Confirming Location

"Name?"

"Astated."

"Age?"

"Twenty-five."

"Why did you choose to become a pirate?"

"I offended the local thieves' guild in my hometown, so I had to take my chances at sea."

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

"There are two hundred and forty-seven of us in total, and our captain is the great Bloodhand—Harlett."

"You seem to admire your captain a lot?"

"Of course! Lord Harlett is the most famous, most generous, and most worthy captain to follow in the entire Sea of Swords region. All the pirates in the Nylanthian Islands are proud to serve on his ship."

"Oh? Tell me more about your captain. And why did he order you to come to this deserted island to hunt down four fugitives, even though he had already successfully captured the merchant ship?"

Under Zuo Si's meticulous interrogation, the pirate captive quickly revealed everything he knew.

Furthermore, the answers given by the two individuals interrogated separately showed almost no significant differences.

Undoubtedly, this situation was far from the simple pirate raid on merchants he had anticipated.

Especially "Bloodhand" Harlett's conduct, which did not resemble that of a mere pirate at all.

It was more like he was building a vast intelligence network and power base under the guise of piracy.

Based on the information about the continent of Faerûn collected by the Archlich—Astar from various captives, Zuo Si had a general understanding that the Nylanthian Islands were located southwest of the mainland, composed of thousands of nameless islands of various sizes.

To the east, across the Aiservel Strait, lay the peninsula formed by the extending borders of the Amn Empire and the Tethyr Kingdom.

At the southern tip of the peninsula, there were scattered, unnamed islands, and a place jokingly called the "Racing Strait" by passing ships.

The reason for this name was naturally due to the rampant and widespread pirate activity in the Nylanthian Islands area.

All merchant ships sailing the route from the Racing Strait to the Aiservel Strait were at risk of being targeted, followed, and pursued by pirates, thus creating a "racing match" of desperate escape and relentless pursuit.

Although the Amn had dispatched its navy multiple times for eradication, the results were minimal.

Typically, the warships would arrive, and the pirates would disappear.

Once the warships left, the pirates would all reappear.

"So this small island beneath my feet is right next to the Racing Strait, not far from Amn's capital—Athkatla..."

Upon learning his approximate location, Zuo Si visibly relaxed.

His greatest fear was that the island he was teleported to was far from the mainland, with no ships passing by for weeks, months, or even years.

Compared to this crucial piece of information, the pirate captain with peculiar behavior—"Bloodhand" Harlett, and the fleeing heir of the Roldan Merchant Guild were secondary matters.

However, considering the threat posed by over two hundred pirates, including hobgoblins and ogres, Zuo Si decided to strike first.

At least to reduce the number of pirates.

Especially those heading towards the mountain cave.

"Raid! Kill them!"

Zuo Si unhesitatingly issued the kill order.

He had no intention of sparing any of the captives from the very beginning.

The somewhat plausible declaration and rules earlier were merely a means to extract more valuable intelligence from the human pirates.

After all, they were over two hundred vicious, bloodthirsty bandits!

And Zuo Si was alone, with only a small number of summoned creatures.

In a head-on confrontation, he had no chance of winning.

"Roar roar roar—"

Seeing the leopard approaching with its fangs bared, the two human pirates thrashed wildly, as if questioning, "Why didn't you keep your promise?"

But unfortunately, Zuo Si had no intention of answering any questions.

He had already developed a "heart of stone" during his nearly two years in the high tower of the floating city.

In the blink of an eye, the lively captives turned into corpses lying on the ground, their eyes wide with unfulfilled grievances.

After biting off the enemy's neck, the big cat licked the blood from its lips, as if awaiting the next command.

"Come on, Raid. It's time to go greet our pirate guests and let them know who the real owner of this island is."

With that, Zuo Si took out the Animate Dead wand from his satchel, aimed it at the three corpses on the ground, and successively cast the spells stored within.

The effect of this fourth-circle necromancy spell was exactly as its name suggested: it could transform a relatively intact corpse into a zombie, or discard the outer flesh and retain only the skeletal frame.

Although in the eyes of the Archlich—Astar, these unintelligent, low-level undead were not even qualified to be his cannon fodder.

However, for a group of generally superstitious and weak pirates, it could still cause some panic and harm.

In no time, three zombies, made from pirate corpses, shakily rose from the ground.

However, the first two zombies, except for the last one awakened, quickly broke free from the caster's control.

This was because Zuo Si's current casting level was insufficient to control so many undead creatures at once.

Seeing the two zombies about to lunge at him, he immediately controlled the zombie he still had to tackle them. Then, he released his control and, with the big cat, fled at extreme speed.

By the time the three zombies rose from the ground again, the man and the leopard had long since vanished without a trace.

Having lost their targets, they immediately began to wander aimlessly in the vicinity.

It went without saying that Zuo Si created these undead creatures to cause as much trouble as possible for the pirates rampaging around the island.

Perhaps during the day, killing a few slow-moving zombies wouldn't be too difficult.

But once night fell, these undead, possessing Darkvision and capable of sensing nearby living beings, would become the most deadly ambushers and killers.

What's more, Zuo Si didn't just intend to create a mere three or five skeletons or zombies.

He planned to use half of the forty-odd charges stored in his staff.

Ambushes, killings, necromantic conversions...

Over the next hour or so, with the cooperation of the leopard, he easily eliminated all the pirates who approached the mountain top cave.

It couldn't be helped!

These pirates were simply too careless, never imagining that anything on the island could threaten them.

So, from the moment they landed, they had dispersed, entering the dense forests, grass, and bushes in small teams.

Each team had a maximum of four people.

And the distance between teams was at least a hundred meters, and often over two hundred meters.

Many times, even if one team discovered another team under attack and wanted to rush to their aid, it would take more than ten seconds.

Ten seconds was enough for Zuo Si to kill the enemies in front of him, then use the corpses to convert a few more zombies to join the next battle.

Although the Creator class was not strictly suited for combat and should ideally stay in high towers creating various magic items and wondrous items.

But that depended on who you were comparing them to!

Compared to high-level wizards who could summon wind and rain, and cast spells like lightning, fire, acid, and poison clouds, the Creator class was certainly much inferior.

But when compared to a group of illiterate pirates, Zuo Si could find more than ten different ways to eliminate them.

This was the difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Moreover, the enemies were in the open, while he was in the shadows