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The first layer was home to many lifeforms both Titan and beasts.
In the dim glow of the subterranean light, massive forms moved across the landscape.
Among them were the Giant Rock Crabs, dragging their armored bodies across black stone.
Leaf Dragons with wings shimmering green like living foliage, and when they rested, they vanished into the canopy of petrified trees, indistinguishable from leaves swaying in a phantom breeze.
Overhead, Hell Eagles circled the skies.
They had the heads of owls, claws like razors, and wings stretched wide like those of a bat.
Instead of feathers, their bodies were wrapped in thick, leather-like armor.
Serrated spines jutted from their backs, forming a jagged hump that rippled whenever they screamed, a sound like metal grinding on bone.
Further ahead slithered the Singing Serpents, their eerie wails echoing through the caves.
Nearby crawled a Four-Limbed Scaly Lizard, its form reminiscent of Godzilla himself.
Over fifty meters long, its skin was studded with sharp spines and plated bones.
It radiated raw nuclear power—strong enough to be ranked among the Gamma-class Titans.
And then there was Smida.
A colossal worm, over a hundred meters long, its eight legs clawed through the muck of a swamp.
Two forelimbs were longer than the rest, barbed like spears.
Its head was smooth and oval until its mouth split open into six fleshy petals, revealing a cavernous maw lined with rows of jagged fangs.
The sound of it opening was like wet stone cracking apart.
Smida usually lay buried beneath the sludge, its skin camouflaged with moss and lichen, waiting patiently for prey to wander too close.
King Kong nearly did.
If Miraluz's super-sensory perception hadn't detected the faint pulse of life below the mud, Kong's next step would have taken him straight into Smida's gaping mouth.
With a roar, the silver-scaled dragon unleashed a pulse of atomic lightning that tore through the ground.
The explosion sent the worm hurtling upward in a storm of molten mud.
Kong didn't hesitate.
He slammed his fists into Smida's flailing head, while the dinosaurs swarmed in—biting, tearing, clawing.
The swamp became a whirl of movement and blood.
When it was done, Smida lay still, black blood seeping from its ruined mouth.
Miraluz stepped forward, his body radiating power.
"Devour and evolve," Miraluz commanded, his deep voice echoing through the caverns.
They obeyed.
Half a day later, the group emerged before a massive formation—a mountain shaped like the back of Godzilla himself.
Jagged spines of stone rose along its ridge, glowing faintly with bioluminescent minerals.
The air was thick with radiation.
Kong slowed his pace, his deep voice rumbling.
"This… is the place. The one that's been calling to me."
As they drew closer, the illusion of a mountain faded.
Beneath layers of stone and vines, they uncovered the weathered face of an ancient palace—a structure carved for Titans.
On its massive gates, the imprint of a giant palm was etched in the rock—almost the same size as Kong's own.
He pressed his hand against it, but nothing happened.
The gate did not open.
Grunting, he pushed with all his might.
The colossal doors groaned, dust raining from their seams, and at last they swung inward.
Inside was a vast chamber lit by faint blue veins of ore.
At its center stood a Titan Throne, surrounded by nine towering pillars.
Bones littered the floor—ribs the size of trees, skulls with gaping jaws.
Kong froze.
"These… these are my kind," he murmured, his deep voice trembling with recognition.
"My clan."
Miraluz stepped past him, his long tail swaying.
"This is where the war between your kin and mine began. This bones are the proof."
The silence was thick, broken only by the crunch of bone beneath Kong's feet.
Then his gaze caught something—half-buried in the skull of a fallen Titan.
An axe.
He pulled it free, and the weapon pulsed to life.
Blue light shimmered across its surface, carrying the scent of nuclear energy.
The blade's edge glowed with radiated heat, as though it still remembered the fury of battle.
Kong soon found a groove in the ground shaped exactly like the axe.
When he placed it there, the chamber responded—the ore veins in the floor lit up, channeling energy into the weapon.
The ground hummed with power as the axe drank in the charge, glowing ever brighter.
When the charging ceased, the weapon pulsed like a heartbeat.
Kong turned toward Miraluz and offered the axe respectfully.
"Yours, Lord Miraluz."
But the dragon shook his head.
"Keep it. I do not need human tools or Titan relics. Your fists and your will are your true weapons. Wield them."
Kong bowed slightly, gripping the axe.
"Then I will wield it in your name."
With the weapon charged, he could feel energy coursing through his arm, amplifying his strength.
His left fist tightened, humming with seismic force.
With his right, he swung the glowing axe each motion left a trail of blue light.
Miraluz turned to his gathered army.
"From this day forward," he declared, "this temple will serve as our base in Hollow World. Gather these ores. Fortify this place. Let it be the heart of the new era."
A thunderous roar of approval echoed through the chamber.
But the ground trembled.