No Beast Girls on the Western Front

Page 42

"I'm sorry, something small happened and I was delayed..."

As for the culprit, Xiao En, she blushed and lowered her head deeply, secretly wiping the water from the corner of her mouth.

……

Under heavy artillery fire from their own side, Belyink led B Company across the communication trenches and to the position of the first trench.

The first wave of soldiers had already set off. The soldiers of B Company pressed their bodies against the wooden planks of the trench, listening silently to the increasingly violent explosions, their hands gripping the barrels of their rifles tightly.

Beljenk peeked out and looked around, then grabbed Payne, pointed to the French positions, indicating that he needed to take out two machine gun positions, and then left.

The no-man's-land on this front isn't that wide, only about two hundred meters. Even if Xiao En can't reach it, Lacey and Grace could throw it over there.

But just as Payne was about to have the beast girls put the grenade crates on the ground, he suddenly noticed a somewhat familiar figure standing nearby—

It was that officer who was whipping the horses so wildly when they were pulling the cannons!

This guy is not only brutal to horses, but his attitude towards human soldiers is also far from kind, let alone his attitude towards beast girls.

If this guy sees me disobeying orders and letting the beast girl use firearms, he'll make my life miserable!

Being punished is a minor matter for me, but if I am no longer allowed to lead the beast girls into battle, what will happen to Ruby and the others?

However, if I don't take down the machine gun position now, not only the brothers in B Company, but also me and the beast girls might...

Payne hesitated for a moment.

Chapter 63 LXIII. The barbed wire was intact.

Even while hesitating, Payne didn't sit idle.

"Grace, throw this out there, let's see how far you can throw it," he said, placing a small pebble he had picked up into Grace's hand.

Grace nodded and threw the stone in the general direction Payne pointed.

The trench was built to a high standard, with a width of at least two meters. Grace practically swung her arm around the ground to throw the stone, so there were virtually no terrain limitations on her ability to maneuver.

But Payne, who had peeked out, clearly saw that the rock had not flown across the no-man's-land at all, but had landed precisely on the barbed wire in front of the trench.

It seems Grace was indeed not in good form; the distance was only about 150 meters.

Another question is, why do those barbed wire fences look so intact? Did the artillery forget to clean them?

Payne squinted hard to look closely, but couldn't find any gaps in the enemy's barbed wire.

We'll run into big trouble if we rush over there...

This gives us yet another reason to make the beast girls throw grenades.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Payne had to make up his mind—if that damned officer was going to keep harping on this issue, he would take advantage of the charge to snipe from behind.

Anyway, the battlefield was so chaotic that no one could really say how he died.

Tsk, did it really have to come to the point of shooting their own people...?

However, at that moment, he suddenly saw that the guy wander around in the distance, pretending to inspect the troops, and then walk straight to the back.

...So you weren't here to lead the charge?!

Payne had initially felt uneasy about having to kill a brave officer himself, but now that unease had completely turned into anger.

Damn it, you're all so subservient to the enemy's positions, yet you whip your own soldiers into a fierce attack, huh?!

This kind of cowardly bastard who only bullies his own kind is definitely more valuable when he's dead than when he's alive!

Shaking his head somewhat helplessly, Payne stopped thinking about it and opened the ammunition box, giving the order:

"Lessie, the task of taking out the enemy machine gun emplacement is assigned to you. Try to aim carefully."

"Grace and Shawn, you two take a quick look and make sure it lands on the barbed wire."

"Ruby, don't just sit there, help them observe where they're going to land."

"Don't worry about friendly fire. I've looked for a long time and haven't found any moving objects. The first wave of attackers are probably all dead there..."

There's a coward in the team, and two others are stuck on the splitter, only Lacey is perfectly fine. What a worrying team...

Fortunately, all three beasts were good children. Grace and Ruby endured the discomfort caused by the splitter, and Xiao En was not so scared that he couldn't move because he was not facing the artillery fire directly. Each beast did his job, and soon the three human mortars began to work.

At this very moment, the German soldiers at the first line of defense were anxiously awaiting the order to attack.

But just then, someone inadvertently looked up at the sky and saw small objects flying up from their own trenches, tracing a high parabola as they fell towards the enemy position, exploding into a small orange-yellow flower.

Why are people still playing with mortars these days? And the height of that parabola doesn't look like a mortar at all...

Company Commander Belyink had just finished a final check on all the soldiers in the company when he also noticed something flying in the sky.

Realizing that the beast girls had begun their operation, he rushed back without stopping. He saw the three beasts throwing grenades like catapults, Ruby shading her eyes to observe the landing points, and Payne tossing aside the second empty ammunition box.

"How's the situation?" he asked anxiously, leaning closer. "We're supposed to go up in less than a minute."

"The effect is alright." Payne nodded. "Both machine gun positions are silent, but those Frenchmen must have put up more than one barbed wire fence. The grenades didn't cause any obvious damage."

The company commander, grumbling, climbed the ladder and cautiously peeked his head out to check the situation.

The weather was fine today, and the wind was strong, which dispersed all the fog that might have obscured the view, so he could see that the barbed wire still stretched out in long stretches, concealing the enemy's defensive line.

The artillery had shifted its bombardment targets to more rear positions, and black smoke rose from the French second and third lines of defense, accompanied by a continuous rumbling sound like thunder.

"There's no other way... I have to bite the bullet and go for it..."

After muttering something to himself, the company commander came down and gave Payne one last instruction: "You have to come with us. Let the orcs blast a path with grenades. We'll cover you."

“Okay!” Payne nodded solemnly, then turned and instructed the beast girls to quickly carry the ammunition boxes.

Then, the company commander climbed the ladder again and took one last look around his company.

Everyone looked up at him silently.

He put the death warrant in his mouth, raised his wrist to check the time, and realized that there was only half a minute left before the order to launch the attack was given.

He silently counted down the seconds in his mind until the second hand pointed to 12, then took a deep breath through his nose and blew it out forcefully.

"Beep——"

A chilling whistle rang out, and the company commander was the first to climb up the ladder to the ground, followed by several soldiers, as well as Payne and his beast girl squad.

After confirming that Xiao En's legs wouldn't give way and he couldn't run, Payne patted each beast's rear end. "Run faster!! Get through quickly!!"

The memories of being whipped and urged on, originating from their genes, were activated. The four beasts stiffened and began to charge forward recklessly, heads down.

However, their beast loads were very heavy, so Payne could easily run ahead of them and lead them around the corpses and craters on the ground.

The German artillery did their job well, and with the grenade suppression from the beast girls, the French resistance was weakened considerably. Initially, they did not encounter any significant resistance; both artillery fire and gunfire were quite limited.

But when they ran 150 meters and reached the barbed wire, a series of rattling sounds rang out, and several soldiers were immediately taken down.

B Company had no choice but to collectively fall to the ground beneath the barbed wire, cursing loudly:

"Damn it! Are these artillerymen out of their minds?! How are we supposed to get through without breaking the barbed wire?!"

And that was indeed the case. Almost all of the soldiers who had charged in the first wave perished here. Their brown uniforms lay scattered on the ground, and many more were hanging on the barbed wire, a gruesome sight.

"Wire cutters! Haier, get the wire cutters right now!! The rest of you, provide cover fire!!"

The company commander shouted as he crawled to Payne's side, grabbed his arm and shook him violently, "Didn't you say you had cleared out the machine gun emplacement?!"

"The machine gun definitely stopped firing just now!" Payne said, frantically unloading the ammunition box from the beast girl's back. "Damn, are those Frenchmen bluffing us?! Pretending to misfire, then deliberately letting it go in and firing again..."

"I don't care!! Just figure out a way to deal with this!!" After saying this, the company commander crawled away in the shadows.

Chapter 64 LXIV. The Courage of the Sheep

Bullets whizzed past his ears, splashing mud and water as they hit the ground. Payne could only push all the beasts into the nearby craters and assign them tasks:

"Ruby, find a way to blow up the barbed wire! Lacey and Grace, keep suppressing the enemy machine gun positions! Shawn, what... what are you doing?!"

Payne immediately saw Xiao En shakily pick up a grenade, but as soon as she pulled the pin, her hand slipped and it fell to the ground...

In that instant, Payne felt as if his soul had left his body; it was only through muscle memory that his body picked up the grenade and threw it away, averting the crisis.

Only after an explosion did his soul tremble and return to his body. He grabbed Xiao En's shoulders and shook her violently, yelling, "What are you thinking?! Do you know you almost killed us?!?!"

"Waaaaah... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

Xiao En was so dizzy from being shaken that she desperately apologized in a tearful voice, "I...I'm nervous...I'm so nervous...my hands are shaking so much I can't hold on..."

Payne, getting impatient, shook her twice more, yelling, "Don't be nervous!! Don't let your hands shake!!"

The roar seemed to have a miraculous effect; Xiao En froze on the spot, staring at him with wide, puzzled eyes.

Seeing that he had successfully subdued her, Payne seized the opportunity to shove a grenade into her hand. "Continue!!"

"...Ah?! Continue...continue?!" Xiao En was almost in tears. "I...I'm scared...if I slip up again..."

"I'm not afraid, so what are you afraid of?!" Payne glared at her fiercely. "I'll cover for you! Go ahead and throw! Throw! Throw the hell out!!"

Xiao En was taken aback again. She looked at Lacey and Grace, who were throwing grenades like an automatic ball-throwing machine, and seemed to be touched.

But as a shell slammed into the ground a few meters away with a loud bang, the mud it kicked up poured down on his head like a torrential downpour. Xiao En immediately lost his composure and huddled at the bottom of the crater, covering his head.

"Meow!...I...I can't do it!..."

But Payne seemed to notice something in her eyes and didn't force her to do anything more. He just patted her shoulder and said, "Shaun! You need to learn to fight! I can't take care of you forever!"

Paine left, but Shawn remained huddled up, surrounded by the sounds of gunfire, explosions, and shouts.

She dared not raise her head, dared not open her eyes, and dared not move her body even slightly.

After an unknown amount of time, Xiao En felt the various noises around her gradually receding, and her mind slowly calmed down. She finally understood what Paine's last words meant.

The world suddenly felt unfamiliar. She slowly opened her eyes and saw, somewhat bewildered, that Ruby had somehow created a gap in the barbed wire fence, and many soldiers were rushing through the narrow passage.

Every now and then, soldiers passing through the gap would be hit by bullets, letting out a short cry as they fell to the ground, blocking the only way forward.

Lacey and Grace had slowed down considerably, but they were still tirelessly delivering suppressive fire, leaving Ruby and Payne with the heavy responsibility of dragging the wounded back.

Xiao En could tell that Grace and Ruby were in great pain; both beasts had furrowed brows, were covered in sweat, and were practically gritting their teeth to endure it.

Not only did Payne have to drag the wounded back with Ruby, but the machine gun, which had been silenced for the second time, started firing again. He had to simultaneously search for newly emerging machine gun positions and instruct Lacey and Grace to change their grenade-throwing positions.

After dragging the last wounded soldier into the crater and giving him some basic first aid, Payne wiped his sweat and turned to see that Xiao En seemed to have calmed down. He quickly rushed over and shook her shoulders again, but this time his movements were much gentler.

"Xiao En! Xiao En, can you hear me? Get up! Sit up, Xiao En! We need you!"