Void Beetle Evolution Guide

"It's the one with the harp!"

Upon hearing that the enemy used a harp, Kaisa's heart sank to the bottom. This meant that the enemy was likely skilled in sonic attacks and could ignore her invisibility.

As expected, when Stella plucked the strings, what was produced was not a beautiful melody, but a sound wave like the shriek of a banshee.

The substantial sound waves were like invisible whips, lashing out in their direction.

Time and again, it emitted sounds that the Darkin could neither hear nor feel. But to Kai'Sa, the sound was like the cracking of a giant's whip.

Kasha clutched her ears in pain, her head filled with a deafening roar, as if a blade as thin as a cicada's wing was relentlessly scraping against her eardrums.

Even though the Wild Hunt had sealed Kaisa's ear canals with skin armor, the sound waves still traveled through her bones to her nerves, causing her body to tremble and stagnate in the resonance, gradually exposing her to the many scarlet eyes.

The other Darkin were stunned by the sudden appearance of the humanoid figure, while Aatrox charged down from the sky with murderous intent, his greatsword, as thick as a door, crashing down on them!

"You scoundrel, you're asking for death!"

Just as Aatrox's greatsword was about to strike Kai'Sa, a terrifying sensation suddenly overwhelmed him, as if he had fallen into an endless vortex.

A purple-glowing passage suddenly opened between him and Kasha, and hideous monsters surrounded it, all lurking outside the threshold barrier, waiting for their chance to strike...

This familiar, terrifying feeling instantly transported him back to the nightmare of battling monsters in the abyss, and in a daze, he saw an irresistible giant claw reaching for him.

The giant claw was irresistible, seemingly intent on crushing him. Aatrox let out a furious roar of defiance and brought his greatsword down with tremendous force.

The sword's edge sank deep into his palm, the tangible feedback instantly bringing Aatrox back to his senses; the shock he felt was not a hallucination of madness.

The massive, scaly claws were nearly cleaved in two, then retracted into the passage and disappeared. But in that moment of hesitation, Kai'Sa had already vanished from her spot.

"Chase him!" Aatrox commanded the Darkin. He couldn't let that mortal escape. Any human could be a potential Protoss, a chosen human form of the Titans. Or perhaps, a follower of Zoranny.

Kai'Sa had already hidden herself in the ruins, and was sitting with her back to a corner of a wall with a missing roof, but the situation hadn't improved much, as the Darkin had scattered and were searching for her everywhere.

Blood magic uses flesh and blood as a medium to manipulate the body. This primitive and evil magic arouses the appetite of the skin and armor, which is why Kai'Sa can clearly sense the location of the Darkin.

Her armor seemed to stir restlessly, capturing the scent of flesh and blood in this decaying, dead city, and resonating with it. Darkin were flying towards her, the shadows they cast overhead making Kai'Sa extremely tense.

For a fleeting moment, Kai'Sa thought she had been discovered, but then the Darkin moved in a slightly different direction, exploring another alley. He was searching blindly, clearly unsure of what his target was or where it was.

Only after the Darkin had walked a little further away did Kai'Sa dare to turn around and quickly glance at him, only to find that it was the irritable and arrogant Taroosh, the one with the halberd that the Wild Hunt had found in the Baru Forge on the Shadow Isles.

He modified the dragon's body, using the shark mouth of his halberd to sweep along the ground like a metal detector, while his tail whipped at buildings and dug deep into the earth.

“We’ve got all the information we need. If all else fails, let’s retreat,” Wild Hunt suggested. Being hunted down by more than a dozen Darkborn throughout the city would be incredibly stressful for anyone.

"If we leave here, we won't be able to come back anytime soon!"

Kasha knew that the Wild Hunt's portals could only be opened near familiars. If she, as the anchor point, left, then Icathia would have no other familiars who could act as anchor points to open the portals.

"Then what are you still doing here?"

“I have to stick with that Destroyer; he’s the only Darkin who’s alone. Once he and Zolani start fighting, that will be our best chance to get rid of him!”

"You've got some nerve."

To be honest, Wild Hunt never expected Kai'Sa to be so aggressive. He felt that since he had come all this way, it would be a waste to go back without doing anything, and he even thought of taking action against Aatrox.

He originally intended to observe the situation calmly; no matter how things unfolded, the Protoss would ultimately protect him, and those on Mount Targon would never stand idly by and watch the Darkin destroy the world. (The last sentence is a nonsensical string of characters and doesn't translate directly.)

But Kaisa had no desire to see war break out.

Once the wheels of war start rolling, they are hard to stop, and countless innocent people will be swept up in them, including her family and Talia's family...

It's better to rely on yourself than on others. The Celestials will intervene, but she's afraid people won't last that long, so she'd better find a way to end it before it even begins.

"Since you insist on staying, I'll stay with you to the end."

Hearing Wild Hunt sigh helplessly, Kai'Sa asked in return, "Is everything alright?"

"What problem could I possibly have?" Wild Hunt sighed, thinking about his previous plans.

He had been keeping an eye on Sivir for a long time. If the Darkin Civil War could not end in Icathia, he would arrange for the two of them to repeat their fate and resurrect the Ascended Emperor to stop the Darkin from wreaking havoc on the world.

But that would bring out another mad god and an evil sorcerer... We can't worry about that now, things are already chaotic enough, let's make them even more chaotic!

Chapter 378 Spacetime Anomaly

Not long after Taroosh left, Balkux, the big-eyed monster, arrived not far from Kai'Sa.

He waved his staff, and countless crimson vines, like pythons, emerged from the ground and snaked forward, covering almost every corner.

The surrounding void creatures were alarmed, and in the blink of an eye, a small-scale beast tide was formed.

They charged toward Balcux one after another, only to have their hearts pierced by the activated vines, leaving them all hanging in mid-air.

Balkux's destructive power was far more visibly apparent than that of the Darkin wielding melee weapons, and Kai'Sa couldn't help but shudder as she continued to move to a different location.

However, to her surprise, the previous groupings had already taken effect at this time.

She hadn't gone far when she saw Stellatu floating over with her harp in her arms, her slender claws already resting on the strings.

As she plucked the strings, ear-piercing piano music assaulted her relentlessly. Although it wasn't as painful as the first time she was targeted, it still pulled Kai'Sa's figure out of the void.

In an instant, dozens of eyes stared intently at her. Some were wide open, others narrowed, but they were all the same blood red.

"She's here!" Stellar shrieked, flames erupting from her body, her eyes darting about but firmly locked onto Kai'Sa.

Not far away, a dozen eyes from Balcux looked over at the same time, and the vines seemed to have grown eyes as well, converging into a tsunami that swept over.

At this moment, Kai'Sa no longer cared about concealing herself. She accelerated at full speed, bypassing the other Darkin who were closing in, and ran towards the Great Rift.

An arrow shot from several blocks away, having anticipated Kaisa's arrival before she even reached the intersection. A magnet activated crimson lightning that descended from the sky, locking onto her back.

The situation was like an ambush from all sides, and Kai'Sa barely managed to dodge the chaotic attacks, like playing a bullet hell game. (The rest of the text is nonsensical and likely machine-generated gibberish.)

Kaisa was forced to flee in all directions, repeatedly changing course and getting further and further away from the Great Rift, until she suddenly realized that the Darkin had formed an encirclement, and that there was more than one Darkin watching her from the sky.

If she wanted to escape, she could only run underground. She suddenly regretted not digging a tunnel beforehand; once she was underground, these Darkborn would be helpless against her.

"Does this mean we have no choice but to give up?" Just as Kai'Sa was frantically searching for a way out, Wild Hunt's reminder made her notice a strange phenomenon.

"Kasha, look, isn't there a new tower up ahead?"

A white tower suddenly appeared in front of them, intact and standing out conspicuously amidst the ruins.

No matter how Kasha tried to recall her memories, she had no recollection of the tower, as if it had appeared out of thin air.

"Yes...it wasn't there before."

"It seems it's not a mirage; this might be our only chance."

Kasha immediately understood and fled towards the tower with all her might, hoping that its abnormal behavior could bring a turnaround to the terrible situation.

It's already a miracle that it didn't collapse after that horrific disaster, but the fact that over three thousand years of erosion haven't left any trace of damage on the tower is definitely not normal.

What's more, this is Icathia, a land teeming with ravenous beasts! The fact that this building has survived under the very nose of the Void must mean something!

As Kai'Sa arrived at the tower's door and pushed it open, she caught a glimpse of the Darkin chasing after her one by one; the situation was urgent.

Just as she pushed the door open a crack wide enough for her to pass through and stepped inside, she suddenly felt a sense of temporal displacement.

The tower was filled with people, all dressed in ancient Icathian attire, huddled together, old and young alike, all casting terrified glances toward the entrance.

Just like her, they entered the tower to escape the terrifying beings outside.

Time travel! Kai'Sa felt as if she had traveled 3,500 years in an instant, returning to ancient Icathia, back to the time of the Void's eruption.

She didn't know how the door closed. When she came to her senses, the door was already tightly shut behind her, completely blocking out the Darkin's roar, and the surroundings became extremely quiet.

"Time stands still here."

Wild Hunt's reminder made Kasha notice that the refugees around her seemed to be frozen in place, their terrified eyes unblinking, their mouths agape but making no sound, which was very strange.

Time stood still. Kasha didn't quite understand this concept until she reached out out of curiosity to touch a young girl.

The girl had braids wrapped in silver threads, deep green eyes, and a flower wreath on her head.

Kasha poked her cheek, only to find it incredibly hard. Unconvinced, she tried to remove the wreath from the girl's head, but found it firmly attached and impossible to remove no matter how hard she tried.

In an instant, she seemed to understand something. These seemingly real beings were like background props, untouchable and unshakable, because they were frozen in time at the moment of disaster.

"Strange..." Kasha felt a chill run down her spine, unsure whether these people were alive or dead, and if not dead, when they would suddenly come back to life.

This unknown brought her an indescribable fear; she was afraid that she, like these people, would be trapped here forever by time.

Just then, the Darkin's conversation came from outside, muffled, as if separated by a layer of historical weight and distortion.

To hear what they were saying, Kasha squeezed through the crowd to the window located at the top of the spiral staircase and peered out.

The Darkin were right outside the window, completely surrounding the tower. Strangely, they seemed unable to see the tower so close at hand; they just stood there staring blankly.

"Where is she? You bunch of useless trash, you just let her get away like that?!" Taroosh roared furiously. He had already recognized Kai'Sa as the same group that had threatened to throw her into the void and destroy her.

“I clearly saw her run here, and then she vanished into thin air.” Balcux, with his many eyes, spoke in a slow, deep voice like a great tree.

Nayafili led his pack of dogs to sniff around, then shook his head: "There's nothing here."

"Has it gone invisible again?" Varus asked.

"No. I tried playing the zither, but the sound waves didn't reveal her figure, nor did they show any unusual reflections."

Styratul's answer caused Aatrox to suddenly raise his greatsword, and the way he swung it across the tower made Kai'Sa's heart stop.

She thought Aatrox had discovered her, but strangely, the Darkin finger, a living greatsword, passed straight through the tower as if there was nothing but air in front of her.

Everything inside the tower remained undamaged, everything was as usual, and time did not suddenly flow.

Seeing that the Darkin were still clueless and gradually dispersed to return to the main characters who were hunting Zoranny, Kai'Sa couldn't help but ask a question in surprise.

"Could it be... that they can't see this tower?"

"It's more accurate to say that this tower exists outside of time; we and they are no longer in the same space-time."

"Then how did I get in?"

"Either it's a one-in-a-million coincidence that this tower just happened to come a little closer to shore in the long river of time when you were at your wit's end, or someone is secretly helping us and doesn't want us to be captured by the Darkborn, so they deliberately put it in front of you."

“I think the latter is more likely.” Kasha’s tone suddenly became confident, despite her initial doubt.

She noticed that the dust on the window surface had been secretly drawn with an upward-sloping arrow, seemingly guiding her to continue towards the top of the tower.

She had no recollection of when the arrow appeared, as if her memory had been subtly altered, leaving her unable to find any anomalies.

Chapter 379 The Tower Master

The tower's steps are made of suspended red wooden planks, seemingly frozen in time, making no sound when you step on them.

Through the gaps in the stairs, Kasha could see directly below the refugees, numbering nearly a hundred, which was no small number.

"Wild Hunt, do you think time flows here? Or stands still?" Kai'Sa couldn't tell the answer to this question.

The Icathian refugees were trapped in time and space, motionless, while she herself and the Darkin outside were unaffected. These two contradictory observations severely interfered with Kai'Sa's judgment.

"There's a pocket watch in the Hive; you can take a look." Wild Hunt was intentionally or unintentionally cultivating Kai'Sa's ability to think independently.

“That’s right.” Upon hearing this, Kasha took out her pocket watch and saw that the second hand was moving.

This indicates that time flows normally inside the tower, in sync with the outside world.

After a moment's thought, she understood the reason.

The flow of time is only relative to these outsiders; for everything and everyone that originally existed in the tower, including the tower itself, time had stopped the moment the disaster struck.

"What kind of powerful magic could possibly strip the entire tower from time?"

Wild Hunt chuckled, as if he knew something, "You'll find out soon enough."

Kai'Sa knows Wild Hunt; he's not the type to play hard to get. When he says something like that, it usually means Kai'Sa is very close to the answer, and seeing it for yourself is far more intuitive than having him say it.

Without further hesitation, Kasha quickened her pace and climbed the stairs to the top floor of the tower.

The top floor is not enclosed, but rather like a pavilion, with a ceiling supported by several broken red stone pillars.

Many golden discs, suspended in mid-air by thin strings, resemble sun discs, but without any patterns in the center, their surfaces are smooth as mirrors. The patterns are concentrated on the outer edges of the discs, as regular and even as graduations.

In the central atrium of the top floor, a huge magic crystal floats, radiating a shimmering blue light from within.

Many yellow-robed mages surrounded the crystal, as if maintaining a magic circle, extending their hands to channel magic power into the crystal.

The Sands of Time formed a constantly rotating ring around the crystal, much to Kai'Sa's amazement.

However, the monks here were also frozen in time, unable to move.

Just as Kaisa was about to get closer to observe the mages, one of the white-haired old mages suddenly turned around, causing Kaisa to stop in her tracks.

The old monk was in excellent spirits, his eyes filled with a strange white light.

He wasn't surprised by Kai'Sa's presence, as if he had known about her for a long time. He stood up, dusted off the dust from his robes, and spoke in an ancient accent: "Daughter of Shurima, I have been waiting for you for a long time."