Herald of Steel

Chapter 714 Alexander VS Lord Ponticus (Part-5)

The reason why Piseus was so successful in his flanking attack was because all of Lord Ponticus's forces had been so focused on the battle that was going right in front that they simply missed the forest for the trees.

This was aided by the fact that it was night and the helmets the Tibian soldiers wore blocked off much of their peripheral vision, furthermore limiting their visibility, 

And as for the huge noise of the approaching horsemen, well, the battlefield was a noisy place, so, many of the officers simply filtered that sound out as being just inconsequential clamor and din.

With only a few sharp ones able to take notice, but by then it was too little, too late.

Piseus was already at their doorsteps by that point.

It had to be also remembered that Lord Ponticus never even knew of Remus's legion position, and thus had never even anticipated an attack from that direction.

He had only seen Alexander run in that direction and then forgot about it.

While the dust cloud Alexander had kicked up involuntarily obscured a lot of visibility for Lord Ponticus, thus making it even easier for Piseus to conceal his attack.

It was due to all these reasons that Lord Ponticus had simply failed to notice the cavalry charge until it finally hit him.

And what a cavalry charge it was!

The thundering hooves of the horse had managed to smash through the defenseless soldiers like a hammer through rotten wood, shattering their formations, and sending a few literally flying from the impact.

Furthermore, Lord Ponticus had been forced to launch his flanking attack before he could get this rear echelons in proper order, and so Piseus was able to easily drive a deep wedge into that oose, unsuspecting formation with his charge, inflicting devasting casualties.

It was also because of this that the sound that came from the initial hit was not a metallic clang of lances hitting the shields or armor, but a dull thud of steel sinking into flesh.

Because the enemy did not even get the chance to form a proper defensive line such as locking their shields together as they would have at other times.

Thus making the charge prove especially devasting.

And once Piseus had finally spent all his momentum and stopped, he was already several echelons deep into the formation, and the carnage left behind in the aftermath of such a blow could be easily imagined.

Though the true extent of the casualties was not easily visible due to the darkness of the night, those close were still able to recognize the strewn corpses of their former comrades, many with huge gaping wounds on them and spewing copious amounts of blood, as they spasmed and twitched in the last few seconds of death throes, many begging to save them. 

"Arghhh!"

"Help!"

"Please, someone urghhh!"

Such mournful cries drifted out of these wounded men, with some even grabbing the legs of their friends next to them as if they were trying to use that as an anchor to prevent death from dragging them through the gate beyond. 

It was a morale-shattering sight.

And seeing this, as well as facing these imposing riders on tall horses, many of the remaining soldiers wanted to turn tail and run then and there.

This perhaps was Piseus's greatest accomplishment, making the enemy lose the will to fight, which had a far more profound impact than even the killing of a large number of soldiers.

For the panic and fear spread like wildfire among the ranks, as the suddenness and ferocity of the attack in the darkness made it difficult for the officers to even start to understand what had happened. 

All this combined meant that if not for the fact that many of these ten thousand men were Lord Ponticus's veteran men, they might have broken then and there, 

And it was only their sense of duty and the shame they would face if they ran that kept them in the fight.

"*Trumpet!*

Once Piseus's attack came to a stop, instead of switching to his spear and starting to cut through the now-tattered ranks, he blew his trumpet, signaling his men to turn around and disengage with the enemy.

He did this because no matter how powerful the strength of his charge had been, he was still only a force of 300 men.

And against ten thousand men that was just a drop in the bucket.

So no matter how much damage he had been able to inflict, in the grand scheme of things it was still minute. 

And if the enemy were to wise up to that fact, and decided to their numerical superiority, Piseus very much risked being encircled and destroyed.

Furthermore, there was also the fact that he had noticed Alexander advancing for his own attack.

So if he did not want to get caught up in the crosshairs, it was best that he made way for the much larger force.

Thus the riders quickly turned their horse and before the dazed phalangites could launch a counterattack, disengaged and rode away from them.

A sight which many of the Tibian soldiers silently cheered in their hearts upon seeing.

Though they really should have been careful with assuming things, as no sooner had they finished releasing that sigh of relief that a second wall of riders replaced the first one.

And this time it was much larger!

*Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!*

The 900 horses in Alexander's first group, led by the man himself, let out loud braying sounds as they formed up upon reaching the 200-meter mark, and then slowly started to make towards the enemy's flanks, their speed increasing with each step, until around the 50-meter mark, they started to gallop at full speed, ready to smash into whatever was left of the formation.

The noise and rumbling vibrations traveling through the ground this time were far greater than during Piseus's, as was the dust cloud kicked up, clearing showing the hit this time was going to even more painful.

And being already hit once, this time the Tibian soldiers perfectly knew what was about to happen, and deep panic and fear started to set in.

"What! How! Where did they come from!" While amidst all this confusion, Lord Ponticus found himself lost.

Things had happened so quickly that he was unable to even get the information he needed to form a comprehensive picture of the battlefield on time.

So he was just as clueless about what was happening around his flanks as any of the grunts.

Thus he was unable to give coherent command.

Not that it would have mattered anyway, given the darkness and how close Alexander already was.

Oh, how the tables had turned, as this was very close to how he had managed to catch Alexander.

While the commanders of two rear legions, upon seeing the enemy's flanks get hit, immediately cheered and urged the buckling men, 

"Look! Reinforcements! Reinforcements are here! Fight men! Do not let them steal our glory, arghhhh!"

To be fair, these commanders too had no idea who was attacking Lord Ponticus, as it had too dark to see so far properly, but at this point, they really did not care.

Even if it was later proven that those riders were actually Tibians who were supposed to attack the rear legions but in the darkness had gotten their target mixed up, it would still not matter.

Because for the legion commanders, the sight of this attack had more to do with raising their men's morale than any actual damage the enemy forces might have suffered.

And as they pointed this out, it worked just as intended.

The sight of the attack worked to bolster the faltering morale of the men, as they rallied under their officers with a loud cheer and planted their feet firmly on the ground, steeling themselves to not let the enemy break through. 

While at the same time on the other side, due to all the confusion, and the visual confirmation of a cavalry force on their defenseless flank, most of Lord Ponticus's men forgot everything about attacking the enemy in front of them but instead wanted to go on the defense to protect themselves from the impending cavalry charge.

Hence most men tried to hastily turn above to point their shields and spears toward Alexander, thus resulting in a decrease of pressure on the thin rear lines of the fourth and fifth legion.

But they might have not bothered at all.

For just like how the phalangites were able to nearly destroy the formation sent to counter their own flanking attack, Alexander too was able to smash through the hastily formed lines with just the first strike, causing even more widespread damage on top of those already done by Piseus.

Alexander's own legions had been able to resist the flanking for a while, but these phalangites never really stood any such chance.

Because facing such a heavy lance attack without a proper spear and shield wall, Alexander was able to bulldoze through the ranks without taking even a single injury to his unit.

So then even though the veteran soldiers tried to put up a fight this time, the aftermath was the same as during Piseus's charge, just on a much larger scale.

And after Alexander's second and third rows launched their own calvary charges, the result of that section of the battlefield was sealed- A complete rout of Lord Ponticus's force.

It seemed Alexander had managed to save his army in the nick of time.