Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 430 Advanced Recruitment Diplomacy

While Forrest was recruiting soldiers on the outskirts of the illusion, the cursed spirits in the core area had already set their sights on them.

Initially, the cursed spirits may have placed their hopes on the swordsmen on the periphery to probe the strength of the newcomers.

Unexpectedly, instead of successfully probing the enemy's strength, he was tricked into leaving with all his men by a cunning old man using gold coins.

There weren't many swordsmen on the outskirts to begin with, and Forrest took all but a dozen or so under his command.

This infuriated the swordsman spirit. Generally speaking, spirits don't have much personal emotion; their greatest emotional fluctuations are probably when fighting enemies.

As a result, the swordsman curse spirit let out a long howl, gathering all the swordsmen in the illusionary realm together, ready to send troops to kill Forrest and his group, which shows the extent of the curse spirit's anger.

However, this actually aligned with Forrest's plan. He had originally intended to break through the illusion to find a possible swordsman camp, thereby increasing Kuraki's swordsman production. The enemy's initiative in attacking actually served his purpose.

Of course, everyone has their own area of ​​expertise, so it's best to leave this kind of thing to professionals.

Forrest turned to Goode: "Knight Commander, the battle ahead depends on you. Try to kill as few people as possible, and only punish the ringleaders!"

If it were any other legion, Forrest would never have said to hold back, after all, the opponent was not weak, and if they were to be defeated because of holding back, it would be utterly disastrous.

But the Crimson Knight and his Wind Erosion Knights are right in front of us, so there's virtually no chance of anything going wrong.

Even with the swordsman spirits and the crusaders baptized by the elements, even with a legion of hundreds of swordsmen, they were no match for the cavalry regiment.

The gap between the two sides is greater than the gap between swordsmen and spearmen.

Goode raised his spear and sounded the charge against the swordsmen below the mountain.

The moment the Wind Erosion Knights spurred their horses, they vanished from the battlefield and could no longer be seen.

The cursed spirit and the swordsman legion at the foot of the mountain were visibly stunned. Although their consciousness was hazy, their combat skills remained, allowing them to handle various unexpected war situations with ease. But they had never witnessed such a sudden scene—the charging cavalry had simply vanished? Where did they go?
Although he didn't know what was going on, seeing that Forrest and the surrendered swordsmen were still in place, the cursed spirit didn't care about anything else and continued to order an attack on them.

The swordsmen gathered in this illusion are no ordinary warriors. In addition to the Crusaders, there are also powerful elemental units such as the Flood Swordsmen and the Burning Crusaders, totaling more than 800 soldiers. Combined with the special skills of the swordsman's spirit, they can gain a 7-point attack and defense bonus, as well as a 35% chance of a third combo.

Even against ordinary legions, or even low-level legions led by powerful heroes, this swordsman unit can inflict considerable damage; their attack and defense skills are not to be underestimated.

However, the enemy they face is the Wind Erosion Knights, who can launch attacks in dreams, employing an unprecedented method of assault.

A crimson mist spread out, and nearly a hundred Wind Erosion Knights charged out of the dream like lightning, their lances plunging into the swordsman legion as fast as lightning.

Before the swordsman could even react, he was trampled into a bloody pulp by the Crimson Dream Beast and turned into a cloud of blood mist.

The cavalry's formation was a long, narrow line, like furrows, tilling through the muddy ground, invincible and unstoppable for even a moment.

Almost instantly, the cavalry regiment charged forward and established a foothold on the other side of the hill.

Not to mention the enemy, even Forrest almost didn't see the Wind Erosion Cavalry's attack clearly; it was as fast as lightning.

That's right. Crimson Dream Beast grants +7 speed, Intermediate Equestrian Master grants +8 speed, and now there's Intermediate Dream Navigation, which grants +8 speed in dreams.

Goode unleashed Nightmare Whirlwind, allowing all troops to accumulate the power of their charge within the dream world, before finally appearing in reality at the last moment—they were practically invincible.

Most importantly, the Wind Erosion Knight has Storm Charge, which grants a 20% damage bonus for every 4 speed increase during the charge. With a few of these combinations, it can even take down a Golden Dragon, let alone these ordinary Crusaders.

This doesn't even take into account the items Goode is wearing that increase speed and movement, which is already somewhat excessive.

The reason why the swordsmen were not all killed at once was because some units were far away and were not hit.

Goode may have wanted to test whether the opponent had any special skills or magic, and thus held back, so he chose to quickly break through the enemy's formation, leaving them no chance to counterattack.

In fact, that was overestimating them. With the current capabilities of the Wind Erosion Cavalry, killing these swordsmen would be a piece of cake.

Next, Goode set his sights on the swordsman, Cursed Spirit. If he could kill him, Forrest would be able to use his diplomatic skills to further enhance Kuraki's strength.

The swordsman spirit must have sensed the knight commander's murderous aura, so it immediately hid behind a large number of swordsman legions, trying to retreat towards the building.

Unfortunately, he had only moved a few dozen meters when the remaining cavalry completely locked onto him and charged into the dream world.

Although the cursed spirit lacks human emotions, it doesn't mean it doesn't know how to seek advantage and avoid harm. Having witnessed the cavalry's charge, it doesn't want to experience that again.

Within the illusionary structure, it can continue to be controlled, launching a final counterattack.

But the Wind Erosion Knights were not going to give it a chance. In just a few breaths, a large number of cavalrymen broke through the swordsmen's guards and arrived in front of the cursed spirit.

A dozen lances pierced its body. Initially, it could still maintain its magical power, relying on the soldiers to share the damage. However, the accumulated destructive power of the charge was too strong. With the next few attacks, the cursed spirit was instantly reduced to ashes, without even having time to resist.

"Your leader has been killed, why don't you lay down your weapons?"

"There are plenty of gold coins and resources here, as well as more opportunities for promotion. You have all seen the power of the cavalry regiment; if you insist on resisting, you will only be dead under their guns."

"Whether you choose to live on money or become a mangled corpse, the choice is yours!"

Forrest used his magical powers to send out his message and had the surrendered soldiers show off their gold coin treatment, which instantly shook the resolve of some of the soldiers with the Chaos Will.

They dropped their weapons and headed towards the mountain peak.

Seeing that the situation was settled, Forrest kept his word and distributed gold coins to all the soldiers, recruiting them into his ranks.

[This diplomatic maneuver was successful, recruiting 220 swordsmen.]

The illusionary units are basically lost soldiers, possessed by the will of chaos. These soldiers are like blank slates, similar to professional mercenaries, and are the best type of unit.

Therefore, even if they are recruited, they can be used with confidence, and they are much more useful than those ragtag soldiers whose morale has been corrupted.

They continued forward and came to the front of the building, where they saw a continuous stretch of illusory buildings.

After a difficult battle, you defeated the swordsman's cursed spirit and successfully regained control of the illusion. Due to the influence of the cursed power, choices can be made within this illusion.

Illusion Choice 1: Recruit a large number of swordsmen (about 200) from the continuous barracks, exhaust the troops in one go, and the illusion will disappear.

Illusionary Choice 2: Condense the combined magical power of the entire camp into a unique characteristic, manifesting it in reality as the Sword Soldier Camp (the real one).

Without much hesitation, Forrest chose option 2.

While 200 swordsmen may be a lot and could be very useful in certain emergency situations, they don't represent a qualitative change for Kuraki's current predicament.

It would be better to build a permanent military camp to pave the way for future Zhou production.

"With the proceeds from this illusion, His Highness the Duke must be very happy!"

"Then you underestimate the Duke. In his eyes, this is at most icing on the cake. What truly affects his mood is the outcome of the upcoming battle!"

[Through numerous recruitment efforts, you have gained insights into new methods of diplomacy, +1 Spell Power, and learned Advanced Recruitment Diplomacy.]

[Advanced Recruitment Diplomacy: Wilderness troops weaker than yours have a 100% chance of joining your army. Surrender costs are reduced by 80%. Access to the Library of Sages is available once all four stats reach level 6.]

There is a certain chance each month to connect to another dimension, to conduct special recruitment diplomacy or explore the Library of Wise Men.

(End of this chapter)