At the foot of Mt. Pyre, a thick Mist permeated the air, and a damp, cold aura seeped into everyone's bones.
Upon hearing Ariel's warning, the members of the Black Fire Exploration Team did not become vigilant; instead, they found it laughable.
In their eyes, this was nothing more than a clumsy trick Ariel was using to buy time to escape.
A tall, burly male member even let out a sneer, the sound echoing harshly at the deathly silent foot of the mountain.
"Playing ghost!"
He took a step forward, looking at Ariel with a face full of disdain.
"You don't think this kind of childish trick can fool our Black Fire Exploration Team, do you? I'll make as much noise as I want! I'd like to see what you can do to me!"
His voice echoed in the thick Mist, carrying a lingering tone of provocation.
But in the next second, the echo stopped abruptly.
Alex, standing next to the man, had his pupils contract to the size of needlepoints in an instant.
There was no sound of wind, no flash of a blade, and not even a ripple of energy.
The head of the team member who had been shouting just a second ago simply flew off his neck, smoothly and eerily.
A fountain of blood shot into the sky, dyeing a patch of the pale Mist a blinding red before being swallowed by the fog again.
Thud.
The head rolled onto the damp grass, eyes still wide open, retaining a final trace of mockery and shock.
Thud.
The headless torso fell straight down, hitting the ground with a dull thud.
Those two soft sounds became the only accompaniment to this land of death.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
Survive.
This thought, like a branding iron, instantly burned into the depths of everyone's mind.
Layla's mouth was open, but she couldn't make a sound. Fear gripped her throat, allowing only gasping noises to escape.
Another team member's legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground, a large wet patch quickly spreading across his crotch.
Masaki and Tome were even more terrified, their faces drained of color as they clung to each other, shaking like leaves in the wind.
Alex's face turned from red to white, then from white to a sickly pale green.
He stared fixedly at the corpse, no longer harboring the slightest intention of chasing down Ariel and Steven.
What a joke; in the face of a monster that could silently take a teammate's life, personal grudges were nothing but a joke.
He could barely save himself!
The dead member's Pokémon, a sturdy Donphan, let out a sky-shattering wail after a brief moment of daze.
Seeing its master's tragic state, its eyes turned blood-red, and it recklessly charged into the thick Mist where its master's head had been severed.
However, there was no earth-shaking battle, no loud crash of energy colliding.
The Donphan charged in like a stone sinking into the ocean; it didn't even stir a single ripple before all sound ceased.
Absolute silence.
Feeling the terrifying aura emanating from the opponent, Ariel also became serious.
What level of strength was required to insta-kill a Gym Leader Level Trainer while they were under the protection of their Pokémon?
An Quasi-Elite?
No, it probably wasn't that exaggerated.
After all, the combat power displayed by this Banette was too terrifying.
Then there was only one conclusion: this was very likely an Elite Four Level Pokémon!
Ariel continued to speculate.
Unlike the fear of the others,
his mind was clearer than ever before.
He and Steven exchanged a glance, both seeing the same answer in each other's eyes.
Absol.
The Pokémon that brought warnings of disaster—it was warning them.
The decapitated corpses in the mountains were identical to the one before them.
It was the same killer!
Ariel didn't feel much emotion; it was more of a cold verification.
He had felt something was wrong for a long time, and now, half of the mystery was revealed.
This thick Mist was its hunting ground.
Just then, at the edge of everyone's vision, a silhouette slowly emerged from the dense, inseparable Mist.
It was a Banette.
It stood there coldly, motionless. On its worn plush body, two crimson eyes, like clotted blood droplets, stared indifferently at the living beings before it.
Its mouth was zipped shut by a giant zipper, as if sealing away endless resentment.
This scene completely shattered the remaining psychological defenses of the Black Fire Exploration Team.
That eerie appearance, coupled with the bloody tragedy that had just occurred, made it look like a life-claiming demon crawling out of hell.
Masaki and Tome were on the verge of fainting.
Ariel's reaction was swift. He silently pulled out the pokédex from his waist, his finger already resting on the scan button.
To know oneself and one's enemy is to be ever-victorious.
"Don't!"
A hand pressed down on his wrist; it was Steven.
His voice was extremely low, almost squeezed out from between his teeth:
"Don't use the pokédex. That action might be seen as a Taunt by it."
Ariel paused and withdrew his hand.
He trusted Steven's judgment.
Steven's gaze was locked onto the Banette, his brows furrowed deeply. His eyes held a mixture of gravity, confusion, and a faint, almost imperceptible... sense of familiarity.
He narrowed his eyes, seemingly trying hard to recall something.
After a long while, he murmured in a barely audible voice.
"Looks a bit familiar?"
Ariel's ears twitched, and he immediately leaned in, asking in an equally low voice:
"What? You recognize it?"
Steven's voice was very low, as if he were afraid of disturbing the Banette lurking in the thick Mist.
"When I was a child, I came to the summit of Mt. Pyre with my family elders."
His words were enveloped by the damp, cold Mist, sounding somewhat ethereal.
Ariel turned his head and lowered his voice:
"So this Banette is a Pokémon from the summit?"
Steven shook his head, his gaze never leaving the Banette standing still in the Mist. That small figure now seemed like a heavy tombstone.
"Two years ago, in similar weather, I accompanied my elders to the summit to visit a pair of Seniors."
He paused, seemingly organizing his words to extract that dusty memory from his mind.
"They were a married couple who had lived here for many years, isolated from the world. They weren't Trainers, just a very ordinary pair of elderly people. There aren't really many Pokémon at the summit of Mt. Pyre, which is why they could live peacefully."
Ariel listened carefully.
Steven seemed to Detect his thoughts and continued to explain, "That Banette was recovering from its injuries in their cabin at the time."
"According to the Old Sir, it was being chased by a predator at the foot of the mountain and fled to the summit in a panic. It was covered in wounds and on the verge of death. That elderly couple saved it, using herbs and food to slowly pull it back from the brink of death. So, it was very gentle and never hurt anyone."
"Gentle? Never hurting anyone?"
The image of the corpses with their gruesome deaths in Mt. Pyre flashed through Ariel's mind, and his throat felt a bit dry.
"Then this situation now..."
He pointed toward the depths of the thick Mist. He didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was self-evident.
"Those in the mountains... it was all its doing, right?"
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