CHAPTER 13
DON'T DIE
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Many person had speculated about Ethereal since the connection of the two realms. Scientists hypothesized that the world was a planet in a distant galaxy. They said that the portal was some sort of wormhole. After all, Earth and Ethereal had many similarities. Especially in terms of biodiversity. Animals from Earth might be found on Ethereal, albeit slightly different for two reasons.
The first reason was the atmosphere. The air in Ethereal had a unique particle called mana. This element allowed their creatures to defy the laws of physics and biology. It was Mana that played a big part in making their evolutionary path a bit different from their earthly counterpart. Particularly their size. However, there was another reason that drastically changed their biological traits.
It was dimensional portal. Ethereal had been linked to another world long before connected to Earth. For thousands of years, new species migrated from their world to Ethereal. Some of them completely changed the ecosystem by invading local species. Some did cross-mate. That was how Ethereal's biodiversity was too wonderful for earthlings.
Of course, some of the portals were too dangerous to be opened the way they were.
“My mana is running out! I need potion!”
“Share Mana potion! Quickly!”
On the south side of the Valora Border, dozens of mages sat cross-legged. They were portal mages working on the deepest side of the Dragona Cave. Their task was simple. The mages built an artificial portal that covered the dragon's dome. It had been 24 straight hours since they had been asked to work like horses.
“Tsk! I won't work to that guy anymore.”
Among the exhausted mages, Count Vardant sat like a boss. His eyes were swollen because of a lack of sleep. Supervising the Janus mage was boring and tiring. And as time passed, the size of the dome grew bigger and bigger. They had to reroute the dragon army way out to another place. And their destination was Surabaya's Red Zone.
“Your Highness, it's getting out of control. Surabaya could be destroyed.”
“Yeah, I know that. Just keep going.” He answered with a flat face.
“Earth's military will not be able to handle this, Your Highness. They're mere mortals.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. We have no choice, anyway. Send them to earth, or we will be their breakfast. I don't think you guys will sacrifice yourself for heroic bullshit.”
Dozens of Janus magi were already exhausted. Making a portal was like building infrastructure. Some mages built an artificial dome border to imprison the dragon army. Another mage built an inter-dimensional tunnel that connected to the earth. It was a crazy load of work before the disaster could be released.
Even Count Vardant, who knew nothing about portals, understood the way they worked. The dragon army was countless, far greater than before Holy Maiden closed it. Wyvern alone could reach ten thousand. They were named disasters for a reason. All kingdoms on the Boriella continent would be completely wiped out if they were released. Count Vardant began to tremble as he realized he was the direct cause of the destruction.
“Your Highness. It's done. The dragon army is on the way to earth.”
***
2nd Perimeter, Sector 1
“At ease!”
Step!
Nine scary-looking enlisted men stepped in unison when the prince acted as their commander. Putting his hand in his back, the first sergeant walked back and forth to inspect their gear. Varg wasn't nervous at all. As a future king, the blood of the leaders flowed through his veins.
“Listen up, ladies! Nobody asked you to be a hero. Even if you die here, society will stay as it used to be. Your sacrifices are not even worth their TicToc content. The military is always hated by human rights bullshit!”
Some of his men bit their lips in anger. That was how the military treated by everyone they protected for.
“Generations nowadays believe more in social media than the real facts they see with their eyes, which are contaminated with piles of internet crap. Nobody will mourn your death except your own family. Die for them! Die for the only one who treats you as a human!”
“Woraaaaa!”
Varg smiled when their morale pierced the sky. Luckily, his men were all handpicked by the Lieutenant Colonel from the Strategic Reserve. They weren't just random snowflakes who joined the armed forces to play around. They were all the real deal.
“I tell you, ladies. You may not be a handsome guy like me. But under my command, you will be a badass. Understood?”
“Yes sir!”
“Good. Now move your ass.”
Amidst the hectic atmosphere of Sector 1, several Bell 412s landed and flew to drop more soldiers. The portal anomaly report was taken seriously by Brawijaya V Regional Military Command. Reinforcements kept coming. Most of them were from the 501st Strategic Reserve. The number of troops in Surabaya's red zone doubled from what it used to be.
The Red Zone was primarily a defense operation consisting of various units, and the scale depended on the tower, ranging from company to battalion. Surabaya's Red Zone had two battalions and was supposed to be led by a major. However, since the bullhead was the highest rank and the condition was unusual, Brigadier General Jimmy had asked him to take command.
***
Command Tent, Sector 1
“What's the scale?”
“Back to delta three, lieutenant colonel. And it keep raising,” said the major. “I have asked marine corps to send tactical reinforcement.” He talked while pointing at several helicopters in the sky.
The bullhead gesture became serious behind his bare-chested style. His demeanor was no longer clumsy because the delta-three code was quite high. The letter indicated the highest rank of the monster, while the number indicated the percentage of their appearance, with a scale between five and one. The smaller the number, the more frequent it was. And the number three means that D-rank monsters were sure to appear frequently.
In brief, the situation was quite dangerous since E-rank monsters rarely come out. The appearance of D-rank was definitely a full alert for the Red Zone's capacity. And things got even more dangerous when an officer delivered another report.
“The scale has reached delta one, Commander! And keep rising.”
“Preparation?”
“All barricades are up. The monsters will be out in 30 minutes.”
The longer the time lag until the dome arrives, the larger the monster wave. There was also more planning before the creatures emerged. There was simply a fuzzy vortex surrounding the tower, and it twitched as though ready to give everyone nightmares.
***
“The portal is orange-edged, Commander. Last scale was on the Charlie Five!”
“Contact City Mayor and police department. Evacuate general public. Execute!”
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“Yes Sir!”
Bullhead girded his loins at the end of the 20-meter wall. He was unconcerned as he saw the tower vortex transform into a dome. The dome had already grown to 40 meters in diameter, indicating that the monsters about to emerge were not to be ignored. Regardless, trenches had been dug. Barricades had been erected to shield soldiers on the front lines. Steel spikes and barbed wire had also been deployed to deter the attempt. The Lieutenant Colonel did not lead the zone out of range half-heartedly.
“Commander, Provincial police department has mobilized the SWATs. It's just that the permit is blocked. Local council and city government are busy arguing. They don't want the economy to collapse if people are evacuated.”
“Tsk! Politicians are all talk. Put up all the cameras. Keep all recordings of our conversations with policymakers.”
“Sir yes sir!”
The bull-masked lieutenant colonel's waist ruffled, and his manner was very different from his typical one, which resembled a barbarian. He didn't want to be confined inside the tent. As he commanded thousands of Red Zone soldiers, his stance remained calm.
“Have you ever experienced war?” He shouted on the speaker at the soldiers below.
Hundreds of soldiers had already entered their respective zone of actions. Several cannons were aimed at the vortex, and all units stood guard. Infantry, field artillery, engineering, and even the S&T in charge of ammunition delivery were all prepared. Bullhead spoke up again, this time pointing to the multitude of cameras that surrounded Sector 1.
“Your bravery is being recorded by CCTV! If you die, die with style!”
“Uwooooo!”
The portal's gurgling has stopped. When a dark ring developed, the vortex slowed. The ring grew wider and wider, followed by hundreds more monsters crawled out of dimensional portal.
Ssstttt!
Creeeeeeks!
“Fire!”
Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat!
Boooom!
The sound of gunfire echoed loudly from hundreds of battle rifles, shredding hundreds of monsters as soon as they came out of the portal. The sound of explosions echoed among the monsters. The massacre ritual had begun. Although, their opponents weren't usual at all.
“Cover me! Damnit! My MG is jammed!”
“They're so many!”
As it turned out, their numbers were unexpected. Hundreds of monsters poured in like a tsunami. The soldiers' faces began to panic because the wave was far too big.
***
1st Perimeter, Sector 1
“Slaughter them! Citizens' lives are in your hands!”
Sector 1 was almost three kilometers in diameter. The position of the tower was not in the center but on one side of the sector wall, flanked by two super-thick walls. The shape was like a funnel. The goal is to make the monsters want to head toward one lane. Almost similar to the Tower Defense game.
The distance between the tower and the sector gate was nearly two miles, allowing for a five-layer perimeter. Because it was funnel-shaped, the distance between the walls widened as soldiers approached the tower. There were additional soldiers on the front lines to kill the intruders in some ways.
Since the Red Zone's construction, the structure had never been breached. Modern weapons are far too lethal. But suddenly the firing squad was in chaos due to a swarm of cow-sized raptors.
“Keep firing!”
”They're agile, Sir!”
“Hold your position! Do not retreat!”
The species was already listed in the index of codenames. But they were unfamiliar because the species had never come out since 25 years ago. The codename was Velomodrake, the smallest species of the dragona family. Its shape was very similar to the raptor species in dinosaur movies, and the characteristics were exactly the same.
Still, despite their bigger size than their earthly counterparts, they were too agile and difficult to shoot by the soldiers. Velomodrake was categorized at the top of the E-rank for a reason. One of them was their speed, which was almost equivalent to that of a motorcycle. And their speed made the reptiles penetrate perimeter one in just minutes, surrounding the soldiers in no time.
“Arrghhh!”
“Retreat! Save your lives!”
“On me! We're pinned down here!”
Finally, for the first time, there were casualties on the army side. Several soldiers were brutally killed when the formation could not be maintained anymore. Some were badly wounded as the squad was surrounded. Unfortunately, just as they were struggling, a second wave appeared.
“Retreat! Quickly retreat!”
“Squad six is surrounded!”
“Medic! Medic!”
“K—I—A!”
Bruummmmmm!
The earth rocked once again. The tremors became more strong over time. It wasn't the earthquake caused by the tower this time. It was the vibration of a pair of 62-ton steel monsters' chains. They both pushed forward, crushing the Velomodrake who dared to block the route. Simultaneously, they fired 120mm of high explosive at the grouped Velodrakes, blowing them away like cotton.
“Woaaaa! Cavalry!”
They were Leopard 2 RI-ME, the main battle tank designed to slaughter bigger monsters.
“Woraaaa! Kill 'em all!”
“Lock ’n load.” said the tank commander in a creepy radio sound.
Boom!
Anyone who hasn't seen an MBT up close would think it's a little bigger than a car. MBT was, in reality, massive. It was 10 meters long with the cannon pointed forward, which was twice the length of a sedan. And its weight was the equivalent of 40 family automobiles. Under their control, any monster became meat jerky. When the soldiers saw how vicious the MBT was, they all cheered.
“Long live Cavalry Corps!”
***
2nd Perimeter, Sector 1
“Cover them!”
“Hiiiii! They are eating human flesh!”
“Keep firing! Protect first line!”
A hail of bullets rushed off from a number of firing squads, 300 meters away behind the first perimeter. They were the strategic reserves in the 2nd defensive line, and Varg was serving as the commander of one of the firing teams. The battle was too brutal. His body slightly quavered as a strange memory invaded his mind.
“Velomodrake ....”
A drip of sweat was flowing down his cheek. Vividly, he saw a scene in a cave when the monsters had literally killed him. There was a fear that Varg didn't understand. The memory was real. He unconsciously looked at his scars, which had exactly the same marks as Velomodrake's claws and teeth. There were even some cycling stitches on his limbs, as his arms had snapped away.
Yes. Varg was well aware that half of his body belonged to a human. He died miserably in Dragona Cave seven years ago. Now he knew that Velomodrakes had killed that human. Varg was so confused that he sank into his own mind.
“Commander! Control yourself!”
The prince was snapped back to reality. His heart was beating even faster. The Velomodrake was a key to his true identity. There was a grudge that had been deeply rooted in his mind that he didn't understand. Nevertheless, he knew that all he needed was revenge.
“You are dead!”
His accuracy was above average for a Valoran who was born with ranger talent. His shooting skills became more terrifying after he underwent special training. His eye's ability had evolved. Varg could see the monster's weak points exactly, like a computerized tactical scope. He could even predict when and where the bullets would land.
”Is he a human?”
“He shot the raptors like nothing.”
The battle was getting brutal. More and more monsters came out of the dome. Meanwhile, only a few soldiers could keep their composure. The rest were just blindly shooting in fear. Velomodrake, on the other hand, charged forward regardless of the soldiers’ attack.
“Help me!”
“Arrgghhh! I just married my girlfriend!”
Human blood sprayed everywhere between bursts of gunfire. The soldier's body was ripped apart 300 meters ahead of him. Some people had their limbs amputated. Among the cow-sized monsters, several soldiers had their intestines ripped out. Varg did everything he could to help the other group with his shot. Despite the fact that the SS3 battle rifle could quickly neutralize the monster, it had a effective range. If the target was too far away, 7.62x51mm muzzle velocity and penetrating power would be reduced. Varg took a deep breath and turned to face his warriors with a somber expression.
“You have two choices. Die with me, or think of your families. I respect either one.”
His men looked at each other. Two people chose to come forward, while the remaining seven chose to stand guard at the perimeter.
“1st Corporal, take command of our post. Make sure to retreat if things don't work out. Prior your life. Remember your childs and wife.”
Varg genuinely respected his members who stayed at their place. Soldiers' salaries were too small for them to lose their lives. And his decision wasn't part of the mitigation protocol. The prince could not stay still when his friends became the monsters's meal. After giving some tasks, he turned to his men, who had chosen to die.
“Have you ever tasted a 40s-sexy mommy? If you haven't, don't die.”