Chapter 111: The Bow and the Crossbow

The Boilra Beast’s defense among the Imperial Demons was far from impressive; even bullets from the Garugo Beast could shatter its ram-like horns. Yet a weak defense did not mean it was easy to handle. As a Digimon endowed with the power to "dominate the world"—specifically, the dream world in Boilra’s case—this creature was fundamentally different from ordinary Imperial Demons.

Beyond the difference in authority, its temperament made it discordant with the other eleven Imperial Demons. In the original story, while Boilra was being thoroughly beaten, the Falzora Beast was casually playing around with the Yoko Beast.

But now, the situation was different. Without the Yoko Beast, which Falzora so favored, this bull-headed, scheming character actually revealed its true strength. As one of the top martial fighters among the Imperial Demons, it nearly withstood the Steel Hammer’s blow and countered so deftly that the Large-Eared Beast lost its combat capability. Even after evolving into Garugo Beast, it was still ruthlessly dominated by Falzora Beast (which seemed oddly harmonious). However, due to its nature, it appeared unlikely to deliver a killing blow anytime soon.

“It looks like this side needs to wrap up the fight quickly!” Feng Xue narrowed his crimson eyes dangerously, eyes fixed on the “Sacred Bow” in Boilra’s hands. A short bow adorned with blue patterns materialized in his grasp.

Seeing the short bow in Feng Xue’s hand, Boilra smiled silently. Though it said nothing, its entire body radiated a unique aura—the power of the Dream World’s sovereign. Fortunately, Feng Xue had withstood the previous hypnotic Earth Cry; otherwise, once trapped in the dream world, he would be at Boilra’s mercy.

Even while in the real world, Boilra still channeled some of the dream world’s power. It was precisely this force that, in the original tale, no matter how much Garugo Beast enhanced its defense, it could not withstand Boilra’s iron hoof.

“How vast the heart, how boundless the dream?” Feng Xue seemed to grasp the essence of this power, a flicker of apprehension crossing his face.

But Boilra was no knightly figure. Bearing the title of “Dark Divine General” among the Imperial Demons, its nature was fittingly sinister, ruthless, and utterly devoid of mercy. The moment Feng Xue’s attention wavered, two crossbow bolts were already nocked to the Sacred Bow.

“!” Feng Xue, of course, would not sit idly by. Almost simultaneously with the bolts’ release, his right hand, seemingly of its own accord, gripped the bow. The crossbow bolts Boilra fired were all intercepted by Feng Xue’s Light Arrows.

“If your divine weapon were the Sacred Arrow, I might have to be more cautious. But a crossbow merely bearing the name ‘Sacred Bow’… hehe!” Feng Xue sneered disdainfully, though inwardly he was uneasy. A crossbow that could be loaded directly by will alone eliminated the greatest weakness of crossbows—the reload time—making it akin to a firearm with infinite ammo.

“How dare you mock a divine gift!” Boilra roared with fury. One after another, crossbow bolts materialized swiftly on the bowstring. The rapid-fire capability of the repeating crossbow was unleashed without need for aiming. Like a storm of arrows, a deluge covered the sky before Feng Xue.

“Though I can’t match the Silver Ridge Sparrow’s 1,200 shots in a row…” Feng Xue’s right hand steadied the bow. The remaining data of the Reinforcement Component W coalesced in him, and tiny luminous projectiles, no larger than bullets, were fired at incredible speed. In an instant, the overwhelming volley of bolts was swept away.

“That’s why I say, without the Sacred Arrow, getting close to me is impossible!” Feng Xue mockingly hid his slightly trembling right hand behind his back.

Liu Ji, seeing this, quickly administered the “Health Grass Fruit” with remarkable swiftness.

Millennia of bow training had honed Feng Xue’s mastery to the limits achievable by practice. The moment a thought formed in his mind, he could complete the entire sequence from drawing the bow to taking aim—an almost unconscious shot. If only he could break through this bottleneck, he might reach the legendary pinnacle of the “Divine Shot” (no misinterpretation allowed).

However, the arrows fired by the Holy Annihilation Arrow were non-recoverable. In other words, in the data-scarce real world without card support, every arrow Feng Xue released would cost him his own flesh and blood. Fortunately, the Sacred Bow was not the Sacred Arrow. The crossbow bolts, also forged by Boilra’s power, would veer off target after slight interference. Feng Xue only needed to produce minimal data projectiles to intercept them all.

This was precisely why Feng Xue mentioned the Sacred Arrow.

“Bang! Bang!” With two explosions, Feng Xue abruptly turned his head. The Garugo Beast had evolved into the Rapid Beast without him noticing. Its immense speed filled Feng Xue with envy. Cards indeed affected Digimon evolution—having just used cards to reinforce defense and boost speed, Garugo Beast evolved into the armored and swift Rapid Beast.

“Looks like we need to finish this quickly too!” A dull ache pounded Feng Xue’s temples. He despised multi-opponent battles the most, where one careless moment could cost him a kill. He still needed data from two more Imperial Demons to evolve. There were few Imperial Demons in the real world, and Boilra possessed something Feng Xue coveted!

“Liu Ji!” Feng Xue called out. Liu Ji immediately understood and swiftly swiped two cards across the Arc Light Machine without pause.

“Card swap! Arrow of Onufantil, Attack Component N!”

The power of the two cards surged into Feng Xue’s body as streams of data. An illusion flooded his mind—wielding a divine bow capable of shooting down stars.

“It’s time to end this battle!” A tangible bowstring and arrow appeared on the short bow. Even Boilra’s face paled at the formidable power.

“Holy Annihilation Arrow!” Feng Xue released the shot. But Boilra’s face twisted into a sinister grin. Suddenly, it turned its Sacred Bow horizontally, blocking Feng Xue’s killing arrow with the seemingly fragile crossbow body!

“Damn it! I was careless!” Feng Xue realized his grave mistake—he had forgotten that “divine weapons” were forged from Digimetal!

Digimetal! Only Ultimate-level Digimon had the qualifications to arm themselves with this super metal. In the Digital World, aside from a few colored Digimetals (ordinary Digimetal, or basic Digimetal, was almost exclusive to Ultimates, with only a rare few Perfects able to wield it as a weapon), colored Digimetals—also called Temporal Digimetal—ranked just below the nearly indestructible Yellow Dragon Ore. Among the colored Digimetals, blue Digimetal specialized in speed but offered defense even lower than ordinary Digimetal.

In essence, Digimetal was arguably the strongest metal in the Digital World.

Even the so-called Dragon Emperor, Aicosa Beast (Crimson Dragon Beast, one of the Royal Knights), wielded only a weapon made of basic Digimetal. Of course, given Aicosa’s size, his weapon could be melted down to forge thousands of “divine weapons.”