Void Beetle Evolution Guide

Varus glanced at Sivir, then turned his gaze to his companion. "Naganeka, did you get the key?"

“Got it.” Naganekia pulled the cross blade from the wall, examined the artifact closely, and asked, “And you? Are you done?”

“All irrelevant personnel have been cleared out.” Varus twisted his wrist, his body emanating a strong smell of blood, as if he had just bathed in blood.

Behind him, several figures emerged one after another; it was Kai'Sa and the others, no longer concealing their armor.

To Sivir's surprise, Cassiopeia was brought in by them, her hands cuffed behind her back and tightly bound with rope.

"Wait...why is that Noxian bitch tied up? Aren't you with them?" Sivir asked in shock.

Upon hearing this, Cassiopeia glared at her, her chest heaving, but her good upbringing prevented her from uttering any insults.

Verus, who was standing nearby, answered for her, "This person dared to desecrate an imperial tomb; becoming a sacrifice is the punishment she deserves."

As soon as she finished speaking, Sivir looked at Cassiopeia with a hint of sympathy; it turned out she wasn't the only unlucky one.

Sephiroth, taller than any god, ducked into the hidden door and shoved Cassiopeia forward. The latter stubbornly blocked her path, only to be mercilessly grabbed by the neck and slammed against the wall by Sephiroth.

She played the villainous role very convincingly. She had long wanted to take action against other women, and now that she was using this opportunity to settle her personal scores, it was just what she wanted.

Cassiopeia slammed hard against the wall, letting out a painful groan before kneeling on the ground, her long, scarlet hair disheveled.

Having learned from past experience, when Sephiroth came to arrest her, Sivir stopped resisting and obediently allowed herself to be pressed to the ground, with her hands tied behind her back.

Feeling the rope gradually digging into her wrist, Sivir felt a surge of joy.

Sephie's knot wasn't a dead knot, meaning she could untie it when they weren't looking. If she just paid more attention to her surroundings, she might be able to escape at the right moment.

Naganekah approached the two, looked around with interest, and suddenly grabbed Cassiopeia's chin, forcing her to look up and meet her gaze.

"Hmm~ My physical body is not perfect yet, but this is a good host."

"These are offerings used to open the tomb, don't even think about taking them." Kasha immediately grabbed her hand, things had taken a turn for the better than she expected.

Kai'Sa could have simply led Sivir to the tomb peacefully; before the rolling stone fell, she had no idea that Naganeka would pull this stunt.

It was only after Varus explained the situation from the other side, and after things had already happened, that she agreed to let Naganekia take the lead.

Next, she must keep a closer eye on the two Darkborn to prevent them from taking their act seriously.

Naganekia snorted coldly, then released her grip and continued on to her destination with the two hostages.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, Naganeka led the two to a sanctuary.

The sanctuary is equilateral triangular, wider at the base and narrower at the top, giving it an overall pyramidal shape. The doors are tightly shut, their heavy panels impossible to move by human force.

Naganekia stepped forward and took out an Ascension Amulet. It emitted a light as bright as the sun before flying upwards on its own and precisely embedding itself into the groove.

The gate reverberated with an ancient, heavy echo, the ground trembled, the vibrations made one's bones shudder, and wails emanated from the depths of their being. The two hostages stared in astonishment at the sight before them, their throats feeling as if they were being squeezed tightly, unable to breathe or speak.

The sanctuary's main gate opened inwards through a crack about ten meters wide, shrouding the interior in darkness, making it impossible to see anything.

"Is this the imperial tomb?"

"No, this is just a checkpoint on the way. To enter the core area, we must first obtain the priest's scepter here."

Naganekia maintained the magic, and the Ascension Amulet, under her control, floated into the inner sanctum, its light illuminating the surroundings. They then saw numerous enormous reliefs, carved into every wall and ceiling.

Under the sunlight, an altar was revealed inside the tomb, and above the altar floated an extravagantly shaped golden scepter, which was clearly the key to enter the core area.

However, the commotion caused by the group entering the sanctuary also disturbed the guardians who were sleeping within.

Suddenly, the coffin in the corner opened, and a pair of bandaged claws emerged. Above, a huge silhouette hung upside down like a bat, its crocodile-like snout reaching down towards the intruder.

Chapter 407 Laser Trap

Sivir instinctively took a half step back and looked up at the human-beast hybrid above her. The sleeping shadow seemed to sense something and suddenly opened its eyes.

It was a pair of huge, swollen eyes, with a sickly white film like a dead fish, without pupils... Between two withered, yellowed, outward-facing fangs, a shriveled snake tongue flicked out, stirring in the dusty, stifling air. Then, as if receiving some message, it leaped down from the corner of the ceiling, landing with a heavy thud.

As the sandstorm raged, the shapes of things in the darkness gradually became visible.

A lizard-like monster, roughly the size of an adult, was covered in scales that had a musty, purple hue. Its withered, shriveled limbs distorted the gold lines that had once adorned its full muscles. The monster wore a filthy robe from which hung numerous golden discs. Rotten, yellowed bandages were wrapped around its neck, mouth, and limbs, with crimson feathers peeking through the gaps, instantly conjuring images of a voodoo priest.

"Intruder..." At this moment, it stretched out its withered snake tongue, its long tail whipping the ground, and pulled out a huge weapon similar to a pickaxe from behind, the two blades connected together like a crescent moon.

“This is… Baka…” Cassiopeia murmured. This was the second time she had witnessed these products of failed ascension, following the Tomb of Nasus.

Sivir's expression was equally grave. As a tomb raider who had spent years roaming various ancient tombs, this wasn't the first time Sivir had dealt with these monsters. Every time they encountered these troublesome creatures, they would lose a lot of men, but as long as they weren't the slowest one, there was a chance of survival.

The sound of a long tail whipping the ground echoed through the tomb. A tightly closed coffin opened from the inside, and another grotesque monster crawled out. It resembled a hyena, clad in golden armor, yet it could not conceal its rotting fur and emaciated flesh.

Despite its hunched appearance, it was no less ferocious. As soon as it crawled out of the coffin, it bared its teeth and roared furiously at Kasha and the others. Grabbing its staff in one hand and the ground with the other, it pounced on them like a beast that had been starving for tens of thousands of years.

Ascension is not 100% successful. If one fails to transcend the tribulation, one will either be burned on the spot or become a monster despised by all, which is a direct manifestation of one's lack of virtue and status.

The magic from the sun cannot be perfectly integrated with the body, causing Baka to be in constant pain. Coupled with the immense humiliation of becoming a traitor from a hero, under this double torment, they often gradually descend into madness. Their minds become like sand dunes swept by a raging storm, with only the seeds of anger sprouting into flames of fury that no oasis's spring can extinguish.

"Insolent fool. Step back!" Naganek's rebuke abruptly stopped the frenzied Bakay in his tracks, a look of surprise and uncertainty flashing in his eyes.

Even though they have fallen into the Darkin, the superior power they once held as Ascended still exists, and this distinction between superior and inferior is deeply ingrained in their very bones.

Seeing the Bakas retreat back into the dark corner, Sivir secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Given her and Cassiopeia's current state of being tied up, they, the hostages, would be the first to die in a battle.

However, at that moment, Naganekia turned her head and looked at them, her mocking gaze making Sivir realize that something was wrong.

"You two, go and take down the scepter."

Varus untied the ropes binding their wrists from behind, and Sivir knew this was not a good thing.

She looked at the scepter on the altar, which floated inexplicably in the pillar of light, without any protection around it. It seemed harmless, yet something unusual was about to happen.

As one of the tomb's designers, Naganekia certainly knew what kind of trouble awaited her. Sivir tried hard to spot anything unusual, but her naked eye couldn't detect anything amiss.

"Wait!" Kasha called out, her voice hidden behind her helmet, a wet, alien-like whine. (The rest of the text appears to be gibberish and unrelated to the previous sentences.)

Through the helmet's illusory vision, she saw that the space around the altar was cut apart by many invisible rays of light.

Kaisa threw the rope she had used to bind the two of them over to test it. The moment the rope touched the high-energy rays, it burst into a burst of intense light like welding. The blinding brightness made Sivir's eyelids flicker twice. When she opened her eyes again, the rope had been cut into pieces, and the charred ends were burning fiercely.

Sivir felt a dryness in her mouth; she hadn't expected the trap to be so insidious and dangerous.

Kaisa merely warned of the trap's existence; she had no intention of giving up on obtaining the scepter. Naganek, arms crossed, watched with amusement, urging the two forward with her eyes.

"I'm already a dying person who's about to be sacrificed, are you out of your mind to make me do these things?" Faced with immense pressure, Sivir simply gave up and refused to continue.

It makes no sense to send a sacrifice to risk her life to retrieve the sacrificial instruments. Since she's going to die anyway, she might as well be tough and not listen to those Darkborn.

“I forgot to tell you, only one sacrifice is needed. What if I said the person who receives the scepter doesn’t have to be a sacrifice?” Naganekia chuckled.

Upon hearing this, Sivir's pupils contracted sharply, and she immediately looked at Cassiopeia beside her. She didn't want to die, but she wasn't confident she could get through the laser trap in front of her and retrieve the scepter.

So she pinned all her hopes on Cassiopeia, secretly hoping that the latter would not compromise, so that she would at least have a 50% chance of not being chosen.

However, Cassiopeia's actions greatly disappointed her. She saw Cassiopeia simply take off her coat, coil her scarlet hair in front of her and bite it with her mouth, and walk towards the altar with a resolute look in her eyes.

"Are you in such a hurry to die?" Sivir shouted angrily from behind, her shout causing a stir among the Baka in the corner. They hadn't left, but were watching the group's every move from the shadows, occasionally letting out beast-like roars.

Cassiopeia paused only briefly before continuing with her determined steps; it was clear that her resolve not to die was far stronger than Sivir's own.

But is that really the case?

Cassiopeia sneered inwardly. In a corner where Sivir couldn't see, a nictitating membrane appeared in her emerald eyes after a blink.

This nictitating membrane provides basic vision of the void, allowing her to see lasers that are invisible to the naked eye.

After that, with a bit of agility and courage, one can get through this deadly trap.

Chapter 408 Sivir's Battle of Wits Against Thin Air

The high-energy rays were clearly visible under the vision of the void. Cassiopeia took a deep breath and then carefully controlled her body to squeeze into the gap of the laser.

Dance is a compulsory course for noble ladies, and coupled with her background as an assassin family, Cassiopeia has developed superb body control under the influence of her environment.

She bent over, placed her hands on the ground, did a handstand, and then stood up to do another set of movements. Her balance and flexibility were at an extremely high level, like a graceful python slowly but steadily moving through the narrow, laser-cut space with astonishing grace.

"Could she have actually passed it?" Sivir was sweating profusely, and for a moment she thought the previous laser had never existed.

Her extraordinary control wasn't actually that bad; while she might not be as steady as Cassiopeia, she could still imitate it fairly well. What truly amazed her was Cassiopeia's monstrous memory.

Kaisa only threw a rope into the trap, so why could Cassiopeia instantly remember the distribution of all the lasers? Is there anything different about the structure of her eyes compared to normal people? How come she wasn't blinded like I was?

Seeing Cassiopeia successfully navigate the deadly traps and reach the altar, Sivir's face turned ashen. It seemed that no one who could reach this place was simple.

Cassiopeia reached into the pillar of light and grasped the handle of the scepter, but surprisingly, no matter how hard she tried, she could not pull the empty scepter down.

"Looks like you still have a chance," Naga Neka hissed as she spoke to Sivir, who was nearly in despair.

The latter's expression changed several times. After struggling with his inner conflict, he finally decided to take the plunge and give it a shot.

With successful precedents already in sight, Sivir completely imitated Cassiopeia's actions, biting her dark hair as she tried to feel her way across the river.

Even so, she still couldn't help feeling nervous. And when people are nervous, they can't help but tremble.

If the body accidentally brushes against even the slightest laser beam, the burning pain from the wound will trigger an instinctive defensive action, which in turn will cause a chain reaction, triggering the surrounding traps one after another.

The thought of turning into a pile of charred corpses sent shivers down Sivir's spine.

But she had no choice. Cassiopeia had already succeeded. If she didn't do something, she would definitely be sacrificed as a Darkin, without even the chance to be chosen between the two.

When it was actually her turn, Sivir realized that it was much more difficult than it seemed, and she had to check the starting point again and again.

Where did Cassiopeia take her first step? How big was that step? Left or right foot first? A series of agonizing questions kept running through her mind, driving her crazy.

Having finally taken the first step and luckily avoiding any traps, she froze, trying to recall exactly how far Cassiopeia had raised her legs when she was upside down.

Because the invisible laser beams filled the space around her, Sivir couldn't turn around to check. She didn't dare to look at the angle she had raised her leg behind her, or whether it matched Cassiopeia's movements.

"Pfft..." On the other side, Kai'Sa, hidden behind her mask, was struggling to suppress her laughter.

She's not one to laugh easily; she has a high threshold for laughter. But seeing Sivir scaring herself and outsmarting thin air was really hard to bear.

Naganekia had already quietly shut down the laser the moment Sivir decided to go through the trap; otherwise, she would have been caught off guard the moment she took her first step.

Playing around is playing around, but this is, after all, the last remaining bloodline of the emperor, and Naga Neka doesn't want Shurima's hope to be extinguished in her hands.

She did this simply to curb Sylvie's unruly arrogance. If Azir could truly be resurrected, she could use it to curry favor with the emperor.

Sivir narrowly escaped the laser trap, and, covered in cold sweat, took a few steps across the steps to the altar, reaching out to grab the scepter.

She was so weak and powerless that she thought she would feel some resistance that would support her body as she was about to fall, but she didn't expect that this grab would push the scepter out of the pillar of light.

"What the hell?" Sivir was dumbfounded. Why could the scepter that Cassiopeia couldn't pull out just by touching it lightly?

Does it, like Charikar, have a master? Or is it some kind of chosen worker? Or is Cassiopeia's inability to lift the scepter just an act?

The question was never answered, but in any case, she finally got her hands on that damned scepter.

"I got the things for you, so you'll keep your word, right?" Ignoring Cassiopeia's dark face beside her, Sivir asked Naganeka impatiently, panting.

“This is a bit tricky,” Naganekia said, stroking her chin thoughtfully. “Although you have obtained the scepter, you are not the first person to pass through the trap.”

"so?"

"Then let's see how you perform."

Naganek shrugged, her wicked tone making Sivir grit her teeth.

These Darkborn give people both hope and despair, taking pleasure in tormenting mortals; they truly deserve to die.

Before she knew it, Cassiopeia had walked up to them and was about to leave with the Darkin when Sivir quickly grabbed her arm.

"Are you just going to walk right through there? Are you out of your mind?" It wasn't that she cared about Cassiopeia, but she couldn't let her die in the laser trap and make herself the only candidate for sacrifice.

“The trap was already closed the moment you took the scepter,” Cassiopeia said, then left her behind.

Sivir felt uneasy. She held the scepter in her hand and probed forward to make sure that no traps had been triggered before she cautiously stepped down from the altar.

She suddenly realized that Cassiopeia wasn't so bad after all. This employer, like her, was also a victim caught up in this undeserved disaster. Apart from choosing her to explore the imperial tomb, she hadn't done anything to wrong her.

After receiving the scepter, they successfully entered the inner sanctum under Naganeka's guidance.

Along the way, they encountered many lost ancient tombs and priceless artifacts, but the Darkin never stopped to explain them.

As they ventured deeper, they entered an increasingly distorted tomb. The air in the corridor was incredibly oppressive, and Sivir saw humanoid shadows appear on the walls.

It was as if a terrible explosion instantly vaporized people, leaving only ashes as shadows.

Finally, the group arrived at a huge tomb door, surrounded by sculpted guardians and reliefs depicting ancient gods and warriors.

Sivir felt her blood churning. She was mesmerized, gazing intently at the reliefs depicting beast-headed heroes battling the evil creatures of the earth.

Then she secretly glanced at the two Darkborn, wondering what they had gone through to become such repulsive beings. "Mei, are you free? Lin, are you free?"

Chapter 409 Threat in the Tomb

The group finally arrived at their destination. If it weren't for Naganeka leading the way, they might not have been able to enter for months.