Void Beetle Evolution Guide

Jax is indeed not human, but he is not a Vastayan either. He is more like an orc with protruding fangs, but with purple skin.

This purple skin wasn't stained by the Void, nor did it sprout terrifying eyes or tentacles. It wasn't influenced by external forces like Ryze or Mundo's; it was simply how it was born.

Jax ignored their stares, pulled out a hard-boiled egg from somewhere, and deftly peeled it with three fingers thicker than the egg, managing to keep the shell intact. He looked at his "masterpiece," then stuffed the whole, white egg into his mouth and chewed it thoughtfully, ignoring the blood at the corner of his mouth.

“You must be very curious about what I am and why I can live for so long?” Jax swallowed the egg whole and then said, “I come from a special clan that has served the Mage King of Icathia for generations. Our clan has a long lifespan and strong physique, and with the Mage King’s strong support, each of us can become a weapon master who dominates the battlefield.”

“Even so, it’s absolutely impossible to live for a thousand years. The reason you can still see me now is because I found ‘Icathia’s Last Light’ in the ruins of the battlefield.” Jax stuck the lamppost into the ground and looked at the flame inside, saying, “This ‘Icathia’s Last Light’ is the Eternal Flame. It extended my lifespan far beyond what this long-lived race expected.”

"But at the same time, it also trapped me. The farther I got from Icathia, the weaker the flame became, until it looked like it might go out forever at any moment. I thought that when the flame went out, that might be the time I died."

Having said this, Jax put his mask back on. Even with his eternal flames, it would be extremely unwise to expose his mouth and nose to the abyss for an extended period.

Upon hearing this, Kasha had a thought in mind: "If I may ask, what is the farthest place you have ever been?"

Jax replied without hesitation, "Demacia, I guess."

Chapter 741 The Indescribable Thing

Upon hearing that Jax could only travel as far as Demacia, Kai'Sa frowned beneath her helmet.

The reason she sought out the Eternal Flame, besides using it in the Howling Abyss, was also to let Ornn see it and see if she could move him to help her deal with the Watchers.

But Freljord is even further than Demacia, and without bringing the eternal flames to that frozen land, nothing can be accomplished.

What are you going to Demacia for?

“I’ve been searching everywhere for someone strong enough to rebuild Koalli. Although I’ve fought countless battles against opponents who possess great skill, courage, and strength, no one has yet proven to me their ability to face the impending darkness and rise to the challenge. As soon as I heard the news of the rising sun disk, I rushed back, because I knew the person I was waiting for had appeared.”

Through the mask, Jax gazed down at the lurking abyss below, yet his burning gaze was palpable.

"..." Kai'Sa and Katarina exchanged a glance and both chose to remain silent.

Now they know why Jax wanted to fight right away; it was to test them. But this method was far too abrupt and unpleasant.

Kaisa would have readily agreed and then casually asked for Eternal Flame in exchange, since you've already said that, you should at least show some appreciation, right?

But now she just feels troubled. The Eternal Flame can't be brought to Freljord, and Jax will die without the Eternal Flame, so this thing isn't very useful to her anymore.

Whether Jax makes a request or not, she will take it upon herself to banish the Void; that is the reason she lives and fights for it.

"The creatures that dwell below are coming soon; let's deal with them first."

As they spoke, the strange, unnatural sounds they had heard earlier reappeared, and were much closer than before.

The weakened seal was forcefully torn open by some being from beyond the boundary. Accompanied by bursts of intense light, a pale white strip of matter emerged from the ruptured membrane, stretching unsatisfiedly towards the sky.

Kasha covered her ears with both hands; without the barrier, the deafening scream seemed to tear the air apart. The scream continued to pierce everyone's brains, as if trying to shatter all reason and spill it out of their mouths and noses.

She looked around and saw the same slender ribbons sprouting from the ground everywhere, even appearing from the air, already reaching towards them.

The exponentially escalating void energy in the surrounding environment caused severe discomfort, and Jax experienced familiar symptoms of exhaustion, including tears. Meanwhile, the light from the Eternal Flame in his hand blazed brightly, as if he had been placed in a highly hazardous oxygen chamber.

Without the protection of the Eternal Flame, Kai'Sa had no doubt that her body would have been ripped open by the tentacles.

An unnatural twilight filled the sky, its lingering shimmering light imprinted deep within the pupils. Behind them lay an abyss flowing with purple blood, pale tentacles extending upwards like fungal hyphae, sprouting sharp fangs and claws in a mere instant… a gaping maw… all-knowing eyes…

These were all nascent biological forms directly transformed from high-concentration void energy, ancient primordial void creatures, untouched by the laws of reality. Over three thousand years later, these ravenously hungry beings reappeared on earth, devouring everything in their path to proclaim their insatiable hunger!

The monsters rolled and climbed, flapping their tentacles, scaling the earth from the edge. Their indescribably enormous bodies showed no signs of life, resembling a crude cobbled-together mass of matter and a heart. Countless tentacles, fangs, and eyes constantly sprouted from their surfaces, only to retract them just as frequently.

If one had to describe this indescribable form, it would probably resemble a drop of ink spreading in a glass of water. Each streak of ink, magnified, reveals twisted, swollen, grayish-white limbs, glistening with a tar-like sheen. Their bodies are covered in dark, dense armor, like Venetian blinds, through which their enormous hearts emit an eternal, flickering purple light.

The enormous monster filled the gap, stretching out its soft limbs little by little like an octopus. The limbs were knotted together, forming a kind of ambiguous shape. Three sharp tentacles pointed downwards like limbs, and one pointed upwards like a neck. Overall, it looked like the prototype of a zebra made of clay, walking on the ground with hardened dark armor as its feet.

"Disgusting!" Kassaka Katarina launched a barrage of throwing knives, drawing back the curtain on the battle.

The blade sliced ​​through the undulating surface of the tentacle, and a liquid, like foaming amniotic fluid, immediately gushed out from the wound, dissolving the steel stuck in it, but it also quickly dried up and stiffened.

The monster turned towards them, the earth cracked open, and wildly swirling earth worms burst forth, lashing out in their direction.

Jax swung his torch and struck the liquid tentacles. The reflective liquid on the tentacles immediately burst into flames, and the tentacles quickly curled up and died amidst crackling sounds.

Kaisa's plasma bullet precisely struck a gap in the Dark Armor, detonating the monster's heart.

Perhaps to reduce their weight, the armor of these tentacle monsters was hollow like Venetian blinds, which gave Kaisa too many opportunities to exploit and also gave the mortals who were initially the ones to kill them, which is why the Celestial Warriors were able to win with great difficulty.

Energy from beyond the boundary continuously surged from the cracks in the world's matrix, manifesting as countless indescribable monsters. Just as one was killed, more appeared in the blink of an eye. "You Mei Yong, you have... I have... You Lin Zai, you don't have any..."

They evolved and expanded rapidly, adjusting their structure to adapt to this world. They no longer exposed their pale contents to the air, instead generating chitinous, dark purple armor, and gradually growing sharp teeth and claws, as well as countless omniscient and omnipotent eyes. Even their size continued to increase; the largest one, when standing, seemed to reach the clouds, its distorted form impossible to fully comprehend.

The three threw themselves into the battle with all their might. Jax, relying on his Eternal Flame, transformed into a pyromantic berserker. Any monster struck by the lamppost would burst into flames and die instantly. Therefore, Jax always struck with a single blow and fled far away, never greedily taking a hit. He clearly knew he only had one life, and his cautious approach to battle was the most important reason he had survived this long.

Katarina also activated her Intricate Runes, summoning ancient Shurima war machines before the monsters could evolve flight, hurling explosive fireballs into the abyss as if recreating the great war from thousands of years ago.

Chapter 742 Jax's Dilemma

The fireballs dropped by the War Machine blasted the Void Monster, but the effect was not ideal; they were not as powerful as Kai'Sa's Plasma Cannon.

Kai'Sa's attacks all followed one principle: targeting the energy core formed from the heart of the Void-like creatures—their only weakness. She aimed to kill them cleanly and efficiently, avoiding indiscriminate use of magic to prevent them from absorbing its nourishment and growing stronger.

Under Kai'Sa's micro-management, plasma missiles can penetrate the gaps in Dark Crystal Armor and directly damage the core. War Machine's fireballs, on the other hand, can only hit the armor; whether they kill depends on the density of fire and a bit of luck.

These are not problems. The creative power of the Intricate Runes allows for mass replication. With it, Katarina alone is a well-equipped army.

But Katarina isn't someone who just relies on path dependence. She uses her brain in battle, constantly thinking about how to improve tactics. The runes of creation require imagination the most.

She thought Jax's Eternal Flame was effective and wanted to copy it, but she couldn't.

"Why can't it be copied? Isn't this the container that the Icathian mages used to contain the void?" Katarina pondered, multitasking as she operated the machine.

The inability to replicate it can only mean one thing: that the Eternal Flame is a naturally occurring wonder, untouched by any artificial creation, and therefore not belonging to the realm of creation. Otherwise, she could perfectly replicate even the Sun Disk, so there's no reason she couldn't replicate a small flame.

She was misled by the concept of a "container," prejudging the Eternal Flame as a man-made object, which is not the case. The Icathian mages didn't "invent" the Eternal Flame; they "discovered" it. (The rest of the text appears to be unrelated and possibly machine-generated gibberish.)

Katarina told Wild Hunt about her discovery, and he was also taken aback. "Interesting. I need to find a way to bring this flame to Ornn; he should recognize its value."

Fortunately, the number of monsters that surged out this time was not large; it was all bark and no bite, and Kasha and her team quickly finished clearing them out.

“The seal here is too weak; monsters could escape at any moment. But the scale is too large, and it will take a lot of time to fully repair it. We need to think of a way to deal with it simply first,” Kasha said worriedly.

If the Great Rift of Icathia were a wound on the human body, it would be a festering so badly that it would ooze pus if squeezed. To heal it, it must first be cleaned, then treated with medicine, and allowed to heal slowly. And because the healing process takes so long, it must first be simply bandaged to prevent reinfection.

There's no rush to apply the medicine. Right now, it's just the two of them. Trying to repair a long-standing barrier flaw with only two runestones is too much of a stretch.

"Do you think that thing can burn this rift valley down in one go?" Katarina gestured for Kai'Sa to look at the torch in Jax's hand.

All eyes converged on Jax, who saw Kai'Sa and the others standing calmly amidst the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, seemingly without using their full strength. In contrast, his own heavy breathing produced the sound of his lungs bursting, and the metallic taste in his throat was impossible to suppress; he was forced to spit out a mouthful of blood.

At that moment, he clearly felt the gap between himself and the two men. Perhaps, this was the warrior he had been waiting for.

"May I borrow your Eternal Flame, Jax?" Kai'Sa asked.

Jax hesitated for a moment, as if he had made a major decision. His shoulders slumped down as if he had lost his soul, and he took the lamppost and nodded, saying, "Okay, you can take it."

After Kasha came down, he solemnly warned her, "This is the last light of Icathia, please treat it well."

Kaisa hesitated, not reaching out to take it, afraid that if she took the lamppost, Jax would vanish the moment she let go.

"Wait, don't make it sound like you're entrusting someone's will. We don't want your lives; we just want to test whether this torch can ignite the abyss below."

“Oh, then I was just being presumptuous.” Jax chuckled to cover his embarrassment, then changed the subject: “If it were really that simple, I wouldn’t have been wasting my time like this.”

"..." Kasha was silent for a while, then shook her head and laughed self-deprecatingly: "I guess so. Never mind, I didn't ask."

In silence, Jax walked to the small hill piled with monster corpses and lit it with the lamppost. A fierce flame erupted, its light causing their skin and armor to tighten in pain, forcing them to retreat in fear of being engulfed by the flames.

Jax gazed at the flames before him and sighed, “I’ve tried to burn this hateful source to ashes, but with little effect. Of course, it might also be because I can’t reach the bottom of the abyss and can only watch helplessly from the outside. If anyone is willing to try to go down there and burn away the source of all this calamity, I would entrust the Eternal Flame to them, even if it costs me my life.”

Kai'Sa remained silent. Jax's idea truly proved his lack of understanding of the Void. He thought these sprouts were like vines, and that finding the roots and burning them would end everything—he was oversimplifying the problem.

However, this cannot be blamed on him. The higher the concentration of void energy and the layers of light membranes in the environment, the more he was kept out. Moreover, his life was already highly bound to the Eternal Flame. If it were too far from his body or even slipped from his grasp, he might die on his own, which prevented him from attempting to throw the lamppost into the bottom of the abyss.

Kai'Sa didn't want to risk other people's lives for an attempt with no certainty of success, so she asked Wild Hunt if there was any way to bring the flames to Ornn without killing Jax or extinguishing the Eternal Flame.

"Given Ornn's oblivious nature, it's practically impossible for him to leave Hearthland. Although he is the god of fire and craftsmen, he has never left Freljord since his birth and never will. Jax can't bring the Eternal Flame to Freljord either. To have the best of both worlds, we can only find a way to let them communicate remotely."

Wild Hunt pondered for a moment, then came up with a half-baked solution: "Fine, I'll just expend more divine power and pull the portal directly from here to Hearthglen. Kasha, you guys hurry up. Constructing and maintaining such a distant portal requires overcoming too much resistance; I might not be able to hold on for long."

From Icathia to Freljord, that's truly a world apart in a physical sense. One is in the southeasternmost part of Shurima, and the other is in the northwestern corner of Valoran, spanning two entire continents.

Upon hearing Wild Hunt's warning, Kai'Sa immediately alerted Jax: "Get ready! We're about to summon a god. Whether we can cure Icathia's cancer depends on this."

Chapter 743 Goodbye Ornn

Wild Hunt opened a portal to Hearthglen. Kai'Sa, in a hurry, instinctively tried to slip inside, but found that this portal was different from the previous ones.

In the past, the portals opened by the Wild Hunt were like a bruised wound torn open out of thin air. The deep purple energy channels were like endless vortexes, surrounded by terrifying monsters, all lurking outside the threshold barrier, waiting for their chance to strike. To Kai'Sa, it felt as if she were passing through the real void through a barrier.

The portal in front of her was more like shortening the distance and directly connecting the two spaces, allowing her to see the scene of Furnace Village on the other side of the portal.

Almost exactly as she remembered, the air in Luxiang was still filled with a strong metallic and fiery scent, and the heat wave hit her face as if it instantly burned away the filth on her body.

The magnificent and spacious hall seemed to have no boundaries, with countless burning braziers hanging from the towering dome, their flickering flames casting a molten iron-red glow over the entire space.

In the center of the hall, a colossal figure stood before the scorching red-hot furnace, swinging its hammer as always. Lava flowed like a waterfall, the furnace fire roared, and the intense, vibrant flames surged and roared within the furnace like a legendary magma serpent, echoing the powerful, resounding hammer blows.

Jax stared blankly at the abode of the gods, which, compared to the devastation behind him, resembled a blazing holy land.

He looked in the direction of the sound, his gaze piercing through the rising heat and landing on the enormous figure in the distance. It was a colossal beast, its body distorted by the heat, as tall as three pine trees.

His thick fur was as rough as lava, and his muscles were bulging, as if they contained boundless power. Every breath he took was accompanied by scorching heat, as if even the air around him was burning.

An ancient craftsman, wielding a massive iron hammer, is intently striking a piece of red-hot metal. Sparks fly from the metal as it is struck, scattering like stars.

His movements were steady and powerful, each hammer blow seemingly containing the force of splitting mountains and carving rocks. The light shone on him, gilding his silhouette with a golden outline, making him resemble a solemn statue.

Jax couldn't take his eyes off Ornn, captivated by his unrestrained power. His mind was immersed in the intense and sacred atmosphere, and he couldn't help but want to prostrate himself on the ground.

"Ahem." Kai'Sa removed her helmet, cleared her throat, and stepped into Hearthglen with a hint of awe.

Katarina and Jax followed her gaze, but were drawn to the extraordinary artifacts displayed on both sides of the hall, their breathing becoming hot.

"Hmm?" Ornn paused in his tapping, glanced at Kai'Sa as if sensing something, and then muttered in a deep voice, "Why are there always uninvited guests lately? Looks like I need to seal off Hearth Village sometime."

Kaisa was speechless. Before she could even speak, Ornn was already giving her a sarcastic dismissal. How aloof! Besides, she was the last person to come. Although it had been quite a while, for a god with such a long lifespan, it was probably just the time it took to doze off. It was only natural that seeing someone so often would annoy him.

Despite being ignored, Kai'Sa remained calm and walked straight to Ornn. Ornn radiated intense heat, his breath crackling with flames, like a living furnace. Kai'Sa didn't get too close, maintaining a comfortable distance—not too hot to be burned, but still loud enough for him to hear her.

She got straight to the point, giving Orn no room to refuse, saying, "Great God of Craftsmanship Orn, I apologize for disturbing you, but I have found a special flame in the distant Void that can damage the void. I would like to ask you to take a look at it."

Orn was indeed interested in the strange fire. His bright eyes seemed to shift slightly, and flames spilled out, igniting the ends of his thick eyebrows.

"Give it to me," the master craftsman said succinctly.

Jax instinctively wanted to step into the Hearth, but was immediately startled by his own thought.

He had already been warned by Kai'Sa that the other side of the portal was Hearthglen in Freljord, and if he took that step, he would likely be obliterated the moment he passed through the portal because of the excessive distance.

“This…” Kai’Sa looked troubled and immediately explained to Ornn, “The flame cannot leave its Icathia. Would you do me the honor of moving to the doorway to take a look?”

Ornn glanced at Jax on the other side of the portal, then turned back to his forging. No matter how much Kai'Sa pleaded, Ornn didn't move an inch, as if his feet were nailed to the furnace. Even after the portal was forced to close, Kai'Sa didn't see Ornn look at them again.

She lowered her head in frustration. She had gone to such lengths, so why did she still fail at the last hurdle?

Why won't these arrogant gods lower their heads even slightly to show pity for these hardworking mortals? If the gods were just a little more cooperative, she wouldn't have to travel the world so tirelessly.

Kasha clenched her fists, anger surging within her. Just as her rage was about to engulf her, the sound of hammering stopped abruptly.

"If I'm not mistaken, that should be the Primal Flame," Orn muttered in a deep voice.

"Are you... sure?" Kasha paused, her voice trembling.

“I think I’m right. My power comes from the Primal Flame, and I just felt the same aura on that torch.” Orn said, “The Primal Flame is territorial. Once it leaves its place of origin, it weakens or even goes out, so I don’t want to go anywhere.”

“If that’s the case, then everything makes sense…” Kasha fell into deep thought.

The First Flame, also known as the Primal Flame, is, as the name suggests, the original flame of Runeterra. It dispels darkness and brings light, and its scorching heat can melt all ores.

Ornn's connection with the First Flame is long-standing. Kai'Sa only knows that Ornn, as the first demigod to be born, eagerly jumped into this world, eager to stretch his muscles, but he could not find any opponents because his brothers and sisters had not yet been born.

Trees would break at the slightest touch, icebergs would melt at his touch, and in frustration, Ornn punched a mountain, but only the peak remained standing. Ornn was delighted, and so he began to treat the entire earth as his comrade-in-arms, thus shaping the Freljord we know today.

When Ornn finally tired of fighting the earth, he paid homage to it, thanking it for such a glorious battle. In gratitude, a fiery pit appeared on the earth, revealing his core.

Ornn was incredibly proud, for he felt the fiery pit perfectly reflected himself: a raging, fiery ram. The earth recognized Ornn's abilities and thus revealed its secret to him, bestowing upon him the power of the First Flame.

And this fiery pit is the Hearthland where Kai'Sa is standing now.

Chapter 744 The Horn of the First Flame

Since Ornn said that Jax's Eternal Flame is the Primal Flame, there are many possible interpretations.

First, the Eternal Flame can damage the Void, and Ornn possesses the power of the Primordial Flame, plus he is in Freljord. If he can gain Ornn's assistance in the final battle against the Watchers, it might be the decisive factor.

Wild Hunt said long ago that the demigods of Freljord were people he desperately needed to win over. Since Anivia's True Ice could freeze the Watchers for nearly ten thousand years, Ornn's First Flame and Volibear's lightning should both be able to harm the Watchers.

Therefore, Kai'Sa approached three demigods, but aside from the corrupted Anivia, Ornn and Volibear both refused for reasons that seemed absurd to her. One was stubbornly unwilling to cause trouble, while the other was so arrogant that he disregarded the Void.