Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: This Isn't a Self-Deprecating Broadcast
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- Shweeeek────
The Stuka blared its Jericho trumpet as it dove toward the ground.
The siren’s scream, tearing through the air like a knife, sent chills racing across my skin.
I barely managed to pull myself upright, fighting the instinct to hit the deck again.
My legs, seized by terror and beyond control, began trembling uncontrollably.
But even if I couldn’t fight, I had to keep moving.
Clutching the bundle of shells to my chest, I forced one foot in front of the other.
- Boom─! Kwang─! Boom─! Boom─!
Our squad’s AA gun never stopped spitting fire.
Everyone was screaming at the sky, but the roar of the guns drowned it all out.
I finally handed off the shells and turned around. The sandy beach, now a battlefield, stretched out before me.
British troops with rifles were pouring focused fire at the Stuka, while AA guns everywhere wove nets of deadly tracers.
Our side exploded in bursts, men fell to machine-gun fire, and sometimes a Stuka plummeted from the sky.
It was a hellscape painted in blood and flesh, raw with fear and horror.
“Hic... Ugh...”
The scariest part? The Stuka had locked onto the AA guns as targets.
Prioritizing the biggest threats was standard. We’d known it was coming before the fight even started.
Sure enough, the Stuka that had climbed high now targeted us, diving straight down in true dive-bomber fashion.
We fired back desperately with our AA gun.
Machine guns blazed at the approaching Stuka as we hurled shells and curses without restraint.
It was a deadly game of chicken: Stuka versus AA gun, who’d die first?
Tears streaming, I could only stomp my feet and beg Ttalgwi.
“Ttalgwi, pleeease... H-hurry... Hit it, please...”
“J-just trust me!! I’ll kill that fucking plane!!”
“Uwaaaah!”
“I-I hit it! Direct hit! Stop crying now! I’m scared too!”
She’d talked big to the Brits, but look at her now.
Still, I was too terrified to care about appearances.
Everyone around us had lost it anyway—no one was paying attention.
Ttalgwi spewed curses, Wardaddy was hyped up, and Ghost’s face was twisted in fury.
Luckily, we won the first clash with that Stuka.
But waves of German Stukas kept coming, forcing us to scream and fire our AA gun each time.
My nerves would shatter before we ran out of shells.
I needed a way to seize control, but with my tear ducts busted, I couldn’t even see straight.
“Guhhh!!”
“Wardaddy!!”
In that instant, a Stuka from behind nailed Wardaddy.
We’d fed them AA fire on every dive, so now they hit us with level bombing and strafing runs.
Small mercies: the Stuka’s machine gun was only 7.92mm.
Wardaddy’s shoulder stayed intact instead of exploding.
Thank God he hadn’t changed classes since Rotterdam.
I grabbed the medical kit from my belt and rushed to him.
“W-Wardaddy! Tr-treatment! I’ll fix you up!”
“This won’t kill me! Just jab me with some morphine!”
“N-no! Get your uniform off quick!”
Tears and snot streaming, I begged him to listen.
He glanced at my face and reluctantly nodded.
Peeling off his blood-soaked uniform revealed the bullet wound.
Compound fracture and heavy bleeding. Critical—he needed treatment now.
“Hnng... Khuhk...”
“Bombing run’s over. Stop crying and calm down.”
“B-but it’s scary...”
“Jeez, tsk.”
After a struggle, I patched up Wardaddy’s wound.
But my tears wasted too much time.
The siren wailed again, and everyone snapped back to combat ready.
I stood slowly, making it obvious I didn’t want to fight.
“Where you going? No aftercare?”
“Hic!”
I couldn’t move, though.
Wardaddy grabbed me and plopped me right on his lap.
He’d strained his injured arm, and the bandage was soaked red.
I shot him a what-the-hell look. He jerked his chin at the sky and replied casually.
“How’m I supposed to aim with this arm? Time to show your stuff.”
“N-no way! I told you—I’m too short to aim!”
“You’ll be the right height sitting on my lap. Better you and me pulling double duty than some rookie.”
“Nyet!”
“Heh, that’s right. Good girl with the answers.”
“No, I mean I hate it!”
“Too late.”
I pleaded with my eyes at Ttalgwi and Ghost for help.
But both were half-soulless.
Ttalgwi was ranting curses at the sky like a madwoman, and Ghost had turned into a machine, just loading shells.
No help there. I could only sigh in despair.
The Stuka’s siren grew louder, closer.
In resignation, I leaned back against Wardaddy’s chest.
“I’ll remember this! I’ll buy you the worst tank!”
“Yeah, I know you were gonna get me a T-34 anyway.”
“I was gonna get you an IS-2!”
“Then you should’ve said so sooner.”
I wiggled my butt to line up the sights with my eyes.
First time actually shooting an AA gun, but I’d picked up enough over the shoulder to manage.
Soon, black dots appeared in the sights.
I finished horizontal alignment and signaled Ttalgwi.
“Ttalgwi! Raise the barrel!”
“Wh-what?! What’re you two doing?!”
“We’ll talk later!”
“Argh! The stream’s gonna explode again!”
Ttalgwi cranked the wheel, and the barrel aligned fast.
Good thing the left gunner handled firing—I just kept on horizontal aim.
She stomped the pedal, and the AA gun roared.
Then the Stukas hiding in the clouds poured down all at once.
“Blyat!”
Through the sight, the Stuka was pure nightmare fuel.
Plunging straight at us like a spear of pure malice from hell.
Every curse in my head spewed out.
My tears restarted, but the gun blasts swallowed my sobs.
- Boom─! Thud─! Thud─! Boom─!
- Kwaaaang!!
Every Stuka move was crystal clear.
They sprayed machine guns to suppress our AA fire, then dove close to drop bombs.
We blanked out, firing shells blindly.
On the Eastern Front, I’d nagged them to hit something. Now on the gun myself? Not easy at all.
If this weren’t a game, my pants would be soaked.
No—panic would’ve blinded me to warnings, and IRL I’d be in deep shit.
I resented Wardaddy for sticking me here.
I’d been trying to beat my trauma, but it just got worse.
“Blin... Suka...”
“Good job, kid. Looks like it’s over.”
“Nakhuy... Otyebis...”
“Hey!”
“Hiiik!”
Shaking like a leaf, I don’t know how long we fought.
Lost in the zone, Wardaddy’s call jolted me awake.
I glared at him, eyes swirling with emotions.
The shameless uncle replied without a hint of sorry.
“Game’s ending.”
“R-really?”
“See the warships and civilian boats swarming in? That’s the Dunkirk spirit.”
“Oh.”
I peeked over at the sea.
Warships and civilian vessels were indeed flocking in like sardines.
The Stukas that hounded us were falling back under naval AA fire.
Relief hit—hell was over. My body went limp.
“It w-was scary...”
“Yeah, you fought great. I’ll give you that. Your cursing even scared me.”
“I learned it all from you, Uncle Wardaddy...”
“You little shit? I can take curses, but not ‘uncle.’”
I slumped against Wardaddy, melting.
I wanted to get up, but exhaustion pinned me down.
We’d won the fight, but my trauma deepened.
Now I’d foam at the mouth and collapse at the sight of a Stuka.
Piles of tasks left, but one match broke me.
Sleep-deprived too—couldn’t keep going.
“Hey... You two a father-daughter duo or what?”
Ttalgwi, wiped out like me, piped up.
Ghost had flopped down with the NPCs.
We’d all lost our souls in one match.
Only Wardaddy seemed sane.
“Kid, after fighting like that, still scared of bombers?”
“Yeah... Even more now...”
“Well then... Guess you’ll have to fly one yourself.”
“Huh?”
I looked up at Wardaddy, confused.
Too close—only his stubbly chin in view.
Then the stubble poked my forehead as he continued.
Not good news for my ears.
“Guy I know’s a bomber expert. He’s probably got Stukas.”
“Th-then?”
“Fly a Stuka yourself. Know your enemy to win every battle. Know thyself and thy enemy—ever heard that?”
“......”
Wardaddy was corrupting me into Luftwaffe.
It kinda made sense, but I trusted him as a comrade. Shocking.
Come to think of it, he always pushed me to extremes.
Probably how he beat his own war trauma.
Treatments vary, but this Spartan method? Too much.
Ttalgwi, sprawled out, clicked her tongue in agreement.
“Sukka... That’s why you don’t leave kids with dads like him...”
I wasn’t a kid, but I nodded anyway.
If Wardaddy had a kid, I’d buy them a baby tank.