CHAPTER 982 STRIKING FIRST

On the other hand, Geoffrey was a little surprised to see that Rocky accepted the challenge. But, it was

what he wanted in the first place. The next thing that he needed to do was to annihilate Rocky without

any mercy.

"Your Royal Highness, I have a suggestion. Since this competition is extremely crucial, how about we

try to use our beast taming skills at the same time?" Rocky suddenly said.

"What? Our beast taming skill? Are you saying that we should do the competition with our spiritual

beasts? Is that your suggestion?" Geoffrey was actually a little surprised at Rocky's proposal. If they

brought their spiritual beasts to fight, then Rocky's chance of winning would definitely be smaller.

All other people around were also surprised to hear Rocky's suggestion. They all thought it was

ridiculous of Rocky to have even thought of this idea. No one should put himself in an unfavorable

position, especially when there was so much at stake. They believed that Rocky must have lost his

mind. Although he had a spiritual beast of the King Level, it was still far inferior compared to Geoffrey's.

It would be a totally different story if it was the spirit-manipulated beasts that fought alone. If that were

the case, then Rocky's beast might be able to take on Geoffrey's by surprise. However, Rocky was

suggesting to fight with the spiritual beasts, and it was completely insane. The Dark Ghost Shadow's

strength was immeasurable. In addition, Geoffrey's driving skill couldn't be ignored either. It only meant

that Rocky's own proposal had ended his chance to win.

Lucilla and Lucas were completely shocked and confused, too. They couldn't believe what they had

heard.

"Yes, that is my suggestion. What do you think about it, Your Royal Highness? I don't think it will cause

any trouble to Your Royal Highness, will it?" Rocky replied lightly, without hurry and haste.

The calmness of Rocky made Geoffrey more suspicious. He wondered what Rocky was plotting in his

mind. However, he shrugged all of his thoughts off. After all, it was clearly obvious that his Dark Ghost

Shadow was much stronger than Rocky's spiritual beast. Thus, no matter what Rocky was plotting, the

result would remain the same. Rocky had no chance to win at all. Geoffrey was more than confident

that he would win since the competition between spirit-manipulated beasts was always decided by their

strength. And this time, their masters would go to fight with them. Geoffrey thought that he would ace

this competition without even breaking a sweat.

"Well, as you wish then. If you lose, then I suppose you'll find no excuse to not accept the result."

Geoffrey nodded with a taunting sneer. He wanted to sound like he was doing Rocky a favor, but he

was well aware that he was the one who would have more advantage in the coming fight. He smirked

as if he was sure that he was going to knock Rocky down soon, and then he turned away after casting

Rocky another glance.

"Mr. Rookie, I don't understand. Tell me why did you make such a suggestion in the first place! Can't

you see that it's not favorable to you at all? Do you have any other plan?" Woods immediately asked

after Geoffrey left. It was obvious that he was worried. Even an outsider like him knew that the strength

of a spirit-manipulated beast would only increase under the control of its spirit manipulator.

"Patience. You'll see later," Rocky replied with a serious look in his eyes.

Since Rocky and Geoffrey agreed to fight with their spiritual beasts, the rules of the final competition

changed. The masters of the two spirit-manipulated beasts needed to enter the field themselves as

they were going to fight side-by-side with their beasts.

Just as Rocky was preparing for the competition, Lucilla stopped by his side. "Mr. Rookie, I know for a

fact that Prince Geoffrey will not show you any mercy. What's more worrisome is that he may take this

chance to hurt you. So please do take care and look out for yourself out there," she whispered softly.

"Please don't worry about me. I really know what I'm doing!" Rocky gave her a comforting look and

then cast another glance at Woods.

"It's all yours," Woods said with a slight nod. He had a great expectation towards Rocky and he knew

that the person he could only depend on right now was Rocky.

The next moment, everyone's eyes were at the center of the arena. Rocky jumped into the beast

arena, almost at the same time as Geoffrey entered the arena.

The two of them looked at each other from a distance. As their eyes met, the intensity between them

amplified the whole atmosphere of the beast arena to its maximum. Everyone was extremely noisy as

they were excited for the competition. Everyone was discussing whether the Dark Ghost Shadow would

defeat the spiritual beast of the King Level without any surprise, or vice versa.

It was the first time that Rocky had a face-to-face confrontation with Geoffrey. In the Timber Deity

Empire, only a few people dared to confront Geoffrey. After all, as a prince, he had the privilege to

throw around his weight just about everywhere he went. Even the masters of the Supernal Stage and

of the Divine Stage would show him some respect.

At the same time, Dark Ghost Shadow and Ken were also standing opposite each other, just a few

meters away. It was clear in their demeanor that they were ready to move and fight.

As soon as the bell rang, the Dark Ghost Shadow launched an attack first. It suddenly turned into a

ghost-like shadow. Then with just a few steps, it had approached Ken silently.

"Sweep the clouds!" Geoffrey abruptly shouted. A gust of extremely strong wind immediately centered

on the Dark Ghost Shadow and then suddenly surged upwards. Because of the wind force, the entire

beast arena was instantly filled in all directions with flying sand and stones, making it difficult to even

move an inch.

The wind even reached the audience, making their clothes flutter all over the place. They felt that their

skin that was exposed to the wind was like being cut by a knife. This made them feel a tingling pain. It

was obvious that the power of the wind was not ordinary. The audience which were already meters

away were all affected by the wind, and they couldn't imagine what the people inside the beast arena

were experiencing. holds © this.

On the other hand, Rocky had already seen through Geoffrey's intention. The reason why he created

such a wind force was to reduce Ken's speed. In this way, his Dark Ghost Shadow could control the

situation. According to the records in the Beast Encyclopedia, the Dark Ghost Shadow's ability was

more than that.

It was an incredibly powerful Wind spiritual beast, which was able to travel a thousand miles with the

help of the wind force. Besides, it could also control anything visible through its Wind skills. When

contained by its Wind skills, any beast would lose its mobility. Thus, one could only imagine what would

happen if a spirit-manipulated beast unfortunately confronted the Dark Ghost Shadow.

Right now, it was using its Wind skill to turn the entire arena into its domain. In other words, any

opponent within its domain would lose their power to move.

The spectators tried to open their eyes despite the strong wind, to see what was happening inside the

arena. They all broke into a cold sweat for Ken's sake. Since the Dark Ghost Shadow had shown such

an impressive strength this early in the competition, how could Ken manage to survive it? It was totally

impossible for Ken to win in this situation. The most important thing for it and its master was how to

save some face and somehow at least survive in this battle.

"Prince Woods, what do you think Mr. Rookie will do? Do you think that he has another plan?" Lucas

asked, unable to restrain the tension in his heart.

Meanwhile, the spectators around them heard Lucas's question and turned to Woods, too. They were

anxious to hear his reply.

"Tell me. Have you ever seen him fail to meet our expectations before?" Woods asked instead of giving

him an answer.

All the other people looked at each other, confused upon hearing Woods's words. They then turned

their eyes at the beast arena again. They glued their eyes onto Rocky, afraid of missing any movement

he made. They wondered what he and his spiritual beast would do to recover from the Dark Ghost

Shadow's first blow.