Although it was still snowing, it was good weather for the Northern Region.
Nail was wiping the gun barrel in his hand in boredom. Occasionally, he would look at the Impassable Mountain Range through the telescope. But the frequency of looking at the Impassable Mountain Range decreased as time went by. Now, he only looked at it two or three times a day. The rest of the time was spent on maintaining the gun and chatting with his companions.
Maintaining the weapon was a meticulous job. Every half a month or so, they would receive a thumb-sized "oil stick" wrapped in hard paper. It was said that it was the waste grease left by the soap factory. When it was needed, they would first heat it up and then smear it on the special double-headed brush. The latter, with one end larger than the other, could be inserted into the gun barrel and the cartridge. In the past, each class was equipped with cleaning tools. Now, there were more and more factories and workshops in Neverwinter. Brushes had become a necessary accessory for guns. Almost everyone had one.
Of course, if there was no campfire, they could also keep the oil stick warm by putting it in their arms or in their mouths. Although the First Army forbade the consumption of this waste grease, some soldiers would still secretly smear a little of it on their rations and eat it with relish as a seasoning.
As the squad leader, he usually chose to turn a blind eye to it.
After all, the team responsible for guarding the Northern Region were mostly veterans, some of whom were even 10 or 20 years older than him. If he had not attended the universal primary education class, he would never have been the squad leader. Looking at those former neighbors, uncles and uncles, Nail could only smile.
After assembling the disassembled parts one by one, the rifle became shiny again. He pulled the trigger several times to make sure that the empty bullets were fired normally. Then he moved his eyes back to the position.
The battle in autumn was still etched in his mind. Whenever he closed his eyes, the image of the young woman in the red robe would appear in his mind. At that time, he had witnessed her death in this blockhouse. Even though he knew that she was an enemy and a pure witch of the church, the scene of her struggling in the hail of bullets still made him feel very uncomfortable. If it were not for Iron Axe's order and his loyalty to His Majesty, he would have left the army and returned to his original job as a mining steam engine operator.
Although he still stayed in the First Army, Nail decided to transfer from the machine gun team to become an observer to protect the machine gunners. Even though he knew that his actions felt like he was deceiving himself, he still couldn't overcome the barrier in his heart.
After a bloody battle, the ground was soaked in blood, and there was no longer any trace of it. The barbed wire had long been removed, and only a dozen or so wooden stakes were left. The trenches were also filled with snow. If it were not for the few blockhouses still standing, the wilderness would look no different from the surrounding land. Other than them, no one knew that several hundred meters in front of the first row of stakes, more than two thousand people lost their lives here.
"Corporal, the stove is running out of firewood. I'll go and get some from the field," said a soldier who was about the same age as Nail. He was referring to the stakes that had been used to fix the barbed wire. "Otherwise, the next group will blame us for not replenishing the firewood."
"But we're on duty now …" Nail shook his head and said, "It's not good to be seen by others."
"They won't say anything." Another veteran laughed and said, "It's so cold. Who cares if we go and get something to warm ourselves up? Besides, it's been several months, and we haven't seen any of those cowards from the church. How could they come to us at this time? "
These words were unanimously echoed by everyone.
Nail also knew that they were right. In the beginning, there were still 500 people in the camp. According to Iron Axe's request, they continued to stay at the foot of Coldwind Ridge to guard against the dying counterattack of the church or the invasion of demonic beasts. However, none of the expected enemies appeared. Probably because the higher-ups thought that the situation would not change much, more than two hundred soldiers were withdrawn. The remaining soldiers were basically in the form of patrols, taking turns to stay in the blockhouse to monitor the movements in the northwest.
He hesitated for a moment and finally agreed to the soldier's request. "It's too slow for you to move it alone. Call two more people to go with you."
The latter whistled and said, "Yes, boss!"
Nail turned around and picked up the telescope to look at the end of the snowfield. It was still white as far as his eyes could see, as if it would never change.
Just as he was about to take out his pistol and wipe it, two or three black spots suddenly appeared in his field of vision, which were particularly eye-catching against the white background.
He was startled for a moment and then shouted, "Wait!"
The soldiers who had walked to the top of the stairs immediately stopped, and the others around the stove also gathered together. "What's going on?"
Nail wiped his glasses with the felt on his collar and looked to the northwest again. This time, there were more black spots. He held his breath and observed for a while, only to find that they were figures moving slowly in the snow.
"Sound the warning horn! Someone is coming to the position! "
"Woo woo woo woo" As the horn sound spread over the field, the whole camp suddenly boiled up.
Nail took his rifle and went down the blockhouse with his team. They formed a line of guns around the bottom of the tower and put the barrels on the sandbags covered with snow. Since the trenches had been filled with snow, they could only shrink the line and assist the heavy machine guns to defend.
"Are they from the church?" someone asked.
"If not them, who else could it be?" The previous veteran muttered unhappily, "Coldwind Ridge has long been abandoned by His Majesty. Only Hermes can come from that direction. I underestimated them."
"Will there be another bunch of monster-like soldiers? This time, we don't have the support of the Artillery Battalion."
"What are you afraid of? I don't believe they can run around in the snow." The veteran spat. "Either you don't wear armor or you fall into the pit and become a target."
"Boss, the distance?"
"At least 1,000 meters away." Nail looked at the suspicious targets and could not help but frown. "Strange, something is wrong..."
"What's wrong?"
"They... don't look like the God's Punishment Army."
"Did the church send the Judgement Army here to die?" Everyone was relieved. If they were just ordinary Judgement Warriors, it was absolutely impossible for them to rush to them under the crossfire of the machine gun blockhouse.
"They are not the Judgement Army either... not only are they not wearing armor, but even some of their clothes are intact." Nail raised the telescope and was surprised. "My God, how did these people come down the mountain? They look... like a group of refugees! "
"They could also be Scourge disguised as refugees." The veteran shrugged. "Hey, where are you going?"
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