Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 281 Fatal Warning
Just as the Thunderbird army dispersed, two more giant crossbows struck from the sky, transforming into wind, thunder, and lightning, directly blasting into the Thunderbird formation and instantly taking away hundreds of Thunderbirds.

The air was filled with the smell of burning flesh, and a hollow, bloody mess had formed.

What terrifying crossbow bolts! One arrow wiped out hundreds of level 5 soldiers. Who is controlling the crossbow? Even with advanced artillery skills, it's impossible to cause such high damage.

João carefully observed the crossbow attack and discovered that it was not just a single arrow, but a long-range attack that combined a large number of troops using special magic. However, the distance was too great, and even heroes could not detect the enemy's location.

It appears that the enemy's crossbows have the ability to increase their range, thus amplifying the attack range of ordinary ranged archers.

"High mountain area! The enemy is using ranged units; the ballistae are just a decoy. Increase your elemental resistance!"

João realized that the crossbow bolts had converted into elemental attacks, so he ordered the Thunderbird troops to resist the elemental damage.

Furthermore, he also cast an atmospheric shield over all his troops, which effectively countered ranged units and increased their ability to launch surprise attacks.

Thunderbirds are also a unit that has undergone special elemental baptism, giving them a strong resistance to air elements.

Lightning Thunderbird (Tier 2 Unit, Level 5 Stronghold, Baptism of Air Element): Attack 16, Defense 12, Damage 13-18, Health 65, Speed ​​13, Huge Size.

Element: Air element, flying unit.

Lightning Storm: 15% chance to inflict a lightning attack (20 elemental damage). When this effect is triggered a certain number of times, it will gather into a lightning cloud, dealing a powerful area-of-effect lightning attack to enemies within range (total damage = (20 + Heroic Spell Power) * number of Thunderbirds).

Lightning Darling: Resists 80% of lightning damage and increases speed by 2. Requires a hero to activate and increases continuous mana cost.

Assessment: These birds, born of lightning, can soar through thunderstorms unscathed. When you attack them with lightning, it's very difficult to harm them.

The moment they entered the clouds, another arrow came, but the Thunderbird withstood it. Countless electric currents flowed around its body, but they could hardly cause it any harm.

This time, the Thunderbird finally discovered the enemy's tracks. On a distant mountain peak, a group of powerful priests and concealed ballistae were launching an attack on the orc army. The crossbow bolts seemed to be cloaked in invisibility; once fired, they had no trajectory and could not be located at all.

Fortunately, João recognized the characteristics of the crossbow bolts, and the Thunderbird's vision improved considerably after taking to the sky, which allowed them to pinpoint the enemy's location.

"Ouch!"

The Thunderbird used lightning to guide the orc army, and they immediately knew its approximate location.

"Quickly! Wolf riders, attack the northeastern mountain peaks!"

Thousands of wolf riders obeyed the order and immediately rushed toward their target, determined to cleave the enemy into pieces.

The Thunderbirds arrived at the mountain peak even earlier. They activated their Thunder Darlings and moved with lightning speed, landing on the ground almost before humans could react.

Only then did they realize that the humans had assembled 300 ranged troops, all of whom were now exposed to the Thunderbirds' vision. They scrambled to engage the ranged archers, hoping to buy time for the wolf riders behind them.

However, the enemy is called the Mysterious Prayer!
Close-quarters combat? Absolutely not afraid!
Their formidable offensive power, coupled with the stacking of multiple buff spells, allows them to hold their own and even possess the immense attack power boost from the Orlings, enabling them to inflict massive damage.

Of course, the Thunderbirds are not weak either. They can not only deal high damage, but also add lightning attacks, instantly scorching their enemies.

Since the Mysterious Prayer's health is not high, this battle is still a bit difficult.

But when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, the strongest swordsman is naturally indispensable.

Hundreds of the strongest swordsmen charged down from the mountaintop, launching a blitzkrieg. Flames ignited their broadswords, engulfing all the fallen thunderbirds in a circular attack, instantly slaying hundreds more thunderbirds baptized by the elements.

Although there were quite a few Thunderbirds, numbering in the thousands, they couldn't withstand such a massacre!
The key point is that the Thunderbird cannot break through the strongest swordsman's defense at all; it can only rely on lightning attacks to add elemental damage and condense lightning storms.

Ouling wasn't unprepared either; he had used his Qi-controlling technique to defend against the thunderstorm's attack, and it proved quite effective. The two sides clashed in a chaotic battle, and the Thunderbird troops were clearly outmatched, losing over a thousand men in just a few minutes.

Their only source of pride was destroying Orling's ballista, shattering it into pieces with lightning, thus preventing Orling from continuing to use it for attacks.

Despite losing the ballista, Orling remained calm. He moved the Arcane Prayer to the back, preparing to launch another ranged attack.

The Thunderbirds tried to entangle the Prayer, but were hit by a slowing spell, reducing all their speed by half. When they tried to take flight again, they encountered strong air currents, their wings feeling like they were made of lead, making it impossible for them to fly. These once-powerful flying units were reduced to mere ground chickens.

Su Mu and Lie Feng made their move, using the Slowing Technique in conjunction with the Sky-Splitting Wings to confine the enemy to a limited area, forcing them to fight the strongest swordsman head-on and losing their high-speed mobility.

The enemy hero could actually dispel this effect, but the distance was too great. Sometimes flying fast isn't a good thing either, as the hero's magic couldn't reach this area.

"Kill them! Cut off their wings!"

The Lightning Thunderbird is indeed powerful, but it is no match for the strongest swordsman. After being baptized by the supernatural fire element, it not only increases its damage by 10, but also has a 20% chance to ignore defense, second only to the Behemoth. In addition, with the offensive techniques after taking control, no matter how strong the enemy's defense is, it will be difficult to withstand it.

The carnage continued, and the Arcane Prayer continued its ranged attacks after disengaging from the enemy.

This time, the Thunderbirds finally couldn't hold on any longer, letting out a mournful cry as they were about to be wiped out.

The water-type hero who rushed to the front of the stronghold finally activated the exorcism spell, removing the slow and rift effects, allowing the Thunderbird to fly again.

As soon as they took off, they were met with hundreds of spell-powered cannonballs, creating a dazzling display of fireworks in the air.

The Thunderbirds were completely wiped out, with 3280 dying in battle.

The strongest swordsmen suffered some losses; after Su Mu's reincarnation, dozens of them died, and the Mystic Prayer also lost dozens of people.

If the fighting had continued, Su Mu could have rescued everyone, but the troops at the stronghold were already approaching, so he prepared to withdraw.

This casualty ratio is already quite considerable; there's no need to get bogged down in the pursuit of perfection.

Seeing the fate of the Thunderbirds, the enemy wolf riders continued their charge, but their speed decreased, keeping pace with the central army.

Su Mu spotted the ogres and cyclops, and the stronghold also had high-level warriors baptized by elemental magic, making them difficult to deal with.

In particular, the ogres possess skills that counter reincarnation, which somewhat counter them.

He came here to block the enemy's main force and slow them down, not to actually kill 30,000 enemy soldiers in one battle, otherwise his hard-earned troops would suffer heavy casualties.

With such a warning, the outpost will surely be much more careful in its marches.

Once the ballistae from the rear arrived, Orling would launch a series of attacks, eager to see how many of these orcs would make it to Sunset Fortress alive.

"Evacuate first! We'll wait for them at the next location!"

The army moved rapidly to the other side of the mountain. Advanced logistics were activated, and the enemy, having lost their air force, could only watch the dust rise and follow the swordsmen, eating their dust.

This battle completely validated João's idea: the human kingdoms were not so easy to attack.

This is all at the cost of blood.

(End of this chapter)