?


    But one thing he couldn''t figure out was that if Diana wasn''t on the ind, then where was she? And who was the one who hired these pirates to go after our people?


    "Where is my sister if not here? Do you know who has her?"


    Bruce''s question elicited a small smile on Zach''s face.


    "Of course, I know. I wouldn''t have dared to give out such an order otherwise. Although these people are filthy scumbags, I would have left them alive if they could somehow help me get to Diana, but these people don''t have anything to do with her. So might as well clean up here."


    "So where is she? You told me she would be here. Then why isn''t she?" Bruce was barely able to hold himself back. To him, there was no one more important to him than his sister and he was willing to go to any length to get her back.


    "She is probably in the hands of the Hunter family. I don''t know the exact situation but the thing I was using to trace her ended up in this guy''s pocket somehow which caused this entire situation. As for Diana, she was probably handed over to the Hunter family as soon as this guy left our ind. Isn''t that right?"


    ckbeard flinched once again at the deductive capability of the fearsome dark mage. His reaction was enough to confirm Zach''s guess and Bruce let out a sigh of relief.


    As long as it wasn''t another group like the pirates, Bruce was sure that they wouldn''t dare to harm her. They would probably think of using her as a hostage to receive benefits from the Smith family or to ensure their own safety at most.


    Bruce finally calmed down; the soldiers began to execute Zach''smand. They shot the pirates in front of them while several RPGs were fired towards the center of the ind in session in order to get rid of the stragglers.


    The soldiersbed the ind like professionals. They divided the ind into various grids based on the coordinates and were responsible for ending the lives of anyone within that area. The process was surprisingly efficient as the entire process was done in less than an hour.


    They shot those who were in sight and blew away anything they couldn''t see. As a result, all the pirates were killed off one after the other. The efficiency of the operation was very high.


    Zach wasn''t idle either. He was doing the same thing as the soldiers. Unlike them, he was controlling the drones in the air to take care of any pirate that his people might have missed.


    The pirates had no other choice but to surrender against such a high tide. They died off feeling wronged but there was nothing they could have done to protect themselves or their home.


    The bombardment in the center of the ind made sure that any signs of the pirate presence on the ind werepletely eliminated and the ind returned to nature once again, only ckened and tinged with a bloody hue.


    "He...he is mine. Give him to me." muttered Bruce as he pointed towards ckbeard with a dark expression.


    The pirate captain had taken pleasure in his worry for his sister. There was no way Bruce was going to let the man go so easily. The only reason he had spared the bastard until now was because he was under the impression that the man knew Diana''s whereabouts.


    But now that wasn''t needed anymore. He could do whatever he pleased with the filthy pirate.


    Zach nodded towards Bruce and allowed him to do as he pleased. Who was he to deny a man his righteous vengeance?


    Bruce nodded in return as he bent down and pulled on Bruce''sid looking arm that was twisted in odd angles. This was the broken arm that was now in an even worse condition than before.


    The agony caused ckbeard to scream at the top of his voice but neither Bruce nor anyone else took pity on him. The earlier snickering and the smug expression were nowhere to be seen. No matter if he had already epted his death as a fact or not, the pain jolted him awake out of his reverie all the same.


    ckbeard could only pray that the death reaper woulde for him soon because what Bruce nned to do to him wasn''t something a human was made to endure.


    Although Bruce wanted to kill ckbeard to channel the frustration inside him, he didn''t want thetter to find peace even in death. He wanted to make his experience so terrifying that thetter would remember it all the way to the underworld.


    After dragging him away from the shore, Bruce took his time torturing ckbeard before ending his life, thus ending the fearsome reign of the pirate who had been haunting the empire''s waters for years.


    …


    With ckbeard and his crew heading towards the underworld, the entire pirate invasion episode finally came to an end. The threat was over, and a sense of relief washed over the scene, as the tide of battle receded.


    However, the main objective behind their aggressive attack on the pirate ind, rescuing Diana from the clutches of her captors, had yet to be realized.


    The pirates and the formidable sea dragon were no longer Zach''s primary concern, His focus had now shifted to a new target, the Hunter family. This group, operating from the shadows, was the force behind the pirate onught on Greend. They were the puppeteers who orchestrated the chaos that ensued on both Greend and the pirate ind.


    With his pursuit transformed, he now aimed to confront the Hunter family in order to unravel their true motive, and to bring them to ount for their calcted but underhanded moves in therger power struggle between the Windsor family and their own.


    But to do that, he had to return to Byzantium city, the home ground of the Hunter family. This inadvertently increased the amount of time it would take to rescue Diana from the clutches of the true enemy he had discovered after all the scouring.


    However, Zach was steadfast in his determination not topletely abandon the pirate ind. The ind''s unique natural protection, like an invisible cloak, shielded it from discovery unless one possessed the precise coordinates.


    This exceptional characteristic transformed the ind into a highly effective covert hub, an advantageous stronghold for their operations within the region. The ind''s hidden nature provided Zach with a powerful strategic edge, a valuable asset he was resolute in retaining.


    As the conflict with the Hunter family continued to increase in intensity, Zach''s concerns deepened. He increasingly feared that his true identity might be unveiled, bing known to all.


    This anxiety prompted him to view the ind as an essential contingency n, a preemptive strategy to prepare for the potential revtion of his true self in the future.


    This secret sanctuary, nestled away from prying eyes, provided him with a sense of security amidst the mounting uncertainty.


    The ind''s potential as a concealed base was therefore a pivotal element that Zach needed in order to go all out in the tedious but sinister game of shadows and strategy against the Hunter family.


    It was a safeguard he wanted to have in ce, a hidden retreat ready to serve as a stronghold for him and his people who put their trust in him. However, he hoped that such a need would never arise in the future.


    Zach''s n was to transform the ind into a secondary base, a safe haven where the Smith family could retreat to if they couldn''t stay in Greend any longer or if their cover was everpromised in Byzantium city. It could also serve as a forward operating base which could be used to expand their area of operations.


    Following the wisdom of the old saying, which suggested that a clever rabbit always had multiple burrows for safety, Zach aimed to create a secondary location where he and his people could find refuge, eliminating the need to roam the world in search of sustenance and shelter.


    This prudent move was geared toward ensuring the well-being and security of his group, providing a backup sanctuary should the need for discretion and protection arise. It was a strategic move to ensure their continued operations in a covert and secure manner.