Confirming the Location

"Name?"

"Astaide."

"Age?"

"Twenty-five."

"Why did you choose to become a pirate?"

"I offended the local Thieves' Guild back in my hometown, so I could only take my chances at sea."

"How many people are on your pirate ship, and who is your captain?"

"There are two hundred and forty-seven of us. Our captain is the great Bloodhand—Harlett."

"You seem to admire your captain?"

"Of course! Lord Harlett is the most famous, most generous, and most worthy captain to follow in the entire Sea of Swords. Every pirate in the Nelanther Isles takes pride in being able to serve on his ship."

"Oh? Tell me more about your captain. And why, after successfully capturing the merchant ship, did he still order you to come to this deserted island to hunt down four fugitives?"

Under Raymond's meticulous interrogation, the pirate prisoners quickly revealed everything they knew.

Moreover, the answers given by the two men who were isolated and interrogated separately showed almost no discrepancies.

Without a doubt, this differed greatly from what he had expected: a simple case of pirates robbing merchants.

Bloodhand Harlett's way of doing things in particular made him seem nothing like an ordinary pirate.

He was more like someone using the name of piracy to build a vast intelligence network and power base.

Based on the information about Faerun that Necromancer Archmage Astar had gathered from various prisoners, Raymond roughly understood that the Nelanther Isles lay southwest of the continent and consisted of thousands of large and small unnamed islands.

Crossing the Aiswell Strait eastward led to the peninsula extending from the border between the Amnian Empire and the Kingdom of Tethyr.

At the southern end of the peninsula were scattered unnamed islands, as well as a place jokingly called the Strait of Speed by passing ships.

The origin of that name naturally came from the rampant pirate activity throughout the Nelanther Isles.

Every merchant ship traveling the route from the Strait of Speed to the Aiswell Strait could be spotted, followed, and pursued by pirates, creating a "race" where those in front ran desperately while those behind chased for their lives.

Although Amn had sent its navy to suppress them many times, the results had been minimal.

Whenever warships arrived, the pirates vanished without a trace.

Once the warships left, the pirates emerged again.

"So this island beneath my feet is right beside the Strait of Speed, not far from Athkatla, Amn's capital..."

After learning his approximate location, Raymond visibly relaxed.

What he feared most was that the island he had been teleported to was far from the mainland, with no ships passing by for weeks, months, or even years.

Compared with this crucial intelligence, the strange pirate captain Bloodhand Harlett and the Roldan Trading Company heir currently on the run were of secondary importance.

However, considering the threat posed by more than two hundred pirates, including Hobgoblins and Trolls, Raymond decided to strike first.

At the very least, he needed to reduce the pirates' numbers.

Especially those making their way toward the cave near the mountaintop.

"Reed! Bite them to death!"

Raymond gave the kill order without hesitation.

From the very beginning, he had never intended to spare a single prisoner.

That earlier declaration and those rules had merely been a means of extracting more valuable information from the human pirates.

After all, there were more than two hundred vicious bandits with blood on their hands!

And Raymond had only himself and a small number of summoned creatures.

In a direct fight, he did not stand the slightest chance of winning.

"Wuuuu—"

Seeing the panther approach with its mouth full of Sharpfangs spread wide, the two human pirates immediately twisted their bodies like madmen, as though demanding to know why he had not kept his promise.

Unfortunately, Raymond had no intention of answering any questions.

During nearly two years in the Floating City Tower, he had developed a heart of stone.

In the blink of an eye, the lively prisoners became corpses sprawled on the ground, their eyes still open in death.

After biting through the enemies' throats, the big cat licked the blood from its lips, seemingly waiting for its next command.

"Come, Reed. It's time to greet our pirate guests and let them know who truly rules this island."

After saying that, Raymond took the Wand of Corpse Manipulation from his satchel, aimed it at the three corpses on the ground, and released the spells stored within it one after another.

The effect of this fourth-circle Necromancy School spell was exactly as its name suggested: it could transform a relatively intact corpse into a Zombie, or discard the flesh covering it and retain only the skeleton within.

Although, in Necromancer Archmage Astar's eyes, these mindless low-level Undead were not even qualified to serve as cannon fodder,

they could still cause panic and Harm among a group of generally superstitious and weak pirates.

Before long, three Zombies made from pirate corpses rose shakily from the ground.

However, aside from the last one he awakened, the first two quickly slipped out of the caster's control.

Raymond's current casting level simply was not high enough to control so many Undead Creatures at once.

Seeing the two Zombies about to lunge at him, he immediately had the Zombie under his control tackle them to the ground. Then he released his control and fled with the big cat at top speed.

By the time the three Zombies rose from the ground again, the man and panther had already vanished without a trace.

Having lost their target, they immediately began wandering aimlessly around the area.

There was no need to ask; Raymond had created these Undead solely to cause as much trouble as possible for the pirates running around the island.

During the day, it might not have been particularly difficult to chop down a few slow-moving Zombies.

But once darkness fell, these Undead, with Darkvision and the ability to sense nearby living creatures, would become the deadliest ambushers and killers.

What was more, Raymond did not intend to create merely three or five Skeletons or Zombies.

He planned to use up half of the more than forty charges stored in the wand.

Ambushes, killing, converting corpses into Undead...

Over the next hour or so, he and the panther worked together with little effort to eliminate every pirate who came near the cave at the mountaintop.

It could not be helped!

The pirates had been far too careless and simply did not believe there was anything on the island that could threaten them.

So from the moment they landed, they had split up and entered the dense forest, grass, and bushes in small groups.

No group had more than four people.

Furthermore, the distance between groups ranged from over a hundred meters to more than two hundred meters.

Much of the time, even if one group discovered that another had been attacked and rushed to rescue them, it would already be ten-odd seconds later.

Ten seconds were enough for Raymond to kill every enemy before him, then turn the corpses into a few Zombies and send them into the next battle.

Strictly speaking, the profession of Creator was not suited for combat. It was better suited to staying in a tower and crafting all kinds of magic items and Oddities.

But that depended on who the comparison was with!

Compared to high-level Wizards who could summon wind and rain and cast spells such as Lightning Bolt, fire, strong acid, and Poison Cloud, the Creator profession was naturally far inferior.

But against a group of illiterate pirates, Raymond could think of more than a dozen different ways to kill them.

That was the difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Besides, the enemy was out in the open while he was hidden in the shadows...