Arcane: The Gods Want Me to Pick a Route

Chapter 279 279: The Yeti’s Story

Nilah felt completely different to Logan now.

The wildness and madness from when they first met were gone. An ice chain had been locked around her waist, and at one cold, displeased rebuke from Lissandra, Nilah's body trembled and she immediately stepped forward so she would not block Lissandra's way.

Her hair, which had been slightly fluffed out before, was now plastered tightly against her cheeks. Icy slush dripped down her face. She stood there with her head lowered. As for Logan asking whether she wanted an opponent?

No.

Absolutely not.

How was this even fair?!

The reason Nilah had ended up like this was simple. Inside Lissandra's domain world, the furious witch had truly taught her a brutal lesson. To Nilah, injury, even death, was not frightening. It was true that right now she could only feel joy, but that did not mean joy was the only thing in her head.

Just like some horny bastard could not possibly spend every second of every day thinking about boobs.

What had made Nilah feel despair and changed her attitude was the Void. Lissandra's dark True Ice was built on Anivia's power, then fused with Lissandra's own contact with the Void, creating something even more bone-piercingly cold than ordinary True Ice.

The Void's corrupting power, combined with that bone-deep chill, had left Nilah frozen inside for what felt like half a world. Being sealed in dark True Ice felt a lot like what had happened to the Ascended, corrupted by the Void, then sealed by the Celestials into weapons. The former carried the corruption of the Void, and the latter was the prison itself. Even a battle-hardened, experienced, iron-willed god-warrior like Aatrox had been twisted into madness by that fate. Back when Aatrox had been trapped in the endless darkness of the Darkin blade, he had even cried in private because of it.

So of course Nilah could not endure that kind of suffering. It was just... too hopeless.

Lissandra stepped out of the ice door, an ice chain in hand. Dressed in white, she walked with calm composure, as though her battle with Nilah had amounted to nothing more than a casual stroll through her own domain, like returning home.

The ease in her bearing, contrasted with Nilah's completely defeated state, made Logan want to laugh.

Lifting one pale hand, Lissandra's white eyes swept over Logan. She spoke calmly, her voice as crisp as icicles striking together, cold and beautiful.

"It's settled. She now..." Lissandra paused, her gaze leaving Logan's face and shifting to Nilah. "She can now speak properly. Whatever you want to say, say it directly. I imagine she won't refuse."

"Unless she wants to be locked up again."

Lissandra gave the chain in her hand a light tug, and Nilah's body swayed with it.

Nilah shivered. She raised her head toward Logan, bitterness in her eyes, while her face remained packed with smiles. The result looked both bizarre and hilarious, giving Logan the distinct feeling of, "No, really, I'm fine. I'm totally fine."

"What did you want to say to me?" Nilah asked Logan with a smile, speaking extremely fast.

"You really trained her well," Logan muttered to Lissandra.

Lissandra gave a tiny blink that said neither yes nor no, though the corners of her lips did lift slightly. Then she let go, and the chain in her hand floated over into Logan's.

Nilah's eyes moved. Seeing that Lissandra's attention was on the black-haired man instead of herself, she cautiously reached down toward the ice ring around her waist.

The instant her fingers touched it, she let out a scream.

"Ah!"

Lissandra's cold gaze swept over her, and she said softly, "Disobedient."

Nilah immediately laughed awkwardly and lowered her head again, staring at her shoes.

Meanwhile Logan just stood there grinning like an idiot, delighted beyond words.

See? Once Lissandra stepped in, the whole situation became way easier to solve than Logan had expected.

Nilah did not even fear Volibear, yet now she was acting like a mouse that had seen a cat in front of Lissandra. Really, did it come down to one thing naturally keeping another in check?

"Lissandra, undo the chain," Logan said, holding it in his hand.

Nilah immediately snapped her head up and looked at Lissandra.

Lissandra said nothing. She simply raised her hand, and in the next instant, with a sharp crack, the ring around Nilah's waist and the chain attached to it both shattered into icy powder.

That had been Lissandra's intention from the start, after all. She had left the next part to Logan. Playing good cop was not something she could do. Her nature was too cold. Playing the hard role, not being the nice one, that she could do all day. But pretending to be kind, doing favors, no, that was not her.

The witch of the north simply did not care what anyone thought of her.

With the restraint gone, Nilah twisted her waist back and forth, then looked at Logan seriously.

"So what exactly did you want to say to me? Do you need me to do something?"

Logan walked up to her. At this distance, if Nilah suddenly lunged, he could react in time.

As for whether Nilah might grab him as a hostage and use him to force Lissandra back or something, the more Logan thought about it, the less likely it seemed.

First, Logan really was not Nilah's match. Sure, he had killed Pantheon, but that had only happened with Aatrox's support and after Pantheon had already been weakened. Even so, it was not like Logan would be helpless against Nilah and go down in a couple moves.

Second, forget this distance, even if he were closer, Lissandra could still intervene whenever she wanted and help him. Never underestimate what a veteran powerhouse like Lissandra could do. Logan really did not want to keep hyping her up, but there was no helping it. She was just that strong.

And third, Nilah was not that kind of person.

She definitely gave off a neurotic vibe. Since Nilah wore a smile no matter what was going on, she could come across like some raving lunatic who could not be reasoned with. But in reality, Nilah could be communicated with, and when dealing with ordinary people, she could even be polite.

Of course, the premise was that you were an ordinary person, not some life-form strong enough to stir up her excitement and hunger.

Just like in Nilah's own story, where she went looking for Viego and ended up crossing paths with Graves. From the way Graves talked about Nilah, he actually thought she was a pretty decent woman.

So if they were really going to rank craziness, Nilah was not even worth one strand of Jinx's hair compared to Jinx.

Because Nilah's actions had purpose. She thought things through in order to reach her goals.

And Jinx?

Thinking back to Jinx's behavior in the lab, Logan felt that the fact Jinxie had grown up as well as she had was genuinely thanks to Janna's blessing...

"What's this? Let me pour something into it and see what happens."

"Holy shit, damn it, it blew up!"

"Wow, the sparks from that explosion look awesome! Let's add some more and try again."

"Huh? How did it turn into a weapon?"

Yeah.

That was probably what Jinx's lab routine looked like.

Shaking his head, Logan came back to himself and looked at Nilah.

"Like I said just now, I'm planning to find you an opponent. What do you think..."

"Like her?" Nilah cut him off, glancing sideways at Lissandra as she asked.

"Of course not," Logan immediately said. Then he continued, "This is something that would let you become a true great hero, the kind who saves countless people. Haven't you always wanted your name to be remembered through history? If you do this, I guarantee your name will become known across all of Runeterra. Everyone will know that there was a great hero who resolved the crisis threatening this world and saved everyone, and her name was Nilah."

Nilah's eyes lit up instantly. Her throat moved in what looked like a swallow, and she stared at Logan.

"Really?"

"Really. We're preparing to fight a group of extremely powerful beings. They don't belong to Runeterra. They're visitors from another world, and they want to devour this planet, kill every human and living creature on it, and leave Runeterra a barren world."

"Like demons?"

"More troublesome than demons. Those things cannot be reasoned with at all. Between us and them, there is only absolute opposition."

"Fine, I'm in."

Nilah lifted a hand and thumped herself on the chest. Her eyes were shining brightly, and the smile on her lips spread wide as she said loudly to Logan, "If creatures like that really exist, then why should I go to all the trouble of hunting down other powerful beings?"

"So tell me, what exactly do you need me to do?"

"First, leave this place with us. This isn't exactly the best place to talk."

Seeing Nilah agree so easily, Logan smiled in delight.

Nice.

Another heavyweight fighter had joined their side.

Among demigod-level beings, Nilah absolutely ranked near the top. She was a much better fighter than Swain or Karma. For Logan's camp, gaining her help was basically like getting that blue bald guy on their side too, provided he did not start blowing things up with World Runes.

Speaking of the blue bald guy, Logan suddenly found himself wondering what Ryze was doing right now.

By the timeline, he ought to be wandering all over the world searching for the seals on the World Runes, and during that journey Ryze would be facing one challenge after another.

His former student Brand, Demacia's nightmare, the Harrowing on the Shadow Isles, and... maybe something up north?

Back in Bilgewater, Illaoi closed the door to the room and stepped out, leaving the space inside to the others.

She had no intention of involving herself in this matter. Compared to saving the world, what she needed to think about was how to change Bilgewater, along with the problem of the Harrowing.

Sure, if the world was destroyed, then Bilgewater and the Buhru would vanish with it. But Illaoi understood one thing very clearly, never abandon the small things right in front of you for the sake of some larger matter.

Compared to a crisis that might happen in the future, Illaoi cared more about the people suffering under the Harrowing right now.

Though...

"He actually pulled it off."

Illaoi lowered her head and laughed softly, shaking it with a smile as she walked down from the third floor of the tavern.

Once Nilah left this place, she would have to start moving as well. Sarah had already been waiting for her for a long time.

"So that ice was made by you, and the Watchers were sealed by you too, but now you can't directly undo that seal by yourself anymore?"

At the square table, Logan looked at Lissandra with a strange expression.

Lissandra had her eyes closed. One snow-white arm reached out, two fingers picking up a pastry brought from Piltover, which she placed in her mouth and chewed. Nilah sat in the middle, her hands folded together on the table, looking from Logan to Lissandra and then back again.

She was already itching to start killing.

Her name written into history, written into history!

"Is that hard to understand?" Lissandra asked in return. Then she lightly licked the pastry crumbs from her fingers before continuing in a calm voice, "Don't you know everything? How is it that you don't know this?"

"All right, just tell me already. I won't show off in front of you anymore, okay?" Logan said helplessly.

"Yeti," Lissandra said.

"Back then, I had not yet mastered the power of True Ice. Anivia was unwilling to help me, and my sisters scorned what I was doing. That was indeed my fault. People truly cannot wield power beyond what they can comprehend. So, to make up for it... no, to hide that past, to keep people from learning of my mistake, and to drive out the Void, I used the power of the yetis," Lissandra said softly.

She had already sworn it. She would no longer evade the things she had done.

The her of now was a mistake, one spending her entire life making atonement.

Nilah's radar immediately kicked in at the keyword, and she blurted out, "Yeti? What's that? I've never even heard of it. Is it strong?"

Lissandra completely ignored her.

Nilah, ignored by Lissandra, did not dare act up either. She could only scratch her head in frustration.

"Yeti?" Logan repeated, and a small boy immediately appeared in his mind.

Lissandra nodded and said softly, "The yetis. It sounds like a savage race, but in truth it was not. Ten thousand years ago, the yetis appeared. Though fierce and wild, they were united and helped one another internally. Back then, humans had not yet truly stepped onto the stage, so the yetis were the first beings to catch Anivia's eye and receive her attention."

"Because she saw the yeti tribe's potential for growth, Anivia gave her heart to them, allowing the yeti tribe to evolve. They became four-armed beings and gained the power to create and wield True Ice."

The corner of Logan's mouth twitched.

Yetis could use True Ice?

That was something he genuinely had not known!

"Because of their power, when the time came to seal the Void, I used all the strength of the yetis. I sacrificed them, buried everything in ice, the Void, living beings, my sisters..."

"Then doesn't that mean there aren't any yetis left?" Nilah muttered.

Lissandra had just said it herself. She had sacrificed the yeti race to handle the Void, so where exactly was anyone supposed to find a yeti now?

"No. There's still one yeti left," Logan said.

Lissandra turned to look at Logan, and Logan smiled back at her.

"I get it now. I know what to do."

"So that was the secret weapon you originally intended to use. You were planning to use it to reinforce the seal, but because of me, now you're thinking of using it to undo the seal ahead of time. Is that what you mean?"

Lissandra stared at Logan speechlessly.

This guy had literally just said he would stop showing off in front of her, so what exactly was this supposed to be?

Starting up again already?

Did he really need another lesson?

"It won't be easy to catch. If it wants to hide, even I can't seize it directly. The true strength of the yetis doesn't lie in True Ice, but in... wishes and hope."

As she said that, Lissandra's lips moved slightly. After a brief hesitation, she continued, "I don't know what kind of power that is. I don't know whether it belongs to the yeti race as a whole, or only to that one yeti. But it truly can do something that absurd."

"It's fine. I know," Logan said to Lissandra.

Lissandra looked at him, one eyebrow lifting in clear implication.

If you know, then spit it out already.

Smiling, Logan said, "The problem is... this is going to be a little troublesome. Going by the timeline, that little guy is only three or four years old at most."

Putting the context together, wasn't this just the story of Nunu and the yeti?

That yeti was Willump.

But then another problem appeared. Logan knew he could not judge everything by the current official lore timeline anymore, because Arcane's timeline and the League main universe were very different. Sure, the official line was to look at things through Arcane's timing, but the problem there was obvious, Arcane only touched heroes related to the Twin Cities and part of Noxus.

Freljord?

Not at all.

So Logan had no way of knowing how old Nunu actually was right now.

But from Lissandra's current frustration, she still did not know Nunu existed, which meant Nunu had to be younger than five. Nunu had only gotten separated from his mother when he was five, then been sent by Frostguard soldiers to the orphan village, where he came to know Lissandra, and because of that journey, he met the best friend of his life, Willump.

"Forget it. Thinking too much won't help."

"Let's go."

Logan stood up and said it loudly.

Nilah, who had been stuffing food into her mouth, looked up in confusion.

"Go where?"

"To the Freljord," Logan said.

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