C102: Brutal War

[need correction]

[Anna POV]

Facing Freddy with his injury, I felt helpless, despite being a doctor. Even the most skilled person can do little without reasonable supplies.

Without medical equipment, I couldn't treat Freddy's wound out of thin air. So, Emil and the dog ventured deep into the German encampment in search of medicine that could help Freddy.

The difficulty of sneaking into the camp was higher than anything they had experienced before. Not only did they have to time the German soldiers' patrols carefully, but he also had to cooperate with the dog.

After several failed attempts, The dog finally managed to guide Emil to find the right medicine for Freddy. By this point, Byron Vondorf had already fled.

Once Freddy was treated with the medicine we found, we set off again.

Our journey led us to Reims, which had been devastated by German air raids. The once-bustling city lay in ruins, bombed relentlessly by Zeppelin airships. Countless homes were reduced to rubble, and the French tenants had fled for safety.

Seeing this destruction, Freddy was overwhelmed with sadness and anger. He wanted to assess the situation. However, a cannonball struck nearby ending this idea forcing him to take cover in a hole. The explosion caused a building demolition which fell between, separating Freddy from us.

From the other side, Freddy could see the Zeppelin airship in the distance, but he had no way to reunite with us, so he went ahead alone.

Meanwhile, I began to treat the injured. Emil couldn't move these obstacles by himself. It would take five people to shift it. So, we rescued the refugees nearby, using the dog's help, and then asked them to assist us in clearing the debris so we could catch up with Freddy.

_________________________________________________________________________

[Shifting to Liu]

I watched this scene unfold, and I couldn't help but ponder, 'Why does it feel like there's a deeper meaning in this scene?' Freddy had been bombed twice in a row—talk about bad luck. And, considering him well, I didn't need to say more. The live stream chat was already picking up on the subtext. I quickly glanced at the comment, then turned my attention back to the game.

While rescuing the people, I noticed a subtle detail. All the characters— Emil and other NPCs—had no visible eyes. But a little girl trapped in one of the rooms had bright, striking eyes. The contrast was unmistakable and ironic. Of course, the dog has them too.

After successfully saving the refugees and removing obstacles. Emil and the dog followed Freddy's trail, which led us to a final encounter with Byron Vondorf at the cathedral.

Here are two consecutive BOSS battles.

The first involves Emil and the dog attacking the trachea of the pipe organ, which is full of creative aesthetic.

In the second battle, I controlled Freddy to pick up a grenade thrown by Byron Vondorf that hadn't exploded and used it to launch an attack on the Zeppelin propeller. After blowing up two of the Zeppelin's propellers, Byron Vondorf fled again. But this time the pilot of the airship turned out to be Carl.

Meanwhile, Anna ignored us, driving in the car along with the dog towards the falling Zeppelin.

At that point, I realized that this last character, Anna, has her own story. Nine months earlier, Anna had been training as a veterinarian. When she received her father's letter, the Germans were twenty miles away from Paris.

Her father told her he was fine. He advised her not to return home until the war was over. But waiting patiently wasn't in Anna's character, so she decided to go find her father.

All the taxis in Paris had been requisitioned to transport soldiers to the Marne front, so Anna found a damaged car on the street, fixed it, and drove to the front herself.

This scene was like the ones where she saved Emile and Freddy earlier. It became a mini-game where I guided her driving on the road. The background music, Cancan, made the scene even more cheerful. The ringing bells from nearby cars and the trembling performance of the wooden barrels served as perfect rhythm points.

What's even more amazing is that, midway through the drive, two cars suddenly appeared, boxing Anna's taxi in from both sides, as if stuck in a crazy dance between two. The music shifted from the lively Cancan to Offenbach's Barcarolle, If floating down a Venetian river at night.

I began to lose myself in the atmosphere. The rhythm suddenly switched back to the upbeat Cancan. This cheerful scene made us laugh, and even Anna seemed delighted.

[Within, a Flashback started] -

[September 7, 1914, the taxi galloped all night, and Anna felt proud and happy helping the soldiers reach the front lines.]

But in the next second, the tone of the game changed completely.

[Anna arrived at the front line and witnessed the harsh realities with her own eyes]

Both Anna in the game and I along with the audience watching the stream, fell silent.

The battlefield is laden with corpses. Bodies of soldiers and horses pile up like mountains. Although presented in a hand-painted 2D style, the pressure is palpable through the screen, especially after the cheerful scene before, making the contrast darker and starker.

Driven by compassion, Anna stayed on the front lines to nurse the wounded. Every life saved felt like a small victory in this unending war. The necrotic limbs had to be sawed off, and there were so many corpses were discarded like garbage. Amidst all of this, a cry for help came from the ruins — it was an enemy soldier who had miraculously survived. Anna pulled him out of the rubble and saved him.

While tending to the wounded, Anna overheard a conversation between a French officer and someone near Belgium. They mentioned that the Germans were preparing to test a new weapon near Ypres — her hometown.

Fear gripped her soul, and She decided to return to Ypres immediately. The lady she rescued informed her that the town had been captured by Byron Vondorf, who planned to use advanced weapons in the war. She couldn't just stand, so she set out.

That's when she encountered Emil and Freddie in a desperate situation. Though they came from different countries, nationalities, and backgrounds, they shared a common goal.

The timeline ends, and now she is chasing the airship. When she arrived at the target, she didn't find her father. Instead, she found Carl, who was seriously injured and trapped. After freeing him, she learned that Byron Vondorf had taken her father with him, escaping on an emergency carrier before the airship crashed.

Carl, still gravely wounded, was sent to a prisoner of war camp, while Emil was court-martialed as a deserter. But thanks to his heroic actions in Reims, Emile was released.

[Shifting POV]

It's that the place where Emil was sent was the front line, a place known to everyone—Verdun. After arriving at the front, he fought alongside other soldiers for three months, and the seasons shifted from autumn to winter.

On the battlefield like all the soldiers, he endured the horrors of war and the harsh winter. The greatest comfort for any soldier on the front line is a letter from home.

I, too, received a letter from my daughter back home, but it was filled with bad news. Food shortages, rampant disease, and rising deaths darkened my words. Yet, amidst the despair, there was a ray of hope—a photo of my son, Victor, learning to walk.

During that time, the Germans launched another attack, but I was fortunate to survive once again. For my contributions, I was honored along with Freddy.

At the same time, there was more good news—Anna wrote that Carl, who had been gravely injured, was nearly healed. But the war was growing more tragic, with casualties climbing to 70,000 per month. Verdun had truly earned its name as a flesh grinder.

As the fighting intensified, Freddy and I were sent on a mission to retake Fort Douaumont. It was there that we encountered an old enemy—Baron von Dorf.

Freddy, along with the dog, managed to restrain von Dorf while I went to detonate the explosives at the fort. Though I succeeded in blowing it up, the Germans held their ground. Our mission had failed. Staring at the distant fortress, I was overcome with a deep sense of loss.

'Mary, my love, the war has taken the life of a dear friend, someone I considered a brother. His death was a blow I can hardly describe.'

'You tell me to be happy, that Carl is recovering and getting stronger. I'll visit him when I have leave. But how are you? Are you well?'

At the same time unknown to me, Carl received a letter. Desperate to reunite with his family, Carl decided to escape from the prisoner of war camp, even though he knew this war might never end.

As I followed the game's unfolding plot, I felt an immense heaviness sitting in front of my computer. The cruelty of war had become painfully clear to me. "Is Freddy dead? Is the dog gone too? And Carl... now that he's trying to escape the POW camp, won't something happen to him?"

Although the game's perspective had shifted to Carl, I couldn't bring myself to continue just yet. I was still absorbing the weight of the story that had unfolded.

-----------------------------------------

SAR - if you found any. its search and rescue,

Pow - is prison of war. Must have added it before.