Two days after all parties were ready, late at night, a fleet of four-masted cogs, under the cover of darkness, approached Meganom Cape.
These ships carried the advance force dispatched by the Kaffa Consul; to ensure safety, they did not rashly send all their troops, but first let dozens of scouts attempt to land on various coasts to probe the enemy's strength.
After their cautious probing, the generals on the ships were surprised to find that Theodoro seemed to have made little rigorous defense along the coast; the fact that nearly ninety percent of the scouts sent out returned alive was the best proof.
"What are these Greeks doing?" Christopher Elvin, the naval general of the advance force, worriedly stroked his goatee.
"So, sir, should we attack?" his adjutant asked.
"Opportunity knocks but once. Contact Lord Melo and persuade him to allocate about 2,000 troops. We need to storm the beach under the cover of night. This way, even if Theodoro has an ambush, they won't be able to accurately predict our strength on a moonless night.
If all goes as expected, they should still think we have direct assistance from our homeland," Elvin finally made his decision.
"But sir, weren't you just worried about the Greeks' scheme?"
"Upon careful consideration, we should not be so afraid of the enemy. Our naval power has always been superior. If the situation turns unfavorable, we can safely transport the landing troops back to sea and return to defend the remaining fortresses," Elvin calmly explained.
Thus, the Kaffa Consul's vanguard unit quickly sent a ship back to Cheleki to report.
Upon learning this, the high-ranking officials in Cheleki immediately decided to deploy a large number of troops to assist the landing.
At Grimaldi's strong insistence, Melo decided to increase the troops to 3,000, and specifically sent his adjutant, Antonio Meazza, to command the ground assault.
"Take the beachhead at all costs, then withstand Theodoro's counterattack," Grimaldi issued this death order.
About half an hour later, Elvin, having received the Consul's order, commanded the advance force to land at Meganom Cape.
The reason for choosing this location was that the terrain here was relatively flat and it was a peninsula within a peninsula; based on their apparent naval strength, even if ambushed, they could retreat calmly.
Thus, under the dark and windy night, the Kaffa Consul's advance force landed methodically on this coast, while on the periphery, the sailors remaining on the ships anxiously awaited the arrival of the follow-up troops.
Fortunately, their anxiety did not last too long; about an hour later, a large fleet of warships carrying troops arrived in this sea area, also preparing to land on the beach.
To confirm safety, neither Elvin nor Meazza rushed to let the large number of later-arriving soldiers land; instead, they had the several hundred advance troops scout the cape area.
Although they found no trace of the Theodoro Principality within several miles around, there were bright fires on the walls of Sugdaea.
Meazza knew time was short; although Theodoro had not yet detected their presence, the Sugdaea garrison was very likely to notice them soon.
Because of this, he quickly urged Elvin to assist his main force in landing.
Elvin always felt something was off. "Meazza, although there's nothing unusual on land, the sea is too quiet, isn't it? There isn't even a single fisherman's boat."
"Elvin, do you know why we chose this weather today? It's precisely because we targeted this moonless dark night when even fishermen wouldn't appear, so we seized this opportunity to land here.
At this point, any more hesitation will ruin everything."
"Alright, all troops, listen to my command, assist the General in landing." Hearing this, Elvin could only abandon his stubbornness and began to assist the main force in landing, but he always kept a wary eye, secretly having his flagship deviate from the coastline.
The Kaffa Consul's troops began to pour from their ships onto the beach.
To boost morale, Meazza also led by example, leading the second wave of troops onto the cape.
Just as they were landing, completely unprepared, the sound of cannon fire suddenly erupted from the sea.
"Who is it…?" A sailor on a cog initially thought a cannon on one of the ships had misfired, but he was soon pierced through the neck by a splinter from a cannonball fired from an unknown location.
"It's an enemy attack! It's an enemy attack!" The sailors on these warships quickly reacted.
These sailors, trained by the merchant Republic, were still competent; the sharp-witted Elvin, for instance, began directing his sailors to return fire at the enemy.
However, the night was extremely dark; even with occasional flashes of light, the Kaffa Consul's forces still couldn't accurately pinpoint the enemy's position.
It was then that they realized that the darkness, which they had initially considered an advantage for their surprise attack, had unwittingly become their greatest disadvantage.
To assist the landing, they had concentrated most of their ships in the center of the sea, while the enemy navy was clearly on the periphery.
Therefore, the enemy only needed to fire a few shots into the surrounded area, and some would always hit, while they could only fire wildly at an imagined opponent like headless chickens.
Watching the attacked fleet, Meazza, realizing what was happening, immediately broke out in a cold sweat.
He frantically ordered all troops to stop landing and return to the ships, but because the fleet was ambushed, they couldn't quickly return to their vessels.
Furthermore, about eighty percent of the army consisted of conscripted soldiers who, upon realizing the danger, lacked discipline and crowded the shore, becoming a chaotic mess.
Meazza, having discovered this problem, was about to order the entire army to maintain discipline when an even more chilling situation occurred.
Behind the chaotic Kaffa Consul's troops, there was a sound of saltpeter and sulfur reacting, and then a large number of disorganized conscripted soldiers in the rear collapsed.
"The enemy is here! Everyone prepare! Block them, block them! If we can't hold them, none of us will survive!" Meazza shouted anxiously.
Fortunately, it was deep night, so the enemy couldn't clearly see that it was him shouting, otherwise he would probably have been directly targeted and shot dead.
As he shouted, another sound of bows and crossbows rang out from behind them, and more conscripted soldiers fell.
His command became completely powerless amidst the already chaotic army.
Soon, what they had thought was a flawless beach landing devolved into a massacre of the Kaffa Consul's army, and the land of Meganom Cape became exceptionally fertile due to their blood.