No Beast Girls on the Western Front

Page 46

However, Payne was still a little uneasy:

He knew very well that he wasn't particularly smart. It was just that he had transmigrated with the maturity of a twenty-year-old and a complete knowledge system, so he didn't need to spend much time learning school knowledge and could instead focus more on learning foreign languages.

It's not that he was particularly studious; it's simply because he was in a different world with no one to rely on, so he felt very insecure. He just learned things with the mindset that "it's always good to have more skills, you never know when you might need them"...

Like Miller in the company, although the chemistry knowledge he learned in high school is almost useless in today's production and life, as long as he has experienced a few gas battles and brushed up on some relevant knowledge, he can become a battlefield gas expert and save the lives of everyone in the company.

But what Pine didn't expect was that even this chemistry whiz would make a careless mistake.

After turning another corner, Payne immediately saw Miller crouching not far ahead, groping the corpse of a French soldier.

Collecting loot isn't a big deal, but the problem is that he clearly wasn't wearing a gas mask!

Chapter 70 LXX. The Wind's Assistance

Upon seeing this, Payne immediately tensed up and ran over shouting, "Miller! What's going on?! Didn't you detect the poison gas?!"

Miller turned around and was shocked to see five gas masks rushing towards him. He quickly reached for the metal canister at his waist. "Ah?! Is there poison gas?! We didn't detect anything!"

"It was Lacey who said it! Okay, never mind that, just put it on right away!" Payne rushed up to him, "Where's the main force?! Go and inform them!"

Miller's serious expression was hidden behind his gas mask. He was about to go with Payne to catch up with the main force when he saw another person in a gas mask run up from the front, saying to themselves:

"Is that Miller? And this one next to him... oh, it's Pine. Thank goodness you've already put on your gas masks. Come on, come on, come with me."

Payne couldn't immediately recognize whose voice it was, but since the other person could call him and Miller by name, there wasn't much of a problem, and the two of them and the four beasts immediately followed.

While on the way, the other side kept explaining: "The company commander asked me to inform you that these Frenchmen have completely gone mad. Their artillery is firing poison gas shells at their own positions!"

"Not only that, we also found many gas cylinders that had been unscrewed while we were clearing the trenches."

"The company commander guessed that the frontline command had probably said the line couldn't be held, so they ordered the soldiers to open the gas cylinders and also ordered the artillery to fire poison gas shells, mixing the two gases to create the same red poison gas they had encountered before, in an attempt to stop our advance..."

"Wait, what did you say?!" Payne shouted immediately. "So ruthless?! Using this near-self-destruction method to block the attack?!"

The other party shrugged: "Although it's a bit unethical, I have to say that this method is indeed quite unexpected."

"Fortunately, the new gas masks issued before this attack can effectively filter the red gas. Those Frenchmen really underestimated German chemists. They thought we wouldn't be able to find a solution so quickly, but they were wrong!"

"...Wow, that's really timely." Due to the overwhelming amount of information that flooded in at once, Payne's mind even went blank for a moment.

Order the soldiers to open the gas canisters? And even fire gas grenades at their own positions?

Is this for real? Are the French really that tolerant? They don't even rebel?

Miller, thinking more comprehensively, asked, "But isn't it said that this red poison gas can be absorbed through the skin at high concentrations? Even wearing a gas mask might not provide complete protection..."

“That’s exactly what I’m about to say,” the other person continued. Even with a gas mask on, Payne could still see a hint of schadenfreude on his face.

"Just as the sun was rising, the east wind that had been blowing suddenly changed direction, turning 180 degrees into a westerly wind, and with considerable force. As a result, the poison gas ended up blowing right over the heads of the French themselves, hahaha~"

"However, we also seized several full-body suits before, which looked like comprehensive protection for those Frenchmen, so we can't expect these poison gases to cause them much casualties..."

Hearing this, Payne finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.

No wonder we didn't see the red poisonous fog; it turned out it was blowing right over the French themselves and was quickly dispersed by the strong winds.

As they spoke, the group of three people and four beasts had already crossed a trench and caught up with the main force of Company B. In the trench ahead, they saw many people wearing brown military uniforms and gas masks.

Some of them stretched out their guns to exchange passionate fire with the French in the next trench, some were guarding prisoners, and others were carrying weapons, ammunition, and corpses; everyone was busy with their own tasks.

"How's the battle going?" Payne asked again.

"It went surprisingly smoothly," the other side said. "As soon as the fighting started, the French would retreat quickly. But it couldn't be described as 'collapse at the first touch.' They were clearly retreating while covering each other, not in a chaotic rout."

"We should have continued to pursue them, but those Frenchmen slipped away too easily, and we couldn't even catch up."

"The troops have already scattered. The company commander was worried that chasing after them rashly would cause trouble, so he decided to gather the men together and wait for the reinforcements to arrive before continuing the advance."

Payne's heart, which had finally settled down, was now filled with anxiety again. "Something's not right. Something's definitely not right... Besides, we lack comprehensive protective equipment. If the strong winds don't clear away the poison gas, we'll be in big trouble..."

"...Why nine compared to ten?"

Payne wasn't in the mood to explain the joke, because he saw a daring soldier next to him carrying a steel cylinder into the trench, using only a French military cap as a pad.

"The company commander ordered us to gather all the gas cylinders we found," a comrade explained. "There was no other way. Although we had already tightened the gas valves on all the cylinders, it was too dangerous to just leave them lying there."

Given his inability to change the command's order to continue the attack, Payne could only turn to face the four beast girls and solemnly remind them:

"Never remove your gas mask. If you feel any difficulty breathing, change the filter immediately. Remember to check the mask for any damage from time to time. Do you understand?"

The four beasts immediately nodded like chickens pecking at rice.

They were then ordered by Payne to help clean up the battlefield, but were strictly forbidden from touching anything related to the poison gas.

Payne himself circled the battlefield and successfully located Company Commander Belyink among a group of almost identical gas masks. He suggested to him, "Should I send an orc back with a message? The situation is quite worrying..."

Given the technological level of the Dexter Empire, it was clear that a wireless device that could be carried by frontline soldiers had not yet been developed, and neither sending messages by carrier pigeon nor laying telephone lines was practical...

Therefore, the communication between German soldiers at the front and their command posts remained in the most primitive form.

It wasn't done by shouting, but by messengers verbally relaying information.

However, given the beast girls' low level of education, they simply cannot understand a lot of information. Therefore, the beast girls currently responsible for delivering information are no different from carrier pigeons.

The company commander also thought the suggestion was good, but he was currently busy arranging the upcoming battle, so he assigned Paine a task: "Alright, then you'll write the letter. Mainly write about the enemy's unusually fast retreat and their use of poison gas..."

Although it added an extra hassle, Payne was still happy to write the letter for her, thinking that at least one beast girl could be sent to the safe rear.

But which beast should be sent back to deliver the message?

Logically, Lacey, who has the best athletic ability and runs the fastest, should be sent, but actually Payne wanted to send back a beast girl who was currently undergoing a splitting process, or perhaps the timid Shawn would also be fine...

Which one should I choose? It's so hard to decide...

As Payne wrote down intelligence on the blank pages of his notebook, he was deep in thought. At that moment, the four beasts seemed to have finished helping him and were walking towards him from not far away.

He must make a decision as soon as possible.

But just as he was struggling with this, he heard a strange hissing sound. The sound was very faint on the battlefield amidst the raging gunfire. If he hadn't seen that Lacey had also pricked up her ears, he would have thought he had misheard.

Could it be that a gas canister has been opened?

But the hissing sound lasted less than two seconds before it was replaced by an explosion, followed by a howling sound that seemed to come from hell, and even the sky was tinged with orange.

Most people were unaware of what was happening, and it wasn't until a terrifying heatwave began to appear that Payne suddenly realized what was going on. She immediately dropped her pen and paper and rushed towards her beast girls, tearing off her gas mask and shouting at the top of her lungs:

"Flameblaster!!!"

Chapter 71 LXXI. The Devil's Breath

The moment Payne tackled the four beasts to the ground, a powerful blast of heat swept over them.

Like a terrifying fire dragon, its bright orange-red color swept across the trenches with overwhelming force, the falling flames dividing the trenches in two, and billowing black smoke blotting out the sun.

Although he was lucky to be a few meters away and had his uniform as a shield, Payne still felt his skin burning hot, as if he were being stuffed into an oven.

He even felt as if he could hear the water in the crater boiling.

Faced with this situation, even seasoned human soldiers were thrown into disarray, running around trying to avoid the flamethrower attacks, not to mention the animals (female warriors) who were naturally suppressed by the flames.

When Payne sat up, both Lacey Ruby and Grace were deathly pale. Xiao En, who had finally mustered up some courage, was huddled in the corner, clutching her head, her pants seemingly a little wet again...

In fact, Payne knew very well that flamethrowers, especially those from World War I, were more of a psychological deterrent than a practical weapon.

A can of gasoline will be used up in ten or twenty seconds, and the range is also only ten or twenty meters. Both the kill radius and the endurance are very limited.

But that's all just talk.

Only today, when Payne first saw the liquid-like stream of fire flying overhead, constantly scattering burning embers, the immense heat almost baking him dry, did he understand why the soldiers called the sound of the flamethrower "the devil's breath."

However, as terrifying as flamethrowers are, frankly speaking, there's no problem that can't be solved by simply throwing a grenade.

Payne took the grenade from his waist, intending to hand it over to Lacey, but seeing that all four beast girls were trembling, and thinking that since the flamethrower could reach the distance between the two trenches, he could throw the grenade over as well, he decided to take care of it himself.

Although he was also afraid, at least he knew more than the beast girl and knew the weakness of the flamethrower, so he could focus his attention on the battle and suppress his fear.

At this moment, several brave soldiers had already risked sticking their heads out and firing a few shots, one of whom was Carter, a veteran whom Pine knew quite well.

But just as he was about to go and ask the flamethrower soldiers for their location, that terrifying hellish howl rang out again. Carter and the others screamed in panic and fell back to the bottom of the trench, while Payne felt his hair stand on end.

"Scatter!! Scatter and get out of the way!!"

After kicking each beast in the rear end, sending them flying in different directions, Payne also collapsed to the ground, burying his face in the muddy water at the bottom of the trench.

He used to hate the water in the trenches the most, but now he wished the water could be deeper, deep enough to immerse his whole body in it, so as to escape the fire dragon's wrath.

But then he realized that the heat from the flamethrower would be more than enough to boil the shallow water. Even if he survived, he would surely suffer from burns and infections all over his body, and eventually die a painful death...

Just as Payne was thinking about these things and had a chance to break out in a cold sweat, he felt a much more intense heat wave surge towards him. Even with his eyes tightly closed, everything went white before his eyes, and the sweat on his skin evaporated instantly. The scorching air he inhaled was burning his lungs...

The fire dragon seemed to whiz past his ear, and Payne even had the illusion that the other's tongue had licked his face.

I'd rather not bother with this kind of licking. But if the Dexter Empire could create a fire dragon girl someday, I'd be willing to give it a try.

Payne immediately snapped out of his random thoughts and looked up despite the lingering heat.

Whether there will be a fire dragon girl in the future is still unknown, but I hope my dog, cow, sheep, and squirrel don't get into any trouble!

Fortunately, a burning line of fire on the ground passed right between him and Ruby, and the two, separated by four or five meters, seemed to have been unharmed.

Payne quickly stood up to examine it more closely, but then he immediately saw that Ruby's tail was unconsciously swaying and rising up, as if it were holding up a torch, with a flame burning at the tip.

"...Ruby! Ruby!! You're hot! You're hot!!"

"

Hey~

The host's depressing jokes were detected.

Depression level: 25%

Funny level: 25%

Freshness: 25%

Note: Meets the reward distribution criteria

Points increased by 75

"

In that instant, the scene of Little Horse's sudden death when he entered the Divergent Vessel reappeared in Paine's mind. He was so incoherent that he couldn't even utter a complete sentence, but unintentionally created a melancholic joke.