On the Blackhawk, the large ship newly christened by Guilliman.
From the sailors to the Skellige warriors, from the Bear School Witcher Ged to the sorceress Triss, everyone suppressed their inner excitement, eager for battle.
Before boarding, Guilliman had given specific instructions.
Although this landing operation would not involve a direct confrontation with the enemy's main force,
the enemy would certainly send a large force, possibly over a thousand strong, to attack them and prevent them from establishing a camp on the island.
With such numbers, even if the opponents were half-fishmen weaker than drowners, they could not be underestimated.
Counting this time, the Blackhawk had approached Black Tern Island about ten times. While not intimately familiar with the entire island's terrain, they had a good grasp of about 70-80% of it.
Currently, there were only two suitable landing spots on the outer perimeter of Black Tern Island.
The first was the black water beach surrounded by reefs, where the half-fishmen resided.
However, that was the half-fishmen's main base, and even the lair of the evil god Dagon was right next to it, so a rash decisive battle was definitely out of the question this time.
According to Triss's analysis, the reason that beach appeared black was not due to water quality or environmental factors.
It was certainly because a large number of fishmen were spawning, breeding, and nesting on that reef riverbed, forming a large half-fishman population, which caused the lake water to appear turbid and black.
Based on the scale they observed, this half-fishman population was estimated to be between three and four thousand, an astonishing number.
However, due to their continuous fishing harassment over the past week,
approximately 1,500 half-fishmen had been eliminated, providing Guilliman with about 3,000 soul power, a considerable harvest.
Now, this half-fishman population had also realized something was wrong and was in a phase of defensive retreat. They would no longer actively attack the Blackhawk, which was patrolling the periphery, and even the number of scouts they sent out had decreased.
This was perfect, as it gave them an opportunity to break through the defenses and land on Black Tern Island at the second suitable landing spot.
This other suitable landing beach was only about two thousand meters from the half-fishman beach and was a fairly flat stretch of sand.
After the Blackhawk approached this beach, the gangplank was immediately lowered, allowing everyone to disembark quickly.
Guilliman stood at the bow, watching the few dark figures swiftly fleeing from the outer edge of the beach, and immediately knew that the half-fishman scouts had discovered their landing.
He estimated that it wouldn't be long before the enemy's attack would begin.
So, he immediately instructed Ged, who was beside him:
"Ged, take the mercenaries and sailors to establish a defensive line on the beach, using our Blackhawk as a stronghold to block the enemy's first wave of attack."
"The enemies beneath the lake will be handled by Triss and me."
"You only need to defend against the enemies on land."
Ged laughed and accepted the order. His nephew, Captain Zord the Blackbeard, then led the sailors to carry large logs from the ship and build a simple cheval de frise position around the Blackhawk.
The height of this cheval de frise was not very high, nor was it extremely sturdy, but for the height of the half-fishmen, it was enough to hinder their movements and form a solid defensive line.
Soon, only he and Triss were left on the entire ship.
Guilliman took out three Witcher potions from his storage space, gulped them down, and then said to Triss:
"My beautiful lady, this time I finally have the chance to witness your powerful magic."
"Later, if the half-fishmen on the other side try to surround our ship from underwater, then please, as we discussed before, cast a Level 3 spell on their main force."
"Don't worry, I will protect you and won't let any monster disturb you."
The three potions he drank were Tawny Owl, Petri's Philter, and a bottle of Stammerford's Elixir.
All three potions were powerful elixirs that increased magic regeneration speed, Sign intensity, and effects, with the potion cost alone reaching about fifty Orens.
For this battle, he did not plan to go into the water and fight monsters in close combat. He would only act as a bomb-throwing turret and a meat shield to protect Triss, relying on his Quen shield and parrying swordsmanship.
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