Imperator: Resurrection of an Empire

Within the first hour of battle the Greecians had lost 10% of their overall force, but as time wore on, the enemy learned to adapt to Romanus fighting tactics and the casualty rate fell but not disappearing entirely, meanwhile slipups started happening more and more on the Romanus side as the long period of battle continued to take it's toll, even with the rotations occurring the rest provided did not offset the intense effort required when in the front lines.

But still even as midday passed and the men on rest consumed a little water and ate their rations as their brothers defended their backs, those injured were quickly filed out and sent off to the medicus.

The Greecian numbers still had decreased by a considerable number.

[Greecian Alliance Army: 84,697]

[Romanus 2nd Legion: 4,983]

The Greecians themselves were running on fumes, as the battle had dragged on for so long as the already exhausted men were now starving on top of dead tired.

The casualty rate had begun to increase once again, but it was only about to get worse for them.

Seeing the enemy's breaking point as being near, Julius himself had come down the hill and joined into the legions ranks, having spoke with those who'd be around him in his line.

The first horn blast had called and Julius found himself enveloped within the sea of men, the sounds of combat all he could hear as his view ahead was simply the back of the man in front of him's helmet.

As he stood their waiting for his own chance on the front lines was hell.

Julius got to see what it was like for his own men, those who had confidence in the legion as a whole but if they as an individual thought themself to be weak this was like waiting to hear the horn blast that would call about your death.

But as his mind drifted the horn resounded once more, and quickly the front two lines disappeared, and Julius advanced becoming the new front line.

Meanwhile the Greecians having also adapted did not wait and crashed into this new battle line.

The sheer mass behind their push was intense even one with a high martial value as Julius could feel the strain it was putting on his shield arm as he held back the surging force.

But then came a slight lull as the renewed battle began settling in.

The gasp that came after the big stroke.

But in this gasp Julius took his chance.

[Earth Resonance]

Dum dum dum dum dum!

The ground before Julius began to crack and give way as the Greecians before him stumbled and tried to steady themselves even as the earth itself continued to shift and shake.

Before a red light shot up from the cracked earth, the move he'd not used since his last time using this move as his trump card against the invading Bridget forces spending the 100 points required to activate with zero hesitation this time.

As the red light gave way to the Greecians screams.

The red magma turned lava upon reaching the surface set alight the standing men, and due to their proximity prevented their fleeing but also causing those close by to also catch fire themselves.

In this one instant more than a hundred Greecians had been set ablaze by his single move and beyond that hundred of others were now being burned to death and further spreading chaos within the ranks as the fires spread.

With his move made Julius quickly dove back into the battle line that had been freed from the burden of combat for now, but rather than moving back to the resting point he instead ran behind the 2nd row quickly finding his next placement in the waiting 3rd line.

When next the horn blasted he once more became the front line and just like before the Greecians barely paused before crashing into his awaiting shield.

Only for the gasp to come again.

[Earth Resonance]

Once more the earth rumbled before spewing forth lava that once more cause hundreds of deaths, and spreading further chaos.

But it seemed this trick would stop here.

After the 2nd occurrence the enemies commanders had decided enough was enough, the Greecian line started shouting out repeated commands that radiated from their rear to the front.

And upon hearing so the Greecian attackers began to slowly draw back retreating until they had reached the edge of the Romanus archers ranges.

The legion meanwhile did not relax, for if they did and the enemy attacked their lowered guard could be their undoing as it would take time to marshal and come into formation once again.

But even still those in the 3rd row back did get the chance to sit upon the ground where they stood and take what rest and water they could.

Deciding not to wait around Julius left the legion lines and reascended the hillock to get a better overview of what was going on.

[Greecian Alliance Army: 78,680]

A quick glance showed that the enemy had only lost a quarter of their overall forces, a far cry from the typical retreat brought out by having lost half the standing army, but after seeing their losses in the face of such an underwhelming number of defenders perhaps they sought to pull back and gather intelligence to better compete against the defenders and win not through numbers but instead by tactics since numbers alone had clearly failed them.

Seeing the enemy's movements in the distance Julius sent word down the hill for the legion to stand down, most of the men would get the chance to properly rest, while a portion would remain active and on standby for now until the rotation of shifts could occur when they themselves could stand down and take rest themself.

This was because as he saw in the distance the Greecians were beginning to setup camp, wasting what little remained of their armies strength on such a mundane task meant that battle was done for the day, lest the Alliance forces had fully adopted his own fighting methods and decided to try their hands at night raid against his defenses.

The supporters within the legion, started up their own task, being aided by the archers.

The fallen Greecians were being hauled away by wagons and barrows not buried but piled up a short ways away from the hill, any broken or deployed traps were replaced, and any unbroken arrows or loot worth collecting for the battles to come were stripped from the body's before being disposed of, meanwhile the fallen brothers were wrapped in their cloaks, before being set aside when they'd get the chance to carry out the funeral rites and put their poor souls to rest in honour.