Chapter 6

Hours later...

The wind is blowing with great strength. The farmlands nearby, or what's left of its planted crops sway by the wind.

Rows after rows after rows of Roman soldiers are deployed as the velites of the Romans are on the front.

Velites, the 5th class are at the very front with their pilum at hand. At their back are the Hastati ready to take their position once they're overrun by the enemy.

Then at the very last are the cavalry, the equites and the personal bodyguards of the Roman Consul and different generals.

The general in which Lupus is serving are tasked to become the very vanguard force and the first to charge to the enemy with his bodyguards and 800 cavalry men.

The remaining cavalry of the Romans amounting to around 3200 strong will charge a suit after they hit the enemy center.

The general fixed his armor and sized the weight of his long spear as he turned his horse to give a speech to his men.

"Today! We will feast in the blood of our enemy! Carthiginians, shrewed merchants! But they're only merchants! The gods shall smile upon us and give us the strength to defeat these invaders! Glory to Rome! Roma Aeterna!" shouted the general as every men on the vanguard cavalry shouted except Lupus who only shook his head, trying to suppress his laugh from that "motivational" speech.

On the side of Carthage, the 6 thousand men strong cavalry and formed a standard wing formation.

His bridled or heavy cavalry are placed on the center while the light Numidian cavalry are placed on the sides which will break off and attack the enemy rear and thus pincering them and cutting off their retreat.

At the commander's tent, Hannibal was looking at the favorable terrain and battlefield with a smile.

"Romans... Foolish Romans..." he gently shook his head as his tone was like that of saying something bitter and immediately spitting it away.

"Order a full charge! Execute the plan!" Hannibal then stood up from his eat ans suddenly shouted as the whole tent started to become lively with people coming and going.

Hannibal then looked at the battlefield and spat on the ground, showing his absolute disgust.

...

Sounds of trumpets and drums was heard, waving of flags was seen as the battle line of the Carthiginians suddenly started to become lively as all of the 6 thousand cavalry started to charge to the Roman lines.

The Roman Consul saw this and immediately relayed his orders of having the Velites throw their javelins and let the Hastati take the front line and retreat at their back to provide javelin support.

At the Consul's tent, a messenger assigned by the general of Lupus came delivering a request for them to charge and meet the enemy head on.

"Is he sure? Can he hold them off?" asked Publius Cornelius Scipio as he casted a gaze full of doubts to the messenger.

"Sir! My lord will prevail! He told me to tell you that." replied the messenger with pride in his voice and Scipio can only nod and give the order.

"Very well, I order him to charge nad meet the enemy head on! Tell him I wish him the best of luck."

"Yes sir!"

...

Back at the general, he was absolutely ecstatic as he finally got the order. Lupus on the other hand had a weird expression. He didn't know who's stupid between this general and the Consul.

The man in front of him is too much of a suicidal bastard, always wanting glory and fame. All balls no brain type of man.

Lupus finally just shook his head and clutched the wooden body of his long spear and readied for the charge. It's impossible for him to get injured, even if his strength is limited, he still has armor on his Dermis layer and that armor is titanium so an iron hitting it will be easily deflected.

...

The cavalry of the Carthiginian came thundering down as they finally came nearer and nearer the now formed line of the Hastati.

The 9 people from the squad was put at the very front because of their show of force earlier. People surrounding them has started to depend on them as they saw them as some sort of demigods or something.

The 9 of them stood shoulder to shoulder as they saw with their cybernetic enhanced vision the enemy coming to them.

"You ready?" asked someone from the squad with a low voice as to prevent anyone hearing it.

"This will be like a walk in the park but we need to follow the plan." replied his squad mate as at this moment the sound of hooves of horses trampling on the ground was heard. The people then cheered as they saw the general at the front.

With the general at the forefront, he including Lupus and the 800 cavalry came charging down on the flanks of the enemy, intending to hit them hard. The left flank of the Carthiginians then broke from the formation to meet the charging Roman cavalry head on.

The Romans formed a standard wedge formation while the enemy used a standard square. Lupus was at the left side of the general, covering his weak spot when attacking.

As the two sides finally met and a collision happened...

"Haaaayaaaah!" the general shouted as he thrust spear to his front only for it to miss the enemy by a hair's length which costed him his life.

The miss made him wide open as the cavalry man on his weak spot suddenly attacked and fatally wounding him immediately only to be cut down by Lupus who was on the general's left side.

Lupus deliberately slowed his attack down as to ensure that the general will be dead and he'll be basically free from his servitude. He'll only use the general and the general's glory as a trampoline to reach higher status.

And it worked like a charm. The Roman cavalry saw their general fall down and was immediately demoralized as some momentarily hesitated only to be cut down by the enemy cavalry.

The general's bodyguard was decimated as they brunt the full force of the enemy. Their original 50 was immediately cut down to almost 40, just with that first charge.

The initial charge costed the Romans around 120 men including the general and his 10 bodyguards. As if the gods isn't on their side, the enemy heavy cavalry on the center dispatched a small group to perform a hard flank on the Roman Cavalry left, costing them 80 men.

Luckily for them Lupus was on their side who not once did slow down. He was swinging his long spear like a sword, killing anyone stupid enough to come closer to its deadly tip.

Back at the infantry side, they're originally decimated by the brunt of the enemy heavy cavalry charge, couple it with the death of a general, some already threw their swords down and ran away.

However, a certain Hastati group still was holding greatly, even pushing the enemy back. The Hastati were the group in which the 9 men are assigned to.

They're battling the enemy like there's no tomorrow, slashing their short swords, bashing their shields, and many more.

The two sides finally clashed and the squad from the Imperium are carrying the Roman army on their back. But the fate of the battle will change when the cavalry of Carthage reached the Consul.