"No, this is impossible..."
"Whether it's possible or not, it's not up to you and me to decide, right?"
"No matter what, I have to defeat you first!"
After saying that, Hercules waved the giant blade in his hand and rushed towards Xerxes.
Hercules was not very smart, but he knew one thing very well. His current job was to defeat the enemy, not to think about what was wrong with this matter. He could feel that there was something wrong with this matter. Whether what Zeus said was true or not was still debatable. But now, no matter what, Hercules had to get rid of the guy in front of him in one go and then go to support Hera.
Because he felt it.
Hera was cornered.
"Are you anxious?"
Xerxes dodged the opponent's attack lightly.
"Really? Your Hera is really weak. She is not even as good as Apollo back then."
"Come and die!"
The huge blade swept past.
Even the burning flames were directly cut off by the giant blade, and the resulting strong wind directly blew away the surrounding flames. Then, Hercules looked up and instinctively swung his knife upwards, directly cutting Xerxes.
But then, Xerxes' body turned into several flames.
The other Xerxes appeared on the right side of Hercules.
"It's useless, it's useless. As long as the flame is not extinguished, I will not die."
"Humph."
On Xerxes.
There are also too many bizarre things.
Hercules had already experienced this.
This place is a certain distance away from where Hera is fighting, so Hercules doesn't know what kind of predicament Hera is facing. However, since this guy is getting in the way, Hercules can't just sit there and wait for death. He must show some real skills to get rid of this guy before he can quickly support Hera.
Then, Hercules roared and swung the giant sword in his hand violently. The air currents around him immediately gathered because of Hercules' actions. Hercules was very fast, and his huge body did not slow him down at all. He used his high speed to put out all the flames in front of him one by one.
And Xerxes saw this scene.
The smile on his face became even more rampant.
"Come on! Come on!"
"Dance in the flames!"
Xerxes' words gradually became more and more crazy.
So crazy that even Xerxes himself didn't know—
After all, this is my own idea.
Or someone else's idea.
But for Xerxes, she hadn't fought in such a state of abundant divine power for a long time. When fighting Apollo before, Xerxes, as a demigod, had a very hard time fighting and had almost no way to deal with it well. But now, even facing Hercules, who was at the same level as Apollo, Xerxes was able to deal with it calmly, and gradually consumed the opponent's divine power, and slowly forced the opponent into his trap.
This method of torturing prey by a predator was Xerxes' favorite, especially when the opponent was a god. Seeing Hercules waving his giant blade quickly in his own flame maze, trying to put out all the flames, Xerxes's playfulness slowly took over her rationality. She thought it was very interesting now, and it didn't matter even if she didn't need to quickly get rid of this guy to support Sophia and the others.
"It was truly an incredible battle."
Druberti sighed helplessly.
Now, the oracles and gods of both sides are fighting to a standstill.
As a mortal, Drybithis had to stick to his duty. Although he knew that in the face of such power, it would be easy to crush a mortal like him. However, Drybithis was not discouraged. He continued to shout at the top of his voice, asking his officers and soldiers to continue to attack the Athenians.
a war.
These heroes and gods are dazzling.
But the soldiers composed of ordinary humans cannot be ignored.
Chapter : Situation of Naval Operations
The war broke out simultaneously outside Megara and outside Athens.
At the same time, on the Aegean Sea, the largest naval battle in Greek history was about to break out.
The Athenian fleet, the most powerful fleet in the Greek city-state, is now concentrated in the area around Delos, ready to attack or retreat. They all know that their home city is really surrounded and is now in danger. However, there is no order or plan for the Athenian navy to take any action. They don't know whether they should continue to stay on Delos or look for an opportunity to attack. At least, for the general of the Athenian navy, Themistocles.
He would rather resolve the battle directly.
As a legendary general who once defeated the Persian fleet at Salamis.
He is not young anymore, but he still has this kind of confidence.
At that time, Athens had only 190 warships, and including the warships of the allies, there were only about 300 warships, but they defeated the Persians with a total of 700 warships. Now, the size of the Byzantine naval fleet is actually not much different from that of the Athenian fleet. Themistocles felt that the reason why this battle was not fought before was because the Athenian fleet was distributed in various locations in the Aegean Sea and could not be concentrated, but now the army has been concentrated.
If we still don't fight, it would obviously be unreasonable.
So, Themistocles looked for an opportunity.
And just last night.
This piece of news cheered up the worried Themistocles.
The Byzantine navy that surrounded Athens had already evacuated Athens, and the main force of the fleet was now heading towards Delos. There was no doubt that Themistocles knew that the Byzantine navy's target was definitely the Athenian navy stationed on Delos. However, the experienced Themistocles knew that the Byzantine navy's actions actually exposed the opponent's lack of naval combat experience.
You know, the place where Delos is located is an archipelago.
Known as the Cyclades.
In addition to Delos, there are a large number of islands here.
Like Paros, Milos, Naxos, Minos, these are the islands around Delos.
Currently, they are all under the control of Athens.
Now, the Byzantine navy has entered this area openly, which is a bit too much of a disregard for the Athenian navy. The complex terrain of the archipelago will make the large fleet of more than 400 ships only able to sail in a narrow sea area. The Athenian navy, which has land supply and reconnaissance capabilities, can use the narrow sea area to make a breakthrough, just like the feat of defeating the Persian fleet in the Bay of Salamis, and take advantage of the opponent's large fleet's inflexible maneuverability to successfully disintegrate the opponent's attack.
Then Themistocles could no longer sit still.
He immediately gave the order and the Athenian fleet began to rendezvous.
Prepare to have a head-on confrontation with the Byzantine naval fleet around the island of Delos.
The day before Hilde and the others entered the melee, the Byzantine fleet led by Rhodes had already arrived at the area around Paros Island under the cover of night. Paros Island is the second largest island in the archipelago, and is across the sea from the largest island, Naxos Island. Now it is late at night, and Paros Island has obviously not reacted to the Byzantine Navy's visit.
Rhodes stood on the mast, looking at Paros Island in the distance.
"Lord Rhodes?"
"The Athenian fleet is not stationed here."
Rhodes jumped down from the mast and landed lightly on the deck.
"We have to find an opportunity to catch the other party."
"The Athenian fleet should not be on the east side of Paros Island. It is across the sea from Naxos Island and is a natural port for anchoring warships." Amyntas held up a torch and illuminated the map in the officer's hand. "However, the narrow sea area is not suitable for our army to fight. If we go deep into this area with complex terrain, we will easily suffer losses."
"Sissi said that she hopes her opponent will surrender without a fight."
"Can……"
Amyntas sighed helplessly.
"The opponent we are facing is the Athenian Navy. I know these guys. They are very arrogant and think that their fleet is the largest and most powerful in the entire Aegean Sea and even the Mediterranean. Therefore, it is unlikely that the other party will accept our surrender request. Perhaps, after experiencing a relatively large loss, they will see how powerful we are and realize that they cannot compete with us, so they will choose to surrender obediently."
"A big loss..."
Rhodes also thought about it carefully.
Today's Paros Island includes several large islands around it.
These were places where the fleets of Athens and its allies docked.
However, Rhodes did not have enough legionnaires to go directly to the island to fight. Moreover, launching an island landing operation would be a very long process. Soldiers would go to the island and besiege the city, which might take a few days or even months, and they might not be able to capture the city. When the Spartans attacked here, they also spent a lot of effort. With the help of the Corinthians, they took several islands, forcing the Athenians to move the treasury of Delos to the city of Athens.
"If the other party hides in the port, we can't do anything."
"I am Lord Poseidon's oracle."
Rhodes gently knocked the golden trident in his hand on the deck.
"As long as I can find the enemy, I can defeat him."
"That's true..."
Amyntas also nodded quickly.
On the sea, Poseidon's oracle is probably more powerful than three hundred warships.
However, Amyntas also knew that Rhodes did not like killing people, or rather, he was very averse to killing people. Although Rhodes was aware of killing people for the sake of Byzantium, until now, Rhodes also had the idea of preserving the Athenian fleet for his own use. She did not want the waves or tornadoes she summoned to destroy a large number of ships and kill hundreds of people.
"Or, driving them out would be no problem, right?"
"Drive away?"
"We will first send out reconnaissance boats to the east of Paros to investigate the garrisons on Paros and Naxos. If the Athenian fleet is really stationed here, we will consider how to force the fleets of the two places out, or completely block the ports of the two places and use catapults to directly attack the warships anchored in the ports... If the enemy is not here, the main force of the Athenian fleet may all be anchored on Delos."
Chapter 4, Section 7: Too Gentle Rhodes
"This is the only possibility."
Based on previous intelligence.
The Athenian fleet went nowhere else.
But it is near the island of Delos.
As long as we can lock the location of the enemy fleet, we can think about the next strategy.
So Rhodes nodded and agreed to the plan.
The fleet of the Byzantine Empire was equipped with many light warships with fewer people. These warships were equipped with complex sails but simplified oars. The sea breeze at night was strong, and under the effect of the sails, these small warships could move at a speed that the three-oared warships could not catch up with, so naturally there was no need to worry about whether they would encounter threats or attacks on the way.
Now it was late at night, and the warships were forbidden to use open flames. The soldiers could not sleep and had to do their best to wait for the next situation. So the soldiers on the ship began to eat cold bread, cold salted fish and goat cheese.
Amyntas brought a piece of bread.
"Lord Rhodes, would you like to eat something?"
"Thank you."
Rhodes wanted to refuse, but he still reached out and took the bread.
"Lord Rhodes, don't worry."
"I know... I'm worried about Sissi and the others."
Rhodes gently tore off a piece of bread and put it into his mouth.
"As an oracle, I am not with Sissi now. I don't know if they are fighting now and whether the battle is going well. According to the plan, they should have launched the first day of the offensive against Athens today. I don't know if Sissi and her team can successfully capture Athens..." Rhodes said this and felt that the bread in his mouth had no taste. "Sorry, I shouldn't worry about this."
"Lord Rhodes, there is something I don't know whether I should say or not."
"what?"
"In fact, before coming here, His Majesty came to me alone and told me about your situation."
Amyntas smiled and looked towards the island of Paros in the distance.
"Your Majesty has actually considered this a long time ago. She thinks that you must be a kind and gentle person. When the battle begins, you will consider a lot of things. You will worry about the casualties on your side and whether you will kill too many enemies. Your Majesty knows that such a character is actually not suitable for leading the army, because excessive gentleness and concerns will only delay the opportunity to fight. This is why I, an army general, will stand by your side now to assist you in managing the entire fleet."
"Yes, I'm sorry..."
Rhodes lowered his head somewhat disappointedly.
Hilde got it all right.
That's the truth.
Rhode was indeed a little too naive. Even now, her naivety made it clear that she was not suitable to be a general.
However, Amyntas continued, "But His Majesty also said that your gentleness is very precious. Because of this, she believes that even if you make wrong judgments and choices because of your gentleness, you will never have any bad intentions. Therefore, His Majesty can safely entrust you with many tasks. Even if you don't complete them very well, His Majesty doesn't have to worry about your betrayal or doing something very outrageous."
"This……"
Regarding Hilde's words.
