Chapter 798: The Siege of Rome (XVI)

But the Roman rescue troops quickly tasted the unpleasantness of the crooked wall they had built, which didn't allow them to speed up.

When the Theonian soldiers on top of the city wall saw the situation, they urged their comrades at the bottom to climb up faster.

Kailkous, the senior centurion leading the light armoured brigade of the Sixth Legion, was a native of Scylletium. A dozen years ago, he was just an ordinary citizen of Scilletium who had fought in the Battle of the Allaro River. After their defeat, he was lucky to flee to Crotone and not Scylletium, allowing him to survive the South Italian War. Later, he became a citizen of Theonia, became one of the most hardworking soldiers of the Sixth Legion, and repeatedly won military achievements in the conquest of Apulia.

After his promotion to the rank of senior centurion, he wrote several letters to the Ministry of Military requesting his reassignment to the Eight Legion. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Military rejected it as they feared that he, who harboured deep hatred towards the Syracusans, would clash with the people of Syracuse once he went to Sicily.

Instead of worrying after seeing the approaching Romans from both sides, Kailkous, as the leader of this siege force, calmly ordered the soldiers on the top of the city wall to send two separate units each to form a defensive formation to block the two pathways towards them.

The older Scipio managed to use the narrow pathway of the Roman wall to obstruct the Theonian soldiers who had reached the top of the city wall via the siege tower. Now, Kailkous employs the same tactic to buy valuable time for the remaining troops to scale the wall.

Furthermore, even if over a thousand soldiers from the light-armoured brigade and the mountain reconnaissance brigade successfully scaled the city wall, Kailkous had no intention of engaging in combat on the narrow and elongated pathway, as it would require a significant amount of time to overpower the enemy. Instead, he had a better option—the stone staircase before him leading down into the city.

The Romans built the stone staircase here to allow the soldiers to climb quickly because the southeast corner was remote. Unexpectedly, it became their fatal weakness the enemy exploited.

Magnus and Barbus quickly realised this problem, but the First and Sixth Legion's attack intensified. Obviously, the enemy had done that to cooperate with this unit's surprise attack and left them without a troop to send.

Without any other choice, Barbus immediately sent someone to seek help from Scipio.

Meanwhile, the exhausted Roman soldiers who had kept fighting with the belief of defending their homeland marched along the pathway towards the southeast corner before attacking them aggressively.

But the Theonian soldiers, arranged in a dense formation and had recovered their strength, blocked the Roman soldiers like two boulders on the pathway.

At the same time, the speed of the other Theonian soldiers scaling the city wall increased since, apart from the thirty grappling hooks, the soldiers also carried extra ropes. Upon reaching the top, they would untie the ropes, secure them to the battlements, and lower them down to the bottom. As a result, nearly a hundred soldiers could climb at once, quickly filling the southeast corner of the city wall with a dense mass of Theonian troops.

At the command of Kailkous, a unit composed of a thousand light-armoured and reconnaissance soldiers quickly descended the stone staircase and finally entered the city of Rome.

Before them lay three potential paths of attack. The first option was to traverse the northeastern wall adjacent to Collis Quirinalis, allowing them to head north and either reinforce the First Legion or launch a direct assault on the heart of Rome—the Senate. However, this route was both lengthy and narrow, susceptible to obstructions. The second path involved advancing northwest, passing through the road between Collis Quirinalis and Collis Viminalis, which led directly to the city centre. Yet, this route, too, was narrow and prone to obstruction, and military regulations prohibited them from venturing deep into the city without proper understanding. The third path, which Kailkous chose, involved marching westward along the city's southern wall to support the Sixth Legion in their battle against the defending forces.

In fact, not far from the stone staircase is a gate of the city of Rome - Porta Quirinalis. However, the Romans blocked the gate with stones and soil. Due to the winding walls of Rome and the number of gates(at least ten), they didn't have enough soldiers to defend it, so the Roman Senate decided to mobilise the people to block all the gates to prevent the enemy from breaching them.

Since clearing and opening the city gate would take a lot of time, Kailkous, knowing time was precious for the Theonian army storming the city, pressed on and led the troops quickly westward.

The light-armoured and reconnaissance soldiers were thrilled and filled with strength as they, who had always played a supporting role in previous wars, now found themselves at the forefront of this crucial battle. After passing through the Porta Viminalis, they began encountering elderlies, women and children delivering supplies to the city guards. Then like tigers pouncing on a flock of sheep, the Theonian soldiers easily knocked them down with their leather shields and caused the remaining people to flee in fear, throwing the arrows, javelins and oil jars all over the ground.

On the other hand, the defenders who saw it had exclaimed in horror, "Enemy! The enemy had gotten inside!!..."

A commotion immediately arose on the top of the city wall, making the soldiers unable to fight as they began panicking. A few soldiers even persuaded their officers to leave their position and rush down the wall.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Reinforcements are coming! The reinforcements are coming!!..."

Hearing the news, the older Scipio hurriedly sent his remaining three hundred heavy infantry.

Since they were not enough to threaten the Theonian army storming the city, Kailkous quickly ordered three centuriae to advance and fight the enemy's reinforcements. Meanwhile, the other two centuriae would go up the stone staircase on both sides of the Porta Viminalis and attack the city defenders.

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

"...the enemy has entered the city! The enemy has entered the city!!..." The people responsible for transporting goods ran back to the forum in panic and shouted loudly, causing chaos to spread.

The senators in the forum also turned pale.

"Go and detain them all, don't allow them to shout any longer and cause chaos!" Maluginensis was so angry that he immediately issued an order to the guard captain responsible for maintaining order in the forum.

Potitus, who's been at odds with him, didn't stop him this time since he also favoured using cruel tactics in such a crisis.

"Had...the enemy really...came in?!" Ambustus asked tremblingly, voicing everyone's concern.

"...send someone over to inquire about it." Although Potitus appeared calm, his hand holding the cane was shaking.

Just then, the messenger sent by the older Scipio rushed to the forum and confirmed the cruel facts that made the senators panic.

"Didn't Scipio already send reinforcements?! Those brave citizens...must have killed all the enemies while these should be those who managed to narrowly escape into the city!" Apuleius exclaimed, wanting to dispel his and his colleagues' fear. However, his tone lacks confidence.

"If Scipio were truly confident in repelling the enemy, he wouldn't send a messenger to warn us..." Maluginensis groaned. As someone from the same clan as the older Scipio, he naturally knew him well since he had worked hard to support this talented clansman, "And we no longer have soldiers to spare..."

In fact, the senators were well aware of the seriousness of the situation as they kept receiving reports on the war situation from the defenders of the city wall. And Maluginensis' words were the last nail that tore apart their hopes, causing them to fall into a terrible silence.

"To Capitolinus!" Potitus said decisively and calmly added, "Rest assured, everyone! Just like when the Gauls invaded, the Theonians might occupy Rome, but they will never capture our sacred land! And compared to before, our situation is much more favourable since Camillus would soon lead a massive army far more numerous and well-trained than a decade ago! So we would chase away the Theonians much faster, and the final victor will eventually be Rome!..."

Potitus' words reassured the panicking senators.

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

The Romans in the forum soon received instructions from the senators and began rushing back to their homes in a panic to pack up their belongings, carry food, and quickly flee to Mons Capitolinus for refuge.

But when the people living near the embankment returned to their residence, what greeted them was a horrifying sight: The stone slabs that once covered the sewers on the streets were lifted, exposing pitch-black and foul-smelling sewage. Meanwhile, hundreds of soldiers adorned in black leather armour, wielding black shields and short swords, formed a formation facing the Tiber with their backs turned towards them...

"It's the enemy!! They had gotten inside!!..." The Romans exclaimed in fear, even some women fainting due to excessive fear.

Although Izam heard the noise behind him, he didn't even pay attention nor look back at these elderlies, women and children. Instead, he pointed his short sword forward and shouted passionately, "Warriors of the mountain reconnaissance brigade, the time has come for us to make a great contribution! Follow me and kill the enemy!"

After he said those, he was the first to charge towards Rome's Pons Aemilius, with his men following closely behind.

The struggling Roman soldiers were startled when they heard someone shouting the name of Hades. When they were already struggling at the fierce attack of the first brigade of Theonia's Third Legion, the morale of the Roman reinforcements, made up of mostly slaves, fell to the bottom when they saw many soldiers in black helmets and armour coming towards them from behind that they even ignored Cassius' orders to turn and defend and had instead run for their lives in an instant.

Their desertion also shook the morale of the Roman soldiers who were still fighting.

On the other hand, the exhausted Theonian soldiers' strength got reinvigorated when they heard people shouting the name of Hades from the opposite side, with their sore arms seemed to have strength reinjected. So when they resumed their fierce attack, it became the last straw that broke the camel's back.