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

The primary aim was straightforward: eliminate the horde by striking at its core. They needed to slay the Insect King or the Broodmother. Without the guiding hive mind, the insectoid armies reduced to mere senseless pests.

'Your Highness, should we charge the city?'

Godfrey bent closer to the map, his finger following the outlines of the outer defenses. 'Any assault has to happen right away, with the sun overhead. Darkness benefits those armored fiends. Come nightfall, our edge vanishes.'

Godfrey's zeal hung thick in the air. He'd enlisted in the volunteer force for a single purpose: renown. Legends spoke of the Stoneheart Horde's treasuries brimming with treasures, and this budding empire's ranks remained fluid. He craved a place among the elite.

His fascination with the towering figure before him burned strong as well.

Kaelen paused before replying. He shifted his attention to Thundar, the Horde's Battle Elder—a being of vast rank and might.

Thundar just shook his head. No advice came from him, no speech. Command lay elsewhere.

Kaelen's gaze returned to the map, quietness lingering among them.

The troops stood ready. Blades and armor filled his arsenal. He could grind down the swarm through endless losses. Yet this marked his inaugural battle. The opening conflict under his standard as a Stoneheart Horde Prince. A sloppy win wouldn't do. It demanded perfection.

He yearned to carve his legacy into the hearts of the warriors trailing him.

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

With the break of dawn, the Second Legion advanced upon Soaring Bird City.

The thud of their footsteps roused the nest. Endless many-limbed terrors—centipedes stretching as long as a man's forearm—surged from gaps in the stonework, under the base slabs, and across the battlements.

The view alone sent shivers down spines. It formed a writhing mat of jaws and tough exoskeletons.

Still, a wave of bewilderment spread among the Legion's lines. The horde failed to launch an assault.

Seasoned fighters clutched their spears, beads of sweat forming. Instinct warned that crossing the three-mile boundary of a nest brought the swarm crashing down like a flood. But here... something felt off.

The insectoids swarming Soaring Bird City merely produced shrill chirps and snapped their jaws. They manned the ramparts, poised in expectation.

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The insectoids swarming Soaring Bird City merely produced shrill chirps and snapped their jaws. They manned the ramparts, poised in expectation.

The strain grew intolerable until Kaelen's voice—youthful yet radiating unshakeable assurance—sliced through the tension.

'Maintain your stance.'

In that instant, the atmosphere near him wavered. Enormous, shimmering wings—resembling a monarch butterfly's but shadowed like deepest night—burst from his shoulders. He rose into the air, suspended over the front lines.

With all stares locked on him, Kaelen soared solo toward the overrun metropolis.

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

It resembled a deity gliding through the midst of mere humans.

'What in the hells...' Godfrey muttered. 'The vermin... they fear the Prince?'

He shared a stunned glance with Aldwyn.

'I believe I grasp the Prince's scheme,' Thundar declared, ending his prolonged quiet.

In honesty, the Elder himself hadn't grasped Kaelen's intent until now. But witnessing the horde shrink away, everything aligned.

'You couldn't fathom it,' Thundar growled, a smile cracking his bushy beard. 'His Highness's mother hailed from the Insectoid Race. Prior to joining the Stoneheart Horde, he grew up in their midst.'

'Among our kind, he holds the title of Prince.'

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

The fact stood firm. Kaelen bore the lineage of the Dark Butterfly Race. Even with Orion's heritage cleansing his wild essence, those wings' emergence marked him as hive nobility.

And through the timeless insectoid codes, an Insect King could summon the Rite of Challenge.

When rival Kings clashed, only one survived to govern. The conqueror seized the defeated's full dominion. The fallen gained only oblivion.

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

The Stoneheart Horde's giants were all exceptional talents. Kaelen embodied tomorrow, the blade shaping eras to come. Beholding the youthful Prince drift toward foes, Thundar deemed their quest's trials justified by every spilled drop.

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

'To the end!' Aldwyn repeated.

Abruptly, the swarm's stillness clicked. They weren't poised for assault; they awaited the verdict. They hungered to witness which lineage triumphed—who would elevate their strength.

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

'Keep your concerns,' Thundar dismissed with a snort. 'Stoneheart Horde Princes aren't faint-hearted. Their power exceeds your wildest thoughts.'

As though affirming the Elder's trust, Kaelen's call thundered across Soaring Bird City.

'Reveal yourself! I sense your foul odor!'

'This hive falls under my rule!'

Kaelen lingered elevated over the main square, gazing down with supreme scorn, hunting the concealed ruler.

'You claim Kingship of the Race... but bow to weak-fleshed ones?'

The reply echoed from far below ground—a rasp like clashing boulders, dulled and weighty.

'Or do you just betray your own?'

The ground in the central square heaved. Cobblestones burst apart as a colossal form erupted from below. An insectoid champion, mounted on a thirty-yard subterranean serpent, ascended from the abyss. It lifted its plated skull, meeting Kaelen's stare.

Two Insect Kings confronted each other. The atmosphere buzzed with enmity.

'Betrayer?' Kaelen's laugh rang out. It carried icy ridicule.

At his rear, the breeze distorted. A team of butterfly-slayers broke from the group and soared to guard their Prince. They floated in the sky behind him, a wordless, lethal entourage.

The beast from the depths eyed the butterfly-slayers, going mute. Following a drawn-out, charged silence, the insectoid uttered once more.

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

This served as both greeting and fatal proclamation.

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

Kaelen's declaration boomed louder.

'I shall take your brood. I will guide them to triumphs beyond your reach.'

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

Kaelen's face stayed composed, even as his thoughts churned. Unlike siblings Kronos or Pallas, the trident wasn't his preferred arm. He thrived as an assassin, expert with the dagger.

Yet in this shape, the Dark Butterfly Race provided no innate arms that fit him. He entered bare-handed.

That said, he arrived ready.

Orion had imparted a Divine Art—a banned method called the Rite of Fatebound Offering. It let a fighter offer up vital essences to craft a blade harmonized with their essence.