Herald of Steel

Chapter 713 Alexander VS Lord Ponticus (Part-4)

As the Tibian flanking force bulldozed into the hastily made paper-thin rear lines, Alexander's fourth and fifth legion appeared on the edge of collapse.

The casualties they took just in the first few minutes were staggering.

There were huge disorganizations within the formation caused by the surprise attack as they tried to turn around to face the enemy.

And lastly. the inherent darkness of the night caused enormous panic and confusion within the ranks.

All of which contributed to this lightning-fast fall of morale and an imminent defeat.

A defeat whose inevitability was apparent to both sides.

So if Alexander was gonna do anything to change this nearly sealed outcome, he was gonna need to do it fast.

At the current moment, Lord Ponticus could almost taste the victory, feeling it almost caress the inside of his palms. 

He knew with even his eyes closed that once this thin screen of men was routed, the entire formation of soldiers that was blocking them would break and run, thus letting Lord Ponticus move on to attack the enemy's main line.

And no matter how well disciplined those forces in the front might be, when facing both his and Lord Theony's combined attack from two opposite directions, only one fate lay in store for them- encirclement and complete and utter destruction. 

'Ahhh! Finally! Revenge! Sweet revenge!' Lord Ponticus almost felt drunk with pleasure at his impending, and in his mind, even fully assured victory, 

The destruction of this army would finally allow him to have face when facing his king, letting him proudly show that the trust his lord had placed in him was not misjudged.

It would also let him have personal revenge for the stress and pain he was made to go through during the brutal siege which had been going on for the past four months.

And lastly, this victory over Zanzan would help soothe the heart of the common people of Tibias, many of whom had lost much of their kin in the war two years prior, when Perseus lost 15,000 men after failing to hold the manor hill.

All such great rewards greatly energized the man's heart to try and achieve victory.

With the only fly in the ointment for him being, 

'Too bad I let that Alexander escape. *Sigh*, what a loss. I should sent a few riders later to chase him. Maybe they will get lucky.'

Lord Ponticus said such to himself, his thoughts already skipping past the battle he presumed was already won, and now hoped to get that 'all objectives completed' trophy.

But Lord Ponticus really should not have been so downcast over the fact that he could not meet Alexander.

Because Alexander was coming to meet him!

*Trumpet*! *Trumpet*!

At around the time Lord Ponticus was closing in to make contact with Alexander's rear unit, the sound of one among many such trumpets in the battlefield drifted through the air, something few people even paid much attention to.

But they should have.

Because this trumpet was something special.

This meant that after almost a two kilometer turning circle, Alexander had finally managed to turn his cavalrymen around, now making them face Lord Ponticus's exposed flanks.

And it was only then that Alexander's strategy became apparent to many of the riders,

'So that's why we turned turned!'

'Hmmm, it seems the Lord wanted to avoid a frontal attack due to the spears and instead hit the softer flanks. Nice!' 

'Great! We will make the enemy taste his own medicine.'

Many such understanding and zealous thoughts ran through the riders.

As for Alexander, once this turning maneuver was completed, he blew the trumpet again, this time signaling to the men to form up into proper battle lines.

He even blew the trumpet in a specific way that dictated to the men the kind of formation he wanted them to take.

The 2,700 men were told to arrange themselves in three rows, with the 900 men in each of the rows ordered to line up shoulder to shoulder, 10 men deep and 90 men wide.

This was one of the most simple arrangements, as it just asked the 9 standard cavalry battalions in each row, each numbering 100 men. to stand side by side and charge.

The rider quickly understood this order and knowing the peril their army was in, followed it in as short time as possible.

And once they were ready, a third trumpet rang, one which signaled the start of the actual charge.

Now, given Lord Ponticus was about two kilometers away, the cavalrymen did not certainly gallop in full speed all the way.

That would tire the horses too much.

So instead, at first the horses only advanced in a trot, being careful to maintain the order of the formation as well as paying attention to the grounds in front of them to the best of their ability.

They did this so that no rider tripped their horse and fell, as in such a tight formation, this would certainly lead to a cascading effect, as the size of the obstacle in the form of fallen horse and rider only larger and larger with each subsequent accident.

Though it was easier said than done, as it was difficult to do it in the best of times, never mind at night, no matter how clear and moonlit the sky might be.

So they could only advance slowly, the speed leaving much to be desired even through their perseverance.

Which was a problem given the name of the game, which was speed, speed, and more speed.

If Alexander was unable to catch up to Lord Ponticus quickly enough, his forces risked snapping under the weight of Lord Ponticus far before Alexander could come to the rescue.

And if his rear units broke, seeing this, his front units were sure to break too, meaning his army would vanish into the air, and become prime picking for Lord Theony.

Meaning by that point, even if his flanking attack did manage to neutralize Lord Ponticus, it would simply count as playing for points, not for victory on the battlefield.

For Lord Theony would be able to clean up the rest all by himself.

And no matter how talented Alexander was, he could not win a battle in the open against an enemy that outnumbered him more than ten times.

Thus Alexander knew he had to hurry.

He did not want to simply go through all that trouble just to kill some nameless peasants.

He wanted to win

He wanted to continue his siege.

He wanted to take Thesalie.

But this was also where his want hit against his reality,

Because try as he might, the current trot was the fastest he could get without breaking formation or making his horse too tired.

For remember, he had already galloped 2 kilometers with it, and any more would tire the beast to the point that it was no longer to charge when called upon.

So he tried to do his best within his limits. 

Now all was not doom and gloom for Alexander. 

Because even if he was unable to intercept Lord Ponticus before the man attacked his rear lines, there was a small group of riders who nearly could.

And that was Piseus and his 300.

They had started much earlier than Alexander and by this point, had already covered most of the 3-kilometer distance from their initial position and were just lining up for the last 100 meter dash.

That was where the real cavalry charge began as the horses would accelerate to their full speed and hit the enemy with their maximum punch.

And this was exactly what was about to happen, as lining up the 300 men in a 30 man wide, 10 men deep formation, 

*Trumpet!*

Piseus personally led the charge after blowing his own horn.

And this relief for Alexander's troops could not have come any sooner as by this point Lord Ponticus had already made contact with the two rear legions, and even seemed to be on the verge of breaking them.

If Piseus was not there, and Alexander was all alone, it was very much possible that the Zanzan army would have routed before help could arrive.

But none of that happened.

Piseus was there and help did arrive in the nick of time.

So there came the charge of the 300 men, one that shook the ground under the thundering footsteps of the heavy beasts, and made the air churn with the neighing of the war horse, accompanied by the crazed shouts of their riders.

*Arghhhh*

They all cheered together, the great weight of their shouts making the air shudder. 

"Bang!*

Until finally a dull, but very loud thud rang around the entire battlefield, immediately followed by panicked and horse screams.

"Wha…what happened!"

"Who…how!"

"Where…where!"

First came the surprised and dazed shouts as most people simply tried to figure out what the hell just happened. 

But those inquiries were an instant later drowned out by the much larger panicked shouts from all around the back of Lord Ponticus's force, 

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

"From the sides! From the sides!"

"Help! Help!:

"Run! Run!:

The soldiers here felt as if a sledgehammer had been smashed against the side of their faces and now were bloody and seeing stars.

While the officers tried to figure out just how the hell did they manage to completely miss such a large cavalry attacking force. 

Piseus's attack was so successful that it nearly brought the entire ten thousand force to almost a grinding halt.