While the town of Sunglow slept, Aeriganta was swimming out into the sea. But she wasn't alone. If anyone thought that before returning to Sunglow, Aeriganta was just lazing about in the Monster Realm, not a care in the world, then they couldn't be more wrong.

In fact, she had been working hard, constantly coming and going to and from the passageway. Why? She was searching for her lost sisters. Many of them had already perished because of the Church. But not all.

Aeriganta spent a lot of time tracking down the sirens that she could find and bringing them to Monster Realm. Some of them just remained in Sunglow under the disguise of being human. With mana levels as high as they were, they did not need to feed on human essence.

Now, together with her dozen or so siren sisters, Aeriganta swam into the sea to meet the incoming Church ships. They would be the ones to open the attack. Poking her head above the water's surface, Aeriganta saw the five frigates sailing not too far from each other towards the direction of Sunglow.

All of them had the Church flag, and while they weren't exactly the largest ships Aeriganta had seen, she bet that each one could hold over a hundred people. Perhaps even two hundred. This meant that in the worst-case scenario, Sunglow would have to deal with a thousand Church members. In the best case, it would be five hundred.

This made Aeriganta nervous. At least five hundred able-bodied and trained System users. Sunglow currently had three System users, and one of them was a baker, not a fighter. A normal adventurer in Sunglow's guild couldn't match up to a System user. In fact, twenty adventurers couldn't match up to a single System user.

The stats, the skills, both passive and active, gave them a distinct edge over other humans, basically putting them in the same class as monsters. The fact that they constantly fought real monsters didn't help. They weren't unfamiliar with combat, and while adventurers in Sunglow were also familiar with it, it wasn't nearly as severe, especially lately.

But this was the reason Aeriganta was here. Every little bit, every attempt to strike at the Church would be a chance to tire them, make them use their mana, skills, and potions. This would be a battle of attrition, and she was intent on giving Sunglow the best odds possible.

Diving back beneath the water's surface, she looked at her siren sisters, swimming beside her. Aeriganta let out a high-frequency sound, something human ears couldn't pick up. It was their signal to strike.

Other sirens recognized it immediately and spread out into the sea, each swimming to take a different position around the five ships. Sadly, they would have to spread out in a rather large area, so the effect won't be as strong if they huddled together.

But being close together would put them all at greater risk. So they would spread out and attack them from different angles. Aeriganta swam closer to the flagship, the one leading the other ships after it. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be slightly larger than the other four.

She also realized that they were relaxed. Far too relaxed. Only a few people were awake on the board of the ship, just enough to keep it running smoothly. The rest were likely sleeping peacefully below deck. Nobody noticed Aeriganta's approach.

Obviously, one wouldn't be able to spot her by just looking. She had turned her scales to look as dark as the sea waters and even turned her hair and skin color dark. But if the Church had been a bit more careful, they would have posted a sentry that would be able to sense her approach through magic.

Since no alarms were going on in the ship and the people aboard walked about just as lazily as before, it was clear that nobody had any clue as to their approach. Aeriganta waited a few minutes for her sisters to get into position. Each of them let out a short, distinct, high-pitched note to signal that they were ready.

Once everyone was in place, Aeriganta let out the command, which meant "GO!".

As one, they rose out of the water and began to sing in a loud, sonorous voice. It instantly awoke everyone on the five ships and forced them to grab their weapons and throw a poorly aimed fireball or arrow in the direction of the sirens. But the moment everyone was awake, Aeriganta and her sister dove deep underwater, where the Church couldn't hope to follow them.

They waited about half an hour and then, using their high-pitched signals once again, stuck close to the ships. Many people were on high alert and noticed them surfacing almost instantly. But it didn't matter. They once again sang their loud songs for a moment to wake everyone up and then dove deep underwater.

This assault continued throughout the night. They never outright attacked the Church. Some were clearly tempted to pursue the sirens, eager to deal with their loud songs. If such a thing were to happen, they would instantly retreat. Losing her sisters was not Aeriganta's goal.

Her goal was not to let them sleep. That's right! While the citizens of Sunglow would sleep and rest before the big battle, Aeriganta and her sisters would make sure that the Church didn't sleep a wink. Not to mention a few nasty side effects that might appear in the human mind to muddle their judgment even further.

Illitran was watching the sealine beyond Sunglow. He, among a few other elf guards, was tasked with warning and waking others once the Church ship appeared on the horizon.

Illitran wasn't a great fighter. He frankly didn't even like fighting and battling, but his excellent vision, even for an elf, made him into a perfect scout, so it was a role that he took on within Sunglow. He barely dared to blink as he watched the sea line.

After all, the sooner he warned others of the Church's approach, the better prepared everyone would be. If it had meant that Illitran would remain awake through the night while the others slept, he didn't mind. This was his role in this battle.

Best of all was the fact that for the first time in his life, the dark didn't hinder him anymore. Normally, one couldn't even hope to see a ship sailing in the distance at dark. The sun rose too late for it to be of any use to them. However, Melina, the ever-vigilant baker, had taken care of that.

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She had given him and the handful of other elves a pastry containing a spell that allowed them to see in the dark as well as any drow could. This, combined with Illitran's already great vision, meant that when the five frigates appeared on the horizon, looking no larger than tiny specs on the dark sea waters, Illitran saw them immediately.

But he didn't sound a loud alarm to wake everyone up. No. That wouldn't do. After all, they would lose their element of surprise. Instead, he let out a whistle identical to the ones produced by whistlewisps. Several such calls responded in turn, and Illitran noticed the familiar purple glow of whistlewisp tails as they lit up in response.

It appeared that his call was so convincing that even the real birds had awoken and reacted to it. But other elves had heard him too. With that, he descended from the lighthouse where he had been watching the sea from and silently returned to Sunglow to wake up everyone. First on his list—Lord Sinclair and Guildmaster Arianne.

Alistair's sleep wasn't deep. In fact, his mind was racing, thinking of tactics and plans and the possible tricks that the Church might bring upon Sunglow. It felt like he was half-awake the whole night, aware of every little noise. Except there wasn't any noise. The night was eerily silent, as one would expect from an oncoming storm.

Except for one noise that put Alistair's heart and mind at ease. Melina's steady breathing next to him. In a way, he was a bit glad that she had worked herself to exhaustion. Had she not, Melina likely wouldn't have been able to sleep at all. But her slumber was deep, if a bit disturbed by the nightmares that still plagued her.

He was able to soothe her before she awoke, but it still hurt watching her face twist with pain and fear.

"Soon, it'll all be over," he whispered to her and placed a gentle kiss on Melina's forehead. Her expression relaxed.

Alistair also relaxed a little, letting himself rest. But then he felt an urgent tug at the back of his mind. It was Mango. He had instructed the fox to be woken up to contact him, because Mango could wake up Alistair without disturbing Melina. Within a few minutes, he was out of bed.

Throwing one last glance at Melina, sleeping in bed, Alistair steeled himself for the upcoming battle and hurried downstairs. It was time. The Church was here. Daisy and Henry were already up, and Illitran was standing downstairs.

"They are here?" Alistair asked quietly.

Illitran nodded. "Approaching from the south. It won't take more than an hour to reach the ice."

"Head to the Guild immediately. Wake anyone you can along the way," Alistair instructed.

"At once, my Lord!" Illitran inclined his head politely and was out of the door before anyone could blink.

"Bring me my armor," Alistair instructed the servants.

Within less than five minutes, Alistair was in full armor, his shield in hand and sword at his hip.

"Lord Sinclair, here are the pastries Miss Melina prepared for you yesterday," Daisy said, bringing over a platter and revealing a small quiche, a meat square, and a tiny shimmertart.

Alistair was surprised that Melina had even found the time to cook those, but apparently she had made them the previous morning, before beginning her work on the petit fours. With a bit of magic, the pastries still tasted just as fresh as if they had been made this morning.

Although he wouldn't have liked to enjoy her pastries properly and slowly savor their flavor, there was no time. In less than five minutes, the pastries were gone, and he received a System notification following each one.

[You've received the effect <Increased Magic Resistance>. Time remaining: 9 hours 59 minutes.]

[You've received the effect <Increased Physical Defense>. Time remaining: 9 hours 59 minutes.]

[You've gained access to the spell <Empowering Aura>. 3 charges available.]

Alistair could only smile at how Melina had thought of everything. He knew that she likely would have wanted every fighter to receive Increased Magic Resistance and Physical Defense, but sadly, due to time constraints, it wasn't possible.

What surprised him more was the spell <Empowering Aura>. Aura spells in general were really strong, giving everyone within a certain radius of a user a strength buff. Seeing that she managed to get three charges for this spell only showed how much effort she had put into it.

Promising himself to put Melina's spell to good use, Alistair headed to the pier, knocking on the doors of people along the way. Others were running around the town silently, going from house to house to rouse everyone.

More and more people came into the streets, armed with everything they had. But none of them had any lights. The natural light from the moon and the street lamps was the only source of light allowed. The houses remained dark with a few candlelight flickers here and there. But that wouldn't be enough to be seen from the sea.

At the pier, all lights were forbidden. They wanted the Church to believe that they didn't know of their approach. That they were safe to attack when, in reality, the commands were being passed down from person to person. Everyone already knew their place and their role. Alistair had been able to establish that yesterday.

So, despite the early morning hour, people went to their designated hiding places and squads without much confusion. There were a few times Alistair had to settle a few problems, but it was nothing major.

Nobody really dared to talk; people were glancing at the icy sea whenever they could. They all waited until they would finally see the ships approach.

Alistair looked steadily over the ice as well. Part of him finished for his foes to appear, while another wished for more time to pass so more people could awaken and get ready.

In the end, it had been just as Illitran had said. Less than an hour later, he saw the five ships approach the edge of the ice cover at sea. They spread out along the coast, each ship stopping a good distance away from another. Alistair saw that they had put some care into planning.

Instead of stopping at one point and risking breaking the ice from the weight of many people, they spread out along the coast. But that won't help them this time. Alistair had made sure to make the ice as fragile as possible, but at the same time not lose its integrity enough for the ships to be able to break through.

Any moment, he expected to hear shouts and crashes as System users would plummet into the sea and into the waiting arms of the sirens who would be all too eager to drain some of their life force for themselves.

They all watched with bated breath, waiting for something to happen. Screams, yells, and cracking noises form the ice. But none of that happened. Instead, Alistair could see five masses of people approaching from each ship.

"Get me a status report from one of the elves," Alistair commanded one of the messengers by his side.

He ran off at once and returned a few minutes later. "Sir! They appear to be walking to the ice unimpeded. Our elven scouts suggest that they are using some kind of magic platform.

Alistair cursed. He had considered this possibility but had hoped that Heiliger, in her haste, would have overlooked it.

"Get Leon. Signal archer squads and somebody go wake up Melina," Alistair commanded, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword.

The battle had begun.