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

Chapter 243 Strategic Strike, Unexpected Tactic

Realizing that a ground war was imminent, John, after a brief moment of thought, immediately instructed Wendy to use the Messenger Bug to contact Carrie again and issued a new order to the Imperial Orc spy who had officially surrendered.

"Galiel, I need you to provide me with the specific locations and coordinates of the anti-magic facilities set up by the Bloodhowl Legion and the Blood Wolf Tribe, based on the existing intelligence. This intelligence gathering must be done quickly, no later than 8 hours!"

Indeed, John asked Carrie to investigate the exact location of the anti-magic device so that he could arrange for ground support troops and assault companies to destroy the enemy's anti-magic device location in cooperation. Then, using the speed of the remaining magic soldiers and the power of explosive magic, they could launch a strategic attack on the enemy's weak military base in the rear, thereby forcing the enemy to divide their forces or return to defend.

After dividing the battlefield with this strategic strike, he can replicate the tactics he used at Horseshoe Ridge to eliminate the reinforcements that come to his aid, thereby weakening the enemy's overall strength and further narrowing the gap in combat power between the two sides.

But John also knew that even if the plan to besiege the enemy and attack reinforcements was successfully replicated, the enemy forces they would have to deal with on the ground would be beyond the current capabilities of the Imperial forces.

Whether it's the Bloodhowl Legion's almost instantaneous self-healing spells, their berserker tactics that can absorb magic power by devouring flesh and blood, or their blood curses that can manipulate the enemy's blood through blood curses once the enemy's wounds are torn open by enchanted weapons at long range or in close combat with wolf claws, causing the enemy to die instantly by draining all their blood in an instant.

This elite force is absolutely not something our watered-down troops can withstand.

Moreover, compared to these monstrous elite soldiers, the one who gave John the biggest headache was the enemy's Grand Marshal, Gromas Shattered Fang Bloodhowl.

John was naturally very familiar with this high-level combat NPC from the Saga Kingdom, who had appeared quite a bit in the middle of the story and even fought alongside him in the original story.

It is also known that at this point in time, Gromas has reached the peak level of his life in terms of both physical strength and intelligence.

Compared to the Grand Master who was constantly suppressed by the Orc King and other old-school Grand Masters of the Saga Kingdom in the mid-game, and who inherited the position of clan leader but was never able to kill the Trampling Marquis, causing his clansmen to become increasingly dissatisfied with him, he was frustrated and almost lost his orcish bloodline under the influence of various negative buffs.

Gromas, who just completed his blood core fusion a year ago and officially entered the Grand Rank, was recognized by all mages as the highest authority in the magic world, the White Tower, and ranked 146th in Grand Rank based on his combat power, and was given the exclusive title of "Crimson Tide Core".

The opposing side, at this moment, was eager to demonstrate its strength and lead its tribe to an overwhelming victory with absolute power!
This also determines that the opponent will not sit in the rear like an ordinary Grand Rank powerhouse and try to turn the tide after observing the abnormality of the overall battle situation. Instead, he will become the strongest spear at the front of the army, leading the Blood Howl Legion to tear apart the enemy's battle line with terrifying strength!
This kind of behavior, where the commander-in-chief takes the initiative to lead the troops in an attack, can not only boost the troops' morale and combat effectiveness, but also enable the most rapid and violent breaching operation.

Faced with this army that is like a pack of mad jackals, once the outer defenses are torn apart by the enemy's charge, what awaits them is only complete defeat under the enemy's rapidly spreading attacks, which spread like a plague, and the vast difference in combat strength!

Therefore, whether it was to wait for reinforcements or to try to lead his troops to turn the tide of the battle, John knew he could not turn the battle into a simple positional warfare as Gromas had envisioned.

He must use everything at hand to create an advantageous situation for his side; only in this way can he have any hope of winning!
The problem is that since completing the operation to annihilate the Fifth Legion in the Cocobia Rainforest, he has already exhausted all the resources in the central region of the Cocobia Rainforest, including monsters, terrain advantages, and available underground resources.

In the outer areas, the functionality of the plants, as well as the number and strength of the monsters, are almost completely ineffective.

In terms of terrain, apart from the rainforest landscape, there are no other usable terrain features.

In other words, his most effective ecological tactics—which turn neutral resources into his own advantage—will likely be ineffective on this battlefield.

After realizing this, John stopped focusing his efforts on the Shadow Orcs who were acting as inside agents.

Instead, he turned his attention back to the overall map of Faoken Bay, and began to use analytical techniques to calculate the approximate data while simultaneously calculating the approximate distance in his mind.

After a long period of silent contemplation, he then made a decision.

He slowly picked up the chalk in his hand, and with the Crescent Strait as the center and the distance from the Crescent Strait to the coastal edge of the city currently under his control as the radius, he drew a white arc on the map.

Finally, it stopped at the border between the Cocobia Rainforest and the Golden Lion Territory, and then resumed its analytical techniques, quickly calculating the length of the path:

"About 572 kilometers? That's a bit more than I expected, but still within an acceptable range..."

After getting a rough estimate, John murmured something, then, as if he had thought of something, he turned to look at Wendy, who was staring intently at him with an unprecedentedly serious expression.

Although puzzled as to why the pig-headed squad leader was unusually attentive to his work today, John didn't dwell on it. Instead, he asked the man in a deep voice:

"Wendy, ask Marda, who's in charge of logistics and statistics, how much high-energy magic stone is left in the 1st Battalion. Also, call Lunepo and have him calculate how many magic stones the 1st Battalion has left to unleash several Level 2 building attacks and a Level 1 extreme blast attack at full power. I need a specific number for this, and it's crucial for future operations, so there can't be any data errors. Understand?"

"Yes, Commander!"

Hearing John's tone, Lieutenant Wendy realized the importance of the matter and her expression immediately turned serious. Without hesitation, she took out her communication device and called Martha's functional company.

After about two or three minutes, Wendy received a reply from her ear. She wrote down the contents and looked at John, who had lit a cigarette at some point. John was resting his right elbow on his left hand, looking at the map in deep thought, taking a puff of his cigarette from time to time, and looking extremely focused.

Fearing that her sudden outburst might startle the captain who was deep in thought, Wendy first coughed lightly to draw John's attention before loudly reporting:

"Reporting to the Commander, according to Lieutenant Marda and Lieutenant Lunebo, the 1st Battalion currently has 1851.5 high-energy magic stones remaining. If all members of the 1st Battalion activate Level 2 demolition privileges, they can release approximately 2.3 times per person. If they use Level 1 extreme demolition privileges, it will be 1.33 times. Report complete!"

1851.5 pieces?

There were more than expected, but that's normal.

After all, since he led his troops to the Falken battlefield, he had not used explosive magic on a large scale many times.

Aside from the flood discharge zone on the Starry Coast, the magic soldiers were rarely used for extreme demolitions. Therefore, it's reasonable that the high-energy magic stone reserves were less than half depleted.

Well, since the existing reserves are more than enough, the next battle will be much easier!

Realizing that the existing magic stone reserves, after arranging the strategic strike mission, would not only help him complete the initial sea-diversion plan but would also leave a large surplus, John felt reassured and immediately gave Wendy the order:
"Wendy, immediately notify Captain Barnabo. In my name, order him to lead the demolition company and, using the arc I drew on the map as a blueprint, launch an extreme explosive magic attack on the ground along the route. Make sure to create an artificial seaway that is at least 572 kilometers long and at least five kilometers wide!"

After speaking, John raised his hand and stubbed out his cigarette, then slammed his scepter onto the map. His tone was calm, yet it inexplicably exuded an irresistible air of authority.

"Furthermore, I need him to complete this mission at low altitude, preferably at an altitude no higher than the height of the rainforest bushes when launching the strike."

"In addition, notify Martha's functional company and Major General Edgar's 2nd Division to assist the demolition company in this sea route exploration mission. Before the demolition company deploys its demolition magic, the functional company must set up a large-scale shielding barrier along the way, and absolutely not allow the brilliance of the demolition magic to leak out even a little bit!"

"After the sea route is cleared, together with the 2nd Division on standby, assist the demolition company in burning the trees in the area surrounding the sea route. The depth must not be less than one kilometer, and it is imperative to ensure that our troops can obtain all the vision within one kilometer of this sea route. Do you understand?"

Looking at Wendy's shocked expression, John's eyes were filled with calm, like a bottomless pool of water, radiating a dark and cold light, like a terrifying abyss, as if it could swallow up everything that resisted its will in an instant.

Indeed, John's goal was to use the demolition company's large-scale blasting to forcibly tear open a long artificial seaway in the central region of the Cocobia rainforest before the enemy forces officially arrived, and to allow the Third Navy's warships to enter this new seaway after the seawater had completely flooded in.

By concealing the brilliance of the explosive magic, they could keep this terrifying plan to modify the terrain as secret as possible, and then use the firepower of the naval guns to suppress or even annihilate the enemy forces before they arrived!

This is the real defense John has prepared for the approaching Bloodhowl Legion's main force!

He also believed that this was their only trump card at present, capable of confronting Gromas, a Grand-ranked powerhouse!

After all, in terms of combat power alone, our side, which has no Grand-ranked powerhouses, simply does not have the possibility of engaging in a one-on-one battle with them and achieving victory.

Even if he sent Cambert and Roderick, the only two super-ranked powerhouses, to the battlefield, given the difference in magical power and spell strength between the two sides, even if they forced themselves to unleash their full potential, they would have absolutely no chance of defeating Gromas, who has extremely strong self-healing abilities and whose combat power is almost enough to easily kill an ordinary super-ranked mage, let alone killing him.

However, if the target of the battle were changed to the eight dreadnoughts of the Third Navy, then the dreadnoughts would be equipped with 900mm caliber magic cannons rated as Alpha-class and beam magic cannons with a caliber of 2.2 meters and a rating of Delta-class mounted in the central control room.

If hit simultaneously by the Delta-class beam magic cannons of eight dreadnoughts.

After being diffused and ejected, the beam diameter can reach an astonishing 300m within two kilometers, and it has the effect of breaking magic circuits, as well as adding seven debuffs such as entanglement and reduction of magic resistance.

Even if Gromas has a strong self-healing ability, the opponent will eventually be unable to escape death.

This was the decisive move John had prepared for this newly crowned Grand Rank powerhouse!

"But all of this is predicated on the premise that the intelligence about our artificial sea route has not been leaked. Otherwise, given Gromas's current level of intelligence, the other side will soon be able to guess our trap and try to devise a plan to bypass the river and launch a surprise attack on Stargazing City."

"Of course, with this giant man-made seaway that is 572 kilometers long, even with the Blood Howl Legion's swift marching speed, if they wanted to take a detour and launch a surprise attack on Stargazing City where we are now located while avoiding the attack of naval guns, it would take them at least four days to complete the mission."

"And for me, those four days were also a victory horn."

"As for the enemy forces on the sea, the seawater backflow caused by the opening of this artificial seaway will inevitably cause the surrounding sea area to become turbulent due to the suction force generated by the large amount of seawater flowing into the land. It is not impossible that even whirlpools and small tsunamis may occur."

"This kind of change will definitely be noticed by the commander of the enemy's naval group. Under the influence of this anomaly, before the specific situation is found out, the enemy commander will most likely not choose to make any rash moves, but will try to send troops to land and gather intelligence along the way."

"And that's exactly what I want. As long as the unusual sea conditions I cause make the other side hesitant to act rashly, the resulting time difference will be enough for me to easily hold out until the reinforcements arrive two days later."

"Using all available conditions, create the most favorable situation for our side, and through the strategy of Tian Ji's horse racing, gain an overall advantage with minimal losses. By taking advantage of the enemy's vigilance, we can control the entire course of the battle through psychological warfare."

"This is the brilliant strategy that I, John Maslow, devised for this seemingly unwinnable battle!"

"It's also the only key to my side's invincibility!"

Watching Wendy excitedly following his instructions, John, having collected all his thoughts, slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. He then stood with his hands behind his back, gazing down at the map before him. His thin face was filled with an unprecedented calm, and an undeniable confidence. He murmured to himself:

"But all of this is to be expected."

"Because I am John Maslow."

"No matter which side you're on, you can achieve a perfect ending. You are also the true mastermind in this game, with absolute advantages and experience. John Maslow, the player!"

"That's all!"

……

(End of this chapter)