In the League, but with the Taiwan Server System

The crossbowmen above The Rift had nearly all been killed. Only a few remained, hiding somewhere unknown.

Yet the unease in his heart had not eased in the slightest.

Instead, it grew ever more intense.

Because he knew the focus of this battle was never about whether Irelia or Riven was stronger, but rather...

Everyone here was going to die.

Whether Ionia's Resistance Army or this Noxian Legion, they would all die here without distinction.

All because of those inconspicuous carriages.

Inside them was a terrifying chemical weapon...

Yes, everyone had been deceived—both Irelia and Riven.

The intelligence Irelia had intercepted was likely deliberately leaked by Noxus. Their purpose was to make Irelia organize a Resistance Army warband in advance to intercept this "Secret Squad," then use the lives of the resistance fighters to test this new chemical weapon.

The absurd part was that Irelia had thought she had intercepted Noxus's secret intelligence, only to personally enter the battle in the end... That might have been beyond even the Noxians' expectations.

Riven had been deceived as well—she only thought her mission was to escort a warband through Navori Province. In truth, those Noxian higher-ups intended to sacrifice her, using the lives of her unit to test the chemical weapon—having them perish together with the Ionia Resistance Army.

And neither of them knew it.

Only Chen Ce, as a transmigrator, knew—at the instant he saw that Riven's sword was still intact, he understood everything.

According to the original timeline, Irelia had sent an entire warband to intercept Riven's unit. With superior numbers and greater strength, the resistance fighters quickly drove the Noxian warband into a desperate situation.

Left with no choice, Riven had sought help from her superior—the warband leader, Emystan. But the only reply she received was a flaming arrow.

The flames on the arrow ignited the carriages, as well as the two-handled clay jars inside... Chemical fire burst from the shattered jars, and screams filled the night sky. Ionians and Noxians alike died amid bloody agony.

And the one who fired that arrow was precisely the Noxian crossbowman currently hiding above The Rift.

Chen Ce knew all this, so he spared no effort in killing those hiding crossbowmen, hoping to stop this tragedy from happening.

But to his despair, he discovered that he could not find the remaining crossbowmen no matter what. They understood their mission well. They had hidden themselves, with no intention of fighting him to the death.

Then he looked toward Irelia... She had already been tangled up with Riven, unable to break free or retreat directly.

At that moment, the unease in Chen Ce's heart reached its peak. The two-handled clay jars in the carriages seemed to have already released waves of pungent fumes.

He did not know whether the Noxians would still detonate the chemical weapon here—after all, the ones intercepting them now were not an entire Resistance Army warband, but merely two insignificant warriors.

But he still did not dare gamble.

Emystan's original intent in detonating the chemical weapon was never to use it to kill resistance fighters... This was merely an experiment, a cruel and inhumane experiment with a new chemical weapon.

To that deranged leader, testing it on his own people was not much different from testing it on enemies... He had already grown impatient.

No... He could not gamble...

At the very least...

At the very least, he had to save Irelia...

"Damn it...!"

Chen Ce grabbed his spear and charged down The Rift, its sharp tip aimed directly at the imposing Noxian female soldier—Riven.

Clang—!

Doran's Spear struck the side of the Runic Blade, precisely altering the greatsword's descending path.

Before the ambushed Riven could react, the spear thrust at her face again.

Irelia's blade fragments attacked at the same time.

At that critical moment, she did not dare attack recklessly again. She could only rely on the rune energy within her greatsword to protect herself.

The strike worked, but Chen Ce did not linger in battle. He hurriedly grabbed Irelia's hand and ran in the opposite direction. "This is a conspiracy...! Retreat first!"

Still unaware of the truth, Irelia was utterly confused, but she did not shake off his hand—she trusted Chen Ce.

The two ran toward the other end of The Rift.

But just as they were about to rush out of The Rift and enter the forest, another Noxian unit blocked their path.

Yes, from the other end of The Rift.

This was clearly not the warband traveling with Riven.

"Since you came, don't leave." A woman in a black military uniform, carrying herself like a noble, stepped forward above The Rift. "Hmm... I recognize your blade fragments, and that Blade Mastery worthy of a miracle... Irelia, correct?"

Irelia looked back at the woman without saying a word.

"To be honest, I originally only intended to use one of your resistance warbands as a test target, but I did not expect you to come." The noblewoman—Emystan, the highest commander of the "Secret Squad"—continued:

"But... this is even better. After all, your life is worth far more than an entire warband."

"No matter how valuable something is, it is worthless if you cannot obtain it." Irelia spread out her blade fragments once more. "Like nature's hidden treasures, like every inch of Ionia's land... No matter how valuable something unrelated to you may be, it is not worth as much as a single copper coin in your pocket."

"You think I cannot kill you?"

"You can try."

"Hehe, interesting..." Emystan let out an eerie laugh, then turned to look at the approaching Riven. "Riven, come up. We no longer need you."

"What?" Riven was first stunned, then displeased. "With all due respect, Lady Emystan—aside from me, no one here can deal with them."

"Hmm... You do have a point." Emystan nodded, though her eyes revealed deep disdain and mockery.

She had already given her one chance.

Some people simply did not value their lives.

Fine. The fewer people who knew about this, the better.

"Then very well, Riven." She smiled. "Fight them at the front. We will support you from behind."

"As it should be." Riven charged forward excitedly.

But this time, Chen Ce did not meet this female warrior, who had yet to "wake up," with his spear.

He turned and embraced Irelia—he had seen Emystan's slight downward hand gesture.

Caught in the sudden embrace, Irelia was shocked and confused, instinctively trying to push Chen Ce away.

But Chen Ce held her tightly.

"Don't move. Trust me..."

The instant his words fell, a flaming arrow shot toward the carriage behind Riven.

The carriage began to burn, while Emystan above The Rift left without even looking back.

The next moment, an extremely pungent smell spread through The Rift...

This Was the Taiwan Server Chest

Riven did not understand why that flaming arrow had been fired at the carriage, nor did she understand why General Emystan had suddenly left.

But she still felt a strange sense of unease.

She recalled that the soldiers in the warband had looked somewhat off on their journey here... She could not tell what had caused it; she only felt uneasy.

She was deeply puzzled.

Until she smelled that pungent odor—coming from the carriage.

More precisely, it came from those two-handled clay jars inside the carriage—the "new weapons" Emystan had mentioned.

She saw that Ionia warrior holding Irelia... Suddenly, she had a terrible premonition.

And in the next moment, that premonition came true.

Boom—!

A violent explosion rang out, and chemical fire mixed with a pungent odor burst from the shattered clay jars.

Riven instinctively drew her greatsword, but it was already too late. The only person she could protect was herself.

The magic on the greatsword shielded her from the scorching toxic mist, but it could not stop death from spreading—she watched helplessly as her companions collapsed one after another, howling in searing agony.

She too was thrown away by the terrifying shockwave, the back of her head slamming heavily into the sharp rocks at the edge of The Rift. Her vision instantly blurred.

In the final moment before she lost consciousness, she saw only that Ionia resistance fighter—that young man around her own age—still holding Irelia tightly.

Perhaps his will had already surpassed his fear of death...

Intense pain scorched his back.

A lethal presence lingered around him, like the open arms of the goddess of death.

For a time, Chen Ce felt that he was going to die.

Fortunately, the magical shield Karma had placed on him blocked most of the damage—he had relied on that same shield above The Rift just now to ignore the crossbowmen's attacks and kill more than a dozen of them in a short time.

But... A magical shield could not absorb damage indefinitely.

It was rapidly falling apart.

The chemical fire had begun seeping through its fractured cracks.

Indescribable agony... Pustules, blisters, decay, festering flesh, foul stench...

Chen Ce was nearly unconscious.

But he could not fall.

Because Irelia beneath him did not have a magical shield as sturdy as his. Once the poisonous gas touched her, she would quickly be unable to hold on—just like those unfortunate Noxian soldiers.

"Chen Ce...!" Protected beneath him, Irelia finally realized the severity of the situation. Even her voice began to tremble. "Run... You have the protection of the Spirit of Ionia... You can escape...! Don't...!"

"Wouldn't that make me a deserter..." Chen Ce forced a smile, several drops of dark blood sliding down from the corner of his mouth.

"Don't do this for me..." Irelia's pretty face turned deathly pale, though not because she had been injured. "Don't worry about me... Run... Run...!"

"It is... too late..."

The magical shield was almost completely shattered.

In an instant, the terrifying chemical fire engulfed Chen Ce's entire body, sealing every pore shut.

He began using [Meditation].

The ethereal emptiness of the "Spirit Realm" made him forget the pain in his body.

However... Even that could not sustain him for long.

The Meditation state consumed a tremendous amount of mana. With his current mana reserves, he could last at most half a minute.

Half a minute...

It was still too short...

Chen Ce was nearly despairing.

Then, at that moment, another seemingly irrelevant notification sounded in his mind:

[Hero [Irelia]'s favorability +58. Current interaction level: 99.]

Was her favorability almost full...? A wave of bitterness rose in Chen Ce's heart. How exciting... What a pity I would not live to enjoy it...

[Hero [Irelia]'s interaction level has exceeded 50. First-stage interaction reward acquired.]

[Reward acquired: [Blue Chest]*1]

[Open existing chest?]

Another series of notifications sounded.

But this time, Chen Ce suddenly found hope of survival.

Right, reaching a certain interaction level could earn him a chest... And it did not even require a key...!

Open it!

[Blue Chest opened successfully.]

[Obtained: Equipment [Tear of the Goddess (Fully Stacked)]*1; Skill [Counter Strike (Max Level)]]

The instant the notification ended, a crescent-shaped, deep-blue pendant suddenly appeared on Chen Ce's chest.