Void Beetle Evolution Guide

Her jaw muscles twitched a few times as if she were chewing; clearly, all that money had made her thirsty. She glanced back at the crowd with her large, dark eyes, and the mercenaries immediately moved away from the bar to stand guard at the door.

"With so much money, I couldn't possibly assassinate some warlord." His subordinate had already told Sivir about his employer before he arrived. Sivir knew who he was dealing with, hence the joke.

“Didn’t you claim you’d accept any task as long as the commission was high? This is just a deposit. If the task is completed, I’ll give you three times the price back,” Cassiopeia retorted with a forced smile.

Sivir's style is to do things for money, and money is the least valuable thing to Cassiopeia, so it's no wonder they were able to team up in the first place.

“That’s right, but you have to be alive to spend it.” Sivir poured two glasses of wine for Cassiopeia, pushing one towards her while she took the other and gulped it down, seemingly in high spirits because of the big order. “So, what do you plan to do with this money?”

"It's simple: help me explore the lost ancient capital of Shurima and try to bring back something of value."

The employer's words were concise, but Sivir immediately slammed her glass back down, saying, "Good heavens, they actually dare to covet Dawn Oasis."

"Is there a problem?" Cassiopeia, who doesn't drink beer of dubious origin, tapped rhythmically on the counter with her metal finger picks, urging the issue.

"Everyone knows that the ancient capital of Shurima is buried under the sandstorm, but for thousands of years, no one has ever found it."

“Such a large city, how could it just vanish into thin air?” Cassiopeia said. “I have already found the exact location of the Dawn Oasis by tracing the source of the Mother of Life.”

The Mother of Life is the first river of Shurima, named for the countless lives it nourishes along its course.

However, nowadays, the river only flows during the flood season. Most of the time, due to prolonged exposure to the sun, the water level drops sharply, exposing the dry riverbed.

Those places far from Mother Nature can only store mud and water during the rainy season to survive, like the valley where Kasha lived as a child.

That said, the Mother of Life that Cassiopeia spoke of is actually inextricably linked to the Oasis of Dawn.

In the glorious days of Shurima, under the shade of the Sun Disc, the Dawn Oasis, the capital city, roared and spewed waterfalls. Vast amounts of fresh water gathered beneath the dams to form rivers that flowed into the sea, and this was the original Mother of Life.

This great river nourished the land. In the past, Shurima was not entirely desert, but covered with fertile grasslands. The grass would graze and grow back immediately, and there were countless cattle and sheep.

However, after the ancient capital of Shurima fell, the source of this river was also cut off. Without the nourishment of the river, the grasslands quickly dried up and gradually turned into the vast desert we see today.

The river in Mother of Life now has one source of water: rainwater from the coastal mountains during the rainy season. However, the annual rainfall is so limited that it cannot sustain so many living beings.

Another source is the seawater from the western Bilgewater region. The seawater flows into the rainforest through the Manta Ray Delta, where it is filtered into edible freshwater before flowing into the heart of Shurima.

In other words, the River of Life originally flowed from the center of Shurima outwards, but after that upheaval, it completely reversed and began to flow from the periphery towards the center, its role changing from provider to consumer.

All of these were the results of Cassiopeia's research. She didn't believe them at first and only listened to them as legends. Otherwise, she really couldn't understand how so much water could flow out of nowhere in the city.

But after encountering the Wild Hunt, she felt that anything was possible. By studying the course of the rivers, she found their confluence. She was absolutely certain that this was where the Dawn Oasis was located.

However, after hearing her words, Sivir waved her hand.

"It's not hard to guess the location of the ancient capital. In fact, people went there a long time ago. That place turned into a huge sand pit. The road doesn't seem real. If you're not careful, you'll slip and fall to the bottom, swallowed by the yellow sand and never to be seen again." Her expression was cold as she continued, "Some people say that the sand pit is a giant hourglass, and below the hourglass lies the lost ancient capital of Shurima. But for thousands of years, I've never heard of anyone who has fallen into the sand pit and come out alive."

"So, you're scared?" Cassiopeia asked provocatively.

“How could that be?” Sivir smiled with relief. “I’ve always thought I was pretty tough; so many dangerous tombs couldn’t take me away. I’ll take this mission.”

“Very good, get your things ready, I’ll be waiting for you by Knoxtorra outside the city gate.”

"Walk slowly."

Sivir watched Cassiopeia leave with a smile, whistled happily, and finished the remaining half glass of wine.

In reality, she wasn't that short of money and absolutely had to take on this task. However, her impoverished childhood as an orphan instilled in her an extraordinary fascination with wealth, and coupled with the need for some extra excitement in her boring days, she accepted the task.

She doesn't deny that she's the kind of person who'd rather risk her life than make money; otherwise, she wouldn't have become a mercenary who lives on the edge of a knife.

It's important to know that she inherited this mercenary group from her predecessor. After learning that the domineering leader always took the largest share of the rewards and stole all the fame, while she, as the strategist and deputy, only received a pittance, Sivir decisively rebelled.

The unfair distribution of wealth was intolerable to her. Of course, when she couldn't stand it anymore, the biggest slice of the pie didn't end up on her plate.

So she accepted the position of group leader without hesitation.

However, Sivir treated his men well, and even bought this tavern as his base, so he always had plenty of drinks.

As long as you don't betray her, you won't be mistreated, which is why so many people are willing to follow her through thick and thin.

In the mercenary group, some earn more and some earn less; only by making her the leader can everyone make money. Mei has been thinking... Mei has been thinking... Mei has been thinking... Lin has been thinking...

If you don't open for business for six months, you can live off it for six months once you do.

She took this order to pay her brothers.

I just don't know how many will survive in the end.

Anyway, the survivors will make good use of that money for them.

On

Chapter 399 Mercenaries and Sand Bandits

Cassiopeia left the tavern first, and on her way back, Wild Hunt asked her about the suspicious points.

“Cassiopeia, I didn’t see Sivir holding Chariche. Have you investigated this properly? Don’t make a mistake.”

That crossblade, named Charikar, is the legendary weapon of Setaka, the Ascended Queen. For this mission, it and Sivir are both indispensable.

Cassiopeia coughed twice and slightly distanced herself from the two soldiers behind her. "Don't worry, Master. My men saw her with the artifact and have even found out its origin."

Charikal also originated from a commission. An elder named Nashlamy asked Sylvie to find a lost family heirloom. After several months of searching, only Sylvie returned with the heirloom, while the elder's private bodyguard team was wiped out. After that, Charikal became her weapon.

"That makes sense, she should have gotten it by now." Wild Hunt pondered, putting his concerns aside.

However, Cassiopeia seized on this topic and pressed further, asking, "What if she didn't have that weapon?"

Wild Hunt thought about it carefully and realized that it was indeed not easy to deal with.

Setaka was buried by Nasus himself after his death. Nasus certainly knew where Chalicar was, and since Nasus had been living in a certain astrological tower for a long time, finding him was obviously much easier than finding Setaka's grave.

However, don't forget that Tayanari appeared in Ragnarok wielding Charikar, intending to use it to command the Darkin, which means that the weapon is no longer in Setaka's tomb.

Tayanari told the other Darkin that the weapon was lent to him by Nasus, but the Darkin were skeptical that the reclusive Grand Maester Nasus would make such a significant decision privately; they were more likely that the Twilight Protoss found it and gave it to him. (The last sentence appears to be unrelated and possibly spam/advertisement.)

Afterwards, Taiana used Charikar's power to kill most of the Darkin present, but he himself was also severely injured. As expected, Charikar eventually fell back into the hands of the Twilight Protoss and disappeared without a trace.

“If she hasn’t obtained that weapon yet, our search for it will be like sifting through sand in the desert,” Wild Hunt sighed.

The next day, Sivir led a group of about ten people, roughly twice the number of Cassiopeia's bodyguards, and a large caravan of more than a dozen camels, heading south under Sivir's leadership.

Before setting off, Cassiopeia had already anticipated that the trip would not go smoothly, but she did not expect trouble to come knocking on her door so quickly.

They had only traveled half a day outside the city when a large caravan came chasing after them from afar. It was a vast tribe, and their march stirred up clouds of dust. Suddenly, the urgent sound of camel bells filled the air, causing a sense of unease.

"They're up to no good." Kasha frowned as she put away the rope ladder, then climbed onto Skarlosh's back, where she had a better view from the higher vantage point.

She recognized them as a bandit tribe that made their living by plundering. There were several dozen of them, all equipped with reinforced bone plates and long-handled weapons. They wore bone face shields, with only eye holes, revealing fierce and ruthless eyes as they scanned their prey.

It's just a minor problem. Kasha glanced around and saw that there weren't even any formidable figures like Susase among them, and their mounts were just ordinary camels instead of bloodthirsty sand tiger lizards. It was something she could easily resolve with a few rounds of her barrage of attacks.

But she suddenly remembered that before they set off, the Wild Hunt had said that they shouldn't act rashly before things were settled, lest Sylvie become suspicious of them.

Why would such a powerful group need her protection? Even if it were just a simple matter of leading the way, it wouldn't be her responsibility, would it? There must be some conspiracy involved!

Even if we were to take action, we should at least wait until Sivir is trapped in the ancient city with no way to escape before we can make a move.

Therefore, not only can Kaisa not move, but she also has to keep Sephiroth and the others at bay and leave the matter to Sivir to handle.

Well, let's just treat it as watching a show, and take the opportunity to see what kind of mercenaries Cassiopeia has hired.

"Sivir, you can't escape. Just accept your fate and die!"

The bandits shouted from behind. They weren't as bad as they seemed; they were able to stand steadily on the back of the running camels and aim their spears at their prey.

Others were no ordinary men either. Their thighs were as strong as grasshoppers, and their feet were on specially made curved and smooth bamboo planks. They were being pulled by camels on ropes as they slid across the sand, charging towards the flanks with all their might, intending to harass them from the side with spears.

"Why are they from the Sans?" Sivir recognized the newcomer and immediately took off the weapon from her back as if facing a formidable enemy.

It was a golden cross blade that gleamed with a cold light, shaped like a giant dart. Sivir gripped the round handle in the middle, and the forked, outward-flaring blade was almost touching her arm.

"Looks like these people are here for you, Sivir. Can you handle it?" Cassiopeia asked from the cabin above.

"Don't worry, I'd love to get rid of them as soon as possible." Sivir twirled the crossblade without turning her head, her voice laced with cruelty.

They are the most feared bandit tribe in Shurima. Sivir's family was killed by them, leaving her a homeless orphan who struggles to survive by petty theft.

“You have half an hour. Don’t bring personal grudges into the mission,” Cassiopeia said.

"Half an hour? Ten minutes... no, five minutes is enough. Same rules as always, the one who kills the most gets the most."

Sivir gave the order to his men, and the dozen or so men immediately scattered with howls and excitedly headed towards the enemy.

Their weapon was a pair of axe blades connected by an iron chain, which were terrifying when spun; a mere glancing blow from them would result in death or serious injury.

"Thirty steps. Twenty steps. Fifteen steps."

Meanwhile, Sivir, the leader of the bandits, dismounted from her camel and kept turning Charikar, calculating the distance between herself and the bandits. Then, at a perfect moment, she threw her weapon.

The crossblade struck the first bandit who was lunging at him. The bandit's cloak was connected to his wrists, allowing him to glide briefly like a flying squirrel when leaping from the camel, easily covering ten meters.

However, he was cleaved in two mid-air by Charikar, falling to the ground like a piece of split firewood. The spinning blade continued forward, the sharp weapon cutting through human flesh more easily than a utility knife cutting soap.

It sliced ​​the second man in half, slowed down after reaching its highest point, and then reversed its flight direction. On its return journey, the cross-shaped blade decapitated the third man, finally returning to Sivir's hand without a drop of blood.

Chapter 400 Sivir's Artifact

Charikar traced a deadly trajectory, circling through the air, linking the three people who were not on the same straight line together and severing them in half, before finally flying back towards her.

Before Sivir threw the cross blade, she had already calculated its flight trajectory after it left her hand, and where it would eventually land.

Calling it a calculation isn't quite accurate; Sivir simply felt that the weapon was very handy, as if it had some kind of connection with her in the dark.

She could sense the flight path of the spinning blades purely by instinct, as if there was a dotted line of death in her eyes, and she only needed to throw her weapon when the enemy passed through the dotted line.

Sivir had others try, but no one could control the crossblade's rotation like she did.

This weapon seems to have a master; once it's in someone else's hands, it becomes incredibly heavy, so heavy that it's difficult to even lift it and throw it, let alone catch it.

"Charge! Don't give that bitch a chance to throw her weapon!" the bandit leader roared, brandishing his spear as he gave the order.

The flying spears made a whistling sound as Sivir spun her blade and sliced ​​them in half, but the spearmen who surrounded her made it difficult for her to maneuver effectively.

If she were to throw her weapon, she would only have a small knife left, which would certainly be insufficient against the combined attack of several spears. Fortunately, she was not fighting alone.

"Captain, I'm here to help you!" Jacob, with his dark skin, rode his camel and brandished his twin chain axes to help Sylvie out of her predicament. This dark beauty wore a corset that accentuated her two prominent black breasts, making the sand bandits unable to look away. A wild smile appeared on her face, which was decorated with gold patterns.

As Sivir's second-in-command, Jacob knew that in this situation, killing more people wouldn't give her more money. Instead, it would make the leader realize her value, which would earn her more money.

Instead of gripping the middle of the chain, she slid her hand to one end. This reduced the frequency of the chain axe's rotation, but doubled its radius, making it longer than the enemy's spear.

However, without the balance between the two ends, she couldn't maintain this posture for long. She ran around Sivir a few times, using her storm of steel to drive the bandits away.

"I'll give you credit for that." Sivir took the opportunity to throw out the cross blade, which Charikar had been holding for a long time and immediately shot through the air with a whoosh.

Her target was clearly the bandit leader. These Sarns were all completely masked, and Sivir initially couldn't identify the leader. Luckily, he spoke up, and everything became clear. (The last sentence appears to be unrelated and possibly a fragment from another text.)

The bandit leader fell from the camel's back, dodging the flying cross blade, but not the spinning attack. After his death, the remaining bandits, without their leader, were swiftly wiped out.

However, there was little joy on Sivir's face from the satisfaction of revenge; she did not draw strength from hatred. She would not confine herself to the past, especially since these Sarns might not be the same group of bandits who had killed her entire family.

For her, killing and being killed were both natural means to survive. Cruelty was the first lesson in desert survival, and it was Sans who taught her that first lesson.

Sivir ordered her men to clean up the battlefield to see if they could find anything valuable, while she went down to the foot of Cassiopeia's cabin and placed her hand on the rope ladder.

“Miss Employer, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you.” Sivir referred to Cassiopeia as the glamorous Noxian woman, but she only said this in private.

"What is it?" Casiopeia peeked out and looked down at her.

“I’m going to take half of my men. The fact that these Sans people knew we left the city so quickly means someone leaked the news, or even a traitor deliberately contacted them to pocket the deposit.” Sylvie’s expression was grim. “While we’re not far from Nashlamay, I need to rush back and catch the traitor off guard. Otherwise, if we wait too long, he might just run off with the money. Besides, we’ve lost a few men and some are injured. If we let them continue following us, they probably won’t last long. If we go back to the city now, I can get a few more able-bodied men to come with us.”

Cassiopeia's calm expression remained unchanged despite witnessing a fierce battle, which made Sivir feel uneasy, wondering if she might be the kind of ruthless employer.

Temporarily withdrawing personnel means a weakening of security, but the price remains the same, which would be a loss for anyone.

Just when she thought she might have to put in a lot of effort, or even lower the price, to persuade the other party, Cassiopeia agreed to her request after only a moment's thought.

"That's possible, but you have to stay and continue leading the way. We're in a hurry and don't have time to wait for you to go back and replace us."

"Thank you for understanding." Sivir then went back to directing her men to get back to work.

And so, after a battle and the redeployment of most of her men, Sivir's mercenary group was reduced to only five people, including herself.

The number of people was even less than the number of bodyguards that Cassiopeia had brought, which made Sivir feel somewhat ashamed.

After that, her assessment of Cassie added the prefix "foolish and rich" to the existing description of her as a glamorous Noxian woman.

Sivir smugly chuckled to herself, unaware that she was the little guinea pig being played like a mouse by a venomous snake.

After the initial unexpected turn of events, the journey thereafter went exceptionally smoothly.

However, in order to avoid the Void Burrowing Beasts, Sivir led them on a longer route, spending more time on the way, until they arrived at a settlement located in the center of the desert.

Rek'Sai's death did not weaken the Sha; on the contrary, it made the competition among them even more intense and more dangerous for ordinary people.

Kai'Sa was eager to awaken their emperor before the Darkin started their war, and the extra few days of travel drove her to the brink of madness, with several attempts to grab Sivir and rush straight to their destination.