Chapter 165
From those ridiculous horns and shell, you can tell... that it was Rhaast.
"Your end has come, Rhaast!" Aatrox stepped forward, each footprint he left in the snow sending shivers down the spine. "You have become one with that despicable mortal! You have betrayed the glory of the Ascended! Today, you will die together—!"
Thump--!
Aatrox only took one step on the ground, but his body shot out like a cannonball.
In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Rhaast.
He saw it clearly... He would never admit his mistake.
The inferior "kin" before them was Rhaast.
He held that ridiculous sickle in his hand, panting heavily, like an old farmer just returning from harvesting wheat in the fields. He still had some muscle, but he was already frail and weak.
Aatrox smiled dismissively and casually swung the Darkin Blade slung over his shoulder.
Rhaast also swung his scythe with all his might, and the violent collision of the two weapons in the air almost set everything around them ablaze.
Then, Rhaast was blasted hundreds of meters away.
Aatrox first burst into laughter, then suddenly stopped.
The abrupt end to the laughter suggested that he had realized something.
He rushed forward again and quickly lifted Rhaast up completely.
Yes... he'd found the problem... that part that felt off...
Where is that mortal? Where has he gone to hide?!
Aatrox keenly sensed that something was amiss with Rhaast.
Or rather... it's not that something's not quite right, it's that it's too right.
It's just right, purely so.
It is completely free of any other influence.
This clearly means that he did not share a body with that cunning mortal.
"Hehehe..." Rhaast laughed slyly, as if mocking the other party's ignorance.
Aatrox quickly calmed down as well.
"This trick again... Are you trying to ambush me with this kind of separation tactic once more?"
After a burst of disdainful laughter, Aatrox boldly extended his right arm, which was holding a sword.
It was covered with incredibly hard Darkin carapace—not just one layer, but several, even a dozen layers, so thick it looked like a large, round lump.
Perhaps Chen Ce, being a mere mortal, could manage to sever one layer of the Darkin's armor, but a dozen layers... let alone a mere mortal like him, even Rhaast's full-force attack wouldn't guarantee a breakthrough.
"Come! I'll let you kill me!!"
Aatrox held his right arm out to the side, seemingly ready to let that despicable mortal, who was hiding somewhere, launch a sneak attack at will.
However... he waited for a long time but Chen Ce did not voluntarily jump out and "walk into the trap".
Only Rhaast's mocking laughter continued.
"You despicable thing! What are you laughing at?!" Aatrox felt insulted and immediately slammed the other person to the ground.
Rhaast seized the opportunity to break free, leaping over a hundred meters away with that terrifying brute force—even though the price was that Aatrox had a piece of his carapace torn off.
He looked at his former comrade-in-arms and "commander" and said slowly in a sarcastic tone:
"You won't fall into the same pit twice, so why would we be stupid enough to dig two identical pits under your feet to deceive you... Hehehehe..."
Upon hearing this, Aatrox instantly realized that he had been tricked yet again.
"Cunning mortal! Damn Rhaast!!"
He roared and charged at his opponent, the speed at which his wings flapped was almost equivalent to teleportation to ordinary people.
In his rage, every sword strike he makes is a full-force attack.
Rhaast, having lost its perfect host and using only a pile of ordinary rotten flesh as its body, was simply unable to withstand such terrifying power and was sent flying hundreds of meters away in a single exchange.
It was like a cannonball hitting a distant hillside.
But his body, made of rotten flesh, was not as hard as a block of lead.
"Wow... that's really strong..."
Rhaast coughed up blood and even standing up was difficult for him.
Aatrox gave him no chance to catch his breath, teleporting up again and grabbing his vulnerable neck.
"Tell me... where is that despicable mortal?!"
"You really are impatient... Aatrox ..." Rhaast did not struggle, nor did he try to swing his giant scythe to ambush him at this moment—he knew that it would not be able to cause even the slightest damage to Aatrox.
"I'll tell you... I never intended to hide anything from you..."
"Then tell me!!" Aatrox exerted a little force, and his terrifying grip instantly crushed several pieces of the hard Darkin carapace.
"I will say...but that doesn't mean...say it now..." Rhaast's voice was deliberate and strained, sounding like he was dying.
But that's just how it appears.
Puff--!
The scythe flashed by, tracing a perfect arc in the air.
Blood splattered.
But Aatrox was completely unharmed.
The scythe severed... Rhaast's own neck.
He abandoned his fragile body and instead controlled the "headless corpse" to run in the other direction.
Before Aatrox could swing his sword again, he managed to touch the enormous chunks of meat scattered across Volibear.
Those bits of meat...
The incarnation of the Volibear; the body of a demigod.
No matter how decayed it may be, it is still hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of times better than the fragile body of an ordinary person.
The crimson light of blood magic shone forth, Rhaast successfully reforged an even more powerful body using Volibear's flesh.
He raised the giant scythe high above his head and expertly twirled it in a flourish.
This body is brimming with wild power!
"Come on, Aatrox! Didn't you say you wanted to fight me again? I'll grant your wish!"
"Kill me, and I'll tell you where that annoying mortal went!"
"Or... let me kill you!!"
"Aatrox--!!"
"Is this really okay?"
The vast, empty snowfield stretched as far as the eye could see, like entering a white ocean, with only Lissandra's cold questions echoing in the wilderness.
Four people. Their steps were quick and light.
"No problem, we have to trust Rhaast." Chen Ce said easily, but after a slight pause, he added in a somewhat embarrassed tone:
"At least he's tough; he won't die."
"Are you sure?" Lissandra recalled Aatrox's terrifying destructive power and still didn't believe that the strange scythe that could talk and forge its own flesh could survive—could it be as resilient as Volibear was as massive as a mountain?
"I'm sure... maybe I should tell you something in advance."
"What?"
"The Darkin are unkillable—they can only be defeated and sealed away, but never killed."
"Darkin? That scythe is also Darkin?"
"Yes, Rhaast is also Darkin ... I think I forgot to tell you that before," Chen Ce explained as he quickened his pace.
Lissandra remained silent for a moment.
"Is this Darkin family gathering...? I hope you won't tell me you're Darkin too."
"Then you can rest assured." Chen Ce shrugged and gripped the large "shield" in his hand tightly.
Yes, they left the Freljord Alliance camp after "borrowing" Braum's Shield, leaving Rhaast alone there to hold off Aatrox.
Because their speed is far inferior to Aatrox's.
It will take them some time to find help.
They need to find a powerful ally who can throw Aatrox into the abyss.
A top-tier expert who, with just a large spoon, dug out the Howling Abyss.
"If we fail, I may have to take some forceful measures." Lissandra looked at Chen Ce again with her eyes, which could not see anything—staring intently. If there were any eyes beneath her blindfold, they would certainly look very hostile.
"Don't keep trying to drag me in as bait... We're teammates now." Chen Ce said helplessly, "Saying hurtful things like that can affect the harmony within our team."
The other two girls nearby wanted to chime in, but they were already doing their best to catch up with Chen Ce and Lissandra, and had no energy left to speak.
They could only express their support for Chen Ce's remarks by nodding and glaring at Lissandra.
Lissandra also sensed the resentful and dissatisfied gaze, but she didn't care. "Perhaps you've misunderstood something, Chen Ce."
"Um?"
"I'm not going to throw you in, but... I'm going in myself."
"Ha?"
"You don't understand the environment beneath the abyss. Even if you go in, you'll quickly be caught and killed by the Icefield Demon. Most importantly, only I can unfreeze and refreeze the passage."
Lissandra shook her head with a complex expression, seemingly filled with guilt and pain, yet also with a sense of relief—but of course, not towards anyone present.
"I will personally drag the Icefield Demon into the abyss and seal him away forever. As for you— Chen Ce, I have only one request for you—"
"Stay with him, and with 'them'."
"Never let them see the light of day again."
After saying that, Lissandra waved her hand, and the snow stretching for thousands of meters in front of her instantly froze into an ice surface that could be used for gliding.
Of the people present, only she knew where the "helper" they were looking for was.
That's a secret... sealed away tens of thousands of years ago.
It was a secret about slaughter and fratricide.
It's related to Volibear. That raging giant bear killed countless people in battle, almost wiping out an entire [clan].
Not a "tribe" like the Avarosan Tribe or Winter's Claw Tribe, but... almost equivalent to a [race].
After that epic battle, Volibear became what he is now—distorted, deformed, with half his face missing flesh, and he became even more brutal and insane.
And it was its brother who beat it into this state.
My brother, to whom blood is thicker than water.
Another demigod from Freljord...
Ornn, the god of magma and forging.
"I don't think we can get his help." Lissandra's tone held a hint of disappointment—but also a sense of relief. "Prepare to execute another plan, outsider."
In response to these remarks, Chen Ce simply smiled calmly.
Then he threw the large shield he was holding onto the ice and used it as a skateboard—carrying two other panting girls with him.
"Let me tell you a secret, Lissandra ... actually, this shield is a door."
Chapter 42 Ornn the Sheep!
There are many different rumors and stories circulating about the past of Ornn, the god of forging.
Some say it was critically wounded and dying in that epic battle, and then chose to hide in a secluded mountain to live out its remaining days—this rumor sounds a bit far-fetched, but it is a rumor with "some basis".