SWNOVELXO Chapter 1439: Underlake Catacomb
Yuga's days went on routinely, but Verdanturf Town, under the implementation of the League's "Verdanturf City Rising Plan," was changing with each passing day. Old facilities such as the airport, train station, and convalescent home had been renovated, while new infrastructure like parks, highways, and skyscrapers was being planned.
That day, Yuga was at home reading when Mayor Ishida suddenly called, saying he had something urgent to discuss. Yuga hurried over.
Could it be that there was an issue with the artificial lake project currently being undertaken by the Verdanturf government? Yuga couldn't help but wonder.
Although Verdanturf Town was located inland on the Hoenn region, it wasn't lacking in water resources. The mother river, the Green Jade River, wound around the entire town like a ribbon, providing an abundant water supply.
However, Verdanturf did lack lakes, which was why there was a plan to build a large artificial lake. This would not only better regulate water resource usage in the town but also make life more convenient for the residents.
This artificial lake project had already been underway for some time. Yuga had always heard that progress was going smoothly—so what had gone wrong all of a sudden?
The artificial lake under excavation was located in the southwest of Verdanturf Town. It had originally been a small pond but was directly connected to the Green Jade River, which made it the ideal site for the project.
When Yuga arrived at the construction site, Mayor Ishida was speaking with the project manager.
At present, more than half of the artificial lake project had been completed. As long as the dam and other facilities were finished and the Green Jade River's water diverted in, the lake would basically be done.
Many Geodude, Graveler, Golem, and Onix were working at the lakebed.
In the Pokémon world, with such incredible creatures helping out, building a large artificial lake wasn't actually that difficult. That's why Verdanturf's plan for this lake was quite ambitious.
Once completed, a lake of this size would improve Verdanturf Town's climate and make the environment even more suitable for living. For a town whose economy revolved around agriculture and tourism, this was especially important—hence Mayor Ishida's heavy investment in the plan.
When Mayor Ishida saw Yuga approaching, he waved enthusiastically from afar. Yuga walked over in a few quick steps and asked, "Mayor Ishida, what did you need me for?"
Hearing this, Mayor Ishida suddenly wiped the smile from his face, then pulled Yuga aside and whispered, "I didn't bring you here for the construction site. It's something else."
Yuga looked confused. So nothing happened at the site?
Seeing Yuga's expression, Mayor Ishida grinned mischievously and explained, "It's good news! Listen, when the construction team was clearing the sediment at the lakebed, they discovered an entrance to an underground palace. From the looks of it, it's related to ancient beast tamers. I think there must be some valuable stuff inside—so of course I thought of you!"
(Note: In ancient times, Pokémon were called "magical beasts," and Trainers were known as "beast tamers.")
As soon as the underground palace was discovered, Mayor Ishida immediately locked down the information, forbidding anyone from leaking it. His goal was to give Yuga the first shot at the benefits.
All the workers here were locals from Verdanturf who idolized Yuga. They wouldn't leak anything related to him.
The underground palace qualified as an ancient ruin. Newly discovered ruins had always been associated with great rewards. Though Mayor Ishida wasn't a Trainer himself, he was well aware of this fact.
Sure, there might be danger inside, but after working with Yuga for so long, how could Mayor Ishida not know how capable he was? He was confident that Yuga could handle any threat with ease.
The greater the danger, the greater the treasure—wasn't that how it always went?
Mayor Ishida hadn't gone into the underground palace himself, and any talk of danger was just speculation. What the place was really like could only be determined after exploration.
His suggestion was simple: let Yuga go in first. If there were truly valuable things inside, Yuga could take what he needed. The rest would be reported to the League.
After hearing what Mayor Ishida had to say, Yuga stood there dumbfounded, staring blankly at him: So this is what you're really like?
But… an underground palace, huh!
Yuga truly hadn't expected that a place like Verdanturf Town would be hiding an underground palace, an ancient ruin. If not for the large scale of this artificial lake construction and the depth of the excavation at the bottom of the lake, the entrance to this underground palace might never have been discovered.
Among the nearby towns, the only one to have ever discovered ancient ruins was the neighboring Oldale Town, and even that had been many years ago. The ruins there had long since lost their value for exploration and had now completely turned into a tourist attraction.
Yet unexpectedly, today Verdanturf Town had discovered ruins as well.
Mayor Ishida was completely unconcerned by the look in Yuga's eyes and pulled him by the hand, saying, "Come on, I'll take you to have a look."
Under Mayor Ishida's lead, Yuga arrived at a corner of the lakebed. The area had already been cordoned off by the workers.
Passing through several layers of protection, Yuga and Mayor Ishida came to a pitch-black opening. The entrance sloped gently downward all the way.
It had been cleared out by the workers with the help of Pokémon.
As they descended the slope, the soil was so moist that Yuga's shoes became caked in mud, and his clothes got dirty as well.
At the very bottom, Yuga saw two wide, thick stone doors. Because the doors had been buried underground for so long, they had turned pitch black, but it was evident that Mayor Ishida had already had someone clean them in advance, so the carvings on the stone doors were clearly visible.
The patterns weren't complicated — mostly simple images of Pokémon, and all of them Ghost-types, such as Misdreavus and Mismagius.
Just as Yuga approached the stone doors, his Gengar and Mismagius, who had been hiding in his shadow, seemed to sense something and simultaneously appeared to his left and right, staring warily at the doors.
Noticing this, Yuga quickly said to Mayor Ishida, "Mayor Ishida, please step back, there might be danger."
"Huh? Oh, oh…"
Coming to his senses, Mayor Ishida quickly climbed back up the slope, distancing himself from the stone doors.
Only then did Yuga turn to Gengar and Mismagius and ask, "Did you two notice something?"
Gengar and Mismagius didn't respond but exchanged a glance and simultaneously launched Shadow Balls at the stone doors.
"Screee~ screee~ screee~"
As the Shadow Balls struck the doors, a sharp screech echoed from them. The sound was unbearably piercing, causing both Yuga and Mayor Ishida to instinctively cover their ears.
Gengar and Mismagius didn't stop their attacks and continued hurling Shadow Balls at the stone doors. The screaming from within grew sharper and more grating.
These screams were laced with the move Astonish. Yuga had no choice but to release Chimecho to protect himself and Mayor Ishida.
The stone doors were indeed very sturdy—if it were anything else, it would have been smashed to pieces long ago by Gengar and Mismagius.
After around ten minutes, the carvings on the stone doors became blurred from the constant bombardment. At that moment, a wave of black mist surged out, and dozens of Misdreavus and Mismagius suddenly burst out from within the doors, shrieking as they vanished into the air.
It turned out that the carvings on the stone doors were used to imprison these Misdreavus and Mismagius, their purpose being to guard the stone doors. Now that the imprisonment had disappeared, the Mismagius and Misdreavus had naturally scattered to escape.
As soon as the Misdreavus and Mismagius left, the stone doors collapsed with a loud crash, revealing what lay behind them.
A long corridor stretched ahead. Yuga couldn't see the end, only that thin wisps of cold air were drifting in from the far end.
Watching from a distance, Mayor Ishida remarked, "This looks like a tomb!"
Yuga agreed and turned to Mayor Ishida, saying, "I'm going in to take a look. What about you?"
Mayor Ishida waved his hand and said, "Go ahead, I'm heading back up."
This place was frightening. He was getting older and didn't want to linger in such a terrifying place — it was much safer up above.
Yuga nodded and said, "Alright. There's something off about this place. Please make sure no one else comes near."
Mayor Ishida nodded, "Got it." With that, he climbed up the slope without a care for the mud all over him.
After watching Mayor Ishida leave, Yuga lifted his foot and stepped into the corridor. The moment he entered, the torches on the walls suddenly lit up on their own.
Yuga took a closer look—those weren't candle flames at all, they were clearly Litwicks.
Just like the Misdreavus and Mismagius earlier, these Litwicks had also been bound to the walls using some special method. Just as Yuga was about to ask Gengar and Mismagius to free them, the walls on both sides of the corridor suddenly cracked open.
Immediately after, coffins began to fall away from the walls one by one, each slowly extending four arms.
These weren't real coffins either, but the Ghost-type Pokémon known as Cofagrigus.
Seeing the Cofagrigus, Yuga was now almost certain—this place was indeed a tomb.
As soon as the Cofagrigus appeared, they launched an attack at Yuga, all hurling Shadow Balls at once.
Chimecho darted forward, raising a Light Screen to block all the Shadow Balls. At the same time, Gengar and Mismagius counterattacked with Dark Pulse and Mystical Fire, sweeping through the area.
These Cofagrigus weren't low-level—most were around level 40 to 50—but they still couldn't withstand a single strike from Gengar and Mismagius. In just a short while, they had all been defeated.
Yuga took out Poké Balls and captured all the Cofagrigus. As for the Litwicks who had been bound, he chose to release them.
Once freed, the Litwicks were extremely grateful. Some even bowed and thanked Yuga before leaving—much more polite than the Misdreavus and Mismagius from earlier.
From the Litwicks, Yuga confirmed once again that this was a tomb—and apparently, not just any tomb, but the royal mausoleum of an ancient Hoenn empire.
But the Litwicks didn't know much beyond that—they were just low-ranking guards brought in to watch over the place.
The Cofagrigus, however, were different. They were originally the tomb-guarding Pokémon of this royal family and had willingly served the imperial house.
Upon learning this, Yuga couldn't help but frown. These kinds of Pokémon were the most troublesome—they tended to be extremely loyal to their original masters and wouldn't easily accept new ones. Capturing and taming them would not be an easy task.
After seeing the Litwicks off, Yuga continued walking down the long corridor. Without the Litwicks' flame-like light, the passage grew extremely dim, and he had to pull out a flashlight to see.
Pata~ pata~
The sound of Yuga's solitary footsteps echoed in the corridor, making the atmosphere increasingly eerie.
After an unknown length of time, Yuga came upon a fork in the path—two branching passages, one to the left and one to the right. At the entrance of each path lay two giant serpents, each thicker than Yuga's waist.
...
[ Seviper ]
Type: Poison
Ability: Shed Skin
Gender: Male
Potential: Green
Level: 77
Moves: Wrap, Swagger, Bite, Lick, Poison Tail, Venoshock, Glare, Toxic Fang, Sucker Punch, Venom Drench, Gastro Acid, Sludge Wave, Poison Jab, Belch, Crunch, Haze, Sludge Bomb, Thrash, Dragon Tail, Infestation, Dark Pulse, Iron Tail, Aqua Tail, Gunk Shot.
...
[ Seviper ]
Type: Poison
Ability: Infiltrator
Gender: Female
Potential: Green
Level: 71
Moves: Wrap, Swagger, Bite, Lick, Poison Tail, Venoshock, Glare, Toxic Fang, Sucker Punch, Venom Drench, Gastro Acid, Sludge Wave, Poison Jab, Belch, Swords Dance, Coil, Crunch, Haze, Sludge Bomb, Thrash, Dragon Tail, Infestation, Dark Pulse, Scary Face, Aqua Tail, Gunk Shot.
..
Both of them were Elite level Pokémon.
"Seviper~"
"Seviper~"
Yuga's footsteps startled them. The two giant serpents opened their bloody maws and lunged toward Yuga with lightning speed.
Gengar and Mismagius simultaneously hurled Shadow Balls. The heads of the two serpents were struck sideways, slamming into the nearby wall.
The intense pain completely enraged the serpents. They twisted their bodies wildly, hissing as they coiled toward Yuga.
If Yuga were to be caught in their coils, he would likely be crushed to pieces in an instant.
Chimecho deployed Reflect, bouncing the two serpents backward. At the same time, Gengar and Mismagius's Shadow Balls struck the lower-level female Seviper, instantly knocking her to the ground.
"Seviper~ Seviper~"
Seeing the female Seviper fall enraged the male Seviper. A strange wail erupted from its throat, its tail tip trembling as it slapped the ground rhythmically.
As the strange rhythm spread, Yuga saw Seviper after Seviper slowly slither out from both corridors. Though their size wasn't even a tenth of the two giant ones, their sheer numbers were overwhelming—densely packed and hair-raising.
"Seviper~"
With a command from the male giant serpent, countless smaller Sevipers surged toward Yuga like mad.
Upon seeing this, Chimecho flew into a rage. If anyone wanted to hurt Yuga, they'd have to get its permission first!
With Chimecho using the move Psycho Boost, its psychic energy suddenly erupted and sent all the swarming Sevipers flying.
Thud thud thud…
The Sevipers crashed against the ground and walls, all losing consciousness.
Seeing this, the male giant serpent's pupils quivered violently. It instinctively wanted to escape, but seeing the unconscious female Seviper beside it, it quickly darted to her side and stood protectively in front of her, glaring warily at Yuga and his team.
Yuga didn't waste time with it. He commanded Gengar and Mismagius to attack. The male serpent was already no match for them and had to worry about the female. It didn't last long before collapsing as well.
Yuga took out two Poké Balls and captured the serpents separately. As for the countless small Sevipers on the ground, he ignored them.
The little Sevipers didn't have good potential, and it seemed the two giant ones didn't care much about them either, so Yuga felt there was no need to capture them.
After putting away the Poké Balls, Yuga looked at the two corridors in front of him, momentarily unsure which direction to take.