May calmed herself down, though a faint blush still lingered on her cheeks.
She cleared her throat and continued:
“The size of this Pumpkaboo is incredibly unique.
Even if its massive bulk doesn’t boost its combat strength that much, it will absolutely be an unrivaled focal point on the Pokémon Contest stage, maximizing its true value.
As for my Froslass~~”
She looked at Froslass, who was floating quietly beside Lorze, her ice-blue eyes gazing at him with absolute tenderness, and spoke with a trace of faint envy:
“Her strength and talent are both phenomenally outstanding; she can definitely help you out!
Most importantly, she genuinely seems to like you an awful lot.
That’s the most important reason.”
Lorze rapidly weighed his options in his mind.
May was entirely right; the Giant Pumpkaboo’s combat abilities weren’t exactly stellar, and it clearly didn’t really want to follow him anyway.
Meanwhile, Froslass had just displayed impressive strength and excellent combat mechanics, and she possessed a natural intimacy toward him.
This would undoubtedly massively boost his survivability.
Zorua looked at Froslass, then up at its master.
Emitting a soft “Guurr~”, a deep sense of crisis drove it to fiercely rub its head against Lorze’s calf.
But it was highly sensible.
Knowing that Froslass would be of immense help to Lorze, it didn’t display any real dissatisfaction.
“Deal.”
Lorze hesitated no longer.
He handed the Poké Ball containing the Giant Pumpkaboo boss over to May, then solemnly accepted Froslass’s Poké Ball.
“I’m leaving this big pumpkin in your hands, May.
And Froslass, I’ll be in your care from now on.”
“Mhm~ Rest assured!
I will absolutely raise this big pumpkin into the most dazzling Contest superstar!
And Froslass, make sure you get along well with your new partner!”
“Yaa~ Yaa~~”
At this moment, Froslass seemed to remember something.
She floated in front of May, let out a soft cry, and then pulled an ice-blue, diamond-shaped crystal radiating a biting, freezing chill from within her ice-crystal dress-like body.
“This is…
a ‘Never-Melt Ice’!
So you had already equipped Froslass with a Held Item, May.
No wonder the Ice-type moves she displayed were so outstanding!”
May understood what Froslass meant, but she waved her hand in refusal.
“Froslass, I originally gave this to you as a gift, so you just keep it.
It’s much more useful to you than it is to me.”
Lorze never expected a “buy one get one free” deal, especially with a Pokémon Held Item as precious as a “Never-Melt Ice.” He had taken a massive fucking advantage, making him feel a bit embarrassed.
After thinking for a moment, he reached into his backpack and pulled out a seed radiating a vibrant, emerald-green glow.
It was exactly the item he had just acquired—the “Miracle Seed.” Visit g.com for the full chapter.
“May, I can’t just take your stuff for free.
This ‘Miracle Seed’ happens to be perfectly suited for Pumpkaboo, so I’m giving it to you.”
The Giant Pumpkaboo’s eyes instantly lit up.
It never expected Lorze to be this principled.
But then May spoke up:
“This is an exchange and mutual assistance between friends, not a fucking business transaction.
There’s no need to calculate things so meticulously.
Froslass is destined for you, and this big pumpkin hits it off perfectly with me.
Besides, you risked your life to get this ‘Miracle Seed’.
Even if you can’t use it right now, you can trade it for other resources.
I’m not exactly short on cash; I can just buy an item for Pumpkaboo.”
Looking at May’s bright eyes and frank, genuine smile, Lorze confirmed in his heart that this girl was someone completely worthy of trust.
So he said:
“Tell you what.
You take the ‘Miracle Seed’ for now, because I actually have another favor to ask of you.”
“A favor?”
“Yeah~ Earlier, in a ravine not far from here, I found a ‘Spell Tag’ being naturally incubated by the dense ghost aura of this place, and it’s on the verge of fully materializing!”
Originally, Lorze had been somewhat hesitant to ask May for help, especially since the combat power she had just displayed wildly exceeded his expectations.
But perhaps because May’s family background was so absurdly privileged that she didn’t care much about Beginner-tier items, or perhaps she genuinely wanted to be friends with Lorze, she had casually given away a ‘Never-Melt Ice’ without a second thought.
Given this, Lorze had nothing to worry about.
The value of a ‘Spell Tag’ of the same tier was limited anyway, so there was no fucking reason to hide it from her.
“A ‘Spell Tag’?!
That’s an item that amplifies Ghost-type energy!
Due to its sheer rarity, it’s actually even more expensive than a ‘Miracle Seed’ or a ‘Never-Melt Ice’ of the exact same tier!”
“Exactly!
The ones guarding that tag earlier, besides that Cofagrigus we just fought, were two other ‘Pro-tier’ Ghost-type Pokémon.
The three were locked in a Mexican standoff, nobody willing to make the first move.
But now that Cofagrigus has fled with heavy injuries, it has utterly lost its qualification to compete for the ‘Spell Tag’.
The triangular balance has been shattered.
The moment it fully forms, it is one hundred percent guaranteed to turn into an absolute bloodbath.”
“And then we swoop in as the scavengers and reap all the fucking benefits, right?!” A sharp gleam erupted in May’s eyes:
“Alright, alright, alright~ Since I agreed, I definitely won’t go back on my word.
Plus, according to what you said, our odds of pulling this off are pretty damn high.
Lead the way.”
Behind a naturally formed rock cover, Lorze and May had been silently lying in ambush for over three hours.
Relying on his spiritual sense, Lorze constantly monitored the situation deep inside the ravine.
As time passed, the bizarre runes carved onto the ‘Spell Tag’ became increasingly distinct, and the rate at which it devoured the surrounding ghost aura accelerated drastically.
It was glaringly obvious it was on the brink of fully materializing.
Suddenly, Dusclops made the first move.
A massive, spectral claw forged from shadow energy violently tore through the air, snatching at the floating ‘Spell Tag’ with lightning speed!
Mismagius, meanwhile, let out a string of bone-chilling, coquettish giggles.
Her figure instantly vanished, reappearing on the other side of the talisman in the blink of an eye.
The red gems on her chest flashed rapidly, and several pink beams of light—distorting and blurring the very space around them—shot forward.
The two streams of energy collided brutally!
Berserk ghost energy and psychic power clashed and annihilated each other in a state of absolute madness.
The resulting shockwave violently ripped up all the gravel and dust surrounding the altar!
The ‘Spell Tag’ trembled slightly within this storm of energy, but its glow only grew more intense.
It was as if the chaotic battle energy had further stimulated it, actively accelerating the speed at which it siphoned the ambient energy.
And this initial exchange acted like a lit fuse on a goddamn powder keg.
The Ghost-type Pokémon lurking on the periphery, who had already been suppressing their desires, went entirely berserk!
Completely abandoning their fear of the two “Pro-tier” heavyweights’ oppressive auras, they shrieked and howled, swarming toward the altar and the ‘Spell Tag’ from every fucking direction!
“Astonish”, “Confuse Ray”, “Hex”, “Shadow Sneak”…
An infinite barrage of Ghost-type moves mashed together, violently turning the entire ravine into a literal hellscape of a Night Parade of One Hundred Demons!
Time slipped away in the midst of this frenzied slaughter.
The ground was soon littered with Ghost-type Pokémon that had either passed out from energy exhaustion or had their spectral bodies severely damaged and dimmed.
In the very epicenter, Dusclops had accumulated numerous scorch marks and torn bandages across its body.
Its movements were no longer as ferocious as before, and the glow of Mismagius’s red gems had become extremely bleak.
Yet they continued their desperate, suicidal offensive, both wanting to eradicate the other as quickly as possible to seize the supreme treasure hovering just inches away.
“Lorze, practically all the Ghost-type Pokémon on the field are completely exhausted.
We should be good to strike now.”
Lorze, always insanely paranoid, first swept the surrounding area meticulously with his spiritual sense, wanting to confirm absolutely no other rats had slipped through the net before making his move.
However, just as he was about to step forward, his spiritual sense abruptly locked onto the dead center of the ravine.
A deeply unsettling, heart-palpitating energy was lying entirely dormant there, poised to strike.
“May, something’s seriously fucking wrong.
Let’s wait a little longer~~”
While Lorze was still whispering an explanation to a bewildered May, a catastrophic mutation had already occurred.
At the exact moment Dusclops and Mismagius simultaneously blasted each other with an attack, causing their auras to violently fluctuate!
Right beneath the altar, the grayish-black boulder supporting the ‘Spell Tag’ suddenly, without a single shred of warning, erupted with a rolling, writhing mass of pitch-black fog as thick as ink from within!
The moment this fog appeared, it instantly morphed into a ghastly face.
Exploiting the precise moment when the two combatants were at their absolute weakest, it fired off two surges of shadow energy, striking both “Pro-tier” Pokémon simultaneously.
Instantly, every sound of slaughter and shrieking was violently silenced in this exact fraction of a second.