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"Yeah, Mt. Pyre is quite eerie. Having a map could save a lot of trouble."
Ariel stood behind Steven to the side, carefully sizing up these four people. They wore uniform clothing, were fully equipped, and spoke quite smoothly.
Teams doing business in dangerous areas like this were either very powerful or specialized 'black shops' for swindling and deception.
Masaki tugged at Ariel's sleeve and lowered his voice.
"Can we trust this map?"
Ariel ignored Masaki and looked at Steven instead. Steven was the nominal financier of this team; whether or not to buy the map depended on the young master's decision.
Steven looked at the crew-cut man through his goggles, his hands still tightly clutching the bag of stones.
"A map? Did you draw it yourselves?"
"Of course. We've been struggling through Mt. Pyre for months; we know every dead end and every pothole like the back of our hands."
The crew-cut man patted his chest and guaranteed.
Steven shook his head.
"No thanks. We have our own way of finding the path."
The crew-cut man glanced at the Sandshrew lying on the ground and sneered.
"Relying on this fledgling Sandshrew? Friend, don't blame me for not warning you, but once you reach the third floor, the illusions of Ghost-type Pokémon will interfere with your perception. A low-level Pokémon like this is completely useless."
Steven remained unmoved, his grip on the bag tightening further.
"That's none of your concern."
Seeing the sales pitch fail, the crew-cut man curled his lip and wiped the smile from his face.
"Fine, good advice is wasted on those bent on death. Good luck."
He called to his three companions behind him and stepped aside to make way for Steven and the others.
As Ariel walked past the crew-cut man, he caught a glimpse of the tall, thin man in their team—the one who hadn't spoken—staring at the canvas bag on Steven's chest. His gaze was full of greed and calculation.
Ariel stopped and turned to look directly at the tall, thin man.
"Watch your eyes. If you keep looking where you shouldn't, I wouldn't mind helping you dig them out."
Ariel's tone was flat, without any inflection, but the warning in his words was very clear.
The tall, thin man froze under Ariel's stare, quickly averted his eyes, and muttered a curse under his breath.
The crew-cut man gave a hollow laugh and pulled the tall, thin man away quickly.
The four continued forward.
Only then did Steven loosen his grip on the bag and let out a long breath.
"There are more and more scammers these days; they won't even let a place like Mt. Pyre be."
Ariel glanced at Steven's bag.
"They aren't scammers; they see you as a fat sheep who dug up a high-quality ite. The way you're protecting that bag, you might as well have written 'I have treasures here' on your face."
Steven looked down at the mud-stained canvas bag and scratched his head in embarrassment.
"It's a habit. I worked hard to chip off these rough stones; who knows, there might be a high-quality Water Stone hidden inside."
Tome covered her mouth and giggled in the back.
Masaki shook his head helplessly.
The Sandshrew started moving again, its small claws tapping a crisp sound onto the stone slabs.
The passage on the second floor of Mt. Pyre grew narrower and narrower.
Strange murals began to appear on the stone walls on both sides. The murals depicted various distorted patterns in a dark red color, painted with some kind of dried liquid.
The earthy smell in the air was replaced by a faint, elusive fragrance. It was very light, but smelling it for too long made one feel a bit dizzy.
Ariel held his breath and warned the others.
"Cover your nose and mouth with a damp cloth. There's something wrong with this fragrance."
Steven pulled several towels from his bag, wetted them with drinking water, and handed them to the others.
The Sandshrew suddenly stopped ahead, curling its entire body into a ball and shivering.
A mass of purple mist appeared at the end of the passage ahead.
Several pairs of crimson eyes flickered within the mist.
Ariel unclipped a Poké Ball from his waist, his thumb pressing the central button.
"Prepare for battle."
A burly Venusaur and a Vileplume with an almost eerily beautiful flower disk slowly emerged from the mist.
Their eyes were fierce, yet their movements were precise and full of purpose—not at all how wild Pokémon should behave.
Ariel's heart sank.
A Trainer's Pokémon.
They were being targeted!
"It's Poison Powder!"
Steven reacted extremely quickly, almost shouting,
"Skarmory!"
Accompanied by a clear, sharp cry, Skarmory's massive steel wings flapped violently, whipping up a fierce gale.
The purple Poison Powder was instantly blown back, sweeping toward the Venusaur and Vileplume.
However, at the same moment the gale rose, a sudden change occurred!
Boom—
A dull, massive sound came from behind, accompanied by violent vibrations as rubble and dust filled the air.
Ariel snapped his head back, his pupils suddenly contracting.
The path they had come from had collapsed.
Massive rocks had plummeted from the ceiling without warning, completely sealing off the already narrow passage.
"Behind us! The way is blocked!"
Tome let out a short cry of alarm, her voice trembling slightly.
Masaki's face turned pale as he instinctively shielded Tome behind him.
Something even stranger happened.
The moment the Poison Powder was blown back, the Venusaur and Vileplume acted as if they had received some sort of command; showing no desire to fight, they turned and retreated into the depths of the passage, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
The retreat was so decisive and so eerie.
The ominous premonition in Ariel's heart instantly climbed to its peak.
Something's wrong.
All of this is just too wrong.
"They..."
Just as Steven was about to say something, a deafening roar echoed again from the passage ahead—the direction where the two Pokémon had vanished!
Rumble!
This time, it was the stone wall in front.
Boulders tumbled down, dust flying, and in just a few short seconds, the path ahead was also completely sealed.
The light dimmed instantly.
The four were completely trapped in a narrow passage less than ten meters long.
A dead end.
A completely enclosed cage.
"Damn it!"
Steven punched the stone wall beside him, shaking loose a cloud of dust.
"We've been locked in!"
The Sandshrew had long since curled into a ball in fright, shivering at Masaki's feet, having forgotten even its instinct to dig.
"Don't panic, everyone."
Ariel's voice was very calm, but in this confined and oppressive environment, that calmness carried a heart-chilling coldness.
His gaze swept quickly around, not missing a single detail.
The stone walls were not perfectly sealed.
During the violent vibrations just now, spiderweb-like cracks had appeared on the rock walls on both sides.
Then, Ariel smelled it.
That faint, elusive fragrance had become thick again.
No, it wasn't a fragrance.
Wisps of purple gas were continuously seeping into this small space from those cracks.
"Cover your noses and mouths!"
Ariel barked.
Everyone tightly pressed their wet towels over their noses and mouths.
The wet towels could only provide a temporary filter; as the concentration of the poisonous gas rose, they would eventually succumb to the poison and collapse.
Ariel and Steven glanced at each other.
At this moment, both read the same message in the other's eyes.
Shock, and a trace of unspeakable dread.
This wasn't a spontaneous attack or a simple robbery.
This was an extremely sophisticated trap.
The enemy had scouted the terrain long ago and might have even tampered with the mountain's structure to be able to trigger two cave-ins so precisely, trapping them perfectly.
First, they used Pokémon to appear and draw attention, forcing them to stay in the pre-set trap zone.
Then, they triggered the cave-ins, sealing all exits and creating a natural gas chamber.
Finally, they released poisonous gas through the cracks in the stone walls.
This way, they could wear the people inside to death without even needing a fierce battle.
Even if they were lucky enough to smash through the rocks and escape, they would surely be poisoned and their combat power severely reduced, leaving them as remnants to be easily mopped up by the waiting Pokémon Hunters outside.
What ruthless methods, what a poisonous scheme.
Ariel's mind raced.
The enemy's goal was clear: the rough stones in Steven's bag, or rather, these Trainers who appeared to be quite wealthy.
The crew-cut man and the tall, thin man they met at the foot of the mountain were likely the first set of lookouts.
Every move they made had already fallen into the enemy's calculations.
Tome was already a bit unsteady, leaning on Masaki and panting softly.
Steven's expression was also extremely grim. He watched the gas seeping in and then looked at the indestructible stone walls; for the first time, anxiety and gravity appeared on his usually optimistic and gentle face.
"Ariel... are we..."
"About to go on a killing spree?"