Titan King: Ascension of the Giant - Chapter 469

Chapter 469: How can stoneheart city grow?
In the blink of an eye, seven days had passed.

Orion and Lich Vexis once again led their armies to the front lines, relieving the undead forces that had been holding the position.

“Lord Orion, per my master’s orders, we’ve left you with 200,000 skeleton warriors.”

“Thank you!” Orion said.

The cloaked skeleton in charge nodded silently before turning and departing the battlefield without a word.

“Compared to him, you and Rumbold seem downright friendly,” Orion quipped to Vexis as he watched the cloaked figure leave.

“In our world, coldness and solitude are just part of daily life,” Vexis replied without turning around, her gaze fixed on the slime mold layer ahead as if searching for something. “When you’re quiet for long enough, you stop feeling the need to talk much.”

“Same as always—I’ll hold the front line, and you handle the big picture from the rear. Prophet, if Vexis gets caught up in the fighting, step in and take command.”

Vexis nodded, and Onyx, standing behind Orion, responded with a steady “Yes, sir.”

Orion transformed into a bolt of lightning and took his position at the front, hovering in midair. He opened his senses, scanning the nearby area for any hint of a Legendary-level presence lurking in the shadows.

Seeing the slime mold layer surge forward like waves on the ocean once more, Orion couldn’t help but feel a twinge of awe.

Countless slime mold mutants leaped from the layer, hurling themselves at the skeleton warriors and small scorpions. The scene was mesmerizing, almost soul-shaking.

As his senses swept across the battlefield, a flicker of confusion crossed Orion’s eyes. This time, the slime mold brood mother hadn’t sent any Legendary-level mutants to this sector, which left him puzzled.

“Lady Vexis, no Legendary-level slime mold mutants have been teleported here. Have you seen this happen before?” Orion asked, projecting his voice to her, hoping to unravel the mystery.

“Yes, it happens often,” Vexis replied. “But whenever fungal creatures show up, they tend to launch targeted ambushes against us. So, Orion, please be extra cautious!”

Ever since Orion had taken down two upper-tier Legendary-level enemies in their last encounter, Vexis had come to realize just how much stronger he was than her. Unconsciously, she’d begun to view him as someone on par with her master.

—

The North, Slime Mold Main Nest.

While Orion and Vexis conversed, Brood Mother Gloob was already communicating with another brood mother from a different region.

“Blobby, we need a Vine Splitter up north. There’s a powerful giant here we need to ambush and take out,” Gloob’s voice transmitted through the slime mold layer like a radio signal, reaching Brood Mother Blobby, who was overseeing the southern invasion. Along with the message went footage and data from Orion’s previous battles.

“Alright,” Blobby responded. “In half a day, I’ll send a Vine Splitter your way. In exchange, you’ll need to send me a parasitic creature.”

Gloob considered the offer for a few seconds before replying, “Deal. I want to drag that powerful giant into the slime mold layer and turn him into one of us.”

—

Stoneheart City, Mysterious Tavern, Second Floor.

For quite some time now, Delilah had been running things from this spot. She loved the tavern’s atmosphere—it was her domain, and here, she was queen. The Stoneheart Horde had grown to depend on her; she’d become its indispensable steward.

“How can Stoneheart City grow?” Delilah murmured to herself. She dreamed of turning it into a bustling metropolis, rivaling the Blood Elves’ City of Blessings or the human kingdom’s Utessar Kingdom. She wanted the entire continent to know that the Stoneheart Horde wasn’t just a band of savages—they had their own civilization.

Recalling the future Orion had described, the plans he’d laid out, Delilah couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement for what lay ahead.

“Growth takes money, and it just so happens we’ve got plenty of it!” she said. This was a realization she’d come to recently—money was the key to development.

Delilah reached over to a nearby chair and picked up a Small Stoneheart Coin, studying it closely.

“Is this money?” she wondered. Yet something nagged at her. It didn’t feel quite right. This “money” came too easily—all it took was ordering the blacksmiths to forge more.

“No, wait. Development hinges on population. The more people we have, the more taxes we can collect. But population needs food to sustain it. So where does the food come from? Do we grow it ourselves or buy it from the humans and blood elves? And then what?”

Truth be told, Delilah was grappling with a critical question—one tied to the Stoneheart Horde’s future. Her thinking was still rough around the edges. Concepts like livelihood, economy, urban planning, infrastructure, or citizen welfare hadn’t fully taken shape in her mind.

Building a thriving city or nation wasn’t something that happened overnight. It wasn’t as simple as opening up trade and watching prosperity roll in. Some habits and shared understandings needed time to evolve, shaped gradually through subtle influence.

The races of the Stoneheart Horde needed the slow, steady guidance of major civilizations like the humans, dwarves, and blood elves to shed the barbarism born from the pressures of survival.

Orion had recognized this too, but he was just as powerless to rush the process.

To help the Stoneheart Horde cast off its backward, savage reputation sooner, he’d joined the Five-Race Alliance and launched cross-realm invasions. Delilah, however, hadn’t yet grasped that beyond material wealth, talent was the true engine of progress—the key to driving the city and the Horde forward.

And talent? It had to be attracted, sought out, nurtured through education, and cultivated from within.

Under Delilah’s management, Stoneheart City was making steady progress, whether in preparing to face dark creatures or laying the groundwork for growth—one step at a time.

—

Valkorath Realm, Battlefield Front Lines.

Two full days had passed since Orion arrived at the front.

On the Stoneheart Horde’s side, crossbows fired relentlessly, and massive boulders coated in burning oil crashed into the slime mold layer, igniting walls of flame. Countless slime mold mutants charged through the fire without a shred of fear, their blood and mucus staining the ground red and splattering across every bloodline warrior on the battlefield.

Unlike the bloodline warriors or the small scorpions, the slime mold mutants’ roars were wilder, devoid of any emotion. On the battlefield, they were nothing more than war machines stripped of pain or fear.

War banners snapped in the wind, drums rumbled low and steady, and shouts rose and fell in waves. Orion’s ears rang with the sounds of blades hacking, axes cleaving, swords thrusting, and spears stabbing.

Suddenly, a Legendary-level fungal creature’s aura pulsed from within the slime mold layer. Orion, ever vigilant, locked onto it like a hunter spotting prey, his gaze zeroing in on the source.