A different kind of digital world adventure

Upon entering the forest, the atmosphere immediately reminded Taichi of the Insect Forest. However, upon closer inspection, Taichi quickly realized something was amiss.

"Something doesn't seem right. This place feels a bit lifeless."

In the past, the Insect Forest would have been bustling with dozens of Digimon coming to see what the outsiders looked like. But now, upon entering the forest, Tai could only sense a few scattered gazes, as if the forest was nothing more than a decoration.

Where did all the Digimon in the forest go?

Tai looked around, wanting to ask the Digimon he had discovered about them, but as he approached, he realized they were just baby Digimon that couldn't even speak. Reluctantly, Tai could only turn back to Betamon.

"Betamon, do you know what happened here?"

"I am not sure as well."

Betamon was equally bewildered.

"We Dark Masters don't interfere with each other unless there's something important going on, so I don't know what Puppetmon did."

Betamon looked around.

"But it seems that the Puppet Beast may have already prepared a trap to ambush us."

"The news of my disappearance should have been known to the other Dark Lords. Under the influence of the Apocalypse Beast, they might very well do something... that is in line with their nature."

Betamon offered a subtle reminder.

Just as Mugendramon is unleashing weapons across the city, and Piedmon is transforming its territory into a death circus, it's not impossible that Puppetmon would drastically alter the forest to accelerate its invasion of the Digital World.

Just as Betamon was about to say something more, Tai and Agumon suddenly turned their heads to look in a certain direction.

"somebody is coming."

As soon as he finished speaking, Betamon immediately saw countless vines stretching out towards them.

Immediately afterwards, a giant snake head made of vines appeared before Betamon.

Hydramon, Ultimate Level

"Intense radiation!"

Chapter 84 Node Strike

"Where did this guy come from?"

Betamon stared wide-eyed at Hydramon in front of it.

"I've never seen this before!"

"Alright, move aside!"

Taiichi picked up Betamon with one hand and released it. Then, Taiichi stepped forward, charged up his strength, and threw a lightning-fast punch at the center of the beam!

Boom! The rays scattered instantly, and the surrounding trees appeared as if they had been gnawed by insects, revealing thousands of tiny, dense spores. Taking advantage of this moment, Agumon leaped up from behind Taichi, unleashing its evolutionary light in mid-air.

"Agumon evolves into Greymon!"

"Super Flame!"

Before the light of evolution had even faded, Greymon unleashed several enormous fireballs that engulfed Hydramon. The intense heat of the fire instantly enveloped Hydramon, causing the vines on its body to dehydrate and begin to burn rapidly.

In an instant, Hydramon's massive body was engulfed in flames, but it only paid a brief look at its current state before turning its attention away from it.

Although Hydramon was somewhat surprised that Greymon could harm its body with flames, there was a huge energy level difference between Ultimate and Champion levels. It was like asking someone to boil the ocean with a single match—it was simply impossible.

Hydramon didn't need to do much; with just a slight movement, it could completely extinguish Greymon's flames.

For example, right now, Hydramon manipulates all the vines on its body to shake at the same frequency, and instantly the flames on its body are extinguished without warning. After doing this, Hydramon immediately wants to turn around and continue to attack Taiyi and the others. At this moment, the huge mouth on its abdomen opens, ready to release the biological toxins that it has accumulated for a long time.

But Hydramon saw that after the Greymon finished breathing fire, it was as if it had finished its day's work, and it actually reverted back to Agumon and stood in front of Tai.

This scene left Hydramon bewildered. Could it be that it had given up on opposing it? After pondering for a long time without figuring out the reason, Hydramon simply stopped thinking about it and focused all its attention on the venom sac in its abdomen.

The biological toxin inside is an extremely potent poison that has been processed and concentrated since Hydramon's ultimate evolution. Just one drop can kill hundreds of Mammothmon. Even Ultimate-level Digimon would be severely injured if they came into contact with this stuff, not to mention these guys who don't even have an Ultimate level yet. They would definitely evaporate on the spot without even knowing how they died!

But as soon as Hydramon made a move, a fierce flame suddenly burst into flames on its body without any warning!

These flames were far more intense than the flames that Tyrannomon had used to attack it earlier. More importantly, Hydramon found that it was impossible to extinguish these flames no matter what it did!

Even though things are very different now than before, the opponent is still an Ultimate level being. Therefore, it's already the limit for Greymon's flames to cause even a little damage to the opponent. Any more than that is beyond the capabilities of Greymon at its level.

But damage is one thing, and operation is another. It's like using a lighter to boil water versus using a lighter to light a bomb. Both use a lighter, but the effects are completely different.

Every living being has energy nodes, and even ultimate beings must follow this principle. It is the existence of these nodes that enables living beings to move and attack. Therefore, as long as these nodes are discovered and attacked, only a small amount of force is needed to create a domino effect, which can have a great impact on powerful enemies.

Therefore, truly powerful Ultimate-level Digimon will try their best to hide or reduce their energy nodes. Just like WarGreymon, its entire body is as one, and there is no possibility of its nodes being attacked. There is only one way to defeat WarGreymon, which is to overwhelm it in pure numerical value.

Although the Hydramon in front of me is also an Ultimate level, its level is far beyond that of WarGreymon, let alone MetalSeadramon, which it used as a leather belt.

Betamon: "?"

Just now, Greymon precisely struck Hydramon's various energy nodes, causing Hydramon's control system to malfunction for a short period of time. Although Hydramon will not die, it has lost the ability to oppose Taichi for a short time.

Boom!

Seeing Hydramon collapse to the ground, unable to suppress its own flames, Betamon snapped out of its daze and turned sharply to look at Tai.

"Was all of this something you planned?"

"No, it's just that Hydramon's weaknesses are too obvious. I would feel bad if I didn't take advantage of them."

"...So, the instant Hydramon appeared, you saw all of its weaknesses?"

Betamon looked at Taichi as if he were a pervert.

"Are you still human?"

"You'll be able to do it too once you get a little stronger; it's a very simple thing."

Taiichi shrugged indifferently.

"If you're really interested, I can teach you how to do it after we break free from the control of the Apocalypse Beast."

"Is it really so, Godfather!"

"really."

Taiichi looked at Betamon, whose tongue was sticking out like a puppy's, and waved his hand speechlessly.

"But for now, you should stay out of the way and not bother me while I'm doing my work."

"No problem, no problem, I'll go cool off over there now."

As he spoke, Betamon hurriedly ran to a large tree in the distance and looked over curiously.

With Betamon no longer interfering, Taichi finally turned his attention to Hydramon.

The reason Tai didn't evolve into WarGreymon and obliterate Hydramon from the start was mainly because he sensed something was off about Hydramon.

He carefully observed Hydramon, then suddenly flashed to the large mouth on Hydramon's abdomen. Taiichi made a move in an instant, stabbing his right hand into Hydramon's body and stirring it back and forth. After a moment, he withdrew his hand, and Betamon in the distance immediately saw that Taiichi was holding several seemingly transparent threads in his hand.

"That's... Puppetmon's puppet strings?" Betamon exclaimed in surprise.

"Hydramon is being controlled by Puppetmon?"

But that's impossible.

Puppetmon could only control Ultimate-level Digimon at most before, right?

How come you can control even the ultimate form after just one day of absence?

Moreover, judging from this, it's not just that the body is controlled by the previous eight, but rather the brain is controlled by the next eight.

How...how did they manage to do that?

Just as Betamon was puzzled, Taichi was also observing the puppet strings in his hand.

He clenched his fist and snapped all the puppet strings, then immediately noticed a change in the Hydra's demeanor.

Well... it's not that it suddenly became friendly as if someone had patted its head. After all, Hydramon is an extremely ferocious Virus-type Digimon. However, compared to its previous berserk state, Hydramon now seems to have more rationality, as if a mentally ill person who had lost their mind had suddenly been cured.

Especially when Hydramon regained consciousness and looked at Taiichi, there was a clear sense of fear in its eyes.

It's like I've known Taiichi for a long time.

"really."

When Tai saw Hydramon's expression, a smile crept onto his lips.

"So you really are that guy."

"I never thought we'd actually meet again."

"Tropical beasts."

Chapter 85 The Evil of Puppets

Tropicalmon was one of the Digimon that Tai encountered when he first entered the Insect Forest. Its timid and cautious nature left a deep impression on Tai.

It was for this reason that Taichi recognized Hydramon the moment he saw it appear and noticed something was wrong with it, which is why he had Agumon evolve into Greymon and instantly subdue Hydramon.

This was only because Hydramon's mind was controlled by Puppetmon's puppet strings. Otherwise, the moment Hydramon sensed something was wrong with Greymon, it would have immediately abandoned its attack, even its own lair, and retreated and fled in the most decisive manner.

This Hydramon's true nature is to survive, and that won't change just because it has now become an Ultimate form.

In fact, if Puppetmon's methods hadn't been so bizarre, silently invading the Digicore without even seeing Puppetmon's face, Hydramon would never have been able to appear in front of Taichi now.

After regaining its senses, Hydramon now feels very regretful, extremely regretful. It shouldn't have been so superstitious about its lair. It should have acted decisively after Puppetmon took control of the forest, immediately abandoning everything and escaping from the forest, and even from the Digital World!

But it's too late to say anything now.

My life is over...

Hydramon silently shed tears in its heart.

Taiichi hadn't expected Hydramon to have so much on its mind, but judging from Hydramon's deadpan appearance, he could probably guess what it was thinking. This left Taiichi speechless, but he didn't say anything. After observing it, Taiichi went up and patted Hydramon, instantly helping it to sort out its energy nodes and restore Hydramon's mobility.

"you can go now."

Taiichi waved to the surprised Hydramon.

See you next time.

""

Hydramon tried to move its roots, then its stems, then its leaves... Hydramon found that half of its body was buried in the earth and Taiichi still hadn't reacted. So Hydramon stopped dawdling and slid its entire massive body into the earth in a flash. It came as fast as it ran.

Taiichi could sense that Hydramon had already run out of the forest and was still running outwards. At its current pace, it would probably reach the Internet Ocean soon.

If Hydramon enters the Digital World, it's unlikely it will ever return to the Digital World in its lifetime. But even so, Taichi feels that he might see Hydramon again someday.

There was no special reason; it was just a gut feeling.

"Why...did you release Hydramon?"

Betamon couldn't understand Taichi's actions.

"Because there's no need to hold on to it anymore; we already know what we need to know."

Taiichi shrugged.

"I now know exactly where the Puppet Beast is."

"You already knew? How did you know?" Betamon asked incredulously. "Just from the puppet strings from earlier?"

"Yes." Taiyi nodded slightly, looking around.

"We need to hurry, or the Puppet Beast might take control of the entire forest."

"Agumon, let's go."

"Oh!"

"Wait for me!"

Seeing that Taichi and Agumon had already rushed into the depths of the forest, Betamon could only hold back what it wanted to say and follow closely behind them into the forest.

Right now, somewhere in the forest, something terrible is happening.

"Exploding Hammer!"

A hammer slammed down in front, and the space rippled in the explosion. Then, a large amount of energy was squeezed out of the ripples like a squeezed rag. The next moment, a violent explosion that filled the entire space erupted instantly.

"Dimensional Scissor Arms!"

But just as the explosion spread outwards and affected the surrounding area, a dark shadow suddenly flashed by, and in an instant, a huge crack appeared in the space, like a firebreak, isolating all the power of the explosion and preventing the surrounding creatures from being destroyed.

Then, a gigantic black shadow, tens of meters long, burst out of the dust and attacked the puppet beast with its massive scissors at the tip.

"Dimensional Scissor Arms!"