“What do you mean?” Diana tilted her head to the side in confusion as she didn’t understand what Zach wanted to tell her.

“I mean that…this is the very first battle of our Smith family. We don’t just want to win the battle. We want to decimate them. We want them to fear our very existence so they would never dare to go against us in the future. Since these enemies have probably been sent by the Hunter family to exact their vengeance, I want them to remember what happens to those who target our family. We need to make an example out of our enemies this time. So, we won’t bother hiding any of our strength. We will blast them with everything we have in our arsenal.”

Zach explained his motive behind the bombardment strategy. As a new family, the Smiths needed to show their power to the world or they would be bullied like the Windsor family in the future. They needed to show the world the consequences of provoking them.

“But…” Diana wanted to protest that the soldiers were probably not ready for such a big operation yet but Zach interrupted her midway. 𝘰𝑣𝘭.𝗇𝓔t

“I trust that the soldiers I have trained would be able to discern whether they are up to the task or not. Anyone who thinks he isn’t capable of carrying out the task can opt to sit this one out. You have a chance to back out NOW…Is there anyone…anyone?”

None of the soldiers were willing to back out which caused Zach to break out into a smile.

“I trust you guys. Don’t disappoint me on the battlefield. Just do what you normally do. I have witnessed your training and I believe that none of the men I trained are lacking in any aspect. WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK?”

“WE’RE READY SIR!”

Several voices merged together to form a loud roar as the soldiers replied in their thundering voices. They were completely confident of completing their mission no matter the difficulty.

Even Diana was moved by their enthusiasm and Zach’s charisma. A fire began to burn in her chest as she watched Zach give out a string of orders in one go.

“Let’s prepare a few surprises for our friends. You…you…you…and you, go and make sure that our armored tanks are ready for battle. I don’t want any kind of problem at the time of execution. Your brothers’ lives will depend on your support.” Zach pointed at a few good trainees and asked them to make sure that the tanks could be used in battle when needed.

Then he pointed at a few more men and ordered them to bring over some heavy firepower in the form of RPGs.

Zach put both of these groups on stand by and asked them to wait for his orders.

The group wielding RPGs separated with practiced and synchronized movements like shadows dancing in coordination with each other. They distributed themselves along the entire length of the island to lie in wait for the enemies as per their supreme commander’s orders. They were trained shooters and could accurately rain down destruction on the designated target at a moment’s notice. They didn’t need to close in on their target either. The rocket powered grenades had enough thrust to cover most of the island to reach their target.

While Zach’s orders were being relayed to all the personnel who were not within the listening range, Zach was busy controlling the drones to monitor the enemies slowly advancing towards the island at a fast pace in a sneaky manner.

Zach sneered and commanded the drones to move inwards towards the center of the island and increased their operating altitude so that the enemies wouldn’t be able to spot them. This would also allow him to keep an eye on the enemies as they advanced inland.

As the top commander, the soldiers were reliant on his orders. Only good visibility of the enemies would allow him to make informed decisions. His soldiers’ lives were dependent on him so he couldn’t afford to be uninformed even if he was only playing with his enemies and didn’t consider them a true threat.

Both the surveillance and the soldiers had already moved towards the center of the island leaving the peripheries completely available to the pirates to make a successful landing from all directions.

The pirates on the other hand weren’t aware that they were walking straight into a trap with no escape as they laughed excitedly in their hearts. Their lives would undoubtedly be forfeit once they fell into Zach’s scheme.

Greenland was located in relatively shallow waters and wasn’t very far from the shore of Byzantium city. As such, the big pirate ships were unable to get close to it without risking damage to the keel of their ships.

The respective ship captains didn’t linger around the island once they noticed the lacking security measures around the island.

Not once did they stop to think that the lack of patrols and guards around the island was suspicious. They were too confident in their sneak approach and were sure that the target had yet to notice their invasion.

As such, the respective ship captains who were directly under the command of the pirate leader, ordered the pirates onboard to let down a few smaller boats with the help of ropes.

The pirates planned to use the smaller boats to reach the island shore instead of damaging their ships in the attempt. It was not only faster but also much more effective in terms of a sneak attack. The smaller boats had a lower chance of being spotted by the guards on the island.

The pirate boats rowed by the pirates landed on the abandoned shores of the island within no time. Since there was no resistance from the target, the pirates grew bolder and threw caution to the wind. They didn’t even stop to scout the island before congregating together to launch a full-scale attack on the island to wipe out the Smith family.

Blackbeard couldn’t help but sneer once he noticed that the target had still not realized the threat, he and his pirates posed to them. He sincerely doubted whether the dark mage was truly as powerful as Hogan’s information. So far, he had only encountered disappointment after spending so much time coming up with an elaborate plan for this invasion fearing the dark mage.

“This is too easy. I wanted a challenge after spending so long on the island. But this…this isn’t enough for me to make a move.”

Blackbeard surveyed the island with a contemptuous gaze. He regretted bringing such a large force with him considering that it seemed to be quite an easy job.

The pirates accompanying Blackbeard couldn’t agree more with his words. This job so far looked like the easiest job they had ever taken. There were no defenses at all, no watchtowers or lookouts at the peripheral area.

Even their pirate island had a few watchtowers despite how hard it was to reach the island without a guide.

“The powerful and terrifying dark mage is probably a hoax that Hogan is using to cover up his uselessness. The Hunter family has fallen quite a bit. Even a newbie with such a weak power can frighten him out of his wits. The Hunter family in my memory wasn’t this pathetic. They were cunning and aggressive and wouldn’t let a kid walk all over them like this.” Commented Blackbeard as he gestured his men to follow after him.

Being a pirate, wealth and power was the paramount goal of the pirate named Blackbeard. Although he pursued the thrill of battle, it was only because he liked gauging his strength against others to determine the extent of his own development. Therefore, an easy mission like this was free and easy money that Blackbeard would never reject.

“How strong can that dark mage be when he doesn’t even have a few men under his command to guard his territory?” the pirate walking beside Blackbeard ridiculed Zach for his poor territory management and all the pirates joined in on the laughter as they merrily made their way towards the center of the island.

Little did they know that even if Zach left the island unattended, they would still be unable to penetrate its automated defenses. The only reason that they had managed to land on the shores of the island was because Zach had allowed them to do so by pulling away the surveillance and monitoring drones.