Demon continent Alsace in the year 307 in the 10-month Asmodum on the 26th day after the shattering of the empire.
He had to regain his honor after a priest of the eternally hungry had put him under his will, it had been his subordinates who had defied his orders, sparing him an even greater disgrace, and then the demoness had brought him back. Lifted him from the depths in which he had found himself within his mind and from which he could not have come out without outside help.
Commander Panos, who was the only one who had not been converted by a priest of Meinoume, which, as he suspected, was due to the fact that he had been running around with the demoness and that she had repelled any attack on him and his troop, who had taken over the command of the soldiers remaining on the surface. Had given him the task to take care of the reactivation of the golems, a task with which he could restore his honor and with which he could help his tribe to repel the attack of the cowardly subjects of Meinoume and send them fleeing.
They were all lucky that the demoness had returned, otherwise the city would be swarming with Meinoume's followers. And Eder down below, along with the few soldiers and civilians, would be on his own.
Diva would be able to help him, unlike up here, she could help him at least a little in her chamber, the place had been infused with her energy for millennia.
Something she couldn't do here, which is why he and his men were on their own and they would make it, he was sure.
Something he kept repeating to himself like a mantra simultaneously, he would not come under Meinoume's influence again, not if he knew how to prevent it.
Unfortunately, the demoness was not with them, otherwise, they would have freed the Larrua they had just encountered from Meinoume's chains and they would not have to kill them, but what else could they do, they did not have the time to disarm them and then tie them up.
"Make it quick!" He shouted to his soldiers. "The golem leaders stay behind the fighting men." By which he already found himself in the middle of the fight.
They were some of their own he recognized them by their scent, but also by the armor they wore. They had their crests on their chests, but he couldn't hesitate now and he had to be a good example for his soldiers.
So, without hesitating or showing mercy, he swung at the Larrua who opposed him.
The first one he had hit in the neck because he hadn't gotten his shield up early enough, unfortunately, he was able to jam the sword with his shield and so he had to part with it if he didn't want the next opponent to relieve him of an arm with one blow.
So he had only his shield and a clawed hand, which would not help him against the Larrua with armor.
So he would have to get back to his or another weapon and until then he had to defend himself.
To his horror, he saw many of his soldiers around him suffering the same fate as he did.
The enemy soldiers seemed to take it for granted that they would give their lives, but in return, they could take the weapons of their opponents. Behind the last opponents he could already see soldiers continuing to move in their direction, they were still more, but the first line of fighters, if this was going to continue, would not have a weapon when the enemy reinforcements arrived.
"Immediately shield wall! Form a shield wall! Soldiers with spears to the second row and those with bows or magic watch to stop the enemy reinforcements." No sooner had he said this than a shield to his right joined his, a few moments later, in which he feared they would not manage a shield wall, a soldier to his left also closed the gap in the wall. Already the first weapons were bouncing off their shields and he could see how arrows and magic projectiles were being exchanged between the far-fighting troops.
Unfortunately, some of the projectiles found their way into the ranks of his soldiers and weakened the wall.
The other side, however, was not deterred by the wall of shields and simply tried to climb over it, losing a hand or a finger and falling back down, but in the worst case they simply stayed on top of the shield, allowing others to climb over them and jump from there to the rear ranks - not that they survived for long, but it interrupted their own counterattack. And occasionally these opponents were able to kill one of his own men and more and more came climbing over the shields. In the same measure more and more of his soldiers came into the second row, which had spears and could stab the climbing enemies already on the shields.
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"Be careful that they don't snatch the spears from your hands." He roared over the battle.
Slowly but surely they were gaining the upper hand and their ranged fighters had made the reinforcements take cover.
"Advance slowly and take care that no one plays dead." With each step they took over the body of one of their own, who was enslaved by Meinoume, he was once again pierced by a sword, just to make sure he wasn't just playing dead.
As they passed his sword and the corpse of the one he had slain, he took his sword back with one hand.
Every corpse they had to step over was a risk, because the opponent lying there could only play dead, but also because at that moment one or more of his soldiers had to step over that corpse and so the shield wall was weakened at that point.
So far he could not see any of his soldiers lying on the ground, but he saw that some of them were sweating and smeared with blood.
"Just a little bit more and we'll be done." He could already see the large doors that would lead into the command room for the golems, and the enemies that had been driven into cover by his ranged fighters were coming into range of his soldiers' spears one by one, or they were coming out of cover again, only to be hit by an arrow or a magic projectile and die from them.
"Commander behind us!" Shouted one of the few officers he had with him.
Quickly he risked looking behind and there at the end of the corridor, from where they had come, more enemies were coming towards them. He gritted his teeth, they had only a few meters left, then they were at the doors to the command room, behind which more enemies could be lurking.
Did he want to risk fighting on three sides and that possibly a priest of Meinoume would show up and they would all fall back into the clutches of the Hungry One. No, he would have to take his chances.
"Hurry men just a little more and we'll have made it." The point now was to be confident and victorious, even if he didn't feel that way he couldn't give in to those feelings or he would fall back into the depths and be trapped in his own mind.
"Andoni, take forty men and cover our backs." He could not see if Andoni obeyed his order, but he could see soldiers moving behind and around him, forming what he hoped was another shield wall behind the ranged fighters.
His plan was that they would fight their way past the doors to the command room and line up on either side, preferably a third of his troops each and then a third would advance into the room and secure it while the other two would hold out in the hallway, once the room was secured they too would enter the room and he would barricade himself inside with his men.
The fight did not get easier and more and more enemies came, but fortunately, there was no priest of the eternally hungry among them.
"Take up positions on both sides and hold your side. The rest to me, Golem leaders stay behind us." He gave a nod to the eight soldiers standing at each door, indicating that they could open the doors.
His nerves were stretched to breaking point and it was only when he and his soldiers burst into the room and he could find no enemies inside that he relaxed a little.
"Get the golem leaders to work and you let the rest of the soldiers know."
The doors were opened as wide as possible while the two lines of soldiers moved backward toward each other.
Then they formed a semicircle, which kept shrinking.
"Now!" He commanded one of the mages, who let a bright flash shine, which was only there for a few moments, but still enough for the rest of the soldiers to retreat into the room and for them to close the door.
"Barricade it! And you get the golems going again." He was relieved that he had not lost any soldiers probably the enemy was focused on getting their hands on Diva.
The room showed no signs of battle, and they hadn't noticed any bodies that would have belonged to the crews of the golem leaders, which meant they must have been converted early on by the traitorous priests or worse.
He felt relief flow through him, but he could not let it show now, he had to be strong for his soldiers.