Pocket Monsters Are Yokai Too

[Summon Trait—Wonder Guard]

[Known Moves (Skills): Scratch, Harden, Metal Claw.]

Seeing the dumb-looking Shedinja floating motionlessly in the air, Cheng Tian couldn't help taking a deep breath of air heavy with the smell of river water.

Pocket Monsters, also known as Pokemon, Pocket Monsters, and Pokemon, had long since broken out of the gaming sphere and expanded into every field.

Some people might call Bulbasaur a garlic turtle, Diglett dog shit, and Dugtrio three piles of dog shit, but practically no one would mistake Pikachu, the mascot of the everlasting Pokemon franchise.

No one could even count how much money this electric mouse and the entire Pokemon IP had made for Nintendo.

Calling Pocket Monsters part of Japanese Traditional Yokai didn't actually seem all that out of place.

Pocket Monsters! They were yokai too!

As an old-ass gamer, Cheng Tian naturally had played Pokemon before. The moment he realized he had somehow summoned a Shedinja, commonly known as Ghost Cicada, a whole string of terms instantly sprang into his mind—"Struggle Bug," "Will-O-Wisp," "Endure," "Grudge," "Safety Goggles," "Ability Swap," "Sturdy," "Focus Sash," and all sorts of things that only those in the know would understand.

But compared to Cheng Tian's mental storm, the Ghost Armor group attacking them had the strongest reaction to Ghost Armor turning into Ghost Cicada.

They reacted quickly. Upon discovering that one of their companions had been NTR'd into Ghost Cicada, the two nearest suits of Ghost Armor immediately attacked.

Shadow Force followed by Shield Bash. Their massive shields, practically Tower Shields, slammed straight toward the hollow, expressionless Ghost Cicada.

Whether it was because it hadn't received Cheng Tian's command or because of some inherent issue, Ghost Cicada made no attempt to dodge, allowing the shields to strike its insect shell... only for both shields to pass directly through Shedinja's body and collide with each other with a clang.

Ghost Cicada's body seemed to exist within Phase Space, overlapping the coordinates of the two shields inside it while remaining completely unaffected by them.

Its pitiful 1 HP didn't so much as waver.

[Wonder Guard: Pokemon Trait. Possesses an incredible protective power. Under its protection, only attribute-based moves that are "super effective" can hit Shedinja.]

As one of the most unique existences among the thousands of Pokemon in the entire Pokemon Pokédex, Shedinja/Ghost Cicada's HP would always remain fixed at 1 HP, no matter how strong it became.

In exchange, only attacks of certain attributes could hit it and remove that seemingly fragile yet remarkably sturdy single point of HP.

If classified according to Pokemon attributes, Ghost Armor would probably count as Ghost + Steel-type, just like Honedge and Aegislash.

Of course, that was only referring to its form of existence. In reality, fighting Ghost Armor was no different from fighting an empty Karrablast armor remotely controlled from afar. But in terms of attack methods, Ghost Armor only had Shield Bash-type moves that could be judged as Normal.

In other words, they simply couldn't hit Ghost Cicada.

Perhaps the skill had formed a temporary bond of "Trainer and Pokemon Partner." Cheng Tian could actually faintly read a puzzled thought from Ghost Cicada's hollow gaze: Trainer, why aren't you giving an order yet?

At that moment, Cheng Tian's chuunibyou syndrome flared up.

"Shedinja! Use Metal Claw on the backs of the enemies around you!!!"

Without a shred of shame, Cheng Tian loudly shouted his Trainer command. Upon receiving it, Ghost Cicada lit up on the spot, its eyes glowing like the main cameras of a Gundam powering on.

A strange wave of power rose with Ghost Cicada's exertion. At the same time, its two tiny, adorable little hands shone with silver-white light.

Its short yet nimble wings beat fast enough to leave afterimages. Using Pseudo Phase Shift, it passed directly through the Ghost Armor, circled behind it, and then flashed with silver light.

Two distinct X-shaped claw marks instantly appeared on the back of the Ghost Armor chosen by Ghost Cicada, knocking its body a short distance forward!

[Metal Claw: D-Rank Skill/Lv1, Pokemon Move, Active Skill. Reinforce or form claws with steel energy to slash your opponent.

Deals Strength*2 Steel-type Physical Strike damage to the target. Each attack has a 10% chance to trigger the subsequent "Attack Boost" status, but also has a 5% chance to miss.

Consumes 2 MP to use. No skill cooldown CD.]

While Ghost Cicada carried out its temporary Trainer command, Cheng Tian simultaneously used the Hand Axe he had exchanged from One-Ear at the campfire with the Goblin Cleaver as a blueprint to create a Magic Throwing Item. He aimed at the Ghost Armor that had just taken Ghost Cicada's Metal Claw and hurled it in an arc.

Axes had also been one of Arthur's favored weapons in life, so Cheng Tian's throwing accuracy with an axe far surpassed his accuracy with a cleaver.

That was only because Cheng Tian had unequipped the Vampire Hunter template. Otherwise, Simon's experience with throwing axes could have raised his accuracy another notch.

The thrown axe successfully avoided the Tower Shield's frontal defense and smashed directly into the head of the Ghost Armor with the X on its back. The blow was so powerful that it sent the helmet flying away, leaving it looking like a headless knight.

Yet this headless Ghost Armor completely ignored Cheng Tian, who had thrown the axe from below. It remained stubbornly focused on approaching Ghost Cicada and raised its shield again.

As mentioned before, the ghosts inside Ghost Armor were the lowest-level Soul Units, possessing only basic awareness. They couldn't carry out overly complex commands. At their execution level, their top priority was "interfere with humans crossing the river."

Their second priority was self-defense and retaliation against the nearest Enemy Unit.

Ghost Cicada's Metal Claw counterattack had directly activated this second-priority mechanism, and it had triggered in a chain.

As long as Cheng Tian and the others maintained their current positions and didn't approach the riverbank, the Ghost Armor would ignore them and prioritize ganging up on Ghost Cicada.

...But Ghost Cicada's one and only 1 HP remained utterly unmoved.

The clanging of shields striking one another kept ringing over the three men's heads. Every Shield Bash aimed at Ghost Cicada ultimately only connected with their own companions.

Occasionally, the sharp, hollow clang of something like a gong being struck mixed into the noise—

Yes, the thrown axes were putting in work too.

Under Ghost Cicada's perfect kiting as an unparalleled 1 HP Tank, Metal Claw combined with Cheng Tian's back-smashing thrown axes cleared three full waves—a total of eighteen suits of Ghost Armor—after which no new Ghost Armor appeared.

All that drifted downstream were Armor Part Fragments of every size.

The three living men seized this rare opening and crossed the final two narrow channels after two consecutive running jumps.

Ghost Cicada, after taking who knew how many useless Shield Bashes, slowly descended beside Cheng Tian. Their eyes met.

Then its chubby little insect claw, which gave no hint of how sharp it had been while using Metal Claw, bumped against Cheng Tian's fist.