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

Chapter 261 John struggles to survive in the cracks, true misfortune strikes as he faces a perilous situation.
Looking at the pitch-black night sky before him, John, flying through the air, gradually realized a very serious problem.

"The magic within me may not be enough to support my flight to the rendezvous point."

Sensing the rapidly decreasing magical power within his body, John frowned, a sense of unease creeping into his heart.

In his original calculations, the amount of magic he reserved after taking off to avoid the explosions from the naval guns was enough to allow him to easily proceed to the troops' current encampment and rendezvous with the main force.

But for some unknown reason, after witnessing the destruction of the Bloodhowl Legion and Gromas, and obtaining the Blood Core containing the power of a Grand Rank on the shattered battlefield, he...

Once he resumed flight, his magic consumption rate was more than twice as fast as before.

Moreover, according to his calculations, this consumption rate is still increasing.

Could it be related to the original owner's previous loss of consciousness?
"trouble!"

Realizing that if he continued flying like this, he would probably crash on the spot due to the depletion of magic power in less than half a minute.

Despite feeling helpless, John had no choice but to make an emergency landing on the ground below, and then began to carefully sense the condition inside his body.

However, after using his magic to scan his body, he could not find the root cause of the accelerated consumption of magic.

It wasn't until he took out the blood core he had preserved in his discarded sock that he found the answer to the accelerated magic consumption from this item that was constantly emitting a strange aura.

"So, the reason why my magic power was depleted so much, and I almost crashed, was simply because my blood core was repelling the magic soldier's aura?"

Looking at the blood-red crystal in his hand, with its irregular edges and roughly rhomboid shape, John couldn't help but make an expression like an old man on the subway looking at his phone.

He never expected that in the storyline, this item, which was always rated E-level and was the lowest-level quest item except for helping the game developers gain 50 points of favorability with the Blood Wolf Tribe.

It's unbelievable that such a bizarre debuff could exist in real life.

If he hadn't been vigilant and maintained the analytical technique at minimal cost throughout the flight, he wouldn't have been hampered by this pile of dog shit blood core.

He might actually be prone to accidentally depleting his magic power, which could lead to him crashing into a plane and dying instantly.

He became the only Imperial commander in history to die in a plane crash on the eve of victory.

In a way, this kind of death could be considered legendary.

"But becoming the commander of the crash site is probably not a good idea."

John muttered to himself, then looked at the blood core in his hand with a headache.

At this moment, reason told him that the wisest decision was to discard this damned blood core and fly to the rendezvous point as soon as possible to join his own troops.

But when you think about how the blood core not only contains a source of power at the Grand level, but also has the effect of continuous repair and erosion expansion of blood sacrifice magic.

If he can bring it safely back to the Empire, so that the learned headmaster can study it.

It will only take a maximum of three months to debug it into the energy device for the 'Vulcan', a giant ground war machine of the late Empire.

And it can operate for at least three years.

It can completely replace the high-energy magic factor collision energy device that the Imperial Magic Research and Development Department spent seven years developing and which can only be used as a one-time item.

This allowed the Vulcan behemoth to appear ahead of schedule, giving the Empire an unprecedented advantage in war.

Moreover, if this blood core is left at the Sea Cliff, and then Nils Blood Wolf, the only remaining super-powerful member of the Blood Wolf tribe, who is also Gromas's younger brother and, in the story, a perfect fusion user of the blood core, finds it and integrates it into his body as in the story, what would happen?

Then it's likely that within half a year, the Empire will face a monster whose individual strength and ability to amplify the group far surpass Gromas, and whose Grand rank is enough to put him in the top 15!

"Ugh!"

Recalling Niels' terrifying combat power at his peak, John felt a throbbing pain in his head.

But in the end, he could only sigh and forcefully abandon the idea of ​​discarding the blood core and running away, instead stuffing it back into his smelly sock.

He then stopped all the spells circulating within his body, and instead, while vigilantly guarding his surroundings, he quickly marched toward the location of his main force, based on the information he had checked before landing.

Before landing, John checked the map. If Edgar hadn't been so clever as to choose another camp, then given his current location and speed of travel, it would probably only take him fifteen hours to successfully rejoin the main force.

Although it takes a long time and carries a certain risk of encountering enemy forces.

However, compared to the potential gains, John felt that these risks were acceptable.

"Moreover, this battle has proven that without the interference of the pig-headed squad leader, my luck is so high that I could be said to have touched the backside of Lady Luck. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call me the luckiest person in the world."

"Even if that damned goddess of misfortune were to personally gaze upon me and unleash her punishment, it wouldn't have any effect on me."

"So encountering enemy forces is simply impossible!"

With the blessing of my innate good fortune, perhaps I'll run into friendly forces after walking for two hours!

It could even be shorter!
Major John thought to himself with smug satisfaction.

However, half an hour later.

Hidden in the grass, Major John peered through his magic eyes at the Allied landing forces stationed two kilometers ahead, and fell silent.

Even the face hidden in shadow twitched involuntarily.

He was incredibly frustrated.

No, shouldn't the Allied landing forces be trapped in the mangrove minefields in the south?
When did they cross the mangrove front?
And it just so happens to be stuck in the direction it was traveling?

When did I become so unlucky?
"It must be because I'm opening it wrong, it must be! Let me try a different way!"

Looking at the Allied soldiers on patrol, John held his breath and slowly retreated. After confirming that he had moved out of the normal perception range of a super-ranked mage, he immediately changed direction and headed northwest, intending to rendezvous with his own main force through a detour.

However, twenty minutes later, looking at the iconic orc camps lined up in the distance, and the Bloodhowl Legion soldiers carrying torches and riding dire wolves, patrolling the woods, they saw...

Cold sweat began to trickle down John's forehead.

At that moment, John suddenly realized that he wasn't as lucky as he had expected.

"It's more than just unlucky, it's downright terrible. There are enemy troops everywhere you go. What's the difference between this and being sat on in the face by the goddess of misfortune?"

What a bastard!
John couldn't help but roar in his heart.

However, after confirming that there were enemy forces on both sides of the advance, and that the Allied communications units stationed within the Bloodhowl Legion had been eliminated, the two sides were unable to communicate.

Therefore, barring any unforeseen circumstances, after the night's encampment ends, the Bloodhowl Legion should continue its retreat in the southwest direction behind them at dawn.

The Allied forces, on the other hand, will advance northeastward towards where their main force is located.

At that time, the two sides will advance and retreat, seemingly just missing each other.

But being caught between the two sides' forces, he would find himself in an unprecedented crisis!

After all, every unit has at least one super-powerful expert within it.

Even if a super-powerful expert uses the least amount of energy to activate their perception technique, once the distance between them and the two is reduced to within 1 kilometer, then no matter how deliberately they try to hide themselves, they will still be able to achieve their goal.

Without the interference of the anti-demon factor, his whereabouts would inevitably be exposed.

If he wants to escape successfully, he will have to give up his blood core and risk being attacked by a large number of ballistic missiles from both forces.

Coupled with his already depleted magical energy, John instantly realized that if things escalated to that point, he would have at least an 80% chance of dying from a stray bullet attack.

The remaining 15% were shot down by the enemy and became prisoners of war.

The probability of successfully evading the enemy's detection and miraculously escaping without being noticed by the enemy soldiers, thus successfully rejoining the main force, is only 50%!
"We're in a dead end!"

John sighed inwardly. At that moment, he suddenly regretted letting Charlie lead Squad 14 to evacuate.

Otherwise, even though carrying the blood core would greatly increase magic consumption, they could still easily reach the rendezvous point if 15 people took turns carrying the blood core while flying.

It's too late to say anything now!
Understanding that regretting what has already happened would only cause him more trouble and wouldn't change the situation, John shook his head, putting all his regrets aside. He then tossed the blood core aside and used an analytical technique to sketch out the current map in his mind.

Based on his previous observations of the enemy's troop positions, he analyzed the most ideal route of advance.

Indeed, John planned to continue his journey, calculating the gaps between the patrol areas of the two forces and the roads outside the perception range of the two super-ranked mages, and attempting to cross the central safe zone where the two forces did not meet before dawn.

In this way, even if the two forces resume their respective directions of advance, John can simply change his angle and head northwest to perfectly avoid the Allied landing force's route.

They then went against the Bloodhowl Legion behind them, thus achieving a perfect escape plan.

Although this operation is very risky, the potential rewards are also very high.

If he can bring the Blood Core back to the Empire and cut off the possibility of Niels merging with it, then in the future he can not only easily kill a very troublesome Grand Rank powerhouse, but also use the Blood Core as a condition to negotiate with the Blood Lion Duke and try to obtain the assistance from the Mosilis family, thereby relieving most of the pressure from the conservative party.

Moreover, with the existence of analytical formulas, he has almost reached the limits of human capability in terms of calculation.

Based on the information currently available, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the calculations should proceed as planned.

The probability of successfully crossing the 'central safety zone' and rejoining one's own troops within an hour is as high as 80%!

"Therefore, it's worth a try!"

After calculating the general route in your mind and firmly imprinting it in your memory,

John took a deep breath, stuffed the blood core and socks he had left at his feet into his pocket, and then, while cautiously observing his surroundings, slowly began to walk along the route he had planned in his mind.

However, it is unclear whether John's luck had run out or if his inherently unlucky constitution had relapsed.

Just as John had been traveling for about forty minutes and was about to escape, one of the two Bloodhowl Legion soldiers on duty nearby suddenly seemed to need to relieve himself. After whispering a few words to his companion, he simply rolled off the wolf's back.

Then, with John's face ashen, he walked straight toward the tree trunk where John was hiding, torch in hand.

It was now five in the morning. Although the sky was still shrouded in darkness, the surrounding scenery was still clearly visible under the torches held high by the other party.

And coincidentally, the tree trunk that John temporarily used for hiding was only wide enough to cover the main part of his body.

Even if he tries his best to conceal himself, once the scout gets close, the scout will inevitably notice that someone is behind the tree.

So, the only option was to take action, and then run away immediately upon being exposed?

John's eyes flashed with a cold glint as he watched the patrolmen slowly approach.

He then silently drew the magic pistol from his waist, suppressing his unease and tension, and pointed the gun at the other person's forehead from the shadows.

In the instant the other party was stunned by the inexplicable dark metal gun barrel that appeared behind the tree trunk.

The next second, John pulled the trigger without hesitation:

"Oh!"

The orange-yellow metal bullet tore through the air with a piercing whistle, and in the narrowed pupils of the approaching patrolman, it pierced his forehead with lightning speed and swiftly pierced through his skull.

Then, the sound of the falling torch and the body falling straight backward hitting the ground startled another patrolman who was covering his mouth and yawning not far away.

This immediately made him widen his eyes.

But before he could even shout angrily to warn the nearby patrol troops of the imminent enemy attack, he was caught off guard.

With a sudden flash of silver light reappearing in the air, and then, to the patrolman's astonishment, the arc of light was swiftly and precisely executed with astonishing skill.

Like the scythe wielded by the Grim Reaper, it cleanly and swiftly severed his neck in an instant!

"Crack!"

……

(End of this chapter)