Solo Leveling: Digispirit.

A/N: Hello guys, bonus Chapter! The next one unlocks at 600 power stones. I know it’s a lot, but otherwise I’d have the deadline hanging over my head, so this gives me a little room to write. Now, if you manage to hit that by tomorrow... that’s another matter haha...

End of the note.

Start of the Chapter.

The week passed, and the shifts rotated as planned.

Fortunately, nothing unusual happened.

The boss never moved from its chamber. It didn’t attempt to escape, nor did it show any signs of aggression. It simply remained there, waiting.

Only when the Gate Break drew close did the entire strike team assemble.

This time, Takuya’s shift had coincided with Guild Master Choi’s, so everyone arrived together, fully equipped and ready for battle.

As they gathered outside the boss room, they all rose to their feet.

During the past week, they had reviewed the battle plan countless times.

For Takuya, this approach was something entirely new.

Instead of rushing straight toward the boss, the Guild first cleared the entire dungeon. Only after eliminating every other monster did they challenge the final enemy.

That strategy not only allowed them to gather mining resources and monster materials safely, but also gave them time to study the boss’s behavior and prepare accordingly.

Overall, it was a method designed to minimize casualties.

And Takuya had to admit...

It was a good one.

Once everyone confirmed they were ready, the strike team stepped into the boss chamber.

The cave stretched nearly twenty meters before opening into a massive underground cavern.

The place looked ancient.

The walls appeared carved rather than natural, as if generations of monsters had shaped them over time.

If they had to guess the story behind the dungeon...

The fairy monsters they had fought earlier probably worshipped the creature that lived here.

The giant serpent lay coiled in the center of the chamber.

It was enormous.

At least fifty meters long, with a body nearly three to five meters thick.

It truly resembled a colossal titanoboa or orochimaru snake but in blue.

"Everyone ready?" Choi asked calmly.

"Yes," the team answered in unison.

...

"No."

The lone voice belonged to Takuya.

"...But let’s do it anyway."

In his mind, only one thought echoed.

Who the hell could honestly say they were ready to fight a freaking Titanoboa mixed with a venomous snake and a orochimaru summon?

Still...

By now, the rest of the strike team was already used to Takuya’s comments.

Several Hunters couldn’t help but chuckle.

Even Choi smiled faintly.

But despite the brief laughter, no one relaxed their guard.

If anything...

Takuya’s remarks in this raid had become the team’s favorite way to ease the tension before a difficult battle.

The giant serpent stared down at them.

Its deep blue scales shimmered beneath the light radiating from a massive crystal embedded in the ceiling.

The crystal itself looked incredibly valuable.

For a brief moment, Takuya even wondered if it would fit inside his inventory.

Focus.

Now wasn’t the time to think about money.

They had a boss to kill.

The serpent let out a long hiss before opening its jaws.

A torrent of venom—or at least something that looked very much like venom—shot toward the strike team.

Takuya and Guild Master Choi stepped forward simultaneously.

Flames erupted from both of them, colliding with the poisonous stream.

The heat was so intense that the venom evaporated instantly, leaving not even a trace behind.

Seeing its ranged attack completely neutralized, the serpent changed tactics.

Its enormous body twisted around the cavern before its tail swept toward the Hunters.

A tail slash?

Indeed.

Extending from the end of its tail was a blade nearly six meters long.

Chae reacted immediately.

The blonde Hunter dashed forward and intercepted the blade with her sword, locking the two weapons together for a brief instant.

At the same time, Takuya unleashed Salamander Break at full power, aiming directly for the serpent’s tail.

The beast ignored him.

Instead, it lunged toward Guild Master Choi, its enormous jaws snapping shut with terrifying speed.

Almost instantly, both Takuya and Choi noticed something important.

The serpent’s scales...

Were highly resistant to fire.

Seeing the incoming bite, Choi remained perfectly calm.

Instead, Son Kihoon burst forward.

The tank intercepted the attack head-on.

The impact launched him backward several meters, but he had accomplished exactly what he intended.

The brief opening allowed Chae to flash in once more, her sword carving a deep wound across the serpent’s neck.

At that exact moment, Choi fired a concentrated blast of flames directly into the fresh cut.

This time...

It burned.

"Takuya!" Guild Master Choi shouted.

"Only the scales are fireproof!"

"Ooookaaay!" Takuya shouted back, still struggling against the serpent’s bladed tail.

His feet dug deep into the ground under the overwhelming force pressing against him.

With a sharp breath, Takuya pushed his flames to their limit and forced the tail backward.

Metal or not...

Everything melted eventually.

He kept pouring Spirit Fire onto the massive blade, refusing to let up for even a second.

Fortunately for him, the serpent’s attention was focused on the rest of the strike team—especially the two S-rank Hunters.

Because of that, the tail’s attacks lacked proper coordination.

The monster couldn’t afford to divert its full attention toward Takuya.

If it ignored Choi and the others, they could kill it.

If it ignored Takuya...

Its tail would eventually become useless.

So, was what Takuya was doing a waste of effort?

Not at all.

By himself, he was tying down one of the serpent’s deadliest weapons, preventing it from overwhelming the tanks or harassing the mages.

Slowly...

The blade began to glow a dull red.

A small smile appeared on Takuya’s face.

His flames were working.

Even at S-rank, very few things were completely immune to fire.

Maybe true dragons could be.

But this wasn’t a dragon.

It was just a giant snake.

Even so, holding it back wasn’t easy.

Several times the serpent overwhelmed his defenses.

Whenever he failed to dodge in time, the massive tail slammed into him, launching him across the cavern before he forced himself back to his feet.

Each hit hurt.

A lot.

"This thing is definitely S-rank...? or A+?" Takuya muttered as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"...No wonder this was classified as a high A-rank Gate."

It was relentless. Takuya spat fire instead of blood as he rushed back at full speed, striking the tail before it could lash out at the rest of the strike team.

Again and again, he attacked without stopping. Even after being thrown across the battlefield multiple times, he got back up and charged once more.

Eventually, the blade at the end of the snake’s tail began to bulge. It didn’t shatter—it deformed. The metal was reaching its melting point.

Takuya kept pouring more and more flames into it.

The snake noticed what he was doing and flew into a frenzy, but there was nothing it could do. Its head was already overwhelmed, trapped between the Guild Master’s blazing flames and Chae’s relentless swordsmanship. Now its tail had been brought to the same desperate state.

On top of that, its massive body was being carved apart again and again, the accumulated injuries finally beginning to slow it down.

With one final strike, Takuya drove his flaming fist through the softened metal.

The blade melted apart.

At that very moment, Chae leaped onto the serpent’s back and rushed toward its neck. Now that the tail blade was gone, she no longer had to worry about a surprise counterattack.

She attacked without restraint.

At the same time, Takuya and Guild Master Choi unleashed torrents of fire into every fresh wound she opened, turning each slash into a devastating burn.

The assault continued without pause.

Little by little, the enormous beast began to weaken. Its movements grew slower, its struggles less violent, until finally Chae unleashed a rapid series of strikes across its neck.

With one last slash—

The head was severed.

Immediately, Takuya raised the D-Scan. The device lit up and absorbed the monster’s data.

1 GB acquired instantly.

The raid had been an incredible success for him.

From this single raid alone, he had gathered a tremendous amount of data.

If he could keep progressing at this pace...

He might reach his next evolution far sooner than he had expected, months ahead.

If that was the case, then the next one could be Aldamon.

That was insane.

But... how would that even work?

Aldamon was the fusion of Agnimon and Vritramon, a Digimon that was difficult to classify in terms of strength. Most likely, it would fall somewhere around the Ultimate level and even above?.

Then again, classifications were complicated.

Agnimon was technically an Adult-level Digimon, yet he could defeat weaker Perfects. Vritramon was considered a Perfect-level Digimon, yet he could contend with weaker Ultimates?. Of course, that was only one way of looking at it, since Hybrid Digimon didn’t fit neatly into the standard evolutionary stages, at least by takuya Knowledge.

At least according to the D-Scan, Agnimon was still classified as an Adult.

"When will the next gate appear?" Takuya wondered aloud.

The moment those words left his mouth, most of the strike team turned to look at him.

"You really enjoy fighting, don’t you?" Han Semi asked, giving him an odd look.

Judging by everyone’s expressions, they all seemed to share the same thought.

Takuya awkwardly looked away and scratched the back of his cheek.

Well...

They weren’t exactly wrong.

He really did enjoy it, but that was half the truth.

Or at least, that was the excuse he could use. After all, he was technically something like half Digimon now.

According to the D-Scan...

He had a DigiCore.

That technically made him some kind of Digimon himself.

Now that he thought about it...

"Semi?" Takuya called.

The healer immediately looked at him.

"Mm?"

"I’ve been wondering about something. It’s something school never answered, and after talking to my teachers, they just said things like , ’One plus one is two,’ but apparently they can’t verify the information of the quarantine zones in different countries, for the looks of it the information on this isn’t avaliable "

Semi smiled knowingly.

"They’re either places where A-, B-, or even S-rank Gates suffered a Dungeon Break. Those countries—or former countries, in some cases—didn’t have enough Hunters, or strong enough Hunters, to stop the break. They eventually became quarantine zones."

"And I assume the other countries realized the monsters weren’t leaving those areas, or at least weren’t an immediate threat to them, so they simply... left them alone?" Takuya asked.

"Exactly," Han Semi replied.

"But... how can an S-rank Gate not be a threat?" Takuya frowned. "As far as I know, monsters attack humans whenever they can."

"Because of geography," Semi explained. "Right now, there are only three confirmed S-rank Gates in the world. Strangely enough, all of them appeared in isolated locations. One is here on Jeju Island, another is in Madagascar, and the last one is in Antarctica."

"...Noooo."

Takuya’s eyes widened.

"The penguins..."

...

Semi blinked before bursting into laughter.

"Idiot."

She shook her head, still smiling.

"That’s exactly why. There have been discussions about launching expeditions, but organizing an operation like that isn’t easy. Moving enough S-rank Hunters and all the necessary support to places like Antarctica or Madagascar is a massive undertaking."

Takuya thought about it for a moment.

It made sense.

Jeju Island couldn’t possibly be the only place in the world with an S-rank Gate.

The other quarantine zones he remembered were in the Himalayas, several regions of Africa, and even a smaller one somewhere near the Hawaiian Islands.

If I have enough money... and I probably will soon... I should visit the weaker quarantine zones and clear them out.

Yeah...

I’ll do the planet that favor.

"now let’s go, the gate will close, we had to go, and we had a party in the Guild for the success of the gate"