Several of the pirates were pierced through their heads and died instantly.
The unlucky ones survived to witness the horror that followed.
Those who could move tried to get away from the doomsday like place but RPG shells fell down and blocked their path in all directions. Shrapnel flew everywhere piercing through the bodies of the pirates with ease while damaging their vitality.
All those who died as a result had an extremely anguished expression as if they had died unjustly or in shock. This kind of twisted and pained expressions on their faces along with their already wretched upkeep of their body made for extremely unsightly corpses which now studding the shores of Greenland.
There were still some who managed to survive with the help of the water shields that Blackbeard cast to support his remaining crew. Even Blackbeard was sweating after so much mana usage. He was just an A ranked mage but his consumption today was more than twice that amount.
Just when the pirates thought that the rain of terror was over, several explosions occurred all around them. But the scale of explosions was far more deadly than the previous ones. The impact radius was far higher and the fire damage was even more ridiculous. But the most worrisome thing about these explosions was their penetration power. These ones could easily pierce through the shield being conjured by their leader to exterminate them.
The shield had already begun to shimmer and fade as a result of the initial attack.
As the RPGs and armored tanks unleashed their deadly barrage, the island shore erupted in chaos and destruction. Blackbeard strained to protect the pirates closest to him with his mighty water shield. The shield held for a fleeting moment, resisting the initial onslaught of the heavier firepower, like a barrier protecting the last bastion of hope in a desolate land.
But the tanks proved to be overwhelming, and the water shield began to crack under the relentless assault, like a dam breached by a relentless flood. Blackbeard's heart pounded in his chest, torn between the instinct to protect his crew and the realization that he could not withstand the full might of this attack.
Even the few pirates who had been safe following after their leader began to think of escaping by themselves. Since even their captain couldn't protect them, they needed to cut ties before the situation worsened even further. Because so far, the situation hadn't turned for the better even once every since they took the first step on this island.
The superior water mages in the group who had been kept safe by Blackbeard until then, split into several directions that led towards the ocean and spread out all their mana around them in order to defend against the incoming attacks launched by the enemy.
All of them took action at the same time, as if they had tacitly made an agreement in advance in case such a situation arose during the mission.
They reached the ocean swiftly since luck seemed to be on their side. They ended up choosing the timing between the previous and the next wave of bombardment which allowed them to dive unscathed into the ocean where they were like fish in their natural habitat. The water element was after all the home of all the water mages and they could showcase the entirety of their power in such an environment.
Blackbeard witnessed the scene with fury as his heart burned at having protected those snakes all this time. He watched on in helplessness as the next wave of bombardment followed the first. The remaining companions whom he had painstakingly protected all this time, fell one after the other and headed to Hades' palace in the underworld with undisguised anguish and regret.
His insides wrenched but all he could do was protect himself from this new kind of attacks. They were far deadlier than the earlier explosions and if he hadn't wrapped himself in a thicker shield at the last possible minute, even he might have been killed without knowing how he died.
Blackbeard knew he had to prioritize his own survival, as the fate of his remaining crew members lay in their own abilities. He managed to shield himself just in time as explosions and devastation surrounded him, like a lone sailor clinging to a piece of wreckage amidst a storm-tossed sea.
As a result, the pirates around him were left to their own defenses.
Each of them fell one by one. They were either blown to bits first and then burned to ashes or were burned to ashes in a single go. There was no painless death for these people.
As Blackbeard watched the people around him fall one by one, his heart weighed heavy with grief and his fury burned hotter with a pitch-black flame. Each loss was a painful reminder of his weakness and the consequences of his greed and ambition. The island that was once the stepping stone for his ambition to him, now looked like a cursed place where only death and destruction reigned supreme. It wasn't the turn of a measly human mage like him to dictate life and death in this place.
While he was busy cursing his weakness, he found that even the hidden enemies had now revealed themselves voluntarily because he hadn't seen this many enemies on the island before. They were holding various suspicious looking tube-like things but he was in no position to satisfy his curiosity at the moment. He didn't want to be the cat that got killed due to its curious nature.
Soon after the encirclement of the soldiers split in the middle as if to make way for the people from behind.
Diana strode in leisurely behind a young-looking man. Blackbeard had fought the girl before so he had previously suspected that she was strong enough to be the leader of these people. Alas the two girls that came after him were even stronger and gave him chills due to their ruthless means. So, he discarded that thought immediately.
According to the information he had obtained from the Hunter family, the leader of this force was supposedly the dark mage named Zach. But Blackbeard had yet to see such a man even after losing everything on the island.
Before he could begin to doubt Hogan for having orchestrated a scheme against him, the youth leading the entourage of women behind him appeared. Diana was walking two steps behind him and Clara and Christina walked behind her in a carefree manner unlike their previous encounter when they had been oozing bloodlust like a duo of demons from the lowest level of hell.
A sense of dread washed over Blackbeard when he noticed how obedient the three demonic women looked as they walked behind the young man. Their previous cold and aloof expressions were nowhere to be seen and they even seemed a little leisurely as if they were out to take a walk in the garden.
He immediately suspected that this man was the one he was looking for, the dark mage-Zach, the architect of the devastating onslaught they had just endured and the final target of their mission this time.
Blackbeard had encountered many dark mages in his years of piracy but he had never encountered someone as indifferent as Zach before. The latter had casually massacred hundreds of his pirates and his face had yet to twitch.
Blackbeard tried to find signs of helplessness on his expressionless face but found neither remorse nor excitement on Zach's face; only casual indifference. It was as if he had only killed a bunch of ants who were not worth living.
His attitude angered Blackbeard to an extent that he hadn't thought was possible. Even though the pirates in his employment were dispensable, they still belonged to him. He was unwilling to let go of Zach who had murdered every last one of them without blinking an eye. Who knows how much longer it would take him to gather another group of rapscallions like them again?
Filled to the brim with vengeful thoughts and killing intent, Blackbeard vowed to the heavens of the world, "I, Blackbeard, am not a man if I don't at least take him down with me to avenge my crew."
The low growl like muttering was inaudible to the spectators but Blackbeard's heart was already set.
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