The broadsword was launched from the Skeleton Warrior’s raised hand, rocketing straight toward Lorze’s back!
Even more bizarrely, the moment the broadsword left its hand, the blade was abruptly engulfed in a shadow as thick as black ink.
Wrapping the entire sword, it morphed into a terrifyingly fast pitch-black streak.
But Lorze had been guarding against exactly this.
Multitasking flawlessly, he had kept his spiritual sense locked onto the Skeleton Warrior in real time while pinging Zorua.
The exact millisecond the broadsword was unleashed, Zorua simultaneously melted into the shadows.
The explosive speed boost provided by its “Shadow Sneak” allowed it to perfectly intercept the pitch-black shadow’s flight path!
Bang~~
With a heavy, muffled impact, Zorua’s “Shadow Sneak” collided brutally against the pitch-black energy of the flying sword, emitting a sickening sizzle of corrosion.
The flying sword was violently knocked off course by the sudden impact, reverting to its original shape.
After spinning once in mid-air, it inexplicably flew right back into the Skeleton Warrior’s hand.
Zorua was also blasted backward by the sheer recoil force, but it agilely flipped in the air to bleed off the momentum, sticking the landing flawlessly.
Having missed its opening strike, the previously motionless skeletal frame emitted a teeth-grating creak-clack of bone rubbing on bone, before it literally broke into a sprint, charging madly at Lorze!
Its movements were slightly stiff at first, but they rapidly grew ferocious and agile.
The clashing of its rusted armor rang out sharply, projecting a terrifyingly oppressive aura!
“It’s definitely not a normal skeleton, but it doesn’t feel like a Pokémon either.
Don’t tell me other types of undead creatures exist in the Pokémon world too?!”
Although Lorze couldn’t immediately identify it, he was more than prepared.
Rapidly chanting an obscure incantation, his hands formed a seal and pointed forward, unleashing the Soul Bind spell at full power!
Crrrk~~
The skeleton’s forward charge violently stalled.
Its entire frame emitted the agonizing friction of bones groaning under immense pressure, as if it were desperately struggling.
As a restraint spell tailored exclusively for undead beings, the Soul Bind remained highly effective against both Ghost-type Pokémon and this mysterious skeleton in front of him.
Exploiting the skeleton’s paralysis, the shadow-morphed Zorua violently bulldozed into the Skeleton Warrior, shattering it in a single strike.
Countless bone fragments, pieces of shattered armor, and the broadsword were blasted in all directions.
But before Lorze could even let out a sigh of relief, an infinitely bizarre scene unfolded!
The broadsword that had clattered to the ground began emitting a low, vibrating hum.
The blade shuddered violently before it levitated on its own and launched a lethal thrust straight at Lorze.
Lorze had his suspicions from the start, which was exactly why he only used half of his accumulated magic power when casting the Soul Bind on the skeleton.
Seeing the broadsword trigger on its own, it was glaringly obvious that this thing was the one playing ghost.
He immediately dumped every last drop of his remaining magic power, utterly freezing the broadsword right in front of his face!
Only then did Lorze get a clear look at the broadsword’s true form.
It was actually a Honedge, with a literal eye and mouth etched right into the blade!
However, compared to the Honedge he knew, the one he had paralyzed didn’t just have crimson red eyes and a mouth; even its ribbon sash featured a striking red and purple color scheme.
This was unmistakably a Shiny Honedge!
Even though this Shiny Honedge was still in its base evolutionary stage, its power level was no joke.
It was practically on par with the Banette and Trevenant from earlier.
Relying on just 50% of his magic capacity wasn’t enough to completely suppress it.
Honedge violently tore free from its restraints, executing a buttery-smooth mid-air spin as it prepared to bring the blade chopping down on his skull.
But at that exact moment, Zorua had already whipped back around.
Pitch-black energy coalesced in its claws before it hurled it outward, completely entangling Honedge.
Honedge realized it absolutely had to eradicate the fox first, so it instantly melted into a shadow and pivoted to strike Zorua.
However, its shadow blade slashed through Zorua in an eerily unobstructed pass.
Before it could process what had just happened, the Ghost-type energy of “Bitter Malice” completely smothered it.
Clang~~
Honedge shrieked out a furious curse: “Despicable grave robbers!
How dare you trespass into my King’s mausoleum?!
As the Captain of His Majesty’s Royal Guard, I will never permit you to run rampant here!”
Realizing Ghost-type moves were entirely useless, it swallowed the agonizing pain the moment it finished shouting, shifting tactics instantly.
Its blade erupted in a silvery-white glow as it slashed at Zorua again.
This time, Honedge utilized the Normal-type move “Slash.” Unsurprisingly, it missed its mark entirely, phasing straight through.
Simultaneously, Zorua’s second “Bitter Malice” ruthlessly slammed into Honedge’s body.
No matter how much higher its energy tier was, it couldn’t tank consecutive hits like this.
Furthermore, despite being a sturdy Steel-type, its stats heavily skewed towards Physical Attack and Physical Defense.
After tanking two Special Attack hits from “Bitter Malice,” it hit the floor with a loud clatter~.
Honedge was already considered a rare breed among Ghost-type Pokémon, let alone a phenomenally rare Shiny variant.
How could Lorze possibly let this slip by?
However, Lorze found Honedge’s self-proclaimed title as “Captain of His Majesty’s Royal Guard” highly bizarre.
He wondered if that Cofagrigus had gained human-like sentience, crowned itself King, and assigned official titles to its underlings.
Or perhaps, the soul inhabiting this Honedge originally belonged to a genuine royal guard of this tomb, who was sacrificed in burial and manifested as a spirit over the centuries.
But there was absolutely no time to ponder that now.
Because he hadn’t one-shot Honedge immediately, their brief skirmish dragged out.
The commotion had alerted every other Ghost-type Pokémon in the tomb, and they were rapidly swarming toward this location.
Terrified of being completely surrounded—and even more paranoid about that “Pro-tier” Cofagrigus suddenly returning—Lorze snatched only the most visibly priceless burial artifacts within arm’s reach and prepared to haul ass out of there.
But just as he was about to bail, his spiritual sense actually detected another pulse of incredibly pure Ghost-type energy lurking in the room.
Lorze hurriedly expanded his perception.
The power of his necromantic magic immediately locked onto a familiar energy signature, pointing straight at the armor of the fallen Skeleton Warrior.
Earlier, Zorua had effortlessly bulldozed it into pieces, cracking parts of its armor.
Yet, the upper torso piece remained completely flawless, currently oozing a dense, eerie aura.
“Oh hell yeah~ I never expected this skeleton’s armor to be an item saturated with Ghost-type energy.
No wonder I didn’t spot Honedge right off the bat.
Its presence must have been totally masked by the overlapping energy bleeding off this armor.”
Lorze snatched up the rusted armor and bolted, but a massive mob of Ghost-type Pokémon had already blocked the cavern exit, actively beating the absolute shit out of the Giant Pumpkaboo in a brutal gang-up.
Fortunately, these ghost lackeys had garbage combat power.
Lacking any elite heavy hitters like Honedge, they also barely knew any devastating moves outside of their native Ghost typing.
Instantly, relying on its total immunity to Ghost-type attacks, Zorua charged headfirst into the enemy ranks like an absolute rabid dog, tearing through them in a bloodbath.
With Lorze laying down necromantic fire support from the rear alongside the Giant Pumpkaboo, the one man and two ghosts swiftly carved a bloody path straight through the encroaching tomb-guard army, quickly making it back to the cave entrance.
The massive horde of tomb Pokémon behind them hesitated in sheer terror of Zorua, not daring to step forward.
Abandoning the pursuit, they could only watch helplessly as Lorze and his crew breached the tomb’s exit and vanished.
Just as they re-entered the outside world, greeted by air that was still chillingly cold but comparatively much fresher, Lorze didn’t even have a second to catch his breath before his expression warped violently!
He whipped his head around, staring deep into the dense fog toward the southeast—the exact direction of the valley where the “Spell Tag” was incubating!
A colossal, freezing wave of energy—reeking of rotting coffins and saturated with an apocalyptic, berserk fury—was rocketing toward them at a terrifying speed!
“Oh fuck!
Cofagrigus must have sensed that its house got broken into!
It’s coming right for us, haul ass!”