Void Beetle Evolution Guide

The group quickened their pace toward the main castle. LeBlanc watched all of this unfold, her intuition telling her that she seemed to have inadvertently been drawn into something terrible.

Upon entering the main castle, a guide led the Wild Hunt to the audience hall. There, he met Lissandra, who sat on the Frozen Throne awaiting him. Snowflakes drifted through the skylights, adding a touch of desolation to the empty hall.

"I've been here so many times, and there's still not a single seat." Wild Hunt looked left and right, then shook his head: "Arrogant female chieftain, you disdain to learn even the slightest bit of hospitality. It's fine for me to stand, but it's wrong of you to make so many women behind me stand."

Upon hearing this, Lissandra coldly replied, "This was never supposed to be a place for receiving guests; you insisted on coming."

"Forget it, let's not dwell on this. Along the way, I've seen so much devastation. Don't you have anything to say?"

"Do I need to explain my own family matters to outsiders?"

"So we're not family after all?" Wild Hunt sighed, his playful smile fading as his eyes sharpened. "You'd better tell me. Considering our past acquaintance, I might be able to help you out. The final battle is imminent, and I don't want anything to interfere with our plans."

"We've known each other for a while? Did you even ask me about this plan?" Lissandra slammed her chair up, glaring at him angrily.

That day, they were passionately intimate on the throne, but after their lovemaking, the Wild Hunt turned around and announced that he would deal with the Watchers sooner or later, leaving her no room for discussion. From that moment on, she decided that she could not place all her hopes on others and must make her own preparations.

"Whether you agree or not, we will see this through to the end." The Wild Hunt will always keep its promise to Kasha.

Wild Hunt's answer was exactly what Lissandra expected, which further solidified her belief.

Lissandra withdrew midway through the battle at the Purple Sea, but the terror of the Void Queen still left a very deep impression on her. Later, she heard that the Wild Hunt and their forces had luckily defeated the Void Queen, thus averting the cataclysmic crisis.

But the Watchers will only be stronger than the Queen. The Wild Hunt might have won once by luck, but could it win a second time? Lissandra didn't believe in luck. Since she couldn't stop the Wild Hunt's plans, she had to prepare herself.

Thinking of this, her icy expression softened somewhat, and she sat back down on the throne. "Trouble, I do have some here. If you want to know what happened, I can tell you."

It turned out that after the battle in the Pale Purple Sea, the watchers in the Hall of Nine Venerables had become restless. Their presence in the dream world had become increasingly difficult to suppress, and even a mere wisp of their power had a significant impact on the Frostguard Fortress.

Dreams are Lissandra's domain. She uses them to travel thousands of miles in an instant, issuing cold decrees or prophecies. However, recently Lissandra has discovered that the tentacles of the Watchers have begun to seep into the dreams of her people. The dreams are always surrounded by dark, coiled, tentacle-like limbs. Those who are awakened fall into dementia or madness, or their spirits disappear into the dreams, never to wake up again.

Even Lissandra herself was invaded in her dreams while investigating the cause. If her skin armor hadn't jolted her awake at a crucial moment with a sharp pain, she might have been affected as well. Lissandra's position in the dreams is precarious, and she fears these Iceborn who have been affected and whose minds have been damaged are being manipulated or controlled by the Watchers. She is willing to take their lives to eliminate any future threat. (The last sentence appears to be unrelated and possibly spam.)

These inhumane acts caused widespread panic both inside and outside the fortress, with people afraid to even sleep. That's why the Frost Guards that Wild Hunt encountered along the way all looked listless.

Chapter 786 Lissandra's Trouble

Lissandra told the Wild Hunt about the strange things that had happened recently. Just a sliver of power leaked by the Watcher had caused panic throughout Frostguard Fortress, and many people had died because their dreams had been invaded.

"How could such a coincidence happen?" Kasha frowned in thought. "We just dealt with the Void Queen in the Pale Purple Sea, and then trouble broke out at Frostguard Fortress. Could it be that the Watchers sensed the Queen's death and discovered clues from the fabricated dream?"

“Possibly. Although they are enemies, they are from the same source, so it’s not surprising that they would have connections.” After Wild Hunt answered Kasha, he looked at Lady Ice and Lady Dark, who were sitting on the throne.

“Lissandra, I warned you before that once the Watcher comprehends the laws and adapts to the material realm, the True Ice Seal will no longer be able to contain it. Now it seems that my words have been proven true. For thousands of years, you have been deceiving it in the dream, offering up one fabricated world after another to fill its insatiable appetite. Perhaps, this has actually helped it gradually understand the laws of the dream.”

"Are you blaming me?" Lissandra's voice was filled with anger as she gripped the armrests of the throne tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force.

Kaisa wasn't having any of it and immediately retorted on behalf of the Wild Hunt: "Once the Watchers awaken the ability to walk in dreams, the consequences will be unimaginable. Even so, you initially planned to hide it from us and suppress it. Do you completely disregard the lives of your own people?"

Upon hearing this, Portil's expression suddenly darkened for a moment.

“I’m already working on resolving this,” Lissandra said, waving her hand.

"Really? If you can solve it, then what about the mess outside?"

After a moment of silence, Lissandra sighed, "Perhaps you are right. The Watchers' tentacles have not only reached into the dreams, but also affected reality."

First, the experimental subject went out of control, killing the priest and remaining dormant inside the main castle, ready to cause trouble. Then, the slave demons rebelled without cause. Lissandra personally led the entire clan to suppress them, which is why there was such a mess outside.

These disturbances were all influenced by the Watcher, whose power had spread throughout the entire Frostguard Fortress area.

"Looks like you've got a lot of trouble on your hands." Wild Hunt shook his head after hearing this. "It's really a headache. The Pale Purple Sea battlefield is a matter of humanity's fate. I told you to send out all the slave demons back then, but you wouldn't listen. You like to keep things to yourself, and now look what's happened, you're getting what's coming to you."

"Are you gloating?" Lissandra slammed her hand on the throne, and layers of ice blades shot out from beneath her feet, heading straight for the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt neither dodged nor evaded, simply standing there watching the ice blades rapidly approach.

The ice blade stopped less than two fingers' width from the Wild Hunt's Adam's apple. Lissandra didn't intend to actually hurt him, but merely to intimidate him. Even so, the biting cold still caused a layer of frost to condense on the Wild Hunt's neck.

Wild Hunt remained unfazed, continuing his standoff with the towering female chieftain: "Getting angry after just a few words is a sign of your guilty conscience. Tell me all the troubles you have."

Lissandra was surprised that the Wild Hunt could so keenly perceive his thoughts, and gradually realized her own loss of composure. Even just once, she wanted to see the Wild Hunt lose his composure.

So she told the Wild Hunt the bad news that she would soon be able to keep quiet: "In fact, Volibear will soon lead his army of the Lost to attack the fortress."

"Voliber?! This couldn't be more unfortunate. How did you provoke it?" The Wild Hunt retracted his earlier statement; this was the real headache.

Lissandra hesitated for a moment before slowly speaking, "Do you remember that large urn I got from the Claw of Winter?" (The rest of the text appears to be nonsensical and unrelated to the preceding sentences.)

“Remember, we went through so much trouble to help Sejuani steal the Great Urn of Ornn, and you just picked it up without a second thought.” Kai’Sa’s words were barbed, but Lissandra ignored them.

"If the Claws of Winter cannot hold the Great Jar, then of course the most capable shall take it. Getting back to the main point, not long ago a group of bearmen came to seize the jar. My men and the trolls joined forces to repel them, but they boasted that Volibear would surely lead a large army of bearmen to return and raze Frostguard Fortress to the ground."

"The conflict between you two has lasted for thousands of years. A temporary setback shouldn't be enough to make Volibear launch a full-scale attack on the fortress, right? Did you do something else that crossed his line?" the Wild Hunt asked.

"You don't believe me?" Lissandra said angrily, "I didn't even dare to put the large urn in the fortress. Instead, I carefully placed it in the village of orphans, dozens of miles outside the city, and then sent heavy troops to guard it. Although it gave the bear people and some bandits an opportunity, the advantage is that it won't harm the fortress. Since obtaining the large urn, the village of orphans has experienced dozens of attacks of varying scales, but only this time did the bear people make such threats."

Wild Hunt had some impression of the Village of Abandoned Children. Although it was called the Village of Abandoned Children, it was responsible for the logistical support of the entire Frostguard Fortress.

Freljord is a harsh environment with difficult living conditions, and children and infants are frequently abandoned. Similar to the Noxian organization that houses war orphans, the Frost Priests take abandoned children to orphanages for collective care.

Those with the bloodline of ice would enter the fortress upon reaching adulthood and swear an oath to become loyal Frost Guards or priests. Those without the bloodline were called Children of Ice and continued to live in the village, engaging in production. They fished, hunted, herded livestock, brewed wine, tanned hides, and cured meat, supporting the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people in the fortress.

Therefore, the bear-men frequently attack the village of orphans, both to plunder resources and to cut off the fortress's logistics. Some desperate bandit tribes occasionally target the village, but they are wary of the Frost Witch and only dare to steal from herds, not to openly rob.

Now that place has a giant urn that can produce an infinite amount of food, it's understandable that Volibear wouldn't want the Freljords to become useless freeloaders, and he sent the bear-men to try and seize the urn repeatedly. But after failing to seize the urn multiple times, it's one thing for him to personally take it back, but why did he threaten to attack the fortress?

Lissandra had previously killed so many shamans who worshipped the bear god, yet he hadn't been able to wage war. Now, however, he's making such a fuss over a mere urn; it seems like an overreaction.

Lissandra explained the situation, but did not point out the root of the problem, and Wild Hunt felt that she was still hiding something from him.

"Is there anything else you'd like to add?" Wild Hunt asked as a final question.

Lissandra rubbed her forehead: "That's all for now. I'll tell you more when I think of anything else. I still need to go into the dream to calm the restless monitors, so I can't stay here to entertain you. Please make yourselves at home."

Seeing that she hadn't given a definitive answer, the Wild Hunt became even more certain that Lissandra was definitely hiding a secret she wasn't willing to reveal.

Chapter 787 Investigating the Truth

"She just left like that? Leaving us with a mess to clean up." Kai'Sa was furious as she watched Lissandra disappear into the audience hall.

Lissandra offered no solutions regarding the escaped test subjects or the imminent threat of the bear-men, and then just went off to sleep soundly? That's outrageous!

"Let her go. There are priorities. Keeping the Watchers calm is the most important thing." Wild Hunt reassured Kai'Sa. "It's normal that we can't handle so many things happening at once."

"Really? I have a feeling she's just making excuses to run away. She's going to wash her hands of all this mess and leave it all to us."

"No rush, I'll look into this." Wild Hunt frowned, clearly Lissandra was deliberately telling Kai'Sa this because she knew Kai'Sa wouldn't ignore it.

"So what do we do now?" "I don't know." "Since things have come to this, let's go get some sleep and talk again when we wake up."

“No. We need to deal with these problems first. I don’t want to be disturbed while I’m in the Howling Abyss.” Listening to the whispers of the others, Kai’Sa, looking worried, said directly, “I’ll go west out of the city to confirm if what Lissandra said is true. If Volibear really intends to attack the fortress, I will try to persuade him to back down. If that doesn’t work, we can discuss it again.”

Having said that, Kai'Sa donned her helmet, giving no chance for discussion whatsoever. She transformed into a bolt of lightning and dashed out of the audience hall, leaving behind a fleeting afterimage in everyone's eyes.

Having the Wild Hunt teleport her there might be faster, but she doesn't know where Volibear is now, or where he is if he's on a campaign, so running there would make it less likely for her to miss him.

“Alright, let’s get moving,” Wild Hunt said. “Let’s find out about that experimental subject first, and try to find out what’s lurking in the main castle before Kasha returns.”

After leaving the audience hall, they sought out a frost priest to inquire. However, the priest, seeing that they were outsiders, was highly wary and unwilling to easily reveal the truth.

Unexpectedly, the first step of the investigation stalled, and LeBlanc, who had been following along, felt that her chance to shine had arrived.

She had been observing the situation and learned from the conversations of others that an extremely terrifying being was sealed here, posing no greater threat than the Icefield Demigod who was about to attack.

LeBlanc concluded that the entity must be located beneath the Howling Abyss. Her clone had infiltrated Frostguard Fortress and learned that every year, three Frostguards would be selected to go beneath the Howling Abyss to inspect the seal.

But she wasn't a true Iceborn, so she couldn't cross the True Ice Wall to descend into the Howling Abyss and see the Watcher for herself. Moreover, after learning that Lissandra possessed the secret art of dream walking, she feared being exposed as a spy in her dreams and abandoned her plans to continue her infiltration.

LeBlanc is indeed the kind of person who thrives on chaos, but the extent of that chaos must remain under her control. As things stand, the threat posed by this observer doesn't allow her to interfere.

If the Wild Hunt dies, she'll most likely not survive either. Useless people are bound to be abandoned, and after a moment's thought, LeBlanc decided to assist in the investigation.

“I can make him tell the truth,” LeBlanc suddenly said, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Oh? You’ve certainly broadened your horizons.” Cassiopeia approached LeBlanc with interest, circling her once. “You mean charm magic? Actually, I know a little charm magic too. Why don’t you try to get information out of her first, and then I’ll ask her again. By comparing the two, we can see who’s lying.”

LeBlanc outwardly ignored her and stepped forward to cast a spell on the Frost Priestess. Inwardly, however, she cursed her as a despicable woman for suspecting the priestess of spreading false information. But since she had already done it, demonstrating her value was paramount.

She extended her gilded finger and gestured in the air, then cast a constantly shifting rune into the priest's forehead. Blooming black roses gradually filled his vision, swirling and stirring his will. Thorny roots snaked along the edges of his vision, converging all at once, leaving the frost priest with only darkness in his eyes.

"What kind of experiments are you conducting here?" LeBlanc asked, gesturing as she spoke.

"Use black ice to transform the trolls into slave demons." The Frost Priestess's mind had been bewitched, and she spoke without reservation. Under LeBlanc's questioning, she dazedly revealed the truth.

"So you're just going to let the trolls be modified by you?" Although trolls are not very intelligent, they are fierce and warlike by nature, and are not creatures that would willingly accept modification.

"The troll race has too many offspring to support. So the chieftain secretly made a deal with them, exchanging food for people."

"Human trafficking?" LeBlanc was no stranger to this kind of thing, and continued to ask, "Then how did the accident happen?"

"Galakrond was not satisfied with the power of the slave demons, so he took a risk and implanted the Earth Gland into the troll's body. That thing devoured the troll, giving birth to a new monster, and killed Galakrond. It is still hiding in the main castle, waiting for an opportunity to attack our people. It has devoured our bloodline, is not afraid of True Ice weapons, and is extremely difficult to deal with."

Where is the laboratory?

"In another stone chamber on another level."

After LeBlanc finished asking her questions, Cassiopeia changed the Frost Priest's perception, making him believe that they were personnel personally assigned by Lissandra to contain the experimental subjects, and told him everything she knew.

Having been affected mentally time and again, the Frost Priest suddenly fainted after asking the questions, demonstrating the domineering nature of the two's secret techniques.

“He didn’t hide anything, but his rank isn’t high enough to know the whole story,” Cassiopeia added, glancing at LeBlanc almost imperceptibly. “Master, should I ask someone else to find out more?”

"No need, I've pretty much figured it out." Wild Hunt shook his head, hands behind his back, and declined Cassiopeia's offer.

Galakrond is a high-ranking Frost Priest, similar to an elder of the Frostguard, and reports directly to Lissandra. Their conducting of this experiment must have been at Lissandra's behest. (The remaining text appears to be unrelated and possibly machine-generated gibberish.)

Lissandra's sudden urge to use more radical methods to transform the trolls was likely spurred by the battle in the Purple Sea, prompting her to urgently enhance the fortress's overall strength. However, the power of the Void is not something anyone can covet, and with the Watcher's restless dreams, her greed ultimately backfired.

It's not the great teammates you should fear, it's the terrible ones. If Lissandra had followed his advice, none of these problems would have arisen.

As for the trolls, Wild Hunt remembers that Lissandra once gave the troll king Trundle a True Ice Bone Crusher, and that's when they made their deal.

This troll king rose to power by betraying his own people; there's really nothing to brag about. However, trolls have different values ​​than humans. When starving, cannibalism is perfectly normal for them, and selling people to seek witches' protection seems unremarkable.

Chapter 788 Experimental Accident

Wild Hunt led his group to the laboratory where the accident occurred, and unsurprisingly, they were stopped at the entrance.

Not only were dozens of Frost Guards stationed at the entrance to the laboratory, but several priests inside were also chanting incantations in unison, as if they were reciting scriptures and praying for the deceased. Each of them looked dazed.

"stop!"

A Frostguard roared, holding his greatsword horizontally before the Wild Hunt. An unmelting True Ice crystal was embedded in the hilt, and the blade was enveloped in a chilling frost. In the blink of an eye, frost covered the Wild Hunt's eyebrows, eyelashes, and beard.

"Insolence! This is a special envoy sent by the female clan leader. If you dare to obstruct us again, don't blame me for eating you all!" Potil stepped forward and pressed down on the greatsword, exhaling thick, frosty breath that formed a hideous, predatory ice dragon phantom above her head, terrifying the Frost Guards into a commotion.

"Oh my god! It's Lord Portil!! I...I know I was wrong...Let's make way right away!!" The Frost Guard's pupils trembled violently. He quickly sheathed his greatsword and retreated, directing the others to clear a path.

Seeing their performance, Portil was quite satisfied and withdrew her chill. It seemed her former identity was still effective; as long as she didn't run into Lissandra, she should be able to roam freely in this fortress without any problems.

Feeling a little smug, Portil was about to turn around and wipe the frost off Wild Hunt's face when Cassiopeia beat her to it, charmingly wiping the frost from her brow with a handkerchief.

She was the most adept at currying favor and stealing credit. Portil rolled her eyes and prepared to retreat back to the queue when Wild Hunt grabbed her shoulder just as he was about to pass by.

"Well done, you can lead the way now."

The Wild Hunt's praise pleased Portil. He had been somewhat wary of Lissandra, but now he straightened his back and walked past the bowing Frostguards, leading them into the laboratory with an air of authority.

The laboratory was filled with the aura of frost magic, and inside were many magical relics and scrolls, as well as numerous frozen specimens and sealed jars of biological or organ tissues.

Wild Hunt continued forward, still puzzled, when a broken container on the ground ahead caught his attention. The shattered, transparent fragments gave him a sense of déjà vu.

He bypassed the scattered debris and followed the trail of blood until he came to a frozen troll corpse. Through the thick, dark ice, he saw that most of the corpse's skin had turned a terrifying blackish-purple, like bruises all over its body.

On the chest, a bloody hole was clearly visible. The wound was a putrid black, the internal organs were gone, the ribs showed signs of dissolving, and the boundary between them and the flesh was blurred, as if a nest had been built there, and a horrifying creature had burst out of the body.

On the other side, the frost priests formed a circle, chanting frost oaths and mantras over a suit of armor and a horned helmet. They were so engrossed in their chanting that they were completely unaware of the arrival of the newcomers.

"Do not resist the embrace of the cold, for it contains the truth. By becoming one with the ice, you will naturally understand the true meaning."

"Be patient, do not complain. Ice never begs for mercy, nor does it give mercy. I should be like ice."

"Do not fear pain, nor run from the blessing of pain. Without pain there can be no life."

"When death comes, do not shrink back from it."

"We are born of ice, and we will return to ice."

The chaotic objects, splattered blood, bizarre monsters, mangled corpses, and dazed priests all made the stone chamber incredibly terrifying.

Hearing the prayers of the Frost Priests on the other side, Wild Hunt frowned and gestured for Portil to come forward and ask.

"Who are you praying for? Don't tell me it's for this troll." Knowing it was wrong to interrupt the rites of death, Portil dragged out a priest and glared at him with the vertical pupils unique to dragons.

"Reporting to Lord Dragonguard, it is for the sake of Elder Galakrond who tragically perished." The priest, startled, stopped praying and hurriedly responded in a trembling voice.

“Those who conduct these kinds of experiments deserve to die.” Portil recalled his painful experience of having his dragon scales stripped and being planted with black ice, his face ashen: “How many beasts have escaped from here? Tell me, and I’ll go and kill them.”

"There was only one at first, but in the past few days, people have been going missing or being killed one after another. It doesn't feel like that beast could have done it alone..."