Herald of Steel

Chapter 712 Alexander VS Lord Ponticus (Part-3)

No, instead, perhaps inspired by the young boy\'s agency, they too came around to see the danger they would be in if they did not save their lord and so hurriedly began to gather their troops and form up to initiate a march.

"All infantry form and get ready to march. Crossbowmen stay and guard the walls." 

Then came the order for the men.

This way the officers felt that both the task of attacking the flanking force and defending the siege works could be achieved.

But planning all this out, as well as the initial bickering had wasted a lot of time for them

*Trumpet*

So by the time they got finally ready to march downward, Lord Ponticus had already blown the trumpet and was half away along his attack.

So if the legion wanted to make any contribution, they would better hurry up, as they had 3 kilometers to complete, whereas Lord Ponticus needed to cover only one.

Now, as this detached legion tried their darnest to try and make the few kilometers of ground, the enemy adjacent to them, led by Lord Theony began to mobilize too.

They had gotten the signal to attack from the blaring trumpet and charging down the hill, they headed straight for Alexander\'s frontlines.

"Hold! Hold! Let them come" While the legionnaires facing the imminent start of the battle was actually firm and resolute, showing no signs of breaking.

Some were even happy that the battle had finally begun, as they had been getting bored with all the waiting. 

This sort of carefree feeling came of course because the men had no idea that Lord Ponticus was right behind them, ready to smash into their open backs.

\'Heh! Ignorant sheep!\' Thus Lord Theony would describe the legionaries as such, very much looking forward to those tight lines being blasted open upon their pincher attack.

"Menicus! Menicus!" And even the general of the army, Menicus was not aware of this trap until Remus finally clued him in.

And to say that it caused a slight shock would be a gross understatement.

Remus was instantly bombarded by tons of questions, the most concerning of them being, 

"Where is Alexander? Why hasn\'t he escaped? Why is running towards there?"

But Remus knew almost as much as Menicus, and as time was of the essence, he only replied. 

"You have your orders. Follow them."

Thus soon both the fourth and fifth legion, as opposed to only the fifth legion as Alexander\'s ordered, were told to turn around to stop the enemy.

But that was easier said than done. 

Though Menicus gave that order as soon as he could,  it took time for such military orders to make their way along the chain of command.

And by the time the commanders of the two legions understood the order and attempted to execute it, the enemy was literally only a hundred meters away.

And to perform such a huge formation change within such a short time, well. to say that it was difficult would be putting it mildly.

So instead of the whole formation taking their time and slowly doing a giant turn in an arch, the legion commanders took a far more pragmatic approach.

They quickly summoned the sergeants (in charge of 100 men or 80 soldiers) of the very last few rows and told them to immediately turn their lines on their heels and face the phalangites.

"You must stand against the enemy no matter what! Do not give an inch of ground! Buy enough time for us!"

The legion commanders gave this general command.

The idea was to have these men fight and hold off Lord Ponticus until the vast majority of the formation could slowly turn around battalion by battalion and join the fight. 

At least that was the thought in principle.

In reality though, the chances of this actually succeeding were actually almost nonexistent.

Because such a temporary stopgap measure, with the lines being only a few echelons deep, would never be able to hold against a well-organized attack.

The shallow depth of the ranks made the lines too thin to be able to provide any effective resistance. 

And that was why when Lord Ponticus saw the legionaries turn to face him, he was not at all fazed, instead only sniggered, 

\'Heh! They always do this. Even when they have already been caught in the net, they still try to struggle.\'

\'Fool! It\'s over. Run and save yourself, hahaha.\'

This was not the first time he had pulled off something like this and the old veteran knew the sequence of events that were to follow by heart.

When facing a two-pronged attack, the defending soldiers would first panic, then some would turn around to try and resist, and finally, after a brief while this token of resistance would be overcome by the much more organized attacker, thus snapping the whole formation and initiating a breakthrough..

This was always how it happened, and it was also natural, as it was inevitable for a much heavier, prepared force to defeat a much weaker force that was in so disarray.

Hence Lord Ponticus very much looked forward to this scenario unfolding. 

And the following events did reinforce that belief in him.

The soldiers under him quickly made contact with both the legions, but whereas previously they would have been greeted by a shower of pillas during their initial charge, this time the phalangites were allowed to move up unimpeded!

This was because the hurriedly arranged legionaries, many still in the midst of their rotation did not even get the time to throw their pilla, thus letting the formidable phalanx formation crash into them with their shields intact, making the legionaries face a foe in their best condition, while they were at their weakest. 

And the result from this as one would expect, with almost every spear of the phalangites managing to score a target and making the lines be in danger of shattering with just this initial strike. 

"Ahghhh!"

"Urghhhh!"

"Nooooo!"

All such terrifying screams resounded across the lines as the sharp metal points pierced and stabbed through flesh, the sounds made all the more scarier by the quietness of the night and the uncertainty of darkness.

For the legionaries on the front lines who were unable to clearly see like during the day, the ambient darkness worked to amplify these death throes screams, until they felt it was hundreds of times more terrifying, and the death of only a handful sounded like the entire legion being put under the sword.

And as such morale plummeted like a falling rock!

Which was really pretty normal.

Flanking attacks would not be used to such effectiveness if they were not.

Thus with just the first few thrusts, the commanders of the legions quickly woke up to the fact that their lines were beginning to buckle and that there was no way these were going to hold long enough for them they reorient their forces.

\'I knew it! This battle is lost!\' And this was the type of mood among many of the officers and soldiers fighting nearing the front lines, with that particular thought being said by Talukder (Viscount) Prantik to himself, who was in the thick of it, being in charge of the 4th legion.

Facing this flanking attack, the noble\'s every cell screamed at him, wanting him to turn and tail, a feeling especially reinforced when he found himself gazing at the glint of spears of the enemy reflecting the moonlight.

They were that close!

The nobleman, being bought up in the lap of luxury had never felt death be so close, not even when he was defeated by Alexander. 

\'Dammit Alexander! Putting me so close to the enemy,\' Thus he even cursed Alexander for placing him where the commander would go.

Now, according to Alexander\'s doctrine, the commanders were always placed at the back, which was supposed to be the most secure part of the army.

And usually, it was.

But this time, facing a flanking attack, it had suddenly become the most exposed.

So up until now, TP had to fight against his instinct to stay and fight.

Though how long he would be able to continue that resistance was up in the air.

And in that vein, most of the soldiers fighting there too wanted to do the same.

These soldiers that were facing Lord Ponticus were no veterans to begin with, but only green peasants.

While they were facing ten thousand of Lord Ponticus\'s best of the best, hand picked by the man himself to go on this fateful flanking attack.

Even under regular circumstances, the two legions might have been badly mauled facing these phalanx formations who had superior range with their spears and were fighting on flat ground. 

Never mind the current situation.

It would not be even wrong to say that Lord Ponticus was like a wolf in a sheep\'s pen.

And it was only a matter of time before these sheep understood who the prey was and started braying, running in all directions, and collapsing.

Alexander\'s rear seemed to be under the threat of imminent collapse. 

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