Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 1005: Stalemate

Seeing this, the subsequent Daonian warships pulled into shore. They lowered their drawbridges, and squads of Theonia Legion soldiers poured onto the embankment to join the battle.

Other warships bypassed Straphacus's flagship entirely, landing further down the embankment to allow the legion soldiers to flank the enemy from the rear.

Within just a few minutes, hundreds of Theonian soldiers swarmed the natural breakwater, with many more warships steadily pulling in behind them. Meanwhile, the few dozen Carthaginian soldiers who had rappelled down the wall found themselves completely surrounded.

Watching from the city wall, Lagnaca felt a jolt of panic. Realizing he could not stop the Theonians from landing, he immediately halted his men's descent and resolved to hold the section of the wall overlooking the natural breakwater.

By the flickering light of the torches on the wall, he watched the newly arrived Theonian soldiers spread into a loose formation in front of the lighthouse. In unison, they drew back their arms and hurled. A barrage of javelins sailed over the battlements, answered instantly by a chorus of screams.

Panic seized Lagnaca as he remembered that the Daonian Heavy Infantry carried javelins. Forced to alter his strategy once more, he ordered his troops to abandon this section of the wall and consolidate their forces at the entrance to the natural breakwater: the tower gate.

As the Carthaginians retreated, the embattled mountain recon squad finally breathed a sigh of relief. With no time to grieve their fallen comrades, they rushed to treat the wounded and clear the corpses blocking the lighthouse entrance, stepping aside as a steady stream of legion soldiers surged up the tower and poured onto the wall.

One squad member firmly gripped the arrow shaft protruding from Tarentus's arm, while another readied a sharp dagger against it. Gritting his teeth, Tarentus gave a nod.

With a flash of steel, the blade snapped the shaft. Tarentus exhaled sharply and gently shook his throbbing left arm. Though the arrowhead remained buried in his flesh, his arm was at least mobile again.

"Congratulations on another great service to the kingdom! The Second Legion will take over the assault from here. Rest and recover with your men; the field hospital will arrive shortly to treat you," Matonis said with genuine concern, glancing at the arrow wound on Tarentus's arm.

"Yes, sir!" Tarentus answered respectfully. He hesitated for a moment before adding a warning. "Legion Commander Matonis, the tower gate blocking the wall walkway ahead is even harder to breach than the Carthaginian prisoners claimed. The ranged attacks from the flanking towers pose a massive threat to the men. Be careful!"

"Hard to breach or not, we have to attack. We're out of time!" Matonis declared, immediately striding up onto the wall.

Tarentus understood exactly what Matonis meant. Lilybaeum was far too vital to the Carthaginian army. The Daionian Army's assault would undoubtedly alert Mago, the Carthaginian military commander stationed outside Selinunte. If they failed to capture the city before dawn, Carthaginian reinforcements would surely rush in from Selinus, and the night raid would end in failure.

At the thought of this, Tarentus found it impossible to sit still. He hurried after Matonis, intent on watching the Second Legion breach the tower gate with his own eyes.

Lagnaca had only just pulled his Carthaginian soldiers back to the tower gate when a furious Imisere stormed over. "Why did you retreat so soon?!" Imisere demanded, lashing out at him. "You handed the lighthouse to the enemy just like that! Lagnaca, you cowardly abandoned the breakwater! If Lilybaeum falls, are you not afraid of facing a Senate trial and being nailed to a cross?!"

"My lord, the men of the Magonid family value honor as their life. We are no cowards!" Lagnaca retorted sternly. "I ordered the retreat because too many Theonians had landed on the embankment. Fighting them out there was completely to our disadvantage. We lost nearly two hundred men in that brief skirmish alone! If our troops suffer too heavily on the breakwater, will we have enough men left to defend the rest of the city? It is far better to fall back and defend this chokepoint. No matter how many men the Daonian warships unload, as long as we hold out until tomorrow, Lord Mago will arrive with his army, and victory will be ours!"

Lagnaca's words gave Imisere pause. "How many soldiers did Daionia bring?" he asked.

"Nearly ten thousand!" Lagnaca deliberately inflated the number.

Imisere blanched in shock. After a moment of thought, he declared decisively, "I am handing full command of the Lilybaeum Garrison over to you. You must repel the Theonians' assault and hold the line until Lord Mago arrives with his army!"

"Rest assured, my lord. I will do everything in my power to hold Lilybaeum!" Lagnaca immediately vowed.

The moment the words left his mouth, a runner from the artificial breakwater tower arrived, shouting frantically, "My lord! Another massive fleet of Daonian warships is approaching the port!"

"What?!" Imisere panicked. "Are the Theonians really planning to concentrate their forces and breach the City of Lilybaeum through the port?!"

He wasn't the only one; the surrounding officers and soldiers all tensed at the news.

Seeing this, Lagnaca instead laughed confidently. "The Theonians arrived by ship; they couldn't possibly have brought large siege weapons with them. The Port District is narrow, so no matter how many soldiers they brought, they won't be able to deploy them effectively. Look at what we have! We possess such towering, sturdy walls and flawless defensive fortifications. Never mind holding out for a day—even if we had to hold out for a month, they would still struggle to break into the city from the port."

"Furthermore, a massive Theonian assault from the port is actually a good thing. We all know Lord Mago has been desperate to force a decisive battle, while the Theonians have cowered in their cities and camps, refusing to fight. Now they have finally come to us! This gives Lord Mago the opportunity to lead his army and annihilate them, and it gives us the chance to earn great merit. This battle might just seal Carthage's victory in Sicily!"

Lagnaca's words boosted the confidence of the men around him, and they reassured Imisere that he had made the right choice.

"General, the Theonians are advancing!" an officer shouted from atop the tower.

"You, take five hundred men immediately. Haul over large stones and seal this tower gate entirely!"

"You, lead four squads to gather massive amounts of pitch, lumber, and rocks, and haul them up into the tower."

"You, line your archers up behind the tower gate, ready to fire at a moment's notice!"

...

While Lagnaca was issuing detailed orders, a detachment of the Second Legion was steadily advancing down the wall's walkway in a Tortoise Formation, slowly closing in on the tower gate. Countless arrows curved past the gate, raining down on their tall shields without inflicting a single scratch.

The javelins forcefully hurled by the Carthaginian light infantry atop the tower slammed into the tall shields with heavy thuds, even throwing sparks into the dark night. A few javelins managed to pierce the shields, drawing muffled groans from the legion soldiers within. But supported by one another, the Theonian soldiers still maintained the complete integrity of the formation.

Just as they neared the tower gate, having weathered another volley of javelins, the Theonian detachment commander roared, "Drop shields! Throw left!"

In the blink of an eye, the legion soldiers lowered their tall shields with their left hands and hurled the javelins already readied in their right. Dozens of javelins tore into the left tower. The Carthaginian light infantry, caught entirely off guard as they leaned over the battlements to throw, were skewered. Screams ripped through the air, and several men tumbled over the edge, smashing into the ground of the port below.

Without pausing to check the results on the left tower, the Theonian detachment quickly hurled their second volley at the right tower. But the javelins from the Carthaginian light infantry on the right tower struck at the exact same moment. At such point-blank range, raising their shields in time was impossible; six soldiers in the Theonia Legion detachment were instantly impaled and collapsed.

"Shields up! Fall back!" the detachment commander barked urgently.

The Theonian soldiers raised their shields while dragging their wounded comrades back.

Suddenly, several Carthaginian soldiers reappeared atop the left tower. They hurled clay pots down at the retreating Theonian soldiers.

The clay pots shattered, spraying liquid everywhere.

The Theonian soldiers' faces changed: "It's pitch! Fall back! Hurry!"

Just as the Theonian soldiers were scrambling to retreat, several flaming torches landed near the broken clay pots. A wall of fire instantly flared up, engulfing the stragglers and turning several Theonian soldiers into human torches...

Matonis, watching the detachment's assault unfold from a distance, felt a sharp twist of anxiety. "Go find Tritias immediately!" he roared. "Tell the Second Legion's light infantry brigade commander to lead his archers to the corner of the wall and attack the enemies in those two towers! And... hurry up and bring the siege log up here!"

"Legion Commander, the soldiers have already carried the siege log into the lighthouse," the adjutant explained. "But the staircase is too narrow. They're having trouble hauling it up... they're trying to figure out a solution."

"I don't care how they do it, I just need it done as fast as possible!" Matonis roared anxiously. "Listen to me: get that siege log onto the wall immediately! If there are any delays, don't blame me for punishing them under Military Law!"

"I'll go tell them at once!" Feeling the urgency of the situation, the adjutant turned to sprint into the tower, but Matonis called him back. "And go notify the Engineering Brigade! Tell them to speed it up, assemble the ballistae, and haul them up onto the wall! I want to use them to attack those two towers!"

"Yes, sir!"

...

As the warships of the Third Fleet entered the Port of Lilybaeum, Midorades let out a long sigh of relief. The Third Fleet had only recently arrived in the waters of Western Sicily and was still unfamiliar with the sea conditions here. Furthermore, the route from Palermos to Lilybaeum was littered with islands, and they were sailing at night. Fearing that the warships would strike unseen reefs and sink, Midorades had not only slowed the entire fleet's pace, but he had also stationed veteran sailors from Palermos on every single warship to serve as navigators. Now that they had successfully reached the Port of Lilybaeum, he could finally put his mind at ease.

(End of Chapter)