Watching as "Ai" advanced step by step with two emotion-born monsters at his side, Linck thought grimly that the only option left was to have Gardevoir use Teleport to escape.
Still… before leaving, perhaps Gardevoir could try out a few moves. At least they might gain some experience in dealing with creatures from the Dark Continent.
As for the treasure scattered about, Linck wasn't that concerned. In this world, as long as you had strength, wealth came easily.
He had already obtained the greatest reward from this ruin: the Gengar before him
Wait… Gengar?!
Only then did Linck notice that Gengar had emerged of its own accord, floating right in front of him.
"Gengar! Gengar!"
The ghost Pokémon pounded its chest with determination, vowing it could handle this situation.
"What? You can absorb all that death-aura and even resist Ai's influence?"
Linck was taken aback, realizing in hindsight that the negative emotions that had just vanished so quickly must have been devoured by Gengar.
Under Linck's eager gaze, Gengar opened its cavernous maw.
Countless tendrils of deathly aura and emotion-based mist swarmed toward it like homing birds, disappearing into its body.
The commotion drew the attention of Pete, the glasses man, and even Ai itself.
That… was Linck's nen-beast?!
He actually had another nen-beast, and with such terrifying ability?!
The two watched as the deep-purple creature, about one and a half meters tall, with scarlet eyes and a huge mouth, casually sucked in a torrent of death-aura, even swallowing fragments of Ai's mist-like form.
To Linck, the sight carried a strange sense of humor, like watching Gengar sip down soup.
But to Pete and the glasses man, the scene was nothing short of divine. Like an angel descending to save them from despair.
Why only a part of Ai's body, and why the other emotion monsters remained untouched, Linck guessed it came down to how "digestible" the aura was.
It was like soup with chunks of meat: some could be swallowed directly, others required chewing.
If Gengar could really just gulp everything down whole, that would have been frightening enough to scare even Linck himself.
But seing Ai reduced to such a pitiful state before Gengar, Linck's confidence surged.
Run? For what?
I have General Gengar—slayer of Ai!
"Well then, time to see what these Dark Continent creatures are truly made of!"
Having watched the battle unfold for so long, Linck himself was burning with excitement.
He took his place directly opposite Ai, with Gardevoir on his left and Gengar on his right, each mirroring one of Ai's two emotion monsters.
What? Was he really planning to face them head-on?!
The glasses man's golden-rimmed glasses nearly fell off as his heart jolted in shock.
What a fool! He should've either let Gengar finish swallowing everything, or fled the way they came. Choosing a frontal fight was suicide!
That was Pete's bitter thought as he glared at Linck, resentment burning.
In his eyes, salvation had been within reach, only for Linck's reckless bravado to ruin it all.
You're a guy with a conjuration-type support nen-beast! You should've stayed hidden in the corner. Why stand out now?!
That was Pete's mindset in the split second before Gardevoir and Gengar launched their attacks.
"What?!"
Suddenly Pete's entire body went rigid, frozen. Two overwhelming auras surged out from Linck's sides, suffocating in their might.
So strong?! Impossible! How could a weak nen-user like you possibly have beasts this powerful?!
Cold sweat poured down as Pete felt like he was being hunted by countless bloodthirsty predators.
The glasses man, too, was stunned by Linck's sheer power.
Wasn't your nen ability just "Safe Capsule"? How the hell can that attack?!
Yet unlike Pete's jealousy, the glasses man's face was alight with joy. The stronger Linck was, the greater their chances of survival.
"Gardevoir—Psychic Storm! Gengar—Shadow Ball!"
Like a dancer on a stage, Gardevoir moved gracefully, arms flowing as dozens of pink energy spheres shot forward, streams of force trailing in their wake.
Each psychic sphere was far more potent than the trump cards the Fire-and-Wind duo had unleashed earlier.
Had the hip hop guy been on the receiving end, he would've been reduced to dust in an instant.
At the same time, Gengar gathered its stubby hands together. In a blink, a massive black-and-purple sphere materialized, its pull so deep it felt like a miniature black hole.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The devastating barrage tore through the mist, smashing into Ai and its two emotion-born creatures.
Gengar's Shadow Ball in particular forced Ai back more than ten meters before exploding violently.
In a single round of attacks, the two emotion monsters were completely destroyed.
Ai itself was reduced to a cloud of scattering vapor, trying desperately to recondense.
But Gengar had no intention of giving it that chance…