Chapter 128: 124 Volcanic Monster Bird Tairoches

“Lead the way!” Matsumoto Saburo seized the policeman’s gun and ordered him to take him to Yukiko.

The policeman glanced at the explosives on his body and reluctantly agreed.

Yukiko, in the hospital room, heard footsteps outside and her face lit up with delight: “Is that Mr. Yamakawa? Have you come to see me again?”

Matsumoto Saburo’s face froze.

How many days has it been, and you’ve already found another man?

Yukiko began to sense something was wrong: “Are you Hiro?”

Matsumoto Saburo asked coldly: “Where is Hiroshi Yokogawa?”

Hearing his voice, Yukiko let out a sharp cry and her body trembled uncontrollably.

The policeman: “He hasn’t come here because he’s afraid of you.”

Matsumoto Saburo sneered: “Hmph, is he at that villa?”

He didn’t know that Hiroshi Yokogawa’s villa had been seized by Tairoches and turned into its nest.

“Alright, come with me to the villa.” He grabbed Yukiko and told the police to notify Hiroshi Yokogawa to come to the villa to rescue her.

“No, let me go!” Yukiko struggled violently, but Matsumoto Saburo showed no mercy—he slapped her hard.

“Be quiet. I’ve got twenty bundles of explosives strapped to me.” His voice carried no emotion.

Yukiko stopped resisting. Matsumoto Saburo threw her onto the motorcycle’s back seat and sped toward the villa, now occupied by Tairoches, with the screaming, begging hostage in tow.

…………………………

At that moment, Fly Yan II pierced through the black smoke and arrived at Demon Island.

There, a giant bird perched inside the volcanic crater, spewing white, thread-like filaments that looked like it was breathing clouds and mist.

Nami Nishijo: “That must be Tairoches!”

Tamaboshi Dan gazed at the surroundings, warped and blurred by the intense heat, and mused:

“This volcano isn’t stable—it could erupt at any moment.”

“No wonder Tairoches moved its nest. It chose Tokyo because Tokyo’s temperature is extremely high, similar to this environment.”

“But why is Tokyo so hot? Neither the cosmic beetles nor the monstrous birds have anything to do with the rising temperature, right?”

Nami Nishijo said they could consider that later: “Captain, let’s deal with the enemy in front of us first.”

Tamaboshi Dan: “Lure it out first, so we don’t trigger a volcanic eruption prematurely.”

Keeping this in mind, Nami Nishijo didn’t launch missiles right away. She aimed at Tairoches’s eyes and fired a Spike Cannon.

“Ugh!” Tairoches had already spotted them—it tilted its head slightly and blocked the shot with its lower jaw.

Unharmed!

“Is this even flesh and blood?!” Nami Nishijo was stunned.

Enraged by the attack, Tairoches flapped its wings and flew out of its nest, charging straight at Fly Yan II.

Nami Nishijo, an expert pilot, maneuvered Fly Yan II to dodge at the last second, then flew far away, luring it clear of the crater.

“At this distance, our attack won’t affect the volcano.”

After moving ten kilometers away, Nami Nishijo locked onto Tairoches and launched all eighteen anti-monster missiles at once.

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The guided anti-monster missiles struck, unleashing blinding light and searing heat, thick smoke billowing everywhere.

“Did we get it?” Nami Nishijo’s words had barely left her lips when her face hardened.

Bloodied but alive, Tairoches burst through the smoke and charged toward Fly Yan II.

The missiles had pierced its defenses—but hadn’t delivered a fatal wound!

“Shhh!” Two antennae on Tairoches’s face fired blue beams of destruction—this move had once struck Jack’s eye in the original series, instantly reverting Hideki Go back to his human form.

Nami Nishijo narrowly dodged again: “Damn it, is it even capable of being hurt?”

Tamaboshi Dan said gravely: “Nishijo, target the base of its wings with the Texas Beam!”

Nami Nishijo: “The Texas Beam… will it give us that angle?”

Tamaboshi Dan: “Trust yourself!”

At the same time, he focused his mind and unleashed his Ultraman psychic power—a technique that drained his lifespan.

“Shhh!” The next instant, Tairoches, which had been flying at high speed, suddenly moved strangely—its pace slowed noticeably.

Nami Nishijo’s spirits lifted. Seizing the opportunity, she fired decisively.

Texas Beam—fire!

The Texas Beam, which in the original Ultraman Tiga series could obliterate Gakuma with one shot, struck the base of Tairoches’s right wing. It let out a mournful cry, nearly toppling into the sea, its flight unsteady as it veered away.

“It still can fly… after all that?” Nami Nishijo couldn’t believe it. What kind of monster was this?

All missiles were expended. The next Texas Beam required long recharging. Chasing it now seemed pointless.

“Let’s return to base and resupply,” Tamaboshi Dan said wearily, having exhausted his Ultraman psychic power.

Qi Ming had once told him he wasn’t skilled in aerial combat.

Now that Tairoches had been hit in the wing, it couldn’t maintain balance until healed—this would significantly reduce Qi Ming’s burden.

…………………………

Tokyo.

Yamakawa and Kishida flew Fly Yan I, equipped with a thermal infrared cannon, toward the villa that Tairoches had chosen as a backup nest.

Just as the two prepared to burn it down, Matsumoto Saburo arrived with Yukiko.

“Damn, why’s it so hot here?” Matsumoto Saburo cursed.

He held Yukiko at gunpoint, facing off against the police who trailed behind but dared not fire, fearing the explosives and the hostage.

“Don’t come any closer!” He pointed the gun at Yukiko.

The police shouted: “Don’t be stupid! You can’t stay here—it’s Tairoches’s nest! It could show up any moment!”

Matsumoto Saburo remained unmoved—he demanded they summon Hiroshi Yokogawa immediately, or he’d kill the hostage.

After speaking, he opened the door and entered the villa.

“What the hell!” Yamakawa and Kishida in Fly Yan I had to halt their attack.

If they fired the thermal infrared cannon now, they’d burn Matsumoto Saburo and Yukiko alive together.

“What do we do?”

“Let’s go down and check the situation… Hey, look—Qi Ming’s here too!”

Sharp-eyed Yamakawa spotted Qi Ming’s figure—he had arrived as well.

The two quickly landed and joined him. Kishida said: “Qi Ming, with your skills, you could easily subdue Matsumoto Saburo inside the villa and rescue the hostage.”

Qi Ming: “Haha, I’m not going.”

In his view, Matsumoto Saburo, Hiroshi Yokogawa, and Yukiko could be described in four words:

Whore and dog, forever matched. Whoever dies, it’s a good death.

He had no intention of saving anyone—he’d probably clap his hands if all three perished together.

Yamakawa had no way to argue with him: “Then why are you here?”

Qi Ming scanned the surroundings: “I came here sensing the shift in the earth’s dragon qi.”

“This is the center of Tokyo’s heat source, and the place most similar to a volcanic environment—so Tairoches came to build its nest here.”

“I wanted to see what’s special about it… Ah.”

As he spoke, Qi Ming suddenly froze.

He saw a woman in yellow standing behind a large tree, watching him with an unusual gaze.

(End of Chapter)