Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 241 Searching for Supplies
After a day's rest, the undead army set out from the haunted gold mine and headed toward the Frostwood Path of the Barrier.

Liliana rode the undead horse, her body limp and lifeless, no longer possessing the former splendor of the Night Queen.

Being an undead legion, the soldiers naturally dared not inquire about the events of the night. The only change was in the presence of the vampire marquis, Akasha. This vampire had previously often projected a heroic image, making it difficult to discern her femininity, and her eyes always revealed a steadfast protectiveness.

However, when she appeared this morning, Akasha had dressed up a bit. Her collar was pulled down, revealing her pale, full figure, and black lace was wrapped around her arms, half-concealing the vampire markings, making her look like a noble lady, with a unique charm.

If she were to infiltrate the castle, she could probably seduce humans to their deaths with just her seduction.

Upon seeing the lord emerge, Akasha nodded shyly, seemingly apologetic for her impulsiveness the previous day.

Su Mu didn't care about these trivial matters. He called Liliana over, unfolded the magic map, and assigned tasks for the day.

"Kuyu City is located in the central region of the snowfield, connecting to the Frost Tree Path. It serves as a transit point for the enemy to repair their roads. Although Leven has now occupied Frost Fortress, he still cares a lot about the Tree Path. You harass the border to draw their attention, while I raid the newly arrived centaur warriors to gather more soldiers!"

This intelligence was provided by Conrad. After the Knight Commander captured Norton, the garrison troops near the back of the Tree Path abandoned their garrison in the city and retreated along the Tree Path into the snowfield to find Leven's main force.

Judging by the timing, the enemy is about to arrive at the location of Kuxue City, which is a crucial transit point that they will definitely pass through.

Su Mu needs to inherit the necromancy to convert vampires, and these low-level troops are the best sustenance—they're numerous and easy to kill. The only problem is that there will definitely be contact troops at the stronghold, so he sent Liliana to harass the city of Kuxue first.

He led a force of 200 vampire counts to ambush and kill them on the way.

“You need to be especially careful. Levin has advanced reconnaissance skills and can easily find our location. We must hide in advance and retreat after a single strike, otherwise we will easily fall into an encirclement.”

This isn't a random raid like before. I've heard the elven dragon knight has arrived in Snowfall City. If he captures you, you'll have a hard time escaping with your current strength.

Liliana spread out the map and examined it carefully. She discovered that the city of Kuxue was surrounded by hills, like a pocket; if the mountain pass area were blocked, escape would indeed be difficult.

As for the reputation of the Elf Dragon Knight, she had long heard of it. His near-invincible physical immunity meant that even with the Vampire Count's abilities, he could only rely on percentage-based damage from his skills to win.

Liliana nodded solemnly: "I will certainly live up to your mission!"

"Alright, let's get started!"

……

Orlando arrived in Snowfall City, but this time he didn't bring the unicorn army. Instead, he brought the Pegasus army to meet the retreating troops.

“Conrad is indeed powerful. There are at least tens of thousands of troops in Norton, yet his knights broke through and cut off our retreat. If we hadn’t captured Winterhold, our situation would be quite dire.”

Elf archer Cody Greenleaf smiled: "It was you and Marshal Leven who had the foresight to gather a large army and break through the Frostbite, scaring Rhodes into fleeing in panic."

While Conrad is valiant, he falls behind in the overall game and is not a threat!

Orlando, enjoying the flattery, nodded and said, "If I have the chance, I will definitely fight Conrad and see if the human cavalry is stronger or my dragonscale unicorn army is stronger!"

Cody quickly replied, "Your unicorn army will definitely win. How could Conrad possibly withstand the dragon knights' forces!"

"Hahahahaha!"

The two laughed easily.

In short, whether Norton or the Treeway is captured or destroyed, it won't affect the overall situation. With Winterhold in hand, they are invincible. Isildur can continuously transport troops, and the Empire's overall strength is far greater. There's simply no way they can lose this battle.

Orlando glanced at the map and asked, "The retreating centaur legions must have reinforcements, right? Is there any information about Leo Maruk's communication route?" At this point, Cody's expression darkened. "Recently, many undead troops have appeared on the border, constantly harassing our cities. They operate in the dark and have a dark canopy, making it impossible to observe their specific situation, thus making them very difficult to capture."

It started with an invasion of vampires, then came the chaos of an army of skeletons, and even the appearance of a lich king—they were extremely difficult to deal with.

Orlando frowned: "Undead forces? Why would they inexplicably invade the North? Could they be reinforcements sent by humans?"

Cody shook his head: "Humans and the undead are irreconcilable enemies. I heard that the plains have also suffered from the undead calamity, and the judgment priests of the Church of Light have come specifically to deal with them."

After killing soldiers and civilians, the undead retreated towards the ancient ruins, which should be an ancient battlefield and a cemetery. The specifics are still unclear; all that is known is that the lord there is very powerful.

Orlando only put aside his doubts after hearing that humans were also being attacked by the undead.

After all, the cemetery faction is universally hated. Even if a lord manages to win by using the undead, if it gets out, he will be disgraced and unable to establish himself in the country again.

Who would be willing to pledge allegiance to a lord who loves skeletons? The living and the dead are natural enemies; this has been a law since ancient times.

"Then deploy advanced troops to defend the towns. Our main army will likely head west, and this area is very likely to be abandoned. It doesn't matter if we give it to the undead."

"Once the Marshal has captured Elton's capital, we'll come back and deal with them!"

Orlando also supported continuing westward, regardless of the plains to the south or the city of Norton beyond. As long as he could gain the merit of destroying a nation, he could leave his name on the sacred tree, which would be his greatest achievement.

Cody nodded. He knew what the marshal and the elven dragon knight were thinking. As long as they could buy some time, it wouldn't matter if they lost the cities behind them.

The key is not to lose troops too quickly, and to try to gather the troops together, selecting the most elite units to supplement the westward-advancing army.

Therefore, Orlando arrived, and his task was to integrate the army and temporarily suppress the restless enemy.

"Report! Sir, it seems that undead are attacking again from the borderlands and are heading towards our crystal mine."

"How many people are there? What legion do they belong to?"

"Mainly skeleton soldiers, with some zombies, it seems to be just a harassment."

Upon hearing the enemy's troop composition, Cody breathed a sigh of relief; low-level soldiers were nothing to fear. These past few days, when the undead had been causing trouble, they initially organized large forces to encircle and suppress them, but upon arrival, they only managed to kill dozens or even hundreds of skeletons, which was completely ineffective, so they didn't take it seriously.

"Send a Pegasus Mobile Squadron over there. Tell the guards at the mine not to panic and to fight as usual!"

"Yes!"

After the messenger finished speaking, he was about to leave when Orlando suddenly stopped him. He carefully examined the map and suddenly asked, "Didn't you say that the dark sky had been covering our movements before, preventing us from detecting them?"

Cody paused, unsure of the Dragon Knight's meaning: "Yes, but the enemy's dark canopy can't block all vision, so it's quite normal for such a small detachment to be discovered."

As for whether the other side will deploy a large army, that's hard to say.

Orlando slammed his fist on the table, then slammed it down: "Their target isn't the mines, otherwise they wouldn't have deliberately exposed their weakness. I'll go there myself to see which city they want to attack, and also to find out what kind of people these undead are."

Orlando turned and jumped down from the tower's doorway, mounted Pegasus, assembled his army, and marched south.

The Dragon Knight is a man of his word and will not tolerate any provocation; that's just his style.

(End of this chapter)