Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 467 Conservation of Cursed Power
The town of Horeng, a city in the highlands, has always been a resting place for pilgrims who believe in the light. Many priests and pastors reside here, offering free healing to the free people.

But at this moment, the town is engulfed in flames, corpses litter the ground, the Church of Light is soaked in blood, the angel statue's sword is broken, and it will never regain its former glory.

The blood-red rebels scattered, looting all valuable supplies and indulging their lust for defenseless women. They would even shoot fleeing children with arrows for no reason, as a way to win prizes.

This battle was extremely arduous. The Church of Light has always been effective against heretics, especially the Disciplinary Ascetics and Holy Knights, who possess extremely strong Light Magic Power, making them the best counter to Crimson Magic Power and undead forces.

In the past, when facing the Kingdom's army, the enemy would only suffer casualties of up to one-tenth before collapsing. But the defenders of the Highland City fought almost to the very end, inflicting heavy losses on the Crimson Rebels.

Whether it's fear, anger, or hatred, they all need to be vented after the war; otherwise, they won't have the fighting power to fight next time.

Gaunt looked at his undisciplined troops with complete disregard, his greatest weapon being the unfettered looting of his troops.

The Crimson Rebels don't need people or population. As long as they keep invading other cities and plundering free people, they can cultivate more Crimson troops through extremely cruel selection.

As for the kingdom he once took pride in, now riddled with holes under his sword, Gaunt felt a strange sense of excitement.

Who told the old man to delay in establishing an heir? Who let the members of parliament control the government, and even the ministers in the royal family don't trust him? Look at the kingdom now; it's only under the management of these incompetent fools that it has fallen to this state.

Gaunt wanted to show the nobles of the capital the true power of his successor.

When the Crimson Rebels arrived, the nobles fled at the mere sight of them, and the kingdom's forces crumbled in a single blow. Only Peter and the Church of Light possessed any real strength, and thus failed to conquer the kingdom for a long time.

So Gaunt came up with a plan: he used money to bribe some impoverished nobles to secretly reveal that a miracle of light had occurred in Horeng Town. As a result, the Bishop of Light from the church brought his apologists to the town to investigate.

The so-called miracle of light is naturally related to angels. Bathed in holy light, countless white feathers fall from the sky, and sacred bones are buried beneath the church, perhaps a clue to the revival of light.

In this degenerate age, when the nation is in peril and faith is waning, which believer can resist such temptation?

So he hurriedly brought his apologists over. Knowing the importance of the matter, he specifically instructed that Duke Peter not to know, because if they fell into a trap, losing a bishop of light would be much more worthwhile than losing a holy duke.

Some people believe in the light, while others believe in money, taking money to do things, and not caring about the outcome.

The news eventually reached Duke Peter's ears. Had it been another lord, he might have simply let the Bishop of Light go. But Peter was different; he was a true believer in the light and could not stand idly by while the bishop was in danger.

At first, everything went smoothly; the Bishop of Light successfully arrived in Horeng Town to explore the Angel's Feather. However, he suddenly encountered the Undead Plague, became trapped, and found himself in grave danger.

Peter also considered whether it was a trick by the enemy, so he sent some troops to test the waters. But as the exploration deepened, it seemed that they had indeed unearthed the key relics and had a chance to trace the angels.

Peter could no longer sit idly by, and led a large number of ascetics to Horengo to provide support.

Gaunt was clearly well aware of the weaknesses of these believers in the light. He deliberately displayed the ruins of Cloud City and attracted key figures to the scene, forcing Duke Peter to come and guard them personally.

Even in the early stages, he kept a great distance from the Scarlet Rebels. But when Peter had fully entered Horeng and was about to make his discovery, he led his Lich King and the Scarlet Rebels to block the human army's retreat and initiate a field battle.

The Discipline Monks were a formidable army, yet they were no match for Gaunt's army of Lich Kings. Only the valiant fighting of the Holy Knights allowed them to escape the battlefield with the heavily wounded Duke Peter at the last moment. Otherwise, Gaunt could have devoured the new delicacies and gained the mutated Light abilities, which would have shocked everyone.

"Find him! Dig three feet into the ground if you must, find Peter and bring him back. I will reward you handsomely!"

Upon hearing Gaunt's words, a group of hunched-over thieves with bloody tumors on their shoulders became excited. They abandoned the woman, whom they had tortured beyond recognition, and chased after her into the wilderness.

These mutated thieves are a new type of soldier cultivated by the Crimson Curse, capable of playing a role in reconnaissance and intelligence gathering.

Parasitic Bandits (Special Tier 4, Class 2 Unit, Thief Type, Baptized in Flesh and Blood): Attack 12, Defense 2, Ammo 10, Damage 8-15, Health 25, Speed ​​7, Medium Size. Element: Crimson Aberration. Ranged Unit

Crimson Power: Launches grotesque, flesh-and-blood projectiles with a chance to throw enemies into chaos, causing them to turn on each other. The lower the unit level, the more likely they are to become confused; it is impossible to trigger above level 4.

Parasitism: Briefly re-enters the body of a living being, manipulating them to do things against their will, and the host dies after the manipulation ends.

Brain transplant: It can absorb the host's brain, gain some memories, and enhance the disguise effect.

Commentary: The parasite steals not only the host's body, but also their soul.

Clearly, these bandits were not primarily combat-oriented, but they excelled at intelligence gathering and infiltration. However, their methods were extremely cruel, making them unacceptable to the civilized world.

Would the dead care about these things?

After conquering Horeng, Gaunt immediately ordered the parasitic bandits to plunder the town, giving them all the pure nuns from the church. After the extreme desecration, he threw them into the Blood Trial to become the new Red Priests.

Destruction, slaughter—Gaunt will make these distrustful nobles pay the price, with the hypocritical Church of Light bearing the brunt.

After giving his orders, Gaunt used his enormous bone claws to lift the Bishop of Light and slowly walked into the tent.

Before this, he had the Lich King wake him up so that he could appreciate the desperate fear while enjoying the food.

"what!"

The mournful roar echoed through the night sky for a full hour. Gaunt emerged from his tent, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and revealed a chilling smile.

【Gaunt (Chosen of the Lich King): Attack 7, Defense 6, Cursed Power 7, Knowledge 8.】

Frost Parasite Curse: It can devour heroes you kill, stealing a portion of their attributes and traits, and periodically inflicting insane magic on itself and its troops. Extra, undigested attributes can be temporarily stored and injected into the bloodline at crucial moments (can only be used once per month).

Advanced Chosen Lich King: For every 4 points of Spell Power Knowledge a hero has, the attack and defense of the Lich King (including upgraded units) are increased by 1 point, and the unit's explosion radius is increased by 30%. He also gains the special skill Lich Altar.

Intermediate Crimson Light Grace (Crimson Aberration): Increases damage dealt to heretics (castle, fortress, tower units) by 40%. When affected by cursed skills, there is a 20% chance that the curse will spread to surrounding enemies (i.e., the affected enemy will be affected by the curse, but surrounding enemies will also be affected), and restores a certain amount of health.

Advanced Air Element Mastery, Advanced Water Element Mastery, Intermediate Earth Element Mastery.

[Lich Altar (Special Magic): Skeletons created by Advanced Necromancy are transformed into Lichs at a 10:1 ratio at the altar. For every 10 points of Knowledge gained, the cost of one skeleton decreases, but the ratio cannot be lower than 3:1. The total number of transformations is affected by Cursed Power (Cursed Power * 500)]

Gaunt has devoured quite a few delicious foods in order to acquire these skills and attributes.

Now he gradually understands the nature of curse power. Since treasures can be transformed out of control by people, wouldn't it be a faster way to directly absorb the concentrated curse power of the snacks?

As for the rejection and backlash that may occur, it doesn't matter as long as he's crazy enough.

Those who are out of control can't get any more out of control; when chaos reaches its extreme, perhaps that's when order will return.

And this is exactly what blood color distortion is.

"Send troops to the city on the highlands. I want to see if Peter can escape, and whether his people will follow him!"

(End of this chapter)