Astral Apostle Chapter 482 – Capturing (1)

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Dong dong dong—

The beating of the war drums echoed across the lake.

Fan Zong's navy set off on a large scale, advancing towards the sand continent in the middle of the lake. Not long after, they approached the quiet reeds.

The main group did not dare to explore the reeds, instead letting the boats on their periphery scout the way and set fire to the reeds.

Soon, raging flames ignited. The lake seemed to be covered in a sea of fire, and the fire spread inwards.

Under the suggestion of Military Advisor Du Ying, Fan Zong did not intend to attack the enemy's strength with his own weakness. He had many navy warships under him, so it was inconvenient for him to move in the complicated waterways and was easy to be ambushed. Therefore, he wanted to burn the reeds that blocked his vision and force Chen Feng's navy to have nowhere to hide before advancing steadily.

Not long after, dozens of small boats suddenly appeared from the reeds that had yet to be completely burned on the flanks. They carried a group of water bandits and charged into the outer formation of Fan Zong's Navy to fight.

White waves surged on the surface of the water. There were also a group of divers approaching Fan Zong's fleet underwater, trying to chisel their boats.

However, Fan Zong's navy was also good at water battles. They also released their own divers to deal with them. At the same time, they released arrows while charging towards the enemy boats to fight.

Fan Zong's fleet formation was divided into an inside circle and outside circle. Inside were all kinds of warships, which were the main force of the water battle. On the periphery were a large number of light and fast ships used for reconnaissance, surprise attacks, interception, and so on. At this moment, the battle was on the periphery.

After fighting for a while, the dozens of water bandits in Zhou Jing's side were no match for them. Before they were completely surrounded, they supported the boats to retreat to the side, trying to circle around and escape into the reeds from another place that had yet to be ignited.

At this moment, dozens of small boats also appeared on the other side to attack Fan Zong's navy. They used the same trick again, but they were quickly forced back.

The boats under Fan Zong however did not chase after them. Du Ying realized that the other party had the intention to lure the enemy in, so he got someone to recall the chasing team. He felt that there was no need to take the risk.

The two attacking water bandits retreated into the reeds in defeat.

After winning two rounds, the morale of Fan Zong's Navy rose slightly.

Seeing this, Fan Zong snorted.

“Heh, although Chen Feng is brave, his soldiers are nothing much.”

However, those pirates followed us not long ago. Chen Feng only took over a few days ago…

Du Ying coughed and did not speak the truth.

Soon, a portion of the reeds burned, revealing the situation of the waterway. The shallow areas were scattered all over, and even without the grass that blocked their vision, it was still difficult to sail.

When the fire spread to a distance, it stopped. Fan Zong and Du Ying observed carefully and realized that someone had tampered with the reeds.

From the outside, it was impossible to tell. Now that a portion of the reeds in the periphery had been burned, they could see that there were traces of artificial cutting within the reeds. Their enemies had long cut down an area and left it void to cut off the fire.

If they wanted to continue burning the reeds, they had to enter the complicated waterway and continue to light the fire when they got close. There was still a large area of reeds left. In their opinion, there must be more artificially cut areas hidden among them, so that their navy could not burn the reeds in one go and had no choice but to continue deeper. The enemy had clearly guessed that they would attack with fire.

“Petty tricks.”

Fan Zong snorted in disdain.

Using such a clumsy trick to lure his army into a complicated waterway was too contemptuous.

“Indeed, it seems that this Chen Feng is a brave but brainless person.”

Du Ying also stroked his beard and smiled, his tone teasing.

This kind of trick was too ordinary. He suddenly felt a little relaxed and felt that he had overestimated Chen Feng.

This person was fierce, but it seemed like he was not a scheming person.

Fan Zong quickly gave the order for the middle army to not move. He sent a portion of the periphery to be the assault team, brought the fire arrows, and entered the complicated waterway. From afar, they shot at the ignited reeds and quickly caused another fire.

Just like that, they moved forward and stopped for a while. The fire stopped for a while, and the assault team went deeper and deeper. On the contrary, they were getting further and further away from Fan Zong's main group.

During this period, occasionally, water bandits under Chen Feng would charge out of the reeds to attack the assault team.

Because Fan Zong's assault fleet had cut off a lot of contact with the main force, and they could not surround and block them in the complicated waterway, they were at a disadvantage and suffered considerable losses.

However, this small number of casualties was nothing to Fan Zong. He did not intend to take the risk to move the middle troops. He only sent teams to continue supporting the assault team. After all, their military strength was great, and they were not afraid of fighting at all.

This battle situation was in a stalemate for a long time. The reeds were ignited more than ten times, and less than 10% of them finally remained. Only then did the geographical advantage break, and one could roughly see the entire battlefield.

However, Fan Zong and Du Ying were quite surprised.

There were not many ambush troops hidden in this huge reed bush. Other than the water bandits who kept disturbing the assault fleet, there were no other ambushes. It was different from what they had expected from Chen Feng's army.

At a rough glance, there were only about 2,000 enemy water bandits attacking them on the lake.

Although he could march straight into the water stronghold at the center of the lake, Fan Zong did not give the order for a moment. His expression was one of suspicion.

“Where are the other enemy troops? Chen Feng hasn't appeared either. Where did they go?”

Du Ying felt that something was wrong, “Could it be a diversion? Then Chen Feng has another motive?!”

As soon as he finished speaking, flames suddenly soared into the sky from Fan Zong's campsite on the shore, causing chaos.

Everyone turned around and saw a troop of troops appear from nowhere to attack the camp.

As for Chen Feng, who had originally appeared on the lake, he had also arrived on the shore. He led the charge and broke through the stronghold in the blink of an eye.

“Not good, it's a diversion!”

Du Ying panicked.

Although their fleet took the water route, their campsite on land was equally important. Not only did they store a portion of their supplies, but they also guarded the pass of the waterway.

There were many waterways on the Green Slope Swamp, most of which were narrow and could not accommodate large ships. There were only two wide waterways that were most suitable for ships. One was the inlet, and the other was the outlet. When Fan Zong's navy came over, they followed the river and came from the inlet.

The camp on the land guarded the two waterways. If one of them was snatched away, their way out would be cut off as well. Fan Zong naturally stockpiled a large number of troops here, but in front of Chen Feng, he could not fight back at all.

Just as the inlet camp was attacked, something happened at the outlet on the other side. A large number of rolling logs floated along the water and crowded together, temporarily blocking the river.

“This Chen Feng deliberately appeared on the lake to make us mistakenly think that he was lying in ambush in the lake, but it was actually a ploy to confuse the enemy. He secretly hid a troop of troops on the land and misled us into competing with a pile of reeds. He then secretly sneaked ashore for some reason and took this opportunity to attack our shore camp. He wanted to cut off our retreat and catch us in a trap.”

Du Ying's tone was anxious as he analyzed the situation.

“Even if he traps us in the lake, what can he do? We're powerful, so we can just take back the waterway pass.”

Fan Zong was shocked but did not panic.

In his opinion, his fleet of navy was the main force. On the lake, Chen Feng's troops could not resist his navy at all.

Although his retreat route was temporarily cut off, the main army was not in danger. It was not difficult to take back the pass. He could still retreat. It was wishful thinking to use this method to surround and kill him.

However, just as Fan Zong gave the order to return to the camp, he suddenly saw Zhou Jing kill his way through the camp alone. He ignored the troops fighting and jumped into the water.

“What… are they doing?!”

Fan Zong's puzzled tone suddenly rose, and his eyes almost popped out.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

A raging water line headed straight for the fleet at an extremely fast speed. It was Zhou Jing swimming underwater at an unbelievable speed, like a straight-line torpedo.

Zhou Jing naturally did not rely on swimming. His current energy attribute was not bad, and his Martial Path Aura already had some foundation. Although he was still far from flying in the air, when he used it in a medium like water, the effect was no different from a jet sprint. Moreover, it was hidden.

In the water, he dared to use his Martial Path Aura to a greater extent. In fact, it was even fiercer than on land.

Seeing this, the Fan Zong Navy was shocked. They hurriedly wanted to stop him, but they could not keep up with Zhou Jing's swimming speed at all. If they happened to block his path, even a small boat would be shattered. The sailors on the boat would all fly far away and fall into the water.

The tight formation of the fleet could only deal with ordinary troops. In front of Zhou Jing, it was useless.

He quickly passed through the formation and suddenly jumped out of the water like a ferocious dragon, landing on the ship Fan Zong was on with a bang.

“You, you…”

Fan Zong hurriedly retreated and pointed at Zhou Jing with a trembling finger, dumbfounded.

He had heard of Chen Feng using the beheading strategy to scare off the soldiers, but he only thought that Chen Feng would not be as sharp as a land warrior in a water battle. After all, in the water, how could Chen Feng easily kill him as if he was walking on flat ground?

He was originally in high spirits and felt that he had the advantage in the army and was in a safe situation… However, when he saw Zhou Jing's unbelievable swimming speed and his leisurely attitude when facing himself, he suddenly realized that it was a huge mistake to personally supervise the battle.

It's not that our army isn't strong enough, but the enemy is a god!

Zhou Jing shook his head and grinned, “As the saying goes, when an ordinary man is angry, blood will splatter everywhere. At such a close distance, even a man can destroy a country. For me, whatever I see and do, it will follow my heart. The people I want to capture, even if they are protected by an army, will be taken away!”

The guards and leader beside him were all stunned. Only then did they react. They hurriedly pulled Fan Zong away and drew their blades to surround and kill Zhou Jing.

Zhou Jing laughed and rushed forward. With three punches and two kicks, he knocked over everyone on the ship. Be it ordinary guards or the leader, they were not his match. It was as if he had entered an uninhabited place.

The surrounding warships were as anxious as ants on a hot pan. They had originally stopped Zhou Jing, but they could only watch as he easily rushed into the formation to behead their leader. Now, they could only hurriedly lean towards the ship and attempt to receive reinforcements.

However, before anyone could reinforce Fan Zong, the battle had already ended. The deck was filled with people lying down.

As for Zhou Jing, he directly grabbed Fan Zong and stood at the bow of the ship. He shouted angrily in all directions, “Your leader has already fallen into my hands. Hurry up and surrender!”

His military strength was far inferior to Fan Zong's, so he naturally did not think of fighting a tough battle. He planned to use his outstanding martial strength advantage.

The strategy was very simple. First, he would lure the enemy and mislead them, then cut off their retreat. He would block off all retreat routes to prevent the other party from having a way to escape. Then, he would capture the leader first. This way, even if the enemy had the advantage in numbers, their morale would collapse. They would be leaderless and fight for themselves.

However, although he had directly taken down the enemy's leader, the other party's army was basically unharmed. The chances of them surrendering directly were not high. Therefore, the last step was to use the many water bandits he had subdued to surround and attack the enemy from both sides and harvest the battlefield. Although he was fighting with numbers, the other party had already lost their fighting spirit, so it was not a big problem.

His goal was not to cause damage, but to try his best to make the desperate Fan Zong Navy choose to surrender. After all, his plan was to subdue this army, not kill the enemy completely. Therefore, the fewer casualties, the better. Attacking morale was the priority.

Although there were some deviations now, the situation was about the same.

Seeing that their leader had been captured so easily, the surrounding water army was stunned and at a loss.

“Big Brother has been captured!”

“Brothers, don't panic. He's alone. Everyone, save Big Brother!”

“How can this be done by human strength? He must have become a flood dragon in spirit. Retreat!”

“Oh no, the enemy is about to surround us!”

Seeing that the water bandits under Chen Feng had also surrounded him, Fan Zong's navy fell into chaos.

Chapter end