There was a loud crash as the ship shook again, the mast fully coming loose after the other enemy Trireme was pushed in to it's side. The mast fell and tangled with the other Trireme's mast, causing another shake across both ship decks. Both ships now permanently tangled as the battle went on around them. The youthful crew from the allied ship quickly boarded the other Trireme, whilst Dom and his Marines reached the last few survivors on the enemy flagship. Those that were fighting around him were either dead or heavily injured, with it seeming that none of his own crew were out of the fight themselves yet.
The Bellona behind them was preparing itself to disengage as soon as Dom had finished on the deck of the enemy Quinquereme. Whilst the Archers that had stayed on board with Centurion Meng Ai, continued to launch arrows at the surrounding ships as Trireme's all around them began fighting against each other. Nearby one Greek Trireme that was engaged with a Persian enemy, was hit hard in it's side by another Persian ship, causing crew to fall from it's side's, whilst the ship began taking on a lot of water.
Dom wasn't sure if the enemies in front of him were Players or Persian's, their armour was bright and didn't seem to fit with the rest of the aesthetic he was used to, but the Persian's were a very different force than his Greek allies. Gan Ning pushed forwards after defeating one enemy, swinging his sword at an his new foe, who blocked it with difficulty, whilst the Legionaries ran forwards with their shields, their hoplite counterparts behind them and finishing off any enemies that were fallen beneath them.
"Damn it, they have Romans!" One of the the enemies exclaimed in frustration, looking at the oncoming marines. He had little room to retreat, whilst the Dom's forces seemed to be a wall of death approaching him. The enemy wore gold like armour that covered most of his body, similar to that of Dom's forbidden guard in style. He held a short sword and had a helmet on that covered most of his face. Dom realised that they had to be Players at this point, or at least Heroes of a Player to recognise his warriors, with those around either their elite guards of other Heroes or Players.
"What was the loss rules again?" Another next to them spoke, wearing similar armour and trying to push those around them forwards to create a line between them.
"All equipment you loose in the Battle Map are lost, and those who die will be injured for a period of time upon return. So we either die, or we don't die" The first one replied, before looking back towards Dom's line and shouting. "Which one of you is in charge?"
"That would be me." Gan Ning replied, not wanting to expose Dom as the Legionaries created a circular shield around them.
"Will you allow us to surrender, I'd rather not die." He said, with the one beside him shaking his head. He wasn't aware of Gan Ning was a Player or a Hero, but at this stage he wanted to give him self the chance to retain as much as he could.
"GeneralSlaughter won't be happy to lose his ship." The second one said in frustration.
"Then he should have been on it!" The first one snapped as he looked towards Gan Ning, who looked towards Dom. Dom nodded, knowing they needed to get back on the Bellona and back in to the battle. This Quinquereme was missing a large number of oars on one side where their was a large hole, the other side was wrecked after being crushed by the other Trireme and it's mast had collapsed and entangled it. The Quinquereme would be going no where fast and taking these as prisoners could give them much needed information.
"Drop your weapons, strip of your armour." Gan Ning declared threateningly. Below them the sounds of shouting could still be heard as the Quinquereme took on water and the oarsmen below were trapped, with the only areas they could reach the top part either blocked by Dom's forces or wreckage that had fallen from the mast, with the smoke from the fire billowing below. The fire from the mast had also spread to the second ship, whilst neither of them were fully engulfed, they needed to be resolved soon before they burnt and sank.
The first one threw down his sword, whilst the second did so reluctantly, followed by the few survivors around them. Dom's Hoplite moved forwards through the Legionary line, removing their other weapons and helping them take their armour off, reducing them to what little under clothing they had.
"Take the Leaders to the Bellona." Dom ordered as he stepped through, his black armour clearly different from the rest of his forces, the eyes of the defeated enemies now looking at him in realisation that he was the real leader of this group. "Gan Ning, have a message sent below that if they surrender we will allow them access to the deck where they can work on putting the fire out. Tell them they were defeated by the Bellona and they have the option to join us after this battle, or become slaves for the Greeks."
"That's if they don't go down with the ship first." Gan Ning replied with a nod and headed towards the locations where the enemies below could be seen, whilst some of the Hoplite cleared the enemy bodies of their weapons so those who would be left behind couldn't use them against them. Centurion Septimius grabbed the surrendered warriors and pushed them towards the Bellona, as they passed Dom, one of them looked at him with knowing eyes.
"Player?" He asked Dom as he walked past, frustrated that he had lost, but the ship wasn't his.
"Yes, that's the only reason you are alive." Dom replied honestly. With the Prisoner nodding his head in acceptance.
"It's appreciated, any chance you can bring my General back with you? I regret bringing him." The Player asked, as Dom looked towards a dark skinned man that was originally stood with them.
"Take him with you, but we will discuss afterwards." Dom replied, before turning away.
"GeneralSlaughter won't be happy that you have wrecked his ship." The second Player said seriously, some worry in his tone as he said it.
"Well, you can tell him that it's Lazarus's ship now." Dom explained, before turning back to his own men, ignoring the wide eyes on the players face as they realised that someone higher ranked than GeneralSlaughter was a member of this Battle Map. "Get back to the Bellona, we have more ships to capture!"
As Dom turned himself and walked back to the Bellona, he looked down at the young Captain on the Trireme next to them, that were similarly now disengaging from their own battle. He looked up towards Dom and waved, pointing towards where the two masts were now tangled.
"I think he's showing that the two ships should keep each other afloat." Gan Ning said as he came up beside Dom with his usual smile on his face, "Or that they will sink together."
"Hopefully it's the first one." Dom replied, before looking at the terrible state of the Quinquereme, "Not that Himilco will appreciate us bringing this back."
"Oh, he definitely won't appreciate it, but if it survives and we can return it home, it will be quicker to repair than build from nothing." Gan Ning agreed with a slight laugh. "It seems the Sibylla has beaten us."
Dom climbed back to the Bellona as he looked and saw that Artemisia and Sun Ce had disengaged from their fight and were now making speed to attack the next line of the enemies, who were approaching. He headed back to the top of the Bellona and looked across the Aegean Sea beside Samos, whilst Centurion Cato shouted for the ship to disengage. There were ships engaged where ever he looked, some Trireme were engaged, whilst others were moving through gaps to engage. Dom could see at least six ships that were sinking, as well as hundreds of men that were in the water.
All of the Player Trireme that had joined Dom seemed to be winning, whilst the Greek and Spartan allies were doing well themselves. The main reason they seemed to be succeeding was that the other ships from Dom's fleet were launching arrows on to the enemy ships, splitting their attention and allowing the Trireme in Dom's fleet to have an advantage.
Dom didn't know how the two Titanaconda's were performing, but he could see ships further in the enemy line seeming to start listing dangerously. He hoped that the two performed well and decided that next time he would bring and keep more of a unit with him, not that he wanted other Players to discover much about his Titanaconda unit yet.
"Pull back!" Centurion Cato shouted loudly as the oarsmen pushed heavily in the water to release themselves from the Quinquereme in front of them, the sound of wood cracking and creaking as the two ships pulled away from each other. The drums banged slowly as the Oarsmen moved gently, before Centurion Cato began shouting orders for the ship to slowly turn to bypass the ship in front of them. The Quinquereme didn't sink, it listed to the side slightly, but the fallen mast seemed to be keeping them afloat with the defeated enemy Trireme that was attached to it.
"We'll come back and get it later, let's see what else we can get." Dom said to Gan Ning, as they located the next ship to attack, a Trireme that was smaller than them. Dom hoped this battle would be another quick one, as the naval battle seemed to be progressing quickly.
"It feels like there are less ships than expected." Gan Ning stated as he looked forwards, expecting to see at least six rows of enemy ships. He then turned towards the two Players who were sat down by the side of the Bellona with two other men, their armour removed as they were tied to the side rail. "Where is the rest of your fleet?"
"Retreating to Mycale most likely." One of the other two men said, a man with tanned skin that looked closer to the Persians than the rest.
"Mycale?" Dom asked, sensing that the battle wasn't going to end at Samos as he had hoped.
"The Persian's were split, some agreed to the sea battle, but most disagreed and felt it was risky to engage without hearing of the progress of the army." The first Player replied, before nodding his head towards the Persian that spoke, "This is General Mardontes of the Persian forces."
"It's a pleasure to have you on my ship." Dom said to the General, he hadn't heard of him, but felt it was the polite way to treat an enemy General to get information from him. "So where is GeneralSlaughter?"
"He decided to head to Mycale with the rest of the forces, so he could prepare a counter attack. Mardontes was given command of this part of the Navy, and BigBilly here was part of GeneralSlaughter's group." The first Player said, introducing the second Player.
"I can't believe our luck, the chances of us coming against another Top Player were small enough, let alone the number one Lord." BigBilly said in frustration, "The naval battle will soon be lost, but the land battle won't be easy for you."
"I'm not here to win the land battle, I'm here to increase my fleet." Dom grinned in response, causing the two Players to gulp in response. Dom didn't feel threatening and was just trying to be polite, but he was wearing black armour, with a blooded sword by his side and two giant Batavian Emperors Guards beside him.
"Increase pace!" Centurion Cato shouted from beside them, as the drums were banged loudly again as they targeted the next ship. The Trireme of the Young Captain beside them, whilst the Sibylla went in a slightly different direction.