As the two armies clashed, the battle soon into a difficult slogging match for both sides.
At the start of the battle, the legionaries had thrown their pilla and charged as they had been trained, managing to cause some casualties and even take some of the initiative, pushing back the phalanx army back a bit.
But soon the Tibians recovered and counterattacked, restoring the front lines, and turning the whole battle into one of attrition.
And the main contents of this attrition played itself in the center, where the bulk of the action was taking place.
There Tibias attacked with 32,000 men under their king Perseus, out of which 29,000 were heavy infantry and 3,000 light skirmishers who doubled as missile troops.
While for Menes, his center was much stronger, grouped into eight legions and placed in two rows, there were a total of 40,000 troops.
Just the center of the army stretched 2 kilometers.
Then there were the flanks, where both sides deployed 2,000 horsemen on either side, with Perseus and his bodyguards personally taking part in the fight on their left flank, opposed by Laykash's men.
And lastly, there were the reserves, with Perseus keeping his 20 war elephants in the back for a surprise attack.
While Menes pulled back the first legion because it had been hurt pretty badly in the frontal attack while also keeping his 1,000 crossbowmen unengaged as currently the battle was purely a melee contest.
And as time went on, a clear winner of the contest began to show itself slowly but surely.
It was Tibias.
It could be clearly seen that though outnumbered, it was the Tibians who were pressuring Menes's men, slowly pushing them towards the river.
And though it sounded incredible, this was actually understandable given the circumstances.
After all, they were fighting on a completely flat terrain, one where the phalanx was in its element.
And most of Tibias's troops were battle-hardened veterans, the likes of which Zanzan really had no equivalent off.
The only ones who might have been of comparable quality would be the original 5,000 mercenaries, but after the beating they took at Djose's hands, where they had been made to hold the center of the army alone, their numbers had shrunk to around 4,500.
Thus, 29,000 vs 4,500 was never really any contest.
All of which ultimately meant this.
"Hold! Hold!"
"Push back men! Push back!"
"Don't let them throw you around!"
Melodias screamed his heart out, urging his men to stand their ground, as he saw his forces being slowly pushed to the river.
While in his heart, he cursed Menes, swearing,
'I told him this would happen! But would he listen? Fuck!'
When Melodias had bought up the issue of terrain, Menes had simply shrugged it aside, arguing that they easily outnumbered the enemy, and so would be able to hold the line even if the phalanx was in a better terrain.
And he supported his answer by using the example of the previous battle, where 30,000 legionaries had held off 30,000 phalangites for almost half a day with no problem.
But in reality, this comparison was fundamentally flawed.
Because there were several big differences between the two.
One was that in that encounter the troop quality was relatively similar.
Secondly, the infantry had support from the crossbowmen on the flanks and also from the cavalrymen in the reserve.
Whereas here, the infantry was really on their own.
And thirdly, and perhaps most critically, Alexander had been present in that battle, exponentially boosting the soldier's morale, and making many feel like that they would rather die than take one step back.
So with all these three factors absent, when pressured, the legionaries slowly gave ground and were steadily pushed back, with the commanders and officers being really unable to do anything except shout and urge their men to fight harder.
But even then inexperienced commanders could sense this was likely a futile cause, and that if this went on without any major change, they were mostly likely going to lose the battle at some point.
And all this was observed by Menes, who sat atop his horse sweating bullets, all while trying to find a way out as things continued to slowly turn from bad to worse for this general.
This was his first battle, and if he simply lost like this, where his army was ground down and then slaughtered by being pinned against the bank of the river, he feared he would not be able to look Alexander in the eye ever again.
So he tried to find a way, any way to wiggle out of this predicament.
But still failed to see any light out of the dark tunnel.
Now, as Menes cooked his head for any ideas, some very interesting things were happening on his right flank.
Led by Laykash, the 2,000 cavalrymen here were evenly matched by their counterpart, which was composed of the Tibias's best of the best.
This was where Perseus was personally engaged in fighting, accompanied by his elite bodyguards, retainers, and nobles, all of whom wanted to share the glory with their liege.
While Laykash's men had 500 Sycarinas who held the pride of the best horsemen in the world.
So neither side wanted to give the other one the slightest bit of quarter.
Hence, both sides thrusted, stabbed, poked, and parried strike after strike, wanting to pierce and knock the other side of his horse.
And in this chaotic melee, Perseus, the king of Tibias was not only just in formation but really in the thick of it, with him personally leading from the front.
This had the benefit of boosting his troops' morale sky-high, which was also a factor in why the Tibians were doing so well.
But it also had the adverse effect of making every enemy soldier under the sky want to get a taste of him.
And with his heavily embellished armor, he was probably the easiest thing to spot on the entire battlefield.
Laykash had even set a bounty on the man, declaring,
"10,000 ropals! Anyone who kills the enemy king will get 10,000 ropals from me!"
And this naturally made all 2,000 cavalrymen want a piece of the king even more.
So, as the battle raged on, soon the attacks launched against him began to increase both in frequency and ferocity, as many times, Zanzan riders, overcome with bloodlust and the frenzy of the battle would even launch suicidal attacks to try and get the grand prize.
Before being promptly cut by the royal bodyguards, or even by Perseus himself, who himself was a very skilled warrior.
"Your Majesty, please back away for now, This is getting dangerous," And seeing these increased ferocious attacks, Leosydas then promptly advised Perseus to fight from a few rows in the back.
But the king brushed him off, haughtily laughing and saying, "Haha, these are nothing, Leo. I can fight these punks all day."
And so, Perseus continued to fearlessly dodge, parry and eliminate all threats.
But even then, the number of people out for his head seemed endless, as when one man fell, three more stepped up to take his place.
These cavalrymen were either blinded by greed for money, a sense of duty towards their land, the allure of killing a king and basking in its glory, or simply overcome by the zeal of combat and so all appeared relentless in their pursuit to kill him.
And then, suddenly, as the battle entered its mid-phase, finally, Laykash's men's persistence seemed to almost pay off.
It happened just as Perseus deftly parried another enemy spear thrust using his small shield, probably the hundredth one of today when suddenly another rapid stab somehow managed to find its way through a momentary gap in the layered defenses, the lucky strike aiming directly for the king's liver.
It seemed that a momentary lapse of judgment had occurred on Tibias's side, and a critical flaw managed to form in their defenses
And Zanzan seemed perfectly poised to instantly take advantage of it.
But alas, the spear was unable to accomplish its task.
As the supremely skilled king abruptly twisted his body in an unnatural way and then in a whirlwind of movements suddenly bought his shield from mid-air to almost magically in front of the sharp iron tip, solidly blocking the strike.
He was saved!
But not safe.
Because although he managed to keep his life, he was ultimately unable to mitigate all the effects of the strike, as the great momentum of the strike, and his awkward position on the horse managed to knock him off his horse.
And seeing this, the Zanzan cavalrymen began to roar to the skies, saying,
"The king is dead! The king is dead!"
While Leosydas let out a crazed howl and immediately got off his own horse before starting to drag the king back deeper into the formation.
This action was so quick, and Laykash's men were so distracted with celebrating their premature victory that they simply let this happen, causing this golden opportunity to slip through their fingers and missing their one chance to end the war then and there.
Laykash wanted to cry but had no tears.
And could only soothe his bleeding heart by saying that when Perseus had fallen, every man and even some horse in the surroundings had jumped in front of him to protect their king.
So it was unlikely they could have finished the job even if they tried.
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