Chapter 695: A Planned Surprise Attack
Volcanion's running speed on the ground was something Kazuya could not compliment.
If it weren't for His high level.
He probably couldn't even outrun an ordinary horse.
Especially since He bounced up and down while running, making it very hard on the buttocks.
Kazuya's buttocks in this life were very tender.
Entering the Allearth Forest.
"You should also practice your flying ability."
Kazuya rubbed his aching rear, bearing his teeth in pain.
"Huh? How do I fly? I don't have wings."
Volcanion felt Kazuya had suffered too great a blow today and his brain wasn't working particularly well.
"You don't need wings to fly. I'll teach you when we get back."
Kazuya pursed his lips.
He remembered the Volcanion from the future.
If he recalled correctly...
It was using the water stored in His body to shoot out steam for jet propulsion flight.
The speed was actually quite fast.
He just had to ensure He had enough water stored inside.
After entering the forest.
The Tauros definitely couldn't follow them in.
The trees in the Allearth Forest were densely packed and incredibly thick; the Tauros couldn't run in this forest.
"Phew... really unlucky."
"Yeah, we rarely encounter this kind of situation. Usually, those cow magical beasts deliberately bypass us."
"It doesn't matter, we're almost there anyway. It'll be safe once we're on the plateau."
Having just escaped a disaster.
The surrounding soldiers relaxed significantly.
The plain had a wide field of vision, and once targeted by a magical beast, there was almost nowhere to hide.
Although entering the forest meant they had to be careful of magical beasts in the dark, they had the advantage of numbers. Magical beasts acting alone wouldn't dare attack them, and large groups of magical beasts would inevitably be discovered in advance once they moved.
Therefore.
Sometimes they could actually breathe a sigh of relief in the forest.
Even though.
This was an area they were relatively unfamiliar with.
They braced themselves and continued forward.
Kazuya sat on Volcanion's back, his gaze calmly sweeping across the surrounding trees, his brows gradually furrowing together.
"Floette, come here."
Kazuya beckoned to Floette beside him.
"Hula~"
Floette immediately flew over happily, holding the Eternal Flower, and rested in Kazuya's embrace.
It was still more comfortable to lie in Kazuya's arms.
Floette always felt his embrace was extremely comfortable.
If hugs had levels, Floette believed Kazuya's hugging skill had already reached the max level.
"...Volcanion."
Kazuya didn't have the energy to pay attention to Floette's mood, but gently patted the lump of iron beneath him.
"Hmm?"
"Other humans might have entered this forest."
Kazuya's gaze glanced over another tree.
On the side of the trunk, there was a small "×" mark.
It looked like it was lightly carved by some sharp blade; the mark was very shallow and faint...
And also very new.
It couldn't be ruled out that it was a mark made by some Pokémon.
But...
Why would a Pokémon make marks?
Kazuya had lived for so many lives, and apart from himself, he had never seen a wild Pokémon that could make marks.
Therefore.
It was highly probable that other humans had entered this Allearth Forest.
A very high probability it was hunters or apothecaries living in Azoth...
A very low probability it was people from other kingdoms.
However.
Just in case.
Kazuya still pulled Floette into his arms.
If it were people from other kingdoms who had traveled hundreds of miles specifically to set an ambush here, then their target was undoubtedly AZ's most favored Floette.
Killing Floette would definitely make AZ lose his mind.
It might even make him so grief-stricken that he'd fall severely ill and collapse.
As for this cavalry squad...
AZ himself certainly wouldn't care much anyway.
But for the Azoth Kingdom, it would also be a not-so-small loss.
"So what should we do?"
Volcanion didn't quite understand.
So there are humans, so what?
Weren't there a bunch of humans in Azoth?
"Be careful, you protect Floette."
Kazuya muttered, not saying much else.
Volcanion's strength was indeed very high. Even if He stood still and let others hit Him, they might not be able to hurt Him.
But He might not be able to take care of other creatures around Him.
This wasn't a matter of strength.
It was purely a matter of experience.
Volcanion had never fought a battle where He had to also focus on protecting others.
If He carelessly used Steam Eruption, Kazuya and Floette would ascend to heaven first.
The group was still advancing.
Kazuya closed his eyes.
He wasn't sleeping.
But listening to the surrounding sounds.
He hadn't trained Aura power in this life yet, so he couldn't use Aura to perceive.
And Psychic perception was different; range wasn't its strong suit. Its focus was on perceiving specific actions of specific targets, which Aura perception couldn't do.
Therefore.
Hearing had now become the most reliable means of reconnaissance.
The breeze and the leaves.
Would tell him many little secrets.
"Buzz buzz..."
A familiar sound came.
"Beedrill?! Something's wrong, someone is deliberately guiding us in this direction."
Kazuya frowned tightly and patted Volcanion. "We can't follow their rhythm. You step in and drive away those Beedrill."
It seemed.
They had intruded into the territory of a Beedrill colony.
Moreover...
Kazuya recalled the provoked Tauros herd from earlier, and the subtle marks observed in the woods.
He guessed someone was deliberately guiding them in this direction.
He didn't know what else was waiting for them ahead.
They couldn't continue forward anymore.
"Oh."
Volcanion nodded, not saying much.
He turned around.
Looking in the direction the sound came from, He prepared to unleash a Flamethrower.
Right at this moment.
Whoosh whoosh...
The subtle sound of leaves being pushed aside rang out.
"Something's coming."
Kazuya's eyes widened, and an invisible shockwave radiated outwards.
Psyshock!
Hum—!
Instantly, countless linear shadows fell from the sky.
Kazuya glanced at them, his pupils trembling immediately after.
Those were actually arrows!
Of course.
That wasn't the main point.
The main point was that small clay bottles were attached to those arrows, and the bottles seemed to contain an unknown liquid.
Before Kazuya could guess what the liquid was.
The bottles fell.
Crash!
The sound of porcelain breaking rang out.
Followed immediately by "boom" sounds and flashes of fire.
A raging fire instantly swept across the surroundings.
Enveloping their group.
"Neigh!!"
The horses under the cavalrymen were startled.
They began to become restless.
A few horses had even already bolted, taking the soldiers with them, disappearing to who knows where.
"Molotov cocktails?"
Kazuya clicked his tongue, amazed inwardly.
Did things like Molotov cocktails already exist in this era?
The group shooting arrows from the shadows actually knew how to shoot Molotov cocktails attached to arrows.
This was much more reliable than flaming arrows.
If they were flaming arrows.
The fire on the arrows just now would have been dispersed by Kazuya's Psyshock.
But Molotov cocktails wouldn't.
If the arrows hit successfully, the Molotov cocktails would explode on them.
This cavalry squad would probably be wiped out in an instant.
Even if the arrows didn't hit, they would, like right now, ignite all the trees and bushes around them.
They would be surrounded by fire.
To make matters worse, the horses were panicked by the fire and hard to control.
This was a planned surprise attack.
"Hula!"
Floette was startled and quickly hugged Kazuya's chest.
"It's okay."
Kazuya reached out and patted her head, then tapped the lump of iron below him. "Volcanion, ignore the Beedrill for now, put out the fire first."
The fire had to be put out first.
Once the fire spread, the consequences would be unimaginable.
At that time, not only would the Azoth Kingdom soldiers be unable to escape, but even the Pokémon living nearby would all suffer.
"Mhm."
Volcanion nodded His head.
The arms looped together on His back unlocked, and like two high-pressure water cannons, He began to spray water all around.
The guys hiding in the dark and launching the sneak attack clearly didn't expect.
That this group actually had two such special magical beasts.
One could intercept arrows.
One could put out fires.
"Kill them!"
"Watch out for the red one, that guy can spray water, it looks very tough."
"Kill that flower! It's best if we can capture it alive!"
"We have to kill the magical beast holding that flower first."
Accompanied by the loud plotting of the enemies.
One after another, people dressed in leather clothing, looking like hunters, emerged from behind the surrounding trees.
There weren't too many of them.
It looked like there might only be a little over thirty people.
But there were definitely still some hiding in the dark.
Because from the surrounding tree canopy, more arrows were shooting towards them!
Densely packed.
About over twenty arrows.
"It's people from the Mountain Kingdom and the Boulder Kingdom!"
"They don't have armor on, dismount and kill them!"
"Don't run around, watch out for traps, protect Lady Floette."
The fifty cavalrymen of the Azoth Kingdom were now left with a little over forty.
The other few had been carried away by panicked horses in the fire just now, disappearing without a trace and separated from the group.
Now that Volcanion had put out the surrounding fire.
Both the Azoth soldiers and the horses had calmed down.
Facing over thirty unarmored enemies, they showed no signs of weakness.
Armored vs. unarmored.
The gap between the two was massive.
The troublesome part was those arrows striking from the shadows.
Some arrows were impossible to defend against.
If they were unlucky, the parts of their bodies not covered by armor might get shot, greatly affecting their combat power.
Kazuya hopped off Volcanion's back carrying Floette.
With him sitting on His back.
Volcanion probably wouldn't be able to fight at His full potential.
"A bunch of annoying guys."
Volcanion cursed, extending His arms, intending to teach this group of humans a lesson.
"No, your opponents are those Beedrill. The people of the Azoth Kingdom can't handle those twenty-plus Beedrill!
Only you can deal with them."
Kazuya reached out and pressed down one of His arms, pointing to the Beedrill chasing after them from the side.
The level of that swarm of Beedrill was probably not low.
The leading Beedrill might even be Lv.35+.
The Azoth Kingdom soldiers couldn't deal with this swarm of Beedrill and the enemies from the other two countries at the same time.
Hearing Kazuya's words, Volcanion immediately turned His arms around, setting His target on the twenty-plus Beedrill flying over.
Boiling hot water surged out.
The Beedrill were instantly one-shot by this move.
One by one, they fell from the sky like dumplings, dropping to the ground and losing the ability to battle.
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