Titan King: Ascension of the Giant

Chapter 1473: Gaia Bastion

BOOM!

A thunderclap shattered the air, loud enough to stab at the eardrums, accompanied by a flash of holy light so searing it bleached the world white. For a heartbeat, Tangere, Caesar, Scarecrow, and Aurora were struck blind and deaf.

"Hold fast!"

"Caesar, fall back. Scarecrow, deploy the defensive array. Aurora, hold your position."

The orders didn’t come through their ringing ears but resonated directly in their skulls—a psychic transmission. Tangere remained calm. He had experienced the shockwaves of Archlord combat before; this was how Arthas’s lieutenants used to communicate when the air itself was too turbulent for sound.

As the energy shockwave rolled past, their senses slowly returned.

"That was terrifying," Aurora gasped, her voice trembling.

The tomboyish fighter was still shaken. She had met the Kraken before, but she was new to the Lord rank. She had never witnessed Archlords trying to kill each other in earnest.

"Maintain formation," Tangere barked, cutting through the fear. "Ignore the casualties. That is the nature of the battlefield. You either fall, or you keep fighting."

Around them, the shockwave had liquified the internal organs of the weaker fodder units and ordinary soldiers. Tangere didn’t spare them a glance.

"Tangere, should we pull back?" Caesar asked, eyeing the sky nervously. "What if one of those heavy hitters decides to target us?"

Caesar hadn’t expected the gap between a Lord and an Archlord to be this abyssal. Just the fallout from their clashes was nearly lethal.

"No need. If an enemy Archlord descends, we have our own counters."

Tangere spoke with the confidence of a veteran of the Champions Alliance. He had fought through the Silverwood Realm campaign against the Cult of Four. He knew the unspoken rules. Even if Orion didn’t have a specific ace up his sleeve, the coalition’s high command wouldn’t sit idly by while an enemy Archlord massacred their ground troops.

"We are pushing into the core of Dolame Square. Expect elite guards. Shields up, eyes open."

Orders dispensed, Tangere couldn’t help but look up.

High above, the six Templars had Makareth surrounded. Abyssal corruption clashed with holy radiance, the violent exchange blowing away the cloud cover to reveal the cold, dark void of the cosmos beyond.

"Is the difference of a single tier truly this vast?" Tangere murmured.

He knew Makareth’s reputation. Orion had briefed him on the key players. Tangere respected the brute; surviving the Abyss alone was one thing, but condensing a Lord’s Stone was a feat Tangere found hard to fathom. In his home world, in his circle, no one possessed such raw power.

"This is planar warfare," Scarecrow whispered, echoing Tangere’s gaze. "You really feel it—that sense that if you get grazed, you bleed; if you get hit, you shatter."

It was Scarecrow’s first time stepping out of his own world into a multi-realm conflict. Without Tangere’s lead, he knew he would be nothing more than a stain on the pavement by now.

"Keep moving," Tangere said, his voice hardening. "Survive this war, and with the temperament of our leaders, we’ll all be landed nobility. This battlefield is a meat grinder, yes, but it’s also the path to becoming an Archlord ourselves."

It was a motivational speech, but it was also his personal creed. Cultivation wasn’t just about power; it was about forging the will.

The team nodded, tightened their formation, and resumed their sweep. The shockwave had disrupted the enemy lines as well, and defenders were spilling out of the city’s cracks.

Above the firmament, a Demon roared.

In a single exchange, the six Templars had forced Makareth to reveal his True Form.

He had doubled in size, his skin hardening into obsidian scales, and the wings on his back had split and multiplied from two to four. He had tried to take on all six Templars head-on, bragging about testing their strength. The result? He had been forced to burn a trump card just to stay in the air.

"You actually hurt me!" Makareth bellowed, his pride stung more than his flesh. "I will make you pay for that!"

He had promised to test the waters, but instead, he felt like he was becoming the punchline for his allies. Failure to crush these stone puppets was unacceptable for a demon of his arrogance.

Without hesitation, Makareth channeled his abyssal energy to hold back the encroaching holy light. With his free hand, he crushed a magical scroll, shattering the seal.

A torrent of earth-elemental mana cascaded from the parchment, flooding into Makareth’s demonic frame.

It was a Forbidden Spell of the Earth: The Gaia Bastion.

It was a defensive blessing of the highest order. As the magic settled, Makareth’s body shimmered with an impenetrable golden-brown hue. He looked like a statue cast in indestructible divine metal. Peers of the same rank would find it nearly impossible to scratch him now.

"Damn constructs! I’m going to grind you to dust!"

A massive scimitar, wreathed in abyssal fel-fire, materialized in Makareth’s hand. He looked like a Demon God of old, ready to take on the world.

Rear Command Center.

Elara, Isabella, and Kaedros watched the sky, eyes narrowed.

"That was a Forbidden Earth Spell from my mentor’s personal collection," Elara said, shaking her head. "Using it here... what a waste."

She sounded like a disappointed teacher. As a mage and the Deputy Commander’s disciple, she hated seeing magic squandered. A spell like Gaia Bastion was designed to shield entire fortress cities during a siege. It could withstand bombardment from equivalent-tier offensive forbidden spells.

And Makareth used it on himself.

For the duration of the spell, however, the demon was effectively immortal.

"If you want to sharpen your claws, now is the time," Elara said, glancing at her companions. "With Makareth tanking the damage, you’ll be safe. Your entry will also speed up the demolition of those constructs and minimize variables."

She looked at Isabella, who was itching to fight enemies above her weight class, and Kaedros, who was hungry for merit points to spend in the coalition’s treasury.

"Leave the command to me, little Elara!"

Isabella didn’t hesitate. She grabbed her dragon lance, summoned her Golden Dragon mount, and rocketed into the sky.

"The big picture is yours to manage," Kaedros added. His body expanded rapidly, scales erupting from his skin as he shifted into his dragon form, launching himself into the fray.

"Go," Elara murmured, her voice calm. "Those stones aren’t worth my effort."

Her words were meant for the departing dragons, but they were long gone. The only one left to hear the arrogant dismissal was Aina.