On their way toward the Dreaming Pool, just as they approached a hidden cave, Kalan's ears twitched twice.
He raised his snout, sniffed the air, and suddenly said out of nowhere, "There are a few tails creeping up on us."
Hearing Kalan's words, Akali and the others were momentarily stunned.
Beside them, Shen formed a hand seal.
As a glowing eye insignia flickered at his fingertips, Shen nodded with a look of surprise in his eyes.
Although they had maintained a high level of vigilance, it was clear that in terms of raw perception, Kalan the Kiilash possessed unique, inherent advantages.
With this realization, Shen and the others turned their gaze toward Faen.
Faen simply nodded and said, "Bring them over."
"Mhm."
Kalan nodded and turned away without another word.
His seemingly hulking figure vanished from their sight in the span of just a few breaths.
It was as if he had never been there; his entire being melted, dissolved, and disappeared completely into the darkness.
"Isn't this Kiilash's connection to the nature spirits a bit too close??"
Witnessing this, Akali couldn't help but complain, "Such a huge guy just vanished like that? With no warning at all? Is that really something you can do without magic?"
"He is a pure-blood Kiilash, born with a deep connection to the spirits of nature," Shen shook his head and explained.
"Although he himself might not care, as he moves, natural magic shields him. It wouldn't be wrong to say he accomplishes his stealth through common magic."
"By comparison... his perceptive abilities truly exceeded my expectations," Shen said in amazement.
"Even when anticipating an attack, I can at most perceive the situation within a hundred meters. Any further, and it becomes distorted; I must rely on magical assistance.
Yet this Kiilash detected them solely through sound and scent... If he used magic, and if we were in a dense forest, an entire army could be his prey."
As Shen was speaking, Faen stopped in his tracks.
He turned his gaze toward a shadowed area nearby and said, "Since you're already here, you might as well come out."
"Hm?!"
Hearing Faen's words, the group was slightly taken aback, their brows furrowing with deep confusion and bewilderment.
But immediately after, in everyone's line of sight, a blurry silhouette slowly and leisurely stepped out from the darkness.
Under the moonlight, the figure revealed its appearance.
At first, to the onlookers, it looked like the silhouette of a man.
But in a matter of moments, the skin covering its body peeled away like a layer of light and shadow, revealing the graceful figure of a masked woman.
"Your senses are as sharp as ever, Joy Demon."
Seeing the arrival of LeBlanc's true body, Faen's eyes showed no surprise.
As for her calling him the "Joy Demon," Faen paid it absolutely no mind.
Faen had never tried to hide his connection to the Joy Demon.
For the current Runeterra, the concept of a "Primordial Demon" was far too alien.
Never mind the younger generation like Shen, Usan, and Akali; even during the era of Ancient Shurima, Primordial Demons were a highly niche concept.
Aside from dedicated researchers of the Spirit Realm, the vast majority of people had no idea what a "demon" truly was.
Among them, the Joy Demon had been sealed by the Aspects millennia ago.
Even if Faen personally told people how terrifying and maddening Ashlesh was, most would just assume he was spouting nonsense.
It is difficult for people to imagine something they have never seen.
Because of this, the matters regarding Ashlesh were, in most cases, not a vulnerability for Faen, because people simply didn't know what Ashlesh was.
However, for an ancient relic like LeBlanc, finding legends about Ashlesh wasn't exactly easy, but it definitely wasn't difficult either.
Looking at Faen, and having gained a deeper understanding of the Joy Demon's existence, LeBlanc finally understood why Faen tirelessly manufactured joy and happiness in Piltover, Zaun, and Bilgewater.
LeBlanc never believed in concepts like "perfect beings" or "saints."
Because of this, for a time, Faen's single-minded desire to make people happy had seemed incomprehensible and irrational to her.
But now... if making others happy could serve as his source of power, then all his abnormal behavior made perfect sense.
With these thoughts, LeBlanc looked at Faen and said with a hint of marvel, "I consider my illusion magic to have reached the pinnacle of mastery. As long as I wish it, no one should be able to detect me.
But looking at it now, the mysteries surrounding you are even greater than I imagined. Your understanding of illusion magic seems to go far beyond what mere 'vigilance' can explain."
As the skill she relied on for her very survival, LeBlanc had absolute confidence in her illusion magic.
During her concealment just now, she had made no mistakes. Even her "old friends" with aligned interests would likely fail to detect her unless she intentionally revealed a flaw.
Yet, she was discovered the moment she arrived...
Looking at Faen, a glint of wariness surfaced in LeBlanc's eyes.
During their first encounter in Piltover, she noticed Faen had a sharp perception of illusion magic.
She hadn't expected that after some time, not only had this sharpness not weakened, it had actually grown...
As expected, is he also meticulously scheming on how to deal with me? Just as I spent countless days and nights exhausting my mind to figure out where this bizarre man came from?
If Faen knew what LeBlanc was thinking right now, he would definitely burst out laughing.
Meticulously scheming? In reality, his LeBlanc clone—eager to enact revenge on the original body—had spilled every piece of intelligence she knew.
To deepen the impression, she had even let Faen play with her thoroughly.
From physiological traits to mental characteristics to magical fluctuations, there was likely no one in the world who understood LeBlanc's traits better than Faen.
Considering LeBlanc was a multi-millennia-old iron-clad virgin, strictly speaking, LeBlanc likely understood her own physical body less than Faen did.
Thinking this, Faen looked at LeBlanc and said, "What? Have you investigated everything I told you?"