Chapter 117: A Great Merit

Terry's request caught him somewhat off guard.

"Where is Lady Ayana?" Baimu hurriedly stepped aside to make room for the female driver to find a place to rest.

The outpost was never large to begin with, and after stuffing more than a dozen enemies inside it had grown even smaller, now looking quite cramped.

"She's at the command post — Baimu, I know what you're planning. Help me go check on Lady Ayana's situation first, then you can resume your withdrawal. It won't be too late."

Terry saw right through his intention to slip away.

Everyone present, upon hearing this, turned to look at him one after another, their eyes carrying all manner of emotions.

And upon hearing those words, Baimu not only did not panic, but instead furrowed his brow. "What's the current situation in the mine? Did something happen?"

"Hehehe, clever."

Terry forced a strained smile, letting the few Quicksand team members treat him with the emergency medical kit, and said: "The explosives Master Liu Ge had placed in the mechanical warehouse ahead of time blew up. The trusted subordinate of the Mad Dog squad's top executive, Jiemate, got blown sky-high. In one wave they wiped out a third of their people. The remaining Mad Dog squad members have gone crazy!"

The corner of her mouth twitched as if a funny bone had been struck, but she soon broke into a violent coughing fit.

Baimu's face was full of shock.

"Explosives planted in advance…"

That's ruthless!

Although anticipating the enemy's arrival and making some preparations wasn't surprising, directly blowing up the entire mechanical warehouse — weren't they afraid of friendly fire? How much loss would a raging fire cause? How many people would die!

Daring to think this way and daring to actually do it are two entirely different things.

Was Master Liu Ge, who struck so ruthlessly, really the person he had imagined? Or would that lot simply act this way when the moment demanded it?

His mind was in some disarray, and Terry's rambling reached his ears once more.

"The command post side is the most chaotic, I can't get through there now. I'm only worried whether Lady Ayana can take on two by herself. Your strength has improved again, hasn't it? Go take a look —"

The words were left unfinished.

Because under Baimu's hand signal, Bouffalant crouching at the doorway flung Girard onto the ground.

"One executive is here, another executive flew to the sky, so there's only one executive left in the mine… With Ayana's strength, she should be able to take him down. You know her best, what do you think?"

He looked at Terry, and Terry stared fixedly at Girard, seemingly too shocked, continuously sucking in deep breaths as if starved of oxygen.

The other few Quicksand team members' faces went stiff; the one pouring disinfectant gave a jerk of the hand, spilling nearly half of it onto the ground.

"Still alive?"

"Alive."

"You did it?"

"Lucky."

"…Flobo was right, you really are a monster."

"Enough of the useless talk. When you went out earlier, did you link up with the main force? How much defensive strength is left in the mine? What about the enemies?"

"The main force should all be near the command post. Before the Mad Dog squad attacked, aside from those on alert and reconnaissance duty, basically everyone was staying there… As for the enemies, they're rather scattered, running around causing destruction everywhere."

"Understood."

Baimu said to Cheng Hong and the others: "I'm going out to take a quick look. You all stay a while longer and guard my spoils."

"Yes!"

Cheng Hong and his group indicated their understanding.

——

Under normal circumstances, Baimu absolutely would not want to come face-to-face with an executive.

After all, in a life-or-death real fight with absolutely no guarantee of victory, what was the point of a battle you couldn't be sure of winning? If you could bully people with overwhelming force, why walk a tightrope on one leg up high?

But right now, one executive had been captured and another had flown sky-high, leaving only one who was probably still fighting back and forth with Ayana. After this long, there was most likely already a result.

Baimu felt he could go check on the situation.

If Ayana had successfully taken down that executive, then they could join forces and attempt a counterattack against the remaining Mad Dog squad members, earning a great merit in the end.

If Ayana had been taken down by that executive, that executive probably wouldn't be in great shape either. Picking up the scraps to avenge Ayana or save her would likewise earn a great merit.

As long as he wasn't surrounded by a dozen or twenty Mad Dog squad members, there was nothing major to worry about.

"Sorry for the trouble, once more."

Baimu mounted Bouffalant's back; the latter had just inherited Mawile's Magnet Float. Chansey stood not far off, mainly in charge of helping raise shields.

"Roar!"

Bouffalant let out a low growl, then broke into a wild charge forward. In the blink of an eye it was skimming along the ground like a fighter jet retracting its landing gear.

The speed of advance was extremely fast, completely at odds with its exaggerated size.

The command post lay to the southwest of the mine, a two-story building that looked somewhat dilapidated, but beside it stood a signal tower over thirty meters tall, making it very easy to identify.

And just as Terry had said, the Mad Dog squad members were mostly scattered, not gathered into large groups, and most had rushed toward the mechanical warehouse. The raging inferno over there was still burning, thick black smoke lingering and refusing to disperse, making it impossible to tell what was going on.

Occasionally one or two Quicksand team members of unknown life or death could be spotted on the ground, lying scattered in patches of shadow. Unfortunately, Baimu was in a hurry to find Ayana and had no time to investigate their condition.

Not long after.

The command post was right before his eyes.

But what Baimu hadn't expected was that the fighting here seemed to still be ongoing.

"Hide? Let's see how long you can keep hiding!"

In the pitch-black environment, a dark, shadowy figure stood before the crumbling walls, and beside it was a strange and enormous purple scorpion — Skuntank.

That shadowy figure let out a hysterical roar, yet a hint of weakness crept into its tone.

"Hm?"

Apparently detecting an outsider approaching, that shadowy figure swiftly turned around. The instant it spotted Bouffalant, it immediately gave an order: "Pin Missile!"

Puff puff puff puff!

Countless pale-green light points flew into the sky then plummeted at extreme speed, streaking toward Baimu.

"Chansey!"

"lucky!"

The Chansey before them raised a massive green shield of light, completely blocking the Pin Missile, while at the same time Aggron lifted its claws.

"Rock Blast!"

One after another, shards of stone and dust coalesced into sharp rock blades, shooting toward the human figure and the Kingler!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!

Under the cover of night, the sharp whistling through the air sounded especially urgent. Although the surface of the rock blades carried a faint shimmer of light, it easily caused visual blur, interfering with the trainer's judgment.

Not to mention the opponent's condition was far from ideal — it seemed they had no other usable Pokémon either.

"Knock them down!"

Bang bang bang!

The successive explosions came from the claws wreathed in black light around the Kingler.

But the instant it shattered every last rock blade, its body suddenly went rigid, and along with its trainer it was lifted into the sky beneath a strange, rippling wave of energy.

The overwhelming psychic force rendered them unable to move, and the Ayana who had been lying in ambush finally launched her attack.

From amid the rubble of a buried boulder, a stream of azure water surged forth. In an instant the water, as if possessed of its own will, transformed into a long whip that lashed across that human figure, and together with the Kingler, sent them both flying!

Peng!

The water burst apart, the human figure let out a muffled grunt, and inevitably fainted.

Chansey took the opportunity to release the heavy control.

The Kingler's resistance was far too fierce — being of a non-Psychic typing, it had nearly slipped beyond control. Fortunately, Lady Ayana had struck in time.

"Lady Ayana."

All Baimu leapt down from Aggron's back, and soon beneath the familiar, massive Swampert he spotted Lady Ayana, covered in wounds, her consciousness seeming somewhat scattered.

"The Female CEO's All-Purpose Soldier King"

"Can you hear me speaking?"

He waved to Lady Ayana, and the Chansey beside him hurriedly released a healing wave toward her.

Though Heal Pulse cannot mend wounds in an instant, it can still ease what was originally a critical situation — this was something it could not do before, but with the rise in level and the doubling of practice, the healing effect is gradually growing stronger.