For the Glory of Rome: Chronicles of an Isekai'd Legion-Chapter 22B3 : Paratroopers

B3 Chapter 22: Paratroopers

Thak howled with glee as he sailed through the air, flying down toward the city below. He braced as his feet smashed through a thatched roof and a wooden table. He heard his knees crack at the impact. But he hardly cared. They'd probably be fine.

Stretching, Thak grinned broadly and stood. The house was small and disappointingly dull. There was no shiny loot for him to collect. But it wasn't a complete loss. After all, he wasn't alone.

Hardly a minute later, he exited the house, leaving four fresh corpses in his wake. They'd barely put up a flight. Thak would have been disappointed if he hadn't come to expect such cowardice from the cowardly humans. But that was fine. This was just the beginning.

As he looked up, Thak saw many, many more of his brethren following his example. Green forms dove toward the ground and smashed through buildings just as he had. Some of them splattered against the stony ground in shrieking piles of broken limbs. Thak just grunted at those. If they couldn't survive getting into the city, then they were obviously too weak. And dumb. Thak was smart and aimed for a soft pile of straw atop a house. Though he’d crack the skull of anyone who suggested he wouldn’t have survived otherwise.

A warcry rapidly increased in volume as another orc hurtled to the ground near him. But rather than the ground or a house, this one got unlucky. The orc landed right on a street lamp, impaling himself from stem to stern.

Thak laughed at the dying orc’s flailing. It was truly embarrassing. He wanted to cut down the lamp and bring him to show all of the other lieutenants. But he decided not to. Then he wouldn’t be leading the attack anymore. And he didn’t want some other orc to get his glory.

“To me!” Thak bellowed. His words echoed against the walls of the city with a volume loud enough to cut through even the battle lust. Well, somewhat.

Green figures ran and hobbled towards him, their eyes alight with excitement. The blood splatters across many faces made it clear that he wasn’t the only one who had found humans already. Yet Thak frowned. This was far fewer than he’d expected. Why were they so slow?

His confusion grew as he realized that his brethren were no longer leaping down, either. From this angle, it was hard to see the top, so he couldn’t tell if they were even up there. But he didn’t even see any heads popping over the edge to look down.

Thak snorted. Cowards. But that was fine. It meant that he and the brothers with him would take more glory for themselves. The strongest warriors had been at the front of the pack, anyway.

Thak bellowed and pointed with his axe, indicating the tall shining castle in the distance. "The puny humans have retreated into their shells! Like… turtles!"

The orcs around him jeered at the blatant cowardice as he continued. “We will crack their shell open and eat their insides!”

“Yes, warchief!”

“Eat the turtles!”

“No, eat the humans!”

“I don’t see any turtles!”

His grand speech was well received as the orcs roared. Thak felt rather proud of himself. Maybe Grund was onto something with his fancy words. Though some part of him was sorry at leaving his brother behind to command the cowards still outside the city.

They began to charge down the broad streets, smashing anything in their way. Horses, abandoned carts, storefronts… None of it was safe. A few orcs peeled off to invade homes or seek the easy prey that filled their nostrils. Even Thak found himself veering off for an occasional snack. They had worked tirelessly over the last few days, after all, and they were hungry. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

But overall, Thak worked to keep them moving forward. There would be more humans and more shinies at their destination. At least, that was what Grund had told him.

***

Once his forces set up an acceptable perimeter, Tiberius finally ventured down into the city. He stepped through the gate with his retinue behind him, only for it to be quickly shut afterwards. There was no sense in leaving a vulnerability like that open. Not when they already had most of the forces they needed inside.

As much as he wanted to do a thorough sweep and clear of the city, such an approach would be ill-advised at the moment. His priority was to move through quickly and stem the flow of orcs, rooting out whatever ones had managed to get inside. Which, between the size of the city and his lack of confidence in the barbarians’ coordination… that might prove more difficult than expected. At the very least, he didn’t expect them to be hard to find.

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The men were already working to accomplish their goal. They speared forward through the streets, scouting and securing the area around just enough to ensure their routes and supply lines were clear. It was a rush job, to be sure, but moving any more quickly would simply be foolhardy.

Luckily, they had yet to encounter any real opposition. The populace had already retreated into their homes due to the orc horde and the few scattered individuals who stood guard near estates or homes simply glared at the Legion as they swept through. It seemed that they, too, had no desire to fight unless it was to protect their own. Which was good. It meant that Tiberius didn’t need to waste time with them yet.

He suspected that would not last forever—especially not once the main threat had been dealt with. But who knows? Maybe Marcus and that [Healer] girl would surprise him. He didn’t truly believe that their efforts would result in the capital’s more powerful factions simply rolling over to submit, especially not once the orcs were gone and that initial thrill of fear had left them. After all, compared to that enemy, Rome would surely seem a far more reasonable foe—and one that might be swayed by negotiation. He just needed to make sure that any misconceptions about Novara’s position were set straight.

Still, he wished the pair luck. The less fighting his men had to do, the better.

Tiberius stayed well within the area his men had secured as he made his way toward their other target—the castle. Barricades of wood and stone lined his path on each side, the barriers hastily erected by their engineers and building specialists. Men left at the intersections would ensure that, even if someone were to try and catch them unawares and cut off supply lines, they would not go unopposed. Especially once those men sent word to their brethren.

He glanced up toward the walls. Flashes of forest green were just visible along its top as Sylendor’s men worked to clear them. Having the archers clear the walls was by no means the most optimal setup, not by most conventional thinking. Yet with the incredible accuracy of the elves, they were able to sweep through with astonishing speed. And that was even considering the resilience of the orcs.

The few Novarans willing to challenge the Legion directly were being dealt with as they came. Soon, the elves would hold the entire wall, and Tiberius had no doubt that they would be better suited toward repelling the orcs below than their predecessors. Not that they would be alone. He was rather confident that Quintus and his newly assigned men were already working to make that task even easier. But routing them entirely would take time.

“Sir. Men have begun to report sigils marked outside of certain noble residences,” Lucius relayed.

“Oh?” Tiberius asked curiously.

“Indeed. A few golden eagles, and one red X.”

The emperor nodded. It was just as the bard had promised. Knowing who would be resolutely against them and who could be convinced to surrender would be more of a help than Marcus seemed to realize. Having at least some of Novara’s old infrastructure in place would certainly help to ease the transition and help Tiberius to better bring the populace under their rule. Putting down rebellions could be so tiresome.

But for now, all the nobles would have to wait.

Tiberius stopped to inspect the map of the city being unfurled before him. A few Legionnaires held their hands over it, translating Lucius’s reports to visual representations as he rattled them off. New areas steadily unveiled themselves as the Legion pushed further inwards, their own cartographers and scouts adding information to their own versions of the map.

A few areas glowed red to indicate conflict, only to flicker out moments later. Likely isolated incidents of rebellion that were quickly dissuaded by a show of force. Tiberius did not let his men pursue beyond a quick chase, as they had other priorities to deal with right now. Best not to thin their forces with unnecessary city fighting yet. The policing work would come later.

It was nearly an hour later that the first men made contact with an orc in the city. The encounter was marked by a sustained red glow until the Legionnaires finally put it down with prejudice.

On one hand, Tiberius would have preferred to take one prisoner for questioning. On the other… the green skinned warriors didn't seem much for talking.

Even though it had only been a single orc, however, the contubernium that had encountered it still didn't emerge unscathed. Two of the men were reported as injured enough to require healing. But following the orcs' none too subtle trail of destruction led them towards more of the things—and made it clear where they were heading.

Tiberius drummed his fingers against his bicep in thought. Could he repeat the tactic they'd already used, allowing the orcs to hurl themselves against the castle and its defenses to test them? Or would it be better to deal with the threat now?

He grimaced. On paper, it was a good idea. But in reality… The reports made it clear that these orcish forces were loosely organized at best. The further they advanced, the more of their number split off from the main mob to carve their own unpredictable paths through the city. It would mean fewer to fight at once, but would also undoubtedly draw out the task of clearing the city afterwards. Not to mention damage it. And considering that this city actually seemed to have facilities and buildings worth keeping… Tiberius was not particularly fond of that idea.

After another moment of thought, he made a decision. His forces would work to corral the orcs toward the castle as well as they could, surrounding them in a net and erecting obstacles to keep any stragglers from venturing too far. Then, after the invaders had dashed themselves against Novara’s last line of defense, Rome would follow along behind to mop up the remnants.

Turning to Lucius, he gave the orders. Lucius’s gaze went distant as he disseminated the information to Gaius, his officers, and a few of the higher-ranked centurions. After he’d finished, Tiberius spoke again.

“Warn the centurions to ready themselves for a full battle. I expect that the orcs are unlikely to follow our plans as well as we’d like. We will have additional men prepare at select locations in the event that the others need to fall back.”

Returning his attention to the map, he and his aides began to plan, pointing out locations where they could use their numbers to their advantage.