No Beast Girls on the Western Front

Page 44

The enemy trenches were right in front of him. Logically, this distance should have been more than enough to see the enemy's expressions, but unusually, he didn't see many figures in the trenches.

Only occasionally did a few gray-blue helmets flash by in the trenches, and grenades were thrown from time to time onto open ground, sandbags, and inside the trenches, exploding into plumes of black smoke.

Hmm... they're probably too scared to go forward because they've been bothered by the beast girls' grenades.

That's true. The military technology of the Dexter Empire was originally inferior to that of the Fasfort Empire, and France had always been able to outmaneuver Germany.

From a French perspective, what's happening now is, "Haven't the artillery barrage ended? Where did these Germans get their unlimited mortars? They just keep bombarding us, what's the point of fighting anymore?!"

It seems those machine gunners were incredibly tenacious; no matter how many times they were wiped out, they regrouped and launched a counterattack each time.

But Payne wasn't going to give them another chance. Estimating that the beast girls' grenade reserves were almost depleted, he immediately called to the company commander, indicating that they could proceed along the cleared path.

The company commander didn't hesitate. He immediately led several soldiers through the gap in the barbed wire and ran towards the shell crater where Payne and his men were.

Just as Payne turned around to call out the names of the French soldiers who had peeked out, he felt a wave of heat coming from behind him, and a deafening explosion was right next to him. Then, two figures and a lot of dirt fell into the crater.

Even with his ears ringing, Payne jerked back and turned the two men who had fallen into the crater over. "Company Commander! Heil! Are you alright?!"

Fortunately, the two seemed to be just a little dazed from the explosion, and after rummaging around their bodies, they couldn't find any wounds.

So, under the cover of Lacey continuing to throw grenades, Heil began to breach the last barbed wire, while the company commander and Payne were responsible for dragging in a soldier who had fallen to the edge of a shell crater, not knowing whether he was dead or alive.

What was that explosion just now? Was it a shell? But I didn't hear the whistling sound of a shell approaching...

Or did someone accidentally trigger a landmine?

Payne poked his head out again, but apart from a wisp of smoke rising from the ground, he saw nothing else moving.

Where's that sapper? Wasn't he just clearing mines there?

There must have been more than three soldiers who came just now, right?

Soon, Payne saw several corpses lying haphazardly on the ground a few meters away, unmoved even when bullets occasionally struck them, including the sapper.

This makes things very clear—

"The bad news is that the sappers must have made a mistake and accidentally detonated the mine. But the good news is that at least they're taking a few companions with them on their way to the afterlife," Payne reported to the company commander.

"

Hey~

The host's depressing jokes were detected.

Depression level: 75%

Funny level: 35%

Freshness: 50%

Note: Meets the reward distribution criteria

Points increased by 160

"

While listening to Payne's explanation, the company commander checked the wounds of the soldiers they had jointly dragged back.

The unfortunate man had several inconspicuous small holes on his back, with blood bubbles bubbling from the wounds; his lungs had clearly been punctured.

Such injuries were almost untreatable given the medical standards of World War I.

The company commander had no choice but to have Haier help press on the wound, then turned to Payne and said, "You and Lacey clear the last part of the road! We'll follow you!"

"understand!"

Realizing that this was the final sprint, Payne turned to the cows, sheep, and squirrels and gestured that they no longer needed to conserve ammunition and should throw everything they could. As a result, the density of firepower increased to another level.

At the company commander's call, more soldiers came into the shell crater.

After handing Lacey the remaining grenades to the soldiers providing cover fire, Payne led her to be the first to step onto the ground.

Lacey was in charge of sniffing, while Payne provided cover fire. The two of them moved steadily across the flat ground where there was no longer any cover, with several soldiers following closely behind them.

Every time Lacey found a landmine, she would lightly dig a couple of times in the ground, and Payne and the soldiers following her would drop empty ammunition belts on it to mark the spot so that those who came after could avoid the landmine.

Faced with the approaching enemy, the French finally became ruthless. They actually emerged from the trenches again despite the relentless bombardment by the beast girls, with rows of rifles mounted on sandbags, and dense muzzle flashes flickering in front of the trenches.

Lacey is in a very dangerous situation. She is not only at the forefront, but also on the important task of finding landmines. At the same time, she has to dodge enemy bullets in this confined space.

If this happened to a human, they would probably have died eight hundred times over, but beast girls with beast genes are different. Besides, Lacey is already a veteran who has been on the battlefield for a whole year.

She was able to dance on the edge of a knife even in such restrictive conditions. Not only could she accurately predict the trajectories of several bullets, but she could also dodge bullets with her agile movements. She could even kick Payne in the leg to trip him up and avoid the fatal bullet that was about to hit his head.

As for the soldiers following behind the man and the beast, they were not so lucky.

Not only because their attention span was limited and their reaction speed and abilities were inferior to the beast girls, Lacey didn't take special care of them, but also because they could only advance in a long, single-file line, their movements were severely restricted, resulting in considerable losses. Several people were shot and fell to the ground, and screams echoed everywhere.

Payne forced himself not to look back. The best way to save his teammates now was to rush into the trenches and disrupt the enemy's attack.

After Lacey confirmed that she had marked the last mine in front of the trench, Payne patted her on the back. "Good job! Go for it!"

Then Lacey shed her usual docile mask, revealing her sharp teeth fiercely, and made a low growling sound in her throat. Almost instantly, she flew over the last few meters and bit down hard on the neck of a French soldier!

Chapter 67 LXVII. Quickly Clear the First Line of Trench

The French soldier who was being targeted only had time to let out a short scream before Lessie bit him hard on the neck and knocked him to the ground.

After feeling her sharp teeth tear open the enemy's blood vessels, Lacey overcame her instincts, immediately released her grip, jumped aside, and took out the entrenching tool behind her to deal with the next enemy.

As for the guy lying on the ground, he has lost his fighting ability and will soon die from blood loss. There's no need to keep biting his neck like a wild beast until the prey stops moving.

The French soldiers defending the area were clearly shocked by Lessie's extremely cruel attack. Both sides turned their guns on Lessie and pulled the triggers while shouting.

But Lacey deftly leaped off the wall, easily dodging the bullets. Then, taking advantage of the moment when the enemy was pulling the pin, she suddenly rushed to the left, knocking all the enemy soldiers to the ground.

She instinctively wanted to bite again, but then she remembered that Payne had said it was inefficient and would only deepen people's fear of orcs, so she stopped herself in time, grabbed her entrenching tool, and started slashing at the enemy.

Although she didn't understand why Payne didn't want her to frighten other humans, and she didn't care what others thought of her anyway, she would obey her master's request.

Upon witnessing the ferocious orcs slaughtering their comrades, the French soldier on the right hesitated to fire for fear of accidentally injuring his own men. Instead, he immediately raised his bayonet and prepared to rush over to rescue his companions.

But just then, they felt the sky suddenly darken, and a sharp blade fell straight down from the sky, piercing a French soldier's shoulder. The entire squad was then restrained by the men who jumped into the trench.

Before the French soldiers could react, several tall, burly German soldiers stood atop the trench and fired a few shots from above, quickly eliminating all the French soldiers.

At that moment, Payne, who was lying in the pile of Frenchmen, also drew his dagger and finished off the French soldier whose shoulder still had a bayonet stuck in it. Then he quickly ran towards Lacey, shouting, "Lacey! Is it over?!"

"It's resolved! Ptooey!" Lacey also stood up from the other group of Frenchmen, spitting out a mouthful of blood. "It's not my blood!"

Seeing that his dog was alright, Payne breathed a sigh of relief and helped his comrades down into the trench while observing the surrounding situation.

They killed fewer than ten enemies and completely cleared the trench, with no new French reinforcements coming from the left or right corners.

Payne had already discussed with the cows, sheep, and squirrels that when they were about to rush into the trenches, they would throw the remaining grenades into the adjacent trenches to block enemy reinforcements.

It seems they executed the mission perfectly.

This trench was indeed badly damaged by the beast girls; they threw at least two hundred grenades in total.

Not only was the ground in front of and behind the trenches bombed into the shape of the moon, but the inside of the trenches was also charred black. Almost none of the wooden planks that made up the ground and walls were intact. Fragments of wood and French soldiers who had been killed earlier lay scattered on the ground.

Payne had considered that at such a distance, the beast girls' accuracy in throwing wouldn't be very high—so they should make up for the lack of accuracy by increasing the quantity of their throws.

Two hundred grenades, even if only one-tenth hit the target, would be enough to cause huge casualties to the enemy, and the remaining nine-tenths would also bring terrifying pressure to the enemy.

However, although everything seemed to be going very smoothly, Payne still felt that something was not right.

After the company commander led three more beasts and more soldiers into the trench, he also expressed his concerns: "Such a long trench is being defended by less than ten people. There's definitely something wrong with this! I suspect they're trying to lure the enemy in..."

But the company commander simply waved his hand to interrupt him, saying, "Our mission is to continue advancing after clearing the first trench, making way for the following troops. You just follow behind us when we advance."

Although the company commander had been taking good care of him, Payne was still a little worried.

They had used up all their grenades, and even in the confined space of the trenches, the disadvantage of only being able to use melee weapons was still significant.

At this very moment, more and more soldiers from B Company were wading through the minefield, descending into the trenches, and continuing their advance from the left and right.

Payne wasn't idle either. He gathered the four beasts together and directed them to pile the French soldiers' corpses in a corner so they wouldn't block everyone's way.

Perhaps it was the smell of blood that stimulated Lacey, her animalistic instincts slightly overpowering her will to survive, and she asked, "Shall we not continue fighting?"

"No, not yet. I originally only planned to have you guys as grenadiers in this battle. If it weren't for the need to clear mines, I wouldn't have sent you to the front lines."

Payne went over and patted her head—but because she was also wearing a helmet, he couldn't touch the furry thing.

"Okay, let's rest for a few minutes first."

As he said this, he slid down onto the ground against a section of a relatively intact wall, and the other four beasts followed suit and sat down beside him. They took off their helmets and rubbed their ears, which were sore from being pressed down, and quietly watched as the soldiers of Company B came down from the ground into the trench.

The imperial high command has always been conservative about the role that beast girls can play in the war. Generally speaking, they are only allowed to do some hard labor such as delivering intelligence, transporting supplies and wounded soldiers, and are not allowed to participate in the front line of battle.

At first, Payne was somewhat unconvinced. In his opinion, beast girls were stronger than humans in many ways, but they couldn't unleash their full potential because they hadn't gone to school.

But as the war progressed, he gradually gave up the idea of ​​taking the beast girls into the fray:

As the saying goes, as long as the boss sees that you can get things done, you'll have endless work to do.

The more beast girls demonstrate their combat abilities, the more dangerous missions they will be assigned, which will put them in perilous situations.

To help his B Company comrades who cared for him so much, Payne was happy to let the beast girls use their physical advantages. But he didn't want these stories to spread, and even less did he want them to reach the ears of those important figures above him.

Although the French have brought out more and more advanced war machines as the war continues, the Dexter Empire's manpower is dwindling, and sooner or later there will be a day when beast girls are deployed to the battlefield in organized units.

But Payne's idea was that as long as he could delay it for one more day, he could make one more day of preparation.

In his mind, the higher-ups would initially ask him to form a beast girl squad similar to the "Storm Assault Team".

This squad of beast girls, relying on their physical advantages, can carry a large amount of weapons and ammunition, quickly infiltrate multiple enemy defense lines, and even destroy the enemy's artillery positions, clearing obstacles for the advance of subsequent troops.

Therefore, he has already begun training his beast girls to use all sorts of weapons, while also teaching them to read and write.

An illiterate person is unlikely to be a member of an elite commando unit; only someone who has been literate can understand such sophisticated tactical arrangements.

But those are things for later. Right now, the most important thing is to survive this battle.

Thinking this, he reached out and put his arm around Sean, who was sitting to his right, and gently rubbed her cheek. "How does it feel to participate in your first real attack operation?"

Chapter 68 LXVIII. Here we go again?!

Upon seeing this, Ruby, who was sitting on the left, immediately leaned against Payne.

So Payne casually put his arm around Ruby's shoulder and pulled her into his arms—but his attention was still on Shawn.