The army of Carthage is moving on a forced march towards Rome, destroying along the way the remnants of the legions defeated at Cannes. Fyodor Chaika, elevated to commander of the chiliarchy, is in the vanguard. He is the first to engage in battle with the scattered forces that Senator Marcellus gathered under his command, trying to block the Phoenicians' path to the heart of the country. But the soldiers of Carthage sweep away all obstacles. The Roman cities surrendered one after another. One more blow and Rome itself will cease to exist. And now the walls of the eternal city are shaking from the blows of throwing weapons. The villas of the senators and the suburbs are blazing with fire, set on fire by the enraged Celts. But Rome, over which Hannibal has already raised his punishing sword, resists fiercely, like a wounded animal. The Senate does not intend to surrender the city, drawing its last forces to it. And, besides, the successful commander of Carthage left many enemies and envious people in his country. There will always be someone ready to stab you in the back. Meanwhile, the Scythian nomadic empire is being revived in the north. And the horses of the new king’s army of thousands are already trampling the lands of the remote Greek colonies, crushing them one after another, opening the way to the metropolis.