Chapter 142: Deadly Flames

Bang! Bang!

The successive explosions fiercely assaulted the soldiers' ears and minds, the grenade thrower hunkered down tightly at the bottom of the dirty sewer, while his "sick cat" companion suddenly displayed an extremely agile posture. As the splashes from the explosion still lingered in the air, he swiftly dashed forward to the junction ahead, shouldering his assault rifle and sweeping it from left to right in a clockwise motion, then pivoting about 120 degrees before pulling the trigger.

The muzzle jumped, casings ejected, and three consecutive bullets were fired at the same spot. Then, the "sick cat" continued to turn until completing a 180-degree scan, swiftly squatting down with his knees hitting the ground heavily amidst the flowing sewage.

It wasn't until Wolfram briskly rushed over to check the body that Lynn rotated his upper body in place, using the infrared night vision scope to scan once again the various sewer branches around the junction.

Soon after, hurried footsteps could be heard behind them, and moments later, Brück and the others also arrived at the junction.

Guided by memory and a sense of direction, Lynn led the way towards the main sewer in front. By now, Wolfram had opened his flashlight to inspect the enemy's corpse, reporting in a low voice, "It's a previously injured Russian veteran!"

Appearing indifferent, Lynn couldn't shake off his concern: this meant that the Soviet combat units had already cleared the nearby sewers. Unless something unexpected occurred, their troops would still be scouring the sewers for remnants of German officers and soldiers, attempting to open new attack paths to complement the advancing ground forces.

It seemed that returning to their controlled area via the sewer had added another layer of uncertainty.

"Hey, Löwe, how's your wound?"

Once the team safely passed the junction, Lynn turned around and asked with concern. This small skirmish had been close but without casualties, dispelling the lingering dread of losses in every battle.

Brück replied nonchalantly, "Oh, it's fine, just a scratch on the face, didn't even bleed much!"

Lynn intended to make a quip, but he heard faint unusual noises from ahead. His mind, tense and highly focused, felt a weariness from continuous combat — a far cry from the tranquility of an office job where a break could be taken at any moment. Without hesitation, he activated the night vision goggles, aiming into the still dim monochrome view.

Clack, clack, clack... It was the unmistakable sound of MP38/40 submachine guns firing. Sensing no retreat, Lynn rushed forward with the intent of providing assistance and seizing the initiative. However, though the gunfire sounded close, the distance to the next junction was much farther than estimated. Finally spotting flickers of reddish-yellow light ahead, Lynn shouted lowly, "Löwe and Karl stay here, the rest follow me up. Noah, be ready to provide heavy fire support at any time!"

In the cramped confines of the sewer, an anti-tank rocket launcher was undoubtedly a powerful weapon. Unless they could timely retreat into a junction, being targeted would likely lead to certain death, even with their combat skills.

Driven by the tense atmosphere of combat, when figures appeared in his sight, Lynn almost squeezed the trigger aimed at the individual's head. Fortunately, a glance with his left eye revealed the distinct profile of a large ear along the helmet's edge, sparing the fortunate soldier from friendly fire.

Seeing the soldier retreating with his submachine gun raised but not firing, Lynn noticed a series of dark red dots sweeping across the curved wall beside him, narrowly avoiding hitting him. Twenty meters away, Lynn called out loudly, "Hey buddy, come this way!"

The soldier, in a hurry, turned around, slipped, and clumsily fell. Immediately, another soldier retreated, clearly having heard Lynn's call, and swiftly turned to enter the sewer on their side, shouting, "Give me a grenade!"

But there were no grenades left. Lynn slowed his pace, ready to open fire on the enemy in sight at any moment. However, he saw the previously fallen soldier getting shot by the enemy while struggling to get up. He screamed in agony, unable to get back on his feet.

Seeing his companion's tragic fate, the retreating soldier neither called out his name in agony nor rushed out to avenge him, as if two unfamiliar German soldiers, filled only with war's helplessness, pity for their comrades, and hatred for the enemy, met. Then, he tirelessly shouted again, "Give me a grenade!"

Charging directly into the junction was not a wise choice. Lynn slowed his pace about ten meters from the junction, feeling that Soviet soldiers ready to attack could emerge at any moment. He held his assault rifle and shouted towards the German soldier, "No grenades! Come over here!"

Soon, a third figure appeared at the junction, but unlike the previous two German soldiers, he ran towards them head-on. If it weren't for seeing that he also wore a large ear along the helmet's edge, Lynn might have mistaken him for a reckless attacking Soviet soldier and shot him. However, despite his full sprint, he couldn't escape the bullets. Before entering the sewer, he was hit in the shoulder, screaming in pain as he stumbled in.

"Damn it!"

The soldier ahead's resentful shout seemed to correspond to Lynn's "No grenades," or perhaps to his companion's unfortunate injury at the last moment. Finally abandoning his position against the wall, he bent over and rushed towards his comrade, dragging him towards Lynn's side. The injured man immediately screamed in agony. As they approached, Lynn abandoned his good ambush position to help. With their combined efforts, dragging the wounded man became much faster, with Lynn holding the gun in his right hand and dragging the man with his left. Walking and looking back over his shoulder, he quickly saw the fourth and last German soldier. This man retreated while firing his submachine gun, seemingly about to retreat into their side of the sewer with just a step sideways. However, he seemed to suddenly start a dance, convulsing and swaying strangely, as if all his strength had been drained in an instant. He took another stumbling step backward, his legs bent, his body slightly inclined, and then he knelt heavily to the ground, struggling to raise his submachine gun again but was hit by more bullets in succession, finally swaying and falling backward. If this scene had already deeply shocked Lynn, what followed, when the extremely glaring bright yellow light swept in like the most violent hurricane, engulfing the fallen German soldier's corpse, engulfing all the darkness in the junction space, and even piercing his eyes with intense pain, his astonishment was beyond words!

In the hellish flames, Lynn clearly saw the "disappeared" subordinates — Wolfram, Noah, Tänzel, Brühl, and others — each assuming a combat posture, but also stunned by the scene before them. What they saw seemed not like some human weapon but rather a great demon capable of destroying everything descending upon the earth!

"The Russian flamethrower! Damn it!"

The German soldier, who was dragging his companion alongside Lynn, spoke with resentment and despair in his tone, but without the same astonishment and terror as Lynn and his subordinates. Obviously, he had witnessed such terrifying scenes of flame jets before — in trench warfare, the use of flamethrowers by attacking forces was already commonplace. However, in this low, narrow sewer, its power was magnified like the sounds of gunfire and explosions, and the dark environment added to the visual impact, making it appear invincible.

The forward sewer was still clear, with the flames rushing straight ahead without deviating at the junction, nor posing a direct threat to Lynn and his men. Soon, the soldiers' terror naturally subsided, and Lynn continued to help his companions drag the wounded soldier back, while the gunfire once again filled the auditory space. Moments later, only to hear Wolfram shout, "Watch out for grenades," and everyone immediately retreated and took cover.

Boom!

While the explosion was indeed intense, the soldiers of Berlin's 11th Night Combat Detachment had already experienced it twice a few minutes ago and could handle such situations calmly. Waiting for the residual blast to fade, Lynn had Tichmyer take over helping the wounded down, then turned around with his gun. His sight returned to the previous darkness, with bright outlines suddenly appearing in the infrared sight.

Plap, plap, plap... At least two MP44 assault rifles fired in succession, Lynn felt he reacted the fastest, but whether that was the case was inconsequential. The first Soviet soldier to bravely rush out was hit and fell down after being shot multiple times, followed by the next one who met the same fate despite a low-profile approach. The Soviets seemed unaware that their opponents had changed, and two more soldiers rushed out, whether sprinting like lightning or crawling ungracefully, they couldn't escape the precise hunting of the German night combat soldiers.

To prevent the Soviets from throwing grenades again, Lynn fired his weapon while urging his comrades to retreat slowly. The Soviet soldiers behind finally sensed the danger and stopped their suicidal acts, but this time, they didn't throw grenades again. After a dozen seconds, faint fire appeared on the other side of the junction. Lynn anticipated and quickly shouted, "Noah, blast them!"

In this contest of speed, the Soviet soldier with the arrow on the string had an indisputable advantage. The fierce flames rushed into this side of the sewer, reflecting off the curved wall towards the depths. In the process of dispersion, it filled the entire cross-sectional space of the sewer, meaning that whether curled up in a corner, attached to the upper part, or crawling on the lower part, there was nowhere to hide from the flames. Moreover, the effective range of the flamethrower in this relatively enclosed space was hard to estimate, and the dark environment added to the visual impact, making it appear overwhelmingly powerful.

In the face of the advancing flames, Lynn and his men hastily turned back to retreat. This time, Noah remained squatting in place, his shoulder already carrying the 88mm anti-tank rocket launcher known as the "tank killer" by German soldiers. Through the observation hole on the small shield, one could see that the light brown eyes were rapidly expanding... Passing by Noah, Lynn couldn't help but turn his head back with great curiosity and anticipation. This anti-tank infantryman had turned into a veritable terracotta warrior, completely unaffected by the raging flames rushing towards him. However, while the fire was indeed fierce, as soon as it reached the end of its range, it disappeared in an instant, leaving behind only the choking smell of smoke and the unusual warmth of the air. Noah was waiting for this moment. He calmly pulled the trigger, and the rocket flew out, creating a bright flame similar to the flames ejected by the flamethrower but with a completely different meaning. The powerful rocket flew towards the junction with a long and thick smoke trail, its speed no less than that of the ejected flames!