There were still eight hours left until the eruption of Glazed Volcano.
Caleb specifically waited within his territory for Mimikyu and the others leading the gathering teams to return with resources before setting off with his Pokémon towards the volcano crater.
Seeing such a large mobilization, Steven, who had been chatting with NPCs inside the territory and observing the situation of this world, couldn't help but ask, "What's going on?"
Caleb replied, "The volcano is about to erupt. I need to go check it out. Want to come?"
Steven thought about it for a moment, 'I have nothing else to do anyway...'
So he nodded and followed.
...
By the time the two reached the volcano crater, quite a few players had already gathered there, with more still arriving from behind...
After the live streaming incident in the Infinite World, Caleb's appearance was no secret to some players. When they saw him arriving, they whispered among themselves:
"Damn, isn't that Caleb? His territory is around here too?"
"Caleb? The one ranked first, that Caleb?"
"Yes... Why does the man next to him look so familiar?"
"Isn't that Steven? Why is he here? Am I seeing things?"
The topic quickly shifted from Caleb to Steven.
Although Steven spent most of his time in his own world idly searching for stones, he was still a Champion, and his basic ability to read the room was intact. So he quickly noticed the surrounding gazes.
But he didn't mind. As a Champion and the future heir of the Devon Corporation, he was long accustomed to being watched...
Steven withdrew his gaze and looked down at the crater, where scalding magma bubbled. He said, "There's something down there."
Caleb nodded. He had also seen the creature lurking in the magma, exposing only its crimson back.
It seemed to be... Heatran?
At that moment, the event prompt sounded again:
[Beep! Large-scale special event 'Volcano Defense Battle' has officially began!]
[Number of participants: 48]
[Each time you defeat a special creature emerging from the volcano, you'll earn a certain amount of points! After the event concludes, the bottom twenty ranked players will be eliminated!]
As soon as this announcement was made, the scene erupted in commotion.
But before anyone could speak, steaming red figures began to surge out of the magma below.
They weren't Pokémon. They looked like a swarm of incorporeal spirits.
The ground surrounding the magma now displayed a durability value of 5000/5000. As one red spirit slammed into it, the durability instantly dropped by 50 points.
At that moment, all players understood that once the durability hits zero, the defense battle would fail and they'll be eliminated!
But to stop those red spirits meant they had to descend into the volcano.
Feeling the oppressive heat below, the players hesitated... doubting if they wouldn't melt if they went down there.
While they hesitated, several more spirits crashed into the ground, reducing the durability to 4750.
That got everyone moving.
Steven saw this too. As a support character, he had access to some player abilities and noticed the durability number. He asked, "We need to stop those things?"
Caleb grunted in affirmation. He didn't overthink it and simply jumped down.
This Instance was different from the more serious ones... it wasn't a real world, but more like a game world.
And since it was a game world, it came with player protection mechanisms. Pain perception was one of them.
Yesterday, while preparing ingredients, he accidentally cut his hand and noticed it didn't hurt much. That had already sparked some thoughts. Now, seeing the situation, he confirmed it.
He landed on a platform rising from the magma. Though the temperature was terrifying, once he was down there, it wasn't actually that hot... at least not compared to Dragonite's flames.
He didn't dwell on it, but the other players were stunned by the sight.
Someone voiced their doubt: "Is he not afraid of dying?"
At the same time, Steven jumped down as well. He frowned slightly at the chaotic spirits flying around, then pulled out a Poké Ball.
With a flash of white light, a Metagross shimmering with metallic brilliance appeared beside him...
"Leave it to me!" Steven seemed to understand his role as a support character. Without saying much more, he directly commanded Metagross to fight.
Caleb didn't hold back either. He released all his flying-capable Pokémon and sent them into the fray.
He himself used Appraise on the creature lurking in the magma that resembled Heatran. The next second, the creature's information appeared:
[Injured Heatran, the Lava Dome Pokémon. Primarily inhabits caves within volcanoes. Its nature is as intense as a raging fire. After completing the Volcano Defense Battle, as an expression of gratitude, it will join the roster of the top-ranked player as a General-class Pokémon.]
At the same time, the other players also saw this information using Appraise. Their eyes instantly became fervent.
In this Instance, each player could only bring six Pokémon. Under such conditions, whoever had one more General-class Pokémon would have a clear advantage.
Thinking of this, they looked at the points ranking board:
1. Caleb Chase, 38 points
2. Ewan Calder, 12 points
3. Hwang Yun-seok, 8 points
…
The players: "…"
With that powerful Mewtwo around, and seemingly the points Steven earned from defeating creatures also counted towards Caleb's total, a feeling of speechlessness welled up in some players' hearts:
'How are we supposed to compete with that?'
'Even if we throw our lives at it, we can't win!'
But not everyone thought that way...
On a nearby platform, Ewan frowned as he looked at Caleb chatting with Steven. He recalled the discussions on the player forum: If Caleb didn't have Mewtwo, would he still be number one?
Ewan strongly agreed with that sentiment.
What kind of Pokémon trainer could only rely on one legendary Pokémon?
Ewan was ranked ninth on the Infinite World's player leaderboard and didn't think he was inferior to those above him.
'I want that Heatran, but with Mewtwo in play, it's obvious I can't take first place in this event...' Thinking of this, Ewan turned his attention to a certain item in his inventory.
[Judgment (Move Card): Arceus's exclusive move. Contains immense power capable of destroying everything in an instant.
- Effect: Launches an indiscriminate attack on all targets except the user...]
This was a reward he had obtained from a gacha draw before. There were eighteen cards in total, one for each type.
He had used the cards representing the Dragon and Bug types in previous Instances, leaving sixteen move cards on him now.
So the question was: with sixteen move cards, could he instantly wipe out everyone present?