(Changed the name to Sothia, sounds better)
Led by Sothia, Dak arrived at the underground realm of the elves.
This was what they called the "Sacred Ground."
A vast, pitch-black rectangular space.
Inside this space stood countless stone giants in dense clusters—Dak roughly estimated there to be seven or eight thousand of them.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shake his head.
If the Pope wanted to rely solely on human power to breach this place, it was practically impossible.
Above, there were over ten thousand elves at the "Thread" rank and above, and countless familiars. And even after dealing with all that, there were still these seven or eight thousand sturdy stone giants below.
Against such stone giants, ordinary people were utterly powerless.
Dak figured there must be at least a few dozen Diamond-tier golems among them.
He honestly couldn't imagine how those frail civilian soldiers with their crude weapons could possibly break through the defenses of these golems.
"Look, that's the World Gate. How do you plan to destroy it?"
Sothia led Dak to the very depths of the space and then cast a Light spell.
Suddenly, the dark space lit up.
"The gate?"
Dak raised his head and looked at the sky before him, seeing only a massive black wall.
"It's right there,"
Sothia motioned with her chin.
"It's that big?!"
Dak glanced at the entire wall.
He figured this gate was even bigger than the Navy's Gate from the world of sailing.
Just looking at it, you could tell it wasn't ordinary—you couldn't even see the frame. He began to wonder whether Ho-Oh had enough power to burn down this gate.
"No, look down. That's the real one."
Sothia gestured for Dak to look lower.
Dak followed her direction and saw a gate.
One point eight meters tall, half a meter wide.
The gate wasn't even taller than him.
Dak:
"My bathroom door is bigger than this. I'd have to squeeze just to get through it."
He gestured toward the gate, three black lines appearing on his forehead as he placed his hands on his hips and looked at Sothia. "This crappy little gate? Even folks from the other world would have trouble squeezing through. What are you worried about?"
He had thought this "World Gate" was something super impressive.
Something that made even the scheming Pope plan for years, and something that had been protected by the elves and earth elementals for thousands of years.
And this was it?
"It's only this small for now. If you pour magic energy into it, it will expand. At its largest, it can reach up to the clouds in the sky."
Sothia shook her head, explaining, and waved her arm through the air, "Didn't you notice? In this 'Sacred Ground,' there's no magic energy—only natural energy."
"Huh? You're right."
Dak, prompted by her, realized it too.
So that's the special trait of the Sacred Ground—a region full of natural energy but devoid of magic energy.
"This gate won't actively absorb magic energy. It must be forcefully infused. If it's not supplied for a while, it will shrink again."
"If it can't absorb magic energy on its own, then whether this place has magic energy or not doesn't matter, right?"
"It matters a lot."
Sothia decisively shook her head and pointed toward the sleeping earth elementals around them.
"Without magic energy here, magic users can only cast a few spells before becoming useless in battle. And human civilian armies can't fight against these earth elementals, so this place becomes the final line of defense."
"Oh, I see. No wonder it's never been breached in thousands of years."
Dak nodded, then released the Poké Ball containing Ho-Oh.
Biu~
As Ho-Oh appeared in the Sacred Ground, the previously dim space instantly lit up.
Under the rainbow-hued light radiating from Ho-Oh, the true appearance of the underground Sacred Ground was revealed.
The walls, floors, and even the ceiling were covered in magical inscriptions.
These inscriptions, previously dim and invisible, began to glow in various colors upon absorbing Ho-Oh's light—as if they'd come to life.
"Whoa~"
The first to express amazement at Ho-Oh's appearance was Eras.
As the Wind Elemental Queen, she could sense the immense flying-type energy within Ho-Oh.
However, she couldn't determine the upper limit of that power—it was already beyond her scope.
There was no doubt that this newly appeared familiar had a status above the four elemental kings.
"This is also your familiar?"
Sothia blinked at Ho-Oh and then cast a suspicious glance at Dak.
And Ashan was staring at Ho-Oh in a daze—clearly shocked by its presence.
"They're called Pokémon. Since you're going to be living in that world, you'll need to get used to this term."
Dak waved a finger as he corrected them, then said to Ho-Oh, "Ho-Oh, use Sacred Fire on that gate."
Whoosh!
Ho-Oh casually released a golden flame from its mouth, spraying it toward the small gate.
Fwoosh~
The moment the flame touched the small gate, it ignited instantly.
This flame could burn anything regardless of material—it clung like a ghostly parasite.
As long as Ho-Oh lived, this Sacred Fire would continue to burn the gate.
Until one day it was either destroyed or Ho-Oh willingly retracted the flame.
The Sacred Fire didn't make a big scene, but everyone present could see just how terrifying it was.
Three minutes later—
"Looks like it's not working. This gate really isn't ordinary."
Dak sighed and shook his head at the unmoved gate.
As expected of an item that played a key role in a large-scale world—even if this world wasn't particularly strong, its artifacts were no less remarkable.
Ho-Oh wasn't the kind to brute-force everything.
Seeing its Sacred Fire ineffective, it simply turned away and retreated back into its luxury ball for a nap.
If it had been Sceptile, Palkia, or Yveltal, those guys might have kept hammering away, escalating the attacks to test their limits.
"What are the other three methods you mentioned?"
"Seal the space, control the key, and replace the guardian. These three can be done simultaneously."
Dak crossed his arms and casually waved a hand at Sothia. "Don't worry. Any one of these methods would be enough to secure it, let alone doing all three at once. You can relax and come with me."
"You really are fixated on us elves. What, want us to mate with you and bear your offspring?"
Sothia raised an eyebrow, giving Dak a suspicious look.
Given Dak's previous behavior and strength, he didn't seem to have any desperate need to take the elves with him—yet he was so persistent.
If there was anything about the elves besides their collective strength that someone might covet…
It was, without a doubt, their beauty.
Unlike inexperienced young elves, Sothia understood human standards of beauty very well.
Whenever she appeared before humans, their eyes would auto-lock onto her chest and thighs like some kind of aim-bot.
And—not to brag—the children born from elves and humans possessed exceptional talent in handling mental and magical energy, sometimes even awakening unique mental abilities from the elven bloodline.
So, she could only assume Dak was after their bodies and their bloodline.
"Hah? You're overthinking it. I just want to increase biodiversity in my world—to build a peaceful land where all races can thrive together."
Dak had no idea about the pride elves held in their bloodline.
If he did, he'd probably just laugh without commenting.
Just take the various races in the sailing world for example—not to mention the bloodlines in the shinobi world. How many of those are inferior to the elves?
And there's no shortage of beautiful women there either.
"Is that so? Then when do we start those three methods you mentioned?"
"Let me think. Sealing the space and replacing the guardian can be done anytime. As for controlling the key… I'm already working on it."
Dak pinched his chin, thinking.
There were two ways to seal the space.
One was to have Palkia use Spacial Rend to cut the space and isolate the Sacred Ground from the rest of the world.
The other was to have Darkrai use Dark Void to engulf the space, putting all who enter into an instant sleep.
He could even combine the two methods without issue.
But currently, Darkrai was still absorbing the power of the Dread Plate and hadn't awakened—so the second method wasn't possible yet.
As for the first method, that was easy—Dak just needed to go back to Pokémon Island and bring Palkia over.
Replacing the guardian also wasn't hard.
In the Pokémon world, there were many Legendary Pokémon born specifically to guard immobile ruins.
Not to mention the continent-dragging Regigigas who created the Hisui region—
Even just one of its three children: Regirock, Regice, or Registeel.
Any of these three Legendary Titans would be fully qualified to take on the role. Each had power equal to a second-tier god and could stay dormant for long periods without feeling the monotony of "guarding."
Deploying them was also easy—just swap one in.
As for the final part—controlling the key.
The so-called "key" referred to the Four Void Powers.
The four Void Mages were: Louise, Tiffania, Joseph, and the Pope.
The first two were peaceful and principled. There was no need to control them directly.
Just by explaining the stakes, they would never open the gate even with a knife to their throats.
As for the latter two...
Dak originally planned to simply kill them.
But now, it seemed another approach might be better.
(End of Chapter)
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