The energy fluctuations radiating from the Banette were seriously formidable.
It had impressively reached the absolute peak of the “Elite-tier,” easily rivaling the Trevenant from earlier.
The Phantump and Pumpkaboo that still retained a shred of combat power simultaneously whimpered weakly, struggling desperately to assume a defensive stance.
“Oh~ Still stubbornly refusing to lie down!
Then I’ll have to trouble you to clear the field, old pal.
Make it quick and clean.”
“Gaa!”
Banette let out a sinister shriek, its body instantly turning into a blur as it lunged mercilessly into the pack of battered Phantump and Pumpkaboo.
In the blink of an eye, the last pathetic remnants of resistance on the battlefield were utterly annihilated, without even putting up a decent fight.
“Hehehe, even though they’re just low-tier garbage, they’re still rare Ghost-types.
Since I packed plenty of Poké Balls for this trip anyway, I can drag them all back to the black market for a solid pile of cash!”
Stepping over the field littered with unconscious Phantump and Pumpkaboo, the man strolled right up to the Trevenant and the colossal Pumpkaboo boss.
Without hesitation, he viciously kicked the massive pumpkin twice.
“This bastard’s size is fucking massive.
Even if its tier isn’t that high, I bet it can still bluff plenty of clueless buyers.
Next, he thoroughly patted down the Trevenant’s trunk, finally pulling out a seed radiating a vibrant, emerald-green spiritual glow!
“Hahaha!
It really is a ‘Miracle Seed’!
Thank God my Banette’s Ability is ‘Frisk’.
When we passed by here earlier, it completely sensed you were hoarding this exact treasure.
That’s the only reason I took the massive risk to stalk this area and camp out for days!
Originally, I was racking my brain trying to figure out how to pry this out of your wooden hands without calling in reinforcements!
I absolutely never expected to stumble right into your fucking clan war!
Now I’ve scored it without lifting a damn finger.
Looks like heaven itself decided I’m meant to strike it rich!
Hahaha~”
“So that’s how it is!
That Banette’s Ability is ‘Frisk.’ No wonder he knew about the existence of the ‘Miracle Seed’!”
Lorze swept his spiritual sense over the entire area one more time.
Once he was completely certain there were no other rats hiding in the dark, he instantly sent a telepathic order to Zorua via the Undead Contract.
Hearing the command, the little fox’s eyes darted around before a wicked smirk crept onto its face.
With a quick shimmer in place, it actually transformed itself into a perfectly average-sized Pumpkaboo!
Almost simultaneously, Banette detected Zorua’s energy fluctuations.
It instantly teleported in front of the man, letting out sharp “Gaa Gaa~” sounds of alarm.
“How the hell is there still one that slipped through the net?
Hurry up and finish it off!”
Banette’s ragged little hand surged with pitch-black light, suddenly stretching outwards and forming into a deadly, dark claw as it violently swiped at the ‘Pumpkaboo’!
The latter didn’t dodge or evade.
It just stood perfectly still, condensing a ball of jet-black energy and casually dropping the whole thing straight into the ground beneath it.
The very next moment, the “Shadow Claw” struck the ‘Pumpkaboo’ completely unobstructed.
But the anticipated sound of physical impact or agonizing scream never came.
Banette’s “Shadow Claw”—an attack fully capable of shredding the spiritual body of an ordinary Ghost-type Pokémon—actually phased straight through its target as if trying to grasp a literal phantom!
“Gaa?!”
For the first time, a look of sheer, undeniable bewilderment flashed across Banette’s crimson, button-like eyes.
Its claw had clearly hit the target, yet the tactile feedback was entirely empty, as if it had slashed through a fucking hologram.
Meanwhile, the pale purple shadow that the “Shadow Claw” had just phased through abruptly shattered its form, revealing a fox with deep purple fur.
It was the standard, Dark-type form of Zorua!
This was the precise strategy Lorze had telepathically ordered Zorua to execute beforehand.
After all, if the “Shadow Claw” completely failed to affect an ordinary Pumpkaboo, the enemy would instantly suspect some bullshit was at play and switch up their tactics.
Conversely, revealing the form of an ordinary Dark-type Zorua made perfect logical sense in this scenario, effectively baiting the enemy into making another utterly stupid mistake.
Simultaneously, an intensely ominous aura, reeking of profound malice and resentment, violently erupted from the ground directly beneath Banette’s feet.
A surge of pitch-black energy snapped out like a venomous snake lying in ambush, brutally “biting” into Banette’s ragged doll body!
“Gaaah~~”
A bloodcurdling scream tore out of Banette’s zippered mouth, while its body simultaneously flared with a dim blue light—the universal sign of severely degraded combat stats!
“Bitter Malice!”
The absolute signature move of Hisuian Zorua, inflicting massive damage while brutally crippling the opponent’s Attack stat!
Since Banette was a Ghost-type, it was naturally highly vulnerable to Ghost-type moves.
Now, having its most proficient offensive stat viciously nerfed, it was instantly thrown into absolute panic.
“What the fuck!
It’s actually a Dark-type Zorua?!
No wonder that ‘Shadow Claw’ barely did any damage!”
Since he wasn’t the one physically taking the hit, the man mistakenly assumed the attack merely had a reduced effect, so he remained somewhat calm as he commanded:
“Don’t panic, Banette!
Judging by its energy fluctuations, it’s just a completely average ‘Elite-tier’ Pokémon!
It only managed to confuse you just now by relying on its damn Ability.
In a straight fight, it’s not like you lack the means to counter a Dark-type.
Hit it with ‘Lunge’!”
“Bingo.
Master is truly a goddamn tactical genius!”
Seeing Banette lunge forward coated in a pale green light, Zorua once again refused to dodge.
It actually stood its ground and cast another “Bitter Malice,” looking perfectly willing to go head-to-head in a brutal clash.
“Hmph~ You want to trade blows with my Banette?
Does a frail little shit like you even have the fucking right to?”
However, the man’s mocking sneer quickly froze solid.
The Zorua that was violently blasted away by the “Lunge” hadn’t suffered the crippling damage he expected.
It quickly stood right back up, and then morphed into a completely unrecognizable form.
Even though Zorua’s energy tier was significantly lower, its actual Ghost typing naturally resisted Bug-type moves, and to make matters worse, Banette’s attack power had already been brutally handicapped.
Conversely, the Banette that had blasted it away was instantly dry-cleaned by another surge of pitch-black resentment erupting from the ground, freezing it right down to its goddamn core.
Taking two consecutive super-effective hits right to the face was too much even for Banette to handle.
Its stamina plummeted instantly into the critical red zone.
You have to realize, despite possessing the raw stat advantage from evolution, its actual energy tier was still just at the peak of the “Elite-tier.” It didn’t possess the absolute, overwhelming advantage of being a full major realm above Zorua.
Furthermore, with its Attack stat having been viciously nerfed yet again, it practically lost all will to continue fighting this bizarre, unknown Pokémon whose typing it couldn’t even fucking comprehend.
Witnessing this spectacle, the man across the field was filled with both terror and intense, burning greed.
This was clearly a brand-new species of Pokémon—highly likely an undiscovered regional variant of Zorua.
How could he not be afraid, yet how could he not greedily covet it?!
Suddenly, a realization hit him!
“Wait a minute~ That ‘Shadow Claw’ earlier didn’t just have a reduced effect, it looked like it was completely immune!
Don’t tell me this special Zorua actually has the Normal typing?!
I get it now!
I’m about to become filthy fucking rich!”
The man muttered to himself in absolute euphoria, then immediately tossed out another Pokémon—a creature resembling a small, heavily muscled humanoid!
“Banette, hang in there just a bit longer!
Lock this bastard down!
Machop, hit it with everything you’ve got using Fighting-type moves as the main attack!”
The man’s Machop was roughly at the same power level as Zorua, both appearing to have just barely stepped into the “Elite-tier.” But he was absolutely confident that by relying on a massive type advantage, combined with Banette running interference, he could undoubtedly capture this one-of-a-kind Zorua and shove it straight into his pocket.
The sheer amount of wealth and benefits he would reap from this was simply unimaginable…
Fighting through agonizing pain and crippling weakness, Banette executed the move “Will-O-Wisp.” Several eerie blue fireballs materialized out of thin air, slowly rotating around its body.
Its offensive power was already far too handicapped anyway.
It figured it might as well inflict a nasty status condition on Zorua while actively cutting off its evasion routes.
Seizing the opening, Machop exploded forward.
Charging at the white Zorua with heavy, grounded footwork, both of its fists were heavily coated in explosive Fighting-type energy.
This devastatingly heavy strike was completely impossible to dodge.