A water-type trainer who specializes in dragon-type water.

The Flame Centipede, carrying the strange stone in its mouth, suddenly unleashed energy ripples of the same origin as the stone from the gaps in its dark red carapace!

The red nebula flowing inside the stone seemed to be ignited, suddenly lighting up and emitting a heart-stopping fluctuation!

Wishing Star Shards – These are the core crystals originating from the Dynamax phenomenon in the Galar region, and are the most crucial raw material for creating the "Dynamax Bracers" to guide and control Dynamax energy.

It contains a vast amount of energy that can temporarily enlarge Pokémon and unleash their potential, and it was activated by a wild Centiskorps!

“Buzz——!!!”

A torrent of dark red energy, visible to the naked eye and like boiling blood, surged wildly from the Wishing Star Block and wrapped around the entire body of the Flame Centipede as if it had a life of its own!

The already extremely dense fire energy in the secret realm seemed to be summoned, and it converged on the Flame Centipede with unprecedented ferocity!

The earth trembled, and the lava lake churned violently as if boiling, spewing up towering bubbles and thick smoke.

All the Fire-type Pokémon around, whether they were the lazy Magcargo, the憨厚 (honest and simple) Camelot, or the fierce Magmar, stopped moving and stared at the energy center.

Their eyes were filled with instinctive awe and submission, as if they were worshipping a totem of fire, and they emitted low, unified whimpers and roars.

Streams of fire shot into the sky involuntarily, as if performing a frenzied ritual!

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the Flame Centipede's body rapidly expanded and deformed within the envelope of dark red energy!

Its body grew taller and longer, transforming its already slender form into a magnificent behemoth, like a fiery mountain range stretching across scorched earth.

Each segment of its carapace became thicker and more ferocious, and on its crimson body, the yellow markings transformed into patterns that flowed with golden light like cracks in lava.

What is most awe-inspiring is its head and tail—the head becomes even larger, and its mouthparts seem capable of swallowing mountains;

At the end of its tail, instead of sharp spikes, it swelled into a huge organ like a volcano crater, with a destructive crimson light surging inside!

This is the form of Centiskorps beyond its normal Dynamax form—Gigantamax Centiskorps! It coiled there, radiating suffocating heat and pressure!

"What...what is such a huge Pokémon?!"

Cheng Lan gasped in shock, her beautiful eyes filled with disbelief and astonishment.

Although she was a seasoned trainer, she had never seen such a colossal creature before.

The oppressive feeling emanating from his size almost made her stop breathing.

Zhang Heng's gaze was fixed on the Gigantamaxed Flame Centipede, his eyes sharp as an eagle's.

This wasn't the first time he'd encountered a wild Gigantamax Pokémon, but this was the first time he'd ever seen one that could autonomously activate a Wishing Piece to Gigantamax!

"However... compared to those I've seen in the Maximal Den, this one seems to be a little smaller."

This judgment flashed through his mind in an instant, and at the same time, a strong desire to subdue it surged forth like magma—if he could subdue it, it would be a huge help, whether for completing system tasks or as a future combat force!

At this moment, he was completely in no mood to pay attention to Cheng Lan's terrified gaze and her somewhat incoherent whispers beside him.

In his world, there was only the fiery worm in front of him, and... the determination to defeat it!

Zhang Heng swiftly flipped his right hand and took out the uniquely shaped giant wristband from the system space, putting it on his left wrist with a swift and steady motion.

At the center of the wristband, a crystal containing immense energy began to emit a resonant glow from the groove.

"Charizard!" Zhang Heng shouted, raising his left hand, which was wearing a wristband, high and establishing an energy link with the Charizard in the air!

"Crush him!"

"Roar--!!!"

Charizard let out a roar that shook the entire secret realm. It was in perfect harmony with its trainer, and its intense fighting spirit and the energy of the Maxim Brace instantly synchronized!

A dark red energy beam, even more intense and dazzling than that of the Flame Centipede, shot into the sky and completely engulfed the Fire-Breathing Dragon!

Its body expanded wildly within the pillar of light at a speed visible to the naked eye. Its wings spread out like the wings of a burning phoenix, the flames burning on its abdomen transformed into bizarre patterns like paintings of hell, and the flames on its tail surged even more, like a small sun!

Gigantamax Charizard has arrived!

"Zhang...Zhang Heng, how...you also know how to make Pokémon gigantic?!"

Cheng Lan's shock reached its peak. Looking at the second gigantic Pokémon in front of her, she felt that her worldview had been impacted like never before.

Zhang Heng ignored her questions, his entire focus was on the Gigantamax Flame Centipede.

The battle is about to break out!

The Gigantamax Flame Centipede launched the first attack! Its volcano-like tail slammed heavily into the ground, frantically extracting the fire energy from the entire secret realm.

A massive, destructive energy sphere, seemingly filled with the howling and roaring of countless fire spirits, coalesced in front of it!

Gigantamax Fireball!

This is its signature move, which is similar to Gigantamax Charizard's "Gigantamax Inferno," designed to completely trap and incinerate the opponent with endless blazing fire!

"They're here!" Zhang Heng's eyes sharpened.

He saw that before launching an attack, the Flame Centipede unnaturally coiled up and lowered its body, almost touching the ground, like laying underfloor heating pipes—a posture he had already memorized during the game!

"Gigantamax Charizard! Gigantamax Hellfire!"

"Roar!!!"

The Gigantamax Charizard let out a roar that seemed to come from the deepest hell. It suddenly lowered its mountain-like head and flapped its two giant wings, which were burning with inextinguishable karmic fire, forward!

Transforming its fiery wings into its ultimate weapon, it charged like a world-destroying firebird carrying the flames of hell, crashing headlong into the enormous fireball!

"boom----!!!!!!!"

Two sun-like fireballs collide head-on with the world-destroying firebird!

An explosion that defies description has occurred!

The terrifying energy shockwave spread outwards in a ring, lifting up several meters of scorched earth from the ground, and evaporating most of the lava lake!

Blinding white light and crimson flames intertwine, annihilate, and then erupt again!

The explosion did not subside quickly like a typical clash of skills; instead, it formed a massive encirclement of flames, over a hundred meters in diameter, resembling a fiery inferno!

A crimson wall of fire shot into the sky, trapping both Gigantamax Charizard and Gigantamax Centiskorps inside. The scorching heat distorted the space itself!

The S-rank damp rock now shimmered with an even brighter blue light, and the water-based energy it emitted continuously counteracted the onslaught of the surrounding fire-based energy.

However, its protective range is getting smaller and smaller, and it can barely cover Zhang Heng and Cheng Lan.

"It's now!"

Despite the sweltering heat, Zhang Heng raised the giant wristband again without hesitation.

"While it's trapped in the flames! Gigantamax Charizard - Max Rock!"

Trapped in a ring of flames, the Gigantamax Charizard, enduring the scorching heat of the flames, unleashed its immense energy once more!

Unlike the characteristics of exclusive moves, this is a creation of pure energy!

Before it, the power of the earth was frantically stirred, and countless rock fragments and earthen-yellow energy rapidly condensed and compressed.

This eventually formed a massive rectangular rock wall, as thick as a mountain, with sharp edges and a surface covered with ancient rune-like cracks!

This rock wall is like the foundation stone that supports heaven and earth in mythology, carrying a heavy power that crushes stars and suppresses all things.

It crashed down squarely and hard onto the Centipede, whose movements were temporarily stiffened by the Gigantamax Firestorm!

"Thump—!!!!!"

A massive boulder crashed down! The enormous body of the Flame Centipede was slammed solidly beneath this massive rock wall!

Zhang Heng's eyes shone brightly, and he understood perfectly: "As expected! Wild Pokémon, even if they happen to have mastered the key to Gigantamax, may not know the various ways to use 'Max Moves'!"

Just as Zhang Heng had predicted, this Gigantamax Centiskorps seemed to only know how to use its own signature Gigantamax moves, and it couldn't figure out the tricks of changing Gigantamax moves of other types at all.

In its stunned state after unleashing Gigantamax Flameblaze, it could only watch helplessly as the devastating rock wall crashed down upon it!

The instant the rock wall made contact with the Flame Centipede's body, an even more violent energy explosion occurred! Earth and rocks crumbled, and sparks flew everywhere!

“His ...

A piercing, agonizing scream came from below the rock wall, and the massive, dark red energy surrounding the Flame Centipede rapidly dissipated and vanished like a punctured balloon.

Its body shrank rapidly at a visible speed, eventually returning to its normal form. Its eyes emitted spiraling circles as it collapsed helplessly amidst the broken rocks and scorched earth, completely losing its ability to fight.

At the same time, the encirclement of flames slowly dissipated. The Gigantamax Charizard roared, its massive body also enveloped in white light, rapidly shrinking back to its normal size.

It landed heavily on the ground, its wings drooping, its chest heaving violently, panting heavily. Clearly, the exertion from using Gigantamax moves in succession was enormous.

Zhang Heng took out a high-grade ball from his pocket, preparing to throw it to complete the capture.

However, at this moment——

"Screw rustle..."

Countless fire centipedes emerged from every corner of the lava lake and from the cracks in the rocks. They surged forward like a tide and quickly surrounded the unconscious fire centipede.

They raised their small heads, staring intently at Zhang Heng and the exhausted fire-breathing dragon beside him with wary, fearful, yet resolute eyes.

They did not attack; instead, they used their own bodies to build a fragile defensive line, protecting their leader and the king of this land.

Zhang Heng's hand, holding the high-grade ball, froze in mid-air.

He looked at the scene before him, at the weak yet fearless Fire Centipedes, and then at the unconscious Flame Centipedes.

"It seems... its desperate fight, even risking its Gigantamax form, wasn't just for itself, but also to protect this habitat and its kind..."

A sudden realization dawned on Zhang Heng, and a feeling of compassion quietly arose within him.

If it is forcibly subdued, the future of these fire centipedes that depend on its protection will likely be bleak.

He remained silent for a moment, and finally, with a flick of his wrist, he retrieved the advanced ball.

"Never mind," he said softly, his tone calm.

"Huh?" Cheng Lan was greatly surprised and looked at him in confusion. "Why didn't you subdue it? You went through so much trouble..."

"There's no need."

Zhang Heng shook his head without offering any further explanation. He turned around, his gaze falling on the inconspicuous hole from which the Flame Centipede had just emerged.

He stepped forward and bent down to examine it.

The entrance to the cave wasn't large, but the interior seemed to be a completely different world. He reached in and explored for a while, a "I knew it" expression appearing on his face.

When he withdrew his hand, he had four wishing star blocks that shimmered with nebula-like light, and six wishing star fragments that were slightly weaker in energy but equally precious.

Looking at his haul, Zhang Heng's lips curled up almost imperceptibly.

He didn't take them all, but carefully selected the most energetic wishing star and gently placed it back deep inside the cave.

"Since we haven't managed to subdue you, surely collecting some 'protection fees' and 'tuition fees' shouldn't be a problem..."

He muttered to himself, as if discussing something with the unconscious Flame Centipede, or perhaps trying to convince himself.

After storing the three wishing star blocks and all the fragments into his system space, Zhang Heng stood up and dusted off his hands.

Cheng Lan, who was standing by, witnessed the whole thing—his actions of "searching the house" and "leaving a way out"—and had a somewhat amused and exasperated expression.

“Let’s go,” Zhang Heng said without turning around, his gaze once again fixed on the direction indicated by the aptitude locator in his mind.

"We move on."

The Charizard roared, struggling to muster its strength, and flew back to low altitude to stand guard.

The two humans and the dragon ignored the still wary Fire Centipedes around them, and trudged across the scorched earth, continuing their journey deeper into the secret realm towards the location of the champion-level divine beast.