Chapter 536: New Struggle

Aresio was surprised by the massive advance of Aetius’ army, but he was not that surprised, because the news of Theodosius’ death had already exploded throughout the Roman Empire like a thunder of God’s wrath.

A noble guy who had been Augustus since childhood. Everyone believed that he could live the rest of his life in peace, and when his life came to an end, he would ascend to his kingdom under the hymns. But who could have thought that Augustus, who had always been blessed, would die under the horse.

Aetius was merely afraid of Theodosius and did not dare to act rashly, but when Theodosius ascended to heaven and became a god, there were no more Romans in the world that Aetius was afraid of.

This time, Aetius led his army south again. Not only was the army formation massive, but he also pushed siege weapons to the forefront.

Several military formations and dozens of catapults were ready to go, with stone eggs loaded on the catapults pointing directly at Aletion in front of them.

Aetius made a big move. He deployed nearly 5,000 troops at the front. They were like a human fortress, less than 100 meters away from Araetium.

"Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle!"

The buglers of the city's guards stood on the city wall. Once they sounded their trumpets, hundreds of people responded. In an instant, buglers all over the city climbed onto the roofs to blow their trumpets.

The fully armed guards marched in groups of hundreds along the streets, and archers climbed up the city walls. In order to intimidate the enemy, they all wore horned helmets that represented the guards.

This time they no longer stood outside the city as boldly as they did at the beginning, but lined up on the city wall in rows, their eyes fixed on Aetius' army which was so close below the city.

"Demius, the garrison duke of Aletium." Aetius muttered to himself and asked the officers around him, "What is his current position, especially since he is a member of the Senate."

"His attitude is very wavering now, sir." Tereus replied: "This is not surprising. After all, no matter which elder noble they are, they all want to stand with the strong."

"That is the hope of eating even a piece of prey with hairy and dirty skin." Aetius gritted his teeth when he said this. "For such a bastard, I always need to prove my strength to him so that he can be touched and understand who the real winner of this struggle is!"

On the city wall, Aresio, wrapped in a fur robe, met Demius and Verus as Aetius had mentioned. All three of them had expressions of surprise on their faces.

"Aetius is going to attack, Aetius is going to attack!"

Demius shouted loudly to the soldiers behind him. Seeing their duke so panicked, the soldiers under his command naturally became panic-stricken.

“Ka-ka-ka…”

There was a sound of collision, and dozens of stones flew out from Aetius's army, passing over the heads of the soldiers on the city wall. They looked up and saw that the stones flew over the city wall like birds and landed on the crowded houses in the city.

“Dangdangdang…”

The rocks fell on the red roof, penetrated the house and sent the rubble flying everywhere.

The sudden destruction shocked the civilians who were still living a peaceful life in the city. They could not judge who launched the stones, but they understood that it was an attack and they were attacked.

Unarmed citizens, regardless of gender, age or status, were running around aimlessly in the streets, screaming and crying. They were fleeing in the opposite direction of the stones, which was the south of the city.

The guards on the street formed a human wall to block their way, because they had to maintain order in the city before it was breached. These fleeing guys would only spread panic throughout the city.

The panicked citizens collided with the guards who formed a human wall, and the crying women holding their children frantically slapped the sturdy shields in front of them.

"Children, children, please let us go. Don't let us become the dead souls under the enemy's knife!" The old men begged again and again. Even though it moved the soldiers in front of them, it was far from enough to shake the officers behind them.

"Stop them! Stop them!" The actions of the commander of the Royal Guard seemed to be as inhumane as those of cold-blooded animals, but no soldiers questioned their actions. The officers were all experienced warriors. In their eyes, order had already far exceeded the deterrence brought by the enemy's attack.

"I thought Aetius would not do so, at least at this time." Aresio looked at the Aetius army in front of him. Their slingers were busy using the trebuchet to fill it with stone eggs, and the next round of bombardment was about to begin.

At this time, a rider appeared in Aetius' army and rode towards the city wall.

He was so brave that he showed no fear when facing the round bowstrings and sharp arrows pointed at him by the archers on the city wall. He rode his horse quickly towards him.

Perhaps curious about what this brave guy brought, Aresio and the others all agreed that this was the stone that Aetius had used as a gift at the beginning, and then sent an envoy to negotiate. So this guy had good luck, otherwise he would have been shot into a hedgehog with just a snap of his fingers.

He raised his head and shouted to the wall: "Dimius, have you forgotten our agreement? It was before the coming of winter!"

The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. At this time, Aresio and Verus turned around and looked at Demius in front of them.

"No, it's not like that, it's not!" Faced with the two people's questioning gazes, Demius was so scared that he was speechless. He waved his hands hurriedly but couldn't find the right words to defend himself for a while.

"Hey, Demius," I can see that you are under the command of our soldier Aetius. You should remember your mission, Demius. Romans should not go to war with their companions. Open the city gates and let our army supporting Augustus pass through. Then, we will head straight to the east, where Augustus' position is vacant. Rome needs Augustus. If you block us again, you will be regarded as an enemy of Rome and Augustus!"

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"Madman!" Aresio yelled at the guy who kept shouting below. He snatched the bow from the soldier next to him, pulled out an arrow, turned around and walked in front of Demius, and pushed the bow and arrow in his hand into Demius' arms.

"Now, prove your loyalty, Demius. What they said is nothing but lies. I want you to prove yourself. Come, take them away, and then, execute this nonsense guy in front of us!"

Demius looked at the bow in his hand, but the quaestor was furious, so he had to go out to the battlement and look at the general under Aetius who was constantly trying to rebel against him.

He kept his lips tightly closed, and the man who was drawing the bow and arrow could see his trembling hands clearly.

Beads of sweat the size of beans flowed from his forehead and dripped down his cheeks. There were obvious traces of water stains between the five fingers of his tightly closed left hand. It is conceivable how nervous he was. His inner struggle must have reached a new height at this moment.

"Dimius, do it, now!" Aresio's tone was unquestionable!

“Crack!”

His right hand loosened, the bowstring was tightened, and the arrow flew out and landed beside the cavalryman. The officer screamed and fell to the ground due to the jolting of the frightened horse.

“It’s empty!”

The soldiers beside him spoke in surprise, and everyone only saw the guy hurriedly getting up from the ground, grabbing the reins of the panicked warhorse, and trying to leave.

"Kill him! Kill him!"

Verus pointed at the man and shouted at the soldiers.

(End of this chapter)