Early in the morning, the gladiators woke up, Hamilcar took some people to use the temple's backyard kitchen equipment to cook barley porridge and bake bread.
Meanwhile, Spartacus sent Antonix to disguise as a civilian, riding a horse carrying gladiator equipment, to investigate the movements of Capua City. Therefore, when Vibias led his troops out of the city, Antonix had already reported this news to Spartacus.
After breakfast, the energetic gladiators were not frightened by the fact that the attacking enemy outnumbered them. Instead, they showed a strong desire to fight and began preparing for battle.
Due to the insufficient amount of weapons captured by the gladiators last night, not everyone could be equipped. According to Spartacus's suggestion, the weapons were first given to the teammates with strong combat abilities, resulting in Maximus not being selected. In the end, he was only given a kitchen knife.
This was not a street brawl but a war confrontation. Fighting with a kitchen knife was too dangerous, so Maximus, learning from some teammates, went into the oak forest to break a sturdier and straighter branch, sharpened one end, and used it as a spear.
Even though he was at the rear, seeing the fully armed enemy forming a line and approaching made Maximus tense. When Spartacus led the charge, he followed his teammates in a rush, but the fear in his heart unconsciously slowed his steps a bit.
Then he saw Spartacus and others display great power, breaking through the front of Capua's formation, and quickly the Capua people screamed and routed.
Victory came so swiftly that Maximus could not believe his eyes. His confidence soared, and like his other teammates, he chased forward: if not to perform now, then when?
Maximus, tall and long-legged, without wearing armor or carrying a shield, ran swiftly and soon caught up with the fleeing soldiers.
He thrust his stick forward, the sharp end failing to pierce the enemy's leather armor, but causing him to tumble to the ground.
Maximus didn't pay him any more attention, swung his stick, and struck another fleeing soldier on the head. The man screamed and fell abruptly.
The scream did not frighten Maximus; instead, he felt exhilarated. He pursued a few more steps, another stick hitting another fleeing soldier on the head...
He smashed down three or four people in a row, seeing other fleeing soldiers getting farther away, and unable to catch up, Maximus finally stopped, turned around, and saw his companions already cleaning the battlefield: some were stripping armor from the dead soldiers, some finishing off wounded soldiers on the ground, and others gathering captives who couldn't escape and surrendered...
Having been overly excited in pursuit just now, he felt more fatigued upon relaxation. Maximus didn't join his companions' actions but sat heavily on the grass, gasping for breath...
Yesterday, seeing his teammates kill their severely wounded comrades felt cruel; today, seeing them kill similarly wounded and fallen Capua people, Maximus only felt slightly uncomfortable.
Is he beginning to get used to it?... Maximus looked up, the gentle sunlight streaming through the gaps in the trees fell on him, unusually warm...
While he was in a daze, a voice sounded in his ear: "Maximus, I never thought you could run so fast, knocking down three at once."
Maximus turned his head to look; the speaker was Torquato, a strong Gaul Gladiator who, like most others, used to look down on him but now showed a bit of admiration in his expression.
It seems my desperate performance just now wasn't in vain!... Maximus extended his right hand, spread his fingers, and said with emphasis, "Torquato, I didn't just knock down three, but five enemies! But if it weren't for your attack that broke them, I wouldn't have knocked them down so easily. If you weren't wearing armor, you could definitely run faster and kill more enemies than me."
Torquato, an honest fellow, upon hearing Maximus's flattery, grinned broadly and said, "Don't worry, this victory brought us many weapons and armor, next time you'll hold a shield and spear, fighting alongside us."
Torquato's recognition dispelled Maximus's inexplicable sadness and temporarily made him forget his fatigue. As he was about to say, "Let me help you strip armor," noise came from not far away, it was Spartacus and Cross having a dispute.
As it turned out, Cross wanted to kill all the captives to intimidate the Romans.
Spartacus opposed this, believing that all these captives should be released because these cowardly Capua soldiers would spread tales of their fear, causing Capua to be more cautious in deploying troops against them, thus buying them more time. Also, the benevolent act of releasing captives would make the Capua people less hostile to them, beneficial for their future operations in the Campagna Region and for expanding their forces...
"Spartacus does have a point," murmured Torquato, who had been listening attentively.
Maximus looked at him somewhat surprised: the Gaul Gladiators in the team always regarded Cross as their leader and fully supported him. It was rare to find someone who didn't blindly follow and could think independently.
Maximus then glanced at Spartacus who was persuading Cross. He realized that his words last night might have somewhat influenced this leader of the gladiators, showing he's a commander who doesn't stubbornly stick to his views and can accept subordinates' suggestions. As a result, Maximus felt more confident about persuading Spartacus to lead the army to escape Italy in the future.
Spartacus's opinion was supported by Hamilcar, Enomai, Antonix, and others, so the captives were forced to remove their armor, wearing only waist-coats, and were released.
Cross's face darkened, and he said nothing.
Spartacus, looking at the pile of amassed weapons and equipment, said to Hamilcar, "Go bring Maximus to inventory our gains."
Maximus gladly accepted the task, and shortly he completed the count.
Hamilcar came to report, "Spartacus, in this battle we killed 58 people, captured 137, acquiring a total of 195 leather armors, 320 leather helmets, 261 short swords, 452 long spears, and 500 long shields."
"This is a tremendous gain, now all our brothers have weapons!" Spartacus was somewhat excited, then asked, "How many casualties do we have?"
"Only three were slightly injured."
Spartacus glanced at those around him and, smiling, said, "This battle was won too easily, Capua people are so nice, knowing we lack weapons, specially sent us a batch."
There was a burst of laughter around.
Cross coldly said, "Capua people are soft, everyone knows that, defeating them is easy, but the Romans are not so easy to deal with."
"You're right," Spartacus ceased smiling and said seriously, "So we must rush south to Vesuvius, to quickly expand our forces, relying on the mountainous terrain there to confront the Roman Army that might come to suppress us at any time. These armors and weapons didn't come easily, let the brothers all wear them. The surplus will be temporarily managed by you, Hamilcar, figure out how to transport all of them, let Maximus assist you."
"Alright." Hamilcar readily nodded.
Hearing Maximus's name, this time Cross only snorted softly, without voicing opposition. After all, the scene of Maximus leading the chase of the fleeing soldiers, knocking down several in a row was witnessed by him, plus his performance last night somewhat changed his previously poor impression of him.
After receiving the notification from Hamilcar, the first thought that came to Maximus was: this is letting me handle logistics, doesn't that mean I don't have to fight anymore?
So he nodded in agreement without hesitation, then asked, "What should I do now?"