Herald of Steel

As Perseus's men tried to escape the city, unfortunately, they found themselves blocked at the gates by the very force that was sent to relieve them.

One side wanted to rush in to help the besieged men, while the besieged men wanted to rush out to try and avoid the encirclement.

And thus the two sides unfortunately crashed into each other, right in narrow single laned streets.

And then as it could be guessed chaos ensued.

"Move! Let me through!"

"Get out of the way!"

"Aghh! Don't! I.. I can't breathe."

"Stop pushing you fuckers!"

It was as such, with both sides trying to get to their destination at the same time that they found themselves deadlocked.

And then desperate, they shoved, pushed, and even stabbed each other to try and escape.

All of which of course did nothing other than to claim a few needless lives, as the congested streets proved to be too potent a choke point for anyone to reliably escape.

Many were even killed by crushing, i.e. death by asphyxiation.

It happened due to the fact that the surrounding sea of men pressed down on the chest so much that it made it impossible to even move it up and down, making even the simple act of breathing untenable.

It was like this the men from both directions found themselves in an unsolvable knot.

And then to add a bit more spice to the chaos and kerfuffle, the mahoots driving the elephants also let two of the largest beasts they had into the narrow streets, thinking Perseus had called for them.

And then they found themselves stuck.

"Damn it! We can't turn. There is not enough space!" It was only then they understood just how narrow a place they had driven their animals into.

There was very little space for them to maneuver, and certainly not enough to turn the beasts around.

As for the elephants themselves, being placed in this very claustrophobic environment with so many men who were making so much noise, they quickly began to feel very uncomfortable and unable to move freely, they suddenly froze in fear, refusing to budge.

This remained the case even when their trainers tried their darndest to move them, the beasts only standing stock still and appearing afraid and very jittery.

What the trainers here were trying to make the animals reverse blindsided in a straight line, but that was something the two seemed very reluctant to do.

"Don't poke them too much. Or they might charge! Remember that the king is with us!" And due to the following fear, the mahouts were also unable to try all the tricks in their bag, particularly having to rein in their use of the huge pointy sticks that they used to control the animal.

For they dreaded to think what would happen if these massive behemoths went berserk and started to rampage, as the utter destruction they could wreck in a congested space such as this could hardly be imagined.

It would be like a wrecking ball mowing down pins in the shape of humans.

And if the king was to get caught up in such a charge and die as a result, well then everything would be over, then and there.

Thus the trainers atop the elephants had little recourse other than to let these moody animals get used to their new surroundings in their own time, whilst in the meantime, they kept blocking the way out of the city like they were royalty.

And seeing this one, at one point, a few daredevil and half crazed soldiers even menacingly approached these beasts with their spears, wishing to carve open a path for themselves,

"Don't attack them! It will go berserk and start attacking everyone. Then we will all die."

But the mahoots from the top warned them as such, their voice as loud as they were terrified.

And fortunately, it was a potent enough warning to make even those red eyed men back down.

They looked at all the huge size of their 'enemy', heard the occasional angry trumpeting cries, and observed the swords that were menacingly tied to the animal's tusks.

All of which did wonders to make them come to their senses.

After all, they did not want to be flung, trampled, or skewered by a pair of raging elephants.

Thus for the moment, the entire contingent appeared stuck inside the city, neither able to move forward nor backward.

And it was exactly foreseeing such chaos that Perseus had asked for his son to simply open the gates, not enter it.

But since the message subtly got changed in the delivery, Perseus's men thus found that their only route out of the city was blocked.

What a blunder such a small change caused!

And as a consequence of this blunder, panic and fear finally began to settle in among the men trapped in the city.

They had been fighting the whole night, all in the hope of being able to escape the city if they held on for just a bit longer.

And then they were shown that hope, the gate of redemption was right within their grasp.

All for it to be cruelly taken away from them in the blink of an eye.

And what was perhaps most ironic was the fact that it was their own men who had inadvertently done that, somehow due to completely altruistic reasons.

Perhaps the men there would not have felt so much regret even if it had been Alexander to be the one who had done it.

So as they were stuck here with no way out, it was only natural that after a while, these tired and outnumbered men started to lose faith.

And as morale plummeted, desertion among the ranks began to set it!

It was of course not on en mass, as there was simply no space for an en mass desertion anyway.

But many, especially those around the outer fringes of the formation, began to try and look for a small way out, such as attempting to fit their body through the small creases and crevices around the elephants' legs and bodies.

The numbers involved in this endeavor were predictably minuscule, and the ones succeeding even tinier.

It would be like if the total number of men present was like an ocean, then the beasts were acting like a filter, letting out only a single drop at a time.

It was nowhere near enough.

But it was still enough to disrupt unit cohesion as even those who did not run, still kept their eyes and ears perked up looking for a chance to do so if the opportunity arose.

Thus much of the men's attention was currently divided, enabling the legionaries to get a deadly strike in more easily.

And observing all the panic and desperation starting to set in from atop his horse at the back, Grahtos, of course, rejoiced.

It was a complete reversal of his fortunes like the sides of the coin had been flipped like he had been given a second chance at life.

And the man intended to fully capitalize on it.

"Attack! Now is your chance men! Attack!" Clearly recognizing the disorderly formations, the general immediately launched a full fledged counterattack with every single man he had, and since it was already morning, the legionaries were able to effectively coordinate their attacks, letting them be very effective.

Thus, just as Perseus was at his most vulnerable, Grahtos commenced his most deadly attack.

And just as it was expected, this time the men found results.

The energetic legionaries found the enemy lines to be not as solid as they had once been, and many of the very front and rear echelons started to give away when poked and propped from both sides.

The chaos and indiscipline had spread well and truly by now among the enemy's ranks, and even the elite mercenaries had gotten worn out by this point, both by fatigue as well as the fear of impending death.

They might have reaped many lives, but when it came to their own, they too found themselves afraid.

It seemed everybody was afraid to die.

Although ironically, that fear only worked to haul the scythe wielding apparition ever closer ever faster.

"Your Majesty! Look out… arggh!"

As more and more time passed, Grahtos began to make further and further advances into the enemy's ranks, with at some point the attacks even starting to reach as deep into where Perseus was placed, right in the very core of the formation, proving just how degraded the outer rows had become.

Facing attacks from both sides, the king found his forces being chewed up and spit out at a rate almost perceptible to the naked eye.

"Fuck!" And understanding the predicament he was in, Perseus, crudely cursed and cussed in a way that was in much contrast to the way he was brought up, as he murmured in regret, 'I knew this would happen! That's why gave them those instructions!'

Despite wanting to avoid this very scenario, somehow it seemed Perseus's worst nightmare had come true.

"Fuck it! If I'm going to die, might as well die fighting!" And then in a voice filled with anger and desperation, the king suddenly declared such, deciding to join the frontlines himself.

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