The establishnt of the Horde Hall and the arrival of the Giant King title seed like a signal—the dawn of a rising power.
The next day, Orion did not show himself at the Horde Hall. After all, yesterday's divine sign at the Hall had drawn countless tribe mbers who wanted to witness the "miracle" with their own eyes. By now, the area outside the Horde Hall was jam-packed with onlookers from different tribes.
As for Orion, he had ventured straight to the Cave Spiders' domain.
Underground fissure, bottomless abyss.
"Master, let
co with you!" Lorelia stood a step behind Orion, clutching her favorite longbow, peering eagerly into the bottomless abyss.
"Knock it off. Stay here and guard this place. Don't let anything in or out," Orion replied, shooting a glare at the Spider Queen, who reflexively ducked her head in an almost endearing way.
The mont the Horde Hall was finished, Orion had been itching to explore the bottomless abyss. Now that he'd advanced to Legendary level, his strength had soared, and he was determined not only to see what lay below but also to claim it as his own territory if possible.
"Have those fifty thousand little spiders follow right behind . No straggling!"
No sooner had Orion spoken than he jumped down along the wall of the abyss. Lorelia watched him go, then waved her hand. An endless wave of small spiders poured forth from the passageway behind her, skittering down into the bottomless abyss in pursuit of Orion.
"You three get down there, too, and guide him!" she said. At her command, three Death Spiders—stronger-looking and unnaturally lively in the heavy air—bounded after Orion.
Darkness reigned in the bottomless abyss, with not a hint of light. It was a suffocating landscape, the rocks jagged and imposing, cold mists swirling in every crevice. Strange mucus dripped from the walls in places, and the environnt felt downright hostile.
Without question, this was no place for ordinary creatures. Once, Orion had considered hiding tribe mbers here in case of ergency, but that had clearly been too optimistic. Unless he completely took over the area below and cleared out a habitable zone, this cavernous underworld would be lethal to most. It was like an underground prison locked away from daylight.
Initially, Orion was content to climb along the stone himself. But eventually, he simply fastened himself to one of the Death Spiders, letting it carry him forward.
In the pitch-black gloom, ti lost all aning. Orion, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly snapped them open. Jumping off the Death Spider's back, he landed at the mouth of a tunnel ahead.
"Who goes there?"
The wind howled, and Clyne—who was guarding a makeshift camp—sprang to her feet, peering up at the entrance from the bottomless abyss.
Rumble…
Lightning flickered, and Orion appeared before Clyne, bathed in crackling arcs of electricity.
"Sis!" Orion bead at Clyne, genuinely pleased, his excitent evident.
"That's lightning… a supernatural power?"
Clyne looked both shocked and ecstatic, struggling to believe her own eyes.
Orion didn't bother explaining. Instead, he unleashed the full force of his Legendary-level aura onto Clyne and the five elders—Vargrum, Mordak, Zorn, Balgor, and Grendel—who cowered under that overwhelming presence.
All they could feel in that mont was power, fear, and helplessness. The electric sparks zapping around Orion's body made them sense a terrifying annihilation at the slightest misstep. Lightning naturally suppressed death energy and the undead, after all.
"Orion… you really reached Legendary level?" Clyne's deep voice shook as she spoke—part awe, part happiness that was suddenly too much to handle.
"Sis, I made it," Orion replied with a smile. He was truly eager to share his joy and accomplishnts with her.
But instead of cheering, Clyne and the five elders—Vargrum, Mordak, Zorn, Balgor, and Grendel—all fell to their knees in unison, paying him proper homage.
"Clyne greets the King of our race!"
"Vargrum greets the King of our race!"
"Grendel greets the King of our race!"
"…!"
They were honoring Orion as the Giant King, following the rites and customs of their people. Clyne had clearly said "King of our race," not "my brother Orion."
"Rise, all of you."
Orion composed himself, his expression solemn. He accepted this homage and responded with dignity.
"Haha! Orion, you're amazing! Absolutely incredible!"
Clyne stood up and stepped forward, hugging her brother happily.
"A Giant King—our Blackstone clan actually gave birth to a Giant King!"
"Vargrum, pinch . I feel like I'm dreaming."
"No kidding. It's unbelievable."
"…"
Vargrum, Mordak, Zorn, Balgor, and Grendel all ca closer, regarding Orion the sa way one might admire so legendary beauty. Clyne's entire group was so excited that Orion found it a bit overwhelming.
Amid their enthusiastic questioning, Orion calmly explained his breakthrough to Legendary level, along with the major recent events in the horde.
"The Horde Hall is complete. The territory boundary even reached this place earlier, so I took the chance to co down and check things out."
He spoke casually about the horde's latest developnts, then explained why he was exploring the bottomless abyss.
"Orion, I'm so proud of you. You're truly my brother—and the Giant King of our people!"
Clyne patted Orion's shoulder, then kissed his forehead in a familiar, affectionate gesture. Deep down, she could scarcely imagine the courage it took for Orion to stay independent amid the maneuvers of Ariel and Gareth—not to ntion his eventual defiance.
---
At the bottomless abyss, in front of a tower built entirely of bones…
"The last ssage our little spiders delivered said we needed stronger bones, so we refined so and built this bone tower," Clyne explained as she led Orion to the large structure, sounding both puzzled and proud.
"We haven't found any rare materials or resources in this underground world so far. But there sure are a whole bunch of bones. For us, that's basically the perfect building material."
Orion nodded. From the mont he arrived, he could tell this underworld was a massive graveyard—at least in the surrounding areas.
"Have you explored any other regions?"
"Not yet," Clyne admitted, which surprised Orion. She raised her hand, gesturing upward.
Orion glanced up the dark passage, suddenly understanding.
"Lorelia's guarding the top, so no worries there," he said.
Clyne shook her head. "The ones above are the tribe I used to lead. I may have reached Alpha-level, but I died too soon to fulfill my duties as chieftain. If not for you stepping up, our tribe could never have risen again."
She turned toward Orion, her gaze carrying a hint of guilt.
"Sis, it's all in the past," he said gently.
Without replying, Clyne fixed her eyes on the bone tower. "Since we ended up down here, this spot is the starting line—our horde's very first line of defense. I, Clyne, swear that as long as I have strength left, no subterranean creature will survive crossing here to harm our people!"
In that mont, Orion felt both touched and full of respect.
"That's exactly why I ca, Sis."
He took a calming breath, hiding the swirl of emotion inside. Under Clyne's surprised stare, he approached the bone tower and placed his hand against it.
Far above, in the Horde Hall's forbidden zone, the territory core hovering atop the altar flashed briefly, then went still.
Deep underground, at the bottom of the abyss, a surge of blood-red transcendent power flared from the point where Orion's palm touched the bone tower. Starting at his hand, it radiated outward at incredible speed.
Within a minute, that entire bone structure was infused by scarlet power, crackling and creaking in the process.
To Clyne's eyes, the tower was growing taller as its body narrowed slightly, but at the sa ti it beca more solid, its bones rging together seamlessly. Originally, there were plenty of gaps between the stacked bones—but now, under the effect of that transcendent power, they beca one solid mass.
Monts later, Orion withdrew his hand. The tower before him had turned into a dark-red fortress spire.
"Orion, this—?" Clyne started to speak, but Orion held up a finger, pointing at a pile of unidentified beast bones three hundred feet away.
Whiz!
A surging, blood-tinged bolt streaked across the distance so fast it was nearly invisible.
Boom!
In the next instant, those scattered bones exploded into tiny fragnts that sprayed across the area.
"This…this…" Clyne was rendered speechless, too shocked to form her words properly. Nearby, Vargrum, Mordak, Zorn, Balgor, and Grendel had seen the incredible display as well, eyes full of disbelief.
"This is a special building of our horde—an arrow tower," Orion explained calmly. "Unfortunately, we don't have many of them. For now, we can only set up one here underground."
He had eight arrow towers total, all fully rged with the territory core. Four were used in the Horde Hall, one had just been placed here in the underworld, and the remaining three would be erected along the outer city walls.
"Orion, so this ans our horde is really on the rise… right?" Clyne asked, wanting an official answer though it was obvious enough.
"That's right, Sis," Orion said confidently.
Clyne's expression shifted from solemn to overjoyed, and then to outright euphoria. She hugged Orion so tightly her considerable chest pressed against him.
But just as she was ready to float away on cloud nine, Orion brought her tumbling back to earth.
"Only problem is, aside from , no one can directly control the arrow tower."
"Huh?"
Clyne spun around in disbelief, thinking she must have misheard. Orion t her gaze and, seeing her crestfallen look, continued.
"Even though nobody else can operate it, the arrow tower can still attack targets on its own. It can defend against intruders."
"Really?"
"For sure."
"Does it know friend from foe?"
"In a certain sense, yes…"
Orion didn't sound terribly confident, though. The tower could indeed fire automatically, but it had so flaws. Essentially, it identified hostiles by whether they contributed faith energy toward Orion. Neutral creatures were often not recognized as allies and risked being shot.
Stepping closer to Clyne, Orion whispered a few more arrow tower secrets into her ear. When he was finished, her brow furrowed.
"Don't worry, little brother," she said softly. "As long as we're camped here, even the undead can't slip past us unnoticed."
Orion simply nodded, keeping his thoughts to himself. Truth be told, there was another weakness: the arrow tower couldn't pinpoint undead or creatures with advanced stealth abilities.
"In any case," Clyne said at last, "with this tower, the six of us have sothing big to rely on. We'll defend this outpost no matter what!"
Shhhhh…
Right then, a rustling ca from the abyss passage above, steadily drawing closer. Discover exclusive tales at empire
"It's fine—it's the group of little spiders I brought down," Orion said. He looked up at the tunnel overhead, watching wave after wave of small spiders erge. They clung to their silk threads, descending headfirst.
Still, Orion couldn't help raising an eyebrow.
He'd originally brought fifty thousand spiders, but only around thirty thousand had survived to reach the underworld.
Roughly twenty thousand were corroded to death by the noxious air during the descent—but not wasted, since they beca food for the others along the way. That was just how cave spiders lived; Orion didn't interfere.
"We started with fifty thousand. Now we're down to thirty," he said with a tinge of regret. "They're all yours, Sis. These spiders adapt well, but let them stay close to the arrow tower to better their odds of survival."
Without more numbers, there wasn't much point in pushing farther into unknown territory.
At that mont, Clyne was tempted to blurt out, "Orion, you're incredible—who would've thought we giants could ever beco this strong?"
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