Void Beetle Evolution Guide

She endured the excruciating pain, controlling her body's impulses, and prostrated herself on the ground without reverence. Instead, a contemptuous smile curled at the corners of her mouth as she stretched out her hand with all her might, pointing to the spot where Cassiopeia was hiding, as if the answer to the question lay there.

Chapter 412 Mad God and Witch Spirit

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Seeing Sivir pointing towards her location, Cassiopeia was startled and immediately hid behind the statue, not daring to show her face again.

Normally, Sivir should have fainted due to excessive blood loss, but unexpectedly, she was so resilient that she still had the strength to struggle even after so long.

The only way to ensure she was immobilized was to aim for her heart, but if she died like that, they wouldn't be able to carry out their plans.

Renekton immediately turned and walked towards the statue. Hearing the heavy footsteps, Cassiopeia felt panic for the first time since entering the tomb.

"Master, please save me!" Cassiopeia pressed the palm print against her chest, as if trying to transmit her heartbeat to the Wild Hunt.

At this moment, she wished she could become invisible like Kai'Sa, but that was an ability of the Corruption form, and she couldn't use that ability.

Renekton paused for a few seconds, then a deafening explosion erupted overhead. Without warning, the mad god smashed the statue behind Cassiopeia with his axe. Debris and dust rained down, instantly burying Cassiopeia.

Everything happened so unexpectedly. In the blink of an eye, Cassiopeia was lying in the ruins, dust and blood mingling and sticking to her smooth forehead. She struggled to her feet, her resentful gaze fixed on the unpredictable Renekton.

The person before him was just a human, not his beloved brother. Renekton felt betrayed; a twitch ran through his neck as he roared, "My treacherous brother! Tell me where he is, or you'll regret it!"

“I don’t know, it’s not in the tomb anyway.” Cassiopeia couldn’t help but think of Nasus’s tomb and said the only information she knew.

“Useless mortal, then prepare to die!” Renekton raised his axe over his right shoulder, as if to cleave Cassiopeia in two.

“Wait, it was I who released you! It was I who released you from that dark and sunless tomb, how could you kill the person who helped you?” Cassiopeia cried out.

Renekton flinched, his hand gripping the crescent-shaped axe slipping slightly. One hand pressed a claw against his brow, driven by some unknowable madness. He laughed and cried at the same time, his voice both terrifying and sorrowful. "Has Mei thought of Lin Mei Kong, Lin Zai Zai, yet...?"

“Why not him? He left me in the dark… so much wickedness, so much slander and deceit. I heard it all, and nobody listened. Nobody ever listened to Renekton…”

"Then go find him. You're the Desert Butcher. It'll be easy for you to peel the flesh off his body piece by piece with your claws."

A gust of hot wind swept in, carrying with it provocative whispers. The surrounding temperature rose noticeably, making everyone's mouths dry.

Cassiopeia looked up at the sky, where a surge of awakened magic floated in the tomb.

It was a spirit body crackling with dark energy, bound by iron chains and a fragment of an ancient stone coffin.

That was Xerath, the rebel of Shurima, the one who brought about the downfall of the ancient empire, and the lobbyist who caused brothers to turn against each other!

"Shut up, I've had enough of your voice! I'll decide how he dies, you don't need to tell me!"

Renekton turned and roared, while Xerath chuckled sinisterly, his laughter like a knife dipped in honey, showing no anger but rather admiring his masterpiece.

Cassiopeia was mentally calculating how to survive under the noses of these two Ascended beings. Although they had shared the same tomb for thousands of years, their relationship was far from harmonious.

Is there any way to make them fight amongst themselves first? Renekton is no match for Xerath, but if she can buy some time, she can manage to escape back to Kai'Sa.

However, Sivir's subsequent remarks shattered her hopes completely.

“You…you’re looking for Nasus, right…” she managed to squeeze out a weak voice from her leaky chest. Though the voice was faint, the name she spoke of was legendary, and both Ascended were extremely sensitive to it.

"Don't mention his name," Renekton warned, his harsh voice like an approaching sandstorm.

Xerath focused his gaze on Sivir, his eyes like holes in a sarcophagus, emanating dazzling arcane energy that seemed to see right through Sivir like electromagnetic waves.

He saw a familiar shadow in the woman's proud brows; without a doubt, it must be Azir's bloodline.

In that instant, he wasn't thinking about wiping out Azir's bloodline, but rather wondering which branch of Azir's family this child belonged to? Was Shurima still ruled by the royal family?

Xerath immediately snapped out of his daze. The power of habit was terrifying; even after thousands of years, he was still thinking in the way a slave would think of his master.

"Cough cough." Sivir coughed twice with difficulty, her voice still broken like a leaky bellows, "Those Darkin must know... where the Jackals are, they're waiting for you to leave on the way out."

“Darkin?” Xerath pondered the unfamiliar term. He had been imprisoned in the tomb for over two thousand years and was unaware of the Darkin war that would later occur.

“It’s those… fallen… Ascended ones.” Sivir swallowed a mouthful of blood and continued, “They plan to resurrect Azir, just after you leave…”

"Shut up! You foul-mouthed madwoman!" Cassiopeia screamed, losing her temper. Sivir had revealed her master's entire plan in an attempt to get revenge on her.

"What?!" Upon hearing this news, the ancient witch spirit uncontrollably emitted crackling sounds from its entire body.

Lightning had forged his bones, and a pair of sharp, bony claws clenched into fists in fury. A casually tossed bolt of lightning silenced the noisy Cassiopeia.

Xerath didn't even dare to think about what form Azir would take upon his resurrection.

The person who controlled his life and oppressed him his entire life, he didn't want to come back to life at all.

He both hated Azir and felt guilty towards him.

All of this stemmed from those words that came decades too late. Xerath had always dreamed that Azir would keep his childhood promise to free him from slavery, but Azir waited until the very last moment before Ascension, when everything had settled down, to announce the abolition of slavery... However, it was too late. Too many processes had already begun, too many sacrifices had been made, and he could no longer turn back.

Therefore, he hated Azir, hated that the latter had silently worked his way up until it was too late to tell him the truth. But he also felt guilty towards Azir, continuing to push him down from his pedestal even after the latter announced the abolition of slavery.

Today, these two feelings still shake the painful shackles surrounding his heart.

To end his inner torment, Azir should perhaps not be resurrected.

Xerath grabbed Sivir and lifted her into the air with immense arcane energy, making her float beside him like the broken coffin stones.

"If you want to live, take me to those Darkborn now."

Chapter 413 Darkin and Ascended

If Xerath had known sooner that Azir intended to free him from his enslavement, Shurima might have escaped its fate of destruction... But mortals lose a part of their humanity after ascending, and all thoughts of forgiveness and tolerance quickly vanished from Xerath's mind.

Right now, all he wants is for Azir to die completely, never to come back to life. If he knew that Sivir was Azir's only remaining bloodline and the key to resurrecting him, he would erase her from the world immediately.

Seeing that the hostage had fallen into Xerath's hands, Kai'Sa realized she couldn't let things continue like this. Suddenly, a ripple appeared in the air, as if a thin film of electricity had been removed, and Kai'Sa's armored figure materialized out of thin air.

“No need for you to come looking for us, we’ll come out ourselves.” Behind her, two Darkin emerged from the shadows one after another, Sephiroth and Portil appeared together, rubbing their hands together, eager for a fight.

“The former little slave has become a great villain.” Naganekia said in a tone of greeting an old friend, “Xerath, it’s been a long time. We deeply understand the long days of being imprisoned in darkness.”

Naga Neka's words made Xerath ponder. Was she mocking his imprisonment, or implying that she herself was imprisoned? But none of that mattered; anyone wanting to resurrect Azir could only be his enemy. (The last sentence appears to be a nonsensical string of characters and is omitted from the translation.)

"Who do we have here? The so-called Darkin is nothing but a despicable imitation of the original owner. Naganeka, Varus, look at your frail bodies, fabricated with blood magic, and see how they were blasted to pieces by my powerful arcane energy."

“You definitely wouldn’t have dared to talk to us like this before.”

Xerath gave a cold, mocking laugh. "You know that was before. Shurima was a mistake, and I corrected it. Now, I'm going to reinvent it in my own style."

"People always want what they lack most."

"So what? I've endured humiliation and hardship my whole life, it's time for me to become emperor."

The air was thick with tension, and the Darkin's tone grew increasingly stiff. "So, you're not planning to let us resurrect Azir?"

“Absolutely impossible. It’s enough for him to live on in my memory.” Xerath clenched his fists, crackling with lightning from his palms. Hatred surged forth like a tidal wave, the burning wind carrying ashes stinging his eyes.

The deeper the love, the deeper the hate. Anyone with eyes could see Xerath's special feelings for Azir, a sense of exclusion that it was someone else's private matter and they shouldn't interfere. But since Xerath had resolutely blocked their path, they wouldn't let him have his way.

"Stop talking nonsense! Tell me where your treacherous brother is?!" Below Xerath, Renekton stretched his head forward and roared, each word deafening, the sound waves causing gravel to fall and dust to rise into the air.

"He's in the Astrologer's Tower in the desert, or if not, he might be in some library on the cliffs of Zerima," Kai'Sa gave a vague answer, hoping to lure him away. Otherwise, with the formidable lineup of the Ancient Lich King and the Desert Butcher, they would have a very difficult time.

Renekton immediately crouched down, bracing himself on one of his front paws like a wild beast, as if he were about to run out of the tomb to find his target, but Xerath called out from behind to stop him.

"How do you know they're not lying to you? Come with me and deal with these people, and I'll personally deliver the jackals to you."

"Everyone! Must die!" Renekton's neck muscles twitched, and in the blink of an eye, his figure had vanished from the spot, transforming into a spiral of death that surged into the enemy ranks, his crescent-shaped axe slicing through the surrounding space as it spun.

Kaisa's pupils contracted as she stared intently at the enemy's every move. A clockwork array, invisible to anyone, silently appeared behind her, and as the hands spun rapidly, her speed was accelerated to a level imperceptible to the naked eye.

In contrast, everything around them slowed down. Renekton's death roll appeared to freeze in mid-air in slow motion, but to others it was still a thunderous impact, and standing still would obviously not allow them to dodge it.

Kai'Sa then looked at Sivir, who was suspended in mid-air by Xerath. She couldn't let Xerath continue to control the hostage, but she also couldn't simply snatch her away. Otherwise, once Xerath realized Sivir's importance to the plan, he would definitely stop it at all costs.

Let's focus on doing the things at hand first.

All of this thought took only a few milliseconds. Kasa went straight to Sephiroth and Portil and moved them to a safe location away from the battlefield. For the time being, they didn't need to do anything.

The dungeon was designed to be spacious for ascenders to enter and exit, but it was still too cramped for the dragons soaring through the sky.

Kai'Sa was already planning how to shift the battlefield away from Azir, giving her teammates room to maneuver. This was also to avoid interrupting Azir's resurrection process.

The newly resurrected Azir was extremely weak, while the Witch Spirit was powerful enough to withstand the combined attack of the two brothers at their peak. Not to mention that after thousands of years of growth, a casual strike from him could probably vaporize Azir instantly.

Only if he abandons Sivir and leaves for the outside world will Azir have a chance to ascend. Once Azir has ascended, he certainly won't stand idly by.

Kasha paused for a moment, then moved to Renekton's vicinity and unleashed a ring of plasma missiles around him. Unfortunately, once the projectiles left his body, they were no longer accelerated by time magic, preventing them from exploding instantly before the enemy could react.

After posting the comments, she ignored them and went straight to Xerath. She was determined to drag this bastard who was blocking her way into the mess; she wouldn't let him just sit back and watch the show comfortably.

Because she always stops to think for a while after running a certain distance, in Xerath's eyes, Kai'Sa's figure is like a discontinuous purple lightning bolt, constantly flashing and leaping, unpredictable and elusive.

Before he could react, Kaisa had already rushed in front of him, spinning light blades with both hands. The blades struck his chest, and the iron rings of the chain shattered under the force of the impact.

The explosion slammed Xerath against the wall, dust from the underground tomb surged out through the cracks, and Sivir, who had lost control, fell back onto the sand.

On the other side, Renekton was forced to stop, his axe spinning to deflect the scorching missile, but the corrosive explosion caused his scales to emit a burnt smell.

The Darkin seized the opportunity to kick Renekton while he was down, with Varus unleashing a barrage of powerful shots that kept Renekton pinned down. Naga Neka, meanwhile, transformed into her original ballista form, crouching on the ground and aiming her siege ballista at Renekton, who was cowering behind Blade's Edge, unleashing a heavy bolt powerful enough to kill a dragon.

Chapter 414 Deceiving the Heavens and Crossing the Sea

Faced with Naganek's ballistae, Renekton did not choose to fight head-on. Just before the heavy bolts struck, he stomped heavily on the ground, and his figure vanished instantly, leaving only a crater cracked from the force of the impact.

The crossbow bolt continued forward with a whooshing sound, missing Renekton but instead flying over Sivir and shooting straight into the tomb's entrance.

His powerful burst of energy propelled him into the air, his thick tail and heavy axe forming a perfect balance. He spun rapidly around his body, the axe flashing with a deadly light, like a fully-sharpened full moon.

He hurled "Full Moon" down with a thud. Naganek, now a living crossbow, had no chance to escape. Her enormous head was immediately severed and rolled to the wall, her mouth agape in astonishment.

This is the second time Naganek has been beheaded on this trip. However, this time she is not deliberately showing weakness. The difference in strength between them makes it impossible for her to withstand Renekton's full-force attack.

In his prime, Renekton was a force even Aatrox had to avoid. Even though they've both weakened considerably, how weak can Renekton, who still possesses an Ascended body, be? He's simply not someone that a mortal can defeat.

Renekton landed heavily and charged at Naganeka like a predatory beast, extending his enormous claws to rip a blood-soaked figure from the cleanly severed neck.

That was Naganeka's host. Her head was drooping as the Crocodile God easily lifted her into the air, like someone grabbing a small animal by the scruff of its neck.

"Renkerton, let's see if you can catch this arrow!" Varus, in an attempt to save Naga Neka, angrily drew his Darkin Bow, filled with a powerful spiral arrow, and tore through the air towards Renkerton's head.

Without a second thought, Renekton reached out to catch it, bracing himself against the powerful friction that tore the scales off his palms as he caught the arrow. However, the fascia in his hand twisted and deformed under the subsequent drilling force, rendering it completely useless.

"How is this possible?!" Varus was shocked to see his strongest attack being taken head-on by Renekton.

He had used this move to kill other Celestials during the Darkin Wars, but against Renekton, it only crippled one of his arms in his normal state. It's unimaginable how powerful Renekton would be if he were to unleash his Ascended form.

"It's something that can't be presented in public; that's all it's capable of."

Renekton made no attempt to hide his contempt. How could these lowly soldiers hiding in the shadows and shooting arrows compare to a general like him charging into battle? Archery was merely one of the many martial arts he had mastered.

He put the arrow in his mouth, and the crocodile's powerful bite instantly crushed it, foreshadowing Naganek's fate with this cruel act. Even though the Darkin are immortal, Varus still felt deep concern for his companion.

Just as Renekton was putting Naganeka into his mouth, she suddenly raised her head and stared intently into her jaundiced eyes, momentarily trapping Renekton in their gaze.

She hissed angrily, revealing her slick, yellowed fangs. Then came a scream, filled with all her rage. Ancient energy surged through every vein in her body, and a fiery emerald light erupted from Naganek's eyes.

The crocodile god's astonishment was fully portrayed; he was completely petrified, inside and out. His gaze gradually stiffened, dimmed, and solidified; her curse had turned his flesh and blood into immovable stone.

Naga Neka slipped from Renekton's grasp. Knowing her magic couldn't buy her much time, she shouted at Kai'Sa in front of her, "End this fight quickly, don't betray my trust in you."

Upon hearing this, Kai'Sa felt an immense pressure on her shoulders. Xerath was stronger than the Renekton brothers combined; how could she possibly finish him off quickly?

With a heavy heart, Kai'Sa went to the corner where Xerath had fallen, hoping to try and banish him directly into the cyst space.

However, as soon as she got close, Xerath burst out of the ruins, his limbs wreathed in flames, and he shot out scorching beams of light at Kai'Sa with a crackling sound.

Kasha dodged with all her might, the ray chasing closely behind her, neatly slicing through everything in its path, even the edges of metal quickly softening into pulp under the high temperature.

She deliberately guided the rays across the wall, so that once the tomb collapsed and buried everything, Xerath would be forced to shift the battlefield.

However, her plan quickly fell through. Unlike the petrified mad god, Xerath, who intended to defend the tomb gate to the death, decisively changed his attack method.

The sorcerer, who had betrayed the emperor, was engulfed in flames, arcane fire erupting from his chest and scattering aimlessly. Kai'Sa's shoulder pod spewed out a barrage of plasma projectiles, a volley of fire that detonated all the blue flames in mid-air.

But Xerath's spells were relentless, unlike her who had concerns about overheating, and he quickly seized the opportunity during the lull in the spells to overwhelm her.

Kasha rolled aside, dodging a series of dazzling comets. Though they carried cold flames, they could still scorch, turning the sand into a sea of ​​fire, and melting the gravel into glass in the intense heat.

Xerath hovered behind her, relentlessly unleashing lightning bolts while laughing wildly.

The flying fireballs and lightning arrows ignited Naganek's decapitated doppelganger, and the remains turned to ashes in the blink of an eye, which were then blown away by the burning wind around the witch spirit.

A bolt of lightning struck Renekton's stone sculpture, instantly creating countless cracks in its stone surface. Patches peeled away one after another, revealing once more those brutal vertical pupils. (The last line appears to be unrelated and possibly a separate question/comment: "Mei, are you in the air? Lin, are you in the middle of the night...?")

Kai'Sa dodged and weaved through Xerath's onslaught, yet she also had to keep an eye on Sivir, who lay in a pool of blood gradually engulfed by flames. If Xerath were to kill her without warning, everything would be over. Not only had she failed to resurrect the Emperor of the Sands, but she had also inadvertently unleashed two evil gods.

Fortunately, she successfully attracted Xerath's attention, and in a corner where no one cared, Cassiopeia, who should have been dead, crawled up from the ruins.

She glanced at the burning witch spirit in the sky with venomous eyes, then looked down to examine her intact body.

How could the Wild Hunt allow its followers to die in vain? Even the injury Cassiopeia suffered earlier was for some purpose.