Void Beetle Evolution Guide

"I'm saving you, can't you even tell?" The moment that voice spoke to her, Lux felt a sense of relief mixed with relief and loss.

Fortunately, I'm not that evil, at least not subjectively; disappointingly, I haven't suddenly become powerful, and I'm still that fool who thinks more than I can do.

The opponent continued to control Lux's body, unleashing a barrage of attacks with swift and ruthless strikes, specifically targeting the vulnerable parts of the body, often rendering the opponent incapacitated in just one or two blows.

Fortunately, the other party seemed to heed her request and held back, not beating her to death, but only knocking her unconscious and crippling her.

"That's enough! Stop hitting them! They can't fight back anymore!"

Seeing that the demon hunters were powerless to resist, Lux began to plead for them again, which drew a displeased snort from the voice.

He reluctantly stopped, then fell completely silent, ignoring Lux's attempts to talk to him. He touched the top of his head; the carapace on his forehead had disappeared.

At that moment, Lux felt as if she had lost her support, and her heart began to tremble again. But the good news was that she regained control of her body.

Looking at the chaotic scene, Lux, sweating profusely, only wanted to escape, but the powerful weapon brought by the Demon Hunter was an insurmountable obstacle for her.

The magic-suppressing stone bull activated without any apparent reason. This behemoth, weighing over two tons, made a cracking sound as it moved its joints and blocked Lux's path.

Chapter 646 Lux, the one who gets bullied

The magic-suppressing stone bull targeted her, its only source of magic, and charged forward with unstoppable force, its hooves pawing the ground. Its thuds shook the earth, sending chills down everyone's spines.

Lux had seen real colossi, whose movements caused far more violent tremors than this, producing terrifying, thunderous sounds that could only be described as an earthquake.

That time, she was the one being protected, feeling safe and secure as if she were hiding behind city walls. But when it came to facing these weapons of war herself, Lux felt only a deep sense of powerlessness.

Just then, that voice, like a lifeline, appeared again, "Can you handle this yourself?"

"How is this possible!" Lux cried out like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. A small piece of the anti-magic stone could disable her magic, let alone such a large one. It was probably impossible for an entire mage corps to defeat it.

The voice laughed again, a subtle sarcasm in its tone, like gloating, which made Lux uneasy. Then she was horrified to find that her body was frozen, no matter how she tried to move it, it wouldn't budge, like a frightened goat.

The bull's charge did not slow down; its metallic horns could even smash through city walls, and it moved forward silently yet resolutely. When the sharp horns were less than a meter away from her, Lux's legs suddenly sprang to life like springs, and she quickly lunged to the side, narrowly avoiding the bull's sharp horns.

Lux took a deep breath, almost suffocating with tension. Seeing the stone bull turn around, she tried to hide behind a nearby tree, but her body remained frozen, motionless until the last moment when she suddenly dodged the charge.

This happened several times in a row, and even if Lux were stupid, she would realize she was being played. That voice was controlling her body and was playing games with her safety.

"I was wrong! Please, please, please resolve this quickly!"

Lux was on the verge of tears. Her heart couldn't take the shock; it felt like it was about to jump out of her throat. She felt like she might faint from the excitement at any moment.

She was at her wits' end; no magic could work on the magic-suppressing stone bull, and would only amplify its power. She could only place her hopes on someone else.

"Then straighten up your attitude and stop making demands of me!"

The voice snorted coldly, and the stone bull charged again. Lux was still controlled and did not dodge or evade, but this time a huge force surged from her body, and she grabbed the bull's horns and threw it over her shoulder!

The stone ox lay on the ground, unable to rise due to its inflexible joints, and was no longer a threat. The other party, seemingly not intending to let the demon hunters lying on the ground go, picked up another stick and walked towards them.

"Don't kill them! They were just following orders," Lux pleaded, unable to bear seeing the dead.

"What did I just say?" the other party retorted, angrily throwing his long stick, which struck another person on the forehead and knocked him down.

Lux was so frightened that she immediately fell silent. She had tried to stop them, but to no avail, and could only pray silently in her heart. She didn't know if she was praying for the demon hunters or for her own hands to never be stained with blood again.

She watched as "herself" walked step by step toward the demon hunters, raising the stick high as if to smash it down. The fearful gaze of the weak stung her eyes. If a vibrant life were to bloom with blood like that, she might be haunted by nightmares and unable to find peace for countless times in the future.

Just then, the voice spoke again: "Break their legs or gouge out their eyes, choose one. Even if you don't want to kill them, you can't just let them escape, otherwise they will become an obstacle to your plan."

Hearing this, Lux realized the other person wasn't inherently cruel, but simply wanted to ensure everything was foolproof. She tried to communicate with them: "I...I know you're trying to prevent them from tipping you off, but I don't want to choose either of these methods. Is there another way...?"

"You have quite the nerve to try and bargain with me." The voice belonged to Wild Hunt, who was intimidating Lux but not punishing her with physical pain. "Fine, I'll see what you do next."

Lux breathed a sigh of relief, then searched the demon hunters and found anti-magic stone powder and a water bottle. She poured all the powder into the water bottle, shook it vigorously, and fed it to the demon hunters one by one.

"I'll let you taste the pain of incessant diarrhea too," Lux muttered through gritted teeth, making Wild Hunt laugh in exasperation.

"Can you think of the worst thing you could do? Give these people some medicine."

“Of course not…” Lux retorted.

"Why not?"

Crippled them outright was too cruel for Lux. The most wicked method she could think of was to have them slash each other's feet with knives and then burn their boots, rendering them unable to move. This way, they wouldn't be able to return to report for a while, giving her enough time to complete her mission.

Even so, she only dared to think about it in her mind. She felt it was evil to even say it out loud, or she was afraid that the other party would do as she said.

At this moment, she realized that the voice in her mind was the Wild Hunt that had appeared in the basement, the god that the Cassiopeia sisters and Morgana served. It was already good enough that it was willing to help her.

Seeing her stammering and unable to answer, Wild Hunt said disappointedly, "This deliberate kindness is like frantically trying to make amends for past crimes, so you are not suitable as an executor of the revolution, but can only exist as a tool. Morgana was right not to put all her eggs in one basket with you; you still haven't learned your lesson."

Lux was so angry that she trembled all over, but she couldn't find any way to refute it, and silently started to shed small pearls.

"Go check on that stone bull." Wild Hunt ordered Lux ​​to walk towards the anti-magic stone bull, the huge creature still thrashing about on the ground, unable to get up.

Lux wasn't the only one curious; the Wild Hunt was also very curious about the source of this thing's energy.

After some examination, they found a rotating metal clasp behind the stone ox. Opening it revealed a dark, hollow cavity inside, seemingly filled with flowing liquid. (The last sentence appears to be a nonsensical string of characters and doesn't translate directly.)

The entrance to the cavity is only three fingers wide, normally too narrow for a hand to fit inside. But now the stone ox is tilted, and the liquid inside flows out after the stopper is opened.

The liquid was dark reddish-brown, viscous like petroleum, slightly grainy, and emitted a familiar metallic smell. Wild Hunt already guessed what it was, but still had Lux ​​dip her finger in it and weigh it in her hand.

“This is blood,” he added. “Mage blood with an anticoagulant added. Now do you still think you went too far?”

Chapter 647 The Energy Source of the Anti-Magic Statue

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The blood of a mage, as the name suggests, is the blood of a mage.

A person born with magical talent will have every part of their body imbued with magic to some extent. But driving a behemoth that devours magic power with just blood is not so easy.

Take the Wild Hunt's own people as examples. Neither Syndra nor Talia has anything special about their blood. Their blood doesn't participate in the casting of spells, so the amount of magic in their blood is unlikely to support the statue's consumption. It would be far more convenient and efficient for them to directly touch the statue and drain its magic.

It's understandable that the demon hunters, fearing accidents while leading mages, would choose such an inefficient method.

To power a stone statue with blood, one must find a sorcerer who casts spells using the power of bloodline, also known as a warlock. Shyvana, the Dragonblood Warrior, is a typical example of a dragonblood sorcerer; fiery dragon blood flows through her veins, making her blood rich in powerful magic.

The above is Wild Hunt's analysis based on this method. Since there has been a case of using a mage's blood to power a stone statue, it means that the Demon Hunters must have already conducted research on mages and even carried out many human experiments.

The test subjects, naturally, were the various prisoners they had imprisoned in the black jails—typical and stereotypical. "You're here, Yongmei; you're here, Lin..."

When you see a rat, the shadowy places are usually already overflowing. The demon hunters couldn't have only gotten one stone ox; the Durand family has been producing anti-magic statues for years, so they must have many similar weapons of war.

If that's the case, how can we fill such a huge energy gap? If we rely solely on blood transfusions, we'd need to cultivate a massive blood bank, or find a gifted mage to significantly shorten the process.

"By Mount Targon! I thought the Demon Hunters were genuinely trying to heal the mage prisoners by giving them potions, but I never imagined they'd become so depraved."

Lux's thoughts were far less detailed than Wild Hunt's, but even just a slight shift in that direction sent countless images of bloodied prisoners being tortured in jail flashing through her mind, making her tremble uncontrollably.

"Since human experiments have already occurred, blood is likely just one of the subjects they are researching."

"Where are these laboratories? I need to expose them. We can't let the demon hunters continue to conduct inhumane experiments."

"Ha, you get excited seeing others suffer?" Wild Hunt mocked Lux's overestimation of herself. As far as he knew, Noxus had also conducted its fair share of human experiments.

The Undead Warrior, for example, is the culmination of necromancy, forged from the corpse of the previous Hand of Noxus combined with LeBlanc's dark magic forge. Among Vladimir's disciples is a duchess who commands an undead, berserk army.

Compared to that, Demacia's actions seem trivial. No one can resist the allure of magic, and those who publicly propose laws banning magic are undoubtedly secretly devising ways to utilize it.

"Am I supposed to abandon them in danger?" Lux ignored the Wild Hunt's crude words; she was acting impulsively.

"You? Forget about it. You want to save the victims, but you don't want to kill the perpetrators. That's not idealism, that's pure fantasy." Wild Hunt said, "This isn't your business. Morgana has already sent Silas to handle the raid on the lab."

"Silas from Border Town..." Just thinking about the style of that death row inmate who was full of lies, Lux knew that wherever he was, there would definitely be conflict and bloodshed.

"You have neither manpower nor strength. Do you think you can just barge in alone? As the leader of the resistance, he's far more suitable than you. Do what you're supposed to do, and don't make me say it twice. Otherwise..."

Before she could finish speaking, Lux felt a tightness between her legs, as if a finger was gripping the indentation and pulling her upwards. She immediately sprang to her feet.

"What are you doing!" Lux covered her sore spot with both hands, questioning Wild Hunt why he was treating her so roughly and without any tenderness.

"Hurry up, don't waste time in a place like this."

Lux did as she was told, tucking her legs together and taking a few steps, but Wild Hunt called her back after a few steps, "Take that bull with you too."

"It's so heavy, how are you going to carry it?"

"I'm about to have a brain fart attack. You've already dealt with Galio, do I need to teach you how to deal with these anti-magic statues?"

"But it's filled with blood..."

"Do you think you can just inject that blood back into the victim?"

Lux was speechless. Although these tools were obtained illegally, the Wild Hunt believed that they should be used if they were not to be wasted.

She shoved the metal lid back in and then placed her palm on the surface of the statue. The anti-magic stone was constantly absorbing her magic power, but the abundant magic power still allowed her to easily reach the core of the statue's operation.

This stone bull does not possess a self-awareness like Galio; its body contains only a simple spell, or what could be called a program.

This program causes the statue to attack any magical source within its defensive range, even a small magical crystal, making it a target. While it's easy to fool it with a few tricks, it's also incredibly foolish. But it's precisely this fact that confirms Lux's suspicion that mages are collaborating with the magic seekers to create these weapons of war, and that the actual situation is far more complex than she imagined.

Was it coercion? Or was it voluntary cooperation? Lux could imagine that if she rashly barged in, she might be betrayed by the person she was trying to save without even knowing it.

Lux's mood suddenly became much heavier. She used her magic to overwrite the program, and the stone bull immediately became docile, no longer kicking its hooves vigorously.

“Very good, now sit on it.” Lux had finally made some progress, and Wild Hunt praised her. His armor burst forth with terrifying power, helping her lift the stone bull back up.

Lux asked with mixed feelings, "If I ride on it, my magic will be drained in no time."

"Don't question my decision. Save your brain and energy to think carefully about how to proceed on the way."

Having been scolded again by the Wild Hunt, Lux mounted the statue with mixed feelings. Her clothes couldn't stop the anti-magic stone from draining her magic. However, once she sat down, she realized that a layer of armor blocked the flow of magic between her buttocks and the statue.

Lux finally understood the Wild Hunt's intention. Just as the Wild Hunt had said, she shouldn't question his decision; she should obediently ride the bull home. It was better to use the saved mental and physical energy on more meaningful things.

Looking back at the mess behind her, Lux realized that although the Wild Hunt was sharp-tongued, things were actually going in the direction she wanted. Thinking about it that way, the scolding she received earlier seemed to have been worthwhile.

Chapter 648 Mithril City

After several days of travel, Lux finally arrived at the famous city of dragons – Mithril.

Mithril City, built atop a waterfall, is like a gleaming silver fortress amidst towering mountains, a source of immense pride for Lux, who was born and raised there.

"At this rate, I should be home before dark."

Lux estimated that it was already afternoon, and walking along the mountain path would be quite strenuous. If she wanted to get home before dusk, she would have to quicken her pace.

Freezing rain often falls in the north, but today the weather is sunny and exceptionally refreshing, though something seems to be missing.

"Why didn't I see the Silverwing Birds chasing each other, nor did I hear their loud calls? They should be patrolling at this time of day and won't return to their nests until dark."

"Why?" Wild Hunt's voice echoed in her mind again.

"What do you know?" Lux had gotten used to the Wild Hunt's presence. With his escort these past few days, she was quite safe; no one could bully her. Of course, there were some unspeakable inconveniences, but most of the time they weren't problems.

“When you were locked in the basement, Katarina went to rescue Portil and encountered the dragon riders who were blocking her way, so she took care of them. Now they are severely weakened and probably don’t have enough manpower to send over for patrols.”

"Uh..." Lux knew that the Wild Hunt could roam freely in the Demacian region, but she never expected that the Dragon Riders, who were hailed as divine warriors, would be singled out by Katarina. It was truly astonishing.

Blindly blaming the other party from a national standpoint is clearly asking for trouble. Now, when she makes mistakes, the Wild Hunt not only scolds her but sometimes hits her, specifically targeting sensitive areas. It's not that it hurts that much, but after each hit, there's always a lingering, exhilarating feeling, making her involuntarily clench her buttocks until her muscles ache. Lux is afraid that if this happens too often, she'll become a strange person.

"Who is Portil? Why are they doing this?" she asked cautiously, trying to find out what had happened.

"A giant dragon."

"..."

Since even dragons were involved, Lux wisely chose to keep quiet and not ask any more questions.

Following the wheel tracks, Lux finally reached the gates of Mithril City before nightfall.

Like the capital, Demacia's second largest city uses special anti-magic stone walls. Most of the houses in the city are also built with white bricks and tiles, and the streets are wide and clean, with a strong artistic atmosphere.

To the east of the city wall lies Knight's Rock. Demacians have a penchant for erecting massive statues at the corners of their walls, with the lower half of the statue blending into the wall itself, symbolizing protection and stability. At the same point on the walls of the capital, a statue of a winged guardian god stands.

Beside Knight's Rock stands the tower of the Temple of Lightbringer, its brazier atop radiating a warm glow, as if welcoming her arrival in the twilight.

To Lux's surprise, the city gates were already down, blocking her way. She had considered that the situation was not peaceful recently, but she didn't expect the curfew to start so early; it wasn't even dark yet.

Lux lifted the hood of her blue cloak, letting her long, golden hair fall freely. Her youthful, vibrant face was adorned with a pair of resolute, sea-blue eyes. "You're here, aren't you...?"

Two figures appeared on the watchtower atop the iron gate, each holding a powerful bow made of ash and yew wood.

“Stop, traveler,” one of the guards said. “The city gates are closed. Come back tomorrow morning.”

“I am Laksana Crown Guard,” she said. “As you said, it is late. But I have come from afar to deliver military orders. I would be very grateful if you could make an exception for me.”

The man stared intently in the dim twilight, then his eyes widened in surprise. Mithril City was the fiefdom of the Crownguard family; how could he not recognize the most illustrious figure in the city? Besides, Lux was so easy to spot; Garen always said that once people had seen Lux, they would never forget her.

"Miss Crown Guard! Please forgive me!" he exclaimed, then turned and ordered the other guards to open the door.

Lux loosened the reins slightly; to avoid drawing attention, she had already switched from the stone bull to a horse along the way.

With the heavy clanging of chains, the gate slowly rose and disappeared into the city walls. Lux waited until the gate was high enough before entering the city, where a hastily assembled honor guard was waiting to greet her—ten soldiers in leather armor, their blue cloaks adorned with silver brooches in the shape of identical double-winged swords. They were proud Demacian soldiers, yet for some reason they appeared listless, their eyes filled with weariness.