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

Chapter 171 I will send you to hell!

After successfully gaining command of the Independent 3rd Division, John did not linger in the smelly council chamber. After exchanging a few simple pleasantries, he headed to the Independent 3rd Division's camp, led by Colonel Toby.

Using the cane that symbolized command of the Independent 3rd Division, John quickly completed the reorganization of this divisional unit.

Currently, aside from the 2,000 guards who were nominally required to stay behind to 'guard' the area, but were actually there to protect the cowardly lieutenant general himself, John only has 13000 soldiers at his disposal in the Independent 3rd Division. Of course, this number does not include the logistics troops.

再加上1师及魔导1营目前的3800名士兵，以及鲍勃答应援助给自己的2000名强袭者海陆作战部队，以及1000名特殊作战部队。

Currently, he has 19800 troops at his disposal, including more than 200 wounded soldiers who have been treated and are now able to return to the battlefield.

Our own troops now number 20,000.

Although this number is still significantly smaller than the 3 troops of the enemy's two divisions.

But compared to the previous four-fold difference in troop strength, this can be described as the most lucrative battle ever fought!

"But overall, I'm afraid I'll need to put in a lot of effort to win this battle, since the 3rd Independent Division's combat capabilities and military skills are really hard to describe."

At night, inside the command post of the Mad Fang City camp, looking at the completely unfamiliar officers of the Independent 3rd Division, he used analytical techniques to discover that, apart from one major general who possessed the strength of a high-ranking mage, most of the other officers were only at the mid-level, and some even had lieutenant colonels at the low-level.

John then realized that the Independent 3rd Division would not be a main force in his upcoming battles against the enemy, but could only serve as bait and a deterrent.

To win this war, he must further utilize the heavy artillery regiment of the 1st Division, the army units of the 3rd Corps, and the 1st Magic Battalion.

"However, there shouldn't be much of a problem. At this stage, after we just destroyed the Seventh Army, the Allied forces shouldn't have reacted yet. Even if the destruction of the Seventh Army causes the naval battle that was supposed to take place three months later to be brought forward due to the butterfly effect."

"But considering the distance, we will have at least 45 days to deal with the situation before the Allied 241 naval vessels officially arrive."

"In 45 days, 20,000 can fight 30,000, and they're only dealing with two division-level units from the Saga Kingdom. That's more than enough!"

"Moreover, given the backward fighting methods of the Saga Kingdom and the simple-mindedness of its generals who only focus on improving their personal bravery and completely ignore tactics and strategy, I can easily have the Independent 3rd Division, which has little combat power, deliberately create a few openings in the subsequent battles to lure the enemy in and stretch their battle lines."

"This will allow us to easily wipe out the enemy's elite forces. Then, by utilizing the overall vision of the magic soldiers and the mobility of the heavy artillery regiment in conjunction with the assault troops, we can launch a breaching operation and completely secure victory on this front. This will then extend our influence throughout the entire Faoken Bay and bring this damned war to a complete end!"

"Therefore, this battle is different from the difficult situation we faced against Frank. The advantage is completely in our hands, and there is no need to say more!"

"With my eyes that have glimpsed the future, victory is already a foregone conclusion!"

John, who saw through everything, couldn't help but curl a confident smile at the corner of his mouth.

At this moment, he was certain that he could easily win the war, return to Elena at his leisure, and fulfill his wish to retire amidst the cheers of the people after serving as a political officer.

As for accidents, such a thing is simply impossible!

Even if the Saga Kingdom sends additional tribes to provide support, that would only happen after he has subdued the Cocobia Rainforest and cooperated with the navy to destroy the Crescent Fleet.

By then, Galil would probably have already discovered the 'truth' and would definitely take the initiative to pass on information about the Saga Kingdom's forces to him.

With this intelligence advantage of anticipating the enemy's moves, he could prepare in advance and defeat them.

It's unlikely that the Allied forces would send reinforcements ahead of time, and that they would happen to be located in the Cocobia rainforest, with the commander of this force being an even more troublesome figure than Frank, thus making this battle, which should have ended easily, even more difficult.
Haha, this joke is just too absurd, how could it possibly happen!
John, who had inexplicably come up with this absurd idea, couldn't help but chuckle.

He sighed inwardly, wondering if he had been under too much pressure from his recent encounters with Frank, otherwise, how could he have come up with such an absurd possibility?
John immediately shook his head, putting this impossible surprise out of his mind.

Just as he was about to give a pre-battle pep talk to the generals of the Independent 3rd Division, to make some promises to these good-for-nothing guys so that they wouldn't mess things up in the upcoming battle and that his plans could be successfully carried out, he was about to...

The next second, accompanied by hurried footsteps, Wendy, who was supposed to lead the entire 14th Squad to make empty promises to the various units of the Independent 3rd Division as instructed by John, walked in anxiously.

Wait, this damn sense of familiarity, could it be...?

Looking at this scene, so familiar it was almost a nightmare, John was suddenly overcome with a strong sense of foreboding.

And it seemed as if to confirm John's guess.

With a solemn expression, Wendy saluted him and then uttered information that made his vision go black:

"Reporting to the commander, just now I received intelligence from Colonel Toby. According to the front-line battle reports, in addition to the two divisions of the Saga Kingdom, our army will also face an allied legion with no less than 50,000 men."

"Furthermore, according to the last intelligence relayed by the 4th Division reconnaissance unit, which has been completely wiped out, if the information is correct, this Allied corps should be designated as the Allied 5th Corps, and the enemy's commander is Roxie Sancaster, the same Lieutenant General Morning Star who exposed their treachery during the Battle of Walden!"

"Therefore, I think we're in trouble this time, Commander!"

"..."

As Wendy revealed the information, the entire command post fell into a deathly silence.

John, who was sitting in the main seat, casually playing with his black cane and maintaining a calm smile on his face, seemed to take the war completely lightly.

The smile on his face instantly froze.

At this moment, the information Wendy had just given him was still echoing in his ears:
An Allied army with no fewer than 50,000 men?
And it was the Fifth Army?
Is the main general still Roxie Sancaster, the morning star?

The same Roxie I know! ? ?

You bastard, are you kidding me?!
Upon learning who his real opponent was, the enraged John wanted nothing more than to smash that damned cane in his hand on the spot.

He immediately went to Dolan, who had tricked him so badly, and swung his hand around, giving him a few hard slaps on the spot to vent his anger.

But feeling the gazes of everyone, John took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the urge.

He then waved to Wendy, feigning composure, indicating that he understood and that she could leave.

Then, following the original plan, he hastily completed the pre-battle mobilization for the generals of the Independent 3rd Division in the command post, emphasizing that as long as they carried out their actions according to his orders, he would award the military merit to all the generals of the Independent 3rd Division in the name of Lieutenant General Dolan after the Battle of Faoken.

He then brought up his previous feat in the Battle of Walden, where he had already seen through Roxie's scheme and turned the tide with only 800 men, giving these wavering fence-sitters a shot in the arm.

John, having barely managed to quell the morale of his troops, dismissed everyone and turned to look at the sand table in front of him with an uncertain expression, while his brain worked rapidly as he pondered.

Although he didn't understand why Roxie, who always preferred evenly matched battles in the game and had no interest in one-sided campaigns, would choose to lead the Fifth Legion to support the Faoken front this time.

But now that things have come to this, considering the other party's purpose is no longer meaningful to him.

For him, the most important thing right now is to rethink the tactical strategy.

Only in this way can he try to turn this battle, in which there is not only a huge disparity in combat strength but also a great difference in the commanders' spells, into a draw or even a victory.

The reason John would think this way is quite simple.

He knew Roxie, his former teammate, all too well.

In the game, as the one with the strongest military command ability in the protagonist group, the opponent has won too many victories that turned the tide of the battle.

The most outrageous instance was when the opposing team, commanding an elite squad of less than 300 men, directly broke through the battle formation of tens of thousands of men and completely reversed the situation that should have been lost.

The key reason why the other party was able to achieve such an outrageous feat is related to their 'Spiritual Heart' technique.

As one of the few support characters in the main group, Roxie's Spiritual Mind Technique is officially called 'Spiritual Mind Thread'.

Relying on this technique, Roxie can link her own troops with psionic threads to form a psionic force, gaining full vision of all friendly targets within a 50-kilometer radius, and achieving true battlefield micro-management.

They can also rely on the mental enhancement brought by the psionic link to apply psionic armor to their own troops, and rely on the huge mental power of all soldiers gathered together to reduce the physical and magical damage suffered by their own troops.

Furthermore, it can also enable friendly forces to achieve brief periods of airborne flight and explosive speed through the use of psionic threads.

Of course, this is only the most basic application of the psychic mind-thread technique.

In addition, after deploying the powerful magic enhancement device, Roxie can also concentrate her psionic forces by imbuing them with her will, and project them remotely onto the selected target location, thereby creating a large-scale psionic storm in the target area.

Its power is almost equivalent to the explosive magic unleashed by a hundred magic soldiers in a self-destruct manner, and its coverage area can reach 300 kilometers. The specific duration of the psionic storm is related to Roxie's own magical power and the overall magical power intensity of the target being buffed.

Although it does not have the annihilation effect inherent in Explosive Magic, once activated, the psionic threads will be paralyzed and cannot be reactivated for a short period of time.

However, this one-time burst has a very short wind-up. Even if you barely manage to withstand the mental storm by consuming a huge amount of magic power and survive, you will still be affected by the mental impact and be inflicted with a frenzy debuff, causing you to go berserk and attack your teammates.

The sheer range and destructive power of this attack far outweigh all its flaws.

However, the above is not the limit of the Roxie Psionic Mindline Technique, the ultimate form of which is considered by many commanders in the game to be the ultimate technique they dream of. In the game, it has its own unique name:

War Avatar!
By consuming a large amount of magic power and using terrifying control to fuse the magic and spiritual power of 100,000 high-ranking and super-ranking magic users, Roxie, in her War God form, unfolds.

Besides enabling all troops within the War Spirit's coverage area to share thoughts, share damage, share power, and be infused with magic, thus ignoring any physical or non-originating level magical attacks.

It can also condense the psionic forces into a war spirit that is 3000 meters tall. Under Roxie's control, this war spirit can not only transform into a void state at any time to avoid attacks, but also release a large number of psionic threads at any time to bombard all surrounding areas.

In the state of the War God, this enhanced force can almost be described as invincible.

Faced with an army that is not only able to withstand and fight, but also almost immune to all offensive methods, unless one can unleash an attack powerful enough to shatter the continent of Otto, it is simply impossible to break the existence of this force, which is known as the strongest force in the late game!

Of course, in the later stages of the game, the so-called 'Supreme Commander' Roxie can indeed do all of the above.

However, at this point in time, according to the game's progress, the opponent should only have developed the Spirit Heart Technique to the first stage, without obtaining the crucial 'Apex-Psyche Core', completing the subsequent advancement of the Spirit Heart Technique, and without achieving the Origin-level transformation of their own spiritual power.

At most, their magical power is between that of a high-ranking mage and a super-ranking mage.

It is far from being able to control 100,000 soldiers simultaneously in the late game, and it is even more impossible to enter the War God form.

John estimated that the opponent could currently only achieve psionic links with a maximum of three thousand people, and could only maintain the first stage of global vision, weaken physical and magical attacks, and provide short-term effects of aerial flight and explosive speed boosts.

Furthermore, the Allied Special Operations Department has not yet been established, and the enemy's exclusive psionic magic legion has not yet been completed and is currently in its precursor stage, with soldiers of varying strengths, which increases the difficulty of controlling Roxie.

The opponent is probably only able to maintain psionic link control over their forces to conduct micro-management warfare for no more than half an hour.

Even so, this intensity was enough to give John a splitting headache.

After all, with the addition of the Fifth Legion, the number of troops he can currently control is only a quarter of the enemy's, turning his original overwhelming advantage into a significant disadvantage.

In addition, there's Roxie's tactical command ability, and the opponent's technique, which is far more powerful than his pseudo-micro-management achieved through telepathy, and is inherently designed for battlefield micro-management.

The difficulty of the current war is so great that it can be described as despairing.

"This is hell!"

John muttered to himself, looking at the sand table in front of him. A bitter smile appeared on his face, but his dark eyes did not show any fear. Instead, as his mind raced, they gradually became colder and brighter.

Roxie's Spirit Mind Technique is indeed very powerful. By using the technique to simultaneously control 3000 elite soldiers in micro-management combat, it is enough to allow the opponent to make this force function as if it were nearly 10,000 men.

However, they could also achieve a similar state through Martha's telepathic magic and Lünebo's computational abilities, compared to Roxie, who bore the collective will alone.

With three or more magic soldiers sharing the information processing burden, our side is more durable and efficient!
And most importantly, compared to the other side's three thousand elite soldiers who had not completed unified training and whose skill levels varied greatly.

The three thousand Marines that Bob provided to him were far more formidable!

As someone who knows Roxie best, I am very clear about his fighting style and strategies. With just a brief exchange, I can figure out his intentions and then carry out the subsequent counterattack!

So, this is my first victory!
In addition, the enemy's numbers were indeed far greater than their own, even reaching a four-fold difference in troop strength.

But don't forget that among the enemy's 80,000 soldiers, at least 30,000 were orc troops from the Saga Kingdom.

Given the acrimonious relationship between the Kingdom of Victoria and the Kingdom of Saga, even if Queen Victoria were willing to offer assistance, she would certainly not choose to provide aid without compensation due to the insistence of the kingdom's officials, and would most likely impose some conditions.

Therefore, the orc forces of the Saga Kingdom must have already become disloyal to the allied forces. In addition, orcs are naturally freedom-loving, disobedient, and have a contemptuous and hateful attitude towards humans.

Therefore, this 30,000-strong orc army could be easily annihilated by simply setting up some bait according to the original plan, thus narrowing the gap in troop strength.

Furthermore, by deliberately slowing down the annihilation process and giving Roxie the illusion that a rescue attempt could be launched, the combined firepower of the 1st Division's heavy artillery regiment, the pre-planned terrain advantages, and the ability of explosive magic to easily destroy the terrain, all contribute to this.

In this way, he could easily achieve his further annihilation plan and even surpass his troop strength.

Therefore, this is my second victory in this battle!
Furthermore, compared to the outstanding commanders of the rest of the kingdom's forces, Roxie was indeed on par with him in terms of command ability, and might even have slightly surpassed him.

The key issue is that he had already unintentionally planted a spy within the enemy's forces.

Once the war begins, with Will as his pawn, he will be able to fully grasp the opponent's action plans and combat objectives, allowing him to avoid their attacks in advance.

Moreover, it can set traps in advance according to the opponent's purpose, thus leaving a foreshadowing that can reverse the entire battle situation in an instant in order to win the final victory!
Therefore, this is his third victory in this match against Roxie!

Besides that, the most important thing is that this former comrade-in-arms, with whom I have always fought side by side in the game, has never actually fought against each other except in sandbox simulations.

John also wanted to test whether the opponent's command ability was truly as precise as described in the game, to the point that there would be no failures.

As a player who once used any means necessary to achieve victory, I can be described as the most evil being on earth.

Having shattered all moral values ​​and clinging to the belief that victory is the only goal, one could be called the most twisted monster in the world.

Faced with an existence that transcends human limits, how could Roxie, who is merely a human, possibly defeat himself?
Therefore, this identity known as 'Player' is John's final victory in this conflict!
The battle has not even begun, yet we have already won four victories.

There is clearly only one answer to how this battle will ultimately end!
That is……

"This battle will surely end in my victory!"

At the long table in the command post, John stood up from the main chair at some point, slowly placing his hands behind his back.

His dark eyes coldly surveyed the sand table, where countless red chess pieces, representing the enemy's location in the Cocobia rainforest, stretched out like waves.

As if transcending the constraints of time and space, John's gaze seemed to reach the heavens above, towards the Fifth Legion, which was advancing towards their location on the ground, and towards Roxie, who was also looking up and staring at them.

At this moment, they met out of nowhere.

But compared to the times when they were comrades-in-arms, the trust between them and the secret admiration in their eyes.

At this moment, John's gaze was like that of a dragon that had been disturbed from its slumber by the provocation of a roaring lion king, and which had slowly opened its eyes.

His eyes were filled with a burning flame.

Moreover, this flame was growing hotter and more violent with each breath John took.

It seemed as if it would punish all the insignificant mortals who dared to trespass upon the true dragon's domain.

Beneath the footsteps of the dragon leaping out of its lair.

Beneath those outstretched wings, big enough to blot out the sky.

Under the onslaught of that hellfire called 'Wrath'.

Under the majestic gaze of the dragon, and amidst the shrill screams of the defeated, they were utterly burned to ashes.

Until nothingness returns!

“In this world, Roxie Sancaster, your talent and strategy truly deserve the title of Supreme Commander.”

"But the problem is, you and I are different."

"Because John Maslow was never among the commanders."

"As a player, I am the one who can dominate this world."

"Compared to you, whose vision is limited to the realm of war, mine is broader, stronger, and more domineering!"

"And this is beyond doubt!"

Before the sand table, John loosened his hands from behind his back, then slowly raised his right hand, holding the supreme black staff that represented the command of the Imperial forces, and then pointed it firmly in front of his eyes at the enemy army that was sweeping towards him like a tide.

His tone was calm, but it was filled with a chilling murderous intent:
"Therefore, Roxie, I will utterly crush all your confidence and dignity in this battle."

"Let your pride and inviolability be cast into hell under the empire's glory, with no possibility of ever rising again!"

……

(End of this chapter)