Facing the Void
Rebeca finished speaking and her head slumped down; even with the Life Force protecting her, her body inevitably began to decay. -Manga~'¨¯¨'·Dance~ ~Dance'¨¯¨'·~Manga-
Shetaka burst into tears without any attempt to hide it, muttering repeatedly:
Why did you leave Ixtal! Why...?
"I was the one who took her away. I accidentally wandered into Ixtal and asked Rebeca for help in eliminating the Vastaya, which she readily accepted."
I thought Shetaka would be furious when she heard what I said, but she ignored me completely and just kept crying while holding Rebeca's body.
Although the scene was somewhat tragic, it was a relatively good ending compared to the other casualties. Many people vanished without even having a chance to say goodbye.
When I returned to the Prexian camp, it was already dark, and the battle was temporarily over.
Of the people I knew, only a dozen or so survived, and Irelia, Wukong, and the Sword Saint were only resurrected thanks to the protection of the gods.
The Vastaya fared even worse, with only Aatrox surviving. Riven likely survived only because she was rescued by Gu Yang.
We have no time for sadness, for our Siblings are still fighting the void.
I don't know the situation in Icathia, but Freljord is in dire straits. Even Frosthold has fallen, and Void Creatures are spreading inland.
Apart from Jax and a few Yordle stationed at the position, all the other surviving warriors were seriously wounded and unable to participate in the next battle, so a few of us went to Freljord.
As the war has progressed to this point, there's only one thing I don't understand: Ryze orchestrated everything, so why hasn't he shown himself? What methods does he intend to use to reshape the world?
He didn't use teleportation magic to rescue the Vastaya as before, indicating that he had already discarded this pawn. Could it be that his entire plan revolved around the Void?
Perhaps only by meeting him will we know the answer.
For the rest of the night and most of the day, I helped repair the damaged fortifications.
In terms of construction, although Wind Element Strength is not as convenient to use as Earth Element or Rock Element, it can still play a significant role.
Irelia led the people in building a memorial wall inscribed with the names of the fallen, including Janna who had died earlier.
These people made indelible contributions to Ionia and should never be forgotten.
In the afternoon, Jax and I took the last remaining portal from Prexian to Avarosa, while the Piltover crew and several Yordle returned to Piltover to treat Camille and check on the situation in Shurima.
The Avarosa tribe is migrating south. When the War of the Union ended, Ashe tried everything to persuade them to leave, but to no avail. Now, under the threat of the Void, even the most stubborn people have left their homeland.
Following this route north, Jax and I arrived at the leftmost outpost guarded by Kayle, and learned a great deal about the Void from her.
Firstly, from a situational perspective, the invasion of the Void is unstoppable, but in reality, their power has reached its peak, and their numbers have not increased in recent days.
It seems that the power of the void is not limitless; they have already unleashed their full force. As long as these monsters are eliminated, the crisis can be resolved.
However, this is also the problem: even if the number of Void Creatures stops increasing, eliminating them will still be a very difficult task.
Furthermore, it's highly likely that there's a leader-like entity commanding them; otherwise, why would the Void Creatures be targeting Runeterra's lifeforms with such a unified purpose?
On the defensive front, Swain established a command center to relay information from various locations and coordinate operations.
He used magic to create a large number of Black Ravens, which were then deployed throughout the defensive line to keep watch. Whenever a monster was spotted, the nearest outpost would be notified to respond promptly.
Actually, the arrival of the ancient ice dragon and the ancient Earth Dragon had greatly relieved the pressure here, but the situation in Icathia was dire, and Garr and his companions alone were not enough to hold it off, so the two old dragons left and headed to Shurima.
Their departure led to the fall of Frosthold, and the vast city walls were occupied by Void Creatures, forcing the Freljord to migrate south.
The good news is that Ornn has finally been born. He only agreed to help under pressure from Volibear, on the condition that the People of Furnace Village not be involved, except for Huo Su and Jergente, who insisted on helping.
Before the two Ancient Dragon left, Ornn used the Forging Hammer to work with the Earth Dragon to build two defensive fortifications. The first was called "Heart of the Land" and the second was called "Victory Barrier," both comparable in size to the Howling Abyss.
These two great rifts were bottomless, drawing in scorching lava from below, and covered with a layer of smooth, solid ice by Anivia and the ice dragon to prevent monsters from easily climbing up.
Several iron chains connected the two sides of the crevice, like a bridge from hell. After the people from various tribes gradually withdrew, they destroyed the iron chain bridge and used it as the first line of defense.
Currently, the teams are centered around Kayle, Volibear, Ornn, Anivia, and Morgana from west to east, interspersed with teams led by Ashe, Jarvan, Sejuani, and Darius.
Overall, the situation is not good, but everyone's defense is orderly and has effectively blocked the invasion of the void. The next step is to find a way to kill them.
The Void Creatures come in various shapes and have different abilities; some are very strong offensively, some are strong defensively, some are good at crawling, and some are good at flying...
For example, the Void Burrower I encountered before was the kind with relatively strong defense, but most monsters are relatively soft and don't have such tough armor.
Of course, softness does not mean fragility. These monsters are incredibly resilient and extremely difficult to kill, often requiring complete destruction or attacks to penetrate their interior using magic, Natural Power, or other means.
On the bright side, Void Creatures are not very active during the day or night. They tend to attack at dusk and on cloudy days, and their activity decreases when they are far away from the Void Rift, possibly due to differences in their living environment.
Currently, apart from a few gods like Kayle, Morgana, and Ornn, the efficiency of others is relatively low, especially those skilled in Martial Arts like Fiora and Darius.
They are very strong in one-on-one combat, but they are powerless against hordes of monsters.
Just as Kayle and I were talking, a Black Ravens flew over, bringing news of the Void Creatures invasion from Swain.
Black Ravens blinked and vanished into a cloud of Black Mist, revealing a scene before us—the exact location of the Void Creatures invasion—the key passage where Ashe was.