Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

"I want to give it a try. Maybe I can make a difference today? Only at times like this do I feel like a useful person. Even if I'm still not qualified to awaken Uranus in the end, at least it will be... a worthwhile trip."

Chapter Sixty-One Spatial Passage

Samuel was unaware that Kinoshita Kei had undergone special training and, while seemingly invigorated, was merely putting on a brave face. He held onto the "meteorite" trajectory calculated by Kinoshita Kei and indeed sensed a faint, elusive aura. He inwardly praised Kinoshita Kei's solid professionalism and reliable calculations.

He found the last trace of that aura near Neptune's orbit, but it vanished without a trace further ahead.

"Where did the meteorite come from?" Samuel was surrounded by desolate emptiness, with only a sliver of sunlight visible around him; the word "desolate" best described the place. The planet on this orbit was directly opposite the sun, meaning... there was probably nothing here except cosmic dust.

But a mysterious aura appeared. Samuel thought of the vortex that appeared in the sky when Gob arrived. That should be a spatial channel—did the Root of Destruction bringer open a spatial channel here and drop the "meteorite" to Earth?

If the information Earth's consciousness gave him was true, Samuel believed he might be able to locate the Root of Destruction through the spatial portal and cut off their means of releasing monsters. Time travel, though dangerous, was better than being passively attacked on Earth.

Moreover, judging from Hitomi Onodera's behavior, the release of the monsters might not be so simple. Samuel rushed out because he wanted to see if there were any remnants of the spatial passage before the traceable aura completely dissipated.

Fortunately, he arrived not too late. Right at the point where the aura interfered, he detected traces of spatial distortion, like a blank patch being pasted onto a perfectly good piece of paper. Although they looked similar, the gaps had not merged.

“Found you…” Just like when he forced Mezad out of the alternate dimension, Samuel concentrated his energy in his arm. On Earth in Nexus, he had intervened in the phase of the Dark Realm many times. Now, tearing open the spatial channel again was simply an application of phase intervention in another way.

"Hiss—" Like piercing a windowpane, there was no air here.

When the spatial passage was torn open, there was no sound of wind as faint as blowing a leaf whistle, but there seemed to be something familiar inside the passage. It was moving slowly through the passage, bumping around aimlessly as if it didn't know the way.

This passage was as stable as a well-constructed tunnel at the bottom of a mountain, with solid walls and turbulent currents rushing past on the outside. The clueless, foolish thing that bumped around didn't get hurt anywhere, so it could stumble and stagger towards this end of the passage.

Whoever opened this passage must be able to decide its exit, otherwise Gob wouldn't have appeared directly above the city while the "meteorite" was flying in Neptune's orbit.

Samuel saw the things bumping around in the passageway: Gob, followed by a long spaceship. Through the hull, Samuel could see egg-shaped objects piled up inside, which might be Gob's hatchery.

“If you suddenly appeared in the city again, I don’t know how many people would die,” Samuel said, thankful that he had found the “meteorite” by following its trajectory. He summoned his armor, and the amplified telekinesis pierced into Gob’s mind: “Earth is not a place you can come and go as you please!”

A silver meteor pierced the dark sky. Gob was not far from the entrance of the passage. At Samuel's speed, it would only take a breath. It seemed that after Earth dealt with the "meteorite", Gob would reappear in a day or two.

Gob's emotions seemed unstable. When it noticed another life form approaching, it actually took the initiative to greet it, warmly welcoming it with yellow light bullets emanating from its forehead.

Its attacks and collisions with the passageways were as straightforward as if it were lost, while Samuel was the first to see the troublesome incubation site. He easily bypassed the giant net woven by the light bullets, and the silver light drew a desolate arc as it approached the narrow spaceship.

The space tunnel was a vacuum, just like the outside world. Samuel could only see the monster opening its mouth as if roaring; it clearly didn't have the telekinetic communication ability he possessed. Just as Samuel casually conjured two explosive light blades and hurled them, Gob turned its target and charged back at the spaceship, like a bird returning to its nest or a moth drawn to a flame. It only had time to fire a light bullet, detonating one of the blades in mid-air; it caught the other blade itself, and the intense heat exploded onto its body.

Its outer shell was very hard, but some of its skin was still exposed. While it was busy dealing with the light blades, Samuel used his light whip to entangle its exposed soft parts. The silver flames spread, and the intense pain slowed its movements. Then, the whip tightened, Samuel spun his body, and Gob was thrown far away.

He cut off the light whip, raised his fists to his chest, and prepared to charge up his power to use the Paleritra Light Stream to deal with the spaceship's seemingly extremely hard outer shell.

The Gob, the monster that had been flung far away, seemed to be roaring desperately. The cutting ring that preceded the launch of the Pelleriti light stream successfully struck the spaceship. The light particles turned into sharp blades that mercilessly pierced deep into the spaceship's hull, then unleashed all the energy they contained, and a series of sparks appeared near the front of the spaceship.

Gob didn't have time to reach the light stream; it crashed heavily into the rear of the spaceship, causing it to twist at an angle. It thought that doing so would save the hatchery from being melted in two.

Samuel slightly turned his body, and a powerful golden torrent surged from his left forearm. The massive spaceship tilted visibly, electricity appeared, and debris scattered. The eggs piled up along the line were burned to ashes. Gob turned upwards and rushed towards Samuel!

Samuel interrupted the flow of light in an attempt to avoid the impact, but when he had only flown back a short distance, and in his mind he should still be deep inside the passage, the scenery around him had already changed!

The barrier that seemed like night had vanished, and the highly threatening turbulence on the outside had disappeared, revealing the familiar night sky overhead! The Milky Way stretched across the sky, and the buildings were right beneath our feet!

When did we reach the exit? And when was the exit set up on Earth?!

Samuel didn't have time to think. He kicked Gob in the chest, sending Gob veering off course towards a hill in the countryside. At the same time, he raised his light shield and rammed into the spaceship. Just like Gob had changed the spaceship's angle in the tunnel, he was now the one trying to change the spaceship's trajectory.

"boom--!"

A deafening roar, loud enough to wake the entire city, rolled into the distance. The light shield shattered into a shower of stardust, and the spaceship creaked as its steel bars twisted, crashing into the suburbs along with the Gob that was outside.

Kinoshita Kei was driving a mother carrying a child away from the danger zone when the "meteorite" revealed its hideous interior as he had expected. The crimson, thorn-like thing pierced into a nearby building, and its rough outer shell pierced through the wall. It was only because the evacuation notice was issued early that the people trapped inside would have suffocated and died from the heat, given its scorching temperature.

"I'll take you out in a bit and then head back. Once you're on the bridge, you'll be on your own..."

Before he could finish speaking, a sudden loud bang came from above, like someone was slamming a steel plate with a hammer. Immediately afterward, the ground shook, followed by a muffled thud as something heavy fell to the ground.

"Is another meteorite falling from the sky? Why isn't there any sound of it rubbing against the atmosphere?" Kinoshita Kei turned around to look.

The silver giant had returned sometime earlier. He was kneeling on the ground, and a familiar monster was roaring in front of him, its head radiating a blinding yellow light that seemed to steal all the brilliance from the starry sky.

Chapter Sixty-Two: Life in the Palm of Your Hand

"An unusual heat source has been detected! Location: Tokyo, in Gobu!"

Akio Ishimuro took two steps forward, his face as taut as if carved from stone: "The silver giant... and there's spaceship wreckage next to him?"

佐佐

Atsuko zoomed in on the satellite imagery, increasing the brightness. A long, narrow object was broken in two, with fragments scattered around it. Some oval-shaped objects rolled out from inside: "It's a spaceship. And what are these round things?"

“It might be Gobu’s egg.” Takayama Gamu flew overhead in his Fighter EX. He had originally come to scout out the “meteorite” situation, but now he turned his plane directly toward the unexpected “new guest.”

The excellent infrared camera onboard the EX allowed him to see inside the round objects that had been scattered from the spaceship. They were very small, and their body temperature was hotter than their outer shell. Judging from their appearance, they were very similar to Gobu, and it could be basically determined that they were unhatched Gobu larvae.

If all of these hatched, Takayama Gamu could not even imagine such a scene.

"Lightning Team, continue to await Seagull Team's actions. Launch missiles after the personnel are rescued! Falcon Team, destroy Gob's ship at all costs!" Akio Ishimuro issued the order.

"Sir," a woman's voice came through the opening door of the command room, "Lightning Team is dealing with the 'Meteorite,' Falcon Team is holding off Gob, so what about Cool Dragon Team? We've been training day and night not just for show. We couldn't participate in the 'Celestial Realm' incident last time, this time..."

Akio Ishimuro turned around, and the person who walked in was Miho Inari, the captain of Team Crow, an all-female team.

XIG has always maintained three fighter combat teams. The Lightning Team and the Falcon Team have been on the most missions. Although the Cool Dragon Team has good training results, Tsutsumi Seiichiro is always reluctant to use them. When asked why, Tsutsumi Seiichiro only said that he had his own plans.

"Ammunition preparation complete, engine preheating complete, Cool Dragon Team ready." Inashira Miho held her helmet to her side with one hand, with two team members behind her, each standing as straight as a benchmark.

The team members may have different temperaments, but their eyes are as stubborn as their captain's, as if they would stand there as stakes until the end of time if he didn't agree.

Akio Ishimuro knew what Seiichiro Tsutsumi was thinking. He always held views such as "they should be sent to a safer place" and "the mission is too difficult, let's switch to another team" when it came to an all-female team. This situation was a good opportunity for him to get over his concerns.

“Tsutsumi Seiichiro,” the image of the Peace was displayed in the upper left corner of the large screen. Tsutsumi Seiichiro had been waiting for a long time. Ishimuro Akio deliberately threw the choice to him: “According to the management regulations, we should maintain a reserve team that can be deployed at any time.” This meant that at least they could not be allowed to stop warming up the machines and go back to rest.

The three women's eyes all turned to the face on the screen that had rejected their requests to come countless times, and Tsutsumi Seiichiro hesitated.

……

Just then, the "meteorite" began to move strangely.

Perhaps sensing the threat from the Repuisor missiles carried by the Lightning team, the barbs deeply embedded in the building gradually tightened, causing the building, which was barely holding on, to collapse one after another. The Seagull team's rescue personnel were still inside!

"No, no, no... You must be joking, right?" The entire building collapsed with a roar, and the smoke and dust it kicked up blocked out all the lights. The mother that Kinoshita Kei was driving jumped out of the car and collapsed to the ground after taking only a few steps toward the building. The child was frightened by the sound of the collapse, but when he saw his mother sitting on the ground, he went over and whispered, "The ground is cold, Mom, get up quickly."

“Darling, darling,” the mother murmured unconsciously, her eyes shining with hope when she saw Kinoshita Kei: “He escaped, didn’t he? That office building, we live close by, he must have heard the news, he must be out!”

Kinoshita Kei had no idea whether her husband had come out or not. He only saw a woman dragging a small child along the road late at night and offered them a ride. He didn't even notice where the child's father was or why he had abandoned his wife and child and disappeared in the middle of the night.

"No, I have to go find him!" The mother got up from the ground. As she stood up, her child was still clutching her clothes. She felt the pull and looked down to see her son's face.

As if she had suddenly lost all her strength, she pleaded with Kinoshita Kei, "I know this is too much, but could you please watch the child for me for a while? I want to go find him. Xiu, you and your brother go to the bridge and wait for Mom. Be good and don't cause trouble for your brother. If Mom doesn't come looking for you later, call your grandparents."

The boy named Xiu was about five or six years old. He nodded blankly, and his mother tidied his wind-blown hair before looking at Kinoshita Kei with expectant eyes.

Kinoshita Kei wanted to tell her that only a few people die in TV dramas, and Gaia isn't a show where people die for no reason. Even if her husband were buried in there, he would definitely survive.

But he couldn't bring himself to say it. The mother fled in a hurry, putting a coat on her son while she herself was wrapped in cotton pajamas, looking disheveled and not at all like a typical Japanese housewife who would keep every corner of her home clean and tidy and present herself impeccably.

"What's your husband's name? What does he look like?" he suddenly asked.

"Huh?" The mother was taken aback. Being asked about her husband's information by a stranger in the middle of the night was a strange feeling.

“The meteorite has been quiet for a long time. Your husband may have already come out. He may not have contacted you because he forgot his phone,” Kinoshita Kei said. “I’ll go wait at the police line. When I see him, I’ll ask him to call you. You shouldn’t go over there. It’s definitely not safe to leave a child alone on the street.”

"Thank you," the mother said with a smile, then her face filled with worry. "You only asked for me at the police line."

"Go ahead and ask. His name is Hiroshi Hirakawa. He was wearing a yellow shirt and thick-rimmed glasses when he went out today. If you can't find out... well, never mind. If he escapes after this is all over, he'll definitely contact us."

"You're welcome," Kinoshita Kei said, hopping on his electric scooter. "Wait for my message."

Meanwhile, members of the Seagull team crawled through the rubble of the building that had collapsed a second time, searching for survivors. Before the "meteorite" moved, they had made contact with people buried inside the building. After the second collapse, the call was cut off, and there was no more sound from behind the concrete wall.

"Hey! Answer me now!" Matsuo Renji crawled through the scorched hole. Inside, it was dark and quiet, like a graveyard or some long-sealed ruin. The high temperature brought by the "meteorite" made people sweat profusely. It was hard to imagine that the survivor had stayed in such a room for so long.

"Weren't you going to take your son to Shinshu to see woodpeckers? Answer me, Mr. Hirakawa!"

“If you can’t take it, go to the Floater and switch positions with Micael,” Atsushi Kamiyama, the Seagull team leader who has been doing rescue work since he was eighteen, reminded his team members as his trousers brushed against the broken concrete slabs, making a rustling sound. “Sometimes we can rescue people, and sometimes we can only watch people slowly die. We can’t save everyone with our hands—stay calm so that we can make the most reasonable judgments.”

"The current passage won't last long. We need to find survivors before the next collapse. The Lightning team is waiting for our news."

Matsuo Renji crawled through the passage, his palms aching from the sharp rubble: "Yes, yes..."

Chapter Sixty-Three: The Panicked Gobu

"Falcon Team has spotted the target." Tatsuhiko Yoneda flew over the outskirts of Tokyo in his Fighter. The silver giant was fighting Gob below, and the light shield he raised blocked the light bullets fired from the yellow crystal in the monster's head.

The city was awakened, and the clamor gradually spread from the location of the "meteorite".

The spaceship was enormous, with the break narrowing in the middle, yet it was still nearly a hundred meters tall—truly befitting a monster's hatchery. Inside, a cacophony of tapping sounds echoed, like fingernails repeatedly striking a table. Thousands upon thousands of these sounds filled the air, creating a deafening din that sent chills down Yoneda Tatsuhiko's spine.

Samuel deflected the light blast with a chop to the neck. The Falcon Squadron fighters had already formed their attack formation, and the missiles carried by the three fighters were launched in succession, traversing along the broken part of the spaceship and heading inward. When the explosions and flashes of fire erupted, the knocking sound paused for a moment, followed by two overlapping roars.

One came from Gob, who was fighting Samuel, and the other came from inside the spaceship. Infrared scans revealed an entity approximately 70 meters tall inside the spaceship.

"It's already hatched?" Tatsuhiko Yoneda reported from the front lines: "One Gob has hatched, and the interior of the spaceship... is full of Gob eggs. Our conventional firepower is insufficient to cover it!"

“Then use the overpressure field thermobaric bomb. Georgie, contact Geo base to replace the Falcon team’s ammunition,” Akio Ishimuro decided immediately. “Hercules team, provide ground fire support.”

"understand!"

The newly hatched individual did not have the same thick shell as the other Gobu. Its body color was lighter, and it looked somewhat whitish, as if it had been hastily hatched and its outer defenses were not yet fully developed.

It moved slowly, swaying unsteadily, its tail unsure of where to go, accidentally knocking over a few unhatched eggs. It glanced at another Gobu with its yellow eyes and hissed softly.

The Falcon team naturally prioritized targeting the newly hatched white Gob, with machine guns firing first, six tracer beams linking the muzzles to their target, creating six sharp, scorching lines in the night sky.

The white Goblin flinched, raised its paw to block the bullets as it retreated, crushing several more eggs. It hissed again, shifting its foot away from the intact eggs before losing its balance and falling to the ground.

The Gob fighting Samuel has the same appearance as the first one to appear on Earth, with thick brown skin. The brown Gob is being held by Samuel's claws, which are gripped by the hook in front of his claws, preventing him from escaping.