Simulate the universe, starting with speedrunning Greek.

They drew their weapons and slashed at them.

"Geragu!! Hide behind Karl and don't come out!" Night glanced at the number of enemy troops, his pupils contracted slightly, and then he immediately shouted.

A small team of 500 people?

It's not impossible to win.

"Everyone, form a circle, shields in a defensive stance, quick!"

At the command given that night, the Roman soldiers who were still able to move, trusting in the power of the night, immediately obeyed the order and began to act, despite the adrenaline-pumping and tense atmosphere caused by the scene before them.

They huddled together.

Ye also drew his spear, but instead of holding a shield, he gripped a longsword in his other hand.

This is a stance of completely abandoning defense and going all out on offense.

The skill required for dual-wielding is too high; without systematic training, one cannot master it at night.

However, he could easily wield a spear with one hand and chop with the other.

With his current strength, even the most ordinary slash would be like a wolf among sheep in the midst of the Spanish rebels.

Then, a life-or-death struggle began.

Fast forward—

This Spanish rebel group didn't have any heroic fighters; they were all ordinary people...

Although there were too many of them, and it took some effort, Ye managed to slaughter them all, with only a small number fleeing in terror.

As dawn quietly approaches.

As the first rays of light rose on the horizon, Ye stood atop a mountain of corpses and blood, his face etched with undisguised weariness.

They survived!

After holding out all night, only 43 people survived the surprise attack.

The surviving soldiers stared at the strong figure bathed in the morning sunlight with eyes that seemed to regard a god, and gradually their gazes grew warmer.

The next moment, they suddenly cheered.

Heroes and miracles have occurred...!

However, the soldiers suddenly saw their hero silently walk slowly toward the mountain of corpses, and finally stop when he came to the side of a fallen Roman soldier.

He leaned forward slightly to examine it...

He looked at the soldier in front of him, who was pierced by three arrows and was barely clinging to life, yet he had managed to watch the entire battle unfold.

"I'm sorry, I can't save you." Ye examined the wound briefly; it was fatal. His heart sank.

Although he had no connection with this soldier, the soldier's resentful voice seemed to still be vivid in his mind. Like Karl, he was a soldier who had struggled for Rome for decades but could not even go home.

But such soldiers don't even know the safety of their own families, and may have long forgotten what their families look like.

The scene before them brought the cheering soldiers to an abrupt halt, and they fell into a deathly silence.

A somber atmosphere permeated the crowd.

"Ahem, I know."

It looks like it won't live for even a minute longer; the fact that it can still speak is already quite surprising.

The soldier suddenly trembled and reached out his hand, and Ye instinctively reached out in response.

Although it was just a simple action, it seemed to lessen the pain and ferocity on the soldier's face, making him feel much more relieved.

"I don't want to die, I don't want to die. If we die here, what have we been fighting for all this time...?"

If it were you, someone as strong as a hero, could you give me an answer?

Cough cough... Did we do something wrong, haha, that's why we're in this situation?

I know that war and killing are wrong, and those who take the lives of others should be prepared to have their lives taken from them.

But, but we—"

What exactly did we get?

So much was sacrificed, so many lives were lost, countless nations were destroyed, and in the end—

He died in a foreign land, without even being able to see his loved ones one last time.

They didn't even know if their family members were alive or dead.

Suddenly—the soldier's voice stopped.

He suddenly choked up and said, "I've forgotten... what my family looks like."

"Ah, ah,—" Before he could finish speaking, the soldier lay quietly in the night's arms and breathed his last.

He ultimately failed to receive a reply from the night, and due to his own psychological breakdown, his body could no longer hold on, and he died.

Although his hands were stained with the blood and mud from the other person's body, Ye didn't care at all; he was just eerily silent.

It was just a simple skirmish, a battle that paled in comparison to the Trojan War, a trivial affair...

But in this war, Ye truly experienced a deeper, darker, and more real truth about the world.

After checking the wounded again and confirming whether there were any survivors,

"Let's go... it's not safe here anymore."

The enemy has discovered our location and will surely report it to the main force.

"Pick up your weapons, we must move on!" Night finally stood up and said.

At this point, no one celebrated anymore; everyone simply obeyed orders and began to act.

They didn't even have time to bury their own compatriots.

As they stepped over the bodies of their companions and continued onward—

The group of people became somewhat melancholic, as if they could see their own future fate.

Of the 43 people who were there at that time, only 39 remain now.

More than half of them sustained minor or serious injuries.

The group continued onward, and finally... before the second sunset, they reached the mouth of the Ebro River.

however--

When they looked towards the river mouth, they saw a large army of soldiers stationed there.

The soldiers were dressed in uniforms resembling those of Spanish rebels.

Night led his group to hide in the nearby hills.

Although everything was alright for the time being, almost everyone's face was filled with a sense of despair.

"How...how could it be?"

The road is blocked...

Even if rafts were hastily built, it would be impossible to cross the Ebro River past these Spanish rebels.

"Were they soldiers from that army that deserted? Did they go back and report the news?"

"They actually brought so many people to guard the area; there must be at least several thousand."

It’s over——!

The Spanish rebels already knew their approximate location.

They even deduced their route and blocked their way at the river mouth in advance.

Without reinforcements, and with the safe zone shrinking under enemy surveillance, the path to survival was right in front of them... but it was also the most dangerous place, impossible to cross.

Suddenly, 25 kilometers became an insurmountable barrier for everyone to return to Rome and go home.

At that moment, Ye Yi's heart sank to the bottom.

Are we going to surrender here?

Although historically, the Roman commander in charge of this battle surrendered supplies and equipment in exchange for a chance to escape.

But this situation may not apply to them now.

The Spanish rebels surrounded the Roman army, but they were not confident that they could defeat them, so they reached a mutually satisfactory deal without bloodshed.

In order to protect the large amount of supplies they had just acquired, the rebels would not go back on their word and take action.

But Ye and his team were dirt poor; they couldn't even scrape together a single Oris.

Not to mention, even excluding the night—just looking at the appearance of this remnant army, who (the enemy) wouldn't think they were an easy target to bully?!

Chapter Seventy-Three informs everyone that there are no reinforcements, it's about time to wake up, this is a battle of self-rescue.

So from the very beginning they had no choice...

Either break through the enemy lines and return to Rome, or wait to die on the spot...

As for becoming a prisoner of war, if one does not want to be sold into slavery and trained in the future, then dying on the battlefield as a person with dignity might still preserve a shred of dignity.

For Ye, no other possibilities had ever been considered.

but--……

At this moment, Ye looked around and saw that almost everyone's face was devoid of fighting spirit, and they couldn't muster any will to fight.

It's simply unrealistic for him to break through the large army stationed here on his own.

While it's unrealistic for 39 people to face an army of thousands head-on, even dispersing their firepower would make things much easier.

We must rouse the fighting spirit of these people!

He took a deep breath... This scene made him feel as if he had returned to the city of Thebes, when he was giving his proclamation to the soldiers.

After a long silence and careful consideration, Ye finally spoke:

"Listen to me, everyone."

Looking around at the faces of each of the 39 soldiers, Ye said, "It's not time to despair yet."

Or rather—compared to the facts that are about to be learned, the current situation cannot even be described as hopeless.