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

Chapter 213 Barrel Explosion, Final Offensive, Probing

The northern part of the Cocobia Rainforest is home to the Orc Synthetic Army.

"..."

In the lush rainforest, Demis Darkmoon, commander of the 113th Division, was riding in a goblin steam chariot and walking side by side with the tall Gary. However, he seemed to have something to say but hesitated.

The thought that at the recent military conference, Zhalga, who was now the commander of his own combined arms force, had forcibly rejected the proposal of the Morning Star due to personal emotions made him feel uneasy.

After all, that woman's style of doing things was indeed unscrupulous, and she even used them, her allies, as bait.

However, it cannot be denied that the opponent's wisdom and strategy are indeed the highest among our troops.

Is it really wise to ignore the warnings and choose to confront the terrifyingly cunning Imperial commander in an emotional manner?
Demis grew increasingly worried, and finally couldn't help but speak to Gary beside him:

"Major General Gary, what are your thoughts on this plan to pursue the enemy?"

"...Major General Demis, you know very well, don't you? What we think is actually not important at all, is it?"

Gary calmly responded to the other person, then glanced sideways at Zalga, who was sitting in the center of the group, carried by Blackswamp Clan supply soldiers. Zalga's hands were on the armrests, his eyes slightly closed as if he were dozing, and he looked like a local tyrant. A hint of mockery flashed in Gary's lion eyes.
"Right now, isn't the decision of how the combined forces should proceed made by our Lord Zalga, who commands the largest force and has received permission from the Allies?"

"But...sigh!"

Demis couldn't help but sigh, then added with a worried expression:
"To be honest, I have a bad feeling. After all, the Seventh Legion was wiped out by that damned Imperial commander with unprecedented strategy, and we suffered repeated setbacks in the battles at Chokepoint Peak and Dark Corridor. You must be able to see that the enemy we are facing this time is completely different from the Imperial army we have faced before."

"With their strategies, which are on par with, no, even surpassing, the Morning Star's, I'm afraid..."

Demis spoke with unease, but before he could finish expressing his worries, his messenger's voice interrupted him:

"Reporting to the commander, our scouts have discovered a large amount of strange gray fog about 800 meters to the northeast, which is rapidly spreading towards our position. It is suspected to be a tactic created by the enemy. Should we take cover?"

Gray mist?

Upon hearing this, the generals in the center were all taken aback, and then they all looked at Zalga on the 'throne'.

Zhalga slowly opened his eyes and looked at the messenger kneeling on one knee in front of him:
"Have you confirmed whether the fog is toxic?"

"Reporting to the general, according to the scouts, although inhaling this gray fog does cause some discomfort, there are no signs of poisoning."

"Oh?"

Zalga raised an eyebrow in slight surprise upon hearing this. He had assumed that the gray fog was a poisonous fog deliberately created by the Imperial Army on the other side to hinder their pursuit and allow the enemy to escape.

But to his surprise, things seemed to be different from what he had imagined.

Therefore, this was a deliberate smokescreen created by the enemy to try to scare them away or make them hesitant to act, so that the imperial rat named Edgar could successfully lead his troops to escape their pursuit.
The last time, the feint was exposed by that damned woman not long ago, and the battle report showed that eight hundred soldiers were lost.

Having learned his lesson from the last time, that foolish imperial commander is now trying to repeat the same trick and continue to deceive himself.
Do you really think that I, Zalga Blackswamp, would fall for the same trick twice?
Just how much do you underestimate me, the greatest warrior of the Black Swamp, to do something like this?

The thought of how I had been embarrassed in the meeting just hours earlier because I hadn't seen through the enemy's feint was utterly troubling.

Zalga felt an uncontrollable surge of anger welling up inside him, and immediately gave a cold snort and ordered:

"Order the army to keep advancing! I want to see what these damned imperial dogs are up to!"

"Yes, I will..."

"Wait, General Zarga!"

Upon hearing this, Demis, fearing his side had fallen into a trap, quickly interrupted. Then, meeting Zalga's scrutinizing gaze, he forced a smile and said, forcing himself to speak:

"Um, General, I don't mean to question your decision, but, well, the enemy commander is very cunning. Even if our warriors are incredibly brave, the enemy has absolutely no chance of defeating us in a direct confrontation."

"But ultimately, even the bravest warrior can't defend against a sneak attack from the shadows, so I think our army should..."

"Demis Darkmoon, are you perhaps afraid of those damned humans?"

Zalga sneered, then ignored Demis's ugly face, slowly stood up from his chair, turned to look at the lizardmen soldiers around him, and shouted angrily:

"Warriors from the Black Swamp Clan, answer me, are you afraid of those despicable humans?"

"no way!!!"

The shouts of the lizardmen soldiers thundered from the ranks, their eyes fixed on their commander with pride and fervor.

This contrasted sharply with the hesitant and dejected state of the remaining soldiers of the 112th and 113th Divisions at that time.

"Very good! You all truly deserve to be called the most valiant warriors of the Black Swamp Clan. I, Zalga, am proud of you!"

Upon seeing this, Zalga's smile deepened, and he glanced contemptuously at the ashen-faced Demis, then at the silent Gary beside him.

Realizing he had made the defeated general understand who truly led this combined arms army, Zhalga refrained from further humiliation and instead softened his tone, offering the man a way out:
"Of course, Major General Demis's concerns are not without merit. However, compared to standing still out of fear of potential danger, I personally believe that facing the enemy head-on is what our orc warriors should do right now!"

"Moreover, the scouts have confirmed that there are no toxins in this gray fog. In other words, this seemingly strange gray fog is actually just a feint set up by the enemy!"

"The enemy's purpose is clearly to exploit your wariness of the enemy, so that our army will hesitate to act, thus missing the best opportunity to pursue the enemy and allowing them to escape successfully!"

"Unfortunately, after the enemy's feint last time, I have already seen through the enemy commander's purpose. Moreover, with our forces outnumbering the enemy by at least seven times, there is absolutely no need for us to evade!"

"Even if the enemy has indeed set traps, these traps will surely crumble before our brave and unparalleled orc warriors!"

Therefore, there is no need to say more.

Facing the hesitant Demis and the sneer-faced Gary, Zalga, eager to prove his judgment with results, immediately waved his hand and issued a commanding order:

"Pass on my order: all warriors, immediately cover your faces with veils and continue the advance! There must be no mistake!"

"Yes, General Zhalga!"

"Tap, tap!"

With Zalga's command, the previously stagnant orcish synthetic army immediately marched towards the approaching gray fog. Driven by the magical winds and the advance of the orcish legion, the orcish troops quickly passed through the area where the gray fog was located.

Demis, who was initially worried that the gray fog might contain toxins that were not easily detected, felt much less nervous after inhaling it and finding that his magic was not affected.

"However, that inexplicable sense of unease has not only not lessened, but has become even stronger. Is it just my imagination? Also, why does the smell of this gray fog feel so familiar?"

It's like, "I smelled this somewhere when I was little?"
Demis frowned, inwardly surprised.

Before he could even ponder the source of this strange feeling, the messenger's voice interrupted his thoughts:

"Reporting to General Zhalga, our scouts have spotted enemy activity one kilometer ahead. The enemy appears to have set up a camp in the same spot and laid numerous woodland traps. They are also numerous, numbering at least ten thousand!"

Ten thousand people?

Ten thousand people!

"!"

Upon hearing the report, Zalga was not surprised but delighted. His mouth was agape with excitement, almost reaching his molars, and his brown vertical pupils were filled with unprecedented excitement.

At this moment, he had no time to think about why the Imperial 2nd Division, which originally had only about 5,000 men, had suddenly gained 5,000 more troops. His mind was completely filled with the amazing feat of annihilating this enemy force.

Without hesitation, he immediately gave the order:

"Pass on my order: immediately arrange for the artillery to turn their guns around, aim at the location of the enemy camp, and give them a good beating!"

"Until all the shells are used up!"

"Yes, General!"

The messenger responded excitedly and then quickly went to notify the various artillery regiments to prepare to use artillery to launch an unprecedented large-scale bombardment on the enemy troops who had not yet reacted and would pass directly through the gray fog.

"!"

However, upon hearing the word "bombardment," Demis's unease instantly reached its peak.

At the same time, he began to subconsciously recall his heritage and memories related to pollen.

After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly recalled that after he had just passed the test of the tribal warriors, the then-elder of the Darkmoon Clan, who was still alive at the time, had told him that in the early days of the Darkmoon Clan's development, the clan's ancestors had specially planted a tree called the Magnetic Tree.

Its pollen has no taste and is not toxic.

However, it possesses a magnetic attraction effect that ordinary pollen does not have, and it was the main means used by the ancestors of the Darkmoon Clan to explore for iron ore in the early days.

However, after acquiring better mineral exploration technologies through coastal trade and human transactions with other kingdoms, this backward and unstable pollen detection method was abandoned by the ancestors.

As a result, the Magnetic Trees were extensively cut down, and today only a few areas in the Cocobia Rainforest preserve these unique trees to commemorate the history of the Darkmoon Clan's development.

This secret, known to very few within the Darkmoon Clan since the passing of the Grand Elder decades ago, has remained largely unknown. However, if he remembered correctly, the records concerning the magnetic effects of the Magnetic Tree pollen seemed to indicate that once gunpowder weapons were contaminated with this pollen before being activated...

The magnetic attraction of pollen could prevent steel projectiles from exiting the gun barrel properly, potentially leading to…

"not good!"

At that moment, Demis, realizing the enemy's true objective, instantly changed his expression and was about to sternly remind Zalga to immediately cease firing.

However, when he turned his head, he saw a scene that filled him with utter despair.

At this moment, their own artillery units had already turned their cannons around, and Zalga, as the commander-in-chief, seemed to want to witness firsthand the scene of those fragile Imperial Army soldiers being blown to pieces by their own artillery. He had already stood up from his chair and personally picked up the flag symbolizing the command authority of the artillery.

Then, with a face full of excitement and a sinister grin, the other party, amidst Demis's bloodshot eyes, suddenly swung the flag downwards:

"Wait a minute..."

"fire!!!"

"Hey!"

A dazzling burst of fire and explosion erupted instantly. Then, to the astonishment of all the orc soldiers, their normally impenetrable cannon barrels, instead of spewing out shells capable of engulfing the enemy as usual, rapidly turned red and cracked at an indescribable speed.

Finally, to everyone's horror, countless sharp pieces of iron exploded outwards, instantly sweeping away all the artillery and triggering an unprecedentedly huge explosion!
"boom!!!"

……

"Hmm? The Imperial Army plans to build a pontoon bridge in the east and launch a breakout attack on our army under cover of night?"

At 7:10 PM, inside the Allied headquarters, Gal, who had been assigned by Zalga to lead his troops to remain at headquarters, frowned slightly upon hearing the intelligence intercepted by his own communications department, feeling quite surprised:
Is the intelligence accurate?

"Reporting to the commander, the enemy is using the latest wavelength in this intelligence report. This information was captured by our signal-capturing magic facilities after multiple tests, so its accuracy is as high as 99%!"

The head of the Fifth Army's communications department assured Gal with a confident expression, but Gal did not respond immediately upon hearing this. Instead, he frowned and pondered in his chair.

For a moment, the entire camp fell into an absolute silence.

"Um, Commander, should our troops cut down the enemy's pontoon bridge?"

After waiting for what felt like forever without receiving any instructions, the head of the communications department couldn't help but offer a suggestion. However, Gal shook his head at this suggestion and then snorted coldly:

"What's there to be afraid of? Our army outnumbers the enemy by at least several times. If the enemy dares to launch a general offensive, the final result will surely be our victory!"

Rather than fearing a surprise attack from the enemy, we were more afraid they wouldn't come!
After all, he still hadn't been able to repay the humiliation that damned Lava Child had inflicted on him last time!
Gal touched the deep scratch on his cheek, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes.

Just as he was about to wave his hand and dismiss the head of the communications department, telling him not to worry about those pontoon bridges.

Suddenly, he remembered the mines that his side had brought with them, originally intended to deal with the Empire's Third Navy, but which had been idle since the ground battle was not won.

Galton's eyes lit up immediately, and after a moment's thought, he gave the order:

"Go, arrange for the engineering corps to retrieve all the unused mines from their equipment. Also, arrange for the 2nd, 4th, and 6th heavy artillery regiments to go to the Luoyue Riverbank with the engineering corps to cover the engineering corps as they place the mines under the pontoon bridge!"

"Since the enemy wants to launch a general offensive, I don't mind giving them a big surprise, heh heh!"

A sinister smile crept across Gal's face. At this moment, he had already envisioned the scene where, under his whimsical arrangement, the Imperial troops would launch an attack, only to be blown to pieces by the mines in the river!
He might even have the chance to exact his own revenge on that damned Lava Child!
Thinking of this, the excitement in Gal's eyes intensified like never before, and he immediately waved his hand without hesitation:

"What are you waiting for? Go and carry out the mission immediately. Also, before laying the mines, be sure to scout the situation on the opposite bank and make sure that the enemy patrol is not there before you carry out the mine-laying mission. Understand?"

"Yes, Commander!"

Upon hearing this, the head of the communications department saluted Gal and then walked excitedly out of the tent.

Just as Gal was basking in the glory of his brilliant idea inside the tent, he discovered that the communications director, who had just left, had returned with an indescribable strange expression on his face.

"Why are you back again? Didn't I tell you to notify the engineering corps to lay mines?"

"Um, Commander, just now, our reconnaissance units in the rear detected a large amount of white smoke from an area about two kilometers behind us."

Meeting Gal's astonished gaze, the head of the communications department paused slightly before hesitantly adding:
"Furthermore, through long-range observation, our reconnaissance troops discovered that there were large numbers of enemy soldiers at the locations where the smoke originated, and that the enemy had dispatched a large number of patrols to search the surrounding areas, suggesting that they were setting up camp at the locations where the smoke originated..."

"So you mean that the smoke was from the enemy cooking fires?"

Gal looked astonished.

But after regaining his senses, he was not pleased that his side had grasped the enemy's movements, nor did he intend to lead his troops in an immediate surprise attack.

After all, this whole thing looks very strange no matter how you look at it.

If the enemy intended to launch a surprise attack, they would never make such a basic mistake, especially since their commander was someone as cunning as Roxie.

So, was this a decoy flare deliberately thrown out by the enemy?
Or does the other party have other purposes?

For a moment, Gal frowned, but after a brief hesitation, he felt that to deal with a monster like John Maslow, he would better send another monster instead, otherwise he would most likely fall into the other's trap.

So he immediately asked the head of the communications department:

"Is Staff Officer Roxie Sancaster still at the camp?"

"Uh, reporting to the commander, two hours ago, Staff Officer Roxie... led the Silent Assassin unit away from the camp to carry out a special reconnaissance mission."

The person in charge, who had almost accidentally addressed the other party by their original rank, glanced cautiously at the expressionless Gal. Noticing that Gal wasn't angry, he quickly added:

"In addition, Colonel Will's independent battalion was also transferred to participate in the special reconnaissance mission, along with Colonel Orion."

"The request for this mission was made by Staff Officer Roxie to Commander Zalga, and it was approved by him. Therefore, you were not informed of this..."

"Damn orc bastard!"

Gal cursed angrily, and after his expression shifted between light and dark, he finally took a deep breath and gave the order:
"Immediately notify the reconnaissance and incinerator units to go and check the location of the smoke. Don't go too deep; just check the basic situation!"

"Yes, Commander!"

Seeing Gal's gloomy face, the person in charge wanted to run away quickly to avoid suffering any undeserved trouble, but before he could turn around, Gal called out to him:
"Wait, send the 1st Heavy Combined Armor Battalion of the 1st Brigade of the 501st Division to go along."

After a slight pause, Gal added:

"In addition, Colonel Edmund was wiped out by the traitor Davis's defection, and now there is no corresponding unit structure. Let's send him to participate in this operation as a deputy battalion commander."

Gal felt that since Edmund was able to escape safely from the enemy's tight defenses and bring back intelligence related to the traitor, it meant that this person must have some ability.

Most importantly, the other party has personally experienced falling into a trap, so they must have some experience in recognizing traps.

Of course, if that damned woman Roxie were still alive, he wouldn't be in such a predicament.

Unfortunately, it seemed as if the other party had anticipated this troublesome situation.

Before John Maslow could make his move, he used the pretext of a special reconnaissance mission to extricate himself from the quagmire and chose to act independently to try to replicate his previous cunning but highly effective decapitation operation in order to achieve final victory.

"Of course, after that damned teleportation last time, the opponent's tactics are no longer viable."

Wasting his amazing talent on a crazy woman.

Orion, oh Orion, I thought your past actions were absurd enough, but the truth has proven that your stupidity has indeed exceeded my expectations!

After briefly lamenting his old friend who had been blinded by so-called love and had now destroyed his own bright future, Gal put aside his complicated thoughts and waved to the trembling person in charge in front of him, signaling him to go and carry out the mission.

He then turned his attention back to the sand table in front of him and began to rethink his next course of action.

He had a premonition that as long as he could successfully eliminate the enemy forces attempting a surprise attack and confirm whether there were enemy troops encamped in the northern area where smoke was rising, he would be able to succeed.

At that time, Zalgar, who was leading the orc legion in pursuit of the Imperial 2nd Division in the northern region, will complete the mission of annihilating that Imperial force.

He could then lead his troops south and head straight for John Maslow's stronghold.

And by then...

"This is your death day, Roderick Dalton!"

Gal grinned maliciously, then slammed the chess piece in his hand onto the Stargazing City near the Crescent Strait without hesitation, making a dull thud.

"despair!"

……

(End of this chapter)