Shedinja: Standard template, Pokémon, temporary summoned unit, Bug + Ghost dual type. HP=1, MP=60. Strength 9, Agility 6, Spirit 6, Charm 8. Summoned Creature Trait—Wonder Guard Held Moves (Skills): Scratch, Harden, Metal Claw.
Seeing the dull-looking Shedinja floating motionlessly in the air, Cheng couldn't help inhaling deeply of the air thick with the smell of river water.
Pokémon, also known as Pocket Monsters, Pocket Monsters, and so on, had long since broken out of the gaming world and expanded into every field imaginable.
Some people might call Bulbasaur Garlic Turtle, Diglett Dog Turd, or Dugtrio Three Piles of Dog Turd, but when it came to Pikachu, the mascot of the eternal Pokémon series, hardly anyone would mistake it for something else.
No one could count how much money this electric mouse and the entire Pokémon IP had earned Nintendo.
Calling Pokémon part of the traditional Japanese monster lore didn't seem all that strange, either.
Pokémon! They were monsters too!
As a hardcore gamer, Cheng Tian naturally couldn't have never played Pokémon. In fact, when he realized that he had somehow manifested a Shedinja, commonly known as a Demon Cicada, terms like "Bug Resistance," "Will-O-Wisp," "Endure," "Grudge," "Protective Goggles," "Ability Swap," "Sturdy," and "Focus Sash" instantly popped into his head.
However, compared to Cheng's brainstorming, the ones who reacted most strongly to the transformation of the Specter Armor into a Demon Cicada were the attacking group of Specter Armor themselves.
They reacted quickly. The moment they realized that one of their comrades had been NTR'd into a Demon Cicada, the two nearest suits of Specter Armor launched an attack.
They closed in with oppressive force and struck with their shields. The huge shields, practically tower shields, slammed straight into the hollow, expressionless Demon Cicada.
Whether they had failed to receive Cheng Tian's command or it was simply a problem with their nature, the Demon Cicada made no attempt to dodge. It let the shields smack into its carapace... only for both shields to pass straight through Shedinja's body and clang against each other.
The Demon Cicada's body seemed to exist in a phase space. The two shields inside it occupied the same coordinates, yet remained completely unaffected by each other.
Its pitiful single drop of HP showed no sign of budging.
Wonder Guard: A Pokémon ability. It possesses an incredible protective power. Under its protection, only moves with the "super effective" effect can hit Shedinja.
Among the more than a thousand Pokémon in the entire Pokédex, Shedinja—Demon Cicada—could be called one of the most special. No matter how powerful it became, its HP would always remain fixed at 1.
In exchange, only attacks of specific types could hit it and remove that seemingly fragile yet stubborn single point of HP.
If Pokémon types were used for classification, Specter Armor would probably be Ghost + Steel, like Honedge and Aegislash.
Of course, that only referred to its form of existence. In reality, fighting Specter Armor was no different from fighting an empty suit of Knight Armor controlled remotely. As far as offensive methods went, however, Specter Armor had only one shield-striking move, which could only be classified as "Normal."
In other words, they couldn't hit the Demon Cicada at all.
Perhaps the skill had constructed a temporary bond between "Trainer and Pokémon partner," because Cheng Tian faintly read a puzzled thought in the Demon Cicada's hollow gaze: Trainer, why haven't you given an order yet?
At that moment, Cheng's chuunibyou got the better of him.
"Demon Cicada! Use Metal Claw on the back of the enemy beside you!!!"
Cheng Tian shouted out his trainer's command without the slightest shame. Upon receiving it, the Demon Cicada lit up like a Gundam powering on, its eyes shining like a main camera receiving electricity.
A strange wave of power rose with the Demon Cicada's exertion. At the same time, its two short, adorable little hands began to glow silver-white.
Its short but powerful wings beat, leaving afterimages. Using its pseudo-Phase Shift state, it passed straight through the Specter Armor and circled around behind it. Then silver light flashed.
Two unmistakable X-shaped claw marks appeared on the back of the Specter Armor chosen as the target. Its body was also knocked a certain distance forward!
Metal Claw: Rank D skill/Lv1, Pokémon skill, active skill. It uses steel energy to strengthen or form claws that slash apart your opponent.
Deals a Strength ×2 Steel-type physical strike to the target. Each attack has a 10% chance to trigger the subsequent "Attack Power Increased" status, but also has a 5% chance to miss.
Using the skill consumes 2 MP. No skill cooldown.
While the Demon Cicada carried out its temporary trainer command, Cheng Tian simultaneously created a magic projectile modeled after the Hand Axe he had traded for from One-Ear at the campfire using the Goblin Cleaver. He took aim at the Specter Armor struck by Metal Claw and hurled it in an arc.
The axe had also been one of Arthur's commonly used weapons in life, so Cheng Tian's accuracy with a thrown axe was far greater than with a cleaver.
If Cheng Tian hadn't removed the Vampire Hunter template, Simon's experience with thrown axes would have raised his accuracy even further.
The thrown axe successfully avoided the front of the tower shield and smashed into the head of the Specter Armor with the X on its back. The force was so great that it sent the helmet flying, revealing a headless-knight-like appearance.
Yet the headless Specter Armor completely ignored Cheng Tian below, who had thrown the axe. It remained stubbornly focused on approaching the Demon Cicada and raised its shield again.
As mentioned earlier, the spirits inside the Specter Armor were actually the lowest grade—soul units possessing only basic awareness. They couldn't execute complex commands. At their operational level, the highest priority was "interfere with humans crossing the river."
The second priority was to defend themselves against the nearest enemy unit.
The Demon Cicada's counterattack with Metal Claw directly activated that second-priority mechanism, triggering it in a chain reaction.
As long as Cheng Tian and the others maintained their current positions and didn't approach the riverbank, the Specter Armor would ignore them and prioritize ganging up on the Demon Cicada.
...But the Demon Cicada's one and only point of HP remained completely unmoved.
The clanging of shields striking one another continued above the heads of the three men. Every shield strike aimed at the Demon Cicada ultimately collided with one of its comrades instead.
Every so often, there was also a sharp, hollow clang like a gong being struck—
Yes, the thrown axe was doing its part too.
With this unparalleled one-HP tank drawing aggro perfectly, Metal Claw combined with Cheng Tian's axe strikes to the back and cleared three full waves—eighteen Specter Armor in total. After that, no new Specter Armor appeared.
All that drifted downstream were fragments of armor, large and small.
The three living men seized this rare opening. After two consecutive running jumps, they crossed the last two narrow channels of the river.
After suffering an unknown number of useless shield strikes, the Demon Cicada slowly descended beside Cheng Tian. Their four eyes met.
Then the chubby little insect claw that had shown no sign of just how sharp it could be when using Metal Claw knocked against Cheng Tian's fist.
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