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Those Samnite warriors who lagged were naturally easily caught up and stabbed by the Theonian light-armoured soldiers.

Seeing the Samnite army retreating fully, the Theonian light infantry, which was the second line of attack, also took the initiative to break away from the heavy infantries’ protection and strode forward, soon catching up with the light-armoured soldiers, and at the same time, gradually expanded the pursuing net to the east.

Polet was leading his troops to the foot of the mountains when he suddenly heard a horn signalling an attack from the east. He shouted with urgency, “Immediately rush to the mountain without forming up and surround the Samnites!”

After issuing the command, Polet remembered Xanticles, who was beside him, and immediately, with a sense of apology, asked, “Lord Xanticles, what do you think?”

The already sixty years old Xanticles was so exhausted from the continuous mountainous march that his legs were weak, requiring support from two guards. Panting, Xanticles managed a forced smile and said, “Lord Polet…I agree with…your decision!… However, we must hurry up…so we won’t lose the enemy!” He then pointed his finger in front after saying that.

A few hundred metres away, they could see an army wearing black and red climbing the mountain.

Polet immediately turned pale and said, “You are right! We can’t lose to the Samnites!!”

He immediately ordered the buglers to continue sounding the attack and instructed his subordinates to urge the warriors to increase their pace in climbing the mountains.

The Potentians are also a race living in the mountains, so their ability to scale isn’t weak. The warriors began drawing out the Theonian short sword they wore(this is what they bought from the Theonain weapon merchants with the permission of the Ministry of Military after receiving the Theonian military training.) However, they didn’t use the short sword to kill the enemy but to clear the branches and thorns that blocked their way up the mountain.

As they rapidly ascended the mountain, Polet heeded Xanticles’ suggestion to fan out the troops in the rear towards the north to minimise the gap between them and the forces from Abellinum.

Despite the two armies climbing with all their might as if it were a competition, it still took them more than twenty minutes to even reach halfway up the mountain. By then, they could already hear the sound of shouting and fighting coming from the opposite side, which was becoming increasingly clearer.

The warriors cheered up immediately, knowing they weren’t far from the enemy.

Polet also quickly instructed the herald to relay a message to the warriors, urging them to halt and locate a flat area, emphasising the need to level the ground for a stable foothold.

Not only are the Potentians doing this, but also the people of Abellinum.

All the warriors gradually stopped advancing once they reached halfway through the mountain. From a distance, they were like a belt lining on this mountain range.

After more than ten minutes, the shouting became clearer, mixed with the continuous screams and the clattering of branches and leaves… Though the thick trees blocked their vision, the Lucanians knew the enemy had already crossed the ridge and headed towards them.

Despite these mountain ranges appearing gentler, the slope was not small. As the saying goes, it’s easier to climb up than to descend, but for these mountain-dwelling tribes, descending is far simpler than ascending. It didn’t take long before the Potentians spotted the enemy figures.

Generally, you are at a disadvantage when you are in a lower position while fighting in a mountainous terrain. However, with the Samnite army in the middle of a rout, those routed warriors at the front slipped and slid downhill. Perhaps they were pushed and shoved during the retreat, or they thought they could escape faster in this way. But when they saw the enemies ahead, these warriors who got bloodied and wounded from having their bodies scraped by thorny branches had their spirits shaken and were too weak to stand and could only scream in terror, “Enemy! There are enemies!…”

As a result, they would either get stabbed by the Potentians or automatically become a prisoner.

And then a much larger number of routed warriors appeared. The fleeing Samnite warriors running at the front would occasionally hold onto trees while running straight down to control their speed so they wouldn’t fall or slip. As a result, they often didn’t have their weapons, either losing their shields or javelins.

Finally, the last wave of retreating warriors resorted to running down sideways. Despite the slower pace, they were more steady. Consequently, they became the main force in attacking Potentia’s defensive line.

On Abellinum’s side, Garni and the Abellinum warriors had mixed feelings when they saw their kinsmen fleeing down from the mountaintops in panic. But he knew that the Samnites had suffered consecutive defeats since the beginning of the war between Samnite and Theonia. Coupled with today’s loss, the final defeat of the entire Samnite Tribal Alliance was inevitable, and only by following Theonia closely could Abellinum gain a new life after the war ended. Therefore, Garni only hesitated momentarily before issuing the order to attack.

The heavy javelins they threw knocked down the descending Samnite warriors one after another.

“Damn it, it’s the people from Abellinum!”

“How dare you conspire with outsiders to kill your own kinsmen! Savoni will surely punish you!!!”

“People of Abellinum, we all belong to the Hirpini tribe. For the sake of being of the same race, please let us go!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Despite the routed warriors’ angry swearing, cursing, and pleading, the Abellinum warriors remained resolute, continuing to brandish their weapons. After all, years of blockade, suppression, and discrimination by the Samnite tribes had brought about the negative results today, and mere words wouldn’t dispel the deep-seated hatred of the Abellinum people toward their fellow Samnites.

The Samnite army clashed with the people of Abellinum and Potentia, who had intercepted them. At first, they successfully pushed back the opposing defensive line by utilising the terrain to their advantage and their desperate desire to escape.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t breach the frontline of Potentia and Abellinum. After all, Polet gathered twelve thousand warriors this time, while Garni also brought three thousand soldiers, their combined force being two and half times that of the enemy.

What’s more, the routed warriors were disorganised, ill-equipped and uncoordinated. After their bout of fierce attacks not working, some of the routed warriors began retreating. After all, although they used their advantage in mountain climbing to leave behind the pursuing Theonians, they were now intercepted by another group of enemies. Once the Theonians arrived, they were sandwiched on both sides and had no way to escape, so some of the routed warriors gave up going through the front and instead ran towards the flank, attempting to bypass the enemy’s interception.

Not long after, the routed Samnite army completely scattered as they retreated disorderly…

The three armies, consisting of Theonia, Potentia, and Abellinum, went to pursue the enemy simultaneously…

In the end, the Samnites lost thousands of warriors, with more than a thousand and five hundred casualties and the rest captured, while just over a thousand managed to flee. In contrast, the Theonian joint army suffered less than four hundred casualties.

In the joyful atmosphere of victory, Xanticles, Polet and Garni met with Alexius, who had remained in the valley.

“Xanticles, you’re late.” Alexius euphemistically expressed his dissatisfaction. After all, the long wait had made him doubt whether the reinforcements would arrive and even fear whether he could bring the troops back to the camp without encountering any problems, which frightened him a bit when looking back.

“We encountered some problems while on the way here. But despite coming a bit late, it didn’t affect our victory,” Xanticles laughed.

Garni took the initiative to take over the conversation and said apologetically, “The main reason we arrived late is because of me…”

After Abellinum joined Theonia, the Ministry of Military approved Alexius’ plan to take down Aquilonia, the nail in the waist of Peuceti and Dauni, so that the regions of Abellinum, Compsa and Aquilonia would be linked together, which would make the entire southern region of Hirpini come under Theonia, which would relieve the pressure on the kingdom’s northern border.

However, during the communication with Garni, the detailed information he revealed about the Samnite Tribal Alliance caught the attention of the Ministry of Military. Adding the information provided by Garni and the number of Samnite troops in the first three battles (including the previous battles against Caudini), the army staff conducted detailed calculations and hypothesised that the number of remaining Samnite warriors might be more than the ten thousand Samnite warriors besieging Naples. So where could these possible extra thousands of Samnite warriors be? Are the Samnites hiding some kind of scheme?… The Minister of Military, Hielos, had to think seriously.

Thus, after communicating with Alexius through letters, he formed a new strategy: Alexius would still lead the troops from the east into the mountains and attack Aquilonia. If the Samnites couldn’t send reinforcements, they would take Aquilonia. But if the Samnites hid a few thousand warriors and prepared to lure the Theonian army to fight in the mountains, they would use their backup plan.

This backup plan was Abellinum and Potentia.

The great chieftain of Potentia, Polet, reacted positively to the joint attack on the Samnite mountains, prompting him to gather twelve thousand warriors. As for Garni, if it were in the past, he might have hesitated. But the event of how the Samnite alliance lured the chieftain of Nuceria, Kinduk, to murder him and occupy Nuceria had already reached Abellinum. After all, Abellinum bordered Beneventum under the rule of Lesguk in the north, while they bordered a part of Nuceria’s territory to the west and Theonia’s territory to the south(they are especially close to Compsa). So, the Samnite Alliance’s bloody approach that broke tradition made him highly vigilant and fearful, making him determined to follow Theonia to fight against the Samnite Tribal Alliance.

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