Hearing the sinister voice echo through the hidden chamber, everyone from Team Magma suddenly felt their heads grow heavy. A nauseating dizziness washed over them, and fear began to well up in their hearts.
The moment that fear took hold, wisps of black mist poured out from the frightened Team Magma members and merged into the strange mass of black energy.
After absorbing the black mist, the eerie cloud seemed to have taken some miraculous tonic. Its size began to expand rapidly.
"Hmph! Stop pretending to be some mysterious monster. Ninetales, use Dark Pulse!"
Courtney had seen all kinds of strange and bizarre things before. Her willpower far surpassed that of ordinary people. The instant the black mist appeared, she threw a PokeBall and shouted her command.
Although the mysterious black mist seemed bizarre, to her it was nothing extraordinary. She immediately concluded it was some evil Pokémon that had been sealed away. Considering they were on Mt. Pyre, the domain of Ghost-type Pokémon, she instantly identified the strange black mist as some malevolent Ghost-type Pokémon.
In the next second, Ninetales appeared in front of Courtney and unleashed a black wave of energy from its mouth, shooting straight toward the strange black mist.
The black mist clearly hadn't expected Courtney to feel no fear whatsoever, let alone counterattack immediately. Seeing Dark Pulse about to strike, it could no longer keep up its act. It instantly revealed its true form and hastily dodged to the right.
"It's actually a Spiritomb! Everyone, retreat! Get out of here!"
Only then did Courtney finally see through the black mist and recognize its true identity. Her expression changed drastically as she urgently shouted to her subordinates.
But the moment the words left her mouth, a heavy boom echoed through the chamber.
The secret passage they had entered through was suddenly sealed shut by a massive stone gate.
Spiritomb was a Pokémon possessing both Ghost and Dark types. Legend said that it was born from the fusion of 108 vengeful spirits.
Such a twisted existence came into the world harboring hatred for everything. It committed countless atrocities, and its existence was almost impossible to destroy. Aside from Fairy-type attacks, virtually every other type was largely ineffective against it.
Since Spiritomb itself was a collection of countless souls, it possessed the power to manipulate souls. Any creature killed by a Spiritomb would have its soul enslaved and devoured.
Spiritomb grew stronger by continuously consuming souls. The more souls it devoured, the stronger it became—and the harder it was to destroy.
To eliminate one completely, every single soul within it had to be destroyed. As long as even one soul escaped, Spiritomb could recover by devouring the souls of other living beings.
Because of this, in ancient times, powerful spirit mediums would seal these terrifying Pokémon inside specially enchanted Odd Keystone imbued with powerful sealing magic, allowing the passage of time to gradually wear them away.
Although the other Team Magma members didn't know exactly what Spiritomb was, they understood perfectly well that the Pokémon emerging from the stone table was nothing good. The moment Courtney ordered a retreat, they all turned and ran.
Among them, the two Team Magma elites carrying the Red Orb and the Blue Orb became especially anxious when they discovered that neither orb could be placed into a storage backpack.
Both orbs were incredibly heavy—each felt like a solid lead cannonball.
"Hehehehe... Trying to run? You should all stay behind... and become part of me."
Seeing the "kind-hearted people" who had released it trying to flee, Spiritomb naturally had no intention of letting them escape. It let out another sinister laugh.
The reason it had been sealed here was obvious.
Whoever sealed it had intended to use it as a weapon—to serve as the guardian of the two sacred orbs.
Anyone who removed either orb from the stone table would inevitably trigger the mechanism and release Spiritomb.
Spiritomb could no longer remember the last time it had been freed.
It only knew that the number of souls stored within itself had dwindled dangerously low.
If it wasn't replenished soon, then after another few decades, it would truly disappear from this world.
Therefore, no matter what, it would never allow these delicious meals before it to escape.
In an instant, Spiritomb transformed back into a mass of black mist and shot toward the nearest Team Magma elite—the one carrying the Red Orb.
"Come out, Camerupt! Use Flamethrower!"
Seeing Spiritomb rushing toward him, the Team Magma elite no longer cared about the priceless Red Orb.
For the sake of his own life, he immediately threw the orb aside, released his Pokémon, and shouted.
Camerupt emerged instantly and fired a blazing stream of fire straight at the incoming black mist.
But Spiritomb's mist-like form was astonishingly agile. With a slight twist, it effortlessly dodged Flamethrower, then launched several Shadow Ball attacks from within the darkness.
Spiritomb had once been an old Elite-Four level Pokémon.
Although countless years of sealing had reduced it to merely peak pseudo-Elite-Four strength, overwhelming an Elite-class Camerupt was still effortless.
A single Shadow Ball instantly knocked Camerupt unconscious.
Spiritomb immediately seized the opportunity, its black mist passing directly through Camerupt's body.
Moments later, Camerupt's soul was forcibly dragged from its body and swiftly devoured.
Spiritomb's next target was the now defenseless Team Magma elite.
Repeating the same method, the black mist passed through the man and effortlessly tore away his soul as well.
After devouring two souls, Spiritomb's aura surged dramatically, already beginning to recover a trace of its former Elite-Four level might.
Witnessing their companion slaughtered as effortlessly as if he were livestock—and in such a horrifying manner, with even his soul consumed—the remaining Team Magma members were utterly terrified.
They desperately scrambled toward the hidden passage, each trying to outrun the others.
The Team Magma elite carrying the Blue Orb ran the fastest.
After seeing his companion's fate, he didn't hesitate for a second to throw away the priceless treasure, sprinting past the nearest teammate at full speed.
"Damn it! Don't run! Get back here! Ninetales, use Blast Burn!"
Seeing that no one even bothered to retrieve the Red Orb, Courtney hesitated for a brief moment. She immediately tried to stop those around her from fleeing.
But when she saw Spiritomb abandoning the others and charging directly toward her—the classic tactic of taking down the leader first—she immediately ordered Ninetales to intercept it.
Spiritomb's mist form moved with unbelievable speed.
At least within the confines of the chamber, it was unnaturally fast.
Even Ninetales' Blast Burn was effortlessly avoided.
Spiritomb immediately counterattacked with Shadow Ball.
However, Ninetales was nothing like the Camerupt from moments earlier.
It swung its tail with a powerful Iron Tail, smashing the incoming Shadow Ball apart while simultaneously striking Spiritomb itself and knocking it out of its mist form.
Ninetales used all nine of its tails for this Iron Tail.
It was effectively equivalent to unleashing Iron Tail nine times simultaneously.
Even though Spiritomb possessed an exceptionally durable body, it was instantly gravely injured, crashing violently into one of the chamber's walls.
At the same time, several Team Magma members finally succeeded in commanding their Pokémon to shatter the stone gate blocking the secret passage.
Yet just as that stone gate was destroyed, the main entrance to the chamber slowly opened.
With a face as cold as ice, Wallace strode inside, accompanied by his Milotic.