"Erwin. What do you think he will do?" Tarkan asked while looking at Clovis’ team.
Erwin shrugged. "I don’t know. He is a jerk, but he is trying not to be a jerk. Even though he is planning to defeat them, he doesn’t want to get a complete victory. The only thing I know is that he has no choice but to get ahead by three points in the group match."
Tarkan furrowed his eyebrows. "In that case, he might end up mobilizing his entire team right away, causing confusion for the enemy. But Rafael is not an opponent who will fall for that bait easily.
"Start!"
Clovis smiled as soon as he saw the hologram on top of the arena.
"Oh! The Eight Swords have chosen to fortify their base." Shion looked at one side, finding the people from Eight Swords to adjust their position but remain around the base. However, her expression changed the moment she turned to the other side. "W-What?! What is going on? Clovis is going alone?!"
That was right. Clovis actually entered the forest alone while his teammates remained in the back.
"Huh?" Tarkan raised his eyebrows.
"Is he going to ride the momentum of yesterday’s battle and defeat the Eight Swords like their first match in the first competition?" Shion gasped.
"Are you kidding with us?"
"How dare you underestimate the Eight Swords?"
"Just beat him up and drag him back to the ground!"
"Destroy that proud idiot!"
The people were shouting angrily, thinking that Clovis had decided to insult the Eight Swords.
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However, there was no change in their strategy. Clovis continued marching ahead by himself and eventually reached the other side of the forest.
"Oh! They’re truly here." Clovis smirked, looking at their formation on the base.
"Huh?" Rafael furrowed his eyebrows. "Aran!"
"There is no sign of them on the radar. They are actually waiting in their base." Aran frowned. "Are they underestimating us?"
Rafael frowned. "There’s no way they will do something like that. This is clearly bait, but…"
Rafael squinted his eyes as his gaze met Clovis’. He muttered inwardly, ’If they want to go from one side to the other, they will require about one minute and twenty seconds unless they’re using their full speed… which will allow them to reach this position in under fifty seconds.
’Even then, we still have some time to react the moment they appear on the radar. They must be using Clovis as bait. Do they believe that he can actually fight all of us for one minute and launch a surprise attack?’
"…In that case, we will fall for that bait!" Rafael pointed forward. "Aran, Grace, Farhan, and Melvin. You four go and defeat Clovis!"
"Roger." The four of them immediately rushed forth.
Clovis looked at the incoming four people while furrowing their eyebrows, thinking, ’Despite falling for my bait, he is not committing his full team to hunt me down. I guess it’s impossible to grab only that flag. But this is not a bad move from him.’
"Four, huh? In that case, I’ll see if they’re enough to defeat me or not." Clovis raised his swords, his position remained next to the woods. He needed the trees to block Aran’s bullets after all.
The four of them moved forward. Since Aran had the longest attack range, he made the first move and pointed his gun at Clovis.
Clovis immediately jumped back to the woods as several bullets ended up hitting the ground or trees, missing him.
Both Melvin and Farhan moved together from the front, while Grace used the trees to hide her presence.
Clovis stopped next to a tree, using it to block Aran’s vision. At the same time, he let Farhan and Melvin move toward him.
According to the radar, Grace was coming from the opposite direction as Aran. However, Clovis knew that this was a trap.
The moment he was aiming for Grace or Aran, they would definitely move back, allowing Farhan and Melvin to flank him from the side.
That was why Clovis actually remained in his position.
Farhan sped up, lifting his spear. When he was a few steps away from Clovis, he came to a halt while thrusting his spear.
Clovis raised his short sword, parrying the thrust.
"!!!" Clovis noticed something from this thrust alone. The thrust wasn’t weak, but it wasn’t strong either. It was as if Farhan didn’t pay any attention to actually defeating him.
Farhan even positioned himself at a distance where he could easily react in case Clovis decided to defeat him.
"So that’s how it is." Clovis frowned while glancing to the side.
There was one dot coming toward him from behind, while the other dot was approaching within his vision.
It was Melvin and Grace.
"You don’t think about going, right?" Farhan roared as he sped up his thrust.
A series of clicking sounds echoed as Clovis kept parrying his spear. While he could still move even after all these thrusts, Farhan would definitely stick to him like his shadow, trying to open up a path for his teammates.
Still, Clovis couldn’t move from his spot. After all, Aran was still waiting to fire at him the moment Clovis came out of behind the tree.
"Hahahaha! Here I come!" Melvin approached Clovis with his two-handed greatsword.
Grace landed on top of the branch behind Clovis, waiting for the opening before moving in.
However, right before they attacked, there was a sudden movement from Libation Fiesta.
"Watch out! They have finally made their move!" Aran suddenly warned them while looking at the radar. The attack this time was actually similar to what they performed in the last match.
Clovis was in the center, luring these four people. Meanwhile, one person came from the right side, while two people made their way from the left side.
Seeing their positioning, Rafael couldn’t help but mutter, "So that’s how it is… It seems that you’re using the same tactic in order to split us up. If you think that we’re that easy to defeat, then you’re wrong! Jane, plan D."
"Understood." Jane nodded and finally entered the battlefield.