Chapter 56: War Mastiff
"Phalanx! Defensive array!"
“Hooha!”
The centurion hurried back to our square and looked back at the quiet bushes. Nothing, nothing, it was as quiet as if nothing had happened. But the scout's body was lying in front of us.
The soldiers immediately formed a rectangular defense array, with their shields pointed forward, and looked vigilantly at the quiet woods ahead.
"Get out of the way! Make way for the coach's carriage!"
The one who rode up and gave us the order was none other than the traitor Livi. The captain of the guard was a high position anyway, so how could our centurions dare not obey? He quickly waved us to the sides of the road to make way for Aetius's carriage. No matter how dangerous the situation, the commander's safety always comes first.
Aetius's carriage began to turn around under the escort of the barbarian cavalry. The cavalry passed behind us with three-meter-long lances on their shoulders, followed closely by Aetius's carriage.
The bushes at this time were no longer so calm. In front of us, the branches of the bushes swayed back and forth in the windless state. Who knows how many people were passing by below.
"There are enemies! Prepare for battle!"
The centurion roared, and the soldiers around him drew a javelin from their backpacks and held it high on their shoulders. (Because of the increasing barbarism and the decline of national strength, the soft-headed heavy javelin could no longer be equipped and retired, and was replaced by a simplified javelin, but more of the javelin with guaranteed production.) "Don't be afraid, aim and shoot! They are actually more afraid than us, because we are the Roman legion!" The centurion shouted loudly behind the army, encouraging the courage of the soldiers over and over again. No one knew what would happen next. I looked around and saw that everyone around me had a javelin, but I didn't even have a cloth belt to hold the javelin, so I had to draw out the cool long sword and hold it tightly in my hand.
"It's quiet, so quiet, there's no movement at all."
Next to me, Fermiou's voice was trembling, and his eyes were searching aimlessly in the bushes in front of him, but at this time the bushes were completely silent.
"Are there only a few enemies, or are they deliberately delaying us?" Andrew analyzed from the side. He drew out his iron sword and knocked the shield three times with "bang bang bang". Then he shouted: "Comeon comeon! You burgundy bugs! Come out and have a real fight!" But there was still no movement from the bushes.
"Quick, protect the carriage!"
A cavalryman rode up behind us, clearing the way for the chariot. Aetius' chariot was about to turn around.
“Someone!”
Femio let out a scream and looked up, only to hear a "whoosh!" as an arrow flew over his head and pierced the cavalryman's waist. The cavalryman screamed and fell off his horse.
"Throw! Throw!"
The centurion shouted at the top of his lungs, and the soldiers exerted force towards the direction where the arrow came from. "Swish, swish, swish!" A group of darts flew over and quickly disappeared into the bushes. Then there was silence, and no sound came from the bushes.
"Keep in formation! Don't be afraid!"
The centurion raised his sword high and shouted, and the soldiers took out new javelins from their backpacks and put them on their shoulders.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!"
A rumbling sound broke the silence among the bushes, and smoke was seen rising from behind the bushes not far away, in puffs.
"What?"
"What is that?"
The sound was like a speeding chariot, but you could only hear the sound but not see the actual object. The sound was getting louder and louder, indicating that the object was getting closer.
"Flint?"
The image of the stones rolling down from a great height, designed to deal with the Roman phalanx, flashed through my mind.
"Keep the formation, don't mess up!"
"Get the carriage moving! Quick! Get out of here!"
Levi was making quick arrangements there, and finally managed to turn such a huge and magnificent vehicle around, but it was already too late!
Several flaming boulders flew out from the bushes on both sides of the road. "Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" the centurion screamed, but it was too late. The roar of the flaming boulders covered up the soldiers' screams and they rushed straight towards the phalanx.
"Boom boom boom"
The boulder swept across the army formation, knocking down a large number of soldiers, including me. Of course, I was hit by the rolling boulder and fell to the ground, not to mention those unlucky guys who were crushed by it!
“Woo! Woo! Woo!”
An extremely rough horn sounded, but it was not our horn, but came from the bushes.
"They are coming! They are coming! Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle!"
There was no time to help up the wounded soldier struggling on the ground, because trumpets sounded loudly on both sides of the road and the wind was surging in the bushes.
"Prepare the javelin! Stay calm, if they dare to rush out, use the javelin!"
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The centurion gave further combat orders, and the soldiers held their javelins, thrust their shields forward, breathing heavily, and looked very nervous as they watched every move in the bush.
“Crash!”
What we never expected was that a large black shadow rushed out of the bushes. It was not a person, but a dog, a mastiff!
"Fire! Fire!!!"
The centurion was obviously in a panic. He shouted, and the soldiers, needless to say, closed their eyes and threw the javelins in their hands randomly. Several mastiffs were hit and fell, but more mastiffs rushed up like a black torrent!
"Son of a bitch! I'm going to die here this time!"
Andrew shouted, lowering his body, and a mastiff jumped in front of him and hit the shield. The agile mastiffs had no way to stop them. They easily jumped up, using the shields as springboards, and jumped into our square formation. Soon, the first row of soldiers was overwhelmed by the black "torrent". They struggled and screamed under the mastiffs' ruthless bites, but soon stopped.
“Back off! Back off!”
Seeing that more than half of the second row in front had been killed or wounded, Andrew immediately told Fomio and I to retreat. However, behind us, on the other side of the road, a large number of barbarians rushed out, holding high various weapons, and their equipment was also of varying quality.
"Bang, bang, bang" the two armies collided and we were caught in two places in a dramatic way!
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
A black war mastiff rushed towards him, and Andrew took advantage of the situation and swung his shield to hit it hard, knocking the war mastiff down. The war mastiff struggled and got up at an astonishing speed, but Andrew's sharp blade followed and stabbed into the chest of the war mastiff.
"Stay together, or all three of us will die!"
Andrew was indeed experienced and quickly came up with a fairly effective countermeasure. The three of us immediately stood back to back, holding our shields against the ground to prevent ourselves from being pounced on by the strong war mastiff. Then we used the gaps in our shields to stab the mastiff to death.
"Hold on, hold on!" The centurion was still shouting at the top of his lungs, but was soon knocked down by the three mastiffs that rushed over. The well-trained war mastiffs did not give him any chance to resist, and opened their mouths to reveal their four sharp teeth, tearing open the centurion's throat. Blood splattered three meters high, and the centurion completely closed his mouth, leaving only the strength to twitch.
Levi and his cavalry had an even more difficult time. Their mounts were frightened and on the verge of being out of control, while they were riding on their horses, clumsily stabbing the nimble war mastiffs with their nearly three-meter-long lances. Soon they were dragged off their horses one by one.
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(End of this chapter)