Hecarim

I took out the map and looked at it. Hecarim is located in the southern Shadow Isles, almost at the same longitude as Yorick, separated from us by a river. ✊🍟 ✌♧

Varus took us there again, but this time it wasn't so smooth. Halfway there, we suddenly started to plummet!

Not only Varus, Nasus and the others were also unable to float due to their Ascended Power, and even my Wind Riding Technique failed!

We landed quickly, and then I realized that I was standing on a river, the one marked on the map.

With a few "plop" sounds, we all fell into the river. Except for me, the others kept falling.

I quickly swam over and took their hands. I stopped falling only after I had gathered everyone together, and everyone was surrounded by the glow of Life Rune.

So we held hands and swam forward together. After quite a while, we finally reached the shore. Djis was panting heavily, not knowing what had happened.

"What's going on? Why are we keeping sinking? The river is so clear, we can't see anything down there!"

Renekton was even more surprised. "Don't even mention it! I just transformed into my ascending form, and even though I'm a Renekton, I almost drowned!"

Varus seemed to have some clue. "I experienced something similar in Freljord, but I was closer to the shore then and struggled to climb ashore."

Nasus gazed silently at the river, seemingly searching his mind for relevant information, while Oken stared intently at us, waiting for an answer.

Finally, I told everyone the answer: this river has no buoyancy!

I once encountered a river like this— the Laos River —when Riven and I traveled to the far north.

I almost drowned back then, but luckily I met Ryze, and I barely made it back thanks to Lissandra's True Ice.

The Laos River is as crystal clear as this river itself, with no discernible depth, and capable of submerging everything, including the Wind Force!

If it weren't for the power of the Life Rune saved us, we would probably have been disintegrated!

I don't know what the connection is between these two rivers, but now it seems they're both related to the Death Rune!

After crossing the river, we officially entered Hecarim's territory, as the other side of the riverbank was an area shrouded in Black Mist.

There were no signs of the dead near the riverbank, suggesting they too feared the river's downward force.

We've made it through, but what about the second and third teams? The second team is small, so it's manageable, but I can't possibly bring everyone over myself, can I?

I shared my concerns with everyone, Nasus came up with a plan: go to the river mouth and check; if there's nothing unusual at the estuary, have everyone take a boat around to get there!

So we didn't rush to challenge Hecarim, but headed south along the riverbank. However, before we even reached the river mouth, we discovered that the river was flowing underground. How mysterious!

This is much better. Once the second and third teams arrive, we can just go around them. Of course, we need to go and deliver a message. Varus is the fastest runner, so he went straight there.

After being delayed for two more days, we finally headed to Hecarim's lair—Maple Leaf Plains—at noon on the third day.

Looking at the map, Maple Leaf Plains resembles a maple leaf in appearance—beautiful, yet inhabited by a demon.

The undead here are different from those we encountered before; they all look like soldiers. They might be the Rebel Army Hecarim used to lead, and now as undead, they are still his subordinates.

The most obvious difference between undead soldiers and other undead is their organized structure. They never attack recklessly, but instead form phalanxes under the command of a leader, cooperating with each other.

The Ascended were all generals who led armies into battle, especially Renekton, who rarely showed a hint of appreciation when facing the orderly undead:

"These guys even know how to rank troops and deploy formations! It's a Shurima soldiers aren't here, otherwise we could have a good fight with them!"

"Don't be silly, just destroy them!" Nasus didn't have that kind of sentiment.

We charged into the enemy ranks and fought fiercely, quickly annihilating one of their units. After eliminating three infantry units in succession, a cavalry unit appeared.

These cavalrymen were all dressed as Hecarim, the soldiers and horses becoming one, making them incredibly powerful!

The biggest difference between organized soldiers and lone foes is the strength of their cooperation. Killing a hundred lone foes may be easy, but killing a hundred soldiers is much more difficult. The same principle applies to undead.

We couldn't keep charging in haphazardly, so Renekton and the others continued to face the enemy head-on, while Varus and I flew into the sky to find key points in the formation and eliminate them one by one, which saved a lot of effort.

Finally, after eliminating four waves of cavalry, we encountered a group of powerful undead, led by Hecarim!

"Life is a burden to you. I will grant you your freedom. Witness the Shadow Isles Power!"

After Hecarim finished speaking, he led his soldiers to charge forward. The terrain here was flat, so we had nothing to worry about. We unleashed our respective powers and charged in!

Once we actually engaged in combat, I discovered that neither Hecarim nor his men possessed any special abilities. After a chaotic battle, we almost wiped them all out!

Not long after, only Hecarim remained on the opposite side. He did not flee; his forehooves kept scratching the ground, ready to charge again at any moment.

"Leave it to me! Let me pierce his heart!"

Djis shouted and charged forward, his spear flashing up and down, quickly forcing Hecarim to the brink of defeat. After dodging one of Hecarim's slashes, Djis's heart!

Hecarim's massive body crashed to the ground and quickly dissipated into mist, at which point the surrounding aura of death and Black Mist also vanished.

Is that all he's capable of with such a powerful aura? I find it hard to believe, Varus shares the same thought:

"Is it over? Why does it feel so easy?"

"I think so, since the aura of death has definitely disappeared, that much is true."

When we returned to the ground, several Ascended looked equally astonished; clearly, everyone thought the victory had been too easy.

The most dangerous part of the journey to challenge Hecarim is the river that can drown everything. Could that be his trump card?

Anyway, since there was nothing unusual around us, we had nothing to worry about, so we decided to keep going!

They hadn't gone far after jumping onto Varus's back when he realized something was wrong. "This must be our first time here, right?"

"Yes, of course it's the first time. Why do you say that?"

Why are there several trees ahead? Who planted them here?

Our eyesight wasn't as good as Varus's, so we had to descend to see. Soon I also discovered that there were indeed several lush green saplings on the high ground ahead!