Listening to his brother-in-law’s words, Bagulos’s expression gradually hardened with resolve. He declared loudly, “You are right. I am a Lucanian, but I am also a citizen of Theonia. We cannot let slip this golden opportunity to unify Lucania!”

“Brother, there is one problem,” Axistes asked immediately, seeing Bagulos had made up his mind. “Pyxus’s strength is growing too fast. Look, do we need to reinforce Cxima’s tribe?”

“We do nothing. Only then will that cunning Cincinnag firmly believe we are trapped in a dire situation.” Having cast aside his doubts, Bagulos threw himself entirely into the upcoming battle. As the de facto commander of the Third Legion in Grumentum, his decisiveness and composure began to shine through. “Besides, the tribes to the south were notified by us beforehand and have long been prepared. Everything is ready. We are only waiting for Legion Commander Hieronymus and Lizaru to arrive with their troops. I believe Lizaru is eager to wash away the humiliation he suffered at the Isthmian Games with a great victory!”

Although Axistes also yearned for the battle to come soon, as Bagulos’s assistant charged by Davos with the duty to “assist Bagulos in organizing the battle plan for Grumentum,” he had to consider problems with finer detail to patch any holes in Bagulos’s rougher approach. “Potentia hasn’t made a single move. Could there be an issue?”

“Rest assured. The Potentians were terrified by their last defeat. They have to defend against the Samnites and cannot afford heavy losses. Moreover, from what I know, their Great Chief, Puamote, is an extremely cautious man. I fear by the time he decides to act, we will already be launching our assault beneath the walls of Pyxus!” Bagulos laughed confidently.

***

Nycou fled back to Consentia in a wretched state, shocking Pianlun. Upon hearing Nycou recount his ordeal, Pianlun was struck by a mix of astonishment and regret. The news that the Theonian fortress had been completed so quickly stunned him. Furthermore, knowing Besidiae had fallen to the Theonians, sending Besidiae warriors to attack it was indeed a foolish move made in desperation. With Bruttian warriors already in short supply, having over two thousand elite soldiers disintegrated like this caused him immense heartache!

Although Nycou guaranteed that if he went to the front lines and shouted during the battle, the Besidiae warriors would lose the will to fight—even if they didn’t defect immediately—Pianlun did not intend to trust him fully. This hot-tempered Great Chief of Besidiae, who knew only brute force, had no skill in winning hearts; the rebellion of his warriors had much to do with him personally.

Suppressing his anxiety, Pianlun ordered the other tribes to send as many warriors as possible while he waited for the army led by Petaru to arrive.

By dusk, not only had Petaru arrived with his army, but Bergum, the Great Chief of Ambalia, had also brought his forces to join them. Only then did Pianlun feel somewhat reassured.

Early the next morning, an army of nearly twenty thousand men—comprising 11,000 Consentia warriors led by Pianlun, Petaru, Bergum, and Nycou, along with 2,500 Ambalia warriors and 5,000 warriors from other tribes—plus two thousand slaves, marched eastward together.

***

“Great Chief, bad news! The enemy is starting to siege the city!”

Hearing his subordinate’s report, Pangeru wasn’t overly nervous. For two straight days after Nycou and Bergum left with their troops, the Theonians hadn’t appeared. This led him to start believing Bergum’s words: Clampetia is not the main focus of the Theonian attack!

“What is there to panic about?! It’s not like the Theonians haven’t attacked before; didn’t we repel them easily every time?! Relax. With the strength of Clampetia’s walls, the Theonians can do nothing to us!” Pangeru rallied his men.

“But… the Theonian siege is different this time. They are piling earth…”

“Piling earth?”

When Pangeru rushed to the city wall, soldiers of the Theonian Fourth Legion had already paved the slope a hundred meters away from the wall with earth and stone, creating a flat surface about twenty meters long.

Then, Pangeru saw the Theonians placing wooden frames, each about the height of a man, onto the platform… The Bruttian warriors speculated curiously about what they were. Many believed they were tools for the Greeks to offer sacrifices to their gods.

Pangeru stared intently ahead. Watching the enemy laboriously carry wooden crates to the wooden frames, the unease in his heart grew heavier…

***

“Ready? Can we fire?” Hylos stood before the unit Davos called the “Ballista Team” and asked the captain, who wore a red crest on his helmet, with anticipation.

The Ballista Captain replied somewhat sheepishly, “We still need the spotter to position the ballistae.”

The spotter, an apprentice from the Academy of Mathematics established by Davos, stood to the captain’s front-right. Hearing Hylos’s question, he turned and spoke in a gentle tone, “Ready. But we need to fire a test shot first.”

He pointed to the city wall ahead and added, “Although we are about a hundred meters from the wall, Clampetia sits on higher ground and is not on the same plane as the ballistae. It’s difficult to judge the impact point. I need to see the result of the test shot before making corrections.”

The captain nodded in understanding. Hylos, however, looked a bit blank. He knew he couldn’t easily learn various subjects like Davos did, nor could he mingle effortlessly with those knowledgeable scholars. He didn’t understand the technical jargon, but he knew that since this spotter was selected by Davos from the highly valued Academy of Mathematics, his ability was surely unquestionable.

“Set the elevation rod to the middle position. Draw the bowstring to the maximum mark,” the spotter said.

Immediately, the captain shouted orders to all the ballista crews.

The ballista crews immediately turned the multiple pulley sets at the rear of the ballistae. Iron hooks began to pull back the finger-thick bowstring. (This was an improvement on the Syracusan ballista made by Maticoris after achieving certain results in pulley research, allowing the gunners to draw the string with less effort.) As the bowstring moved further back, it pulled back the ends of the two wooden arms, which were fixed into the torsion spring bundles within the iron main frame.

Not only did the two crew members feel the strain, but the torsion springs inside the main frame emitted creaking groans, and the wooden arms showed a slight bend. When the bowstring was pulled to the final mark on the guide rail, the crew quickly locked the pulley axle.

“Load ballista!” the captain ordered.

The crew lifted a stone shot the size of two fists from a nearby wooden crate. (It was made of “Davos Cement” mixed with gravel, solidified in a circular mold, and polished by slaves, making it both round and smooth.) They placed it into the woven pouch at the center of the bowstring.

“Fire!”

At the captain’s command, the crew pressed the release trigger. The spring bundles, formed of tightly twisted thick ox tendons, snapped the tensioned arms back with tremendous force. The massive power generated by the torsion drove the bowstring forward like lightning along the smooth guide rail, propelling the stone shot through the circular hole in the center of the main frame.

With a whoosh, under Hylos’s gaze, the stone shot flew out, turning into a small black dot in the sky in the blink of an eye.

In Pangeru’s field of vision, the small dot in the sky rapidly grew larger. Amidst the startled cries of his warriors, it flew over the city wall, crashed into the city, and smashed through the roof of a house, triggering screams.

The warriors discussed in panic what the object was.

Pangeru’s face was dark. This was undoubtedly a new siege weapon of Theonia. But why hadn’t they used it before? Why wait until Nycou and Bergum had left before using it to attack the city? Was all of this planned in advance?

“Elevation too high. Shot distance approximately 300 meters,” the spotter judged roughly after observing the stone shot’s trajectory. He carefully examined the reference table in his hand—created by the Academy of Mathematics based on newly researched parabolic equations—correlating elevation, torsion marks, and range. Then he said, “Lower the elevation rod by one notch. Keep the bowstring at maximum draw. Fire another test shot.”

As the captain relayed the orders and the crew busied themselves, the spotter said to Hylos, “According to our research, the upper-middle section of a typical city wall is relatively weak. Our ballistae should try to concentrate fire on this area of the wall…”

Hylos nodded earnestly as he listened.

A stone shot flew out again. This time, it struck the city wall accurately with a loud bang, sending stone fragments flying. The enemy’s cries of alarm could be clearly heard even from a hundred meters away.

Both the spotter and the captain were evidently satisfied with the impact location, so the order continued: “All ballistae, fire according to the previous settings.”

Over a dozen stone shots flew out in succession, blasting blossoming “stone flowers” upon the enemy’s walls.

“Continue firing! Do not stop!” Hylos was clearly satisfied with the ballistae’s power, but he didn’t rely solely on this secret weapon. He had another preparation. “Order the soldiers to begin building the causeway!”

The messenger departed with the order.

Hylos turned to Cipros, who had been following behind him. “Lord Cipros, I hope your men can also assist in the siege.”

“No need for such formality, Legion Commander Hylos. Please, just give the order!” Cipros said humbly. His gaze never left the stone shots whistling through the air; each boom struck his heart with shock.

With this siege weapon invented by the Theonians, and the four-meter-high siege towers being hurriedly constructed in the camp… which city-state’s walls can withstand a Theonian attack? Is the era where Greeks could lose a battle but simply hide behind city walls to resist a powerful enemy… coming to an end?

***

In the council hall of Besidiae, Drakos, Legion Commander of the Third Legion, sat in the center. To his left were seven chiliarchs; to his right sat Bagilipi, Brim (who had been persuaded to surrender by Bagilipi), and Krellu (the young man newly elected by the original Nycou clan after leading the four Besidiae warriors to drive Nycou away).