March 1, 1171 A.D., 4:30 p.m., 6 kilometers north of Waiheke Island.

Ten Langskips, in the style of North Island dragon boats, heading south against the wind and breaking the waves.

On the battleship, which is located in the rear guard position of the fleet's "T-shaped formation", two people in very different clothes are talking.

A young pirate in a half-hooded iron helmet and felt fur armor sat on the oars at the front of the dragon ship, rowing hard. He looked at the distant scenery and shouted to the muscular barbarian warrior sitting cross-legged on the deck behind him, "Colwin, I see Waiheke Island!

The barbarian warrior glanced at the screaming pirate, and just as he was about to speak, the acid water that rushed up from his abdomen forced him to run to the side of the deck and vomited.

Turning his head in disgust, the pirate muttered in a low voice, "They still say that you are the bravest warrior......"

He underestimated Colwin's ear power.

The barbarian warrior angrily turned around and shouted, "Lev, just let me leave this damn sea, swear to the old gods, and I will hang you upside down on the top of a tree, with ...... ...... vomit"

The young man, known as Lev, was unconvinced by the threat. He turned his head in the direction of the coast, and with a look of reverie: "If I can return with a full load on this trip, the tribe agrees to give me a woman!"

"If the people who made the promise are the leaders of your tribe, then I advise you to give it up as soon as possible!" said Colwin, who was lying on his back on the deck with his face facing the sky.

"Why do you say that?"

Colwin struggled to get up: "We originally agreed with the Silver Ring Kingdom that this attack should be three days later. But the leader of the pirate tribe took the liberty of setting out three days earlier in order to be the first to enter the city and plunder. ”

Lev was puzzled and asked, "Is there anything wrong with that?"

"An agreement is an agreement!" Colwin patted his chest hard: "Since the two parties have made an agreement before, unilaterally breaking the contract is deception and discredit!"

Lev glanced at Corwin with an idiot look: "This kind of thing only exists between friends, and those idiots in the Silver Ring Kingdom still need to be trustworthy?"

A sullen Colwin was about to say something when he was interrupted by the noise of the warship ahead.

Lev straightened up and looked ahead.

For some reason, the people on the front warship suddenly jumped into the sea, and the hull of the ship slowly tilted and began to sink.

Immediately after that, the same happened with the second and third ships.

Just when everyone was in shock, a floating pirate who had fallen into the water pointed to the surface of the sea and shouted in fear, "Sea monsters!

——————————————

Four hours ago, Twilight Town.

Todd stood in the square, glanced at the militia and the group of believers who were busy in the town, and then looked back at the monk Joe and the knight Dion standing in front of him, and asked with a headache: "The order I gave you is to follow the inhabitants to evacuate south, why did you come back?"

Monk Qiao touched the top of his bare head, and said in a muffled voice: "Every grass and tree here, every street, is the crystallization of my hard work, let me leave like this, I can't do it......"

With a sword at his waist and a suit of armor that fit his petite stature, and his long pale blonde hair tied in a ponytail and tied around his head in satin, he simply said, "I don't want to have the rest of my life to die for survival." ”

Todd touched the bridge of his nose and said helplessly: "Since you have made a decision, then I will not stop it." The layout of the town has been basically completed, and the division of labor for street fighting has also been done, you can follow me......"

"Commander-in-chief!

Alfonso walked up quickly and said loudly.

Todd froze.

How did a pirate warship come to be today?

Calculating the time, today is the fourth day of the departure of the Silver Ring Alliance, and if the plan of the fake military order is successful, Cumberland's army should have just engaged them at this time. As for the pirates and barbarians, they should be on the coastline in three days, right?!

After asking Alfonso carefully, Todd thought about it again, and when he got the truth, he couldn't help but laugh.

The pirates had already made up their minds to attack early. While they had agreed with the Silverring Army to attack the town of Twilight on March 4th, they launched the attack three days earlier without notifying their allies.

The lie on the fake military order turned out to be true, and taking advantage of the time difference to attack the two armies, because of a series of coincidences, turned into a two-sided battle.

Everything can be described in four words.

"Self-defeating".

Todd suddenly thought of what Cumberland had said at the last combat meeting.

"There is a lot of uncertainty in war, because everything is changing. To a certain extent, the implementation of plans in chaos is the true meaning of war. Nitpicking will be the worst enemy of a good plan......

After calming down, Todd began to make pre-war deployments.

1. Order the militia in the town to take their positions and enter the ambush position of the street fighting according to the previous tactical arrangement.

2. Send a signal to the underwater warfare xenos hidden on Waiheke Island to put them in a state of readiness and be ready to attack the pirates' fleet.

3. Order the xenomorphs of the reconnaissance department to occupy the commanding heights in the town in advance and keep a close eye on the enemy's movements.

Fourth, order the melee attack system and the elemental attack system to form a tactical team and cooperate with the militia group to ambush.

5. Order other xenomorphs to be put on standby and provide support at any time.

By the time all the deployments in Twilight Town were completed, it was already seven o'clock in the evening. After another ten minutes, a scout xenomorph on the lighthouse lit the brazier on the top floor of the tower.

Pirates and barbarians are coming.

————————————————

The barbarian warrior Colwin stepped onto the soft sand, looked at the town of Twilight in the darkness, and pulled out the wooden shield behind his back and the hand axe at his waist.

Lev, the young pirate beside him, drew his short sword, swallowed his saliva, and whispered: "There is no light in the town, maybe people have fled?"

No one answered him.

The barbarian leader and the pirate leader loudly commanded his men to tow seven warships to the shore and began to count the remaining numbers.

3 warships, 29 pirates, and 75 barbarians sank to the bottom of the sea forever. Before the war began, the pirates and barbarians lost a fifth of their manpower.

The rest, especially those who fell into the water, were in an extremely unstable mental state. The icy waters of early March, combined with the fright, caused them to look around hysterically, repeating strange words.

"I saw a sea monster!"

"They swam up from the bottom of the netherworld and chiseled through the bottom of the ship with their sharp claws!"

"They have gills on their faces, hands and feet that don't look like humans at all, and they have frog-like webs in between!"

"I saw a sea monster swimming on the surface of the sea for more than three minutes!

The chiefs rebuked these remarks loudly, causing their men to gag their mouths with rags and telling the warriors that they were nothing more than a bunch of enemies with chisels. As for who to believe? The look of horror on people's faces has been best explained.

Waiting for the ships to be packed, the army of pirates and barbarians, armed with the necessary supplies, set out for the town.

On the town's right side of the coast, a huge stone cross caught the attention of the invaders.

On the cross is written in Northland and Latin:

Repent and believe the Gospel when the kingdom of God is near, fear the Lord and you will gain wealth and eternal life, and be hostile to the Son and be turned to ashes by the Holy Thunder!"

The pirates and barbarians gathered around the cross, looking at each other. Some suggested that the cross should be destroyed to dispel the false gods, while others warned that every deity should be respected and suggested going around the cross to enter the town.

Eventually, an angry barbarian warrior, losing his patience, raised his tomahawk and smashed the cross into a pile of ruins.

The crowd waited for a while, but nothing happened.

Just as the people relaxed and began to laugh loudly at this shoddy trick, a faint hissing and burning sound rang out in the ruins of the cross.

A few seconds later, with a deafening explosion, a crimson "cloud of flames" rose from the west coast of twilight. The shock wave of the landslide and the ground cracked, rolling up dust and spray and spreading it to the depths of the ocean. Countless pieces of iron rivets and glass shards were scattered in all directions, and the screams and cries were clearly audible even from several kilometers away.