Chapter 130: The Raid

Chapter 30: Ambush

His dark skin blended perfectly with the shadows. Along the edges of his body, a translucent mist—leaking from the vast amount of Ghost-type energy within him and emanating an eerie, spectral aura—reduced Lu Yun’s presence as a living being to the absolute minimum. Even a Houndoom with its keen sense of smell would fail to track him unless it came exceptionally close.

Like a silent, unmoving stone, Lu Yun stood quietly in the corner of the dark corridor. His crystalline eyes, veiled in a layer of black mist, reflected every movement made by Burt and his team.

"Arbok and Houndoom, huh..." he murmured to himself.

Lu Yun felt very confident in his current strength. However, that did not mean he could simply disregard caution and rampage through the base. Prudence remained absolutely essential. Although he had proven in his battle against Sandslash that he possessed the power to crush a Pokémon that had completed its first evolution in a short time, this did not guarantee he could handle two opponents at once—let alone while facing an armed human squad alongside them.

In the turn-based battles of his past life's video games, taking on two opponents might have been easy. But combat in the real world was incredibly complex. The combined combat power of two Pokémon was not merely a simple case of one plus one equaling two. The number of factors Lu Yun had to consider increased geometrically with every additional enemy. The application of skills, the careful conservation of stamina, defense, and evasion—he had to be able to multitask, perhaps even triple-task. For Lu Yun, who had not yet fully mastered the fighting style of a Machop, this was an immense challenge.

Therefore, adopting the right combat strategy was vital. Lu Yun, hidden in the dark, had already fully grasped the situation. The doors leading to other parts of the base near the laboratory had all been sealed, leaving only the one from which the security team had arrived. He was effectively in a dead end. Given the search patterns and routes of the guard squad, his exposure was inevitable. Thus, he had to take the initiative and seize the opportunity. The only path left to him was to annihilate all the enemies in front of him.

A sharp glint flashed in Lu Yun's eyes.

...

Leaving a few men to guard the laboratory to prevent the enemy from escaping, Burt led the rest of the squad deeper into the corridor.

It was silent and stifling. A tense atmosphere seemed to solidify the very air. The soft sounds of footsteps, the deliberately suppressed breathing, and the "hissing" of Arbok's long serpentine body rubbing against the floor all wove together, appearing exceptionally abrupt and noisy in the quiet environment.

Arbok’s massive body slithered slowly through the narrow passage. Its already poor vision was even more useless in the dark, but the Arbok did not care. The complex pheromones drifting through the air were absorbed by the snake's tongue and synthesized in its brain. A perspective akin to an infrared lens emerged before it; no subtle movement could escape its sharp, sensitive perception.

Suddenly, a strange burst of energy erupted in the corner of the corridor beside it!

The eerie, weightless sensation characteristic of the Ghost type was displayed to its fullest. A semi-transparent, dark spherical object, hidden by the shadows, was even more concealed and difficult to detect.

As a snake-type Pokémon, Arbok naturally possessed reflexes far superior to those of other Pokémon of the same level. Its neck hood suddenly flared open, and the dazzling, dizzying patterns upon it shifted rapidly.

"Defensive Form!"

An invisible ripple spread throughout its body at lightning speed, and a sense of sturdiness surged forth.

*Zzz—*

The dark spherical object slammed into Arbok’s tail. Highly corrosive energy spread across the purple scales on its surface, but under the effect of Arbok’s "Defensive Pattern," it caused no real damage.

The surprise occurred in an instant. It was only then that Burt and his men reacted, pointing their guns toward the corner from which the attack had come with extreme tension, focused and alert. Houndoom, at the very front of the team, could not help but turn around, arching its back in readiness.

"Boom!"

Just as everyone’s attention was concentrated on one side, from the deep shadows directly in front of the squad, a steel-like, pitch-black figure burst forth like a thunderbolt.

The air in the corridor became thick and sluggish under Lu Yun’s high-speed movement, only to be torn apart by the immense force he carried, transforming into sharp, violent gusts of wind. The whistling sound flashed and vanished. In an instant, his terrifying explosive power brought Lu Yun behind the Houndoom.

Lu Yun clenched the fingers of his right hand, and brownish-red, flame-like energy spilled from his fingertips, swirling and coiling to cover his entire arm. Beneath his dark skin, his muscles bulged, and explosive power erupted.

He slammed his right palm down!

Houndoom seemed to sense the terrifying threat of death from behind. Its attention, which had been drawn away by the Arbok, instantly turned into a blank state of horror. Its body twisted slightly, attempting to dodge this attack from its blind spot.

In Lu Yun’s crystalline eyes, glowing with a menacing red light, he could even clearly see the fine black hairs on Houndoom’s back being blown askew by the gale, and the flickering orange-yellow fire on its triangular tail.

The next second, the iron-black palm wrapped in brownish-red, glass-like energy slammed into Houndoom’s spine.

"BOOM!!!"

The terrifying power, bolstered by Terrakion’s "City-Shattering Pauldron," instantly pulverized Houndoom’s spine and the surrounding flesh. The arched body was violently forced down, bending into an unnatural, grotesque curve. Pale bone fragments flew through the air; the tough black fur acted like a sponge soaked in water as crimson blood seeped from its pores. The intense, surging pain caused Houndoom to open its sharp-toothed maw, but before it could even let out a scream, Lu Yun’s next wave of attacks had already arrived.

The right hand pressed against Houndoom’s back exerted force, pushing off. His torso, briefly suspended in the air, tilted backward under the momentum. His right leg extended diagonally, knee bent, gathering strength. Brownish-red energy spilled from his lower leg bone, wrapping it tightly.

"Low Sweep!"

The air was torn asunder, emitting a sharp, mournful cry. A powerful force struck the soft waist and abdomen, shattering the shoulder blades beneath the muscle.

"Bang!"

Houndoom’s body, its spine shattered and now partially paralyzed, flew sideways like a black ball, colliding violently with the hard wall of the corridor. Shattered bricks exploded in all directions, and dust filled the air.

At this moment, only one second had passed since the start of the battle. And in that brief second, due to Lu Yun’s thunderous, fierce assault, one of the security team’s only two Pokémon—Houndoom—had lost its ability to fight!