Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 420 Manticore's Forbidden Tail Hammer
The town of Otale in the heart of the country, which was once a city combining agriculture and manufacturing, is now in a state of desolation.

A thorny fence was erected on the city wall, and a densely packed group of blood-red crossbowmen stood atop it, watching the captured slaves inside the city and monitoring their every move.

In a dilapidated blacksmith shop, a shirtless young man is hammering a red-hot iron block, adding trace amounts of magical materials to forge a new type of weapon.

Hammondell had finished collecting the materials and was preparing to return to Kuraki City from Vya.

He happened to hear from a traveling merchant that a hammer made from a scorpion's tail hook was for sale.

Having forged under Randall for so long, he gradually understood his own attributes and characteristics. After hitting a bottleneck, he longed for a suitable forging tool and therefore wanted to spend some gold coins to buy it.

No one expected that during the auction, the Bloodthirsty mob stormed into the town, killing the nobles and capturing the free men, and escorting them all to Otale.

Initially, they were required to run around in a designated area, where hungry wolves were released to exploit their survival skills.

Hammondal, being a novice blacksmith, was naturally not troubled by such a trivial matter. He had originally planned to conceal his abilities and find an opportunity to slip away; as long as he left Otale, he could survive, and a few dozen bloodthirsty thugs couldn't do anything to him.

Little did they know that the next test would be for them to listen to the Red Priest's prayers; if they could not devoutly accept the teachings, they would be killed on the spot.

The selection criteria were naturally quite high, with all candidates being handpicked from among the survivors of the enclosure. Hammondal was one of those selected.

Although he tried his best to pretend that he accepted the leadership of the blood-red regime, the Red Priest was not to be trifled with and had a way of verifying his claims.

He was eliminated, reduced to a defective product, and became a sparring partner for the Crimson Legion.

At this point, Hammondell had no choice but to demonstrate some of his forging skills, otherwise, if he fell into the abyss, he might never see the light of day again.

As it turned out, he made the right bet. Otales also lacked elite blacksmiths, and after witnessing Hammondal's skills, they even specially found him a manticore hammer so that he could make weapons.

【Scorpion Tail Hammer (Level 2 Treasure): Enhances the effect of forging, especially for fire/earth attribute treasures and weapons, with a maximum success rate of +5%.

Review: This hammer was crafted from the tail of the Manticore and infused with burning blood, making it extremely hot and impossible for ordinary people to handle.

Unlike ordinary hammers, this hammer is more like a scimitar, with a thick hook only at the end.

From its appearance, this doesn't look like a forging hammer at all. It's just that Hammondal infuses it with magical power, and the hook at the end can change shape at will to strike the iron block according to the blacksmith's wishes.

"Boom!"

"despair!"

"Dong dong!"

After a few crisp knocking sounds, a greatsword was forged and handed to the Blood Crusaders leader standing to the side.

The opponent picked up the greatsword and brandished it, sparks flying faintly in the air.

"What a sword!"

"I never expected to find someone as talented as you in such a small town. You're not a local, are you? Are you a blacksmith hired by some noble family?"

Hammondell lowered his head and replied, "I only learned some skills from the masters in the city, and I relied entirely on my own figuring out how to forge. It's not high-end at all."

The leader patted him on the shoulder: "Follow our Holy Army, fight our way to the capital, and you'll have plenty of good food, drink, and forging blueprints."

However, you haven't been baptized yet and aren't trusted. Wait until this afternoon to go in with the new batch of promoted individuals; then you'll be one of us!

Hammondell nodded eagerly, his face full of longing. But inwardly, he was cursing and plotting his escape.

This Blood Baptism is essentially a special structure built by the rebels to stimulate the berserk genes within their troops, control their minds, and force them to pledge allegiance to the Blood regime.

It is said that they fought to the death inside, committed bloody crimes together, and raped women, pushing their tyranny to its peak.

Even the most resolute person can only succumb to evil once they become an accomplice.

After all, they could stand on the moral high ground to criticize before, but now that they've become one of them, they'll desperately try to exonerate themselves. That's human nature.

After the Blood Crusade leader left, the guards around him became even more vigilant. It seemed that the other party was still not at ease and wanted Hammondal to be fully integrated before he would be released.

"15 Blood Crusaders, 35 Scarlet Thugs, and 3 Red Priests, this is really troublesome."

Hammondell carefully observed the area around the blacksmith's shop. There were so many guards within a hundred meters, not to mention the densely packed guards along the city walls.

Although he has a strong physique, he is skilled in forging and not very good at fighting.

"Am I really going to die here?"

Hammondell was not naive enough to believe that joining the rebels would earn him their trust. These ruthless killers simply used him and the lower-ranking Scarlet Army soldiers as tools, expendable resources in the war.

If he fails to meet expectations or becomes useless, he'll be rendered obsolete. Hammondal misses Kuraki and his mentor Randall, where he could forge freely, engage in intense exchanges with the other apprentices, and spark intellectual discussions. To turn him into a puppet only capable of crafting low-level weapons would be worse than killing him.

Thinking of this, he looked at the glowing red stove, and his eyes gradually burned with passion.

"Boom!"

The crisp sound of metal was replaced by a heavy, thud.

Hammondell decided to take a gamble.

……

Soon it was afternoon, and Hammondell was led to the baptismal site.

It was an underground cave, radiating intense heat, leading to a distant, hazy place.

However, as soon as everyone entered, a faint, holy sound came from inside the cave, as if a high priest was praying to the god of light, and everyone felt warm all over.

"Those who believe will have eternal life!"

"If you want to uphold justice, you must have unwavering faith. Even if it means starting a war and causing rivers of blood, you must believe that we will be the final victors!"

As a blacksmith, Hammondell was recognized by the leader of the Blood Crusade and was allowed to bring an extra weapon, which was perfectly acceptable.

Upon entering the enclosed area of ​​the cave, the light gradually faded, and the entire underground was shrouded in blood, as if it were on fire.

Everyone's blood began to boil, and crazy thoughts flooded their minds.

"Kill!"

“Fight violence with violence!”

Kill all who stand in their way; to maintain the light of the world through war is a form of atonement.

Even Hammondale felt his head was spinning and he had extremely violent thoughts.

He thought it would be so satisfying to simply kill all these troublesome guys, walk out of this blood hole, and then wipe out the rest of the blood-red soldiers.

But reason quickly returned; the enemy's strength was too great, and he couldn't possibly fight them alone.

Because the cave is a place of baptism and contains a large amount of blood-red curse power, there are almost no guards, only people who are gradually going mad.

Hammondell took out a special digging artifact modified from the manticore's tail hammer, found a weak spot on the cliff, and began digging a hole amidst the chaos.

This place was originally sealed by blood magic, but the magic was completely corrupted when it encountered this hook that was flashing red light.

【Mortaloupes Forbidden Tail Hammer (Level 2 Treasure, Forbidden Forging): Infused with forbidden magic, it possesses more versatile and flexible functions, and is more powerful in forging and erosion magic.

Enhances the effectiveness of forging skills, especially for fire/earth attribute treasures and weapons, with a maximum success rate increase of +10%.

Randall had already taught him everything he knew, but he told him that forbidden techniques should only be used as a last resort.

Hammondell had tried before, but he just couldn't get the hang of it. With his talent and the dual bloodlines of the Crimson Dragon and the Manticore, he might have been able to control the Forbidden Blood Hammer, but he had never succeeded.

He had been thinking about what he was missing, and now he understood.

The courage to fight to the death!

Only when people are driven to despair will they utter that cry from the bottom of their hearts and wield the most powerful hammer.

He dug meter by meter, gradually getting closer to the surface. Just when he thought he was about to escape, he sensed that a large number of soldiers were surrounding him on the surface, guarding him firmly.

This is already the best path to choose. If we start digging again, we will not only run out of energy, but we will also be eroded by our own efforts.

Hammondal was already feeling dizzy, his eyes were bloodshot, and he would probably be devoured by the berserk genes in at most 10 minutes.

"Is Heaven truly going to destroy me?"

However, at that moment, the entire earth suddenly shook.

A loud explosion and a commotion came from above.

Soon, a large number of guards left the area and headed away into the distance.

Hammondl covered the blood from his mouth and nose, finally finding a glimmer of hope.

(End of this chapter)