The banquet officially began, and people wearing cloaks and masks of various shapes and sizes were moving around in several halls. Li Ke and his entourage were among them.
Led by Li Ke, the group arrived at the concert hall.
Although Boli said the ballroom was the hottest venue at the masquerade banquet, how could Li Ke not go and see the excitement?
Li Ke came to Noxus to cultivate a good relationship with Swain. If possible, Li Ke hoped that the Twin Cities could exchange for the forging technology of rune steel with Noxus, thereby allowing the technological level of the two cities to advance to the next level.
There are already examples of the combination of magic and technology, such as Hextech magic. So, Noxus's proud rune technology might also be useful. Even if rune steel can't be used, the Noxians' accumulated experience in using runes will definitely be useful to the scientists of the Twin Cities.
Because the essence of Hextech Gem is to have runes engraved inside, thereby drawing upon the magical energy of Runeterra.
It shares similarities with the Rune Code.
Another point is that Li Ke wants to talk to Swain. Li Ke hopes to cooperate with Swain to stop LeBlanc's plan.
Azir and Xerath are both formidable enemies for the Twin Cities right now, but if they can hold out for a few more years, Li Ke might be able to deal with Azir Xerath. Moreover, Heimerdinger's Hextech T-Hex is showing promise. By then, the thing the Professor X creates might become the Twin Cities' secret weapon.
"I saw Boli, he's over there." Mel approached Li Ke and whispered behind Li Ke on tiptoe.
Following Mel's suggestion, Li Ke saw Boli sitting in a corner of the concert hall, hidden by a beaded curtain. He was sitting casually on a sofa, and behind the sofa stood a group of masked servants. Only a little bit of the servants' faces were visible, their bodies hidden in shadow. Rows of silver-white masks appeared behind Boli, making the scene look somewhat eerie.
The woman who had previously struck Li Ke as odd was also among them, standing third from the left behind Boli.
"Should we go over there?" Mel asked next.
After she finished speaking, she frowned. After hearing Li Ke's guess from Silco, Mel's first reaction was not surprise, but rather, "I knew it."
No sooner Swain the Black Rose hosted a banquet, inviting only lower and middle-ranking nobles as well as people from outside Noxus. The rivalry between the Black Rose and Swain, if possible, was one that Mel hoped wouldn't affect the Noxians.
She now recognizes her place; she is Medarda Mel of Piltover, not Mel of Noxus. However, despite her kind heart, she also harbors deep feelings for Noxus.
This is, after all, her hometown, and she naturally doesn't want Noxus to become even more chaotic.
"No need, it's the same from here. If you get too close, you might get caught in the crossfire," Li Ke smiled and replied to Mel.
Beside Li Ke, Jinx's body trembled slightly. Although Li Ke was holding her hand, she still swayed her body restlessly to the music in the concert hall. Her chin was raised, her free hand under her cape was on her hip, the corners of her mouth under the butterfly mask were upturned, and her eyes were bright.
Noxus music is always exciting and passionate.
Therefore, even in "high-society" occasions like banquets, various war drum sounds were used as background music, making it difficult for people not to sway their bodies to the music.
Li Ke looked around, and then he found his target.
He found Katarina, who was wearing a blue cloak. She stood behind Boli's curtain, her hands hidden in the cloak, swaying and spinning in circles. Katarina blended well into the crowd and appeared inconspicuous.
Swaying her body, Katarina gradually entered the beaded curtain. This action did not attract the attention of others. The guests inside the curtain went about their own business, while Katarina got closer and closer to Boli.
Silco and Mel were watching, but Jayce and Jinx weren't; those two were genuinely enjoying the dinner party, truly just eating, drinking, and having fun.
Li Ke's eyesight was far superior to that of ordinary people. When he saw Katarina's swaying body suddenly stop and she was still several meters away from Boli, Li Ke narrowed his eyes.
Sure enough, in the next instant, Katarina's tense body suddenly sprang into action. She leaped forward with the agility of a cat, her body twisting and knocking aside someone in front of her. Her right hand, which had been hidden under her cloak, suddenly shot out, a flash of silver light appearing as Katarina swung her short-bladed scimitar toward Boli's throat.
"It really is just like you said." Silco had been watching the whole time. Unlike the others behind the curtain who were unaware of what was happening, Silco's lips twitched as soon as he finished speaking.
Because the assassin failed.
Behind Marquis Boli, a dark red arthropod shot out, blocking the assassin's attack. At the same time, a seductive body "emerged" from behind the sofa where Boli was sitting. Long, slender legs twisted and stretched from her chin to the light, pressing against her chin with a contorted motion. She wore a black off-the-shoulder dress, her skin was snow-white, and her hands were covered with long black gloves that gradually turned dark red at the fingers.
She wore a red mask, a beautiful gold ring around her neck, and earrings in both ears. She stood in front of Boli, and the several "arms" behind her retracted and wrapped around her back and abdomen.
"."
Silco was astonished by the scene; Li Ke was right after all, the woman was not human.
Is this woman like a spider?
Jinx and Jayce turned around, the two of them completely unaware of what was happening, and were staring at Boli's direction with a lot of chatter.
The guests inside the curtain also fled quickly after Katarina's assassination attempt failed, but behind Boli, the group of servants remained standing silently in a row.
Li Ke looked at the woman with great interest, and a name came to mind.
Yes, Katarina is Swain's subordinate, and this one is LeBlanc's subordinate; her name is Elise.
Elise, the Spider Queen.
However, does this timeline match up?
Has Elise already gained the power of the Vilemaw?
Li Ke stroked his chin, looking ahead as he began to think.
Inside the curtain--
Katarina cloak was knocked off and revealed her true face, was clearly frightened by Elise's appearance. However, she quickly reacted and began fighting Elise inside the curtain.
She wore a mask similar to Li Ke's, covering the upper left half of her face. Her right eye glanced at Boli's position, and Katarina's body simultaneously leaned back quickly. She dodged a spider leg that was aimed at her face, and as she stood up, she charged towards Elise with her runic dagger, forcing her against the white pillar.
The blade plunged forward, but Elise merely tilted her head slightly, elegantly raising her chin, the short blade resting against her upper side.
Katarina reacted, swinging her arm and dragging the short blade, preparing to cut Elise's neck, but the two spider legs blocked the blade.
Beneath Elise's red mask, a pair of red eyes coldly stared at Katarina. Suddenly, her mask moved, and several small gray spiders crawled out from under and behind Elise's mask, then pounced on Katarina.
With a flick of her short blade, she swatted away the swarming spiders. Katarina, her long legs clad in low-heeled boots beneath her long dress, slammed into the ground, sending her flying backward. She spun around, shaking off the spiders, and then glanced at Boli's location.
The next instant, Elise, standing in front of her, raised her hands, and countless spider silks, guided by Elise fingers, flew towards Katarina.
"!"
With her short blade slicing through the spider silk, Katarina moved nimbly across the field as she faced Elise's attack, her short blade flying out of her hand. But Elise's movements were no slower than Katarina's.
Several spider legs pierced the ground behind her. Her body was more agile than Katarina's. With the help of the spider legs, Elise dodged Katarina's throwing knives with more flexible and twisting movements.
At the same time, she pulled on the spider silk to close the distance with Katarina, and the little spiders on both sides also swooped towards Katarina.
The two spider legs on her back joined together and stabbed at Katarina. Katarina planted a knife in the red cloth on the ground, and at the same time, she reached out and pressed her hand on Elise's shoulder. Then, using the momentum, she appeared upside down behind Elise in mid-air.
Elise whirled around, a hunter's joy Flash in her crimson eyes beneath her mask. She lunged at Katarina, who was frozen in mid-air, her hand already reaching for Katarina's face.
"Oh."
With a sneer escaping her throat, Katarina vanished from Elise's sight. Shifting through space, she reappeared behind Elise, gripping a short sword. Her body was upside down, her shapely legs parting and dancing in the air. She pulled the short blade from the ground, spun around several times, and Katarina's tied-up red hair looked incredibly beautiful under the lights.
A glint of light flashed in her eyes. She stood up, moved to the side, raised her hands, and slashed the double blades sharply at the spot beside her.
"Sizzle--"
Blood gushed out, and Boli, who was standing to the side, clutched his throat with a look of confusion in his eyes before collapsing heavily forward.
The moment Boli fell, a piercing scream rang out.
"Everyone, stand back a little."
Li Ke raised his hand to protect Silco and Jinx beside him, using the wind to resist the countless spider webs that suddenly appeared.
"Spider, spider, what a huge spider!"
Behind Li Ke, Jinx clung to Li Ke's outstretched hands, looking up excitedly at the ceiling.
The ceiling was now covered in spiderwebs, and a gigantic, terrifying spider lay on it, its eyes fixed on Katarina with cruelty and malice.
Katarina successfully carried out the assassination. As she turned around, she saw the giant spider on the ceiling. A faint smile appeared on her beautiful face as she swung her blade and stared at the spider with utter calm.
The assassination was successful; all she needed to do now was return to report. The battle with the spider was simply not on her radar.
Didn't you see that when she was fighting her opponent, she was constantly paying attention to the target's location?
That's why Katarina lured Elise into her trap, using her abilities to turn the tables and assassinate Boli when Elise wasn't paying attention.
"Well then, see you next time~" With that, Katarina flashed and ran towards the outside of the curtain.
When she saw a group of people still standing there with their heads tilted, her eyes flickered. She hadn't expected that besides those "attendants," there would actually be other people remaining at the banquet.
But she didn't intend to investigate further; after all, escaping was the most important thing right now.
But just as he was about to reach the group, the young man with black hair, who was wearing the same mask as him, pointed behind him.
Are you sure you assassinated the real Marquis Boli?
"?"
Katarina stopped running and looked at the black-haired youth in front of her.
"You killed the wrong person. That person wasn't the real Marquis Boli; he was just an imposter."
"The target you're looking to kill is over there." Li Ke pointed to the chubby figure among the servants.
As Li Ke pointed his finger at him, a flicker of panic crossed Srilan's eyes.
Meanwhile, the giant spider that was howling above but hadn't followed Katarina out also looked at Li Ke, its eyes flashing with anger.
"Who are you?" the giant spider asked in human language.
Katarina reacted instantly.
Yeah, the person this guy was protecting was killed by him, but she didn't chase after him, she just kept screaming!
After being reminded by Li Ke, Katarina also saw Srilan hiding in the servants' quarters.
She narrowed her eyes and turned to look at Li Ke. Black hair, black eyes—she recognized him from information she had seen in Swain.
So Katarina tentatively asked, "Zu'an Rick?"
"Um."
"This doesn't seem to have anything to do with you, does it?" Katarina took a deep breath and asked curiously.
She wasn't thinking of running away right now. Although Katarina didn't think she could defeat the spider monster, since the giant spider's target was clearly not her, Katarina chose to stay.
Perhaps she can use Li Ke to kill the real Boli.
After hearing Katarina's words, the giant spider fell down, transformed into human form, and appeared in front of Srilan, still with several spider legs on its back.
Elise stood with one hand on her hip, her fair and exquisitely beautiful face, barely the size of a palm, expressionless, and coldly said, "Congressman Li Ke, have you forgotten who invited you to Noxus?"
"I think I would be more happy working with Swain than with Black Rose," Li Ke said, smiling as he stepped forward and looked at Elise.
"Aren't you overreaching? This isn't Zaun," Elise said coldly, without moving forward.
There are already many legends about Li Ke in Valoran; this Zaunite is very powerful!
"My arm can reach even further, want to try?"
Li Ke raised his hand, and visible wind swirled around it, forming a wind sword. He calmly looked at Elise and said, "Or, you could have LeBlanc come out and talk to me; maybe I'll change my mind."
"Elise, you are nothing but a slave of that Vilemaw; you are not worthy to speak to me."
"!!!"
Elise's usually cool expression changed, and she looked at Li Ke in horror.