Chapter 79: Magma Lake

Shirona had no idea how long they had been falling. All she felt was tumbling several times while holding Ace before they finally came to a stop.

Feeling the sharp pain in her body, Shirona looked at Ace, whose head was covered in blood, and she completely panicked.

Weavile's Ice Punch had directly struck Ace's head. Through his torn scalp, Shirona could see Ace's fractured skull.

"Ace, wake up! Please wake up! Don't go to sleep!"

Shirona was frantic but utterly helpless.

Ace had a miraculous healing ability, but he usually used it to heal himself and his Pokémon. Shirona rarely saw him heal himself.

Now that Ace was unconscious, the only silver lining was that Weavile had used an Ice Punch, so the ruptured blood vessels were mostly frozen, preventing Ace from bleeding to death.

However, the bad news was that Shirona clearly felt the surrounding temperature gradually rising. The previously frozen blood vessels began to thaw, and blood slowly started flowing from the wound again.

"Ace, don't die! If you die, I'll feel guilty for the rest of my life!"

Shirona took off her jacket and pressed it against Ace's head, hoping to stop the bleeding.

But as Ace's face grew paler and paler, blood slowly began to drip from Shirona's jacket.

"Lapras! Lapras, where are you?!"

Shirona cried out loudly. Now, her only hope was to find Lapras and have it use its cold to temporarily seal Ace's blood vessels. Otherwise, the bleeding alone would be enough to kill Ace!

Scanning the surrounding cave, Shirona sadly realized she couldn't see Lapras anywhere, and the fabric under her hands was gradually becoming soaked with blood.

"It's all my fault, all my fault, all my fault..."

Shirona was in a state of panic. Recalling her actions just now, Shirona slapped herself, leaving a bloody handprint on her face.

"Woo..."

A soft cry sounded, and Shirona suddenly felt a resistance under her hand. The jacket was instantly flung away by a force.

At the same time, that force pushed Shirona off balance, making her slide half a meter backward, grinding against the ground.

Following that, the force gently pressed Ace's damaged scalp back onto his skull.

To Shirona's astonished gaze, Ace groaned and slowly opened his eyes.

"Ace! That's great! Are you okay?!"

Ace felt excruciating pain throughout his body, but his head was also hazy, as if he were drunk.

However, his subconscious knew that he must be injured and needed system treatment.

Five mission points were consumed, and a faint light quickly began to glow from Ace's body.

"Detecting multiple injured areas on host. Treatment will proceed in two stages. First, treating head injuries..."

In his dazed state, a gentle force enveloped Ace's head, beginning to fully treat his head injuries.

His previously fractured skull rapidly healed, and his torn scalp closed at a visible rate.

Detecting the significant blood loss from Ace's body, the blood that had flowed onto Ace's face began to reverse, quickly flowing back into Ace's body through the wound.

However, the system didn't absorb all the blood, only ensuring that Ace wouldn't suffer from a series of problems due to anemia.

Subsequently, blood cells within Ace's body began to rapidly multiply, quickly filling Ace's blood vessels.

Ace's previously pale face also gradually became rosy at a very fast rate.

"Head treatment complete."

As the system's voice sounded, Ace's previously hazy mind gradually regained clarity.

His unfocused eyes now sparkled with life.

"Finally alive again. This injury was a bit too severe."

Ace sighed with emotion, feeling the rapidly healing wounds on his body. Only then did he look at Shirona, who had a bloody handprint on her face.

"Ace! Ace! It's so good you're okay!"

Shirona tried to scramble to her feet, but found she couldn't stand up at all.

"Huh?"

Shirona looked at her weak right leg with confusion. But then she saw that her right calf was twisted into an irregular shape.

It turned out her right leg had been broken all along, but she had been so focused on Ace that she hadn't felt the excruciating pain of the fracture.

But now that she had come to her senses, Shirona immediately felt intense pain surge through her. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead, and she gritted her teeth so hard she almost shattered them.

"Ah."

Ace sighed, struggled to his feet, and walked to Shirona's side. Five mission points were consumed, and Shirona's injuries also began to heal rapidly.

"Where's Lapras?"

A few seconds later, Shirona was fully healed. Seeing her stand up lively, Ace couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know."

Shirona spoke truthfully. She had tried to find Lapras earlier for help, but she couldn't find it at all.

Ace looked around, then quickly ran towards the bright area ahead.

Seeing this, Shirona also hurried to follow.

They currently didn't even have a single usable Pokémon with them. If they encountered a wild Pokémon, they would be in real danger!

When Ace quickly reached the mouth of the cave, he stopped.

Outside the cave, Lapras floated weakly in mid-air, covered in a large amount of solidified magma. Many parts of its body were carbonized.

For Lapras to still be clinging to life now was nothing short of a miracle!

"Come back, Lapras!"

Ace quickly recalled Lapras. Five mission points were consumed, and Lapras, inside its Poké Ball, began to heal rapidly.

"We found Lapras. Are we going back the way we came?"

Shirona also breathed a sigh of relief. She knew very well that as long as Lapras wasn't dead, Ace could definitely heal it.

Just like her left eye.

"Let's wait for a bit."

Ace said, "Crobat and the others aren't weak. Just a bunch of Sneasel, they can handle them. But right now, I want to properly thank the one who helped us."

Whether it was helping Ace regain a sliver of consciousness earlier, allowing him to use the system to heal himself.

Or Lapras floating in mid-air just now, it was clear that a Psychic-type Pokémon had helped Ace.

Otherwise, Ace and Lapras would probably have died here long ago.

And Shirona, with her broken right leg, couldn't move quickly at all. If she had encountered a wild Pokémon before reuniting with her own, she would likely have met her end too.

It could be said that the unseen Pokémon had saved all their lives!

Ace poked his head out, looking outside the cave. He found they were at the edge of a rock wall, and the surrounding rock walls were illuminated crimson by the firelight.

Looking down, below was a vast lake of bubbling, reddish magma. The intense heat made the scenery below appear distorted.

But even so, Ace could see a golden-furred Pokémon sitting majestically on the magma within that magma lake.

Sensing Ace's gaze, the Pokémon raised its head, a pair of fiery red eyes looking towards Ace.