Before Zilean could cast his spell, Li Lin quickly asked about the locations of the other shards of the World Runes, including those from the Inspiration and other classes.
In the original timeline, Ryze had collected most of the shards from Precision, Domination, Sorcery, and Resolve, but had not yet found any from Inspiration.
If Zilean knew, it would save them some effort.
However, as he had mentioned before, and as the ancient texts recorded, the discrepancies between timelines could lead to drastically different outcomes, and the positions of the World Runes were no exception.
Zilean only shared the locations of the World Runes that were closest to the present time, based on the parallel timelines he had observed.
Upon learning that one shard from Inspiration was located along the Path of Inspiration in Ionia, Li Lin quickly noted the general area.
The next moment, as the world before him flickered back into illusion, he had no time to even bid Zilean farewell. In the blink of an eye, he found himself back in the same corridor he had entered.
For a brief moment, he froze, then glanced at the time, realizing that while his consciousness had been pulled into the time rift by Zilean, no time had passed in the outside world.
Kassadin noticed Li Lin's strange behavior and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing," Li Lin replied.
He looked down at his left wrist, where the watch that had transformed through "Perfect Timing" was still in place.
The shard of Inspiration wouldn't be affected by time, allowing it to traverse the gap between different temporal realities.
After a brief pause, Li Lin turned to Kassadin and said, "I've obtained what I needed. We can leave now and continue tracking Malzahar's followers."
Despite his lingering confusion, Kassadin didn't press further and followed Li Lin as they retraced their steps.
However, just as they entered the tower's grand hall, the AI issued a sudden warning:
[Strong void energy detected!]
Before the words even finished, the ground trembled beneath them, and purple malevolent light illuminated the area outside the tower, with the energy levels steadily rising.
Using the anti-gravity stabilizer, Li Lin and Kassadin quickly floated toward the breach to look outside.
They saw the earth hundreds of meters away crack open, revealing several massive, wriggling tentacles, each dozens of meters long and several meters thick, emerging from the gap and effortlessly flattening towering structures.
The AI soon delivered another report that caused a heavy feeling to settle in their chests:
[The scale of the void energy detected is close to that of the celestial warrior Nasus.]
"Comparable to the Grand Scholar?!" Kassadin exclaimed in shock.
"An Ascendant-level being..." Li Lin furrowed his brow. "If we were outside of Icathia, I could easily take care of these creatures, but here, it might attract more of them."
"You can defeat an Ascendant?" Kassadin, already astonished, raised his voice even higher.
[The master technically single-handedly defeated Xerath.]
The AI's tone was somewhat smug, leaving Kassadin speechless.
Xerath—he was an Ascendant who even Nasus and Renekton together struggled to contend with.
"Don't listen to the AI nonsense," Li Lin muttered. "I had help from the God-Emperor, the Grand Scholar, and the Lava Beast back then... It's not relevant now."
Li Lin's brow furrowed deeply. When they had first arrived, they hadn't detected such a strong void presence nearby. Now, these tentacles had suddenly appeared. Could it be that the void cultists had made a sacrifice and awakened them?
Suddenly, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of several figures in the distance.
He quickly zoomed in with his battle suit's visor and noticed that some people, dressed as cultists, were leaping into the rift near the abyssal tentacles.
The presence of these void cultists meant that Malzahar was definitely hiding nearby!
In the next instant, more tentacles emerged from the glowing purple crack in the earth, each impaling the corpses of the cultists that had just jumped in.
As the tentacles pulsed with energy, the bodies quickly turned to ash, being absorbed by the rift.
The more Li Lin watched these tentacles, the more familiar they seemed. He immediately activated "Data Mind" and was stunned to realize that these tentacles were being controlled by the Void Eye, a being of the same race as Vel'Koz.
The Void Eyes were the first batch of semi-intelligent creations spawned by the Void. They absorbed knowledge by dissecting their prey's minds, understanding the material plane, and transmitting this information to the will of the Void—Void Overseers.
Normally, Void Eyes weren't very powerful except for the oldest one, Vel'Koz, as they were mainly knowledge-bearers for the Void.
Even Ryze had slain a Void Eye in the frigid undergrounds of Freljord that had been eyeing the Rune of Domination.
The AI's earlier mention of a force on par with a celestial warrior was likely due to the presence of multiple Void Eyes, not just one.
"Should we teleport away, Li Lin?" Kassadin asked, peering through the window at the numerous wriggling tentacles now fully visible, his concern clear. "Malzahar is hiding here, and we have no way to deal with them."
"We're fine for now. The Void creatures can't detect us," Li Lin replied, calmly observing the tentacles. "They won't be going anywhere anytime soon. This is our chance."
Kassadin was stunned. "Wait... you mean..."
"This is experience. Of course, I'm going to take them out!" Li Lin's eyes grew colder. "Starfall Satellite, prepare to fire the Orbital gigaton cannon."
[Understood.]
[Starfall Satellite · Starfall Orbital Adjustment, Charging in Progress. Countdown: 10 minutes.]
"We'll wait for ten more minutes, then we'll break out and track Malzahar," Li Lin added.
Kassadin was confused.
He hadn't seen Li Lin in so long, he wasn't aware of how far his technology had advanced. Besides Caitlyn, no one else knew the full extent of it.
While waiting, Li Lin instructed the AI to deploy the Titan Beast and five War Lords to the western sea region of Icathia, Conqueror's Sea.
If the orbital gigaton-level cannon didn't hit Malzahar, he was prepared to have the War Lords carry out a kinetic bombardment to clear the area.
The gigaton cannon was responsible for large-scale strikes, while the quantum explosive bombs were designed to precisely target life signs.
He didn't believe that this "Void Prophet" could evade all of the long-range firepower.
If worse came to worst, he could always drop the remaining nuclear fusion missile from the Starfall, as the tower of Zilean wouldn't be affected by external factors, nor would anyone inside. There was no need to worry.
As time ticked away, several thick tentacles withdrew into the ground. Then, two Void Eyes emerged from the abyss.
Their vertical pupils were nearly the size of their entire bodies, surrounded by soft, pale fibers. Three tentacles connected to their bodies, constantly swinging in the air.
Upon contact with the air, these soft, pale fibers quickly hardened into an almost indestructible chitinous shell that was nearly impervious to any ordinary tools.
With vertical pupils tens of meters wide, the Void Eyes released a purplish-red electrical aura. Above them, three energy orbs concentrated a soul-corrupting energy that could captivate the mind.
Anyone who gazed into these eyes would be consumed by the Void, losing themselves and begging to offer everything to the Great Nothingness.
Before long, four more Void Eyes flew up from the ground.
Their gazes met, and they communicated with an eerie energy wave, never needing human "unnecessary" language.
Li Lin's expression grew grave, and he had a rough guess about Malzahar's scheme. It seemed he intended to use these six Void Eyes to devour the cities at the southern edge of Shurima.
Kassadin also noticed the abnormality. "If you have any hidden cards, now is the time to play them. We absolutely can't let them leave Icathia!"
"Don't rush," Li Lin replied, his eyes fixed on the holographic screen, where a countdown showed only thirty seconds remaining. The Void Eyes seemed to be preparing to scatter.
There was no more time.
"Kassadin, stay here and don't go out. I'll go and draw their attention."
"No!" Kassadin's tone was firm, "That's almost like going to your death. I can't let you do it!"
"Don't you trust me?" Li Lin shook his head and chuckled, "When have I ever done something without being sure?"
[Mr. Kassadin, you can absolutely trust the master.]
Even the AI offered its encouragement.
If Xerath's words were true, then the looming Void monsters might not pose a significant threat to him.
However…
Kassadin hesitated. "But if something happens to you, what about Kai'Sa and Miss Kiramman…"
"You're such a pessimist, can't you wish me some good luck?" Li Lin laughed, scolding lightly but lightening the heavy atmosphere.
Seeing the Void Eyes flying farther away, Li Lin ignored Kassadin. "AI, make sure he doesn't follow me."
He gave the AI an order, then quickly moved to the door, opening a crack to slip out, closing it immediately behind him.
As if sensing the energy of the nanomolecular core and the presence of the living, the six Void Eyes, which were almost out of range, suddenly stopped. Their enormous eyes turned in unison, focusing on Li Lin, who was now soaring into the sky.
The closest Void Eye emitted a strange, shrill sound that easily disturbed the minds of living beings. But Li Lin, protected by a ten-minute charge of the Banshee Veil and anti-demon devices, wasn't affected by this mental assault.
"Big eyes, all eyes on me!" Li Lin shouted through an amplifier, drawing the attention of the remaining five Void Eyes, whose curiosity flared up.
They twisted their massive eyeballs, the tentacles stretching tens of meters long, before swiftly returning.
"High-level knowledge…" the Void Eye that had emitted the mental disturbance spoke, its voice deep and thunderous, "Deconstruct, acquire!"
In the next moment, its three tentacles supported its fixed position, directing three energy spheres on its vertical pupil and its enormous eyeball toward Li Lin. A Void energy beam capable of disintegrating matter shot out.
"Damn, another one who uses big moves on the first encounter!" Li Lin muttered, unhurriedly activating his force field shield. The nearly transparent membrane dispersed the disintegration beams, leaving him unharmed.
While the shield held, he didn't need to worry about his armor being corrupted by Void energy.
At that moment, as the AI's countdown hit zero, a specially designed gigaton-level shell plummeted from outer space, arriving in the area within moments.
The Void Eyes widened their vertical pupils and looked skyward, only to see a dazzling white light flood the entire area.
[You have killed 6 Void Eyes!]
(End of Chapter)
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