CHAPTER 22

MONSTER VS MONSTER 
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“Horny Granma, Silver Fork here. How you copy, milady?”

“Solid copy. Squad C and D are in position. 82/Spider MBT Company is just arrived, Sir. Less resistance in 6th.”

“Any issue?”

“Negative, Sir. I don't think we're needed here.”

“Advance to 5th. Open the way for 81/Cobra MBT Company. Regroup to main platoon if everything is under control. Over.”

Major Silver Fork, former navy seal operator who recently became the commander of the 3rd-34 DOME Company, assessed the situation after giving a brief command. Five out of eight portals had closed. He occupied himself to the worst portal that had been poorly mitigated after a dragon wiped out dozens of combat reconnaissance platoons and para-raiders from strategic reserves. The 7th that went out of control. There was neither heavy equipment nor artillery support, not even any route for the ground unit. The only backup available was para-raiders, who was doing tactical free fall from C-130 Hercules. Silver Fork didn't have any choice but to depend on infantry assets.

“Bravo Seven, Silver Fork here.” Tapping his radio, he contacted strategic reserves on the hill. “Any issue LT?”

“OPFORs are about to breach our boundary, Sir. We need CQC asset. At least 7.62mm machine gun or 50 call.”

“I will send backup on your position. You see yellow beacon behind me? New mission, LT. Secure LZ for para raider. Keep low profile. Clear any monster in sight. Are you copy?”

“Copy that.”

While making a tactical plan, sometimes Silver Fork shot his Tac-50 to protect a minotaur with the DOME combat uniform. The bullheaded monster kept swinging its axe to protect four humans in a skull mask. Preparation had been completed. Dozens of nine-meter-long ankylodrakes lay lifeless around them with their heads either chopped or holed by 50-cal. Hundreds of them remained around the portal. He had to do something, though the battle would not be easy.

“Shake a leg, boys. Clear a way for our Strategic Reserve. Regroup with Toro! Move! Move! Move!”

Four humans with a skull mask shot in the move to close their distance to the portal. The Taliban and Somali guys could kill several 9-meter-long monsters with layers of back armor with 7.62x51mm battle rifles while moving to a designated zone of action. A beacon with yellow smoke had been set. Para-raiders in the sky knew where they would land and immediately took action. Their flank became wider with fresh reinforcement. Showing how good he was as a former team six operator, Silver Fork's kept thinking fast and commanding.

“Vodka Bottle, breach their rank. Cover our left.”

“да сэр!”

“Spearhead One, cover both flanks. Seek for any long teasel. Leave the main course to Type B.” After radioing the Apache, Silver Fork tapped minotaur's butt and said, “onslaugt!”

”Pancakeeee!”

The bull monster easily dealt with several ankylodrakes by swinging his massive axe, chopping their heads with no effort. His strength was out of this world. Sometimes he punched the nine-meter-long monster in the head with his metallic knuckles. Obviously, as a modern soldier, the minotaur had a secondary weapon, a modified Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle with a pistol grip.

“Pancakeee!”

Boooom!

A rock monster died after getting shot from a short distance.

Hundreds of monsters tried to fight back. They surrounded the minotaur, who fought alone, not far from Silver Fork's squad. The enemy number was increased. All the monsters that previously roamed away from the portal have now come back. Fighting alone was not cool anymore. Silver Fork looked up at a Chinook while grabbing his radio.

“Why you guys so long?”

“I'm stuck. Cramped here, Commander.”

“Hurry up!”

Shouting “pancake,” two more minotaurs jumped from another twin-bladed helo. One of them held a similar weapon as the previous one, while the last minotaur held a ridiculously overkill weapon, a modified 20x102 M39A2 cannon with a huge bag of bullets and a chain belt. Several ankylodrakes died in one shot. Watching the way they fight, strategic reserves on the right flank gulped in awe.

“Jesus! It's shooting an aircraft gun!”

“Aircraft, what?”

“F5 Tiger's gun! You know? Air Force's oldies. They scraped the gun and modified it for monster!”

Despite their size, the minos had excellent agility. Two vanguards swiftly jumped and ran to chop enemies down while a rear played around with a jet fighter's cannon. Three minos and four DOME operators kept pushing a monster wave that was supposed to be handled by two or three companies with several armored vehicles. They even didn't have any issues when they fought a 54-meter-long meganodrake.

“Squad B, right flank. Move your asses.”

“Roger!”

Five more monsters jumped down the last helicopter with “Type-B” letter. This time they weren't minotaurs, but two-and-a-half-meter-tall orcs with M2 browning. All of them wore a large version of the DOME combat uniform with a Kevlar helmet and visor, helping strategic reserves defend their zone of action. They shot the heavy machine gun like a human shooting a rifle. Sometimes they landed a Muay Thai push kick when the enemy was too close. Once more, witnessing the way they fight, strategic reserves could not hold back their anxiety.

“Have they lost their minds? They recruit monsters and give the arms! Jesus! What if the monsters revolt?”

“Holy shit! Look at its size!”

While his subordinates chattered around, a first lieutenant from strategic reserve lost his mind. The DOME, a mysterious unit he had to cooperate with, showed so many bizarre things he had never thought of before. Paranoia became a common thing among soldiers who always fed on sovereignty doctrine. He fell in awe and fear at the same time. The orcs were huge and fierce.

“LT, Advance to the dome. I leave B-Squad to your command.” Silver Fork radioed.

“Can ... hmmm ... I command them?”

“Sure. They are soldiers.”

All their fear faded away when five orcs with private insignias saluted.

***

Sector 1, The Red Zone

The night began when NAS 322 Super Puma, a command helicopter where Lieutenant Colonel and Captain Nadine commanded the war, landed safely in Sector 1. The mission had been accomplished. All portals had vanished. But the entire army kept hunting for the remaining monsters, including 30 DOME personnel.

“Any issue, Major?”

“The portal remains active, Commander. 58 KIAs. Forgive me I haven't settled down to organize the troops.”

“Good job. Leave the rest on me.” He patted the Red Zone second-in-command on the shoulder.

Standing on the edge of the wall, the eccentric lieutenant colonel with a bullmask looked at the thousands of carcasses 20 meters below his feet. Sector 1 became a lake of blood and a pile of monster carcasses. Heavy vehicles were going back and forth, transporting those carcasses to Sector 3. At least 50 meganodrakes had been slain, and hundreds of C-rank monsters had piled up, or maybe thousands. The red zone was the most brutal, as it was the center of all portals. Even after hours, the main boss was nowhere to be seen. Bullhead's posture did not change, even though he saw rows of dead bodies among the soldiers.

Tuit tuit poop! Poop! Pooooop!

“What?” Called by someone, Bullhead held his junk phone.

“My fellow politician want to talk with you.”

“If he want to bitch around, I’m busy.”

“He insisted on any explanation, Pram. Why were there thousands of civilian casualties? My faction has explained everything. But he didn't get it at all. He wants to speak with you directly.”

“Tsk! Whatever.” The lieutenant colonel snorted with steam rising from the nose of his stupid mask. Showing an annoyed gesture, he waited for his good politician friend to hand over the phone to a bad politician fellow.

“What are you paid for, huh? My city was destroyed because of you! Thousands of civilians were killed!”

“You're asking for any explanation, Mr. dear politician?”

“Yes. Where is your responsibility?”

The bullhead snorted once more, taking a deep breath and shouting, “because mothefucker like you refused to evacuate civilians! What explanation you expecting for, bitch?”

“You insolent—

“Yes I am! Go fuck yourself!”

Poof! That magic words saved his time from an annoying pest.

The lieutenant colonel put his phone back and casually walked away, like everything was okay. He occupied his mind when he saw a large vortex in the tower. The dome's size had not been reduced at all after all excess portals had been cleared. Instead, it became larger, indicating that something dangerous lurked inside. Sector 1, on the other hand, kept doing the clearing process. The engineer unit's heavy vehicles had not finished yet removing the piles of monster carcasses and evacuating the KIAs.

The portal luckily had not shown any activity in the night, so the evacuation didn't encounter any threats. Several heavy-duty helicopters and forklifts also helped to clear the battleground and solidify the death toll. Since the attack began, Red Zone has lost more than 500 soldiers. Civilian casualties had exceeded a hundred thousand in two days. The disaster would definitely gain global attention.

“Commander, Silver Fork here. The package is with me.”

“Go ahead to Sector 3. Make him part of us. Remember, boy. He the last puzzle for our objective.”

***

Sector 3, part of the Red Zone, which usually served as a military base, became the busiest place after the president mandated martial law. Hundreds of rear-liners busied themselves with logistics and managerial elements to support front-line personnel who fought out there. Transport trucks and helicopters came and went under floodlights, strict protocols, and the hectic environment of the war zone. Dozens of spotlights pierced the night sky. Arriving with a black Chinook, Varg watched the spectacular view from the altitude. The Red Zone and all nearby military bases became a bright place while entire city was in blackout.

“You know what? We are no a people person.” Beside the door of a black Chinook that was about to land, Silver Fork turned at several wounded soldiers from strategic reserves. They seemed to keep their distance, even though had fought back to back with the DOME.

“People are afraid of things they don't know, Major. You know what things they don't know is? A bunch of weirdos with a stupid skullmask. I'm so surprised they're keeping their asses away.”

Silver Fork shrugged his shoulders at Varg's sarcastic remarks.

Once the Chinook landed, several medics surrounded the helos with their stretchers. They evacuated the wounded to the army medical center as soon as possible. Varg happily accepted it when a medical staff member gave him a crunch. His broken leg was so severe that his ridiculous regeneration ability didn't help much. At least he could move everywhere without embracing a random dude just to walk. As a royal prince with high esteem, bromance was not his thing.

However, when he saw dozens of dead bodies covered by Indonesian flags, he unconsciously saluted. Respect should be given to his warrior fellow, no matter what branch they were. Varg felt emotional. Seven years on earth eventually made him forget that he wasn't a human. He saluted once more when a lieutenant colonel with a stupid bull mask approached.

“512 Red Zone soldiers died for society who had never been taught to say thank you. More than a thousand died somewhere out there. Fighting against monsters is a dangerous business.”

“That's why the DOME was created? Saving human soldiers while putting us, immigrants, as cannon fodder?”

“Have you met the pancake lovers?”

Varg was a bit taken aback when the lieutenant colonel mentioned the three minos he fought with. To be precise, three Sigma Minos, the strongest minotaur species, were categorized as B-ranked monsters. He had no idea how the military tamed them and made them fight. They were even armed with modern weapons. Not to mention a bunch murderers behind the skull mask. The longer he thought about the DOME, the harder he got to comprehend it.

“Fighting against monsters is the worst business, boy. The military nightmare isn't oversized stupid creatures we can shoot. Our real enemy is money. Millions of dollars worth of ammunition have been spent for nothing. The DOME was created to reduce the bill. Even minotaurs know what their value is for humans. They love the earth and protect it as their new home. And pancakes.”

“I have taught the military to extract crystals and monsters' by-products. You will be hella rich after I say goodbye to the earth. What more are you expecting from me? Can you guys just let me go home?”

“You have a big mission in the future. More than to be a king.”

“So, I will remain as the DOME unit even though I am back in Valora and sitting on my throne?”

Bullhead didn't answer. He walked away and signaled for the prince to follow. With a crunch, splints, and whole leg bandages, Varg strolled down all the way to Sector 1. His skull mask obviously stole everyone's attention. He felt irritated that his obligation to the earth had no end.

“Are you okay, boy?”

“Never feel better, Commander. I can breakdance with two pins and 48 stitches in my leg. Do I look okay? Can you get me a wheel chair or something?”

“I will get you a hearse. Right to your sweetest funeral. Don't worry.”

“Thank you so much. I appreciate that.”

Luckily, the lieutenant colonel didn't head to the command tent atop a 20-meter-high wall. Instead, a military jeep picked them up and took them right in front of the tower. Varg was surprised to realize that the vortex wasn't fading away. Instead, it was getting bigger than before. The battle had not yet ended.

“Haven't the bosses crawled from stray portals? Even we fought with two dragons.”

“54 meter-tall Zilla in the first portal, 96-meter-long Wrym in the second, 76-meter-long Lindworm in the third, 64-meter-tall hydra in the fourth, 25 meter tall annoying Naga in the fifth, and two juvenile dragons in the sixth and seventh.”

Varg showed a disbelieving look when the commander mentioned all the A-ranked monsters that crawled out of stray portals. As a Valoran, he knew every single boss from the Dragona Army, each of which could destroy the entire kingdom. The disaster was bigger than he thought. He started to realize that the earth had been attacked by Dragona's entire army. In a sense, as a Valoran, Varg could guess what monster remained in the inter-dimensional portal, which had not yet come out for some reason.

It must be an A++ ranked monster of Dragona Army.

Or maybe S-ranked!

“We do know who sent them all to earth, don't we? With that kind of crime, do you think Walker will leave your homeland alone? Do you think you can put your ass on the throne with no worry at all? I will give you a secret, boy. The reason I built the DOME wasn't to deal with monsters.”

“Will the DOME be by my side if I wage a war with Walker?”

“You know every single DOME member has a grudge against Walker, don't you? Now move your ass. See the last merchandise they sent to us inside. We have no time.”

Elven Price, the only one who was able to peek and had radioactive immunity from the portal, entered the vortex with a camera. There was a boundary where Janus's authority didn't reach, so he could bring earthly stuff and peek from a safe distance. There was nothing but a silhouette of a gigantic monster inside. His prediction came true. After observing the monster and taking some pictures, Varg could describe how dangerous it was.

“250-meter-long King of the Land dragon. 72,000 tons, 5000–8000mm thick on the back and 3000mm on the abdomen. I don't think any weapon could scratch it.”