A moment later, the fancy carriage screeched to a halt. A man over sixty years old stepped slowly and
carefully down the small steps. Although his hair was as white as snow, it was impossible to ignore his
domineering aura.
Seeing this, Phelps exited his ride and sauntered over to welcome him.
"Nice to meet you, Elder Lenard," Phelps greeted politely, cupping his hands.
"Did your commander agree to my master's condition?" Elder Lenard asked, skipping over all the
pleasantries.
"Commander in Chief Mu has agreed to the condition. She asked me to meet with your master in
person and reach an agreement with him. So, where is he?" Phelps replied, trying to see into the
carriage behind the old man.
"It's too much to ask my master to come here. Since your commander in chief has already agreed to
the terms, we will form an alliance with you. And take this. This is my master's gift for our meeting. It's a
map showing the distribution of soldiers and the information on each checkpoint in the whole border
battlefield..." While Elder Lenard spoke, he took out a piece of parchment.
"Thank you. Please express my gratitude to your master when you get back." At first, Phelps was
stunned. He hadn't been expecting them to present him with such a precious gift, but he immediately
clutched it in both his hands.
"I will." After saying that, Elder Lenard climbed back into the carriage and left in a hurry.
Meanwhile, Rocky, who had been secretly observing them, also felt confused. Judging from what he
had just heard, someone from the human race had sold the information of the human army to the
spiritual race, likely for personal benefits. But who was that person? And how did they get their hands
on that map? Whoever it was, they must be powerful.
'The army of the spiritual race came here in such an aggressive way. It turns out that they wanted to
get this map of the border battlefield. As long as they have the map, I'm afraid the fate of the human
army isn't looking good. Hmm... I have to steal the map!' Rocky thought, feeling a plan starting to form
in his mind.
Without wasting any time, he snuck into the troops of the spiritual race.
After receiving the precious gift, Phelps did not continue to advance. Instead, he led the army back to
the Tiger Whisker Pass.
Rocky saw his opportunity and killed a soldier from the spiritual race who was marching at the end of
the troop. Quickly, he dressed in the soldier's clothes and blended in with the other spiritual soldiers. He
was going to return to the Tiger Whisker Pass with them.
When they reached the pass, the troops of the spiritual race were dismissed and ordered to rest.
Rocky walked with a group of soldiers, but when they reached an empty corner, he slipped away and
disappeared from everyone's sight.
At the same time, Phelps and the other commanders took the map into his own camp.
"Congratulations, Grand Commander Phelps! You have successfully completed the task assigned to
you by Commander in Chief Mu. I'm sure you will be rewarded," one of the commanders flattered.
"I don't care about a reward. The most important thing is this map. Now, we can familiarize ourselves
with the military deployment of the human troops," Phelps said as he unfolded the map.
"But how can we be sure that this distribution map is real?" another commander asked, frowning down
at the piece of parchment.
"It's very simple. We will send some spies to the front line of the troops in the left corner to check. If
what they find matches the map, it means that the map is real." It seemed like Phelps was at least
three steps ahead.
"Impressive! Grand Commander, your plan is brilliant!"
"Thank you. Now, I need you to order our best spies to carry out my plan. After confirming the
authenticity of this troop distribution map, we can say that we have completed the mission perfectly,"
Phelps ordered. There was no need to waste any time giving each other compliments.
"By the way, Grand Commander, we just received news from Deputy Commander in Chief Emery that
the front line of the western region hasn't been conquered. That may affect our retreat a little bit."
"Oh? Yes. I remember now. It's Emery's sister who is in charge of that area. She is a rare beast-taming
genius of our spiritual race. You're telling me that she can't even defeat the front line of the western
region?" Phelps asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"I don't know. I heard that Commander Beverly came across a very strong opponent who can also
manipulate spiritual beasts."
"What? Where did the human race get such a powerful person?" Phelps hesitated for a moment. Then
he chose to ignore it. He waved his hand and said, "Okay. Let's go ahead and get this plan moving!"
The commanders all bowed low and departed from his tent. The moment they were gone, Phelps rolled
up the map and tucked it inside his shirt, patting the fabric gently.
After he was positive that the map was well-protected, Phelps left his military tent and headed for
another tent to rest.
Unbeknownst to him, Rocky had followed him to his military tent and now saw him entering the tent
next door. He dove behind a patch of brambles to avoid being seen.
'That troop deployment map is so important that the grand commander must take it with him. It won't be
as easy to steal it as I thought,' Rocky thought as he peered through the leaves of the bush he was
squatting in.
He would only have one chance to get it. If he failed at stealing the map, they would guard it much
more heavily in the future.
After careful consideration, Rocky came up with his plan. First, he had to convince the soldiers outside
of the tent to leave their posts. The guards were only ordinary soldiers, but that wouldn't stop them from
being alert if something happened.
However, Rocky was stealthy when he performed his tricks. The next moment, he released a bat-like
spiritual beast from the Magic Spiritual Space. The beast was one of the samples he had analyzed
when he had been in the Sword Spirit City.
Although the spiritual beast was small and didn't have destructive power, it could imitate a long list of
sounds. Using the vibrations of its sound wave, it could create an illusion that would draw the guards
away.
After the Delusive Bat was released, it swooped forward. Under Rocky's control, it released some
ghostly, terrifying screams.
As soon as the guards heard the noises, they became shocked to the core.
"You three, go and see what's happening..." the leader of the guards ordered, pointing into the dark.
The three guards' faces turned pale. After hesitating for a moment, they walked in the direction of the
sound.
When they got close enough, the Delusive Bat flew straight at them. Scared out of their minds, the
guards screamed and covered their heads.
Hearing their panic, the leader and the other two guards were afraid that something had happened, so
they rushed to help them. Instantly, the area around Phelps's tent was empty.
Rocky saw this and approached it.
However, he didn't head straight inside because he knew that Phelps was strong. He didn't want to
alert the enemy. In preparation for this, he had brought a type of incense that could put his opponent
under a realistic illusion within seconds.
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