First, take down the Sword Demon, then save Runeterra.

“How could it be here? Shouldn’t it be somewhere in Shurima?” Ator exclaimed in shock.

A strangely shaped creature appeared a kilometer away.

It wasn't very big; its main body was an eyeball five meters in diameter, which moved around nimbly. Several tentacles about ten meters long extended from its surrounding shell, floating above a group of woodlice.

Lissandra, disregarding the pain of the nearly destroyed Frostguard Fortress, trembled slightly upon sensing the appearance of the newcomer.

“A…a monitor?!” she said, almost enunciating each word clearly. “Why would a monitor appear in the real world?”

Ato landed on the ground and said in a deep voice, "It is the only observer that remains in the real world. No one knows when or how it arrived. It has many names, but I usually call it Viktor."

One thing is certain: Vel'Koz did not enter Runeterra through the small opening Zoranny made. He has existed in this world for thousands, even tens of thousands of years, analyzing and deconstructing everything in it, transmitting information to other observers in the cracks of the world.

Suddenly, Velcz's purple eye lit up, and all its tentacles focused on its front, assuming an aiming posture.

Atto reacted quickly and immediately shouted, "Joral!"

Upon receiving the order, the Darkin Shield flashed in front of everyone, planting its shield into the ground, increasing its area several times over.

Vel'Koz's ray arrived instantly, striking the Darkin Aegis. Jorah's face beneath his helmet contorted in pain as he struggled to resist.

When Atos saw this, he prepared to step in. The Darkin Blade, in a sense, was the most defensive item in the world, since it required the convergence of five World Runes to destroy it.

The Monitor, Vicz, possesses the ability to "analyze and deconstruct living things," and this ray is one of its deadly weapons. It can analyze everything it touches, whether organic or inorganic, and dismantle them at their source.

A dozen seconds later, the beam stopped, and Viktor, who was a kilometer away, looked puzzled, a rare occurrence for him.

It scratched its shell with one of its tentacles: "Unable to analyze quickly? It's a completely new material composition; we need time to study its structure."

Meanwhile, Jolar collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily. His shield was almost shattered; if the beam had continued for a few more seconds, it would have pierced through.

Even the Darkin Aegis struggles to block Vel'Koz's Bio-Disintegrate Ray; this is a gap that cannot be bridged simply by replenishing health.

“Thank you for your hard work.” Aatrox appeared in a phantom form, gesturing for Jollal to retreat. “This kind of creature didn’t appear during the Icathian War. It seems to be a rather advanced being.”

Lissandra quickly asked, "You haven't encountered this kind of monster before?"

"Heh, I should thank you for freezing all these one-eyed creatures outside the world." Aatrox chuckled helplessly. "If these creatures had been involved in the war back then, even the Empire at its peak probably wouldn't have been able to stop them."

“I heard from the little thing that you came into contact with the Void five thousand years earlier than us and even prevented dozens of Cyclopes from descending? Very good. I, Aatrox, the Grand General of the Shurima Empire, am grateful for everything you have done.”

Ato felt a chill. He only knew part of the Icathian War and never imagined that there were no observers involved in it, because they were all trapped in the cracks of the world by Lissandra ten thousand years ago.

He thought that all the Watchers who entered reality from Icathia had been killed by the Ascended, and that Velcz was just a surviving individual. But reality was even worse; the Watchers were all beneath the ice of the Howling Abyss, and none of them had come over.

Vicz was probably just loafing around during the Icathian War, mainly gathering information and not participating in direct combat. He was constantly transmitting knowledge about the material realm to other Watchers!

"Why is it here...?" Ato pondered all the possibilities.

......

Several months ago, on the continent of Shurima.

With her arms wrapped in a chain sickle and clutching her wounds, Zolani struggled to walk through the desert.

Beside him, the blood golem, the Darkborn dragon Fanbulai, who had lost his mind, had exhausted his strength and even found it difficult to enter the spiritual realm.

If it weren't for the intervention of the righteous Protoss Kyle of Mount Targon and his continued attacks on the Grand General's host, I would have already been captured.

Because of Blai, a useful tool puppet that can infinitely connect to the spiritual realm, Zolani was able to escape from the Great General amidst the chaos.

But she was almost at her wit's end. On the continent of Shurima, Azir had been successfully resurrected and became an Ascended, and was now searching for her with every grain of sand in his path.

Ionia is separated by the Watchful Sea, and as far as she knows, there are no more Darkin to devour there.

After finally finding Varus wandering in Shurima, they were interrupted by the Great General and his men, and Varus was seriously injured and almost sealed away again.

"General, I must have you, I will not let you leave me..." Faced with a desperate situation, Zolani did not despair, but became even more determined to achieve her goal.

She headed south, towards the place that had dealt a heavy blow to the empire and ultimately destroyed everything.

Not long after, black mist suddenly appeared on the road, and the Curse of Ruin erupted.

This actually made things easier for her; as long as she avoided the undead, even Azir couldn't find her.

The mysterious black mist eventually dissipated, and Zoranny arrived at the southern coast of Shurima. Feeling the corruption deepening, she laughed arrogantly.

The ruins of Icathia are very close.

She wants to talk to the Void Creatures, tear open the rift again, and plunge the world into chaos.

The Void's ability to devour and evolve once shocked the entire Shurima Empire, but now it has become an asset.

Zolani no longer cared about what would happen to the world; all she wanted was to eliminate everything that stood in her way from being with the General.

nimbly dodging attacks from several void creatures, Zolani was just a step away from the ruins of Icathia.

Suddenly, several swaying tentacles emerged from the desert, entangled Zolani, and dragged her underground no matter how much she struggled.

The most confident blood magic seemed to have lost its power, unable to control the owner of the tentacles at all.

The Darkin dragon Fanbulai has completely lost contact and cannot escape even through the mental realm.

Having just been severely injured by the Great General and without having absorbed other Darkborn to replenish his strength, he was at his lowest point.

“An interesting structure…” A voice that sounded like it was synthesized from a machine came from beside me. “Fallen Celestial Warriors? Humans seem to call you… Darkin? I’ve analyzed a few samples, but you seem different from them.”

Only then did Zolani, who was entangled by tentacles, see a type of void creature she had never seen before staring at her curiously.

"Interesting. You're no longer a Celestial Warrior, and you're not quite the Darkin either. What exactly are you...?"

The large-eyed creature gently probed around with its tentacles, worried about damaging the precious sample.

"Hmph, hahahahahaha!" Zolani laughed arrogantly again.