Who was going down into the Void below?
That was a serious question.
After all, Rek'Sai's tunnel almost certainly connected to the Void.
And the Void meant vast, unknown danger.
That was no joke.
Back then, Azir's Sun Disc was not in any condition to offer help like it could now.
"I'll go. Kai'Sa too, and we'll bring Yuumi."
Caleb was silent for a moment before continuing.
Everyone looked at him with some confusion, clearly waiting for an explanation.
"Kai'Sa has been into the Void before. And Yaanogel inside me is a Darkin, he's been there before too."
Caleb explained it calmly, with uncharacteristic patience.
"As for Yuumi, her master was lost in the Void before, so she definitely needs to go take a look."
"If she's not up for it, then forget it."
Seeing that Yuumi still looked a little drained, Caleb added that last part.
"No. For Norra, I still have to go."
At those words, Yuumi bounced twice on the Book of Thresholds, then drifted over to circle around Kai'Sa.
"There's one more issue, none of you can fly in the Void."
Caleb took apart his spear into three sections and strapped it back across his back.
"And for Kai'Sa's endurance, we can't bring too many people, especially people who've never had contact with the Void."
"You've got a point." Sivir shrugged.
She did not object to going in, mostly because of her royal pride.
But after hearing Caleb break down the situation like that, she did not feel any resentment.
Out of the six of them, her ceiling was probably the lowest.
Of course, that did not mean she was going to just admit defeat and stop trying to catch up to the people ahead of her.
Especially Caleb. He looked younger than she was, yet he had already climbed to the very peak of power in Piltover and Zaun.
That irritated Sivir more than a little.
Then again, before meeting Azir, all she had done was scrape out a living with her mercenary company. She had never thought about taking on any great responsibility.
Starting to work harder now was not too late.
"Hmm..."
Caleb looked into the deep pit below. If he jumped down there by himself, he was definitely not surviving.
Modify the Hextech longbow into a parachute?
If he jumped first and then summoned Yaanogel, he would probably have to rely on Yuumi's Zoomies all over again.
So Caleb silently looked over at Kai'Sa.
Kai'Sa shot him an annoyed glance.
"...I know this is kind of rude to ask, but I'm begging you."
Caleb pressed his hands together in plea.
Kai'Sa simply nodded.
"Alright then..." Caleb looked at the bottomless opening and jumped first.
The living armor on Kai'Sa's back flared with light as she followed right after him.
"This is making me think of, you jump, I jump..."
Halfway through the air, the wind was blasting so hard Caleb could barely open his eyes, but his mouth was still running just fine.
"Got you."
A hand, a little small and very rough, grabbed him and hauled him upward in one sharp motion.
Their rapid fall slowed at once, and Caleb finally managed to open his eyes.
In his previous life, he had been such a shut-in that he barely even rode Ferris wheels, so he really was a little afraid of heights.
This was not like Zaun's tangled maze of buildings with mine shafts underneath.
This tunnel dropped straight down, and you could not see the end of it at all.
That fear of not knowing when they would finally reach the bottom was honestly a bit much for Caleb.
All he could do was entrust his life completely to Kai'Sa's hand.
"Here. Hold on."
Kai'Sa did not waste words. She simply placed Caleb's hand where it needed to be.
Hm?
That slim, easy-to-hold feeling was...?
Caleb stared at his left hand in surprise. It had landed squarely on Kai'Sa's waist.
This girl really had no sense of distance, did she?
Looking at Kai'Sa's cold, expressionless face, Caleb could not help feeling a little impressed.
Seriously, anyone who had spent that long in the Void really did carry themselves differently.
Though that Void skin of hers, during battle it looked better and better the more you looked at it, but in daily life it was...
Caleb quickly pulled his gaze back. He had been staring at her face for way too long.
Their flight was steady enough that even Yuumi, who had been dizzy a moment ago, was starting to feel much better.
"I smell it, I smell it, I smell Norra's scent!"
Yuumi twitched her nose, clearly excited.
"Seriously...?" Caleb could not smell a thing. "You really missed your calling as a bloodhound."
"Just keep going. I'll definitely be the first one to find a clue."
Yuumi lifted her little chin with smug pride.
"Why?" Caleb was actually curious now.
As an archer, his eyesight was pretty sharp too, thank you very much.
"In the spirit realm, my eyes are the best!"
Yuumi licked her paw with an air of mysterious wisdom.
"By the way..."
Caleb looked at Kai'Sa's cold expression, hesitated for a moment, but still pushed on.
"Do you remember how many Xer'Sai you killed back then?"
For Kai'Sa, those memories from the last time she came here definitely were not good ones.
It felt like he was touching a nerve, but he asked anyway.
"Roughly... maybe somewhere between a dozen and several dozen." Kai'Sa thought about it briefly before answering.
The Xer'Sai from last time had not been that hard to kill. The ones today were tougher.
Back then, every one that had tried to crawl out and keep attacking had been crushed by Taliyah with stone.
Meanwhile, Kai'Sa had lured Queen Rek'Sai farther and farther into the depths.
"Counting today, the Xer'Sai colony has at least gone over three hundred."
Caleb frowned. He knew about monsters from the Void, but did creatures like these reproduce?
That was a very serious question.
"I don't think Rek'Sai's reproductive ability means making them out of nothing," Caleb said in a low voice.
"What exactly are you getting at?"
Kai'Sa's tone was cool, but the confusion in it was obvious.
"If a single Xer'Sai is at least the size of three normal people, then this entire colony plus Rek'Sai..."
Caleb did not finish the sentence. Mental math took time.
"A little over a thousand...?"
His brows were practically twisting together.
"It couldn't be that many, could it...?" Even Kai'Sa was starting to feel that something was wrong.
"Taliyah told me last time that those rumors only started spreading recently."
"So they haven't been surviving here for that long either..."
Caleb swapped in another Hextech Gemstone, just in case.
Kai'Sa was focused on flying now, so the matter of firepower naturally fell to him.
As they moved closer and closer to the depths of the underground nest, both of their expressions grew darker...
...
Inside the Piltover council chamber, all seven councilors were seated, including Ekko and Viktor from the Undercity.
"Is it normal for him to be gone this long?"
Viktor was the first to speak. He had always considered himself the "acting governor."
In other words, in the eyes of the people, Caleb was still the true governor of Zaun.
They had only gone to escort a yordle to Bandle City. The caravan had already returned, and they were even preparing to set out again.
Yet there was still no news from Caleb.
How could the people of Zaun not be anxious?
At this rate, even someone as respected as Heimerdinger might soon start receiving some very direct greetings from Zaun.
"Still no news at all?"
Lucide lightly tapped the table. Even her beautiful brows and eyes carried a trace of worry.
Piltover and Zaun were known as the world's crossroads, so information naturally moved fast there.
But whether it was local Piltover caravans heading into the desert, or Shuriman merchants, none of them had any news of Caleb.
That proved that Caleb had at least gone somewhere far from inhabited lands,
Ixtal, Noxus, the remnants of Shurima, or Mount Targon to the west.
"We already checked Bandle City. He left a long time ago."
With everyone's eyes on him, Heimerdinger shook his head as well.
"Then where exactly did he go?"
It was Mel who asked the question the council cared about most.
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