The Ultimatum

In the Shantytown Area of the main island of the Iron Islands, from July 7 to 8 in the first year of Sigmund I, Baron Werner once again issued a new order, cold enough to chill the bones.

This order, like a final judgment, swiftly spread to every surviving corner of the Iron Islands, and completely ignited the last trace of humanity and reason in the hearts of all those abandoned atop this ruin:

"Carnford's fleet will carry out one final rescue! After this, it will never return!"

"Boarding qualification: you must hold three heads of Sauron soldiers!"

"Boarding order: ranked by the number of heads taken! Those with more go first!"

This order stripped away every disguise of warmth, nakedly simplifying the rules of survival to the most primitive, bloodiest law of the jungle.

It did not grant hope. Instead, it turned despair into fuel and threw it into the dying fire of resistance, making it erupt into destructive, twisted flames!

The Shantytown Area, this enormous labyrinth of death, completely became a flesh-and-blood millstone that devoured lives.

The refugee, remnant soldiers, and even the old, weak, women, and children, who had previously only defended passively and launched occasional sneak attacks, erupted into a madness that made the blood run cold beneath the hanging sword of Damocles that was "three heads"!

They no longer held fast to their houses, but took the initiative to attack! Using their familiarity with the terrain, they moved in groups of three or five, shuttling like ghosts through broken walls and ruined courtyards.

They set all manner of sinister traps: tripwires, falling stones, sharp spikes buried beneath the ashes.

They suddenly leapt out from rooftops, cellars, sewers, and even piles of corpses, using kitchen knives, pitchforks, stones, even teeth and fingernails, to attack any lone