Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?

```

"Shh, shh, shh..."

The rustling in the bushes grew louder and louder, scaring Wild so much that he kept retreating until he tripped over a stone and fell to the ground.

Right now, he extremely regretted not having learned martial arts; all those years had been hollowed out by indulgence in wine and women.

When I make it back this time, I'm definitely going to give up drinking!

"Pi..." A low growl from the Monster emerged from the bushes, surprisingly, the sound wasn't too frightening.

Of course, it still scared Wild enough that he almost had an accident.

"Pika, pika!"

A yellow bolt of lightning shot straight towards Wild, making him cry out and instinctively close his eyes.

"Pika?"

But the anticipated death did not come; instead, something fluffy ended up in his arms.

He mustered his courage and opened his eyes, finally seeing the full appearance of this unusual creature.

"What is this thing?" Wild looked at the yellow creature in astonishment; it had a chubby body, long pointy ears, and a peculiar tail shaped like a bolt of lightning...

"A mutant rat!?"

"Pika!"

Feeling the insult in the words, Pikachu became angry.

[A wild Pikachu used 100,000 Volts!]

[It's super effective!]

"Crackle and pop—"

A dramatically exaggerated flash of lightning passed over him, and Wild, his hair standing on end, fainted.

After who knows how long, feeling his cheeks being licked by something wet, he slowly came to, and opened his eyes to see the big yellow "rat" that had electrocuted him.

But this time, he didn't scream.

"Great lord, Rat Grandpa, I beg you, please finish me off," Wild said miserably, "I won't dare come to the Dungeon again, never again in this life..."

Pikachu just kept licking its paw, glanced at him upon hearing the noise, and in its eyes, the latter saw human-like emotions—pity.

Am I being pitied by a Monster?

Wild couldn't even muster the energy to get angry, he just kept begging Pikachu to give him relief, but Pikachu did nothing except circle around him.

After a while, he propped himself up.

"If you had a chance to kill me and didn't, what kind of strange Monster are you,"

Picking up a random branch to use as a crutch, Wild limped through the forest. His thoughts were simple:

To find a Monster to finish him off!

Because he didn't dare commit suicide—that would hurt too much.

The Teleportation Crystals that adventurers carried couldn't be activated voluntarily; they would only trigger upon death, which was darn inconvenient, but it was the iron rule of every Dungeon.

Whether you commit suicide or get killed, it would trigger.

The forest full of birds and fragrant flowers was completely unlike the toxic marshes, almost making one forget that this was the perilous Dungeon.

"Pika pika,"

"Why are you following me," Wild poked Pikachu with the branch "If you're not going to kill me, get lost,"

Pikachu swiftly stood its tail on end, and electricity crackled.

"All right, all right, if you want to follow me, then do, just don't electrocute me!"

A down-and-out noble son and a strange Pikachu formed an odd partnership and began exploring the forest.

"There must be Monsters in that town over there, I need to go there,"

Aiming for Undead Town, Wild limped forward, but halfway there, something unexpected happened.

As he was passing through a patch of grass, suddenly something jumped out!

"Wow, what is this strange Monster? I've never seen it before!"

The Monster looked like a floating purple-black ball in mid-air, with its eyes and mouth piled on the sphere, looking rather ugly yet cute.

[A wild Ghastly appeared!]

```

Wild instinctively stepped back at first, but the desire to return home pushed him towards the Ghastly. He believed that this seemingly fierce Monster would surely kill him.

But to his expectation, Ghastly launched an attack!

[The wild Ghastly used Shadow Ball!]

Wild spread his arms wide, not dodging at all!

Just as he seemed to be embracing death, but then!

"Pikachu!"

Pikachu suddenly darted over, knocking Wild to the ground, and deftly avoided the attack.

"What are you doing!" Wild angrily realized what happened afterwards.

Pikachu gave him a look as if he were an idiot, then turned around and assumed a battle stance against Ghastly.

[The wild Ghastly used Mysterious Light!]

[Pikachu dodged the attack!]

[The wild Pikachu used Electric Shock!]

The two Pokemon fought fiercely. Unused to the dazzling special effects flying everywhere, Wild, who had never seen Monsters fight among themselves, was stunned.

"Is that Monster... protecting me?"

A ridiculous thought crossed his mind; it's well known that Monsters are synonyms of madness and bloodthirstiness, utterly impossible to communicate with, let alone protect humans.

Watching Pikachu's tenacious fight, he was moved for a moment, and his desire to die lightened significantly.

This Monster doesn't seem so bad, right? If I can survive, I'll take it out as a pet.

Its judgment really isn't bad, knowing to protect me.

The battle quickly came to an end, and Pikachu emerged victorious, surpassing Ghastly, which let out a shriek and scampered away.

"Cough cough,"

Wild leaned against a tree, coughing twice, attracting Pikachu's attention.

He struck what he thought was a suave pose and held out his hand to say:

"I acknowledge your resolve to protect this young master, come with me Monster, I will let you live the most luxurious life,"

Pikachu looked at him expressionlessly, then suddenly leaped up and swung its tail.

[Pikachu used Iron Tail!]

"Pfft—"

Wild was knocked to the ground, holding his reddened face and tremblingly said, "You dare to hit me..."

"Pika Pika," Pikachu stood up with its hands on its hips, looking disdainful.

It wagged its tail a few times, and the sound of electricity crackled in the air. Seeing the lightning starting to form, Wild backed away in fear, begging for mercy: "Stop hitting, stop hitting, I surrender!"

He couldn't understand what this yellow rodent wanted, how it suddenly started bugging him out of the blue.

It can't possibly want me to take it outside, can it?

Pikachu revealed a "that's more like it" expression and nimbly jumped on top of his head, patting it as if claiming sovereignty.

Wild oddly felt like he had been picked out, not in terms of affection, but in the way that a pet finds a favorite person to clean up after them.

Oh no, I've been entangled by a yellow Demon!

Under Pikachu's direction, Wild wandered through the forest like a puppet on strings, not knowing where he was being led.

This is bad, it might be taking me to its lair to be eaten...

After his recent skirmish with Ghastly, Wild became scared of dying again.

"Pika!"

Pikachu firmly patted his head, gesturing for Wild to crouch down and go to the nearby bushes.

What could there be in the bushes...

He murmured to himself, fingering through the bushes with a look of disgust, and indeed he touched something.

"What is this?"

He pulled out a round object, smaller than his palm, red and white in color, simple and yet aesthetically pleasing.

[Elf Ball]