29. Digital Gian

Tai performed a backflip in mid-air and landed on the ground. His fists, burning with the Digital Soul, swept through the air in a circular motion. The Gazimon he struck didn’t even have time to cry out in pain; under the terrifying force of the blow, they were sent flying backward, their bodies embedding deep into the stone wall.

Looking at their spinning, dazed eyes, it was clear they had already blacked out, their stamina bars completely depleted.

Tai flexed his fists, feeling a bit unsatisfied. Although a Gazimon in its Rookie stage possessed physical capabilities not inferior to some adult humans, to a Tai of this caliber, they were still nothing more than small fry.

He really wanted to pummel something with thick skin and solid mass.

Tai turned his gaze behind him with a gloomy expression.

While Tai had been pretending to be taken away, Zeromaru hadn't been idle in the village. As soon as Tai and the Gazimon had left, he had given the Pagumon in the village a good thrashing. Now, he was leading several of the head Pagumon, following the Gazimon’s footprints all the way here.

"So, how should I show you my 'affection'?" Tai asked with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Eek!" Although they were malicious by nature, the Pagumon were, after all, only in the In-Training stage. Their level of malice was, at best, that of neighborhood bullies who loved pranks but were terrified of being disciplined.

Seeing that their "upperclassmen," the Gazimon, had been knocked out cold by Tai with single punches, they naturally didn't harbor the slightest thought of resistance.

Tai didn't even need to ask; they spilled all the information in a frantic rush of chatter.

It turned out that a powerful Ultimate-level Digimon was currently lording over the first half of Server Continent. It was the Etemon that the Gazimon had mentioned earlier.

This Etemon was not only extremely powerful in combat, but he had also used some means to acquire advanced technology. He had installed monitoring devices in every corner of Server Continent for the sole purpose of detecting the Chosen Children the moment they arrived on the continent and eliminating them.

As for the Pagumon and Gazimon, they were merely nameless pawns carrying out Etemon’s orders. If they were the neighborhood bullies, then Etemon was the king of them all.

"So, everything you did was ordered by that Gian-like figure, including driving the Koromon out of their village?"

Faced with Tai’s piercing gaze, the Pagumon shivered uncontrollably. They covered their eyes with their twin-tail-like ears, much like ostriches burying their heads in the sand, as if they believed that if they couldn't see, the danger in front of them wouldn't exist.

"S-sorry!"

"It was the Gazimon who said that having a village as a disguise would make it easier to gain the children's trust."

"We didn't know anything!"

"The Koromon are right behind the waterfall! We didn't do anything to them!"

What a masterful way to shift the blame—tossing most of the responsibility onto Etemon, a small portion onto the Gazimon, and as for themselves, they were just innocent, pure-hearted babies forced to become accomplices by the dark forces.

After a moment of thought, Tai said, "First, take me to see the Koromon."

If they were telling the truth and the Koromon were safe, Tai wouldn't mind sparing these Pagumon, who hadn't actually committed any substantive evil.

The Pagumon immediately led Tai through a hidden path to the inside of the waterfall.

The underwater cave was not large. As soon as Tai stepped inside, he saw the Koromon locked in several cages.

The Koromon had been trapped in the pitch-black cave for days. Seeing figures walk in, they assumed it was the Gazimon again and immediately huddled together, trembling.

"Don't worry, everyone. I'm here to save you," Tai said immediately. Seeing several fire pits in the cave, perhaps set up by the Gazimon earlier, he had Zeromaru light them.

As the blue flames illuminated the small, water-curtained cave, the Koromon finally mustered some courage and looked up at Tai.

Seeing Tai, a human, the Koromon were slightly surprised.

"Don't be afraid. I'm here to rescue you."

Zeromaru gripped one of the cages and applied a slight force, tearing it in half.

The Koromon immediately rushed out of the cages and surrounded Zeromaru, saying:

"Thank you, kind stranger!"

"You're so strong, big brother!"

Zeromaru rubbed his nose proudly: "Heh heh, of course! I am a Champion-level Digimon, after all."

The Koromon gasped in astonishment: "A Champion-level? That's amazing! Even stronger than our big brother."

Tai asked, "Your big brother?"

The head Koromon replied, "Our big brother is an Agumon. He has always been the one protecting our village."

When mentioning this big brother, the Koromon’s eyes lit up, and their ears perked high, their words filled with deep respect: "Big brother said he felt he was close to evolving, so he left the village a few months ago to train in the outside world."

"We don't know how he's doing now. If he were still here, we never would have been bullied by the Gazimon!"

"He sounds very reliable. I'd love to meet him," Tai said with a smile.

Perhaps that Agumon would evolve into a Greymon.

Tai had always liked Greymon.

After all, they looked very cool and were quite powerful among the Champion-level Digimon.

"Hmm... I smell the scent of unfaithfulness," Zeromaru suddenly leaned in and said, staring at Tai with a deadpan expression.

"You're overthinking it."

Tai replied dismissively.

Just then, a chaotic, loud electric guitar sound suddenly erupted from outside.

It sounded as if hundreds of speakers were connected at once. The electric guitar produced a tragic level of noise, and through the amplification of the speakers, this noise transformed from mental distress into actual physical damage.

The entire cave began to tremble under the lethal sound waves.

Tai immediately realized this was an enemy attack.

He saw another small path in the depths of the cave and decided to let the Koromon escape through it first: "You all leave here first. I'm going to go meet him."

"Don't go! You can't beat him!" The Koromon, seeing Tai about to do something they considered equivalent to suicide, tried to stop him.

"Etemon is an Ultimate-level! He's even stronger than you, Zeromaru!"

"Come run with us!"

"Don't worry," Tai comforted them. "Zeromaru and I won't lose. Since we started, our win rate has been 100%!"

"Besides, there's no reason a Champion can't beat an Ultimate."

As Tai said this, one of the seven pendants around his neck suddenly began to glow with an orange light.

"The Digivice is reacting?" Tai pulled the glowing pendant from under his shirt. It was vibrating slightly, emitting a light that carried a warmth like the morning sun.

"Could it be that the Crest corresponding to the Digivice is here!?" Tai subconsciously looked into the small path. In the depths of his consciousness, he felt as if something was calling to him.

Tai first stepped outside the waterfall and saw a giant holographic projection of a Digimon in the sky.

That guy looked like he was wearing a monkey-themed suit, sporting tacky sunglasses, carrying an electric guitar on his back, and had a Numemon doll tucked into his belt.

"That's Etemon," the head Koromon said.

"Hee-haw! I am the King of Digimon, Etemon!"

The Etemon in the projection played his electric guitar like a superstar, though the sound emanating from it sounded more like a concert performed by a tone-deaf giant than music.

Numerous black cables rose from the ground into the air, and accompanied by black-and-red electricity, they broadcast this mentally devastating, magical noise—and Etemon's terrible singing—across a vast area.

"This guy really is a tone-deaf bully!" Listening to the noise, Tai felt dizzy and nauseated; he could only muster seven-tenths of his strength.

Furthermore, since this Etemon was only a projection, his true body was hiding somewhere unknown, making it impossible to fight him even if he wanted to.

Tai thought for a moment and decided to leave with the Koromon through the small path first, and focus on getting his hands on the Crest.