PROLOGUE

ART IS AN EXPLOSION

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“We’re under attack! I say again! We're under attack! All unit, get into your position! This is not a drill!”

In 2030, 25 years after their first invasion against humanity, thousands of soldiers were dispatched for a war they had never thought of. A long series of emergency sirens sounded across their respective bases. Thousands of civilians lost their lives when several black domes appeared in the thin air. Followed by the appearance of thousands of huge monsters, the entire city became a battlefield. The portal break was so severe that the military sent the most notorious unit.

“Butcher One, how you copy?”

Radioed by a woman, a strange soldier with a skull mask shifted his gaze from the scope. “Solid, 43 Ankys and three Magnas are monitored.” He answered with a low and heavy voice. “Many big guys here. Any backup on the way?”

“3rd Platoon 1st Marine Cavalry Brigade is in your position. They will be late. Hang in there until their arrival. Any issue, Sergeant?”

“Negative. Just don't make me wait.”

Thick smoke soared high when artillery salvos rained down on the urban landscape. Several C-130 air transports flew back and forth, sending paratroopers to their designated zones of action. The strange soldier crouched with an anti-material rifle amidst the chaos. He was tasked with dealing with a portal alone, while other units brought at least a company and several mechanized assets.

How dangerous the enemy was?

Fighting against them was like fighting against armored vehicles. The smaller monster, Ankylodrake, was a nine-meter-long reptile that resembled a horned-headed Ankylosaurus with multi-layered calcium armor. The thickness of their backs made it impossible to penetrate with a standard-caliber bullet. Their tail was equipped with a spiky ball that would turn any human into minced meat. The skull-masked soldier nonetheless brought a big gun that was designed to penetrate modern steel.

“I love this gun.”

Bang!

Siiiinkkkk!

A lipstick-sized projectile rushed off from the Barrett M82-ME3 muzzle. Spinning through the air at two and a half times the speed of sound, it struck an anky's head like nothing. The 50-cal open-tip jacketed round penetrated the skin and easily made a hole through the skull. A whooping 18,000 joules of kinetic energy destroyed its brain. Another anky dropped to its knees from hundreds of meters away.

“One down, two down, I can do it all day long.”

“Neutralize them all, Sergeant. Keep low profile.”

“Understood.”

Clack!

He cocked the gun after reloading the magazine. More monsters died every time he pulled the trigger. His accuracy was somewhat unrealistic. He could easily deal with miliradian dots on his scope by measuring wind direction, gravity deviation, and bullet drift through the air. The stupid monsters had no idea what kind of predator had hunted them all.

“Half of Ankys are on the move, Ma'am. They just destroyed a nice-looking house out there. Oh Yggdrasil. The insurance company won't be happy to see this.”

“Your god won't hear your prayer on earth.”

“And your god sent me to clean their shit.”

“Yes, clean it up. Keep your perimeter intact.”

The soldier continued the one-sided killing spree in his sniper nest. However, several Magnaterras, a species of rock monster whose bodies were as big as a house, blocked his targets. He changed his position to find a strategic firing position. The rock monsters nevertheless kept photo-bombing his sight, leaving no choice but fighting head-on.

“Tsk! They're pain in the ass.”

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Pest control. What else? Can you see their movement? Help me check if there any Einstein around.”

He left M82-ME3 and picked up KEL-TEC KSG. The bulp-up shotgun would be the best choice for close-quarter combat. He also checked on a desert eagle and kissed its muzzle. Magnaterra was a slow monster that had characteristics like a sheel. It was hard on the outside but soft on the inside. They were a nice target to be fitted with explosives with their snail-like maximum speed.

“I didn't spot any deinodrake, Sergeant. Kill them all and impress me. I like a real man with a paycheck.”

“Woman ....”

The skull-masked soldier casually ran to the enemy's position, ignoring some ankys that rushed to kill him. He could die if they flicked their tails. No normal soldier dared to fight close-quarter combat against a biological meat grinder. Not to mention so many of them. The elite soldier quickly climbed up a magnaterra and prepared plastic explosives from his vest. Textured like a clay toy, C-4 could be shaped at will. The elite soldier attached a block of C-4 to Magnaterra's joints after shaping them like a man's genitals.

A wireless detonator had been attached. However, seven or eight ankylodrakes swelled him on each side, making it Impossible to blow it right away. He predicted the situation, fortunately. The soldier guy grabbed his shotgun and slid to the crowd with a parkour-like movement.

Bam!

Bam!

A point-blank shot slapped an ankylodrake jaw from below, destroying the whole section of its thinnest scale. A 12-gauge shell tore its neck like a firecracker in a thin can. It needs a couple shots to kill it. Escaping the stampede of five to eight tons of otherworldly beasts, the soldier guy kept rolling. All his senses became more sensitive. Time seemed to slow down when several more monsters ganged him up.

“Get over here, you bitches!”

He slid beneath a fully C-4-ed magnaterra and lured other monsters around. He crouched like a baby to find a way out. Of course, he had put several explosives along the way. Grabbing C-4 detonator, he walked casually while imitating an anime villain.

“Art is an explosion.”

Boom!

*****

By the way, I have a plan to make a comic from this fiction

What do you think?