004: Defense
-Good job Niko, you already have a record of sixteen victories and only four defeats, you must be the best thracian in the entire academy, you are a diamond in the rough, a very talented child.
Niko's thoughts were flooded with words of congratulations from his friends and trainers, young Heleny begin training for war at the age of twelve and Niko at sixteen his only suffered four defeats, everyone called him a genius, but for him in this situation it was difficult to believe those words with all his heart. What good would so many words of encouragement be if he was about to die down here against the force of numbers? Five soldiers, no matter how trained and prepared they are, cannot compare to hundreds, however two things kept his mind away from Phobos(1) and Deimos(2) in the middle of combat, the hoplite confidence to spend his favor in defending him while he covered the front line, and the anger at hearing how Asterion sat behind everyone as if he really was tired.
- NORTHWEST AT THE PILLAR!
The hoplite blessed by Amphitrite shouted towards Niko, who watched as a myrmeke shot his spear straight towards his head, the spear traveled close to the speed of sound but the hoplite covered the thracian with his shield, pulverizing the spear with the favor invoked on his shield, spinning the water like a watersaw and preventing it from penetrating his defense, Niko immediately launched the electric sphere that he kept spinning in his sling, piercing the chest of the ant, at that moment the sphere headed as if it had its own consciousness towards other ants, destroying the body of two of them until the third stopped the sphere with its shield, meanwhile he kept his sling spinning slowly forming a second sphere.
-Cover me while I prepare another.
The plan of these two was simple but effective, attack the ants that climbed the pillars looking for attacks from blind angles towards the first line. Meanwhile, in the sides, the two hoplites blessed by Hercules maintained their positions efficiently, always covering the first blow of an ant with their shield covered with some stones and counterattacking instantly with their spears in the chest, head or neck of the ant, if two or more attacked, they pushed the insect with their immense strength using their shield, often leaving them upside down by the impact. Laconia, on the other hand, used her wings to hide the vision of the myrmekes on her sides and in one blow she killed the one in front of her, then she took a step back, stopped the retreat with her tail and repeated her strategy, when an insect managed to get close enough, the fire armor favor, forged by Hephaestus shot a fire arrow towards any attacker, giving the warrior enough time to counterattack.
Meanwhile Asterion was sitting with his back on the pillar and contrary to what everyone but Laconia thought, he was very attentive to the combat, specifically counting in a low voice each casualty that the group got.
-Two, three... Five.
The polemarch in the middle of the siege remained calm but serious, while he constantly hit the ground with the tips of his nails, perhaps to help him think and not get distracted, "When a hundred fall..." he thought to himself in the middle of all the chaos.
Despite being surrounded, their textbook plan was working. Laconia force at the tip of the spear formation was unstoppable and as long as she didn't have to worry about her back, no enemy could get close enough to land a blow more serious than just tearing her already injured wings. The hoplites' experience and professionalism kept the swarm at bay. Although Laconia annihilated the front and they could only defeat an insect from time to time, the important thing was that their wall remained firm. Meanwhile, in the center, they avoided any shots from any angle that would take the front line by surprise. The Heleny strength was superior. Only five Hellenes managed to finish off thirty myrmekes in just half plus a quarter of a clepsydra cycle. However, it is always in the most favorable moments of a battle that confidence turns into a slow and silent killer, represented through the temple in sounds coming from the highest point. Asterion, concentrating on counting the casualties on the front, felt a tiny rock fall. on his shoulder and looking up he witnessed how a dozen myrmekes released their claws from the ceiling, launching a suicidal attack on the soldiers.
-NIKO, UP!
Asterion shouted with all his strength, it was the first time Niko heard him truly raise his voice and when he looked up, he reacted as quickly as he could and fired the sphere from his sling, it struck down four of the insects but the rest continued to rush at high speed.
- Υιός -
As he spoke those words, Zeus' favor manifested from the ring, filling Niko's body with fierce lightning. Upon receiving such force, the thracian jumped like a flash and using his sica sword, he cut the necks of the six remaining ants in succession, as if for an instant the man embodied lightning itself. The transformation lasted barely three blinks and as Niko fell victoriously to the ground, confident of saving his companions, dozens of spears flew in his direction. The vast majority missed the path and with his sword he managed to deflect two of them, but a third pierced his stomach, making him writhe in pain as he fell.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
-Fall, fall, quickly, QUICKLY!
The hoplite defending him received his fall, quickly tore out the spear, causing the thracian to scream in pain and put his hand on his stomach, the water flowing from his hand mixed with the blood and slowly began to heal his wound while with the other hand he protected himself from more spears with his shield. More and more myrmekes attacked the team in suicidal charges, the warriors could handle these attacks but when Niko fell, they were quickly overwhelmed by spears falling from their heads, difficult to see and dodge, Laconia managed to avoid lethal blows by covering herself with her wings, but the hoplites did not have that advantage, the first spear pierced the soldier thigh covering the right side, who jumped with his other leg back to avoid certain death, then as he got up he returned the shot with his own spear and took one of the myrmekes' fallen weapons, at that moment, the hoplite healing Niko finished his work and began to imitate his companion taking the spears that had been shot at them that were not yet broken and began to return them, the thracian still badly wounded helped the hoplite as best he could.
-Seventy, seventy-three.
Asterion kept his count but the perimeter became smaller and smaller until each soldier was shoulder to shoulder and the moment a spear pierced the arm of the hoplite defending the left Laconia understood that the formation would break at any moment, so she decided to rush forward, concentrating the attention of half of the myrmekes while the team defended itself in a formation of four.
-Eighty-three, eighty-four.
A spear pierced Asterion's shoulder, he pulled it away and despite the pain he kept the count while he had his eyes fixed on Laconia who, upon entering the maelstrom of death, had six broken spears piercing her back, she would fall from fatigue at any moment.
-Ninety-six.
The strength of all was fading, just one more mistake and it would be the end and when another spear hit the last immaculate hoplite in his torso, Asterion stood up.
-LACONIA REGROUP!
Laconia burned the blood off her face and leapt back over the myrmekes to Asterion.
-Pray to Hephaestus to restore the pillars.
Laconia put her hands on the central pillar and closed her eyes, the rest of the team had no idea what this would be for, the marble regenerates thanks to the prayers of the gods yes, but the hoplites did it by asking Hercules, restoring the fractures of the temple with stone, asking Hephaestus for that favor would only fill the broken places of the temple with fire and while perhaps a myrmeke on a broken column would roast, it would have no other meaning, but Laconia trust in Asterion made her stand firm and with just one request to her god, every broken wall, every column, every hole and crack was filled with a fire that emulated the original shape of the structure, Laconia's favor was enormous and the soldiers watched in wonder as for just an instant a true temple of fire emerged in the jaws of the labyrinth, it was only an instant because the holes inside the pillars containing the vessels were also filled with fire and with a thunderous roar the bases of all the columns of the temple exploded, with the only exception to this being the central one. The explosion killed a few panicked myrmekes, and the temple quickly collapsed under its own weight. The insects tried to run away in terror, but it was too late. The structure, having lost all its support, collapsed almost immediately. The marble rocks crushed all the remaining myrmekes, and only in the place where the group was, not a single rock felled thanks to the hole made over them by Laconia. The team simply killed the four surrounding myrmekes and contemplated the destruction for a few moments in silence until a hoplite regained his voice.
-What... what happened?
-The vessels contained liquid fire. Have you never seen it? Before we were Heleny, we used them to mine. It is quite complex to prepare it, and now it is much easier to use the blessings, so it is no longer used very often.
The hoplites looked at each other's faces completely amazed at the destruction caused.
-How did they explode so quickly? I understand that Miss Laconia asked for a prayer to Hephaestus, but the temple was “repaired” in an instant.
-Laconia is very dear to his god, I assumed she would answer the prayer faster than any normal Heleny and even if it didn't turn out that way, I just needed the center of the pillars to be filled.
-Why didn't you do this before?
-The myrmekes that hadn't yet entered the temple would massacre us in the open field, I needed their numbers to decrease until they all fit under the trap.
A deep silence filled the labyrinth.
-Did you plan this from the beginning?
-No, I was thinking of using it to make a trap on the ground of the routes to explode them when the myrmekes came, or to destroy the entrances to buy more time, or in the best-case scenario directly use them against the nest, but since we didn't have much time, I opted for this.
Everyone was with their mouths open, there were still at least seventy myrmekes left, all now buried under the temple, while everyone healed their wounds Laconia let out a light laugh seeing everyone's reaction.
-Hey Asterion, tell them why you didn't tell anyone about your plan.
Asterion blushed and looked at the woman with annoyance, she did it just to annoy him and relax after the battle, the polemarch placed his hand on the back of her neck and gave them his shy answer.
-Whenever I tell my plans they fail, I prefer to keep them a secret... It gives me good luck.
Niko, who thought he had some great reason behind hiding his plans when faced with the unexpected superstition of the polemarch, could not help but laugh at the whole situation with Laconia, the hoplites meanwhile finished healing, took their equipment and marched on their way to Helena in silence.
-What do we do now captain?
The words Asterion had hoped to hear from Laconia came from Niko, who was brushing the dust off his body with a smile.
-Well, I think we still have time to witness the archon's spectacle.
The half phalanx marched towards Skiathos, walking over the pile of rubble, towards the depths of the labyrinth.
Thracian: Fast and multi-tooled, “the legs of the phalanxes”. They focus on defeating specific targets during combat, always equipped with a short weapon and a ranged weapon, they are usually blessed by Zeus or Aura.
Phobos(1): Son of Ares, god of fear.
Deimos(2): Son of Ares, god of terror.