"Was that... Pepper Breath?"
Watching Agumon use the familiar attack from his memories, and seeing the only two moves listed under [Exclusive moves] on the panel, Qingliu's expression slowly twisted.
When Agumon had charged straight in, he had worried something might go wrong. Instead... one move had taken out an Unown?
Wasn't this [Exclusive move] a little too powerful?
Seeing that the attack had worked, Agumon showed no intention of stopping.
Raising arms tipped with hard, sharp claws, Agumon charged straight at the dense swarm of Unown, utterly ignoring the overwhelming numerical disadvantage.
"Pepper Breath!"
"Pepper Breath!"
"Pepper Breath!"
"..."
A fireball burst out with every opening of Agumon's mouth, followed by another as it closed. The ferocious, rapid barrage left the Unown struggling to react.
It was thirty-two against one. They had the advantage.
Getting one of their own taken out by a surprise attack was bad enough, but now this creature actually dared to attack them head-on. Such outrageous arrogance was intolerable.
The Unown were furious. Once again, they were furious.
Their hearts burned with anger, but what greeted them were flames that burned even hotter.
Blast after blast of Pepper Breath rained down relentlessly, driving back every Unown that had just surged forward.
A few unlucky ones that failed to react in time could only defend with their faces, finally falling to the ground with their bodies scorched.
Their anger was extinguished by fire.
The Unown's brains seemed to short-circuit. Did this creature's attacks have no cooldown? How could that fire keep coming without pause?
At that moment, more than twenty Unown were being completely suppressed by Agumon.
Never mind the Unown-even Qingliu was a little stunned by Agumon's sheer recklessness.
His original plan had been to use the Unown's power to break through the boulder, finish exploring the ruins, summon a Pokémon, and then avoid the Unown if possible. Avoiding a fight would have been ideal.
If that proved impossible, he would rely on the summoned Pokémon's strength to evade the Unown's pursuit and leave the ruins.
But now, things seemed to be developing in a direction he had never expected.
Not only had the Pokémon he summoned turned out to be Agumon, but Agumon had attacked without the slightest regard for the enemy's numbers and gained a decisive upper hand.
He had already considered that Agumon, having evolved twice, would be much stronger than Pokémon at the same stage and level. The earlier one-hit knockout with Pepper Breath had proved that, but Qingliu hadn't expected that same overwhelming advantage to hold against more than thirty opponents.
There didn't seem to be any need to leave now.
He could take this opportunity to learn more about Agumon's combat strength and experience firsthand what battles in the Pokémon world felt like.
Qingliu opened the panel and began gathering information on the Unown while watching the battle.
[Species] Unown/Unown/Unown [Category] Symbol Pokémon [Type] Psychic [Ability] Levitate (floats above the ground, preventing Ground-type moves from hitting) [Level] 6/7/5 [Exclusive moves] None [Known moves] Hidden Power [Base stat total] 336 (HP 48, Attack 72, Defense 48, Special Attack 72, Special Defense 48, Speed 48) [Friendship] -50 (extreme disgust)/-43 (extreme hatred)/-32 (disgust and revulsion) [Status] Injured/Angry/Afraid [Information summary] Their bodies are thin and cling to walls, leading some people to believe they are ancient writing.
After scanning three Unown in succession and seeing their friendship values, Qingliu couldn't help chuckling. They really did hate him.
Then, amid the searing heat radiating from Agumon's flames, he continued examining the other Unown.
"Basically, they're all around level seven. And since Hidden Power is the only move they can learn, their options for damaging Agumon, a Dragon-type, are extremely limited."
Muttering to himself, Qingliu slowly shifted his gaze upward through the rows of small blue text on the panel.
There, an Unown noticeably larger than the others was lurking in a corner, its huge eye fixed on Agumon.
Qingliu focused on it, and its information immediately appeared.
[Species] Unown [Category] Symbol Pokémon [Type] Psychic [Ability] Levitate (floats above the ground, preventing Ground-type moves from hitting) [Level] 9 [Known moves] Hidden Power [Friendship] -50 (extreme disgust) [Status] Fully focused
Seeing its larger body and its level of nine, well above the others, Qingliu guessed that this one was the leader of the group.
"But instead of leading the charge, their leader is hiding in a corner, 'fully focused'..."
Why would it be watching Agumon so intently at a time like this?
The answer was obvious.
Clearly, after realizing Agumon was no easy opponent, it had changed its strategy from a group assault to searching for an opening and waiting for a chance to strike.
Unfortunately for it, he had noticed.
"Agumon, fire a Pepper Breath up ahead to your left."
At Qingliu's call, Agumon, who had just swatted an Unown away with a claw, glanced toward the spot he indicated.
Spotting an Unown that clearly looked different from the others, Agumon immediately spat out a blast of Pepper Breath.
But the Unown leader had grown wary the moment Qingliu called out. Realizing it had been spotted, it immediately began moving.
After narrowly dodging Pepper Breath, the Unown leader narrowed its eye. Rather than looking at Agumon, it shot Qingliu an angry glare, clearly annoyed by his warning.
A blue ball of energy rapidly formed in front of it and shot straight toward Qingliu.
Seeing this, Qingliu couldn't help cursing. "Seriously! Can't beat the fighter, so you attack the spectator instead?"
Fortunately, these past few days had given him plenty of practice moving.
Qingliu quickly ducked and rolled to his left, dodging the attack while calling out to stop Agumon from coming to his aid.
"Don't worry about me. That Unown is their leader. Take it down first."
Agumon understood, swatting aside the surrounding Unown with several quick claw strikes. At the same time, flames gathered in Agumon's mouth before an all-out bombardment erupted toward the Unown leader.
Although this Unown was considerably stronger than the others, it was clearly no match for Agumon in either level or combat strength. Agumon chased it relentlessly with flames as it dodged in desperation.
If it hadn't been able to fly, a few blasts of Pepper Breath would probably have finished it long ago.
Even so, the Unown leader was having a miserable time. Unable to dodge quickly enough, one corner of its body was grazed by fire, giving off a faint scorched smell and forcing it to slow down.
And it was heading straight toward a spot not far behind him.
Perfect!
"Agumon!"
Watching the battle closely, Qingliu immediately shouted to Agumon. At the same time, he spread his legs into a shallow lunge and interlaced his fingers over his knee.
Agumon quickly understood and sprinted toward Qingliu.
Upon coming within two or three meters of Qingliu, Agumon leaped, landing precisely on his interlaced hands.
"Up!"
With a loud shout, Qingliu thrust his hands overhead with all his strength.
Using Qingliu's hands and knee as a springboard, along with the force of his upward push, Agumon launched straight toward the Unown leader flying above him.
At the same time, an orange glow gathered over Agumon's claws.
The second [Exclusive move]-Razor Claw!
Before you continue