Chapter 392 - Retrea (1/2)
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“Bakayarou!!” The head of the pirates was extremely angry and he slashed his knife down heavily at a tree that was about as thick as the width of a bowl in order to vent his fury. That tree snapped in two. It looked like the quality of the Wokou’s knives and swords were pretty good.
At the front, there was a short pirate who had a head shaped like a pig and tiny beady rat eyes paired with a wretched looking mouth. His eyes flickered and he bowed toward the group leader, “Lord Watanabe, it looks like these Great Ming pigs are very familiar with this mountain terrain and have the advantage. We are good at fighting battles at sea and open land and fighting in the forest is not our strength. The forest here is thick and deep and there are too many places to hide. I don’t think our enemy is merely a bunch of weak and useless peasants. If we confront them, I’m afraid we won’t get much out of it. How about...we first retreat and then decide later on?”
Smack! Before he finished talking, a heavy slap hit his face. Watanabe Hiroshi hadn’t vented all of his suppressed anger. He glared at the other pirate with cruel eyes and howled, “You bastard! Are you saying that our fellow brothers just died for no reason ah? We haven’t even seen the shadows of our enemies and more than thirty people have died. If the other groups find out, will I have any face left? Not okay! I need to catch these bastards, rip open their bowels and tear out their hearts in order to vent my fury! Chase after them! Not a single one is allowed to escape! Slaughter them all!!”
The Wokou pirates held tightly onto their knives and swords and crept forward nervously as they looked all around them. At a crawling speed, they slowly advanced through the forest. The trees in the area covered the sky with their canopy and the area seemed very gloomy and dark. Occasionally, a ray of sunlight would come through, casting varied shadows on the ground…
This time, the Wokou pirates were more scattered as they advanced. They had been divided into small groups that went forward slowly. Each group was only around five to six meters away from the next, so that if any group got attacked, the other ones could easily reinforce them.
The commander of the bodyguards was currently hidden on a tree that had a trunk that was as thick as three men. The tree’s numerous leaves sheltered him completely and kept him concealed perfectly as he waited in ambush. Beneath the tree was a small trail that a group of Wokou pirates was walking on. The team leader of the group raised his head several times in worry to look at the trees but didn't ever spot him.
When the group of pirates finally passed by the tree, the commander silently slid down a rattan from the tree and crept behind the last pirate in the group. He used his left hand to cover the pirate’s mouth and right hand to use a short dagger to slit the man’s throat. That Wokou pirate opened his eyes wide and his body twitched as he silently died.
Commander Zheng dragged the pirate’s corpse into a bunch of shrubbery that was about as half as tall as a man and the thick vegetation easily hid the dead person. The pirates in the front still hadn’t realized that they had already lost one of their members and continued carefully on through the forest with their backs bent over.
The commander continued on with his sneak attacks and managed to kill an additional two pirates. At this time, the captain of the small group suddenly turned back to look and discovered that his group had decreased by half. Surprised, he was about to open his mouth to holler. Before he could scream, Commander Zheng stuck his dagger into his boot and unsheathed his sword to immediately attack the pirate.
The captain of the group didn’t have the time to call out a warning now and instead had all of his attention on using his sword to guard. The commander of the bodyguards was highly skilled and an excellent swordsman. His sword whirled in feints and attacks as he confronted the pirate. The pirate was flustered by the rain of attacks and hastily fought back. If he didn’t have the two other members of the group helping him, he likely wouldn’t have been able to counter even one of Commander Zheng’s attacks.
The sounds of fighting drew the attention of two other nearby groups, but Commander Zheng was lightning fast. After striking first like a whirlwind, before long, the three pirates had soon become three dead corpses. By the time the other two groups came over, the commander of the bodyguards had long scrambled up a nearby tall tree. After jumping and traveling a bit, he had disappeared into the thick forest and only left the two pirate groups to confront the gruesome sight of their dead comrades.
Similar situations were popping up throughout other parts of the forest. However, the other bodyguards could not compare to the skill of the commander, so they all quit their attacks while they were ahead. All of them conducted ambush attacks from the back. When they were discovered by the pirates, they immediately fled into the woods to throw off their pursuers. Once free, they approached other Wokou pirate groups and resumed their sneak attacks.
Yu Hai was using himself as bait and started off at a group of pirates that was on the very outskirts of the large group. He first created some noise to attract their attention and then led them to some nearby traps.
Although the villagers of Dongshan Village weren’t very good at hunting, there were a lot of small game to be had on the outskirts of the mountain and in the outer forest. All of the villagers, when they had time between farming, knew how to dig some traps to catch animals. Occasionally, they were able to catch a couple animals to add to their dinner tables.
When the villagers made their traps, they would always leave a secret sign next to them to prevent their fellow villagers from falling into their traps. However, the Wokou pirates obviously didn’t know what those markings looked like! Yu Hai quickly ran around the trap and then stood next to the trap to provoke the chasing group of pirates.
When the Wokou pirates noticed that he didn’t look like a skilled martial artist and instead was dressed in clothes of an ordinary villager, they relaxed. His obvious actions provoked them and the captain of the small group yelled a command and then ran straight for Yu Hai. The other pirates weren’t willing to seem cowardly and also followed their captain from behind... The result was pure tragedy! The captain of the small group felt the ground beneath his feet move and then he fell into a very deep pit and was skewered in the leg by a sharpened bamboo stake. He let out a piercing scream. Furthermore, two of the other pirates who came with him weren’t able to stop themselves in time and also fell into the pit trap. They weren’t as fortunate as the captain. One had been stabbed through his bowels and blood quickly seeped into his clothing. The other pirate had been skewered through his neck and, within moments, stopped breathing.