Chapter 80: Water Stone Mine
“It’s actually Protect?”
Lu Li looked somewhat surprised at the transparent barrier in front of the Ludicolo Leader. He really didn’t expect a wild Pokémon to use this divine skill Protect.
But it didn’t matter.
The corners of Lu Li’s mouth curved up slightly. Protect cannot be used continuously, otherwise there is a risk of failure.
Although the Ludicolo Leader used Protect to block Tropius’s Leech Seed, Milotic’s Twister is a scope attack.
The lightly rotating wind became abnormally violent after a few seconds, and the Twister mixed with Dragon Type energy swept through like a natural disaster.
“Ga!!”
The Lotad that couldn’t grip the ground were quickly blown up by the Twister, crying out in agony.
Seeing this scene, the Ludicolo Leader was also extremely anxious. With almost no hesitation, the Ludicolo Leader immediately gave up defense and launched a new attack on Milotic across the river.
Double-Edge!
The Ludicolo Leader, like a cannonball, no longer cared about being gentle at this moment.
For a responsible Tribe Leader, the lives of the tribe members are more important than a beauty.
Seeing this, Lu Li, who was confident of victory, immediately commanded: “Tropius, take it!”
Hearing the order, Tropius stood in front of Milotic. Tropius had no defensive skills, so it could only choose to tank it with its body.
“Boom!”
Ludicolo heavily crashed into Tropius, and Tropius’s Life value instantly dropped to critical.
At the moment of near death, Tropius activated Photosynthesis, and at the same time activated the Leech Seed on those Lotad.
Star Absorbing Technique activated. Tropius filled up the consumed Life Energy in almost the blink of an eye. Although not fully restored, it was almost there.
Ludicolo looked at this scene in disbelief.
Why wasn’t the weak Tropius instantly defeated?
Thinking of this, the Ludicolo Leader turned to look at the tribe behind it.
Not looking was fine, but looking revealed an even more frightening scene: all the Lotad were lying on the ground with their eyes rolled back.
“Ga!!”
（You bastard, what did you do to my companions?）
Seeing Ludicolo suffer skill backlash, Lu Li wouldn’t indulge it. Lu Li immediately commanded: “Milotic, Disarming Voice, then Water Cannon at maximum power!”
Disarming Voice is a group attack. The first to be hit was the Ludicolo Leader, whose angry expression instantly changed after being struck.
The pale-faced Ludicolo Leader was full of servility, then looked at Milotic with dazed eyes.
But what greeted it was not the goddess’s attention, but a powerful Water Cannon.
“Boom!”
The hit Ludicolo Leader flew backward and crashed into the middle of the Lotad.
“Tropius, continue Leech Seed.” Lu Li chose to press the advantage.
The two Ludicolo on the other side weren’t idle either. After a brief panic, they quickly organized the tribe to counterattack.
However, most of those skills were chaotic and disorderly. Even if any landed, they were all tanked by Tropius.
The vast majority of Lotad and Seedot had Leech Seed on them, making them mobile blood packs for Tropius.
Plus, Tropius had been taking Pills frequently these past few days, so its Life Energy state was already comparable to Veteran Level peers.
After the battle, Tropius tanked over a dozen skills and emerged unscathed, though its Energy was consumed quite quickly.
Charmander, who had been idling on the side, looked at Tropius in utter disbelief.
What is this thing?
Is this really the dumb one I know?
Didn’t you say you were a Gardener? This Vitality is probably from some Divine Beast, right?
Having watched many Pokémon Battle videos, Charmander could confidently say that Xiao Lü… no, now it’s Brother Green. Brother Green is very abnormal!
A Normal Late Stage Tropius, an Elite Early Stage Milotic, plus a Trainer who was basically a mascot.
This combination defeated the Lotad led by one Elite Level and two Veteran Level Late Stage Ludicolo.
Keep in mind that the eight Lotad were all Normal Level in strength.
Lu Li’s summary of this battle was—zero technology, all relying on numerical values!
For the first time conducting such a large-scale group battle on the ground, Lu Li had no experience, and there were hardly any such battle videos online.
With zero experience, Lu Li knew this win was entirely due to nurturing these two Pokémon to an outrageous level.
After the battle, naturally came the enjoyable looting phase. As the Overlord of this generation, the Ludicolo Leader having good items was too normal.
“Charmander, go take the Life Orb off the Ludicolo Leader for me,” Lu Li said.
Considering it contributed nothing in the battle, Charmander was unusually diligent.
It trotted over to the Ludicolo Leader.
“Pa~”
Charmander slapped the Ludicolo Leader hard across the face.
“Fire!”
（You little punk also dare to covet Big Sister? Do you know what internal digestion means? Are you worthy!）
The near-death Ludicolo: “…”
Charmander bullies me while I’m injured and weak…
Ludicolo looked at Charmander with full unwillingness, but could only watch helplessly as its Life Orb was taken by Charmander.
This was the reliance that allowed it to become the Overlord of this generation.
After retrieving the Life Orb, Charmander obsequiously handed it to Lu Li.
“Milotic, you watch them first. I’ll meditate to recover.” After instructing Milotic, Lu Li sat cross-legged on the ground to meditate and recover.
One hour later.
After recovering a bit of Energy, Lu Li reapplied Telepathy to himself.
Lu Li said: “Milotic, heal them a bit.”
Milotic nodded, then activated Life Dew.
The Life Dew containing healing power accurately landed on every Pokémon. The Lotad that had lost mobility all stood up in disbelief.
The vast majority of Lotad looked at Milotic fanatically.
Can fight and heal—what isn’t this a goddess?
Milotic’s Charm instantly conquered the Lotad tribe, even though they were enemies before.
After struggling to get up from the ground, the Ludicolo Leader looked at Lu Li with complex eyes.
The Ludicolo Leader knew this human was the decision-maker.
Lu Li wasn’t worried that these Pokémon would cause trouble after healing. Most Pokémon are straightforward, especially wild ones—steal what they like, cower when they can’t win.
Right now, the Lotad were in cower mode.
“I want to know where your Evolution Items came from?” Lu Li asked as calmly as possible.
“Ga~”
（You mean the Water Stone?）
Lu Li nodded quickly.
“Ga~”
“We dug this up in the cave.”
“Can you take us to that cave?” Lu Li asked excitedly.
The Ludicolo Leader looked at the tribe behind it, then at Milotic nearby, and finally gritted its teeth and nodded.
“Ga~”
（As long as you don’t hurt my companions, I can take you there.）
After getting the reply, Lu Li’s facial expression became even more amiable: “Then I’ll trouble you.”
“Just you take us there. Your companions are injured, so let them wait here.” Lu Li suggested.
The Ludicolo Leader nodded.
After instructing the tribe behind it, the Ludicolo Leader jumped into the river.
“Ga~”
（Follow me.）
Lu Li quickly recalled Tropius and Charmander, then followed along the riverbank as the Ludicolo Leader headed upstream.
The Lotad weren’t bragging. The Ludicolo Leader was indeed the Overlord of this area—at least this river belonged to it.
The Pokémon in the river and on the banks all fled far away upon seeing the Ludicolo Leader, afraid of being slow and provoking its attack.
Led by the Ludicolo Leader, Lu Li arrived in front of a cave.
The river water flowed out from the cave—this should be the cave the Ludicolo Leader mentioned.
“Ga~”
（It’s a bit dark inside. Are you sure it’s okay?）
Lu Li took out a flashlight from his Backpack.
Lu Li: “No problem at all.”
“Ga~”
（There’s a group of Pokémon in the cave. I’ve reached consensus with them, so don’t attack those unfamiliar Pokémon first.）
The Ludicolo Leader warned again.
If the Ludicolo Leader weren’t a Pokémon, Lu Li would definitely turn and leave—this setup was too much like luring the enemy into a trap.
The cave was very damp, with water droplets even on the rock walls.
Holding the flashlight, Lu Li could only slowly grope along the rock wall, proceeding cautiously.
After walking more than ten minutes, the Ludicolo Leader finally left the water and led Lu Li along the dry riverbed nearby.
“Buzz~ Buzz~”
Lu Li vaguely heard bursts of buzzing sounds, like bees vibrating wings or bat cries.
Lu Li guessed those were the Pokémon living in the cave that the Ludicolo Leader mentioned.
From the frequency of the cries, the number of Pokémon in this cave should be quite large.
“Ga~”
（Wait here first. I’ll go greet my friends.）
Lu Li nodded but still released Charmander and Tropius.
Better safe than sorry—this routine from the Ludicolo Leader looked more and more like deliberately leading him into a pit.
A moment later, the Ludicolo Leader returned.
“Ga~”
（I’ve told my friends. Let’s go.）
Lu Li recalled Tropius, then had Charmander walk beside him.
Charmander’s tail could be used as a torch, so Lu Li didn’t recall it.
After another stretch of groping forward, Lu Li finally entered a massive cave chamber.
“Ga~”
（This is where we dug up the Water Stone.）
Lu Li looked at the spacious cave chamber and nodded. Under faint Spiritual Power perception, he found that the Water Attribute Energy in this place was outrageously high.
Its Water Attribute Energy density was almost comparable to those in Secret Realms, and the Water Type energy here was even purer than in Secret Realms.
“Fire~”
（I feel really uncomfortable in this place.）
As a Fire-type Pokémon, Charmander was the first to notice the cave’s abnormality.
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