Sieg gave the woman in front of him a strange look.
He could not deny that her figure was indeed full and alluring, but her face was at best above average, far from the breathtaking beauties he had encountered throughout his journey.
And that seductive pose of hers…
Was she seriously trying to start a different kind of "battle" out here in the desert?
While Sieg was still mulling over the thought, the woman purred in a soft, syrupy tone, "I'm pretty good, my dear~"
His face immediately hardened, his voice colder than frost. "Turn around."
The woman's heart leapt.
So, in the end, this boy really did intend to spare her, he just preferred that position. From behind, no less…
Her eyes rolled slightly, then she cast him a sultry glance. She leaned forward against a withered branch, deliberately arching her full, round hips toward him, swaying them ever so slightly.
Looking back over her shoulder, she let out a breathy, teasing sound. "Please… be gentle… Daddy~"
But before she could finish the sentence, a cold light flashed.
A razor-sharp dagger shot forward like lightning, piercing her slender, delicate throat in an instant.
Blood sprayed out in a crimson arc, scattering across the ground like a bouquet of bloody, beautiful, and deadly flowers.
Her eyes widened, filled with disbelief, before her body slowly collapsed lifeless onm the ground.
Sieg's lips curled into a cruel grin.
Wasting no time, he flipped her body over, rummaging through her belongings until he found the Poké Ball containing her Skuntank.
"You think I'd be tempted by your shallow charms? I only pretended to agree so you wouldn't have that Skuntank trigger its Aftermath."
He yanked the Poké Ball free, swiftly returning the already half-dead Skuntank inside.
The reason Sieg hadn't killed her immediately was because of that Pokémon.
This Skuntank had three possible abilities: Stench, Keen Eye, or Aftermath.
And Aftermath meant that if it fainted, it could trigger a suicidal explosion to take its attacker down with it.
Sieg wasn't about to gamble on which ability it had, not even on the smallest chance.
Murkrow circled overhead, sharp eyes scanning for any sign of wild Pokémon attacks. Umbreon obediently gathered up the captured Poké Balls, placing them together.
Once his Pokémon finished cleaning the battlefield, Sieg left the area without hesitation, wandering into the small desert beyond.
At night, the desert's blistering heat turned into a biting chill. Without proper protection, the sudden drop in temperature could easily cause illness.
Inside a silver-white tent, Sieg sat cross-legged, examining the spoils of today's battle.
With a rustle, he dumped out everything he had taken from the two corpses, methodically sorting through it all.
Two Pokémon at about level twenty-something: a Venomoth and a Skuntank. The Skuntank's ability turned out to be Stench, meaning his caution earlier had been unnecessary.
"But this Venomoth… Hidden Ability, Compound Eyes. That's worth quite a bit more," Sieg muttered as he scanned it with his Pokédex.
As for the man, the one who had died before even releasing a Pokémon, his two were nothing special. A Gloom and a Venonat, both barely level twenty-two.
"Oh? And this is…"
From the pile of junk, Sieg pulled out a small booklet, a marriage certificate.
Flipping it open confirmed his suspicion: the man and woman had been married. No wonder they traveled together, ambushed together, and raised Poison-type Pokémon together.
So they'd been a pair all along.
He thought back to the woman's sultry expression and lewd gestures after the man's death, and a dark chuckle escaped him. He tossed the marriage certificate into a corner and kept searching through the rest.
From the look of their gear, they had been lying in wait here for quite some time. Their basic supplies were nearly depleted.
Most of what remained were vials and bottles of medicine, all of them antidotes, he discovered after checking each one.
"Well, that makes sense. If all your Pokémon are Poison-types, one careless moment and you could poison yourself."
Poison-types were troublesome opponents, and most trainers preferred to avoid them. But there were drawbacks too.
Other than the medicines, there were only common survival tools: climbing ropes, insect repellent, a simple tent.
None of it was of any use to Sieg, so he had Crawdaunt dig a pit and bury it all.
In the woman's storage pouch, however, he found something that made his eyes gleam.
A lump of black sludge, thick as mud.
It instantly corroded the cloth beneath it inside the tent, eating through it within seconds.
Sieg pinched the corner of the contaminated cloth, carried it outside, and dropped the sludge onto the sand. The surrounding grains blackened and pitted as if the ground itself had been poisoned.
Black Sludge.
Sieg recognized it at once.
An item for Poison-type Pokémon, it could slowly restore their health. But for any other type, it was nothing but a slow, lethal toxin.
"So it's Black Sludge… shame the quality isn't great." He pulled on a pair of specialized gloves and lifted it carefully.
For two trainers of such mediocre strength to carry something like this… it was a surprise.
"Better keep it. Could be useful later." He slid it into a glass container.
In the corner of her puch was also a mid-grade Dusk Stone and several vials of Miltank Milk.
He already had plans forming for the Black Sludge. The simplest was to sell it on the black market. Even at lower quality, it was still valuable, easily worth several hundred thousand.
The other option was to use it in crafting special medicines or poisons.
Unfortunately, Sieg had no Poison-type Pokémon, so that wasn't gonna work, leaving only one possibility.
"Poison-making, then?"
Silent killers and assassins loved such tools, the kind that could kill without leaving a trace.
Poison.
His gaze drifted toward Umbreon.
When Umbreon was tense or excited, it secreted a toxin-laced sweat from its body.
"If I'm making poison, it has to be something unique, something no one can cure."
In the moonlight, Sieg's black eyes gleamed coldly, reflecting the shadow of a ruthless smile.