The Byzantine heavy infantrymen who were at the forefront immediately raised their square shields, and dense arrows were shot at the shields. Suddenly, many soldiers in the Byzantine formation fell to the ground. But soon, the following soldiers filled the gaps with shields, maintained a dense formation, and attacked the enemy's city wall.
The Byzantines attacked in two waves.
The phalanx infantrymen with spears lacked shields to resist arrows, so Hilde placed them in the reserve array. When the battle began, if an unexpected situation occurred, they would pick up their short swords and rush into the city to fight the enemy. The heavy infantrymen of the Byzantine Kingdom were arranged in the front. These soldiers wore armor and held short swords, large shields, axes and other close combat weapons. They were the most suitable for fighting in the city.
"The enemy is approaching!"
The Thebans discovered that the enemy was only a few dozen meters away from them.
And this time.
When the archers ran out of arrows, the Byzantine formation suddenly changed.
These heavy infantrymen took out javelins from behind their shields, and the barbarians hiding behind them took out their special axes and rushed to the front. They raised their axes high with both hands, and then threw them directly at the Theban formation. These flying axes fell from the sky, with great impact force, and hit the first row of Theban soldiers hard.
"That is?"
A soldier poked his head out curiously.
But the axe flying in the air directly chiseled open his head, and blood and brain matter immediately splattered all over his teammates.
At the same time, the screams of countless soldiers echoed in the formation. Looking around, these soldiers were either hit directly and seriously injured on the spot, or were smashed to the ground with axes and shields. Some axes directly chiseled the shields and pierced the soldiers' arms, and miserable screams rang out instantly.
"what--!!!"
"Axe! Watch out!!!"
Even bronze shields could not withstand the attacks of axe throwers. These specially made axes could easily break shields. The huge impact could cause soldiers to fall to the ground or be ruthlessly smashed to death by axes. The axe throwers threw axes three times in a row, smashing the first two rows of the Theban phalanx, causing blood to flow and disrupting their formation. After throwing their axes, the barbarians immediately retreated, leaving the rest of the battlefield to the heavy infantry.
"Array up!"
The centurions of the heavy infantry immediately raised the flags in their hands.
The soldiers slung their javelins over their shoulders.
"put--!"
Then, the centurion waved his flag fiercely, and the javelins rained down sharply on the opponent's head.
The soldiers who were hit by the axes were now in chaos. Facing this round of javelin attacks, most of them had not yet reacted and had no time to raise their shields. The sudden javelin directly pierced many soldiers into the ground, and the resistance of the front row was completely disintegrated in an instant.
After the javelin was thrown.
The hand-to-hand combat is about to begin.
"rush!"
While the other party was still not able to react, the soldiers holding large shields rushed into the enemy's formation like hungry tigers pouncing on their prey.
The fatal point of the spear phalanx lies in the word "phalanx". Once the phalanx cannot be maintained, the heavy infantry armed with spears will face great pressure in front of the infantry equipped with weapons such as axes and daggers. What's more, the Thebans are still in the fear of the previous time. Suddenly, these fully armed heavy infantry rushed in front of them. They quickly took up their weapons to resist, but to little effect.
At the narrow pass, the Byzantine soldiers crowded in. Under the tight protection of shields, the soldiers devoured the Thebans with sword after sword. Even in the melee, the Byzantine soldiers still maintained a tight line, and then ruthlessly devoured the disorganized Thebans. Every time they swung their daggers, a soldier fell to the ground wailing.
"Reserve! Take the lead!"
The Theban centurion immediately sent troops.
But the melee has already begun.
The Byzantines had begun pouring into the city walls.
At the same time, the Byzantine light infantry also arrived outside the walls of Thebes. They were equipped with crossbows and better composite bows, and the reserve troops that had just assembled immediately became the targets of slaughter. The arrows flew everywhere, killing them without any resistance, and at the same time, it also covered the Byzantine infantry's step-by-step advancement.
"Humph."
Hilde watched all this.
He gave a disdainful smile.
"It's like an ant trying to shake a tree. How ridiculous!"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"fine."
Hilde knew that the people around him would not understand this sentence.
The Thebans' resistance was quite tenacious. Under such an attack, they still did not choose to surrender, but continued to fight. This made Hilde feel that the Thebans were another fighting nation among the Greeks. It was a pity that such a powerful Thebans could not become part of his power, but had to be consumed in this meaningless battle. It was really a pity.
The gods of Olympus.
What kind of shit did they feed the Thebans?
really weird.
With this thought in mind, Hilde shook his head helplessly.
Chapter 6, Section 10: A Desperate Situation
There is no suspense in this battle anymore.
The gap in power is too big.
Once the city walls were blown open, the Thebans had little chance of successfully defending themselves.
Hilde no longer wanted to watch the rest of the battle.
If the Thebans defended the gap in the city wall at all costs, then this battle would definitely not end today. The soldiers' physical strength was limited, and it would not be long before the Byzantine soldiers would be exhausted, but so what? The soldiers retreated from the front line, and then the reserve troops could launch a second round of attack in a short time.
This kind of round-robin battle.
It's just a waste of life.
But Hilde also had to praise the Thebans for their courage in fighting.
Hilde was very conscious. In this battle, the Byzantine Empire played the role of an invader. These soldiers who took up arms and knew that they were fighting a battle that was almost impossible to win, but still fought one after another to defend the city wall, were actually using their bodies to protect the city behind them.
A Theban indeed.
A city-state that can defeat Sparta and become the last overlord in the Greek region in the future.
Sure enough, there is still a world of difference between him and the other guys.
The fierce hand-to-hand combat lasted for more than half an hour. Almost all the Byzantine soldiers in the front row were exhausted. The heavy armor they wore provided them with a solid protection, but it also consumed their physical strength. The Thebans took advantage of the Byzantines' exhaustion and rushed forward with their reserve forces, and fought to a draw.
The centurions on the front line saw this situation and knew that they could not continue to waste their energy. The battlefield on this side of the gap in the city wall was too narrow. If the soldiers in the front row were exhausted, they would only be slaughtered. The soldiers in the back row could not quickly take over from the front row. The only thing they could do now was to sound the call to retreat.
The sound of the horn sounded again.
The soldiers of the Byzantine Empire immediately formed neat lines and began to retreat from the battlefield in an orderly manner.
"Don't pursue!"
The Theban general raised his dagger high.
"Rescue the wounded!"
“Be careful!!!”
The Byzantine army came like an unstoppable wave, and retreated like a wave. The tight formation did not give the Thebans any chance. The reserve forces of the Byzantine Kingdom outside the city wall were also ready. Once the Theban army rushed out of the gap in the city wall and planned to pursue the retreating army, they would be caught by the Byzantines who were waiting outside the city wall.
As the Byzantines retreated, they dragged their wounded soldiers who had fallen to the ground out of the battlefield. In the end, all that was left was a mess of battlefields and countless corpses of Thebans.
Just one round of attack.
The Theban army was about to be overwhelmed.
And on the Byzantine side.
The soldiers in the front had already exhausted all their strength and had no other way to continue fighting. At least within today, these soldiers had to retreat to the barracks and have a good rest.
On the surface, the Byzantine army did retreat, but in fact, this retreat was not the result of the Thebans' victory, but the opponent's leisurely strategy. The opponent's army left the battlefield in an orderly manner, while in sharp contrast, the bodies of the Thebans were lying on the ground in all directions.
Under this situation.
The kind of despair that arises.
It's indescribable.
The Theban soldiers began to clean up the battlefield and moved their wounded comrades and their bodies into the city. During this process, the Byzantine army did not take any action. Although they could have continued to attack while Thebes was not able to react, they did not intend to do so.
Atrometos was now near the front line, in a very dangerous position, but it was also because of this that the Archon of Thebes could see with his own eyes the fierceness of the battle and the huge difference between Thebes and Byzantium. The battle had only just begun on the first day, and it was unknown whether Thebes could still hold out in the second wave of attacks.
At least.
Atrometus did not have this confidence.
If there is a second wave of attack.
Atrometos had no choice but to surrender.
"Mr. Archon..."
The general walked up to Atrometos, took off his helmet, and the frustration on his face was obvious. As a general, he should not show such an expression in front of his superiors, but in the current situation, he had no other choice.
"Have you completed the head count?"
"The inventory has been completed."
"how many people?"
"More than 3,200 people."
Atrometos' heart trembled when he heard this number.
More than 3,200 people, for a city-state, so many people sacrificed in just one battle, this is an astronomical figure that is unimaginable. Atrometus could fully imagine that when the news of so many deaths reached the ears of the Theban civilians, they would definitely be very panicked and scared.
"If it doesn't work, let's surrender now."
"What do you think?"
Atrometos asked the general instead.
"Let's surrender now, okay?"
"Perhaps the gods have really abandoned us. Perhaps Hilde's existence is very painful to the gods. They can't even protect themselves and don't have the energy to care about us." The general lowered his voice to avoid his frustrated words from reaching other people's ears. "So what should we do now? You are the archon, and this matter should be decided by you."
"When will the next wave of attacks come?"
"There will definitely be a second round of attacks today."
Atrometos nodded.
Before the battle began, the Thebans had never thought that the Byzantines' siege weapons would be so powerful. Relying on the walls of Thebes to resist the Byzantines, it should not be a problem for a few days, but when the walls collapsed, it meant that the seemingly impregnable defense of Thebes was now like a piece of papyrus, a complete joke.
Everything was beyond Atrometos's expectations.
Although everyone knew that wanting to defeat the Byzantine Empire's army head-on was almost a joke.
But this thick wall.
But it also became a joke.
The abandoned Thebes
Atrometus was now greatly shaken.
He had previously loudly declared in front of all the Thebans that the gods would definitely protect Thebes, which was how he firmly grasped the hearts and minds of the people and the army of Thebes. But now it seems that if the statement was to appear, it should have appeared a few days before the siege, and the time left for Thebes was completely running out.
"If there is still no miracle when the other side launches the second round of attack, then surrender."
"Yes."
The general nodded heavily.
"We've done our best."
"yes……"
Atrometos looked up at the sky.
“Perhaps the world is really going to undergo a huge change.”
The Thebans' brutal resistance was not without other spectators. In addition to the Byzantines and the Thebans themselves, another group of people far away were also watching the battle. Under the overwhelming attack of the Byzantine army, the Thebans had no chance of winning.
This was without the use of any oracles by the Byzantines.
"awesome!!!"
Ares raised the spear in his hand excitedly.
"This is the first time I've seen a fight like this!"
"It's Athena indeed."
