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

Chapter 216 The Desire to Conquer, Setting an Ambush
"So, I was outmaneuvered after all?"

At nine o'clock at night, in the southwestern region of the Cocobia Rainforest, the Silent Assassin troops, who had just stopped marching, heard the latest battle report from their headquarters. Roxie, who was resting in the center of the troops, did not show any surprise on his face.

After reviewing the complete map he had memorized and combining it with the details of his three encounters with the intelligence, he was able to reconcile the information he had gathered with the details of his three defeats.

Soon, Roxie deduced the specific methods John used in the ambush.

"After psychological warfare and utilizing terrain and weather in combat, are you now using the unique characteristics of rainforest creatures to create advantages for your side and eliminate the enemy without suffering any casualties?"

If this method were applied to the study of warfare, it would probably be enough to create a completely new tactical category called 'ecological tactics'.
The battles fought by the opposing side in Faoken will become exemplary cases of this tactical science.

How could someone who is only 24 years old become the founder of a tactic?
John Maslow, you bastard.

What an incredibly powerful monster!
Looking at the lush rainforest before him, Roxie couldn't help but murmur in a complicated tone.

At this moment, finally realizing the gap between herself and the other person, she couldn't help but feel an unprecedented sense of frustration.

But soon, the resentment in Roxie's eyes was replaced by determination.

The opponent's tactics certainly amazed her, even filled her with awe.

But that doesn’t mean she can’t catch up. After the war ends and she returns to the kingdom, she will intensify her studies on ecology and species around the world.

Having learned from John Maslow's performance in the Battle of Fauken, she was able to integrate the tactics pioneered by the enemy and make them her own.

Even more advanced than the tactic's creator!
And this time will not be too long, because...

“I, Roxie Sancaster, am the sole heir to the bloodline of the Eye of the Sky family. My talent and abilities are more than enough to enable me to achieve this, and this is by no means empty talk!”

However, compared to his previous competitive spirit, after truly witnessing John's endless strategies, Roxie now felt an unprecedented impulse towards him.

Whenever she thinks of him, she can't help but feel short of breath and her heart races, and she can no longer contain any other thoughts.

But Roxie knew perfectly well that this was not the kind of emotion called love that most people understood.

Rather, it is a kind of existence called the desire to conquer.

They wanted to possess, to ravage, to make it kneel before them.

He wanted to make the other person lower their proud head and lick their toes with a face full of humiliation.

She wanted to use her fair and slender feet to stomp hard on the other person's head and enjoy the sight of her trampling on their mysterious black hair.

He wanted to see the other side, after being defeated and becoming his prisoner, clearly full of resentment but helpless, only able to wag their tail and beg for mercy from their master, like a pet dog with a collar.

Just thinking about that scene made her throat tighten, and even the air she breathed seemed exceptionally sweet and delicious!

This was a desire she had never felt in the 28 years since her birth.

The thrill of this intense desire to conquer was even more wonderful than when she first stepped out of her room and saw the star-studded night sky!
"Therefore, I must get John Maslow in this battle no matter what!"

At all costs!!!
Two blushes crept onto Roxie's fair cheeks, but her eyes were filled with an unprecedented clarity as she kept her eyes fixed on the map she had laid out on the rock in front of her.

As if she were constantly calculating something, her eyes flashed with an unfathomable light. After a long while, she slowly exhaled a breath of stale air and then gestured to Orian, who had been waiting beside her, to put the map away.

Then, turning to look at Liria, who was leaning against a tree trunk with her arms crossed, seemingly resting but actually constantly using reconnaissance spells to monitor her surroundings, she slowly spoke to her:

"The marching route has been changed, and the original plan to go to Guanxing City has been cancelled."

"Ok?"

Liria slowly opened her eyes and looked at Roxie with some surprise.

But considering the enemy's astonishing strategy and the recent news of their defeat at their main camp, she realized that the commander named John Maslow seemed to have other motives, so she didn't ask him why he changed the plan.

Instead, he silently nodded and asked:

"General, what is our next objective?"

"The target..."

Roxie muttered something to himself, but did not immediately answer Liria's question. Instead, he crossed his arms and tapped his arm with his index finger as he pondered.

Based on her current understanding of John, she knew very well that the man must have known that the Darkmoon Clan garrison in Stargazing City had sent out intelligence before the city was breached, and most likely he had deliberately let the scout escape safely.

The purpose was to lure the army south and directly attack Guanxing City.

They would fall into his pre-set trap and suffer defeat.

Based on the intelligence that the Crescent Fleet lost contact at 3:00 AM yesterday, it can be inferred that the Imperial Third Navy has completed its operation to annihilate the Crescent Fleet.

At this point, they have most likely returned to the vicinity of Crescent Strait and are ready to provide artillery support to the Imperial forces on the ground.

From the area where Observatory City is located, it is only 30 kilometers south to completely exit the coverage of the Cocobia rainforest and reach the area where Crescent Strait is located.

The terrain will then be replaced by vast plains, which will obviously be extremely disadvantageous for the Imperial Army, which is short of troops.

After all, without any cover, even with the support of naval guns, if the Imperial Army wanted to launch a decisive battle here, even if they could win, they would probably only achieve a narrow victory and suffer huge casualties.

And considering John Maslow's similar arrogance and his constant desire to maximize victory.

The other party would certainly not implement such a decision that would involve significant sacrifices.

In other words, the opponent will most likely still choose to hold the final battle in the Cocobia rainforest.

Furthermore, these should be two battlefields for the decisive battle.

First, the area where Stargazing City is located represents the decisive battleground between the Imperial Army and the Allied Forces.

The other place was the battlefield where the enemy and his former commander of the Fifth Army Corps fought a decisive battle.

Even now, Roxie doesn't know whether John Maslow's agent within the Fifth Army was Will, the missing Davis, or another member of the Fifth Army.

But she knew that this man, who had never met her but could calculate all her thoughts in a way she couldn't understand, must know.

Having relinquished his position as commander-in-chief, he was absolutely unwilling to accept defeat as merely a strategist.

Instead, he would choose to lead a small force to attempt a decapitation strike against his commander in order to win the battle.

Furthermore, in order to counter his own actions and also to limit his own access to the main battlefield to assist his own troops in breaking through the enemy's traps, John Maslow would absolutely not rashly choose to remain stationed in Stargazing City.

The opponent will most likely open a new battlefield in another location.

Furthermore, the other party must also know that you can guess that they will do this.

In Roxie's calculations, this was the only location that could effectively limit the Silent Assassin troops and the heavy artillery of the Independent 1st Battalion, and was difficult to detect.

In this terrain that has now been almost entirely utilized by John Maslow.

Only two remain.

The location in the west is too far from the other main battlefield, and there are many unconquered Darkmoon Clan cities in the surrounding area, so the enemy would not possibly set up defenses there.

Therefore, there is only one answer, and that is...

"Southeast!"

Roxie slowly lowered his hands, then turned his gaze to the southeast where the moon was currently located, and said with certainty:

"If I am not mistaken, John Maslow's actual command post should be located in the Cangyuan Ancient Forest in the southeastern coastal region of the Cocobe Rainforest."

"Therefore, our next marching direction will be southeast!"

"despair!"

……

"All three ambushes succeeded? That's unexpected..."

Meanwhile, in the ancient forest of Cangyuan in the southeastern coastal region of the Cocobia rainforest, inside the trunk of a huge, thousand-year-old tree.

John, sitting at the conference table, couldn't help but raise an eyebrow unconsciously upon hearing the good news from his side, his eyes filled with surprise.

He wasn't particularly surprised by Edgar's two victories.

After all, since the other side was being pursued by the orcish synthetic army, he had to increase his efforts in tactical deployment to ensure that the other side could obtain the merits he had promised earlier, and that after obtaining the benefits, they could contribute to his subsequent annihilation operations against the allied forces.

But he did not expect that the guard force of 1,500 men, nominally led by Siegfried, could annihilate an enemy force that outnumbered them three times over with zero casualties.

In the game, Siegfried doesn't seem to have that much initiative at the moment, right?

Or is there something happening here that you don't know about?
"...Forget it, whatever. Anyway, this situation is good for me, so there's no point in worrying about it."

After all, the fewer the enemy troops, the greater the probability of a successful subsequent annihilation operation.

Let's put aside the matter of rewarding merits for now. After all, with all the magic troops and other units sent to the main battlefield to set up ambushes to ensure victory, I now only have Wendy Pig and 14 squads of 27 magic soldiers by my side.

How to deal with Roxie, who could launch a decapitation strike at any time, has become a major problem.

"Sigh, it's all because of a shortage of manpower!"

If only I had more people under my command, otherwise I wouldn't have had to use myself as bait so many times.

John sighed helplessly, then touched the dry yet strangely warm tree wall in front of him with a complicated look, and couldn't help but fall into deep worry.

In fact, after arriving at the Cangyuan Ancient Tree Forest an hour earlier via rapid flight, John transformed the enormous, hollow, thousand-year-old tree into a temporary command center after some simple modifications.

With the thick outer wall of the ancient tree providing cover, and the magic emanating from it while it was still alive, a near-perfect effect of concealing its presence and a high degree of stealth was achieved.

Furthermore, in John's test, even without using magic, Wendy was able to fully utilize her reconnaissance spell to explore the inside of the tree trunk.

Unless one places their palm on the surface of the tree trunk and performs a spell to detect it, no one outside would be able to detect that there is a living person inside this enormous ancient tree, which is hundreds of meters high and about twenty meters in diameter.

"Although I still feel a little panicked, this is the best I can do right now."

Hopefully, having learned from the previous failure, Roxie won't be so crazy as to order the bombardment of the ancient tree or cut it down as soon as he leads his troops into the field.

If it really comes to that, I'm afraid I'll have no choice but to order them to run away through the tunnels.

Thinking of this, John immediately glanced at the switch under the chair.

This was a hidden door that Wendy Pig had dug out for him over half an hour. In case of emergency, he could simply kick open the switch and then, chair and all, go down the hollow and massive root system of the ancient tree to the underground water that leads directly to the sea.

Then, carried by the flow of groundwater, it drifted all the way to the sea.

Although this action was somewhat risky for someone who can't swim, and there was a possibility of choking to death.

But for someone who has no troops left to use, this last resort is already the limit.

"I just hope things don't get that bad!"

After all, the victorious general chose to tunnel to save his life, only to be swept into the sea in mud and water, and even nearly drowned.

Even if this method of escape succeeds, it will likely only become a laughing stock for countless people.

It's to the point that just thinking about it is shameful.

"Captain, rest assured, I will definitely protect you. I swear to you on the honor of the Brown family that I will safeguard your safety!"

Seemingly sensing John's melancholy and anxiety, Wendy, his sweet little girl, immediately assured him with an excited expression.

John just gave a forced laugh, completely ignoring the other person's nonsense.

Just kidding, he still vividly remembers the time when the other party helped burn his crotch.

He'd be better off believing that Wendy, that idiot, could save his life at a crucial moment than believing that the goddess of misfortune wouldn't step on his face today.

Just as John was pondering whether he should consider other ways to save his life in order to increase his chances of survival.

The next second, as if receiving some kind of message, Wendy, who had been excited about being alone with the captain, suddenly froze, then turned to John with a serious expression and said:

"Commander, we have just received a report from the front that the enemy has entered our ambush zone No. 1 and is about to engage in firefight with Colonel Roderick's ambush forces!"

……

(End of this chapter)