Chapter 160: Ghoulmon

The reason it was only to stall Daemon (X-Antibody) rather than defeat him was naturally because Daemon (X-Antibody) possessed immense strength.

To be honest, Daemon's power was not below his own; even at the peak of his power, he would not dare to claim he could definitely defeat Daemon. Although Etemon's strength was formidable, at his peak he likewise could not guarantee a victory over Daemon. Furthermore, Etemon was currently in a much worse condition after a grueling battle, making it even more impossible for him to defeat Daemon.

Upon hearing Astamon's words, although Monodramon was reluctant to follow Astamon's commands, he knew very well that Astamon's strategy was correct. Therefore, despite his unwillingness to take orders, he did not refuse, for the sake of achieving victory.

As his voice trailed off, Monodramon dashed directly toward Scorpiomon. Seeing this, Scorpiomon immediately burrowed underground, disappearing from sight entirely within an instant.

However, Monodramon did not let this deter him. Channeling his Demon Lord's Might, he threw a direct punch toward Alina. He simply refused to believe that Scorpiomon would just sit idly by and watch Alina get attacked directly.

Yet, just as Monodramon's punch headed toward Alina, Daemon suddenly materialized right in front of him, swinging his staff to parry Monodramon's fist, which was charged with the Demon Lord's Might.

"Boom!" Struck by Daemon, Monodramon's punch shattered instantly. Following that, all of Monodramon's Demon Lord's Might dispersed completely.

It must be known that when Monodramon entered the [Demon Lord Possession] state, he possessed the capability to battle upper-level Ultimate Digimon. But right now, he was not in the [Demon Lord Possession] state, whereas Daemon was a quintessential upper-level Ultimate Digimon. Consequently, that manifestation of the Demon Lord's Might could not withstand even a single blow before being shattered.

Fortunately, although it was dispersed, Monodramon, as the foundation, did not suffer severe damage. Of course, with the Demon Lord's Might being shattered, Monodramon inevitably sustained a certain degree of injury.

[Bone Javelin!] Seeing this, Daemon's expression remained unchanged as he instantly unleashed a powerful beam of light toward Monodramon.

"Boom!" [Darkness Beam Cannon!] On the other side, Etemon had already arrived in front of Monodramon, launching an attack from the Ruyi Jingu Bang in his hand directly toward Daemon. Daemon's beam of light and Etemon's thunderous beam collided head-on, producing a deafening explosion.

[Hellfire!] Just as the attacks from Etemon and Daemon collided with a thunderous roar, Cerberusmon on the other side opened its mouth wide and unleashed a torrent of flames toward Etemon and Monodramon.

[Hellfire AX!] However, right as Cerberusmon launched its attack, Astamon entered his Burst Mode, raised the [Gold Digger] in his hands, and counterattacked against Cerberusmon.

"Boom!" The overwhelming barrage of firepower struck Cerberusmon directly. Two distinct forms of [Hellfire] collided, and in the end, Cerberusmon was blasted into data by Astamon and dissolved into nothingness.

Cerberusmon's regeneration speed was exceptionally fast, but Astamon's [Hellfire] was an ability that instantly emptied every single bullet from the [Gold Digger] submachine gun. In other words, [Hellfire] was an attack characterized by explosive firepower, allowing it to instantly suppress Cerberusmon.

Moreover, the explosive power, offensive strength, and speed of [Hellfire AX] far surpassed those of the standard [Hellfire]. Therefore, even with its regeneration speed, Cerberusmon simply could not hold out.

Monodramon hadn't expected the outcome to arrive so quickly, though upon reflection, it made complete sense. In Digimon battles, unless the combatants were evenly matched, fights were usually resolved swiftly.

Even though Cerberusmon's baseline strength was comparable to Astamon's, putting them on a fifty-fifty footing, people tended to forget that Astamon was currently in Burst Mode, which multiplied his strength several times over. Calculating based on Monodramon's own experience with Burst Mode—which multiplied his power threefold—Astamon's boost was likely of a similar scale.

Assuming Astamon's previous combat power was one hundred, entering Burst Mode would raise it to four hundred. Fighting a baseline one hundred with a power of four hundred, how could the victory not be swift?

[Deadly Sting!] However, precisely at the moment Astamon eliminated Cerberusmon, Scorpiomon—who had been hiding underground all along—suddenly burst out from the earth, thrusting the venomous stinger on its tail straight toward Astamon.

"Watch out!" Fortunately, Monodramon, who had been constantly observing the surrounding area, spotted Scorpiomon's sudden emergence. Almost at the exact moment Scorpiomon's stinger was about to pierce Astamon, Monodramon shoved Astamon out of the way with one hand. Then, drawing the scattered Demon Lord's Might back into his body, he instantly entered the [Demon Lord Possession] state.

Immediately afterward, Scorpiomon's stinger drove forward and pierced into Monodramon. Yes, the stinger impaled Monodramon because after pushing Astamon aside, Monodramon had taken Astamon's exact place.

Instantly, all the digital energy within Monodramon converged upon his armor, sharply maximizing its defensive integrity. Fortunately, his armor was primarily forged from Red Digizoid, and the white cloak draped across his back was likewise composed of White Digizoid.

In that fraction of a second, the white cloak enveloped his entire body, which, combined with the infusion of digital energy, formed the first layer of defense. Immediately behind it, the Red Digizoid armor and digital energy reinforced to form the second layer of defense.

At that very moment, Scorpiomon's stinger pierced completely through the defense of the white cloak. It came within a mere zero point zero one centimeters of breaking through the Red Digizoid armor before its momentum was finally halted.

Although it was only a hair's breadth of zero point zero one centimeters, it represented a chasm as vast as heaven and earth. Had it broken through, it could have inflicted a fatal wound upon Monodramon. But since it failed to break through—even by such a microscopic margin—it remained entirely incapable of dealing any catastrophic damage to him.

It was fortunate that it was Monodramon who took the hit; had it been Astamon in his Burst Mode, being pierced like this would have resulted in nothing less than data corruption and death.

[Solo Action AX!] Seeing this scene unfold, Astamon didn't waste any breath. With a ferocious kick, he crushed Scorpiomon, who had been buried in the earth with only its tail exposed, killing it instantly.

Following that, Monodramon and Astamon exchanged a brief glance, and their gazes simultaneously locked onto Daemon on the other side.