Li Lin's words gave Kassadin and Kaisa great hope, even though he kept saying he only had a slight clue, so they shouldn't get their hopes up too much.
The eager gaze of this father-daughter duo made Li Lin somewhat uncomfortable, but fortunately Nasus came to his rescue in time: "Alchemical life form?"
His voice sounded puzzled.
Nasus had retired long before the division of Zaun into Piltover and Zaun, and each took its own development path. He hardly knew much about it.
However, from Nashramae Tower to Vekaura, he had encountered many Piltover or Zaun caravans along the way and had seen some strange gadgets.
And like the powered armor worn by Li Lin, Kassadin, and Sivir, as well as the storming robots floating in the air, Nasus had seen more sophisticated things than these—golems.
Those were living stone giants powered by magical cores, large or small, mostly used to guard important places or ancient tomb relics.
The original golems were researched by the Celestial warrior, Ne'zuk, and during the Void War, he even invented larger, more powerful, and floating fortresses like monolith.
Previously, Sivir had seen a lot of these things in Azir's tomb and had lost many subordinates because of them.
In Nasus' eyes, Li Lin's invention was actually similar to a golem, except that the main material was reversed from stone to metal.
But an alchemical life form, he had truly never heard of it.
"That is a formless life form born out of alchemical toxins leaking due to alchemical facility malfunctions, which, under certain fortuitous circumstances, gained self-awareness."
Li Lin quickly explained the birth of Zac to Nasus, "But the specific reasons for his formation are still a mystery. Myself and my companions haven't figured it out yet..."
With that, he glanced at Kassadin and Kaisa, the meaning he wanted to convey was already clear.
"I've long been prepared to live my whole life wearing this skin, so even if you don't figure it out, it's okay." Kaisa smiled indifferently, speaking in a nonchalant tone.
Then, Nasus, who had been deep in thought, came back to his senses, "Hmm, in our world where multiple fields overlap, indeed anything is possible.
"If what you call a formless life form is similar to these void creatures, then there is indeed a chance to solve this girl's problem."
Okay, don't raise the flag for me again...
Li Lin originally wanted Nasus to pour cold water on Kassadin and Kaisa.
Now, they had higher expectations, and my pressure was even greater.
Li Lin sighed helplessly, quickly changing the subject: "Everything depends on my research... but I can't do anything about it right now."
"That's right, isn't our purpose in going underground this time to exterminate the void?" Sivir finally got a chance to speak, "Once we deal with them, we can leave this place."
She didn't understand what alchemical technology and void research were all about. She couldn't understand a single word.
"I know where the core area of the Void Rift is, I've been there before." Kaisa immediately continued, then turned the topic slightly, "But, there are at least thousands of Voidlings there..."
The fire in Nasus's eyes flickered, and he couldn't help but snort, "Just some annoying pests, leave them to me."
Celestial warriors and the Void are mortal enemies.
Nasus had an almost instinctive aversion to the Void, so he had to be very careful when speaking to Kaisa.
He had sensed this area while on the surface, and the Void here was far from as powerful as it was thousands of years ago in Icathia.
With his experience, there would be at most one Void Rift and one relatively powerful, fully evolved Voidling here, which was the one commanding the other Void creatures.
As long as that "leader" was dealt with, the other Void creatures would not be a problem.
"I will judge their twisted souls."
...
...
In the next few minutes, Kaisa explained to Nasus that her armor needed to consume energy.
With Kassadin's help, she packed four relatively intact Voidling cores into the bag and continued deeper into the Void.
Because of Nasus' presence, Li Lin didn't need to strain himself to control the chipless storming robot to scout ahead.
Not to mention the half-god strength of this ascendant, just his nearly three-meter height gave people a great sense of security.
Along the way, guided by Kaisa and Nasus' own senses, they continued to delve deeper, soon arriving at the periphery of the Void core in this area.
Bone-chilling winds, seemingly from nowhere, swept through, penetrating even the tightly sealed power armor that should have been impervious to the desert's night, infiltrating its interior.
To avoid raising suspicions, Li Lin instructed Kassadin and Sivir to temporarily reduce the power supply efficiency of the power armor to the minimum, providing only the energy needed for normal movement.
At the same time, he temporarily deactivated the chipless storm robot and switched the other three to a semi-idle follow mode to prevent their scattered energy from alerting the Void.
Kaisa had already put on her armored helmet again. Her vision changed abruptly, now equipped with night vision and penetration capabilities. Through the soil under her feet, she could clearly see the Voidlings in the giant cave ahead.
"We need to make a plan," Kaisa said in a low voice to the others. "If we charge in directly, we'll be overwhelmed by them."
"Actually, we don't need a plan at all," Nasus shook his head. "These Voidlings are much weaker than during the Icathia Void War. I can handle them myself."
"No, that would take too much time, and something unexpected might happen," Li Lin disagreed with him.
"I need to fight alongside my mechanical creations to enhance my 'mechanical affinity' and advance. How can I miss such a good opportunity?"
"I think we can handle these minions ourselves. Our firepower is sufficient to suppress them. You go directly to kill their leader for a swift victory," Kassadin suggested.
Nasus's eyes flashed red. "But..."
"Li Lin is right. There's still a Void rift underground. Although it's currently dormant, if awakened by the battle, who knows what might happen."
Determined to eradicate the Void here, Kaisa naturally wouldn't miss any opportunity for battle.
Nasus couldn't help but chuckle silently.
The last time he encountered mortals wanting to intervene in the battles between gods was when he and a group of divine warriors conquered city-states for the first Empress Setaka, expanding the Shurima Empire's territory.
Of course, Nasus did not deny the combat prowess of the group.
With his perception of magic, he could sense that these three sets of power armor contained immense energy.
Furthermore, Kassadin and Sivir also had the weapons of the gods, which posed no problem against Void minions...
He just didn't want to increase casualties unnecessarily.
"Let us fight, we won't cause you any trouble," Kassadin said, looking at Nasus's silent figure, also pleading actively.
Kaisa was still alive, but it was just a pleasant surprise, not enough to lessen his hatred for the Void.
After all, his beloved was dead, his daughter had suffered for over three years in this hellhole, and she was even parasitized by the Void...
At this moment, Kassadin was filled with anger.
Nasus exhaled heavily, his gaze shifting to Sivir.
His main concern now was this royal family, the only bloodline of King Azir.
"Don't look at me, I'll definitely participate in this battle," Sivir snorted, spinning Chalicar in her hand.
"I can feel the deep-seated hatred coming from your blood. Perhaps this is the destiny Li Lin mentioned before," Sivir said, showcasing the emerald-green gem pendant on her neck.
"But you don't have the blood of ascension..."
"Since my parents died, I've been fighting in various battles for over a decade, Nasus. Don't underestimate my combat experience.
"Since I am of royal blood, your so-called ascension lineage... In any case, we will all eventually face the Void, right?
"A commoner with no combat experience on the battlefield is like a lamb to the slaughter. I'm the same when facing the Void. It's always good to accumulate some experience now."
Sivir displayed the emerald-green gem pendant on her neck. "Besides, don't I still have the magic protection you gave me?"
Nasus hesitated greatly, falling into a long silence again.
After an unknown amount of time, he shook his head helplessly and sighed, "Since you all insist... I have a request: you can't go deep into the core area, you can only fight on the periphery."
Seeing no objections from the others, he slowly stood up, casting ancient blessings on Li Lin and the others' power armor with star magic.
"This magic can protect you once in a life-threatening situation."
Feeling the magic, most of the Voidlings below in the cave instantly woke up, emitting a cacophony of piercing roars.
Nasus pulled his battle axe from the soil, his eyes covered in dark purple magic. It emanated from his fingertips, slowly floating around him.
Li Lin, Kassadin, Sivir, and Kaisa felt a shiver from the depths of their souls.
This was the might of the gods. Even a slight release of power was beyond the reach of ordinary humans.
Under the gaze of the four, Nasus walked straight to the mouth of the cave leading to the underground, facing the bustling Voidlings below.
"Soon, there will be nothing left here."
(End of this chapter)