Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 215 Bloodstained Gold Rush

After marching for another half day, Su Mu and his men finally arrived at Luan Shi Valley after sunset.

Normally, commanders of human legions prefer to fight during the day when visibility is better and coordination is easier.

The undead legions, on the other hand, prefer to operate at night. The unique properties of their soulfire grant them night vision, while their enemies lack such good visibility, making them easier targets for ambushes and instilling fear.

The valley is filled with abandoned tools and broken boulders, showing signs of human activity, but it has been abandoned for many years.

As the group stepped into the valley, an ethereal magical barrier enveloped them, writing a terrifying line of text in blood, while black crows emitted eerie cries from the branches.

[Warning! Visitors have entered the Blood Gold Rush Grounds, which are extremely dangerous.]

If you want to pan for gold, you need to pay with sufficient resources and your life. Show your sincerity!

Su Mu glanced at Black Crow, but found that he could not see through it with his magic power. It must be the spirit of the rules of the magic illusion.

"This shouldn't be happening. Just a few days ago, this was an abandoned mine, where magical energy was gradually forming a gold mine. How could it suddenly be like this..."

Wayne stood there, looking at everything before him in disbelief; it was completely different from what he had previously investigated.

Looking at the desolate, withered trees in the valley, the dark clouds pressed down lower and lower, and terrifying howls came from afar, he instantly raised the level of danger in the area to a certain degree.

Seeing the changes in the mine, Su Mu pondered, "It seems we've found an excellent resource location. The special illusion will gather magical power based on the visiting hero. This time, they're all graveyard troops. If we conquer it, a special gold mine of the graveyard type will appear!"

Resource areas are also graded. Kuraki's forest is only the lowest grade, and it only produces so much wood because of Forrest's talent. However, some high-grade resource areas can produce 4-6 logs per day, and may even accumulate corresponding resource treasures within the vast forest, making them quite rare.

This gold mine in front of us is most likely in this situation.

But what matches this is an extremely dangerous test of illusion.

Entering this mine requires 100 logs, 100 stones, 150 Vampire Earls, and 1 Vampire Marquis...

Su Mu didn't even want to listen. He simply raised his hand and unleashed a thunderbolt, turning the noisy black crow into a bloody pulp.

This is not how you do business; trying to deceive his troops with words will only leave them with nothing but bones. Does he think he's a three-year-old?
After the black crow died, blood seeped from the yellow earth, outlining a deadly danger.

Anyone who dares to enter the gold mine shall die!

Su Mu glanced at Wayne: "You stay at the entrance. If there's any noise, escape first. Liliana and I will go in and investigate!"

As a bandit, Wayne possesses an exceptional sense of danger and is a master of escape. In the unlikely event of real danger, he can quickly escape the illusion and seek help.

This time, Liliana will be the commander-in-chief to lead the troops, while Su Mu will provide magical assistance, and also to see the abilities of the Night Queen.

"Come on, let's go in!"

The boots stomped hard on the muddy, blood-stained ground, but neither Su Mu nor Liliana took these tricks seriously.

Please, vampires are spirits of the dead; they don't experience fear and their presence doesn't lower morale. They even drink more blood than that every day, so who are you trying to scare?

They hadn't gone far when they came across a collapsed cave; judging by the rail system, it was probably the entrance to a previous mine. There were also many skulls of dwarves and cavemen scattered among the wild grass.

Su Mu glanced at Liliana and then remained silent. This battle was still hers to fight.

"Search around the cave entrance to see if there are any other entrances."

A large number of vampires dispersed, searching for passages into the underground. Liliana, on the other hand, arrived at the sealed entrance and used magic to blast herself down. The earth trembled, and rocks were blasted several meters deep, revealing only rubble. Even the surrounding yellow soil collapsed and buried her once more.

"This opening is probably unusable. Even if it were opened, it wouldn't be able to handle the heavy transportation load."

She reached out and touched the shattered stone, and found it emitting a lot of gold dust, indicating that it was indeed a gold mine.

"Sir, a huge hole has been found under a dead tree about one kilometer to the left, which seems to lead underground."

"Let's go and have a look!"

Liliana regrouped her army and led her men toward the new cave entrance.

Upon reaching the tree, they discovered that the scout vampire was already engaged in battle against a group of blood-gold monsters.

【Bloodthirsty Gold-Devouring Beast (Neutral Tier 5 Super Tier Unit): Attack 15, Defense 15, Damage 5-20, Health 60, Speed ​​7, Size Medium or Larger.

Element: Earth.

Gold-loving Blood Nourishment: Possesses an extremely strong sense of gold coins. After consuming enough gold, it increases damage (+10, and stabilizes at the maximum damage output), and increases critical hit rate (up to 25%) and health (up to 50).

Blood Gold Skin: Fixed increase of 70% physical immunity and fixed increase of 70% critical hit immunity.

The Art of Transforming Gold: Attacks have a chance to turn enemies into gold; Gold-Loving Beasts can directly devour them (units below level 6).

These monsters are incredibly powerful. Their base damage is actually not high, fixed at a minimum of 5, which is even less than some level 3 units.

However, once they consume enough gold coins, they can reach a terrifying level: 30 damage, 110 health, and a 25% critical hit rate. Combined with the insane instant-kill ability of the Gold Transformation Technique, they become a formidable unit.

Su Mu had only heard of Medusa's ability to petrify, but this was the first time he had seen the Bloodthirsty Gold Beast possess the talent to turn to gold; it was truly a rare sight in the world.

However, only such illusions can produce similar units; otherwise, every battle would consume a huge amount of gold coins, and even a mountain of gold wouldn't be enough for them to devour.

The enemy force numbered over thirty, and they surprisingly gained the upper hand against the vampire count. Fortunately, Liliana's attributes received an epic boost after gaining power, otherwise she would have been completely powerless to fight back.

The Vampire Count has higher attack and defense, exceeding 20, and also has a lot of health, so even if the opponent's damage is high, they can't do anything about it. On the other hand, the Bloodthirsty Beast has stronger physical resistance, is not afraid of the high-attack vampire's damage, and also has a lot of health. The two sides are locked in a fierce battle.

In the end, the vampires prevailed, wiping out more than 30 gold-devouring beasts. However, several warriors were also turned to gold and devoured by the vampires.

Although the gold-devouring beast cannot bite vampires, it can devour gold at an astonishing speed and can even restore lost life, making it quite formidable.

Liliana did not use any special magic; she didn't have much magic power, and she had other considerations.

At present, this number of enemies poses no threat to the troops. She simply used a necromancy spell to bring a dozen skeletons with her to act as mobile soul fire replenishment stations.

Hanging from the dead tree was a badly decomposed corpse, emitting an unbearable stench. Its skull had been smashed open, and a huge piece of gold had been inserted inside, seemingly warning the gold prospectors that this was not the place for them.

"Pretend to be a ghost!"

Liliana set the dead wood on fire, revealing a bottomless hole.

Su Mu used Swift Acceleration on all troops, and everyone jumped down from the cave entrance.

(End of this chapter)