CHAPTER 24

WALKING DISASTER

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“Leave your weapons! Save your lives!”

“Run!”

“Keep away from ammos! Move!”

Boom!

Booooom!

Titanodrake's breath created a disastrous effect when it neared artillery shells and cooked them off. The ammunition blew up. They scattered thousands of shrapnel in all directions, killing and injuring several soldiers. Shockwaves from high-explosive rounds added more collateral damage. In a mere second, death toll rose sharply, leaving so many dead bodies in the battleground.

The fire pillar's diameter began to shrink as the oxygen could no longer keep up with its oxidation needs. The dozen-meter-wide inferno stream became a thin, three-meter-wide beam, directed from Titanodrake's mouth toward the boundary wall, barricades, vehicles, artillery, and some unlucky soldiers. The death toll kept rising.

Air defense personnel panicked as the blast rose to the top of the wall. All the AA guns were instantly roasted. The attack even hit the outer sector of the Red Zone when Titan tried to stand. The retaliation was insane. The situation became dangerous when the beam of flames slowly directed toward the army medical center. Hundreds of wounded people would be burned to death.

Instinctively, Varg fell into despair. His bond to the military was deeply rooted. His heart was boiling. However, when he was about to do something, a crazy guy tapped his shoulder, asking him to stay still.

“Leave it to me, boy. I wasn't joking around when I said I could deal with it myself.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Yes I am. Be a crazy guy like me if you strong enough.”

The lieutenant colonel took a deep breath. Gradually, tribal tattoos sprung all over his skin. A thick black smoke was also visible from his body. His aura gave everyone an uneasy feeling, including the monster. Varg had wide eyes when the commander aura's somehow diverted Titanodrake's attention.

“Bring it on, bitch!”

“Shit! Run!”

Varg and several officers moved away as fast as they could when the commander casually walked toward the flame. Gesturing a T-pose, the lieutenant colonel faced the Titan’s breath head-on, making his uniform completely gone. Thousands of degrees of fire engulfed his skin. However, when part of the wall melted away, the lieutenant colonel's silhouette took a stance in the middle of the flame. He then blew a punch into the air that was so fast that his movements seemed to blur. At the same time, it was so powerful that his punch caused a series of sonic booms.

“He is not a human!”

“Do you think those armed monsters want to be led by a human? He became the commander of the DOME for a reason. He is a monster in a human skin!”

The barrage of air pressure tore the air, creating a chain of shockwaves that easily broke the flames from Titanodrake's mouth. The blast reversed direction. The blow even slapped a giant monster, like a husband slapping his wife when she was caught installing Tinder.

The monster froze in confusion. The lieutenant colonel, at the same time, seemed to panic, looking around to get something. He walked back to the command tent after picking up something to cover his face that almost got revealed.

“Boy, how good is your driving skill?”

“What vehicle?”

“Tank.”

“I can drive it without missing a single civilian car to run over, Sir. Can you get dressed?”

“No need.”

Covering his face with an ammunition box, a nude lieutenant colonel ruffled his waist. Varg was amazed by his commander, who didn't have any shame at all.

Whatever.

“Speak up, Einstein.” He pointed at a huge lizard that tried to run away.

“Our attack has successfully depleted its mana layer, Commander. Titanodrake now depends on its biological traits. And that part is the weak point. Its thickness is only 800mm of membrane and several layers of 130mm steel equivalent scales. Its weakness is exactly the same as Meganodrake's.” Varg drew on the tablet screen to show the weakness of the Titan. After being barraged by the whole firepower, a thin section hidden under the chin was revealed. A 120-mm DU-APFSDS will do the job.”

However, as the Ammo Boxhead wore his new uniform, an officer reported bad news.

“Leopard ammunition is depleted, Commander. Only two depleted uranium APFSDSs remain.”

Of course, the war costs were expensive. A single 120-mm shell costs around 8,000 US dollars. That was the average price of a family car. The stock was not much, and neither was the ammunition for other weapons. Everything ran out while the monster remained alive.

Crack!

“Sir, we're in trouble.” An officer panicked when he saw the commotion in the distance.

The monster accidentally destroyed the side of the tower as it ran away from a killing zone. The earth trembled when it tried to climb a 20-meter wall and destroyed another thinner boundary. Some parts of the Sector 3 garage were destroyed. A whole section of “immigrant” residents in Sector 4 was being flattened. Everything it stomped into became omelets.

“Tsk! Regional Command will get more homeworks.” The lieutenant colonel took a breath softly, as if it were all his fault.

As an important structure to tie the inter-dimensional portal in one place, the ethereal tower's magnetic property would malfunction if the tower were damaged. It showed a dire effect as portals sprang up on each side of the Red Zone. Even outside the region. Looking at how bad the situation was, Ammo Boxhead contacted Brigadier General Jimmy, who stayed at central headquarters.

“We got a trouble.”

“What?”

“Well, the big guy has a sense of art. It just carved the tower.”

There was silence in the moment. Brigadier General Jimmy's sigh could be heard as he understood how serious the situation was. “I'll ask Regional Command and Provincial Police Department to prolong the operation. Lead the troops once more. And use any means to neutralize the boss.”

“Yes, commander!”

As the communication ended, a black Chinook approached and floated one meter away from the helipad. It resumed to fly after dropping two human figures with skull masks. One of them was Major Silver Fork. Another one was a 140-cm-tall female figure that seemed to be a girl in her puberty. She acted like a decent soldier when she stood in at ease. However, when she shifted her gaze to an Elven Prince, her behavior became different.

“So, you're the new guy, huh?”

“Yes, Ma'am. My pleasure to meet you.”

“You looks weak. Are you really a type-C like me?”

***

In the Red Zone's outer gate, Varg felt annoyed at a female figure who kept staring at him. Her body language was obvious. As a royal prince, her arrogant manner was so familiar. His first impression was bad and has now become worse. However, she was a lieutenant. Varg could not shoo her away like a dog no matter how arrogant her was.

“I'm a princess. A beautiful princess. Kneel before me, peasant.”

“Oh, it's that so?” Bowing, Varg maintained his tone as humble as possible. “Pardon me, Your Royal Highness. Have you had your first period?”

“I ain't a middleshooler! I'm older than your mom! Mind your words!”

Varg scanned her underdeveloped body with a sarcastic manner. “I can see it.”

“You!”

“Please behave, milady.” Silver Fork reprimanded her temper. Shifting his gaze at Varg, he pointed at a familiar tube in the car. “This is Vodka Bottle's favorite toy. Are you sure we can kill it?”

Varg glanced at a 9M113 Корнет (Kornet), a Russian anti-tank guided missile with tandem heat and a thermobaric warhead. The “уничтожение монстров” letter indicated that the ATGM was solely used to destroy monsters. Titanodrake wasn't dead yet, despite its miserable state after experiencing the welcoming party. Using MBT wasn't a good choice. They needed more agile vehicles to catch the boss.

“Affirmative, Commander. You know why the United States dropped a $400,000,000 bomb on a big guy? Their invurnability against smaller weapons. We're lucky enough to have barraged it after destroying its protective layer with piles of explosives. This Russian puncher will end its career.”

“You know your stuff, huh? No wonder our Commander keeping an eyes on you.”

After matching their watch and testing their communicator, Silver Fork jumped behind the wheel of the P6 ATAV, an Indonesian-made all-terrain attack vehicle that was heavily customized for the DOME. Its engine was a customized version that could reach more than 120 km/h, and suspension and maneuverability were upgraded as well. Its roof was also equipped with an M314 minigun that was loved by Special Forces.

Varg's ability to read mana flow was needed to kill Titanodrake's only weakness. Horny Granma, a female lieutenant who claimed herself as a princess, sat in the back seat with piles of RPG-7 warheads. Her role was needed to scalp Titanodrake's remaining scales. Varg glanced at her with so many questions in his mind. Looking at a red glow on her visor, he guessed what species she was.

“What? Interested in me? Know your place, peasant.”

“Ah, forgive me, Your Royal Highness. I just wondering how many years I spent in jail touching someone like you.”

“I'm a mature lady! Mind your words!”

“I've kept that in mind, my princess. You're mature enough to put aside your nobility bullshit in our important mission. Ding, ding, ding!”

Silver Fork could not hold back his giggles when the prince toyed around with the princess. “Stay focus, Soldiers. Hold back your sexual tension.” Seeing the gigantic lizard's silhouette, he turned at Varg and asked, “situation?”

“Its recent speed is 30 kilometers per hour, Commander. And it increases by 10 km/h every hour as it starts to adapt to gravity.”

“Let's test the water.”

Varg gulped when the car followed the monster's steps from behind. They passed the rubble of the building where the monster had stepped. Silver Fork's driving skill was insane. The tactical vehicle swooped in swiftly between the crawling dragon's steps, maneuvering among scattered obstacles. There were dozens of meters of gaps between Titanodrake's legs and almost ten meters of height from its belly to the ground. And it was fairly dark below, so the car's headlights should have been on.

“One wrong move, and we'd be a sheet of meat jerky, hahaha!” Horny Granma laughed like maniac.

Under the big monster's steps, Silver Fork remained unfazed. He drove the car relaxedly in the deadliest race in the world. Despite being a human, the former Navy Seal showed a remarkable mentality that could not be cheated by any magic. Pain and death weren't middle schoolers' playthings. They became something that a soldier should be friends with. Particularly to the DOME soldier who fought a gigantic monster like they ate their breakfast.

“Do your job, milady. Smoke it.”

***

Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт, Ruchnoy Protivotankovyy Granatomot, or simply RPG-7, was a terrible weapon to begin with. Particularly shooting it from a moving vehicle. Due to the design of the warhead, its trajectory could be pushed by the wind by a noticeable margin. Shooting up with the GSh-7VT warhead was too challenging. Horny Granma seemed to have difficulty, so she asked for help from a guy who kept toying with her.

“Hug me tight, Sergeant. Don't take advantage of my kindness.”

“Your underdeveloped body awaken my fatherly instinct.”

“Shut up! Just hug me!”

Of course, RPG-7 had a backblast that shooting up would likely damage their car. Varg hugged her sleder body when she leaned out of the car. Horny Granma also asked him to point at a certain scale to shoot. One shot away, one of the scales fell to the ground with a loud clang.

“Reload it, Sergeant. Hurry up.”

Titanodrake stopped walking after its scales fell off like leaves. Her shooting skill was no joke. She could accurately calculate all variables on her shot like a computerized fire control. The fifth blast should hurt. Major Silver Fork stomped the pedal gas when their position had been spotted.

“Graaaawwwww!”

The car rushed quickly through the ruins of the Dead Town. Titanodrake's movements were getting faster as it adapted, but not enough to catch up with the car. Horny Granma casually picked up a phosphorus grenade and threw it on the side of the road. As a reptile, the huge monster should have a Jacobson organ to monitor heat trails, like an infrared camera. The giant lost track due to the explosion of a phosphorus grenade. It stopped wandering when the car hid behind the rubble in the dead town.

“Your turn, Sergeant. Show me what you made of.”

Varg came out carrying the Russian made ATGM with a nasty warhead. Behind a pile of rubble, he put the Kornet launching tube on a tripod after setting up its CLU (Command Launch Unit). The ATGM was a highly accurate weapon with a beam-reading guiding system that followed a laser trajectory towards the target, even the small spot under the Titanodrake's neck. Despite its lower price, against monsters, Kornet was a better choice than fire and forget ATGM like the FGM-148 Javelin.

“Target body's heat is lower than surroundings. Give it some work out.” He radioed.

“Roger that!”

While Varg rolled CLU's analog and peeked through its crosshair, his teammate baited the lizard to a place they had set. Silver Fork drove swiftly. He trolled a monster as long as 20 interprovincial buses, while Horny Granma ticked it with the M134 minigun. Her shot always hit right into the monster's torn neck.

“I've done, here. Drive it to the spot.”

“Situation?”

“Not yet. Throw anything to piss it off.”

“Incendiary?”

“Good idea.”

“Got it. Standby, Junior. We will bait this guy to your direction.”

“Understood.”

Getting trolled on and on, Titanodrake lost its temper. The car dodged, fired, and toyed with the giant monster. It was completely pissed off when Horny Granma threw a phosphorus grenade at its mouth. Finally, a kilometer away from him, the beast stopped with its neck raised.

“Butcher One, Your turn.”

“Solid God-damned Copy ....”

A ray of light emerged from the titanodrake's mouth. The beast looked up, its neck rising high, preparing to spit a huge pilar of fire. The mana flow were gradually seen on Varg eyes. It was only a few seconds until the dragon burst into flames. The prince didn't wasting time. He pressed the trigger of the missile after the target was about to burn everything down.

“Fox Two!”

Thud!

Wuuzzzzz!

The Kornet missile exited the tube, pushed by its booster, a few yards away from Varg's position. It was the initial launch of safety distance before the thrusters accelerated. The 26-kg missile flew rapidly with peculiar movement, following the red, yellow, blue, and green segments of beam guidance. Varg kept peeping at the CLU crosshair to maintain its trajectory. He had to make sure to hit the tiny spot, Titanodrake's most sensitive part, that could generate a chain reaction. The missile traveled a kilometer in four seconds. Once the tip was attached, the reactive system kicked in.

The missile activated the first warhead that was designed to destroy the main battle tank's reactive armor. Instantly, the last layer of Titanodrake's thick, granite-hard neck scale fell off. The first blast was followed by a second explosion that had a terrifying effect when the Monroe effect was activated. The warhead injected molten metal at a speed of a dozen kilometers per second. Even 1200mm of modern steel could be penetrated. The Titanodrake muscle membrane was torn like butter with a hot knife, followed by a huge blast that tore its flesh from the inside.

Boooooom!

The earth shook when the monster died with a large hole in its neck.

“Direct. Mission accomplished.”