I, who was eager to retire, became an Imperial General.

Chapter 123 Victory is in My Hands
"Wow, I love the battalion commander's sneak attack tactic! With this barrage of shells, those centaur legions who never expected there to be enemy troops behind them will probably lose at least a thousand men. Tsk tsk!"

On the Iron Horse Mountain front, 800 meters above the rear of the 101st Division, Miles watched through his magic eye as the centaur legion, caught completely off guard, was bombarded by a barrage of magical cannon shells, their bodies scattered and falling. He couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

Then, turning to look at Barnabo, who was expressionlessly loading magic stone fragments into a standard magic gun, his eyes darted around before he spoke in a fawning tone:

"However, this great victory is also thanks to Captain Barnabo's quick thinking. After discovering that the enemy's main force was in pursuit, leaving only two ordinary centaur cavalry regiments to surround them, you took the initiative to lead your troops in a charge to protect the 3rd Magic Cannon Regiment, which led to this counter-offensive situation."

"You truly deserve to be called a veteran of ten years. Your combat experience is something that puts us to shame. After the battle, you must give me some pointers so I can learn from you!"

"Study? With your fighting style of only leading men to hide in a safe range and shoot from the shadows, what use would it be even if you learned it? Would you dare to charge into the battlefield like Captain Barnapo?"

"If you ask me, you should stop with this useless stuff. Instead of wasting your time flattering Captain Barnapo, you should save your energy to take down a few more enemy officers with your sniper unit later. Otherwise, you might end up being criticized by the 1st Battalion during the battalion commander's meeting if you don't perform well!"

Upon hearing this, Martha, who was hovering to the side, immediately scoffed disdainfully.

She still remembers how that bitch stirred things up and shifted blame during the last meeting; she's not about to let her continue to fawn over her.

"What are you talking about? How is sniping considered shooting from the shadows? Besides, instead of worrying about my sniper company's poor performance, Lieutenant Martha should worry about yourself instead."

Miles looked at the other person with a forced smile, completely ignoring the other's gloomy expression, and grinned sarcastically:

"After all, the functional team you lead can only play support roles, right?"

"Miles, you bastard, do you want to die?"

"Oh dear, I'm so scared! It scared me to death, sob sob sob!"

"Shut up, you idiots! You're disturbing my peace!"

In the clouds, Lunepo, who was using his magic eye to determine the enemy's exact coordinates and attack locations, was interrupted by the two people's argument while compiling data.

Without turning his head, he roared at his two idiotic teammates behind him, and then continued to analyze through his magic eye how to rationally allocate the attack locations of the explosive magic, so as to maximize the annihilation of the enemy before they could deploy their anti-magic devices with minimal losses.

"Brother, brother, I, I want to go home. I'm so scared, it's too high up here."

Beside him, Iguodala, who was short in stature and clutching a magic gun, was curled up and trembling.

His face was deathly pale as he stared at the tiny ground below, his eyes filled with terror, while he muttered to himself as if communicating with another being within him.

As his eyes rolled back suddenly, his body began to fall uncontrollably.

But just a moment later, his descent was abruptly halted, his trembling body returned to normal instantly, and the fear on his face vanished completely.

Instead, he displayed an unprecedented bloodlust and ferocity, his eyes fixed on the battlefield below, which was being bombarded by artillery fire and turned into a bloody mess, his eyes filled with indescribable excitement and ecstasy.

But his tone was exceptionally calm and gentle:

"Don't worry, Iguodala, your brother will take you back. Be good and go to sleep. When you wake up, everything will be over. I promise you."

"Okay, brother."

"Hmph, haha, hahahaha!"

After sensing that the other consciousness in his mind had fallen silent, Igonila, who had completely taken control of his body, began to raise the corners of his mouth uncontrollably, and kept emitting a series of low, sinister laughs that made people's scalps tingle.

This bizarre behavior caused Miles and Martha, who were arguing nearby, to instinctively stop their fight. After exchanging a glance, they both moved back a distance from the dangerous lieutenant who was about to turn into a fighting maniac.

After all, when Lieutenant Igonila goes berserk, he doesn't care whether you're an ally or not.

Although magic soldiers have a natural resistance to annihilation erosion, they won't die on the spot like ordinary mages after being stabbed, but they will need to stay in the hospital for at least a month to recover.

It is precisely because of these repeated friendly fire incidents that this terrifying young man, whose combat achievements and years of service were long enough to qualify him as a major, is still only a lieutenant, just like them.

It can be said that, within the entire 1st Battalion, the other side is the one that should not be provoked, except for the battalion commander!
"The battalion commander just sent word that the magic cannon bombardment will end in one minute. Everyone, prepare for battle!"

Just then, Barnapo, who had finished fully charging his weapon, slowly spoke.

He gazed at the diverse expressions on the faces of the people before him, and then recited the battle plan that John had just given:

"Considering the location of our allies and the fact that the enemy is equipped with anti-magic devices and can use the Void Spell to interrupt the explosive magic at any time, we only have one chance to launch the explosion."

"As per the battalion commander's instructions, all personnel are to activate Level 3 low-cost demolition privileges to eliminate as many enemy troops as possible in this operation."

"After the enemy deploys their spells, companies 1, 4, and 5 will switch from being the main attackers to supporting units. The main attackers will be Lieutenant Igonila's assault company and Lieutenant Miles's sniper company, which are unaffected by the Void spells."

"Also, Lieutenant Lünebo, has the data collection been completed?"

"Phew... Completed, Martha, activate the telepathy spell!"

Within the clouds, Lunebo slowly withdrew from the observation of the Magic Eye, took a deep breath, and then spoke in a deep voice to Martha beside him.

"Buzz!" Upon hearing this, Martha no longer hesitated and immediately activated her proudly enhanced telepathic abilities. After connecting with Lunepo's mind, she copied the three-dimensional map that the other party had drawn in his mind, as well as the demolition coordinates marked on it for each company member.

They then intensified the spell's output, transmitting the demolition locations that each mage needed to complete to the minds of every member.

At the same time, a map and detailed coordinates of where each of the magical soldiers, hidden in the clouds and poised to unleash their attacks, appeared in their field of vision.

After receiving his combat mission, Barnabo turned to look at the 3rd Magic Cannon Regiment on his own ground position. Through his magic eye, he saw that the continuous bombardment had almost destroyed the cannon barrels and that the cannonballs were almost all used up.

Barnabo, realizing that a ground assault was about to begin, didn't waste any more words. He immediately pulled back the bolt of his magic gun under everyone's watchful eyes, then turned his gaze to the enemy troops who were in chaos amidst the rain of shells and had not yet reacted.

A cold glint flashed in his resolute eyes. His tone was perfectly calm, yet it inexplicably exuded an indescribable killing intent.
"It's time to strike, everyone!"

"Whoosh whoosh!"

……

it has started.

Meanwhile, in the temporary stronghold of the Imperial forces in the rear, the members of the 1st Battalion watched as, under their arrangement, beams of destructive light descended from the sky, turning the distant battlefield into a death inferno.

John stood with his arms crossed inside the makeshift base, but his expression remained unchanged.

Instead, it was as calm as still water.

He knew that after this battle, he would become the most hated executioner of the Morningstar Clan and be regarded as a demon by countless orcs.

But he had already made preparations for this.

Although his initial goal was simply to become an ordinary wealthy man, and perhaps even a philanthropic tycoon praised by many for his occasional acts of kindness.

I never imagined I would become an executioner who shattered countless families.

But the course of fate has led him to where he is today.

Although it's a bit of a shame, it's just like he said before.

Since it has already happened, there is no point in regretting it; he can only accept it.

Then, to the best of my ability, I will steadfastly continue on the path toward realizing that ideal of peace that I am ashamed to speak of, an ideal that even I now find laughable.

Even if it requires the war he despises most.

To achieve that goal, he needs to win this war.

Only through continuous victories can he eliminate all enemies who try to hinder him, thus giving himself more opportunities to change the world.

For him, who had controlled tens of thousands of battles in the game and received an education that was ahead of its time in his previous life, this was a different story.

From the moment the decision was made to take action.

The outcome of this war was already decided.

because……

"Victory is already firmly in my grasp!"

Looking at the battlefield ahead, which resembled a living hell, John slowly stopped tapping his index finger on his arm and stopped the timer.

Then, meeting the fervent gazes of Samuel, Leia, and the others who were looking at him as if they were gazing upon a god, he softly gave the order to the poised crowd:
"All troops, listen to my command! Attack immediately! Objective: Annihilate the enemy!"

"Yes, Major John!"

……

Current configuration information for the Magician Battalion 1:
1st Company, [Demolition Company], Captain Barnapo Gustav
Features: [A unit with ultimate mastery of explosive magic, capable of large-scale bombardment and maximizing building destruction. Each company of mages can destroy everything within a 3-kilometer radius with a full-power detonation spell, three times the explosive power of a regular mage. Under extreme casting conditions, the individual can achieve a ground explosion covering a 10-kilometer radius, at the cost of death.]

2nd Company, [Assault Company] Iguodala Gehrman/Igonila Gehrman, Lieutenant
Features: [High-speed mobility, mid-range slashing attacks, area-of-effect attacks, minimal damage to terrain, low resource consumption, extremely strong in planar combat]

3rd Company, [Sniper Company] Miles Carrot, Lieutenant
Features: [Master of the Magic Eye, targeted strikes, abandoning wide-area bombardment, enhancing the melting ray ability of explosive magic, consuming less magic stones, and also mastering explosive spells]

4th Company, [Reconnaissance Company] Lunepo Antony, Lieutenant
Features: [Special Magic Eye, capable of quickly marking locations and calculating specific coordinates for tactical deployment; moderate explosive capability]

5th Company, [Functional Company] Marda Ivanov, Lieutenant

[Terrain modification, large-scale mental enhancement ability, capable of displaying a map in real time within the field of vision of up to 1500 magic soldiers, combined with magic eye marking to complete small-scale operations, the team's explosive capabilities are average, and the user has mastered a full range of multi-functional spells.]

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(End of this chapter)