Titan King: Ascension of the Giant

Chapter 362 Knights' Honor

Blood Elves territory, deep in a forest.

"Commander, what's our status?"

The one speaking is the coal knight Galahad, posing the question to none other than Princess Ava, commander of the Rose Knight Regiment.

Princess Ava's expression was grim; none of the scouts she'd sent ahead had made it back.

"Your Highness, want me to go check things out?" Stay tuned with My Virtual Library Empire

Arthur, noticing her worried look, volunteered.

Princess Ava turned toward Arthur, shook her head, and said, "Even if we're inside the Blood Elves' territory, it's still dangerous here."

Arthur smiled, a confident grin that eased her concerns at least a little.

"Trust me, a true knight never fears danger."

With that, he whistled, summoning his beast-blood mount, which trotted up right away.

"Your Highness, catch your breath here. I'll be back soon!"

Arthur leaped onto his mount. Before setting off, he shot a glance at coal knight Galahad. Galahad nodded slightly, allowing Arthur to spur his horse and gallop away.

––––––––

The forest in Blood Elves territory was choked with ancient trees and teemed with all kinds of beasts. But within that thick greenery stretched an endless darkness.

Half a day later, Arthur led a team of fully armed knights into a particular stretch of forest. The moment they stepped among the towering trees, the horses underneath them refused to move, as though some dreadful predator lurked ahead.

Arthur peered into the shadows of the forest, then glanced at the sky, which was nearly blotted out by layers of leaves. The dirt path cutting through the old wood suddenly felt eerie as hell.

"No need to panic. Thick woods are always like this," he called to the soldiers behind him. Forcing his spooked mount forward, he took the lead.

Truth be told, Arthur's words were partly meant to comfort himself.

The forest was silent—no birds, no beasts, no nothing. That total stillness gave Arthur a bad feeling. He glanced around the darkness, noting no sign of any beasts or lurking enemies.

"My first time in Blood Elves territory; maybe I'm just overthinking it."

But as they rode on, a sudden scream erupted from the rear of the group. By the time Arthur spun around, the screaming soldier was gone—vanished without a trace.

Arthur pulled up beside the missing soldier's horse, scowling in frustration. A mile a minute, his thoughts raced:

"That scream just came out of nowhere. The man's neither dead nor alive right now, and there's no trace of a body. There's no enemy in sight, either.

That means one of two things—either the attacker came from below or above."

Arthur glanced back along the muddy track they'd followed. Hoofprints still showed clearly, and the ground looked undisturbed. That left only one possibility: the strike came from overhead.

He lifted his gaze, only to find the same pitch-black canopy overhead. But this time, his suspicions wouldn't let him shrug it off.

Drawing his sword, Arthur summoned every ounce of his fighting spirit. A brilliant slash cut through a cluster of enormous trees, sending trunks crashing down. Sunlight flooded the newly open space.

In the next instant, Arthur's face drained of color. Hanging upside down in the gloom, cloaked in the shadows of the great trunks, was a mass of spiders. Their eyes flashed crimson in the sudden beams of light—chilling and eerie.

The missing soldier had already had his throat ripped open by one of those spiders, who had drained him of every drop of blood.

"Fall back! It's an ambush!"

Although, in reality, it wasn't so much an "ambush" as a chance encounter.

These spiders were Orion's scouting detachment under the command of Drakthul, Marnok, Gormathar, Veldrok, and Grulbane. They'd just so happened to run into the Rose Knight Regiment that was heading in to support the Blood Elves.

Arthur's horror spiked—his mind filled with worry, not so much for himself as for Princess Ava. If he'd just stumbled into a trap here, that meant the enemy likely already knew about them, had learned everything they needed. There was a strong chance this forest path was nothing more than bait.

Spurring his horse, Arthur led his small unit back the way they came. But horrible screams kept echoing behind them. Before long, his entire detachment vanished into the forest, not even their mounts left alive.

As an Alpha-level fighter, Arthur managed to cut down every spider that blocked his path, hacking his way out of that dark, haunted woodland.

Two hours later, Arthur finally made it to the main camp—only to see it embroiled in a brutal slaughter. cave spiders, giants, and ogres rampaged together through Princess Ava's two-thousand-strong camp of human soldiers.

"Ava…where are you?!"

Arthur's heart clenched; the woman he loved and swore to protect was nowhere in sight.

Boom!

In the thick of the nightmare swarm, a streak of blood-colored light exploded, slicing an ogre in two.

"That sword—Galahad!"

Seeing that flash, Arthur's desperation faded into a spark of hope. He pressed forward, cutting down any cave spiders or ogres in his way.

Moments later, Arthur burst into the space lit by that blood-red sword-glow. There he found coal knight Galahad being double-teamed by an Alpha-level giant and an Alpha-level ogre. Galahad was drenched in blood, with a gaping wound blown through his stomach.

Behind Galahad, Princess Ava was putting up a fight, sword in hand—but Galahad was shielding her so effectively that she wasn't badly hurt. Arthur breathed a long sigh of relief just seeing her alive.

"Honor demands we defend the ones we love, even if it means sacrifice. Let the gods see our glory!"

With a roar, Arthur stormed into the fray.

"Galahad, I'll tie them up—you get Her Highness out of here right now! Head back to the human kingdom. Blood Elves territory is crawling with hostiles!"

Where does a knight's honor come from? From the heart, from faith, and from the duty to protect. Arthur was willing to give his all, fight to the death, all in the name of honor and guardianship.

"Arthur, remember—never use that technique unless absolutely necessary."

Those were his mentor's words from over a decade ago. That special technique had a ninety-percent chance of killing its user.

"Knights' Honor!"

Arthur knocked aside the Giant Drakthul's spiked club, then forced back that Alpha-level ogre in one swift sword strike. Seizing the opening, he raised his blade to the sky with both hands, letting out a furious battle cry.

In that roar's wake, Arthur's entire body blazed with golden light, as if he were a living sun, every inch of him exploding with radiant brilliance.