Chapter Fifteen: The Uprising in the Monster Graveyard

Time slipped by, second by second. The length of day and night on this planet was drastically different from Earth, with the alternation between light and darkness occurring at a dizzying pace. Five minutes of Earth time equated to a full day and night here.

Over a hundred days and nights passed, and Yue Longze seemed to have adapted to the gravity—one hundred times that of Earth—moving as freely as Zero himself.

"Good job, kid! Looks like you've gotten used to this one-hundredfold gravity," Zero suddenly leapt down from a rock.

"Yeah, I’ve basically adjusted," Yue Longze replied, stretching his limbs. The diamond-shaped crystal on his forehead gleamed even more brilliantly.

"Since you’ve more or less acclimatized..." Zero glanced at the stars above, then continued, "Next, you’ll adapt to it completely!" His tone suddenly grew stern.

"Alright."

"Enough talk. Run two hundred kilometers first, then do one hundred push-ups and two hundred sit-ups!"

"Understood." Yue Longze showed no trace of displeasure. To defeat the demon Zoda, all of this was worthwhile. A strong body was an essential quality for a powerful Ultra Warrior.

He ran lap after lap around the narrow planet.

Who knew how many laps it took, but the intimidating two hundred kilometers were nearly finished. Yue Longze now felt utterly exhausted, gasping for breath, his limbs heavy and weak.

The planet’s surface was covered with gravel, and each lap he ran kicked up clouds of dust.

At last, after the final kilometer, Yue Longze collapsed to the ground. If not for the blue light shining from the timer on his chest, one might have thought he’d died.

"Hey, get up!" Zero gently patted Yue Longze’s cheek.

"I can’t… I really need to rest for a moment," Yue Longze protested weakly, pushing Zero’s hand away.

"Do monsters give you time to rest? Will Zoda give you time to rest!"

Yue Longze was stunned.

He noticed that Zero was extraordinarily strict during training, but at other times, he was almost humorous, carrying himself as if nothing in the world could trouble him.

"Sorry. I understand."

Gritting his teeth, Yue Longze forced himself to his feet despite the aching weakness in his legs.

Suddenly, a gentle light flowed into his legs, and the soreness instantly eased.

"Huh?"

"Continue training," Zero said, moving his hand away from Yue Longze’s legs and leaning against a nearby rock.

"Right!" Yue Longze immediately dropped down and started his push-ups. One, two, three… sixty-one… sixty-nine…

...

A sinister laugh echoed in the air.

"Who’s there?" Zero lowered his crossed arms and looked up into the sky.

Yue Longze, hearing this, was about to get up and see what was happening.

"Stay down. Leave everything to me! No one will interrupt your training," Zero declared with authority.

"Wow, that’s forceful..." Yue Longze muttered, a little speechless.

Three black dots in the distant sky rapidly grew larger.

They had compound eyes like cicadas and pincers like lobsters.

"Are those Baltan aliens?" Yue Longze observed the newcomers as he continued with his push-ups.

Zero’s red-and-blue figure stepped protectively in front of Yue Longze. "You must finish your push-ups before I deal with these three! Otherwise, you’ll do two hundred more!"

Recalling how Zero had dispatched Melba in just two seconds, Yue Longze hastened his pace. "Seventy-three... seventy-four..." he counted carefully.

"Come and face my wrath!" Zero deftly detached his twin axes, merging them into a single ice axe.

Wielding the long axe, Zero charged forward.

The three Baltan aliens fired destructive white energy blasts from their pincers, the beams roaring towards Zero with tremendous force.

Zero’s body moved undeterred, swinging his ice axe and cleaving through the incoming energy blasts with ease.

Seeing Zero’s advance, the Baltans didn’t retreat. Instead, each split into multiple attacking duplicates—not mere illusions, but real, dangerous clones. With all three multiplying, Zero was immediately beset from all sides.

Blows rained down from every direction. Zero raised his ice axe, swiftly parrying each attack.

Clang! The axe met the Baltans’ pincers with a metallic ring.

"Hmph, mere tricks!" Zero’s voice rumbled as a blue flash streaked past. Suddenly, a blue-patterned Ultra Warrior—the Lunar Miracle Form—stood before the Baltans.

Zero: Lunar Miracle Form!

He crossed his arms over his chest. A surge of blue light erupted, instantly dispelling every Baltan duplicate.

"So this is the Lunar Miracle Form, fusing the powers of Dyna and Gaia..." Yue Longze thought as he continued his push-ups.

With the clones vanquished, Zero reverted to his normal form. Twin axes merged again, he resumed his battle with the Baltan aliens, shielding Yue Longze from their attacks.

"Eighty-eight... eighty-nine..." Yue Longze struggled on.

An Ultra Warrior doing push-ups while a group of aliens and an Ultraman fought nearby—it was an absurd sight.

"Ninety-seven... ninety-eight..."

"Disappear, all of you!" Zero mounted the ice axe on his chest timer, converting its energy into an immense beam. The thick ray swept over the Baltans, reducing them to dust in an instant.

"Ninety-nine... one hundred!" As the Baltans were obliterated, Yue Longze completed his hundredth push-up.

He sat down on the gravel, gasping for air.

"No dawdling—finish the two hundred sit-ups!" Zero teased, giving Yue Longze a gentle kick.

"Alright, alright, I’m going." Yue Longze quickly found a flat spot and lay down to begin his sit-ups.

The Baltans were merely an interlude; Yue Longze's special training had to continue. Ultimately, it would be up to him to defeat Zoda...

———

Above the Land of Light, a colossal, evil figure loomed, casting its shadow over half the planet.

"You shall all be destroyed by me!" Zoda's monstrous body twisted grotesquely, the sinister horns on its head emitting a constant aura of bloodthirsty evil.

Father of Ultra stood beneath Zoda, with the original Ultra Seven and the other Ultra Brothers behind him.

"Zoda, the Ultra race will never let you succeed!" Father of Ultra, clad in his red cape, spoke with a deep, firm voice, showing no fear before such overwhelming evil.

"Soon, I shall descend completely!" Zoda’s image gradually faded, leaving behind only a lingering sense of dread.

"This is bad—the Monster Graveyard has erupted in chaos!" Taro’s Ultra Signature rang out from the sky.

"To the Monster Graveyard!"

Zoffy, leader of the Ultra Brothers and the Intergalactic Defense Force, gave the order, and they all flew toward the Monster Graveyard.