"Gi–gi–gi… gi."
Sableye's cries echoed continuously through the underground cave passages.
Taking advantage of this moment, Silas carefully examined the extremely small Pokémon before him.
Sableye's appearance closely resembled the goblins from novels in his previous life. Its oversized head and large eyes, paired with its thin arms and legs, also made it look somewhat like a legendary alien.
"Hm. This little guy actually has some value."
Silas silently noted this while staring at the gemstone embedded in its chest and the patterns across its body.
If his memory was correct, the external characteristics of this Sableye indicated that there should be a Rock Gem deposit somewhere within this cave system.
This conclusion came from the fact that the components of the gems Sableye consumes manifest on its body surface.
Although the patterns that appear can vary greatly, researchers have long used accumulated data to map out the typical patterns associated with common gemstones.
The markings on this Sableye were primarily net-like in structure, with regularly distributed spiral traces, classic signs of long-term consumption of Rock Gems.
Rock Gems, which enhance Rock-type energy, fetch a very respectable price on the market. Demand is high, so selling them is never an issue.
Moreover, for Gigalith, Rock Gems also count as a fairly decent supplementary food source.
"Blaz…"
Blaziken turned its head and let out a helpless call toward its Trainer.
"Alright, alright, I won't stare at it anymore. You two keep going."
Silas raised both hands to show his innocence, then turned around and began playing with Ampharos instead.
Only then did Sableye finally breathe a sigh of relief.
That man's gaze just now felt like he wanted to eat it, terrifying for a Pokémon.
"Go on. Continue."
Blaziken's Aura echoed within Sableye's mind. The gentle, friendly waves immediately put it more at ease.
"That thing keeps floating in the air. There's a black object on its head, kind of like the food on top of my head.
"Its eyes glow, and there's fire burning inside its body.
"Its arms are really, really long, and with a 'whoosh,' something really fragrant comes out of its body."
As it spoke, Sableye gestured wildly at Blaziken, trying to demonstrate what it meant.
Due to its limited vocabulary, the description was extremely abstract.
Blaziken's mouth twitched.
"And how did it feel to you?"
Since Blaziken didn't need to do the thinking itself, it quickly gave up overanalyzing and focused on refining the image of this unknown Pokémon.
"Very scary. It's super fierce and very strong—way stronger than those guys who only dig holes, and a bit stronger than me.
"Of course, compared to you, it's still much weaker."
Sableye hurriedly added the last part, making sure to flatter Blaziken.
It was unclear how a Pokémon that lived underground had learned such a survival skill, probably because life itself was precious.
"Was its energy similar to yours?" Blaziken asked, feeling the information was still insufficient.
"Probably…?"
Sableye wasn't entirely sure.
To be honest, it hadn't really dared to peek out when that Pokémon appeared.
"How is it?"
Silas, multitasking, noticed both Pokémon had fallen silent and turned to Blaziken.
Blaziken relayed Sableye's description via Aura.
Similar energy fluctuations, meaning it was also a Ghost-type Pokémon. Silas quickly reached this conclusion.
Something like food on its head… Silas subconsciously glanced at the stalactites overhead. That suggested a pointed protrusion on its head.
"When its eyes light up, are they like this, this, or this?"
Silas pulled out several items of different colors from his backpack for Sableye to identify.
Sableye immediately pointed at the Yellow Apricorn.
"Yellow eyes, and fire burning inside its body…"
Silas pondered for a moment.
Combined with the pointed head feature, he narrowed it down to a few possibilities.
"Is it this one?"
Silas flipped the Pokédex to a specific page and held it up for Sableye to see.
"Sableye!"
Sableye nodded frantically.
"So it's this thing. No wonder."
Silas let out a quiet sigh.
Lampent, the Luring Pokémon. The evolved form of Litwick. It absorbs the life energy of humans and Pokémon together with Litwick, guiding them toward the spirit world.
That meant the "fragrant thing" Sableye mentioned was the life energy of humans and Pokémon.
Although it feeds on gems and minerals, as a Ghost-type Pokémon, life energy is naturally an exquisite delicacy for Sableye as well.
According to legend, Lampent absorbs the souls of the dead, using them to fuel its flames.
Those unfortunate victims had most likely become Lampent's nourishment.
"This is troublesome."
Silas narrowed his eyes.
Fortunately, there was at least some good news, there was no Dusk Stone underground here. Otherwise, Lampent would have already evolved into Chandelure, which would be far more difficult to deal with.
Compared to Lampent, which lacks the power to absorb anything other than the souls of those near death, Chandelure can use the flickering flames on its body to hypnotize or even directly incinerate, the souls of healthy humans and Pokémon.
Given enough time, "walking corpses" would be the best way to describe its victims far more terrifying than death itself.
Even among Ghost-type Pokémon, Chandelure ranks near the very top of the list of "Pokémon you never want to encounter in the wild."
No one wants to experience having their soul burned.
"Can you find it?"
Silas asked Blaziken.
Gigalith was out of the question. A floating Lampent was its natural counter in terms of detection.
Blaziken slowly shook its head.
"If it gets close enough, maybe I could locate it through Aura and Fire-type energy fluctuations," it added.
"Tch."
Silas clicked his tongue.
That wasn't very likely.
Lampent is extremely patient and cunning. Unless it detected life energy leaking from someone on the brink of death, it probably wouldn't reveal itself.
Especially not with three Pokémon emitting such powerful energy standing nearby.
Silas wasn't worried about his own safety. Even if a rare Pokémon like Lampent appeared here, its strength wouldn't be overwhelming.
With Blaziken and the others protecting him, his life wasn't in danger.
But for the Trainers already trapped in this underground maze, it was a different story.
Litwick naturally evolves into Lampent at around Level 41, which places it firmly within the Advance-level range.
Coupled with the eerie nature of Ghost-types, Lampent's combat capability is extremely high.
Especially when it comes to harassment and psychological torment, Ghost-type Pokémon excel at that.
"We need to speed things up."
Silas's expression grew serious.
Lampent wouldn't dare attack him, but it would gladly prey on weaker individuals to accelerate their deaths.
In its own mind, it was probably doing them a favor.
"But before that…"
Silas's gaze shifted to the Sableye curled up at the base of the rock wall, and he revealed what he believed to be a very friendly smile.
"This guy is a demon."
Although Sableye had no concept of what a "demon" was, the emotion reflected in its eyes matched the description perfectly.
The look it gave Silas was filled with grief and indignation.
"Not bad at all."
Silas tossed the final Rock Gem into his backpack.
"Little guy, you're sure you didn't hide any more this time, right?"
His smiling voice echoed in Sableye's ears.
Still mourning the loss of its precious food, Sableye hurriedly shook its head—none left, really none left.
"Alright then."
Silas stood up and stretched his long legs, which had gone slightly numb from squatting for so long.
Getting eight Rock Gems was an unexpected bonus. He'd originally thought the little guy might only have three or four, but it had doubled that amount.
It seemed the Rock Gem yield in this area was quite high.
As far as Sableye was concerned, these were treasures it had hoarded over the past two or three years, gems it normally wouldn't even bear to eat until the right moment.
After so much hard work, they'd all been taken by some ugly creature that came out of nowhere.
Silas, unaware of Sableye's inner anguish, was in an excellent mood. He took out a can of standard Dark-type Pokémon food from his backpack and placed it on the ground.
"This is edible too. It tastes pretty good. Let's consider it a trade."
He didn't consider himself a bad person—if he took something, he felt it was only right to give something back.
The reason he used Dark-type food instead of Ghost-type food was simple: Ghost-type food was more expensive, and he carried very little of it.
Besides, with Dark as its primary type, Sableye probably didn't care that much about Ghost-type food anyway.
Definitely not because he was stingy.
Sableye ripped open the can with one claw and immediately tried a piece of the Pokémon food.
Although this human was awful, Sableye had already realized in this short time that he wouldn't harm it without reason.
"Sab~"
The next instant, Sableye let out a blissful cry, it had never tasted anything so delicious before.
The sensation was completely different from absorbing the energy of Rock Gems, and it felt incredibly satisfying.
"Eat it slowly. Who knows when we'll meet again next time."
Silas and his three escorts gradually faded into the distance, his voice growing quieter.
Sableye watched their retreating figures, grabbed the can, and sprinted back toward its lair.
Next time we meet?
Sorry, never again.
Silas continued searching for survivors, quietly admiring his own kindness. He truly was a good person, he hadn't knocked Sableye out and taken everything by force, but had actually traded.
Entering another tunnel, Silas glanced at his wrist device.
It was 10 p.m.
Four hours had passed since he entered Dark Cave, yet aside from human remains and wild Pokémon, he had found nothing.
"Five hours left. I'll reserve half an hour to reach a safe point. Hopefully I can find those people."
Silas exhaled deeply.
"You've all worked hard."
He spoke to his three partners.
Compared to him, Ampharos, Blaziken, and Gigalith were the ones truly bearing the burden.
"Ampharos."
"Blaziken."
"Gigalith!"
The three Pokémon smiled with narrowed eyes, what's tiring about looking for things?
"Then let's keep going."
Silas stared into the pitch-black tunnel ahead and stepped forward once more.
Within the labyrinthine cave system, echoes of Pokémon activity rang out from time to time. An ordinary person would have long been crushed by the psychological pressure.
Unfortunately for the cave, Silas had never considered himself ordinary.
A cold wind swept past.
"Blaziken…"
Blaziken let out a helpless call.
Silas awkwardly loosened the arms he'd wrapped around it.
He absolutely wasn't psychologically stressed, he was just a little scared.
He hadn't felt this way before, but ever since learning that Lampent was lurking here, his skin had felt inexplicably cold.
Silas knew it was an illusion.
Although underground caves were cool and windy, his temperature-regulated exploration suit made it impossible for him to actually feel cold.
Still, since coming to the Pokémon world, he had never truly encountered a Ghost-type Pokémon in the wild, excluding Sableye.
Fear was inevitable.
These were Pokémon that devoured souls.
In his previous world, ghosts didn't exist—so there was nothing to fear.
But this world was different.
"Hm?"
Distracted, Silas sniffed the air and made a puzzled sound.
"Blaziken."
Blaziken nodded, it smelled it too.
"Let's go."
Silas immediately cast aside his faint fear and strode forward.
The scorched smell filled him with a strong sense of foreboding.
"As expected."
Following the scent, Silas's expression darkened.
What appeared before him this time was a pile of pitch-black charcoal.
Nearby, shattered Pokégear fragments and broken Poké Balls lay scattered on the ground, silently telling their story.
"Time of death: within two hours. Did Lampent sense my arrival and feel threatened?"
Silas crouched down to examine the scene, reaching a conclusion he very much wished weren't true.
Unlike the earlier skeletal remains, those close to natural death, this clearly showed Lampent's current intent.
Since it couldn't wait slowly anymore, it had chosen to kill outright, feast once, and then hide.
For wild Pokémon, such behavior was entirely normal.
Especially for Ghost-types, whose lifespans were exceptionally long.
At the same time, this confirmed one of Silas's suspicions.
"Even after devouring so many souls, this Lampent still hasn't broken into the pseudo–Elite level."
Otherwise, it would have already begun harassing him and his Pokémon.
Of course, it was also possible that it intended to deal with them last.
"Either way, I need to find the survivors as soon as possible."
Silas collected the Pokégear and Poké Balls from the ground, then carefully placed the charred ashes into a container.
These were the only items that could confirm the victim's identity.
"I can't let you keep killing like this."
....
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