her leisure.