Knights of the Digital World

Unfortunately, the Xuanwu Beast's energy was now insufficient, and the water curtain looked somewhat illusory. It collapsed with a tremor after being slashed by the wooden cross-shaped throwing star.

But this brief period allowed the Xuanwu Beast to recover and make up his mind. He couldn't delay any longer. A wise man doesn't make the same mistake twice. He had already missed his chance to defeat the Puppet Beast because of his initial hesitation; did he really want to go through that again?

If this drags on any longer, even if he wanted to fight desperately, he wouldn't have the ability to do so!

Once Xuanwu made up its mind, the twelve digital cores surrounding it, which had already dimmed in color, suddenly emitted a bright light, and the first digital core burst into flames.

He was prepared to fight tooth and nail; what was there to be reluctant about giving up a mere digital core!

The Digicore is the most important component for any Digimon. For ordinary Digimon, burning their Digicore almost always results in death.

Even for top-tier beings like the Four Holy Beasts, who possess a full twelve Digicores, burning even one Digicore would severely deplete their energy.

However, corresponding to these severe consequences was the immense power that followed the burning. The burning of the first digital core immediately replenished the power of the Xuanwu Beast.

The Xuanwu Beast didn't hold back either, directly stirring up a huge wave in the void. The massive wave crashed down on the Puppet Beast, giving him no room to dodge.

"Damn, are you crazy? You're actually using your Digicore to fight! What's so great about Digicores?!"

The Puppet Beast was also seriously injured in the giant wave that contained a large amount of energy from the Xuanwu Beast. Plants can indeed absorb water, but too much water can also drown them.

The Puppet Beast struggled to escape from the giant wave, its body soaking wet and its joints stiff. Enraged, the Puppet Beast cursed loudly.

And the Xuanwu Beast, which had been silent until now, finally spoke up:

"Sorry, having too many Digicores means you can do whatever you want. Puppetmon, come with me!"

Amidst the roar of the Xuanwu Beast, the second, third, and fourth digital cores also ignited, and a long-lost surge of power flowed within the Xuanwu Beast, causing both of its heads to raise and roar.

The Xuanwu Beast continuously extracted moisture from the air, forming wave after wave of giant waves that crashed against the Puppet Beast. The power of each subsequent wave combined with the power of the previous one, becoming increasingly terrifying.

The puppet beast was completely unprepared to resist and turned to flee.

Digital cores have a time limit for burning. He should just stall for time; only a madman would try to fight a giant wave head-on!

This scene left the children who had arrived aboard the Dark Ship completely dumbfounded:

Elder Xuannei, are you kidding us? You call this being at a disadvantage?!

How did the Four Heavenly Kings survive when the Four Divine Beasts had the upper hand?!

It's outrageous!

Chapter Twenty-Nine VS Puppet Beast

"This isn't Xuanwu Beast's normal state; it seems to have burned its Digicore. Taiyi, you'd better hurry up and do what you're planning. Otherwise, once the Digicore is burned out, Xuanwu Beast will be gone."

Emu, with his greater experience than the children, immediately grasped the situation. He paused, then continued:

"Also, the Xuanwu Beast should have twelve digital cores. But judging from its current state, it's probably already burned four or five. It's really fighting desperately now."

Taiyi was taken aback upon hearing this, then jumped up in a panic and shouted:

"Sora, Yamato, Izzy, let's go! Agumon, let's go!"

No wonder Taiichi was so nervous. The key to their plan was to defeat one of the Four Heavenly Kings with minimal cost and maximum speed, thereby freeing up the fighting power of the Four Holy Beasts who were battling him.

Afterwards, this newly liberated Holy Beast can go to the aid of the other Holy Beasts. With the help of the children, they can defeat the new Heavenly Kings and liberate another Holy Beast.

By repeating this process, the children's strength will grow stronger and stronger, like a snowball rolling downhill.

What Taiyi is most worried about now is that they arrived too late, causing the Xuanwu Beast to be severely damaged, which would affect his combat power.

Even if they defeat Puppetmon, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, the initial snowball effect won't materialize. Trying to do it again will require even more time and effort.

Moreover, Taiyi and the others had other concerns. They had originally thought that the Four Holy Beasts and the Four Heavenly Kings could hold out for a while. However, seeing that Xuanwu Beast had even ignited its digital core, the situation might not be as optimistic as they had imagined.

We need to hurry!

Xuanwu Beast was somewhat anxious. As a top-tier Ultimate level being, he wouldn't be blinded by the power generated by the burning of the Digicore. He knew clearly that this power had a time limit.

If the puppet beast cannot be defeated before the time limit, then all is lost.

But Puppetmon understood this too. He wouldn't be foolish enough to confront Xuanwu Beast head-on. Relying on his small size and speed, Puppetmon constantly maneuvered around Xuanwu Beast. Even when faced with overwhelming waves with nowhere to escape, Puppetmon would weaken their power and reduce the damage through his own attacks.

Puppetmon's energy is inexhaustible, while Black Tortoise's energy is finite. Such a massive wave attack can't be used too many times. Puppetmon can afford to exhaust it.

Just as the Xuanwu Beast was getting anxious, a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky. The Puppet Beast, still covered in wet patches, was hit squarely by the lightning, and several wisps of white smoke rose from its body.

The puppet beast was stunned by the sudden attack, then jumped up in anger, wielding its giant iron hammer and shouting:

"Who is it! What kind of bastard dares to ambush you, Puppet Beast Grandpa! Get out here! I'm going to smash your head in!"

"Give it a try if you can do it!"

The ThunderGreymon, which had already arrived at the battlefield, responded without fear. The lightning thrusters that were spinning wildly in front of him once again generated a fierce bolt of lightning, which struck towards Puppetmon.

The puppet beast muttered a few curses and quickly dodged to the side.

He is the pinnacle of the plant-type Digimon, possessing strong resistance to water and a decent level of resistance to lightning. However, the combination of water and lightning can cause him significant damage.

The water on his body contained the energy of the Black Tortoise Beast, making it difficult to dry; he was still somewhat damp. Under these circumstances, the attacks of Dynamaxmon were extremely effective, and Puppetmon was unwilling to take them head-on.

However, Dynamaxmon didn't come alone.

As the puppet beast dodged to the side, a large sword gleaming with a cold light drew a perfect arc in the air and slashed down towards the puppet beast's head.

Crescent Moon Garurumon Beast Big Spin!

Puppetmon hurriedly swung its giant hammer to meet Yellowmon's Crescent Blade. After all, it was a top-tier Ultimate level monster, and its raw strength was far superior to CrescentGarurumon's. Even though CrescentGarurumon's skills far surpassed Puppetmon's, Puppetmon still managed to catch the trajectory of the Crescent Blade and strike the blade.

Puppetmon's immense strength knocked CrescentGarurumon off balance, causing it to stagger back a few steps.

The puppet beast pressed its advantage, swinging its large iron hammer horizontally. The revolver-shaped hammerhead spun rapidly, continuously firing bullets from it.

The Crescent Garurumon wielded its crescent blade, deflecting Puppetmon's bullets one by one. However, the force attached to the bullets still forced it to retreat continuously.

However, the puppet beast's suppressive firepower didn't last long. He sensed an inexplicable crisis and instinctively rolled forward, tumbling a distance away.

"Gigabit shockwave!"

A giant energy ball appeared in front of UltraKabuterimon, shooting a thick beam of light towards the original location of Puppetmon.

This is UltimateKabuterimon's strongest attack after pushing the data density of "Million Impact" to its limit. Even with the power difference between UltimateKabuterimon and Puppetmon, this attack would be enough to severely injure Puppetmon.

However, Puppetmon's intuition saved his life. Although rolling on the ground looked undignified, it was quite effective, allowing Puppetmon to avoid the center of the giga-wave's greatest power.

As for the energy dissipating from the periphery, it is not enough to harm the puppet beast.

The puppet beast raised its head, somewhat embarrassed and annoyed. It was a man of great pride; even when fighting the Xuanwu beast, it hadn't been this pathetic. These creatures, appearing out of nowhere, had forced it to resort to such a tactic as rolling on the ground—how could it not enrage it?

However, the children's attack was not over yet. Valkyrie had somehow gotten close to Puppetmon, and its longsword slashed directly at Puppetmon, encasing it in a thick layer of ice.

This is Valkyrie's ultimate attack, Absolute Zero, which freezes the opponent and stops their life processes upon impact.

"Fenrir's Sword!"

The ice spread rapidly, instantly freezing Puppetmon inside. Through the ice, one could still see Puppetmon's surprised expression.

Valkyriemon leaped back a short distance, its longsword held horizontally in front of it. DynaGreymon, CrescentGarurumon, and UltraKabuterimon all approached, examining the ice block encasing Puppetmon.

"So, did you take care of him?"

"Friends who came from who-knows-where, Puppetmon won't be defeated so easily, get ready!"

The answer to this question did not come from Valkyriemon, but from Genbumon, who had followed along.

Xuanwu Beast merely glanced at the four Ultimate-level beings before focusing on controlling the water flow to gather above the ice.

He was naturally curious about the origins of these Digimon. But since they were clearly allies now, there was no need to delve into it. The most important thing now was to defeat Puppetmon!

The Black Tortoise Beast believed that simply freezing him wouldn't be enough to defeat the Puppet Beast. He was now going to prepare a big surprise for the Puppet Beast, to show him what a real "surprise" was!

Chapter Thirty: Keep the situation stable and don't send them away.

Xuanwu Beast's prediction was correct. The difference in strength between Valkyriemon and Puppetmon meant that even though Puppetmon was caught off guard and took a sword strike, it did not suffer serious injuries.

However, compared to the physical injuries, the psychological damage inflicted on Puppetmon by being frozen by Valkyrie and lying on the ground in such an embarrassing position was far more severe.

Puppet Beast is inherently a selfish, cruel, domineering, and tyrannical individual, with such a terrible personality that no one wants to be his friend.

The children's relentless attacks had already filled him with rage. Valkyrie's freezing attack completely ignited Puppetmon's frenzy.

Black energy emanated from the puppet beast encased in ice, coiling around its body. Under the pressure of this black energy, the ice on the puppet beast began to crack and fall off.

Soon, the puppet beast broke free from the ice's restraints, leaped to its feet, and shouted in a gloomy voice:

I think you are all self-centered.

Before the puppet beast could finish speaking, the black tortoise beast roared, and the water it had gathered earlier turned into a waterfall, pouring down on the puppet beast's head.

The immense impact, combined with the energy injected by the Xuanwu Beast, forced the Puppet Beast back to the ground, rendering it speechless. The black energy on the Puppet Beast's body was dispersed and washed away by the violent torrent of water.

The children, who had already received a warning from the Xuanwu Beast, did not miss this opportunity:

The Plasma Pillar of BlitzGreymon was running at full speed, and the already violent lightning was incorporated into the downward-rushing water, increasing its power many times over.

Using what was available, the Crescent Garurumon condensed the dissipated moisture into ice, forming small yellow crescent blades that, imbued with the sharpness of the blades themselves, shot towards the Puppetmon.

A huge energy ball gradually appeared on the chest of UltraKabuterimon, and then a thick beam of light shot out from this energy ball towards Puppetmon.

The Valkyrie removed the longbow from its back, drew several arrows from the quiver on its right leg, infused them with energy, and fired without looking. This was her ultimate technique, "Orvandir's Arrow," an arrow capable of hitting its target every time. Aiming was a waste of time for her.

The combined power of the five Ultimate-level beings struck Puppetmon, triggering a massive explosion. The water that Xuanwumon had gathered, exhausting its energy, finally dried up, and Puppetmon's screams rang out.

"This time there shouldn't be any problems, right?"

"UltraKabuterimon asked Genbumon, panting heavily."

His ultimate attack, the "Giga Shockwave," is incredibly powerful, but it consumes a tremendous amount of energy. This is due to both the high energy requirements and the significant mental strain caused by compressing data density.

Although only two shots were fired, UltraKabuterimon already felt completely drained.

The giant turtle head of the Black Tortoise was still staring at the site of the explosion, while its snake head looked towards UltimateKabuterimon and said:

"That's hard to say. For beings at our level, our vitality is quite strong, and we're not so easy to kill. Plus, the Four Heavenly Kings have unknown forces supporting them, providing a continuous source of energy. Even if Puppetmon is severely injured, it will probably still have the strength to fight."

"Sigh, I'm about to collapse, and you guys don't look like you can hold on much longer either. Why don't you guys run first?"

The power of the Xuanwu Beast was also beginning to weaken. The energy from the first digital core it burned had been exhausted, and the energy from the subsequent three digital cores was also running low.

Most importantly, the Xuanwu Beast's mental energy was greatly depleted, and even if it continued to burn its digital core, its combat power inevitably began to decline.

However, while Xuanwu Beast was suffering, Puppet Beast would be even more distressed. Xuanwu Beast had originally only planned to weaken Puppet Beast as much as possible, but now he was at least confident that he could seal Puppet Beast.

At worst, we can perish together with the puppet beast!

Anyway, it's impossible for Puppetmon to enter the Digital World. That's enough.