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

Chapter 229 Prediction, Counter-Prediction
One hour before the Allied Forces were officially annihilated, on the outskirts of the Cangyuan Ancient Forest, inside the main Allied force.

Roxie, leaning against the door frame of the jeep, confirmed, based on the report from his own reconnaissance unit, that there were numerous traces of human activity in the woodland.

Having confirmed that John Maslow had indeed chosen this battlefield as she had predicted, she immediately narrowed her eyes.

However, she did not immediately issue the order to attack the Cangyuan Ancient Forest to the troops who had already completed their tactical arrangements. Instead, she slowly raised her head to observe the clouds in the sky and raised her right hand to feel the humidity in the air.

Combining the data previously measured by the instrument, I quickly began calculations with my eyes closed.

Soon, Roxie came to a conclusion:
"The heavy rain in the Cocobia rainforest is expected to arrive around 6:50 p.m. today."

Therefore, compared to the rough calculations made in the early morning, which yielded a combat time of four hours, this is different from the previous calculations.

Now, he has a full eight hours to hunt down John Maslow, who is hiding in this ancient forest covering a total area of ​​24 square kilometers.

Hmm, it looks quite plentiful.

Of course, this abundance is based on the premise that the enemy has not laid any ambush.

But John Maslow was clearly not the kind of person who would just stand there and wait to die.

Therefore, if we judge by tactical reverse deduction.

So, knowing that the enemy has more troops than our own and that there are a large number of mid-level fire mages who can easily launch a fire attack plan.

If he were John Maslow, he would have arranged for the soldiers stationed in this area to apply flame retardant to the woods in this area, or the woods in the core area, as well as the flammable top surfaces.

This was intended to deter the enemy from launching fire attacks, forcing them to abandon their fire attacks and instead fall into the numerous traps that the enemy might have laid in advance.

Fortunately, before setting off, I had anticipated this situation and taken countermeasures.

Although it's unclear whether John Maslow has any tricks up his sleeve, as long as I proceed according to plan, this fire is destined not to be extinguished as easily as he expects!
Pulling her thoughts back from the game, Roxie looked at the dense woodland in front of her and slowly smiled. Then she stretched out her slender and fair right hand.

The slender fingertips appeared somewhat translucent under the sunlight, and then were gently tapped by their owner towards the lush, expansive forest ahead.

As her lips, the color of a red rose, parted slightly, a calm yet inexplicably authoritative voice slowly entered everyone's ears:

"Colonel Will, immediately arrange for the 1st Independent Battalion and its artillery company to load melting shells and then launch artillery bombardment on areas G12, G26, G32, and G43 respectively. Do not fail!"

"Yes, General!"

"Bang bang bang!"

……

"So, I was found out after all?"

Inside the giant tree, through Wendy's telepathic connection and the vision of the other magic soldiers hidden on the tree trunk at the top, who were observing the entire battlefield with their magical eyes, they were able to see the situation.

They observed that the enemy troops located on the periphery of the woodland did not rush into the forest despite their numerical advantage.

Instead, they chose to shell several decoy positions inside the woodland from the periphery.

At that moment, John instantly realized that Roxie had most likely seen through his first layer of fire-retardant arrangements.

In fact, before even arriving at the Cangyuan Ancient Forest, his first order was to have everyone apply the flame-retardant gel, which he had secretly arranged for Marda to make during the preparations in Guanxing City, to the top of the trunks of the giant trees surrounding this base camp.

The goal was to create a fire-resistant zone around the base camp, thereby preventing Roxie from using fire attacks to completely defeat them.

"But unfortunately, I anticipated that you would see through my plan and launch a counterattack in advance. Therefore, this initial contest will still end with my advantage."

After all, as a player, no one in the world knows the advantages and disadvantages of Allied equipment at each stage better than John.

He was naturally well aware of the specific effects and composition of the dissolving shells commonly used by the Allies.

Therefore, when he arranged for Martha to manufacture the flame-retardant gel in advance, he specifically instructed her to add the silk of the thousand-eyed spider during the manufacturing process. By utilizing the properties of the thousand-eyed spider silk, the strength of the flame-retardant gel was increased to more than twice its original strength, and the adhesiveness of the gel was also greatly enhanced.

Furthermore, in Martha's tests using common solvents, the Allied solvents, with the addition of flame retardant made from the silk of the Thousand-Eyed Spider, saw their efficiency plummet from 98% to a mere 37%.

While it cannot achieve absolute flame retardancy, considering that it is a temporary optimization and the reaction time is insufficient, the effect achieved has basically met John's expectations.

Furthermore, even if the enemy managed to breach some of the barriers by sheer luck, John was confident that his fire attack plan would fail due to the other contingency plans he had prepared in advance.

"So, what will you do, Roxie?"

Unaware of anything amiss, they opted to launch a full-scale burning plan, allowing the slow fire attack they desired to see so that they could simply wait for the final showdown on the main battlefield before leading all members of Squad 14 to safely evacuate through the tunnels.

Or will you, having sensed something amiss, choose to abandon the plan to burn everything down and instead lead people into another trap I've prepared for you?

John slowly narrowed his eyes as he looked at the enemy troops he had marked with a red dot, who were now fully prepared and ready to attack on the outskirts of the Cangyuan Ancient Forest.

As he pondered, his right index finger unconsciously tapped lightly on the simple wooden table in front of him, producing rhythmic and subtle tapping sounds as his fingernail struck the wood.

"Tap, tap!"

……

"Hmm? There's no reaction at all, that's strange..."

Inside the Allied forces, watching their own melting shells explode in the air, turning into a vast blue smoke screen that completely enveloped the forest they had calculated was most likely the fire shield set up by John Maslow.

Roxie, however, was not pleased by this. Instead, he immediately frowned, his eyes filled with seriousness.

In her mind, upon seeing the melting shells fired by their side, John Maslow should have immediately ordered the magic soldiers to try and destroy them before they exploded in the fire-retardant zone.

This allows one to know the approximate location of the enemy's defenses and prepare for the next move.

However, the other side did not act as she had expected, but instead allowed the shells that had eliminated the flame retardant to be scattered on the protective belt.

Is the area you calculated not the actual fire-retardant zone set up by the other party?
Or did the other side purify or modify the flame retardant used this time, thus causing our side's dissolving shells to lose their original effect?
"The former is probably impossible. After all, if John Maslow was thinking of repelling or even annihilating our army, then there would be no more than three areas in this woodland where he could set up camp."

"After all, the size of this woodland greatly restricts the enemy's tactics. Their outposts are too far back, making them easy to be detected by our own anti-aircraft forces, which would expose their whereabouts." "And the four areas that I ordered to be shelled are areas where the enemy would overlap when they build fire-resistant zones."

"Therefore, in my calculations, there must be fire-retardant zones that John Maslow had created in advance in these four areas."

Therefore, the answer can only be the latter!
Besides strategy, you also have a high level of scientific research skills?

John Maslow, I'm getting more and more interested in you, you monster!
Roxie murmured to himself, but his expression remained unchanged. He continued to calmly consider his next move.

"General, shall we proceed with the fire attack as planned?"

Seeing that their own melting shells had been fired, Roxie hesitated to give the order to attack.

Liria, who was waiting nearby, couldn't help but ask.

"No, the shells just now were not shot down, which proves that John Maslow predicted my prediction. Our dissolving shells will most likely not be able to completely eliminate the enemy's firebreak."

“If we launch a fire attack here, it will only prolong the battle significantly, which is exactly what John Maslow wants to see.”

Roxie calmly analyzed the situation, then gave a cold and stern order:
"Therefore, the fire attack plan is temporarily shelved. We must speed up the process of annihilating the enemy. Colonel Liria, immediately arrange for all members of the unit to take all their equipment and head towards location G36!"

"...Yes, General."

Despite her deep doubts, seeing Roxie's resolute face, Liria didn't dare voice her doubts. Instead, she immediately followed Roxie's instructions, leading her troops into the jungle and beginning their march towards the area marked G36 on the map.

"Tap, tap!"

"Kara!"

The dull thud of footsteps, accompanied by the cracking sounds of wood breaking as the artillery tracks rolled over the exposed, massive tree roots, echoed continuously through the forest.

Under the heavy shade of the leaves overhead, the faces of all the Allied soldiers were filled with solemnity and tension.

Even Will, who was in the team, was no exception.

Even more bitter than the other soldiers, he felt even more bitter.

After all, as soon as the previous meeting ended, Roxie forcibly removed him from the main force under the pretext of a mission, keeping him under constant surveillance.

The fact that he was forced to participate in this decisive battle between the two commanders meant that there was simply no time to relay the information.

Moreover, the Elliott agent who was to be handed over has now heroically sacrificed himself.

At this point, he had no chance of communicating his current situation to John.

"Besides, even if I were to reveal this information myself, it would probably be difficult to achieve any significant effect, wouldn't it?"

Compared to himself, who is merely a pawn, the outcome of this decisive battle is clearly far more crucial, isn't it?

"Perhaps, dying on this battlefield as an Allied soldier wouldn't be such a bad ending for me?"

Will murmured to himself, his heart filled with mixed emotions, but a hint of anticipation, which he himself was unaware of, flashed deep in his eyes.

However, just as he was pondering whether he could survive the killing formation that John Maslow had prepared for Roxie, he suddenly noticed that his own troops had inexplicably stopped.

Immediately after hearing the order given by Roxie, he was stunned and stood there.

……

"So you still don't want to let me leave like this? What a troublesome woman!"

On the other hand, after observing through the eyes of the magic soldier that Roxie had indeed led his troops into the depths of the forest, a hint of disappointment flashed across John's eyes.

To be honest, he didn't really want to fight Roxie here. Instead, he wanted to buy time so that his main battlefield could finish annihilating the Fifth Legion, and then he could run away with his men.

After all, due to the limited manpower, he had very few backup plans to set up on this battlefield, and many of the traps were made very crudely.

If Roxie examines carefully and makes a judgment, the other party can easily see through the bait and traps he has left behind.

These arrangements, which are designed to cause harm based on instinct, will likely lose their original purpose in the end.

"But now that things have come to this, there is no other way but to accept it."

Now, all he can do is hope that the Fifth Legion, led by Gal, can be destroyed as soon as possible.

And hopefully this won't take too long.

Otherwise, with the contingency plans he left behind, he wouldn't even be able to wipe out Roxie.

Whether I can lead the entire 14th squad to a safe evacuation is questionable.

"..."

John murmured to himself, but he quickly put the worry out of his mind.

When it was confirmed that the enemy forces had officially begun their advance towards our ambush area on the outskirts of our position 1, and that they would arrive in just ten minutes.

His gaze immediately sharpened, and without hesitation, he used telepathy to give the order to the magic soldiers at ambush point number one:

"The enemy will arrive at the ambush point within ten minutes. Personnel on standby in ambush zone 1, immediately proceed to your respective locations to release hallucinogenic spores and blow them toward the enemy's path!"

"After completing the mission, do not stay in place. Immediately retreat along the safe route to ambush zone 2 and rendezvous with the personnel waiting at location 2. Do not make any mistakes!"

"Yes, battalion commander!"

……

(End of this chapter)