Read Novel Full Chapter 867: Titan
Chapter 867: Titan
The silence in the deep fault was broken only by the sluggish, molten drip of cooling basalt from the ceiling.
Jack stood over the shattered carcass of the Ember-Weaver, holding its heavy, crystalline heart in his right hand. The fist-sized orb pulsed with a slow, hypnotic rhythm, dark veins of dormant crimson and pitch-black fire flickering beneath its translucent obsidian shell.
To any surface warrior or clan chieftain, this was merely a trophy of an impossible hunt.
A priceless elemental reagent to be traded for kingdoms or ground into dust for high-tier alchemical draughts.
To Jack, it was a blank vessel waiting for an anchor.
His heterochromic eyes narrowed as his gaze locked onto the shattered chitin of the dead beast.
He summoned the interface of his Soul Warden authority, channeling his intent straight into the broken remains.
A translucent system notification materialized before his field of vision, its pale blue runes casting a cold reflection across his sharp features.
[Target: Ember-Weaver]
[Rank: Sovereign]
[Element: Ash]
[Reconstruction & Soul-Binding Protocol Available]
[Resource Cost: 250,000,000 Tokens]
[Proceed with Revival and Permanent Soul-Vessel Binding?]
[YES] or [NO]
Two hundred and fifty million tokens.
It was a staggering sum.
A mountain of wealth capable of buying fleets of ships, outfitting an entire surface army in masterwork armor, or purchasing high-grade Spire estates.
But tokens were merely fuel to be burned for absolute dominance, and an immortal elemental catalyst that could project a forty-span, sovereign-class siege engine was worth ten times that price.
“Confirm,” Jack murmured.
[250,000,000 Tokens Deducted.]
[Initiating Soul-Vessel Reconstruction…]
The crystalline body below Jack flared with blinding intensity.
Dark chains erupted from Jack’s palm, black tendrils coiling around the crimson core like grasping roots. The crushed basalt shell on the cavern floor began to vibrate, the fine black powder and shattered chitin lifting into the air in a localized vortex of magnetic force.
A deep, reverberating hum tore through the bedrock.
The shattered pieces of the hound-sized beast snapped back together with violent, hydraulic precision.
The obsidian shell fused seamlessly, the jagged fractures mending under ribbons of compressed black lightning and dark mana.
The Ember-Weaver opened its eyes.
They were no longer the feral, terrified embers of a wild subterranean parasite. They burned with cold, pure abyssal dark-fire, reflecting the void of Jack’s own soul.
The creature lowered its sleek, armored head, its long, basalt-plated tail coiling submissively around Jack’s boots, and let out a low, vibrating purr that shook dust from the walls.
[Soul-Binding Complete.]
[Ember-Weaver added to Bound Legion.]
[Construct Authority Acquired: The Ash-Behemoth may now be manifested as a projected avatar at command.]
Jack dismissed the prompt with a flick of his fingers. With a single thought, the hound dissolved into a thin ribbon of black smoke, sinking smoothly into the shadow beneath his boots to rest.
The ritual was done. But the sheer concussive force of the revival had done something else.
The calcified magma wall at the far end of the fault groaned under tectonic pressure. A vertical crack sheared from ceiling to floor, followed by the catastrophic collapse of hundreds of tons of ancient basalt.
Slabs of rock fell away like rotten timber, revealing the monumental archway Jack had glimpsed earlier.
It stood twenty spans tall, carved from an unknown, iridescent white stone that completely rejected the soot and grime of the subterranean rifts.
It gleamed with a cold, immaculate radiance, entirely alien to the rough-hewn volcanic architecture of the orcs above.
And from the absolute, lightless void beyond the threshold, those two colossal, burning golden eyes stared directly at him.
Jack did not reach for a weapon, nor did he slow his pace. He stepped over the fallen debris, his boots crossing the gate’s pristine threshold.
The moment he crossed, the world changed.
The blistering volcanic heat of the lower mantle vanished completely.
A heavy, suffocating pressure instantly smothered the dry stench of brimstone and scorched iron.
It was the crushing, absolute weight of ancient divinity. The air was cold, smelling like rotten flesh.
The chamber beyond was vast.
A colossal, vaulted cavern of polished white stone whose curved ceiling arched into darkness, entirely insulated from the magma lakes miles above.
And suspended in the center of that lightless vault was a titan.
He was the size of a fortress, his kneeling frame towering forty paces into the air. His skin resembled cracked alabaster stone fused with petrified volcanic rock; his massive chest was as broad as a city gate, and his head was crowned with colossal, sweeping obsidian horns that brushed the darkness of the ceiling.
He was bound in a display of brutal, eternal subjugation.
Four colossal pillars of runic black obsidian were anchored into the bedrock around him. From these pillars stretched chains forged of white-gold celestial metal, each link the size of a war-chariot. The chains did not simply wrap around his limbs; they pierced straight through his flesh.
Two massive links drove through his collarbones, pinning his torso upright.
Additional chains impaled his massive forearms, wrapping tightly around his wrists and driving him into the stone, while jagged, runic obsidian spikes were hammered directly through his knees and thighs, locking him into a posture of permanent, forced kneeling.
The giant’s chest rose and fell in a slow, agonized cadence.
As Jack walked into the center of the hall, the titan’s massive skull lifted.
The two burning golden eyes, each wider than a man was tall, locked onto Jack’s approaching figure. For a second, there was only the faint hum of ancient chains.
Then, the titan’s gaze pierced through Jack’s dark coat, through his flesh, and straight into his soul meridians.
The giant saw the silver streaks.
The dormant, celestial threads woven directly into Jack’s soul flared in response to the ambient pressure, humming with the unmistakable, pure authority of their origin.
The titan’s face contorted into raw, apocalyptic hatred.
“A parasite…”
The titan’s voice was not a sound; it was an earthquake. The sheer sonic force rattled Jack’s teeth and sent shockwaves rippling across the white stone floor.
The white-gold chains groaned and shrieked as the titan strained against his bindings, his cracked alabaster skin glowing with veins of furious, molten gold.
“A wretched, mortal parasite dares to crawl into my tomb…” the giant roared, his lips pulling back to reveal jagged, stone-like teeth. “You reek of mortal clay, yet you dare to wear His marks? You dare to counterfeit the sacred silver grace of Sarin?!”
The titan’s golden aura exploded outward in a violent, suffocating wave.
It was not mana. It was pure divine intent.
An absolute decree of celestial gravity designed to crush mortal flesh into paste and force every living thing to bow before the light of creation. The white stone beneath Jack’s boots cracked under the sudden, localized pressure, the atmospheric density multiplying until the air itself groaned.
“Kneel, thief!” the titan bellowed, the cavern trembling under his wrath. “Beg for the mercy of the void before I grind your stolen marrow into dust!”
The crushing pressure bore down on Jack’s shoulders, enough to flatten an entire vanguard of orc warriors.
Jack didn’t drop to his knees. He didn’t even bow his head.
He planted his boots firmly into the fracturing white stone, his dark coat snapping violently in the divine shockwave.
His right hand remained casually buried in his pocket, his heterochromic eyes locking onto the colossal, raging face forty paces above him with icy, unwavering contempt.
“You have a lot of mouth for a dog pinned to the floor,” Jack said, his voice quiet, cold, and cutting cleanly through the roaring divine pressure. “If you want to teach me how to kneel, you had better break those chains first.”