Rome Must Perish-Chapter 286 - 178: Capturing the Outer Camp_2

The last time the Nix people didn’t use these two defensive weapons was because the autumn season was dry, and using fire could easily set the wooden walls ablaze. But now they couldn’t afford to worry about that because the Panloni people had employed the ’battering ram’.

This was a large tree, big enough for one person to embrace, specially selected by the Pannonians from the mountains. After cutting it down, they smoothed the trunk and sharpened the front end. A dozen warriors lifted it and crossed the filled moat, arriving at the wooden wall and began striking the mud wall below.

Although the mud wall had been packed and reinforced by the Nix soldiers, it was not stone, and under continuous battering, it began to loosen, exposing the wooden wall base embedded deep within.

During the process of the ramming wood thrusting, soldiers on the wall would focus on pouring boiling water and fiery oil on the warriors carrying the ram. As warriors fell with screams, new ones continuously took their place.

Finally, under the relentless pounding of the ramming wood, the wooden wall base gradually loosened and ultimately broke and collapsed.

The Pannonian warriors cheered as they flooded in through the breach in the wooden wall, only to be met by the dense shield formation of the Nix soldiers.

The Pannonian warriors were tightly surrounded in the confined space, unable to wield their long spears and longswords. They fell one after another under the stabbing of Roman Short Swords...

Despite this, the strategy efficiently killed opponents and effectively prevented the Pannonian warriors from breaking through the breach.

However, the wooden wall struck by the ramming wood was not the only one.

Andres organized a dozen such ramming wood attack teams. They were spread under the wooden walls on the east and north sides of the Nix Camp. As more and more walls were knocked down, the Nix had no more troops to form shield formations to block them, and the defense force became stretched. Seeing this from the inner camp tower, Maximus decisively issued the order to retreat.

The sharp sound of the copper horn blew urgently, and the well-prepared Nix soldiers, relying on their repeatedly practiced experience, quickly retreated to the inner camp through several roads in the outer camp...

The Pannonian warriors who breached the outer camp were excitedly pursuing but fell one after another after stepping into traps, scaring the ones following them into halting.

And the few safe passageways were blocked by Nix soldiers forming formations, successfully allowing the vast majority of Nix soldiers fighting in the outer camp to retreat smoothly to the inner camp.

Andres looked from the rear and was overjoyed to see the warriors breaching the enemy camp.

However, it wasn’t long before he received the news: there was another camp within the enemy’s camp, similarly fortified with wooden walls, towers, moats, and traps. All those mercenaries hid inside...

Andres hurried to the Nix outer camp and, after personally inspecting, had to accept this reality: they had paid a massive price to capture only the periphery of the mercenary camp. To completely destroy this enemy, they still had to breach their inner camp. How much more time would that take? How many more warriors would they have to sacrifice?...

Thinking of this, Andres felt somewhat disheartened because today’s assault on the camp resulted in the Pannonian side suffering nearly 3,000 casualties, mostly deaths. The majority of the warriors died after rushing into the breaches in the wooden walls, being surrounded by the enemy, and killed by short sword stabs...

Andres was both heartbroken and frightened: in the two battles attacking the mercenary camp, the army lost nearly 6,000 men, almost a fifth of the whole force. How many more lives would it take to thoroughly destroy this mercenary force?!

Despite feeling heavy-hearted, when the three reinforcement leaders led by Temagis approached him, Andres raised his voice to encourage the equally disheartened trio, reminding them: the Alliance Army had already paid a significant price. If they couldn’t wipe out these mercenaries in one go, then many warrior deaths would be in vain. Although the mercenaries unexpectedly dug ditches and built wooden walls inside the camp, their defensive supplies were nearly exhausted. They, however, had gained experience in breaching camps. With a bit more preparation, victory could be achieved within days, thereby preventing this mercenary army from becoming a persistent threat to all Pannonians.

Temagis and his three associates understood well enough that the battle had reached a point where they could not easily retreat.

Their complaints were mainly meant to let Andres know: that assisting Segestica this time had indeed cost them considerable losses.

After the four reached a consensus, they began discussing how to deploy each team to occupy the newly captured perimeter of the mercenary camp.

The Nix people had prepared in advance, scattering all the outer camp tents and using the freed land to bury traps.

The Pannonian Alliance Army hoped to move into the outer camp but had to remove the traps first and then transfer some tents from their camp. Fortunately, it was not yet dusk, giving the Pannonians some time to prepare for encamping.

As the Pannonian warriors busied themselves in the outer camp, Maximus stood in the inner camp tower, watching everything.

At this time, Flanitnus climbed up: "Leader, based on our careful observation, the Pannonians have deployed about 5,000 people in the East Camp, another 5,000 in the West Camp, about 7,000 in the North Camp, and considering the 2,000 originally stationed across the river in the South Camp; the Pannonians have arranged about 19,000 people around our outer camp. (The Nix’s inner and outer camps are not concentric circles. Since the south camp was initially built near the river, later constructing the outer camp resulted in the south only having one wooden wall, and it’s not connected.)"

"19,000 people... It seems the Pannonians are determined to trap and destroy us here," Maximus casually quipped with a relaxed demeanor.

Quintus, pondering beside him, remarked: "The Pannonians have lost at least 5,000 men attacking our camp twice, and those wounded should be in their outer camp outside, and the most Pannonian warriors there wouldn’t exceed 6,000."

"6,000 is not too many, just enough for us to enjoy a good meal," Maximus said meaningfully, pointing at the busy Pannonians in the outer camp: "Look at their exhausted looks; they’re sure to sleep soundly tonight."

.....................

In the dead of night, Andres had a nightmare. He dreamed of turning into a stag galloping across the wilderness, only to lie down on the grass to rest, but a monstrous snake suddenly sprang out from nowhere, baring its sharp teeth and lunging at him.

He fiercely wrestled with it, but the snake was so agile, easily evading his horn thrusts and hoof stomps, instead gnawing his four hooves, leaving many wounds. Ultimately, he collapsed from his overly injured legs, and the monstrous snake bit his neck with one foul bite—

Andres was startled awake from the nightmare, and before he could gather his thoughts, his Guard Captain rushed in, panic-stricken: "Great Chief, not... it’s not good! Our camp outside is under attack; it’s burning!"

"What?!"

Andres hurriedly arrived at the wooden wall of the outer camp. The passageway was already crowded with warriors, each staring nervously outside.

Countless tents of the Pannonian Allied Camp, a hundred meters beyond the Nix Camp, were ablaze. The raging flames illuminated the dark night sky; from a distance, they looked like a massive red belt encircling the Nix Camp... Amid the firelight, shadows flitted to and fro; blades gleamed, and constant screams echoed like eerie howls in the night, sending chills down the spine.

At that moment, Andres only felt a sharp pain in his head, and a single thought floated in his mind: Terrible! 3,000 warriors stationed at the camp, more than 3,000 wounded, and countless gathered food supplies...

"Andres, the enemy is attacking the camp. We must go to the rescue!" The shout from Temagis snapped the distracted Andres back to reality.

Suppressing the chaos within his heart, he shouted over to Temagis, who was holding a torch not far away: "Take your men and rush to the rescue; you have cavalry; your actions are quicker! I will stay here to watch over the mercenaries inside!"