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

Chapter 190 [8k] Confusion, Missed Opportunities
Indiscriminate killing of innocent people?

villain?

If you were a villain, seeking revenge against the culprit who caused your hellish ordeal.

What should Mephisto be called, who trampled on countless lives just for that damned power?

Is he the devil among devils?
So what I hate most is someone like you who clearly doesn't know the inside story, yet still habitually criticizes others from a moral high ground.

Compared to perpetrators who wear the guise of kindness and try to gain sympathy through fabricated lies.

You are an even more hateful fool who is ignorant of the truth, lacks any analytical ability, and can be easily misled into acting under the guise of justice, while actually aiding and abetting evil!

Hearing the labels Anna gave herself, Serbia suddenly felt an urge to burst out laughing.

But she didn't try to explain, and she disdained to explain anything to the girl in front of her who only saw everything in front of her as the truth, without considering whether there was any inside story, manipulated by false feelings of justice, and who saw herself as a murderer.

However, when she looked at the other person, her wine-red eyes were no longer as gentle as when she treated a relative who could barely be considered a friend; instead, they were replaced by an unprecedented coldness.

Countless magical circuits emerged from her body, quickly enveloping her entire form, and in an instant, she transformed into a half-dragon, whipping her dragon tail, her figure ferocious yet inexplicably possessing a violent beauty that defied description.

Half-covered in red scales, his face, barely retaining a human form, now slowly curled into a sinister smile on his blood-red lips, his voice chillingly sharp:
"Want to kill me? Then try it!"

"Crack!"

Immediately afterwards, Serbia's body slowly bent down.

The instant she made that move, the stone floor beneath her feet began to crack and expand rapidly under the surge of terrifying magic.

In an instant, a terrifying crack, dense and spiderweb-like, formed centered on Serbia and covered the entire church.

But Anne, who was holding the broken sword, remained unmoved. Instead, she silently increased her output of magic power. The white mist that originally represented the power of stripping began to gradually gather and solidify towards the blade of the cross sword under her will.

It quickly formed a three-meter-long light blade that continuously emitted arcs of electricity, its shape somewhat distorted yet uniquely beautiful.

"Crack!"

The dissipated magic formed a pure white barrier around her, seemingly crafted from beams of light, completely halting the shattered ground five meters away from where she stood, preventing it from advancing any further.

It was as if any influence exerted from the outside world would be eliminated under the power of the so-called Miracle Technique, which was shrouded in this barrier.

However, her silvery-white eyes, which she looked at Serbia, became increasingly solemn and serious.

"Give it your all, hold onto that desire, and then..."

"Prepare for your inevitable defeat!"

Serbia slowly pulled back his two ferocious dragon claws, his whole body resembling a beast poised to pounce and tear apart and crush everything in its path!

The fiery red magic seemed to materialize at this moment, enveloping her entire body while also faintly forming the silhouette of a transparent and illusory terrifying red dragon on her skin.

In the phantom of the dragon, the pure golden dragon eyes gradually overlapped and merged with the Serbian wine-red eyes, eventually transforming into vertical pupils mixed with gold and red. Just the moment they met eyes, people began to feel fear from their animal instincts.

"Wow!"

As Serbia's spiked dragon wings suddenly unfurled and flapped, her figure transformed into a dazzling red meteor, tearing through space with incredible speed.

Enveloped in countless crimson flames, it launched a deadly hunt towards the figure raising the massive sword blade!

Just before this violent attack reached its target, a pure white blade of light, wielded by Anna, swept down with a terrifyingly powerful force!

"boom!"

Terrifying magic began to emanate and flow outward the moment the two clashed, instantly destroying the entire church.

"Crack!"

The stone pillars and walls crumbled and collapsed, but before the two figures, one red and one white, could even get close, they were torn apart and swept away by the howling hurricane, flying uncontrollably in all directions due to the terrifying power they unleashed without regard for the consequences.

It was as if the cause of all this was not two humans, but a terrifying tornado that was impossible for human beings to withstand.

At the very center of this storm, Serbia's frenzied roar and Anna's murderous scream simultaneously erupted:

"Weak!"

"Evildoer!"

"boom!"

……

Meanwhile, at night, in the western part of Gooseberry Village, inside a villager's house.

Wearing a gray army uniform of the Kingdom of Loran, with two small golden crescents on his shoulders, representing the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Kingdom of Loran's army, he was standing in the courtyard silently smoking a cigarette. He was nominally a high-ranking mage of both water and fire.

Looking at the two trainees who were treating villagers suspected of having the plague, his blue eyes were filled with helplessness.

In fact, according to the orders issued by the Allied Central Military Affairs Department, they were tasked with going to the Mistra Magic Academy in the Kingdom of Brown to receive a special high-ranking mage named Celestine Novak, and should not have lingered in this desolate little mountain village for long.

After all, apart from the current target and the three members who have already been received, Erwin still needs to take his team to other countries to receive a total of eight genius mages who possess unique magical formulas and have achieved extraordinary success in their respective countries.

They then escorted these twelve genius mages, representing the strongest new generation of mages from their respective countries, all the way to the Kingdom of Victoria to meet with General Olco, known as the One-Eyed Owl, and to complete the creation of the 'Allied Special Operations Department' proposed by him.

Otherwise, as a lieutenant colonel holding an important position on the front lines, he wouldn't have been forced to withdraw from the front lines under Lady Elena's orders and return to his alma mater to serve as a crappy instructor, nor would he have come to be a bodyguard for these students whose average age is only 20.

It wouldn't be under the insistence of these young guys who are full of enthusiasm under the teaching of their respective academies, who hold beautiful fantasies about everything, and who are all excellent inheritors of the medieval knightly spirit.

Because it was not their special operations team's responsibility to get involved, but rather the local church's own handling of the plague treatment issue that delayed their own journey.

At this moment, Erwin could almost imagine the furious accusations and insults he, as the instructor and captain, would receive from the Speaker of the Mistra Magic Academy, who was in charge of the handover, after his side failed to arrive on time.

But what can he do?

He was just an ordinary high-ranking mage, although he had served for a long time, followed the Sword Saint in many raids, and had received many second-class merit medals from the Kingdom of Loran.

Ultimately, however, he is not the only inheritor of the technique. Facing this group of young people who have all reached the middle level, and even a few who have reached the upper level, after completing the initial integration and training, they will most likely be at the same level as him in the next few years.

Even these young people who could become his superiors.

Having no talent whatsoever and barely managing to become a lieutenant colonel by working himself to the bone to earn military merit, how could he dare to offend these geniuses destined for greatness in the future?

"That's why I hate geniuses! Fate is just too unfair!"

Erwin sighed inwardly, filled with melancholy. He was pondering whether, after defeating the Empire, he should shamelessly ask his superiors to introduce him to eligible women from families with unique magical techniques, hoping that his future children wouldn't be limited in their future like he was because of that damned bloodline.

He suddenly noticed that the young man named Royce Hansen, who had been assisting another member in treating the villagers, with his orange buzz cut, black-rimmed glasses, and slender and thin build, suddenly stopped his magic.

Then, as if sensing some major change, the other person's expression gradually became serious.

This unusual phenomenon immediately caught Erwin's attention, and he raised an eyebrow and asked the other party:

"Royce, what's wrong?"

“Teacher Erwin, just now, I sensed an abnormal node using the ‘Shadow Domain Survey’ spell. It appears to be a powerful mage, located ten kilometers east of Gooseberry Village.”

"The opponent's magic power is very strong, and she also seems to be a unique spell inheritor. My Shadow Domain node cannot get within 100 meters of her."

Meeting Erwin's astonished gaze, Reus adjusted his black-rimmed glasses and then uttered a statement in a serious tone that made Erwin feel somewhat dizzy:

"In addition, if my information and data statistics are correct, that location should be the church in Gooseberry Village where the only clergyman and medical staff prays daily."

"In other words, Anna Splinter, who went to find the doctor to ask about the specific details of the plague, has most likely run into that person."

"It's not even certain that a conflict has already broken out."

"What!?"

Erwin instinctively opened his mouth wide, and the cigarette in his mouth slowly fell to the ground under the influence of gravity.

But at this moment, he had no time to feel sorry for the cigarette he hadn't finished smoking. Instead, he unhesitatingly unleashed his magic perception spell to its limit.

Behind the church, which was ten kilometers away and should have been quiet, faint magical fluctuations were constantly emerging, as if a battle was taking place.

His face instantly turned extremely ugly.

At that moment, Erwin realized clearly that he was in big trouble!

……

"boom!"

Meanwhile, inside the Golden Church.

With the constant collision of two beams of light, one red and one white, the once majestic church had long since been reduced to ruins.

Even the statue of Orihius, the god symbolizing justice and judgment, collapsed and shattered under the residual force of the collision between the two beams of light, turning into white pebbles scattered around.

As a terrifying magical wind swept outwards from the center of the battlefield, a figure was sent flying uncontrollably, crashing heavily into the rubble and ruins behind him.

The dim white barrier covering the body seemed to have reached its limit and began to crack uncontrollably.

As if triggering a butterfly effect, the cracks began to spread rapidly and, in an instant, completely covered the entire barrier.

After a crisp sound like shattering glass, the incredibly sturdy barrier vanished completely into thin air.

"Cough cough!"

The lightsaber, which had been enveloped by the power of stripping, had long since disappeared, and the circuits of the spells on her body had all disappeared into her body at some point. Due to the overuse of spells, Anna, whose body had reached its limit, began to cough uncontrollably.

But knowing that the terrifying half-dragon monster would not give her any time to rest, she decided to grit her teeth and stand up, trying to grip the broken sword again with her hands, which were trembling uncontrollably from the shock, so that she could continue to fight the villain in front of her.

Before she could even manage to get into a fighting stance, a red light flashed through her vision.

Immediately afterwards, she felt a terrifying force coming from her neck that she could not resist.

Immediately, under that force, she was grabbed by the neck and lifted into the air.

Driven by her survival instinct, she began to struggle uncontrollably.

He desperately tried to pry open the cold hand that was choking him.

However, despite using all her strength to pound and tear at it.

But given the disparity in strength between the two sides, Anna despairingly discovered that she was utterly powerless to budge her opponent.

He could only strain his eyes to stare intently at the figure in front of him, whose half-dragon form had somehow faded away and whose body was covered in bloody welts from the slashes of the stripping sword.

But the red-haired woman, who was repairing herself at a speed visible to the naked eye, was filled with resentment and hatred.

"Not bad eyes. I like them. After all, only hatred can drive someone to become stronger at all costs, right?"

Just like I was back then.

Serbia silently added a sentence in his mind, but did not immediately let go of the other person.

After the fierce battle just now, she realized that the person in front of her, who possessed the bloodline of the Binot family, had a completely different personality from Leia and was also smarter.

But when she gazed into their eyes, she could clearly sense that deep within them both lay a common, resilient trait inherited from the Binot family:
We will never give up until we achieve our goal!

Just like in the Demon King Era, the previous generation's Spear of the Empire, at the cost of his own life, unleashed the so-called "Spear Piercing the Stars" on the battlefield of the Prussian Grand Canyon, known as the "Grand Tomb," causing the fall of fourteen Grand-rank powerhouses and shocking the entire world.

After that battle, the name Binot became synonymous with never-ending.

And just as Leia, who inherited the family bloodline, is like this, Anna, who is still unaware of her true origins, will not back down in the face of death when she is driven to the brink.

These are heroic ancestors from the bloodline of the three great families of miracles. They were selected in the Arena of the Gods as humans, and were recognized by the gods, who bestowed upon them a blessing that would never fade.

The most precious gift preserved for future generations through the continuation of genes.

Although this talent—the ability to disregard the efforts of others and grow at an astonishing speed solely based on bloodline—truly disgusts Serbia.

But even she couldn't deny the other party's strength.

Of course, given the current state of affairs where magic has mutated and the blessings of the gods have been suppressed to almost nothing.

Serbia felt that, having inherited the bloodline of the red dragon, he was not much weaker than the so-called miracle spells.

"..."

As Serbia pondered, Anna, constantly assaulted by excruciating pain and a strong feeling of suffocation, began to lose strength in her struggles.

Just when Anna thought she was going to die at the hands of this villain, and was about to detonate her unique spell circuits in an attempt to drag him down to hell with her,

Just a second before she was about to do so, Serbia flung her away. "Bang!"

"Cough cough!"

The dull thud caused Anna to cough uncontrollably. Perhaps because she hadn't breathed in air for so long, her body instinctively began to frantically inhale.

But under her rough breathing, the capillaries, already stretched to their limit by the restraint, began to rupture, and streaks of scarlet blood gushed from her nasal cavity and sprayed out with Anna's breath.

Combined with her bloodshot green pupils, she suddenly looked exceptionally ferocious.

"I don't need your charity, you villain! You're insulting me!"

However, after regaining her chance to catch her breath, Anna did not show any joy on her face; instead, her face looked extremely ugly.

His eyes, fixed on Serbia, seemed to be blazing with fire.

Whether it was the indomitable chivalry of the Splinter family that he received from his father in his childhood, or the warrior's beliefs he developed under the tutelage of renowned teachers after being specially recruited into Canlton Military Academy due to his exceptional talent.

All of this led Anna to establish an absolute bottom line that could never be crossed: to bow down to one's enemies.

In Anna's view, dying on the battlefield for the honor of her country, as a true warrior of the Kingdom of Loran, was her true destiny.

She could accept that she was less skilled than others, and she could also accept being killed by the enemy after defeat.

After all, that's the kind of education she received from a young age.

But the one thing she couldn't accept was the enemy's mercy.

This is the greatest denial of her existence, and also a trampling of her dignity as a warrior of the kingdom!

It was a disgrace she absolutely could not accept!

Driven by this rage, the body, which had been exhausted, suddenly gained unprecedented power.

Anna, who had been swaying precariously, suddenly stood up from the ground. Her hands, which had been trembling as before, no longer trembled as they had before, but returned to their original steady posture.

Even the magic power in her body, which had been nearly depleted due to excessive consumption during the battle, began to inexplicably increase and rapidly rise in a way that Serbia could not understand, right before her incredulous eyes.

It even reached a completely new level that it had never achieved before.

The previously dim silver-white circuits reappeared on her body, and the radiance emanating from the unique spell patterns became even more dazzling than before.

It was as if he had completed some kind of promotion.

The lightsaber in his hand, formed from the mist of the stripping power, also seemed to have increased in length compared to before.

Then, with Anna's swing, a sharp sword light streaked through the air, pointing directly at the red-haired half-dragon in front of him.

Then, the other party's angry voice slowly entered Serbia's ears, whose expression had inexplicably become blank:

"You villain, I will fight you to the death!"

No, let's wait before deciding whether to fight to the death or not.

Can you first explain to me what's going on with this magic that appeared out of nowhere?
Damn it, are you sure you're a human, and not some magical engine that can be reused by just stuffing in a magic stone?

No, even a magic engine wouldn't be this outrageous; at least a magic engine requires magic stones to be inserted into it.

But what about you?

You just shouted a slogan angrily, without even drinking a magic-replenishing potion, how could you instantly recover to your peak condition?
It's even stronger than before?
This isn't magic at all!
It seems I should retract my earlier statement; this girl named Anna isn't on the same level of potential as that monster woman, Leia.

Because this unreasonable method and speed of recovery far surpasses that of Leia.

Anna Splinter.

This guy is a monster among monsters!

Seeing Anna's furious expression, Serbia fell silent for a moment, but after a brief moment of thought, she decided to give up on continuing the fight.

After all, compared to the opponent's incredible regenerative ability, she had already consumed most of her magic power in the battle just now.

If this continues, there's a real possibility that we might suffer an unexpected defeat.

And, most importantly, her initial goal was simply to teach the other party a lesson.

Although I was angered by the other party's previous unwarranted accusations, I unconsciously hit them a little harder.

But she never intended to kill this descendant of the Binot family.

Furthermore, and most importantly, Serbia is unsure what will happen if she beats Anna to her knees again.

Could the other party continue to regain their peak condition in ways she couldn't understand at all, just like before?

If that's really the case, then things will get interesting.

Therefore, after realizing this, Servia abandoned the idea of ​​continuing to fight. Instead of waiting for Anna to continue her attack, she casually flicked a blade of energy forward.

"!"

Seeing that Serbia was launching another attack, Anna immediately tried to block.

But the next second, she was shocked to find that the opponent's slash was not aimed at her, but landed on the collapsed statue not far behind her.

"Crack!"

As the statue was torn apart by the violent energy blades, the underground passage that had been covered by the statue's body was revealed again in the next second.

The thick, pungent smell of blood and various stench that had accumulated inside began to escape uncontrollably outwards at this moment.

Anna, who caught the scent immediately, couldn't help but frown, a hint of doubt flashing in her eyes:
This is……

Before Anna could even ponder why the sacred church reeked of a rotting corpse, Serbia's calm voice reached her ears:

"If you want to know why I killed Mephisto, also known as Tracy Plant, then go and take a look inside this underground laboratory."

"Although I didn't witness what that beast did firsthand, based on my past experience with his trampling of life, the scene below must have been extremely disgusting."

"If you truly consider yourself righteous, or pride yourself on being righteous, you should understand after seeing the following scene."

"...So, you mean Dr. Tracy wasn't a good person? You killed him for justice?"

The intense stench emanating from the underground passage, combined with the fact that although the other party had insulted him and launched an attack, it seemed that they hadn't actually tried to kill him, but rather were instructing him on how to fight.

It wasn't until he had previously denounced the other party for killing innocent people that the other party truly became enraged and used all their strength to fight him.

Through these strange behaviors, Anna vaguely realized that things were not as simple as she thought. When she looked at Serbia, the murderous intent in her eyes began to gradually dissipate.

However, she did not rashly choose to completely trust the other party. Her silver eyes remained vigilant, and the pillar of light sword formed by the power of stripping in her hand was not deactivated, but remained in a fighting stance.

"Justice? Ha!"

Serbia scoffed dismissively, then elegantly tidied her disheveled long hair and calmly spoke:

"Those slogans mean absolutely nothing to me, and I don't bother to flaunt them. I'm just an Avenger, well, an Avenger who has finally gotten revenge twelve years overdue!"

So, does this guy mean that she was persecuted by Dr. Tracy before?
However, according to the intelligence we have gathered so far, Dr. Tracy is a very ordinary church member, and also quite kind...

Well, the church's basement, which reeks of foul odor, is also suspicious.

After all, what true saint would hide a corpse beneath a sacred church?
Moreover, the intensity of this odor suggests that there are at least fifty, or even more, corpses present.

Only in this way can such a nauseating stench be created.

It's possible that things really are as the other party said.

After some simple reasoning, and considering Serbia's seemingly genuine demeanor, Anna, after a moment's thought, decided to temporarily believe him and began to slowly dispel the unique spell on her body.

But she still didn't let her guard down. After all, during their previous exchange, her opponent had been kicking her chest repeatedly for some reason. Even with the support of magic, she still felt a sharp pain in her chest, and her right side was even a little swollen.

Therefore, even if the other party killed Tracy for revenge, she cannot just let them go.

Moreover, allowing such a dangerous and unidentified being to roam the Kingdom of Loran could easily pose a potential threat to the local residents.

She had to find out who the other person was.

In addition, this red-haired woman has a terrible temper and a very strange personality.

However, their strength is undeniable.

Now, our allied forces need powerful warriors to better curb the evil empire's conquests.

Therefore, the idea was to defeat the empire and create peace.

As the captain of the elite Allied Special Operations Group, personally appointed by General Olko, he also had a responsibility to identify potential talents and introduce them to the department.

However, this guy's personality is really terrible. Even if his strength meets the requirements, he wants to let the other person go to the Kingdom of Victoria with the rest of the team and become a companion.

At the very least, you should wait until the other party has formally apologized to you.

Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't be able to forgive this guy like this!

Thinking of this, Anna immediately huffed inwardly, but outwardly she calmly addressed Serbia:

"Your words need to be verified, but I will believe you for now. In addition, to prevent you from deceiving me, I need to verify your identity."

"Once I've confirmed that you're not a fugitive assassin and that Tracy has taken other people's lives, I can let you go."

"On this point, I, Anna Sprint, as the holder of the Golden Dragon Cup for military exercises in the Kingdom of Loran and the sole holder of the Sprint family's Equality of All Things Technique, assure you, I will never go back on my word!"

Anna puffed out her chest with pride and addressed Serbia in this way.

She thought that after revealing her identity and honor, the powerful half-dragon in front of her would look at her differently, after all, although she was still young, she was quite famous within the Allied Forces.

Moreover, the Golden Dragon Cup is highly prestigious. Even if the opponent is a half-dragon from Morno Continent, as long as they have lived on the Otto Continent for a period of time, they must have heard of this competition.

To Anna's surprise and confusion, the half-dragon in front of her did not become respectful after she introduced herself; instead, he wore a very strange expression.

It was as if what I heard wasn't an enviable honor, but some bizarre joke, making me almost burst out laughing.

"Golden Dragon Cup? Sprint? Equality for all? Haha!"

Serbia finally couldn't hold back any longer. The thought that Anna, as a descendant of the Spear of the Empire, not only did not fight for the empire her family was loyal to, but instead threw herself into the arms of the Kingdom of Loran and joined a so-called Sprint family whose name she had never even heard of.

She couldn't help but feel an unprecedented joy.

If the spear of the former empire knew that its descendants had betrayed and defected to the enemy, and were even going to turn around and attack its own country...

I bet he'd be so angry he'd jump right out of his coffin!

"What are you laughing at? What's so funny?"

Anna frowned, looking at Serbia with displeasure.

She genuinely didn't understand what the woman was laughing about.

"Nothing, I just suddenly thought of something... Hmm? Someone's here?"

Serbia wanted to continue teasing this utterly stupid idiot, but upon sensing the rapidly approaching presence, she immediately became serious.

After confirming that the aura of one of the figures was at least as strong as her own, she immediately knew that it was time for her to leave.

However, before we go any further, let me say a few more words to this guy.

That way, I won't end up blaming John, that idiot, for deliberately sabotaging me when he finds out.

Serbia muttered to herself, then interrupted Anna before she could press further:

"Since someone is here, let's get straight to the point. I may not know about other things, but there is one thing I am certain of: you are not a member of the Splinter family, but rather from one of the most ancient families in the empire."

"That family's name is Binot, the Binot of the Spear of the Empire!"

"In other words, Anna Splinter, your real name should be Anna Binott."

"Now, do you understand why I was laughing just now?"

……

(End of this chapter)