Titan King: Ascension of the Giant

"Here? There won't be enough room," Tangere cautioned.

Orion didn't reply, simply turning and leading the way out of the fortress and back into the main plaza.

Once there, Tangere produced a ritual cauldron shrouded in a sickly green mist. He performed a series of intricate hand gestures, muttering an incantation that broke the vessel's seal. He placed the cauldron on the ground, and it immediately began to grow, swelling in size until it stood ten feet tall.

A faint, dry scraping sound echoed from within. Then, one by one, a grotesque menagerie of creatures with mottled green skin began to crawl out. They were a horrifying mix of corrupted races—humans, beasts, and others, even a few lesser drakes of impure bloodline.

"My Plague-thralls," Tangere announced, a note of immense pride in his voice as the horde continued to spill from the cauldron. "Ten thousand of them. This is the army I've brought."

Compared to Caesar's five thousand Shield Warriors, this was a truly massive force.

"Each one carries a custom-made plague of my own design," he explained. "They are highly infectious and can consume other plagues to grow stronger." A low, wicked chuckle escaped him. "Heh heh heh... from now on, we won't be the only ones dealing with a plague problem." Fighting plague with plague. Pretty slick, right?

"Of course," he added, "they have their weaknesses. They lack Agility, their movements are slow, and they aren't very durable. They're easy to destroy." He shot a confident look at Orion. "But I can create more. It won't be a snowball effect, but I can maintain their numbers at ten thousand."

He finished his presentation and turned to Orion, clearly expecting a word of approval from the arch lord.

Instead, all he got was a frown.

"What is the result when a Plague-thrall infects another creature?" Orion asked, his voice sharp. "And can you control the newly infected?"

The two critical questions immediately made Tangere understand the reason for Orion's skepticism.

"After being infected by my plague, the enemy's flesh will continuously rot until death," Tangere explained. "If I am on the battlefield to harvest and process them in time, I can bring the new corpses under my control."

He answered the questions, but the look on Orion's face told him it wasn't the right answer.

"Given your role as a commander," Orion stated bluntly, "you won't be on the front lines. Which means the vast majority of infected enemies will not be under your control. They will remain hostile and capable of fighting, a threat to our own soldiers, until the moment they finally drop dead."

Tangere opened his mouth to argue, but no words came. He couldn't refute it. Orion was right. His Plague-thralls were a unique, evolving troop type, but they were far from perfect.

"Perhaps the weaknesses you mentioned will be improved by the end of this war," Tangere said, his tone humbled. He wasn't a fool. He knew his creations needed to devour more potent plagues to evolve. The demonic monsters infesting this forest were the perfect catalyst.

"Perhaps," Orion agreed, nodding slightly. He didn't press the issue. When this man's creations can finally control their own infected spawn, that will be the day he truly ascends.

"Holy fuck, Big Boss! What is this awesome treasure?" Caesar's booming voice cut through the tension. The appearance of the army had drawn both him and Aerin from the fortress. "I thought you showed up solo like Aerin!" With his earnest, what-you-see-is-what-you-get personality, the outburst wasn't surprising at all.

"Plague-thralls," Tangere replied, his tone more modest now after Orion's analysis. "Just cannon fodder, really." But even feigning humility, he couldn't help but feel a sense of superiority over Caesar. The gap in power and resources between an Alpha-level warrior and a true lord was immense.

"According to the plan," Orion announced, seizing the moment to assign roles now that everyone was present, "your Plague-thralls will form the vanguard. Their initial objective is to clear out demonic monsters and collect corpses for my undead armies."

He then turned to Caesar. "Your Shield Warriors have discipline and tactical awareness. I'm assigning the ten thousand newly summoned Skeletal Knights to your command. Your mission is to construct the camp's defensive fortifications while the clearing operation is underway."

It was a two-pronged strategy: clear the area and build the base simultaneously. High walls and menacing arrow towers were essential for security. Only then could their forces rest easy at night. A safe, heavily fortified bastion was also the only thing that would attract more Wood Elves and other potential allies.

Finally, Orion looked at Aerin, whose spirits seemed to have lifted considerably. "You will go to the front lines. When our forces encounter surviving Wood Elves, it will be your job to persuade them to join us."

In truth, the sight of Tangere's ten-thousand-strong army had given Aerin an enormous jolt of confidence. To her, isolated and without allies, a massive army was the most reliable force in the world.

She didn't know Orion was an Arch Lord, nor did she know about the undead armies hidden within the necropolis. She had assumed he was just a particularly powerful lord, and her faith in him had been shaky.

Since arriving in The Stillness, she hadn't seen the legions of elite, beast-mounted warriors she'd imagined. But now, watching the horde of Plague-thralls fill the plaza, her eyes shone with a renewed belief in the future, and in her choice.

"Yes, Godfather!" she declared, her voice ringing with conviction.

"Then let's get to it," Orion said, and with the orders given, he turned and strode back toward the fortress. His shadow scouts had just delivered updated maps from all four cardinal directions. He needed to integrate the new intel and continue planning the coalition's next moves.

As Orion departed, Caesar walked over to Aerin. "Ms. Aerin, you need to be careful out there." He unclasped a bracer from his own arm and handed it to her. It was a hero-level defensive item, capable of projecting a protective shield—quite rare. He then assigned two of his early Alpha-level Shield Warriors to act as her personal guard. It was a gesture of pure, uncomplicated sincerity.

"Thank you, Caesar," Aerin said, accepting the gift without hesitation. She knew she would face incredible danger on the front lines. She had to survive if she was going to rally her people, build her own strength, and be of use to her new allies.

"I'll be out there with you," Tangere stated, glancing at Caesar. He offered no item, but his words gave Aerin a profound sense of security. With a lord-level powerhouse like him on the field, her confidence soared even higher.