NILS Statue

The NILS Statue is a giant statue created by a human professor 12,000 years before the events of Splatoon 2. Commander Tartar, an AI created by the same professor, attempts to use the statue as a weapon to destroy Inkopolis and Inkling civilization.

In Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion
The NILS Statue is the location of Turf War, the final mission of the Octo Expansion. Agent 8 must completely cover the statue in ink using Marina's Hyperbombs in order to prevent it from charging a large cannon in its mouth. When they succeed the cannon fires anyway, and Pearl uses a Killer Wail to intercept its beam and destroy the statue. It then sinks back into the ocean. If Agent 8 fails to ink the entire surface, the NILS Statue destroys Inkopolis.

Trivia

 * The cannon in the mouth of the NILS Statue includes several blenders that resemble the one Agent 8 and Cap'n Cuttlefish stepped inside earlier.
 * The NILS Statue may be based on depictions of the Greek god Hermes.
 * The statue may have be included as an element of vaporwave to which Octo Expansion heavily alludes.
 * With its extremely large size and location off the coast of a major city, it may also be a reference to the Statue of Liberty. If so, it parallels the use of the Statue of Liberty as a representation of a past human civilization seen in the film Planet of the Apes.