On the outskirts of Kasukabe, a few houses stood by the roadside, but the surroundings were desolate, giving off an inexplicable sense of abandonment.
At the end of the concrete road, there was a dilapidated shrine.
"This is it."
Chen Ran parked his vehicle, took off his helmet, and walked forward leisurely.
His target for this trip was inside the shrine!
According to ZECT's introduction, this Worm had originally mimicked the child adopted by the old shrine priest.
'Touched' by the love of the kind old man, or perhaps the child's longing for his family was so strong that he forgot his identity as a Worm.
This was the information learned by ZECT personnel in Saitama Prefecture.
And after the old man passed away.
With a drastic change in temperament...
Everything changed!
The heart belonging to the Worm occupied its spirit.
Shedding its human skin, it transformed into a Worm.
Completely... mad!
Unbeknownst to many.
Many people suffered and were harmed because of it.
As the strange occurrences grew more frequent.
The people in the vicinity couldn't stand it and temporarily fled. The ZECT branch responsible for the Saitama Prefecture area organized an Ant Soldier unit overnight to rush to the scene. They were unexpectedly attacked by an adult Worm, barely escaping annihilation, before the news was reported to headquarters. Such incidents had happened more than once in Saitama Prefecture.
Chen Ran's trip to Kasukabe was just one of them.
The elite squadron of ZECT headquarters, Phantom, was not far from here.
Chen Ran walked into the dilapidated shrine.
It was kept quite clean inside.
The Worm resided here, tidying up occasionally.
The scene of it being covered in cobwebs and falling apart, as Chen Ran had imagined, did not appear.
Hands in his pockets, he surveyed the surroundings.
He couldn't help but sigh inwardly: Old TV dramas have misled me.
And at this very moment, an incredibly swift sound of breaking air suddenly came.
Behind Chen Ran, a thick wooden plank.
It was thrown and hurled with immense force.
In just a moment, it had approached Chen Ran's back.
Chen Ran's eyes instantly sharpened.
With lightning speed.
He suddenly turned around!
All his strength was gathered in his right leg, and in a Rider Kick pose, he kicked at the rapidly flying wooden plank.
Crack...
Boom!
By continuously absorbing 'Hope Particles,' Chen Ran, whose evolution had reached Stage 2, had awakened the ability called Defense Reinforcement. This ability fed back to his body. While it couldn't withstand a Kamen Rider's finishing Rider Kick, his body's sturdiness had increased by an immeasurable amount.
If this wooden plank had hit someone, they would have been disoriented.
But Chen Ran counterattacked with his own mortal body.
The impact force fed back seemed not too great.
'Phew, my physical fitness has improved by more than a little. This is only Stage 2, my path of evolution is still long...'
His starry eyes looked towards the outside of the shrine, and Chen Ran's heart was filled with emotion!
Become stronger!
Surpass everything...
This was the long-held wish in his heart.
A strange green figure appeared in his sight.
It was an adult Worm, whose original form was a firefly.
It let out a strange cry and walked towards Chen Ran step by step.
Chen Ran had already equipped the crimson Decade Driver at his waist.
He inserted the transformation card taken from the card holder into it with his right hand.
"Henshin!"
"Kamen Ride..."
"Decade!"
With a flash of light and shadow.
A pink Kamen Rider Decade appeared.
Chen Ran wiped his sword and advanced with a few steps.
Then he thrust his sword outwards.
The adult firefly raised its right arm. The luminous part of the firefly seemed to condense a mass of strange energy and sprayed it towards Decade. Chen Ran did not meet it head-on. He reacted with extreme agility, ducking to avoid the energy attack, and then switched tactics—
The Ride Booker in his hand was extremely agile.
It danced like a butterfly.
He changed the straight thrust into an upward slash.
As he rose, the sharp blade swept across the adult Worm's body from bottom to top, creating sparks.
The adult firefly let out a strange cry and retreated in pain...