No Beast Girls on the Western Front

Page 11

The early summer nights were still a bit chilly. The land, bombarded countless times, was damp and cold, but at least it was soft and not too uncomfortable.

One of the few good things this war did was to plow the entire open land with artillery shells, saving the farmers the trouble of loosening the soil and making it easy to plant crops directly.

Speaking of B Company, there's a guy named Detling who comes from a farming background. Didn't he mention before that he lived around here? ...Maybe after the war, this land really might be his responsibility...

However, based on Earth's experience, this war is unlikely to end until both sides are bled to death, and who knows what the world will become by then...

The war will undoubtedly continue for a long time, and it's almost certain that the size of the beast girl army will expand. I wonder how many beast girls I'll ultimately command...

If, by some chance, I can't find a place for each of them after the war, then let them work as assistants for Detlin...

……

Payne tossed and turned, his mind wandering. For some reason, he felt uneasy and couldn't fall asleep peacefully.

It wasn't until much later that he realized:

The artillery barrage they had suffered on their way to the front lines felt like a dream. Now, the entire battlefield was in an unbelievable silence, as if all the French soldiers on the other side had vanished.

Payne unconsciously became alert, pricking up his ears to listen carefully, trying to discern any discordant sounds from the monotonous work noise, lest the person opposite him, who was not sleeping, be up to something.

It wasn't until later, when a series of booming cannon shots rang out in the distance, that Payne gradually felt relieved—there was movement on the other side, which at least proved that they weren't planning to secretly plot something big.

Being a soldier is really tough. The deathly silence is frightening; you can only fall asleep when you hear the sounds of war.

Paine chuckled to himself as he turned over and drifted off to sleep as if listening to a lullaby.

……

Whether it was from a nightmare or something he heard, Payne, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly woke up.

When he regained consciousness, the first thing he felt was warmth on his body. His head felt like it was resting on a soft velvet pillow, and something warm was stroking his hair.

Not far away, the voices of several people gradually faded, and it became impossible to hear what they were saying.

As his attention gradually shifted away from the sounds, he saw a sky full of stars missing a human figure, a triangular object obscuring most of the moon, and a pair of bright eyes gently gazing at him in the darkness.

"Lessie?"

"Well, I'm here."

"It's really you..."

Payne took a deep breath, shifted his position, and continued lying on Lacey's lap as she stroked his head and said, "The fortifications are all finished. It'll be several more hours before dawn. Go back to sleep."

Did something just happen?

"It's nothing. A new recruit dropped his tools on the barbed wire, which startled everyone."

Hearing the occasional muffled explosions in the distance, Payne felt relieved again. He patted Lacey's leg and said, "As long as we can get some more sleep, the war isn't so bad."

Lacey's leg muscles are quite well-developed, not as soft as a lamb's butt, but they are more elastic, making them more comfortable to touch or use as a pillow.

Perhaps it was a girl's inherent superpower (even beast girl girls were no exception), Payne only felt two hands rubbing his head roughly, "Were you thinking about something rude just now?"

Payne's eyes lit up. "I'm thinking of naming the little sheep 'Pretty Sheep,' what do you think?"

"Hmm...that sounds really weird. How do you always come up with these strange names..."

But before Lacey could finish speaking, a shell landed unexpectedly in the grove behind the trench. The close-range explosion startled several recruits, who jumped onto the barbed wire they had just erected, and they cursed loudly in anger.

Before they could even tend to their wounds, another shell landed in the grove a few minutes later. Lacey sniffed, her face grave, and said, "They seem to have spotted us."

Payne sighed. "The shooting is coming. Let's go find the others."

Chapter 16 XVI. Herbivores have long digestive tracts.

The shooting has begun.

There was no time to look for anyone else, so Payne and Lacey quickly spread out and lay prone on the ground.

But when Lacey saw several bullets land right between them, she quickly scrambled over and threw herself on Payne.

A green shell shot up from the horizon, sending dirt flying high into the air, and shrapnel whizzed past their ears.

The soldiers on the front lines were as if they had suddenly been trapped under a huge pot, with the hateful enemy banging on the bottom of the pot from all directions with a ladle, making a continuous, deafening noise.

Amidst the barrage of artillery fire, Payne glanced up at the situation opposite him, but Lacey immediately grabbed his head, nearly slamming his face into the ground to suffocate him.

As a veteran, Lacey certainly wouldn't make such a stupid mistake, but he still felt lingering fear about the experience when she was just a rookie dog and almost suffocated Payne to death while protecting her master.

Amidst the booming of artillery shells and the rattling of bullets, the screams of someone made communication extremely difficult. Payne shouted several times before Lacey noticed him.

Using the light from the explosion, he gestured and said, "There's a machine gun position at two o'clock and ten o'clock. Think of a way to take them down."

Lacey nodded, but then hesitated: "We're only allowed to use melee weapons..."

Payne pulled out a wooden-handled grenade and tapped her lightly on the head like a hammer. "You idiot! I was so scared I lay on the ground and didn't see anything!"

Seeing her master bury his face in the ground and pretend to be dead after shoving the grenade into her hand, Lacey hesitated for a moment, then rolled off him. Following the method that Payne had secretly taught her, she unscrewed the metal cap, slightly raised herself to aim at the direction of the muzzle flash, and after calming herself down, pulled the cord and threw the grenade with a burst of force.

Even if she's not known for her strength, a dog girl can throw a grenade at least 200 meters, so flying over a not-so-wide no-man's-land is no problem at all.

But Lacey wasn't paying attention to the landing point. Her head was spinning as she thought, "Didn't the master just tell me to deal with two machine gun positions?"

Thinking this, she acted before she thought, reaching out to grope Payne up and down, pulling out a grenade and throwing it almost instinctively toward another machine gun position.

The explosion of the two grenades added only a minor commotion to the noisy battlefield, but the good news was that, regardless of whether the machine gunners on the other side were killed or scared away, the firing did stop.

But now is not the time to let our guard down, because Payne could clearly feel the shelling gradually moving toward their location.

Moreover, the eerie howling has continued uninterrupted since just now, and it has even become clearer and clearer.

Who's injured? One of the new recruits in B Company? Could it be that blond guy? ...

The howling continued, but as Payne listened, he gradually got goosebumps—it wasn't a human howl; a human howl wouldn't be so terrifying.

It sounded like a groan, a lament, and even more like a wild, chilling pain. Even Payne, who was used to hearing the screams of wounded soldiers, turned pale without realizing it.

It wasn't until the very end that he realized he had heard that cry before—a cry that came from an injured horse.

Six months ago, when they were traveling to the front lines in a horse-drawn carriage, they were hit by artillery fire, and the wounded horses made this terrifying sound.

—But they came by truck this time. Where would they get horses on this battlefield?!

Forgetting about his own safety, Payne suddenly raised his head and looked around.

The surroundings were completely illuminated by the explosive light, like fireworks—if it weren't for the danger, the scene would have been truly beautiful.

Payne was momentarily stunned, but then he immediately spotted a familiar human silhouette against the backdrop of the explosion's flames. It had long, flowing hair, small horse ears, and was sitting on the ground, howling at the sky.

Payne couldn't see what her injuries were, so he scrambled to his feet and rushed over, shouting, "Troy!! Get down!! Get down now!!"

But then, several shells landed one after another just a few meters away, drowning out his shouts. Lacey then pounced on him, tackling him to the ground, yelling, "Don't go!! It's dangerous!!"

Completely immobilized by the incredibly strong beast girl, Payne could only muster the strength to lift his head and shout again, "Troy!!...Get down!!..."

However, Troy seemed to have completely collapsed. After being thrown over by the blast wave, she did not lie down but staggered to her feet and ran at full speed like a headless fly, screaming pitifully.

Troy gradually ran away, but her shrieks remained clear until even Payne could no longer discern where the sound came from. It was like a ghost, filling the world, omnipresent, and spreading everywhere.

“Lassie! Let me go! That’s an order!!” Payne yelled.

"No!! Danger!!" Lacey shouted as well.

"Then go find Troy!! Tackle her down!!"

"..."

Lacey hesitated, worried that if she left, Payne would also get up and go to find Troy.

But luckily, she immediately noticed a dark shadow flicker in the corner of her eye. She turned her head, pointed in that direction, and shouted, "Troy is back!"

Payne turned his head and saw Troy stumbling forward like a zombie. The next second, her intestines slid out of her stomach, wrapped around her legs, and she tripped and fell to the ground. But she staggered to her feet again and tried to keep running...

Herbivores generally have very long digestive tracts to digest plant fiber. The intestines of horses, for example, can be up to 18 times their body length.

Having spent two and a half years on the battlefield, Payne thought he could endure anything, but at this moment he broke out in a cold sweat.

He even wished he could be blinded immediately so he wouldn't have to see that long, rope-like thing trailing behind Troy.

As if he had lost his mind, he roared, "Shoot her!! Who's going to shoot her?! You damned bastards!!"

Then he turned and shouted, "Lassie!! Grab my gun!! Shoot her!!"

Lacey's body trembled violently. "I...I..."

"Get off!!"

In that instant, Pine seemed to be filled with boundless power. He broke free from Lacey's restraints, pulled out his pistol, and aimed it at Troy not far away.

Startled, Lacey slapped his gun away and shouted in a voice cracking with excitement, "Are you crazy?!"

But then she was surprised to see that Payne was like a helpless child, with his eyes closed, his ears covered, curled up on the ground, and emitting a series of hissing howls.

Just as Lacey was at a loss, she noticed that the explosions were gradually becoming less frequent, and a burly figure crawled out of the trench, holding a gun, and walked up to Troy.

By this time, Troy was completely unable to stand up. She collapsed to the ground, her mouth agape in pain, groaning weakly as she stared longingly at the person before her, her hands still struggling to support her body.

Only after the gunshot rang out did she slowly and obediently slide to the ground, falling silent.

Chapter 17 XVII. No matter who dies, they're still flesh.

The explosions stopped, and the gunfire ceased. Only the crackling of burning wood and coughing filled the battlefield.

Lacey blinked, her first thought not being "Troy is dead," but rather turning her attention to the person who fired the shot.

The opponent's physique was hard to mistake—Detlin, a soldier in B Company, came from a peasant background.

In the firelight, Lacey noticed the other person glance at her, then casually toss the gun aside, slump to the ground, pull out a cigarette and lighter from his pocket, and impatiently light it in the wind.

Lacey felt a movement beneath her, and realized she was still on top of Payne. She quickly got up and stood aside, nervously clutching the hem of her clothes.

Payne had somehow regained his composure. He didn't say anything, but simply put the gun back in its holster with a sullen face and walked step by step toward Detlin.

Lacey followed two meters behind him, watching him slowly walk over and stand still in front of the dark, human-shaped shadow on the ground. After a while, she turned her gaze to Detlin.

Whether it was due to the strong wind or running out of fuel, Detling was unable to light his cigarette. He could only sullenly puff on his cigarette and say:

"Before I came to fight, my family... also had two Marco Orcs. And two horses."

Yes, farmers have a strong bond with animals like horses and cows—and so do animal girls—which is why he can't bear to see Troy suffer.

Payne hesitated, then sighed, walked over and sat down next to Detlin, taking a match out of his pocket and lighting it for him.