Void Beetle Evolution Guide

"You actually managed to get it." Kai'Sa glanced around and was shocked to find that the teleportation location was Narimarjad, the battlefield where she fought Kayle.

“If it weren’t for the constantly changing coordinates of Mount Targon, you would already be on the summit by now.” Syndra swept her arm triumphantly, the runes shimmering in her flesh before fading away.

"Coordinates... changing? What does that mean? Can such a huge mountain really move?"

Chapter 560 Fragments Delivered to Your Door

“Mount Targon has always been changing,” Wild Hunt explained to Kai'Sa’s question. “However, what has changed is not the location of Mount Targon, but its height.”

For a long time, the Rakor tribe, who lived on Mount Targon, had a legend that whoever reached the summit of Mount Targon would receive the blessing of the giant god and become a powerful Protoss.

The Rakor people are eager to reach the summit, but for a long time very few have become Protoss, basically once in a thousand years. Only recently, due to the turbulent times, have several emerged in succession.

Mishira is a Protoss from hundreds of years ago. She hasn't appeared since the end of the Rune Wars until recently when she felt threatened by Zoranny, but was then killed.

Currently active on Mount Targon, apart from one Protoss, the Solari, who is clearly on the side of the Rakkor tribe, the others all have their own missions. That's why only the Protoss of Justice came out to suppress the Darkin.

Wild Hunt said all this simply to express that becoming a Protoss is not easy, and the difficulty lies in reaching the top.

Some people, even if they climb to their death, will never see the mountain peak hidden in the wind and snow; some people can reach the summit smoothly by just walking along the mountain path for a day and a night; and some people can be chosen to become a Celestial Spirit just by passing by the foot of the mountain.

This is because the height and steepness of Mount Targon are entirely controlled by the celestial giants.

If a giant favors you, he will lower the difficulty so you can reach the top smoothly; if he doesn't want you to succeed, you can freeze to death on the cliff without any hope; if he wants to test your qualifications, he will set an appropriate level of difficulty so you can reach the top after going through hardships.

Therefore, this explains why the coordinates of Mount Targon kept changing and could not be located, as Syndra mentioned. This mountain may not even be a mountain at all, but rather a guiding altar left by the Titans on Runeterra to facilitate their selection of divine messengers to intervene in this world.

"So that's the reason. I had a strong feeling of conspiracy going on." Kasha frowned in thought.

When she was little, she listened to Kassadin's stories and always thought that becoming an Ascended or a Protoss was a cool thing. But as she grew up and got closer to the truth, she felt that there were traps everywhere.

"Just listen, don't say it aloud. Maybe the gods are listening in the heavens," Wild Hunt reminded Kai'Sa, then said to Syndra, "You'd better use less arcane magic, or your skin will turn purple like Ryze's and you'll lose all your hair." (The last part, "你林梅在林林空你林在在没呢," is a nonsensical string of characters and doesn't translate directly.)

Using arcane magic requires drawing upon the energy of heaven and earth, using the body as a vessel to activate it. Over time, this inevitably has serious consequences for the body. Look at those powerful arcane magic users—Ryze, Xerath—none of them look like real people.

“I noticed that too. I’ll take a closer look; I should be able to find a way to optimize it.” Syndra nodded, rubbing her arm, then belatedly asked, “Were you just concerned about me?”

There wasn't a trace of shyness on her face, only a faint, mischievous smile.

This question... was clearly a trap. Kai'Sa was listening intently nearby, and Wild Hunt didn't know how to answer.

The two people wanted to hear completely different answers, and an increase in one person's favorability was inevitably accompanied by a decrease in the other's favorability.

"This isn't strange at all, is it? Master has always cared about us." Cassiopeia chuckled. "You agree, right, sister?"

Katarina quickly hummed in agreement, glancing at her sister as if to warn her not to get involved. The battlefield of love was far more dangerous than the battlefield; she had no intention of seeking attention at this time.

"Speaking of which, should we go find Sephiroth now or go straight to Mount Targon?" Cassiopeia had heard that Kasha and the others had separated on this battlefield, and that Sephiroth, unable to bear her enormous weight on land, had gone to the sea at the foot of Mount Targon.

"Wait! I sense the presence of runes nearby."

“I noticed it too… and it’s getting closer to us.”

"I'm afraid they're up to no good."

Kai'Sa and Syndra exchanged glances. Wild Hunt, knowing what they were thinking, said, "Sephiroth is at the bottom of the sea and won't run away. Kayle doesn't know where she's hiding on Mount Targon either, but runes attract each other. If we don't solve this problem, she'll probably keep chasing us."

"Then let's go and have a go at it." The group then mounted the ice dragon and headed in the direction Kasha had indicated.

During the flight, Wild Hunt asked, "Kai'Sa, Syndra, do you two think it's right to steal runes indiscriminately like Ryze did?"

"I don't know, it depends on my mood," Syndra replied without hesitation, highlighting her free spirit and lack of sway from worldly opinions.

Kaisa thought about it seriously for a moment and said, "I don't think power itself is right or wrong. The key is how the wielder uses that power."

“What if it's like you did before?” Syndra raised an eyebrow.

“As long as I can bear the cost alone, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, and it can even benefit the people.” Kasha sighed, “But I have more important things to do, so forget it.”

After some time, the rune's wielder came into view. From afar, Kai'Sa saw an elemental spirit engulfed in flames, a furious humanoid composed of fire and lava.

“This person… looks like Brand, Ryze’s apprentice,” Wild Hunt said.

"Isn't that a coincidence? He's here to avenge his master?" Syndra asked, somewhat eager to try.

“No, the master and apprentice broke off their relationship long ago,” Wild Hunt explained.

Brand means "burning". His original name was Keegan Nohe. He was born in the harsh Freljord and was the son of a healer and a bandit.

His status as an illegitimate child caused him to suffer discrimination and bullying in the village. After his mother died, with nothing left to do, he burned down the village and fled the place where he grew up.

No one can survive on the tundra alone. Just when Keegan was about to freeze to death, he met Ryze and began learning magic from him.

Unfortunately, being of barbarian origin, his understanding of magic was so ignorant and rudimentary that Ryze couldn't learn it even after teaching him dozens of times, and the two of them felt disheartened.

Having achieved nothing academically, Keegan began to engage in academic misconduct, always looking for shortcuts, and often ignoring Ryze's demands for patience and humility.

Unfortunately, nurturing Keegan could only ever be a secondary concern. He took Keegan to search for runes, but remained silent about the matter until the master and apprentice found one.

Faced with that irresistible temptation, Keegan lost his mind. Runes are the source of all magic in the world; mastering runes means mastering magic and gaining the respect of one's mentor.

Ignoring his mentor's warnings, he chose to claim this power for himself. As a result, primal magic incinerated it, giving birth to the vengeful spirit, Brand, filled with destructive desires.

"It's just a rune fragment, nothing to worry about." After hearing Brand's story, Syndra conjured a dark orb, intending to take the rune fragment for herself.

How could a combination of an idiot and rune fragments possibly defeat a genius and a rune foundation? She might not even need runes to crush him.

However, after hearing her assessment, Portil also had an idea and decided to challenge the authority of the World Runes.

"Don't rush to make a move, let me go and deal with him first."

Chapter 561 The Clash of Ice and Fire

Botil crashed onto the sand, kicking up a huge cloud of dust. When the dust settled, everyone had already disembarked from the dragon's back.

"Huh? Why isn't it Ryze?" Brand glanced around and realized that the person who came wasn't the one he had expected. "That old geezer would just hand over the runes? Oh no, you guys stole the runes."

Brand laughed wildly, seemingly gloating over Ryze's tragic fate, believing him to be dead. Then, his tone abruptly changed, and he clenched his fist, a ring of flames exploding from his palm.

"If I'd known it would turn out like this, I would have given you the rune!" He glared at the group with predatory eyes. "Fine, at least it'll save him from hiding from me all the time. As long as I burn you all to death, the rune will be mine!" (The rest of the text appears to be nonsensical and unrelated to the story.)

The ice dragon roared, its deafening roar creating a visible shockwave that sent Brand flying like a flickering candle in the wind.

The skin gradually spread, covering the silvery-white fur. For a moment, the characteristics of the ice dragon were hidden, and it lost its elegance, resembling a ferocious and terrifying poisonous dragon.

With its powerful hind legs kicking up a cloud of sand, the ice dragon flapped its wings and charged forward, charging toward Vengeful Flame Soul with the unstoppable force of a war chariot, while shaking its head and spewing out icy breath.

The extreme cold breath froze the fire-breathing creature into an ice sculpture. The shape of the flames was frozen in an instant before being smashed into countless ice crystals by the domineering dragon chariot.

Is he dead? Portil, who had rushed over, turned back, snorting, and looked around at the broken ice, as if he had already begun to search for the rune fragments that had been exposed.

"Ready to enter the world of fire? Hehehehe..." A low, sinister laugh echoed across the sand, and the flames that had appeared out of thin air coalesced back into Brand's humanoid form. He flicked his wrist, and a massive pillar of flame erupted from beneath the ice dragon's feet.

Fireworks spiraled upwards, licking the sky and forming a cage of flames and storms that instantly engulfed the dragon's form. All that could be heard was the ice dragon's roar of shock and fury, scorched by the heat of a thousand suns.

The towering flames stung their eyes, and the raging winds melted the sand into an orange-red slurry. Brand's counterattack made Kai'Sa narrow her eyes with a serious expression; she thought she might understand why Ryze hadn't retrieved the rune from Brand.

Ryze doesn't seem like the type to care about past relationships with his master. The only reason he wouldn't take back the rune fragments from Brand is because they're too difficult to obtain. Otherwise, he wouldn't have allowed a fire spirit to hunt him down all over the world.

Judging from Brand's performance, he is a rather troublesome opponent for the bald mage, and it's hard to say whether he has a 50% chance of winning without using runes.

Moreover, his elemental nature makes him extremely difficult to kill, just as they were unable to inflict any effective damage on Xerath and were ultimately forced to seal him away.

Suddenly, the chill spread from the inside out, freezing the towering pillar of fire into a tower of frost. The dramatic shift from extreme heat to extreme cold sculpted the melting sand into crystal.

Brown crystals were everywhere, like a volcano composed of smoky black, sea green and extraordinary rainbow, while the Frost Tower within it shattered like a silver bottle under the impact of Portil.

A giant dragon covered in ice armor burst out of the tower, crashing through the ice wall. It charged toward the fire elemental amidst a rain of falling ice crystals. Through the ice armor, one could see that its skin was covered in charred scars, indicating that it was not unharmed.

"This is the fire that purifies the world!" Facing the imposing dragon chariot, Brand did not dodge or evade, but instead transformed into flames and charged forward fearlessly.

The two collided with earth-shattering power, and the impact of the magic instantly created a giant circular crater in the earth.

The clash of ice and fire produced scalding steam, even more intense than the smoke from a volcanic eruption. It turned into rain and slowly fell onto the dry sand, where it was absorbed in the blink of an eye.

As the steam dissipated, Portil's figure was revealed. She was panting heavily, her neck twisted to one side from the impact, her vertical pupils fixed on the fiery evil spirit that had once again coalesced into human form.

The latter casually tossed out a lava fireball, but the ice dragon flapped its wings and created a gust of wind that blew the fireball off course, thus easily neutralizing the attack.

Portil raised his head and opened his gaping maw once more, his throat churning. However, what spewed out was not scorching dragon breath, but bursts of dark purple spiral synapses.

They intertwined and hardened, forming the prototype of a greatsword with a spine. Then, Portil spewed out icy dragon breath, which, as if enchanted, circled the spine, and frozen ice crystals adhered to it, forming the greatsword's sharp edge.

From that moment on, a colossal weapon that only dragons could wield was created out of thin air!

The living spine and the blade of death merged completely, and the black veins buried deep within stained the ice blade with a gradient of ink, making people both fascinated and terrified, fearing the power contained within.

"This is... the power of the Darkin?" Katarina took a step forward in surprise, uttering two distinctly different voices.

Living weapons are not a unique ability of the Darkin. As early as the beginning of the fall of Belvis, Kai'Sa had already encountered humans wielding Void weapons in that city.

Those living weapons were a poor imitation of skin armor by Piervis. Although powerful, they could not coexist with their host and would quickly devour the host's life.

The biggest difference between Darkin weapons and Void weapons is that they perfectly combine living and dead things.

Just as the extraterrestrial meteorite iron that forged Darkin weapons, or the ice crystals that now serve as blades, can all become part of Darkin weapons, making them more powerful, without the restriction of being inseparable from them. Void weapons, on the other hand, are essentially parasites; once separated from their host, they cannot exert their power, and may even wither and die after a short time.

Portil's Icespine Greatsword clearly draws heavily on the design of Darkin weapons. But she doesn't possess any Darkin weapons—how did she manage that?

Clearly, this is another work by the Wild Hunt.

After Katarina's armor fused with Zoranny's original body, the Wild Hunt released the Darkin power. Now, any of his familiars can use this modified power to craft weapons that suit them or modify existing weapons.

Take Ashe as an example. With this power, she can modify the [True Ice Longbow] into the [Void True Ice Longbow]. The Wild Hunt doesn't know what the effects will be; it's entirely up to Ashe to modify it as she sees fit. For example, she could make it grow a single eye to aid aiming, or even give it a living bowstring that fires automatically... As long as it's within the Wild Hunt's capabilities, anything is possible.

Does this operation of transforming normal things into a void version sound familiar? That's right, it's the Queen's Decree! Only, by combining the power of the Darkin, the Wild Hunt has expanded the Queen's Decree's target from limited to living beings to be usable on all entities!

Chapter 562 Recycling Fragments

In a secluded corner, unnoticed by anyone, Katarina's heart had already been turned upside down by the Wild Hunt's genius. "You Lin Mei, you're thinking but you're busy? You Lin Zai, you're not here yet..."

One of the essential lessons for an assassin is how to efficiently kill targets using various weapons. She is proficient in all kinds of killing weapons, but she prefers to use the twin daggers passed down through generations.

Since being granted the armor and beginning her battles against various powerful enemies, she has accumulated some weapons from ordinary people. Sometimes she even transforms into a giant to join the fight, rendering weapons that cannot grow to giant size completely useless.

Katarina doesn't even use her family heirlooms anymore; the only thing that barely meets her requirements is the Darkin Chain Scythe. But who would be so virtuous as to use the real thing in their hand to fight? What if it's countered? Wouldn't that be the end of them?

The Darkin had no choice, and neither did she in the past, but now Portil's actions have given her hope for change.

She can now use the Empress's decree to create suitable weapons, adapting different weapons to different fighting styles, making combat more efficient. The Darkin Chain Scythe can also be stored in the Blood Pool, concealing her weakness and avoiding its use lightly.

Most importantly, she can finally throw knives happily again!

Thinking of this, Katarina's eyes flickered, and the Wild Hunt held an even higher place in her heart.

Back on the battlefield, Brand felt an invisible pressure when he saw the greatsword that Portil held in his mouth.

His inner turmoil fueled his increasingly aggressive attacks. A blazing ring of fire locked the ice dragon, preventing her from making any move. Earth fire erupted, and a towering pillar of fire engulfed her.

With a cracking sound, Portil shattered her protective ice armor, broke free of the fire ring, and soared into the sky. She escaped the blazing pillar of fire, using the rising wind to fly high into the air, cold air constantly emanating from her mouth, which held the sword hilt, as if she were gathering strength for her upcoming killing move.

At its highest point, the ice dragon suddenly plummeted! After gaining acceleration by flapping its wings, it folded them back, its streamlined shape minimizing wind resistance. Relying on its massive size to acquire unparalleled potential energy, it unleashed a powerful and devastating strike!

The greatsword, carrying unstoppable violence and accompanied by a deafening roar as it tore through the air, slashed down at Brand.

Facing trial head-on, he, who was fearless of death, even had the idea of ​​running away, but the negative pressure caused by the vacuum firmly suppressed him in place, and the flames on his body were even drawn towards the direction of the sword.

With no way to avoid it, Brand chose to face the judgment by recklessly self-destructing, transforming into a rolling sea of ​​fire that stretched for thousands of meters, unleashing towering flames that seemed to engulf the raging ice dragon.

But! This sword strike could split mountains and cleave seas!

The wave of flames generated by the self-destruction of the Vengeful Flame Soul was actually cleaved in two! The sword blade landed on the ground below, cutting out a smooth, deep ravine. The aftershocks of the sword energy spread to the rock wall thousands of meters away, splitting it in two.

"Wow, this place is truly full of hidden talents..."

Katarina, who was watching intently, gasped, wondering if she could withstand the attack if she activated Dynamax. But she immediately dismissed the absurd idea, deciding that she should just dodge it rather than die in vain.

Zoranny's voice in her mind fell silent for once. She seemed to see the shadow of her nemesis Aatrox in it, but this sword was no weaker than the Death-Giving Sword Qi. Even in her prime, she dared not take it head-on.

After the dust settled, Portil opened his mouth and released the sword hilt. His sharp teeth were crushed like broken comb teeth, leaving a bloody and gruesome sight.

Such a terrifyingly powerful strike naturally produced a tremendous shockwave. Even the sturdy dragon teeth were shattered, and the dragon's head was vibrating and buzzing.

However, thanks to the repairing effect of the skin and armor, this injury was nothing. Portil shook his head, swallowed a mouthful of broken teeth mixed with blood and foam, and then brand new teeth grew out of the alveoli at a speed visible to the naked eye.

To Kai'Sa's surprise, the Icespine Greatsword remained undamaged after such a violent impact. It was one thing for the spine of the sword to remain intact, but for the ice blade to be completely undamaged was simply absurd; it wasn't True Ice or Black Ice.

Upon closer inspection, Kasha discovered that the ice blades were actually covered in black veins, their strength approaching that of black ice. Even she, who never used weapons, had to admit that there was some clever design involved.

While waiting, Brand revived again, this time with a slightly longer interval than before. Having anticipated this, Portil immediately bit down on his greatsword and gave chase.

Knowing she couldn't kill the elemental spirit, she no longer displayed that do-or-die spirit. Instead, she tumbled and weaved above Brand's head, dodging attacks while wielding her greatsword with an elegance akin to dancing.

The giant sword in her mouth also transformed into a chain sword that could extend and twist, changing with her fighting style. As she swung it, she unleashed sharp sword energy, annihilating Brand time and time again beneath its blade.

"It's about time to end this." Syndra, seeing that Brand had run out of new tricks, killed him and stopped torturing him.

No one knew what Syndra had done. All they saw was that Brand, after being destroyed by Portyl once again, did not resurrect. Instead, a purple wedge-shaped gem floated in the air, emitting a halo.