Chapter 81: Entering the Ruins

Ying Shu blinked in surprise before saying, “The shrine is very dangerous right now...”

The two awakened stone giants seemed unwilling to leave the ruins.

But the instant anyone entered, they would attack.

Hu Yang of course knew how dangerous it was. He thought for a moment, then said, “I can go in alone.”

With Cramorant and Roserade with him, there shouldn’t be any problem.

“But...” Ying Shu hesitated. Though they disliked outsiders, they did not wish to see one injured.

Looking at Hu Yang, he sighed and said, “All right. We won’t seal the entrance. If you run into danger, remember to get out quickly.”

The people here were rather kind.

On the way over, he had thought they might be like the villains from a movie, stubbornly trying to stop him.

He had not expected them to be so reasonable.

Hu Yang said, “I understand. Thank you for your trouble.”

Led by the islanders, Hu Yang passed through the shrine entrance and soon arrived before the temple that sealed the Ghost-type Pokémon.

The so-called temple was built into the mountain itself. Its entrance was fashioned from rough, uneven stone, and every surface bore the marks of age.

Ying Shu slowly introduced it. “This temple was built by our ancestors to seal away the Ghost-type Pokémon that harmed people.”

As he spoke, he glanced hesitantly at Gengar beside him. “You... be careful.” It seemed as though he wanted to say something else, but in the end said nothing.

Seeing this, Hu Yang could faintly guess what he had wanted to say.

He suddenly realized how mistaken he had been before.

He had always assumed that the islanders had sealed the ghosts away out of ignorance.

But a thousand years ago, when those Ghost-type Pokémon suddenly appeared, had they truly never harmed the humans on this island?

Just like the Ghost-type Pokémon in the Orange Heart Forest.

Then what about Gengar? Had it done the same back then?

Hu Yang glanced at Gengar beside him, then withdrew his gaze.

In the next moment, he felt that he himself was being terribly unfair.

His mouth said he believed, yet his heart was secretly doubting.

Still, that thought only flashed through his mind. Hu Yang was willing to believe Gengar.

What he did not notice was that after their eyes met, an expression of desolation had appeared on Gengar's face.

At that moment, Ying Shu opened the stone door of the temple and said, “All right, you may go in.”

After silently condemning himself for a few seconds, Hu Yang put his thoughts aside and focused on the matter before him.

As the stone door opened, a chill wind poured out from within.

“We’ll wait for you outside,” Ying Shu said.

Hu Yang nodded, took out a Poké Ball, and released his strongest current battle force, Cramorant and Roserade.

Gengar floated quietly behind him and said nothing more.

Passing through the long corridor inside the temple, Hu Yang soon entered the first stone chamber hall.

On the walls here, murals worn down by time began to appear.

They depicted the sudden appearance of Ghost-type Pokémon on the island, and the story of how the messenger of aura had come to seal them away.

“Where is your body?” Hu Yang asked after studying them for a while.

Gengar pointed in a direction.

But at that very moment, a tremor of footsteps suddenly echoed through the corridor.

Immediately after, two enormous beings nearly three meters tall emerged from within.

“Rrgh!”

“Gah?”

Roserade instantly prepared for battle, while Cramorant stared blankly at the two stone figures.

They were Claydol!

Claydol resembled a giant earth golem in shape, with many mysterious patterns etched across their bodies.

Their huge forms looked clumsy at first glance, yet they also radiated a sense of immense power.

Only, these two Claydol looked somewhat different from ordinary ones.

The patterns on ordinary Claydol were the yellow of the earth.

But the color on these two was an eerie, deep violet!

“Ka!” “Ka!”

Upon detecting the enemy, the Claydol on the left drew its legs into its body, turning its waist into a launching mechanism.

A dark violet energy erupted from within, surging forward like a launched rocket.

It was the Ground-type move High Horsepower.

The enemy charged in. Cramorant’s bodyguard mode was triggered, and it opened its mouth to spit out a small Time Roar.

Roserade, meanwhile, met the other one head-on. Its resilient vine whip shot out at once, coiling around the Claydol’s thick waist.

Then, with a sudden burst of force, the vine whip unleashed tremendous power, hurling the clumsy Claydol over its own back and slamming its head into the ground.

Hu Yang said, “Solar Beam!”

The order was given. While the Claydol’s head was still stuck in the earth, immense energy gathered within Roserade’s blossom bud.

Very soon, a blinding, scorching beam shot forth and swallowed the Claydol whole.

In moments, the two Claydol guarding the temple were battered apart and lost their ability to fight, their components scattering across the floor.

“They don’t seem as strong as you said,” Hu Yang said to Gengar.

No sooner had he spoken than a cloud of purple mist suddenly rose within the chamber.

The mist poured into the two Claydol, and soon their damaged bodies were reconstructed once more.

“It’s because of that treasure,” Gengar said suddenly.

Treasure? What treasure?

Hu Yang’s mind quickly flashed back to what Gengar had told him earlier about a hidden hoard.

Ghost-type Pokémon appearing on this isolated island... a treasure that could be sensed by Ghost-type Pokémon...

Dimly, something seemed to connect.

But now was clearly not the time to think about that.

Hu Yang could feel that these two revived Claydol had become even stronger than before.

“Roserade, Magical Leaf!”

“Rrgh!”

Cramorant also took to the air, its bodyguard mode still active in response to the Claydol’s aggression.

“Gah!”

A spatial slash and Magical Leaf shot past as the two Claydol fell once again.

But that violet energy once more began to gather at their chests.

Hu Yang did not want to waste time here. He grabbed Cramorant and Roserade and ran in the direction Gengar had pointed out.

But very soon, the buzzing roar of energy discharge sounded again behind him.

Immediately after, one wall before him crashed down, and behind one of the Claydol rose a terrifying phantom.

The other Claydol had already flanked from behind.

This time, it used Magnitude!

Hu Yang did not want Cramorant destroying this ruin, so Cramorant had deliberately been holding back the power of its moves.

But the Claydol, lacking any such self-restraint, would not think so much. Deep in their minds lay only one command: drive back the invaders, by any means necessary.

With Magnitude unleashed, the ground began to shake violently, and the mountain outside shook along with it.