Chapter 157: Picking Up a Bargain

The recent fierce battle had left the entire forest in a profound silence. Even though both Milleniummon and MetalEtemon had already departed, not a single sound stirred through the woods.

Accompanied by Angewomon, Zhao Jie and Agumon quickly arrived at the place where Hououmon had fallen.

The first thing that caught Zhao Jie's eye was the massive corpse of Hououmon. Even though its body was already beginning to dissipate, an overwhelming pressure still emanated from it, making it somewhat difficult to breathe.

Fortunately, Angewomon was there. As a Digimon of the holy attribute as well, she easily isolated and blocked out this oppressive aura.

"Holy Rings!"

Soon, Zhao Jie shifted his gaze away from Hououmon's body and looked toward its two thick hind legs.

Around each leg was a ring that represented sacred power, and these rings were known as Holy Rings.

"How is it? Can you take them off?" Zhao Jie asked, looking at Angewomon beside him with hopeful eyes.

The Holy Rings harbored the power of light. If Angewomon could acquire both of them, her strength would undoubtedly grow by leaps and bounds.

The cooldown time for the Shining Mode she had previously unleashed would no longer be limited to seven days, and it might even become a regularly usable combat form.

"I can try!" Angewomon nodded.

She finally understood why Zhao Jie had insisted on coming here. Now it seemed it was most likely for Hououmon's Holy Rings.

What made her slightly curious was that even she didn't know Hououmon possessed Holy Rings, so how did Zhao Jie know?

Coupled with what he had previously mentioned about the Three Archangels, this Digimon partner of hers seemed extraordinarily familiar with the Digital World.

"Then let's start quickly! Once we get our hands on them, we must retreat immediately."

Rubbing his hands together, Zhao Jie glanced around their surroundings and urged Angewomon.

"Alright!"

Without further ado, Angewomon took a quick step forward, arriving right in front of Hououmon's body.

She reached out her arm and grasped the Holy Rings.

Snap!

The two masterless Holy Rings were easily lifted by Angewomon.

"Such dense power of light!"

Feeling the power contained within the rings in her hand, Angewomon wore a look of astonishment.

Possessing two Holy Rings imbued with such formidable sacred power, it didn't make sense that Hououmon had perished under the combined might of Milleniummon and MetalEtemon.

This shouldn't have been possible!

Upon a second thought, realization dawned on Angewomon.

The power within the Holy Rings could only be channeled by holy-attribute Digimon with extremely pure hearts; otherwise, one could only gain a minor boost in strength.

It was likely that this Hououmon could no longer wield the light power within the Holy Rings.

"Let's go, quickly!"

Seeing Angewomon holding Hououmon's Holy Rings, Zhao Jie urged the momentarily dazed Digimon.

They were just as hasty leaving as they had been arriving.

Before long, the trio returned to the cave where they had previously taken shelter.

"How is it?" Zhao Jie asked with expectant eyes, looking at Angewomon holding the Holy Rings.

"They can be used, but it will take some time to imprint my aura onto these Holy Rings, which should have otherwise faded away."

Knowing what Zhao Jie wanted to know, Angewomon had no intention of keeping him in suspense and quickly explained.

"By then, under normal conditions, I should possess Overlord-level combat capability. If I enter the previous Shining Mode, my strength can be elevated even further."

Normal Overlord-level combat capability?

Hearing this, Zhao Jie's face erupted with wild joy. There was a massive gap between Perfect-level Digimon of the Overlord tier and those who had not reached it.

Just earlier, a mere four Overlord-level Digimon were able to contend against dozens of ordinary Perfect-level Digimon and almost flipped the entire main base upside down.

If Agumon and BlackAgumon hadn't evolved into SkullGreymon, an epic-scale cataclysm might have shaken the entire secret realm by now.

"That's wonderful!"

Zhao Jie stroked the Blue Card in his pocket. This Blue Card was capable of making a Digimon evolve to the Mega level.

And now, Angewomon—who couldn't evolve using the Blue Card—was about to possess Overlord-level battle strength as well!

Happiness turned out to be this simple.

"If we can get more Holy Rings, will your strength become even stronger?"

Hearing Zhao Jie's words, Angewomon gave him a sideways glance.

"You're overthinking it. Not just any Digimon can possess Holy Rings."

After saying that, recalling Zhao Jie's extraordinary and unusual understanding of Digimon, Angewomon added, "And even if you could find many Digimon that possess Holy Rings, it would be impossible for us to successfully plunder their rings."

"Why?"

Zhao Jie asked curiously, pointing to the two Holy Rings in Angewomon's hands.

Since they were able to get hold of Hououmon's Holy Rings, they should logically be able to copy this method to acquire a third, a fourth, or even more.

"Because of the rules!"

"Rules?"

"That's right, the rules. Not every holy-attribute Digimon can possess a Holy Ring, and once the owner dies, the Holy Ring dissipates. We only got lucky this time by managing to get our hands on it before it vanished.

I can sense that I can no longer gain the recognition of new Holy Rings, so I believe there are intangible rules restricting me."

Fine!

Hearing Angewomon's explanation, Zhao Jie nodded with a hint of disappointment.

If obtaining more Holy Rings could continuously enhance Angewomon's strength, then relying on Angewomon and MetalGreymon, they could totally go find other Gatomon to "borrow" their Holy Rings for a while.

As for returning them? Heaven knows! After all, in this day and age, the one who borrows things is the boss, right?

"Forget it, I won't dwell on it. How long will it take you to complete the imprinting?"

Shaking his head, Zhao Jie let the matter go.

"About two days!"

After careful sensing, Angewomon gave a timeframe.

It would still take some time to infuse these Holy Rings with her own unique imprint.

"Alright, I'll wait for you for two days. Two days from now, we'll start searching for the way back!"

Speaking of returning, Zhao Jie felt a mild headache coming on.

Right now, he didn't even know where he had ended up; finding the path back to the human world probably wouldn't be easy.

Fortunately, that long river was still there. Following the river downstream, they could locate the abandoned Digimon tribal settlement they had encountered earlier.

If they did that, they should get quite close to the territory controlled by humans.

After all, they had departed from near the main base back then, so they shouldn't have traveled too far, right?

Zhao Jie wasn't entirely sure. At the time, he certainly hadn't had the luxury of keeping track of the route. Besides, many parts of the Digital secret realm looked like primeval forests; even if he wanted to remember, he wouldn't have been able to!

When the time came, they would just have to search slowly step by step.