Chapter 196: The Hero Summoning Connection With The Three Titans
Confusion replaced his wariness.
"Nyx?"
His eyes moved to the first figure.
"Caelith?"
Then to the second.
"Myrkhal?"
A strange silence filled the ancient temple.
Because the three beings standing before him were none other than the Titans he had transformed into.
The three forms that belonged to him. Yet somehow, they were now standing before him as independent existences.
But right now, their appearances were completely different from their usual tiny, fairy-like forms.
Nyx had grown to around six feet tall, the same height as Luke.
However, his entire body was no longer physical.
It was composed entirely of swirling darkness, an existence formed from pure Void Energy that distorted the space around him.
Then there was Caelith.
Her entire body burned like a miniature sun, radiating intense heat and golden flames. Like Nyx, she had also taken a humanoid form, standing at the same height as Luke.
And then...
Myrkhal.
Luke stared at him for a few seconds.
"Why are you still the same even in this form?"
The words escaped his mouth unconsciously.
Because unlike the other two, Myrkhal, the Faceless Titan, looked almost exactly the same.
His body remained pure white.
His face remained completely blank.
There were no eyes.
No nose.
No features whatsoever.
Even the strange smiling mouth that Luke often saw was nowhere to be found.
Yet...
Myrkhal slowly turned toward him.
And then he smiled.
Somehow, despite having no face and no mouth.
Luke could clearly feel that Myrkhal was smiling at him.
"..."
’No wonder even reality itself becomes confused around him.’
Luke shook his head with a strange expression.
He had heard those words from Nyx before, but seeing Myrkhal’s pysical existence firsthand made him understand exactly what Nyx meant.
"Nyx. Caelith." Luke looked at the two Titans in front of him.
"You two can exist like this?" A hint of disbelief appeared on his face.
"And neither of you ever told me about it?" He muttered those words while slowly moving toward them, his eyes still scanning the surroundings cautiously.
He was searching for the source of the voice from earlier.
But no matter where he looked, nothing appeared.
The only thing present inside the massive temple was the colossal statue sitting in the distance.
However...
Luke’s expression became slightly serious when he looked at it.
The statue was covered in an unknown darkness.
A layer of shadow completely surrounded it, preventing his vision from penetrating through.
Even his Titan senses couldn’t see what was hidden beneath it.
Meanwhile, Nyx continued looking around with a confused expression.
He remembered being asleep inside Luke’s body all this time.
Then suddenly-
The force that had been suppressing their consciousness disappeared.
It was as if an invisible chain binding them had been broken.
Taking advantage of that moment, Nyx created an elemental body for himself and emerged.
The same thing happened with Caelith and even Myrkhal.
"I don’t know." Nyx answered honestly.
Caelith silently nodded beside him, showing that she was equally unaware.
As for Myrkhal...
He simply smiled again.
"..."
Luke stared at him for a moment.
’What a weirdo.’
He finally shifted his gaze away from Myrkhal.
At least before this, when Myrkhal only had that strange smiling mouth, he wasn’t this confusing.
But now a faceless Titan smiling without a face was somehow even more unsettling.
"But I think I understand why we have been sleeping so much recently." Nyx muttered as he looked around the ancient temple with curiosity.
Caelith also nodded, as if she had already reached the same conclusion.
"Valtharion was suppressing us."
Nyx turned his attention back toward Luke and continued explaining his theory.
"Before this, I didn’t know how, your system thing was brought us here."
"But now..."
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
"It seems to be following the same method that the gods and goddesses of this world used."
Luke raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.
’The same method as those beings?’
His mind immediately connected the pieces.
’Hero summoning!’
His eyes widened slightly in surprise.
If Nyx was right, then the System’s method of bringing him to this world was not something unique.
It was something that had been done before.
By the gods and goddesses themselves.
However...
Silence.
No notification appeared.
The System remained completely silent, leaving Luke with only Nyx’s theory.
Though Nyx continued explaining.
"Even though I still don’t know what happened to our original bodies."
He glanced toward Luke.
"Because you didn’t inherit even a fraction of our true power."
"But leave that aside for now."
Nyx’s expression became more serious.
"The important thing is... our souls still belong to a higher level of existence."
"A level even greater than the gods this world’s people worship."
Luke’s expression slightly changed.
"Your system suppressed the level of our souls before placing them inside your body."
"As for why." Nyx shook his head.
"I don’t know either."
"However, Valtharion could still sense our presence within you."
His voice became heavier.
"That is why it continued suppressing our already weakened souls all this time."
Luke remained silent.
He listened carefully from beginning to end, absorbing every word Nyx said.
But this revelation was something he had never expected.
Until now, he had always assumed that he was simply borrowing the power of their Titan bodies.
Yet, the more he thought about it the more he felt, that something had always strange.
Even after becoming a Bronze Knight, he had expected the power he received from them to grow far more significantly.
But it never did.
It was as if something was constantly limiting the connection between them.
As he was still only receiving a 5x stats multiplier, meaning he couldn’t access their true Titan-level physical attributes.
Other than their abilities, he was unable to use their actual strength.
’System, tell—’
"Hmm... only one person should have entered."
"Then how did four of you come in?"
Before Luke could even finish his question, the unfamiliar voice echoed again.
However, this time-
He knew exactly where it came from.
His gaze slowly shifted toward the massive statue.
"The statue..." Luke muttered under his breath, his expression becoming cautious as he stared at the ancient figure.
Meanwhile, Nyx, Caelith, and Myrkhal simply looked at the statue with curiosity.
They showed no fear.
"Are they not afraid?" Luke shook his head, removing the unnecessary thought from his mind.
This was not the time to worry about their strange behavior.
Because the statue spoke once again.
"Are their powers becoming weaker?"
The deep voice echoed throughout the temple.
Then, in the next moment-
The endless darkness covering the statue’s body began to move.
Like a living shadow, it was slowly pulled inward, being absorbed into the statue itself.
As the darkness vanished, the true appearance hidden beneath it was finally revealed.
*A 100-foot-tall muscular stone statue.*
Even while sitting, its enormous body reached a terrifying height, making Luke realize just how massive this being would be, when he it stood.
However, its face immediately caught his attention.
Or rather...
The lack of one.
The statue’s face had been completely destroyed.
It looked as if someone had repeatedly struck it countless times, beating it until its original appearance became impossible to recognize.
The entire surface was covered in deep cracks.
Chunks of stone were missing.
Fragments had crumbled away.
Whatever identity this giant once possessed. It had been deliberately erased.
Luke stared silently at the damaged face.