"Slice them all down!" Tomoe yelled loudly across the battlefield, as she swung her Naginata and took a head from an enemy in front of her. Her large weapon was covered in blood and she would soon need to swap to her sword so as to not damage the blade any further.
She had broken through the enemies line with two Centuries, and was pushing through to the rear of the enemies line. Her plan was to circle round and then hit them from the back as well. Her other Centuries were pushing forwards and their training was easily showing against the enemies.
A spear came towards her at pace, she quickly pushed the edge away with the staff of her weapon, before a Legionary near her stabbed the enemy spear wielder in his side. The Legionary pulled his weapon free to a floor of blood, before pushing the enemy out of his way with his shield and marching on to his next opponent.
Tomoe looked across the battlefield, noticing that Subutai was easily directing the destruction of the enemy flank with his small unit of Cavalry. The rest of the battlefield was easily in their control, the enemies fighting to the last, where as their ships that were had been pulling towards the beach had turned and headed back out to water.
"The Fleet!" A Legionary shouted from nearby, catching her attention as four of Riverside's ships came in to view, the larger Bellona at the front with three smaller Trireme beside her. Whilst the enemy had more ships, they were of the transport variety and would be no match for the warships.
The enemy morale seemed to drop at the sight of the Riverside Navy, whilst their forces were demolished at every angle. Tomoe ordered her men to start attacking from the rear, the enemy forces now split in two after her move. Her blood was high and she was happy to continue fighting, but their lack of surrender did surprise her compared to those she had fought against so far.
She passed her Naginata to one of her Batavi Guards that stayed by her side, who attached it to his back. He held a large sword in his own hand and whilst he and his colleague gave her enough space to fight, they would always be there if needed.
"Kill them all!" She ordered loudly as she drew her own sword and charged with her Legionaries.
...
"Keep pushing!" Dom shouted as his and Qin Ming's men quickly took care of those in front of them. The terrain was difficult but the Legionaries kept their formations tight as they pushed forwards in the dark cavern within the Cove. The enemy were less eager to fight than those they had dispatched so far, and whilst they fought to the death, their was at least more sanity in their eyes.
"You heard the Lord, get a move on!" Centurion Septimius shouted, his voice echoing through the Cavern. The sound of battle could still be heard in the distance, much closer than originally.
Dom kicked an enemy who was in front of him, before the Legionary beside him stabbed him through the throat. Another enemy nearby looked around him, seeing the chaos, panic appeared on his face. Dom felt that he may drop his weapon and surrender, but the opportunity didn't appear as another Legionary smashed him with his shield, before following up with a stab to the guts.
"Kill them all!" A voice echoed in the distance, a familiar voice, but one Dom wasn't sure on.
"Decimus?" Septimius shouted, his voice loud and clear.
Dom continued to fight as they pushed through the dark Cavern, the number of enemies before them quickly thinning, with some turning and disappearing in to the darkness beyond.
"Septimius?" The voice shouted back as Dom and his men reached the top of the Cavern, beneath them was a slow decline where a large battle was taking place with enemy bodies all around the outer edges of their formation. Beneath them on the lower ground was two of his own Centuries who were sandwiching the enemy between them. The area was slightly better lit than what Dom had seen, and he understood now that the difference in lighting was due to this hidden underground decline.
"There is about three hundred enemies left between us." Dom said to those around him after doing a quick count. "Let's go help our men out!"
"Charge!" Qin Ming bellowed from Dom's far left, as they used the high ground to push in to the back of the enemy forces below.
....
"If we weren't currently involved in a battle, I would say this is beautiful." Hector commented from the front of the small unit of Titanaconda as they travelled through a small underground tunnel. The water was blue and glowing, as if it had trapped the sunlight from outside and carried it through. It was clear and nothing could be seen beneath it.
"Can you seen an end?" Gan Ning asked, somewhere in the middle of the unit. He had wanted to be at the front, but Hector had been closest and the snakes seemed to be in charge currently and not their riders.
"I can't, but my Titanaconda seems to be following his senses." Hector explained, as all of the snakes seemed to have their tongues flickering slight above the surface of the water.
They travelled for a few more minutes, the snakes making good speed as they swam almost in hunter mode down the tunnel that's ceiling every now and then became lower and caused the riders to have to lower their bodies. Soon after some echoes could be heard travelling down from ahead of them, the sounds of shouting and swords clashing.
"Silent now." Gan Ning whispered as they continued down the glowing blue water towards the sound of fighting. The sound got louder and the shouting seemed panicked as commands were called out.
"I can't control my Titanaconda!" Hector hissed back down the line as the snakes all increased their pace towards the sound of the fighting.
Soon the water cleared way in to a large open space, similar to the Vault that Gan Ning had first discovered at the Ancient Underground City. The room was large and dome shaped, with several stone like tombs placed around the edges. There was also a large pile of gold and jewels, as well as several closed chests. The room was surprisingly clean with some large animal carcasses and bones lay to the side of it.
A mixed Century of Legionaries and lighter armoured sword wielding Hoplite were fighting fiercely against two giant creatures. The creatures were covered in thick fur, with large muscular back legs. Gan Ning couldn't see the front of them, but he could tell that they were powerful creatures. They were around three metres long and almost as wide, as well as being as tall as a man.
"Linos!" Hector shouted as he recognised his fellow Centurion as a large face crashed in to him and caught his shield, knocking the Legionary across the open room and slamming him against a wall unconscious.
The Legionaries were trying to stab their weapons in to the creatures sides, but they weren't travelling deep enough and were just angering the creatures rather than killing them. Gan Ning didn't have time to think as the eight Titanaconda's quickly moved on to the land and swarmed the two large creatures.
One of them turned and Gan Ning saw it's giant rodent like head looking towards him, a gaping gash on it's face from a wound, whilst a sword protruded from it's side. The snakes split in to two groups as they began wrapping themselves around the giant rodent's, whilst the Legionaries took a step back and caught a breath. Two quickly ran and gathered the unconscious Centurion Linos, whilst others pulled away other injured or unconscious men.
.....
"Lord Lazarus, it is great to see you." Thucydides exclaimed as the two of them caught sight of each other across the battlefield. Thucydides had taken one side of the forces with Centurion Geng, whilst Sun Shangxiang was on the other side with Decimus.
"Thucydides, I have no idea why you are fighting, but it's good to see you." Dom laughed as he pushed through the enemies towards the Elite Villager. "Where is General Zhao Yun?"
"Enemies were seen to the south, so he was dispatched with the Cavalry to deal with them." Thucydides explained, "We then found a tunnel and are now here."
"Who is we?" Dom asked, a slight worry in his voice as he noticed Thucydides face drop.
"Lady Sun led us here, in case we could support at the Cove." Thucydides replied, as Centurion Geng beside him looked sheepish.
"Keep pushing!" Centurion Geng bellowed, trying to avoid any of the politics that was way above his rank.
"Where is she?" Dom asked, hoping that she was safe.
"She is with Decimus fighting over there." Thucydides replied, pointing further down where her figure could be seen fighting with a tall Batavi Guard beside her.
"She seems to be fighting well." Dom stated, as he watched her stab the Harpe in to an enemy, before pulling it back and the Legionaries beside her stepping forwards with their shields. The enemy numbers quickly reduced to a small force as they were fully encircled by the Lazarus Kingdom forces.
"She has been doing her best." Thucydides explained honestly. "We have discovered an Underground City, similar to that of the Ancient Underground City. We came this way to make sure that you had support. Where is General Subutai?"
"He didn't turn up." Dom laughed in realisation, "I expect he had a similar situation to General Zhao Yun."
Dom stood beside Thucydides as the battlefield was slowly cleared up, it was only then that Sun Shangxiang looked across and noticed her husband. At first she looked excited, then worried and then excited again as she walked round the rear of the enemy lines towards him. Qin Ming had his forces search through the enemies, none of whom had surrendered, as the couple reunited.
"It's good to see you safe!" Sun Shangxiang commented honestly as she looked over Dom who was covered in blood, not knowing that she looked similar herself.
"What happened?" Dom asked her, wanting to know why she had decided to attack the enemies with a much lower number.
"One of the enemies wanted to empty his bladder over me, Centurion Decimus wasn't happy." She began explaining to him.
"Lord!" Qin Ming interrupted him from slightly above them, "Strategist Xun You has arrived with some reinforcements."
"He's a bit late!" Dom shouted back in frustration.
"I told him the same thing!" Qin Ming laughed loudly, as the Legionaries followed suit.
.....
Tomoe stood by the beach with Subutai beside her as they watched as the navy sank the enemy ships in quick succession. The Ballista that had been installed had created large holes in the side of the enemy transport ships, whilst the rams from them had sank the others. The battlefield behind them was being cleared up by the Centurions.
"I do enjoy a field battle." Subutai commented as he looked behind him, large piles of enemy bodies were being pilled together and ready to be burnt. Before frowning slightly, "But I do prefer it on the back of a horse with a large amount of Cavalry."
"The men fought well." Tomoe replied seriously, the Legionaries had fought fiercely, matching their Generals own energy.
"They did, the enemies were weak, unorganised and very strange." Subutai said as he stood up and stretched his back, before whistling loudly so that his eagle Genghis would come towards him.
"Much better to fight than they Type 3's." Tomoe agreed as she continued to sit and watch the enemy fleet sink in the shallow sea.
"General, a small group of Riders are approaching from the west." A scout informed them, as Tomoe also began to stand up and prepare herself for what ever was to come. "We believe they are from General Zhao Yun."
"A bit late for reinforcements." Tomoe replied with a groan as she began to sit back down again.
"Too small for reinforcements." Subutai grumbled as he realised that his battle may not have been the only one.
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