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

Chapter 178 Similarities and Challenges
As a karst landform in the southern part of Faoken, the area where the Throat Peaks are located covers a total area of ​​up to 20 square kilometers. Due to the high altitude of the limestone mountains and the humid climate with abundant rainfall, the Throat Peaks are often shrouded in fog.

In addition, the area is covered with lush vegetation, abundant vines, and plentiful water, making it a habitat for a large number of powerful monsters and snakes.

Due to its inherent dangers, it has become the hunting ground of the Mad Fang Clan for thousands of years without change.

But today, this place, which bears the glory of the Mad Fang Clan for a thousand years, welcomes travelers who do not belong to this land.

"Whoosh!"

The next day, at two o'clock in the morning, accompanied by the roar of the magic eruption, the fully armed Barnabo slowly descended from the sky to the ground.

Gazing at the towering peaks before him, shrouded in a thin white mist that appeared mysterious and dangerous under the cover of night, he couldn't help but frown slightly.

As a mage soldier who has mastered explosive magic but has a relatively loose grasp of magic eyes and other functional spells, to be honest, he doesn't really like fighting in terrain with poor visibility.

Besides making it impossible for him to determine the location of friendly forces, more importantly, this poor visibility increases the risk of magic soldiers engaging in combat.

However, considering that the location of this confrontation was personally selected by the battalion commander and approved by the two powerful individuals who were ranked among the top two hundred in the Empire's powerful magicians.

Therefore, Barnapo couldn't say much.

"However, I still feel somewhat uneasy."

Feeling his right eyelid twitching inexplicably, Barnapo couldn't help but sigh inwardly under the starlight.

But he didn't continue to complain. Instead, he silently followed the instructions of Lunepo, who was commanding all the magic soldiers of the 1st Battalion. Under Lunepo's arrangement and the battalion commander's instructions, he began to use his magic eyes, which he was not very familiar with, to observe the karst landform that covered a huge area.

And the corresponding data was transmitted to Lunebo's mind through the connection of the telepathic technique.

Thanks to the supersonic speed of the magic soldiers, which can reach the speed of sound when flying at full speed, John completed the troop reorganization and gave instructions, and ordered the army to march towards the throat-locking peak.

Apart from the magic soldiers who were participating in special missions and guarding the commander, the rest of the 1st Battalion arrived at the target location in less than half an hour.

Next, they need to complete a detailed survey of the area within one hour and then quickly head to the Dark Corridor area, located fifty kilometers away.

Complete the clearing of any possible monsters inside, and conduct detailed exploration and calculation of the tunnels and specific terrain environment inside.

This includes, but is not limited to, the height of the mountain peaks in the former, the specific path of the mine shafts in the 3D map in the latter, and the corresponding specific coordinates, etc.

John's mission requirements even included the location of high-level magical beasts, as well as the height and destructive power of powerful individual magical beasts.

This level of detail is almost obsessive.

If the magic soldiers of their 1st Battalion weren't all graduates of the Imperial Magic Academy, hadn't received extensive education and stress tests, and weren't considered backbone talents within the 7th Air Force...

Faced with such a trivial and almost unbearable task, even those who admired and trusted the battalion commander would likely feel resentful.

After all, Barnapo had seen far too many similar incidents in the Seventh Legion.

It's all too common for the mage soldiers, a symbolic force of the empire, to complain in private about their superiors' foolish decisions when faced with unreasonable demands.

However, this situation has not occurred at all within the current 1st Battalion.

Even the 1st Demolition Company, which he led, had soldiers whose personalities were notoriously volatile within the entire Seventh Legion.

Even as he was carrying out observation and information gathering tasks that he wasn't particularly good at, he didn't see any signs of boredom on any of the soldiers' faces.

Instead, they were all exceptionally serious, fearing that problems with the data statistics might cause the commander's decisions to be affected by unexpected events.

Barnapo had never seen such a scene before.

This scene depicts a collective effort, where everyone's will seems to converge, working together towards a common goal.

He wouldn't even dare to dream of such a thing.

All I can say is, he truly lives up to his reputation as a battalion commander.

With her own charm alone, she conquered everyone, truly achieving a state of complete control.

This level of skill is so impressive that even General Dormammu would probably have to admit defeat.
Recalling the scenes after joining the First Battalion, when he often saw everyone gathered together to discuss "Maslow's Quotations", a complex look flashed in Barnabo's eyes.

As a ten-year veteran, he understood better than anyone the meaning and danger behind this quote.

If successful, it will naturally bring unprecedented light.

But what if it fails...

Thinking of this, Barnabo fell silent, but soon, he completely put this thought aside under the instructions from Lunepo in his mind to go to the next location.

After letting out a silent sigh, he turned and continued flying into the darkness ahead without looking back.

……

"Wow!"

Noon, in southern Faoken, on the outskirts of the Golden Lion Territory.

Black tires rolled over the yellowish-brown ground as they sped along, the dust they kicked up being smashed by armored vehicles behind them, each powered by a magical engine and emitting a deafening roar.

Then it vanished completely in the rushing black torrent.

In the center of the Allied forces, a large, specially modified transport vehicle was in a simple conference room, where they were using a device called the Planar Battlefield Constructor, developed by the highest magical research institution in the Kingdom of Victoria.

Roxie Sancaster projected all the information he had gathered about Faoken into a concrete image on his vision screen, thanks to his monstrous computing power.

At this moment, he was examining the map in his field of vision with a blank expression, and began to calculate the possible ambush locations that John Maslow might have set up along their path of advance.

After learning of the destruction of the Seventh Legion, and that Frank, who could be considered half her mentor, had also perished on Starry Coast due to John Maslow's schemes.

Roxie had already elevated this rising star of the Empire, who had thwarted her plan to annihilate the Empire's Black Hawk Special Forces, from an opponent she could pay attention to to someone she could seriously confront.

Therefore, she was also aware that John Maslow must have learned of the disparity in troop strength between the two sides through spies or other channels.

However, the wisest choice for the Imperial Army would be to adopt the enemy's perspective, calculate their possible marching routes, and set up ambushes near passes to try to eliminate their own forces and further narrow the gap in strength between the two sides.

This is a very reasonable idea.

But Roxie felt that this speculation did not apply to the other party.

This is because it is a judgment made from the perspective of an excellent general.

John Maslow, whose tactics were no less advanced than his own and whose ability to utilize terrain in warfare was so impressive that even he himself had to admire them, certainly had more than just that as a purpose in the confrontation.

Therefore, Roxie clearly knew that whether it was a subsequent sniping attack or the dispatch of guerrilla forces to harass their side, it was all under threat.

These were merely a disguise deliberately presented by John Maslow to his prey, so that the prey would naively believe it and fall into the trap he had woven in advance, unknowingly wandering deeper into its depths.

Until the prey suddenly realizes that it is powerless to escape from the abyss.

Only then will the opponent reveal their true killing move and devour and crush their prey with unstoppable force.

Just like the previous annihilation of the Seventh Legion.

She's absolutely familiar with this style.

Because this taste is almost exactly the same as hers.

Equally long-term, equally unpredictable, equally adept at manipulating people's hearts, he is a born master of deception.

He was called an outcast by countless people, yet also hailed as a genius by countless others.

Although they have human bodies, they have long surpassed human limits and constantly strive to achieve perfection.

monster!

In other words, they are the same kind.

Unfortunately, for Roxie, the presence of her own kind did not evoke any desire for closeness.

Instead, it will make her want to destroy and devour the other party.

After all, perfection means being unique.

The existence of similar beings only brings irreparable flaws to this perfection.

Therefore, defeating and devouring each other became their only thought about each other.

"So, you must think so too, John Maslow."

Looking at the three-dimensional map within his field of vision, which, under his control, continuously marked nearly a hundred possible ambush points and the tactical adjustments made to the corresponding ambush, it contained the entire state of the Golden Lion Territory.

At this moment, a chilling glint flashed in Roxie's azure eyes.

After her vision passed through the various markers along her current fast-moving route, she finally locked onto a vast karst landscape shrouded in mist.

Although it was just an uncertain deduction based on her thinking, her voice carried an unquestionable firmness.

It was as if this wasn't a future that hadn't yet happened, but a fact that was already in her calculations and was bound to come:
"Use decoy troops to lure us to this location."

"Then they tried to rely on the weather to reduce visibility, to close the gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides, and then to use guerrilla tactics to maximize the combat effectiveness of the soldiers, and take advantage of the narrow terrain that makes it difficult to advance in large numbers, so as to make up for the difference in troop strength, or even use the terrain to launch a suppression."

"Will they ultimately try to win this battle where the odds are so stacked against them?"

"That's a good idea, but unfortunately, I already anticipated your prediction!"

Roxie, who deduced John Maslow's true tactical plan through mere reasoning, immediately smiled slightly.

Logically speaking, after deducing the enemy commander's trap, it would be most strategically sound to avoid it and attempt a flanking attack on the enemy's main base behind their lines.

However, for Roxie, this only applies when her opponent is an ordinary general who completely fails to ignite her interest in fighting.

She felt no desire to engage or hunt down beings that possessed no distinguishing qualities and were utterly mediocre.

The most efficient and effective way to achieve a strategic victory is to encircle and annihilate the enemy.

But this time her opponent was different; it was someone like her.

When facing their own kind, only through direct combat, with a ferocious ferocity, can they completely crush the opponent's claws and fangs and devour them entirely.

Only then can she experience the joy of ascending to heaven, and allow herself to grow and transform in this evenly matched contest.

This brings us closer to the level called 'perfection'.

Moreover, Roxie knew that if he didn't appear to be falling into a 'trap' and instead chose to flank and attack from behind to avoid the confrontation...

Given the other party's capabilities, they will likely notice immediately and devise entirely new countermeasures.

This led to round after round of strategic maneuvering between the main generals, until one of them was exhausted.

Roxie himself naturally disliked that kind of long and tedious war.

Of course, this was only a secondary reason why she chose to pretend to fall for the trap and confront John Maslow directly.

The main reason is that, in her view, the other party's behavior was more like a challenge.

Refusing an invitation to compete with someone of her kind would only tarnish her pursuit of perfection.

This was a result that she, with her confidence bordering on arrogance, absolutely could not tolerate.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that this was a provocation deliberately devised by John Maslow after analyzing her personality.

However, Roxie was quite pleased with this provocation.

Because this is a tacit understanding that they, as 'the same kind', reached without words.

The same confidence, the same obsession, and the same almost pathological thirst for victory.

Unfortunately for you, my trump cards are far greater than yours.

And this confidence does not come solely from my own command abilities.

Rather, it was the absolute advantage brought by three super-ranked mages who could dominate the battlefield in an instant!
"Therefore, John Maslow, this magnificent stage you have set up at Chokepoint Peak can only be completed by one person."

“And that person is me, and can only be me, Roxie Sancaster!”

Looking inside the carriage, one sees figures of varying builds sitting quietly in this mobile office, all exuding an astonishing aura of power.

Roxie then withdrew his gaze, closed the map in his field of vision, and slowly stood up. He then steadily and firmly placed the red chess piece representing his own troops, which he had been playing with, on the flat map in front of him at the location called 'Strangle Peak'.

His tone was perfectly calm, yet it inexplicably gave off a chilling, menacing feeling.

"Major Dillion, immediately notify the entire army to change the route of march, cancel the original plan, and proceed along the western Salamash Mountains from the next crossroads. The target location for this march is Throat Peak!"

"Yes, General!"

……

(End of this chapter)