Legends of Runeterra

It wasn't long before Li En finished speaking.

“Boom~Boom~Boom~!”

The dull sound penetrated the black fog, causing the ground to begin to vibrate slightly.

"Lee En..."

Ahri was a little nervous. She raised her hand and released the Orb of Deception to block Li En.

"Don't worry, Ahri. The person making the noise is our ally whom we have never met before."

Rubbing Ahri's head, Li En stepped forward. Having already concealed his own aura, he walked out of the range covered by the "holy mist".

"Hoo~!"

The black fog rolled, and in the eyes of Ahri and the other three, a huge monster as tall as dozens of stories appeared.

The wooden body was knotty and twisted. Compared with the extremely strong left arm, the right arm looked particularly weak and slender. The face formed by the twisted and cracked tree was flashing a faint green light.

However, compared with its rough and ferocious body, its movements were so cautious when walking, perfectly avoiding every tree that had already dried up and twisted.

"Zhizhizhi~!"

With the arrival of the giant creature, the sapling's struggles became more intense.

Seeing the huge creature's dark green eyes staring at him, Li En let go of the sapling.

"Zhizhizhi~!"

Shifting its two short legs, the sapling ran towards the twisted tree at the speed of an ordinary person.

“Crack! Crack!”

Slowly bending down, the twisted human-shaped tree stretched out its hand to allow the sapling to climb up, and then it looked down at the strange existence in front of it.

"You are...human!?"

"Yes, hello, nice to meet you, I'm Li En."

"Lee...En..."

"Well, that's right."

Li En nodded, then slightly released his cover, and a breath of life flashed away.

"A living...human!?"

This was the first time the humanoid tree had seen a living human since the Curse of Ruin broke out thousands of years ago, and its dark brown wooden face showed undisguised surprise.

“Hello…Leon…I’m…Maokai.

Are you...lost...I can...take you to...the coast."

Although his body was twisted and distorted by the curse, Maokai still had a kind heart.

"Thank you Maokai, but I am not lost. I came to Fukumitsu Island to put an end to this curse once and for all."

"The End...The Ruinous Curse!?"

"That's right!"

Li En nodded and then waved behind him.

"Hoo~!"

The 'holy mist' and black fog rolled in, maintaining the concealing effect, and Ahri and the other three appeared in front of Maokai.

"This is..."

"My partner in solving the curse together."

...

“Boom~Boom~Boom~!”

Lying in the shelter woven from trees and grass, Yorick felt relieved when he heard Maokai's footsteps returning, and his hand holding the shovel loosened slightly.

"Yorick."

A low and concerned voice sounded, and Yorick propped himself up and sat up, pushing aside the grass in front of him.

"I am here, Master Maokai..."

Yorick froze in place as he looked at several figures that appeared in his sight, far out of reach of Maokai's knees.

"You...you are...human!?"

"You are... Mr. Yorick the Shepherd!"

Yorick looked in the direction of the voice. It was a man with a darker skin color. The uniforms of the two people, including the woman standing next to him, looked familiar to Yorick.

During his long burial career wandering around the outskirts of the Shadow Isles, Yorick had encountered humans wearing these uniforms more than once, communicated with them, and even buried a few with his own hands.

But as time passed, Yorick hadn't seen them for a long time.

"Another group of Light Sentinels have landed on the island, and they've come here. It looks like you're quite powerful."

"Mr. Yorick, the Light Sentinels Lucian and Senna greet you."

Lucian and his wife bowed respectfully to this man, who was recorded in the ancient books of the order as the only friendly person on the Shadow Isles who had helped the Light Sentinels.

"It doesn't have to be like this. I just did what I had to do."

Li En looked at the shovel in Yorick's hand with some curiosity.

After all, although it looks gray and ordinary, this shovel is actually a tool made by Ornn, the original god of Freljord and the god of smelting.

He created three tools in total, with names as simple as the tools themselves: 'Shovel', 'Fork', and 'Hammer'.

As for the first two, since Ornn didn't want to be approached by people like the 'Three Sisters' for help again, he threw the 'shovel' and 'fork' far away.

The only thing he kept was the Hammer, which Ornn treasured more than any other creation.

After observing for a while, Li En shifted his gaze and looked at the injuries on Yorick's body.

"Hello Mr. Yorick, we are here to completely resolve the Curse of Ruin. Could you please tell us who hurt you to this extent?"

"Um..."

Meeting Li En's dark and peaceful eyes, Yorick pondered for a moment.

"I don't know his name. He is a white-haired man wearing a crown, wielding a large sword that emits a green glow."

"It was Viego. What happened next? Mr. Yorick, why did he attack you?"

Senna looked at Yorick curiously.

"Viago? Well, that's a weird name.

After piercing my chest with a sword, he used the blade to split my 'Mist Maiden', took out a piece of blue soul fragment from it, and then left quickly.

I was then found by Master Maokai and placed in this sanctuary to recuperate."

"Sure enough, after Viego wakes up, Yorick, who has the fragment of Isolde's soul, will be the first to suffer."

The first time Li En saw Yorick, he had a guess in his mind, which was now confirmed by the other party's words.

"Well, that's it."

Senna nodded slightly. After hearing about the soul fragments, she and Gwen immediately understood.

After exchanging a glance with Gwen, Senna turned to look at Li En.

"Li En, now that Mr. Maokai is willing to go with us, shall we head directly to the source of the Ruinous Curse?"

"Wait! If you want to go, please take me with you!"

"But Mr. Yorick, you..."

"I am fine."

Yorick shook his head and then looked at Li En, the leader of the group.

"As the last member of the Twilight Brotherhood, please count me in to end the curse!"

"In that case, then... welcome, Mr. Yorick."

"Thank you, Li En!"

As a being between life and death, Yorick had nothing to deal with, so he simply took a shovel and joined Li En's team.

...

Maokai used his ability to sneak underground, while Yorick, Li En and others advanced under the cover of "holy mist" and black fog.

“Speaking of which, Li En, you guys came at the right time. Before I got hurt, the giant spider that was entrenched in Hailia City was driven away.

Now that I think about it, it was most likely the work of that Viego.

Now, through my connection with the black fog, I can feel that the terrifying existence is no longer on the island..."

"The big spider in Helia? Yorick, are you saying..."

"Well, it started hundreds of years ago. The spider bewitched a priest from nowhere, and every year a group of living people were brought in for sacrifice..."

Listening to Yorick's description, combined with the fact that Iris had not replied for a long time, Li En vaguely sensed that something was wrong.