Chapter 4: Damn, the NPCs in this game are truly intelligent!
“Soldiers, that blasted metal monster is down! Fire back!”
As an officer, Andre knew he had to boost morale and lead the fight, so he quickly shouted to the soldiers around him. At the same time, he crouched low, changed position, drew his pistol, and began firing wildly outside.
There was no other way—he wasn’t a shooting prodigy. This was his first time holding a gun, after all.
Expecting him to suddenly become a sharpshooter hitting every shot was impossible.
So his volley was nothing but wasted bullets and a way to assert his presence.
However, after hearing Andre’s words, the soldiers around him noticeably lifted their spirits. While praising the comrade who had thrown the grenade, they extended their rifles through gaps in the sandbags and opened fire outside.
Only then did Andre realize that the soldiers near him hadn’t noticed the additional players.
It was unclear whether the chaos of the battlefield caused them to overlook this or if the summoned players possessed some sort of identity integration mechanism that allowed them to blend in seamlessly, so even sudden newcomers went unnoticed.
Andre felt it necessary to investigate this further. If such a trait really existed, it would save him the trouble of assigning identities to players.
Just then, a sudden explosion from the side snapped Andre out of his thoughts.
The spot where he had just been was hit by a rocket, and the sandbags and barricades piled up before the trench were blown to pieces.
Seeing this, Andre turned pale with fright, thankful he had moved away in time.
Otherwise, he would have been blown to bits along with the sandbags!
The soldier with the rocket launcher wasn’t any luckier; he had barely fired a shot before being killed by the reconnaissance player Andre had summoned earlier.
At that moment, Andre noticed several soldiers running toward him, among them the player who had just spawned at the respawn point.
As they ran, the player continued chatting in the chat window.
Brave Bull: “Damn, that scared the hell out of me! The damage in this game is so realistic. That machine gun just sprayed bullets, and my health bar went straight to zero!”
Lady Knight Seven Goblin Slayer: “Serves you right! Who told you to be so reckless? Tough luck!”
Andre paid no attention to their chat and looked toward the familiar bearded veteran, nodding as he asked:
“Why are you all here?”
The bearded soldier grinned broadly.
“Captain, when I ran out earlier, I didn’t see you and thought you were alone. Turns out you and the others came this way!”
“Not sure which brother laid the mine, but it was impressive—it was just the right spot for that monster to step on!”
Andre nodded and casually responded, though inwardly he was filled with sarcastic thoughts.
That wasn’t a mine; it was a thrown grenade!
If he hadn’t seen some unscientific mine placements on the battlefield before, he might have thought it was some supernatural occurrence.
Still, this made Andre’s eyes glint with interest. It seemed his group of players truly wasn’t like the real soldiers; in many ways, they were faithful replicas of the Battlefield templates!
That was impressive. Thinking of those burly men carrying machine guns weighing dozens of pounds and still running around made Andre almost drool.
Checking his influence points, he saw they had surged from 500 to 1200.
He calculated: his players had just destroyed an armored vehicle and killed a cyborg soldier, while taking out two panicked enemies when the vehicle went up in flames.
Could it be that one armored vehicle was worth 500 points, a cyborg soldier 200, and two regular soldiers combined 100?
After all, he had lost a player earlier, costing him 100 points for the resurrection.
Doing a quick mental tally and watching the soldiers’ reactions, Andre formed a rough understanding.
It seemed the soldiers summoned had some kind of cognitive distortion ability; the others acted as if they knew the players and didn’t notice that five strangers had joined their ranks.
Yet, as he glanced around, more and more people crowded near him, causing Andre to frown.
He quickly shouted to those nearby:
“Everyone, don’t cluster here! Fill in the empty spots in the trench!”
“If too many of you gather here, you’ll become easy targets for the enemy! Do you want to be burned alive by their magic?”
Andre knew all too well that on a battlefield like this, clustered troops made perfect artillery targets—especially after witnessing those descending spells.
He didn’t want the enemy to see a bunch of clustered soldiers and get the urge to rain down fiery destruction on them.
Damn it—this world actually had magic!
Hearing this, the soldiers who had arrived gave a quick salute and scattered, except for the bearded veteran who stayed close behind Andre, as if afraid the young officer might get caught in another blast.
Meanwhile, other players in the chat were discussing how intelligent the NPCs seemed.
Though perhaps scripted, the conversations felt natural and believable.
If not for the absence of player tags overhead, one might genuinely wonder whether these speakers were players at all.
Seeing the chat, Andre suddenly thought of his players.
He quickly clicked to recruit five more players.
With five new players appearing beside him, Andre directed them to fortify the trench while asking:
“Is there anyone who can throw grenades far? Toss a bunch out there!”
“Those damned Black Hawk bastards are crouched in the shell holes too close to us; we can’t let them charge!”
No sooner had Andre spoken than a series of grenades flew out.
For regular soldiers, throwing grenades far out from a trench was no easy feat. But for players with game templates, tossing grenades a great distance was effortless.
The Black Hawk soldiers hiding in the shell holes, quietly waiting for the rear fire to suppress the enemy before charging, were stunned to see a sudden barrage of grenades raining from above.
Before they could wonder how the grenades were thrown so far, a series of explosions engulfed them.