Herald of Steel

Chapter 811

After seeing the boastful mercenary leader Petricuno's dreadful performance and the almost instant annihilation of his army, Manuk had moved his army out of the camp, abandoning it, and instead instructed them to charge towards Perseus, intending to land a helping hand.

But though he was willing to undertake such an endeavor, that did not mean he was willing to do so with a cheerful heart.

He even half cursed, 

"Darm idiot. I held your leg begging you not to give battle. And now I have to hold your leg and drag you back to safety."

"I already have one ass I regularly need to clean. I do not need another one." 

But as he was muttering so under his breath, out of the corner of his eye, the man soon caught off a glint of blue, and turning around he noticed a line of men neatly organizing themselves into an orderly formation, in much contrast to the rest of the chaotic field of red and blue, and seemed ready to charge towards a destination ready to fight as a coherent force.

The direction of that destination- seemingly the same as Manuk's!

The priest was left in no doubt as to where these men wanted to attack and knew when they reached it, their intentions were completely different from his.

Whereas he wanted to aid the king there, those men wanted nothing more than to put that very man's head on a halberd.

And seeing so, the man's heart jumped and he wanted nothing more than to urge his men to spread apart and march faster, just like Petricuno had done.

But he did not!

Ultimately, learning from Petricuno he soothed his heart and calmed down, reciting the mantra-

'I'm better arriving late than never'.

So keeping his formation bunched up as it were and not giving those Zanzan reinforcements any chance to take advantage, he slowly proceeded at his own pace, with the elephants slowly leading the way and the expert mercenaries following close close.

His only consolation about the whole affair was that he had started far sooner than his opponent and the pious priest prayed to Ramuh that that head start would be enough to reach Perseus before the far nimbler legionnaires.

But who were those clever legionnaires who had the discipline and calm state of mind to forgo all the shiny loot and rejoin the deadly battle in aid of their general?

Well, it was a group of around 2,000 men led by Remus!

When Petricuno's army was broken and the mad dash for gold, women, and slaves began, Remus, who was second in command to Melodias and fighting right near the front line to boost morale, suddenly had a flashback.

His mind raced back to that night, to that battle against Lord Ponticus.

It reminded him that after smashing into Lord Ponticus's flanks and destroying his contingent, the forces Remus had seemingly dissipated into thin air as the unruly men chaotically ran across the battlefield in search of battlefield glory, leaving Melodias to face Lord Theony on his own, thus rendering the advantage they had gained in that engagement fully uncapitalized.

It was a great loss.

And Alxx had even brought that up in his post battle analysis, something that most powers did and in that, though he did not chastise Remus for letting this happen, he certainly urged him to pay more attention to similar things in the future.

'In the future' as in now.

"*Trumpet!* *Trumpet!*" Hence, refusing to commit the same mistake twice, Remus almost instinctively took out his horn and blew, attracting all nearby ears towards him as he then shouted, 

"Brothers! The battle is still not over. The battle is still not over. Do not shatter."

"General Menes still needs our help. We must go rescue him," 

As he said this, he pointed towards the left side of the ridge which still had more than 40,000 men fighting to the death, 

"Look! The enemy's defenseless backs are right open to us. They are laughing at such for not attacking them."

"Let us charge brothers. For glory! For victory! For Lord Alxx!"

Remus raised his strong arm into the air, swinging it wildly.

"Hahaaaa!" And his call was answered by numerous men.

Remus was a grassroots officer who was held great respect and reverence in the army, for a variety of reasons.

His youth, his tactical genius, the fact that he was in nickname terms with the lord of the land, and his natural talent for giving speeches and convincing people all contributed significantly to his popularity.

But perhaps most importantly, it was his personal charisma that gravitated people towards him.

And surprisingly, that last one came not due to an insignificant side effect of a particular habit of Remus, which was that he liked to sleep with many of the soldiers in the army, be they of any rank, for his tastes were as varied as adventurous.

And this was something that Alxx very much disapproved of- not because of the act itself since such practices were common, but more so because such a thing between soldiers posed the risk of blooming into something more, which could lead a commander into making decisions not optimum for the army.

The clear evidence of this was present in this battle itself when Petricuno ordered a premature retreat based on his son's safety.

But anyway, such foibles aside, Remus was indeed a very talented commander and leader, and hearing his speech and trumpet, around four battalions (2,000) of men stopped their chase of the fleeing enemy and relinquishing that loot, instead started to turn around in an anticlockwise direction until they were 180 degrees, and could stare straight into Perseus's defenseless nape, like a ferocious tiger ready to pounch onto it. 

"*Trumpet*" And once they were ready, Remus had nothing more to say except blow the horn to advance.

And as he did, like his counterpart had, he too noticed Manuk and found the latter to be actually leading him, though not by much.

Initially, he was surprised by this contingent of men, as he did not think the Tibians had any reserves to throw.

And then for a moment, another greedy thought invaded his mind- to attack that small, roundabout 1,000 man force, surrounding and destroying them.

A thought further sweetened by the fact they had 12 gigantic elephants with them.

Those were delicious prizes, the ripest anyone could ask for and if Remus could capture them, it would be an enormous accomplishment on his part.

To say that the nineteen year old was not tempted would be a great lie.

But then rationality returned to his head, overruling his heart.

Killing those 1,000 men might be a great personal achievement, but it would not help him win the battle.

As a matter of fact, if he got bogged down fighting there, it might even lose him the battle as Menes would likely snap before Perseus did.

The general might even be killed in the subsequent rout.

So ignoring the juicy prey ahead, Remus only urged his men to march faster, wanting to hit the enemy's defenseless back before reinforcements could arrive.

And though this was undoubtedly the correct move to make under the circumstances, if Alexander was here, if he knew who was leading those 1,000 reinforcements, and if he was a prophet, he would have certainly chastised Remus for not killing Manuk when he had the chance.

But such magic did not exist in this world, and thus Remus only followed the most logical path, trying to cut off Manuk before he could snap Menes.

Unfortunately for Remus, even the fast foot of the legionaries were unable to catch up to Manuk who had gotten a significant start.

But frontal for him, the priest did not actually join the fight.

Instead, driving his horse right next to the currently barking king, who even now kept on urging his men to keep fighting, Manuk shouted, 

"Your Majesty! Retreat! Sound the horn and retreat!" 

The arrival of this familiar yet unwelcome face caused the king to suddenly pause, while his nearby bodyguards glared, making it very clear Manuk was not welcomed.

But an instant later, upon seeing the men he had brought, PR's sour, annoyed face melted away as the king flashed a victorious smile, 

"Esteemed Enovy! Lord Manuk! You are here! You brought the troops! Great! Great" 

Each and every one of his phrases had expletives that out pitched its predecessor, and Perseus looked at Manuk like his long lost lover, his eyes twinkling in delight, his face filled with fighting zeal.

To Perseus, it seemed Menes was that one straw he would need to break the back of the camel called Zanzan.

And facing such an overly familiar address, rather than being put off by Perseus's ingratiating tone, Manuk actually groaned with incredulation, 'He is not going to keep fighting is he?'

He could not believe the balls of this man.

Half of his army was destroyed, his camp was being raided, his own men had been fighting for hours, and a force of 1,000 to 2,000 was coming to outflank him, and he seemed to still fight.

But perhaps that's why Perseus was known as a great warrior king.

However this time, this king needed to face reality, as Manuk shouted, "Your Majesty! Now is not the time to fight. A large contingent of the enemy is coming to hit us in the flanks."

"Give the order to retreat. I will command the rear guard."