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

Chapter 234 Checkmate [Approaching Death]

Evacuate?

Shouldn't it be carrying out a secret mission?
Could it be that……

As if she had grasped the 'deeper meaning' in John's words, a glint of light flashed in Wendy's eyes, and then she spoke excitedly:

"I understand, Captain. You must want me to carry out an annihilation mission against any remaining enemy troops, right? This time, I will definitely snipe that old, ugly, wicked woman and will not let you down!"

Annihilation mission?

Even if we don't talk about the plan being implemented later, once the tsunami arrives successfully, all the giant trees will be crushed by the huge impact, and there will be no way any enemy soldiers will survive.

Secondly, if Roxie had actually survived, the anti-magic field would probably have disappeared by then.

What ability do you, a mere mid-level mage, have to snipe that masochistic Ace woman?
Moreover, even if the anti-magic device was likely already ineffective by then, if you were to try to kill the opponent directly with explosive magic, in front of two super-level experts, you would probably be skewered into a meat skewer by a set of compound magic before you could even choose the right explosive anchor point.

Where do you get the confidence to say such big things?!

Upon hearing this, John was immediately speechless. He had originally intended to change his tune and tell the other party not to overthink it, thinking that the other party would understand the reason when the time was right, and then he could fool them.

However, considering this pig-headed squad leader's troublesome ability to fill in the blanks, if he speaks too vaguely, it might lead the other party to come up with even more damn bad ideas.

John immediately abandoned his idea of ​​being the riddle solver and instead looked at Wendy with a 'gratified' expression, saying:

“Excellent, Lieutenant Wendy, you have lived up to my expectations. With so little information, you were able to guess my true purpose. It seems your wisdom has indeed ‘grown’ quite a bit, and I am truly gratified by that!”

"Of course! After all, I was personally selected by you as the first Maslow's advocate. It's my responsibility to set an example for everyone, hehe!"

Upon hearing this, Wendy immediately raised her little head happily, a smug smile appearing on her lips.

John felt a vein throb on his forehead at the sight of this utterly foolish behavior, but he ultimately suppressed his anger and spoke seriously to the 'genius' squad leader:

“That’s right, so Wendy, once you reach the sea through the tunnel, immediately activate your flight magic and stay high in the air. Wait until the tsunami covers the Cangyuan Ancient Forest before you carry out the search and annihilation mission. Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely do not do anything unnecessary, understand?”

"Wendy Brown received. I will definitely complete this order. Please rest assured, Commander!"

Seeing John's solemn expression, and seemingly realizing the difficulty of her 'mission,' Wendy immediately restrained her carefree personality and responded to John with a serious expression.

"Very good, let's set off immediately!"

John was greatly pleased to see the squad leader's serious expression.

Although Wendy's foster child has always caused him a lot of worry.

But given his solemn explanation, it seems that even if this bastard is plagued by bad luck, it shouldn't cause any changes to his flawless plan.

That's right. As long as this guy with his unpredictable luck manages to leave, then with my meticulous planning, everything will be foolproof!
This battle will surely end in my victory!
Watching Wendy excitedly jump into the tunnel to evacuate, Major John, noticing that the twitching in his right eyelid had finally stopped, murmured to himself with immense satisfaction.

……

"Whoosh!"

Cangyuan Ancient Forest, Firebreak Line 3 within the firebreak.

With a series of whooshing sounds, pulled by the psionic core, a large number of Allied troops, wrapped in dazzling blue light, were rushing towards the ancient tree where John was located at an unprecedented speed, dodging the poisonous sting traps coming from all around.

At this moment, there were still ten minutes left before the duration of Roxie's Spirit Mind Technique was over.

According to Roxie's calculations, if she continued at this speed, she would only need one minute to reach John Maslow and, with the aid of the Mind Control Technique, capture him alive under overwhelming force.

But she knew very well that, given the cunning John Maslow had displayed, the other side would definitely not let her continue her assault so easily.

Instead, they will most likely set up a pre-planned final trap before you even arrive.

Furthermore, if she is not mistaken, this trap set by the other side is deadly to her side.

“Under normal circumstances, with Orion’s teleportation spell in place, any trap that takes time to kill is not considered fatal to our side.”

"But what if we create an environment that can disrupt space, or even forcibly interfere with magic?"

"So, when our side is unable to deploy a teleportation spell and our magic power is greatly suppressed, we can combine that with an attack that can cover a large area."

"Only a trap like this can be called a true kill!"

"Therefore, John Maslow will most likely use the thunderclouds to create spatial disorder in the previous battle at Chokepoint Peak, and then use a special method to suppress our army with magic, thereby creating the environmental conditions needed for a decisive victory."

"After that, the Empire used its high-range magic-guided naval guns to launch a wide-area attack on our forces, thereby securing victory in this battle between the two commanders."

"This is a near-perfect strategy."

"But unfortunately, John Maslow, in order to turn this battle with such a huge disparity in strength into an advantage, you have spent a lot of computing power and your brainpower has reached its limit, but you have overlooked one point."

"That is, the same tactic will never have the same effect when used on me, who is of the same kind."

"This is your biggest mistake, and it will also be the most crucial foreshadowing of your defeat and your capture by me!"

Recalling the preparations he had secretly made before setting out to deal with the suppression of magic and the disorder of spatial coordinates, a glint of light flashed in Roxie's eyes.

At the same time, a confident smile appeared on his face.

Then, as if predicting the future, she looked at the seemingly ordinary but actually dangerous woodland ahead and murmured softly:

"So, if I'm not mistaken, the contingency plan you left behind will unfold here, right?"

The next second, as if to confirm Roxie's judgment.

Just as she led her troops to evade the poison needles once again and stepped into the jungle ahead...

Sixteen terrifying magical auras suddenly emerged from the bushes surrounding the troops, and then, to everyone's astonishment, they condensed into beams of red light that shot straight into the sky.

In the instant after the flash of red light, a series of dense and violent explosions followed!
"Boom boom boom!"

Sixteen streams of specialized magic power, infused with the full force of the magic soldiers, were used to completely detonate the high-energy magic stones within them. At the cost of utterly destroying the Imperial standard magic guns, the resulting dark red hellfire instantly transformed into pillars of fire nearly a hundred meters high, fueled by the magic power.

These sixteen pillars of fire reaching the sky were connected by flames and fuel oil from the internal pits.

In an instant, it coalesced into a terrifying, massive wall of fire, which began to encircle the interior at an astonishing speed.

So, thunderclouds weren't created through artificial rainmaking?
Was it a misjudgment on my part, or did John Maslow simply not think of this step?
"No, given that guy's cunning, there's absolutely no way the other side wouldn't have thought of that."

So, is this just a trap within a trap? Because I was worried that creating thunderclouds in advance might alert me.

Therefore, you choose to use Orion's water-based super-level magic, under the rising steam after the flames are extinguished, to reveal your true method of attracting lightning at that moment.

How can we then restrict phase transmission?

"As expected, John Maslow, you are as cautious and meticulous as ever. Since you want to continue this drama, I don't mind playing the role of a victim as you wish."

However, the one who ultimately triumphs is not you, the stage builder, but me, the actor.

Seeing the pillars of fire suddenly appear around him, after a moment's thought, Roxie, who had already 'guessed' John's purpose, immediately smiled slightly.

Then she spoke to Orion, who was already imbued with magic and ready to unleash it at any moment:

"Orion, immediately use super-tier water magic to extinguish this damned flame!"

"Yes!"

Upon hearing the command, Orion immediately threw the grimoire into the sky without hesitation.

The next second, as the spell he had previously injected with magic power took shape, an enormous blue magic circle began to spread outward rapidly from the suspended grimoire.

In the blink of an eye, it gathered all the magic power in the surrounding air together.

Then, to everyone's astonishment, it began to transform into a water elemental lord, hundreds of meters tall, whose entire body was composed of pure water elemental magic.

Immediately afterward, under Orion's control, the water elemental lord let out a terrifying roar before suddenly disintegrating, transforming into countless terrifying torrents that surged towards the raging pillar of fire.

"Hey!"

The moment the hellfire, formed by combining the specialized magic power of the magic soldier and the burning of complete high-energy magic stones, collided with the super-level magic unleashed by the super-level powerhouse.

The annihilation effect produced when a large amount of magical energy was neutralized instantly condensed into countless massive white mists. The sounds of water magic being evaporated and flames being extinguished were incessant.

The thick fog instantly enveloped the entire battlefield.

As the fog dissipated under the heat, revealing the troops once more, Roxie seemed to sense something and his expression froze for a moment.

He immediately stared wide-eyed at his palm with an incredulous expression.

At this moment, the spiritual energy lines that had been spreading through her palms had all disappeared without her noticing, and her unique spell circuit, once activated, would never be interrupted unless she deactivated it herself.

Strangely, it all returned to her body.

It was as if she had come from a world filled with magic to a different dimension devoid of magic!
After an initial moment of disbelief, Roxie quickly realized, through careful sensing of the elements within the space, that a peculiar, never-before-seen factor was permeating the air and constantly interfering with her perception and control of magic:

That’s it, that’s it!
Is this a magic-suppressing domain created by utilizing special factors never seen before?

I never imagined you had such talent in scientific research.

Even I would probably have to admit that I am inferior!
"John Maslow, you truly are an absolutely terrifying monster!"

Roxie murmured in shock, but then realized that his side had become unable to use magic again because of John Maslow's trap.

Instead of panicking, a smile slowly appeared on her face a few seconds later.

Although things didn't go as she had expected.

Fortunately, she had prepared a backup plan in order to deal with the possible suppression of magic.

Although she didn't know how John had researched these special factors with anti-magic properties.

Ultimately, as long as it's not a solidified domain or magic array, then with her prepared backup plan, this seemingly invincible anti-magic domain is nothing more than a toy that she can completely destroy with a wave of her hand!

In other words, this was a carefully designed scheme by the other party that rendered Orion's teleportation spell ineffective, while also limiting the effective range of the anti-magic device and the anti-air device.

This would allow his magical soldiers to attempt to completely annihilate his own forces through explosive magic.

It's completely useless to me!
because……

"My prediction was superior to yours, John Maslow!!!"

Roxie's smile quickly turned into a ferocious grin, and without hesitation, he picked up the communication device and gave orders to the surrounding troops who were already on standby:
"Everyone, immediately carry out the mission to detonate the anti-magic device! No mistakes allowed!"

"Yes, General!"

Yes, Roxie's strategy was to detonate the magical device and release a large amount of magic power and strong winds to forcibly neutralize the factors that suppressed magic power in the space.

In her original plan, she intended to use this method to eliminate John Maslow's magical suppression and the advantage of thunderclouds in interfering with space.

Although the situation differed somewhat from her predictions, the outcome was still...

The trap she had set up in advance could also help her win this battle!
After forcibly dispelling the magic-suppressing field, Orion was able to unleash an extremely long-range ice-based projectile spell directly at the ancient tree where John Maslow was, piercing through it with unprecedented power and restricting his movements.

And that will be the moment of defeat for the opponent!
Thinking of this, Roxie immediately looked with amusement at the ancient tree at the end of his field of vision, which was only about two thousand meters away from his side.

It was as if he could see through the unremarkable surface of the ancient tree and into the black-haired, black-eyed imperial youth inside the trunk, who was staring at him with a murderous expression through projected vision and issuing attack commands to the magic soldiers through spells.

At this moment, she could almost foresee the incredulous expression on the other party's face when they saw the anti-magic field destroyed by her divine hand.

Just imagining that scene made her smile brighter than ever before, and her cheeks flushed, but her tone was filled with unwavering determination and confidence:

"Checkmate is about to die!"

“John Maslow, even though you are exceptionally talented and almost infallible, unfortunately, in this battle, Lady Luck seems to be more on my side, allowing me to turn the tide of this game in such a miraculous way.”

"So, are you prepared for your impending defeat, and for being captured and imprisoned by me?"

"My dear 'monster kind'~"

As Roxie watched the dazzling aurora that burst forth when the anti-magic device exploded in the distance, her cheeks flushed even more, and her eyes were filled with unprecedented excitement.

At this moment, she couldn't wait to personally handcuff the Imperial Major who had aroused her unprecedented interest and beat him to his knees!
That kind of experience must have made one feel as if they had ascended to paradise, and they would have wanted to stay forever!
"Boom boom boom!"

……

(End of this chapter)