Herald of Steel

Chapter 718 Alexander's Bold Plan

It would not be wrong to say that the battle between Lord Theony and Melodias came to quite an abrupt end.

What was supposed to be one's trump card was somehow turned on its heel by the other in a matter of seconds and the very elephants that were supposed to help Lord Theony win the fight had all of a sudden switched sides and was now actively destroying their own side.

No matter who it was, one had to feel even a tad bit sorry for the man.

And as the man himself sat on his horse, gazing at the rampaging animals, stomping on his own men, and the soldiers scattering themselves to the wind with no sense of direction, one of his retainers quickly approached him and shouted, 

"My lord! We need to retreat! Now!"

Their army was gone and they had clearly lost, so what more could they do other than run back into the safety of the city?

They had nothing to do here.

"Yes! Before those beasts come here." Another noble from the side added fearfully, gazing at the elephants worryingly.

"Mmmmm," And knowing things were all lost here and that he had lost, Lord Theony only had the energy to make this almost mewl-like hum.

Now that things had gotten to this point, the only thing that was left to worry about was one's own life.

So soon that small group of nobles and whatever men that were still left in proper order quickly whirled their horses around and sped off toward the city, all their faces reflecting various shades of gloom and dread.

This was particularly true for Lord Theony, for this commander's face no longer had that boisterous, arrogant look he always carried himself with, and neither did his eyes sparkle with that ever present intrigue and mystery.

Instead, he appeared sunken and hollow, which would also be an apt description of his heart, for he knew that this defeat signified.

Thesalie- The city which stood for so many centuries was about to fall.

And if that was not enough, it would fall under his command, at least partially under his command.

This turn of events was devastating to both his country and his political career in the court.

'What now?' Thus the man found himself asking this but was unable to come up with any real answers.

  While Alxx from the back laid witness to the same carnage and destruction, and his heart was filled with one very important conclusion.

And that was why he determined that he would never use war elephants himself.

These things were too difficult to control and were as much a danger to the side using it as the side using it.

Sure they were able to scare horses away, and in the right circumstances, just a handful of them could single handedly turn the tide of battle as they did for Perseus.

But in Alxx's eyes, they are too flawed and unreliable to be used consistently.

Countering them was not too hard as just demonstrated right now, they were not nearly as maneuverable as traditional cavalry and if something went wrong with them, which honestly was not that hard to do, it was mostly likely they would turn against their own user.

So rather than these high risk, high rewards units, Alxx much preferred the more controllable horses.

'But they are really magnificent creatures.' And as Alxx came to this conclusion, he also could not help but marvel while looking at these beasts going wild out there.

This was of course Alxx's first time seeing elephants like this, in such an open field, and being able to witness these majestic animals at night under a clear moonlit sky, running around and trumpeting, it was actually a very beautiful sight to behold.

If only it was not so dangerous.

In fact it was so dangerous that even when Lord Theony's men broke and ran, the legionaries did not choose to give chase like they normally would have.

Instead, they actually started to retreat bit by bit, drawing a distance between them and the fleeing phalangites.

All of which was done instinctually, the officers did not need to give any orders.

Because all these men at least had the common sense to understand that running toward those enraged animals was a bad idea.

Some of the men on the frontlines could be even seen holding their last pilla in their hands, ready to throw it if any of those war elephants made the mistake of dashing toward them.

Alxx largely left the disintegration of Lord Theony's forces to its own devices, letting the elephants, the madly dashing men, and the fear and panic finish them off.

While Alxx's exhausted men, too tired to give chase anyway, tried to catch their breath or better yet, get some much needed shut-eye.

Alxx even noticed many fatigued legionaries break military protocol and sit or even lay on the ground, but it was something that Alxx was willing to overlook given the circumstances. 

"My lord! Congratulations! We won!"

And soon, Alxx's commanders and nobles began to converse around him, their faces filled with smiles, their tone light and jovial.

Many then even began to recount their own experiences, for no one person, not even Alxx was privy to everything that had happened, 

"Hahaha, yes, yes. It is all due to the lord's charge that we won!" TP was especially animated while describing Alxx's charge that destroyed PO, as he had first row tickets to it.

While Alxx only smiled and nodded.

And once finally all the higher ups were gathered, Melodias turned to ask Alxx, 

"Then my lord should I order the soldiers back to the back? The men are already very tired and chasing the enemy at night would be too dangerous."

"We can do that tomorrow morning."

The steady general was very sensible in his suggestion, and many even though Melodias's request more formalities than actually seeking permission.

After all, it was only natural that they were going to return to their camp.

What else were they going to do?

Not only the regular soldiers but even the commanders and officers such as themselves were dog tired with many's throats even hurting.

"No!" But unfortunately, their boss did not seem to think so.

And at the answer, the gathered men naturally pulled very surprised faces, as they whirled their heads as if shocked, giving him a look that seemed to implicitly ask, 'What gives?'

And Alxx had an answer ready for them, 

"We will attack the walls now. Given the enemy's defeat, the walls should be pretty empty. So we should take this chance and capture it before they can reinforce!"

"That should be easy!"

Alxx here was being bold, even greedy.

And hearing their usually cautious lord pose this, for a few seconds, the others were stunned.

"Tha…that…the sodliers are pretty tired…its dark…we…" Melodias tried to stammer these seemingly incoherent words out to convince Alxx otherwise, but really could not think of saying anything that Alxx did not already know about.

The fact simply was that Alxx wanted to attack the walls knowing all the limitations.

And understanding this, all the commanders unanimously pulled various ugly and sullen faces.

They had just had a long day, fought a grueling several hour battles in the night, and were now being asked to do something similar again.

Given many of them could barely stand, they were certainly not receptive to this idea. 

And sensing the universal resistance, Alxx did not actually acquiesce to their wants, but pushed back with his own explanations, reasoning, 

"I know that many of the men are near the end of their ropes and want to rest."

"But if we wait till morning, this will give the enemy the time to bolster their walls."

"Many of the scattered men might even be able to return to the city and be put to manning them."

"We can't let that happen." Alxx shook his to emphasize, stating, 

"But if we attack now, the enemy will have no way of expecting that."

"And given it is night, we will be able to use the general darkness to better conceal our avenues our attack!"

"So I say that if we can take the walls now, sure the soldiers will be a little bit exhausted, but we will lose fewer lives."

"And I think anyone would trade one for the other any day of the year."

"......." At his reasoning, the others did not immediately respond, neither with a yes or a no.

Perhaps they were still thinking, or perhaps they were too tired to think, or perhaps being with Alxx long enough they knew since the man had made up his mind, arguing with him would be an exercise in futility.

Or it could be all three.

Regardless, only a few smaller nobles raised a few concerns regarding the visibility and the challenges of conducting an attack at night, and though many were valid concerns but Alxx simply waved them off, saying, 

"All these things are too overblown. We can take the walls regardless. Now let us attack!"

It seemed Alxx had made up his mind, and once the head honcho had spoken, the decision was in all but name made and the others had no choice but to obey.

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