Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 456 Basic Imprisonment Technique
In the western region of the Xilin Plain, a defensive battle is underway. Despite the defenders' valiant efforts, the tower troops are ultimately annihilated.

The undead army set out from the heartland to raid Kuraki's territory, and Sederlos received the news immediately.

Because Su Mu led the Cangmu army to fight a major battle in the hills and fortresses, the responsibility of defending the entire territory fell on Silver Peak City.

Relying on cloud-based surveillance, Silver Peak City has been on guard against enemies from the north.

However, due to the two major religions of the Arcane Empire vying for control of the ruins, they are temporarily unable to attend to the south, and at most they can only resort to some underhanded tactics, which are not a cause for concern.

Originally, Cedrus thought the North would be the enemy's main target, and he even went with Wayne to scout out the state of the undead. Unexpectedly, the enemy stopped pretending and launched an attack on Longlet Castle from the heartland, and no one could stop them.

"The commander of the undead legion is Rhodes, and his main force consists of dark knights who seem to have been baptized by a new element. They also have a large number of skeleton soldiers assisting in the sweeping operations, and several cities have already fallen."

"On the Scarlet regime's side, there is a newly appointed Scarlet Marshal, who leads a large number of Blood Crusaders and Blood War Gryphons as support, cooperating with the undead legion to advance towards Longlet Castle."

Upon hearing the information Wayne had gathered, Sederos scoffed, "What kind of Tom, Dick, or Harry dares to call himself Marshal?"

The Crimson Regime sought to overthrow the kingdom's rule, so its leader, Gaunt, declared himself the rightful heir to the kingdom, and appointed many marshals and grand dukes to the throne, proclaiming them to be Elton's saviors.

This annoyed Cedrus. A bunch of lowlifes who couldn't even beat the Silvertop City troops dared to stand alongside the Duke.

Upon detecting the movements of the Crimson regime, Silvertop City immediately mobilized its troops and, in conjunction with Wayne, launched an operation to intercept them west of Langlit Castle.

None of the enemy's so-called marshals and generals were any good fighters, and they all suffered a crushing defeat.

But the undead army was very powerful, especially Rhodes leading the Dark Knights, who almost swept across the battlefield, and even the God-Monster Lord could not stop them.

Although Sederos brought a portion of the Arcane Prayers, the main force was in the hills, so he could only barely delay the enemy's advance.

After a moment's thought, Wayne reminded him, "Longletburg is Garfield's main city and the county seat before the Hilling Plains. If it were to fall, it would have a bad impact."

In fact, what Kuraki's heroes care about most is Sumu's interests, but Langlit Castle is a special case. It is the Duchess's city, and its population and economy are second only to Kuraki City, so it is indeed not easy to place there.

Graystone City and several cities in the hinterland are newly developed areas, and if there is really no other way, they can only be abandoned. However, if the undead break through Longlet Castle, the losses will be quite significant.

Sederos paced around in place for a few moments. He was just about to send more troops from the North to the Shilin Plains and contact Liliana when he suddenly received a magical message.

"Great! His Highness the Duke has defeated Isildur's forces and is leading a large army to reinforce Kuraki. Rhodes and his men won't be able to stay in this situation for long!"

"It seems Longlitburg is saved!"

Upon hearing this news, Wayne felt a great sense of relief, even though he and Cederos had been trying to hold off the undead forces for the past few days. The opposing heroes were quite powerful, making the resistance extremely difficult, and with the enemy about to advance to Longlet Castle, the two were under immense pressure.

Now that the Duke has won and returned to Kuraki's aid, the enemy will certainly be unable to advance.

"Is Your Excellency directly using the portal to time and space?"

"The battle in the hills is proving difficult. I hear that several earth elemental heroes are out of mana and need to return to the valley city to rest for a day. Our goal is to slow down the enemy's advance as much as possible, and hold them off for as long as we can!"

"Leave this to me. My newly mastered restriction technique can finally come in handy!"

Wayne gained enough experience from scouting the undead in the North and fighting against the Arcane Empire's scouts to set and break traps with greater ease.

[Wayne has gained a better understanding of trap magic, +1 Defense, and has learned the basic Imprisonment spell] [Basic Imprisonment Spell (Ruling): Grants a 25% (100%) bonus to trap magic (including various field spells such as Hercules Shield, Quicksand Trap, and Fire Wall), and grants the special trap Blade Trap.]

Blade Trap (Special Magic): Summons 4 blade traps, each with its own resistance value. Creatures passing through will fall into the trap and take continuous damage. Melee attacks on this trap will result in reflected damage equal to the same amount (not exceeding the trap's resistance value). It provides 50% damage reduction against magic and ranged attacks. Blade damage and duration are affected by the hero's spell power, while resistance value and trap range are affected by the hero's knowledge.

The Imprisonment spell enhances Wayne's ability to restrict enemies, and especially with the Governance spell bonus, it deals considerable damage.

Wayne knew that he couldn't possibly stop the undead army with his own spell power and knowledge attributes, but if he obtained Su Mu's knowledge, he could construct traps on a large scale, which would be a good way to intercept them.

"I'll take some agile thieves to intercept them; let's not waste Silvertop City's troops any more."

"Okay, then it's up to you!"

……

Rhodes led his army past Graystone City. After his undead legion breached the city, he did not carry out a large-scale soul-conversion before immediately marching towards Longlet Castle.

He knew that the battle between Kuraki and the wall could not last long and that both sides would decide a winner as soon as possible.

Although Esildor has the upper hand on paper, Rhodes dares not be careless about Sumu. The opponent has won the difficult battle of Silvertop City and has taken the initiative to attack this time, so his chances of winning are probably not small.

If we can't take advantage of Kuraki's army being fully deployed to strike the enemy, then it will be difficult to avenge the previous humiliation at the ancient ruins.

"Tell those liches in the ancient ruins to march as soon as possible. If they cannot attack Longlet Castle on time, I will twist off their skulls!"

Rhodes himself did not have a very strong army. He accumulated Dark Knights through summoning magic, and the rest were undead legions led in cooperation with the ancient ruins.

This increased his troop strength, but most of the liches were not his direct subordinates, making it difficult for him to command them effectively.

Lower-level undead crave flesh and soul; without restraint, it would be difficult to advance rapidly.

However, with the Grand Duke of the Undead's guarantee, the team was relatively compliant. Furthermore, Rhodes's previous exploits in the ancient ruins instilled fear in the liches, making them hesitant to disobey his orders.

Looking at the disorganized legion behind him, Rhodes' bones trembled incessantly: "These useless fools, one day I will raise an elite army of death knights and sweep across the continent!"

He's only cooperating with the ancient ruins right now because of the artifact of deception; he really looks down on these undead.

Enjoying such a precious place, yet unable to break the seal, and even being crushed like this by the nearby Kuraki, is a disgrace to the dead.

Once he develops his undead army, he'll get his hands on the ancient ruins sooner or later!

"My lord, there is a valley ahead, the terrain of which is rather narrow. The spirit that went to scout ahead has lost contact, and something seems amiss!"

Upon hearing the report, Rhodes immediately became alert. It was only half a day's journey from here to Longlet Castle, and based on Kuraki's previous movements, there had been troops resisting.

I originally thought the other side didn't want to waste any more troops and wanted to defend the city, but it seems they still want to put up a fight.

Rhodes grinned maliciously, waved to the knight behind him draped in a bright red shroud, and headed into the woods. He wanted to see who dared to block his way.

(End of this chapter)