Chapter 69: Ch 69: The Titan Graveyard

After crossing the jagged mountain range, the world beyond opened into a colossal, harrowing sight.

Aegis stopped midair, his form momentarily silhouetted against the dust-choked sky. Bella, Ruina, and Pyro floated to a halt beside him.

Before them stretched an ancient basin, a land scarred and twisted by a history of elemental warfare. The ground was a terrifying expanse of fractured stone plates, half-buried, destroyed craters, and towering ridges.

But those were not ridges.

“They’re Earth Titans,” Aegis murmured, his eyes narrowed.

Hundreds of them. Some lay dormant, half-sunken into the crust like slumbering, forgotten gods. Others moved with agonizing slowness, their massive forms shifting like the land itself breathing, each step causing tremors that rippled through the entire basin.

“This place… It’s like a graveyard of the world.” Ruina whispered, clutching her hands to her chest.

“It’s a nest.”

Bella, hovering beside him, looked oddly calm. If anything, a faint spark of predatory excitement danced in her pale blue eyes.

“And look,” she added lightly, her hand sweeping ahead.

Aegis followed her gaze.

There were humans. Hundreds of them in several groups.

They were not scattered and fleeing; they were fighting.

A coordinated team of adventurers darted fearlessly between the legs of a towering Titan, drawing its clumsy attention while two mages unleashed synchronized, heavy skills. One warrior smashed repeatedly into a knee joint with a heavy hammer, while a quick rogue scaled the Titan’s back, planting glowing runes before executing a swift, daring leap away.

Boom.

The Titan collapsed, its body fracturing apart as a crystalline Sky Crystal was expertly ripped free.

Another nearby group fought with the same chilling efficiency. Shields locked together in an unbreakable wall. Archers fired with rhythmic precision. Casters chanted their incantations in chilling unison.

“They’re an organized army,” Aegis said, a grudging acknowledgment in his tone.

“Not bad, right?” Bella replied, an appreciative smile playing on her lips.

“Indeed.They’ve adapted well. And that’s because they don’t want to be hunted,” Aegis said expressionlessly.

Pyro bounced excitedly on his shoulder, its tiny flames flickering with battle lust. Boink.

“It seems this Primodial battlefield has more participants than we initially thought,” Bella said, her smile broadening.

“Doesn’t that just make things more interesting, Arlan?”

Aegis did not respond. He was.focused on the shifting battle lines below.

Bella noticed his silence.

Her smile grew wider, turning teasing.

Without warning, she reached out, her fingers wrapping possessively around his wrist.

“Come on, Arlan.”

Aegis frowned down at her hand. “What are you doing?”

“Loosening you up a little,” she replied cheerfully, then pulled him, yanking him forward with surprising force.

Before he could offer a coherent protest, they plunged straight down into the chaos of the battlefield.

“Bella,” Aegis said flatly, the familiar irritation returning. “This is unnecessary.”

“Too late for complaints..You’re already here, my Sea God.” she replied, dodging a falling piece of rubble.

Just then, a truly massive Earth Titan turned its immense body toward them, rising like a moving cliff face.

Bella laughed softly,

“Oh, good. A warm-up.”

She raised her silver scepter instantly, and a corona of blue frost bloomed around her.

“Ice Formation: Binding Lattice!”

The fractured ground before the Titan erupted with jagged, massive ice spears, pinning the creature’s legs securely in place.

Aegis let out a long, slow sigh.

He stepped forward, the single word ’warm-up’ igniting his battle focus.

The God-Killer Trident appeared in his hand with a faint hum.

“Pyro, stay back.”

Boink.

Aegis threw the trident.

It flew with impossible speed and force, piercing straight through the center of the pinned Titan’s skull.

The creature collapsed instantly, dissolving into dust before it even registered the lethal strike.

The surrounding adventurers froze, their own battles momentarily forgotten.

“Fuck! Did you just see that?” one shouted, utterly bewildered.

“Dang, What the hell was that power?” another whispered.

Bella clapped her hands together lightly.

“See, Arlan? You’re helping people already. Doesn’t that feel nice?” she said teasingly.

“I killed it because it was directly in the way of where we need to go,” Aegis replied calmly.

“Sure,” she said, her eyes glinting, completely unconvinced.

They continued forward, weaving through the ongoing, frenetic battles. Some teams eyed them warily, clearly sensing the abnormal power they radiated. Others shouted frantic warnings.

“Hey, don’t draw more Titans over here, you two!”

“Watch your flank! You’re getting surrounded!”

Aegis ignored every single shout.

Bella, however, waved cheerfully, like a picture of oblivious grace.

“Sorry, sorry! We’ll be quick, promise!”

Eventually, they came across a larger, more established group, numbering around twenty experienced fighters.

At their center stood a man clad in heavy, stone-dust-stained armor, his blade worn smooth with constant use. He barked orders with mechanical efficiency, clearly the experienced core of the operation.

“That must be the leader,” Bella noted, slowing her pace.

Before Aegis could utter a single syllable of caution, she flew straight toward the group, pulling him along without ceremony.

Aegis clicked his tongue in exasperation.

They landed before the group.

The leader turned, his professional assessment momentarily stalled.

His eyes swept over Bella first, taking in her startling beauty and cold elegance..

“Well now,” he grineed, sheathing his blade. “Didn’t expect to see something this pretty out here in the Titan Graveyard.”

Aegis’s eyes, watching the man’s undisguised lust, darkened slightly.

However, Bella just tilted her head, her smile remaining sweet and entirely misleading.

“We’re looking to join a group for a while. Is that possible for a skilled duo?”

The leader’s gaze roamed shamelessly over her curves.

“Names?” he asked, entirely focused on Bella.

“Arlan,” Bella said casually, nodding toward Aegis, then gesturing to herself. “And Bella.”

The man frowned slightly, the names ringing no bell in his operational memory. He had never seen Aegis or Skadi, so the names meant nothing beyond simple identification.

He laughed dismissively.

“Well, Bella, you’re more than welcome to stay,” he said, his voice husky. “But him? That pretty boy looks like dead weight in a fight. I run a tight ship.”

He glanced at Aegis’ strong body and golden trident with contempt of superiority.

From the sidelines, a few of his veteran men chuckled nervously.

Aegis remained utterly silent, his expression perfectly cold.

Bella’s smile instantly froze into a brittle, dangerous shape.

“What exactly did you say?” she asked, her voice dropping to a terrifyingly soft whisper.

The man, sensing compliance rather than danger, stepped closer, his chest puffed out.

“I’m Captain Kurt,” he announced proudly. “And I don’t babysit weaklings. If you want protection, you can stay with us, beautiful. But he can’t.”

Bella’s fingers tightened around her silver scepter.

A raw, ancient anger flashed in her ice-blue eyes.

Her plan had utterly failed. She had wanted Aegis to feel validated, acknowledged, to fight alongside others and feel the simple respect of a comrade.

Instead, he was being publicly mocked and insulted.

Again.

Before her divine temper could explode into a devastating ice storm, Aegis moved.

He grabbed Bella’s wrist and pulled her back, smoothly extricating her without a single word to Kurt.

Captain Kurt scoffed, watching them retreat. “Smart choice, pretty boy. Know your place.”

Aegis did not give him the dignity of a glance.

He simply turned away from the group.

“I never expected this to work, Bella,” he said calmly, his tone flat.

Bella looked at him, her face etched with frustration and profound guilt.

“I’m sorry, Arlan,” she said quietly, hating herself for reopening his wounds.

He did not answer immediately.

They moved away from the group, heading deeper into the basin, toward the truly vast Titans where sane humans rarely dared to tread.

Bella bit her lip until she tasted blood.

She had only wanted to make him happy.

Instead, she had only managed to reignite the bitter memory of his past humiliation.

Aegis stopped abruptly.

He turned to face her, his expression finally hardening into something decisive.

“Bella, do not do things like that again.”

Her heart sank, the last sliver of warmth fleeing.

“I just wanted to…”

“I know,” he cut her off, his eyes pinning her

. “And that, Bella, is precisely the problem.”

She stared at him, confused by his rejection of her care.

“I don’t need the approval of Captain Kurt.I don’t need recognition from strangers. And I definitely don’t need to prove the Sea God’s power to anyone.”

Silence followed, heavy and suffocating.

Rumble.

Then, the ground beneath them shook violently, far more intensely than before.

A thunderous roar echoed across the entire basin.

From beyond a massive ridge of compacted earth, something truly colossal rose.

It was an Earth Titan dwarfing all the others, a creature of unprecedented size, its body alone a moving monument of stone.

Aegis’s eyes focused instantly, all thoughts of past trauma wiped clean by the sheer scale of the threat.

Bella inhaled slowly, her anger instantly replaced by professional focus.

“That one’s strong,” she whispered.

Aegis lifted the trident, its black-gold energy pulsing in hunger.

“Good.”

Bella smiled faintly, a deadly, anticipatory smile.

“Shall we, Arlan?” she asked, her spirit soaring with the challenge.

He glanced at her, a subtle, almost invisible hint of challenge in his own eyes.

“Just try not to steal all the kills, Bella.”

Her smile turned radiant as a promise of chaos. “I’ll do my very best, Arlan.”

Behind them, Ruina and Pyro watched in silence, their eyes focused on the twin figures of terrifying power.

One thing was now perfectly clear.

This chaotic battlefield was no longer just a hunt for Sky Crystals.

It was the stage where monsters, gods, and two long-lost hearts would clash.

And the colossal Earth Titans were about to learn what true terror looked like.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep