Chapter 611: The One to Protect
In a matter of breaths, he aimed and fired continuously, emptying the entire magazine. Two more giant shields collapsed—Danny wouldn't waste precious bullets on Judgment Warriors; their thin armor looked impressive but couldn't even stop a musket ball. Iron Axe had said that the Church's Divine Army were formidable opponents, capable of taking on ten men in close combat, but they were few in number and difficult to train, making them worthwhile targets to hunt.
He hated machine gunners because those self-important guys used the same bullets as him, yet their efficiency was shockingly low.
In the only two live-fire exercises, a machine gun squad emptied several boxes of ammunition in half an hour, eliciting a pained expression from Iron Axe. However, judging by the damage to the targets, they had collectively hit the target with only a hundred or so bullets. In Danny's eyes, this was a complete waste of resources.
Of course, he understood the significance of the Mark I machine gun—at least when dealing with swarms of enemies, it could deter the momentum of the attack. But when it came to hunting results, it still depended on precise shooters like him.
One bullet, one enemy.
This was the direction he rigorously trained himself in.
Danny ejected the magazine and skillfully reloaded. Just as he was about to stand up and shoot, a panting sound came from beside him. He turned his head and saw that it was the kid, Malt.
"Damn it, didn't I tell you to stay put?" He glared at the little guy. "You're violating military orders!"
"Brian said that you shouldn't leave your defensive position unless there are special circumstances, so you're violating military orders too," Malt wiped the sweat from his forehead. "As a Protector, I have to stay by your side!"
"..." Danny resisted the urge to punch him and grabbed a handful of bullets from his pouch, throwing them in front of him. "Load them into the magazine, and don't stick your head out for no reason!"
"Yes, sir!" The little guy grinned and saluted.
Just as he achieved his fifth kill, the enemy's formation suddenly changed.
The Church commander probably realized that they couldn't reach the trenches like this. The Divine Army uniformly dropped their giant shields and charged straight at the positions, their speed astonishing. Even galloping horses were no match for these people, and the distance between the two sides was rapidly shrinking!
Revolver rifles and machine guns fired simultaneously.
In an instant, Danny saw a series of blood mists before his eyes. The dust kicked up from the ground was denser than when cannons fired, as if an invisible giant hand had slammed into the charging warriors. In the face of this unstoppable force, the momentum of the charge slowed down sharply. Anyone who was hit had their limbs flying, and blood splattered everywhere.
One Divine Army soldier continued to rush forward even after a bullet broke his arm. Just as Danny aimed his gun at him, a "sand serpent" composed of dozens of dust columns slanted through the center of his body—this was the unique impact trajectory of machine gun fire. The target's chest immediately rippled like water, blue blood exploded behind him, and the scorching airflow even tore his ribs apart.
The Divine Army soldier, losing his balance, crumpled like a rag, and only after running three or four more steps due to inertia did he fall to the ground. Danny noticed that his back was already a mess.
"Captain, watch out!" Malt suddenly screamed.
Danny was shocked. Just as he turned his head, he saw another Divine Army soldier emerging from the dust and smoke, raising a short spear at him.
Then the enemy crouched and threw the spear.
He could barely see the shadow of the thrown spear.
Carelessness! Being too focused on observation had allowed the enemy to notice him. A hunter shouldn't expose himself to the prey's line of sight for too long.
Before he could react, Malt slammed into him, and the two of them fell to the bottom of the trench together. At the same time, a thump came from above—
Danny felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, and his body was covered in dirt.
The sound of gunfire
Receded from him in an instant, and an uncomfortable buzzing echoed in his ears.
After a long time, he finally caught his breath and reached back to feel the back of his head. There was a sticky feeling—he must have hit something hard when he fell, but he was still conscious, so it couldn't be too bad.
In his blurred vision, comrades came over.
"Hey, are you okay?"
The voice sounded very faint. He could only barely wave his hand to indicate that he was fine.
"Come help me, there are two injured people here!" the other shouted.
Soon, several more people gathered around him, and everyone worked together to drag him and Malt out of the collapsed pile of earth.
At this moment, Danny noticed that the edge of the trench had been torn open into a crescent-shaped gap by the short spear—the thrown spear hadn't flown over the top, but had directly hit the edge of the trench, penetrated the thin layer of soil, and then pierced into the wall of the trench. The dirt on the two of them was caused by the collapse at the point of impact.
However, when he moved his gaze to Malt, his heart couldn't help but tighten.
The little guy had a bowl-sized bloody wound on his shoulder, and his arm was almost falling off, connected to his body by only a few strands of skin. The white bone was clearly visible.
The thrown spear had not failed to cause damage, but had landed on Malt.
The teammates returned to the battle, leaving only one person to provide first aid to the seriously injured—everyone in the First Army understood that as long as they didn't die immediately, Nana Wawa Xiaojie could restore them to their original condition after the battle ended, so stopping the bleeding and bandaging wounds were compulsory courses for the First Army. The person decisively pulled out a dagger, cut off Malt's arm, and then evenly sprinkled herbs from his bag on the wound, and finally bandaged it with gauze.
After a series of actions, the little guy, who had been in a coma, was painfully awakened and let out a weak groan.
"Lie down and don't move, you won't die," the teammate comforted him.
"Danny, Captain... where is he..."
"I'm here," Danny gritted his teeth and propped himself up on his weak limbs to crawl to his side. "Why did you take that for me..."
"I'm your Protector, of... of course I can't leave you alone," Malt's mouth opened and closed slightly. "How is it, did I... did I not fail in my duty?"
Danny immediately felt an indescribable sense of self-blame surge into his heart. "No... you did very well."
"Really?" The little guy smiled with difficulty. "Then I'll be able to see Nana Wawa Xiaojie."
"That's right, you both will," the soldier looked at Danny. "Can you take care of him? I have to get back to my position."
"I can... thank you." He nodded.
After the other person left, Danny slowly picked up his gun, shook off the dirt, and stood up with great effort.
He could still fight!
The enemy would pay a blood debt for this wound!
However, there was no approaching Church army in sight. In the billowing smoke and dust, the enemy was retreating in a panic, leaving only a series of blurry figures behind.
Cheers were already echoing in the trenches.
——They had won!