"Meh~!" Misdreavus dodged in panic but couldn't avoid being hit.
Bam!
Amidst the swirling smoke, the first Misdreavus was defeated, lying on the ground unconscious.
Suddenly, the ground flickered, revealing many square floor panels in different positions ahead.
"Are the invisibility of the ground in their hands?" Baimu was somewhat surprised and stepped toward the area with floor panels—
As he tried to land firmly, he suddenly fell down.
"Damn!"
But luckily, he fell less than ten centimeters, and Dragapult, agreed upon earlier as a safety rope, pulled him back up with its tail.
"These guys are really crafty!"
Baimu stomped on the ground with relief; unable to win head-on, they started playing tricks on him.
What's the point?
What's real can't be fake, and what's fake can't be real.
He took out a jar filled with ordinary Poké Blocks from his pocket, snapped his fingers, and two Dreepy emerged in the air, "I leave it to you."
"Hehe!" "Hehe!"
The Dreepy siblings saluted firmly, then swam back and forth like fish, testing the truth of the ground. They marked the real locations with a Poké Block.
While the two were working, Baimu continued searching for the remaining Misdreavus.
Unfortunately, its ability to hide was quite good, and no matter where the flashlight shone, he couldn't find its figure.
"Do you feel anything?" He turned to ask Hydreigon.
The latter twitched its nose, regretfully stating that the scent was too mixed inside the Pillar of the Sky, making it impossible for it to precisely pinpoint the opponent's whereabouts.
Unless it had the divine skill of Scent Detection for probing Ghost-type Pokémon.
Unfortunately, Hydreigon didn't know it.
During the investigation, the efficient Dreepy siblings had already "laid" a path leading to the seventh floor, and looking at the inviting two little guys, Baimu's thoughts of buying a walking stick faded quite a bit.
While convenient, a walking stick often omits the interaction between him and Pokémon.
Interaction is key to quickly strengthening bonds.
He praised the two Dreepy and walked along the floor panels marked with Poké Blocks, swiftly arriving at the corridor leading to the seventh floor but refrained from proceeding.
"If you don't appear, I'll be moving on."
Baimu said, slightly perplexing Hydreigon as it vigilantly scanned the surroundings.
—No response.
He sighed, his outstretched foot veering, missing the floor panel with an Energy Block, instead stepping into another empty space.
One foot down.
It was solid.
Hydreigon looked surprised, invisible Dragapult and the two little Dreepy were equally puzzled; the latter two exchanged glances, recalling whether they marked the last place.
Meanwhile, Baimu didn't walk up the stairs but shifted along the floor panels to the side, moving three or four meters, even reaching another panel before confidently stepping toward the void next to the stairway.
With this step, a fierce sound suddenly erupted from the air ahead and behind!
Woosh!
Hydreigon instinctively shielded, a pitch-black shadow ball hit the honeycomb-like barrier without causing a ripple.
Dragapult tunneled through a hole beside it, suddenly appearing behind the hidden Misdreavus, its ethereal tail piercing the Misdreavus's fiery head like a spike.
"Meh~!"
It let out a miserable cry, falling to the ground.
Also letting Baimu, stepping on "air," return to the substantial staircase.
"This illusion skill is impressive, how did they do it?" He blinked curiously; these two Misdreavus not only hid the panels, but even concealed the ones marked by Dreepy, creating illusions to lure him onto fake stairs.
The real stairs were parallel, two to three meters away.
Luckily, his memory was sharp, feeling the staircase wasn't quite right during judgment, coupled with the Poké Blocks intentionally used to bait the Misdreavus, avoiding the trap.
The illusion ability is genuinely amazing.
Even without feeling hypnotized, Misdreavus's trick was almost like Zoroark's illusion.
Luckily, he had some foresight.
Only then wasn't he fooled by these ancient ghosts.
Baimu knew the Ghost-type Pokémon in the Pillar of the Sky were likely hundreds of years old, with the oldest batch even predating the establishment of the Pillar by Meteor People.
Having experienced countless years, possessing special powers that other Pokémon don't, isn't unusual.
Time accumulates importance.
It's a pity he isn't an altruistic Trainer; otherwise, he'd truly consider capturing these Pokémon.
For now, he can only secretly learn some of their techniques.
Baimu, full of fighting spirit, moved toward the seventh floor, ready to confront the Pokémon head-on and even prepared for a group brawl.
However.
The Pokémon guarding the seventh floor were even stranger than the sixth.
This time, he faced three "Gengar-style" laughing Haunters, but these guys didn't intend to fight him or Hydreigon; instead, they played a card game similar to flower cards.
Who knows where they learned it from; Baimu couldn't understand it, losing two or three rounds and getting ridiculed by them, considering flipping the table and leaving.
Who said you had to win to proceed?
Xijana never said you had to beat each Pokémon guarding the floor.
He exchanged glances with Hydreigon and gestured to remind the lurking Dragapult.
"Heh?"
"Heh heh heh!"
Seemingly realizing the hostility in their eyes, the Haunters exchanged glances and nonchalantly clapped their hands.
Slap.
Suddenly, over twenty Haunters appeared all around, glaring at them in Baimu's shocked expression.
"Shah—"
"Hey, don't get worked up."
He hurriedly held back the thinking of calling "If it's difficult, don't do it," and whispered to Hydreigon, "Don't worry, I have a plan."
There were more Haunters than he imagined; if a chaotic fight broke out, he'd likely be the first to suffer. Escaping harm's reach meant retreating downstairs.
That's no choice then.
They forced this on him.
He silently pulled out his phone, the Porygon II on screen giving him an "everything's OK" wink; he quietly resumed gambling with the three Haunters.
And the three Haunters were shocked to find that the previously clueless Baimu suddenly became a card master, their cheating couldn't beat him.
Something's wrong!
Something's terribly wrong!
The Haunters exchanged glances, now it's their turn to be frustrated enough to flip the table.
But just when Baimu was prepared for a final showdown with the Haunter crowd, these three vanished with the cards into the air, letting him proceed to the eighth floor.
"Passed the test?"
Baimu raised an eyebrow; having waited a while, not seeing the Haunters reappear, he softly walked up the stairway to the eighth floor.
Once halfway up.
He finally confirmed he'd been let through.
"Gamble fairness, can swallow the loss." Baimu clicked his tongue; naturally, he couldn't afford to lose; otherwise, he wouldn't have used Porygon II on his phone to cheat.
Following the historical victory of AlphaGo over the Go grandmaster, Artificials Pokémon of the Pokémon World equally used data flow and calculations, easily defeating three millennial gambling ghosts.
Speaking of which, who gave them the flower cards? Some Meteor Person?
Must've been incredibly bored.
Baimu shook his head and, with Hydreigon, reached the eighth floor.
Compared to the previous seven floors, the eighth was slightly narrower, the floor taking up only a small space, with the guarding Pokémon slow to appear.
He waited a while, thinking this might be a dedicated resting floor.
While unsure what cost other Meteor People paid to reach this floor, he felt quite relaxed, noticing Hydreigon didn't seem tired either.
At worst, energy consumption was slightly significant.
He had already promptly fed Wild Apple to restore Attribute Energy.
"Only a few floors left; let's rush to the top before dark." He glanced through the wall's crevice, noting the outer world had grown somewhat dim.
The sun was setting.