The Medallion novel Chapter 316

On a hillside a fair distance away, Dunn had set up a defense line. Thanks to the geographic advantage of that area, they could look downward and have a good view of everything within a few hundred meters.

"What's going on here? Doesn't that bastard want to fight a battle?" Dunn mumbled angrily when he found Rocky and his team members were having a barbecue right in front of his defense line, fury written on his face.

"Deputy Commander, what should we do now?" a spirit manipulator asked Dunn immediately. The spirit manipulators with Rocky seemed to enjoy the barbecue very much. As a result, quite a few spirit manipulators who were with Dunn drooled with envy as they fixed their eyes on those who were eating, not to mention the smell that drifted up to them was heavenly.

"There must be a trap! Don't bite at the bait and get fooled by them. Just cheer up and ignore them!" Dunn ordered in a cold voice. His eyes were furious at the sight of the drooling spirit manipulators.

To make matters worse, the hot sun shone brightly at its peak. Since Dunn's defense line was located at a higher altitude without any tall tree or other kind of shade, the thirty spirit manipulators were on guard under the blazing sun. All of them were bathed in sweat with their tongues hanging out in thirst.

In contrast, Rocky and his team members were eating meat while enjoying the cool under the trees. The defending spirit manipulators could not help but envy them.

The spirit manipulators by Dunn's side began complaining. Gradually, they had less and less desire to fight.

"It's so hot. Come on, leave a few people here with our flag. All the rest go to the river together with me to have a bath," Rocky said as he stood up all of a sudden.

Immediately, all the spirit manipulators cheered excitedly at Rocky's proposal.

A moment later, most of them had taken off their outerwear and went towards the river together with Rocky. Only a few men were left, ordered to guard their flag.

Standing within his own defense line, Dunn was surprised to see Rocky lead a group of spirit manipulators away. Stripped to their waists, they left suddenly while only a few spirit manipulators protected their flag. He had no idea what was going on.

"Follow them! Find out where they are going and what they are planning." Dunn snapped at one of the spirit manipulators by his side.

It was not long before the spirit manipulator came back. He reported to Dunn, "Deputy Commander, they are bathing in the river not far away."

"Bathing?" Dunn asked in disbelief. He really couldn't understand that man's strategy, if he was even using one.

"Deputy Commander, the flag is just over there. We can rush and take it easily." Dunn heard one of his spirit manipulators suggest. The others looked at each other, no doubt in the same confused state as he was.

Although Dunn's team was supposed to be on the defensive, it didn't mean they could not launch an attack. If Dunn rushed downward with his team members, he would be sure to get Rocky's flag. In that case, Rocky would lose the contest.

Dunn was big and tall, but contrary to his physical attributes he was known to use caution in his fighting strategies. He found it hard to believe that Rocky would surrender the flag to him so easily.

However, the flag was right there, almost within their reach. It was truly a rare chance. Dunn thought it was worth it to get the flag right away regardless of the cost of certain casualties if Rocky planned an ambush.

With these thoughts in mind, Dunn immediately selected ten of his strongest spirit manipulators to strike Rocky's front line by surprise. He swiftly ordered the surprise attack as soon as he was sure that Rocky and his men were still at the river.

At full speed, the ten spirit manipulators rushed towards Rocky's front line. At that time, there were only a few spirit manipulators guarding the area. They fled away as soon as they caught sight of the attacking enemies. In the end, there wasn't anybody but a flag in that place.

The ten spirit manipulators from Dunn's side looked quite proud of themselves. One of them walked forward to pull the flag from the ground.

"Damn it! The meat smells so inviting. These bastards seem to really enjoy themselves. They not only ate venison but also had a bath," one of the spirit manipulators sighed. When he saw that a few wild birds were being roasted over the bonfire, he felt like eating them too. Failing to resist the temptation, he tore a drumstick and began eating.

Seeing that, the other nine spirit manipulators joined him too. They believed that they had already won the contest because they got the flag. All the ten spirit manipulators began eating the wild birds happily, believing themselves to be victorious.

However, one of them collapsed on the ground. At first, the other spirit manipulators thought that they had fallen into an ambush when their comrade fell down. Hastily, all of them stood up and looked around warily. However, in succession, they felt immobilized and fell on the ground, incapacitated.

"My barbecue is delicious, isn't it?" Rocky mumbled when he appeared soundlessly. All the ten spirit manipulators had fallen on the ground, unconscious and unable to defend themselves. His mouth twitched in a suppressed smirk at the sight.

He had added some seasonings to the wild birds on the bonfire before he left with his men. It was absurd how experienced men had eaten his bait without the least suspicion and fell into his trap easily.

Rocky raised his head to look up towards Dunn's defense line. As he expected, Dunn had already found out his spirit manipulators had fallen in a trap. He looked furious, which absolutely amused Rocky.

Dunn's sudden loss of ten spirit manipulators was immediately reported to the auditorium. Everybody, including Lance, was stunned to hear the news. They couldn't imagine how this had happened.

"Rocky already had a plan before the contest began?" Lance asked, as he realized what had happened all of a sudden.

"It seems that we were all fooled by Rocky. He wasn't actually drunk. He just pretended to be drunk and acted unreasonably at the same time, so that we would not suspect him. Then he set a trap and Dunn bit the bait." Isis uttered her analysis. Her beautiful eyes sparkled. Neither she nor her father had expected that Rocky would give them such a surprise.

"This bastard..." Marin was speechless when she realized what was happening. It annoyed her, being caught off guard. But it entertained her as well.

Obviously, the third round of contest had begun as early as when Rocky appeared like a drunk man. However, nobody but he himself was aware of that.

"What a wonderful scheme! He deceived everybody else! A military officer should know how to make use of tricks." Lance could not help but praise his cunning.

"But Dunn still has twenty spirit manipulators. Maybe he can hold the defense line until the contest expires if he tries his best," Isis said.

"How much time is left?" Lance asked. His face was blank, but in his mind he had already gone though many possibilities of what each leader was planning to do.

"About one and a half hours.

Dunn has an advantage. If Rocky wants to win the contest, he needs to act right away," Isis answered, her eyes narrowing in thought.

Rocky figured out that there was not much time left for him using the sun's position. Promptly, he called his team members together. Since the thirty spirit manipulators had eaten barbecue to their satisfaction and had a bath, their morale was incredibly high.

In contrast, the spirit manipulators by Dunn's side had been on guard under the burning sun, without food or bath, so they all looked tired. On top of that, they had lost ten buddies. As a result, all of them were in no mood to battle.

In this way, it seemed that all was in Rocky's favor. Through his careful planning, he had stacked the odds to his advantage. Ultimately, victory was within his grasp.