Chapter 112: The Power of Dreams

The final, holy annihilation arrow was blocked by the Hobilah Beast, and Feng Xue’s heart instantly sank to the bottom of a valley. Just as he was about to dodge the Hobilah Beast’s next volley of shots with all his might, the beast charged straight toward him!

“Thinking you can’t beat me with archery, so you want to fight up close?” Feng Xue’s eyes brightened as he immediately stowed away his short bow, preparing to engage in melee combat.

He knew that his external data—his cards—had all been used up. If the Hobilah Beast fired a few more arrows, Feng Xue would have no choice but to endure the attacks by sacrificing his own flesh. After all, the “Attack Component N” card channeled all defensive power into offense! Fortunately, clever minds often overthink, and the Hobilah Beast was clearly no exception.

Charging at high speed, the Hobilah Beast lowered its head, its coiled ram’s horns aimed directly at Feng Xue.

“So you want to bullfight me? By the way, the bull’s over there playing sword-fighting with cannonballs!” Feng Xue muttered with a smirk, then suddenly his body blurred and he sank into the earth—the innate ability of the Demon Beast.

“Meeeeeeeeeeeh!” The Hobilah Beast, of course, wouldn’t just blindly charge like a real animal. As a Digimon, its perception extended beyond mere sight. Digimon attract each other—(this reminded Feng Xue of the Stand user trope)—this wasn’t just idle talk!

With the long, drawn-out bleat, Feng Xue felt an extremely discordant energy fluctuation within him. Fortunately, he smoothed it out with Ripple Qi Gong; otherwise, he might have been trapped underground. Even so, it would be difficult to keep dodging attacks through phasing alone.

“Is this the power of the Dream Realm Lord?” Feng Xue suddenly felt this energy aligned perfectly with his concept of imaginary numbers. But now was not the time for such thoughts, because the Hobilah Beast’s bleating continued unabated!

“Come out yet?” The Hobilah Beast sneered at Feng Xue as he awkwardly crawled from the earth. Its movements were anything but slow; the “Treasure Bow,” forged entirely of Digi-metal, was now wielded like a pickaxe. This incredibly hard weapon, in the hands of the massive Hobilah Beast, gained terrifying momentum.

“Don’t underestimate me, you bastard!” Feng Xue’s face darkened as he watched the chaotic swings. The data from the tails of his swallowtail coat condensed beneath his feet. In a flash, he activated his Flying Scythe Kick, dodging the incoming strike. Seizing the moment when the beast’s attack faltered, he slapped its massive face with a palm strike.

But Feng Xue was just getting started. With a powerful backward swing of his right hand, he delivered another palm strike to the beast’s face. Not content to relent, he stomped hard with his left foot, exhaled sharply, and stepped forward. With renewed force from his right hand, a palm strike twisted the Hobilah Beast’s entire body off balance!

This was no ordinary triple slap—it was the Hell King Three-Point Hand, one of the eight deadly moves of Baji Quan.

In the real world, a Baji Quan master using this move could even deform the opponent’s face. With the addition of fantasy power, these once ordinary moves unleashed terrifying strength.

“Meeeeh!” The Hobilah Beast cried out in pain, its eyes flashing with a bloody red glow. It stomped its four hooves, sending shockwaves rippling from the ground beneath it. In that instant, Feng Xue found no footing!

Realizing its earlier mistake, the Hobilah Beast once again raised the Treasure Bow. But this time, its attack was nothing like the wild swings before. Feng Xue clearly felt the strange energy coiling around the bow.

“Dream Realm power?” A warning flickered in Feng Xue’s heart. Although Dream Realm power was not a grand force like Space-Time, Holy-Evil, or Stellar power, it was a bizarre ability capable of warping reality. The consequences of being struck by the Way of Heaven’s force were unpredictable, so Feng Xue instinctively leapt from his original position.

Yet the Hobilah Beast’s attack was far from simple. From the multicolored Dream Realm power, a tendril of darkness shot forth!

No, it wasn’t just darkness. Within that ink-like blackness, countless eyes fixed unblinking on Feng Xue. Even the faintest glance would haunt a timid soul with nightmares for a lifetime.

“Damn it!” Recognizing the black mist full of eyes immediately, Feng Xue’s mind raced.

That was the Nightmare Syndrome!

He had dealt with Dream Eater Digimon often enough in the Illusory Fog Zone.

However, the power contained in this attack was worlds apart from the Dream Eaters—it even reached the level of the Egg Digimon!

To understand, the Egg Digimon’s lineage was sealed Titan Digimon—legendary warriors who had singlehandedly battled the Twelve Olympian Gods!

Still, Feng Xue couldn’t recall when the Hobilah Beast had learned such a move. Or, like his own Holy Annihilation Arrow, was it an ability it had acquired on its own?

The truth was quite different. As an almost disposable Imperial Demon—a Digimon evolved from the Four Holy Beasts’ bestowed artifacts who could be regenerated by reassigning the artifacts to other Digimon—the Hobilah Beast was not the type gifted enough to learn others’ skills. Its ability to wield Nightmare Syndrome was due to its unique design.

By design, the Hobilah Beast was not only the Lord of the Dream Realm but also the one “with the power to dominate those who command the Dream World.”

In other words, all Digimon that wielded Dream Realm power were under its control—except for the Ultimate forms, though no Ultimate Digimon seemed to purely wield Dream Realm power.

Any special moves of Dream-type Digimon, the Hobilah Beast could casually use.

Nightmare Syndrome was reputed to be a self-aware nightmare that relentlessly pursued its target, dragging it into a nightmare world. The idea in the second arc of capturing it was pure nonsense.

The nightmare collective, composed entirely of energy, lunged at Feng Xue, its intense malevolence sending a chill down his spine.

“Better dodge first!” Feng Xue’s feet struck the ground in rapid Flying Scythe Kicks. Even the platinum wings clinging to his swallowtail coat unfurled fully, their acceleration pushing Feng Xue to speeds nearly impossible to track with the naked eye!

But that alone was not enough to escape Nightmare Syndrome!

The countless eyes on the nightmare shifted as if self-aware, blinking in every direction. Almost every angle had at least three eyes locked on Feng Xue. Though it might not catch him immediately, it could always trace his path and strike along the most direct route.

“This won’t do…” Feng Xue gritted his teeth. If it came to it, he’d have to get Liu Ji to rerun the evolution card again!