Chapter 62: Mere Landmines, the Cambrian Tricks Are Nothing Much!

"Damn it, isn't this pure sabotage?"

Hearing the intense gunfire echoing from the other side, Andrei couldn't help but curse under his breath.

While he understood that gunfire served as a signal in the heat of battle—especially for soldiers whose nerves were already stretched to the breaking point, hearing others shoot made them instinctively want to fire back—these idiots didn't stop to think: was just anyone capable of blowing an enemy's head off from eight hundred meters away?

It wasn't just the other group; the soldiers in Andrei's own company had also shown signs of restlessness, though Andrei had immediately suppressed them all.

"Calm down! Think about what kind of guns you're holding, and then think about your own marksmanship!"

"If you really had the skill to hit an enemy from eight hundred meters away, you wouldn't have been drafted into this unit only now! Not to mention you're carrying submachine guns, which only have a range of two hundred meters!"

Hearing Andrei's words, the soldiers who had been itching for action immediately stopped, cautiously hiding in the shadows.

Unlike the snipers lying flat on the rooftops and the riflemen, they were all concealed on the first floor and around the street corners, ready to launch a sudden surprise attack on the enemy at any moment.

However, one soldier couldn't help casting a puzzled look at Andrei and asked, "But sir, I don't understand. Why are they new recruits who enlisted at the exact same time as us, yet they have such pinpoint accuracy?"

Hearing this, Andrei merely shrugged and replied casually, "You don't need to worry about that. They're special—they're not like you!"

"Remember what I said: hold your fire until the enemy gets close, and don't go sticking your heads out like fools!"

Chided by Andrei, the rest of the company fell silent, save for a few quiet mutters among themselves.

Meanwhile, Boris, who had been following closely behind Andrei as his personal guard, fell into a thoughtful and puzzled silence.

The main reason he had come here was due to a favor he owed someone, specifically tasked with protecting Andrei. Yet he hadn't expected Andrei to possess such a secret special unit that even he knew nothing about.

Where on earth did this detachment come from? Could it be that General Vorontsov had secretly been training an elite force behind the scenes?

Despite his lingering doubts, Boris did not presumptuously question Andrei.

Realizing that these individuals had an extraordinary background, he instantly felt a wave of relief.

It turned out that today's recruits weren't simply so monstrously overpowered that he was falling behind the times; rather, this ruthless bunch possessed an abnormal origin and were not ordinary recruits at all!

Just then, the Black Hawk artillery on the other side opened fire once again.

After Major Yuri's troops in the adjacent sector accidentally exposed their position, they were immediately targeted by the distant artillery.

The two remaining infantry guns had changed to a new position across the river this time, setting up even farther away.

Although increasing the distance significantly reduced their accuracy, it simultaneously rendered the players' favored mortars completely incapable of reaching them.

Watching the shells suddenly rain down upon the small town and feeling the vibrations rumbling from overhead, Andrei casually tapped his system interface to issue a quest commanding a squad of players to eliminate the infantry artillery across the way.

Those infantry guns were a genuine nuisance; with them providing suppression, his forces would suffer heavy casualties.

As for how the players would stealthily cross the river and wipe out those artillery pieces, that wasn't something Andrei needed to worry about. The Fourth Calamity would always find a way to complete their mission.

A quest requiring ten participants was claimed in a mere three seconds. Soon, a bunch of players carrying various weapons and loaded down with massive packs began sneaking away behind the town.

They hadn't felt much about it before, but looking back now, Andrei was instantly struck by the sheer absurdity of the players.

Seeing these fellows carrying mortars and light machine guns single-handedly, with their bodies wrapped in all kinds of drum magazines, grenades, and artillery shells, Andrei couldn't help but feel that the players possessed truly godlike physical stamina.

Realizing that he now possessed this very same stamina, he suddenly felt a strong urge to try it out, briefly wondering what it would be like to sling a mortar over his shoulder and stroll around.

With the combined suppression of the infantry guns and the mechanized machine guns, the players who had been firing earlier, along with the Cambian troops caught in the crossfire on the other side, all completely quieted down.

Having lost the threat of the snipers, the Necromancer soldiers—who had previously been cowering in place—resumed commanding the horde of skeletons, driving the vast, surging sea of bones rapidly toward the small town.

"Hold steady... hold steady... don't rush!"

"These skeletons are completely brainless, so don't rush to poke your heads out and shoot them. We've already laid mines up ahead!"

Peering through a concealed gap at the skeleton soldiers drawing ever closer, Andrei spoke in a low voice to his subordinate soldiers and the players.

At that exact moment, a skeleton soldier accidentally stepped on a player-laid landmine and was blown sky-high with a loud bang.

Yet the remaining skeleton soldiers didn't react in the slightest, simply maintaining their steady pace and continuing their forward march, occasionally stepping on mines and getting blasted into the air.

"Heh, heh, heh. Those cunning Cambians! Their mines are nothing special after all!"

Watching the skeleton soldiers being blown into the air one after another, the Black Hawk officer following closely behind the formation couldn't help laughing. Hearing his laughter, the Necromancer walking not far ahead nodded in agreement.

Unfortunately, this fellow wore a green skeletal mask and maintained an expressionless demeanor the entire time, leaving the officer feeling somewhat rebuffed.

Seeing more and more mines triggered in succession by the skeletons, the group of Black Hawk soldiers were all in high spirits, no longer feeling any revulsion toward the cruelty of necromancy.

Otherwise, had these mines been scattered everywhere, there was a good chance they would have stepped on every single one of them. Clearing a minefield like that would have cost an unknown amount of time.

Little did they know that the players spent virtually no time laying these mines; they could toss out several in a single second.

And even less did they know that while they were busy playing a game of minesweeper, the players were already plotting and colluding within the chat channel.

Brother Hoan: [Hold your positions, everyone! Wait until they get a little closer! Mortar squads and flamethrower units, get ready to deal their mages a heavy blow and wipe them out in one fell swoop!]

As soon as the message was sent, a cascade of "acknowledged" responses flooded the screen, once again proving the true nature of human behavior.

Watching the spontaneous actions of the players, Andrei hooked the corner of his mouth, turned around, and published a new quest within the system:

[Side Quest: Eliminate all enemy Necromancers using an artillery or cavalry surprise attack! Total Quest Reward: 1,000 Merit Points! Participating Players: 0/20]