Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 329 Advanced Summoning Technique

"Boom!"

The hero of the fortress was thrown heavily to the ground, surrounded by Sumu, Liliana, and Uli.

Anos was covered in blood, his body torn apart, with only half a head remaining, and it was clear he wouldn't live much longer.

"What were Lloyd's arrangements? Do you have a map of the hills' defenses?"

Akasha stepped forward and kicked Anos, but he didn't move. It seemed that he knew he couldn't escape death after confessing, so he simply went all out.

Liliana glanced at Su Mu, about to finish him off, when Uli stepped forward.

"My lord, I might be able to obtain some information, but I need resources to cast the spell!"

Su Mu glanced at the other party. Uli was now extremely respectful. He might have secretly felt superior to others before, but since witnessing the Titan's Arrow, he had completely lost that thought and dared not make any small moves.

There are also different levels of combination artifacts. For example, the Holy Blood Vial and the Phantom Bow are very rare and powerful, but they are not difficult to collect. The trouble lies in encountering the corresponding treasures.

However, items like the Titan's Arrow, the Angelic Alliance, and the Dragon King's Power, even if not fully combined, are individually powerful treasures, extremely rare in the world. Only a super-powerful force, or someone who has undergone numerous extremely difficult battles, could gather them all.

Ancient powers like Isildur, Elton, and the Arcane Empire, with histories spanning millennia, might possess one or two sets of inherited treasures. But what if a newly emerging power were to suddenly appear and collect all these incredibly powerful treasures?
Then there's no other way but to fight. Just think about how powerful the heroes who are qualified to wear them are, and you'll know how incredible it is to collect all the Titan's Arrows.

Uli wasn't stupid; he wouldn't attribute it to chance or luck. Everything was based on strength. He had even begun to suspect Su Mu's identity, but dared not show it. Instead, he proactively offered suggestions, demonstrating his own value.

Su Mu glanced at Uli and told him to give it a try.

Soul Wizards have many unorthodox and evil methods. Not to mention Anos's current half-dead state, even a normal hero would probably not survive if their memories were forcibly extracted.

However, Su Mu had no mercy for the enemies of the stronghold; to pity the enemy was to be cruel to oneself.

Lloyd's primary attack direction is currently to the west. If he successfully reaches the Shilin Plain, Kuraki will suffer devastation. The best defense would be to keep him bogged down in the hilly area.

Anos was dragged into the cave by Uri, and soon a terrifying wail echoed out. The heart-wrenching screams made one wonder what kind of torture he had suffered.

Fortunately, those present were all undead troops, otherwise it might have affected morale.

After more than ten minutes, Uli came out carrying a pot. Unlike the Soul Cauldron, this treasure was smaller, with a green solution churning inside and a skeleton-like skull bobbing up and down.

"A cry from the underworld, the punishers steal beautiful thoughts, tell the truth!"

The skull opened its mouth and began to mutter secrets intermittently.

"Dino Hansen, the Lightning Ranger, head north to provide support! Crown of Oracles, Golden Dragon!"

This is truly shocking news. The barrier has been strengthened so much. With the opponent's millennia-long foundation, since they have unsealed Dragon Cliff, it must be a golden dragon carrying divinity, which means its strength is quite formidable.

Divine Tier 7 soldiers are the top-tier units in the extraordinary forces. Unless they face an absurd disparity in troop strength, they are essentially godlike.

He just didn't know how many divine attributes the other party possessed. If it was a golden dragon with two divine attributes, he would probably have to take a detour. However, he felt that since the barrier had just been unsealed at Dragon Cliff, there might not be a golden dragon with two divine attributes.

For now, we will continue to disrupt the interior of the stronghold according to the established plan, causing Lloyd to be distracted and buying time for Kuraki and Silvertop City.

Uli found a map, and the skull spat out green liquid, outlining the defenses of the northern hills on it. It could only roughly indicate the location of the defensive fortresses and the defensive lines of the fortress Ekra; the details were rather blurry.

Even so, the power of the Soul Wizard is evident; after all, heroes have high resistance, and ordinary magic and skills are ineffective against them. It's quite remarkable that Uri was able to extract such crucial information from Anos.

After the map was drawn, the skull in the container exploded and shattered into dust, but it condensed into a bright red light, which Uri grabbed in his hand.

He asked Liliana to take out the Soul Cauldron and put the condensed soul crystals into it.

"The secret to upgrading the Soul Cauldron lies in continuously collecting the souls of powerful heroes, removing impurities, and then feeding them into the cauldron to strengthen its core aura of death." [Soul Cauldron: Nourished by powerful souls, the cauldron gains an even stronger aura of death, bringing it one step closer to advancement.]

After being fed, the solution in the crucible curled into a tongue and licked it happily, seemingly wanting more, but was suppressed by Uri's spell and temporarily stopped reacting.

In fact, the profession of a Soul Wizard is somewhat similar to that of a Blacksmith. If you consider treasures as living things, you can understand the principle behind their improvement: they constantly devour matter of the same origin to evolve themselves.

Just like the broken timber cart at the beginning, which was on the verge of going out of control, it wrestled with Forrest, and whoever won would evolve into a more powerful being.

In this process, the blacksmith uses materials, while the soul wizard uses souls.

Su Mu glanced at Uli: "So, the heroes of the cemetery would be better material."

Uri, who had been all smiles, froze on the spot. Even as a soul wizard, he felt a chill on his neck.

"Hahahaha! Just kidding. There are so many heroes in the ancient ruins, many of whom can be used as materials. You still have a great use!"

Hearing this comforting remark, Uli managed a weak, skeletal smile. If it were anyone else, he would have already lost his temper, determined to teach them a lesson and show them what it means to be rude and hurtful.

But when facing Su Mu, he dared not have any thoughts and could only look for an opportunity to escape.

Su Mu turned to look at Liliana; the Night Queen had gained new insights after this great battle.

[After a series of battles, you have transformed the corpses of the dead into new warriors, allowing them to experience the allure of the undead. +1 Spell Power, learn Advanced Necromancy.]

[Advanced Necromancy (Governance): 30% (100%) of enemy units killed in battle are transformed into friendly skeletons.]

This time, Liliana fully utilized Necromancy. From the perspective of the conservation of soul matter, no matter how many Necromancy Towers there are, or other bonuses, the effect of Necromancy is at most 100%.

Unless a hero ascends to legendary status and masters legendary soul-summoning techniques, there might be special bonuses.

The advancement in her necromancy was clearly not due to this one battle, but rather to her continuous accumulation of experience over the years. Liliana's command of the undead has also become more adept, and her grasp of the details of the battle situation is more refined.

Su Mu thought he would have to clean up the mess, but Liliana was prepared and did not let any of the fortified soldiers escape.

This way, the true power of Titan's Arrow can be concealed.

"We head east, bypassing these fortifications, and head straight for the grasslands where the Far Forest is located, where we can find the supplies we need."

I want to see if Lloyd can afford to attack the plains at all costs.

Su Mu drew a winding curve on the map, which was the route the hills took eastward.

Because Isildur had been on the offensive, they coordinated their forces from north to south and advanced westward. They never expected anyone would dare to launch an attack from the east.

Upon hearing this idea, both Liliana and Uli were taken aback. They thought that at most they would fight each other within the hill defense line, but they did not expect Sumu to take a different approach and dare to go into the territory occupied by Esildor.

After a moment's thought, Liliana understood. She had heard Maggie say that Kuraki had always been short of boundary stones, and now that Isildor had migrated and rebuilt the Fal Forest, there would surely be corresponding earth element resources.

If they could raid the fortified city and seize the boundary stone, they could break through the bottleneck. Given Su Mu's personality, the risk would be worthwhile.

Su Mu waved his hand, directing his troops eastward. The battle that followed would be even more arduous. If he hadn't been leading the undead army, even if he had been the strongest swordsman, he wouldn't have dared to venture into the dragon's den alone.

With a 100% soul-summoning technique, one has the means to attack the barrier.

He glanced at Uli again, hoping he might actually be of some value and be able to get the ancient ruins to catch up, thus resolving the plains crisis.

(End of this chapter)