One month later.
Munakata was sitting alone in a bar, holding a glass of milk, when the reporter Onoda sat down opposite him with his own glass of milk and said, "You don't look like you're drinking alcohol at all!"
"I'm quitting drinking," Munakata said flatly.
"Come to think of it, I've quit drinking six times already," Onoda said with a smile.
"Then you're a veteran at this," Munakata joked.
"Now for the morning news report: late last night, police received a report from residents that the carcass of a giant creature had been discovered near the coast of Kitagawa City in Shizuoka Prefecture," reported the television broadcast, accompanied by a picture on screen.
Upon seeing this, Munakata immediately stood up and rushed to the scene.
At that same moment, Onoda received a phone call, but in the span of a single call, he turned back to find that Munakata had already vanished.
Meanwhile, everyone else was present inside the Guts Command Center.
Megumi Iruma looked at the news report on the television and asked, "Xiao Luuo, do you know the origin of this monster?"
"Yes, I do. It's the zombie monster, Cildron, possessed of formidable survival and regenerative capabilities," Xiao Luuo said with a frown, as if he could already smell the stench emanating from Cildron.
"A zombie monster? You mean this monster isn't dead?" Megumi Iruma asked.
Watching Hori, Shinjo, and Munakata busy at the scene on the big screen, Xiao Luuo slowly replied, "It's dead. Conservatively estimated, it died seventy years ago."
"In other words, destroying its carcass will do the trick, right?" Muzui asked.
"No, it's not that simple. Although it's dead, it's not completely dead. Get ready; there might be a fierce battle ahead," Xiao Luuo said, taking a sip of his coffee.
Just then, Munakata and the others returned to the Guts Command Center, and Hori had already extracted biological samples of Cildron.
However, shortly after they returned, Director Sawai walked in as well.
He looked at everyone and announced, "The Staff Headquarters has decided that Guts must burn the drifting carcass immediately."
"Burn it immediately? Isn't that too hasty? I think we should investigate further," Megumi Iruma said in surprise.
"This is a strong recommendation from the local residents, and we're also afraid of causing marine pollution," Director Sawai explained further.
"Captain, I'm sorry to interrupt in a situation like this, but I also recommend burning the monster immediately, just to avoid any complications," Xiao Luuo stood up and said respectfully, since Director Sawai's face still had to be saved.
Megumi Iruma had one hundred percent trust in what Xiao Luuo said, so she replied, "Very well, then."
"I suggest burning it at sea, as that's much safer. I propose using Guts Wing 2 for the tow," Munakata also suggested.
"But I don't think Guts Wing 2's power alone will necessarily be enough; we'll need to add boosters."
"That means we'll have to remove the weapon system."
"Rena, has your manual towing training course been completed?" Megumi Iruma asked, looking at Rena.
"Yes, it's finished!"
"Good. Rena will pilot Guts Wing 2 to handle the towing, and Daigo will pilot Wing 1 to provide support."
"Understood!"
Seeing Rena's nervous expression, Daigo began to comfort her, saying, "Actually, I'm quite good at lifting things."
"Ah? Could it be that you've undergone training too?"
"Yeah! The kind they always have in stores where you drop a coin and use a claw to lift a toy!"
"Oh stop it! Thank you."
Amidst their playful banter, the two headed to their respective launch bays.
As time passed, sixty-three people at the site had fallen unconscious, and thirteen had been rushed to emergency care as the Guts team arrived at the scene.
"Switching to autopilot mode," Rena said, unbuckling her seatbelt and turning to the manual towing system. Following her operations, four hooks fired from the underside of Guts Wing 2, embedding themselves directly into Cildron's body. With the activation of the boosters, Cildron was indeed lifted into the air.
Meanwhile, Onoda was still being held back outside the perimeter by Guts.
"Strange! So strange! Why has this monster become so light?" Rena wondered aloud.
At that moment, the monster's abdomen suddenly split open, and some waste dropped straight to the ground, instantly unleashing a wave of intense stench.
The cable towing Cildron slipped off at that exact moment, and Cildron crashed heavily to the ground. Deprived of its tow target, Guts Wing 2 shot rapidly upward, nearly spinning out of control.
"Failure! The Guts towing mission has failed! Wait! What? Oh God!" a news reporter exclaimed in shock, as the roars and growls of the monster echoed from behind him.
"What? Wasn't that monster dead?!" Rena said in astonishment.
"Rena?" Hearing Rena's cry of alarm, Daigo immediately asked with concern.
"I'm fine! Returning to base now," Rena replied, quickly pulling herself together after realizing she had lost her composure.
"Wing 2 is returning to base. We'll take over from here!" Shinjo said.
Upon waking up, Cildron began moving in a specific direction.
"Where is it going?!" Munakata asked.
"How am I supposed to know where it's going?!" Hori snapped back immediately.
Munakata then walked over to the map, tracing the direction of Cildron's advance.
"If it keeps going that way, it's heading for... the liquefied natural gas storage tanks!!!" Hori exclaimed in horror.
"Daigo, Shinjo! Execute a formation attack—Formation 112. You have to change its course!" Munakata immediately ordered the two to attack.
"Daigo, understood!"
"Shinjo, understood!"
As the two Guts Wing 1 jets fired missiles at Cildron, all four missiles hit the monster squarely in the abdomen.
"I hit it!" Shinjo reported, but Cildron swallowed every single missile straight into its belly.
With a loud burp from Cildron, a murky green gas poured from its mouth as it turned and gave chase to the Guts Wing 1 piloted by Daigo.
"It swallowed the missiles!" Shinjo reported again.
"Never mind. At least its course has changed," Munakata sighed and said.
Meanwhile, Onoda stood on the sidelines taking pictures, remarking, "Splendid. Let's see how Guts handles this next," clearly treating it as a spectator sport with no concern for the danger.
On television, a new program had just started, featuring a host and a self-proclaimed monster expert discussing the resurrection of the monster.
Following the markings on the map, Munakata realized there was a farm ahead of Cildron's path, so he patched through to headquarters and asked, "Headquarters, can Wing 1 carry a high-microwave emitter?"
"Let me ask Dr. Kashimura!"
"Also, please prepare some aluminum chaff decoys."
"Aluminum chaff decoys? To jam radar? Understood!"
"That method won't work. Keep in mind that it still has four live missiles inside its body," Xiao Luuo said just as Megumi Iruma hung up the communicator, holding a cup of coffee in his hand.
"Then what should we do?!" Megumi Iruma asked.
To this, Xiao Luuo did not answer. Instead, he finished the coffee in his hand, looked at the mission on the virtual screen before him—"Defeat Cildron, reward: 100 points"—and stood up.
"Captain, I need to use the restroom," he said.
Without waiting for the captain's approval, he walked straight out of the command room.
Knowing that Xiao Luuo was about to make his move, Megumi Iruma said, "Hurry back."
This exchange left Muzui completely baffled, prompting him to mutter under his breath, "What on earth are they talking about... Ah! Captain! A massive lifeform signal has appeared near the base!"