Deep within a cavern towering hundreds of meters high, a multitude of spectral beings gathered, each with its own unique form.
Most of them lacked eyes, relying instead on keen senses to detect the movements of their "prey."
The cavern's walls were riddled with countless tunnels, chaotic and random, often spiraling in a manner reminiscent of the structures formed during the dissolution of void substances.
Nearly all void constructs lacked consciousness, their actions driven solely by instinct.
They existed to battle, devour, and destroy everything...
Void creatures did not ponder the future; their existence was to consume all life, returning the world and even the universe to nothingness.
Nasus stood atop the cliff, looking down with disdain at the twisted creatures swarming the bottom of the cave.
The spectral beings, with what could roughly be considered their "heads," emitted hissing sounds as they sensed the overwhelming pressure emanating from Nasus, instinctively refraining from rash actions.
With a contemptuous snort, Nasus waved his hand, and dark purple magic cascaded down from his fingertips like a waterfall, showing no mercy.
"Wither!"
The withering magic attached to the majority of the nearby spectral beings, seeping into their vulnerable core through the cracks in their chitinous shells.
Many spectral beings fell to the ground, lifeless, while the rest sensed danger and swiftly climbed down from various walls, agilely lunging towards Nasus' position.
This was both to provide Li Lin and the others ample space for combat and to adhere to their agreed-upon "decapitation" plan.
Nasus leaped forward, plummeting straight down to the bottom of the cavern, a distance of over thirty meters. His divine body collided with the bedrock, stirring up a cloud of dust and debris.
The oncoming spectral beings followed closely behind, roaring as they leaped down from the walls, piling on top of him like a torrential avalanche, stacking up over ten meters high in an instant.
Li Lin and the others approached the edge of the cave, peering down and being stunned by the sight before them.
A towering column of purple-black flames surged from the cavern, eclipsing the sinister purple light within, incinerating all the spectral beings surrounding Nasus.
As Nasus slowly rose from his half-kneeling position, a mysterious circle formed beneath his feet, burning with magical flames, incinerating any void creatures foolish enough to approach him.
As the magical circle gradually lost its power supply, Nasus drew in the scattered sand and dust from the cave, continuously replenishing his strength.
"Fury of the Sands!"
With a roar of anger, Nasus' form expanded rapidly, growing to over ten meters tall in the span of a heartbeat.
A black storm of sand, as hard as steel, swirled around him, crushing one spectral being after another.
Following the direction of the purple light, Nasus strode forward, deeper into the depths.
In his divine form, his abilities, including his perception, increased exponentially, allowing him to sense the presence of another entity, one that overshadowed all the other spectral beings.
Once that entity was dealt with, the problem here would be resolved.
Li Lin, Kassadin, Sivir, and Kai'sa remained crouched at the mouth of the cave.
Thanks to Nasus's presence, none of the spectral beings had noticed them yet.
"So, this is the power of a Divine Warrior?" Kassadin murmured in awe, glancing at his own right wrist.
It seemed that he had barely unleashed one percent of the Netherblade's power...
"I guess only a fraction," Li Lin exclaimed sincerely. "The complete form of an Ascended being is mountain-sized. In this confined space, or perhaps to avoid harming us, Nasus hasn't fully exerted his strength."
Sivir gasped, "Then, do we still need to fight down there?"
She had initially thought that even Nasus would have to exert some effort against so many spectral beings.
However, from the current situation, Sivir realized she had underestimated Nasus.
With just a casual move, those creatures couldn't even get close to him.
To him, these disgusting, corrupted insects were as weak as ants...
"We have to go down. Those guys have noticed us," Li Lin pointed out, indicating that a group of spectral beings that hadn't followed Nasus were now turning their "heads" back towards their direction.
"Prepare for battle!" he commanded.
Li Lin's left and right arms sprang forth sawblade wrist blades and high-frequency vibrating blades. Meanwhile, he switched the three storm robots behind him to full firepower mode, sliding down the cave wall to the bottom.
Flames and blue-white energy projectiles continuously poured onto the swarm, leaving behind a trail of corpses in an instant.
At the same time, Kassadin and Kai'sa, summoning the netherblade, exchanged a glance, then synchronized their movements, leaping down from the towering rock wall.
Kassadin tore open the void mid-air, blinking in front of several groups of spectral beings, wielding the pulsating netherblade that emitted energy pulses, instantly annihilating them.
Kai'sa followed closely behind as cover, fists clenched to form crystalline energy plasma, while simultaneously activating the shoulder pouches to continue heating up the energy.
She agilely rolled in mid-air, dodging several winged spectral beings pouncing towards her.
The tiny feet covered in armor stomped on them in succession, flying over Kassadin's head, using plasma energy and missiles launched from her cheek pouches to clear the spirits approaching her father from other directions.
Sivir followed closely behind Li Lin, descending the steep slope into the depths of the cave, tossing her cross blades along the way.
Her swirling Chalicar leaped among dozens of insects the size of adults, effortlessly piercing their tough shells with each strike.
Even without touching the soft cores under the spirits' armor, just being touched by Chalicar would instantly kill them.
After Sivir's feet touched the ground, Chalicar leaped onto the rock wall, changed direction abruptly, and smoothly returned to her hand.
But even though Nasus had just dealt with hundreds of spirits, the insects pouring in from other passages in the rock seemed limitless, once again filling this underground space.
Even the Storm Robots, which had activated "Overload Charge," were somewhat overwhelmed.
Eight hundred rounds of ammunition were quickly depleted, leaving a large number of insect corpses piled up on the ground.
The hissing of shells and corrosive liquids dissolved continuously, emitting a strong, unpleasant odor.
In this lightless underground, the storm robots with solar panels had their energy recovery rate reduced by 2%.
Li Lin activated "Adaptive Defense" to block two corrupted burrowing insects that attacked from underground and ended their lives with the searing high-frequency vibration blade.
Then, he noticed that while Sivir, who was close to him and protected by storm robots, was still fighting, Kassadin and Kai'sa in the distance were struggling. He quickly called Sivir to go to them.
"There are too many bugs. Come over here quickly!"
A storm robot fired a series of miniaturized energy shells into the middle of them, instantly opening up space.
Kai'sa grabbed a spirit core in one hand, and a dim purple light attached to her black and purple living armor as she ran quickly to Li Lin.
As for Kassadin, he also activated "Overload Charge" and "Adaptive Defense."
Before the effect of the powered armor ended, he used the Void Blade to pierce two spirits and then scattered a large number of energy pulses towards their dense positions.
Immediately afterward, the magic of the netherlade attached to Kassadin's legs, lifting him into the air.
"Ha!" He raised his right hand suddenly, emitting an angry roar.
The surging purple flames burst from the Void Blade, spreading into dozens of huge void spheres in the air, which rapidly shot to the cave passages where the spirits were pouring out the most and other locations with dense spirits.
In the blink of an eye, the magic balls flickered with an almost blinding purple flame, but it didn't have much impact on everyone due to the holographic screens and Void Helmets.
Accompanied by almost soul-shaking screams, hundreds of spirits were instantly engulfed in magical energy, buying them a moment's respite.
"The number of them is much larger than we imagined!" Sivir, who had just retrieved Chalicar, gasped for breath.
As she was relatively weaker among them, there were already more than ten grim scars on her foldable powered armor.
Li Lin activated [Data Mind] and glanced hurriedly at Sivir's powered armor. Her life points had dropped to about half.
The crust was shaking, rocks were constantly falling from above the cave, and Nasus' roar from the deep area continued, giving everyone a strong metallic acidic taste in their mouths.
It seemed that Nasus had already fought with the "leader" of this void area.
However, judging from the current situation, it couldn't be resolved in a short time.
I, Kassadin, and Kai'sa might be able to leave the battlefield, but Sivir might not...
Moreover, the energy recovery of my powered armor was obviously unable to keep up with the consumption rate. It couldn't go on like this.
Li Lin fought while quickly thinking about how to deal with the current situation.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.
As long as I design the blueprint, the mechanical creations in the [Essence Store] will be significantly discounted...
My "Source Plan · Infinite Power" armor only costs 200 blue essences, isn't a storm robot even cheaper?
Maybe after this battle, I can directly advance to [Heart of the Machine]!
As for how to explain it to others later... there's really no need.
Li Lin's eyes lit up.
As his thoughts turned, the page of the [Essence Store] in his mind instantly switched to the [Aerial Mech · Storm] section.
Even a rare quality Storm only costs 100 blue essences, and even with two energy crystals and 800 rounds of bullets, it only costs 325 blue essences.
And Li Lin already had 1730 blue essences. After just killing different types of spirits for the first time, he gained 4200 blue essences, not to mention that many of them were "elite" level beings.
Even the orange essences rose from the original 170 to 865.
Altogether, he now has 8650 blue essences, enough to buy 26 fully equipped "Aerial Mech · Storm" units!
One man army! This is the true power of a mechanic!
Li Lin directly spent 3250 blue essences and waved his hand forward.
Ten brand new Aerial Mech · Storms appeared immediately above everyone's heads and immediately switched to full firepower mode, unleashing a barrage of fire at the spirits surrounding them.
In an instant, tongues of fire burst forth, and countless energy bullets painted the entire space blue and white.
Seeing that their side suddenly turned the tide of the battle, Kassadin, Sivir, and Kai'sa were slightly stunned, and even their attacks stopped.
However, without the three of them, the battle was still completely one-sided.
No spirit could break through such intense firepower suppression and rush to their side.
Kassadin, Sivir, and Kai'sa looked up in astonishment, and the ten floating storm robots instantly dumbfounded them.
"What on earth is going on?!"
(End of this chapter)