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

Chapter 186 [7K] Open Schemes and Spies
After Roxie's flanking maneuver was broken by John's advance planning, and he had to retreat at the cost of Orion's unique spell circuit, this battle, located in the Choking Peak area and in which both sides had revealed all their cards, was forced into a protracted war of attrition due to Roxie's failure to achieve a quick victory.

Seemingly having learned from his defeat, Roxie did not continue to insist on his original idea of ​​defeating the Imperial Army head-on upon returning. Instead, he began to rearrange the battle lines, drawing some troops away from the main battlefield and extending them to the flanks, intending to rely on the Allied forces' numerical superiority to encircle and annihilate the Imperial Army.

However, thanks to the fact that John's magic soldiers were always flying thousands of meters in the air, and with the advantage of the real-time intelligence on the enemy provided by the magic eyes, they deduced Roxie's purpose. They then began to further disperse their own troops and, using the visibility of the limestone peaks as cover, began to fight mountain warfare and guerrilla warfare with the allied forces.

Furthermore, two elite teams led by Roderick and Cambert were continuously dispatched to strike the enemy's magical technology facilities. Although Roxie had also anticipated this strategic strike and sent corresponding elite troops to intercept it, several engagements still yielded some results.

Thus, under the constant probing and clashes between the two sides, and the command of encirclement and counter-encirclement, the situation escalated.

In the blink of an eye, ten days have passed.

By this time, the continuous torrential rain had already stopped three days ago.

The unique strangler peaks, sculpted by wind and water erosion, have lost their former splendor under the combined firepower and magical attacks of both sides, with most of the area reduced to ruins.

The magical beasts that originally lived in large numbers in this area have now migrated elsewhere due to the influence of this violent battlefield.

The entire front was filled with the smell of gunpowder, and against the backdrop of the faint mist, it inexplicably gave people an indescribable sense of desolation.

During these ten days of continuous fighting, both sides suffered varying degrees of losses.

John's Imperial Army has seen its combat strength reduced from 20,000 to just over 9,000, with over 10,000 casualties.

In this battle, the 3rd Independent Division suffered the most casualties, totaling 8961 men, followed by the heavy artillery regiment of the former 1st Division, which suffered 1031 casualties. The remaining casualties came from the Raiders and Special Medical Units.

The former suffered 362 casualties, while the latter suffered 87 casualties.

Although the number may seem low in comparison, it was still a painful loss for John.

After all, both of these units are elite forces from the Third Navy, and each soldier's combat strength is above that of a mid-level mage.

When facing ordinary enemy troops, they can rely on their powerful firepower to break through the enemy's formation with almost no casualties.

Moreover, the 1000 soldiers of the special medical unit led by Cambert are not only powerful mages who have mastered a large number of combat skills, but any one of them could serve as an instructor in the medical unit of the Imperial Army.

For every soldier lost in this unit, the Empire loses a captain-level officer.

Moreover, the colonels leading these two units are both powerful mages with over twenty years of service and magic power at the super-rank level. They are battle-hardened elites with military skills that ordinary officers cannot match.

Furthermore, during missions, they can receive instructions from John in real time, allowing them to evacuate in advance whenever they detect enemy forces attempting to surround them.

Therefore, this seemingly low number of casualties is actually quite reasonable.

However, the above data only calculates the losses of combat troops; the number of casualties among logistics troops has not yet been fully tallied.

During these ten days, under Roxie's command, they launched a sabotage operation against the rear of their own front lines, successfully destroying more than five transport and supply convoys from Mad Fang City and damaging three transit and supply points.

John's initial assessment was that his supply troops had suffered at least a thousand casualties.

This number accounts for almost two-thirds of the total number of supply troops currently stationed in Mad Fang City. Although John has now obtained the highest command of the Independent 3rd Division, if this kind of attrition continues, even if he issues a death order, under the influence of fear, it will be difficult for our side to receive subsequent supplies to the front line.

Moreover, as early as four days ago, due to the severe losses, the already weak Independent 3rd Division experienced a large number of desertions under the pressure of its comrades dying one after another.

Although John later managed to suppress the rebellion by mobilizing nearby troops and increasing the supply of morphine and stimulants to the 3rd Independent Division, he managed to barely stabilize morale.

However, given that our recent performance in both command execution and frontline defense has deteriorated significantly and can almost be described as a rout, we now have only one-tenth of the effective area we have occupied on Chokepoint Peak.

John realized it was time for him to withdraw his troops from the troublesome battlefield.

After all, with ten days of intense command and analysis, and an average of no more than three hours of rest per day, his thinking has now become almost sluggish.

If this continues, he might be worn down by this long and tedious war of attrition before he even defeats Roxie.

"Hoo, Martha, notify the front-line troops to abandon the Chokepoint Peak front and begin an orderly withdrawal towards the Dark Corridor as planned."

"In addition, inform Samuel's heavy artillery regiment to hide the heavy artillery vehicles nearby. If no hiding place can be found, destroy them directly and do not leave them for the enemy."

In the early morning, in the dimly lit corridors of the Imperial Army's headquarters, John, his eyes bloodshot, calmly gave an order to Martha.

"Yes, Commander!"

With a sallow complexion and huge dark circles under her eyes, Martha replied weakly. Although ten days of intense telepathic magic had made her feel like her head was about to split open, she still dragged her tired body to sit on the magic amplifier and then relayed orders to her front line.

After issuing the evacuation order, John did not stay in the command camp. Instead, he rubbed his throbbing temples and went outside the tent to light a cigarette.

He gazed at the magnificent cave landscape ahead, illuminated by the lights, but a chilling coldness flickered in his dark pupils.

He knew that his troops had withdrawn from the Chokepoint front and moved entirely into the Dark Corridor.

Having already experienced the humiliation of never having suffered a defeat, Roxie would inevitably choose to lead his troops into the Dark Corridor and attempt to complete the final battle with his own forces on this front, intending to eliminate this major threat completely.

This laid the foundation for the Allied victory in the Gulf of Faoken.

Unfortunately, despite the precautions he had taken ten days in advance in the dark corridors, what awaited the Fifth Legion was not the victory that Roxie had hoped for, but an abyss that led this troublesome legion to its complete annihilation.

Even though Roxie had realized that there were traps in the Dark Corridor, under the influence of the current situation, the other party had no choice but to engage in a decisive battle with him.

After all, if the other side chooses to abandon taking down this tough nut for the sake of a strategic victory and instead marches on Mad Fang City, it would mean losing control of the Cocobia Rainforest, giving the other side the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on the Cocobia Rainforest, ultimately take Crescent Strait, coordinate with the Third Navy, and achieve the Empire's greatest advantage on both the land and sea battlefields of Faoken Bay. This would obviously be the most foolish decision, and the other side would certainly not do it.

If they choose to besiege John on the surface and try to starve him to death by cutting off his supplies, given his intelligence, the enemy would surely guess that since he chose to retreat into the Dark Corridor, he must have prepared supplies and created an evacuation route in advance.

A ground-based blockade would not only fail to trap John's troops, but would also allow John to easily escape and launch a blitzkrieg against Cocobia, thus seizing control of the southern region. Therefore, the enemy would never resort to such a foolish method.

As for the precautionary order to withdraw the Fifth Army to garrison the Cocobia rainforest in order to maintain Allied control and prevent any unforeseen events, it was a necessary precautionary measure.

Based on John's understanding of Roxie, the other side would not make such a seemingly conservative but actually extremely disadvantageous strategic order.

After all, once the Fifth Army Corps withdrew, John would be able to go west to support the 2nd Division, which was still fighting the 109th Division, after getting a respite.

After jointly defeating the Black Swamp Clan's 109th Division, he was able to bring this force, which far surpassed the Independent 3rd Division in both military skill and firepower, under his command by taking over the Second Army command ceded by Dolan.

This would achieve a balance of power between the Imperial forces and the Allied forces.

This, in turn, plunged the Allied forces into an even more difficult battle.

Therefore, the only option the other side could have was to knowingly allow traps and ambushes to lurk within the Dark Corridor, to know that the Fifth Legion's magical facilities would be unable to exert their full combat power due to the terrain limitations, and to know that John was doing this in order to forcibly reduce the gap in combat power between the ordinary soldiers of both sides.

However, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and send troops to attempt an attack.

Only in this way could Roxie ensure that the force under John's command, which had given her unprecedented combat pressure, would not bypass her lines of defense and launch a surprise attack on the vulnerable Cocobia rainforest, thereby causing the Allies to completely lose control of the Crescent Strait.

This was a calculated move John left for the other side!
This was also the source of his confidence that his side could annihilate the Fifth Army!

"Clap!"

John slowly tossed the burning cigarette butt into the ground and crushed it. Looking at the slowly flowing dark river in front of him, John seemed to foresee that soon, the Fifth Legion, under Roxie's orders, would launch a full-scale attack on the Dark Corridor.

As the two sides engaged in a new round of combat within this incredibly complex and vast underground cavern, under his orders, Samuel led the remaining troops of the 1st Division downstream along the underground river in pre-prepared rafts until they reached the exit located at the edge of the Cocobia rainforest.

They launched a surprise attack on the Darkmoon Clan city in the Cocobia Rainforest, where there were hardly any troops stationed at the time, without the enemy being able to detect it.

They successfully captured the entire Cocobia rainforest, brought the coastal defense artillery of the Crescent Strait under their complete control, and thus laid the foundation for the final victory on the Faoken front.

At that moment, the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up slowly, revealing a confident and composed smile.

……

"The enemy has retreated? The entire army has entered the dark corridor?"

On the other side, at the Chokepoint front, inside the command post of the Allied rear headquarters.

Roxie, who was also exhausted from the intense command and combat, couldn't help but frown when he heard the intelligence coming through the communication.

After a quick thought, Roxie realized John's purpose, and a look of seriousness flashed in his blue eyes.

At this moment, she clearly realized John's true purpose in ordering the Imperial troops to retreat to the Dark Corridor.

"A calculated scheme, huh? John Maslow, you are indeed a formidable opponent."

Roxie couldn't help but murmur softly, but looking at what was presented in her field of vision, it was the rough information about the Dark Corridor that she had obtained from Gary Mad Fang, the current heir of the Golden Lion Territory, before the Battle of Choke Peak began.

Roxie's golden eyebrows immediately furrowed.

He couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

After ten days of continuous fighting, the Allied forces, which originally numbered 80,000, have now been reduced to 53,000.

The 112th Division suffered the most casualties. Due to the ambush by the Imperial Heavy Artillery Regiment and subsequent battles, its casualties have reached 12,000. Currently, only one regimental-level unit is still capable of fighting.

Furthermore, Gary Mad Fang, the commander of the 112th Division, was also shot through the abdomen by enemy magic soldiers. Under the corrosive effect of the annihilation power attached to the explosive magic, he fell into a coma uncontrollably, and it was hard to say whether he would survive.

Secondly, the 113th Division of the Darkmoon Clan, which was responsible for the left-hand battlefield in this battle, suffered a loss of 10,000 men under the subsequent attacks of monster hordes launched by John Maslow. Because goblins are small in size and their combat power mostly comes from primitive goblin technology, although their attacks are strong, their bodies are extremely weak.

However, Demis Darkmoon, as the commander-in-chief, was not trampled to death by the terrifying monster tide, but was able to continue to participate in the battle and command the troops.

In this battle, the Fifth Army suffered the fewest casualties on the main battlefield.

Compared to the two heavily damaged orc units, the Fifth Legion suffered only 5,000 casualties, and the vast majority of those casualties were functional units, with the main force suffering relatively few losses.

After all, most of the Fifth Army's troops were positioned on the central front of the choke point, facing only the weaker Independent 3rd Division. Furthermore, John had never expected the Independent 3rd Division to inflict significant casualties in direct combat; his orders were merely to maintain the front line as much as possible. Therefore, the relatively low casualties of the Fifth Army's main force were understandable.

Aside from the sharp reduction in troop strength, what really gave Roxie a headache was the injury of the two super-ranked mages.

After forcibly completing the teleportation by detaching his unique spell circuit and destroying it, Orion fell into a coma upon returning due to the broken spell circuit, and has not yet woken up.

Furthermore, according to the diagnosis of the head of the Fifth Legion's medical unit, even if the subsequent surgery goes smoothly, Orion, once awakened, will experience uncontrollable collapse of the unique surgical circuits within his body due to the large-scale extraction of these circuits.

If the unique spell is no longer used, it will completely dissipate after being preserved for twenty years due to the continuous collapse of the circuit.

If the unique technique is used again, the process will be accelerated.

In short, Orion's Phase Teleportation spell has changed from an evolving spell to a consumable spell, thus losing all potential for growth.

Furthermore, the collapse of his unique spell would affect the expansion of the rest of his magical circuits. Therefore, no matter how hard Orion tries to learn water magic, unless a miracle occurs, he will be stuck at the level of a super-ranked mage for the rest of his life.

He has gone from a true genius to a consumable.

Besides Orion, the other seriously injured mage was Liria.

In her first battle leading the Silent Assassins against Cambert, Liria successfully led her troops to retreat after receiving orders from Roxie, thanks to the slowing effect of the Silent Domain spell.

However, one member of the unit was secretly infected by Cambert, and in order to maximize the lethality of the plague spell, Cambert did not activate it directly, but instead allowed it to remain dormant in the victim's body.

It wasn't until three days ago, when Liria led her troops to block the Imperial supply convoy under Roxie's orders, that Cambert, who had also received orders to intercept, took advantage of Liria's focus on the battle and her inability to pay attention to her rear during this encounter.

He switched the source of infection to the member of the Silent Assassin unit and manipulated him to arrive next to Liria. While directly detonating the Plague spell to release poison mist that covered Liria, he also used fire magic to detonate the poison mist.

Under this terrifying double blow, even though Liria tried her best to activate the Silent Domain spell, she still couldn't escape safely and was inevitably infected by the enhanced plague spell.

Although he managed to suppress his injuries at the time thanks to the terrifying magical power of a super-ranked mage, he led his troops to retreat to his own base camp.

However, after inhaling a large amount of plague mist, under the corrosive influence of Cambert's strange power, Liria still uncontrollably fell into a state of poisoning. In order to suppress her injuries, she could only exert half of her original strength.

Despite Roxie immediately ordering the medical team to treat Liria after learning of her injuries.

However, due to the unique nature of the spell and the fact that Liria had inhaled too much poisonous fog, the corrosive power of the plague spell had completely filled both of her lungs, making it impossible to carry out the replacement surgery.

The only way to treat it is through detoxification, and it will take at least half a month to fully recover.

As for Gal Loken, although he only suffered some minor injuries in his battle with Roderick, the Son of Lava, his combat strength was not affected at all.

However, their confidence seemed to have suffered a significant blow after failing to complete the mission of breaching the enemy's heavy artillery regiment and being forced to return.

Throughout the ten-day tug-of-war, the other side maintained a grim expression and repeatedly requested permission from Roxie to lead troops in a raid, but Roxie refused each time.

One of the high-level combatants is unconscious, another is seriously injured, and the third has suffered a severe mental blow and lost his usual composure.

Although the main force did not suffer many casualties.

But no matter how you look at it, this result is hard to be happy about.

After all, John Maslow, who was fighting him this time, only had a quarter of his own troops!

Even more than half of the troops he led were members of the Independent 3rd Division, whose combat capabilities were far weaker than his own.

But it was this kind of weak force that made people want to laugh.

John Maslow, however, ultimately achieved this seemingly impossible advantage through strategy.

It's simply unbelievable.

"..."

Looking at the sand table in front of him, Roxie fell silent.

But soon, she put aside the troubling thoughts in her mind and looked at the map in front of her with a flickering gaze, and began to rethink her next course of action.

First and foremost, I must lead my troops into the Dark Corridor no matter what, even if the enemy has already set up traps and defenses there.

Otherwise, if John Maslow were given a chance to catch his breath, it could very well lead to the complete loss of the southern cocobia rainforest.

This would allow the enemy to coordinate their empire's land and sea forces, causing a war that should have ended in victory for them to take a completely opposite turn.

However, if they were to actually advance into the Dark Corridor, it would mean that the Fifth Legion would not only have to leave its large-scale magical technology facilities on the ground, but would also be forced to abandon its heavy artillery regiment, which it relied on most in its main force operations.

With these two weakening measures, the combat strength of both sides can be almost completely leveled.

Coupled with the traps set up by the enemy in advance, this battle will obviously turn into an extremely difficult and fierce battle for the Fifth Army Corps that launched the attack.

"Therefore, rather than trying to annihilate John Maslow's forces, in the war that is about to unfold in the Dark Corridor, I need to focus more on restraining the enemy."

"And try to achieve a strategic victory in this battle through the remaining possibilities, thereby laying a solid foundation for our subsequent victories in this battle!"

To achieve this, one needs to...

Roxie's deep blue eyes scanned the map before her. Soon, her gaze fell on another force that was fighting the Empire, located in the western part of their battlefield, about 1,200 kilometers away from the Dark Corridor.

A glint of light flashed in his blue pupils, and then he slowly uttered the other party's number:

"The 109th Division of the Third Orc Legion!"

That's right, it's this unit!
Compared to the lion-men of the Madfang Clan, who are accustomed to fighting on flat ground, and the goblins of the Darkmoon Clan, who are skilled in jungle warfare, this orc force composed of lizardmen is more adept at engaging enemy forces in caves.

If I could divide my forces and launch an attack from the rear to help the enemy defeat the Imperial 2nd Division, which is currently engaged in battle with them, thus freeing this orcish force, which is skilled in cave warfare, from the western front and making them an asset to the Fifth Legion.

Given that lizardmen can conduct intelligence gathering regardless of darkness, have excellent hearing, are naturally accustomed to cave warfare, and have skin covered with a large number of hard scales that can reduce magic damage, they can effectively serve as a strong shield for one's own attacks.

In this way, the disadvantage that our side originally suffered due to John Maslow's tactical arrangements can be reversed with the support of this force.

This would lead to the complete annihilation of this troublesome Imperial army and the capture of John Maslow!
"feasible!"

After carefully considering the plan in his mind and confirming that it was indeed the best way to break the deadlock, Roxie did not immediately issue the order to divide the troops. Instead, as if he had thought of some intelligence, he narrowed his eyes slightly.

Based on the fact that John Maslow had laid an ambush on her ten days earlier, Roxie guessed that the other side had most likely already planted spies within the Fifth Army.

If she were to issue the order to divide her forces, her plan to reverse the situation would likely be ruined by a spy tipping her off.

"Therefore, I need to set up a feint to ensure that the plan will not go wrong."

In addition, it can also expose spies within the Fifth Legion, preventing them from being put in a disadvantageous position due to leaks after the war in the Dark Corridor begins.

The intelligence that the spy was willing to risk exposure to convey must not be entirely false.

At the very least, it has to be half true and half false.

For example, they might suggest splitting forces, but without revealing the actual target of the blitzkrieg.

Instead, it involves replacing it.

Mad Fang City, located deep behind enemy lines and serving as the Third Navy's retreat route, is an excellent choice!

He refined the plan for this half-real, half-fake split-force operation in his mind.

After carefully analyzing the members of the Fifth Legion who were most likely traitors to the Empire, and selecting five key units to focus on, he realized that the plan was ready.

If successfully implemented, everything will unfold perfectly according to plan, leading to ultimate victory for our side.

At this moment, a confident smile, just like always, slowly bloomed on Roxie's tense face.

She examined the sand table in front of her, and slowly picked up the red baton that symbolized supreme command.

Then, as if by telepathy, John, who was nearly a hundred kilometers away and had also made the same gesture of raising his staff, almost simultaneously pointed their respective symbols of supreme military authority to the same spot in their field of vision, and then spoke:

"Roxy Sancaster, I have the situation under control!"

"John Maslow, I've seen through your intentions!"

"Having no other choice but to step into a disadvantageous battlefield, you have no chance of defeating me!"

"You who think you have everything under control, yet who look down on others because of your arrogance, will surely taste the bitter fruit I suffered before!"

"Therefore, there can only be one victor on the Fauken front."

Therefore, there can only be one victor in our war.

“And that person is me, John Maslow!”

"It can only be me, Roxie Sancaster!"

"Boom!"

……

(End of this chapter)