Plus, it has a unique ability to consume ores and gain their effects, making it highly sensitive to different minerals.
Even when speeding through the earth, Steelix can detect special ores nearby, effectively acting as a giant ore detector.
Wherever Steelix goes, it's not just traveling-it's exploring and uncovering hidden treasures beneath the surface.
Everyone was quiet as they rode Steelix, their attention fixed on their surroundings.
Since they had confirmed this was the cave of the stone giant, they knew it could show up at any moment.
From their previous encounter with Meowth No. 1, they understood these giants weren't just powerful-they were fast too.
Luckily, they had daytime glasses, so even though the cave was pitch dark, they could still see clearly.
They had no idea a stone giant was nearby.
After a while, Steelix's scarlet eyes suddenly flashed, and the surrounding lightning vanished instantly.
The massive head turned sharply toward a direction, its fierce eyes locking onto the rock wall beside them, as if it could see right through it.
Without the electromagnetic floating effect, Steelix's huge body landed on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The cave floor was mostly covered in black shock rock, but unlike the solid rock walls, the ground had loose dust and debris.
Everyone stumbled slightly but quickly regained their footing, their expressions growing more alert.
They had found something.
There were no stone giants in sight, so it was likely Sir Larry's nen best had detected some kind of mineral.
As they dismounted from Steelix one by one, they all stared at the rock wall in the same direction.
The wall was mostly black shock rock, but some sections were clearly different.
Among the black, they spotted patches of a dark red ore about half the size of a person.
This ore wasn't like the flame stone, though red, it showed no signs of heat.
Its surface was marked by jagged lines and it had a deeper, darker red color.
Strangely, the first instinct for everyone wasn't to approach or collect the ore.
A strong warning echoed in their minds: stay away.
It was a life-or-death alert.
"I think... there's something wrong with this ore," said Bushidora, sweat forming on his forehead.
He took a cautious step back, trying to put distance between himself and the strange mineral.
"It's definitely dangerous!" someone else added.
"The aura inside is huge, and extremely unstable."
"Simply put, it's like a bomb that could go off at any moment," Beyond said with a grim expression.
He had just used his ability to scan the area, and the ores he found were far beyond what anyone expected.
Larry's eyes narrowed as he quickly activated his illustration skill.
One type was called Pyroblast Stone, a dark red rock that would cause a massive explosion from even a slight impact.
A stone just the size of a fist could unleash a blast nearly as powerful as a missile.
Then there was the Vine Stone, which looked like an ordinary rock but contained special plant seeds inside.
When broken, these seeds would rapidly sprout as soon as they came into contact with air.
The silver giant had once used vines like these to whip a small diamond before.
Just as Beyond said, the ore wasn't really ore-it was more like a ticking bomb, packed with unstable aura.
The explosive power was terrifying; a fist-sized Pyroblast Stone alone could level a large area.
And judging by the surface alone, the exposed ore reached up to half a person's height, with who knows how many more hidden underground.
"This is a real problem. We don't know if it'll all just blow up the moment we touch it," Pariston said, crossing his arms as the smile faded from his face.
Everyone was suddenly hesitant to make any move, fearing a catastrophic explosion.
They were deep underground, at an unknown depth.
The large space they were in existed because the black shock rock around them was incredibly sturdy.
But facing this unknown ore, there was no guarantee the black shock rock would hold up under an explosion.
What if it all collapsed?
"We don't have to worry too much about the collapse," Gold said calmly, his eyes flickering.
"After all, we can quickly retreat into cyberspace if things go south."
Larry was quiet for a moment before confidently saying, "Don't worry. I won't let them explode."
Before anyone could respond, Larry sprang into action.
Suddenly, the graceful figure of a dragon appeared, surrounded by softly falling snowflakes.
The dragon lifted its slender neck and let out a beautiful, melodic sound.
Then its body was enveloped in blue and white aura, and the temperature around them dropped sharply in an instant.
Moisture and dust in the air quickly cooled, turning into drifting snowflakes and even sparkling ice crystals.
First, a thick layer of ice formed on the ground beneath the dragon, and the freezing aura kept spreading, creeping toward the rock wall.
Crackling sounds echoed as the cold air invaded, freezing not just the surface but the entire rock wall.
If someone could peek inside, they'd see it was completely encased in ice-this was the power of the dragon's absolute zero skill.
Then, dark aura seeped from Larry's shadow, cloaking all the movements around him.
His eyes glinted sharply as he turned to face the towering, burly Steelix.
The Steelix seemed to understand that it was finally its turn to act.
With its keen sensitivity to ore, Steelix could pinpoint and extract ore without even touching it.
To everyone's surprise, Steelix suddenly opened its massive iron jaws and bit down hard on the already frozen rock wall.
Boom!
The black shock rock, known for being tough and nearly indestructible, shattered as easily as potato chips under Steelix's bite, breaking off in large chunks.
Inside these chunks were the pyroblasts as well.
But what they saw next inside the rock wall stunned everyone even more.
Ging, Beyond, their teammates, and even Larry were all shocked.
Their pupils contracted as they took in an unbelievable sight.
The bitten rock wall showed clear teeth marks, with black shock rock dust falling away.
The dragon's absolute zero had frozen the inside too, leaving it frost-covered.
and full of ice shards where the bite had taken place.
Since the dragon wasn't sensitive enough to the ore, it had used more intense freezing power, turning the deeper parts icy as well.