Before long, the two opposing armies had reached a stalemate and couldn't push past the opening in
the city wall. The spiritual race's army had managed to rely on their military superiority alone.
However, in Rocky's eyes, this was just the beginning. Having surrounded and killed so many spirit
warriors from the spiritual race had boosted the morale of his surprise attack troops. In addition, the city
wall had been broken. Now they had found the momentum they needed to keep fighting.
And now that the morale was so high, Rocky could use his Army-blessing Scroll smoothly.
"Wild fires burn grasses but cause no death..." Rocky quickly recited a poem and closed his eyes.
Soon, tall flames licked the ground under their enemies' feet. Then, the flames grew stronger, quickly
forming an intense blaze.
"Fire! Put out the fire!" The sudden appearance of the fire caught the spiritual race's army off guard.
They ran to fight it,
but before they could gain control of it, a strong wind rushed by and fanned the flames. The fire spread
outwards and over the spiritual race's army.
Under the intense heat and size of the fire, the spiritual race's troops were scattered and worn out.
While the fires burned, Rocky led the Swimming Army away by using the Dragon Swimming Array.
Under the cover of the fire, they ran through the city wall and soon occupied one side of it.
When the two commanders from the spiritual race saw the human army getting past them with only a
few thousand soldiers, their expressions changed.
Now that the left side of the city wall had been breached by the human army, the two commanders had
no choice but to bring their troops back inside the city.
At the same time, Rocky ordered his men to open the city gate and release the Human-shaped Giant
Beasts into the city.
Then, they all stuck to the spots that were protected by the beasts and entered the city.
At this point, Phelps had no idea that the Tiger Whisker Pass had been attacked. He was too busy
leading thirty thousand troops to lay siege on the Wild Hill Pass.
After he arrived, Phelps was shocked to find a human army guarding the pass. They had managed to
intercept his thirty thousand troops with only ten thousand of their own troops. It was difficult for his
people to gain ground and overpower them. Even more surprising, the human army had used some
powerful arrays and caused his thirty thousand troops a lot of pain.
Time flew. By dusk, Phelps had learned that he couldn't conquer the Wild Hill Pass as fast as he had
wanted to. So he ordered his troops to withdraw and rest. He planned to continue the attack on the
pass the next morning.
In the meantime, the battle between Rocky's surprise attack troops and the spiritual race's army in the
Tiger Whisker Pass had heated up. The flames of war raged across the entire pass and bodies
scattered the ground.
Originally, there had been just under twenty thousand spiritual race troops. Now, there were less than
seven thousand. They had lost over half of their men. Although it had cost Rocky around three
thousand soldiers of his surprise attack troop, the feat was still impressive.
There were only seven or eight of the Human-shaped Giant Beasts left. But to the exhausted and timid
soldiers of the spiritual race, the remaining spiritual beasts were enough to intimidate them.
Obviously, the two commanders from the spiritual race were worried that if things didn't change, they
would lose everything. Therefore, they chose to retreat and reconnect with the main force led by
Phelps. That way, they could return to the Tiger Whisker Pass when they had more troops and take it
back.
As soon as the spiritual race's army retreated, the remaining soldiers and spirit warriors from the
surprise attack troop cheered and chanted Rocky's name.
However, Rocky knew that it was not the time to celebrate. Currently, Tucker and the rest of his army
were in the middle of a fierce battle.
Rocky arranged for the remaining soldiers and spirit warriors to take turns resting and get to work
repairing the opening in the city wall because their next task would be to guard the Tiger Whisker Pass.
After everything was settled, he summoned the Purple-flaming Phoenix and headed for the Wild Hill
Pass.
Since the speed of the Purple-flaming Phoenix was faster than the spiritual race's army, when Rocky
arrived at the Wild Hill Pass, Phelps still wasn't aware that he had lost the Tiger Whisker Pass.
When Tucker saw Rocky headed towards him, he knew that the human army had successfully seized
the Tiger Whisker Pass.
"Basil, is everything taken care of?" Tucker asked with excitement coating his voice.
Rocky nodded.
All the soldiers around them were both stunned and glad to learn that. They had had low hopes when
Rocky had told them that he could take back the Tiger Whisker Pass with five thousand soldiers. It was
unbelievable!
"Great! That's great!" Tucker exclaimed, clapping his hands together once.
"It's hard to say whether it's great or not. We still have to evacuate this place and make it back to the
Tiger Whisker Pass before the spiritual race's army finds out!" Rocky reminded him.
"It's going to be hard to do that because the spiritual race's army has encircled the Wild Hill Pass within
a radius of one mile. I don't know how our people can get past them undetected," Tucker explained
with a frown.
"I might have a way. I have made preparations in advance, but it won't be easy to deceive the spiritual
race's army and make them think we are still guarding the Wild Hill Pass." The night drew nearer, but
outside the Wild Hill Pass were brilliant torches. The spiritual race's army didn't want to miss a thing
that happened in the pass. If the human army were to take any action towards them, their enemy would
be alerted.
"If we can't get back in time, all our efforts will be in vain." Tucker sighed. They had to find a way to
return to the Tiger Whisker Pass before the spiritual race's army beat them there. It was the only
important thing at that moment.
"Basil, in my hometown, people used to put scarecrows in rice fields to frighten the birds away. Can we
make some scarecrows to take our place?" Maxwell suggested.
At the sound of that, the army burst into laughter. Clearly, Maxwell had underestimated the enemy.
People could almost always tell a real man from a scarecrow at a glance.
However, Rocky raised his eyebrows. Although Maxwell's suggestion was too naive, it led him to
another idea.
"I don't think it's necessary to make scarecrows. Instead, we should create illusions for the spiritual
race's army. But, it will be a lot of hard work and we will have to take the initiative," Rocky said.
"Take the initiative? Basil, what do you mean? What do we have to do?" Tucker asked, looking at
Rocky with confusion in his eyes.
"We must fight our enemy head on!" Rocky exclaimed.
When they heard that, Tucker and all the soldiers that were present were left shocked.
"We have to create an illusion that makes it seem like our entire army is leaving the encirclement. That
way, we can deceive the spiritual race's army and have enough time to retreat. In order to do so, I'll
need one thousand soldiers. But I'm afraid I can't guarantee that they will survive!" Rocky stated with a
serious look on his face. Those one thousand soldiers would have to take the initiative to attack the
enemy forces in order to attract their attention. Thus, it was a very dangerous task.
"Let me do it!" Maxwell said, stepping out first.
"Me too!"
"I will do it!"
"And me!"
Before long, several soldiers had volunteered. They all faced death calmly. They were all men of iron.
In a short amount of time, over a thousand soldiers had volunteered to join the battle.
"Thank you for your support, guys. I will try my best to protect you!" Rocky promised.
"Basil, what do you need me to do?" All of a sudden, Tucker felt small. It now seemed like Rocky was
the leader of the army, even though he was the real commander.
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