Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

"Yes, your command."

Back in his room, Estend let out a long sigh of relief.

“Samuel should be fine for now, as for the teacher…” He pulled up the schedule that the Riaborn had given him beforehand via the micro-terminal.

"They will come to Earth." The constantly ticking numbers on the screen, used to calculate the time it takes for intelligence to be transmitted, reminded him of the fact that "you can never escape it."

"When they arrive, will my distorted mission instructions and Samuel's changes be discovered? They will surely be well-prepared for their arrival. Grandpa Grudas awakened the Super Beast, but if it's the teacher... will the monster army from the Fourth Research Institute also come?"

His mind was filled with the image of the girl who had smiled and called out "Ultraman" to Samuel the night before.

"What will Samuel do once war breaks out? What should I do? If my actions are discovered, the teacher will definitely revoke my mentor privileges. Then, will Samuel... Fos-001... Earth become a second Pasifica?"

"It absolutely cannot become like that!" Estend pressed a few keys, looked at the GUYS logo that reappeared on the screen, swallowed hard, and finally made up his mind.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: What I Yearn For

"Hey hey hey..."

All morning, Estend was grinning like an idiot.

Samuel silently began to assess the mentor's mental health issues.

Yamashita Rikuto glanced at the equally grinning Yuan Kong and scoffed, "It's just that you got paid, why are you all so happy like you've won the lottery?"

Yohara Sora slammed his fist on the table: "But today is also the release day of the latest balloon pudding! Salary! New snack! Put them together, and that's double the happiness!"

"The stopwatch is also happy, huh, the new balloon pudding, it sounds like something that's cloyingly sweet." Yamashita Rikuto openly expressed his disdain for Nahara Sora's hobby. As a member of the rescue team, maintaining physical fitness is essential, and he doesn't really understand this kind of operation of eating a bunch of high-calorie foods and then running himself to death on the training field.

He glanced at Estend, who was also having a great morning, and asked, "Zou, you haven't become addicted to snacks too, have you?"

“Oh, no,” Estend said cheerfully, turning his computer screen around to show a ticketing website. “I’m planning to visit this botanical garden tomorrow since I have the day off. I saw in the newspaper the other day that they’ve developed a new variety.”

Keita Kobayashi leaned over and said, "I've been following this. Last year, the owner of the botanical garden said he wanted to cultivate new varieties to save the business. At the time, many people didn't believe it and thought the botanical garden would go bankrupt sooner or later. There was even an online poll to see if the cultivation would be successful. I didn't expect it to actually succeed now."

"Eh? Lieutenant Captain Kobayashi, you also enjoy plant cultivation?" Sugiyama Mao raised her hand.

"...It's okay if you don't call me vice-captain..." Keita Kobayashi felt like he had aged decades in an instant, but he still explained, "I'm not into plant cultivation, I just like reading newspapers."

Yohara Sora whispered in Sugiyama Mao's ear, "He actually likes watching people argue, the bigger the argument, the more curious he gets..."

"Pfft," the gossip vice-captain, Sugiyama Mao, laughed, revealing two dimples.

Keita Kobayashi didn't hear what the guy was saying to the guy with the dark skin, but he felt that the guy was probably saying something bad, so he glared at him warningly and went out to ask Captain Hasegawa for the duty roster for next week.

"By the way, let me tell you something," said Yuan Kong, who was addicted to gossiping. Seeing that Kobayashi Keita's footsteps had faded into the distance, he and Yuan Kong, in a thieving tone, spread his voice throughout the common room, attracting everyone's attention: "The reason why Vice Captain Kobayashi doesn't like us calling him 'Vice Captain' is actually because his father is the Vice Captain of the Rescue Team. When people call him 'Vice Captain Kobayashi,' he always feels like they are calling him his father, so he prefers to be called 'Kobayashi.'"

"Aww..." The newcomers finally understood why Kobayashi Keita was so conflicted about the form of address. What they had discovered when they looked at the roster earlier finally became clear: it turned out that Kobayashi from the headquarters was indeed a relative of Kobayashi from Hasegawa Squad.

"Isn't he under a lot of pressure?" Sugiyama Mao whispered, "My dad is my boss. If I don't do well, he'll be the first to be found out! My dad was my elementary school math teacher. He always called on me to answer questions. After that, I was always terrified of his classes!"

"Of course the pressure was immense," said Rikuto Yamashita, arms crossed. "And that's how he became one of the few 'all-rounders' in our rescue team."

“He learned everything from the captain, and he became an ‘all-rounder’,” Yonahara Sora habitually found an opening to stab him, “unlike you, a ‘one-sided genius’.”

"Want to start a fight?" Yamashita Rikuto glanced at him sideways.

Yu Yuankong smiled and said, "I'm in a good mood today, so I won't make a fuss. I'm going out to buy some snacks later. Do you want me to bring you a can of iced coffee?"

"Humph

. "

Estend was used to their constant bickering. He turned the computer screen around and peeked out from the side at Samuel: "Should I buy a VIP ticket to see the other plants in the limited-access exhibition hall? Although I can see their new varieties with a regular ticket, but... the VIP ticket is three times more expensive! If I buy it, I'll have to eat in the cafeteria every day next month..."

"Don't I still have my salary?"

"what?"

“I don’t need to eat,” Samuel said matter-of-factly.

Estend's eyes welled up with tears: "Yua! Hearing you say that makes me so happy!"

He was expressing his gratitude.

But Samuel felt something was off, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it, so he remained silent.

Looking at them, Yamashita Rikuto thought of his sister, who always had a cold and aloof demeanor and spoke sarcastically. His mood suddenly soured. Ignoring Yonahara Sora who was calling after him, he slammed his head into the dormitory.

The next day, Akatsuki Haruta Chiyo Botanical Garden.

One second Estend was heartbroken over the ticket price, the next he was dazzled by the variety of plants.

Unlike the crowds taking photos around the gorgeous flowers, he immediately noticed an inconspicuous clump of "weeds" in the corner.

“Hey, come over here,” Estend beckoned, crouched down and leaned close to the “weed.” As if speaking loudly would scare it, he spoke in a low voice, even through the glass fence, “I’ve studied botanical data on Earth. This ‘Lapland Golden Thread Palm’ is very particular about its living environment. Its survival rate after transplanting is very low. Wild plants have only been found in its native Finland. The fact that they can cultivate this plant shows that this botanical garden really knows how to do it.”

“Hmm…” Samuel didn’t quite understand Estend’s obsession with plants, but he felt that the pile of grass was indeed growing quite well, and he could feel the vibrant life force inside.

Just then, a soft and gentle female voice came from the left, followed by a faint floral fragrance: "It's been months since I last saw you, and you look a bit thinner. I heard your factory was destroyed by a monster? Such a huge loss, why didn't you tell me?"

Then came a somewhat familiar, somewhat aged male voice: "The insurance company is willing to pay, so of course I wouldn't go so far as to borrow money from old friends... Hey? Isn't this... it's you guys!"

Estend turned around at the sound and saw President Sugita and a middle-aged noblewoman wearing a black and gold floral kimono walking towards him.

“I never expected to meet you here. Well, since you do plant observation and research, it’s normal for you to come here to take a look,” Sugita took the initiative to introduce them: “These two young men are named Aiba. When my factory was destroyed, they helped me salvage the machines. Ah, I had sprained my leg at the time, and they took me home. This is Mrs. Springfield, the owner of this botanical garden. I have many friends who like to do cultivation, and Mrs. Springfield is the best among them.”

Mrs. Springfield bowed to them: "Thank you for helping my old friend. Are you scholars who do plant observation and research? No wonder you took a liking to this 'Lappish Golden Thread Palm', because it is inconspicuous and not many people know about it."

Estend naturally picked up the conversation and exchanged pleasantries. Mrs. Springfield then recounted the story of how she cultivated these flowers and trees, and invited them to visit the limited-time exhibition hall. Estend's heart bled, but he smiled and agreed.

"If I had known I was invited, I would have spent money to buy two VIP tickets. But having a tour guide is really great. Mrs. Springfield's experience in cultivation is definitely worth learning."

The four walked and looked around, occasionally chatting about everyday things. However, most of the time Mrs. Springfield and President Sugita talked about their children, Estend just listened, and Samuel looked around, not knowing anything about appreciation except sensing the active and warm life force in the plants.

"This is the 'Starfall Rose' that I dedicated myself to cultivating when I was young. It's a variant discovered in Oulu. Back then, I only thought about how beautiful it was, so I made it my graduation research topic. As a result, it delayed my graduation for two years. It was really..."

Before Mrs. Springfield could finish speaking, the ground shook so badly that she almost lost her footing. She took two quick, clog-like steps, and Estend and President Sugita caught her on either side.

"What's wrong? There was no earthquake warning in Xiaocheng today." Mrs. Chuntian adjusted her carefully styled hair.

“Something’s happened outside,” Samuel said.

The exit of the limited exhibition hall is at the side door. They had almost finished walking, so they weren't far from the exit. If you listened carefully, you could hear the buzzing of the crowd talking outside.

Mrs. Haruta and President Sugita exchanged a glance and decided to go out and check, just in case there was some kind of car accident at the entrance of their botanical garden.

When they went outside and came to the small square in front of the gate, all they saw was a tall...ball?

A reddish-brown sphere, covered with suction cup-like structures, was slowly and steadily growing larger. The sphere was already five stories tall, its shadow stretching across the small square. If it continued to grow, it would likely crush the botanical garden.

Even though she had seen all sorts of exotic plants and traveled to many countries in search of wild plants, Mrs. Springfield couldn't help but take two steps back: "What is this?"

President Sugita thought of something he didn't want to see: "A monster?"

“It’s not a monster,” Samuel said.

He did not sense any life within the strange spherical object.

but…

...

He shifted his gaze to the other side, his eyes gradually sharpening: "It's a predator."

"Predators?" The two elderly people were a little confused.

Estend, however, realized what was happening and mouthed "destroy it" to Samuel. Samuel immediately ran across the chaotic street and disappeared.

President Sugita pointed to the spot where he had disappeared and said to Estend, "Your brother has disappeared again."

Estend stepped forward and walked up to them: "Kanto Disaster Relief Team, Hasegawa Squad member Aiba Kanade, we are now beginning the evacuation mission. You guys run in the opposite direction of this swelling, I'm going to evacuate the people in the botanical garden."

"Huh? What rescue team? Aren't you a plant observation and research person..." Before President Sugita could finish speaking, Estend ran back into the botanical garden and was quickly swallowed up by the crowd.

"Young people these days are really energetic..." Although President Sugita was a little slow to react, he understood the current situation and helped Mrs. Haruta away from the area.

Chapter Thirty: Chaotic Battles on All Sides

On the other side of the city, Bogaru spread his wings.

She had originally planned to eat all the Sadras, but three of them had been devoured by others, leaving her with dwindling food and an empty stomach. Meanwhile, she had been injured by a strange creature on Mist Mountain, and now she desperately needed to replenish her energy. The ever-expanding "sphere" before her—a specially compressed emergency food ration created by the Vantonians to solve their planet's food crisis—"Scrap 929" was an excellent choice. An entire planet's worth of emergency food; finishing it would be enough to restore her to full strength.

Under intense temptation, she almost couldn't wait to reveal her true form and walk towards the lump of food.

At an altitude of 60,000 meters above this place, the gravity deflection disk of the meteor technology has been set up. If everything goes smoothly, it is entirely possible to attract and eject this "dust 929" that is constantly devouring the Earth's atmosphere into space within the one-minute time limit of the meteor technology, so that it can be received by the Vanton aliens' spaceship and returned to its rightful owner.

But Bogaru was clearly unwilling to let their plan go so smoothly, and she rushed towards the food she desperately needed.

A golden-red and a silver-black light appeared on either side of its path. Bogaru suddenly stopped and roared threateningly at the two condensed humanoid figures.

"It's an unknown life form!" Teppei Kuze shouted, constantly monitoring the footage.

"Is he going to fight Mebius again?!" Aihara Ryu felt a chill run down his spine. One ever-expanding "Scrap 929" was troublesome enough, but if two more unknown life forms came... a three-way war, this city would be at least half destroyed.

Samuel glanced at Mebius, who was on guard.

To defeat the Ultra Warriors, you must be better than them, so you must eliminate the monsters before them and defeat them in that respect.

The logic is rigorous.

Fantastic probably wants to rip out Estend's brains, who explained the mission to Samuel, and then drag Samuel back to the factory for a complete overhaul.

Samuel clenched his fist and delivered a powerful punch to Bogaru. Mebius turned his head, looking somewhat bewildered as he saw that Samuel was ignoring him and instead charging towards Bogaru.

As the fist struck, Bogaru suddenly vanished into nothingness. Samuel's fist was about to smash into a low building, but he abruptly changed the angle and smashed it into the empty road, sending up high chunks of cement and dust.

Now Aihara Ryu was also bewildered: "It actually avoided damaging the building... What's going on?"