No Beast Girls on the Western Front

Page 125

"So, the French didn't leave a single person behind?" Payne was somewhat incredulous.

"Perhaps...it's just been too smooth."

The company commander seemed to mutter something to himself, then glanced at his watch, put the trench sentry in his mouth, and was the first to climb the ladder.

"Time's up, attack!"

"Beep!"

A death knell sounded, and Payne, along with his comrades from B Company, climbed to the ground. He then covered the six beast girls as they ascended, and while helping Ella, who was carrying five boxes of grenades, forward, he said:

"Don't panic, pay close attention to the ground, and be careful not to twist your ankle again."

"Understood!"

Ella looked very relaxed and confident, showing none of the helplessness one might feel when fighting for the first time.

What a strange dog.

While this mindset is commendable, it's not actually a good thing—it reflects a rather low level of vigilance towards danger.

However, just as Payne was thinking this, Ella suddenly perked up her ears and then pulled him towards a small crater nearby.

"Danger!"

A burst of bullets whistled through the air, and several puddles of dirt appeared on the ground not far away. The soldiers of B Company also dropped to the ground.

Seeing this, Payne nodded and patted Ella's head, which was covered by a steel helmet. "You're quite clever. Keep it up."

"Woof~" Ella wagged her tail happily, "I will protect my master."

This golden retriever was not only sufficiently alert, but even more perceptive than Lacey and Alpha, which Payne had not anticipated.

Is it because she cares about me a lot?

Standing up again and continuing forward, Payne looked around and saw that Lacey and Alpha, who were guarding his sides, were both looking at Ella with surprise, clearly finding the golden retriever's keen senses quite incredible.

After all, Ella was still injured and always looked weak and frail.

Perhaps provoked by her, the two dogs, one brown and one black, suddenly became more alert, their ears twitching like four radars.

After a dozen or so seconds, when there seemed to be no further movement, the company commander at the front was the first to stand up. "Let's go. We're the ones attacking now. Staying prone like this isn't a solution."

But this time, they had advanced less than ten meters when Payne suddenly saw Lacey and Alpha charging at him from both sides, like two swarms of enemies.

"Master, be careful!" "Chief, be careful!"

Normally, being bumped like that wouldn't be a big deal, but the problem is, these two dogs and one animal are carrying six boxes of grenades! The whole load, including the animals and equipment, is almost 150 kilograms!

"Oh!"

In that instant, Payne felt as if he were in the middle of the road, being squeezed past by two aggressive cars on either side.

But before he could even complain, still seeing stars from the impact, another cracking sound rang out, and another large group of B Company members collapsed to the ground, a cry of pain rang out beside him.

"Holy crap! My foot!... Ouch!—"

Recognizing it was Cermerissiere's voice, Payne disregarded everything else and scrambled to his side, pulling out bandages as he asked:

"Are you alright?! How are you feeling?!"

"Do I look alright?!" Camerissi yelled loudly, "Ouch!—It hurts so much! What's wrong with me?!"

Payne lifted up his trouser leg to check and immediately began bandaging. "It's not a big problem! The bullet went through his ankle, there wasn't much bleeding, and it shouldn't have damaged any arteries or anything."

"Is your ankle alright?! Ouch... Ah..." The pain made Camerisi almost unable to think, and he subconsciously uttered his biggest worry:

"I still want to be a gymnast... Ouch... How can I be an athlete with a foot injury... Ouch..."

"It's alright, it's alright! It's just a small bullet hole! As long as you stay in the hospital for two months, you'll make a full recovery! Don't worry, the medics are here!"

As Payne was comforting Kemerissiere, he looked up and saw two medics coming over with a stretcher, so he called them over quickly.

But just then, another whooshing sound rang out, followed by another scream from not far away:

"I!...My butt feels...like it's been hit!..."

Chapter 197 CXCVI. Rapid Fire Machine

The injuries to two people immediately put the soldiers on edge. They quickly moved around, trying to hide behind anything that could serve as cover, including but not limited to wooden stakes, small mounds, and shell craters, to avoid being hit by bullets.

But Payne didn't have time for that right now. He told the medic to leave the stretcher to help others, then said to Lacey and Alpha, the two dogs:

"You two put down your ammunition! Take him back to the rear! Then come after us! Be careful! Go!"

"Understood!" ×2.

Payne made this arrangement to confirm whether the two could truly put aside their past grievances and unite against a common enemy.

Sending wounded soldiers back to the rear is not difficult or dangerous, so it's a good opportunity to observe.

So while the soldiers of B Company were busy dodging bullets, Payne watched intently as the two dogs carried Kermoris, one in front of the other, trotting at almost the same pace across the rugged no man's land, as if walking on flat ground, with the stretcher barely swaying.

The two beasts did not exchange a single word throughout the entire journey, yet they worked in perfect harmony, like one beast, and flawlessly carried Kemerisi back to the starting point.

Therefore, we shouldn't worry too much about them in the upcoming offensive.

So, the next thing to worry about is your own situation...

Thinking this, Payne quickly huddled with the remaining four beasts inside a large crater, listening to the shouts and curses rising and falling around them:

"Where the hell did that bullet come from?!"

"Holy crap!!...I was practically burying myself in a hole!! How could a bullet still hit my hand?!"

"What were those idiots doing in the first wave of the charge?! Didn't they know to destroy those guns first?!"

"Medic!! Someone here has been hit too!!"

"The bullets seem to have come from above!..."

"It can't be that some scoundrel put a gun on the plane, can it?!"

……

And indeed it was true. The French bullets seemed to fall from the sky. Paine and his men were already lying prone on the slope near the enemy position in the shell crater when he was horrified to see a bullet actually land next to them, splashing up a small patch of dirt.

This situation was completely beyond the expectations of the veterans of Company B. They had never seen anything like it before and were at a loss for what to do.

Fortunately, their company commander, Belyenk, was a good one. After the initial panic, he was the first to stand up and launch the charge.

"We can't stay here any longer! Charge!! The trenches are at least better than open ground!!"

Come to think of it, there's hardly any movement on the French positions right now, and the gunfire is sporadic, so the threat isn't that great.

Since we're going to get attacked anyway if we lie in the no-man's-land, we might as well just charge straight there.

The soldiers of Company B then stood up, supporting themselves with their helmets, and sprinted after their company commander at almost the fastest speed they had ever seen.

However, each person was carrying a heavy combat load, so their full-speed sprint was only about the same as a jog.

As for the beast girls, their situation is even more serious, because almost every beast is carrying a grenade that exceeds their weight limit.

Under such circumstances, walking normally is not a problem, but keeping up with the speed of B Company is quite difficult.

Although he didn't know if they would encounter further French resistance, the danger of staying here was obvious. Payne made a tough decision and had the beast girls abandon half of their ammunition to follow them with all their might.

"Watch out! The barbed wire may be electrified!!"

After rushing close to the French positions, Payne immediately noticed several German corpses lying near the tattered barbed wire and quickly called out to warn them.

Have the French come up with some new high-tech gadgets? The barbed wire fence looks like it's been blown up, so how can there still be electricity?

Is the ground near the broken wire electrified?

However, before he could give a second warning, he saw several soldiers file through the gap, seemingly unharmed.

Am I worrying too much?

However, when he led the beast girls across the barbed wire fence, he could clearly feel his legs going numb, and the beast girls' fur stood on end.

It's probably just a short circuit; it's not a big problem.

Don't the first group of people recognize a generator? They should destroy it right now...

Payne didn't have time to think, because he could already see two guns crookedly propped up on a section of the barely intact breastwork in front of him, with flames still shooting from their muzzles.

"Are the first group of people who came up here completely brain-damaged?! Aren't you going to deal with these people?!"

The soldiers searched for the area that had been cleared by the artillery and the beast girls, cursing as they jumped into the trenches.

As expected, the trench was empty. There were no Frenchmen, and even only two Germans—these two soldiers were firing their pistols at the guns embedded in the breastwork.

Upon seeing this, Belyink was immediately enraged. He rushed forward, grabbed one of the soldiers by the collar, and roared:

"Why are there only the two of you?! What the hell is your main force doing?! Don't you know we're following you around?!"

The soldier was immediately startled and quickly explained:

"I...we found no enemies here after we arrived. The company commander was worried it was a trap, so he led most of the men to set up defenses and conduct reconnaissance, leaving only us to destroy these things..."

Beljenk didn't have time to argue with them. He turned around and shouted, "Did you all hear that?! No need to leave anyone else behind! Quickly destroy the Frenchmen's guns!"

In fact, without the company commander's command, the soldiers who jumped into the trench had already taken action on their own, trying to pull out the guns that were still embedded in the breastwork, or trying to smash them out with the butts of their guns.

Seeing this, the soldier whose collar had just been grabbed quickly warned, "Don't pull it out! It's not only troublesome but also easy to accidentally injure someone! Just destroy the box on the trigger!"

The soldiers of B Company then noticed that the triggers of those guns were covered by a small box that looked like a square lock.

Payne glanced towards the no man's land, and after confirming that Lacey and Alpha had picked up their ammunition and were heading back, he felt relieved. He pointed to a gun and said, "Stephen, try to take it off."

Stephen immediately pointed to himself with a "Me? Me?" expression: "But...but I know absolutely nothing about mechanics."

"Then let's use brute force. You're the strongest in the team right now."

"Okay, I'll give it a try..."

As he said this, Stephen pulled hard, managing to pull out the gun, which was mostly embedded in the breastplate, and the muzzle wobbled dangerously.

Fortunately, the gun was neither pointed at anyone nor fired within those two seconds.

Payne was so frightened that he raised his hand to protect himself, then quickly stepped forward and pressed down on the gun, shouting sternly:

"Didn't you hear me?! This thing could fire on its own at any moment! Don't pull it out! I told you to take apart this little box!"

Stephen immediately shrank back, "I'm...I'm sorry...then...should I put it back in?"