Chapter 43: The Chosen Child Who Fell in Battle

The text displayed on the system panel was brief, offering only a rough outline of the current instance. To be honest, in Yibeast’s opinion, such information really should have been provided before they entered in the first place.

According to the background story of this instance, here’s how things went: In ancient times, a powerful and wicked Digimon descended upon this world. Back then, the native inhabitants of the Digital World were no match for such an evil Digimon.

Helpless, they sought out the ruins of a super-ancient civilization, from which they retrieved Digivices crafted by that advanced era. Unfortunately, these Digivices required human power to function, rendering them useless for the natives.

Yet fortune was on their side—they managed to summon humans to the Digital World. Thus, the final decisive battle was set here. In that fateful conflict, humans enabled Digimon to evolve, used the warriors’ spirit to trigger evolutions, fused with Digimon to become cyborg Digimon themselves, and even merged with their Digimon partners.

In the end, the evil Digimon was defeated, but the forces of justice paid a steep price—every human was expended, leaving only a small number of Digimon survivors.

To honor those chosen children who fell in battle, the survivors left this place untouched, allowing the ruined city to remain as it was.

In other words, the Digivices left behind by the chosen children during the final battle still linger somewhere in these ruins. The players’ objective is to obtain a Digivice—so naturally, they’ll need to get their hands on one.

At present, there are three ways to acquire a Digivice.

The first way: search for one yourself. So many chosen children died in that battle, and their Digivices are scattered all around. Players can try their luck and search for them.

The second way: evil Digimon still roam these city ruins. Over the long years, some of them have unearthed Digivices while wandering about. Defeating these evil Digimon offers a chance to obtain a Digivice from them. However, there’s no guarantee it’ll be the one you want.

The third way: besides evil Digimon, some kind-hearted Digimon also reside in these ruins. These act as quest NPCs—much like the Sistermon Noir in Tyrannosaurus City.

According to the lore, these friendly Digimon have also uncovered some Digivices during the long years. If you wish to obtain a Digivice from them, you can’t simply kill them; you must complete the tasks they assign.

To sum up: the first method relies on luck, the second on strength, and the third on patience.

The first approach requires exceptional luck—after all, finding a tiny Digivice in an entire city is no easy feat. Without luck, you could raze the whole city and still come up empty-handed.

The second approach is challenging, as most monsters here are not aggressive, but their minimum level is Perfect, and the strongest reach the Ultimate stage. Given Yibeast’s current strength, with Burst Evolution, the trigger of [Power Strike], and a boost from his own aura, he might just be able to take down the weakest of the Perfect-level Digimon—but only barely.

Even if he managed to defeat one, there’s no guarantee it would drop a Digivice. And even if it did, it might not be the one he wants.

Thus, among the three options, the third—completing quests—seems best suited for Yibeast. He lacks both strength and luck. Of course, if his true form could be unleashed here, with near-Ultimate-level combat power at the ninth pinnacle, not even a horde of hundreds of Ultimates would faze him—unless, of course, they were exceptionally powerful Ultimates, in which case he, too, might run out of digital energy and be defeated.

With his goal clear, Yibeast began to wander leisurely through the area with his two Digimon. Even if he wanted to find an NPC to accept a quest, it wasn’t as if they appeared at random.

Time passed slowly. After about ten minutes, Yibeast stood at a crossroads, his face dark with frustration. Ten minutes, and he hadn’t found a single NPC. Had the system not assured him there were NPCs here, he’d have left long ago.

“At the last intersection, I told you to listen to me, but you didn’t…” At that moment, his wristwatch spoke up.

Though the watch’s presence had been almost imperceptible lately, that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.

Yibeast replied impatiently, “Then you tell me, which way should I go this time?”

The watch responded, “Go left. I think the left is better.”

Yibeast took a deep breath and nodded. “Fine, we’ll do it your way this time.”

The two Digimon behind him watched the scene expressionlessly. After all, they were creations of the game—compared to Yibeast and the watch, their flexibility was sorely lacking.

Following the watch’s suggestion, Yibeast headed left. At this point, “left” meant he was walking straight ahead. Along the way, there seemed to be no change.

“There doesn’t seem to be any sign of an NPC here…” Yibeast glanced around, his expression unchanged.

The watch replied helplessly, “Looks like my luck isn’t so great either. When we reach the next intersection, you can choose.”

Yibeast chuckled, “You said it.”

The watch nodded—however it managed that—“Yes, I said it.”

Yet, as Yibeast and the watch continued, they gradually realized something was off. They’d walked for so long, yet hadn’t encountered any other intersections.

Yibeast muttered, “Forget it, let’s turn back.”

The watch agreed, “I concur.”

But just as Yibeast turned to leave, a tremor rumbled from behind—the direction they’d come from. It sounded as if something massive was approaching.

Yibeast instantly looked back—only to see a Digimon, a Perfect-level Digimon, looming in their path…