My soldiers are all Fourth Calamities!

39. Head west!

Rochester's main force advanced westward with unstoppable momentum. Even though Timoshenko's troops were extremely powerful, Rochester's "Benevolent Army" was no less formidable.

Rochester noticed Timoshenko's gaze—the division commander kept glancing this way. Just as he had guessed, it seemed that players resurrecting in front of others wouldn't be noticed; the system must have done something to conceal it.

But the results those players achieved were genuine.

The force of nearly 20,000 men advanced to the edge of a forest that had been largely destroyed by bombing before stopping.

In a sense, trees, like people, die in war in their own way.

Rochester looked at the woods before him, ravaged by artillery fire—he wondered which unit had dug fortifications here, probably intending to hold out to the death.

As a result, the artillery came and felled both the man and the tree.

The clearing in the woods was riddled with craters, and the air was thick with a rather unpleasant atmosphere.

They quickened their pace only after someone noticed a small birch tree standing in the center of the open space.

The player named "Potato Who Loves Potatoes" arrived first, and looking at the battered sapling, exclaimed, "My goodness, kid, how did you survive here?"

"Come look at this tree!"

...

Timoshenko glanced around the area: "Rest for an hour, then set off."

As soon as he finished speaking, most of the people sat down on the ground.

Rochester found a flat spot and lay down. The soldiers next to him were too tired to move, but the players didn't seem to notice.

Especially that tall guy named "Karl I"—I think he's the one in the group called "AIR".

I don't know if it's a habit he developed in real life or what, but he has a slight hunchback. He's already tall, and the hunchback makes it even more noticeable.

At that moment, he was describing the day's battle in great detail, but the way he described it and the so-called "battle situation" were rather ridiculous.

Player Karl I was gesturing to the new recruits, "Speaking of which, there's a formidable guy in our unit, Guo Ruhe, the political instructor of the 'Righteous Army,' known as the 'First Shot of the Western Expedition,' whose anti-tank rifle was unbeatable. Right now, Instructor Guo was cleaning his gun when Brother Qitu arrived. The two instructors had a long, cryptic discussion, which sent chills down everyone's spines..."

"Hey! Guess what?"

This player's explanation was incredibly authentic, and he spoke with such conviction that it was almost unbelievable.

When the conversation reached a crucial point, the player named "Karl I" paused.

The other soldiers urged, "Old Karl, please continue!"

Charles I made a smoking gesture, "Have a cigarette!"

Looking at Karl I, the misguided man joked, "Why are you smoking here every day? Is this place really that realistic?"

Just as Brother Qitu guessed, this game is so realistic that even smoking feels like it.

If they didn't enter through a gaming pod, they would genuinely believe they were in a real world.

"Sigh, my girlfriend won't let me smoke, so what can I do? The realism here is so high, it actually feels real, which is perfect for satisfying my craving. Speaking of which, is this level of realism... ahem." Karl I took a cigarette offered to him. "It's mainly because of my girlfriend, you know what I mean."

"(*Swear words*)"

The players immediately erupted in boos and good-natured laughter.

Rochester's previous system rules stipulated that certain terms used by players, such as "realism," could only be heard between players themselves, and were not intended for other soldiers to hear.

So to the other soldiers, the conversation only revealed that the man who called himself "Karl I" was a soldier with a family.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard. Some soldiers looked over, and Rochester couldn't help but turn his head to follow their gaze. He saw several prisoners from the "Vistula Federation" walking over, followed by several soldiers from the "Redvet Alliance" who were escorting them.

The column did not move quickly, and the captured soldiers walked slowly, barely moving their feet in their mud-splattered boots.

The older Vistula walking in front had sunken cheeks and a thick, chestnut-brown beard. When he reached the shelter, he lowered his head and cast a wolf-like glance toward Rochester. Then he turned around and straightened his helmet, which was hanging on his belt, as he walked.

This action instantly enraged the battalion commander of another unit, who roared at his soldiers in a stern voice, "What are you doing? Taking a walk with prisoners?! Speed ​​up! Get them out of here! Do you hear me?!"

The battalion commander clearly wanted to shout something more, but he was so excited that he couldn't breathe, so he suddenly turned around and went back into the bunker.

Rochester watched him walk back.

Seeing Rochester's gaze, Anton whispered in his ear, "There's no way around it. He's been through a traumatic experience. He was a prisoner of the White Army, and then a prisoner of the Vistulas. I heard from his men that he suffered a lot there, witnessed the deaths of many brothers, and ever since then, he can't bear to see living enemy soldiers."

"Seeing dead people is fine, you could even say it's a cause for celebration, but seeing prisoners is just like what happened before."

"Hey, I charged with him a few times just now. Even though he didn't have powered armor, he was incredibly strong. Apart from our troops, the way he swung his bayonet and rifle butt was truly terrifying."

Rochester did not respond, but simply nodded.

The rest period passed quickly, and everyone stood up to move on to the next goal.

As they got closer to "Vronsky New Town", the enemy's defensive fortifications began to increase.

Before setting off, Timoshenko assigned a horse to each member of Rochester's "Army of Benevolence," temporarily forming a cavalry unit.

Looking at the entire offensive route, Timoshenko was very close to them—to be precise, the closest of all the troops to them.

Rochester was also a little confused about Timoshenko's thoughts.

However, the players didn't think that much about it.

"Cavalry company, charge!!!"

"Krieg, charge!"

"Damn, aiming from horseback is fucking hard!"

Players mingled among other cavalry, charging at the forefront, and thanks to the minimap, they could clearly see the location in every trench.

Before they even got close to the firing point, more than a dozen precise grenades were thrown at the machine gunner's feet.

In a short time, they managed to take down four machine gunners.

Faced with such a large army, the enemy forces inevitably collapsed once again, leaving three units to resist their attack.

These were the "3rd Cavalry Regiment of Vistula", the "3rd and 2nd Battalions of the 12th Infantry Division of Vistula", and the "1st Battalion of the 7th Infantry Division of Vistula".