Herald of Steel

Chapter 869 Perseus Vs Alexander (Part-4)

Given that Lord Theony had simply dressed these peasants as soldiers, Alexander then chose to train them as crossbowmen as opposed to the sword or spear which required keen hand to eye coordination, quick reflexes, and a great presence of mind to predict where a spear thrust might be coming from and respond accordingly.

Alexander had figured that if he were to incorporate these men into his center legionaries, they would do little more than act as hindrances and even might get his other men killed.

But although those were all sound reasons, currently the situation was developing to such that the worrying news was beginning to filter into the ears of even the commander of the right wing- Lord Theony\'s illegitimate son Gnaeus.

"Lord Gnaeus!" A runner came to the man in his late twenties, his voice slightly pitched, as he informed, "The enemy is starting to break through! Many of the oxen and their handlers are dead."

"And the rest of the living are starting to panic. The handlers are pleading with you to let them retreat! They won\'t be able to hold on much longer!"

Gnaues was indeed able to see that things were not going well on the frontlines, especially by the fact that the loud dying cries of oxen were able to reach his ears even all the way back here.

These cries would reverberate across the nearby vicinity, making all the nearby beasts jitter and panic.

These animals might be considered dumb by humans, but they still had the basic survival instinct.

And a group of armed men clad in menacing helmets, waving pointy spears at one did not inspire confidence of survival.

So seeing their brethren fall one after another, the rest of the beasts also tried to run, as they jerked and neighed incessantly, proving very difficult to control even for their handlers.

Not that there were many handlers left there anyway, as most of those who could had already started to run, while the rest lay dead.

And with no one to oversee the beasts, they began to run, taking the wagons with them and slowly opening up gaps in the defenses.

Gaps that Perseus was no doubt exploiting even as we spoke.

"We should ask for aid! Have more men reinforce us!" And seeing this, Jupiter- Lord Theony\'s right hand man and one who was placed here as Gnaeus\'s adjutant offered this advice.

To the experienced man, the situation at their front did not look good.

"No! It is not needed." But the advice was overruled by Gnaeus, as turning to the messenger he swung his arm and ordered, "Tell the men they must hold on! Order the officers to rally the men. Ask them to better protect the wagons and shoot more accurately."

"No is permitted to retreat under any circumstances. We are very close to winning. They must not falter."

"Stop the enemy from advancing at any cost. Stand and fight!" Gnaeus was very stern in his ask.

"Yes sir," And the messenger dutifully received the order with a salute, while from the side, Jupiter pursed his lips in disapproval.

He did not think it was possible to stop an enemy almost twice one size and multiple times better trained by just more grit.

It was an action that did not go unnoticed by Gnaeus, who then turned to say,

"Uncle Jupiter, I can understand your line of thinking. You think it will be safer for us to ask for reinforcements just in case."

"But think!" Gnaeus pointed his first finger which was clad in a bronze gauntlet, " asking this for such a small thing would only lower our prestige in front of Lord Alexander. How can we be fit to rule…. administer Tibias if we ask for help for every small detail? We need to prove our worth to him!" The tall, handsome man clenched his fists and shook them as he said so, his stare steely and determined.

Given that Alexander had decided to make Lord Theony and by relation Gnaeus the man in charge of overseeing Tibias, it was only natural that the man would try to impress Alexander as much as possible, to show him that they were competent and able to handle the tasks given to them.

He had been given the chance he oh so wished since he was young, and he was not going to mess it up.

But other than his own, personal ambitions, he also pointed this additionally to Jupiter,

"And besides, the Pasha has only 2,000 men in reserves. It is unlikely he will commit them to us!"

"So by asking this, we will only be dismissed with nothing but our vulnerability revealed."

"So it is more prudent for us to hold on."

This explanation to Jupiter sounded much more palatable as nodding his head, he commented,

"It seems you are right this time, Young Master," before turning his towards the center of the formation and predicting,

"And perhaps we will not need to hold on for too long either. Their center seems to be on the verge of disintegrating."

"Finally!" The man let out a sigh of relief as he thought the battle was coming to an end.

And he had good reasons to think so too, for as the swinging pendulum of the time wore on, the inevitable equilibrium began to settle in once again in the center, with Alexander coming out of the top.

A phenomenon that was clear for anyone in the battle to see.

By now Talukder (Viscount) Prantik had been replaced by Grahtos through the process of rotating troops, and when those 5,000 fresh troops hit Mithriditus\'s already battered units, it would be quite appropriate to say that the exchange was very one sided.

Even when the cavalry dismounted to fight on foot shoulder to shoulder with the phalangites, the numerical mismatch still proved to be too much as they were pushed back again and again, suffering grievous losses.

And it was not just Mithriditus units that were suffering.

By now Alexander had rotated the entire front three legions with fresh ones from the back, and as these fresh men hit the lines, all the units throughout the whole frontline started to cry, buckle, and crack.

"Hemicus, wanna bet? I say they will break in five more minutes!" And seeing the current state, Alexander was so confident and assured of victory that he even turned to his bodyguard to offer the man the chance to gamble over how long it would be till the battle ended, flashing his five fingers as he did so.

"......" However, the stoic counterpart rejected it with a slight shake of his head.

Although he did have a slight curve to his lips, as he too was very happy with the battle result.

Yes, by now Hemicus too had written the results of the fight in his book, as he thought there was no way Tibias could win now.

Their lines were about to break any second now.

However, although Alexander\'s side seemed to have declared themselves the victor, there was one man who still had not given up on trying to win, and that was Mithriditus.

The old man who was past his mid sixties!

The zealous man still believed they could turn the tide around.

"Bah! How can I die here? How can I show my face to my daughter and grandchildren if I die here a loser?" Even as the situation deteriorated, the old man roared as such, shouting order after order.

But alas!

No matter how much he shouted and screamed, inevitably he and his units were pushed more and more back until they were on the brink of destruction.

It appeared it was the end

But Mithriditus did not think so and even the dire straits were not enough to snuff the old man\'s fighting spirit.

"Bah! Useless mongrel!" Instead, cursing his own men for running one last, he decided to finally do the thing he had been planning to do for some time now.

He decided to go out in a blaze of fighting glory,

Just before the entire line was about to collapse, and even as some individual units were starting to run and Alexander seemed on the verge of victory, Mithriditus snatched his house\'s standard from the standard bearers and raised the flag atop his head, before shouting at the highest voice he could muster, addressing the superstitious Tibias soldiers,

"Hear me, men of Tibias! Men inheritors of a thousand year legacy."

"Witness me! Witness my end! Witness how this child of Tibias lays his life for his country!"

"I carry with me the terror, rout, carnage, blood, and the wrath of all our ancestors- those above and below!"

"I will infect the enemy\'s standards, the armor, the weapons with dire and manifold misfortune! "The place of my destruction shall also witness the destruction of Zanzan and Adhania!"

"For Tibias! For the king! For the ancestors!"

As soon as Mithriditus finished saying those words, he charged his steed with an ear splitting roar- "Ahhhh!" beelining straight toward the part of the line where the legionaries\'s ranks were the thickest.

And was then instantly slain by numerous javelins and other missiles, both his body and horse turning into a bloody mess, as his standard fell with him.

But that was enough.

The man that done his job.

His rousing speech had almost miraculously stopped the collapse of the center!