Chapter Fifty-Five: Battle with Dagukamon

“What was that?”
“Is the Apemon coming?”
A sudden disturbance woke the Digimon one after another from their slumber.
In the darkness before dawn, neither humans nor Digimon could discern what was happening around them.
The campfire was rekindled, tearing through the surrounding darkness.
“Ah!”
“Over there!”
After a scream—no one could tell from which Digimon—it was, Loretta clutched Qin Fei’s hand and quickly retreated far back.
“It’s not the Apemon!”
Another roar sounded; clearly, yet another Digimon had fallen prey to whatever was lurking.
“Caw-caw-cawk!”
Familiar tapping and wingbeats approached, fiercer than ever before.
“Should we evolve?” Loretta asked cautiously.
“Let’s wait, Lolo. We’ll see how things develop.”
Qin Fei squeezed Loretta’s hand in return, listening warily for any sign of where the killing might be coming from.
Loretta shuddered, still apparently a little embarrassed at being called “Lolo” by Qin Fei.
“Roar! Why is it the Ancient Kugamon!”
Suddenly, a familiar angry shout came with the sound of gunfire. It was obvious that Bearmon, Revolvermon, and that powerful Digimon had clashed, and the situation was dire.
Finally, dawn crept in, the pale light of morning eating away the darkness that had inspired such fear.
Yet around the ruined relics, there were far fewer Digimon than before.
“So it really is the Ancient Kugamon! Why do these Ultimate-level Digimon keep popping up lately?”
Staring at the distant, menacing, silver-gray figure, Qin Fei drew in a sharp breath of chilly morning air, trying to clear his sleepless mind.
“Let’s go, Lolo.”
Qin Fei smiled as he spoke, the new name for Loretta rolling off his tongue without a hint of awkwardness.
Loretta struggled to suppress her shyness and closed her eyes.
“EVOLUTION.”
“Loretta, digivolve!”
Data in the air gathered at once, transforming Loretta’s form.
Her jet-black wings spread wide, stirring up a storm of dust and sand.

A beautiful Digimon with a human face, a tiger’s body, and wings burst from the whirlwind, charging straight for the Ancient Kugamon.
“Card swap! Unimon, Holy Shot!”
Qin Fei swiped a card through the Digivice, standing boldly in the open sand, as if his mind and body were in perfect harmony with the fierce Tigress Saintmon, facing the Ancient Kugamon together.
Tigress Saintmon darted nimbly past the Ancient Kugamon’s pincers, wings folding as she slipped like a fish to the more vulnerable spot on its back beneath the wings.
A glowing unicorn horn shimmered on Tigress Saintmon’s brow.
At its tip, a blinding white sphere compressed in an instant, flashing forth to strike Ancient Kugamon’s spine.
“Hiss—caw-caw-cawk!”
A grating insect screech escaped Ancient Kugamon’s jaws, its massive mandibles flailing wildly in pain.
“I’ll help you!”
Bearmon, who’d been hiding somewhere, suddenly leapt out, red beams gathering in his eyes, ready to fire at Ancient Kugamon.
“Hiss! Caw!”
But Ancient Kugamon wouldn’t give up easily. Its wings beat with blinding speed, generating a force that hurled its silver-gray bulk forward like a juggernaut, its mandibles stabbing viciously towards Bearmon.
“Clang!”
The menacing jaws pierced Bearmon’s torso, data spraying everywhere.
Luckily, at the last second, Bearmon’s fist struck Ancient Kugamon’s charge aside just enough that only one mandible pierced his shoulder, missing any vital point. Fueled by desperation, Bearmon gripped the other mandible with all his might, refusing to let it snap shut.
“Help me! If I fall, none of you will survive!”
Bearmon’s shout snapped the other Digimon out of their stupor.
Some fled; others attacked.
The braver Digimon unleashed every attack they had on Ancient Kugamon.
“Screech!”
Even so, Ancient Kugamon suffered under the barrage, bellowing as it flung Bearmon from its jaws and swept its mandibles through the crowd, “clearing” away the remaining “little bugs.”
In the blink of an eye, two more Digimon who failed to dodge were killed by those dreadful jaws.
“Wh-what do we do? Ancient Kugamon is terrifying!”
“We should run, Revolvermon…”
Still hiding behind Revolvermon, Candlemon and Oreumon trembled in fear.
Revolvermon nodded and began to lead them away from the battlefield, clearly aware that joining the fight would be suicide.
“Ka-sh!”
By now, Ancient Kugamon had slaughtered all the Digimon around it in a berserk frenzy.
Spotting the three escaping—Revolvermon, Candlemon, and Oreumon—they became its next targets. Ignoring the Tigress Saintmon who’d previously wounded it, Ancient Kugamon charged straight for them.

“Damn, it’s coming for us! Candlemon, Oreumon, you two go ahead—I’ll hold it off!”
“No, Revolvermon! We came out together, and we’ll go back together!”
Candlemon and Oreumon panicked at Revolvermon’s plan, clinging to him, desperate to escape together.
“Do you want to get all three of us killed?”
Revolvermon kicked them away and ran in the other direction, firing his gun at Ancient Kugamon in hopes of luring it away.
“Lolo, go help them.”
Watching this touching scene of brotherhood, Qin Fei shook his head. Rationally, Revolvermon’s plan was best, giving Candlemon and Oreumon a chance to escape.
But thinking of their deep bond, Qin Fei doubted the two could bring themselves to leave.
“Holy Bullet!”
The unicorn horn on Tigress Saintmon’s forehead flashed again, another shining shot slamming into Ancient Kugamon’s brow, the impact so strong even its massive body was pushed back.
“Caw-caw-cawk!”
Shaking off smoke from its scorched head, Ancient Kugamon abandoned Revolvermon and charged at Tigress Saintmon instead.
“Beast God Claw!”
Tigress Saintmon, even more agile than a leopard, sprang into the air to dodge Ancient Kugamon’s attack.
As she somersaulted, five razor-sharp claws lashed out, leaving deep gashes on the back of Ancient Kugamon’s head.
Even as an Ultimate-level, it was no match for her.
In terms of speed, it couldn’t even come close to the agile Tigress Saintmon.
“Card swap! Attack Module A! Lolo, now—finish Ancient Kugamon!”
As soon as Tigress Saintmon landed behind Ancient Kugamon, Qin Fei decisively swiped the new card he’d obtained.
Razor-sharp metal claws formed on Tigress Saintmon’s forearms, their deadly power obvious even at a glance.
“Beast God Claw X!”
Ten scarlet claws, thicker and longer than before, sprang from her forearms, vibrating with a piercing metallic whir.
Tigress Saintmon pounced, slashed, and twisted.
The rampaging Ancient Kugamon fell silent, frozen like a fearsome statue in the desert.
Without a backward glance at her defeated foe, Tigress Saintmon devolved in midair back into Loretta and, full of pride, leapt straight into Qin Fei’s arms.