Titan King: Ascension of the Giant Chapter 1518 Tasting Death Again

"Boy, your weapon's got the spine of a wet noodle. It looks like it's about to snap."

Rhydan hadn't overlooked the War Scythe's distortion. As a High Lord ruling this domain, overlooking it would have been impossible.

Orion scowled, sliding the scythe back into its sheath and pulling Doomscourge, the massive greatsword, from his side.

It made no sense. Doomscourge ranked a level lower than the War Scythe in sheer might. The Scythe stood as an ancient treasure; the sword, though famed, was just a battle tool. Still, Doomscourge endured this realm's pressure flawlessly, whereas the treasure had warped.

Orion couldn't figure out the relic's sudden decline, yet pondering it mid-fight wasn't an option.

"I have other steel," Orion declared.

He raised the greatsword, shifting into a piercing posture. In his grasp, the sword would act as a lance. A true fighter who grasped combat's core made the weapon irrelevant; true deadliness came from the user, not the metal.

"Hah! A spear is a spear, and a sword is a sword!" Rhydan bellowed, lifting his paired axes. "If your shaft is limp, your blade will be dull!"

The bandit lord rushed forward like a storm of fury.

Orion kept his face impassive. A single clash had revealed the foe's true power. Rhydan possessed great strength—a fresh High Lord—but guarded only the entry zone of the Death-Soul forbidden area. He marked the starting point.

The axes whirled, ripping the air with thunderous might. Orion held his ground. He drove Doomscourge straight into the assault.

The collision ignited Doomfire from the sword. Dark flames burst forth, forming the ghostly shape of a Doomsday Guardian. The fiery specter bypassed the whirling axes and crashed right into Rhydan's torso.

BOOM.

The axes exploded into pieces. Rhydan flew back, slamming into his rocky seat hard enough to fracture the stone in web-like patterns.

Orion returned his sword to its sheath, skipping any check for vital signs. Their power difference yawned like an abyss. That blow had pushed Rhydan to his breaking point. Plus, Doomfire now burned on the bandit's skin—a relentless, deathly blaze. Death was inevitable.

What baffled Orion was the strike's feedback.

This enigmatic realm enforced harsh rules that suppressed higher powers. He sensed it deep in his core—his strength was being restrained. Not a personal hex, but the surroundings themselves. The pressure bore down on Rhydan equally.

The laws here compress power, Orion pondered. Outside, that lunge would have ripped space apart. Here, reality's barriers stand too solid. It's as if I've weakened, but really, the world has toughened.

The isolation was extraordinarily thick. Even a realm-spanning teleport formation couldn't pierce it.

"Hahahaha! I taste death once again!"

Orion's focus whipped back to the throne. Rhydan cackled wildly amid the flames. Unable to smother the Doomfire, the bandit surrendered to it. He leaned against the fractured rock, flames devouring him.

Orion sensed an odd chill. Rhydan almost seemed to relish it.

In less than fifteen minutes, the bandit lord crumbled to white bones, then a heap of dust.

As Orion let out a breath, a beam of dazzling light plunged from the blank heavens, hitting the vacant throne. Once the glow dimmed, Orion's eyes widened in shock.

Rhydan perched there, restored and flawless, his face radiating calm.

"Dreamer, you have defeated me. You have passed the trial of the First Stratum."

Rhydan rose, his tone shedding its coarseness. "But as a warrior, how can you let your weapon bend during battle?"

Before Orion responded, Rhydan summoned. The War Scythe leaped from Orion's sheath into the bandit's hands. Orion could have intervened, but his gut urged restraint. This was the Dreamlands; rewards were incoming.

"I'm a poor man. I don't have trinkets or gold," Rhydan grumbled. "So, you get these."

He booted the broken axe shards skyward. Before they fell, the metal melted, forming a spinning ball of silver essence. The liquid metal ball lingered briefly before diving into the War Scythe.

The treasure quaked. Its wear reversed, its presence turning fiercer and more vital. The merging lasted hours, the weapon absorbing the Dreamlands' metal essence.

"Go now," Rhydan instructed, hurling the reborn scythe to Orion. "Give the loser some time to weep in peace."

With a gesture, an air sphere enveloped Orion. Before a question escaped him, the sphere rocketed up, lifting him toward the hidden clouds overhead.

Rhydan observed the dot vanish into the heavens, his features twisting into deep solitude.

"You moving to the next layer means I have failed again," he murmured to the emptiness. "Am I truly so weak compared to the others?"

The World of Eldoria — Temple of Terminus

"Brother, how did it go?"

The sky's strange disturbances, lasting half a month, had at last calmed. Orion's Divine Kingdom had firmly planted its World Tree roots, weaving them into Eldoria's ethereal foundation.

It resembled a transplant the host body had embraced. The resistance shakes ceased, making the bond smooth and hidden. With stability restored, Leonidas dared enter the Temple of Terminus.

"Smoother than I could have imagined," Orion answered.

He lifted his eyelids from the throne, extending a hand. Above it floated a World Tree root fragment—unseen by normal sight.

Leonidas couldn't perceive it, yet the tiny realm within him hummed in harmony, verifying it.

"And the effect?" Leonidas pressed, eyes alight. He blurred to Orion's side, placing hands on his shoulders for an over-the-top rubdown.

"Bro, is this really necessary?" Orion questioned, squirming from the abrupt spoiling.

"What? We're brothers. You've shouldered the burdens and dangers," Leonidas replied with a bold grin. "Can't a big brother pamper his sibling a bit?"

He winked, his look pleading, Don't treat me like an outsider.

Orion shook his head with a crooked grin. He allowed the massage and detailed the grafting process, unveiling his ideas on the Void and cosmic truths.

"The Zeythan Dreadfin—those abyss-spawned monsters—can't detect the roots," Orion clarified. "I think it ties to their birth world's origins. Moreover," he mused, "World Trees naturally repel each other. That's our advantage."