Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 402 Rhodes' Revenge

After the successful resistance, peace returned to the North.

However, a group of uninvited guests arrived in a border town of the Arcane Empire.

The leader was a man dressed in black, who emerged from the thick snow and glanced around the town.

Affected by a lunar eclipse, unusual situations often occur in remote towns, but this place remained perfectly peaceful.

Pedestrians came and went on the street, vendors hawked their wares, children played by the roadside, and skinny horses pulled carts. Inside a house, a husband fed his wife through an open window, their relationship respectful and harmonious.

Judging from these scenes alone, one might think this is a well-governed territory.

But when the man looked up at the sky, the dark clouds parted, and the blood moon shone brightly on the earth, instantly turning the entire town crimson.

All normal behavior appears extremely eerie under the moonlight.

When the blood moon shone on the townspeople, their once normal bodies instantly began to decay. Children and women were reduced to skeletons, draped in tattered hemp clothing; the men's corpses were nothing but piles of minced flesh, crawling with maggots.

This town has long been a desolate place, devoid of any life.

"Lord Rhodes, I didn't expect you to manage this town so well. The breath of the undead has been gathering for so long, yet it hasn't alarmed the heroes of the Arcane Empire."

A handsome young nobleman with flowing blond hair and blood-red eyes emerged from the Imperial Household Department, exuding an eerie aura.

"Business should be run well, of course. This small town that has been deceived must be very useful for the ancient ruins. What is the price?"

The man in black sneered, "If I were to spread the word that you're hiding on the border, I imagine both the Arcane Empire and Kuraki would be very interested. I wonder what price they would offer me?"

Rhodes remained calm, simply smiling faintly, "Their offer must be very generous—your skull!"

A cold wind blew, and the black hood fell back, revealing a man's pale skull—it was Catherine.

Since his defeat in the Hill War, he had disappeared for a while after returning to the ancient ruins. Unexpectedly, when he reappeared, he came to a small town on the border of the Arcane Empire and even met with Rhodes.

The fact that they immediately clashed suggests that the relationship between the necromancers is not harmonious.

"You do have some skill. You managed to escape from the Arcane Empire's heavy guard and even create a calamity of the undead. It seems you had planned this all along."

It's just that the Duke of Salman, a man of great stature, was forced to hide and lose territory, which was rather tragic.

I've heard that Sumu has become a duke, ruling over what was once the northern border. Don't you have any thoughts about that?"

Faced with Catherine's sharp words, Rhodes knew what she was thinking.

"The duchy is only temporarily under his control; it will eventually return to my hands."

"As for the Undead Grand Duke, I heard he met Su Mu before and even made some arrangements. I didn't expect him to be getting beaten so badly now. Could it be that he doesn't want to deal with him?"

These are extremely confidential matters, and even Kuraki might not have known them. How did Rod find out?

Katherine gave him a few serious looks, no longer daring to underestimate him.

"Alright, I didn't come here to make things difficult for you. This town does indeed meet our needs."

As requested in your letter, I have brought 20 Dread Knights. In exchange, I will activate the Death Altar here. You must cooperate.

Uli had originally accompanied them on their last expedition to research some forbidden material, but Sumu had disrupted it.

It is said that the artifact of deception was somewhat angered and brought disaster upon the ruins, affecting many undead.

If His demands are not met, there may be even more serious accidents. Just then, Rhodes sent a letter, saying that he had completed his undead transformation and had secretly established undead villages in the North and the Arcane Empire, with extremely high secrecy.

The success of this deception perfectly met the requirements for a divine artifact offering, which is why Katherine came with sincerity.

Of course, if Rhodes continues to boast and act like a spoiled young master as before, Catherine wouldn't mind cutting off his head and sacrificing it to the artifact of deception.

However, he vaguely sensed an ominous aura emanating from the village, and even with his strength, he might not be able to escape unscathed. Furthermore, the information revealed by Rhodes suggested that either he had an inside contact in Kuraki, or someone had leaked information from the ancient ruins.

Either way, it shows that Rhodes, now a wizard, is no longer the same person he used to be, and there's no need to offend him.

Upon seeing the terrifying knight he desired, Rhodes nodded in satisfaction.

"Don't worry, I've arranged everything. You just need to follow the steps!"

After saying that, he stepped aside and made way for Katherine, who then discovered that at the bottom of the ancient well at the village entrance, a spring of bright red blood was gushing out, and countless wronged souls were murmuring, seemingly deceiving themselves into believing that they were still alive.

Even Katherine was somewhat terrified by this bizarre scene.

Rhodes has somehow gained some kind of opportunity, which has made him so terrifying.

If this undead scourge were to spread across human or arcane empire territories, by the time the other side discovers it, it will likely have already amassed a considerable force.

After all, strange things often happen under the influence of the Blood Moon, and most nobles are concentrated in large cities, completely disregarding the lives of free people.

Perhaps the Grand Duke sent him to contact Rhodes because he was drawn to the man's distinctive features.

As the ritual began, a dark cloud drifted in, temporarily isolating the blood moon.

The following night, a deceitful undead army will appear, resembling the living dead. Unless illuminated by the blood moon, ordinary people will be unable to discern their true nature.

Once they infiltrate other cities, they will spread this deadly plague, infecting even more deceitful undead.

Rod pulled out a bottle of burning green liquid and smiled with satisfaction.

【Soul Deception Potion (Level 5 Plague Venom, dilution possible): Turns ordinary people or units into undead (directly affects no more than Level 2 units). After death, their bodies will manifest normally during the day. Once exposed to the Blood Moon, they will revert to their original form and accumulate curse power.
Those murdered by the deceitful undead will be assimilated into undead puppets, continuing to spread the plague.

【Undead (Special Tier 1 Super Tier Unit for Natural Disasters): Attack 2, Defense 1, Damage 1-2, Health 2, Speed ​​1, Small size.

Element: None; Undead unit.

Plague Spreads: Those they deceive and kill are transformed into undead puppets, and when their numbers accumulate to a certain level, they coalesce into an even more terrifying unit.

He had already given up hope, feeling ashamed to be a puppet, arbitrarily assigned by either the Arcane Empire or the Kingdom of Elton, reduced to a scapegoat, a failed duke—this was his ultimate fate.

Unexpectedly, a special natural disaster gave him a new life. Isildur's disaster was not accidental, and the world was about to be destroyed.

They instigated a war between the Arcane Empire and Elden, colluded with demons, and now offer deceitful sacrifices to the ancient ruins.

All of this is for the sake of chaos and disaster.

Rhode opened the map, where crimson flames burned across the North, the Arcane Empire, and the Fal Forest.

If he can achieve this goal, he will be God's chosen one.

Of course, he is not powerful enough now, but as long as more disasters accumulate, the North will become as desolate and decayed as Isildur.

If he can't have it, no one else can!
(End of this chapter)