<h4>Chapter 308 Chapter 308 Hogan''s n</h4>


    Her attention shifted towards her brother, her reluctance to let go visible in the way her fingers reluctantly loosened their hold. As she turned her gaze to him, she couldn''t help but notice the toll her disappearance had taken on him.


    The heavy shadows under his eyes mirrored her own exhaustion, telling a silent story of the sleepless nights and worried thoughts he had endured in her absence. It was a shared experience that spoke volumes without the need for words.


    Others might not have known; but she knew how much her brother cared about her. Therefore, she had an idea as to how much fuss her brother might have created to find her whereabouts during her absence.


    She let go of Zachpletely and turned towards Bruce as she began to walk in his direction with a smile that carried all the hurt in her heart.


    Bruce gazed at the approaching figure of his beautiful sister lovingly. He opened his arms and pulled her into his embrace gently.


    Only then did the worry eating away at him from the inside vanishpletely.


    "Did you worry about me while I was gone?" asked Diana yfully as she teased her elder brother who was the most important person in her life other than Zach.


    "Of course not, I knew that the Hunter family wouldn''t be able to handle you. A few more days and they might have delivered you home themselves....hahaha"


    The siblings bantered yfully with each other while their eyes sprinkled water constantly.


    No one from the Smith or the Windsor family disturbed the precious moment between the two as they hugged each other with overflowing familial affection.


    While the reunion on the side of the Smith family was studded with tears and sentiments, the opposite was true for the Hunter family.


    Nelson was furious. He was extremely dissatisfied with his father who had left him for dead. Since he was unable toe to the hostage exchange himself, he should have at least sent his elite forces for his protection. But all he had sent was the old butler and a few low-level mages and soldiers who were probably ranked in the mid-tier of the Hunter family forces.


    Just that was enough to show the importance he held in the eyes of the Hunter family leader.


    Nelson was previously under the impression that his father was a harsh man with a temper, but he had never associated him with such a heartless character. He had even thrown his son into fire in order to keep himself safe.


    Nelson stomped his way over to the family butler and was about to p the old man across the face but something in thetter''s eyes stopped him from acting.


    "Young master, wee back."


    "Oooh~ now you remember who I am?" said Nelson sarcastically as he tried to sound out the old man.


    "My apologies, young master but I was under the orders of the old master. Actually, your father is currently..." the old butler narrated what the leader of the Hunter family was currently trying to pull; the true strategy of the Hunter family.


    Marico had been right in the assumption that the Hunter family would have some kind of huge scheme behind the hostage exchange. But he couldn''t have predicted the exact strategy that the leader of the Hunter family would opt, just as Nelson couldn''t; even though the leader was none other than his father.


    The more Nelson listened to the whispers of the old butler, the more the smile on his face deepened.


    "Is that true? Are you sure...are you sure this is what my father has nned?" he asked excitedly.


    The sudden exuberance in Nelson''s eyes was perfectly visible to all. Even Zach noticed the change from afar.


    Upon learning the truth from the elderly butler, Nelson''s demeanor shifted dramatically. A smug grin crept onto his face, resembling that of a clichéd, dim-witted viin from a low-budget movie.


    While the relief of not being abandoned by his father certainly contributed to his improved mood, there was something more that fueled his tion. Nelson''s anticipation was focused on the moment when Zach woulde to grasp the reason behind his father''s absence from the hostage exchange. The thought of witnessing Zach''s reaction, the shock or frustration that might paint his face, added an extrayer of satisfaction to Nelson''s delight.


    …


    While the hostage exchange was taking ce in the dense forest surrounded by wilderness for several miles, Hogan was busy sailing the sea as he led a group of ancient-looking boats towards Greend, Zach''s home base.


    The people on board were obviously not tourists going for aplete tour of the ind. Since Hogan was their leader, the intentions for such arge-scale visit were obvious.


    The group was in factposed of all the elite fighters and mages that the Hogan family had produced to date and those they had enough influence and money to hire for a short period.


    Hogan had crafted his n with meticulous precision, each detail carefully considered like a masterful chess move.


    Instead of sumbing to his paternal instincts and rushing to save his son, he had opted for a more strategic approach. Gathering his forces like a general before a major battle, he prepared for a full-scale assault on Zach''s well-fortified base during the absence of its leader.


    In his intricate web of strategy, Hogan had chosen to use his own flesh and blood, Nelson, as well as the vulnerable Diana, as bait. They became the pawns in his grand scheme, drawing Zach''s focus away from the ind. This diversion was the linchpin of Hogan''s calcted n.


    By creating this distraction, he aimed to exploit the opportunity to execute a surprise attack on Greend, his eyes set on seizing the territory without the immediate threat of Zach''s retaliation.


    Given that most of the raw material for sugar came from Greend, Hogan believed it to be an important strategic location for the Windsor family and the Smith family. It was also a ce that he had to raze to the ground no matter what.


    Thanks to his borate nning, Zach and most of his soldiers had already vacated the ind and were elsewhere. By the time they managed toe back, it would already be toote.


    Hogan''s intricate n extended beyond just dismantling Zach''s formidable fortress and neutralizing his remaining troops on the ind.


    He had a more insidious motive in mind; the strategic abduction of additional individuals from Zach''s ranks.


    These captives were to serve as leverage, a sinister insurance policy that Hogan could exploit should his intricate n falter. This calcted move aimed to keep Zach in check, preventing him from sumbing to uncontrolled fury even in the face of significant losses.


    By securing these hostages, Hogan aimed to shackle Zach''s potential retaliation, rendering him unable to unleash his fury recklessly.


    It was a chilling disy of Hogan''s cunning, a move to ensure that Zach''s actions would be tempered by the lives of those under his protection, an implicit threat hanging over him like a sword of Damocles.


    The n was soprehensive that even Hogan could barely believe that such a good thing could just fall into hisp out of nowhere. There was only a little bit of risk that he had to take in order to execute this n perfectly.


    In order to bring down the Smith family and take over Greend, he needed to ignore the plight of his son even though there would be no retaliation from the enemy as long as theyplied with the terms of the exchange as trustworthy people.


    Moreover, it was also possible that Zach would find out about the attack before the hostage exchange concluded.


    Therefore, Hogan had to make sure that Zach wouldn''t learn about the attack until after the exchange took ce sessfully.


    So, he had worked extensively to coordinate the timing of the exchange with the timing of the attack on the ind. This would in turn leave very little opportunity for Zach toe into contact with anyone from Greend except until after the exchange.


    While ckbeard had charged him extensively and had failed to take down Zach, Hogan still felt quite grateful to him. Because without him, Hogan would have never found out how deep the dark mage had been hiding. The extent of his true strength would have eluded him, and that error in judgement would have probably cost him everything he held dear to him, just like it had cost ckbeard.


    Hogan heeded ckbeard''s warning and called for a call to arms in the professional circle. He hired mercenaries from all over the empire and paid them handsomely to create a huge force of B rank and A rank mages who could easily overpower most elite forces of the empire except the royal forces.


    While the B rank mages had been easier to hire, they charged a huge amount for a singr task. Hogan could stifle his groans underneath the benefits they were going to provide but the A rank mages were a different breed altogether. They were not only cream of the crop among the mages but were also extremely demanding. Only a few of them agreed to take his money, the rest of them hade to secure various magical artifacts or scrolls in return for their help in taking down the dark mage and his base.


    Though expensive, Hogan believed that it was necessary for the execution of his meticulous n without error.


    Hogan was proud of his work this time because he believed that even if Zach and his people found out about the raid now.