Chapter 581: The Ultimate Beast and the Terminal Cave

The handsome man still wore his signature combination of a trench coat over a suit shirt, making one wonder if he didn't feel hot at all.

Looker remained as always, dressed in a well-fitted, capable uniform, her purple hair tied back by a black headband slightly disheveled.

Both of them looked somewhat haggard, as if they had suffered an attack; Looker's delicate face, much like the handsome man's, was equally smeared with dust.

Upon seeing Luo Mu, the two froze for a few seconds, completely unexpected to encounter him here.

Immediately after, their gazes fell upon the Luxray behind Luo Mu, and their expressions brightened slightly.

Great, perhaps Luo Mu has a way to restrain that beast that devours everything indiscriminately!

Due to the urgency of the situation, the two temporarily ignored Seeing Seeing Kapu and Brother Brother Qingmu standing behind Luo Mu, directly grabbing his hand.

"Do you have time? Please help us!"

Luo Mu: (_) ヾ?

As members of the International Police, the handsome man and Looker travel around the world, handling high-difficulty missions from an outsider's standpoint.

Following the great victory of jointly capturing Team Hunter J at Frostpoint Mountain last time, the handsome man continued his activities as a senior International Police officer.

However, after consecutively completing several important missions, Looker, due to her special identity, leapfrogged from being the handsome man's subordinate to become the Director of the International Police UB Response Headquarters.

Nominally speaking, this young International Police officer, whose demeanor appears somewhat cold at first glance, is now considered the handsome man's superior.

Of course, this is merely one of the background explanations for why they suddenly appeared in the Alola region.

Walking deeper into the cave, the two explained the current situation, speaking alternately.

UB, also known as "Ultra Beast," translates to Ultra Beast or Ultimate Beast.

They are unknown creatures that "visit" this world from another dimensional space, posing considerable danger.

They are the creatures that have long threatened the Alola region; precisely because of their existence, the presence of the Island Guardians is known to every single resident of Alola.

Since ancient times, the people of Alola have frequently witnessed the four Island Guardians appear to protect the islands from the clutches of vicious Ultra Beasts.

These Ultra Beasts arrive in this world through a phenomenon called Ultra Wormholes; because they pose a significant threat to the creatures of this world and often cause major harm, the International Police have been trying every possible method to deal with related issues.

Having spoken to this point, the two paused.

Feeling somewhat regretful about going out with Luo Mu today only to get dragged straight into a strange incident, Brother Brother Qingmu leaned close to Luo Mu and whispered, "This sounds a bit like Paradox Pokémon."

"It's not the same thing, but regarding ferocity, they are indeed quite similar."

Luo Mu nodded lightly in response, then continued listening to the explanations from Looker and the handsome man.

Looker's special identity also facilitated her becoming the Director of the International Police UB Response Headquarters.

When he first met Looker previously, Luo Mu had wondered why she showed such obvious changes compared to the Looker he had watched battling not long ago.

The reason was very simple.

Looker was simply not a person from this world.

The Looker of this world was still serving as the Salon Maiden in the Battle Frontier, waiting for a young traveler who would capture her heart to arrive.

The Looker standing before Luo Mu, however, was one who had fallen into this world through an Ultra Wormhole!

Furthermore, just like Mo En, she had lost her memories.

In other words, there currently exist two Lookers in this world: one is the Salon Maiden, and the other is an International Police officer.

This matter is considered top-secret within the International Police; if the situation were not urgent and the two did not need to seek Luo Mu's help, they would never have disclosed this matter so completely.

After they mentioned the Ultra Wormholes, Luo Mu recalled a side-quest setting from the Sun and Moon games.

He also roughly guessed the reason why the two were made so haggard and why Zubat and Golbat had flown out of the dim cave.

As expected, after a somewhat lengthy "recap of previous events," the two mentioned the current main problem.

"Because based on current intelligence deductions, Ultra Wormholes appear almost exclusively in the Alola region, our headquarters is therefore established in the Alola region."

"This current incident counts as an accident."

Looker's voice paused briefly; her gaze fell upon the pitch-black corridor extending forward, seeming to lead to an abyss, yet her hand holding the flashlight remained perfectly steady.

"Our International Police UB Response Headquarters detected energy fluctuations on Poni Island suggestive of an Ultra Wormhole opening."

"According to protocol, two officers were dispatched together to return any Ultra Beasts that accidentally entered this world back to where they belong before the Ultra Wormhole closes."

"The mission proceeded very smoothly; however, the occurrence of accidents was utterly unexpected."

Seeing Looker lost in recollection, her heroic eyebrows slightly furrowed, the handsome man took over the conversation.

"As someone who traveled through an Ultra Wormhole, Looker, having been bathed in the energy of the Ultra Wormhole, developed a constitution that attracts and is attacked by Ultra Beasts; we in the International Police call this 'FALL'."

The handsome man did not mention that utilizing the characteristics of FALL, the International Police had used it as "bait" to capture numerous Ultra Beasts, studied them, and then returned them through the Ultra Wormholes.

He simply explained: "After dealing with the incident, we were preparing to return, when an unknown Ultra Beast, appearing for the first time, was attracted by Looker's constitution, tore open an Ultra Wormhole, and appeared behind us."

Recalling the creature's appearance, the handsome man's already somewhat worried features grew even more troubled.

"That creature started frantically devouring everything around it the moment it appeared; we tried our old trick to neutralize it, only to discover that it could even devour Pokémon moves, and its strength was such that we could not withstand it."

"We had no choice but to temporarily retreat under its pursuit and return to headquarters to prepare countermeasures."

"If something hadn't attracted that creature's attention midway, I'm afraid the creature would have rushed out together with us just now."

When the handsome man spoke to this point, Looker's expression instead showed some concern.

"Just like those Zubat, many wild Pokémon live inside this cave; if we allow the Ultra Beast to run rampant here, unavoidable and unacceptable results will certainly occur before we can return."

"Therefore, as the Director of the UB Response Headquarters, I have activated an emergency measure—"

"Seeking the assistance of powerful Trainers."

"Mr. Luo, Champion Brother Qingmu, I hope you can extend a helping hand."

After this speech, the two had basically explained the current situation quite thoroughly.

Even Brother Brother Qingmu could condense these words into a single sentence.

These two were simply looking for him and Luo Mu to act as hired muscle—

The moment he thought about having to deal with a creature as ferocious as a Paradox Pokémon, Brother Brother Qingmu felt the temples that had relaxed during the three-day vacation start throbbing with pain again.

Is this guy Luo Mu a walking disaster beast? How is it that wherever he goes, strange and bizarre things happen!

Though he found it troublesome, Brother Brother Qingmu never once said no from start to finish.

He simply could not bring himself to abandon the wild Pokémon in this cave to an attack.

Even if it meant working overtime himself.

Since Brother Brother Qingmu had already acted this way, Luo Mu naturally had no objections, especially since the worry of Seeing Seeing Kapu behind him was nearly materializing.

Seeing Seeing Kapu did not wish for anything bad to happen in this beautiful Alola.

Given that, it would be inexcusable not to lend a hand for such a simple task.

Moreover, with golden flowers existing within this cave, he could even less afford to sit idly by.

Regarding that "unknown" Ultra Beast, Luo Mu roughly knew its true identity.

If it was that fellow, it was no surprise that Lillie and Looker could not handle it.

If it were him, lacking information and staring blankly as his Luxray's attack was swallowed by the opponent, his first reaction would definitely be to flee.

However, based on the detailed descriptions from the two, Luo Mu still had one question.

What exactly could hold a greater attraction for that Ultra Beast than Lillie, who served as the "FALL"?

Harboring some doubts, Luo Mu asked the two, "This cave looks quite large; does it have a specific name?"

Lillie and Looker exchanged a glance; after a brief moment of thought, Looker answered, "Terminus."

"Passed down through generations among the residents of Poni Island, this cave is called the Terminus Cave."

The group soon arrived at the location where Lillie and Looker had previously dealt with the Ultra Beast.

Yet, aside from obvious signs of battle and some ground and rock layers chewed into a mess, there was almost nothing else.

If one had to say anything was related to that Ultra Beast, it was the white, collapsed, net-like passage hovering silently in mid-air, seeming to lead to some unknown world.

"This is an Ultra Wormhole."

Seeing an Ultra Wormhole for the first time, Brother Brother Qingmu widened his eyes, barely maintaining the calm demeanor of an adult office worker on the surface.

It indeed looked as though it led to some unknown world.

According to Looker and Lillie, this thing would also open randomly across the Alola region, spitting out different Ultra Beast to cause trouble.

In a certain sense, its danger level was even higher than that group of ferocious Paradox Pokémon locked inside the Great Crater of Paldea.

After all, Paradox Pokémon smuggling themselves out of the Great Crater of Paldea was an isolated case, whereas Ultra Wormholes opened completely at random and could not be prevented in advance.

Although Luo Mu also knew of Ultra Wormholes and had actually seen one before—Lei Guan Wang, who had taken in Cosmog, had described the appearance of Ultra Wormholes to him.

But in truth, this was indeed the first time he had witnessed the appearance of an Ultra Wormhole with his own eyes.

Gazing at that mysterious passage, he inexplicably felt an impulse to jump in and see where he would end up.

But very quickly, this dangerous thought was firmly suppressed by his own reason and no longer showed on his face.

Looking at the Ultra Wormhole that remained open, Looker rubbed his chin and frowned slightly, "The opponent should have mov—"

Before Looker could finish his sentence, a deafening beastly roar erupted from the depths of the cave.

"Hngaaaaaaah!"

"!!!!"

Lillie's expression changed slightly, and she quickly spoke up, "That's the cry of that fellow!"

Luo Mu, who was inspecting the traces, paused his movements, his expression turning strange.

Wait, that cry—

"Puka-lei!"

As if sensing something, Seeing Seeing Kapu's face was tinged with urgency, and it spoke to urge Luo Mu to follow.

Luo Mu reacted quickly as well; exchanging a glance with his Luxray, he without hesitation followed Seeing Seeing Kapu's lead.

Lillie and Looker were a beat slower in their reaction, turning to look at Brother Brother Qingmu.

They seemed to want to learn from Brother Brother Qingmu why the Island Guardian following Luo Mu looked different from what they had expected.

To this, Brother Brother Qingmu merely shrugged, answering with a completely laid-back expression, "If you're asking me, who am I supposed to ask?"

Led by Seeing Seeing Kapu, Luo Mu and his Luxray soon arrived at the source of the sound.

The space here was somewhat wider than the interconnected passages they had passed through earlier, supported by numerous stone pillars formed from rocks.

A creature composed of a black sphere, moving on a pair of thick legs, was rampaging through the cave.

In the middle of its body was a large yellow mouth, with two rows of teeth at the top and bottom that were yellow in front and black in back; as it rampaged, two thick, pincer-like tongues extending from its mouth were indiscriminately devouring everything around it.

Quite a few stone pillars had already collapsed, becoming food for the unknown creature.

Human-like greed shone from the two glowing blue eyes above the creature's upper jaw, as well as from a pair of even smaller blue eyes on another cone-shaped small head atop the main spherical body.

It was rejoicing in its feeding.

The three people following closely behind Luo Mu all had the same thought arise in their minds.

Luo Mu narrowed his eyes and spoke the name of the unknown creature in his heart.

As expected, it was the Ultra Beast codenamed "UB05: Devourer," Guzzlord.

This fellow was the one mentioned earlier when he went to Seeing Seeing Kapu's world—the culprit who, in a certain Ping Xing Shi Jie, turned Hau'oli City on Melemele Island into ruins and transformed it into the Ultra Megalopolis.

If this fellow was allowed to continue eating and no one stopped it, sooner or later the entire Poni Island would suffer a great disaster.

Several Noibat with panicked expressions flapped their dragon wings, hurrying past overhead to flee this place of trouble.

As if searching for some delicious delicacy, the happily feeding Guzzlord completely ignored Luo Mu's group, including Lillie, and merely used its split tongues to continuously consume the rocks forming the stone pillars.

—At least, that was how it appeared on the surface.

In places invisible to the four humans—Luo Mu and the others—and the Pokémon Luxray and Oricorio.

Within Seeing Seeing Kapu's field of vision, green objects occasionally falling into its large mouth as it grabbed and devoured the stone pillars could be clearly seen.

We cannot let this fellow continue eating like this!

Although this area was not under the jurisdiction of itself as an Island Guardian, Seeing Seeing Kapu knew all too clearly what terrifying things would happen if Guzzlord was allowed to keep eating.

His other self had likely already sensed this and was rushing over.

Now it would assist Luo Mu in holding back the Devourer King, even crushing the opponent and sending it back into the Ultra Wormhole!

(End of Chapter)