It had taken him so much effort to finally catch up to Nathan, and Nathan had even agreed to help him. Yet, in the end, he had not gained a single thing from it.
Instead of rewards, difficulties had arrived first.
After being scolded by Evelyn with just a few cutting words, he immediately chose to shut his mouth.
Women… truly the most troublesome creatures. Compared to them, his own Lily was far better. Sigh~
Just thinking about Lily's gentleness and charm when she faced him, even though she would occasionally throw a little tantrum, made him realize that Evelyn could never compare.
With the legendary-level Volcarona by their side, Nathan and his group quickly pulled away from that swarm of Flygon.
The Flygon, seeing that they could not catch up, eventually gave up the chase and turned back.
"Phew~ fortunately they didn't chase us to the death. Otherwise, we really would have had to put in quite a bit of effort to deal with them."
Watching the dark mass of clouds in the distance as the Flygon retreated, Nathan exhaled a sigh of relief and said.
Meanwhile, Evelyn jumped down from Volcarona's back. She no longer paid him any attention and walked straight toward the exit.
"Wait—you're really planning to leave?"
Nathan couldn't help but speak up as he saw Evelyn trying to leave.
To be honest, it had been Nathan himself who had first suggested chasing after that mysterious Pokémon.
After everything that had happened earlier, he truly felt a sense of guilt.
"What else can I do if I don't leave? Don't tell me you actually think that I, just a weak little woman, can follow you around and help deal with those Flygon?"
Evelyn shot him a cold glare as she replied.
At this moment, she had completely realized the truth—she really wasn't qualified to explore a mystic realm together with Nathan.
In fact, to be precise, no one was.
Nathan's strength was simply too overwhelming. If it were just him alone, he would have countless ways of dealing with such dangerous situations.
But if she continued tagging along, she would only drag him down.
"Uh… how about this—why don't you wait nearby for a while? I'll see if I can figure out a way to deal with those Flygon."
Nathan tried to suggest.
Evelyn thought silently for a long while before finally nodding in reluctant agreement.
Truth be told, her own Pokémon had already hit a bottleneck. For them to break through, it would require an enormous amount of resources.
And those kinds of resources couldn't simply be bought with money alone.
After all, truly valuable treasures were rarely put up for sale. The chances of her actually buying them were almost nonexistent.
Nathan lowered his head, staring at the sand beneath his feet as countless thoughts swirled through his mind.
Soon, an idea suddenly emerged in his head.
The only problem was—he wasn't sure whether those Flygon would fall for it.
But if they really did, then perhaps he might actually be able to make some discoveries.
Just then, a group of people could be seen approaching from a distance.
The moment this squad caught sight of Nathan and Evelyn, their eyes lit up, and they immediately hurried over.
The squad burst out in joy upon seeing him.
"Instructor!"
Elliot's face lit up with excitement as he looked at Nathan. As for Evelyn, despite being a beauty, she was completely ignored by Elliot and his men.
Nathan, however, was rather puzzled by Elliot's appearance.
Shouldn't these people still be back at the camp, training in the Navy Six Styles right now? Why had they suddenly appeared here?
Could it be… that they too had come because the mystic realm had just opened?
"Come on, let's go, let's go!"
Before Nathan could say anything, Elliot grabbed him by the arm and tried to pull him away.
Nathan was left stunned. ~What on earth is going on?
"Wait, hold on a second! What are you people doing here? And why are you dragging me away?"
He quickly shook off Elliot's hand. After all, he had been planning to go search for that mysterious Pokémon.
And now, instead, he had suddenly run into this squad who insisted on dragging him off.
"There's been an incident inside the mystic realm—six people and six Pokémon are dead. Among them was even a champion-level Pokémon. None of them bore any external wounds. They all just… died outright."
Elliot explained quickly and to the point.
Nathan listened quietly, his expression gradually turning solemn.
Something about this situation felt very off.
"Where exactly did they die?" Nathan asked.
Without a doubt, those people must have died after he had already entered the mystic realm. That much was certain.
But ever since he had stepped inside, he had roamed through quite a wide area.
And within ten or twenty miles of the entrance, he had never encountered any truly powerful Pokémon.
"About fifteen miles from the exit."
Elliot thought for a moment before answering.
Hearing this, Nathan immediately began to form some suspicions in his heart.
"This doesn't sound like the work of ordinary Pokémon. Someone must have made a move. At the place where those people died… was there some kind of rare resource?"
Nathan questioned again.
If it wasn't the work of Pokémon, then the only explanation was human action.
And the only thing in this mystic realm worth killing for was, naturally, precious resources.
"Now that you mention it, I remember there being a berry tree there. But all the berries had already been taken."
Elliot rubbed his chin as he replied.
Meanwhile, in another part of the mystic realm…
Elite Guardian Gray was nearly in despair as he looked over his shoulder.
He had already sent out all his Pokémon, and yet the only one left by his side was the mount he was currently riding.
All the others had been sacrificed as his shields.
The only bit of fortune was that Gray himself was still alive.
Just moments ago, he had once again run into Draco.
Inside the mystic realm, Draco had challenged him yet again.
At first, Gray refused. But after his refusal, Draco immediately released his Pokémon—intending to attack him outright.
With no choice left, Gray had been forced to release his own Pokémon to counter.
Yet, from the very start of the battle, he realized something was terribly wrong.
Because the instant Draco's Pokémon made its move, it killed one of his own Pokémon in cold blood.
Sensing Draco's murderous intent toward him, Gray wasted no time. He released all his other Pokémon, then immediately turned tail and fled on his mount.
That was how he ended up in such a state now.
At the same time, Crane, leading nine members of the Pokémon Squad, was searching the mystic realm for any survivors.
By chance, they ran straight into the fleeing Gray.
"It's you! Elite Guardian Gray!"
Crane exclaimed in surprise as he recognized him.
Of course, he knew Gray. If it hadn't been for Gray's relatively old age, Crane would have even tried to recruit him into the squad.
He never expected to meet him here inside the mystic realm.
And especially not under such dire circumstances.
"Draco's gone insane! He killed all my Pokémon, and now he wants to kill me too!"
Seeing people arrive in camouflage uniforms, Gray's eyes lit up with hope as if he had found his saviors.
"What did you just say!? Draco? Who the hell is he?"
Crane was utterly shocked upon hearing this.
Just who was this Draco, that he could not only wipe out all of Gray's Pokémon, but even drive him into such a desperate state?
Gray hurriedly explained what had happened outside the mystic realm, then also recounted what had just taken place inside.
After listening to him, Crane took a deep breath.
Never in his life had he imagined that the cause of all this chaos… would turn out to be a single man.
Moreover, from Gray's descriptions of how his Pokémon had died, Crane could now confirm it.
The six people and six Pokémon that had died earlier—without wounds, all dead in an instant—had indeed been killed by this Draco.
"Don't panic. Leave at once. That Draco, he's in that direction, isn't he?"
Crane reassured him.
Gray nodded.
Then, Crane ordered one of his men to escort Li out of the mystic realm.
"This is Crane Watson. Everyone, gather at the mystic realm's exit immediately. I've found the culprit!"
"This is Crane Watson. Everyone, gather at the mystic realm's exit immediately. I've found the culprit!"
He repeated the message twice over the communicator, then stood quietly in place, waiting.
Soon, the man escorting Gray would bring back reinforcements.
But now, their squad had to prepare to confront a deranged lunatic.
And that lunatic also possessed an incredibly powerful Pokémon.
This situation was going to be extremely difficult to handle.
…
"I'm Elliot Nurwick. I've found the Instructor. I'm currently heading toward the exit together with him."
As Elliot was preparing to bring Nathan to find Crane, he heard the message through the communicator.
He quickly reported back as well.
Nathan also heard every word of the transmission.
"I'll go with you. Honestly, I doubt you lot can handle this person on your own."
Nathan sighed softly.
Truth be told, compared to dealing with some homicidal maniac, what he wanted more was to find that illusion-casting Pokémon.
But now that he knew the full extent of the situation, there was no way he could just stand by and let the squad march off to their deaths.
(End of Chapter)