Titan King: Ascension of the Giant Chapter 1462 A Meeting of Kings

The main goal was straightforward: wipe out the horde by cutting off its leader. They needed to eliminate the Insect King or the Broodmother. Lacking a central hive mind to direct them, the insectoid forces turned into mere brainless pests.

'Your Highness, should we charge into the city?'

Godfrey bent over the map, his finger following the outlines of the outer fortifications. 'If we launch an assault, it has to happen right now, with the sun overhead. Darkness benefits those armored fiends. We forfeit our edge once night falls.'

Godfrey's enthusiasm hung thick in the air. He had enlisted in the volunteer legion for a single purpose: fame. Legends spoke of the Stoneheart Horde's vaults brimming with treasures, and the structure of this emerging empire remained fluid. He aimed to secure a prominent position.

He also burned with intense curiosity about the giant standing before him.

Kaelen didn't reply right away. He shifted his attention to Thundar, the Battle Elder of the Horde—a being of vast authority and might.

Thundar just shook his head. He provided no advice, no speech. This wasn't under his leadership.

Kaelen brought his gaze back to the map, as quietness lingered among them.

He commanded the troops. He possessed the iron. He could overwhelm the swarm via relentless numbers. Yet this marked his initial campaign. The inaugural conflict fought beneath his standard as a Prince of the Stoneheart Horde. A chaotic triumph wouldn't do. He demanded perfection.

He had to carve his identity into the thoughts of the tribesmen trailing him.

Kaelen's gaze sharpened. A strategy formed in his mind.

Come dawn the following morning, the Second Legion advanced upon Soaring Bird City.

The rumble from their footsteps agitated the hive. Innumerable many-legged abominations—centipedes spanning a man's arm—surged from fissures in the stonework, from under the base rocks, and across the battlements.

The scene could send chills across any flesh. It formed a writhing blanket of jaws and tough exoskeletons.

Still, a wave of bewilderment spread among the Legion's lines. The swarm refrained from striking.

Seasoned fighters clutched their spears, beads of sweat forming. Their know-how warned that crossing the three-mile boundary of a hive would unleash the swarm like an ocean surge. But this... this felt off.

The insectoids swarming Soaring Bird City merely produced shrill stridulations and snapped their mandibles. They manned the walls, poised in anticipation.

The insectoids swarming Soaring Bird City merely produced shrill stridulations and snapped their mandibles. They manned the walls, poised in anticipation.

The strain grew nearly intolerable when Kaelen's voice, youthful and filled with unwavering certainty, sliced through the atmosphere.

'Hold your ground.'

While he declared it, the atmosphere near him wavered. Enormous, shimmering wings—resembling those of a monarch butterfly, yet black as night—burst from his shoulders. He rose into the air, suspended over the front lines.

With all gazes locked on him, Kaelen soared solo toward the overrun city.

What followed challenged comprehension. As Kaelen's silhouette swept across the walls, the insectoids refrained from lashing out. They shrank back. They flattened their undersides against the rock, quaking fiercely.

It resembled a deity gliding through mere humans.

'What in the hells...' Godfrey muttered. 'The bugs... they're frightened of the Prince?'

He shared a puzzled glance with Aldwyn.

'I believe I grasp the Prince's intention,' Thundar stated, ending his extended quiet.

In reality, the Elder himself hadn't grasped Kaelen's scheme until that instant. But witnessing the swarm shrink away, everything clicked together.

'You couldn't possibly know,' Thundar growled, a smile cracking his bearded visage. 'His Highness's mother hailed from the Insectoid Race. Prior to his return to the Stoneheart Horde, he grew up in their midst.'

'To us, he serves as a Prince.'

'To them... he reigns as an Insect King.'

The fact held true. Kaelen bore the lineage of the Dark Butterfly Race. Even with Orion's heritage cleansing his wild essence, the moment those wings spread, Kaelen embodied hive nobility.

And according to the timeless rules of the insectoids, an Insect King held the right to summon the Rite of Challenge.

Upon the encounter of two Kings, only one could dominate. The winner seized the defeated's full colony. The defeated gained only demise.

'A clash of Kings,' Thundar declared, his tone heavy with honor. 'What comes after, in your view?'

The giants within the Stoneheart Horde were all exceptional talents. Kaelen represented the tomorrow, the iron core shaping the forthcoming era. Observing the young Prince drift toward the foe, Thundar sensed that their expedition's trials justified every spilled drop.

'A fight to the end,' Godfrey comprehended, exhaling the phrase.

'To the end!' Aldwyn repeated.

Abruptly, the stillness of the crawlers clicked. They weren't poised to assault; they awaited the result. They yearned to witness which bloodline would triumph—who would enhance their strength.

'My Lord,' Godfrey turned to Thundar with unease. 'Do we step in? It's dangerous...'

'Keep your concerns,' Thundar dismissed with a snort. 'The Princes of the Stoneheart Horde aren't weaklings. Their power exceeds your wildest thoughts.'

As though to affirm the Elder's conviction, Kaelen's voice thundered across Soaring Bird City.

'Reveal yourself! I detect your foul odor!'

'I am seizing control of this hive!'

Kaelen lingered high over the central square, peering down with regal scorn, hunting for the concealed ruler.

'You are a King of the Race... yet you bow to weak-fleshed ones?'

The reply emerged from far below ground—a voice akin to scraping rocks, dulled and weighty.

'Or are you simply a betrayer?'

The ground in the city center heaved. Cobblestones burst apart as a colossal form pierced upward. An insectoid fighter, mounted on a thirty-yard subterranean worm, ascended from the abyss. He lifted his plated head, meeting Kaelen's stare.

Two Insect Kings, confronting each other. The atmosphere buzzed with enmity.

'Betrayer?' Kaelen chuckled. The sound rang icy and derisive.

Behind him, the breeze distorted. A group of butterfly-assassins broke from the ranks and soared to guard their Prince. They floated in the sky at his rear, a quiet, lethal entourage.

The beast from below gazed at the butterfly-assassins, going mute. Following a prolonged, taut interval, the insectoid uttered once more.

'I am Azhur. King of the Myriapex Race.'

This served as a greeting, and a condemnation.

'I am Kaelen. King of the Dark Butterfly Race.'

Kaelen's declaration boomed louder.

'I will take your offspring. I will guide them to splendor beyond your reach.'

Azhur offered no further words. He merely hoisted his ponderous trident, marking the duel's onset.

Kaelen's face stayed composed, even as his thoughts surged. Unlike his siblings Kronos or Pallas, the trident wasn't his preferred arm. By instinct, he was an assassin, expert with the dagger.

But in this transformed state, the Dark Butterfly Race provided no innate arms that fit him. He entered empty-handed.

Nevertheless, he arrived ready.

Orion had instructed him in a Divine Art—a banned method called the Rite of Fatebound Offering. It enabled a fighter to offer up living essences to craft a blade ideally matched to their essence.