Chapter 389: 384 Combined Technique, No Wonder He

After shaking hands with Qi Ming, Hui Mei leaned back in her chair, staring at the red "aborted" text on the screen, momentarily dazed.

Through external cameras, the red aurora above the base was slowly fading, as if diluted by some invisible force, and the nuclear missile silo no longer emitted its terrifying rumbling.

The underwater base, just moments ago a hellish scene, now radiated an eerie stillness.

"Thinking back, that little brat was truly disgusting," Hui Mei muttered.

She had been tense over the sixteen nuclear warheads that could spark a world war and turn globalization to ash, while worrying about Qi Ming, who was fighting a superior foe.

So when the Daisima system beings appeared before her, she had no mental bandwidth left to feel fear or anxiety.

Now that her nerves were no longer taut, she found the thing trying to possess her body utterly revolting.

Fortunately, Qi Ming appeared—he always showed up at the critical moment, bringing a sense of reassurance.

Qi Ming looked at the footage captured by the external surveillance cameras: "Xiang Xiang Tenggong is fighting well."

On the glacier, Agulha V2 fought three opponents at once, effortlessly.

"Boom!" Ignoring the Barrack's artillery fire, he neither dodged nor defended—hit directly, he showed no reaction—his ultra-strong physical defense nearly nullified the ship's cannon fire.

"Shhh!" Daisimania fired another Destruction Beam, but Agulha cleaved it apart entirely with the Agulha Sacred Sword, then slashed Daisimania away with a single strike—significant damage dealt.

"Puff!" Lei Qiu spat out a freezing gas. Agulha, having been warned by Qi Ming earlier, rolled sideways and countered with the Avenger.

"Boom!" The blue energy projectile struck Lei Qiu, causing it to writhe in agony.

Fighting three at once and still dominating, his movements flowed like water, exuding grace.

No wonder he's the king of arrogance.

But the next instant, sudden chaos erupted.

A blinding white light blazed high in the sky as a massive, polyhedral crystalline boulder plummeted from above and crashed onto the Antarctic ice.

"Crash!" Cracks spread like spiderwebs from the impact point, as if a wound had opened across Nanjizhou; the shockwave shook the underwater base violently, forcing Hui Mei to grip the table to stay upright.

"A meteorite? … No, it's alive." Agulha stared at the boulder—he could feel its astonishing heat radiating.

"This is… the Heat-Light Demon Stone from Episode 9 of 'Ultraman Gaiya'!" Qi Ming recognized the unwelcome guest.

It was a peculiar mineral lifeform with two major abilities.

One was emitting ultra-high temperatures; the other was generating a gravity field to sink surrounding regions.

Whether Nanjizhou melted or sank into the ocean, it would deliver a catastrophic blow to Earth's ecosystem.

So, even in the "Mobile Fortress Cannot Ascend" incident, Nanjizhou still couldn't escape the threat of melting.

Even though this world lacked an artificial sun, the Heat-Light Demon Stone—with its destructive power rivaling one—filled the void.

"Shhh!" The next moment, red vortices formed around the Heat-Light Demon Stone, continuously releasing ultra-high temperatures.

The heat vortices swept outward, vaporizing ice wherever they passed; several penguins hundreds of meters away never even cried out before being reduced to black charcoal in the heatwave.

The penguins were roasted alive in Nanjizhou.

Seeing this, Xiang Xiang Tenggong immediately charged toward the Heat-Light Demon Stone, Agulha Sacred Sword in hand, aiming to eliminate it first.

But Nanjizhou's extreme cold, like the liquid nitrogen bombs in the original "Ultraman Gaiya" series, disrupted the stone's high-density molecular structure.

Under these conditions, the Heat-Light Demon Stone sprouted long, spear-like red tentacles from its body, becoming even more grotesque.

"Shhh!" Agulha's blue blade severed one red tentacle—in the original series, this stone had nearly defeated Ultraman Gaiya V1, but before Agulha V2, it was nothing.

But Agulha now faced far more than just this one foe.

The next instant, three more massive figures descended from the sky.

It was the twin monsters of the Saber Tyrant Ma Gema alien!

These were the iconic duo from Episode 1 of "Ultraman Lei Ou," who had broken Imaginary Saiwen's right leg—they had come too!

Ma Gema pointed his long blade at Agulha:

"You're the Ultraman warrior? There's an old Earth saying: 'Even when you beat a dog, you must look at its master.'"

"You've injured my pet. How impolite of you."

Watching the Heat-Light Demon Stone continuously melt Nanjizhou's ice, Qi Ming said: "Pet… so this stone was brought by him."

In the original series, Ma Gema had ordered his twin monsters to flood Heichao Island; in this world, he intended to melt Nanjizhou and drown the entire Earth.

In this hybrid world, Nanjizhou still received its scorching "sun"—Ma Gema still sought to drown humanity; the timeline had strangely converged.

Facing Ma Gema's provocation, Xiang Xiang Tenggong remained silent, swinging the Agulha Sacred Sword at him.

"You want to duel me in swordsmanship? Interesting. Let me see what Earth's Ultraman warriors are capable of." Ma Gema raised his blade with imposing might and slashed down.

In the instant their blades met, Ma Gema's long sword shattered.

The residual force carried a violent shockwave that hurled Ma Gema violently backward, carving a hundred-meter trench across the ice before he came to a stop.

"Impossible… so strong…" Ma Gema lay on the ground, disbelief etched on his face.

Not long ago, I destroyed Planet L77—yet here on Earth, I'm felled in one blow.

This planet is terrifying!

One slash shattered the tyrant's soul.

Qi Ming wasn't surprised—Ma Gema was driven off by Ultraman Lei Ou in Episode 1 of the original series; comparing him to Agulha V2 was like claiming to have landed on the moon by tripping on a rock. If it were one-on-one, Agulha could kill him within five moves.

But he had allies.

After knocking Ma Gema down, Agulha charged up the Avenger again, firing a blue Destruction Beam at him.

Ma Gema's twin monsters clasped each other tightly, spinning at high speed while emitting energy from within and without, forming a blue barrier.

This was their signature combined technique: Giras Spin.

In the original series, it had blocked Imaginary Saiwen's Head Cutter and deflected Lei Ou; in this world, it blocked Agulha's Avenger.

The next instant, Lei Qiu spat out freezing gas again; Agulha rolled away hastily.

Before he could regain his footing, Daisimania's Destruction Beam struck his right shoulder—energy explosion pain made Agulha stagger, and the Agulha Sacred Sword vanished.

"Fight! We must eliminate this thing to claim Earth!" Ma Gema, humiliated by being felled in one blow, furiously ordered his monsters.

The twin monsters' horns flared blinding red light, firing two intersecting beams of searing destruction straight at Agulha, while the Heat-Light Demon Stone's crimson tentacles stabbed through the air like spears.

Facing ferocious assaults from all directions, Agulha dodged and twisted—but was forced into steady retreat, his combat rhythm completely shattered.

"Shhh!" The Barrack seized the opening and fired suddenly—the shells slammed into Agulha's back, sending his body lurching forward.

Inside, Ma Ma Erte watched the battered Agulha, his eyes filled with satisfaction.

The Agulha Light he had painstakingly gathered had vanished—his long-awaited victory turned to dust, leaving Ma Ma Erte still seething with rage.

In their view, Agulha should have been Ma Ma Erte's sword, used to seize land for Ma Ma Erte—but instead, he stood against them.

If we can't have you, we'll destroy you!

"Go! Final Geros, crush him!" Ma Ma Erte shouted.

The next instant, a massive shadow burst from the waves—a cephalopod-like monster swung its thick tentacles onto the battlefield, charging toward Agulha.

This was the octopus monster Geros, controlled by Ma Ma Erte!

It swung its tentacles, slashing at Agulha.

Xiang Xiang Tenggong gritted his teeth, spun, and delivered a vicious whip kick that sent Geros flying.

But in the instant he retracted his leg, the other monsters' attacks rained down like a storm!

The twin monsters' Destruction Beams, the Heat-Light Demon Stone's tentacle stabs, Daisimania's energy blasts—relentless strikes shook Agulha violently, forcing him to stagger backward, his timer light flickering.

Qi Ming in the underwater base: "…."

His second battle after obtaining Agulha V2 already going poorly—typical of Xiang Xiang Tenggong.

But he understood.

Even now, Agulha V2 remained Nanjizhou's strongest combatant—but he faced far too many enemies.

Ma Gema and his twin monsters and the Heat-Light Demon Stone.

Ma Ma Erte's Barrack and the octopus monster Geros.

The all-in-one Daisimania.

And Lei Qiu, capable of spitting freezing gas, forcing Agulha to remain constantly vigilant.

One against eight!

Even Qi Ming had never faced so many enemies at once.

Fortunately, Qi Ming had just eliminated the Daisima system's ghost—otherwise, if it had activated the Cosmic Iron Dragon, Agulha would now be fighting nine.

Hui Mei: "Agulha seems about to collapse."

Qi Ming's expression turned grim—he had thought, the moment he reclaimed control of the base, that the counterattack would begin.

Ma Gema's arrival had reversed the situation again.

"I want to help, but my Star Grant is completely empty now." Qi Ming frowned.

This was the Achilles' heel of the Ultraman Arbitrary Key—ten Star Grants was the absolute limit.

If the ten Star Grants are full and you don't immediately perform Star Gathering, every second afterward is wasted.

But if Star Gathering finishes and a monster attack happens immediately…

Qi Ming had struggled with this for a long time—he would choke the creator of the Ultraman Arbitrary Key by the neck the moment she appeared before him and demand to know why she designed it this way.

Hui Mei thought for a moment: "No Star Grant? Just kill a few monsters on-site—they'll drop some."

——————————————

Because the "Mobile Fortress Cannot Ascend" episode featured no animals besides monsters, I forgot Nanjizhou's ecosystem.

Thanks to a reader's reminder in this chapter, I immediately recalled it and quickly had the monsters kill some penguins to make this event feel more authentic.

At least a 3,000-word second chapter will be posted before 2 a. m., as that's when the daily guide goes live.

That means today is actually three chapters' worth!

(End of Chapter)