Chapter 115: The Giant Bird Rescue Operation

At that moment, a giant from the Blue Tribe descended from the sky. He took a couple of steps forward, crouched down, and carefully placed what he was holding onto the uneven ground. They were several transparent capsule-shaped containers—some over a meter tall, others only about twenty or thirty centimeters.

However, the ground was uneven, and the containers weren’t placed steadily. The moment he released them, they toppled over and clattered down the slope created by the pit Yuki had inadvertently stepped into. The capsules rolled down noisily and came to rest at Yuki’s feet at the bottom of the pit.

Yuki was speechless.

“Ah, sorry, I didn’t set them down properly,” the giant apologized.

Then his form vanished. Seeing that everyone present was in human guise, he chose to conform and transform into a human shape as well.

Yuki hadn’t yet fully seen the giant’s features—after all, as a being at least fifty meters tall, looking up at him standing right there, he couldn’t see the top of his head. But the human form was instantly recognizable.

Thanks again to Tsuburaya’s casting.

“Hikari, don’t go in there. Let Yuki place them,” Captain Zoffy instructed.

In fact, Yuki didn’t even need to recognize the newcomer; Captain Zoffy had already called out his name.

Yuki nodded, understanding the captain’s concern that these particles might be harmful. Having already been exposed during the journey with the items, it was important not to let the damage spread further.

Yuki crouched down, opened the largest capsule, placed the demon fragment inside, and tightened the lid.

The force field dimmed immediately, but even after more than a minute, the shield had not completely disappeared. This meant...

“...There’s more?”

Yuki thought for a moment and reached for the bracelet on his right wrist, as it was also an energy item.

But Zoffy stopped him.

“Not that bracelet. Don’t take it off.”

Yuki’s hand paused on the clasp, looking at the captain in confusion.

“Try other items on you.”

Clearly, the captain didn’t intend to explain why that bracelet was off-limits. So Yuki withdrew his hand, rummaged through a pocket of his tactical suit, and pulled out three or four nearly transparent mineral stones.

“...?”

What were these?

For a moment, Yuki couldn’t recall what these were or when they had ended up in his pocket. After a few seconds, by their shape, he vaguely remembered: these were the bounty rewards he had helped Maguna post on the black market—several plasma souls. But back then, the stones had glowed with a fluorescent green hue; now, they appeared bleached, dull, and pale.

“What is this?”

Even Hikari, watching nearby, noticed the peculiarity of the stones. He was eager to approach but restrained himself.

Yuki placed the dim stones into a capsule, sealed it tightly, and the force field vanished completely.

“...It’s these.”

Yuki’s expression was subtly complex. He had carried these plasma souls in his tactical suit pocket for several days. If these things were truly dangerous, then he... might as well write a tragedy for Maguna.

Having identified the culprit, Yuki stood up. Hikari stepped forward, took the capsules containing the demon fragment and plasma souls, then looked at Yuki with an eager, almost excited expression. If Captain Serizawa had shown that look, one could only imagine the scene.

In any case, Yuki instinctively stepped back.

Not out of fear—he was even a bit curious about this scientist who could carve a wound into Ampela’s body—but his body moved involuntarily.

“You must be Yuki. You found Zero, right?”

Hikari had clearly noticed the restraining device on Yuki and came over briskly.

“How is its use? Come with me; we need to examine it…”

“Hikari.”

Hikari faltered, his words cut off.

Captain Zoffy smiled. “Yuki is injured. I think he needs treatment now.”

“...Alright,” Hikari said after sizing Yuki up. Yuki’s posture and reactions didn’t suggest serious injury, but upon seeing his bloodstained clothes, he reluctantly nodded. “We’ll talk about that later. First, I’ll handle these two items.”

“But the restraining device you’re using is a prototype, only through one round of testing. It still needs to be checked.”

“This is important. When you’re done, come find me.”

“Captain Zoffy, please keep an eye on him.”

Hikari seemed reluctant but kept turning back to look at Yuki as he left, clutching the capsules.

Once Hikari disappeared, Yuki turned to the security team captain.

“Captain, I’m fine. I heal fast. Just leave me be.”

Yuki looked down at his blood-soaked clothes. It was indeed dramatic. If pressed, he could feel the pain, but it was nothing serious and didn’t hinder his movement. He had allocated two points from his “defense” stats into healing speed. The bleeding had stopped; the wounds would probably close soon.

“More than that, I have something urgent to do—right away.”

Yuki’s words quickened, anxiety clear in his tone. “I came here solely to return that demon fragment. As for its details, Captain Hazumi can discuss them with you later. Now, I must hurry back to where I came from.”

“The place you came from… the same place Zero disappeared?”

Yuki nodded. “There are over a hundred Sandriases turned into monster weapons by the Interstellar Alliance. I have to help them.”

Yuki used them to create chaos and trouble the “Arsenal,” increasing his teammates’ chances of escape. To create that chaos, he didn’t need to activate all of them—just a few would suffice to give the Arsenal a headache.

Yet Yuki decided to release them all, aiming to crush the Arsenal’s morale and sap their will to fight. This was how he intended to protect the Sandriases from retaliation.

As for the greater destruction this might cause… destroying the enemy’s weapons factory that had already shown its health bar meant nothing to Yuki.

As long as it was safer for the Sandriases, that was enough. Since they had helped his group, even if unwillingly, Yuki wanted to do something for them—return their freedom.

He could remotely remove the control chips implanted in their brains—no surgery, no skull opening required—freeing them from the brain-control devices.

He couldn’t save the little one in time, but at least he could save these birds… well, giant birds.