Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

"Mmm!" Karin nodded repeatedly, then took "Sakuma Jun's" hand and walked towards the flowerbed. The pigeons that had just been eating corn kernels in her hand fluttered their wings and flew away, but Karin, having found a new "toy," no longer cared about them.

"Where did you see it? It's a bit shiny and pretty, and even though stones are cold in winter, it's warm. Hmm... Do you see any other colors?"

Samuel took her small hand in his: "You can go look for them, but don't damage the flowers."

At this point, he suddenly fell silent for a moment. Jun Sakuma realized that he had been pulled out by Samuel again, and the person who had suddenly handed over control was sitting cross-legged in the consciousness space, looking somewhat dejected.

“I infused some energy into the stone,” Samuel said in a muffled voice before Jun Sakuma could speak. “Let her put it by her pillow; it should give her good dreams these next few nights.”

“Uh… what if she encounters an accident like a fire after we leave? I always feel unsafe in hotels,” the old father worried. “Well, we can keep Huali’s phone on and keep it connected, as a form of half-listening.”

Jun Sakuma's first thought was "the phone bill is going to explode," and his second reaction was that it was nothing compared to Karin's safety.

Seeing Samuel lower his head again, looking like he didn't want to talk and just wanted to catch up on sleep, he

He didn't disturb her any further, but instead stepped forward and pulled Huali away from her attempt to lie down on the ground to find a stone and roll herself into the dirt.

"Don't get your skirt dirty."

"Oh."

Huali crumpled her skirt and rolled it up to one side, revealing her knees. She knelt down on the muddy ground with a "thump," turned her body to the side, and pressed her face almost to the ground. Her eyes looked past the intertwined plants, trying to find the same stone that her father had just found.

"Ah... don't get your hair dirty..."

The elderly father is exhausted.

……

That night, after Huali's breathing had calmed down and she had fallen asleep, the police officer, who often took advantage of the dark and windy night to carry out people-friendly services such as "community cleaning" and "midnight takeout," raised his bright eyes.

Literally meaning shiny.

Wisps of silver light emanated from his body and condensed into a human shape in front of him.

"You can already separate from my body?" Jun Sakuma looked at Samuel in surprise as he manifested the form of Yu Aiba in front of him, but the two were not completely separated, with a silver "line" connecting them.

“You can temporarily detach from me and survive,” Samuel said, “but if the energy supply stops…”

Jun Sakuma glanced at the "thread" and indeed he could feel a warm power flowing continuously from it.

"You'll probably only be able to move around for a day or two before turning into a corpse again."

"..." Jun Sakuma instantly broke out in goosebumps: "Watch your words!"

Samuel grabbed his shoulder: "Anyway, this way we'll get there faster. You can only run there with your body."

A flash of silver light, and the two disappeared.

Jun Sakuma found himself enveloped in a ball of flame-like substance, but felt no heat at all. The scene before him receded rapidly, and the streetlights could only leave elongated afterimages.

It's like sitting on an airplane, but instead of inside the cabin, you're crouching in front of the captain's windshield.

stimulate.

When the scene before me transformed into a vast ocean, and all I could hear was the sound of the wind and the roar of the waves, the silver light finally vanished.

Samuel returned to Jun Sakuma's consciousness space and promptly pulled him in, switching places between them.

“The base should be nearby. If we don’t hide well, the vibration waves will be detected,” Samuel said, his silver eyes gleaming. “You can go and rest now. We’ll switch you during the day.”

Chapter Twenty-Three: The First Base

At night, the waves and the starry sky merge into one in Ishikari Bay.

Like a fisherwoman returning from the sea, resting on the reflection of the Milky Way, her long black hair rippling in the water, leaving only that ink-like color in her eyes.

The man in black robes stood on the shore, the waves lapping at his feet, just like the tides of his hometown.

He took one step, then two, the seawater soaking his clothes, the sea breeze blowing his hood open a little, revealing a few strands of silver hair, and his half-hidden face finally emerged from the shadows, looking unexpectedly young.

As if bewitched, he slowly stepped into the ocean tide.

"Lord Samuel, why are you here?" he murmured, his gaze fixed on a stretch of sea as if he could see right through it, his eyes unblinking.

"This is not your time and space; perhaps it is another Samuel."

A voice said in my ear.

"Ah... I know, I know." The man in black robes was half-submerged in the water, yet he continued walking forward, the reflection of the morning star being shattered by the waves beside him.

"But I still want to go and see if Lord Samuel remembers me?"

“He won’t remember you, he’s dead, this ‘Samuel’ isn’t him,” the voice continued.

The man in black robes sounded uncertain, but he didn't want to give up easily: "Go and try. Maybe a miracle will happen to him, just like... when I met you."

"You will be disappointed." The voice left those words and then fell silent.

……

seabed.

People dressed in casual clothes landed on the soft seabed.

There was no diving equipment, only a faint silver glow covering the body.

He dared not get too close to the target, only gazing at the underwater structure that resembled a sleeping giant whale.

Perhaps "a colony of whales" would be a more appropriate description?

The gray human-built structures are half submerged in the seabed and half exposed, backed by a steeply rising underwater mountain range, with schools of fish circling around them.

Even during the day, sunlight cannot reach this place, and at night, it is nothing more than a dark, mysterious shadow.

This is TLT-J's first base.

Samuel walked on the seabed mud and sand, when an octopus at his feet was startled awake and swam away, changing color. Several small fish wagged their tails and came over, curiously examining the uninvited guest.

The gaze travels through the surging seawater, through the gray exterior walls, and through corridors and rooms.

He saw people sleeping, people working overtime, and a group of people gathered in the hangar, presumably maintaining the Chromium Chester.

After passing through the gate behind the Chromium Chester, Samuel discovered an upward passage—a passage that cut through the underwater mountains and led directly to an inconspicuous cliff face on the shore.

On that cliff face, Samuel finally discovered the reason for establishing the base there.

TLT hollowed out the entire cliff and built a large manufacturing plant inside, with all kinds of machinery running day and night.

Modules, cast to extremely strict standards, are being rolled out of the humming machines, heat flowing through...

The waste gas and wastewater are transported out through pipelines, with some used for recycling power generation. After undergoing a series of filtration and harmless treatment processes, the waste gas and wastewater are discharged into the sea.

This should only be one of the factories. Samuel discovered that it only produces some parts. Perhaps TLT, for the sake of secrecy, disassembles a set of equipment into different factories for manufacturing and then assembles it in a special place, trying to prevent this "clearly generation-ahead" technology from being leaked.

This puzzled Samuel: Why would the "visitors" provide technology to Earthlings? What was their purpose? Even Estend provided the technology to Earthlings for the reason of "stopping the invasion of the Yapools."

...By the way, judging from the TLT data that can be retrieved, all the technologies provided by the "Visitors" are designed for Alien Beasts, whether it's the memory eraser or the design of equipment like the Chromium Chester.

Is the purpose of the "visitors" to eliminate the alien beasts?

So, could they be related to the origins of the alien beasts? Do they know anything about the Dark Giants?

The dark giant we encountered last time said, "Did he also create puppets?" His calm demeanor suggested that he had either seen others create them or that he himself could create puppets similar to Ultraman, or puppets with similar powers.

So, there are probably three troublesome enemies: Faust, the guy we met last time, and the unknown person he mentioned who can make dolls.

Thinking about this, Samuel felt his head was about to explode. This Earth in this timeline was truly... bizarre and troublesome.

After breaking free from Yapool's control, Samuel's light particle activity was no longer suppressed, and his mind became much sharper. But that didn't mean he liked constantly fiddling with it—a straightforward and unpretentious enemy was much more satisfying. If he could win, it was over; if he couldn't, he'd grit his teeth and keep going. All schemes and tricks could go to hell! Why go through all the trouble when a fight could solve everything?

This feeling of being shrouded in fog everywhere is absolutely awful!

Samuel carefully checked the base inside and out again, and found nothing unusual except for the factory.

So it's very likely that Wangchuan is located in the Third Base? That's great, it's close by, and the Dark Giants and Alien Beasts can provide timely support if they want to do anything.

Samuel breathed a sigh of relief, brushed aside the small fish swaying in front of him, and prepared to float to the surface.

—Then they discovered that the seawater had disappeared as if the tide had suddenly receded, and the dark red sky had replaced the inky seabed.

This situation is very familiar. Is that dark giant from last time back again? I took a direct hit from his timer beam. Has my injury healed by now?

He looked around warily. The dark, moss-covered rocks bulged up, the ground trembled, cracks appeared, and sand rolled out from them.

He was very familiar with this situation; what if a strange beast were to emerge from inside?

Samuel wasn't the type to sit back and watch the enemy get into position before attacking. He believed that taking the initiative would give him an advantage, and he wasn't going to leisurely wait for the enemy to finish preparing while he stood by, hands in his pockets, spouting nonsense.

So, just as the rift opened and before the unknown alien beast inside could emerge, two explosive light blades were thrown in.

First came a blinding flash of light, followed by the angry roar of the alien beast and an explosion. Samuel "kindly" helped the creature inside speed up its emergence from the ground, and the familiar three-headed alien beast bared its fangs at him.

It's this one again. It worked really well with the Dark Giant last time, didn't it? Samuel saw an opportunity for revenge and felt his fists affectionately calling out to the face of that alien beast.

"Rumble--"

Samuel turned slightly to the side and saw another alien beast with long claws emerge from behind him. It had a head and a wide-open mouth, but its weapon was not fangs—it suddenly stretched out its tongue, which attacked him like a long whip!

To avoid being attacked from both sides, Jun Sakuma, who had awakened after the appearance of the Dark Domain, leaped directly into the air and sighed in his consciousness space:

"Are they just going to fight outnumbered...? This area belongs to the Dark Giant, be careful, he might be nearby."

"Hmm," Samuel felt he was in good shape and even had the mood to say to his human host, "Don't be afraid of them. Stay alert and don't back down. The stronger your fighting spirit, the more power I can unleash!"

"Who do you think is afraid?" Jun Sakuma crossed his arms in annoyance. "If they were released, they would probably kill countless people. Now that they've come to us willingly, let's wipe them all out!"

“Hahahaha…” Samuel laughed: “Chun, you’re becoming more and more like a warrior.”