I'm the man who'll become the king of thieves (please bookmark)

For a moment, Dian felt strangely moved, as though a daughter he had raised for years had suddenly grown up.

He rubbed his temples to ease the headache brought on by the impact just now.

Fortunately, Beedrill had immediately moved in front of Dian to shield him from the impact. Without Beedrill blocking it, Dian reckoned he would have suffered far more than a mere headache.

After taking the impact head-on, Beedrill had not retreated a single step. Instead, the white light around Beedrill grew even brighter, clearly showing that Focus Energy was still active.

"How is it?"

Dian asked in a low voice.

Beedrill stared intently at the red glow in the mist, then nodded.

Only then did Dian take a thin cord from his backpack and tie one end to himself and the other to Beedrill. "Let's go."

An illusion was still an illusion. Some powerful beings might truly be capable of affecting reality through illusions, but Dian believed Stantler was nowhere near that level.

Beedrill beat those wings and flew after the red light, with a wary Dian following behind.

The moment he entered the pink mist, his head began to feel foggy, and everything before him seemed to twist into bizarre shapes. Soon, however, a cool sensation spread through his mind, temporarily restoring him to normal.

Even so, as Dian looked ahead, he would barely have known where he was without the tug on his hand. He glanced up at the sky and found that he could see nothing at all.

Thankfully, he had come well prepared this time. Alone, he probably would not even have been able to spot Misdreavus, let alone keep up.

Dian proceeded cautiously—or rather, he could only inch forward by following the sensation in his hand.

Clack...

A sound came from beneath his feet, but Dian did not look down. He could not see anything anyway, and looking might give the pink mist an opening to draw him into an illusion.

Dian had tied the cord around his hand in a tight knot that could not be undone without force.

This was also to prevent him from untying it under an illusion's influence after entering the mist. After all, although no one was controlling these illusions, they would surely target whatever a person feared most.

What Dian feared most was getting lost in the mist, so if an illusion caught him, whatever it showed him would probably be aimed at getting him to untie the cord.

He might as well close his eyes and be done with it. I'm not looking anymore. Come at me if you've got the guts.

"ROAR!!"

A terrifying roar suddenly erupted beside his ear.

Dian frowned, kept his eyes closed, and hurried forward along the cord.

When the owner of that roar saw that Dian remained unmoved, it seemed to grow even more enraged. A gale came tearing toward him with torrential rain, and Dian could even feel the moisture and chill.

Then he felt drops of warm, wet liquid dripping onto his neck, followed by a sharp pain.

Not only that, but he could hear breathing directly ahead, as though a huge mouth were waiting for its meal to walk right in.

Dian merely raised his eyebrows, squeezed his eyes tightly shut, and continued forward, ignoring the damp, squishy sensation beneath his feet.

Sure enough, once he chose to keep walking, it all vanished again.

Dian breathed a sigh of relief. The illusions would continue, but at least it was fine as long as they did not hurt. He was not some hardcore masochist who enjoyed pain.

Ring, ring, ring...

"Here we go again."

The ringing left Dian feeling weary. Why did this feel like a test? Wasn't once enough? Why do it a second time?

A figure gradually approached amid the ringing. "Long time no see..."

With his eyes closed and his face expressionless, Dian kept running forward. Long time no see? Who wants to see you? Once this job's done, we'd better never meet again.

After that, no matter what sounds appeared, he ignored them all and ran swiftly through the mist.

"Woo..."

A blurry figure gave a soft cry, tilted its head as though curious, then followed him.

Dian ran with his head down, unsure how much time had passed. Suddenly, his whole body felt lighter, and he heard his own Misdreavus cry, "Mis."

He thought for a moment and, rather than opening his eyes, tugged on the thin cord in his hand.

Swish!

A sharp gleam flashed, and the cord around his hand snapped.

"Phew—"

Only then did Dian dare open his eyes. He hurriedly rubbed his hand, then took a closer look. A full ring of red had been chafed into it.

In the illusion, a multicolored venomous snake had been coiled around his hand.

"Mis?"

Misdreavus seemed very curious about the red mark on Dian's hand, came over to examine it, then looked at those little hands and giggled.

Dian looked around and found himself in a patch of grass that seemed utterly lifeless.

Exquisite antlers with markings strikingly reminiscent of eyes lay scattered across the ground.

Some had corroded until only tiny remnants remained, while others were still intact.

This small patch seemed to be the only place nearby without pink mist. Everywhere else was surrounded by it.

Looking closely, he could see wisps of pink mist constantly rising from the bases of the antlers and rapidly gathering overhead.

Dian put on black gloves, then picked up a relatively intact antler from the ground to inspect it.

The golden antler looked magnificent, while the Black Orb at its base added the perfect finishing touch, making the antler seem almost alive.

After one look, he suddenly felt dizzy. Fortunately, the Healing Crystal's medicinal effect was still active, and a cool sensation brought him back to his senses.

"That's powerful."

Dian hardly dared look again. Besides, now was the time to gather his spoils. That was right—this was not theft. These were spoils he had earned after overcoming trial after trial.

Besides, these things looked pretty dangerous, so he was volunteering to dispose of these hazardous objects in a noble spirit of self-sacrifice.

"Come out, Hoppip."

Dian wasted no more time and called Hoppip out. "Here, take this. Help Beedrill put everything valuable into this bag."

"Hoppip?"

Hoppip pointed at the antlers on the ground.

"Not just those. Any grass you want to eat or that feels unusual, too."

Dian stroked Hoppip's head.

"Hoppip!"

Hoppip nodded happily, then bounded over toward Beedrill.

This little glutton seemed to be in a good mood most of the time. Or perhaps most Hoppip were like that: gentle and obedient, if a little adorably dopey.

That probably stayed the same even after evolving into Jumpluff. One look at Great Detective Officer Jenny's Jumpluff told him as much—just as naturally adorable.