Chapter 13: Monstrous Creatures

Austronesian Empire, Majapahit, Nusantara, Streets Of Nusantara.

2000, 1, 1st Week, January.

The streets of Nusantara were illuminated by the flickering glow of headlights from a convoy of amphibious vehicles moving out from a military base. 

Gunfire echoed through the streets, filling the area with the eerie cacophony of violence as various amounts of monster carcasses littered the ground.

"Over there!" A soldier shouted to his squad.

He pointed towards the threat, prompting a barrage of gunfire from his men. As the shots landed through the monstrous creatures in front of them, they left out an indescribable scream, sounding as though billions of souls cried out in despair that even sent chills down the spines of the most fearless soldiers that went through countless wars.

Throughout all this, the lieutenant had observed the monsters with a mix of fascination and revulsion in person. They appeared to resemble more to demons from an A+ horror game with disturbingly lifelike graphics rather than creatures or anything he'd ever seen in art or photographs. The mere sight of them made his stomach churn in disgust.

The monsters varied greatly in type and size, each more grotesque than the last. Some resembled a grotesque hybrid of man and frog, with sickly gray skin and bulging eyes. Others appeared as skinned humans, their exposed musculature painted with some kind of slimy black substance. 

Then there were the enormous hellhounds, seemingly large dogs with a sinister intelligence burning in their fiery eyes. Flames dripped from their maws, making them appear all the more malevolent and fearsome.

The situation was worse than bad and soon it quickly descended into a nightmare. Despite their modern weaponry, the soldiers were barely able to keep some of the civilians in the battle zone safe. Even after the battle had barely begun a minute ago, they were already on the brink of being outgunned.

The smaller beasts they were fighting were ruthless, charging straight in their direction. The limited ammunition was also a problem and a pressing concern for the army.

Their weapons eventually managed to pierce their tough skin after the constant fire, but each one that fell seemed to be replaced by two more. The whole city was like a slaughterhouse.

Civilians who hadn't been evacuated in time fled for their own life in terror, praying and pleading to whatever god they worshiped as they tried to hide from the mere sight of the infernal creatures. Many were not so fortunate and met horrific fates.

The luckiest amongst them died instantly, but the majority struggled before being endured unimaginable horror. As they were caught by tentacle-like tongues and dragged into the creatures' gaping maws, they were swallowed whole and subjected to prolonged suffering.

Promising one thousand years of agony in being digested alive, while the other victims will also experience far worse right at the stomach of these beasts that roamed through the city, and other twisted and nightmarish scenarios deep within them, experiencing a fate far worse than death itself.

After several hours of intense battle, the commander and his men found themselves surrounded by towering monsters, facing certain death with no hope for them to survive.

"Hold the line! I need to reload!" the lieutenant shouted as he unloaded his last bullet and reached for the last magazine residing in the breast pocket of his vest.

Measuring his ammo pouch, there was only one magazine remaining. At this rate, they would never reach the other reinforcements, if any remained.

"First Lieutenant! Look out!" one of his men cried out in great fright in his tone. The first lieutenant spun towards the danger and his eyes widened in horror.

Above him stood a towering abomination. It was like the previously mentioned frog-like monster with sickly gray skin. 

Standing face to face with such a creature, the lieutenant was frozen in place, his legs trembling as he stared at the monstrous figure. It was like the film of his life played before his eyes in a rapid montage of memories, embracing every moment of it with ultra-fast space.

Upon closer inspection, the monster appeared even more monstrous, more horrific, and more otherworldly than inspecting it from far.

Because of the night, the storm, and the faint lights of red fires in various buildings around them, none of the group of six soldiers could see the fine details of the creatures until now. But seeing it up close, they rather wanted to stay as far away as they could.

The creature had a jaundiced gray skin that gleamed with a sticky, shiny coating, and its body was covered in huge lumps, which are in fact human faces pressed up against the skin from the inside.

It possesses a gaping mouth that could easily swallow a man whole in one gulp and sported an abnormally multiple long tentacle-like tongue. From the depths of its cavernous mouth, one could hear the haunting sounds of screams and moans within.

Just as the creature opened its mouth, preparing to release a soul-tearing wail...

Boom!

A loud boom shattered the silence as a fast-moving projectile struck the monster in its stomach, blowing a massive hole in the center and causing the creature to explode into chunks. It died instantly before it could release its scream.

As the monster fell apart, the soldiers watched numerous ghostly entities escape from its body, finally freed from their nightmarish experience.

"Everyone all right?" The gunner on top of a battle tank called out to the six soldiers alongside twin highly armored APCs.

"Y-Yeah..." came the reply from the stunned group.

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A terrifying screech echoed through the alleyway as a massive flaming dog burst through an open window, tearing through the walls to make space for itself.

"Bauuk!" it roared, acidic, flaming saliva dripping from its mouth as it turned its bloodthirsty gaze on the trembling soldiers, who had believed they had cleared the area.

With bloodthirsty eyes, the beast charged toward them. Killing at least two of them at once, it proceeded towards its next meal.

"Ahhh!" one soldier cried out in fury, unloading his gun at the creature with all his might.

But his efforts were in vain as the beast's fiery breath engulfed him, reducing him to ashes in an instant.

As the creature finished its meal, it suddenly sensed three more figures at the end of the alleyway behind it.

Turning its head, it saw three more soldiers standing there with a look of surprise upon seeing it.

"Bauk!"

The soldiers felt nervous at the hellish bark, memories of facing such creatures in the alleyway beforehand trembled to the core.

The beast turned towards them, its eyes narrowing as it released a chilling bark. It charged at them, wanting nothing more to devour and digest their souls amidst its acidic purgatory, called the stomach.

The three soldiers, under a moment's notice, raised their rifles and released a barrage of hot lead. That seemingly had barely any effect on the hellish dog.

Annoyed, the hellhound leaped from wall to wall on each side of the narrow alleyway, dodging a lot of bullets before reaching them in the next second.

But before it could ravage them, one of the soldiers fired a grenade from the grenade launcher attached to his rifle, sending it straight at the charging creature.

Boom!

The explosion blasted the hellhound back, while the force of the explosion also pushed the three soldiers by nearing the blast radius.

Although injured, the hellhound was still alive and ready to attack again. But the other two soldiers responded as well, firing a barrage of grenades at the beast.

After several more grenades and continuous gunfire, the hellhound finally collapsed, its foul, acidic blood splattering on the ground and eating through the concrete floor.

With the death of the hellhound, the battle for the soldiers was over. They could finally breathe a sigh of relief, knowing they had survived this horrific encounter.