In the vast, endless desert—
"Ugh~ seriously, can anyone even live in this place?"
Dak frowned and looked up at the blazing sun high in the sky.
He had thought that with his current strength, he'd be completely immune to heat. A trip to the desert should've been a walk in the park.
But now? He had to admit defeat.
The scorching sunlight still burned on his skin just as harshly.
The only thing he could confirm was that he wouldn't die from the heat.
The damage caused by the sun wasn't even enough to offset the self-healing properties of the Power of Verdant or the energy absorption from the Power of Earth. Even Aura, which wasn't known for recovery, could easily neutralize it.
"I can't take it anymore. Lapras, Rain Dance—please!"
Dak shook his head and tossed out a Poké Ball.
Lapras emerged and immediately drooped at the sight of the sun. Clearly, the 40-plus degree heat was tormenting even her.
"Mrrr~"
A surge of water-type energy gathered in her throat, and a beautiful, harmonious call echoed across the desert.
The blazing sky quickly turned dark as black-gray clouds gathered out of nowhere and covered the sky.
Crash—!
Torrential rain poured down without warning, drenching the desert. The yellowish ground visibly began to solidify and turn deep brown.
"Yes! That's it! Let the storm rage even harder!"
Feeling the rain pelting his face, Dak was immediately overjoyed, spreading his arms and howling toward the sky.
"…"
Lapras rolled her eyes at her crazy Trainer, then turned her gaze toward a certain direction.
"Oh? They're coming out now?"
Dak stretched, then looked in that direction.
He sensed many weak life forces rising from the desert like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.
They were weak to him—but in the magical world, this was a very sizable population.
More specifically, over ten thousand beings with at least "Line"-level magical power.
There was no doubt about it—it was the Elven race.
A whole race of powerful magic users. Unless they were born of magic themselves, there was no way a group like this could exist.
The elves were favored by the world of Zero no Tsukaima. Their average magical talent was impressively high—not surprising at all.
"No wonder the Pope had to unite other Void mages and the power of kingdoms. I thought they needed the Four Void Powers as some kind of key… turns out, they simply couldn't win."
Dak pressed his lips together and uncovered a piece of the truth.
Even if you added up every noble across all six kingdoms—whether half-dead or newborn—the number wouldn't exceed ten thousand.
Of those, the actual battle-capable mages only numbered in the thousands.
Many nobles were merely honorary knights who had risen from the common class and didn't even know magic—only capable in melee combat.
Spread across the six kingdoms, each would have maybe one or two thousand combat-ready mages.
But even that many was enough to make up half the military's effective power in war.
Mages wielding large-scale spells to wipe out enemies or empower allies were immensely impactful.
The other 50% of power came from armies of hundreds of thousands—even millions—of soldiers.
Seems exaggerated to say millions of commoners couldn't match thousands of mages?
Not really.
Because those who reached the front lines were at least "Triangle"-level mages—experts in massive, area-of-effect high-level spells that could easily wipe out hundreds of lives with a single casting.
Especially when 99% of those "millions" were commoners—
And what were those common soldiers like?
Barely fed since birth, skin and bones, never trained properly, and shoved onto the battlefield with a low-quality sword—complete cannon fodder.
That's why the Pope didn't dare send Romania's army directly to wipe out the Elves.
Because they simply couldn't win.
Facing tens of thousands of elven mages, his troops would be powerless—and even more so in this desert environment.
Forget battle—just marching was a challenge.
Unless you were someone like Dak or Dragon—peak-tier physical monsters from the One Piece world, capable of tanking magic with pure body strength—there'd be no hope against an army of elven mages.
Even the squishy ninja from the Shinobi World would struggle.
They might excel at assassinations one-on-one, but in large-scale battles, it would be tough to approach so many mages without using unique jutsu.
The elves seemed to have detected the surge of water-type energy and were now approaching to investigate.
According to what the clone had heard during conversations with Tabitha—
After the "Great Explosion" thousands of years ago, the elves left the forests and moved to the desert, where they've guarded the underground "Holy Land" and the "World Gate" ever since.
They'd been living in this desert for at least four to five thousand years.
Dak stood there quietly for about fifteen minutes until the elves approached.
Only about a dozen came.
"Who are you?"
The leader was a tan-skinned elf with long curly golden hair.
Her body had just the right amount of athletic muscle—not too much, just enough.
"A visitor from another world."
Dak replied casually as he examined the dozen elves in front of him, his gaze growing a bit odd.
It seemed that after living in the desert for so long, the genetics of the elves had started to shift.
In Dak's memory, elves should have had mostly fair skin—but now, it was half and half.
Out of seventeen or eighteen that came, ten had tanned skin.
But one thing was still very exaggerated—
Every single one of them was a busty beauty. Not a single one had less than a D-cup.
He'd originally thought only Tiffania, the half-elf living in the forest in the original story, was like that.
'Turns out it's a racial trait…'
"A visitor from another world?!"
When they heard that term from Dak's mouth, they all took half a step back in alarm.
"…Oh, don't get me wrong. I didn't come from the other side of your World Gate—I'm from a different world altogether."
Dak figured out what they were misunderstanding.
"What?! A new other world?!"
"Could another gate have opened?!"
"Do we need to split forces to guard the gates again?!"
The dozen elven girls instantly believed his words. It was almost laughably innocent.
Dak didn't bother explaining—just watched them calmly.
In this world, most people believed the Elves were evil and cruel, but in reality, they were no different from elves in other stories—lovers of peace and nature.
Dak had no idea who spread that notion.
It definitely wasn't the Pope.
That belief had existed long before his time.
Probably someone who once sought the World Gate and intentionally vilified the elves—hoping to rally the world against them.
But no one had expected the elves to be so stubborn, guarding the gate for thousands of years.
"What's your purpose in coming here?"
"Nothing much. The Earth Elemental King, Yashan, is in your territory, right?"
Dak asked, glancing toward the direction the elves had come from.
He'd already sensed the Earth Elemental King's energy.
As someone with max-level Power of Earth, Dak's control over this land was even greater than Yashan's.
If he wanted, he could make Yashan do whatever he pleased.
Not that he had any intention of doing so—only a certain someone from his world might resort to that…
"So what if she is?"
The lead elven girl answered.
Dak glanced at the seemingly young girl—who was likely several centuries old—and shook his head.
If he brought this bunch back to Pokémon Island, they'd probably get tricked out of their underwear.
Of course, it was also possible they weren't that gullible, just supremely confident in their power and didn't mind revealing such info.
But Dak leaned toward the former. After all, they'd believed his story so easily.
"I'm here to invite her to settle in my world. Her old friends Iras and Sharasa have already agreed to go."
Dak grinned and patted a Poké Ball on his belt.
The next moment—
The Wind Elemental King, Iras, emerged and spun around Dak, greeting the elves.
"Wind King!"
An elf who clearly recognized Iras exclaimed.
It wasn't strange for long-lived elves to have seen her—after all, Iras visited her old friends every few decades or centuries.
To the elves, she was a familiar guest.
"Then please come with us."
The lead elven girl looked at Iras, then at Dak.
After a brief moment of hesitation, she decided to invite him in as a guest.
If he was a friend of Iras, then he should be trustworthy—right?
"Lapras, return."
"Mrrr~"
Dak recalled Lapras into her Poké Ball.
Meanwhile, the rain in the sky began to slow, though it wouldn't completely stop until after sunset.
"That was your familiar?"
A bolder elven girl came closer and asked.
"In our world, we call them Pokémon."
Dak certainly didn't mind the opportunity to gain favor and spread some Pokémon culture.
"She made it rain?"
"Many Pokémon in our world can do that."
"How enviable…"
The girl and her companions all showed envy in their eyes.
Clearly, they hadn't seen rain in a long time.
(End of Chapter)
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