RNP Chapter 485 The End of the Maze
Chapter 485 The End of the Maze
Chapter 487 The End of the Maze
"It seems that Zero is hiding something from those artificial Pokémon. Even though they have been completely defeated, he still sends out a tidal wave of Pokémon to retrieve the unconscious Pokémon—probably because he's afraid that we might find something we shouldn't know from them while they're down."
At this moment, the group of five had broken through the last line of defense formed by the Iron Leaf and Iron Rock, and truly stepped into the core area of this plasma cluster castle where energy was most concentrated.
The handsome man recalled the large number of gear monsters and molluskine swarms that suddenly appeared during the breakout, and stroked his chin as he exchanged views with his superior, Lila, in a low voice.
"Hmm, something I shouldn't know—could it be the operating principle of the energy harvesting mechanism on Iron Rock's body?"
Lila's voice was a little muffled as she held a hair tie in her mouth, gathering her long purple hair, which had become disheveled during the previous battle, back together.
"Since the opponent is so wary, conversely, it could also be a device whose mechanism is easily countered once it's figured out. Unfortunately, King Blueberry was unaware of this device's existence when he defeated Ironhead. Perhaps we should pay more attention to this next time we encounter them."
As she spoke to her subordinates, her gaze swept over the exposed metal structures around her, which had been damaged by Lian Wu's old construction workers.
Although it is not yet certain whether this vast space filled with pipes and energy conduction patterns is the control room where "City Defender" Zero is located, based on the senses of Raikou and Espeon, there is no doubt that the area in front of them is the heart of the entire castle.
Right now, everyone is making final preparations before the attack.
Opposite the handsome guy and Lila, Wanlong was explaining to Bilberry, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground with General Pudao, how they discovered the hidden passage, how they met up with Lianwu who had broken through from another route, and how they finally located Bilberry by using the fresh leaf left by the grass turtle.
Meanwhile, King Wu was half-squatting on the ground, applying PP supplements to an old construction worker who was sitting against the corner of the wall.
In the breakout and continuous wall-breaking operations just now, this fighting king's main force undoubtedly bore almost all the pressure of the frontal breakthrough. Its signature "True Qi Fist" had exhausted all the energy of its moves and now urgently needs to recover.
Meanwhile, the three heroes who led the Elite Three through the maze in this operation—Pipeman, Chimchar, and Turtwig—were gathered nearby.
These three Hugo Detective's starter Pokémon didn't seem tired at all. On the contrary, they were excited because they had just worked together to defeat the powerful Paradox Pokémon. They happily formed a small circle, with Sapling, Claw, and Flip gesturing to each other, as if they were also discussing their discoveries in the castle.
"---Yes, I understand the general situation."
After listening to Wanlong's brief explanation, Yueju patted her knees, stood up, and turned her gaze to the two detectives who were discussing the matter, naturally joining their conversation—
"But more than what you two have said—to be honest, I'm more concerned about something else right now. You see, Geralt can control this transforming castle to this extent, yet he has never directly crushed us with his heavy architectural structure. That's what's bothering me."
"That's not hard to explain," the handsome man replied, his gaze sweeping over the exposed sections of the surrounding wall structure.
"Gero is ultimately a 'city defense specialist,' not some weapons expert. In fact, to achieve its complex transformation capabilities, this castle, besides the alloy interlayers that isolate 'teleportation,' extensively utilizes hollow frames and modular splicing structures. While the castle can indeed move walls and rearrange passageways, it lacks a centralized, large-scale hydraulic system to generate the immense force needed to crush us instantly."
He paused, then pointed to the interior of a wall exposed from the previous battle—
"Even if he forcibly caused a room to collapse, with the strength of the Pokémon that each of the Elite Four members paired with, they could easily dig and create a space large enough to survive in the ruins. After all, a hollow structure means that there is a limit to compression, and forcibly continuing to apply pressure would only destroy the stability of the castle itself first. Besides, the castle's airtightness is far from being able to cut off oxygen."
“That’s right.” Wanlong nodded in agreement. “If it really comes to that, the visual illusion created by the maze will disappear. We will certainly be temporarily trapped, but it will also be easier to deduce the location of the core area from the exposed pipes and load-bearing structures. That would be riskier for the ‘City Defense Division’.”
"He deliberately isolated our Interpol follow-up forces, likely for the same reason."
Lila, who was standing to the side, had already finished getting ready and added—
"He was worried that too many Alliance forces entering at once would generate enough power to continuously break through the labyrinth's walls. Of course, considering the existence of those three artificial Pokémon, our team was never strong enough to get through this labyrinth. The real reason he isolated the space was probably to focus on dealing with you Elite Four members."
"But relying solely on the maze and those three artificial spirits isn't enough."
Lian Wu spoke, his words concise and to the point—
"They couldn't have lured us into the castle just for this."
"Indeed." Yueju scratched her head thoughtfully. "Although the design of the entire castle is full of meticulously calculated malice, it is somewhat restrained in terms of lethality. Rather than saying that Zero wants to defeat us with those Pokémon, it seems more like he is just stalling for time."
"What is he waiting for?" the handsome man frowned.
"The answer," Wanlong pushed up his glasses, his gaze falling on the last and thickest alloy partition wall at the end of the corridor, "is probably behind this wall."
Is it an even more troublesome mechanism, or some kind of trump card hidden by the plasma cluster? Before the novelist could finish speaking, Lian Wu had already stood up.
The street fighter, discovered by the former champion, looked around and saw Wanlong's crystal lamp flames were steady, Yueju's servant general's blades had been re-polished and were bright, Lila's Pokémon had all finished their rest, and Frog and Espeon stood guard on either side of the handsome man. Even the three beginner Pokémon that could not be called combat power all had their eyes burning.
Without needing to say more, everyone understood the instruction from that one glance.
"Then," the Fighting King's voice was calm and powerful, "let's move forward."
Just as he finished speaking, the old construction worker, who had been standing behind Lian Wu without him noticing, loosened the concrete pillar.
Lila's Espeon and the handsome scoundrel moved in perfect unison to its side, each bracing against its arm—"
The energy of the "Help" move flows in like a warm current.
The Pokémon with muscular physique lowers its waist, inhales, and slowly pulls its right fist back.
The immense fighting energy rapidly collapsed and condensed at the edge of its fist, as if it were holding a miniature star about to explode.
Then, it blasted out—
"True Qi Fist".
The moment the fist made contact with the final, cold-glowing alloy wall, time seemed to freeze for a moment.
Immediately afterwards, the fist shadow crashed into the final steel wall that seemed to isolate everything, like a meteor!
Amidst the deafening roar, one could hear the piercing noise of metal tearing apart, but even more so, a crisp, clear sound like crystals shattering.
Light shone through.
The old craftsman looked at the fist that had been withdrawn from the hole in the wall with some confusion. Where its fist had struck, a hole had been blasted open in the thick alloy wall, its edges shimmering with crystalline fragments of light.
But the sight that appeared behind the cave stunned everyone—
That wasn't the castle control room where Geralt was supposed to be, nor was it the massive Plasma Legion army sharpening their knives.
On the contrary, it wasn't even a man-made space.
Following the "True Qi Fist," the Servant Blade General's slash and the Crystal Lamp Spirit's ghostly flames also attacked simultaneously, completely tearing apart the alloy wall that had become fragile due to the force of the qi.
At this moment, what is fully revealed to everyone is a deep and vast cave filled with clusters of natural crystals.
The faint light refracted and flowed between the prisms, and the air was filled with some ancient, pure and almost sacred energy pulse, which formed a suffocating contrast with the cold and austere steel castle outside.
"This structure—it's somewhat like the crystal veins of a tourmaline cave," Wanlong murmured unconsciously, but her voice abruptly stopped.
Because deep within the cave, something more noteworthy than the changes in the environment has appeared.
Those three figures.
Unlike the mechanical creations of Ironrock, Ironleaf, and Ironhead that deliberately imitate legends but feel artificial, these three Pokémon have a clear place in the Pokédex and historical records.
"How did they get here?"
Lila, from the Hoenn region, frowned, while Raikou beside her lowered its body, letting out a wary growl.
Bathed in the crystalline glow, the three Pokémon stood silently, towering like ancient pillars.
One statue has a rugged body like an ancient rock mountain weathered by wind; another is covered with smooth and translucent ice crystals, with a chilling aura silently emanating from its surface; the last one gleams with a cold metallic luster, its structure rounded and precise, filled with a kind of inhuman sense of order.
In the dim light of the cave, the indicator light-like patterns on their faces, arranged like Braille, flickered at a slow rhythm, as if the creatures were breathing in their slumber.
Wanlong suppressed the wavering in her voice and called out their names one by one—
"Regiek—Regice—Regice."
A giant from the Hoenn legends, a guardian sealed away in ancient history.
Yes, why are they here?
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