Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

TLT Japan's third base, Freedom Castle.

The Night Raid Team is currently planning their operation against Grugram.

"To defeat Gruglem, we must lure him into the designated area and, with the aid of the scanning pulse amplification device, fire the maximum power scanning pulse of the Chester Mega Cannon to destroy its transphase movement control organ."

The most troublesome thing about Grugram is that it can move across phases. Once that organ is destroyed, this alien beast is no longer a threat.

Theoretically, there should be no problem if the trap succeeds, but...

"How can we guarantee that Gruglem will fall for the trap?" Komon Kazuki asked.

Kira Sawa was confident in answering his questions, and this was also a plan approved by the Matsunaga management: "Just set up the 'bait'."

"A decoy?" Kazuki Komon looked down and found that the projected model had been pulled away, revealing a part outside the combat zone—the city.

“A satellite city with a population of 10, about 30 kilometers from the combat zone. We did not issue an evacuation order, but only relocated people near the combat zone,” the artificial son of Prometheus was not surprised by TLT’s decision, and just smiled as usual: “Those people are the bait.”

“The alien beasts will definitely head along this route to hunt, and their final destination will be this satellite city,” Kazuki Komon, who was clearly shocked, looked up at the white-robed prophet and said, “In other words, we cannot fail.”

"Wait! Are we using the lives of citizens as 'bait'? What if... even a single attack from a monster is let through..." Komon Kazuki glanced at his colleagues and suddenly felt a chilling coldness seep into his bones from his fingertips resting on the table.

“The scan pulse has a time limit of 180 seconds,” Kira Sawa ignored Komon Kazuki’s question, but he finally said solemnly, “Don’t waste the opportunity before the metal generator breaks down due to full load operation.”

……

"Samuel, are you saying the suitable candidate might be in that hot spring town?" Jun Sakuma didn't know how this Ultraman warrior's brain worked. When he was analyzing the database data before, Samuel couldn't keep up with his thinking. Now, before he could even react, Samuel had just glanced at the "white-clad sieve's" target and made this conclusion.

“A person who fights even when injured must have a strong sense of responsibility, so Jun Himeya will definitely appear when the alien beasts are in the hot spring town,” Samuel said. “The white-clad cleaners will not miss their target no matter what.”

After the guy in the consciousness space finished his analysis, he didn't forget to add, "You were too slow to react, Chun."

"Just say I have dementia, I get what you mean." Jun Sakuma slammed his laptop shut, suppressing his anger, and secretly pondered how he could get back at the opponent.

Correct!

I'm never teaching you, you "monster," to cook again!

...As soon as this thought arose, the memory policeman, the old father, and the pillar of the Sakuma family suddenly felt a subtle sense of middle-aged melancholy.

"Huali, get some rest. Dad has to go to work overtime again."

The excuse was so familiar to Karin that she was tired of hearing it. She didn't stop the "rustling" of her pencil as she did calculations, and didn't even turn her head: "I know, remember to come back when you've had enough of the izakaya, Dad."

"...Dad didn't go to the izakaya, he was working overtime!"

What has Karin been watching lately?

"Mmm, I'll tell Mom."

The father, who was being bullied by both sides, grumbled as he left the house. Then, Samuel took him and "flew" him to the vicinity of the hot spring town at a speed that made the surrounding scenery sway into a line.

To be honest, Jun Sakuma likes flying, but he doesn't want to be crouching on the roof of the plane while it's soaring through the clouds.

He couldn't experience the "push-back feeling" that racing enthusiasts always talked about; he could only experience the dizziness that made him feel like he was about to vomit after his vision reached its limit.

After Samuel returned to his consciousness space, he pulled Sakuma Jun down and took over controlling the body himself. As a result, he became dizzy and almost crashed into a tree.

"Hahahaha..." Although it was his own body that almost suffered misfortune, Jun Sakuma felt a strange sense of schadenfreude.

Samuel snorted, focused his energy in his eyes, and began to "scan" the entire hot spring town.

Yamatoya.

The photography team, who had just moved Jun Himeya to a room to rest, were now looking at the darkened room with a sense of unease.

There was still no signal, and the sun was about to set.

Besides the food and water stored in the house, which gave them enough confidence to wait, the deserted hot spring town and the "heatstroke patient" who had not yet woken up made the three of them very anxious.

"Crash..."

Qi Xia wrung out the towel until it was half dry and replaced the warm towel that was covering the patient's forehead.

The three of them gathered in the living room of their residence, waiting with boredom and despair.

The patient had a persistent high fever and was perhaps having nightmares, mumbling incoherently.

Sitting at the door, staring at the end of the road, hoping an ambulance would appear, Bao Lucao finally gave up her illusions and went back inside to gulp down a beer.

Because it had been out for so long, the beer had gone to room temperature and lost its ice-cold essence. The photographer clicked his tongue in disapproval but didn't complain. He turned his gaze to the still unconscious patient.

"The fever hasn't gone down, and I keep having nightmares, calling out someone's name, I think it's a name..." Qi Xia soaked the used towel in the basin: "Runping, can you get me a piece of bread? I'm hungry."

Runping, who was tidying up the equipment, looked up and said, "There's only the white bread I bought this morning left, but there are still some biscuits left."

"Bread... What will we do for our photography if there's no signal?" Qi Xia took the food, watching the sunset slowly disappear and a few stars appearing in the dark sky behind the distant mountains. "The deadline is the day after tomorrow. If the network isn't working, we'll have to go out and deliver the manuscript in person."

That's right, the three-person photography team's residence was in the hot spring town, the very location that was considered the entrapment route during the night raid team's operational meeting.

Because it's located on the outermost edge of the hot spring town, extremely close to the combat zone, strictly speaking, the residents of the Yamato House should also have been relocated. However, because they were filming propaganda brochures in the mountains, they missed the evacuation and are now trapped in this deserted area where the signal is blocked.

TLT did not return to check for omissions after the first evacuation.

This is the result of discussions between Matsunaga Yoichiro and the higher-ups... How to make the alien beasts move along a predetermined route? Of course, in front of the large bait, small, fragmented baits should also be placed, just like luring a greedy mouse.

These people who were overlooked on the hot spring street are like scattered "small baits".

The vast majority of the losses have been avoided, and TLT believes that such sacrifices are acceptable. Faced with the pressure from the alien beasts, TLT's decision-makers have long been hardened.

However, the members of the Night Raid Team were still relatively young, so when planning their operation, they deliberately avoided information about the "small bait".

As long as the operation is successful, the people in the hot spring town should not suffer much damage.

As Bao Lu Cao chugs his beer, he stares at the face of the sleeping man. Qi Xia casually asks, "Why are you staring at him like that? Do you know him?"

"Isn't this guy an alien? How could Mr. Baolucao possibly know him?" Thinking this, Qixia's train of thought was interrupted by his next sentence.

“He is Jun Himeya, if I am not mistaken,” the photographer said with a tone of reverence. “He captures images with such real impact that they deeply move my war photographers.”

"Eh? He's the one you said you wanted to learn from..." Qi Xia recalled the name that Bao Lu Cao had muttered when he was drunk that day.

“Yeah, a real photographer who records the truth!” Baolu Cao scratched his messy hair. “I don’t have his guts to be a war photographer, but after seeing his work… I think I should give it a try, for my ideal!”

"That's really..." a formidable figure. Qi Xia walked to the side and picked up the leather jacket that had been placed on the low table and hadn't been put away yet.

"pat".

Something that looked somewhat like a short sword landed on the tatami mat.

"What's this?" She bent down to pick it up, and it was somewhat sandy.

A hoarse voice interrupted her movements.

Don't touch it.

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Warrior's Resolve

The tension of an impending battle enveloped him. Komon Kazuki felt that the inside of his gloves was covered with sweat, but he dared not relax for a moment, much less take off his gloves to rest.

Under the cover of optical camouflage, the mega-cannon Chester silently awaits its target.

The power tower, specially borrowed and equipped with additional facilities, forms an invisible giant net, which, in Kazuki Komon's eyes, is the first barrier to block Gruglem.

The second line of defense was the Night Raid team, waiting in Chester.

Himeya Jun's physical condition was already very poor, and if possible, he didn't want to see Himeya Jun appear again in today's battle. Why was he, as a member of the Night Raid Team, pushing someone so hard?

"We must defeat it here!"

Jun Himeya has saved him many times, so he should perform better this time and seize the only opportunity to keep Gruglem out of the hot spring town. At the very least, he shouldn't have to risk Jun Himeya's life in battle again!

……

"Where do you think you're going with this body?"

Qi Xia was startled by the sudden sound.

A man in black wearing a wide-brimmed hat appeared in front of her. She took two steps back and almost stepped on the thing that Jun Himeya had just told her not to touch.

"Snapped".

The power went out, and the bright room was filled with darkness, with only a thin moonlight shining through half of the room to illuminate the eyes of Qi Xia and the other two.

Himeya Jun only said one sentence before clutching his arm, groaning a few times, and fainting again.

An uninvited guest in a wide-brimmed hat walked in, bringing with him half a body bathed in the cold light of the moon.

"Who are you!" Bao Luca threw down his beer can, tensing up like an animal whose territory had been invaded. Behind him, Runping crawled to the package and pulled out a wrench used for setting up equipment.

The uninvited guest removed his wide-brimmed hat; it was Samuel who had found his way here.

He didn't look young, and there were some wrinkles around his eyes. He looked quite kind and didn't seem like a desperate burglar.

“Aiba Yu,” he replied.

Although he was using Jun Sakuma's body, Samuel certainly couldn't reveal Jun Sakuma's real name. If someone found out, he would be sending his extremely vigilant boss to his doom.

The three-person photography team stared blankly at him. Samuel turned to the side, glanced at the still unconscious Jun Himeya, and said, "I'm here to see him."

While searching the mountain, the first place he found was the site where Stonewing had crashed. Stonewing was still emitting smoke, but fortunately it hadn't been discovered by TLT. They found a ravine and buried Stonewing there, and also discovered residual Nexus's aura.

Samuel tracked down to the Yamato-ya, and sure enough, the Nexus host's current condition could not even be described as "poor"; his life energy was like a candle flickering in the wind in Samuel's perception.

He carefully examined the candidate. If it was "fighting out of a sense of duty," he was doing it too well... it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was burning his life force.

Is there another reason?

Samuel noticed that his brow remained furrowed even in his sleep.