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

Chapter 245 Connection, Desperate Situation
"An enemy fleet has been spotted in the Aiken waters heading towards the Crescent Strait? And there are two groups, one from the north and one from the south, totaling 158 ships?"

In the afternoon, in the council hall of Stargazing City, he listened to the intelligence Bob transmitted through the communication device.

At that moment, John's heart sank to the bottom.

He had assumed that the Allied warships would assemble in large numbers and storm the Crescent Strait, just like in the storyline. Therefore, in the current deployment of coastal defense artillery, he has concentrated most of the firepower on the peninsula in the Crescent Strait.

However, the intelligence brought by the magic soldier reconnaissance team he had arranged at the front clearly refuted his guess.

Was it his performance on the battlefield that forced the enemy to raise their vigilance and prepare for battle, thus changing their original assault tactics into encirclement and annihilation?
Damn it, why now!
Looking at the real-time map showing him surrounded by enemies on all sides, John immediately frowned.

But after pondering for a while, he made a decision:
"Marshal Bob, in your assessment, how long would it take for the two enemy fleets to reach our fire coverage area?"

"According to the intelligence provided by Barbabella's scouts, this fleet should belong to the Victoria Kingdom's Sun Fleet. Both its speed and the power of its reactors are among the top ships in the Victoria Kingdom. From their current location, it should only take them about 4 hours to reach Crescent Strait."

On the other end of the communication device, inside the battleship Horst, Bob responded with a serious expression. After a slight pause, as if remembering something, he added to John, who had inexplicably fallen silent:
"Furthermore, since the Kingdom of Victoria has deployed this large fleet of warships, it means that their commander, Reginald Solaris, should also have arrived at this battlefield. In other words, the Kingdom of Victoria has sent a Grand-rank powerhouse this time, and he is the strongest naval force in the Kingdom of Victoria!"

"Even if the Horst battleship is equipped with Omega-class magic cannons, under the solar domain generated by the enemy's solar prominence barrier, the magic inside the Omega-class cannon shells will probably be affected by the power of the sun, resulting in duds."

"Unless you apply a power-enhancing effect of the same class to it before firing, or bombard it before it deploys its domain, the Omega-class magic cannon can only perform its intended function."

"The former is simply impossible, and the latter is not something the other side will give us. In other words, the Third Navy may be going to lose this time..."

Hearing John fall silent on the other end of the communication device, Bob couldn't help but feel a bitter expression.

He never expected that the Kingdom of Victoria would send out such a terrifyingly powerful expert to ensure victory in this Gulf battle.

It should be noted that when Grand Marshal Ostan, who was at his peak and known as the "Extinction Wind," led 382 warships against the opposing Sunfire Fleet, which consisted of 385 ships, he was at the height of his power.

The two sides only managed a draw in that naval battle.

Even after the Grand Marshal used a spell in conjunction with an Omega-class magic cannon to launch a surprise attack on the Solaris family's territory and completely destroy it, Reginald, enraged by the extinction of his family, forcibly deployed his domain to help the fleet destroy a total of 10 of his own Bavarian-class dreadnoughts in one go.

Although they eventually had to retreat due to exhaustion of magic power, judging from the proportion of damage to the warships of the two armies...

In this 'Battle of the Western Sea', the enemy still held a slight advantage by defeating two more warships than the Empire.

Even Grand Admiral Ostan, who was nominally his teacher, couldn't gain much advantage over him, let alone an ordinary naval admiral who only knew auxiliary spells.
Most importantly, our side currently has only 32 warships, which is not even a fraction of the enemy's.

Although the HMS Horst had far superior firepower compared to the enemy's battlecruisers, the strength of this single reinforced ship was far from enough to close the gap between the two sides.

Once the two sides actually clash, in the current siege, let alone delaying the arrival of reinforcements, the Third Navy would probably be completely annihilated by enemy artillery fire in just one night of fighting.

So, in the end, they were destined to lose?
But there's nothing we can do about it.

Bob couldn't help but sigh inwardly, but just as he was about to muster his strength to persuade John to lead his troops to retreat and return to northern Faoken, while he himself would lead the Third Navy to stay in Crescent Strait to fight to the death and buy as much time as possible for the enemy,

The next second, John's words made his pupils shrink instantly:
"Marshal Bob, if I could create an opportunity for you to launch a surprise attack on the enemy's Northern Fleet from behind, how confident are you that you could annihilate that fleet?"

Looking at the artificial waterway that had been outlined in an arc in front of him, only 143 kilometers away from the northern bay of the Aiken Sea, and then glancing at the red chess pieces representing the enemy's warships in the northern Aiken Sea.

As if making a decision, a chilling killing intent flashed in John's eyes, but his tone remained remarkably calm:
"Marshal Bob, just four hours ago, I ordered the magic soldiers to carry out ground blasting in the Cocobia rainforest, and just ten minutes ago, we completed the construction of a 572-kilometer artificial seaway."

"I originally planned that after the Bloodhowl Legion attacked, the Third Navy would cooperate with the ground forces to completely annihilate the enemy's army legion using naval guns, but now I've changed my mind!"

"!"

Upon hearing this, Bob's pupils dilated sharply, as if he had guessed John's next plan. His breathing became heavy and uncontrollable, and his eyes flashed with an unprecedented sharpness.

And indeed, things turned out exactly as he had predicted.

"I will order all the magic soldiers currently on standby in the camp, as well as the demolition company that has completed its initial revisions, to work together to cast demolition magic and use the last magic stone reserves for the expansion mission of the artificial seaway."

"To create a new shipping route that runs through the entire Faoken Bay and is large enough for all 32 ships of the Third Navy to sail in together."

"The location of the outlet to the sea is exactly in the northern part of the Aiken Sea area, which is also the rear area of ​​enemy warships when they approach the Crescent Strait!"

As John spoke, he slowly raised the baton in his hand and, with a little force, extended the seaway again until it completely connected the land of the entire bay, turning the original Crescent Strait into an isolated island.

Immediately, hearing Bob's heavy breathing through the communication device, John raised his baton again and plunged it fiercely into the stern area of ​​the enemy's northern fleet, then presented his battle plan:

"I will have my mobile mages complete the construction of this sea route within one hour. Marshal Bob, you will have three hours to traverse this sea route and reach the combat zone before the enemy fleet officially arrives."

"I need you to completely annihilate the enemy's northern fleet in the Aiken Sea during this flanking maneuver."

"Furthermore, to ensure the success of this operation, I will allocate fifty beam magic cannon vehicles and send them all to the coastal area in the eastern part of Crescent Island to assist you in completing this annihilation operation as coastal defense artillery."

"After we concentrate our fire to destroy the enemy's northern fleet, I need you to draw the fire of the enemy's southern fleet and lead it as far as possible to the eastern archipelago area to carry out infiltration operations. Through Lieutenant Ian's merman magic, we can achieve delaying or even annihilation operations."

"According to the intelligence I obtained earlier, the enemy fleet has a total of 241 ships, but there are only 158 enemy ships in the Aiken Sea. In other words, the enemy has most likely split up and is moving forward. If I am not mistaken, there should be another group of 83 warships waiting in the Tracy Sea west of Crescent Strait."

"The reason why the enemy's two fleets deliberately exposed their whereabouts and swaggered into the Crescent Strait was most likely to force our navy to engage them in a direct battle, and under firepower suppression, defeat our coastal defense guns and warships, forcing our forces to retreat westward and then encounter the enemy's waiting fleet."

"But the enemy would never have imagined that, after the previous three major battles and countless local skirmishes, our air force's magic stone reserves would still be enough to completely divide the entire Faoken Bay. They would also never have imagined that our army would cross dangerous waterways filled with annihilation factors, at the cost of damaging our ships, to forcefully penetrate behind enemy lines and launch a direct surprise attack." "And most importantly, with Major General Edgar's mimicry spell, our army only needs a transport ship and a powerful magic amplification device to perfectly create the appearance that our warships are waiting near Crescent Strait."

"This will successfully lure the enemy into a trap upon arrival, making them believe that our forces were unaware of their arrival. As they planned, they will then launch an attack on our 'waiting' warship group, attempting to induce the Third Navy to set sail and attack. At that time, it will be the perfect opportunity for you to lead the Third Navy to launch a surprise attack on the unsuspecting enemy from behind!"

"In other words, this raid plan is highly feasible, and if executed properly, both fleets on the eastern front will fall into the hands of the Third Navy."

"..."

Listening to John's plan, Bob was excited and amazed, but he quickly realized a problem and hurriedly asked:
"And what about you, John? What are you going to do about that fleet, the Bloodhowl Legion that could arrive at any moment, and those two dangerous Grand-ranked powerhouses?"

How to do?
I also want to know what to do.

Gromas, a Grand-rank monster, was already a headache for me, and now there's another one, Crimson Sun Crown, whose peak strength was among the top 100.

This doesn't even include the Bloodhowl Legion and the Hellfire Self-Destructing Puppet Legion.

So many powerful enemies swarmed directly towards my old, weak, and disabled troops. Anyone who didn't know better would probably think we were a team of heroes conquering a world boss.

But the key point is that I'm just a lowly mid-level mage, and a support role at that.

What can I do?

John couldn't help but sigh, but he also knew...

Even if he had no idea of ​​a solution at the moment, he still had to appear as if he was in complete control.

Otherwise, if Bob finds out that he lacks confidence in dealing with the front lines, it will only bring changes to the subsequent plans.

This is clearly not what he wanted to see.

Therefore, even though he was extremely anxious, John still spoke calmly:

"No need to worry, Marshal Bob. Whether it's the remaining 83 warships, the Crimson Crown which is very likely to be in this fleet, or the Blood Howling Legion which may arrive at any time, I will handle them all!"

"I will use all available resources and strategies to contain the enemy's landing operation and try to annihilate more enemies."

"Moreover, unlike the Third Navy, which needs to deal with naval battles, the entire Cocobia Rainforest has now been occupied by our army, and the enemy forces of the Dark Moon Clan have long since retreated to the western part of the rainforest. In other words, our army no longer has any enemies behind this peninsula region."

"Even if the enemy breaks through my defensive positions in the Crescent Strait, I can still choose to lead my troops to withdraw to the northern region and turn the enemy's landing and annihilation operation into a war of attrition if it is difficult to resist the enemy's offensive."

"When our reinforcements arrive in two days, with the support of 10,000 magic soldiers and 60,000 ground troops, all difficulties will be completely resolved."

"Therefore, you need not worry about the ground war; I will handle it excellently, as I swear to you in the name of the interim commander of the Second Army Corps!"

"..."

Upon hearing John's assurance, Bob did not immediately respond. Instead, he sighed slowly after a long while, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

Bob, who was known by many as the 'Fox of the Empire,' could easily see that John was just putting on a brave face.

Although the opponent's strategy of using neutral resources in warfare is nothing short of genius.

Ultimately, however ingenious a strategy may be, it cannot be separated from the utilization of resources.

Now, in order to destroy the Fifth Legion, John has made full use of all the magical beasts and even the environment of the Cocobia Rainforest.

Apart from a large amount of messy gravel, flat land that can be seen as far as the eye can see, and low hills that can not serve as any protective barrier against naval guns, there is no other usable scenery in the southern Crescent Strait.

Under these circumstances, no matter how exceptionally talented John is, the enemy would have no chance of developing a perfect method of defense from such scarce resources.

As for retreating north, not to mention that losing ground would tarnish the image of the opposing side, it would also give the conservatives ammunition to attack the reformists.

Secondly, even if John really wants to retreat north, how will the enemy cross the artificial seaway behind them, which is full of annihilation factors?

The Third Navy was still able to navigate through this area thanks to the support of its ship hull.

However, if the soldiers' bodies come into close contact with these strange factors, they will likely all suffer from demonization disease after the war, although magic soldiers can avoid this through flight and their internal resistance.

But if this happens, John will inevitably face a military court in the future for the crime of causing serious harm to the health of soldiers.

In short, John, who remained in Crescent Strait, would either die in battle or be held guilty and put on trial.

There is no other possibility.

But after listening to John's steady breathing through the communication device, Bob remained silent for a long time before ultimately not pointing out John's difficult situation.

Instead, just as the other party expected, he responded calmly and solemnly:
“Bob Ariel obeys your command. In the name of the Empire, I will complete the mission you have assigned, Commander John Maslow!”

……

(End of this chapter)