-133- Outside the Seven-Raven Tower, swarms of dark ravens gather! (Please subscribe!)

“Come out, Noivern!”

“Roar—ooh—mmph—”

Bai Chen sent out his Noivern. Just as it was preparing to unleash an excited roar, Bai Chen clamped a hand over its mouth.

“Quiet, Noivern!”

At such a crucial moment, if it started shouting, wouldn’t that alert the people above to their presence?

“Roar~”

Noivern scratched its head with one claw, apologizing.

“Is this your Pokémon? It looks incredibly strong!”

The instant Tong Si saw Noivern, he felt a powerful surge of pressure.

Using his Scanning Eye, Tong Si viewed the Pokémon’s detailed information on the data panel.

Noivern
Level: 65
Potential: Champion-level
…

A Noivern with Champion-level potential? And one that had already broken through its level limit twice!

Tong Si could not help clicking his tongue in amazement.

As expected of a two-star professional Trainer—his strength was truly formidable!

“Get on.”

Bai Chen climbed onto Noivern and reached out a hand to Tong Si.

Just as Tong Si approached, he caught sight of Noivern’s fierce gaze.

Smack!

Bai Chen lightly slapped Noivern on the head, signaling it not to frighten anyone.

Noivern had no choice but to obediently lower its head.

Tong Si climbed slowly onto Noivern’s back.

This was his first time riding a Dragon-type Pokémon. The sensation was… rather peculiar.

Whoosh…

Noivern beat its wings with an air of arrogance and flew straight out through the ruined wall.

It rose directly upward.

The sixth floor, the seventh, the eighth…

It was worth mentioning that the walls on the seventh floor were completely intact.

From the outside, candlelight could be seen shining through the eighth floor.

At the ninth floor stood the tower’s summit.

“Is this tower nine stories tall in total?” Tong Si asked doubtfully.

“I think it’s actually eight stories. The ninth level looks more like a tower summit. But judging from its layout, it might be an observation deck.”

Bai Chen answered as Noivern continued beating its wings in midair. The two of them hesitated.

Where should they enter?

In truth, neither the seventh nor the eighth floor had any damaged sections of wall, leaving them with no way inside.

“Then let’s land on the ninth-floor summit and try going down from there,” Tong Si suggested.

“Sounds good!”

Bai Chen patted Noivern and signaled it to descend onto the ninth-floor summit.

Noivern beat its wings twice before landing directly on the tower’s ninth-floor summit.

It was then that Tong Si noticed a large number of black feathers scattered across the area.

“Look. Don’t these feathers resemble Murkrow feathers?” Tong Si said, pointing at them.

“Resemble them? I can practically confirm that they are Murkrow feathers.”

Bai Chen picked up one of the black feathers and held it tightly in his hand.

“Can we get inside from here?”

Tong Si looked around. There was no apparent entrance to the ninth-floor summit, which was rather strange.

After all, the ninth floor was clearly an observation deck.

And if it was an observation deck, it should certainly have an entrance and an exit.

“Look over there.”

Bai Chen pointed toward a small hole beside the wall, as though he had discovered something remarkable.

The moment Tong Si leaned closer, he heard the sound of wings beating.

“Roar…”

Noivern let out a loud roar and immediately unleashed a burst of sound waves.

“Noivern!”

Bai Chen shouted, signaling it to be quiet.

But at that very moment, various sounds began emerging from the hole one after another.

“Wait! Noivern was protecting us!”

Tong Si instinctively reached a conclusion.

“What?”

“There are Pokémon inside. They were preparing to ambush us!”

Tong Si pulled Bai Chen back. The two of them mounted Noivern, which immediately took flight.

A gust of wind swept past.

A large flock of Murkrow soon flew out of the hole.

“So it really was them!”

Only after seeing the enormous flock of Murkrow did Bai Chen realize that he had wrongly blamed Noivern.

As for Tong Si, he had actually seen through everything?

Bai Chen glanced at Tong Si from the corner of his eye. He could not help finding the young man’s judgment astonishing.

“The Murkrow flock! I’ve finally found them!”

An excited smile appeared at the corner of Tong Si’s mouth.

Although he was deeply interested in the secrets of Seven Crow Tower, his original purpose had been to track down this flock of Murkrow.

“Ya-mee!”

“Ya-mee…”

The flock cried out wildly in the darkness.

A tailwind rose, and the Murkrow flock immediately charged toward Tong Si and Bai Chen.

“Ya-mee…”

The Murkrow leading the flock had Gym Leader-level potential and was level fifty.

The other Murkrow varied in both potential and level.

“Noivern, use Boomburst!”

Bai Chen did not slacken for even a moment. Faced with the flock’s group assault, he immediately ordered a counterattack.

At the same time, he told Tong Si behind him to cover his ears.

Noivern’s Boomburst was no trivial matter.

At such close range, the slightest mistake could even rupture their eardrums.

What Bai Chen had not expected, however, was that Tong Si had already put in earplugs.

Could it be that Tong Si had anticipated his ordering Noivern to use Boomburst?

Bai Chen increasingly felt that he could not see through this fellow named Tong Si.

Under Noivern’s fierce Boomburst attack, the flock of Murkrow repeatedly fell back.

Clearly, they had realized that there was a considerable gap between their strengths.

Even though the leading Murkrow was level fifty, it still struggled before Noivern.

“Brother Chen, our attack must have alerted the people inside Seven Crow Tower. What should we choose to do next?” Tong Si asked after removing his earplugs.

“You already have a plan, yet you’re asking me? Are you planning to make me take full responsibility if something goes wrong?”

Bai Chen rolled his eyes at Tong Si speechlessly.

Even if Bai Chen suggested retreating now, would Tong Si actually withdraw?

“Then let’s charge straight into the eighth floor!”

Tong Si pointed toward the eighth floor of Seven Crow Tower and made the decision for Bai Chen.

“You really are…”

Bai Chen increasingly felt that he should never have provoked this troublesome fellow. He was beginning to regret it.

“Noivern, use Air Slash to cut us an opening!”

Bai Chen issued the order.

Noivern flew directly toward the eighth floor of Seven Crow Tower.

Everyone in Linhu City knew that anyone who damaged Seven Crow Tower would be cursed.

Moreover, the Pokémon Association would not let anyone who damaged the tower off lightly.

Bai Chen understood all of this perfectly.

But things had already reached this point, and he could no longer worry about so much.

He was also deeply curious about the illusory space on the seventh floor and the various sounds on the eighth.

This was the moment when the mystery would finally be unveiled.

As for whatever punishment the Pokémon Association imposed afterward, Bai Chen would bear it alone.

“Roar…”

Noivern gave a mighty roar and sent an Air Slash crashing into the wall of Seven Crow Tower.

The result was somewhat different from what Noivern had imagined.

It had been extremely confident in its Air Slash.

Yet despite having stood for three hundred years, this wall remained astonishingly sturdy.

The Air Slash had only left a few cracks in it.

“Roar…”

A special symbol of fury appeared above Noivern’s head, resembling the mark of an enraged Primeape. It launched two more Air Slashes, and finally… broke an opening through the wall.

At that moment, Tong Si and Bai Chen widened their eyes when they saw the scene on the eighth floor, utterly unable to believe what lay before them.

…

To be continued.