Brutal War

The brief battle ended, and Kyle began collecting the spoils from the field.

After the German soldiers died, everything they carried became available for extraction.

"Hm, what's this?" Kyle looked at the two parchment scrolls he had found on a German soldier. With a thought, the information on two Item Cards appeared before his eyes.

Encrypted Map One: Contains a detailed terrain map of the German combat zone in the area, as well as the location of their temporary base.

Encrypted Map Two: Contains intelligence gathered by a German elite squad on the distribution of American forces in the combat zone, their camps, and supply transport routes.

"No wonder they dared to venture so deep behind enemy lines. Germany sent an elite squad." Kyle revealed a thoughtful expression and stored the two parchment map cards on his person.

A map was equivalent to a strategy guide. It showed both armies' force deployments as well as the detailed terrain of the region. No wonder the Germans had put so much pressure on the Americans.

Kyle swiftly extracted the equipment from the German soldiers, then moved on to the military supplies in the American military vehicle.

Kyle never considered ammunition excessive. He claimed all the military supplies that should have been looted by the enemy without the slightest guilt.

Finally, looking at the military vehicle he had stripped clean, Kyle considered it for a moment. After clearing out the two American corpses from the driver's seat, he turned the slightly damaged vehicle into a card and stored it on his person as well.

With the card extraction complete, Kyle was now carrying an entire vehicle's worth of military supplies. He was armed to the teeth in every sense of the word.

Ready to go, Kyle stood atop a small dirt slope and looked toward the combat zone not far ahead. He muttered, "It's time to join the fighting on the front line."

Having experienced his first kill, Kyle gained a deeper understanding of his own strength. With the Ability Cards and Item Cards on him, he believed he could dare to venture into even a large-scale war.

Since this was an experience his reborn life was destined to face, then let the war come even fiercer!

Frontline combat zone.

Boom!

Rat-tat-tat!

The countless sounds of gunfire and artillery intertwined like a thunderstorm symphony. Under the red-blue flashes erupting from gun muzzles and the blinding daylight bursts of shells and grenades exploding through the night, American and German soldiers fought with fierce intensity.

The American forces were primarily defending. Using earth and stones piled around trenches as cover, they spread out in lines and continuously blocked the German soldiers trying to break through the front.

Although bullets and shells constantly harvested the lives of German soldiers who emerged ahead, the Germans still used the corpses of their fallen comrades sprawled across the ground as cover, inching forward bit by bit. The distance between the two sides' combat zones steadily shrank.

"Those Nazi bastards have all been brainwashed, haven't they? They're completely insane war maniacs with no regard for their lives!"

The Black sergeant leading an American squad gritted his teeth. He swept his gaze over the soldiers around him, their eyes bloodshot as they struggled to hold on. Clenching his fists, he roared into the combat radio, "Our squad is running out of ammunition! Haven't the reinforcements and supplies from the rear arrived yet?!"

"If this keeps up, our central defensive line can only hold for another ten minutes—"

Before the sergeant could finish, a dull artillery blast suddenly rang out. A shell, dragging a shrill whistle behind it, landed in a trench several meters before him. One of the soldiers beside it was instantly blown to pieces.

"What was that?" The sergeant was knocked rolling by the blast. Ignoring the ringing in his ears and the pain throughout his body, he struggled back to his feet. Looking ahead from the destroyed trench bunker, he saw a massive Iron Machine crawling forward like a monster, its wheels crushing countless German corpses on the ground into pulp.

"Those Nazi animals held back a tank until now? I was wrong. Not ten minutes—ten seconds. The defensive line will be torn open!" Despair appeared on the sergeant's face.

As the German tank rolled forward, it adjusted the direction of its cannon. Just before it fired its second shell, an equally deep and thunderous blast suddenly erupted behind the sergeant.

Boom!

The rocket artillery blast was not only deafening, but its tail spewed billowing smoke. It traced an arc through the sky over the combat zone, accurately crossing forty meters before landing directly on the German tank's cannon barrel.

The tank's second shell had not yet left the barrel, and amid a brilliant burst of explosive sparks, the steel tank became a pile of scrap. It also caused heavy casualties among the German soldiers trying to follow behind it and break through.

"Nice!"

The American soldiers who witnessed the scene immediately cheered.

The Black sergeant's eyes widened as well. The hopeless situation had been reversed in an instant by that single rocket strike, and he could not help turning around.

A dozen meters behind the trench defensive line stood a sturdy, handsome young man with a rocket launcher resting on one shoulder. It was Kyle, who had just rushed over.

Seeing so many soldiers focusing their attention on him, Kyle smiled faintly.

"Soldier Kyle, reporting in as reinforcements!"

This agonizing, brutal defensive battle lasted through the entire night!

From the night until the eastern sky turned pale, when the first ray of dawn fell upon the frontline battlefield, the German army finally abandoned its suicidal assault and retreated like a receding tide.

This could be considered a brief American victory—

It was a pyrrhic victory! The defensive line became a boundary between life and death. The corpses of German and American soldiers piled into mountains across the wilderness battlefield. Miles of land had become scorched earth, dark red blood staining the ground.

Countless surviving American soldiers did not even have the strength to cheer. After enduring an entire night of intense combat, their bodies and minds were utterly exhausted. Many simply fainted where they stood, their hands still tightly gripping their rifles even after they fell.

Kyle sat in a trench with the same weary expression. His body was covered in blood and mud, and this night had been another unprecedented experience for him.

Even with the skill level of a master marksman, capable of taking a life with every bullet, the harsh battlefield environment and the endless waves of enemy soldiers had still placed immense pressure of death upon him.

It was like a tug-of-war against the Grim Reaper. His body had to remain tense at all times. The slightest lapse could let an enemy bullet punch a bloody hole through any part of him.

This was large-scale war!

Only after the enemy retreated did Kyle toss his rifle, its barrel glowing red-hot, onto the ground. Smoke rose from it with a sizzling sound. It had clearly fulfilled its purpose and was now scrap.

"Soldier, your name is Kyle, right?" The Black sergeant slowly made his way over. His left eye had been completely ruined, and one arm hung injured at his side from a gunshot wound, yet he still flashed a grin of white teeth. "You're so young. Was this your first time on a battlefield?"

"That's right." Kyle nodded, breathing heavily.

"So it really was your first time on a battlefield. And in a war this large-scale, too. Your performance was simply outstanding. You can't be treated like an ordinary recruit at all. When we get back, I'll apply to the colonel for individual battle merit on your behalf," the sergeant said admiringly.

"Whatever. After going through a war like this, just feeling that I'm still alive is already a blessing from the goddess of victory," Kyle said with feeling.

"Yeah. Staying alive is already a great blessing." The sergeant smiled. "Wait a little longer. Reinforcements from the rear will arrive soon to relieve us, and we can get a proper half-day of rest."

"Rest? I'm afraid I can't." Kyle shook his head and patted the pocket of his uniform. "I have something very important to turn over to the colonel!"