Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

Horii carefully packed it in a sealed bag, saying that Dr. Mizuno would like something like this.

"Isn't he researching gene therapy for the Lightning Man?" Shinjo asked.

“It’s almost done. The professor and the team members are getting along very well. He was just worried about whether there would be a new project that would allow them to continue working together…” Horii stuffed the sealed bag into the toolbox, as if he were taking care of his own graduation certificate. In fact, it was indeed related to the graduation of a group of master’s and doctoral students in Dr. Mizuno’s team: “Now we have one.”

Shinjo sensed something was off: "I remember Dr. Mizuno's team wasn't just temporarily pulled in... It would be perfectly reasonable to return them..."

Horii was engrossed in setting up the samples when Munakata hooked his arm around his shoulder and whispered, "The team has already been transferred and is getting along well, so there's no reason to send it back. Mizuno is probably eager to turn the temporary team into a formal one, and his subordinates would likely be happy to do so too—no ​​one would want to miss out on a world-class presentation."

Xincheng had only a vague understanding of the intricacies inside, and suddenly nodded in realization. Behind him, Lina's scream rang out.

She didn't even scream when she stepped on a skull! What is this this time?

The group turned around and saw Lina staring up at the treetops, where the lush greenery trembled like a rubber band stretched taut and then released, with countless leaves falling as if a snowfall had occurred.

“It’s an eagle,” Lina said. “An eagle as tall as a person.”

"The same height as a person? Are you sure?" Horii seemed to have figured something out, and he took the jawbone he had just put in his bag out again.

“I don’t know how big that eagle is, but the only thing I’m sure of is… the animals here are all a bit abnormal.” Horii rummaged through his package, and Daigo patted him, gesturing for him to move his feet.

Horii glanced down at it and almost collapsed to his knees.

"What is this?!" Horii hurriedly moved away, clutching his bag, and Lina also took two steps back.

Daigo remained squatting in the same spot and said, "The earthworm looks like it really wants to crawl out."

Don't even think about fulfilling the wishes of an earthworm as thick as a rope and with such a long entanglement, my friend! Horii's scalp tingled at the thought of almost stepping on one of those things. But he managed to hold back, and the earthworm Daigo found confirmed his earlier guess.

“Perhaps the jawbone we found also belonged to some kind of animal, and it was preyed upon by an equally unusually ‘strong’ animal, such as the eagle that Lina saw,” Horii said. “Another thing to be determined is whether the animals have grown larger or we have shrunk?”

These words startled everyone. They looked around and saw not only fist-sized beetles and an obviously abnormal spider hanging from a tree branch in the distance, but also an incredibly robust Japanese cedar: it would take six people to barely encircle it, its bare trunk towering into the clouds, and its lush green leaves falling from above, each one capable of covering half a person's face.

The magnetic field within the demon realm is chaotic, and they're unsure how accurate the ranging equipment they brought in is.

No, PDI had already lost contact with the outside world. Without Ye Rui's information support, the group was like headless flies, silently probing forward—they had no idea of ​​their exact location, and their compasses were spinning wildly in circles.

They really do look like dwarves who have wandered into a land of giants; they wouldn't be surprised if a cat as tall as a mountain fell from the sky.

"Shall we continue towards the sound of water?" Shinjo suggested. "According to the map we surveyed outside, the river is at the northernmost point. Once we reach the riverbank, we'll be at the border of the Demon Realm. The support team will definitely have made arrangements after discovering we've lost contact, perhaps on the other side of the river."

“I think we should turn back immediately. We came in from the south, and going north along the river means crossing the Demon Realm,” Lina said. “It’s too dangerous for us to go deeper into the area before we’ve figured out the situation. We should send out the samples and image data we’ve collected first, and then go all out when we come back in for the second time.”

……

The Victory Team discusses their next plan, while inside the Demon Realm, the people in the Spire are keeping a close eye on their every move.

The short guy peeked out from the windowsill, his eyes fixed on the direction the Victory Team was coming from, chewing bubble gum as he did so.

Hilbagon, who was sleeping on his back with his belly exposed, rolled over, and a rumble of thunder broke the silence of the Victory Team members' conversation.

“Ah, they’re scared,” the short man said. “Should I start a fire? Accidental fires in the forest are quite common.”

"Tiga is in that group. You want to expose our location by shouting through a megaphone, 'Yes, this is the Kirieloid base,'" the man in the wool coat said without looking up. "Send the Manonians. They just lost a comrade and are eager for revenge."

"So what if the base is exposed? We don't need to rely on it."

"How's the spread of your doctrine going? Instead of wasting time causing trouble here, you should go out and find more valuable believers," the man in the wool coat said with a sullen face, increasingly feeling that his partner not only had a terrible personality but was also getting worse and worse in the head. "TPC is in a mess with aliens and monsters, which is the perfect opportunity for them. Stop causing us trouble."

“You’re getting more and more timid as you get older…” The short man looked at Tiga’s human form, then suddenly his eyes lit up: “You mean, the Manonians went to find them?”

Chapter 140 The Kimono-Clad Girl's Revenge

Wool coats rarely provide false information to their own people.

He said that the Manonian went to find the Victory Team, so she must already be in the Demon Realm.

And the Victory Team did indeed spot her—no one would think that encountering a beautiful woman in a kimono in such a place would be a wonderful encounter; everyone's first reaction was to remain on alert and raise their Hyper guns.

"Hello, I am a Manonian," the woman in the kimono said, sitting gracefully under an old tree. She bowed slightly as people arrived. "I've been waiting for you. You're from the Victory Team, right? From TPC?"

There was no need for anyone else to answer; the woman in the kimono had already noticed the TPC markings on their clothes. She smiled and said, "I asked an unnecessary question."

"Is this the 'maze' you created?" She seemed relatively easy to talk to. Zongfang, acting as the commander, stepped forward while secretly watching her every subtle movement.

The woman in the kimono shook her head: "That's not something I can do."

"As you can see, this is the Rainbow Wonderland, not a place where ordinary people can survive..." The woman in the kimono pointed at Lina and the others, and said to their confused eyes, "You are lucky. If no one were to protect you, you would suffer the same 'infection' as the animals here."

“Protection?” Zongfang asked.

But the woman in the kimono didn't offer an explanation. She finally stood up and bowed again, saying, "My butler has caused you some trouble, but he is, after all, a Manonian, and should be subject to our laws—I think you should have extradition provisions?"

Manon aliens, butlers? The group exchanged bewildered glances. Horii guessed that she might be referring to the Manon aliens captured by TPC during the Bizomo incident.

But they were already dead! Not from inhumane experiments, but because they were barely breathing when they were captured. The people at the Life Science Research Center tried everything, but their vital signs continued to decline rapidly and irreversibly. If anyone is to blame, it's only that Samuel didn't hold back at the time.

Furthermore, did the Manonians merely "cause some trouble" that day?

The woman in the kimono took in the expressions of the GUTS team members and sighed, "He really is dead, isn't he? I told him long ago that the Kirieloids are not to be trusted. We only cooperate with them once and then we never talk to them again... but he always insists on doing things his own way."

The woman's rambling words were puzzling. Shinjo pushed aside Horii and stepped to the front, shouting sternly, "Manonian, nobody has time to play puzzle games with you. Explain yourself clearly!"

The woman in the kimono straightened up and slowly put the slightly loose hairpin back into her hair bun. She smiled and said, "I combed my own hair. It's not perfectly straight, but I tried my best. My housekeeper used to comb it for me. Our planet Manong has deteriorated, so we had to find a suitable new home in the universe. My family used to be very large, but over time, only my housekeeper and I are left."

"Earthlings, the universe is dangerous, far more dangerous than you imagine," the woman in the kimono said. "Among the stranded Manonians, some have died, some have formed mercenary groups, and some have opened trading posts, using various..."

I survived only because I managed to carve out my own space within those powerful factions. Like you all now, I relied on the steward's protection to survive in such a dangerous place.

"You make it sound so difficult, like survival is a nightmare," Xincheng scoffed. "Then why not just find a quiet place to live instead of taking advantage of the chaos to attack TPC headquarters?"

The woman in the kimono blinked: "We just want to live a good life. The Kirieloids have the technology, and the condition for obtaining it is to exchange it for qualified experimental materials. Even if we know that the Kirieloids have ill intentions, we have no other choice. As long as we become strong enough, the universe is so big, where won't we have a home?"

"So you attacked headquarters... in order to obtain qualified test subjects in exchange for necessary technology from the Kirieloids?"

"Yes, but we failed. The housekeeper and the housekeeper are both dead," the woman in the kimono said. "My physique is not suitable to be a warrior, but now there is no other way. Which of you is Ultraman Tiga?"

Daigo felt a chill run down his spine, while pretending to be nonchalant and exchanging glances with the others.

The GUTS members looked at her as if she were a mental patient. The woman in the kimono was confused: "Tiga is definitely here. Did I feel something wrong again?"

"What do you want with him?" Daigo asked, forcing himself to speak.

“Kill him!” The woman in the kimono’s eyes lit up. “I want to kill you TPC people to get revenge, but Tiga will definitely not agree. So either I kill him and then deal with you, or I go to see my people and Tiga will protect humanity again.”

As she spoke, the woman in the kimono's eyes grew brighter and brighter, even revealing a deep blue color, while her skin grew increasingly gray, eventually turning into a shell like a rock.

Eight spider-like horns sprouted from the sides of her face, and her beautiful appearance vanished. She still stood there with her previous reserved and demure demeanor, but she had transformed from an elegant young girl into a hideous spider monster.

The beam of the Hyper gun struck her, producing only a few sparks. Then, her body suddenly swelled, her appropriately sized kimono ripped apart, and the sound of tearing fabric was like a thunderclap, startling a group of lurking alien beasts in the forest.

No one would be foolish enough to stay still at her feet when the enemy grows to gigantic size. The GUTS team turned around and ran into the densest forest possible. The Manon followed behind, each step creating a small earthquake, causing the animals hiding around to also put all their strength into escaping for their lives.

The Victory Team hadn't expected to encounter so many strange creatures on their way here. There were unusually large, shell-less snails, perhaps slugs, covered in bulging sacs. They wriggled around carrying these sacs, their antennae stretching forward desperately, trying to find a tree trunk to entangle themselves with, then pulling back to propel themselves away.

It ran away extremely fast. Daigo saw it turn around and glance at him, then visibly shudder. It was unclear whether it was afraid of the Manon aliens or of Ultraman Tiga.

……

Spire.

The short man was practically glued to the glass, yelling, "Step to the left, step to the left! Oh no! He got away!"

"How long are you going to dawdle here?" The man in the wool coat impatiently banged his pen on the table. "With Hilbagon's magic realm and the Manon aliens buying us time, we don't need you to intercept Tiga and help us evacuate. Now, get out of here! Or have you degenerated to the point of forgetting the addresses of other bases and need your dear parents to guide your adorable baby?"

“If I were Tiga, I would never hide my power and use it secretly. I would stand up directly as the leader and fight my way into a new world!” The short man replied irrelevantly, “Aren’t you going to come and see? If this continues, he will become the first Ultraman whose human host will be trampled to death.”

This time, the man in the wool coat didn't angrily chase the short man away. Instead, he stood up, walked to the window, and looked out at the dense forest on the other side of the river, just like the short man.

At that distance, the GUTS members were only the size of ants, but it wasn't difficult for the Kirieloids to spot them. They ran ahead of the Manonians, whose unprofessional warrior, the Manonian heiress, was following the contract and driving the GUTS towards the river.

Daigo had already reached into his inner chest pocket with one hand, but Rena kept pulling his other arm as they ran.

Sometimes, the thoughtful care from "seniors" is not necessarily a good thing.

Chapter 141 Evacuation

"Why are we evacuating?" Fujisawa Sousuke didn't understand the decision of the "father" that "Paradia" mentioned.

"Do you really want to fight with your former colleagues if you don't leave?" Paradia said. "You should cherish this rare publicly funded trip. You won't have the chance once you go back to headquarters."

As the Victory Team entered the mountains, Fujisawa Sousuke, along with No. 12 "Paladia" and No. 8 "Amui," evacuated in the same small boat they had come from.

Many other small boats were doing the same thing, and Sōsuke realized that there were so many people at this Lion's Nose Tree Sea base. They were all shrouded in black robes, sitting or standing on the boats. A gentle breeze lifted the hem of their robes, revealing human limbs—they should be followers of the god Kirierod, just like Paradia.

People on other ships also saw them. Some greeted Paradia Twelve, but they often hesitated for a moment when their gaze fell on Sosuke, and then clearly quieted down.

Paradia stepped forward, blocking his view. The small boat rocked slightly, and Amui hesitated to speak.

“Ignore them, they know nothing,” Paradia said. “We’ll stay temporarily in the new development area.”

"After a while, once things have calmed down, we'll go back to headquarters. Do you prefer a lively place or a quiet one?"

Of course, the best place is a lively area with a barbecue street nearby.

Sōsuke replied, "A quiet place."

After saying that, he added, "We need fewer people."

"Sousuke!" The name "Paladia" startled him. In the Lion's Nose Tree Sea, people always addressed each other by their numbers.

“It’s number sixteen,” Sosuke corrected her.

“No, we still need to use names when we get outside, otherwise it will be too strange.” Paradia patted her chest: “My name is Paradia, his name is Amui, and you… you are still Fujisawa Sosuke.”

Cangjie hesitated for a moment but ultimately did not refute.

It was only much later that he was able to accurately describe how he felt at the time—that day, the sixteenth returned to the world.