Chapter 58: Semi-Playerization of the Body, Unlocking the Trench Raider

Although the players failed to successfully push the enemy back in one fell swoop, which left Andrei somewhat disappointed, it did not matter—he had finally accumulated the influence points he wanted most!

Without a moment of hesitation, he exchanged points for a semi-player transformation of his body. As a barely perceptible flash of light swept over him, Andrei instantly felt a massive change occur within his physical form.

He pinched his own flesh and found that his sense of touch and pain remained unchanged, feeling basically identical to before.

However, the deep-seated exhaustion and fatigue that had previously weighed heavily upon his body vanished in an instant, and his entire being felt lighter than ever before!

Ever since crossing over into this world, Andrei had been dodging artillery fire in trenches, leading troops on continuous assaults, fighting his way out of enemy encirclement to seize a supply station, and then making his way here through a series of grueling transfers.

During this entire period, apart from sleeping for half a night at an enemy supply station, catching bits and pieces of sleep in a vehicle along the way, and lying down for a brief moment upon arriving in this small town, he had barely rested at all.

One could say that for nearly a whole day, he had been constantly on the move. The total number of steps he had walked probably exceeded what he would normally walk in an entire week!

Therefore, prior to this, Andrei had long been utterly exhausted. Had it not been for the pressing urgency of the war forcing him to hold on, knowing that no one could rest just yet, he probably would have found a place to fall asleep immediately.

Yet, with his body undergoing a semi-player transformation, the fatigue that had previously plagued him was completely swept away!

He felt unimaginably energetic now, and his physical strength had also increased significantly.

There was no time to test his endurance, but as for brute strength...

He decided to try hanging every single grenade from an ammunition box right in front of him onto his body. Not only did the entire case of grenades instantly attach themselves to his gear, but he could not even feel their weight!

"Wonderful! I suppose I've transformed into a battlefield superman myself!"

Andrei shouted excitedly in his mind, the muscles on his face twitching slightly as he fought the urge to burst into laughter.

Had there not been so many people in the command post, he would have roared with laughter right then and there!

"Captain Vorontsov, we'll need to draw the enemy into the town for combat next. Fighting the enemy in the open field is simply too disadvantageous!"

At that moment, Lieutenant Unere, who had just finished giving orders to several officers, walked over toward Andrei and complained.

Right after that, Lieutenant Unere pointed at the submachine gun held by one of his guards and asked Andrei:

"Captain, I have an idea. I think we should gather these automatic firearms as much as possible and hand them over to experienced veterans!"

"In the town, if we engage the enemy in close-quarters street fighting, these rifles are by no means useful weapons; only submachine guns and pistols are the critical tools! Steel should be used on the cutting edge!"

Hearing this, Andrei glanced at the submachine gun in the guard's hand, feeling that the thing looked more and more familiar no matter how he looked at it.

For some reason, he always felt that this weapon looked remarkably like a PPSh. The only reason he didn't say it was identical to a PPSh was because he wasn't quite certain whether its details differed from the PPSh in any way.

Regarding this suggestion, Andrei nodded and said:

"Lieutenant, what you say certainly makes sense. I believe we should organize an elite assault squad to engage the enemy in close combat!"

"In addition to automatic weapons, we also need to equip this unit with a large number of grenades. We will need to fight the enemy in every building, and even in every room, where grenades will undoubtedly play a massive role!"

"Also, I think it's best not to use rifles with bayonets during close combat; they are far too inflexible in complex environments. We'd better dig up some entrenching tools or something similar for the soldiers to use!"

Recalling the shovels he had seen earlier, Andrei sighed. Those were hardly professional engineering shovels; they could only be considered short-handled spades at best.

Regardless, using such an object to bash someone over the head was still remarkably effective, and it was much easier to carry than a rifle with a attached bayonet.

As he spoke, Andrei gestured around the rooms of the command post, explaining some tactical concepts he had once read about, such as the stormtrooper tactics that ought to have shined brilliantly in the trenches.

Unfortunately, they lacked a sufficient number of light machine guns and submachine guns, nor did they have flame throwers, meaning ordinary Cambrian soldiers could not possibly assemble a true stormtrooper detachment and could only cobble together a makeshift, substandard version instead.

It did not matter, however, because the players had these things!

With the players around, he didn't need to worry about the stormtrooper issue at all. Bringing it up now was simply meant to maximize the combat effectiveness of these regular soldiers as much as possible.

Andrei did not notice that as he explained these tactics, Lieutenant Unere's eyes were growing increasingly bright.

When Andrei finished speaking, Lieutenant Unere said with glowing eyes:

"Spot on, Captain! You are completely right!"

"I never would have imagined that you had so many insights into urban warfare. I suppose your grades at the military academy must have been quite good?"

Hearing this, Andrei's expression instantly stiffened.

Damn it! Why did this lieutenant have to bring up a sore subject?

Although Andrei could not recall how well he had performed back at the military academy, if he remembered correctly, Major Yuri seemed to have mentioned once that Andrei had been held back a year in military school.

Thus, this probably had nothing to do with getting good grades, right?

Fortunately, Lieutenant Unere did not press the issue further. He turned around and went off to busy himself with other matters.

Meanwhile, Andrei re-assembled the remaining regular soldiers in his company, ordered them to stop resting, and prepared to distribute the batch of weapons Lieutenant Unere had just sent over.

He didn't need to worry about the players' weapons, but the regular soldiers' arms required his personal attention. The ordinary foot soldiers in his unit were nothing special, basically equipped with just a rifle per person, with not even a single submachine gun allocated to an entire squad.

How vexing. His system could only provide weapons to players, not to ordinary soldiers.

Otherwise, he would have started acting as an arms dealer long ago, mass-distributing weaponry to his own troops!

At the same time, casting a glance at the remaining influence points in his account, Andrei calculated briefly and then unlocked the elite soldier set known as the Trench Raider.

A breastplate, a steel helmet, a raider club, plus a No. 3 revolver—it might not look like much in reality, but in the game, when used properly, this setup was truly overpowered!

A single swing of the club could knock down an enemy, and combined with an inherent 83% damage reduction, it made the user absurdly resilient to punishment!

Had it not been for the one-hit-kill effect of bayonet charges in Battlefield—which required one to be careful not to get skewered by enemy bayonets—charging forward with this gear would genuinely allow one to slay gods and Buddhas alike!