Buzz!!
Just as Lorelei was staring intently at the Never-Melt Ice, thinking that this seemingly silent yet truly terrifying Destruction Light was about to strike it, the Destruction Light suddenly vanished into thin air.
When Lorelei looked closely, she realized it hadn't disappeared at all. Along the attack's path, a prismatic mirror suffused with Fairy Aura had appeared!
The mirror was nearly transparent. When Destruction Light hit it, it was as if the beam sank into nothingness, causing no ripple. But as the Destruction Light continued pouring in, the mirror suddenly began to tremble, cracks spreading across its surface.
"Now!"
Terrance clenched his sweaty palm. To achieve a stronger destructive effect, he was guiding Carbink and Altaria through a new technique. Carbink, its expression strained, obeyed his command and immediately relinquished control of Magic Bounce, allowing it to shatter on its own. Magic Bounce simply couldn't withstand any more Destruction Light.
Although the enhancement effect of Magic Bounce hadn't reached its full potential, Terrance's goal had already been achieved.
Under the secondary effect of Magic Bounce and Fairy Aura, the Fairy energy rapidly reshaped itself into an arrow, endowed with immense penetrating force!!
Seeing the plan was working, Terrance broke into a grin.
Since the target was an inanimate object, Terrance had plenty of time to get creative. Now that Destruction Light possessed such powerful piercing capability, he refused to believe that a single block of Never-Melt Ice could remain intact.
After reflecting from Magic Bounce, the arrow-like Destruction Light seemed to freeze time inside the cave, and the atmosphere grew stifling.
Fairy light shimmered in both Lorelei's and Terrance's eyes, and they couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful this type could be.
This light…
Everyone present, human and Pokémon alike, had their thoughts fixed on this one moment. In a flash, the Destruction Light had already slammed into the Never-Melt Ice!
Crack!
In the ensuing silence, a shattering sound rang out, and joy instantly appeared on Lorelei's and Terrance's faces.
It had pierced through.
The arrow-shaped Destruction Light had driven itself straight into the Never-Melt Ice, and cracks began spreading visibly across its surface.
"What immense power," Lorelei thought in awe. She herself had no means of breaking this Never-Melt Ice's defenses, yet Terrance had destroyed it with ease.
But Terrance, too, was shocked by the Never-Melt Ice's defense. He prided himself on the terrifying destructive power of Fairy Light, yet even such a terrifying attack hadn't shattered the ice completely.
"No wonder it's a rare treasure, Ten-thousand-year Never-Melt Ice!"
The cracks continued to spread.
Just as the two believed success was within reach and Terrance prepared to move farther away, an unexpected change occurred.
A surge of Ice-type energy exploded from within the Never-Melt Ice. It didn't disperse outward, but instead began repairing the cracks. Seeing this, Lorelei cried out in alarm: "Articuno, Cloyster, destroy it!"
"I'll do it!" Terrance's eyes flashed. At that moment, a terrifying flame erupted from the mouth of the Altaria standing not far ahead of him. To stop the Never-Melt Ice from regenerating itself, Mega Altaria unleashed the Flame of Life containing violent power.
The flames, fueled by life energy, erupted with terrifying heat and destructive force. In an instant, they invaded the Never-Melt Ice through its cracks. At that moment, the Flame of Life that Altaria had trained so hard to master unleashed its terrifying power for the first time, proving its own might by suppressing the Never-Melt Ice.
"What is this...?"
Seeing the mysterious flames released by Altaria, Lorelei's pupils shrank. As an Ice-type master, she could deeply feel the threat this flame posed to ice.
So terrifying...
To suppress Never-Melt Ice, even if it followed the cracks and took advantage of the ice's weakness, it wasn't something ordinary flames could do. The enormous Ice-type energy inside was enough to freeze any flame.
Flame of Life collided with the Ice-type energy that was mending the cracks, but just then, the Never-Melt Ice suddenly began to tremble.
This situation...
Terrance and Lorelei both furrowed their brows. This was not what they had expected.
After observing the Never-Melt Ice for a moment, Lorelei's expression suddenly changed drastically and she shouted in alarm, "Run!"
Terrance was momentarily confused by the shout, but by the time he reacted, it was already too late.
All of this happened within just a second or two—too short for him to respond. When the Flame of Life invaded the Never-Melt Ice, it seemed to have triggered some kind of taboo. The Ice-type energy inside the Never-Melt Ice went berserk, violently squeezing out from its shell and erupting outward, forming an energy storm!
The speed of the eruption… was unbelievably terrifying!
Lorelei and the others had calculated the speed at which Ice-type energy would be released if the Never-Melt Ice was broken. Although it would be quick, it shouldn't have been this violent.
The gentle, spring-like flow they'd hoped for didn't happen. Instead, the Ice-type energy from Ten-thousand-year Never-Melt Ice exploded out like a tsunami or hurricane, spreading out!
Before the Ice-type energy even surged out, Terrance already felt a chill. When he realized the energy inside the Never-Melt Ice was going berserk, he nearly cursed. This was just too much.
While commanding the Pokémon to retreat, Terrance was about to turn around, but the Ice-type energy storm was so powerful and fast that there was simply no time for them to escape.
In that critical moment, Kirlia used Confusion on Terrance, throwing him hard toward Lorelei. The slowest to react, Carbink, stopped in its tracks and frantically set up Light Screens to block the oncoming Ice-type energy.
Altaria unleashed a powerful Flame of Life, and Ninetales tried to use ice power to hold back the energy hurricane.
Lorelei, reacting in time, immediately called out all her Pokémon to fully support Terrance's team.
Ouch...
Terrance coughed, feeling a soft touch as he landed. It was Lorelei, who had caught him.
"Terrance, are you okay?"
Hearing Lorelei's voice, Terrance snapped back to his senses and quickly looked inside. Fortunately, the energy storm from the Never-Melt Ice had been completely blocked.
"What a shame, your Ninetales lost a great chance to bathe in Ice-type energy," Lorelei said regretfully, shaking her head. "That was my miscalculation."
That kind of energy storm was no longer suitable for bathing in. Trying to do so now would be risking their lives.
"More important is their safety..." Terrance quickly used his Fairy Mark to communicate with his Pokémon. Thankfully, they all responded, which let Terrance breathe a sigh of relief.
However... Carbink's response was noticeably weaker, which made Terrance tense up again.
"Recall your Pokémon, let's get out of here first. The plan succeeded, but not perfectly. This cave is definitely going to collapse," Lorelei said quickly. Next, they just had to wait for the Ice-type energy to naturally merge into the island.
Terrance nodded and signaled the Pokémon to retreat again. But when he saw Carbink, who had been thrown out by Kirlia's Confusion, his expression turned panicked.
Even Lorelei's expression changed. She hadn't expected the Carbink on the front lines to end up in such a miserable state...
At this moment, Carbink was already frozen solid. Looking closely, Terrance saw a layer of Light Screen inside the ice sculpture. Apparently, Carbink had set up a Light Screen to protect itself from being directly frozen. After leaving the cave, Terrance immediately had Altaria defrost and heal Carbink, and made sure he could still communicate with it.
Carbink, having just come out of the ice, was clearly still shaken, resenting its short legs for the first time. But in the midst of this crisis, Carbink gained a deeper understanding of defensive moves!
"Terrance, thank you so much this time, and... I'm sorry I almost put you all in danger," Lorelei apologized, already deciding she owed Terrance some compensation. After all, his Ninetales lost a chance to bathe in the Ice energy. They gained almost nothing.
"It was my recklessness. I didn't expect Altaria's flames would trigger such a huge chain reaction," Terrance frowned. Luckily, there was no real harm done, and it seemed Carbink had even broken through its limits.
As he continued communicating with Carbink, Terrance smiled. Though he'd lost the chance for Ninetales to advance, he'd gained something else. Carbink's mutation opportunity had finally arrived.
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