It was none other than Xiao Luuo riding Melba as they rushed to the scene.
Meanwhile, Daigo was piloting Guts Wing 1 back to base when something suddenly clamped down on it, trapping the craft and rendering it completely immobile!
"What is that?" Daigo gasped.
Hearing Daigo's exclamation over the communicator, Shinjo immediately turned his head to look back, only to see Cildron's head and neck stretching out like putty, its jaws clamped viciously onto the tail of the Guts Wing 1 piloted by Daigo.
"Oh no! It's a Monster! A Monster has grabbed Daigo's fighter!" Shinjo immediately opened his comms and shouted.
Hearing this, Munakata and Hori rushed out of the temporary command post on the ground to investigate, and upon seeing the scene before them, they couldn't help crying out in shock.
"Good grief! What on earth is that monster?!" Hori cried out in alarm!
Daigo immediately pulled out the Spark Lens and transformed into Tiga!
Tiga delivered a flying kick straight to Cildron's neck. Feeling the pain, Cildron loosened its massive jaws, and Tiga smoothly caught Guts Wing 1, creating the illusion that Daigo had been rescued by Tiga.
After placing Guts Wing 1 down at a safe distance, Tiga turned to face Cildron, though the foul stench emanating from the Monster still assaulted Daigo's senses.
Seeing Cildron charging toward him, Daigo braved the stench and rushed forward to engage the enemy!
Tiga grabbed Cildron by the head with both hands and slammed his foot viciously into the Monster's body! Cildron let out successive roars of anger.
Cildron lashed out with a claw, knocking Tiga to the ground. Seeing that he had downed Tiga, the Monster immediately raised its foot and stomped down fiercely toward him!
Tiga rolled aside to dodge the attack, and Cildron, enraged that it had missed, roared and lunged at Tiga once more.
Seeing this, Tiga sprinted head-on toward Cildron, then leaped high into the air and kicked the Monster straight in the abdomen. The kick drove deep into Cildron's belly, but when Daigo tried to pull his leg back, he felt a powerful suction pulling at his leg!
At that moment, Cildron grabbed Tiga in a bear hug and opened its mouth to release a foul-smelling, dark green gas.
The stench instantly left Tiga dizzy and disoriented. After mustering all his strength, he finally managed to yank his leg free. Just then, the unexpected happened: Cildron grabbed Tiga's head with both hands and tried to shove him straight into its own belly!
In an instant, a powerful suction and an overwhelming stench washed over him!
Xiao Luuo, who had hurried over from afar, witnessed this scene and couldn't help frowning. Although Xiao Luuo was still far from the battlefield, he had already caught the stench of Cildron long ago. The moment he arrived at the scene and saw Daigo being pressed into the Monster's belly by Cildron, he almost threw up his dinner from the night before!
He immediately drew Zetton's card, knowing that this Monster had to be completely destroyed by fire, and since Cildron's regenerative cells had an ignition point of one thousand degrees, Zetton would be more than enough to handle it!
"Battle Niser! Activate! Hyper-Solidification! Space Dinosaur — Zetton!"
Zetton landed firmly on the ground, and the moment it touched down, it fired a One-Trillion-Degree Fireball straight at Cildron!
Cildron tried to dodge, but the fireball still struck its shoulder! In an instant, the area of impact was burned clean through, wisps of white smoke rising from the sizzling wound!
Smarting from the pain, Cildron released its grip on Tiga, finally freeing him.
Watching Tiga shake his head, Xiao Luuo knew that Daigo had been completely dazed by the stench.
Regaining his composure, Tiga looked at Zetton, which had saved him, and nodded. After all, Daigo knew that the fellow riding Melba in the sky was on humanity's side.
He turned his gaze back to Cildron, the creature that had almost choked him to death with its stench.
At that moment, Cildron was howling in agony, but a wisp of dark aura quickly surged into its body, and the shoulder wound blasted open by Zetton healed at a visible rate!
"It's here!" Xiao Luuo said, watching Cildron being invaded by the dark aura.
In the distance, Munakata and the others were momentarily stunned as they watched Cildron rapidly regenerate. Hori cried out in disbelief, "Good grief! It can even grow back from that?"
Gritting his teeth, Munakata issued an order: "Shinjo, are you ready?"
"Ready, on my way!" Shinjo was currently piloting Guts Wing 1 as it launched from the GUTS Base, speeding toward the battlefield equipped with a high-frequency wave generator and aluminum chaff dispensers.
Watching Cildron's rapid regeneration, Xiao Luuo ordered, "Zetton, hit it again!"
"Ze-tton!" Zetton acknowledged with a cry, launching another One-Trillion-Degree Fireball at Cildron. Yet when it struck the Monster, it simply burned right through as before, but Cildron regenerated at an even faster pace!
Seeing this, Tiga immediately gathered energy for the Zepellion Ray, but the beam was absorbed directly into Cildron's body upon impact!
"This is seriously annoying," Xiao Luuo muttered, touching the irregular blue crystal on his forehead.
Just then, Cildron charged toward Tiga and Zetton. Daigo, overflowing with a sense of justice, also rushed straight at Cildron!
However, fantasies are wonderful things; Tiga was immediately grabbed by Cildron and shoved back toward its abdomen. Enhanced by the dark aura, all of Cildron's stats had been upgraded, and its absorption speed had multiplied several times over.
Before even Xiao Luuo could react, Tiga was swallowed entirely into the Monster's belly. Cildron then let out a satisfied burp, and a puff of dark green gas escaped its mouth, mixed with traces of black vapor.
"Ultraman Tiga! He got eaten?!" Hori exclaimed in shock as he watched the scene unfold.
Xiao Luuo let out a swear word of his own and immediately prepared to transform, but then he saw an arm thrust out from Cildron's belly, followed by a second hand—it was Tiga!
Tiga strained with all his might, tearing a gaping hole straight through Cildron's belly, and leaped out. By now, Tiga had shifted into his Power Type, and the Color Timer on his chest was flashing continuously.
"Whatever, let's just treat this as a special training session for Daigo," Xiao Luuo muttered, putting the Spark Prism away. The fact that Tiga was able to break out of Cildron's belly after the Monster had been corrupted by the dark aura proved that Daigo was indeed growing stronger.
At that moment, the roar of an airplane engine echoed from afar—it was Guts Wing 1 piloted by Shinjo!
"Shinjo! Fly directly above the Monster! Scatter the aluminum chaff dispensers!" Munakata commanded.
"Shinjo, understood!"
Flying straight to Cildron's head, he began scattering the aluminum chaff dispensers, which caught Cildron's attention and made it look up.
"Oh no! Stop it, Zetton!" Xiao Luuo commanded instantly!
Receiving the order, Zetton vanished from its spot and reappeared directly behind Cildron, slamming a fist into the back of the Monster's head to draw its attention!
Tiga understood Xiao Luuo's intent as well, rushing forward to pin Cildron's arms!
Once the scattering of the aluminum chaff dispensers was complete, Xiao Luuo ordered Zetton to pull back, and Tiga likewise leaped out of Shinjo's operational zone!
As the high-frequency wave generator beamed down upon them, the aluminum chaff dispensers instantly triggered a high-heat reaction!
The rotting flesh on Cildron's body began to slough off in chunks, and it dropped heavily to one knee!
"So you're good at regenerating? Let's see if you can outpace your own regeneration! Zetton, keep firing the One-Trillion-Degree Fireballs!"
Following the command, Zetton continuously launched fireball after fireball at Cildron!
subjected to the intense heat of the aluminum chaff dispensers and Zetton's hyper-temperature fireballs, Cildron's body began to melt away gradually!
As time passed, the missiles that Cildron had swallowed began to leak out slowly!
Seeing this, Xiao Luuo immediately ordered Melba to rescue Shinjo's Guts Wing 1!
With the missiles falling away, a violent explosion echoed across the area, and Cildron perished completely in the blast.
In the final second before the explosion, Shinjo was scooped up by Melba as she pulled straight up into a vertical climb, escaping without a scratch.
Seeing that the Monster had been dealt with, Xiao Luuo recalled Zetton and left the battlefield. Tiga also soared high into the sky.