A wave of freezing cold instantly spread through the battlefield, making everyone present feel as if their thoughts had frozen. A pillar of ice that seemed ready to pierce through the entire underground cavern shot upward like a pure blue Spear of Longinus, leaving spiderweb-like frost racing across the air.
Sheer Cold!
It felt as though time itself had stopped. Every pair of eyes turned toward the pillar of ice in the sky.
It was considered the strongest Ice-type move. As long as it hit, it meant an instant knockout.
Even an ordinary Ice-type Pokémon became extremely dangerous if it mastered Sheer Cold. On the other hand, if a non-Ice-type used it, both its accuracy and success rate would drop to an unbelievably low level.
Now the move had been unleashed by the legendary Pokémon Articuno. There was no one better suited to use it.
Unown Moltres frantically beat its blazing wings and tried to soar upward, but Sheer Cold struck it squarely in the chest.
The extreme cold, carrying the world's origin power, pierced straight through its body. The icy aura even snuffed out the flames covering Unown Moltres for a brief moment. Formed from the Unown, the fiery bird let out a painful cry as its body began flickering in and out.
'It hit?'
Seeing this, Shiro did not relax for even a second.
If he had been Moltres's trainer, he would have ordered it to use Protect first before thinking about escaping. But the Moltres before him... seemed to have deliberately taken the Sheer Cold head-on.
If Moltres could not withstand it, the four Unown making up its body would scatter apart and be unable to transform into a legendary Pokémon again for quite some time.
'What are they trying to do?'
Suspicion filled Shiro's mind as he shouted again, "Articuno! Ice Beam!"
"Aaart!"
Like an ice cannon that cared nothing for itself, Articuno A showed no pause after using Sheer Cold. In the blink of an eye, it fired another Ice Beam.
Buzz!
The web-like frost suspended in the air shattered apart under the lingering effect of Sheer Cold.
The Ice Beam pierced straight through Unown Moltres's chest.
At the same time, the illusionary Moltres flashed with a blinding pink light. Four pitch-black Unown floated into the air, releasing psychic power together. Jona herself floated among them.
Psychic energy shimmered in Shiro's eyes, allowing him to clearly see everything. He immediately shouted, "Articuno!"
Articuno A instantly understood. Instead of attacking again, it controlled countless tiny ice crystals nearby and guided them toward the four Unown. Every single ice crystal carried a trace of psychic power.
The psychic energy naturally merged into that of the four Unown. After all, they had always been one and could easily fuse together.
Buzz!
Psychic power trembled through the air. A flash followed, and the surrounding space twisted.
The four Unown and Hunter J disappeared together.
* * *
"Moltres... disappeared?"
On the ground, Bertha stood there blankly. She had even forgotten to pull up the scarf that had slipped to her chest.
"I think I saw four black letter-like Pokémon inside Moltres?" Allen rubbed his forehead as he recalled what had just happened, unable to tell whether it had been real.
Seeing one legendary Pokémon, Articuno, appear in this tiny underground battlefield was shocking enough. Yet another legendary Pokémon had appeared moments later. It was truly eye-opening.
This was Allen's first time seeing legendary Pokémon up close, and he had seen two at once.
"Terrifying..." the short and chubby Vince muttered while trembling beside Unown G. He casually added, "Good thing Professor Shiro moved us in time. Otherwise we'd be dead."
He was not exaggerating. The corner where the four of them had been standing earlier was now completely covered by a thick layer of ice. Whether it had been caused by the aftermath of Sheer Cold or frozen by the overwhelming cold, no one could tell.
As soon as Vince finished speaking, Bertha and Allen both turned toward Unown G.
The four of them had only recently finished dealing with a group of Gym-level wanted criminals, and after such a fierce battle, barely anyone in the arena was left alive. Ice, broken rocks, and scattered dirt covered every corner. Those who had survived were hiding however they could, not daring to reveal themselves.
The four of them were also concealed in one corner under Unown G's psychic barrier.
Allen lowered his voice and asked, "Shiro, your Psychic-type Pokémon is powerful, but I doubt it can survive against Hunter W."
"Right now Hunter W should still be looking for Hunter J, so we aren't his priority. Can you have your Pokémon teleport us into the passage while we have the chance?"
Strictly speaking, they only needed to be teleported past the thick wall of ice sealing the tunnel.
Unown G nodded seriously.
* * *
"Articuno... Moltres... Unown?"
Inside the upper conference hall of the Hunters Guild, Blaine sat in a chair with his eyes closed, quietly repeating the names.
In his hand was a slightly bent spoon that constantly vibrated as psychic power flowed through it.
Several minutes down the passage leading south from the center of the conference hall sat a large yellow fox cross-legged in midair. Holding a spoon tightly with both hands, Alakazam carefully sent its psychic power through the weakest sections of the ice, searching the surroundings.
Nearby, several corpses with wide-open eyes lay scattered across the floor, along with two Gym-level Psychic-type Pokémon, Orbeetle and Xatu.
Before setting out, Blaine had borrowed a Gym-level Alakazam from an Elite-level Psychic-type trainer he knew well, just in case something unexpected happened.
Only Psychic-type Pokémon at the Gym-level or above could barely withstand Articuno's overwhelming pressure and use Teleport to carry people across the frozen barrier.
When Blaine arrived, he happened to run into several wanted criminals and dealt with them without much effort.
Unfortunately...
Blaine's face darkened as he cursed aloud inside the council chamber, "Those damned bastards in the Hunters Guild. Some idiot actually destroyed every single teleportation device! May they all..."
After venting his anger, the brief satisfaction quickly faded.
He had checked several teleportation devices, and none of them worked. To make matters worse, the Hunters Guild headquarters had been built using rare Dark-type materials and complex technology, making the use of Teleport completely impossible.
Blaine understood the moment he realized it.
Only a hunter familiar with this place could have done something like this.
'Were they seriously trying to trap everyone who entered here and kill them all? How could someone be this twisted? Even Darkrai would probably ask them for lessons on creating nightmares.'
Left with no other choice, Blaine thoroughly searched the Hunters Guild headquarters but found no alternate route. In the end, he sent Alakazam below first to see if there was another way out.
There were also several League members. He had already sent them multiple messages telling them to retreat, yet he had no idea where they had gone.
"Hunter W... Hunter J... So Hunter J's Moltres was transformed from Unown? But then why could she use the Unown to teleport away? Is it because the Unown are high enough in level and possess the world's origin power?"
Blaine could not make sense of it.
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