"Great Titan! Mang Gu of the Yin Desolation pledges loyalty to you. I vow to fight for you and be your sharpest spear until my dying breath. However, please forgive me for being unable to salute you properly at this moment."
Lying in a deep crater, the Yin Desolation giant Mang Gu looked up at Muria with respect, admiration, and a hint of regret in his eyes. He had just fought a battle against Muria, but he was disappointed that he hadn't achieved any noteworthy results.
What truly saddened him was that this battle, likely his first and last time fighting a Titan with all his might, was over. There would never be another opportunity to fight like this again.
"I accept your loyalty, Mang Gu," Muria said, looking down at the twisted body of the Yin Desolation giant at the bottom of the crater, a faint smile of helplessness on his face. Every single bone in Mang Gu's body had been broken—more than once or twice, in fact.
Even Mang Gu's legendary healing powers had been rendered ineffective after the prolonged fight. This had been one of the most frustrating battles for Muria, as he had to constantly hold back to avoid accidentally killing this brave but single-minded subordinate.
"Congratulations, Little Muria! You've finally secured your first legendary warrior in this world."
The golden dragon, who had been floating nearby for three days and nights, casually munching on some fruit, landed beside Muria, smiling as she congratulated him. She had been a spectator throughout the entire fight, acting as a true bystander.
"Mang Gu, what's your position in this world? Are you a tribal leader or something else?" Ignoring the dragon's comment, Muria rolled his eyes and turned to his newly sworn follower, who was struggling to stand.
"Master, I am the chief of the Mang Gu tribe," the giant replied. "I nominally accept the rule of the Nine Phoenix Dynasty, but in practice, they can't command me. Everything within my tribe is decided by me."
"Ah!" Muria nodded, then asked the question that concerned him the most, "How many people are in your tribe?"
"93,172," Mang Gu answered swiftly, much to Muria's surprise. The seemingly rough giant rattled off precise numbers, including how many adults were able to hunt or fight, leaving Muria momentarily stunned.
"Excellent!" Muria was pleased by the exact numbers. "Mang Gu, gather all the adults in your tribe capable of fighting. I'm going to conquer this half of the world."
"Oh, right, Little Muria," the golden dragon interrupted, smiling as she watched Muria's grand ambitions take shape. "Don't assume you can rest easy just because the iron wall is up. This barrier has a time limit. After a certain point, it will collapse on its own."
"When will it collapse?" Muria asked calmly, seemingly unfazed by her revelation. What he was thinking inside, only he knew.
"This iron curtain draws power from the elemental forces of the Yin Desolation. It's sustained by the elements from half the world. If it continues to draw on them for too long, it will cause an elemental imbalance, leading to desertification.
So, I've set a limit. Before the elemental depletion causes irreversible damage, the wall will collapse. This will likely happen in about two to three hundred years."
"Two hundred years?" Muria immediately disregarded the upper estimate and focused on the lower one. After all, the safest approach was to assume the minimum time. Hoping for the maximum would be foolish.
"Two hundred years should be enough. But, Mother, if this formation draws on the world's elemental power to sustain itself, won't the regions I've conquered see a gradual reduction in elemental density over time?"
"That's right, so you'll need to find new resource areas. Don't let the regions you control fall behind the other half of the world."
"I understand. I'll conquer this half as quickly as possible, then seek out new sources of resources!"
...
What followed was a war of absolute dominance on the other side of the wall. Thanks to the golden dragon's careful planning, the majority of the legendary Yin Desolation warriors had been sealed on the Nine Phoenix Dynasty's side of the world, leaving only five legends in the half Muria occupied.
The process of conquering half the world wasn't worth describing in detail. Muria personally sought out the remaining four legends, aside from Mang Gu. After revealing his Titan identity and proving his superior strength, each one submitted to him without much resistance.
Once Muria showed his Titan form and displayed overwhelming power, the legendary Yin Desolation warriors all surrendered. Remarkably, none of them were as stubborn as Mang Gu, who had required a full fight and broken bones before submitting. This raised Muria's regard for him even more.
With the strongest figures in half the world now under Muria's command, it was only a matter of time before the rest of this territory came under his rule.
Of course, Muria's reign over this half of the world had its limits. If, before the wall collapsed, he couldn't match the legendary peak warriors on the other side, he could be forced out, returning in disgrace to Erathia.
To avoid that humiliating fate, Muria threw himself into rigorous training. Under the pressure of time and the lure of rewards, training wasn't particularly difficult.
As for the conquest of half the world, Muria left it to the five Yin Desolation legends who had submitted to him, along with his own four legendary subordinates. They led their tribes, giants, and dragons on a campaign to eliminate any remnants of the Nine Phoenix Dynasty.
Conquest is always accompanied by bloodshed. Even though Muria carried the banner of righteous rule over the Yin Desolation, some of the Nine Phoenix Dynasty's citizens refused to acknowledge his Titan identity. They clung to the belief that the Titans were merely myths and refused to submit to him.
For those diehard resistors, a certain lightning-wreathed dragon had no qualms about unleashing his five-colored dragons upon them, eradicating them without mercy. Many troublesome Yin Desolation inhabitants were wiped out, their bodies nourishing the land from which they were born.
The ancient blue dragon did his dirty work without hesitation. He knew exactly why Muria had brought him here and understood his role perfectly.
His job was to handle these vile tasks—work that naturally fell to him as a malevolent creature. After all, for the ruler of the lofty Synapsis, even if his throne stood atop a mountain of corpses, his hands must remain unsullied by blood.
Two years after Muria arrived in the Yin Desolation, he had conquered half the world. A full five million Yin Desolation giants had become his followers. These giants, who offered sacrifices and obtained their first totems during their coming-of-age rituals, were all at least silver-ranked in strength.
With such numbers and such a terrifying minimum level of power, Muria couldn't help but be amazed. No wonder no Titan before him had bothered raising a host of giants from childhood—it was a waste of time. It was far more efficient to conquer an entire population like this.
Muria estimated that it had taken him about 150 years of effort, with ups and downs, to raise his forces since childhood. Yet, in just two years in this world, he had achieved far greater results. Of course, his past efforts hadn't been in vain. He had gained valuable experience in managing large forces.
Moreover, not every Titan had his luck. Not everyone had a mother who was a master of formations to assist them. Normally, it would take a Titan centuries to conquer a medium-sized world, not two years like Muria's shortcut.
Typically, a Titan would enter a new world with little more than a contract-bound legendary beast. Everything had to be rebuilt from scratch, an undertaking Muria could barely imagine.
But now? He had arrived with the force he'd spent over a century building, and after defeating the strongest locals, everything fell into place. He had no fear of betrayal from these native giants because he also had an independent force that would keep them in check.
To solidify his rule in the Yin Desolation, Muria revealed his Titan form and circled the half of the world under his control, accepting the worship of millions of Yin Desolation giants.
This act removed all doubt about the third descent of the Titans. Many giants who had been skeptical were now completely convinced. Some even became Muria's most loyal followers.
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