Solo Leveling: Digispirit.

A/N: just say, thanks for all the support, and also, the E-D rank Issue with Jinwoo,was my mistake but I will use it in one Chapter, so I won’t correct it. 300 power stones for an extra Chapter. End of the Author note.

Over the following two weeks, Takuya spent a lot of time thinking about everything that had happened.

Fortunately, the Hunter Association didn’t dwell too much on the incident at the school. In the end, they treated it much like a Red Gate—an unusual phenomenon that didn’t fit neatly into the normal classification system. There was still far too much humanity didn’t understand about Gates, so a dungeon containing monsters far stronger than its measured rank wasn’t considered impossible.

The official conclusion was simple.

The Gate had likely been B-rank, but with only a single high-level creature inside. Since the overall amount of magical energy released had been low, it had been mistakenly classified as a much weaker Gate by takuya.

When Takuya heard the explanation, he didn’t argue.

There was no point.

He certainly wasn’t about to tell them,

"Actually, there’s an entirely different world filled with creatures that could make even an S-rank Gate look like a playground."

Absolutely not.

Besides, it wasn’t entirely true.

Digimon on that level weren’t exactly common. Most of the ones he had encountered so far could still be handled by the Hunters of this world.

So, for all practical purposes...

The Association’s explanation was good enough.

During that same period, Takuya firmly established his place within the Hunters Guild’s A Strike Team.

His coordination with Guild Master Choi was almost flawless.

In fact, the synergy between them was far better than anyone had expected.

Agnimon’s Spirit Fire could even incorporate Choi’s flames into its own attacks—as long as the Guild Master willingly allowed his mana to be used.

It was almost like having an endless supply of powerful magical fire fueling his techniques during every raid.

There was something else that had happened after the fight with Bakemon.

Actually, two things.

The first was something Takuya had noticed before, but only now had he fully understood it.

The moment Bakemon evolved, he immediately recognized it.

Soulmon.

That was the strange part.

He knew the Digimon’s species the instant he saw it. He didn’t know every attack it possessed, but he knew its name and its evolutionary stage without having to think about it.

It was similar to the instinctive combat knowledge he had gained after becoming a Digimon.

The information was simply...

There.

If Takuya had to theorize, it was probably related to his half-Digimon nature. Almost like an internal encyclopedia—a living Pokédex already installed inside his mind.

The second thing was Bakemon’s evolution itself.

After thinking about it for days, Takuya had reached only one reasonable conclusion.

Digimon could probably choose when—and into what—they evolved.

At least, that was his theory.

After all, he himself didn’t possess a fixed evolutionary path.

Why would other Digimon be any different?

The only real difference seemed to be the D-Scan.

The D-Scan demanded a certain amount of Data before unlocking every possible evolution of the next stage.

Wild Digimon...

They probably worked differently.

Take Bakemon, for example.

It had most likely gathered enough Data to evolve into Soulmon long ago.

The problem was that Soulmon probably wasn’t the evolution it wanted.

So it had continued saving Data, waiting until it had enough for another form.

But against Takuya...

It had been forced to evolve immediately just to survive.

The reasoning made sense.

Otherwise, if evolution depended only on willpower, every Digimon would eventually become an Ultimate or even a Mega.

Clearly, Data was still the true limiting factor.

"...I need more Data," Takuya muttered to himself.

His thoughts drifted toward his next evolution.

He needed to reach it soon.

The invisible timer hanging over his head wasn’t slowing down.

"Programming something?"

A cheerful voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

Takuya looked up.

It was Chae, staring at him with obvious curiosity.

"...Was I talking to myself again?" he asked.

Chae simply shrugged and smiled.

"Like always."

"Hahaha... I guess that’s one bad habit that’s going to follow me forever."

"I think it’s funny."

She smiled before gesturing toward the exit.

"Come on. Everyone’s waiting. We’re ready—we’ve got a raid to do."

Right.

Today was finally the day.

His first official raid as a member of the A Strike Team.

An A-rank Gate.

It had taken long enough.

Of course, the Guild hadn’t been willing to throw the new kid into one of their most dangerous operations without proper preparation first.

They had been extremely cautious about integrating him into the team.

"Right. Let’s go."

At the moment, Takuya was dressed casually—a black hoodie with red sleeves, black pants...

Still no goggles.

The rest of the strike team was already waiting.

Guild Master Choi.

The tank, Son Kihoon.

The healer, Han Semi.

...And the rest of Korea’s elite Hunters.

They all boarded a specially modified semi-truck.

The cargo compartment had been completely converted into a comfortable mobile base. There were couches, changing areas where Hunters could prepare their equipment, and even a small bar.

Takuya looked around with genuine surprise.

"Impressive..."

Well, considering the special physiology of Hunters, they couldn’t actually get drunk anymore, which apparently disappointed quite a few of them.

Takuya sat down on one of the couches.

It was actually funny.

Among everyone present, he was by far the most casually dressed.

Then again, he was also the only one whose armor came integrated with his transformation.

By the time they arrived, they were parked in front of a hospital.

Right beside it stood the Gate.

It was enormous.

Far larger than any Gate Takuya had entered before.

If the Hunters Guild really wanted to, they could probably drive the entire truck through it.

Of course...

No one was going to try that.

The moment they stepped out of the truck, the entire raid team gathered and began walking toward the entrance together.

Both sides of the street were packed with reporters.

Apparently, every time one of the major guilds deployed for a raid, the media showed up in force, more with an A rank gate.

Flash after flash illuminated the area.

Naturally, many of the cameras focused on him.

He was the Hunters Guild’s newest recruit.

The reporters already knew he was "only" an A-Rank Hunter.

Even so, he had been assigned to the Guild’s primary strike team.

Takuya walked forward like any ordinary person.

Just before crossing the Gate...

His body ignited.

Flames enveloped him as he transformed into Agnimon.

He didn’t technically need to transform before entering.

But there was no reason to risk being caught off guard inside a Dungeon.

The scenery beyond the Gate immediately surprised him.

For the first time...

They had entered a forest.

A massive forest.

Towering trees stretched high into the sky.

By Takuya’s estimate, each one stood at least fifty meters tall.

Very little sunlight reached the ground.

Instead, countless flowers illuminated the forest floor with a gentle blue glow.

The entire landscape looked almost dreamlike.

A sea of glowing blue flowers beneath an ancient canopy of gigantic trees.

"It would be nice if a place like this existed in our world," Takuya muttered while looking around.

The Guild Master nodded.

"Indeed."

"Sometimes the Gates lead us to truly beautiful places."

"...However."

Before he could finish speaking—

A rain of arrows descended from above.

Every single one was reinforced with mana.

Takuya reacted instantly.

He thrust one arm upward.

"Burning Salamander."

A torrent of flames shot into the sky before splitting apart under his control, intercepting the incoming volley.

His role during this raid depended entirely on the Dungeon’s layout.

If the Gate had been a cave or another narrow environment, he would have advanced alongside Cha Hae-In and the tank as part of the vanguard.

But this Dungeon was open terrain.

That meant his primary mission was different.

Protect Han Semi.

The healer was the team’s lifeline.

Under no circumstances could she be allowed to fall.

Because of Takuya’s versatility, he was considered one of the best Hunters for that role.

Meanwhile, Cha Hae-In formed the spearhead of the assault together with Choi Jong-In.

Son Kihoon remained close to the Guild Master, effectively serving as his bodyguard.

Despite being one of Korea’s strongest Hunters, Choi was still fundamentally a mage.

The storm of arrows was almost completely incinerated by Takuya’s flames.

A few slipped through, forcing the Guild Master to casually burn away the remaining projectiles.

There had simply been too many.

And they had appeared without warning.

"...Now that’s one heck of a welcome," Takuya muttered.

As usual...

He still couldn’t stop talking to himself.

Among the trees, multiple humanoid creatures stood silently.

They weren’t elves.

They had pointed ears, yes, but that was where the resemblance ended.

Large insect-like wings sprouted from their backs, while their faces looked unsettlingly human, only far uglier. Their noses were almost nonexistent, replaced by nothing more than two narrow slits.

"Forest Fairies," Cha Hae-In identified immediately. "B-Rank monsters."

She turned toward the Guild Master.

"Guild Master, may I?"

Choi Jong-In nodded without hesitation.

He didn’t want to burn down the forest and destroy valuable resources. Raids were, after all, a business, and the materials found inside Gates had considerable value.

Cha Hae-In was the better option.

The S-Rank Hunter vanished in a flash.

A massacre followed.

She cut through the Fairy monsters at close range with terrifying efficiency.

Every one of them was a B-Rank monster.

Yet they couldn’t even react.

Takuya carefully analyzed the battle.

He could kill them too...

But nowhere near that quickly.

He didn’t lack combat technique—Agnimon’s instincts had given him the skills of a seasoned martial artist.

Raw power, however...

That was another matter entirely.

As Cha Hae-In finished eliminating the last few Fairies, Takuya looked at the Guild Master with barely concealed excitement.

Choi noticed immediately.

He let out a small sigh.

"...Go."

That was all the permission Takuya needed.

The Guild Master then moved closer to Han Semi, taking over part of her protection.

Takuya didn’t need to be told twice.

He launched himself forward.

Flames erupted around his body as he charged into battle.

One Fairy after another fell beneath his attacks.

They were strong.

Very strong for B-Rank monsters.

However, as creatures of the forest, they possessed an instinctive fear of fire.

That hesitation made them easy prey for Takuya.

Within moments, every Fairy in that section of the forest had been eliminated.

The area was secure.

Now the raid could continue toward the next section.

Before moving on, Takuya quietly opened one hand.

The D-Scan materialized in his palm.

Making sure no one was paying attention, he walked past the bodies Cha Hae-In had left behind.

The screen immediately reacted.









It worked.

He could absorb data even from monsters he hadn’t personally defeated.

The amount was significantly lower.

A monster he killed himself yielded roughly twenty megabytes of data.

One defeated by Cha Hae-In only provided around three.

Still...

It counted.

Considering the number of raids the Guild completed—especially the higher-ranked ones—he calculated that reaching his next evolution might not take nearly as long as he had feared.

...Well.

Knowing his luck...

It probably wouldn’t be enough to unlock Vritramon.

It would only be enough to unlock the trial required to obtain Vritramon.