Chapter 82: Secret Realm Maze
Lin Ping walked very slowly.
He felt like he was staring into the eyes of some Pokémon in the darkness.
Oily green eyes, or perhaps ghostly blue ones, were staring straight at him.
The distance was quite far, but Lin Ping was certain there was something right in front of him, and it wasn’t an illusion caused by fear.
Lin Ping had seen the other side, so the other side must have seen him too.
“Hangzi Ge… you… you look ahead…”
Zuo Hang naturally saw the eerie pupils in front of Lin Ping.
Like light blue diamonds, emitting a faint glow in the darkness.
Zuo Hang was puzzled.
But he trusted Gardevoir.
Since Gardevoir said there were no problems she couldn’t handle, the depths of the cave were safe.
Psychic couldn’t match Aura, a specialized detection ability; there might be one or two misses, but the color marked on the map here was only light red. Moreover, that pair of eye-like things hadn’t moved since they entered the cave.
“Don’t worry, if it were something dangerous, it would have attacked you already. No need to be afraid, just keep walking forward.” Zuo Hang said from behind Xingye.
Zuo Hang’s words made some sense.
Lin Ping slightly relaxed.
If it were something dangerous, he couldn’t possibly advance so calmly.
Better safe than sorry; humanity always fears the unknown, unless one is powerful enough to resist it. And Lin Ping clearly didn’t think he was that kind of person.
Zuo Hang’s words could only have a certain effect, but they weren’t a panacea.
The dim, damp cave entrance extended forward, and the strange pupils remained ahead in Lin Ping’s line of sight.
Zuo Hang glanced at the terminal.
Their position had been near the E Cave entrance for several minutes; they hadn’t even reached halfway.
“Hangzi Ge, something’s not right about this place.” Xingye said from the back of the group.
Zuo Hang slowed his steps to match positions with Xingye.
“I’ve noticed too; our position hasn’t changed for a long time.” Zuo Hang said.
Xingye clearly knew a lot about secret realms; after Zuo Hang voiced his doubt, he immediately said:
“Number 448 is a dedicated training secret realm, and I heard a big reason for that is that there’s a maze left behind by the first-generation principal in the 448 secret realm.”
“Every principal of White Dragon makes some adjustments to the original secret realms, because there was once a secret realm exploration fanatic who explored every artificial secret realm maze during his school years. In his graduation year, he posted complete maze guides on the campus forum, summarized in exceptional detail, from secret realm locations to entry and exit methods—even a fool could understand them.”
“It was because of this incident that White Dragon’s elusive Dragon God principal specially adjusted all the secret realm mazes, especially this current principal!”
Xingye’s tone suddenly grew serious.
“White Dragon’s current principal is the 11th generation. He has a Zoroark that’s very skilled at creating illusions, and a Zorua that’s not very proficient at illusions but has a strong mischievous streak. These two Pokémon have practically scoured all of White Dragon’s secret realms. It’s said that even the principal himself doesn’t know the current 448 maze, and sophomore and junior students who stay on campus often get trapped in the maze.”
Xingye’s meaning was obvious.
They had walked into a maze.
One that had been updated by White Dragon’s principal’s Zoroark.
Illusion is Zoroark’s talent ability. The recently popular “Phantom King” Han Hao on Bilibili—his main Pokémon is a Zoroark. During his college days, he already gained fame through various illusion transformations. Even illusions like “Rayquaza” and “Mega Rayquaza,” which are hard to get Observer acknowledgment for, he can change at will.
Zuo Hang didn’t know how White Dragon’s current principal’s Zoroark compared to Phantom King Han Hao’s.
Zuo Hang had watched those popular videos of King Han on Bilibili.
Using a talent ability like “Illusion” proficiently isn’t simple.
If the created “Illusion” doesn’t get Observer acknowledgment, the illusion’s existence will become very crude—even an ordinary person who knows nothing about Pokémon can see through it easily.
Zuo Hang had once gone to a high-risk zone where Zorua appeared, but unfortunately, he had no destiny with Zorua.
If the space they were in was truly an illusion created by White Dragon’s current principal’s Zorua, then to get out, they would have to deny this maze as Observers.
In other words, they had to find the unreasonable aspects of this maze and deny the illusion at its root.
But if talking about “unreasonable places”…
They had been treading in place since earlier, which was already quite unreasonable.
“Xingye, any ideas?” Zuo Hang asked.
Xingye spread his hands: “The Xingye family doesn’t have a single Zorua, don’t ask me. I’ve never walked through a maze set up with illusions.”
“Brothers, stop chatting. I’ve reached a dead end here.” Lin Ping suddenly interrupted their conversation.
In front of him was a stone sculpture.
A stone sculpture with eyes flashing eerie green ghost fire.
—A Sableye.
Not lifelike, but carved quite exquisitely.
No.
It might be a real stone sculpture, or it might be an illusion created by Zoroark.
Zuo Hang went around behind the stone sculpture.
A sword was stuck in the ground.
A sword with its scabbard still attached, plunged into the ground.
This was a Perrserker.
And it seemed alive.
The scabbard was brown, with patterns left from ancient times, and a blue ribbon at the end of the hilt.
It’s said that Perrserker was a treasured sword used by people in the past, which transformed into a Pokémon after housing the soul of its deceased owner.
If a later person tries to grasp the hilt, the blue ribbon at its end will wrap around the user’s hand and absorb their life.
It’s a Pokémon with strong hostility toward humanity.
Zuo Hang was certain this Perrserker was alive.
The ghost face pattern on the scabbard seemed to have moved just now.
Lin Ping pulled out the terminal and scanned the Perrserker.
【Perrserker】
Attack: 109
Defense: 40
Special Attack: 39
Special Defense: 189
Speed: 60
Intelligence: 2（Normal human is 10）
Charm: 1
Overall Combat Power: C+
Combat Power Evaluation: Anyway, even if I give you four words, you’ll say I’m bullshitting, so I won’t say it—you guess yourself.
“This terminal! It’s being cheeky again!” Xingye said.
Black Terminal: “Don’t yell at me, terminals have it hard too”
“—Pa~” Lin Ping directly shut off the terminal, not wanting to hear its snark.
Zuo Rou, who hadn’t gone around behind the statue, suddenly said: “Look at the statue’s pose. This Sableye seems to be protecting the sword behind it.”
Hearing Zuo Rou’s words, they all stepped back a few steps.
The Sableye stone sculpture had its arms crossed over its chest, indeed like it was guarding—no, like it was blocking something.
This seemed like a battle frozen at a certain moment by some force into statues.
Zuo Hang suddenly thought of a theory about secret realm formation—
（ps: Feeling exhausted all over today. Drop some tickets after reading~ There should be another chapter tonight.）
