Titan King: Ascension of the Giant

Chapter 1625: Stampede Vanguard

Dawn broke, sunlight piercing the heavy cloud cover.

Kaelen was jolted awake by the rhythmic clash of shields and the concussive shockwaves of Totem Poles slamming into the earth. He rubbed his face, the dregs of last night’s ale still clouding his mind.

"Your Highness, you’re awake!" Earthshaker’s gruff voice boomed from the hall.

His bloodline power surged, instantly burning away the intoxication. Kaelen’s mind snapped into crystal clarity.

"Enter, Earthshaker!"

The massive warrior pushed the door open. Before Kaelen could speak, Earthshaker grabbed his arm and hauled him outside, buzzing with restless energy.

"Your Highness, three thousand sons of the Buffalofolk Race await your inspection on the proving grounds!"

The two were old comrades. Earthshaker knew exactly why Kaelen had come, and what drove him.

As they walked, Kaelen swept his cloak aside. A specialized set of Bone Plate Armor materialized from his belt, rapidly encasing his body. In seconds, the casual youth was replaced by an imposing, solemn prince of giants.

Earthshaker’s eyes gleamed at the sight. This was the giant prince he respected—the true heir acknowledged by the Buffalofolk Race and the Stoneheart Horde alike.

"Line up, boys!" Earthshaker’s deep voice rolled like thunder. A colossal set of Bone Plate Armor, perfectly tailored to his hulking frame, snapped into place over his own body. Yet, it was the monstrously heavy Totem Pole slung across his back that commanded the most attention.

Kaelen and Earthshaker strode onto the proving grounds, flanked by a squad of guards who had arrived the previous afternoon.

Three thousand Buffalofolk bloodline warriors stood in a rigid, statue-like phalanx. Their eyes tracked Kaelen, then shifted to Earthshaker looming behind him.

Kaelen stepped up to the commander’s platform, the center of attention. Facing the legion, he raised a hand. The guards behind him readied their war drums and fell into a slow, rhythmic beat.

The heavy drumming echoed like a massive heartbeat. Slowly, the breathing of every bloodline warrior synchronized with the relentless thrum. As their breaths aligned, a palpable, bloodthirsty aura erupted from the phalanx, suffocating the proving grounds.

Only then did Kaelen step forward and retract the visor of his Bone Plate Armor.

"Do you hear it? The beating of the war drums, and the war horns that only sound on the battlefield!"

By the laws of the Stoneheart Horde, when the horn sounded, every soul was required to fight. There were only drums playing now, but the phantom blast of the horn already echoed in their minds.

"This is Buffalo Bastion. One of the ten greatest cities of the Stoneheart Horde. This earth is soaked in glory! From the Black Forest in the north, your fathers bled alongside mine, etching the glory of the Stoneheart Horde and the Buffalofolk Race into the history of the Titan continent with their very lives!"

"Now, I, Kaelen Stoneheart, call upon you. I ask every Buffalofolk bloodline warrior standing before me to follow my lead. We will scour every hostile race from our lands and carve a bloody path straight to The Bastion Wall!"

Hrah! Hrah! Hrah!

No one spoke. The only answer Kaelen needed was the synchronized, deafening war cry of three thousand Buffalofolk warriors.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Accompanying their roars was a localized earthquake, triggered as three thousand Totem Poles slammed into the earth in perfect unison.

Kaelen stood immovable amidst the violent tremors. Backed by the raw, surging power of the Buffalofolk, his aura skyrocketed.

"There!" Kaelen thrust a hand toward The Bastion of the West. "That is where The Bastion Wall stands. Beyond it lies an endless tide of monsters, relentlessly battering our defenses, hungry to steal my lands and devour our resources!"

"So, what do we do with these invaders?"

His low, deadly question struck the phalanx like a cannonball.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Totem Poles hammered the ground, sending deep vibrations humming through the air. The stone cracked beneath them. The warriors stomped their heavy hooves, their armored boots grinding against the flagstones in a shower of sparks.

"For the Horde! For glory! For the Buffalofolk! To war! To war! To war!"

Fueled by their deafening chants, Kaelen’s vitality erupted. He stepped up into the empty air, ascending as if on invisible stairs. Pausing high above, he manifested his true form: a four-headed, eight-armed Stoneheart Titan, towering over the phalanx and the entirety of Buffalo Bastion.

"Are there any warriors in Buffalo Bastion brave enough to follow Kaelen, Prince of the Stoneheart Horde? Who will stand with me to purge these monsters, slaughter the invaders, and tear apart the darkness suffocating this continent?!"

His impassioned roar echoed across the city. Anyone with a shred of power looked up, staring in awe at the massive Stoneheart Titan dominating the sky.

"Kaelen?"

"Isn’t that the Fourth Prince?"

"Four heads, eight arms... That’s the true form of a Stoneheart Titan!"

"He carries My lord’s bloodline! He’s the true Prince of the Horde!"

Amidst the shock and shouts, bloodline warriors and mercenaries of all races stationed in the city swarmed toward the lord’s manor.

Down on the proving grounds, Earthshaker gazed up at Kaelen, old memories flashing in his eyes.

Long ago, in Blackstone City, when the dark tide broke... the Chieftain rallied the Horde’s warriors exactly like this.

Gods, I miss those days.

Earthshaker didn’t interrupt the spectacle. Whether Kaelen could rally more troops was entirely up to the prince’s own skill.

In truth, Kaelen had come to Buffalo Bastion without any official orders. The three thousand Buffalofolk bloodline warriors Earthshaker had assembled were simply a show of support to the giant prince. Every single one was a volunteer.

After years of expansion, the Buffalofolk Race was no longer an insignificant tribe. Earthshaker’s kin were scattered across the continent, deployed throughout every otherworldly realm and Godforsaken Land under the Stoneheart Horde’s banner. The three thousand calves standing here were just the latest batch of unassigned recruits idling in Buffalo Bastion.

"Horncrusher pledges his life to the Prince!"

"Brazenhorn will follow the Prince!"

"Naz’jin stands with the Prince!"

As Kaelen descended back to the platform, all three thousand Buffalofolk bloodline warriors dropped to one knee, roaring their names and swearing their absolute loyalty.

"Boys! Show the Prince what you’re made of!" Earthshaker bellowed. "Stampede Vanguard, formation!"

Under Earthshaker’s harsh barks, the three thousand warriors launched into their brutal training drills.

"Uncle Earthshaker, you trained these men yourself, didn’t you?"

Just watching their seamless coordination, Kaelen knew these recruits were Earthshaker’s personal pet project, likely forged out of sheer boredom in the bastion.

"Heh. Can’t sit still," Earthshaker chuckled. "Teaching these whelps a thing or two gives them a little more Hope of surviving the battlefield."

Earthshaker nodded. This batch of bloodline warriors was his life’s work over the past few years. From their combat drills to their standardized armor, shields, and Totem Poles, fielding these three thousand warriors had chewed through nearly half of Earthshaker’s personal fortune. It was his grand experiment to forge a completely new military branch for the Buffalofolk Race.

"Don’t worry, Uncle. I’ll put them to good use."

Over the next few hours, Kaelen conscripted over ten thousand additional mercenaries and irregulars gathered outside the lord’s manor.

Three days later, Kaelen and his newfound army marched west.