Solo Leveling: Digispirit.

After hours of traveling through the underworld—"the sewers," he and Nanimon finally reached an intersection. Nanimon looked at Halloween with fear in his eyes. The truth was that he had seen other Halloween before, but none of them had been anywhere near as strong as this one. He had once seen two of them fighting together, and even though they were both Perfect-level Digimon, this particular Halloween was clearly on another level.

The truth was that among Digimon, even those of the same species were not necessarily equal. If you put two Greymon together, even if both were Adult-level Digimon, one could still be stronger than the other. One might have acquired more data, gained more experience, lived longer, or simply developed more through its own battles. All of these factors could result in different levels of strength, even among Digimon of the same species and evolutionary level. And when comparing completely different species, the differences could become even more extreme. There were Adult Digimon capable of fighting at the level of Perfects, just as there were Perfect Digimon whose strength could approach that of a Mega, and so on.

When they reached the intersection, two Numemon were guarding the passage. Both had unusually serious expressions as they looked at the two newcomers. "Who are you? Your visit hasn’t been scheduled," one of the Numemon demanded.

They looked smarter—far smarter—than the Numemon Pumpkinmon had encountered before. Still, Pumpkinmon decided to try his usual trick. "I’m your boss. Let me in," he declared, puffing out his chest. Unfortunately, the Numemon didn’t buy it. "He isn’t. As far as I know, he’s not one of our bosses," the other Numemon said just as seriously. Nanimon immediately stepped forward and even punched the Numemon. "Don’t be disrespectful to the great Pumpkinmon!"

"Now let us pass, or you will be punished," Nanimon added with complete confidence. "Are you insane?! We’re under the orders of the King Numemon!" the other Numemon yelled. If Takuya had witnessed the whole interaction, he could only have thought that Halloween had somehow been transported into a Chinese troupe, going around face-slapping everyone who questioned him. But Takuya wasn’t there, and Halloween didn’t actually have any intention of doing that. He was just being himself—Halloween the Pumpkinmon.

In the end, the two Numemon allowed Halloween and Nanimon to enter and guided them deeper inside. The next chamber truly looked like a sewer, with none of the natural surroundings that had characterized the underground area beneath the Valley of Beginnings. Numemon were scattered around the chamber, apparently acting as guards, while in the center sat two Digimon at a table: a Garbagemon and a King Numemon, who was essentially a gray Numemon with a mustache and a crown on his back.

Seeing them, Halloween simply walked forward and sat down in front of them as though he belonged there. "Hello. I see the meeting hadn’t started" he announced. The two Digimon looked at each other, neither understanding what was happening, but neither wanted to admit that they had no idea either, so they simply played along. "You are late," Garbagemon said. "Indeed. We have been waiting," added the Black King Numemon.

"I see. You two already heard of my arrival. As expected of both of you," Halloween replied. As he sat there, he began tapping his fingers against the table. In the distance, Nanimon could only stare at him in disbelief. Was this Pumpkinmon truly some kind of mastermind? How was it even possible that every situation somehow worked out perfectly for him?

Then another figure appeared: an alien-like Digimon. Vademon moved slowly, using his tentacles as legs, his enormous head swaying slightly as he walked. He looked at Halloween sitting there as if it were the most normal thing in the world, then glanced at Garbagemon and the Black King Numemon, who were sitting with their eyes closed. He didn’t understand why they were doing it, but he wasn’t going to be the one who looked out of place, so he spoke. "I see. We are almost all here."

He then sat down and closed his eyes. In the distance, Nanimon opened his eyes and mouth wide. Just how the fuck was this working? It made no sense. They had simply accepted Pumpkinmon as one of them.

"So we only have to wait for King Sukamon and the boss," Vademon announced.

"Sukamon isn’t coming. That’s why I’m here," Halloween replied. For some reason, he gave Vademon a look that seemed to say, How could you not figure that out? At the same time, King Numemon and even Garbagemon nodded as if they had known this all along. Seeing this, Vademon simply nodded. "I see. So this was the situation. Just as I supposed." On the other side of the table, Nanimon’s brain, small as it was, simply stopped functioning. He couldn’t figure out what was happening anymore, so he decided to stop thinking altogether.

Then, from the distance, a larger figure approached. It was a dinosaur, but this one was... plushy. It looked like a toy or a teddy bear shaped like a dinosaur, even walking in an oddly stiff manner. When it came closer, it became clear that it was a toy shaped like a Tyranomon. This was ExTyrannomon, a Perfect-level Digimon. However, aside from the name, it had very little in common with Tyranomon. It was actually a Marionette-type Digimon controlled by something clearly visible inside its mouth, something resembling a black creature with yellow eyes.

The Digimon looked at Halloween, then at the serious faces of the rest of his supposed collaborators. He let out what sounded like a sigh. Then the plushy Tyranomon raised his arm and attacked Pumpkinmon.

Pumpkinmon immediately pulled the axe from the top of his head and blocked the attack. At the moment of impact, the other Perfect Digimon sitting around the table simply looked at one another, trying to figure out what was happening among themselves. None of them said a word.

"So I was discovered," Pumpkinmon said, finally breaking the silence. At the same instant, the King Numemon answered, "You never fooled us. We were simply waiting for everyone to arrive. This way, the fight would be easier." At that, the other two confused Perfect Digimon nodded and played along. "That’s right." Nanimon, standing to the side, couldn’t believe his eyes. He could see everything. He knew that all of them—including Pumpkinmon—were simply bullshitting their way through the situation. So he made a decision.

"I’m leaving. I’m going back to live in the forest." With that, he turned around and walked away, completely ignoring the confused Numemon.

"You think you can take all of us on at once? That’s arrogant," Vademon said, still sitting with his eyes closed and barely moving.

Halloween looked at them and closed his own eyes, only to smile a moment later. "If all of you are against me, it could indeed be difficult, but..." Pumpkinmon opened his eyes. "I’d win."

In that instant, Halloween raised his arms and let a gigantic pumpkin fall over all of them. Three of the Digimon managed to dodge it, but Garbagemon was caught beneath the massive pumpkin. The others avoided the attack, while Pumpkinmon grabbed his axe and threw it straight at Garbagemon’s head, killing him instantly.

Seeing their companion eliminated so easily, the remaining Digimon became even more wary of Pumpkinmon. Vademon moved first, raising his weapon and firing a beam. Halloween countered with his fire attack, and almost immediately, his flames overwhelmed Vademon’s attack and pushed through it. ExTyrannomon kicked Vademon away, preventing him from being caught in the flames, while the Black King Numemon fired a stream of mucus toward Halloween. Halloween immediately summoned his giant pumpkin in front of himself, using it as a shield.

The Numemon’s mucus corroded the pumpkin almost instantly. It was clearly some kind of acid, so Halloween moved away from it, but the moment he dodged, ExTyrannomon was already waiting on the other side of the pumpkin. The plushy Digimon struck him hard, sending Halloween flying backward.

His feet finally came to a stop after dozens of meters, but in that same instant, a beam struck him in the side, burning through his body. Then, from above, the Perfect Numemon fired another stream of acid. Pumpkinmon dodged with a couple of backflips, allowing the attack to barely graze him. He was cornered. Three Perfect-level Digimon attacking him simultaneously was too much even for him to handle alone.

Then he heard a familiar voice, and a smile immediately appeared on his face. "What kind of side quest did you get yourself into?" It was Takuya, accompanied by BlackWereGarurumon.

They had finally arrived. "Oh, hello guys! I missed you. You aren’t going to believe what happened. Did you know there was something like a mafia group underneath the island?" Takuya and BlackWereGarurumon looked at each other and sighed. Halloween was talking as though he had simply been out for a stroll rather than fighting three Perfect-level Digimon.

They certainly looked weaker than the Perfects they had fought before, but it was still too much for Halloween to handle alone.

"We’ll help you," Takuya said. He grabbed Halloween by the tips of his arms, lifting him like a child before placing him back on the ground and letting him regain his footing. After that, Takuya and BlackWereGarurumon immediately moved into action, each choosing a different target.

BlackWereGarurumon rushed toward Vademon, the alien-like Digimon, who immediately fired some kind of projectile resembling a kiss. BlackWeregarurumon easily dodged it, then avoided the beam Vademon fired at him. In less than a second, BlackWereGarurumon was already standing directly in front of him. With one swift movement, he slashed Vademon with his claws, eliminating him instantly.

At the same time, Takuya moved toward the Numemon. He dodged the acid by using his flames to propel himself around the attacks, turning his fire into an excellent tool for increasing his mobility. The Numemon simply couldn’t keep up. His body didn’t allow him to move effectively, and despite being at the Perfect stage and far above the rest of numemon. He didn’t even possess the physical strength of a peak powered Agnimon.

With a quick succession of movements, Takuya burned down the Great King Numemon. At that moment, the remaining Numemon began moving to attack, but Takuya and BlackWereGarurumon were faster. They immediately started eliminating them one after another. The Numemon were simply nothing to them.

At that moment, ExTyrannomon looked worried as Halloween approached. He knew he didn’t have much of a chance against him. However, Halloween ignored ExTyrannomon, who slowly began backing away, and instead walked straight toward his axe. The moment he picked it up from the ground, he rushed toward ExTyrannomon.