Unforeseen Adversary

*Splash*

*Splash*

*Splash*

"Steady!"

Julius and his men were on tenterhooks as the ship got closer and closer to the city, more and more splashes could be heard from the ocean, the Lunan capital was defending against invasion, luckily enough their own ship had not been struck or if it had, it was not significant as the hustle above their heads had not slowed.

"Get ready to disembark!"

One man came to the stairway and alerted Julius that they were nearing the dock at which point the men below would storm out and have to take up formation quickly upon reaching landfall.

There were three separate entryways to below decks as he peered around all the men below had received the message either from these other stairways or by word of mouth from one man to another.

"Alright men, this time we liberate what remains of Lunan, the majority of their forces should be away defending against Haddin's assault, but that does not mean you can let your guards down"

"Ho Ah!"

"The citizens have most likely been lied to, and worse yet probably think we are an invading force from the Carthaginian kingdom!"

"Ho Ah!"

"But an invading army we are so any who raises arms against you is a combatant and must be dealt with, but try to do no harm to those who show no signs, advise that they head for the docks to ensure their safety, once we begin taking the city a few cohorts will break off from the main legion to safeguard the citizens and prevent any possible insurgency that would result in us being attack from the front and the back."

"HO AH!"

"We're docking in 30 seconds!"

The final seconds were ticking down, up on deck the Sailors were hastily preparing for docking while the rest were firing back at the city with Bows and Arrows.

With a final jostle, the call to arms was placed and the army hidden below decks began charging out stream first onto the deck of the ship before rushing down the gangplank onto the firm ground of the dock itself and taking up a testudo formation with others forces disembarking from the other ships that are docking.

Julius and Zeff were the final two to leave the cover of the underdeck when the pair came up into the light the sight before them was just as one would expect, the assembled forces had joined together in a defensive formation and were slowly making their way down the Portway once their the forces would split into four separate groups, two descending down into the city, while the other two smaller forces would split off and begin climbing up the two sides to begin securing the walls and stop the assailment from missile troops atop them.

The pair stepped down from the ship, once down the gangplank was removed and the sailors began proceeding to pull back and make way for another ship to land and unleash more legionaries onto the dockway.

Zeff was going to be the one leading the first Legion group attacking the city while Julius would personally be taking command of the second.

Each group would gain more men the longer they waited but they'd also give the city defenders more time to set up a defence against their assault.

So not choosing to wait even a moment longer they separated and took up position at the rear of each developing formation.

Julius and his men continued their slow advance until they'd reached the mouth of the port their meagre force was bolstered twice along the way for additional forces freshly disembark.

But what greeted them at the entrance to the city was another army.

Not one of Lunan's designs but instead one that Julius knew should not be present.

These men are clearly forces of Germania, did they already invade in the wake of our own invasion, or did Lunan hire them as mercenaries at a price so high Julius could not fathom?

Regardless of the fight that was before them, the Latinium Legionnaires typically held the advantage against Germanic axemen, just as the Romans of Earth held the advantage against the Germans in their own time.

However, the advantage the Germans had was in their strength of numbers, similarly that seemed to be playing out here once more.

Lunan defenders rained rocks and arrows down upon their forces while the Germanic axemen took up a charge against the legion lines.

The splinter groups had broken away so hopefully the fire from above would be still soon.

So that they could focus on the enemy ahead.

So for now they had to take their attacks, the legion's formation was tight.

Even under the heavy pushing force of the Germanic warriors, and descending axes rebounding off the large shields.

From within the legionnaires fired their javelins against the assailants while those in the front long thrust with their swords at the much lighter armoured Germans.

As fatigue began to set in, the legion would shift positions within their tight formation allowing for those in the front line to circle back meanwhile the beleaguered germans continued swarming until their own end by the swords of the legion or by the continued blows from the raised up axes of their own men having lost accuracy due to the fatigue building in their arms.

The minutes passed and the casualties mounted, the systematic advance of the legion was daunting to the Germanics who outnumbered their foe but their own forces continued to surge against the unbreakable lines only to find that they were being pushed back meter by meter deeper into the city.

While the formation against them continued to grow, and the advantage they held from the forces on the walls was diminishing minute by minute as the Lunan forces there were being pushed back by forces who'd ascended to claim the walls themselves.

The lunanese people were barely involved in this conflict the legions had begun to pass by houses and they advanced up the city street pushing the germanics back and leaving corpses in their wake.

The legionaries at the back of the formation broke away to knock on door and instruct the citizens to stay in their homes or make their way to the docks where they could be protected under an armed escort by the name of Grand Duke Julius former lord of Aquitania, hero of Lunan.