Titan King: Ascension of the Giant

Chapter 1548: Tegon Calthor

Roaring, the fish-bodied, serpent-tailed Avatar of Faith tore free from the crushing cage of Kraken’s tentacles. It thrashed through the sunken city like a frenzied shark.

"He’s terrified. He’s making a run for it!" Leonidas instantly saw through the Black Triton’s desperate gambit. But the Avatar slammed headfirst into Orion’s divine ward, the sheer force of the impact scattering a chunk of its ethereal form.

"That’s an Arch Lord-tier vassal. In a life-or-death moment like this, shouldn’t his master be making an appearance?" Leonidas narrowed his eyes as he watched the Black Triton backed into a corner by Kraken.

If that were his own vassal, he would have intervened without hesitation. High Lords were the load-bearing pillars of any demigod’s empire. Losing a disciple of that caliber was a catastrophic blow to a demigod’s foundation.

Just as he spoke, Kraken cornered the Black Triton’s Avatar of Faith, unhinging his massive maw to swallow it whole.

Suddenly, a middle-aged man’s voice echoed from the abyssal depths. "Honored lords, are you willing to stay your hands?"

The voice offered no explanation and carried none of the deference of someone asking for a favor. As a High Lord, Kraken hesitated. He lacked the standing to act rashly, because the owner of that voice was undeniably a demigod. He halted his advance, waiting for Leonidas and Orion to make the call.

"Kraken. Swallow him."

Orion’s voice was glacial—neither rushed nor angry, just utterly indifferent.

Hearing Orion’s command, Kraken didn’t hesitate for a second. With a violently sharp inhale, he devoured the Black Triton’s Avatar of Faith. Ignoring the Sea Folk still scrambling blindly through the ruined city, Kraken vanished, teleporting back to Orion and Leonidas’s side and shifting back into his humanoid form.

"Lords, haven’t you taken this too far?"

A short distance away, the water parted to reveal two figures: a man in pitch-black robes and an old man draped in draconic vestments. Witnessing his underwater metropolis reduced to rubble, the black-robed man’s heart bled. This was his ancestral seat, the home he cherished above all else.

Yet, when his gaze fell upon the dormant volcano violently spewing molten rock, even the demigod’s pupils constricted in shock.

"How is this possible?" Reigniting a dead volcano and summoning the earth’s core fire—that was a terrifying feat far beyond the capabilities of an average demigod.

"Nothing is impossible!" Leonidas’s voice cut through the water, furious and bone-chilling.

An instant later, a deafening, draconic roar erupted, shaking the very foundations of the seabed. The big fish had finally taken the bait. Leonidas had no interest in debating right and wrong. Kuray had dared to plot the murder of his little brother, Kraken; Leonidas wasn’t going to show him an ounce of mercy.

As Leonidas launched his overwhelming assault, Kuray—bolstered by the presence of his ally—refused to back down. His body blurred, shifting into a colossal, hundred-foot-long serpentine phantom that surged forward to meet Leonidas head-on.

From his vantage point as a bystander, Orion saw everything with crystal clarity. Kuray’s true form was a massive, black Sea Serpent. Its head resembled a horned bull with razor-sharp fangs. Its body was entirely serpentine—scaled but devoid of claws—strikingly similar to a mythical flood-dragon. Though it was only a demigod phantom, the projection was so dense it was nearly corporeal, proving that Kuray was an absolute veteran among First-Stage Demigods.

Since the serpent was only at the First Stage, Orion had no reason to worry about Leonidas. Instead, he turned his attention to the old man, who was standing back just as he was. A strange light flickered in Orion’s eyes.

"A Second-Stage Demigod," Orion mused. "Are you planning to cover for him?"

Facing Orion’s probing question, the old man in the draconic robes offered a slight, courteous bow before nodding. "Tegon Calthor greets Your Excellency."

"My Lord, while Kuray’s prior actions were misguided, they were merely human nature," Tegon continued smoothly. "Even Your Excellency wouldn’t want a foreign High Lord rising to power in your own backyard, would you? Besides, your friend is perfectly unharmed, is he not?"

Tegon Calthor swept his gaze over Kraken for a fraction of a second before locking all his attention onto Orion. He couldn’t accurately gauge Orion’s true cultivation stage, but one glance at his aura was enough to confirm that this man was at least his equal.

"Tegon Calthor..."

It was a distinctly Draconic name. Orion rode an Abyssal Dragon, and several of his heirs possessed dragon mounts; his understanding of the Dragonflight ran deep. The moment Tegon introduced himself, Orion knew exactly where he hailed from.

"You can undoubtedly tell that my brother there is also of dragon blood." Orion gestured toward Leonidas, who was currently locked in a brutal melee with Kuray. An enigmatic smile played on Orion’s lips. "I’m curious. You both share the lineage of the Dragonflight. Are you going to side with your kin, or your friend?"

Tegon Calthor paused, slightly taken aback by the question. Then, he shook his head, his answer decisive.

"Same blood, different veins."

"Your Excellency, do you believe two humans from entirely different worlds would become friends or enemies over a matter of profit?"

It was a masterful counter. Tegon acknowledged Leonidas’s draconic heritage while simultaneously pointing out the inherent conflict of interest between them. By using humans as an analogy, he flipped the question back onto Orion, forcing him to make the choice.

This wasn’t just philosophical banter. Orion’s answer would dictate exactly how these two factions engaged each other next. The old dragon, Tegon, had gracefully handed the decision of war or peace directly to Orion.

Crafty old wyrm, Orion mused, forming his initial assessment of Tegon Calthor.

"I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you," Orion said aloud. "My brothers and I came here specifically to pave the way for Theris’s future."

Orion flashed a predatory grin and took a single step forward, instantly materializing inches from Tegon’s face. Still smiling, Orion watched the old man’s pupils dilate wildly—a raw, instinctual display of shock and terror.

"The Abyss gazes back."

Behind Orion, the colossal phantom of a Stoneheart Titan materialized. As the Titan roared, a swirling Abyssal Vortex began to form in the space enclosing Orion and Tegon. A violently destructive gravitational force erupted from the vortex, dragging Tegon toward the void.

"Forbidden Art: Dragon of the Void!"

Truthfully, the draconic roar that tore from Tegon’s throat was even more deafening than Leonidas’s. Straining against the pull of the Abyssal Vortex, Tegon’s body blurred, transmuting into a mysterious, spiral-carved horn. The immediate space surrounding the horn instantly collapsed into an absolute vacuum. Even Orion’s divine power was violently repelled by the artifact’s aura.

Under Orion’s surprised gaze, the mystic horn sliced cleanly through the Abyssal Vortex, tearing free from the gravitational pull of his Divine Kingdom. This was the very first time Orion had ever seen a Second-Stage Demigod forcibly shatter the constraints of his domain.

Orion turned slowly, locking eyes with Tegon, who had reappeared a safe distance away. The old man had already shifted back into his draconic robes.

If Orion’s expression was one of mild surprise, the old dragon’s face was painted with genuine, unadulterated horror.

"What... what kind of power was that?"